"Class, today we are going to start on something more practical today. We are going to determine your magic orientation."
A lady with a wooden tag labeled 'Lea' stood before the class. She was of a rather small stature with black hair indicating her Ohde origin, wearing an amber blouse and a long maroon skirt reaching the floor, both obviously made of a high-grade cloth.
Her face, a petite smile which formed from her tiny lips, with widely opened eyes brought out a strangely feminine charm from her. When comparing her attire to the plain and crisp uniforms of the students, it created a strange atmosphere because the clothes didn't match the atmosphere of a classroom at all.
Katachi's fingers turned cold and numb.
K: (I've never considered it, but if the curriculum happens to have some way of discovering my secret this could turn out pretty ugly, wouldn't it? Why didn't I think this far?)
His face was twitching and his jaw trembled very slightly for anyone attentive or bored enough to notice. Thankfully, the teacher's apparel and charisma created an atmosphere that naturally drew the attention of the students to her. It was appropriate to say her current disposition was the ideal scenario for many novice teachers who faced many difficulties garnering the attention of their students.
K: (I need to avoid those risks at all costs.)
Katachi focused on the teacher's back and imagined her without her blouse, her bare back in view. Though it was a disturbing thought, it had to be done. Had he applied the Word of Power on the blouse itself the purpose of using it despite the risks would be absolutely foolish.
K: (设定! Set thought pattern – Divert from Curse Words!)
Katachi betted on the fact that the teacher's shirt was thick enough to conceal the radiant glow, and his gamble paid off.
K: (I don't see any notable changes at all. I really hope the word works this way.)
L: "As you all know, the most common method of distinguishing a person's orientation as well as scouting for any curse or form of magic afflicted on the body is to use a Lotz crystal, like this one here."
Miss Lea reached into the purse on the table and picked up a translucent crystal.
K: (By the gods!)
The translucent crystal he hoped he would never see. Should he dispel the Word of Power he already placed on her, or should he keep it active? Yet another gamble appeared before him that made him edgy and uncomfortable.
K: (Of all the things she could have fished out of the pocket-… There's no point in panicking. I should weigh the risks and rewards carefully.)
L: "However, Lotz crystals are incredibly expensive and they must be handled with care. Also, Lotz crystals can only glow the color of the magic applied onto you or present within you. It cannot clearly distinguish what's really going on with the body."
K: (There is the chance that it's already activated the moment she held it in her hand. But there is also the chance that the crystal won't be active once I remove the Word of Power, which means she'll go back to using it assuming the lesson continues. Will the crystal glow dimmer if I remove the Word of Power? Is it noticeable? Will she feel the change in her own behavior?)
L: "Sad is to say, the legend of Lotz was his desire to see the world as it was through his color-blind eyes and yet what he perceived as 'color' was the truth of the world itself. Therefore, although useful for confirming foul play it's not quite as practical at pinpointing your orientation."
While pondering on his next course of action, the teacher's prattle reached his ears and Katachi's brows furrowed slightly.
K: (... So, are we going to use it or not? Do adults get a kick out of speaking in riddles?)
Katachi didn't quite understand where the talk was headed since it jumped to Lotz's history all of a sudden, but there was a more pressing matter at hand. It was hard to see at first but upon closer inspection, one could see the Lotz crystal emitting a very faint gold color.
K: (It's there... It should be.)
Thankfully, the weather outside the classroom was sunny with students sitting near the windows squinting to look forward. Maybe the glow camouflaged well with the surroundings, or maybe it was just the surroundings itself reflecting light into the crystal giving Katachi a false impression of its activation. It could even be that the Lotz crystal was working as intended, and it was currently showing the teacher's innate affinity.
It was oddly hard to tell. The way the Lotz crystal worked in the first place was very fishy. If a person had some specific magic affinity and was cursed or blessed at the same time, which of the two would take priority? Perhaps it was never intended to be understood by others, given that its creator was the color-blind caster Lotz.
Yet having the Lotz crystal glow, regardless of the cause, was something he had to be extremely wary of. Lotz crystals were not supposed to glow naturally without direct contact with magic, yet the one resting on Miss Lea's hand was. The 定 was likely detected by the Lotz crystal, even though their creations were eons apart.
