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Ellia stomach groaned a little as she finally reached the area of the class. There was still some time, so she cursed not getting food first.
According to the tablet, the lectures would take place on the fields instead, though immediately upon seeing the course professor she might ascertain some ideas.
“Welcome, welcome” under a lone tree amidst the fields sat a grandmother-like figure on a wooden chair, the Ellie-imposting hag. “Last to come to listen to this old woman’s rambling, it seems.”
Ellia gave an off-putting yet cordial smile, she looked around, aside from Madoff there seemed to only be eight other people, she recognised a few but none that she had ever interacted with.
“Let’s start early” she rose to her feet, stretching in such motion that Ellia feared it would break some bones with her age. “Oh my, oh my. Little children, don’t worry, this granny still has some action in her.”
Her attire, whilst the same as other professors and lecturers, seemed more loose fitting somehow, still the difference was not too terribly noticeable from afar.
“It does seem quite comfy… Maybe I could get one like that?” Ellia unconsciously looked at the pants she was wearing. While it was by no means tight-fitting, the airflow was a bit in sufficient, like a pocket oven had the air not be conditioned.
“Professor Claudia Histoire.” Madoff performed a bow, before blending in with the tree’s shadows by the professor's side, a single aide of this course it would appear.
“For your first task…”
The grounds then started shaking, hands emerged. Skinned, partially skinned, or outright skeletons, the owner of those would slowly crawl out of the now various holes.
Ellia looked behind, at this rate they would soon be utterly surrounded, but not only that, a wall of fire some distance away would prevent a soul from running away. Despite burning like the infernal flames, it was non-spreading. Thought of from where the corpses came crossed her mind, but there was more urgent matter at hand.
“If you have some conduits left, I suggest you make use of them.” a wicked smile accompanied the scream, one of the cadets got caught in the leg by the rising undead.
“[Magic Arrow]!” an arrow of light pierced through one of the undead at the border of her light of vision, while undoubtedly effective against one undead.
“Idiot! Waste a conduit for that?!” the speaker inched closer to Ellia, though she did not have a chance to turn before one of the dead grasped her leg.
It was a strange sensation, she had never been touched by a skeleton before.
“I’m glad it’s not a rotting corpse…” with a free leg, she broke herself free rather easily.
“Form ranks!”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
“H…help!”
The other group of people seemed to form a group already, albeit most of them did not look combat capable, Ellia could join them, however the oddly intense amount of rising dead would surely make her trip difficult.
“So… annoying.” she shook her head before starting sprinting towards the flames, With “[Atelier]”, came a shovel, she would be thankful if someone eventually taught her to summon other weapons with the spell.
“Little girl, say ‘I’ll bury you!” The distracting voice of the professor made her lose balance slightly, at this point, many undead made it above the ground completely, those that were not fully decomposed seem to retain more articles of clothing.
“DIE!” she swung at one of the ‘zombie’ before her, it did not react until the shovel met its mark, a clear sign of non-intelligence.
“Every species can be reanimated via a special school of creation magic, false life is a concept in various literature, so I don’t believe I need to go through common knowledge of their main archetypes.”
“DIE! DIE DIE!” Like a dance, she cleaved through three at once, though it neither slowed them down nor fell them instantly.
“Oh my, you seem to be having fun. The undead cannot feel pain, to kill it is to break viable means of false life. I will go through the details later, but for today, you can imagine that cutting natural vitals would also work as well.
The zombies, being unequipped, make them resemble a walking practice dummy, even so if left alone to cluster up, a problem could still occur.
She sank a shovel into one’s chest, using her feet to kick the shovel off, and let out another swing, now panting heavily, she would realise that she only managed to slay two whilst being surrounded by ten.
“CATCH!” a flask thrown from the other group somehow ended up in Ellia’s hand, despite being quite a considerable distance away and no clear line of sight.
“Was that some kind of magic?” No time to think, she unclogged the bottle and applied it to the metallic part of her shovel, blazes burnt hot emerged from them with the slightest of spark. Decomposing fat makes a great fuel.
