That freaking elite has finally broken his attendance and skipped school for what, four days. And he only said he’d explain once he comes back. Should have skipped some more, now that he started it. It would have given me more time to shine. Just because he is a second year and I’m a first-year student everyone thinks he is so much better. Sure, he’s a magic student and they tend to be more appreciated than martial students like me. But don’t forget I’m like twenty years older than him! Wait, did I say that aloud? Hope not.
You see, I’m actually a werebeast here on an espionage mission. Although my Werelynx clan is part of the Great Tribe of Werebeasts, the environment there is not too good for us. The Great Tribe is south of Enthrodtia and the landscape is mostly plains and. It. Is. So. Hot. I mean, we’re lynx, basically. And we like cold weather and forests way better than some plains. That’s why I was sent here, to look if our clan could maybe move here. But humans are known to hate other races, which means I cannot afford to get caught. I even picked a cool sounding surname for myself. Here I’m known as ‘Jorah La Croix’ while in the Great Tribe I was ‘Jorah of the Lynx clan’. It’s not really a name I can use while trying to blend in.
And as I was just thinking, that freaking elite is still sixteen while I’m 46 years. It’s a normal age for a teen werebeast, and I barely pass for a seventeen-year-old human. But oh, how I hate that freaking elite. He’s just sixteen, but already a talented mage with almost a record amount of mana, he’s a talented martial artist that makes our instructors sad that he chose magic and on top of that they consider him a promising team leader! I know as a werebeast I can’t really compete with magic, we have such a horrendously low mana pool that it’s sad. And I know that werelynx are usually individualistic and it would be a stretch to call me anything other than that. BUT! I have my claws, or not them, but I have my knuckles! If we only compared notes for real once, they’d all know who’s best.
Dang it, here he comes. Most of Ent’s MagMa’s students actually live in dorms so he’s easy to spot. Coming in from the main gate while everyone else comes from the canteen. Wait a moment, is that seriously a girl he’s walking with? Would the freaking elite skip for a girlfriend? I don’t think so. I might believe if it was leader doing that, but not the freaking elite. Of course, I’ll just have to go ask.
“Hey! Zure, what’s that new pet you’re bringing along?” no way I’ll call him an elite when someone can hear. “What pet, this is Isra. She’s here for the enrolment exam”, the freaking elite answers. Now that I’m closer I can clearly see how short she is. Seeing her next to the freaking elite is kind of hilarious and I’m even taller. But her tattoo is seriously bothering me. I’m certain I’ve seen it somewhere before. It starts from her right cheek and continues to her right elbow. Unless it splits in the middle. Anyhow it looks really familiar. “Who is this guy?” she asks while very rudely pointing at me. “Eh… That’s Jorah, he’s annoying so just ignore him.” What is with that attitude? He tries to lead her away, but I won’t let him off that easy. If he says I’m annoying then I’ll annoy him till he can’t take it anymore.
What’s weirding me out most is why does he have to bring her here. Couldn’t she just come on her own? And don’t sigh at me. “I found her collapsed a few days ago. She has amnesia. Now she lives with us. We’re helping her recover. The end”, so the freaking elite says. “So, you actually believe someone without memories can pass that test”, I can’t help but voice out my doubts. A transfer student’s exam is way harder than the normal enrolment exam. Of course, it would be easy to me. “The school has agreed to let her skip the written tests as long as she can reach the required level in a month. As for the combat and magic tests, well, she is seriously good in a fight”, hahaha that defeated face is priceless.
The combat exam is held in the weapon hall in the fighters building. All new students without their special personal weapons can pick one from there. Sure, they’re mostly inferior goods, but in return you get to keep them unless you yourself decide to return it. Now that the main exam has been held already and students have their weapons, there’s plenty room for the exam. And the magic exam is very simple since most new students have no previous experience with combat magic. They don’t even know if they’re talented or not.
