Chapter 29 The Icy Rage
Why are they looking at me like I’m some unicorn? I only wrote three words with my eyes closed, and considering how long it took, it’s not very impressive. At least my handwriting improved with my new body. I have nearly perfect handwriting despite writing with my eyes closed. But yet again, perfect handwriting wouldn’t insight this reaction. Evernya thought, fidgeting while stroking her tail.
A minute later, Thomas broke the silence as he questioned with excitement leaking through his professional facade, “Do you have any idea what you drew?”
“Yeah, it says to track and destroy. What does that mean? I have a good idea what it does, but I am hoping I’m wrong.” Evernya inquired, still feeling a chill every time she said the words.
Instead of answering her question, Thomas went on a rant at the absurdity of what the teenage girl pulled off. “No one I know of has translated this language before you! The language stumped archaeologists and linguists since its discovery over 100 years ago in a mythic era ruin. Even the top experts in Sespina, including those with Omnilingualism, failed to translate even a single word. Yet you succeeded without trying! The best they could come up with is that it has similarities to mythic era shifter languages with links to draconic.”
Thomas sighed, calming himself down before responding to Evernya’s question. “Sorry, I got a little carried away. To answer your question, since I cannot read the original writing, I cannot say for sure what the brand does. From your translation, I am guessing it is tracking and kill switch brand. Do you have any idea how you could’ve gotten it?”
I bet it was that damn lab. Have they been tracking me this entire time? I need to remove the brand soon as I can! Maybe visiting the ruin will provide some answers. If they can create this body, I wouldn’t put it past them to figure out this language. Though I don’t think it would be smart to make it known that I can read this language. I don’t want to bring that much attention to myself until I become strong enough to defend myself. More problems for another day. The more pressing concern is where the contract brand went, and am I immune to it?
“I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of attention, so let’s keep my ability to read this secret for now. I’m more worried about the contract brand. Do I have to redo the contract?” Evernya asked after several minutes of processing time.
Contrary to Evernya’s expectations, Thomas shrugged off the development with a smile as he explained, “The rune seems to have failed to brand itself to your mana core, turning the contract into a one-way geas. As far as I can tell, you are free from the conditions of the contract. Personally, I am okay with this. It was wrong to force a contract on you. Since none of your conditions are unfair, consider them payment for what we put you through. All I ask is that you translate some things for me every once in a while. However, still follow the terms of the contract to avoid tipping off the rest of the board.”
Evernya slumped in her chair with relief as the massive boulder lifted off her shoulders. “Thank you. I will honor my end of the agreement. At least now, I can enjoy college life without the worry of a contract controlling me.”
“Having a talented young woman join our university means a lot. You still have to pass the entrance exam, but with your talents, you will have no problem.” Praised Thomas with a smile, genuinely happy with the unexpected change of events.
Uncomfortable with the praise, Evernya played with her tail in her lap with a slight blush as she commented, “I find it ridiculous that they felt that they needed to force the contract on me. Do they think I am some animal? Sure, I have cat ears and a tail, but that doesn’t mean I’m some mindless animal that they need to control.”
Meira, glued to her kitten’s side, responded. “I don’t think the contract was only because you are a shifter. The board saw an opportunity to force a talented mage under their control, so they took it. You will learn that this world is harsh. People are constantly searching for ways to take advantage of others to improve their situation. To have any freedom, you have to be strong and smart enough to beat those people. You were lucky this time, but that luck will not last.”
With that, Thomas tried to move things forward. “Let’s move onto the mage’s test. Originally, we were going to use an appraisal orb, but with Richard gone, we can skip it in favor of the full evaluation. Meira, I am guessing you brought her a personal training suit for the full evaluation.”
“I did. I had it custom-made for her. I originally planned on buying a shifter variant, but those had poor build quality and lacked the features needed for mage training. However, won’t activating the suit link it to the room, limiting the results?” Meira questioned.
“No, I overrode the requirement to link training suits. If not, how would we be in this room without a suit?” Thomas replied.
“Makes sense. I have limited experience with one of these rooms. I wish we had them when we went to college.” Meira commented.
