The wave of students shuffled into the auditorium, bringing the four of us with them. I gazed at the room, and tried not to frown in confusion.
The auditorium was made entirely of various colors of marble. I had never seen marble come in any color other than white, but despite the oddity of the room, I had to admit it was lovely. I took a closer look at the room, and realized that every slab of material was one massive, unbroken chunk.
Probably made by an alchemist, I decided. Materials didn't look like that if they were processed by machines instead of magic.
I shook my head, and turned my attention back to the horde of children. Now that the orientation was finally starting, I could get a head count. I wanted to know how many children this school accepted each year.
In total, there were around 100 students present. Only the first years came today, so there should be about 800 students total in the school.
There aren't that many prep alchemy academies in the country, I mused to myself. If each academy only accepted a few hundred students a year, what did everyone else do for education? Was there some sort of standard education for children, or had that not developed in this world? If it hadn't, perhaps I could earn some Achievement by making it part of this world's culture? I felt that making education accessible for kids wasn't a bad 'life goal,' if I needed something to spend my time on.
As I mused about ideas for the future, an older man stepped to the center of the room. He had short salt-and-pepper goatee, and he was on the taller side. He wore a classy, tailored suit, and he was in his mid-forties. He was probably the headmaster of the academy.
“It’s good to see all of you,” said the headmaster, giving us a practiced smile. “I’ll spare most of the long speech, since I assume you're eager to meet your classmates. But I still have a few words to say.
“This academy will teach you the basics of alchemy, one of the most important jobs in modern society. Alchemy and machinery are the two beating hearts of the new age - and by stepping into this academy, you have the opportunity to access one of them. I hope that you won't waste this opportunity. Many people don't have the money or time to study Alchemy. By learning it, you can improve the lives of you and your family members by leaps and bounds,” he said. I resisted the urge to frown. I felt that the headmaster's speech was a bit pretentious. Then again, he was the headmaster of an expensive private school. Perhaps I should have expected that.
The headmaster gave us one final critical look, before his gaze grew less stern. He gave us a lukewarm smile, before gesturing towards the other adults standing in the auditorium.
“That is all I wanted to say. Your teachers will give you a more detailed breakdown of how classes and this school work. We’ve already created your classes based on your own personal requests, as well as the requirements of your teachers. When I call your name, please step forward and stand where I point. Tallia…” the headmaster began naming people, one after another. Whenever someone heard their name, they joined one of the adults in the center of the room.
Each class seemed to have twelve to thirteen people in it.
When my name was finally called, I grinned.
I was in the same group as Felix and Anise.
It would have been a huge bummer if we all went to the same school but ended up in different classes.
Sadly, we weren’t in the classroom with the ability-using teacher. I had been hoping that he would teach us a few useful things about ability potions. A few moments later, I shrugged.
Felix sent a wave of mental chuckles at us as the headmaster continued naming students. Anise, Felix and I started mentally chatting until he called the last name. Then, I took one final look at our group, and chuckled. Iselde was also part of our group.
She gave me a bright, cheerful smile, and I gave her a small wave. I hadn’t gotten to know Iselde very well yet, but she seemed friendly. Making another friend would be fun.
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I turned my attention to the teacher, who gave our group a quick scan eye. I examined him while he eyed our class.
He was a bit younger than the headmaster, and appeared to be in his thirties. He also wore a suit, although it was a bit sloppier than the headmaster's. He had a warm smile when he looked at us.
“Six girls and seven boys, huh,” he said. “Almost exactly even. My name is mister Delmont. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you. Let’s head to the classroom, and then we can do self-introductions.”
He led us to another classroom. I noticed that his classroom also used alchemically-made construction materials as decorations. The stones on mister Delmont's walls were also colored, creating natural landscape paintings. They looked quite nice.
“All right, let’s see... For your introductions, tell us your name and one thing you like,” said Mister Delmont.
The other students started introducing themselves. The first few self-introductions were a bit stiff - probably due to nerves.
Iselde was the fourth to introduce herself, and was the first to break the tension of the room a bit.
“My name is Iselde, and I want to see if tennenment farmers drink fertilizer potions to grow!” she said.
Mister Delmont had a rather curious expression on his face after that. It almost looked like he was constipated, but I was pretty sure he was trying not to laugh.
“Erm… is that so?” he said. “That’s… a very interesting hobby. I imagine that the tenant farmers don't drink fertilizer potions. They don't really agree with humans, you see...” Iselde gave mister Delmont a suspicious look, but didn't say anything.
After Iselde broke the tension in the room, the next few students seemed more relaxed. The seventh student seemed rather interesting. He was a boy named Vance, and he claimed that his hobby was fencing.
I stifled a chuckle at Sallia's words. I hadn't thought about it before, but this world really didn't suit Sallia very well. Gunpowder made most melee weapons obsolete, and Sallia's exceptional talent didn't seem to extend to guns.
Finally, it was Felix’s turn to introduce himself.
Felix straightened his back, stood in front of the classroom, and confidently smiled at us.
“I’m Felix, and I want to be a great alchemist,” he said. “Ever since I was little, that’s been my dream. I love alchemy and creating items a lot. I hope to learn a lot in these coming years.”
Mister Delmont gave Felix an even warmer grin. “I’ll do my best to support your learning then,” he said. “Becoming a great alchemist requires a lot of studying, but it’s also incredibly interesting. Well, I think so, at least. I may be a bit biased,” he said, before chuckling.
Next up was Anise.
“I’m Anise!” she said. “I like Zelyrian mag- uhh… alchemy. And reading books!”
I grinned. I had started giving Anise a few fantasy books that I thought she would like every month. Hearing that Anise liked them made me happy.
The teacher gave Anise a thoughtful look, before he chuckled. “Magic, huh. I will say that most Zelyrian magic is impossible to replicate today. It's a fascinating topic of study, but don't delve too deeply into it. Many scholars have spent their lives studying Zelyrian magic without results. But I hope that you learn to love alchemy as much as you love magic.”
That was a… tactful way of putting it. If Anise didn’t have the surgery that changed her body, learning Zelyrian magic would be a pipe dream. Without the right essence, learning a spellcasting system was like trying to drive a car with no gas.
Finally, the teacher turned towards me. “And last but not least, Miria.”
I stood up.
“My name is Miria! I have a healing ability, and I enjoy singing!” I said. After we had arrived in Vintella, I had picked my hobby of singing back up. I didn’t think I was going to do anything crazy with it, but it was nice to have a hobby.
“Healing ability, huh. Say, do you work with Doctor Trish?” asked Mister Delmont. “I remember hearing that her clinic had a little assistant who heals missing limbs."
I nodded. “I work there! Although I’m going to be present a lot less often, now that I’m going to school,” I said. “But I still want to learn healing! I want to learn more about medicine by studying alchemy.”
The teacher smiled at me. “Well, there’s a good amount of overlap between Alchemy and medicine. Half of alchemy is understanding the building blocks of matter. It won't be this year, but in the future we'll talk a lot about bones, tendons, and nerves. Welcome to the class.”
The teacher had us sit down, before he moved to the front of the classroom.
I saw Felix sit with rigid anticipation as he stared at the front of the classroom.
The security guard had mentioned that most teachers just did self-introductions on the first day, but a few might do a bit of lecturing. Perhaps…
“All right, since this is a prep school for future alchemists, how about I show you a little alchemy?” said the teacher, his eyes twinkling. “I can at least show you what a fully fledged alchemist can do, and give you a few basics to think about.”
I saw Felix’s eyes start shining as he stared at the teacher.
It was finally time to learn the fundamentals of alchemy.