The next day, Nessa had breakfast by 7:00. She woke up minutes before then, from the same dream she had seen the previous day. Wondering what it all meant, Nessa decided to take a shower.
When she was done, before she dressed up, she stared at herself in her mirror. She looked exactly like she always had. The only difference was her face. It looked the same except for the fact that she now smiled less and she had an orange cursor glistening above her head.
Nessa sighed, dressed up and went to the great hall to meet Luka.
Luka hated waiting for people and he knew he didn't have a problem when it came to his sister.
She was the most punctual person he knew, which was why when she got to the Great Hall by 7:01, Luka felt something was wrong.
"You're late," Luka told Nessa the moment they met.
"Let's go get breakfast," She replied.
'Gosh,' Luka thought. 'Since she got to this game she has been a lot less friendly. And I thought that was impossible.'
The cafeteria had multiple silver tables, chairs and cutlery. Nessa picked a table at the edge of the room and sat down. The table was decorated with flowers, plates cutlery and what looked like some sort of tablet. No not tablet as in medicine, tablet as in computer.
"What do you think the computer is for?" Nessa asked
"Ordering food, duh." Luka responded.
Nessa looked around and noticed that every other person already had food on their plates but there wasn't any sign of an all you can eat buffet.
"I leave it to you," Nessa rested her back on her seat.
Suddenly a group of about three girls appeared round the table.
"Stand up," one of them said. She had red hair and freckles and her voice was squeaky like a mouse.
Nessa bit back a laugh. "Excuse me?"
"Didn't you hear," Another one of the girls said. "Get the f*ck up the table. We want to sit here."
Nessa couldn't believe it. They had barely spent four days in the game and yet, people were already forming cliques. Nessa decided to ignore them. She was never one for making trouble; even trouble was actively looking for her.
"Ignore them Luka," Nessa said. "Order something un-spicy for me."
The girls were definitely miffed that Nessa had snubbed them. They had thought, Nessa and Luka would be easier targets for their bullying. if they were, it would help them establish their authority over the rest of the students, but things were going south fast.
The short freckled girl spoke again, almost yelling. "This is your last warning,"
Other students were starting to stare. They wondered what Nessa was planning to do against three girls. Apparently she planned to do nothing.
"Come on, Luka" She said. "They're not worth our time."
Nessa stood and made sure to bump into the freckled girl's shoulders as she walked away. A hand grabbed her upper arm yanking her back.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" The second girl spoke. She was several inches taller than Nessa.
Nessa pulled herself from her grasp and turned around to face her.
'I don't care who these idiots are,' Nessa thought to herself. 'But the only reason I haven't punched one of them yet is because it is probably against the rules.'
Suddenly there was a yelp and Nessa turned around.
"Let me go," Luka said. He sounded almost as threatening as a mouse.
It was the third girl who had grabbed Luka. She spoke for the first time. "We're the daughters of nobles. Surely you don't know what that means yet, but I advise that you don't do anything to get on our bad side."
Nessa swallowed her anger. She always knew people were stupid. Now she knew it didn't matter what world they were in.
"You're already on my bad side." She said. "Let my brother go and we could pretend like this never happened."
The three girls laughed. Then the freckled one said. "Floria, teach this idiot a lesson."
Floria didn't hesitate. She slapped Luka hard in the face. Nessa clenched her fists and took deep breaths.
"For the last time," Nessa was saying,
"Is that a warning?" Floria said. "You obviously need more—Ow."
Luka had bitten Floria's arm and she pushed him off ready to hit him again.
Nessa drew her sword and sheathed it back just before a severed hand hit the floor, and crumbled to digital pieces.
Floria screamed. "My hand."
"Will regenerate within the minute," Nessa said coldly.
"Are you crazy?" The freckled girl said. "You could have killed her."
"The academy is a safe zone." Nessa said as she placed her hand on Luka's shoulder. "Although right now I wish it weren't."
Freckled girl gasped like she couldn't believe Nessa, then the bell rang marking a change of activity, but even after the bell, none of the students stood from their seats.
They all stared intently at Nessa. Nessa ignored them brought out her map and went straight to her first class: Basics of magic.
