When I woke up I saw Jaden looking at me like he saw a ghost.
“Good morning to you.”
“Forget that, what happened to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your veins are black and your eyes too.”
“And I thought something bad happened. That’s just a side effect of using magic. It happens sometimes, and the color is given by the fact that I can use only dark magic.”
“I see…Does the headmistress know about this?”
“This happens when I used body enchantment two days ago when I broke the wall but it wasn’t that obvious back then. I didn’t tell the headmistress about this, so unless my mother told her she shouldn’t know.”
“Your mother knew the headmistress?”
“My mother was her apprentice and she apparently told the headmistress everything about me including my measurements.”
“I guess that’s one meaning of having friends in high places.”
“Somebody is coming. Let’s see if I can scare her.”
“Huh?”
I got up and went in front of the door. I felt a presence, judging by the sound of the footsteps in was Maria. When she arrived in front of the door I opened it.
“Good morning!”
I thought I would be able to scare her but she kept that expressionless face. Why didn’t you get scared?
“Here, this is your schedule for this semester, if something changes I will give you a new one.”
I took the piece of paper that was supposed to be our schedule.
“You and Jaden will be in the same class so there is no need to give you two pieces of paper. I will see you later.”
“Bye Maria.”
Maria left and I closed the door. I looked at the schedule. We had six classes every day. Math, History, Alchemy, Magic Theory, Physical education and Magic Practice, those were the classes we had every week. From 8 o’clock to 12 o’clock, one hour lunch break and then from 1 o’clock to 3 o’clock. One class lasts for 50 minutes and we get a ten minute break.
“Here Jaden, you can have it.”
“You memorized it?”
“Yes, it’s not that hard, it’s the same every day. We have no classes in the weekends, is that when we do our homework?”
“Homework and studying.”
“Well it’s 7:30, we should get dressed and have breakfast.”
“Did a watch just appear in your hand?”
“Yes it did. Come on, get dressed.”
Well, they were surprised. In my previous world I checked the time before doing anything and I had the habit of checking the time at random intervals. I still believe that having a good perception of time is important.
I suppose it was time to get changed. It seems Jaden had his share of troubles. There were a lot of scars on his body, mostly cuts. His face was the only part on his body that wasn’t scarred.
His attitude towards me changed, he understood that it’s better not to piss me off.
It was really awkward to change with Mir present in the room. She was so alert I could feel her presence even after I went to the bathroom, she should just chill.
Jaden and I went to the canteen and Mir locked the door. The window was open so I could go inside without using the key if I wanted.
We had to take a tray with food and find a place to stay. Today’s menu was boiled eggs with a salad. It seems almost all tables were full.
“What now?”
“I will with some of my classmates, good luck finding a table.”
“Can’t I just go with you?”
“Since you decided to wear that uniform you became everyone’s target, staying with us may make us targets too. I don’t have many friends here and I want to keep the ones I have.”
Foolish thinking detected. I have a feeling that you already are a target and I know that Mir won’t be able to protect him if he is challenged by another student because of some stupid rules.
“I’m telling you now so I can say I told you later, people you consider friends might not think the same.”
There was a table free on the other side of the room. I left Jaden and ate there. It looks like I really gave him something to think about. I sat down and ate my food. Well, it’s almost time to go.
I brought the tray back and went to the school building. The third year’s classroom was on the second floor. My class was 203. The 2 was the floor’s number and the 3 was the year, pretty easy to remember.
The first thing I noticed when I entered the classroom was that there was no blackboard. The room looked more like an auditorium than a classroom. Some of the students who were here had pieces of paper or wood tablets with them. So what am I supposed to do? I have nothing to write on so I guess I will have to memorize what the teacher says and begin the search for books.
The only empty seats were on the front row. I sat in the middle of the row, right in front of the teacher’s desk.
The teacher was an old man with black hair who looked like he was going to fall asleep any moment.
The teacher told us about the basics of math. This was the first year we study math and the class was boring. Total recall worked on my memories before I got reincarnated so I already knew everything he had to say. It’s hard to understand how teaching math without a blackboard or a counting frame.
There was a variation of meditation I developed that allowed me to change my perception of time so the time passes faster than normal and I go in a meditative state while being semi-alert. If I want to stay here I will have to abuse this or I will die of boredom.
The History teacher was a bald scholar. The class was about the beginning of the first demon war. I knew most of the things from Ellen, the only new things were the dates of some of the events.
The class came to an end and we had to move to another room for our alchemy class. I heard that the alchemy class is mostly about potions and their effects.
The alchemy room had the same layout as the math room but there were plants and flasks all over the place. This time the teacher was a woman, an old lady with medium, white hair and a pleasant voice. Since this was the first class she told us about the people who created potions and why we should know how to make them. She talked about the Dark Knight, it is said that he was the one who discovered a potion called Primal Potion, a mix of plants that was able to enhance a human’s survival instinct, augmenting their senses and body for a few minutes. The potion was good because it didn’t have a downside so it could be consumed repeatedly.
We returned to our classroom for our magic theory class. This time our teacher was Maria. She told me that she was going to be my teacher at school but I thought that she was referring to dark magic training.
In class Maria talked about the difference in magic flows between humans and other races. Like demons have a different magic flow and can cast different spells other races have different affinities and abilities. Elves could influence plants, trees and animals, beastpeople can use advanced physical techniques, and dwarves can create magic weapons faster than any other race. That’s what she told us during class.
At the end of the class Maria came to me.
“We will begin training at midnight in the courtyard.”
“If you say so.”
“Good day.”
“Bye.”
Ellen told me that dark magic is mainly about sneaking but why did she call me at midnight, is she gonna teach me how to be invisible in the dark?
