Jeb took a moment to respond to the question. “Before I answer that, how many Classes was I supposed to have as options?”

  “Hmm? Oh, there is no set number. Given your Quest Log and the fact that you stayed at First Tier for more than a year, I would guess well above three dozen.”

  Jeb nodded, digesting the information.

  “Again, what Class did you choose?” the Dean of the College of Songs spoke, clearly anxious. Jeb tried to figure out why, before he remembered that the Dean had asked him not to join the College.

  “I was offered the Wizard Class,” Jeb said, pulling his Status up.

  All at once, Jeb felt like the stone beneath his feet was going to rise up and swallow him while a song started playing and all of the trees around him loomed a little closer. Just as the pressure started to grow uncomfortable, all three sensations cut off.

  “Interesting,” the Headmistress said. “What Class Skills did it give you?”

  Jeb checked his Status. “It only gave me a single Skill,” he said, checking his Status, “Magic.”

  “Magic what?” the Headmistress prompted.

  “Just Magic,” Jeb replied.

  “Does the Skill Description tell you anything?”

  Jeb checked. It was very similar to the Class Description he had been offered, which made some amount of sense.

  Without being prompted, Jeb pulled up the Questline for the Class.

  Jeb was a little surprised that the Questline was itself was primarily made up of a number of Questlines, but he quickly paged through the different sub-Quest lines.

  It seemed like the Skill Quests he had earlier had been more or less retained, though the descriptions had changed somewhat. It was nice that he now had Quests to learn and create Songs and Enchantments. As he read through all of the Class Quests he’d been given, Jeb was surprised to see that the Deans did not seem as happy as he felt.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  The Deans all turned to the Headmistress, who waggled her hand. “Not as such, no.” She bobbed her head from side to side, as though trying to find a way to phrase her next sentence in the best possible way. “I, like the Deans, I am sure, had assumed and planned for you to choose a Class that focused on a specific School of Magic, even if you retained access to other Schools.”

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  “Oh,” Jeb said. “I can see why my Skill just being named Magic would make that an issue. Why does it matter, though?”

  “The College structure of the Academy is meant, in large part, to help students be surrounded by others studying similar Magics. By grouping like students together, they can iterate through research ideas more quickly. However, due in large part to historical trends,” the Headmistress rolled her eyes, “the nature of the Skill which gives you access to Magic is a requirement for entry into each College. Since your Skill does not explicitly mention any School of Magic, you can not be admitted into any of the Schools you interviewed for.”

  “That is not entirely correct,” Fax chimed in. “Due to similar historical events, anyone who has contributed to the Public Enchanting Repository is allowed entrance to the College of Enchanting.” Jeb brightened at that, before his hopes were quickly crushed. “That being said,” the Dean of the College of Enchanting continued, “without a Skill for other types of Magic, they are still forbidden from enrolling in any courses within other disciplines.”

  One of the people that Jeb hadn’t met raised his hand. “Yes, Dean Aquam?” the Headmistress said without turning to acknowledge the man.

  “Though it has not been used for this purpose in a number of centuries, while we are on the topic of historical precedence, the Remedial College is always an option.” The other Deans all looked thoughtful as he finished the suggestion.

  Jeb waited for a moment to see if anyone would explain what that meant. When they did not, he prompted, “What is the Remedial College?”

  “Oh, my apologies,” Dean Aquam continued. “Also, I realize that we have not been officialy introduced. My name is Dean Aquam. I am the Dean for the College of Ritual, and Intereim Dean of the Remedial College. Remedial College currently serves the role of making sure that each student is equipped with the skills that they need in order to succeed in the College of their Class. Primarily, we offer coursework in literacy and basic arithmetic, though there are a few courses in politics that students from rural parts of the Republic tend to find useful. Since you were-”

  The Headmistress coughed.

  “Sorry,” Dean Aquam gave a sheepish smile. “All this to say, the only entrance requirement to the Remedial College is entrance into the Academy. Since a number of historic members of the Remedial College had Classes which belonged in one of the other Colleges, any student in Remedial College may take coursework in other Colleges as approved by the Dean of the College in question and the Dean of the Remedial College. I can search for the exact phrasing in the bylaws, if you need,” he offered, turning to the Headmistress.

  “No, that will not be necessary at this moment,” she replied. “Are all in agreement that this is a workable course of action?”

  Jeb raised his hand.

  “Yes, Jeb?” the Headmistress called out.

  “If anyone can join the Remedial College and still take classes in any of the other Colleges, then why does anyone join a different College?”

  Dean Flos was the first to respond. “Most students do not care to learn from more than a single School of Magic. Truth be told, the far more common issue is getting students to take a wider breadth of courses than they want. I cannot count the number of Fire Mages who have been unwilling to even look at a Smoke Glyph, let alone a pure Air Glyph.”

  Dean Aquam continued where the Dean of the College of Letters left off. “There is also the matter of prestige. Though I doubt that you are so proud, many of the students who enroll come from families who have sent generations of students to the same College. To be enrolled in Remedial College implies that their education was lacking before they enrolled.”

  The Headmistress nodded. “Of course, if your Class ends up developing into something which focuses in a particular School of Magic, your enrollment is easily changed to the relevant College. Now, then, are there any objections to Jeb Humdrum’s admittance into the Academy through the Remedial College?”

  Jeb shook his head.

  Seeing that no one else raised any issues, the Headmistress nodded and walked away. The other Deans followed, save for Dean Aquam, who came towards Jeb.

  “Welcome to the Academy!”

  Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter: