"Vuiblooour." The class repeated after the teacher in unison.

"No, no, no. You're doing it wrong," the teacher said in exasperation, "stop trying to use your tongue, use your nose instead. Vubuluur."

Such a class. Gaus would have never expected enchantment to turn out so boring. For one hour straight, they repeated the 'babbling' Tongue, and the teacher refused to give up.

"We'll continue this in the next class. Each of you must learn how to speak the Tongue with fluency." The teacher said before walking out of the class with her quill in hand.

Cara: with fluency? Fuck noooo.

Gatan: patriarch Gaus, can you shift this class to the last period? I really don't think anyone is enjoying it.

Antelina: hey, shut up, the teacher is trying her best.

Raya: I think I'm starting to get it. We just have to use our nose.

Gatan: hahaha...

Shortly after the teacher had left, a man of dark complexion came into the class.

"Prepare yourselves," he said as soon as he came into the class, "I want to see two meters between your seats."

He was dressed in a fine leather jacket and white pants. A black bunny rested on his left shoulder, occasionally playing with the buttons of his jacket.

"Now." He said loudly.

In response to his words, everyone took their seat away until they were two meters from each other.

"I'll be teaching you 'how to tame a spirit'. Call me Badwin. How's the enchantment? You must have impressed the old cat if she's willing to teach you enchanting phonetics in your first class."

"...."

"...."

Badwin was surprised at their silence. "Weren't you impressed? She is the best in enchantment. Even I know that."

"We know, sir, it's just difficult to concentrate when your throat is torn apart from pronouncing impossible syllables," Antelina said.

Badwin smiled at the remark. How good to be young.

"Enough with the chitchat. Everyone out." He sent them out of the class and prepared the seats himself. When they came back, each table had a question paper, ink, and a quill.

"Answer the questions. You have fifty minutes."

Gaus looked at the questions in silence.

1. What is a spirit?

2. How to tame a spirit?

3. List five risks of the spirit realm. Explain in detail how to avoid the aforementioned risks.

It would have been a disaster if Gaus hadn't utilized his time in the library.

Spirits were difficult to define mainly because they were so varied that no single definition could cover everything. It was just like trying to define a human. Still, many scholars believed a spirit to be a magical creature that was sentient, intelligent, and capable of sharing its magic with mages.

A mage had one chance in their life to tame a spirit. If successfully done, the mage would gain the skill of the spirit or at least some part of it. There were many recorded ways to tame a spirit. However, archmage Delinguer in his Spirit Tamer mentioned that no human magic actually worked in the spirit realm. According to him, no magic from this plane could function in the spirit realm so it was utterly useless to try anything when taming your spirit. A few scholars who followed Delinguer's teaching published a series of books on how spirits recognize their masters and bond with them. Saying it was more or less an instinctual thing from the subconscious, not one's effort.

The dangers of the spirit realm included the denizens of the realm who for some reason weren't interested in bonding humans. They were dangerous and unpredictable. Another danger was the misty mountains where the spirits hide. Both the portals that connected the multiverse to the spirit realm and the portals that returned people back opened into the misty mountains as underground tunnels. You could easily trip and end up in one of those return portals that would take you somewhere you didn't intend. There had been reports about mages fighting amongst themselves and throwing their opponents in the tunnels.

Most parts of the spirit realm were also under the effect of 'temporal misunderstanding'. A phenomenon defined as the difference in the flow of time between the multiverse and the spirit realm. The worst part of it was time flowed faster in the multiverse than in the spirit realm. It was said that a single minute in the spirit realm was equivalent to an hour or more in the outside. You wouldn't be the first to get stuck in a crater for a few hours only to come back to the real world and realized you had spent days.

Gaus silently wondered how the loop would affect such temporal misunderstanding, not that he was going to test it. Another thing danger he could remember was mana drain. Spirits fed from your mana during the bonding process thereby causing a permanent reduction in your mana reserve the questions and if your spirit got greedy you might end up with nothing. Last but not least was the failure to get a spirit. Every mage would only have one chance in their entire life, and out of ten mages that tried to bond a spirit, only two would be successful. It was said spirits only allowed you to tame them if they like your mana and if your affinity with spirits was above 50%. That said, spirit taming was generally a safe process especially because it was strictly monitored by many interested parties.

The test was over and Badwin collected the scripts. He took his time to look through them while the class was silently waiting.