Katachi recalled the books he found in the attic of the church. The Words of Power were created mere decades ago in an event caused by 292 great sorcerors and the Warlock of Wheels. However, Lotz existed at a time far before that around 4000 years ago, long after the Cleansing, according to a biography in the library located at the separate block.
K: (It doesn't look very distinct, I think.)
Technically, since event magic didn't exist during Lotz's time the Lotz crystal should be unable to detect any of the 292 Words of Power. But image power was frightening to behold. Image power could reinforce a branch so it became as durable as a bar of steel. Image power could create tools, objects, and even weapons out of thin air. Image power, the Gift of the Father of Sin, was the reason why Reincarnate Arts were so powerful and revered.
In the midst of challenging the gods' reincarnates, their ancestors came to fear the gods' strength and the power worked against them, reinforcing the Reincarnate Arts even further. That was why Reincarnate Arts were horrifying to face as a magus. Image power, the ancient power that it was, was an influential force that rocked the entire course of history into what it was today prior to its discovery.
With image power, one could probably reinforce a Lotz crystal so it detected traces of magic even beyond its time. There was a possibility that image power rectified the scope which the Lotz crystal was designed to sense – In said case, it was almost certainly true, and the only saving grace rested on the fact that the room was already bathed in radiant light which dulled its brilliance.
K: (It may be wiser to suspend- ? What's she doing?)
The teacher placed the crystal back into the bag.
L: "Therefore, we shall be doing something more fun today! We are going back to the past to how the magi of the old detected orientations and affinities without using the Lotz crystal! Class, form yourselves into pairs of two!"
Half the entire class heaved a disappointed sigh while the other half of the class turned their heads and chatted excitedly with their friends in the adjacent seats.
K: (... I'm in the clear now, at least.)
Katachi loosened his tense lips in relief and perked his ears up.
K: (I still don't know if that Word of Power took effect. I'd have to try it on something else to get more accurate data. The result from this is too vague… Even though it seems to work well on Rekter.)
"Hey, new kid?"
K: "?"
Katachi turned towards his right to greet a spiky-haired boy looking at him with enthusiasm. Wearing the uniform supposedly gave students a similar identity, but he gave everyone the impression that he was different. He had passion in his eyes that would make anyone retract their heads slightly in a subtle cry for personal space.
He was simply that assertive.
M: "I'm Mafer. You don't seem to know this class very well yet, so I'll help you."
K: "Oh uh, thank you. But I'm afraid that I'd drag you down, Mafer. I... I'm not too used to this class."
The boy widened his eyes a bit and nodded his head slowly as if understanding the scenario.
M: "Don't worry, you won't slow me down. This class has nothing to do with my belief in Croxa."
K: "Oh! A Croxa believer! I... I see." (But, if that were the case, why is he attending this course?)
Katachi didn't feel like befriending the expressive Mafer despite the feeling and intuition that he was trustworthy. But could anyone blame him for being defensive and protective, a child who struggled so much that caution was second nature to him?
K: "Please... Please take care of me."
M: "Oh, pssh, spare the itchy talk! What's your name, new kid?"
K: "Katachi."
Mafer's head tilted to the side briefly.
M: "That name... It's of an Ohde descent, right? You're awfully polite."
K: "Uhh... Yes?" (He asked if the name was a name of Ohde descent. He didn't ask if I was from Ohde, so it's still the truth... I think.)
Katachi's voice was awfully low and dispirited, so he barely got by without Mafer's realization of his uncertainty.
M: "I knew it! Did you come here to, oh, you know... Spy on your fiancé or something? Is it Miss Lea?"
Katachi's head jerked back again.
K: "I... I- I- I don't know her. I really don't. I just came here for the lessons."
M: "Hoho, I'll leave you to your thing. Right now, we're partners."
Mafer grabbed an empty seat and sat next to Katachi.
L: "Settle down, class. I want one of you to form your fingers into a number 'seven' for both hands, and place them into the shape of the tetear of Axia just like this. Be sure to place your mouth over the medicine- Wait, that's not what it's called in Findeli. Place it over the… Ring fingers and the pinkies. Also, make sure your thumbs are stretched to a right angle or as close to it as possible. Image power will rectify that for you if it's wide enough."
Miss Lea shaped both hands so the thumbs and forefingers extended, leaving the rest retracted. Next, she placed the hands together with the pinky fingers colliding with each other on the side. She then raised her hands onto her face and demonstrated the actions necessary by extending the middle finger to indicate the lack of contact between the lips and the middle fingers.
