Chapter 11 - The Schooling
Killgorn disappeared in the classroom and I was anxiously awaiting his return. It was time for the great entrance and I wanted, needed to make it right.
-' Be calm, you can do this easily. ' I tried to psyche myself up.
I looked at my maids, then on ridiculous outfit I was wearing and reminisced on what happened to me so far...
I relaxed while thinking about my situation.
-' What are they going to do, laugh at me? It wouldn't even compare to what I had to endure recently... ', I shivered at reminiscence of the sewer incident, embarrassment of mistletoe house and finally my morning routine...
-' Damn it all to hell, I can't keep this up, getting outdone at every corner! I know the perfect character for this - The Dark Schneider! ', I made my resolve remembering an archetype villain that I always wanted to try role playing, one with overwhelming ego.
[ I love that character - just read or watch - details on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastard!! ]
The classroom door was opened by returning Killgorn.
-" I have briefed Professor Raghnall, you may enter and get introduced to the class. I have explained rest of the schedule to your Head Maid. Now If you excuse me, I have matters to attend to. " He nodded politely.
-" Thank you for your assistance. " I nodded in response and watched as Killgorn left.
Live and Ollie handled the door, meanwhile Clothilde went ahead of me assuming an official pose inside. I took a quick breath and corrected my scarf before entering the room.
Upon entering, I noticed an old man that was standing next to a blackboard. He was gnarly, wizened and gray, with a wispy, long hair and beard. His look coupled with a long robe giving out appropriately wizardly vibe. His deep set eyes and bushy eyebrows completed the outlook of short sighted and forgetful wizard.
-' This must be Professor Raghnall. ' I assumed and strode forward, followed by two maids. My gaze skidded around the room, noticing that it was a
really big lecture hall, with only fifteen or so students occupying the front benches.
I made a sharp, military like turn coupled with a barest bent of my back, moving a hand in an arc to boost the effect, I was about to speak when...
-" A-a-a... Cosplay?!! " A shrill voice of a male student interrupted me, momentarily making me doubt myself, but remembering my resolution I turned it into anger instead.
My gaze immediately found the speaker and my thoughts went white with hatred so strong I felt stinging tears in my eyes. Before I was able to realize I started one of my dissing speeches:
-" A fashion statement, but if your planarian understanding cannot comprehend such, I will gladly carve the meaning into your body... " As I was taking a breath to continue I was interrupted again, this time by a proffesor.
-" Khem, most striking debut I dare say. Let me introduce the new student, *cough* this is Audentia, bearing most fitting name as well ", Professor said in surprisingly distinct voice that was ruined by his small coughs.
As my gaze went around the class, students seemed to curl into themselves and were strangely pale. Professor seemed to be expecting something while his gaze passed over his students...
-" Khehem!" He made another coughing sound, though that one seemed forced.
Few students began to clap hesitantly. I looked around, most of them avoided my stare.
-" Khem. Well , please take a sit somewhere, I will continue the lecture *cough* ", Professor exclaimed and looked around with unsatisfied expression on his face.
I made my way to a pair of students that were sitting alone, a bit to the back, as compared to the rest of the class. One placed a hand over his face and looked ready to bang his head on a desk, the other one looked had a stupefied look on his face as he stared at me anxiously.
I kept my gaze on the anxious one, with sheer force of will sending him into pits of hell.
-' You are so gone, I am going to break you so much that you will wish you were never born... ' I thought and tried to project all of that intent with my gaze.
Eyes of my prey grew wide as I sat next to him nonchalantly. I crossed my arms and turned my attention to the Professor who was scratched his head in wonder.
-" Khem, Umm, where were we... ", Professor turned to the blackboard.
I was too preoccupied to pay attention to maids who followed me and took a seat in a row behind me, apart from Live who placed a small book and a quill before me. After taking a closer look at the book, I grinned to myself after realizing that the silver emboss on the leather cover cleverly depicted a hidden, hooded person that was partially hidden by a smoke cloud.
-' It seems like assassins are very full of ourselves. ' I thought to myself with a smile and gave the maid a nod before opening the book. Live responded with a small curtsey and joined the other Maids, who already took seat in the row behind me.
I moved my attention back to the Professor, who already started the lecture. I quickly understood that he was trying to explain basic principles behind elemental magic system.