The teacher in charge of the exam is actually my class’ instructor called Vuro. You could say he’s nice for a fighter teacher, but he’s stricter than most. By the way martial artists are often called fighters as well, since most of us love fighting and brawling and all sorts of sparring. It’s a little misleading sometimes when there are those freaking elites like Zure who can do anything. He really looks more like a fighter while he really is a mage. Anyhow, if this freaking elite thinks that his new pet is great then I suppose this will be interesting.
This time there were four participants, Isra included. Three of them already look like mages. Or maybe I should say, ‘if they’re not mages, they’ll fail’. “Attention!” Vuro calls to the examinees. “The combat exam will take more time so we start with it. You may pick your weapon from any you see here and come challenge me once ready. No personal weapons during the test. Feel free to try a few practice swings to check if the weapon is fitting. And at last, you do not need to beat me, I’ll gauge your strength and pass or fail you based on that.” The three others hurriedly went to check out the weapons.
But Isra was frozen in place. “Hello?” I swung my hand before her. “Oh”, she came back to reality only for a moment before heading towards a black falchion. “Isn’t that the one no one has taken for like decades now?” I asked the freaking elite. I don’t see anything interesting about it except its rare colour. Normal weapons are steel. This one is a very deep black. But the reason no one picks it is that it’s too heavy. Most fighters have a hard time swinging it with two hands and its handle doesn’t even fit two hand well. Clearly, it’s made to be used with one hand. “Yeah. I heard that even some famous mercenaries have tried it since its sharp and durable, but they tire too fast and can’t use it with one hand”, seems the elite is as confused.
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It took me a long time to digest it. Isra really did pick it up. At first, I thought she would drop it because of the weight. But she held it up and laughed, “Heihei, Zure this Mustis! {~Blackie}” She swung it around and spun from the weight. “Do you mean you know that blade?” the elite asked. I couldn’t really get a word out as I watched her. A black about a metre-long blade in the hands of a laughing girl is so creepy.
“It Mustis. Get from uh… Dunno! But it is Mustis. Important Mustis”, she couldn’t stop grinning even while thinking hard. I think her brain froze and not just from amnesia. At last I managed to open my mouth, “Hey, you know, isn’t that, well Mustis, kinda heavy?” How come she looks at me like I’m stupid? We all think it’s heavy. “Heavy enough”, she says. “Oh right!” she somehow took off the handle, “Look here!” There was text on the hidden part of the blade. ‘For Isra’. “But weren’t this made centuries ago? We don’t even know what the material is”, if the elite doesn’t know then no one does. “Dunno really. But it is familiar”, Isra says grinning again. She quickly put the handle back in place.
By now the other three had done their challenges already. Two fails and one barely passed, to my surprise. “Me ready now!” Isra called to Vuro. He looked at her in disbelief. “Are you really taking that weapon?” His only answer was a nod. She had even taken the scabbard and attached it to the hooks on her jacket.
Isra took the initiative. She dashed at Vuro while dragging that Mustis or whatever. Vuro used a longsword and he raised it ready to block. I don’t think he saw Isra swinging the heavy falchion around. His sword ended up broken. Isra spun around once to make Mustis move faster and aimed at Vuro. He couldn’t block it completely before his sword split and had to take a few steps back. Isra smiled. Seriously creepy. But if she likes fighting that much them, she might make a great sparring partner. Unlike the freaking elite Zure.
Isra didn’t stop her attack. She reversed her spin while closing the cap. Vuro was forced to retreat more. But this time Isra was left unbalanced and couldn’t continue. Vuro used the chance to lock her heavy falchion to the ground while striking with his free hand. He hadn’t realized that Isra had a free hand too. She caught his punch while falling backwards. She moved Mustis just enough so she could lean on it while she kicked Vuro and threw him over her head.
