Chapter 28: Selection
[Edited by Arthur30000 and Archmagenaoki]
"Kuro-Chan~, it's time to wake up~" My sister called me as she walked into my room.
"NO!" I screamed while hiding under my blanket. I can't bare to face them again, it's too embarrassing. Yesterday, I not only had some really awkward sex education from my mom but also the embarrassment of my entire family seeing all of my sex toys. Luckily, I got most of them back, but I found some of them went missing and my mom even confiscated the ones that she deemed dangerous. Well, it's not that I disagree with her. It's a lot bigger and more menacing than what I expected. Nevertheless, it's still embarrassing.
Last night, I also wrote a long e-mail to the sex toy company to complain about their delivery method, but all I got from them was the silent treatment. I know it's nonrefundable, but this outright violates customer privacy! I won't buy anything from them again!
"Kuro-Chan, it's not that bad. I also have some of them myself." As I'm planning on setting up my shut-in life in this room, my sister confessed something unexpected.
"Really?" I peeked through the gap. Does she also have one? So, I'm ... normal right? It's not strange to have a big box of sex toys, right?
"Here" She showed me one of her ... lipstick. Are you kidding me!? But before I can go to grab the lipstick and throw it away, it vibrated. It's quite neat and could camouflage itself really well. It seems I learn something new every day. However, when my sister saw me distracted, she jumped under the blanket with me and began tickling me with her vibrating lipstick.
"Gahh, Ha ha ha ha ha! I give- I give up!" It was too late for me to struggle, so I couldn't help but surrender.
"Alright, now let's go to school~" She stopped her attack and gave me a hand in changing my clothes.
"Huh? I don't remember buying these." I just realized after my sister put the new dress on me. It's a blue-green fluttery dress.
"Oh, I got it from the flea market yesterday. I thought it would look good on you." My sister complimented while turning me around. I looked at myself in the mirror. It's more revealing than what I'm used to wearing, but I don't care anymore because there's no shame that is greater than what happened yesterday. Anyway, I still felt like being used, so practicing not getting swept by situation might be a good idea. However, when I stepped out of my room, I started drooling profusely, the culprit being the scent of roasted fatty tuna coming from the kitchen. I finished my morning business quickly, the sizzling sound of the fat chunk of tuna on the hot pan beckoning me. I don't want to admit it, but I feel that my family has already figured out how to manipulate me.
Breakfast is as I expected. It's the fatty tuna steak my mom bought for me from flea market yesterday. It's still raw on the inside, but crispy on the outside, and also came with fresh mozzarella cheese and tomatoes with basil leaves on top as a side dish. The tuna steak's taste, scent, and texture was marvelous and made me forget about the bad experience from yesterday in no time.
"Have you selected a subject that you want to study yet?" My brother asked me as I slowly chewed on a chunk of fatty tuna steak while imagining the deep blue sea where it came from. Tuna here spawn from the dungeons, you say? I know that, but please don't ruin the moment, thank you very much.
Anyway, my brother was talking about the subjects I would have to select for school today. The school let the students choose what to study by themselves, so I could learn whatever I'd like to prepare myself for future adventures. They have dozens of courses for students to select each day, with some classes taking only half a day, and some being several.
"It's [Basic Theory of Magic]." I told my brother. I already decided when I read the course description on the school website.
Basic Theory of Magic
This course teaches the basic principles for casting magic. Suitable for mage apprentices who've never cast any magic before.
Duration: 1 day.
Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Prerequisite: None
"Huh? Don't you already know that? You don't need to learn the prerequisite class. You know that, right? There will only be a simple test for those who don't take the prerequisite course." My brother seems to be surprised.
"No, all my magic was remembered as a whole, so it's quite difficult for me to learn a new spell. Remember the spell you gave me? I was only able to remember half of it." I realized from what I researched on the internet that the magic in this world was designed in the modular format. So all you need to do is remember a small part and a set of rules then the magic could create and construct from that. I learned the hard way that short cutting by cramming the entire spellbook in one go doesn't work.
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"Is that so? Well, that's good for you. I was quite surprised when you asked me to give you a whole spellbook instead of the theory behind it. So this is the reason huh?" My brother replied.
"Wait, did you seriously memorize half of the spell book? Without knowing the basics of magic theory?" My dad who was getting ready to go to work stopped in his track.
"... Kuro-Chan is a smart girl." My mom muttered.
