Chapter 38.

PART 1.

After their nap, Hatori and his friends wake up, and finally take a look at their room.

There were five beds with curtains, and a rack after their beds, where they decided to place their trunks. Beyond that, there was a bathroom, complete with multiple showers and a changing room. Separate from that, there is a toilet.

“Don’t you guys think this is creepy?” asked Josh. “We’re five, and there are only five beds here.”

“Maybe someone removed the final bed.” Suggested Raven.

“Or the room was designed for five kids in mind from the beginning.” Speculated Shin.

“Whatever. Let’s go out. I wanna see more of this Academy.” Said Josh, already walking out the door.

“Yeah, me too. I’ve heard too many stories. I want to see whether it is as great as everyone describes it or not.” Raven followed Josh.

The remaining three boys followed them as well, with Hatori muttering to himself. “If Zeko’s warnings, and the behavior of the professors is any indication, this place is going to be very dangerous.”

“I agree.” Said James, walking to his right. “We’ll need to be on our toes.”

By this time, the classes of the older students are over. Unlike the firsties, they don’t get a full day off when they arrive. Which makes sense, given they arrive earlier than them. coming out of the dormitories, they stop because a girl called Hatori’s name.

“Hey, long time no see.” Said Daphne, walking towards them.

“Yeah. did you come here with different professors?” asked Hatori.

“Yes.” She nodded. Then she introduces the girls with her. “You already know Ravina.”

“How’re you doing?” She extended a hand, which Hatori received. “And this is Maria Asato.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Hatori Eagle.” Hatori introduces himself.

“Nice to meet you. You don’t seem to be from Nihon, though.” She said.

“No.” said Hatori, too confused to say anything more. What the hell is Nihon? And how does it taste? And why does it sound so familiar?

After their meeting with Daphne, Josh began to tease Hatori. “Soooo. When did you start to meet girls?” He asked.

“Zeko took me to her home for dinner.” This made Josh’s grin broader.

“Guess you left an impression on her, eh?” He asked.

“Probably.” Hatori responded, not behaving like he was supposed to. How are you going to have fun while teasing someone, if they don’t act embarrassed?

“…” Josh and Raven exchanged a look. They nodded together. That entire thing went over their friend’s head.

“Cool. A library.” Said Shin. “Definitely worth checking out.”

“Yeah, let’s—” Shin dragged Hatori away.

“Later. Later I meant, right Josh?” He said while dragging a protesting Hatori.

“A music room.” Said James.

“Yeah. But again, we’ll go in there later. We’re just browsing right now.” Said Shin.

The library and music room were clustered together. Nearby, there was a stair going up. “Should we go to the next floor?” Raven considers the stairs.

“Let’s get familiar with the ground floor first.” Suggested Josh.

“Oh look, another dormitory.” Said Shin.

“There’s a warning. Do not go inside if you’re a firstie, if you value your life.” Raven reads the warning.

“I value my life, and I’m leaving.” Said Hatori firmly.

Getting outside, they find the ground. The ground is surrounded by forests, and a small stream flows through it. “Are there any fishes in there?” Shin tries to look, but doesn’t spot any.

“I doubt it. But we’ll look later.” said Raven.

“Well, look who we found.” Said a familiar voice.

“Hello, Suresh.” Said Hatori.

“Recognized me, eh?” He said. “I saw you near the older students dormitory. It was a good decision not to enter there.”

“Yeah, I like living, thanks.” Suresh and his friends laughed at this response from Hatori.

“Mind introducing us to your new friends?” asked Ramesh.

After the introductions were concluded, (which I skipped because I’m not paid enough to narrate all that,) Suresh resumes their earlier topic. “You kids need to be very careful. At any given time, there are tons of machinations running here. If you get caught in the middle of them, the chances of death are quite high.”

“Chances of permanent crippling are even higher.” Added Nilesh.

“I’m considering sealing myself in my room.” Said Shin.

“Hahaha. Don’t worry. You’re life is not in danger during the day, until you reach the third year. However, you should avoid staying out in the night after dinner.” Explains Suresh. “There are all kinds of attempts on life are going on at that time.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. This should be a place of learning, right?” asked Hatori.

Pinching his cheek, Suresh replies. “That is only an illusion. Let me tell you, kid, people in academia, especially in the mage world, are quite vicious and petty.” He patted him on the head. “It’ll be painful, but you’ll learn.”

“Just stay inside during the night. No one can touch you during the day, but in the night, accidents can happen, now, can’t they?” said Ramesh, and they all walked away, leaving a shaken group of kids behind.