Some discussions on who should do it arose between the groups, but soon enough half the class followed suit.
L: "Next, the student supporting should grab a pencil or a piece of charcoal and place it between the two forefingers, like this. Once you do that you can put it back to its original place."
A piece of charcoal floated in the air and hovered between her forefingers pointed towards the sky. The teacher was well-versed enough in the Marion-Nettie spell and her degree of control easily rivaled Bael's, if not even better.
M: "Just hold still now."
Mafer placed the charcoal between Katachi's forefingers briefly and moved it away.
L: "Excellent. Now, the final part. Exhale through your mouth into the gap between your pinky fingers."
Katachi gently blew onto his fingers and words formed before his face. The dust particles settled and 'Water (Healing)' formed before his eyes.
M: "You're a healer, huh."
Mafer gave him a rather admiring look and patted him on his back.
M: "You know, healers like you often become the nursing staff in this school. If you can learn to heal quickly I bet you'd get a solid job in this place."
But the young visionary did not entertain the idea. A measurement like so was clearly flawed for the tetear to suggest his capacity at healing. Though Katachi held a primarily pacifistic mentality suited for a healer, he could never imagine the serenity and joy that accompanied the restoration of one's well-being.
Certainly not when the child knew perfectly well what it meant to take a life.
K: "I'll take my chances. Thanks, Mafer."
Katachi released his hands and the black dust before him fell onto the table.
*** ***
B: "Hey, Baka~"
Katachi ignored the annoying voice that came from Bael with a fierce frown.
B: "Baka?"
K: "I refuse to engage in a proper conversation should you call me by that name."
B: "You meanie. You're probably my only other form of entertainment around this school besides studying medicine and teasing others, and you're denying me of even that? I'm heartbroken."
K: "Stay heartbroken. It's- ?"
A figure dashed past the corridor. It was fast and hazy, but it looked like a tanned brown-haired female student. It was strange how someone could run in the halls controlled by directional magic, but that person likely used image power or something to overcome its influence.
B: "It's what?"
K: "... It's not like I fancy being teased, even in good humor. I do not think of you as someone close enough to play these in-jokes, and you just want to eke a response from me in the first place."
B: "Meanie."
Bael's eyes turned half-closed at Katachi's reply. It would assuredly be mean if one ignored the fact that she was the one treating him like some toy, to begin with.
K: "Sorry to be a meanie then."
But was she to blame for that behavior? The child responded in such a stoic manner that Bael was unsure whether his words harbored indifferent intent or entrenched personality.
B: "Meanie! You're always keeping quiet and hiding stuff from me like you're avoiding a plague or something. Speaking of which, I heard you entered the Young Magus Tournament. You didn't even tell me!"
K: "Yes, I did. What of it?"
B: "You've not even enrolled for ten days and you want to join the tournament already? Talk about being overconfident."
That would normally betray Katachi's timid character, both in that he spoke to Bael fluently and in that he took part in the competition. Yet she remained oblivious to the reason he stepped foot in the facility.
He came prepared with a solid plan in mind – Succeed, and he shall boldly claim the prize for his needs. Should he fail, he would sneak about raiding other students' rooms until he collected enough materials and provisions for himself. The outcome did not matter, but the fact stood that winning was more convenient and morally just.
K: "Judge me as you like it, but I'm going. That's final."
B: "It's useless, you know! You'd probably get wiped out even before the second round!"
K: "I don't mind. I've lost enough."
Katachi walked into his room and closed the door. Since it was a zone only males could enter, Bael was naturally prevented from entering the room in a similar fashion that males were barred from the zones surrounding girls' toilets. He successfully escaped Bael for the day.
K: (She took up a lot of precious time.)
Even now, Katachi could feel her presence behind the door waiting for him to come out when he was tired of sitting about in his room doing nothing constructive. He had already cleaned the room yesterday so there was little left to tidy. At that rate, being dragged along her activities was only a matter of time.
It was a great fortune that Katachi loaned a book from the library ahead of time about the famous folk tales in Auser. He did not need to leave the room to read and that spared him from another round of Bael's teasing.
K: (I can't have her bothering me while I read. It may be against the curfew, but I guess I will have to go to the library at night.)