"Shiori, you're back!" Jun cried, leaping out of bed and rushing to hug her Master.
Shiori let Jun do so, yawning as her kitten squeezed her. She let the hug continue for a minute as she looked closer at her kitten. Jun changed. Her kitten had put on a thin layer of fat and no longer looked gaunt and painfully thin, though she was still small for a human adult. The way she moved was more lithe, graceful, and confident than the nervous kitten she had left in the care of others while she had been hunting. Wiggling free of Jun's embrace, Shiori launched from her shoulder to the unoccupied bed and settled in to the warm spot Jun left behind.
Shiori summoned a bowl of soup into Jun's hands, steam curling from the bowl as the smell of meat and herbs filled the room. "Drink the soup, kitten."
Sighing, Jun stared at the bowl in her hands. Of course Shiori returns and the first thing she does it make me drink soup, she thought to herself. Bracing herself for the bitter flavor, she took a large mouthful only to be shocked at the lack of bitterness! The soup was a thin broth with chunks of unidentifiable meat, mushrooms, and vegetables that felt light and nourishing with a complex flavor. Grains of rice floated within that were still chewy with a subtle sweetness that paired well with the broth. Jun sat in her desk chair and slowly finished the soup, savoring each mouthful. A spoon appeared in front of her that Jun grabbed and used to finish the fillings left behind in the bowl, and soon it was empty. The bowl and spoon vanished as Jun sat back, a pleasant and invigorating warmth spreading through her body from the soup.
Shiori seemed exhausted, more so than she usually seemed to be. "Master, what happened? Where were you these past 10 days?" Jun asked, her Master's ears twitching to the question.
"Catching up with an old friend," Shiori said vaguely. It was slight, but Jun caught a hint of tiredness in her Master's voice. "That's not what's important right now. What is important is that your first class begins in an hour. You should get ready."
Nodding, Jun hurried to her wardrobe and changed from the pajamas she had gotten and into one of her uniforms, now familiar with putting on the enchanted clothing. Turning to her desk to grab the books and supplies she might need for her first day of classes, she froze when she saw a bag on her desk that hadn't been there before. The bag was a sling bag similar to ones that had been popular amongst the girls in her high school, but of a much finer quality than anything Jun had ever seen. The bag and strap were made of a shiny black leather with veins of purple and silver running through it, giving the leather a marble-like texture, with metal decorations of some sort of silvery metal that reminded her of the war wand she'd left in the Academy's care. It was small, about the size of a small purse that only had room for a wallet and other essential items.
"It's a present for you," Shiori said from where she lay on the bed.
"Thank you Master! I love it," Jun said happily as she slipped the bag on over her head. She felt as the strap subtly adjusted to fit her so that the bag was at a comfortable height. The weight was barely noticeable and didn't flop around when Jun gave a few experimental jumps while wearing it, defying all logic.
"It's a Void Bag," Shiori said, nodding at the bag. "Channel some of your mana into it."
Jun did as she was told, pulling a tendril of mana and threading it through her fingertips into the bag.
"Good, now weave your mana into a net, covering every part of the bag that you can."
Jun concentrated as she pulled several more tendrils of mana from her core and guided them into the bag. Pushing with her will, she encouraged her mana tendrils to weave together in a tight net. She felt her mana pool begin to empty as she pushed more of her mana into the effort, but the increased mana regeneration she gained at the cost of mana capacity made up the difference.
Mana:
72/180 (66/min)
Seeing her mana still falling, Jun slowed the flow of her mana until her pool settled and slowly began to tick back up. It took nearly 10 minutes of channeling mana into the bag but she could finally feel her weave covering it. "I'm done Master, now what?" Jun asked, the effort of holding her mana weave beginning to strain her mind.
"Now," Shiori said, her voice laced with exhaustion, "will your mana to soak into the bag until the bag accepts it. You'll know when it does."
Jun sent her intent into her mana, urging it to soak into the bag and fill it. She could feel as her mana began to sink in and after a minute, her mana was fully absorbed and the sense that let her "feel" her mana tendrils now included the bag. She could feel the bag's presence in her mind, and instinctively knew that it was empty.
Grabbing a pen from her desk, Jun dropped it into the bag, watching as the pen fell in and seemed to vanish as it touched the void. The link she now shared with the bag fed her the impression that something small sat within the bag, and all she had to do was reach in and will the object to come to her.
