“I was told by this young man, here. That you are trying to stone a student or student aide on academy premises. That is against the bylaws of the academy. If you kill that student aide, I’m afraid I’ll be forced to expel you.” said the Dwarf. The dwarf cracked his knuckles to show that he was not playing around, and that he had nimble fingers.

The student paled.

“We weren’t going to stone him. We were… We were playing catch?”

“You were playing catch. With twenty seven stones at once?”

“Yes…”

“I doubt that. Now, scatter before I get impatient.” The dwarf flexed his large bicep, and pulled out a tiny cube-like contraption. It whirred and whizzed as the mechanical components inside did something. The students stared at it with a mixture of disbelief and a tad bit of horror, at least the students who knew what it was.

The students dispersed, except for Merkel who stood beside the Dwarf.

“Thank you for saving me by going and getting this Dwarf.” I said.

“I mean that’s not why I originally went to Professor Obran, but he was awfully good at convincing me that it is in my best interest to save you. I guess I didn’t understand what it meant to be a mana battery. My apologies.”

“Why did you go to professor Obran?”

“That’s not important. I’m a changed man.”

“Fair enough.”

“Now, Merkel. Why don’t you get back to class so I can have a few words with Arthur here.”

Merkel agreed and headed back to his class. It was a fickle thing. People's sentiment of me, that is. One moment I was about to be burned at the stake, the next a few stern words and it was like they’d never picked up stones in the first place.

The Dwarf who I owed a debt to, Obran, leaned in to hiss into my ear. He dropped the facade of a calm and collected professor. His bloodshot eyes suggested he was stressed.

“What the fuck are you doing becoming a mana battery! That Merkel boy came to me to make me use the cube on you! The cube! Now, I talked him straight. A few half truths and a couple of lies, but he’ll learn the truth eventually.”

“I didn’t choose this. If anyone is to blame it’s my student.”

“Possibly, but it's too much of a coincidence. It’s an extra wrench in the plans, I’ve already got a bucket full of those in my shop!”

“So you think it might not be luck?”

“Absolutely. Don’t you. Everything that has happened in the last few years seems to sabotage my efforts to pay back my debt.”

“But the infallible sorting shoe?”

“That shoe is not what you think it is. Same with that book that teaches the mana battery class. As you delve into your path, you’ll find out why they’re so keen on having you around.”

“Why? Why don’t you just tell me?”

“Look, right now none of that matters. What matters is that you survive on the campus. The students will not rest until you’re dead by the way. Sure, technically they can’t kill you in broad daylight, but if your death was an ‘accident’ then no one would blink an eye.”

“But the shoe.”

“Look! The shoe isn’t all that powerful. Even if it wants you to do the thing… When you die, it’ll just sort someone next year, and the year after that. Time is plentiful for those without a body. They’ll play the long game, until they’ve reached whatever scheme they’ve got hidden in their little non-moving non-organic bodies. What I need you to do, is to focus up, don’t make the mistake of skipping out on the mana battery classes. Statistically, you live longer the more you study. And win that fucking tournament. Capeesh?”

“Yes. But can you get me inside the upper divs portion of the university. I need a disguise and I figured visiting the makeup class would be beneficial.”

“That’s the one run by Brethslan’s mom? She’s a smoke show. Yes, I’ll write you a note. They like to keep the classism in the academy, you won’t have any luck perusing the upper divs without completing the mandatory 130 credits without a note or a work permit.”

“Can you write me some notes in advance? So that I can come and go as I wish.”

Obran narrowed his eyes and gave me a disgruntled look.

“My notes are not like candy to be handed out. I don’t want rumors spreading that I’m a note whore. I’ve got enough rumors spreading about me. Look, if it's important, come to me, but don’t push your luck.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Noted.”

“Now, I’ve got a class to teach. Don’t talk to me in front of other students. Come to my house after class if you need anything. Images are important. No one is entirely who they present themselves to be.”

Obran took a piece of parchment out of his jacket and scribbled something on the note.

“Show this to the tree and keep your mouth shut. See you whenever I see you.”

“Ok, bye.” I waved as Obran walked away.

I held the note with my outstretched hand and the tree reached down with its outstretched branch and grabbed the paper. It occurred to me, this was somewhat like an elf handing me a human arm with tattoos scrawled on its surface. Part of me hoped that this was morally different because most trees couldn't think.

Although, while I doubted that most trees were sentient, the talking carrots and kung fu shrooms made me less sure of myself and my assessment that trees weren’t sentient. Also, books weren’t supposed to speak, nor shoes. Frankly, it was hard to tell what was or wasn’t alive. As I was busy contemplating if the very ground I stepped over held a grudge against me, I didn’t notice the slow prodding of the tree, trying to push me onto the bridge.

