CHAPTER 21: SCHOLARSHIPS P4
~21.4~
*****
“Hold out your hand toward Princess Kye.” Lily did so herself after Yami did. “Now, feel your sister’s power. Focus on not her body, but the divine mana swirling around her.”
“Okay.”
After a moment, “Now, zoom in on the energy particles. Use your own mana to enhance your senses. Your eyesight, hearing, and so forth.”
“Zoom in?”
“Remember how we taught you to mentally cast magic? Imagine the magic and think the incantation if you need to?”
“Yes.”
“Do the same here.” Lily glanced at the rest of the class and said, “You should be following these instructions, too, if you can,” then returned to guiding Yami. “It will become second nature with time. So far, you have been sensing mana only at the surface. This is why Princess Kye always tests you with rounded numbers - so that you can reach one hundred percent accuracy. But now, you can’t rely on that alone.”
“Okay.”
“Imagine a microscope. In your mind, put her power on the slide and look in. Zoom in until you can see every individual mote.”
Using Liliana’s guidance, Yami could see. She saw what she considered to be an inhuman amount of aether. “It’s so... beautiful...” Yami’s eyes and body were glowing blue. She was using her own aether to read Kye’s. “I’ll need time to practice with this to get it down, but I can give a rough estimate now.”
Kye nodded and said, “Okay. Take your best shot.”
“7500T.”
The rest of the class gasped again with wide eyes. “What the-” “How in the world?!” “That’s insane!”
Kye smiled. “Good work, I’m actually outputting 7025T right now.” She dispersed her aether, stepped closer, and placed a hand on Yami’s shoulder. “You are keeping up with our brother. I’m proud of you, little sister.”
Yami timidly looked Kye in the eyes. “Aneue?”
“Hmm?”
“How in the world is this even possible?”
“What do you mean?”
“Since you were very little, you’ve done crazy, ridiculous things. You invented aethersteel just because regular materials couldn’t withstand your white mana. You are so strong. Your mana prowess is literally unmatched, and your ability to manipulate divine mana is so great that you are teaching elder royals, even Aunt Allison!”
“Yeah.”
“Do you not understand how significant that is? A STUDENT taught the most powerful person in the entire empire how to do something significant!”
Kye laughed dryly, “Well, she didn’t require much teaching. She has taught me far more than I’ve taught her, and I only really shared an idea of how to do things. She figured it out from there.”
“Even so. Your accomplishments are unprecedented! You’re an instructor and a student at the same time! Your mana, magic, and combat abilities are out of this world, and your grades are literally perfect scores across the board. It’s... to say I’m proud of you, Aneue, is an understatement. I don’t know how to emphasize it enough.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Kye scratched the back of her head. “Well, I imagine people would have thought the same thing about Allison when she was young. Shifts in the world’s paradigm are inevitable. It was only a matter of time before someone like me came along and shook everything up. We can talk more about this later if you’d like. Want to have dinner together tonight?”
Yami nodded with a hesitant smile.
“Okay.” Kye smiled. “We’ll have something especially good!”
*****
Immediately after school let out for the day, Kye, Luma, and company went to Elea and met with the senior clergy, then the Akaishi royals. Luma explained in detail the acceptance and scholarships for the Slayer Academy.
“I have a few people in mind that I met last night at the Tall Tree,” Kye said. “One is a cat girl named Lestia. She’s a hostess, but I clocked her, and I think she should be offered a scholarship. Also, there was a slave, a dog girl, that I want to buy and free. She has a lot of potential, too. She was concealing her mana from her owner, likely afraid he would demand more from her.”
That dog girl has a lot of potential, maybe more than Lestia.
“I see,” Luma said. She grimaced at the thought of slavery. “I’ll provide the funds personally to liberate this girl.” She held out a clanging sack. “And we can always use force if this isn’t enough.”
Kye shrugged. “I’d rather not, but I’m not taking no for an answer.”
With the two in agreement, the group teleported to the Tall Tree and tracked down Lestia. The cat girl was taken aback when she heard their offer. “You want me to attend the Slayer Academy? I... I’m not so sure. I don’t really have any combat ability, and my stats are really low.”
Kye shook her head. “I peeked last night. Your stats are well above average.”
“Huh?” She stepped back. “Are you certain you were looking at mine?”
“Yeah.” Kye nodded. “Your STR was 72.”
Surprised, Lestia confirmed, “That’s correct.”
“Normal is around 30. <
MAG and MP are literally just mana output and capacity. The numbers are a little lopsided... I didn’t think about it before, but something seems a little off. The disparity between physical and magical stats shouldn’t be so drastic. I didn’t design it that way. The MAG and MP should be converted to a more reasonable number... hell... mana in of itself should be more inline, too. I should’ve designed the system a little differently... Too late now. What was I thinking? I was a much younger Elysia when I designed the system. I’ve lived many lives since then, so naturally I’d have more experience to draw from now... I shouldn’t be hard on past me. Anyway...
“So, what do you think?” Kye asked. “The scholarship covers tuition, living arrangements, and an allowance. You can go through whatever courses you want.”
“I don’t know...” Lestia was hesitant. The Slayer Academy was solely a human institution, and she knew all too well how humans treated demihumans. Especially the lecherous men that eyed demihuman women for nothing more than personal pleasure. “I think the idea of bridging the gap between humans and demihumans is great, but I’m...”
“I understand the idea of going to a school that is known to only teach humans is a bit scary,” Luma said, “so if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. This is just an offer. I also understand it may be somewhat hypocritical coming from a human when-”
“Oh, no no no!” Lestia stopped Luma short. Kye eyed Luma with a suspicious gaze. “Please don’t say that, Lady Luma. I don’t think it’s hypocritical at all coming from you! You’re the Sword Saint who has fought and defended all of Elea, not just humans.”
Luma smiled in return.
“If I may,” Liliana said. Kye nodded. “Miss Lestia, I am Liliana Venturi, an attendant of Lady Kye.”
“Yes, I remember you from last night, Miss-”
“Lady,” Kye interjected. “She’s a royal, too.”
Lestia nodded. “Lady Liliana.”
“Since we were young children, I have followed my lady and observed her accomplishments. She has an excellent eye for talent and only chooses people who have the potential to bring change on a grander scale.” Liliana rattled off example after example, many from past lives.
Aww, I love you, too, Lily.
“And,” she continued. “Lady Luma, if you would be willing to share a certain secret, you may very well improve demihuman relations much more quickly.”
*****
Revision: 2024-7-31