Sending her intent to her connection with the bag, she reached into the bag and pulled out the pen before putting it back in, repeating the process several times. Wondering if only she could add or remove things from the bag, Jun turned to ask Shiori but stopped when she saw the cat deep asleep, her chest rising and falling slowly as she slumbered. Her Master was exhausted, and Jun figured her question could wait. As quietly as she could, Jun started shoving her books, notes, and school supplies into the bag, surprised at how regardless of the size of the books, she was able to easily fit them through the small opening of the bag. She felt a sense of each new item added to her bag, but the bag never seemed to feel full. After putting all of her books and supplies into the bag, she decided to add her exercise clothes, a spare set of clothes including one of her uniforms, and a towel, just in case. Picking up her meager coin purse, Jun decided to add it to the bag as well, as tying the thing to her belt felt uncomfortable to her.
Confident she was prepared for anything the first day of classes could throw at her, Jun left her room as quietly as she could and hurried to the lobby of her dormitory to check the time on the sole clock in the building. Merinthia's days were split into 24 hours just as Earth's were, and the system of tracking time was the same as well. The familiarity had been a relief to Jun, but she couldn't help wondering why another planet would have exactly the same length of day as Earth. With Shiori gone for so many days, Jun hadn't been able to ask her, and now that she was back, it seemed low on her list of priorities. According to the clock, she had just over half an hour to get to her first class of the day, Math.
The class was held in the General Studies main building on the other side of campus from her dormitory, but her training with her friends made that distance trivial for her. After a short 10 minute jog, she walked into the classroom, another theater style classroom like the one she'd taken her Arcana Theory entrance exam in. Remembering the way she'd been stuck until every other student left, Jun made sure to grab a seat at the edge of the row and pulled her Math book and notes out from her bag, studying to pass the time.
Students began filing in a few minutes after Jun arrived and the class quickly began to fill. The seat next to her was taken by a cute girl with her brown hair in twin pigtails. She was a bit on the chubby side, but in a cute way that spoke of baby fat that hadn't yet been lost to adulthood.
"Hi, I'm Jun," she said with a tentative smile.
The girl looked at Jun and the notes spread out in front of her. "Lily," she said with a frown before taking her book out from her bag and staring at it. The message was clear, she didn't want to talk.
Disappointed that her neighbor didn't seem interested in talking, Jun turned back to studying until the Professor walked in and began class. The class flew by quickly as Jun jotted down a few notes, but it all felt like review to her. Between the math classes she'd taken on Earth in her past life and Sara's tutoring on the subject, everything discussed that first class felt like review.
After her class was dismissed, Jun hurried to one of the Academy's cafeterias for a quick breakfast between classes before rushing back to the General Studies building for her Science class. As sge walked into the half-full classroom, Jun noticed her neighbor from her first class in the room, though she was animatedly talking to a group of girls across the room from her. Shrugging, Jun grabbed another of the aisle seats and pulled out her notes to study until the class started. This class too passed by in a flash as Jun took notes on the Professor's lecture, though much of it felt like a review of basic Physics and Chemistry with small differences from her lessons on Earth as well as her tutoring sessions. Her History class right after was no different, feeling like review after the intensive studying she'd done over the past 10 days, though Jun was far less confident in her knowledge on the subject.
As Jun sat alone at lunch, she couldn't help but notice several familiar faces from her morning classes. She recognized the girl that had sat next to her for the first class of the day was with the same group of girls for lunch. Jun thought she caught them looking at her, but when she glanced in their direction they turned away. It was probably just a coincidence. Finishing up her lunch, Jun left the cafeteria and headed for the Arcana Studies building where she'd taken her first exams. Despite being personally trained by Shiori for nearly 2 months, she couldn't help being excited. It would be her first class in a magic school!
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"Ugh, I can't believe her," Melody grumbled to her friends as the brown-haired girl shot a dirty look at someone across the cafeteria. The other girls turned to look at the object of her ire, a beautiful girl with dark purple hair and a heart shaped face, her pale skin looked soft and almost iridescent, as if she'd never seen the sun or a hard day's work in her life. She held herself with a confidence that evoked passion in some and jealousy in others, and if someone said she was a Princess, no one would doubt them. While Melody was considered pretty growing up, waving off suitors left and right, even the son of a baron once, her pretty features didn't compare to that girl's beauty, and it irked her. "Look at her sitting alone, as if she's too good for everyone else when she's just another commoner like the rest of us!"
"I saw her in our classes this morning. She didn't really talk to anyone and barely paid attention to the Professors," Gina said. The mousy blonde frowned at her memory of the girl. She'd stood out in the room full of bronze students because the purple-haired girl barely took any notes, while everyone else had frantically scribbled down everything the Professors said. The Academy didn't believe in holding back, not even on the first day. "I hope she fails and gets kicked out, the stuck up bitch."
