Ryan continued finishing up his notes, though he basically just copied down everything that he was seeing. With his dexterity stat, he was able to write way, way faster than he used to. Whenever he was done with one of the pages, he would go back over it with some markers, highlighters, and so on to write himself some more detailed notes and conclusions that he himself had come to through his experience with spirits. It was his first Spiritology class, so it was all super introductory stuff that he already knew, for the most part.
There were some details that came from the professor's personal experience in the field of Spiritology that Ryan hadn't heard before, but none of it was super useful to him right now. Ryan looked up from his notebook as the professor continued, "Now, what is actually quite interesting about spirits is what happens after they are first born. As their core manifests itself, it is still unable to thoroughly project its existence outward. You can see this as... the 'egg' stage. Sooner or later, that egg will hatch. The resulting spirit will be juvenile for a while, but their personality and their body will be formed according to matters like the concept they were born from, the surrounding culture, or more direct interactions with others that have happened before that point. A forest spirit whose core was picked up by a raven may turn out to have a raven-like appearance and corresponding habits, for example."
Carefully, Ryan raised his hand. This professor seemed to be quite happy whenever people asked questions, and Ryan had one that was quite pressing. As Ryan was called on, the professor smiled curiously, awaiting the question, "What about spirits who don't have the ability to form their own bodies?"
The professor's smile quickly dropped, "Oh, well... those spirits are... quite a sad case, you could say. They are quite uncommon, of course, but it does happen every once in a while. It is generally assumed that their personas have not fully formed, or that they were lacking in one particular area during their formation. Maybe their specific concept didn't quite fit what was needed to become a fully-fledged spirit, making them halt at the realm of the core," he explained, "Some summoners or spiritologists have been able to communicate with them to some limited degree, but it has never led to all too much."
Ryan raised his brow, "I mean, they definitely have personalities and all, and their concept is pretty solid as far as I can tell."
Confused, the professor looked at Ryan, who awkwardly realised that everyone in the room was staring at him now, "Could you elaborate?" the professor asked, and Ryan quickly nodded.
"Uh, yeah, sorry. I should have clarified, but I'm an Awakened, a summoner type. And my class specifically allows me to build bodies for spirits that can't do it on their own," he explained, and the professor laughed slightly, shaking his head.
"Well, if there were a class like that, I surely would have heard of it."
Now, it was Ryan's turn to be confused. The other students apparently heard about him. Of course, he was already fairly infamous here, and then awakening with a unique class must have pulled a lot more attention toward him after that. It was just surprising that a professor, especially one teaching spiritology of all things, wasn't informed about something like this. Then again, universities weren't exactly known for being... efficient.
"I, uh... I have a unique class? It's called Spirit Keeper? I was told you'd have it in your notes, because I have a custom class load," Ryan explained. The professor stopped what he was doing and walked over to his notes, trying to look through them to confirm what he was being told. And then, suddenly, he froze up. The professor looked down at his watch, and then cleared his throat, slightly chirping as he spoke. He straightened the feathers on his head and spoke to the class.
"Class is supposed to end soon anyway, so let's just stop it here for now. Please check the syllabus for the reading materials I mentioned earlier. Make sure that you have finished them by the end of the month, preferably even earlier," the professor explained, "And could you please stay behind... Mister...?"
"Aglecard," Ryan finished, letting out a slight sigh while getting his things together.
This was annoying. Really, really annoying. He was surprised that this professor didn't talk to him about anything during their first class yesterday, since all the other ones that he has had so far did come up to him and discuss his custom track, but he, of course, had no problem with it. Frankly, Ryan had no idea why he just said that. It was clear that the professor had no idea, and Ryan should have left it at that instead of opening his big stupid mouth in the middle of class in front of like fifty other people. Ever since his 'Sociability' stat had gotten a bit higher, he became a bit of a blabbermouth.
He ignored the stares of the other students as he made his way to the front of the class, where the professor was already eagerly waiting. Once the other students had left the room, the professor eagerly stared at Ryan, "You have a spirit-related class? And a unique one, at that?"