"Either you cheated using the class interface or you've received the questions from your seniors, what is it?" Badwin asked unable to accept that they'd all passed with flying colors.

"But, sir, you've jammed the interface connection as soon as you entered." Antelina pointed out.

Gaus tried to connect to the group but he couldn't.

"So it is your seniors. Tell me, which class is it?" Badwin asked, dangerously staring at them.

Badwin knew there was no way for the students not to know about the questions, after all, he'd been repeating the same questions every time he was introducing students to the course. Perhaps, it was time to bring new questions.

"Then you are good to go into the spirit realm next week?" Badwin finally said after he realized he wasn't going to get an answer.

"Yes, sir." The class answered in unison.

Badwin thought about it silently before he nodded. "We'll have four more classes about how to protect yourselves in the spirit realm before you go in."

"Yes, sir!" The class answered in wild jubilation. They'd been waiting for it.

"By the way, XM5993 won't be coming today. You are excused." He said as he walked to the exit.

XM5993 was the famous swordsmanship teacher that everyone hated.

"Are we going to have another teacher in his stead?" The bald-headed guy asked.

"No, that won't be necessary. He won't be gone for long." He glanced at his watch before walking out of the class. "Have a nice day, all of you."

Once the teacher went out, the class turned to the new class rep.

"Patriarch Gaus!"

"Our new class rep."

"How can we help you fulfill your duties?"

"Please do something about the enchantment class."

"We want more of the dark arts."

Everyone had something to say.

"How about you all calm down and let him introduce himself?" Antelina cut in. "Welcome on board," she mouthed, winking at him.

"The class is over. I'll introduce myself tomorrow." Gaus said, deciding he needed time to figure out how to deal with the whole class rep thing before he made any speech.

"Aye, the patriarch."

The guy calling him patriarch was Gatan. A burly young man with missing front teeth.

"Antelina, do you have a minute?"

Antelina turned her seat around to face him with a questioning look.

"A word." He said.

"Here?" The former class rep glanced at the walls. "In case you didn't notice, this place ain't suited for discussions."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

She was right. In the absence of the teacher, the walls and chairs had already started to 'wake up'.

"Patriarch, can I join?" Gatan cut in.

Gaus shook his head. "Another time, maybe."

Gatan frowned dramatically. "This is patriarchy, class rep, we should be around you all the time especially when you are around the matriarch." He gave Antelina a suspicious look. "You need bodyguards."

Gaus laughed. It was funny even if Gatan wasn't joking.

"See you later, Gatan."

They left the burly man there.

After leaving the class premises, Antelina took him to a garden.

"What do you want to talk about?" She asked, sitting on a stone boulder.

"Tell me what the class rep position is all about." He said.

Antelina smirked. After a moment of silence, she turned around to face him with an honest expression. "Do you want to be the class rep?"

Gaus shrugged. "I don't know. Tell me what the position is all about and I'll decide."

"Fair enough. As a class rep, you arranged timetables, you control the class interface as an admin, you can report any misbehavior of your classmates to the teachers and your word will be considered almost immediately, you'll also lead the class through the portal when going into the spirit realm. There are rumors about class reps getting powerful spirits..."

Gaus raised his hands to stop her. "Someone is hiding behind that tree." He whispered, pointing at the huge tree that appeared to be a mixture of oak and mahogany with yellow bark.

Antelina frowned. "Don't worry. It's my practice mate - Raya. She has been following us since we left class."

"Raya? The red-haired girl that was complaining about distance?" Gaus asked with furrowed brows.

"Yes. As I was saying, as a class rep you can even report a teacher to student affairs if you don't enjoy their class. The class rep will be the first to pick their mentor at the end of these five months. A class rep also has the opportunity to meet The Master face-to-face during the annual festivities. The list is endless. But it will also consume most of your time as you will have to give a report of every class at the end of every loop week." She explained.

Being the first to choose your mentor and enter the spirit realm sounded good but there were things still not clear.

"Why do you want the position?" Gaus asked.

He could see desire, patience, and greed in her eyes as she contemplated his question.

"Answer my question first."

Gaus shook his head. "I'll answer your question but only after you've answered mine."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Why do you think I'll keep on answering your questions if you can't answer one of mine?"

"To get on the good side of the class rep?" Gaus argued.

"Haha..." she laughed, "you think I want to be friends with you just because you are the class rep now?"

Gaus narrowed his eyes.

"It's you who should try to get on my good side," she said. "Remember, you're up against Ariwen of the First World. You're going to need all the help you can get."