PART 2.

After breakfast the next day, Hatori plans to visit the library. However, his plan has to be postponed, after he sees the schedule of the day. “And we have to follow this for an entire year?” He said after reading it.

“Yep.” Said Josh. “Looks like we’re gonna be quite busy.”

For a moment, Hatori imagine the classes as an army encroaching on his territory. With Zeko, he has gotten used to getting a lot of free time to pursue his interests, despite his brutal training regime. But here, it seems, every second of his time will be monopolized by classes and studying.

“As long as you can clear the exams, you can do whatever you want.” Reminded Nandan’s voice in Hatori’s head.

Thus reassured, he follows his friends into history class. The classroom was located on the next floor, the stairs to get to that floor they already found yesterday. Although they would love to explore this floor more, they don’t have time, as the class is about to begin.

Hatori tries to remember the path to the classroom. The entire floor seems to be filled with other classrooms, which are currently in use. He does not want to enter the wrong classroom by mistake. Thus, he reminds himself that after climbing the stairs, the classroom of history is located to the north. To get there, he must turn left, and then take a right turn.

After having enough of his muttering, Raven slaps him. “Enough of that. We’ll take you wherever you need to go. So stop muttering like that.”

“But you guys can be busy—” Raven slaps him, this time on the other cheek.

“Then someone else will take you. There are four of us. I’m sure at least one of us can help you. Right guys?” He asked.

“Right.” They all said, including James, who speaks rarely.

Entering the classroom, all five of them quickly take over the three desks. James is the odd one out, so he shares his desk with another boy. After all the students are settled, the professor enters. “Good morning class.” She greets them.

“Good morning, professor.” They replied.

“I’m professor Amrita Bhagwati, and I will teach you history this year.” She introduces herself.

Hatori notes that she sounds somewhere in her twenties, but he then remembers the lecture by Zeko about the lifespan of mages. Meaning, she could be older than she sounds. The professor lifts a curtain from a device in the front of the class, which they ignore in their haste, to quickly settle down before the professor arrives.

“To help me teach you, this device will assist me. As we go over important points in history, we will see the scenes on this device, in which you will see the places and people I’m talking about. You will also see the effects of a spell, if a lesson demands it.” She lifts another curtain from another strange device, located even further in the classroom.

“This device will help you understand the movement of armies, and their tactics and logistics, if a lesson involves some military movement. Spoilers, there will be a lot of them.”

The students chuckled at her joke. “Now, tell me. What do you understand by history? What is history, and why should we study it?”

“History is the collection of events which have already happened.” Said a familiar voice.

‘So, Avinash is in our group, huh?’ Hatori thinks, while Ravina answers the other part of the question.

“It is important to study history, to not repeat the same mistakes.” She said.

“Excellent points. But as mages, there’s another point for studying history.” Said professor Bhagwati. “As we advance our knowledge of magecraft and our understanding of the world grows with it, we often abandon other methods or spells from the past. However, it is important to understand why we stopped using them, because sometimes, new discoveries can be made from the past.”

“Interesting class. Wasn’t it?” said Shin while walking out of the classroom.

“Yeah. I never thought it could be so interesting to study history.” Josh said in agreement.

“Wait until they start to tell us about ancient laws. I’m sure your happiness won’t last long.” All five boys walked in silence after this revelation of James.

The math class is located in front of the history class, though you need to walk to the right side to get to it, since it is closer to the staircase. This time, Hatori didn’t mutter. Though he kept memorizing the way to the classroom.

Unlike the classroom of the history, there was no fancy device here. On the front wall, there was one blackboard, and that was it. Once more, James shares the desk with the boy from history class, though he kind of gets the feeling that he is different somehow. Meanwhile, Hatori is trying to sense Avinash in class. He found him sitting in the very front, while he’s sitting in the middle, in a different row from him.

The professor enters, and once more, the students are quiet. “Good morning, class.” She greets. “I’m Amelia Davis, your professor of mathematics.”

Once more, Hatori gets the feeling from her voice that she’s somewhere in her twenties, though this time, he didn’t need to remember the lectures of Zeko. Judging from her accent and name, she is not from around here. ‘So, the Academy hires professors from all around the world. Back there, it would have caused such an uproar.’

“Math is important for understanding magic at a deeper level, and designing new uses of magic, from developing new spells, to even designing entire new systems of magic. I can talk about this all day long, but here’s a demonstration.” She brings out her foci, which appears to be a pen. With a flick of her wrist, there is a small explosion of fire in the class.