"Her name is Jun. I sat next to her in Maths this morning," Emily said with a frown. "She had all these notes already in front of her for the entire class. She didn't write anything down because she already had all the notes!"
"Did you see the way Professor Liam kept glancing at her? I bet she used her body to get the answers before classes even started!" Melody said, her voice dripping with venom.
"It might not be Professor Liam... I’ve been seeing her around campus the past two weeks since entry testing. She’s been hanging out with a gold student named Gareth Brightmane and a bunch of silver students,” Mara, a mousy brunette with a pixie cut and glasses said.
“That’s her?!” Melody screamed, causing several students around them to whip their heads in her direction. Blushing with embarrassment, Melody looked down at her food until people turned away from her and spoke in a quiet tone. “Gareth Brightmane is the son of a duke! I overheard some guys talking about how he took a commoner as his mistress and even used his influence to get her assigned to the same room as the rest of his harem!” Melody muttered
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“The term’s only just started and she’s already flying from noble to professor, just using her looks to get ahead! She’s giving the rest of us bronze students a bad name, someone should teach her a lesson.”
All of the girls nodded in agreement.
“But what can any of us even do about a high noble’s mistress? She’s already got the professors giving her the answers and nobles bending the school’s rules for her, but we’re just commoners...” Mara slumped back in her seat. She pushed her half-eaten lunch away, her appetite gone. Melody and Emily frowned at Mara’s words as they watched the girl they’d been talking about leave the cafeteria.
“We still have options,” Gina said with a smile. “My father’s a merchant that does business with Duke Brightmane’s businesses. Maybe we could tell the Duke his son’s being taken advantage of?”
“But why would a Duke even read any message we sent? You might be the daughter of a wealthy merchant Gina, but the rest of us aren’t so lucky. My mother is just one of the cooks for the Academy. I only got in because the Academy lets the children of staff attend for free,” Melody said with a grimace.
“I’m just an apprentice healer, my master is paying for me to attend the Academy, but if I cross a noble, or even a noble’s mistress, he won’t hesitate to get rid of me,” Mara added with a frown. “Sending a letter to a Duke would just be inviting the nobles to trample all over us, and we wouldn’t be able to stop them.”
“And you know my family wouldn’t be able to help much. My father’s just a Sergeant in the City Guard, he won’t be able to do much,” Emily added.
Sighing, Gina slumped in her seat with a defeated look on her face. “Well fuck, we’re just going to have to put up with that bitch cheating her way through General Studies then. At least she’s just some noble’s toy so we won’t have to deal with her in the Adventurer classes.”
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Jun’s Introductory Arcana Theory class was in the same room that she’d taken the Arcana Theory placement test in. The room was exactly as it had been before the entrance exam, with no trace of the damage the Proctor had caused to the room. She’d arrived to the room early again, but it wasn’t empty. The same man who had proctored her exam was sitting at the teacher’s desk at the front reading a book, several stacks of documents in front of him.
As Jun entered the classroom the man gestured to the documents on his desk without looking up at her. “Take a copy of the syllabus and sit quietly until class starts.”
“Yes, Pro—” Jun started to reply, only for a single chain to manifest and slap against the chalkboard at the front of the class. The words “NO TALKING” were written in large letters and underlined on the chalkboard. Jun couldn’t help shaking as she remembered the violent way the man had expelled a student and snapped her mouth shut.
As quiet and timid as a shy kitten, Jun walked as quietly as she could, subconsciously tapping into the [Stealth] skill she hadn’t used since leaving the Forest. Grabbing one of the documents from the indicated pile, Jun retreated to the student desks, electing to go all the way to the back of the class in the hopes of escaping the Professor’s attention.
Settling into her seat, Jun pulled out her Arcana Theory text book and the notes from her study sessions with Lane and Corin. Where she’d had no problems with the Math, Science, and History tutoring under Sara, her theory tutoring with Lane and Corin hadn’t gone nearly as well. Both of the men stuck to the very basics of Arcana Theory according to the text book and had refused to even answer some of Jun’s questions citing that she needed to master the basics first, regardless of the power of the spells she already knew.
Reading through the syllabus she’d retrieved, she saw that the Professor had set a rigorous pace of study for the class that included weekly tests on Arcana Theory. As she cross-referenced some of the topics she recognized on the syllabus with things in her notes, the class slowly filled. The Professor told every student as they entered to grab a syllabus and take a seat.
The more aware ones saw the board in time and didn’t say a word. The less aware ones received much the same treatment as Jun had. Everyone was wise enough not to push the issue after the Professor’s chains came out.