"What is it about this Ariwen girl that makes her so special? I think you're more impressive."

Antelina furrowed her brows before sighing softly. "That's a joke, right? My country is 5N³ and her country is 1N¹, can you see the difference? Not only is Ariwen the Longevity Child of her family which means she has the entire resources of the country at her disposal, but her country is naturally ahead of mine. But you think I'm more impressive."

Both Ariwen and Antelina came from the northern hemisphere, but Ariwen lived on the First World, which was naturally ahead of the Fifth World, and on the first-degree region which was way closer to the water dungeon than Antelina's third-degree region which had less ambient mana and world essence. The difference was clear but he still felt Antelina was somewhat impressive.

"Whatever. Just tell me why you want the class rep position."

"I have already told you the benefits of being a class rep, so why are you still asking? Just answer my question: do you want to be the class rep?"

"After hearing all the benefits I want to."

Antelina smiled. "Thank you for being honest with me. But if you maintain your position until next week, I want you to let me lead the class into the spirit realm."

"Why would I do that?"

Antelina leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Because I can help you get a very powerful spirit companion since my family has already mapped out some areas in the spirit realm."

A tempting offer.

"You want to lead the way in exchange for giving me a spirit?"

She nodded. "Not just any spirit, a powerful spirit."

"I will consider it. Now that we are friends you can surely do me a favor or two." The purpose of the conversation was to ask the former class these favors and everything before had been just a way to get there.

Antelina frowned a little. She couldn't turn back now after making her ambition known.

"I want information about all the class members, specifically their names, origin, and skills. Can you provide it?"

"I have it already."

"Good. I also want to know why we don't have a class on bloodlines. Is that because we don't have many bloodline limiters in our class?"

Antelina sighed softly. "Why do I feel I'm losing the bargain already?"

Gaus ignored her question and went on, "I also want to see a demonstration of your watch skill."

"This is unreasonably selfish. You can't possibly expect me to show you my primary skill, do you?"

"I am expecting it as long as you want to lead the team into the spirit realm." Gaus said with a 'friendly' smile.

They stared silently at each other for a whole minute before Antelina harrumphed. "I'll consider it."

"Take your time. But before you go just tell me why we don't have a class about the various bloodlines."

"It's you that don't have it."

What?

"Okay. This is supposed to be a secret but since you're the class rep now I can tell you. For the few students that have magiwatch skills and the few that have bloodline limits, there's a provision for an extra class where they teach us how to control our skills. Everyone is usually sorted out on admission when they receive the skill book. If you have a magiwatch skill or a bloodline limit they'll introduce you to the elite class, and if you don't have any then you'll never even find out about the class. That's the real reason we don't have a bloodline lecture as a general class. You're usually told that you will learn the dark arts after mastering mana sense and mana taming but the truth is that very few of you will ever manage to master those skills during your stay in the academy. Even if you are to master the skills, they will just test your affinity and tell you it's not enough. Meanwhile, your classmates have been taking secret classes on the dark arts for months or years."

This was a freaking cult.

"Why must they lie?" Gaus asked angrily. "Nothing will happen even if they tell everyone the truth. It isn't as if we can run away or something. Do we even have any other options?"

"You don't actually. And if you've been in the academy for long then you would have known that what I've just told you isn't much of a secret. Most students are already aware of it. I don't even know why the academy still keeps it a secret. Anyway, Raya is waiting for me. I'll consider your offer. See you later..."

"Tell me how they run the classes and.."

She shook her head to interrupt him. "I can't give you the location, don't even ask for it. If by some chance you find us while in the middle of a lecture I'll be in trouble."

"I don't want the location. Just tell me what they teach you. Have you started learning the dark arts? Is that what you are practicing with Raya?"

"It's a mistake telling you that, I don't even know why I told you." She sighed. "Look, we started the dark arts just a few days ago and yes that's what we are practicing with Raya. It's not our fault; the Book Master recognized our skills when he gave us the skill book and he recommended us for the elite class."

Ah. So the robot man giving the skill book was the Book Master.

"Even if you don't have a watch skill or bloodline limit," she went on in an attempt to placate him, "your affinity for world essence can be considered. If you've affinity of more than 10% in any of the three world essences then you'll be considered. The only problem is that it's considerably difficult to have an affinity for world essence. You can have very high affinities for all the schools, you can even have a magiwatch skill and a bloodline limit, but still have zero affinity for world essence. Having an affinity for world essence makes you closer to nature."

