Soon the first week came to an end. It was Solday, our first day off. I had plans to train and work on my telekinesis but Helena objected. She decided we had to do something more fun. Just as I was settling down on the floor to focus on my magic she returned to our room.

“What am I doing here?” Skadi asked while being dragged by Helena.

“Koyuki wants to work on her magic. It’s our first day off. We should do something together!” Helena proclaimed.

“Training is a good idea.” Skadi said.

“Nooooo! We should have some fun! Together!” Helena protested.

“We could do some fighting. I heard Koyuki could use the training.” Skadi suggested.

“Good idea. I can practise magic later.” I agreed.

“That is not what I meant…” Helena said. “But I suppose fighting is fun. It’s a shame we can’t go hunting. We will have drinks in the evening though!”

We went to the practice area where we borrowed some weapons. Students were allowed to use them in their free time. I had not seen Skadi fight yet, so I was curious. She picked a large two handed axe.

“Why is nobody using a shield?” I asked. “Helena, you even suggested using one when Eva was defeated in our first fighting lesson.”

“A shield is great when you are fighting another regular human. It works for some monsters, but not all. And for mages it is a bit more complicated. You really need to specialise in it.” Helena explained.

“I can see the monster problem. Something big won’t be stopped by a shield. You either dodge or get squished. But what about mages?” I asked.

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It was Skadi that answered: “Same thing, to a degree. A spellblade can increase their strength. They are going to smash right through your block. Sure, you can use the shield to redirect their strike, that can work. But a shield loses a lot of its appeal when the enemy is too strong. You need to be a spellblade yourself and use a magical shield. In that case, you can even block some of the big monsters.”

“It’s often used by earth affinities. Sometimes water. Wind and fire mostly go for speed, or just more offensive power.” Helena added. “As for a normal mage, having a free hand is often needed to direct your magic. Your weapon is more of a backup anyway. A shield will restrict you and not be of much help.”

“What about light and dark?”

“I don’t actually know.” Helena admitted.

“Me neither.” Said Skadi. “Not sure how many of them go down the spellblade path.”

Helena grabbed a spear and I took a staff. Then we began with some one on one matches.

And I lost. Helena was simply too skilled, despite my stronger body. Skadi was skilled and stronger, albeit slightly slower. The two of them were an interesting matchup. It was close but Skadi won most of the time. We practised until noon and stopped to clean up and grab food.

We all chose sausages with potato salad. We even had a table for ourselves. A lot of the students went into the city on their day off.

“What advanced classes will you take?” I asked my companions.

“Melee combat, water and earth magic.” Skadi said. “I am going to be a spellblade most likely.”

“I am doing melee combat as well. While I will probably focus on large scale magic I want to keep my options open. And I do like stabbing things sometimes. Water magic is obvious.”

“I am going water and darkness. I also want alchemy. I will leave the stabbing to you I think.”

“There will be more options next year.” Helena said. “Taming could be interesting. You could try to get a monster as a mount. Or bind a familiar.”

“What is a familiar?” I asked.

“A dangerous thing.” Skadi said. “You will get some powers by binding a creature to you but if it dies there is some backlash.”

“It’s not a very common practice.” Helena added. “As Skadi said, there are some downsides. And you need a willing creature with moderate intelligence. A water or ice elemental would be cool though.”

“Could you have an undead familiar?” I wondered.

“No idea.” Helena said. Skadi shrugged.

After we finished eating I managed to practise my magic. Helena grumbled but ultimately agreed that it was a good idea. Skadi joined us in our room and we all worked on the telekinesis spell. I even managed to briefly float a feather. But even a small distraction broke my concentration. It was progress though and it put a smile on my face. I was doing better than my companions. I really had a talent for magic.

In the evening we sat outside in the park enjoying some drinks. Skadi decided to treat us and bought some ale in the mess hall. My first week had gone pretty well. And nobody had tried to kill me, yet. I wondered how long the peace would last. My abnormalities and my background had not leaked, yet. I suspected that Archibald used his day off to whine to his father though. And I would not be surprised if he acquired some information in the process.

But for now life was looking good. And next week I would have my first advanced class in death magic. I was really looking forward to it!