“Yes, the younger generation has many advantages we did not. Please give Evernya her suit so we can continue.” Thomas directed, prompting Meira to retrieve a black skinsuit from her storage ring, handing it to Evernya.
With the seemingly featherlight black suit and key card in her kitten’s arms, Meira pushed her toward the door as she explained, “This suit is a staple of every mage’s wardrobe. It has features to make mage training more efficient and many other uses you will learn later. To wear it, you will need to strip naked as it needs full contact with your skin to function properly. The built-in computer on the left forearm of the suit controls its functionalities. I will teach you how to use that later. For now, all you need to do is put it on. There is a changing room near the stairwell. We will set up the devices for your testing while you change.”
With a suspicious glare, Evernya questioned, “Why didn’t I change into this before I came here?”
Without a hint of remorse, Meira confessed, “Well, I like to take every opportunity I can to get you into a dress. You are so cute in dresses I can’t resist.”
“Dammit, Meira! I am a grown woman, not some dress-up doll!” Evernya yelled, storming out of the room with the suit and key card in hand.
A minute later, Evernya found herself in an empty woman’s restroom a few doors down away, still fuming. I can’t believe Meira tricked me into this dress! To be fair, she has helped me out a lot. If it weren’t for her, I would likely be dead. So I guess I will allow her some enjoyment as long as she doesn’t take it too far. I feel like I’ve reverted to a teenager, mentally and physically. I even stormed out of the room in perfect teenager fashion! I can’t believe I did that! I’m supposed to be a thirty-year-old adult!
Oh well, at least no one will suspect my actual age. Besides, it is kind of fun being a teenager again. Wait, am I stuck as a teenager for decades? Crap! Hopefully, I grow out of teenage outbursts! It would suck to be a hundred years old and still act like a teenager. Though if all have to worry about at one hundred years old is a few outbursts, I would be golden.
Evernya entered a changing room stall and stripped naked. She fed her legs through the suit before stretching it over her lithe body, making sure to feed her tail through the provided hole before letting go of the collar portion, causing it to snap around her neck. Next, she inserted her mana into the suit, causing it to suck to her body, leaving little to the imagination. She turned her attention to the mirror in her stall to admire her appearance. Like an extra layer of skin, the black suit covered her from her neck to her ankles with Magerite PT-590z in white printed on several areas, including on the collar and down her right thigh.
I’ll never get used to the resizing enchantment. Everything just shrinks to fit my body. The weirdest sensation is the bra enchantment moving my breasts. Women on earth would kill to have this enchantment.
This suit looks similar to what those DIOM duelists were wearing. It is so formfitting that despite covering everything but my hands, feet, and head, it still reveals so much I feel naked. At least the breast and crotch area have padding, so they don’t show too much. No padding to prevent the ass crack though. If my shifter nature didn’t make me freer with my body, it would mortify me to go out in public wearing this, let alone in front of a crowd for a dual.
Am I really the same person I was from on earth? I can’t even imagine myself in my old human body anymore. This body feels natural to me, like I was born like this. Anyway, enough of that train of thought. If I go down that rabbit hole, I will drive myself nuts. This is who I am now, and this is my new world. If I continue to live in the past, I won’t embrace the future.
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Evernya glanced down at the screen on her left forearm, curious. She tapped it with her finger, causing the screen to light up, displaying a setup menu. The screen presented multiple options, causing a bit of confusion. It’s so tempting to see what these do, but I do not want to ruin the suit Meira had custom-made for me by accident.
Evernya dug deep to resist her catlike curiosity. Before she could give in to her impulses, she grabbed her discarded clothes and exited the changing stall. On her way toward the exit, the door leading to the hall swung open as a group of four girls wearing similar suits enter while loudly gossiping.
Evernya ignored them, continuing on her way to the door. But of course, one girl blocked her path, causing the other girls to follow suit.
Seriously? Why won’t these humans just leave me alone? Evernya questioned mentally, tail flicking in annoyance.
“Please move.” Evernya requested, mentally crossing her fingers they listen.
“Not until you give us your suit, it is way too fancy for a shifter to wear.” Insisted a tall blonde girl wearing a blue-trimmed black training suit, unlike her companions who have purple-trimmed black suits.