The professor took a step forward, his talons pressed into the ground. Ryan's face was almost tickled by the professor's feathers, and tried to move away a bit. Avian species often had some issues with personal space.
"Yep. Spirit Keeper. It's a summoner class, and as I've said, it allows me to build the bodies of spirits who don't have the ability to do it on their own," Ryan explained, and the professor looked at him eagerly, as if waiting for something. With a sigh, Ryan closed his eyes for a few moments and then held his hand forward. Though the professor couldn't see this part, soon, a mass of red glowing wisps flowed out of his palm. They came together, slowly constructing Maximus' body, "This is one of them. His name is Maximus, he's a Knight Spirit."
"Ooh, I see, I see! This is wonderful, it's not often you get to see a spirit up close like this! And you say it's a Knight Spirit?" the professor asked, clearly excited as he took a closer look at Maximus. But a few moments later, he pulled back and looked at Ryan, "Hold on, a 'Knight' Spirit? Are you positive? That is the spirit's concept?"
Slowly, Ryan nodded. He knew that this would happen. He hadn't found anything about 'Knight' spirits anywhere else before either. Neither did he find out anything about 'Artillerist', 'Harlequin', or 'Garden Golem' spirits. There was something about garden golems on the internet, but it was really just an article about this ancient golemancer who created golems to take care of every part of her life, including her garden. But beside that? Nothing.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Mhm. At least that's what the system said," Ryan explained, and the professor thought for a moment, once again looking more closely at Maximus.
"I... see..."
Ryan raised his brow. That wasn't the reaction that he expected, "Is everything alright? I know I don't really have a way to prove it, but-"
"No, no, I believe you. I was just... You see, I wrote my doctorate on a specific theory of spirits' origins. It is based around something generally referred to as the 'Power of Existence'."
"Uh... power of existence?" Ryan repeated, not sure what the professor meant. Thinking about how to best explain it to a student taking an introductory class, the professor cupped his chin and slightly scratched his beak.
"... Though this may be a little morbid, but do you know a saying about how a person dies twice?"
"Uh..? Was it the thing about... the first death being your actual physical death, and the second death being when you're forgotten?"
"Exactly that," the professor nodded, a slight chirp in his voice, "Any person's existence leaves behind some kind of proof. Whether it is in the form of memories, or some sort of physical imprint in the world itself. It is about the... impact that the person leaves behind in their lifetime. That same theory can be extrapolated toward really anything, including the concepts of spirits. So in the theory I just mentioned, this proof and impact of any specific thing creates this 'Power of Existence', which interacts with the magical realms in a specific way to create the seed of a spirit's birth."
Ryan thought about what the professor was saying, trying to put it into his own words, "So, like... spirits exist because of the impact their concept made?"
"That is my own personal theory at least. For example, spirits borne from specific locations. This always happens in places that are not only historically or culturally relevant, like a temple, or forest, or museum. Otherwise, almost every family will have a spirit living with them, right?"
"Right."
"And as I mentioned earlier, spirits tend to take on aspects of the culture or other traits of the place they were born into, because the air and magic permeates with that same 'Power of Existence', through which the birth of a spirit is observed. Like a constant filter."
"... Is it like... the memories of a place when dungeons are born? I was in a dungeon before, and it was this abandoned factory. The monsters in there somewhat took on the form of factory workers doing their daily work, even though the factory was abandoned for more than a decade before it turned into a dungeon."
The professor thought about it for a moment, and then slowly nodded, "While I do now have much knowledge on dungeons, I think that may be an apt comparison. If we base this on my theory, I imagine that your friend Maximus here was born during some kind of war. A time where knights stood at the forefront of everyone's mind. As such, a spirit was born," the professor started, but then slowed down, clearly thinking a bit more, "But... then what if the war ends? What if... somewhere between the point of the spirit core's manifestation, and the initial projection of the physical form, that war ends? Knights leave the mind of the people? The power that their existence once held... quickly fades? Of course, this 'power of existence' does not affect the strength or existence of a spirit once fully born. We can see this because a spirit whose home has been destroyed still continues to exist furthermore. However, in such early stages... that might be different."