-' Hmm, difference between Ice and Fire magics? Seems like there might be quite a bit of depth to such a simple concept. ' I thought.
As the Professor explained, I started to write down important words surrounding them with what looked like doodles. It was a technique that I learned as a child from one of many *NewAge of Learning* courses that my parents made me attend. For that one course I was actually grateful to them, after writing something down I could throw the book away as all of the info that I deemed
important was committed to memory...and the doodles were useless, since they only served to augment the memorization process. -' Mnemonics... ' I sighed in satisfaction.
My hand quickly wrote down Ice and Fire in the middle of a page. Then complicated array of math symbols, small pictures and words created expanding web of gibberish that soon covered the whole page.
I looked at the facts written before me and was amazed.
-' Fire magic is one of the Core magics, while Ice is actually a Compound type consisting of Water and Frost. It seems that there's some kind of price to mix magics together, but for Ice it seems really low. ' I began to absorb the lecture.
-' Fire has a really high performance ratio, there is almost no limit on how much power one can put into intensity (creating absurd temperatures)or compression (causing explosive phenomenons, ranging from mere heat spread to actual crushing blasts), though persistence is said to be low (seems like something similar to a napalm, I struggled with that part ). They use it without mixing, probably surcharge is high '.
-" Excuse me, does this mean that Wall of Fire spell is really hard to cast or sustain? " I couldn't help but try to clarify that one point that seemed hard to understand.
-" Khem, Ahhh, understandable misconception *cough* since this is your first lesson. Khem, what you are referring to is a continuous spell and persistence *cough* also known as volatility of the spell is something that stays even after initial formula of the spell, khem, no longer provides mana. " He seemed both happy and annoyed by my question.
Since I got some strange looks from everyone I decided to keep my questions to minimum, saving them for later.
I was impressed by the whole *in your face* directness of the Fire system, though I was NOT likely to use it as I recalled some unfortunate fireball spell...
Meantime Professor Raghnall continued his lecture.
-" Khem, as to Ice magics some find them inferior, but one needs *cough* to remember Principles of Talbur, with intensity Zero Principle in place one can utilize Null Zero phenomenon instead. Khem, remember that persistence affinity of Fire is *cough* quite low... ", I pitied the Professor, he
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obviously had a great knowledge, but with his stuttering manner, impassive voice and over abundance of references any chance of getting students attention was doomed to fail.
If I wasn't intrigued by the lecture he would have lost me long time ago as well.
-' What he wanted to say is that limit of Absolute Zero can be counteracted by somehow accumulating the power of the spell, in a way that its actually leaking out the cold. Imagine dropping such magic into a lake, initially it would freeze few meters worth of water, but then it would keep on spreading
eventually turning the whole lake to ice. They seem to call it a Null Zero phenomenon '.
At one point I noticed that my companion was trying to move away, so I gave him the look and inched closer, so we were still sitting one meter away. I was jubilant as an expression of discomfort and doubt emerged on his face.
-' I am not letting you go till you cry and beg for mercy. ' I thought with sadistic glee.
Satisfied with his nervous expression I turned my attention back to the lecture. -' I will have time to make him really miserable later on. '
I soon established another interesting rule of the Ice magic.
-' Hmm, its called Ice Floes and from what I understand it is something like creating a volume of ice on the spot. Something like throwing a snowball which after hitting an object explodes encasing everything in ice or skewering it with ice spikes that expand in a blink of an eye. There appears to be quite a bit of skill required to use that technique correctly, things like water-frost ratio,
persistence, blending speed between the elements...all of those need to be taken into account when casting a spell. Seems like I will need to see a practical test to understand how this works exactly. 'I thought while committing the knowledge to memory.
-" Khem, that is all for today. *cough* Have a good day ", Professor concluded the lecture. Almost immediately after that my target bolted out of the class. His companion looked torn, but after giving me an inquisitive look he packed his things and left as well.
I mused on whether I should pursue them, but decided against since I wanted to talk to the Professor first. When I approached, he looked up from the book he began reading.
-" Khem, can I help you, Audentia? "
-" Yes Professor, I do have few things that I want to clarify and am really curious about ".
-" Khem, most unusual request *cough*, but I see no reason to decline ".