Nessa and Luka were the first to the classroom and it was only then Nessa bothered saying anything to Luka.
"Luka..."
"I'd go find a place to sit." Luka said as he walked away clenching his fists. He was clearly angry and Nessa had a pretty good guess concerning the reason. She hated those girls now more than ever. Not for her sake but for her brother's.
Nessa picked a seat in the front because she assumed the trouble makers would go sit at the back, and even if they didn't, they wouldn't dare bother her so close to a teacher.
She was right however. As more students filed into the classroom she noticed the three girls from earlier move to the back of the class. The expression on their faces was that of pure hatred. Nessa was sad to see that Floria's hand had regenerated.
Minutes later the first teacher walked in, and it was none other than Avery. Silence descendedon the class immediately.
"From now on, you call me Professor Avery. Is that clear?"
None of the students said anything but the look on their faces showed it was crystal clear.
Professor Avery continued. "I'd give you a brief introduction to the concept of magic."
She held out her palm and suddenly flames danced a few millimeters above it. The whole class wore surprised expressions. Nessa noticed that unlike the last time, Professor Avery didn't mutter anything.
"This is magic, and is very accessible to anyone who bothers learning it." Professor Avery extinguished the fire from her hand. "However, not everyone in this class would be talented enough to learn it. If it helps I'd advise that from this moment you stop seeing this world as a game, but your current reality. Only then will you be able to move ahead."
Professor Avery walked closer to the students. "So, like I said, I'd start with the basics. Magic in this world, has six main elements. Fire, air, water, earth, light and darkness. What I used earlier was a fire technique."
Professor Avery performed the technique again and fire danced on her palm.
"If you noticed, I didn't mutter any chants or use any hand signs. That's because I'm currently only manipulating my Ki."
A student raised her hand.
"Yes," Professor Avery asked.
The student stuttered badly. "Umm, I'm sorry but I don't understand what you meant by Ki."
The voice was familiar. Nessa turned around and noticed it was Lily and sitting beside her was her brother. He didn't seem so angry anymore.
"Maybe if you had waited an extra second you would have saved yourself this embarrassment." Professor Avery said forcing Lily to sit down with scarlet cheeks. "Ki, as I would like to explain it is within us. It is our internal energy that is constantly in sync with the world's energy. Manipulating our Ki is what leads to magic. Most times, to manipulate our Ki, we don't need to weave hand signs or mutter chants, but that only works for basic magic and wouldn't be of much help when fighting monsters."
Professor Avery stifled a yawn then continued.
"However, advanced magic as we like to call it requires a fine control of our Ki along with perfectly chanting and weaving hand signs—Trust me it is easier than it sounds. It took me about a year to master magic."
'A year?' Nessa thought to herself. 'I thought this game launched only a few days ago.'
Nessa couldn't think of any reasonable explanation concerning what Professor Avery had said. Maybe she had made a mistake.
"One more thing, before I teach you how to manipulate your Ki and carry out basic magic. You see the cursor on your head?" Professor Avery asked. "It is red because currently none of you have any experience whatsoever concerning magic."
Then a boy by Nessa's right raised his hand. Professor Avery nodded.
"So," the boy asked. "Why does she have an orange cursor?"
Professor Avery stared at Nessa with confusion, and Nessa watched as her expression changed to understanding. Nessa wondered why Professor Avery was staring at her and she also wondered who the boy had been referring to.
Professor Avery smiled as she answered the question. "Your cursor changes color depending on how well you understand the principles of magic, and how powerful your magic has grown. The color changes from Red to Violet just like it does in the light spectrum. Where red is the least and violet the most powerful."
Nessa noticed that by now most of the students were staring at her. Surprisingly, she was starting to feel uncomfortable so she raised her hand.
"Why is everyone staring at me?" Nessa asked the class more than she did the Professor.
Professor Avery laughed and then produced a mirror out of nowhere. The mirror floated to Nessa who stared into it.
She wondered how this answered her question. She had looked into the mirror earlier that day and nothing about her face had changed since then. Her hair was still black and long, her eyes were still hazel and her lips were still pink but pressed into a line. Even the same orange cursor floated above her head.
Wait, orange cursor…
And that was when Nessa realized. For some reason she had an orange cursor.