Feeling a threat, Hatori fires several stinging spells. The professor dodged them all. “Easy now, Mr. Hatori.” With a sheepish expression, he sits down.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Here’s what I did. I changed the ratio of gasses in the air, and with just a small spark, you saw what happened. This is what mathematics of magic is all about.”

“Did you really need to attack her?” asked Josh, now going downstairs for the potions.

“I thought she was attacking us.” Said Hatori. “Also, I kind of got scared. So I decided that victory was beyond fear.”

“Yeah, please don’t make a habit of it.” requested Raven.

“… Can’t make any promises.” Muttered Hatori.

“At this rate, some professor is going to kill us.” Said Shin, while everyone agreed, except Hatori.

The classroom for potions is located in an isolated part of the ground floor. After entering the room, Hatori feels as if he entered in a room where air conditioning is heavily used. Thankfully, unlike the classrooms above, this room is not very hard to locate. It is located in the path of going to the ground. They are surprised that they actually ignored it yesterday during their exploration.

On each desk, there are two cauldrons, freshly ready to be used. As the students settle down, the professor enters. The narrator is getting bored describing this same thing, just in case you didn’t know.

What? You say I spoke too soon? Fine. With the professor there is another person. Hatori remembers this feeling of magic. “Good morning class. I’m Dhiraj Bishnoi, your professor of potions and alchemy.” It seems all the professors follow the same script. “With me is my slave—”

“apprentice!” corrected the said slave, who happens to be a male, or a woman with a man like voice.

“—Shut up!” Sighing, Dhiraj resumes his introduction. “Apprentice, who will be actually teaching you, unless there’s a disaster due to his incompetency.”

The students remain quiet, not sure what to make of that entire byplay. “Anyway, that concludes the introduction. I’m busy with something, you handle everything.” Dhiraj walks into another door, located in the place of the blackboard.

“Bastard, he even forgot to introduce me.” He seethed. “Ahem. I’m Sultan Khan, and you will learn potions under me, because last time we tried to start firsties with alchemy, the results were disastrous… for them.”

“Now, tell me. What do you know about potions?” asked Sultan.

“A liquid brewed through magic, with use of animal parts and plants to achieve various effects.” Said James.

“Correct. Though I must tell you, not every solution is liquid. It is also possible to create pills, which do achieve the same effects as potions.” Said Sultan. “Now, brewing potions can be dangerous. Wrong ingredients at the wrong time, or even the use of magic can upset the delicate balance, which usually explodes or has some other disastrous effect. For now, I will work on familiarizing you with the common ingredients, and then we will start brewing some basic potions.”

It is time for lunch. While they made their way to the mess hall, they all realized that they would never look at their food the same way again. Who knew that the daily things which they eat can be used for creating potions?

After postponing his visit to the library due to his classes, Hatori finally has some free time to explore it. After all, he has a whole hour free, since potions class was over at 1 o’clock today, and he got done with lunch at 1:45.

The library is bigger than the one at King’s castle. Though Hatori supposes that the castle might just have a bigger library, he just hasn’t seen it. Hatori checks out books about mages who are just starting out. He picks up a book at random.

“Greetings.” He nearly sliced the book in two due to surprise. “This book is about exploration of magic through runes. Please open to check the table of contents.”

‘That was helpful.’ He thought, and picks up another book.

“Greetings. This book is about mathematical exploration of magic.”

“Greetings. This tome is about magical improvement through physical and mental methods.”

“This book is about simpler spells, beyond Knockback.”

“This book is about enchanting and breaking enchantments.”

“Advance wards and How to Break Them, please do check out how to break basic wards first if you lack the necessary knowledge.”

After that, Josh and Shin dragged him out of the library. “You should relax before our other class begins.” They said.

At 3 o’clock, their next class begins. The class is located near the dormitory of the older students. “Welcome students, I’m Amarjeet Advani, professor of conjuring and transmutation.” He introduced himself. “Before you can conjure things, you must learn transmutation. Transmutation itself is a deep field, if you can develop your skill in this field, you can even change your shape, and be called a shapeshifter.”

“Can you shapeshift, Professor?” asked Hatori.

“Indeed.” To demonstrate, he transformed into a perfect copy of Hatori, complete with missing eyeballs.

He continues on Hatori’s voice. “Today, we will try to change the color of a small object. For this, we will use these red balls to turn into blue ones.”

“I feel like there’s a joke there somewhere, but I don’t get it.” Muttered Hatori.

At the end of the class, no one succeeds in changing the color of their ball. However, some of the students do manage to change the shade of their balls a little. Meanwhile, Hatori has trouble getting the right shade, because he can’t get the correct pattern of light reflection to produce the blue color.