“Okay, you pass”, Vuro said a little defeated. He hadn’t fallen on his back or face like Isra likely had intended, but her level is clearly enough to pass. “You’re so small, how can you have so much strength?” I ran to ask her. “I am no supposed to be small”, she said before she thought it over. Sadly, she was called over with the other three by Vuro before I had the chance to ask what she meant. Though I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t know herself.
The magic test is simple. There are two crystals used for measurement. One is about the size of your mana pool and the other about elemental affinity. Everyone has mana more or less, but to become a mage you need at least ten times the normal amount before you turn eighteen. That’s the biggest reason why the school doesn’t accept students older than seventeen. Affinity is about which element is easy to use. The stronger the affinity, the more talented you are. For example, my affinity is water, so even if I haven’t learned magic seriously, I can still move around small amounts of water easily. There can be double and triple affinities as well, like the freaking elite. He has two strong affinities, fire and earth. Affinity can be one of the four basic elements, fire, water, earth or air, as well as some rare ones like lighting and poison. Affinity can be inherited and acquired, but it doesn’t really change after you turn ten. Normal people usually don’t have a single strong affinity which makes them unable to become mages.
Of course, since this is a school for both martial and magic students it’s a good chance for us to learn some simple magic too. On the other hand, only few of the magic students learn to fight. The freaking elite is a bit of a special case. At least this Isra should not be another freaking elite as I cannot feel any mana from her. As I’m not an expert I can’t tell too much, but even the weakest magic student has this aura of magic around them. The teachers could probably tell who has talent and who doesn’t with one look. The crystals are more precise, however, and their results are taken better by failing examinees.
Of the three only one passed. He was the same one that passed the combat test as well. Turns out he’ll become a mage. Really, it would be so great if someone with both talents chose martial arts for once. Next it was Isra’s turn. She held her hand over the mana measuring crystal. I was right, it barely lit up at all. Even I made it light more. But the affinity crystal was different. The light was so bright that it was hard to tell its colour. “No way?!” I haven’t seen Vuro ever be that surprised. “Is it actually air?” Of the four elements, seeing a strong air affinity is very rare. Usually only those werebeasts that can fly might have it. For us ground dwellers earth is more usual, everyone needs water to live and fire is used in our daily lives. But air is about the winds.
“Just how have you lived to get such a strong air element?” Zure was as taken aback as the rest of us, “Don’t tell me jumping off roofs was an actual pastime for you?” What does that mean? “Well, I dunno. But I don’t have mana so who care, right?” Isra was wondering. Of course, it matters, an affinity that strong is rare no matter which element it was for. Though she does have a point that with her pathetic mana she won’t be able to do much anything.
It seems Vuro decided to let it be. “I can’t make heads or tails about you, but for now I’ll go inform the principal. Two passed, two failed. One mage, one fighter”, he sighed and started heading out, “Isra, it seems you already know Jorah so I’ll put you in his class. Lufa, do you have class you would like to join?” Lufa was the other one who passed. “Nope”, he answered and headed out as well.
The freaking elite went to class saying, “I’ve missed too much already, show Isra around will ya?” What will ya, don’t just push your pet to me! I just had the shock of a lifetime and I can’t even ask anything since I know she can’t answer. Amnesia is so annoying. And you know, I’m not that familiar with the school grounds yet as it’s been only a little over a month since the school year started.
So, I simply said, this is the mage building, this is the fighter building, this is the canteen and so on. Well there are only those three main buildings. Main gate in the north, fighters west, mages south, canteen east. Warehouses everywhere as well as different practice grounds. I didn’t really lead her to them in order, but rather wandered around randomly. The main buildings are easy to find anyway. Isra didn’t seem to mind so we spent the whole evening exploring.
I was about to suggest going to get lunch when Isra said she had to go home. “Mary promised to teach me various things once I come back”, she said. I guess she really has a lot to learn. It would be better if she just got her memory back. I could ask her all about Mustis, her affinity and why her accent is so strong. But for now, I just sent her on her way and went to eat.
Zure will likely invite her to our team anyway.
No need to hurry with my questions.