Ryan stared at the man in front of him. If that was the case... that would explain some things, right? For one, it would explain why Maximus was able to use so many different weapons and techniques. But... "Knights were a common occurrence until like a century ago. Even the knight class only really fell out of fashion and stopped appearing around fifty years ago, and it was a super gradual process. Would that really be enough to make that happen?"
"... Concepts tend to be specific," the professor explained, "The system only really considers them 'Forest Spirits' or 'Lake Spirits', but they will be, more specifically, the 'Orcgrand Forest Spirit', or the 'Rhinos Lake Spirit'. Maximus would likely be from a specific war, whose knights stuck in peoples' minds particularly strongly."
Though that seemed more possible, it still felt... wrong. Ryan had already checked literally every single online forum he could find about history and wars and knights, trying to find an army's armour that looked like Maximus', and he found nothing. And that wasn't even mentioning all those other separate armours or 'Models' that Ryan could swap Maximus' parts out for. Plus, there was something about spirits being 'sealed' that played into all of this.
It felt possible, and close to the truth, but... just wrong. There were too many puzzle-pieces missing. Of course, Ryan wasn't going to tell his professor that he thought he was wrong, considering that all the 'proof' he had was heavily classified information. Luckily, something came to Ryan's rescue.
His phone buzzed a few times, and Ryan quickly checked, "Ah... professor, I'm so sorry, but I have an important appointment right after this... do you mind if we continue this conversation sometime else? I'll talk to the spirits a little bit and then I can update you on this all sometime else, alright?"
Though the professor wanted to ask plenty more questions, clearly, he couldn't just force Ryan to stay behind either. As though he was fleeing, Ryan pulled Maximus back into his domain, apologised for having someone stare at him so intensely, and then rushed out of the lecture hall. He pulled up his phone again and texted back the person that messaged him.
Michael
I'm on my way to the café, what should I do when I get there?
You
If I'm not there yet, just sit down inside. It should be open
If it's closed for some reason, there's a bench right outside the door so just wait there
I'm on my way as well
Michae
Alright! I'll wait for you there, then!
Ryan quickly started rushing toward the parking lot. He didn't want to keep Michael waiting, especially after asking him to meet up. Luckily, it wasn't too long a ride back home with his bike. During the ride itself, Ryan just weaved through some of the cars in traffic, cut through the middle, and basically did whatever he could to get home as fast as he could. He pulled into the alley next to the building and parked his bike, quickly stepping off.
Right then, he turned his head, and saw Michael walking on the sidewalk with his phone in hand, clearly looking for the café. Ryan quickly walked up to him, "Yo!"
Michael was startled, snapping his head toward Ryan before letting out a clear sigh of relief, "Oh gods, it's just you... so this is the right place?"
"Yup, it's right here. Come on," Ryan smiled, patting the young man on the back. He led him to the front of the store and quickly went inside. An exhausted Runar was standing behind the counter and waved at Ryan. He was even more exhausted than usual, but it had been a while since he opened the store. At the moment, it was closed more often than it was open, and it was hurting business quite a lot, for obvious reasons.
Runar could afford it, of course, but it was still annoying to lose regulars.
"Want something to drink?"
"Uh..." Michael nervously looked at the menu, "I don't really... drink coffee."
"That's fine. We have hot chocolate, tea, juice, whatever you want, really," Ryan pointed out. It was clear that Michael was nervous, so he was trying to get him to loosen up a little.
Michael thought about it, and then nodded, "Some tea, then... Duke Red, if you have it?"
"Of course. Go ahead and sit down wherever you want, I'll let my uncle know."
As Ryan walked up to the counter, Michael awkwardly looked around, soon picking a seat in the corner of the space. Ryan put down the order for the tea and his own coffee, and then quickly made his way back to his guest.
"So..." Michael started, "What did you call me here for?"
"Right, sorry, I guess it was a bit confusing when I randomly texted you," Ryan tried to laugh it off apologetically, "Really, I just wanted to ask you for some tips on increasing my mana volume."
Immediately, Michael relaxed, even starting to smile, "Oh, that's all?"
"Yeah... what did you think I was going to ask you?"
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