Tree was, at the very least, impatient with me. I would have to mend our relationship later. I needed to stay on good terms if I was going to cross this bridge as much as I wanted to.

It was a different experience when walking on an empty bridge to an empty pavilion on the other side of the bridge. The upper division had an ancient sort of feel to it. It was as if the halls were more uniform, the carved rooms older, cruder. Maybe chisels hadn’t been invented back then.

The upper div students must’ve been in class, because there was no one walking around the halls. As I recollected where the room I was looking for was on the map, I fixed up the robes the best I could. They had gotten somewhat twisted, after being chased and nearly killed. I thought that there probably was a rule about having a knife on campus. Magic could be far more dangerous than I knife, but academics weren’t ones to let their students meddle with uncouth methods of killing.

But there was more to knives than killing. Sometimes I felt like they could create more magic than magic could. I made sure to tuck my knife extra deep in my pocket. As I reached the door to the makeup class. I wondered if it would be better to open the door now, or wait outside the door. The longer I stood outside, the higher the risk that someone recognized me in the hallway. But if I entered the class mid session, I would be noticed by the entire class. I pulled my hand away from the door.

I opted to hide a few corridors over, waiting for the bustling of students as they left class. I would ambush Rose and the professor, after their class had ended. As I sat there, waiting, I thought about how absurd it was that a singular profession could be devoted to becoming a mana battery. If it increased a person’s mana pool, then surely they’d want to be enrolled in other classes to make use of their mana. Maybe that was the problem, I thought. Maybe my predecessors chose to solely focus on classes related to the mana battery path, that they failed to find an outlet for their mana. It was a possibility, although even the book mentioned finding other avenues of learning.

A bell rang down the halls, seemingly the same loudness no matter how far down the halls people were. The first session of classes had ended and students began to fill the halls. I didn’t get as many strange looks from the passersby as I did when I was making my way through the lower divs, but I did catch a few people giving me glances. I didn’t know if that was because of my first year student aide robes, or if my infamy had spread all the way to the upperclassmen.

They did not try to stop me, however. And I was able to make my way to the classroom. As I walked into the open door, I saw Rose sitting in the front of the class, her face massacred by inexperienced makeup appliers. I realized that while this was an advanced class according to the university, this was the first class for those looking to tackle this subject. The professor was nowhere to be seen.

Her face brightened when she saw me. Or at the very least I thought her expression shifted, since it was hard to tell with all the caked on makeup.

“What do I look like? They didn’t give me a mirror, Arthur. But I witnessed some of the grimaces on some of their faces.”

“You look… It looks like they tried.”

“I figured as much. What are you doing here? Don’t you have classes to be at?”

“No, the book teaching my class decided we’d start during the next class. I technically only have one class a week, now. So I’ll have to fill my time some other way, like sneaking into other classes.”

“Book teaching your class? Nevermind, I don’t want to know. I don’t why’d you have to sneak around this place. This class had three students who weren’t officially on the succubus path. I don’t really know why an Artificer wants to learn how to apply makeup, but, frankly, I was too afraid to ask. Especially after she started talking about how handsome her automatons were.”

I grimaced at the thought of what sort of decrepit things that student would make her creations due.

“She probably just wants to hide their blemishes,” I said, naively.

“Err. That’s not the impression I got.”

“Anyways, the reason I need to sneak into classes is because my path tends to explode. And after the death of a few students, most professors will kick me out of their classes. Since I lack money, I figured that Professor Plimor could create a disguise for me.”

Rose scowled.

“Don’t push your luck, Arthur. I don’t want to put a strain on my relationship with my temporary boss, just like how I wouldn’t want to create a strained relationship with Dukes and Duchesses of a court.”

“It feels like the least she could do, considering that I’m her son’s student aide.”

“About that. How has Brethslan been taking this? You share a class with him, right?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t show up to the mana battery class, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Rose shrugged. It wasn’t her business.

“Just make sure he doesn’t flunk out. You should’ve seen his mom’s face when a student mentioned dropping her class and flunking out. It looked like she was going to kill that student on the spot.”

“I don’t think my professor would mind. He doesn’t even want to teach the class. I had to black mail him, to stay enrolled.”

“Well, then it’s all the more important you keep an eye out for him.”

“I will. But first I need to get situated. Besides, no one flunks out on their first day, although whoever did your makeup probably came the closest to performing that feat.”

“Is it really that bad? I’ll have to try and get that preppy girl to do mine next time, you should’ve seen how gorgeous she made Elda look. It was like a miracle.”

“Whose Elda?”

“One of the other models. Well… a model is putting it kindly. She’s nice enough. ”

“You’re brutal. Anyways, do you know where Professor Plimor went?”

“Too get some wipes for me and some of the other models.”