Ugh, another cliché. Why is there always someone who desires something that isn’t theirs? Evernya grumbled as she responded to the annoying group of girls eyeing her suit with looks of greed. “How about no, you already have your own.”
“Yours is better than mine, so as a mage, I deserve it more than you. Give it to me, or else I will report you for trespassing.” Threatened the tall blonde girl standing between Evernya and the door.
With boredom increasing by the second, Evernya replied while staring up at the taller girl, “report me if you want.”
“Leave her alone, Stephanie. There is no way she could get down here without permission. Besides, look at her suit, it is custom-made for her.” Advised an average height brunette girl to her Evernya’s right.
“Why should I? Don’t you see her suit? Her suit is the MageRite PT–590Z! It’s not even available on the market yet! She hasn’t even bound it yet, so any of us could wear it.” Exclaimed the tall blonde, herding out.
“Really? It looks like a normal training suit except for the tail hole to me. How can you tell she didn’t bind the suit yet?” inquired an average height blonde girl to Evernya’s left.
“The setup menu for the suit is still open.” Stephanie pointed out.
Sick of the girls blocking her way, Evernya interrupted, “None of that matters, because I’m not giving you my suit. Please leave me alone if you want one of these suits, buy one yourself. Even if I weren’t a mage, which I am, I would not hand it over to someone like you.”
“If you are a mage, then prove it. Where is your ID?” Stephanie goaded with a smug look.
Evernya brushed off the attempt to rile her up as she spoke in a bored tone. “I don’t have one. That’s why I’m here, and before you ask no, I’m not a student here but will be in the fall. Call whoever is in charge of this place, they can verify I belong here.”
“Since you have no proof, I will kick you out myself. No need to bother security with taking out the trash.” Stephanie decided.
With a swirl of her arm, ice sprung into existence, encasing Evernya’s body up to her neck before she could react. “Now, be a good girl and hand over the suit before I am forced to hurt you.” Threatened Stephanie while menacingly swirling ice around her body.
A low, menacing growl rumbled from Evernya’s throat as her eyes glowed brighter. She eyed the lead greedy girl promising death, sending a shiver up the girl’s spine. The atmosphere of the room became suffocating the heavy as Evernya’s potent mana aura descended on the girls. While not having the same effect as it did on shifters, the girls paled, as something primal within them screamed for them to run.
“I tried to be polite, but all you humans do is try to hurt me! I am sick of it!” Roared Evernya.
Evernya unleashed an explosion of force in all directions, causing spiderwebs of cracks on her ice prison. She strained her muscles, but the ten-centimeter thick ice held her petite body rigid. Her eyes widened as panic set in, evaporating her anger in an instant.
The ice sorceress Stephanie’s arrogance returned, but just as she opened her mouth to taunt her prey, Evernya’s unstable emotional state swung back to rage. A primal bone-rattling roar ripped from Evernya’s throat as an eruption of force dwarfing the previous attack bombarded her ice prison from all sides. Unable to hold up against the assault, the ice prison shattered, sending chunks of ice outward, forcing the girls to scatter. All except for Stephanie, who stood frozen in shock as the force collided with her body, sending her through the door into the hallway.
Unaware of the alarms sounding through the entire floor attracting a small crowd from the surrounding rooms, Evernya continued to release explosion after explosion on the poor changing room for several minutes until abruptly ceasing.
As the dust settled, the crowd instinctively took a step back upon witnessing the enraged shifter standing at the center of a ten-meter wide crater formally known as a changing room. A visible tornado of force swirled around the enraged girl, preventing anyone from approaching.
A few seconds later, Meira, Thomas, Elizabeth, and Sarah arrived at the scene.
“What happened here!?” Thomas boomed while surveying the scene.
After a moment of observation, Thomas pointed at Evernya and the stunned girls formally surrounding her before ordering, “Everyone back to your rooms except you five!”
Within seconds, the crowd dispersed to avoid angering the Chancellor.
After the crowd cleared, Thomas focused his attention on Evernya. With a single wave of this hand, he crushed Evernya’s force tornado, forcing Evernya to her knees. “Calm down, Evernya, before I am forced to hurt you!” Commanded Thomas to the struggling girl.
