After class, Jeb debated staying inside the classroom to start reading the next chapter. He quickly glanced through the syllabus and saw that he needed to read the next chapter by the next class period. But, he also saw that he was supposed to have read another chapter from a different book, which Jeb did not yet have.
That fact reminded Jeb that the Librarian had told him to come to the Library after the first class session of all of the courses he was enrolled in. Looking around, he saw that the classroom had already emptied out, and so he hurried back out the door he had come through. When he made it to the entrance of the Library, Kaitlyn was standing there, clearly waiting for him.
“Do you have your syllabus?” she asked. Jeb handed it over without saying anything. She read through it, her long hair staying tightly bound into the intricate knot she had tied it in as she nodded. “I am grateful that Professor Bearson always teaches this course the same way,” she finally said, handing Jeb what he assumed was the second book he needed for the course.
As he turned to go, she held up a hand to stop him. “Now, while I cannot tell you not to study in the Stacks, especially if the Academy is letting you into them, I would ask you not to climb the ladders.” Before Jeb could ask why, she continued, “and if you do feel a need to climb the ladders, please refrain from speaking. Your utterance is still echoing up there, and it is likely to continue for a number of years more.”
Seeing Jeb’s eyes light up with a question, she sighed. “Before you ask, no, I cannot tell you why your voice is still echoing.”
“Cannot, may not, or will not?” Jeb asked, sensing that there was something strange about her refusal.
She brightened at that. “Oh good, he did teach you precision. Will not for certain. I also may not. The question of can is an interesting one when we fall into the realm of Oaths and Class Abilities. If an Oath ties your Class to not saying something, even if your vocal chords are capable of producing each sound in turn, if you lose your Class, are you still the same person that you were a few moments before speaking?”
As Jeb considered the question, the Librarian flowed back into the stacks. He didn’t notice until a few minutes later when he finally came up with an answer. “I don’t think-” he trailed off when he saw there was no one there.
Shrugging, Jeb looked at his schedule. Next up was Music Theory with Professor Lawrence. “Academy, I would appreciate it if you could lead me to my Theory classroom,” Jeb said, opening the doors out of the Library. It took him to what was clearly a classroom, though not like one he had ever seen before.
The front of the room seemed relatively bare. There was what Jeb assumed was a piano, strings open, which he assumed would just make it louder. Behind the piano were a number of boards, like what he had seen Professor Bearson draw on during the previous class. Unlike those boards, these all came premarked with staff lines, which made sense to him after a moment of thought. If this class is going to focus on small musical examples, he reasoned, “it would save a lot of time to not need to rewrite the staff lines for each example.”
Since Librarian Kaitlyn had not given him any books for the class yet, he settled in to start working on the Enchanting homework. The second chapter was even denser than the first had been, though Professor Bearson’s lecture had done a lot to make it so Jeb could follow what the chapter was trying to explain. He had a bad feeling about the laboratory component of the course, though, since every problem in both chapters was focused on problems of less than a hundred thaum. Jeb had no idea how he could control his own Magic that well, using fractions of a fraction of a point of Mana.
Distracted from his schoolwork, he watched the other members of this class start to trickle in. Most of them were carrying instruments of some sort, which made Jeb start to feel self conscious. Was there some direction he had missed? The questioning glances that the other students sent his way did nothing to alleviate those concerns. Just as he was about to ask one of them, though, a door he hadn’t noticed next to the boards opened, and Jeb saw Professor Lawrence for the first time.
The tallest person Jeb had ever known was his Uncle Albert. Even the top of his grandfather’s head only came to the chin of his uncle. Jeb could tell from a single glance that this Professor was even taller than him. Unlike his uncle, though, the Professor’s proportions seemed slightly off. When Professor Lawrence moved his hand across the board, scrawling his name, Jeb was reminded of nothing so much as a spider’s grasping legs. He couldn’t point to anything in particular that gave him the impression, though. After all, Jeb had known thinner people than the Professor. Trying to focus, he looked at what the Professor had written on the board.