A ringing chime filled the room as the clock above the Professor’s desk ticked 2 o’clock and the Professor closed his book before standing and glaring at the students in the room. With a snap of his fingers, the door to the classroom slammed shut, the lock audibly clicking as it locked.
The Professor’s eyes wandered across the crowd of assembled students, making eye contact with each of them in turn. As his eyes landed on Jun his chains suddenly materialized, setting her heart to racing. Half panicked, Jun spun several mana tendrils from her core to her {Barrier] spellform, pumping mana into the spell as she tensed, ready to protect herself from his crushing chains!
The Professor’s chains reached out behind him and picked up several pieces of chalk as he subtly raised an eyebrow at her. Sheepishly, Jun siphoned the mana out of her spellform and wound the tendrils back into her core. Once her mana tendrils were reabsorbed by her core, the man nodded and started speaking.
“I am Professor Thomas Marcos,” he said, introducing himself as his chains wrote out his name on the board behind him. “I am a Platinum ranked adventurer and Master Magi of the Towers of Sevrun. You will refer to me as Professor Marcos, Master Magi, or sir. You are in this class because you performed adequately enough in either the Arcana Theory or Practical Spellcasting tests that the Academy has deemed you worthy of learning to use magic.” Professor Marcos paused for a moment to stare around the room again before continuing. “You will only stay in this class if I deem you worthy of learning magic. Let us begin.”
The next hour was filled with an in-depth lecture on the basics of establishing a mana core, internalizing a spellform, and casting a spell. As interesting as Jun found magic, she was disappointed by the class so far. Shiori had already taught her everything they covered in that first class, though Jun had to remind herself it was still the first class. The theories within the assigned text book still didn’t make much sense to her, but she knew from the syllabus that she would inevitably be tested on it. So confusing or not, Jun diligently took notes and vowed to ask Shiori about the subject when her Master had recovered from whatever she’d been up to.
Her final class of the day was the one she was most excited about: Practical Spellcasting. The class took place in the same room that Jun had done her spellcasting exam in, but with a much smaller group. Most of the students had already arrived by the time Jun got there and hung out in established groups. She spotted a couple of girls from her morning classes, but for some reason they both glared at her before turning away. Another boy she recognized from her practical exam, but he too ignored her. Jun didn't understand why they seemed to dislike her since she'd never interacted with them before, but she didn't want to cause a scene so just stayed on the side and waited for class to start.
"Hi! I'm Aya!" A voice called out causing Jun to start. Looking up, Jun saw a girl standing in front of her with her hand extended out to Jun. She was taller than Jun, though that wasn't saying much as Jun herself was on the shorter side. Her hair was a beautiful deep black color and she had features that on Earth would have been described as vaguely Asian, similar to Jun's own. She looked like a princess, though the bronze medallion hanging from her neck said otherwise.
Jun took the other girl's hand and shook it. I'm Jun, it's nice to meet you Aya," she said with a small smile.
"Have you been here awhile? I was only in the last round of testing, so I've only been in the city for a few days."
"I got here a couple weeks ago."
"Neat! You must know your way around the city then right?"
"Not really... I've been out to a few shops near the school for stuff, and I have some friends that showed me around a bit, but I haven't really explored..."
"I can't imagine just staying on the campus all the time! What do you do to pass the time?"
Jun got absorbed in the conversation as a small flame of hope built up that maybe she'd make a new friend in her classes. She didn't notice that the Professor had arrived until Aya quickly shushed her and turned to face the door. The other students quieted as well as everyone turned to look at the newly arrived Professor. He was an easygoing looking man that looked to be in his mid 30swith messy brown hair and thick silver-rimmed glasses. Two older students with silver medallions, a man and a woman, stood at attention behind him. He had an easy going smile and a relaxing aura about him. Something about his presence just made Jun relax a bit, and the slight nervousness she'd felt about what her Practical Spellcasting Professor would be like vanished.
"Good evening everyone, and welcome to your first Practical Spellcasting class for the fall term! My name is Sam Lorne," he said, gesturing to himself as a series glowing letters appeared in the air above him. "But you can just call me Sam. I'm a new Professor here at FEA and a Gold-Ranked adventurer with the International Adventurer's Guild." He paused to gesture to the older students behind him. These are my teaching assistants Harold and Stephanie. They're both 5th year students who have placed in the top 10% of their year."
As he finished his introduction, whispers broke out among the gathered students. Jun could hear the words "gold adventurer" and "IAG" repeated several times. Professor Lorne— Sam, Jun mentally corrected herself, seemed different from the other professors she'd met so far. He patiently waited with a smile as the students finished whispering and settled before continuing.