“Oh my, oh my, that's cheating.” Professor Claudia remarked, munching on some crisps loudly, as her voice was enhanced similar to the loudspeakers on the train, every bite and motion was made clear to everyone. “But are you sure that's a good idea?”
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Alchemical fire was certainly an effective tool in combat, the living would naturally break formation upon being lit ablaze… However, until my body deteriorated… Zombies facing Ellia would practically turn into an auto-targeting fire starter, one gripped her arm, thankfully the fire hadn’t spread to that part yet.
With all her strength, she pulled its arm, utilising its weight and rendering it unbalanced before delivering a stab to the burning back of the neck, though the problem ensured when the burning part contacted with the field.
She turned around, at least a dozen were targeting her. The smoke started to make her feel unable to breathe well, combined with physical exertion…
A skeleton suddenly lunged at her, its fingers as sharp as a blade, a narrow evade made a long slashed mark on her left sleeve, the attack would definitely have been lethal. Thoughts flooded in her mind as adrenaline flooded her system, her shovel wouldn’t do much against the bones, being resistant to slashing type of damage, nor did she have the strength to deal enough damage with a swing.
The undead turned around quickly, preparing for another strike, “DUCK RIGHT” the minds told her, but her body was not responsive, coughing with all the smoke filling her lungs. Just when the second lunge would reach, it suddenly stopped mid-motion, along side the rest of the undead.
“Hm… That’s quite enough.” looking around, not just the undead around her but across the field had been put to a halt, the ones burning would collapse upon some passage of time.
“Unfortunate, I thought there would be more fun, but for that to happen you would need knowledge.” the various corpses and skeletons collapsed into themselves, those that could manage sunk themselves into the grounds once more.
“A-are you okay?” one of the other group rushed at Ellia, quickly bandaging her arm with a rag from her side bag, though it wasn’t bleeding much, leaving it exposed to air seemed not to be the best idea.
“Maybe I should carry that around too” eventually noticing that she had been acting ungrateful, she gave a small smile. “Thank you!”
Just then, both were startled by a sudden sound of a trumpet, the most shocked seemed to be Madoff, who let out an unartistically audible “WHAT”.
Looking to the ground, the fields were entirely encapsulated by circles of magic, strange runes, her heart felt heavy, as if the weight of the world was being directly pressed upon it. The one helping her seemed to have the same.
“Mayhap this will enhance your learning experience. You children have studied magic theory, have you not? Witness one of the things your lecturer said impossible, fifth order magic. [Domini Lapsi : First Signs]”
Instantly, every grass in the area withered, even the lone tree lost its will to live, leaves withered and fell off, upon reaching the ground they would’ve already turned into black matter.
“This is the extent of the school of necromancy, to overwrite the very concept of life itself… And raise them as your own.” She slowly reached to pick down one of the fallen leaves, adjusting her back a little. “After all, the act of creating deaths is still part of [Creation] is it not? In warfare, this could be you or your enemy. Come to visit me often, and this granny will teach you plenty of cool tricks.”
“T-that’s a magnificent spell, professor Histoire.” one of the cadets spoke up, still gripping his chest tight.
“Oh my, ‘professor Claudia’ is preferable… But ‘was’? Are you under the impression that the spell has ended?” she would then break into a laugh upon seeing the faces of her students, “I’m just joking, you children seemed awfully tense.” cleaning her hand with a towel, she would be seated once more, munching on fried potatoes, couldn’t be heathy considering her age. “How about going home early? The firewall instantly extinguished upon that sentence. “Go on, children, see you next week when we will get through the boring theories.”
Reluctantly Ellia gave a bow, thanked the girl who helped her once more before slowly leaving the area, unsteadily, the ache in her heart did not disperse, has the spell truly ended?
“Why do I feel like I’ve learnt nothing…”
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Practically crawling back to her resting place, many more concerned looks were directed at Ellia. Many on the way asked if they could help, but she assured every last one of them that she’s fine.