-" Thank you, Could you tell me why you chose Fire as topic of today's lecture? It seems strange that you chose to compare core and compound magics together. "
He looked at me with curious expression.
-" Khem, interesting. *cough* Let me ask, khem, what do you think about it then? " He asked back, with more coughs than usual.
-" I think that it might be related to the usage. People seem to prefer use of Fire magic or Ice magic, instead of Frost or Water magic. That still does not explain why you couldn't explain about Water and Frost magics...wait couldn't you just make a lecture about core systems instead? ".
-" Khem, I could and I did in the past. *cough* Though people didn't seem to pay attention, so I decided, khem, to focus on more popular parts of magic. *cough* "
-' I am afraid that nothing changed in the attention department ' I thought. -" Does that mean that other core magics are weaker? "
-" No! Khem, they are just not covered *cough* by basic curriculum " He responded passionately and I noticed that for a first time he didn't cough first.
-" Why they aren't a part of basic curriculum? Wouldn't it be better if there was a wider variety of permutations...or is the surcharge for mixed magics really that strong for other core systems? " I kept asking as curiosity overcame my common sense.
-" Gods No! Those dunces just can't take into account the structural complexity of the spell and make half assed incantations, with default values, and then even fail to make adjustments for basic environmental variables, that's why I switched to advanc...", Suddenly, he stopped his exasperated speech and we looked at
each other in silence. My smile grew wider and wider under the scarf as things clicked into place.
-" ...Khem? " he finished awkwardly.
-" Khem ", I copied and kept my gaze focused on him expectantly. I was not the one who would let go of a potential weaknesses.
-" Khem, would you overlook this? *cough* " He asked , his voice uncertain.
-" Khem, that depends... " I responded knowingly.
-" Khem, could you elaborate on that dependence? *cough* ".
-" Well, first thing would be that you drop that act in my presence...And I will not tell anyone about it... " I started teasingly and watched as he relaxed a bit.
-" Consider it done. " He said with sign of relief.
I smiled under my scarf as I struck my actual target.
-" Though I do wonder what would people say after hearing about your condescending treatment of the students... " I said with smug voice.
He looked really pitiful when he asked:
-" Certainly you have something already arranged in regard to that? "
I smiled as I responded in a sweet and cheerful voice:
-" Most Certainly, I do require some private tutoring after all...in the old curriculum of course ".
He sighed.
-" That can be arranged, but I do require a rule that I can fail insufficiently gifted student. "
-" Very well, though I insist that the criteria for failure must be fair. "
With negotiations concluded, we exchanged handshakes to seal the deal.
-" I am most pleased with making you an acquittance. " I said smugly.
-" Hmpf, we shall see about that. Anyway I had enough of being made a fool for a day, be on your way please. " He retorted.
I gave him a nod and left. I still had a lot of questions to ask him, but they could wait for actual lessons.
-" Milady, could I inquire about your plans for the rest of a day? ", Clothilde asked me when we were outside of the classroom.
-" I am not sure, what's next on my schedule? " I inquired.
-" There's nothing apart from visiting your suite, eating and retiring for the night, Milady. " Clothilde state dutifully.
-" Very well, lets do that, lead the way. " I affirmed and began to wonder on how I was going to catch up wit the spell casting curriculum, which was bound to be on the next day if my premonition of doom and gloom was correct.
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Hey~, Author's here~
We are past 10 chapters already and I feel its high time to tell something...
I would like to thank everyone for their support - be it commenting, following, rating, reading or
lurking on my chapters. Thank you all for your continued support, which shown to me that my work
was not a wasted effort and kept me going.
Also, I wanted to give special thanks to mataneloro, jkcdeo and Owlbear General. Thank you for
your comments and feedback, it really helped me out.
As mentioned today I have released bonus Chapter 6.5, I hope you will enjoy it [ At least those
who are actually able to read M-rated stuff ]. Link to it is now posted in appropriate place in
Chapter 6, you can also navigate to it from main page.
As always tell me how you liked todays chapter and if you feel anything needs an improvement.
Cheers,
Mea, The Cheery Overlord
Ps From now on chapters shall be made with power of the rainbow, Wee :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKwkxX6S0vg
NEXT CHAPTER: Chapter 12 - The Unveiling