I thought that keeping both Black Blood and Shadow Step would be easy since I have considerable more magic than the average magician, oh boy was I wrong. I’ve used both of them every day until the end of the summer break and the side effects were severe: intense pain, partial paralysis and a lot of mental fatigue. It looks like maintaining the spells 24/7 didn’t do much good. Oh well, at least my magic pool increased. I need to stress test my powers in order to get better, that meaning real combat.
I’ve learnt a lot of things during this summer break and I was also reminded that this is a school. On 21 of August it was my birthday, meaning that I lived in this world for eight years. So yeah, the only thing I got for my birthday was congratulations. I didn’t expect a party but I did expect something from my parents but it didn’t happen, talk about disappointment.
Oh well; time passed and so did the summer break. Now I was a fourth year student and once again the only student wearing the black uniform.
When the testing took place I saw kids that could only be described as wealthy being rejected due to their lack of talent for magic. In a book about magic I found an interesting piece of information: magical power is heavily dependent on a person’s intelligence. The blue uniform wearing students seem a little smarter than the red ones so I guess it is at least partially true.
“Hey you, stay right there!”
New year, new problems. As the only student wearing the black uniform I was considered one of the bosses. Since the second day of school students in lower grades than mine tried to fight me; some people just don’t understand that me being the strongest student here wasn’t due to luck and so they try to fight me. I have nothing against beating a few people but this is a Friday for God’s sake. So yeah, now I have to teach that guy a lesson and go to class; who even fights so early in the morning?
“Oh boy, another one comes to get beaten up.”
Not much to say about this boy. A 10 year old boy in…second year I think. He was wearing the red uniform and is holding a dagger in his right hand. He looked really angry but between that unusually long black hair and the difference in our height I couldn’t really take him seriously. I remember back when I trained with Kraft, this is going in the same direction, the younger one will lose. The dagger he is holding is a copper dagger, so basically a trashy dagger. I don’t know if you can call it a training weapon. The students around me got scared when they saw the weapon but I was calm, a Threat Level 0 can’t hurt me.
“Now get ready!”
The boy charged at me. I could just get out of the way but I feel a little lazy today so I will not dodge. The boy swung his dagger aiming for my neck. He was lacking in both speed and technique, a cut should be quick and clean. I used my right hand to catch the dagger’s blade, activated Black Blood and crushed the blade in my hand. Surprisingly enough my palm was cut by the dagger. Even if it’s just a flesh wound it’s still something, oh well it will heal in a few seconds. That kid was an idiot; if he had brought an iron dagger instead I wouldn’t have humiliated him like that. My body still hurts a little bit because of the overuse of magic but I can deal with it.
“Is that enough or do you want to continue?”
“No…I…”
He was shocked. You don’t usually use a weapon you have zero confidence in. Thanks to my aura he didn’t feel threatened by my question; he just left with his head hanging. There wasn’t really anything to be embarrassed about; this was the first time I broke an opponent’s weapon.
After the morning exercise I finally got to class. The schedule hasn’t changed much from last year. The biggest difference is that our Alchemy professor will teach us a little biology. The quantity of information we are given is low. As I said before: the teachers waste our time and the students aren’t paying attention.
The first class was the Math class. The teacher was trying to make the students understand the difference between the parentheses and square brackets. I can’t understand why is it so hard to understand that you do the semi circle things before doing the square things. I understand that these things can be hard to understand by some people but fuck man, this has been going on for five days. I am usually a patient man but there are things even I can’t stand so since day three I always do in my semi-meditative state and fast forward the time, basically I look like I sleep in class.
Today was no exception. I was just minding my own business screaming internally when hearing the stupid questions some students asked. One student asked if the square brackets transformed the addition in a subtraction; that was the moment I slammed my head on the desk, the sound it made was quite impressive.
The teacher suddenly stopped talking in the middle of an explanation. Damn, the silence feels so good. After a few moments I felt a hand on my shoulder and then that person began shaking me. My eyes were closed and I really want them to remain that way.
“I’m not asleep.” I said without opening my eyes.
“Good, I have something to talk to you about.”
HUH! That voice, it was Maria; what’s she doing in my classroom? I quickly got up and looked at her. For some reason the students were scared stiff and the teacher wasn’t saying anything. I knew that people are scared of Maria for reasons that are still unknown to me but I didn’t expect it to be like this.
“The headmistress wishes to see you. Go to her on lunch break.”
I have a class with her before lunch break, she could have told me then so why didn’t she wait until then?
“Couldn’t you wait until after Magic Theory class?”
“I will not be teaching today, the headmistress sent me on some errands.”
If that’s what she says I will not pry any further, it’s not like she is going to disappear.
“Very well, I will go.”
I gave a serious nod along with my answer. She looks serious and when she’s like this my playing around just annoys her plus we are still in class. Being serious from time to time is the least I can do.
After Maria left class continued like nothing happened. The lunch break came; I’m surprised that nobody had the balls to ask me. Since Maria was absent there was no Magic Theory class today, so sad.
As instructed I’m heading to Liliana’s office. I hope the reason I’m called isn’t the fight from today.
“And here I am.” I said when I opened the door.
There were three people in the office. One of them was Maria and the other two were a man and a teenage girl, the man and the girl weren’t human, they were elves. Elves are the only race with ears so long and pointy. When they heard me they turned to face me.
The girl was one head and neck smaller than me meaning she was about 1.60 meters tall. She had emerald green hair, waist long. Her eyes had the same emerald green color but their anatomy seemed a little different. Her sclera was either fused with her iris or it matched the color of her iris tough I find it difficult to believe. Her face could only be described as cute or innocent. Her skin was white, almost like a porcelain doll. Contrary to her face she had the body of a model: a big chest, D cup, slim legs, slim arms, flat tummy and a small waist, a body that spelled beauty. The clothes she was wearing showed so much skin that there was little left to the imagination. She had a T-shirt that only covered the upper part of her abdomen and a mini skirt that put its empathy on the word mini.
