Chapter 326. Tour.

  I kept the fake smile plastered on my face, desperately trying to avoid showing my revulsion over the spider-like professor. Melody wasn’t some creepy spider I spotted in the corner of my bathroom, she was a real, sapient person who would be a coworker. We walked in silence for a while as the smell of food grew stronger.

  “I suppose you’re probably a bit hungry now, the faculty commissary is right over here,” Melody said.

  The hallway had large double doors on the right which opened onto a large dining area. It looked less like a school cafeteria and more like a fancy café. There was enough seating at the various sized tables to hold over a hundred guests. A large glass door led out onto a small patio where we could dine if the weather was nice. All in all, it sure beat my high school cafeteria or any of the college one’s I’d seen.

  “Thanks, it smells good, and I admit that I am feeling a bit hungry,” I said as Melody led me inside. She’d retreated out of sight under the armor of her minion for which I was thankful.

  From what I could gather, we were just past the dinner rush, and instead of being able to order individually cooked meals, there was a small buffet set up. Grabbing a plate and normal-looking utensils, I grabbed a bite or two of everything. Most of the food was similar to what I’d expect on an Earth buffet. There was various pasta, meats, vegetables, and some bread.

  I avoided anything that smelled a bit too out there, but I figured the school wouldn’t offer anything without warning if it would be potentially harmful. Once my plate was ready, Melody led me to one of the smaller tables. Several other tables were occupied, but it looked like she wasn’t keen on interrupting the various conversations just to introduce me.

  “Are you not eating?” I asked as we sat down.

  “My dietary needs are a bit more specialized. The commissary has a separate dining facility for those like me,” Melody said. I didn’t bother to ask for any further details. The less I knew about spider people’s feeding habits, the better.

  “There’s so much I want to ask you, but why don’t we start with what your class structure will be like, and what can I expect from the students?” I asked, trying to gather information as well as get to know my new colleague better.

  “Like the headmaster probably mentioned, the students are a bit young and inexperienced in the tier zero, rank five class I teach, but they’re good kids for the most part. Our school has a high enough reputation that we’re sought after, but we’re also not considered one of the elite schools, which helps us to avoid many of the more problematic and entitled students as well as their parents,” Melody said.

  “Unfortunately, you didn’t avoid all the problem children if my prior summoning here was any indicator,” I replied.

  “Ah, I heard about that, the headmaster mentioned he’d run into you as a summoned being and was impressed with your ability to manipulate the situation despite the summoned being restrictions and forced compliance. That will be an interesting topic for this year’s class. These kids need to know how to deal with a recalcitrant summoned minion,” Melody said.

  “Oh, I should also mention the dress code,” Melody said after a slight pause. “While armor is normal enough for around the school, you’re expected to wear instructor robes during your actual classes. Several sets as well as other toiletries you might need, will be delivered to your room. I hope that the uniform requirement isn’t a problem.”

  “No, it’s not an issue, I can summon and unsummon my armor at will, though wearing robes will take some getting used to. It’s not all that common to wear them where I’m from,” I explained.

  “You’ll get used to it. Due to my situation, I can get away with just having my minion pull some robes over her armor. Most of the other faculty don’t have that luxury. Anything else you want to ask before I show you to your room?” Melody asked.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Tell me about training and the dungeons. How often do you really think I’ll get a crack at delving? Growing my power is important considering what I’m going to return to after this contract is up,” I said. While it was pleasant to talk to Melody, I wasn’t trusting her enough at this point to spill the details of my situation with Gary. From what Tzes’zod had said, my personal space would be highly sought after. I didn’t need any new potential problems cropping up if others learned what I had.

  “Dungeons are on a set schedule with the adventurer’s guild. Tomorrow, we need to work on the curriculum for most of the morning, but I’ll take you into town after we get our work done. There, you can sign up with the guild and get a slot for delving squared away. We get priority scheduling as faculty, but there is still often a wait depending on the dungeon you choose. As far as just practice goes, we have several training fields. Do you want me to show you before we find your room?” Melody asked.

  “Yes, please. I have a few new things I want to practice before I enter a dungeon,” I said. I’d need time and a place to test out my class changes and get a feel for how powerful my minions were.

  “Great, are you ready to go?” Melody asked. While we had been talking, I’d shoveled down my food and cleaned the plate. My time with the military on Earth had made me pick up on some of their habits. Nobody could pack away food as quickly as a soldier could.

  “Let’s go,” I replied. Melody showed me where to place the dirty plates, it was surprisingly mundane, just a sink area where workers would clean them for the next guest. I had kind of expected some magical cleaning spell or something, but that wasn’t to be.

  We went down a couple flights of stairs and exited the building. I got my first view of this world from the outside, though it was too dark to make out anything other than the lit pathways leading to other, smaller buildings in the distance. The building we had just exited was a huge tower, which was probably what the school got its name from.

  While the commissary didn’t have magical dish washers, the school went all out with magical lights. The tower was lit in various colors, and I could even see flashes of light in some of the windows as students or teachers conducted some late-night experiments. The place had to be at least fifty stories tall, and I really hoped that my room wasn’t up too many flights of stairs.

  “I hope our classroom isn’t at the top, that’d be a lot of steps each day,” I said as I stood there gawking at my new temporary home.

  “Don’t worry, Rico, there’s a portal system at every five floors. Sure, you’ll have to still use the stairs a bit, but it won’t be quite as bad as you fear,” Melody assured me, her minion pulling me toward a pathway to our left. We followed the path which eventually ended at what looked like the same fields I had been summoned to before.

  There were five fields on the path, and the two closest ones had groups of people training in both spells, and weapons. Melody led me past the first, and most crowded field, and toward the second in line. At this field, a few people were training, but they kept their distance from us and each other.

  “The fields are warded to protect the others that are training and any observers. Each field is broken down by tier and rank, with the first field being a starter field for those up to tier two. Here, this field goes from tier two, rank one, all the way to tier five, rank zero. Will that be sufficient for what you need?” Melody asked.

  “That will work just fine. How does all this operate?” I asked.

  “Just enter the field, the magic will discern if you’re allowed access and then will assign you part of the field for your personal use. Don’t worry, any spells or weapon attacks will not penetrate past the zone assigned to you, and there won’t be any ricochets to worry about,” Melody said.

  “Thanks Melody, and I can come here anytime?” I asked.

  “Absolutely, as long as you’re not supposed to be working. I try to get some training in each evening before dinner. Maybe we can spar or train together sometime? There is a section of the field for sparring that will nullify any actual damage or effects, and the system will just inform us of what happened,” Melody offered.

  “I’ll take you up on that. I need all the practice I can get,” I said. Some sparring time with the other instructors could really help me smooth out the rough spots of my new class. It’d be great for now, but the real draw for me was going to be the dungeons. I needed new tiers, ranks, and power if I wanted to stand a chance against Gary.

  Melody promised me a longer tour of the grounds tomorrow before we headed into town. She led me back to the main tower, where my room was located. It was on the 43rd floor, and more importantly, Melody showed me the portal locations. There were even a few special ones for faculty use that would take me directly to almost anywhere in the tower.

  My room was nice, like a medieval style luxury apartment. I had a separate office and bedroom space, and the bathroom functioned magically and would more than take the place of a modern bathroom. Inside a tall wardrobe in my bedroom were several long, grey and blue instructor robes, as well as various undergarments and even some casual clothes.

  They’d really gone above and beyond to make me comfortable, and I was looking forward to working with Melody tomorrow and getting a better feel for my actual job. For now, it was late evening, but before I could even think about sleep, I was going to head to the training fields. I needed to get a feel for how powerful my new class was going to be.