Although Barry was nowhere to be seen during dinner, Ethan enjoyed a private conversation with Amelia. She had a fairly interesting day, although he didn't understand much of what she was doing. She was involved in some ?high-level research into low-level magical spells. When a mage passed through Gale House on their journey through the Academy, they would only touch a tiny percentage of the spells available to them. Magic was as varied as it was wide.

  This was the fact that gave people, even in their first year, the latitude to perform extensive research. Just because a spell wasn't immediately useful to people didn't mean it wasn't valuable to the magical community. Amelia also shared more of her backstory, detailing how she had been born in her world and given a system that was considered non-native there. That was one reason she was so good at what she did—because she had to struggle in her early years. There was an early detection system they used to figure out what kind of system a person had. Her parents had told her at least she didn't have a card system. Those were incredibly difficult to become more powerful with.

  Ethan didn't step away from the conversation without new knowledge either. She had given him some excellent information he could use to further his studies into the various anomalies. He was certain he had a viable path forward. The key was to emulate the system the anomaly belonged to, and then something else. He still didn't know that last step, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. After dinner, he found his way onto the darkening streets and moved from park to park, idly practicing various things.

  Of Ethan's seven attribute rings, currently only three were filled with spells. More than anything, he wanted to put more than just spells in them. He wanted to adapt abilities. But as he paced around the cloistered grounds of Gale House, he made no progress in that. There was slight progress with the breadth of his attribute rings, and he felt moderately satisfied overall.

  Sunday was little more than a replay of Saturday, minus the harrowing adventures. Ethan did as much reading as he could, followed several groups of students in an attempt to absorb their abilities, and otherwise just tried to get a better handle on his system. Although he didn't make as much progress as he wanted, he finally saw Barry bright and early the next morning. This year, class together on Monday, Ritual Foundations I, was taught by Professor Eggs at 10 a.m.

  The duo left their hovel, still having no time or desire to purchase a single bed, let alone two. Ethan had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't even think about it, and Barry was no different. The big man seemed lost in his thoughts as they waited in line to get breakfast. He would tap his chin every so often or pluck at the hairs in his beard.

  "I'm really close to something. I can just taste it. This system is such a pain in the butt. I've got to go and find these artifacts or something. I mean, they're everywhere, so that's fine. Every time I discover one, it's an egg beater or a foot soaker. They're almost useless." Barry growled, causing the nearby students to push a bit further away. "The good news is that practice with my mana stuff made the first leg of that journey easy. I actually made a little bit of money working for a blacksmith. Turns out, you don't really need a class if you're just incredibly strong."

  "Well, what can you tell me about this ritual class? I thought you were going to drop it." Ethan smiled with amusement. It was nice to see Barry struggling with something. Normally, everything came so easily to him.

  "I'm dropping history for now. Anything I want to know about this world can be learned from books. Otherwise, it's just a chance for people who already know the material to get some easy points. I'm going to stick with rituals for now, but I'm not sure. I have a meeting with a headmaster later that's going to determine my fate."

  Ethan was selfishly happy about that. He didn't want to face this flying chihuahua alone. He was also anticipating the class would be very useful for him. Amelia had revealed a bit of information: using rituals might be an easier way to interface with the anomalies than mana manipulation. That was just her assumption based on what he told her about the Anomalous Materials Group. Surely, a group that had been doing this for so long would have found the best way of dealing with them…Well, the best way that somebody without the appropriate system could do it. Just like Barry, using his raw strength to work at the blacksmith's shop, the anomalous materials group was brute-forcing the anomalies.

  "What are you going for today? Looks like they’ve got some kind of pig up there." Barry rubbed his hands together. "I love hog. You guys have hogs back on your planet?"

  "I'm not much for pork. I mean, I really like bacon, but I don't think there's another cut of the animal that I really like," Ethan said with a shrug.

  “More pig for me!”

  10 o'clock was actually the perfect time for a class. Ethan found that he wasn't rushed at breakfast. He could eat his food at his leisure, picking at his bacon and eggs and enjoying this world's version of hash browns. He practiced at the table, trying to help Barry with his own system, but the guy was still guarded about what it did exactly. From what the scribe could glean, it was a system based on creating items for battle. He couldn't tell if those items were temporary or permanent. While he was tempted to emulate Barry's system, he didn't. Barry had been so good about not inquiring about Ethan's system that it seemed incredibly rude to violate that trust.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The time had finally come to head to class, and the pair headed out into the city. Oak Building 18 was actually located outside the protective wall encompassing most of the classes. It was one of ?many buildings that housed more esoteric courses. They were allowed through the security checkpoint with ease and stepped into a much shabbier version of Gale House City. Of course, Ethan wasn't afraid of ruffians with such an ardent bulldog at his side. When they finally found the building, it was rather small compared to the other classrooms. It was a wooden construction, a single-floor building with a smaller-than-normal amphitheater inside. They found their seats and waited.