The man, however, was taller than me. He had short, brown hair matching his eye color. He was wearing some kind of robe, a blouse and a pair of pants. For a man he was quite beautiful but that serious and paranoid face of his ruined his beauty. On his back he had a bow and a quiver filled with arrows and a dagger hanging on his waist.
There was something about their clothes that troubled me; they looked like they were made out of leaves. Let’s see, one scan aaaand……The clothes were actual leaves, Elder Tree leaves. Holy mother of clothes, the leaves were held together by magic forming clothes, that’s amazing. I can genuinely say that I’m impressed.
Now let’s see who you really are miss elf: Name: Elesya, Race: High Elf, Age: 100 years, Threat Level: 1, Usable Magic: Nature Magic.
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“So you are finally here Alexander.”
“Yup! So, what’s up?”
“Miss Elesya will be joining us as a fourth year student. She is a relative of the ruler of Fee Forest.”
Umm…If I remember correctly Fee was a word in my previous world? Oh yeah, its meaning was [Fairy] so basically a fairy in a Fairy forest.
“As I said Elesya is the daughter of a noble elf. She wishes to learn more about humans so I agreed to allow her to study here as a special student.”
“I see. So why did you call me here?”
“At the moment you are our strongest student and I want you to show her around, that’s your first job. Your second job is to try to protect her from the close-minded students.”
“Got it.”
“Um…I am Elesya, nice to meet you.”
Even her voice is sweet and full of innocence. When she spoke to me I felt like she was soothing my soul, elves truly are something else.
“I am Alexander Lowe, the pleasure is mine.”
I extended my right arm for a handshake. When our hands touched I heard some static noise in my head and I got a headache. The pain was so intense that I knelled and put a hand on my head. The pain disappeared after a second but I was still a little dizzy.
“Are you all right?”
I tried getting up. When I looked up at Sya my vision was blocked by static, literally some grey points in my field of view, it feels like I’m watching something on an old TV.
After shaking my head a few times my vision returned to normal but what I saw scared me so bad that I instantly jumped back.
“What the fuck are you?”
After hearing me Sya hid behind the man’s back. When she hid her clothes changed, covering everything but her head. The man looked like he was ready to kill me anytime. The reason she hid must be my reaction to seeing her true form. Her cheeks, right arm, left hand, and left feet were covered in scales, green lizard scales. Somehow she hid her true form. This is the second time it happened. This is just like the time I met Astrid, I am seeing both forms.
That’s not important right now, I have to apologize for my reaction to the elf who was hiding behind the other one. I quickly regained my composure and faced her.
“I’m sorry for that, it all happened so fast and I was caught off guard.”
“Alex, what exactly happened?” asked Liliana .
“Remember the vampire; it’s almost the same thing: I can see her true form. I was dizzy and when I saw the scales on her I was surprised. I didn’t expect a High Elf to have scales.”
“High…Elf?”
Sya slowly left her hiding space and went in front of me. Now she’s not scared but curious, so curious that her ears perked up a little; what a cute reaction.
“Did I say something strange?”
“Elesya’s mother was raped by a lizardman and got pregnant, as you can guess that kid was Elesya. Because of the demon blood in her, her appearance changed and she is treated as a half-breed and not a High Elf.” answered Liliana.
“So what’s wrong with calling her a High Elf; that’s what she is.”
“You brat don’t understand a thing do you?”
The elf male finally said something, his voice full of anger.
“Once a demon, always a demon! Her demon side will take over, that’s how it is.”
I detect a hint of sadness in his voice, he doesn’t seem to be her father but he may be a friend of acquaintance.
“Alex, did you use the power of your eyes to get a read on her race?” Liliana asked an interesting question.
“Yeah, of course I did.”
“Then maybe…it is only a…partial transformation?”
“Slow down Liliana!”
“Ah sorry, I was lost in thought. Can you check again; this is important!”
“OK. Sya, don’t move.”
I put my hand on Sya’s cheek. Both my scan and dark transfer detected no anomalies in her, whatever happened before it stopped for good.
“Nothing is wrong with her, whatever happened in the past remained in the past. She is a High Elf and you know full well that my eyes are always right.”
Sya and Liliana’s expressions softened while the man looked at me like I was some kind of monster. It’s understandable, not many people can say what I said with full confidence.
“[My eyes are always right], what is that supposed to mean?” asked Sya.
“Alex is a little like you, his body is different than the one of a human but he is a human.”
“How?”
“His magic channels lack a center; usually only demons lack a center…Oh and he was also exposed to the vampire’s bite, you can notice by looking at his hair color.”
“I see.”
“Yo, let me finish. Listen here Sya, when enough magic is gathered in my eyes I can obtain information about the things I see. Get it, you 100 year old girl?”
“Huh?” Well, she froze. I guess that telling her age was enough to make her rethink her opinion of me.
“Is it true, I will not transform in a demon?” asked Sya with big, teary eyes.
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying all this time! Why is it so hard to understand?”
When she heard my answer she visibly relaxed and her clothes returned to normal. Where did the extra leaves come from anyway? Well at least now she looks more energetic.
“Human, I don’t trust you but I will entrust you with keeping Elesya safe.” looks like the man finally gave up and accepted the offer.
“Alexander, once again, please take care of me.” said a now fully energetic Sya.
“Well, I will try my best. If you have any questions just ask and will try to answer them.”