Evernya ignored Thomas’s command as she released another explosion of force, but the pressure smothered her attempt. Thomas continued to increase the pressure until Evernya gave up her struggles, falling to her stomach, limp, and whimpering. Thomas dispelled the magic, holding her down, accepting her surrender.
Meira’s eyes scanned her kitten’s prone body for any injuries before she accused, “Did you have to be so rough with her Thomas?”
“Yes, I did. When a shifter reaches blind rage, you cannot reason with them. The only way to calm her down was to make her submit.” Thomas justified.
“Elizabeth, please check on her while I question these four ladies,” Thomas ordered, turning towards the terrified group of girls tended to by Sarah. “Now, ladies, what happened here? Don’t even try to lie, I will know, and it will only make it worse for you.”
The average height brunette girl worked up the courage to speak first. With a trembling voice, she explained, “We went to the changing to change out of our training suits before we returned to the dorms. When we entered, Stephanie noticed the catkin leaving a changing stall wearing a training suit she wanted.”
Average height blonde girl took over where her friend left off. “Stephanie blocked the catkin’s path, so we backed her up. She then asked the catkin for her training suit, but the catkin refused. Stephanie threatened the catkin, but she still refused to give it up. Then Stephanie tried to take it by force with her ice magic. However, when she encased the catkin in ice, the catkin growled and destroyed the ice, forcing us to escape the changing room.”
“So let me get this straight. I have a crater in one of my changing rooms because one of you wanted her training suit.” Thomas summarized, which the girls reluctantly nodded to.
“Stephanie, do you have anything to say for yourself?” Thomas questioned Stephanie, who was staring blankly off into the distance in shock.
After giving Stephanie a few seconds to defend herself, Thomas announced, “I think I have heard enough. For your punishments, I will deduct 50 ranks from each of you, and I shall strip Stephanie of her sapphire rank. Consider yourself lucky that none of you got injured from your stupidity.”
Unable to resist her curiosity, the brunette girl inquired. “What about the catkin? She destroyed the changing room. What is her punishment?”
“I consider what she did self-defense. Besides, it was partially my fault she was there. She isn’t a student yet, so she doesn’t know our rules against attacking others outside of duals, unlike you girls. Now leave before I rethink your light punishment.” Responded Thomas while staring down at the girls with disappointment.
Terrified, the girls rushed toward the stairs, dragging Stephanie with them before Thomas changed his mind.
By the time Thomas finished with the girls, Evernya regained her senses, rubbing her temples to help ease her headache from the overuse of her magic.
Thomas turned his attention to his future student with a stern but apologetic expression. “I’m sorry for my aggressive actions, but I needed to calm you down quickly before you caused more damage.”
Evernya scanned the damage with a guilty expression as she responded, “It’s okay, I deserved rough treatment for destroying the changing room.”
After taking a minute to compose herself, Evernya inquired as her feline curiosity leaked through, “what did you do to me? It felt like gravity became a thousand times stronger.”
Thomas’s professional demeanor melted away as he boasted, “You’re not the only Psion. One of my magic classes is a T1 Psion telekinetic. It comes in handy with suppressing unruly students, but other than that, it doesn’t see much use beyond daily convenience.”
With her curiosity sated, her guilt returned, prompting her to apologize. “Sorry for destroying the restroom I just snapped when that girl attacked me.”
Thomas surveyed the damage with disinterest as he responded with a hint of warning in his tone, “With your past, I don’t blame you for doing this. However, you will need to learn better control. You are fortunate you only shook those girls up a bit. If you had severely injured or killed one of them, even in self-defense, you would face a minimum of assault if not murder. Even with your connections to Meira and us, you wouldn’t escape punishment. Now let’s return to our room to finish your testing.”
Unable to let go, Evernya questioned, “What about the damage I caused?”
Thomas brushed off his future student’s worries, explaining, “I will call some mages to fix the damage later. With over one hundred thousand young mages enrolled at our university, things blow up fairly often. We have a crew made up of students specialized in repairing the damage. You will find we designed our university to be self-sustaining. With our ranking system, students volunteer to do many jobs to earn points. I will leave your orientation or Meira to explain our ranking system in further detail.”
Without saying another word, Thomas turned toward the direction of the room, prompting the rest to follow.