“Hey Alex, want to go to the courtyard?”
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“Sure.”
Jaden invited me to the courtyard, maybe we eat our lunch outside instead of going to the canteen.
I followed him to the courtyard. So is this the beginning of a mosh pit or maybe somebody angered Moses. The courtyard was divided in two, the students wearing blue uniforms on the left side and the ones wearing red uniforms on the right.
“Wearing the black uniform makes you the target of both sides.”
“Yeah, you made sure to tell me every chance you get.”
“I hoped that you might change your mind. It’s bad for… Look! There are two students fighting.”
There were two students of opposite faction getting ready to fight. Student A was a blue one and student B was a red one.
Student A started casting a spell while student B was getting ready to attack him. Ellen trained me to kill a magic user before he or she starts casting spells so from my point of view against a single enemy you just have to get close to him before he hits you with a spell and defeat him. That said it seems I was wrong, student A jumped away a few meters and managed to launch a fireball at student B before he could get close enough to hit him. The red ones tend to hate using magic other than body enchantment so I guess that’s normal compared to the blue ones that rely on magic more than physical strength.
“What was that about?”
“The blue student was a sixth year student and the red one was a fourth year, that’s how big the difference in power is.”
“He got knocked out by a fire ball, it’s like he didn’t even bother to dodge it.”
“You say it like you would’ve done better.”
“That’s right. If he were against me he would have been down before he had the time to jump back.”
“I brought you here to show you something like this so you understand what’s like being in this school.”
A fire ball as big as a basketball at that speed was easily avoidable, it’s hard for me to think that his reaction time is that bad. If a sixth year is that strong then I have little to worry about.
“So, when food?”
“That’s what the canteen is for.”
“It’s 12:45, we are almost out of time.”
“Shit, let’s eat.”
This bitch, he could have at least told me we were going to waste time looking at idiots fighting. Well now I know why nobody eats during lunch break, it’s the same food the serve in the morning. For me eating is almost optional but the food I eat gets converted into nutrients so it’s good to eat when I can. The question is: why do I have to eat leftovers when Jaden is eating steak?
“Yo, how come?”
“What?”
“You are eating steak and I’m eating this. Why?”
“Because Mir made it for me.”
Now that I think about it she was in the canteen when we arrived. So his parents bribed Liliana to let his maid cook. That’s what happens when you are poor and your roommate is rich.
Lunch break ended and we had to go to the courtyard to meet our PE teacher. The teacher was a long haired, muscular man. The rest of the students looked impressed, if they think this guy is cool then they would faint if they saw Kraft. This guy’s muscle mass is half of Kraft’s.
The PE class was about building endurance and stamina. Using magic generates mental and physical fatigue. The more difficult the spell is, the heavier the strain is on the user’s body. Those exercises included but were not limited to running and meditating.
The teacher tested our physical state by making us run around the courtyard until we fall. There weren’t many in our class who ran more than twenty minutes. Jaden and I were the only ones to actually last till the end of the class. He used body enchantment to keep up with me but it was quite a feat.
After PE we had magic practice. The class was held in the courtyard for safety purposes.
The teacher was the head of the boy’s dorm. He is supposed to watch us practicing magic and tell us what to do. Watching 30 students practicing magic is really difficult, I feel pity for him.
The teacher told me to find something to do, Liliana must have told him I don’t have any experience with dark magic.
I watched the students attacking the teacher with magic. Every magic element had a defensive spell. The teacher used light magic to create a shield that absorbed spells. When Ellen enchanted my watch she used light magic because it’s resistance to other elements is the highest. So my teacher used a light shield so I will use a dark shield or just use my watch as a shield since the teacher can’t move while using it.
The last class came to an end. Now I should go to sleep and relax before meeting Maria tonight.
Jaden and I returned to our room.
“Any opinions about your first day of school?”
“Boring, the alchemy class was the only interesting one.”
“I have to read what I wrote in class to understand.”
“R.I.P. I memorized everything, if you have something you don’t know tell me.”
“I will. What did our teacher want with you?”
“Maria Hyn is her name.”
“Wait, how do you know, nobody knows her family name.”
“It’s magic. I can see certain things. For example you can use both wind and fire magic but you didn’t use fire magic during practice.”
“But…How…”
Well he was so surprised he needed to buffer a little. Given the fact that I seem to know something only Liliana knows and his magic elements it’s normal to be speechless.
“Say something! It’s not like you to stay silent.”
“What do you expect me to say?”
“YELL!”
“WHY?”
“WHY NOT!”
And so began the story about two students yelling in the dorm We just yelled at each other instead of speaking normally. The best part was when the teacher came and yelled at us for yelling saying that we disturb the peace. For some reason I started laughing and immediately so did Jaden. The teacher was yelling, we were laughing and this continued for some time.
“We…are so dead.” Said Jaden while breathing heavily.
“It’s fine. Ha, ha. If something happens Liliana will help me. Ow, my stomach hurts.”
“You can’t handle a good laugh?”
“I couldn’t handle the teacher. He actually thought that yelling will be a good way to shut us up. It really hurts, you know.”
“I really screwed up, second day and I already got lectured.”
“Ah, much better. It’s fine, he won’t expel us. I told you, if something happens blame it on me, it will be worth it. An old man yelling like a little girl at two kids thinking he will make them shut up.”
“It was fun.”
“It’s already 10, you should go to sleep.”
“You still didn’t answer me.”
“Training. She will help me develop my dark magic skills.”
“Ah, OK.”
Jaden changed in his pajamas and went to sleep and I went to the rooftop. I don't know why Maria called me at midnight but it's not my place to ask.