  A total of two other students entered before the clock struck 10.

  “Is that it?” Ethan asked, looking around with a confused expression.

  "The first class had 10. I guess we're down to four students." Barry folded his arms and shrugged. "Whatever. This class seems pretty easy. If you go to the library and look up the rituals, you can finish the assignments. Also, rituals are kinda cool, and they play into my class.”

  “Yeah, but the teacher…” Another student turned, wincing as she looked back at the pair. “I’ll never get used to her.”

  “Speaking of…” Barry jerked his head to one side.

  Ethan felt a wash of unfamiliar power come from the entrance of the building before he actually saw the professor. He tried not to laugh. He really did. But despite this, a sharp, squeaking laugh escaped his lips as Professor Eggs floated into the classroom. It was a chihuahua or some kind of mix. The base of her coat was white with a brown-black spot over each ear and one near the base of her tail. Her eyes were bulbous, pointing in either direction as though she was keeping an eye on every student at once. Her tongue lolled to one side, and she yapped once as she approached the podium at the front.

  Professor Eggs rotated in the air to regard the class, her four legs dangling below her as though they were completely vestigial. "We have a new addition today. Ethan Walsh, according to my records, who was too ill to attend last time. Where are you, Ethan?"

  Ethan raised his hand tentatively, looking around as he tried to process what he had just witnessed. The voice had come from the dog, but it was far deeper and a bit more manic than he had expected. The sound it projected was clearly magical in nature.

  "Perfect. Welcome to Ritual Foundations 1. Yes, I am a flying dog. Yes, we share a home planet. Now, if we could get past that, we can begin the lesson. How many of you were able to complete my task?"

  Everyone's hand in the room shot up except for Ethan. Of course, he didn't know what the task had been.

  "Excellent. My classes normally thin out quickly. I pick the subjects that nobody really likes to take. Ritual magic within the X-13 system can be unpredictable and boring. That's something you and I have in common, Mr. Walsh. You aren't using the X-13 system… Is there somebody in here who can update our newest student while I interview those who have successfully cast the ritual spell? Oh, Mr. No Last Name Barry? Thank you.”

  Barry turned and gave Ethan a severe look. He nodded once. "So you're from the same planet as the dog, huh? That's kind of weird. Anyway, the first lecture was pretty boring, and the spell we had to cast was very simple. Basically, you can take a spell sigil from the X-13 system, draw it on the ground, and then put mana in it, and you'll cast a version of that spell. It's dead easy and took me about 15 minutes after I realized how simple it was.”

  Ethan raised a brow, looking into the eyes of his friend as the gears in his brain turned. Perhaps he should have asked Amelia about ritual magic, but why would he have? He was still learning, and he was the only one who would know what would work best for his anomaly hunting. Pieces locked into place, and he was now almost certain he could approach the problem with the gravity anomaly. He just had to come up with a system-based ritual to contain it.

  "What did I do?" Barry asked. "You're looking at me like I did something wrong."

  Ethan waved a dismissive hand. "No, you just gave me a great idea for something I'm working on. I guess I can cast a barrier spell, the lesser barrier spell from the X-13 system. That should be enough to satisfy the assignment." He withdrew his pen from his soul and held it up. "Do you think this thing would work?"

  "Yeah, that should work. I know some ritualists can project their mana into the air the same way you can, but may I suggest creating the circle as small as possible? Otherwise, you may run into issues. I read something about circles exploding if you made them too big, especially with neophyte casters.”

  “That’s good information to have.”

  How many times had Ethan scribbled sigils in the air trying to commit them to memory? He wondered if he had ever come close to accidentally casting a ritual spell. They moved to one corner of the classroom, and the scribe sketched the array as he remembered it. He made it rather small, erring on the side of caution as his friend had suggested. When he had it sketched out just about as well as he could, he stepped back and nodded with approval. He then used the end of his pen as a conduit and channeled mana inside. It sprang to life, a shimmering barrier appearing as a dome above it. The dome itself was rather small, about the size of a basketball, but it hummed with power.

  “Well, well, well,” Eggs said, floating over and yapping at the barrier. She cleared her throat, although Ethan was certain she didn’t need to. “Two geniuses in one class? Perhaps you can help those less academically gifted over there. I’ve seen squirrels more intelligent than them.”

  “Sure thing,” Ethan said, smiling. He cleared his throat. “So… Are you really from Earth? How did you get here?”

  “Oh, that story is long and boring. I know the attention span of young humans is short. Hold on, I might have an iPad around here somewhere for you to watch while I tell my tale.”

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