"Well, I don't want to look stupid, so I'm trying to learn magic with the only method I know." Though it turned out my effort to not look stupid made me look even stupider. I grumbled and ate a spoonful of the tuna... delicious. I think my mom sprinkle some unknown herbs on top of it.
"*Ahem* Well, with a brain like yours, you would be able to master the magic in no time!" My brother encouraged me when I looked down.
"Yeah, Kuro is a capable girl." My dad patted my head before leaving. They made it a big deal, but I've actually been trying really hard, and learned it the hard way by memorizing it bit by bit every night.
"I have a question dad, what is your job?" It a question that's bothered me for some time. By his looks, I would bet that he would be a model or host club staff.
"I'm working as Quality Assurance Manager of magic device products. Why?" It's different from what I expected. I hope he doesn't cause any conflict between women at his workplace.
"Nothing, I'm just curious. Bye, dad." I waved goodbye to him as he left the house.
I relished my breakfast a bit longer, after that then I got ready for school, which wasn't very much, it's just putting on my shoes and waiting for my sister to finish with her makeup. My brother finishing before us was waiting outside.
"Have fun!" My mom had hugged me before I left the house. It seems everyone is considerate and not teasing me about my blunder yesterday. Ahh, just thinking about it made me want to dig a hole and stay there forever.
The 24 minutes bus ride to the school only cost one credit for students. It was quite convenient because the bus station is only 500 meters from my house, and it stopped right in front of the school. This school facility looked like the school I remembered. Well, the building looks different, but the atmosphere is the same. You know, a big gate with a teacher in front, teenagers walking in groups, some running, some leisurely walking while chatting. I saw many teenagers practicing their magic or controlling drones. It's the first time I've seen the drones they mentioned when I was riding the bus back from the black forest, so I was gawking a bit.
"How can it fly?" I asked my brother because I couldn't see any propellers attached to the drone.
"It has a miniature jet propeller inside its body, and it controls the direction it's moving with gyroscopes." My brother nonchalantly answered.
"Huh? Not magic?" I'm surprised.
"Of course, magic was used to drive those things. But it's impossible to fly with only magic. It violates the first law of telekinesis, the action equal to the reaction. You could cast telekinesis on the drone to make it fly, but the range would be limited. Do you remember when we talked about [spell intensity]?" I nodded. I remember, one dP equals one meter. "With that method, you would be able to make drones operate 100 meters around you at best, and it would be immediately disabled when it comes into contact with someone's [interference field], making it useless. So to make it operate farther and harder to disable it, everything needs to drive by itself automatically..." My brother entered his passionate lecture mode.
"... So, when the spell is cast by the drone, if it tries to push itself up, the reaction force would counteract it, and nothing would happen. Of course, it could push the ground to lift itself up, but the automatic casting from a drone has low [spell intensity] so it would hover a few meters above the ground at best..." He keeps on and on for five minutes and makes no sign of stopping. It was quite informative but with how fast he was talking It is hard to keep up.
"Aunos that's enough, you're overloading Kuro-Chan’s brain." My sister interrupted.
"Oh, sorry. It's my dream to invent new kind of magic devices so I couldn't help myself when you showed interest in them." My brother looked longingly at the flying drone.
"Anyway, what class are you going to today?" I was curious what my siblings selected.
"I'm going to [Advanced Warfare Tactics]." My brother answered. I don't remember what it's about so I searched on the school website.
Advanced Warfare Tactics
Modern combat tactics on how to use an enemy's weakness, teammates abilities, and the environment to your advantage. Suitable for aspiring field leaders.
Duration: 2 days
Schedule: Monday to Tuesday, Thursday to Friday
Prerequisite: [Basic warfare tactic]
Note: This class is taught by an external professional squad leader, so a 100 credits admission fee will be collected at the beginning of this course.
"And what about you, Pristia?" My brothers class selection looks cool, so I had high expectations on my sister’s selection.
"Uhm, It's [Art of Seduction]..." My sister shyly answered. I searched it on the school website in case I remembered anything incorrectly.
Art of Seduction
This course teaches you to use your charm to get what you want.
Duration: 1 day + evening
Schedule: Monday, Thursday
Prerequisite: [Beginner Cooking] and [Social 101]
Note: This class extends to evening.
... My sister is so bold. Wait, maybe she was right. To survive in this world, it's not necessary to risk my life as an adventurer. Anyway, maybe I should give her some serious sex education like what my mom just did. Uhmm, grocery today, condom, donut, banana...