The final class of the day is located in the large hall built in the ground. “Welcome, I’m Bali Deol, and we will learn magical combat in this class.” Said Bali.

“You will see weapons around you in this room. Weapons are important for a mage, for they can often act as an offensive foci in a combat situation.” The professor goes to the weapons rack. “Try these different weapons, see how they feel in your hands. Later, you will be sparring, training, and will some combat spells from my apprentice Darshan.”

Once this last class is over, the children breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, their classes are over for a day. They all look forward to their rest, some of them more than others.

PART 3.

After lazing around for three whole hours, they all make their way to the mess hall for dinner, exchanging greetings with Daphne and some other classmates, and barely acknowledging the presence of Avinash when they come across each other. James and Shin are confused by this entire byplay, but they understand that they have prior history with each other, so decide to ignore it.

Right outside of the mess hall, the group nearly runs into an older man. “Kids these days. Has no one taught you that you shouldn’t block a professor’s path? Idiots.” He scolded them harshly.

For a moment, they all are rooted on their spot out of shock. This professor is unknown to them, but the professors with whom they have their classes don’t seem to be like this guy at all.

A third year student watched this entire event happening. “Ignore him. He might be a professor, but he doesn’t teach anything.” He whispered to them and entered the mess hall.

Getting out of their shock, they followed him inside.

PART 4.

During dinner, while Hatori is enjoying the desert, a yantra walks to their table. “Letter for Mr. Hatori.” It said in a monotone voice.

extending his hand, the yantra puts the letter in front of Hatori. Going over the letter quickly, Hatori extends his hand once more. “I believe you have something else for me as well.”

“Indeed sir.” Said the yantra. He gives Hatori a vial. “From now on, I will deliver this potion according to my instruction during breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” Having said that, the yantra walks away.

“So, what does the letter say?” asked Josh.

“Why don’t you read it for yourself?” Hatori hands over the letter to Josh, while making face at the sour taste of the potion. Good thing his desert still remains half eaten. He will need it to improve the taste of his mouth after drinking this potion.

Josh begins to read the letter.

> Boy, You know, as your master, I take your development seriously. Don’t think that just because you are far away from me, you’ll get to relax. You should check out the library immediately. Look for these books specifically.

The list of books appears as blank to Josh, so he begins to read the next part of the letter.

> Also, do monitor your diet strictly, and do take the nutrition potion on time. It will be delivered to you during your three meals of the day. do not skip them, for I’ll know if you did, and will punish you accordingly. -Zeko.

Everyone shivered after hearing that part; even though James and Shin have no experience of dealing with Zeko directly, he sounds like a terrifying guy. They have heard his names once or twice, to scare the children. That does not help their composure either.

“Didn’t took him as a mothering hen.” Said Hatori, terrifying them even further.

After getting over his shock, Shin smiles. It seems he’ll get to live an interesting life as long as he spends his time around Hatori.

PART 5.

Stuffed full of the delicious dinner which the author is too lazy to describe, (and has my favor because it makes my job of narrating easier), Shin and Hatori discuss Shin’s training regiment to teach him dueling, and move like Hatori without the use of his eyes.

“So, judging by our busy schedule, we won’t have time to assess you in the day. So we must do it in the morning, before breakfast.” Said Hatori, sitting on Shin’s bed, planning for the next day.

“Hmm. Six in the morning sounds good. What do you think, should we start with it tomorrow?” He asked, his hair jingling.

“Why not?” Hatori enjoys this attitude. No more of people telling him to do it later. “We’ll start with what kind of spells you already can use, and then a mock duel to see how you react in the heed of the situation.”

“Can’t you stop? We had a long day already.” Complained Josh from his bed.

“Sounds good. What about the movement training?” asked Shin.

Josh groaned. “Let it go Josh, they’re not listening to you at this point.” consoled Raven.

“Well, first we’ll start with moving around this room. Then, some larger spaces outside, and then leave you free to explore it on your own.” said Hatori. He leans closer. “And maybe, some book might help us in refining this later.” He whispered.

“Yeah, but it’ll be nice if they listened.” Said Josh.

“And then, we’ll become the most powerful mages in the world! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!” They both began to cackle, imagining, grinding their enemies to dust, and exploring the universe after leaving this planet.

Meanwhile, Raven and Josh made peace with the fact that they’re not going to get any sleep. But James watched the conversation intrigued, wondering how to open up the topic of his own participation in this training.

(End.)