"How can I test my affinity for the world essence?" He asked.

"Er... I really don't think that's a good idea." Antelina said with a soft voice, "the shock may be too much for one day. You'll likely be better off not knowing your status when it comes to the world essence."

"I want to know even if it's zero." He said with a stern voice.

Antelina hesitated. She acted just like this when she was advised against testing her affinity for the world essence.

She moved closer to him and took his cold hands into her own. "My mom has 11.4% affinity in mind essence. She is a genius by all standards when it comes to mind magic. My family thought I'll have a high affinity just like her. So when my friend advised me not to test it in front of other people, I refused and went ahead. It was catastrophic. My affinity turned out to be 3.9%. It was still impressive for many other people but not for me. Everyone had their hope in me especially when my brother turned out to be a blazer and I a pacifist. All I'm saying is to take it slow. Don't rush it. Take your time and get over what I've just told you about the underground classes. Later on, you can check it out in private."

She was starting to sound like his grandma.

"Antelina," he yanked his hand away, "tell me how to test my affinity for the world essence."

"Alright. Don't blame me when you face the inevitable. Raya," she called out and the girl hiding behind the tree came out, "test the affinity of our new class rep for world essence."

"Gladly."

Raya retrieved a small box from her inventory. She held his right hand with her left while she opened the box with her right. Suddenly the world around him disappeared and was instantly replaced by darkness. The only light came from a blue panel inside the box.

Mana status: untamed

Mana affinity for time essence: 79.1%

Mana affinity for soul essence: 0.2%

Mana affinity for mind essence: 3.1%

There were three types of world essence: time, soul, and mind. Gaus had a high affinity for time essence contrary to expectations. His affinity for mind essence was low but it was still impressive according to Antelina.

Raya closed the box and the world returned to normal. Her face was a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"Alright," she turned to Antelina, "I told you we shouldn't buy this second-generation tester, it has already broken."

"What? You can't be serious. We've only used it for a couple of times and it's already done for." Antelina shouted in disbelief.

"It's showing some bizarre affinity for time in the range of seventy to eighty," Raya explained, showing the results to Antelina.

Antelina frowned deeply. "It is broken. He would have to give us our money back. Just test me to file the evidence."

Raya tested her. The results came out exactly as they were.

"Huh?"

They tested it three more times but it was still the same.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Gaus asked, tired of their drama.

"Gaus, give me your hand," Antelina grabbed his hand without waiting for his consent. She tested it herself. It was still the same at 79.1%.

"Please, tell me your name," Antelina said.

"Gaus Lake. Why?"

"Have you ever experienced any unusual sensations while around trees?"

Gaus didn't know why she was asking these irrelevant questions. "I don't know what you mean by unusual sensations but nothing out of the ordinary ever happened."

"In the woods?"

He shook his head.

"While stepping on leaves?"

"No."

"Do you eat vegetables?"

"Of course, I do."

"How much energy do you get from them?"

"Energy? I don't get any energy from any vegetables. What are you even talking about."

As soon as the Q&A session was done, Antelina tested him again and again until she was sure. Then Raya took over and tested him again. It was still the same.

Raya moved closer to him and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Tell me honestly, have you ever experienced any unusual happenings around you, any at all. Because my uncle who only has an 18.6% affinity for time affected the grasses around his home. They usually grew much taller than normal grasses and had different colors. When I was little, my mom taught me how to play with wood puppets. One day, I sent a puppet to my uncle's house to steal something. Somehow I lost the puppet as soon as it entered the house. I didn't get what happened at the time and it was later on that my mom told me wood puppets didn't work around my uncle. If I wanted to steal from him I had to use another type of puppet. Much later on, I came to realize that not only wood puppets and grasses, but even trees also reacted to my uncle. There's no way you'll have seventy-nine percent affinity and refused to have any control over nature." Raya explained her confusion.

Wood puppets?

Now that he thought about it there were two wood clones following him around according to Tyren. Could it be...? Shit.

"So you are telling me I can subconsciously hijack wood puppets and clones just by being near them like a magnet?" He asked.

"Exactly. We must put it to test now."

Before asking for his permission, Antelina ran to the nearby tree and took a small branch.

"Give me your hand." She grabbed his left arm and tried to stab him.

Just a few inches away from his arm and the stick bent. When she tried to push, it shattered.

Now, that was unexpected.