"Now, all of you should have had your first Introduction to Arcana Theory class sometime today, but what I teach isn't theory, it's practical spellcasting, so let's get right into it. Who here hasn't yet formed a mana core?" He asked. No one moved. "Don't be shy, it's nothing to be ashamed of."
Tentatively, a tall lanky boy raised his hand. Sam pointed at him and nodded. "Your name my good sir?" he asked with a smile.
"Connor McBride, s-sir. I-I haven't formed a mana core yet," he said, his face flushed.
Sam smiled at the boy. "It's alright Connor, just call me Sam. Go ahead and stand next to Harold," he said warmly, gesturing to the 5th year student behind him.
"Anyone else have yet to form their mana cores?" Several other students raised their hands and Sam guided them to his assistants, the boys to Harold and the girls to Stephanie. "Alright," he said once the last of the students without mana cores had been split off. "Harold and Stephanie will be leading those of you who haven't yet formed a mana core through the process. Once you've formed your core, please return to the classroom."
The older students led a dozen students out of the classroom, leaving about 20 of them alone with Sam. "While your classmates establish their mana cores, the rest of us will be going through affinity testing. First, we'll be using this," he said, moving to a cart that had been tucked in the corner of the room. A large, milky white sphere sat on a pedestal on top of the cart. Wheeling the cart to the middle of the room, Sam gestured to the sphere. "This is an affinity tester. It will detect if you have any affinities and give an approximate strength for it. All you have to do is place your hand on the sphere, and the device does the rest." Sam stuck his hand on the sphere in demonstration. After a few seconds, a large circle appeared, with 25 circles in 3 layers. The first layer held a single circle in the center, the next layer included 6 circles, and the outer layer had 18. The center circle was filled in with grey, while the layer of 6 held 4 half or more full circles of blue, red, white, and black, while there was only a small sliver of another white circle and a brown circle in the outer layer. Most of the outer 18 circles held only slivers, though two were nearly full and shined a light blue and a dark blue respectively. Sam let the students study the image for a few seconds before he removed his hand from the sphere and it winked out of existence.
"As you saw, the device will display your affinities as a series of circles. The center circle just shows that I have an established mana core, while the middle layer displayed my basic affinities for Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, and Dark magics. The outer layer shows advanced affinities, which can occur when someone has at least half a circle full in 2 basic affinities, though not always. As you might have noticed, I have 2 of those," he said with a wink. Jun felt herself blush as Sam winked at her, and she could hear a few of the girls giggle as well, though Aya just frowned at their teacher slightly.
Raising his hand for silence, Sam smiled and gestured at the sphere. "When I call you up, you'll place your hand on the scanner while I take a few notes. First up..." Sam said, picking up a clipboard from the cart next to the device. "Aya?"
Nodding, Jun's new acquaintance walked up to the device and stuck her hand on the device without hesitation. The red circle was more than 3 quarters full, while each of her other basic affinities ranged from less than a quarter to just under half full. None of the outer circles lit up. Sam jotted a few notes down on his clipboard. "You have a strong fire affinity Aya," he said with a smile. Aya only frowned and nodded back at the man, causing his smile to crack a bit at her standoffish attitude. "Right, well next student..."
Sam quickly moved through the list of students. When there were only 3 of them left to be tested, including Jun, the dozen students without mana cores returned. From the awkward looks some of them wore and the still wet hair, Jun guessed that they probably experienced the same thing she had when she established her core, though it seemed none of them had dirtied their clothes in the process. Sam quickly called up another girl, leaving only Jun remaining from the students who already had their mana cores.
"Last student before our newly established mana core wielders take a turn. Jun?" Sam said, looking right at her with a smile.
Jun couldn't help feeling self-conscious as the man looked at her. Was there something on her uniform? Was her hair messy from running around all day? Did she have a weird look on her face? Butterflies tumbling around in her stomach, Jun stepped up to the device and placed her hand upon it like all the other students had. She held back a flinch as something snaked out of the device and into her mana channels, gently probing until it reached her mana core. She felt a series of strange feelings in her core, before the tendril from the device withdrew. It had barely lasted a few seconds. The now familiar series of circles appeared in the air, and Jun's eyes widened as she took them in. She could hear the other students muttering as they watched, and even Sam seemed surprised as he started at Jun's affinity results.
Sam seemed to shake himself out of his daze as he blinked at Jun's results, before hurriedly scribbling a few notes down on his clipboard. Only the center circle had filled in, showing the same grey of an established mana core. None of the other circles held even a hint of color. "It's okay Jun," Sam said with a reassuring smile.