Her light wounds had been properly disinfected and bandage reapplied in the institute’s infirmary, from her personal experience, it shouldn’t cause a permanent scar. Still, the weight on her heart did not go away.
Her stomach was rather upset with her, acid within roared as if it would surge out at any moment. But the mind told her to get to her room and sit down for at least a moment,
.
The door unlocked, Ellie nowhere to be seen, she checked the time, 17:01. In the worst-case scenario, Ellie would be released in the next two hours. Since she has magic theory class once more in the morning, it would be best to sleep rest early.
“If I just close my eyes a little…” Not wanting her bed to get dirty or simply too exhausted, she finds a nice corner to rest.
.
.
.
.
“...Sis..”
A pair of eyes opened, and another pair met. Her silly little sister was poking her forehead. “Oh hello you…” Ellia would quickly be awakened upon realisation that the heartache still did not wane. Still, she tried her best to not flinch.
“Big sis looks pale… is she okay?”
“Don’t you dare talk like that!” with her two hands, Ellie’s cheeks were squished, the softness was like those of mash mellows.
“Ow…” her face started to redden a little, as she made a small pout, the big sister masterfully switched her hands, throwing her weight for an embrace. “Eek sis! A-Are you okay?!”
“When big sis hugs smoll sis, big sis feels heart warm!”
“P-please don’t talk like that…” she replied playfully, embracing Ellia back. “Um… have sis eaten? They told me you looked extremely pale… But I don’t see much…”
“Ellie would look so cute in a skirt uniform… But what’s this… perfume…? It’s etiquette class, after all.” pushing her thoughts aside, she responded, “I haven’t… What to go get something while we talk about our day?”
.
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“F-fifth order magic?”
“Yeah, from what I’ve seen it’s capable of wide-area instant death…” the eatery would be extremely populated at the time, but they thought they would at least check if they could squeeze themselves in. “I still don’t understand, what’s the point of cataloguing fifth tier magic if no one but the user can use?”
Ellie nodded, “It could be in case if the caster dies, the research isn’t lost…?”
“That’s plausible, but…” she gave a peek inside the eatery, sure enough there was not a place they can sit, still, carrying food back to her room was still an option; thus they merely needed to wait in line.
“I recognise a few people…” Ellie whispered, earning a nod, none that Ellia had personally talked to, once more she was reminded at just how little people she knew at the institute. Settling in a queue, she would finish her story about the class, omitting the lingering pain.
“Since sis asked, today’s offensive and defensive classes are just a demonstration of how various magic can be used… They even have some monsters … But none of the spell shown are first order. “Apparently, mana control is supposed to be taught in magic theory…”
“I’m starting to wonder if there was no ‘grand scheme’ and this place simply does not know how to function as a military academy.” the words earned several chuckles from near people both in the line and seated, reminded her to lower her voice.
“Oh, they also introduce us to school of magics, in creation… As magic theory professor said, there are so many schools of both creation and destruction magics…” She paused for a bit, “But unfortunately not a single destruction spell was used… So I still don’t have an idea of what it’s like.”
“Two orders of triple seared steak, take-outs, please. And no onions on the side for one of the order…” Ellia ordered, still a thought crossed her mind. “... If we have to pay for food, we would’ve been bankrupted a long time ago… Even then, could I really just spent everything on parfait? Ellie definitely did not overspend from what I know… Gosh, I’ll make a ledger starting today!”
“How’s etiquette class? What’s that about?” Ellie seemed to perked up even more,
“Table manners! Like serving order and various cutleries… I didn’t know there were so many utensils… There’s also mannerisms and such we need to do for different hierarchy of people from different countries.”
In Priminn Continent, aside from the Imperial Republic of Serinn and the small city state of Zern Magocracy, the continent was filled with but three nations. Arch nemesis Farinn Theocracy, the Solitude Kingdom of Koltinn and the Knightly Order of Quinne. Territory-wise, they possess little threat to the Imperial Republic, but a cordial relationship was established nonetheless with the remaining two, for reasons eluding the public.
“That… certainly sounds like a productive three hours.”