As Jeb finished reading “Introductory Music Theory, Professor Lawrence,” the Professor began to speak. “If any of you did not mean to enroll in this course, you have until I finish this announcement to leave. My course roster for the semester will be comprised of the students in the room at that time.”
Jeb watched some of the older looking students in the bottom tiers of the classroom start packing up and hurrying up and out as the Professor spoke. The Professor ignored them, continuing to speak in a dry and bored tone, “all students enrolled in Introductory Music Theory are required to co-enroll in Introductory Ear Training. All students in my,” Jeb heard the first piece of emotion in the Professor’s voice. Somehow, there was a feeling of ownership that passed over the entire room. “course are also required to be co-enrolled in Introductory Piano.”
A student in the front tier of seats raised her hand. The Professor stared at her, as though he expected her to put her hand down before being acknowledged. After a few moments of her staring directly back at him, Professor Lawrence gave a nod of what seemed like approval. Taking that as an introduction, she spoke, “what if we already have the Piano Skill?”
He rolled his eyes. “All three of these courses, as you would know if you waited to ask your question until the syllabus had been handed out,” the approval faded into a glare, “are courses which require performance without the aid of Skills.”
“But if I have the Piano Skill, clearly I have already demonstrated my ability to play piano,” the student protested.
“Then I expect that the Introductory Piano Course will not be a struggle for you.” The Professor’s tone of voice left no room for debate, and the student lowered her hand, stood up, and left the classroom. Jeb watched the exchange, mostly wondering how the Professor would prevent students from using their Skills.
“Now, if there are no further interruptions?”
No one raised their hand.
After looking around the room, Professor Lawrence continued, turning back to the board and writing as he spoke. “Well, then, here is the syllabus for this course. As you can see, there are assignments due every session of this class. These are due as you enter the room.” He paused writing, erasing the last sentence. “I suppose that is not entirely true. Assignments are due when class begins. If you wish to hurry through the last portions of an assignment in the moments before the bell rings, then that is your right.” The Professor continued to go through the entirety of the thick syllabus in front of each student. Jeb had a moment of confusion when he suddenly saw the syllabus in front of him but shrugged it off. It wasn’t that much stranger than what Professor Bearson had done, even if it was subtler.
After going through the entire syllabus, making every part of it absolutely explicit, Professor Lawrence seemed to lose a heavy load. He stood up straighter, and Jeb realized that he was even taller than he had first imagined. The tone of his voice lightened slightly as he began his lecture. “Now, this course covers basic harmony and counterpoint in music. This begs the question: what is music?” The Professor turned and scrawled in large letters on the board “Music?”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Given how severe he had been during the syllabus portion of the class, Jeb found himself surprised at how animated of a lecturer Professor Lawrence ended up being. When the bell rang, Jeb was disappointed that he would need to leave the class. He looked at the syllabus, curious what the assignment would be for the next day. It was almost painfully simple. Jeb needed to write the scale independent names for each note in a scale for each of the twelve scales.
He quickly drew down a staff on one of his rapidly dwindling pieces of paper and started writing the scales as he walked back to the Library. He almost ran into Kaitlyn when the doors opened. She took the syllabus from his hands, flipped through it while nodding, and handed it back to him.
“You should not need the textbook for this course for at least another week or so, but if you would like it sooner, I can have it ready for you after lunch.”
“If it isn’t too much of a burden, I would appreciate it,” Jeb said. She nodded and walked back to the stacks.
As Jeb ate a quick lunch, he realized that he was done with his coursework for the day. “What should I do now?” he wondered aloud. Seeing a few heads turning to look at him, he flushed.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Humdrum Human Age: 16 Class: Wizard Level: 3 Experience: 775/204
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Total Statistic Load: 623 Physical Load: 228 Strength: 52 Dexterity: 53 Endurance: 54 Vitality: 55 Presence: 14
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Mental Load: 395 Intelligence: 78 Willpower: 85 Magic Affinity: 84 Mana Depth: 74 Charisma: 74
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Mana: 1755
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Glyph Attunement: 31 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Water (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Meditation Spell Glyphing Gift of Gab Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Glassblowing Magic
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic Glyph Specializer
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)