Most people didn't recognize me or Laura when we returned to school. Laura and I went through the first of the three growth spurts that happen during the binding and Laura had a complete transformation in disposition. For once, she wasn't wearing a serial-killer glare.
Laura was the taller of us at 149cm (4' 11") whereas I was 145cm (4' 9"). The only way anyone recognized me was by my huge horns.
"Who's your girl Ingen?" many asked, and the answer always shocked them.
Devin was an outlier, He immediately knew who we were and was more worried about how I got a girlfriend before him than how Laura and I got together.
The rest of our second year was slow, but I found out that my birthday was just two days before Laura's. We took the final and the practical exam was discontinued, I got my scores back.
Eneruology II: A+ (Top Student, Shared)
Enchantment: A+
Physics II: A+ (Top Student)
Metal Weaving: B
Runic Language II: A+
Math II: A+ (Top Student)
Self-Defense: B+
Aptitude: Second Stage 32% (Top Student)
"Devin! Lemme see what you got."
"You first!"
We both flipped around our results. Devin got:
Eneruology II: A+ (Top Student, Shared)
Enchantment: A+ (Top Student)
Physics II: B+
Metal Weaving: A
Runic Language II: A+ (Top Student)
Math II: C
Self-Defense: C+
Magical Aptitude: First Stage 98%
"Ingeneer! We're top students!" Devin spoke for both of us.
"Bro! Damn right we are!" I started swearing more often ever since the binding.
Many celebratory 'Bros' followed. Laura found us and shared her results.
Eneruology II: A
Enchantment: C
Physics II: B
Metal Weaving: A+ (Top Student)
Runic Language II: A
Math II: A
Self-Defense: A+ (Top Student)
Aptitude: First stage 99%
"That's my girl! I bet she could kick your ass, Devin."
"I refuse to take that bet, I don't like my odds."
"Let's go check the overall rankings, I'd be willing to bet we're at the top."
"When did you become a gambler?" Devin asked as we walked.
"As soon as I started winning."
We got to the ranking boards, there were only two, the first years didn't get ranked because they were more likely to fight over them.
As I suspected, we were the top four, but I wasn't expecting Teo to be there with us, he never applied himself at school.
SECOND YEAR STUDENTS:
1.) Ingen of Gond: 36
2.) Teodor of Reike Wood: 35
3.) Laura of Gond: 33
4.) Devin of Reike: 32.5
The score was calculated based on letter grades and didn't take into account aptitude.
"We better start studying for the next benchmark if we want to stay on top," Laura said
"You're right, let's all go to my study, and maybe pick up Teo along the way."
Devin was busy cursing his poor self-defense grade for causing his loss to Laura.
We dragged Devin with us to my treehouse, that after a few more incidents had been moved all the way to the courtyard with the stipulation that students could use it for studying and other matters and I would only be allowed to have two of its floors to myself.
"So what are we going to do for your birthday? it's coming up in a week." Laura asked.
The school stayed in session for a few days after the final so students could reflect on their scores.
"We will have to wait for break to celebrate with my parents, but we should all celebrate together in school."
Teo joined us through one of Vincent's portals.
"Did someone say party?" He said after hearing the second half of my sentence.
"No, but we are going to have one for Ingen" Laura replied.
"Two you mean, one for me and one for you." I caught that she excluded herself.
She looked at me like I was crazy.
"What do you mean?"
"Your birthday is two days before mine, of course, we're going to have a party for you."
"Uhg! I forgot about that! I'm so dimwitted sometimes, can't we just have them both at the same time? We're kind of a package deal."
"That works for me, so the day after your birthday we will have ours together."
"Sounds like a plan, we can work out the details later, for now, we need to study next year's subjects."
"I checked earlier, and they are Magical Theory III, Imbuement, Runic Language III, Alchemy, Dueling, Life Preparation, and Expanded Casting Types." Teo said, surprising everyone in the group.
"Why are you suddenly studious?" I asked.
"I don't know, it just seems fun."
"I guess that's a good a reason as any, but what is Imbuement? I've never heard of it."
"It's a form of enchantment that doesn't rely on spirit paper, and instead uses an infuser to integrate a spirit core into an item, then you have to bind the spirit in the core to yourself and convince it to work for you."
'Hmm, this opens some doors, I need to learn more about this.'
'Be careful Ingen, depending on how you use this, you could accidentally do some unethical things.'
'Yeah, don't worry, I'll keep my eyes out, and you can keep me in check.'
"Hey! Ingen, we were talking." Teo said
"Yeah, sorry, I tend to forget. We're here, so you should tell us what you know and we'll tell you what we know."
After a short exchange on my second floor, I got the basics of all of the subjects.
Alchemy is the fusing of the physical properties of two substances.
Dueling is offensive combat training where we learn how to use wands and normal weapons.
Life Preparation is exactly what it sounds like, it teaches how to use a bank and do your taxes among other life skills.
Expanded Casting Types teaches about other ways of manipulating Eneru besides runes and intuitive manipulation.
The rest of the subjects are just more advanced versions of what we've already done.
We studied for a few hours until we all went off to bed.
--------
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Ingen or his friends:
"Those cocky little bastards, I heard them studying for NEXT year!" one of the three students said.
"Yeah, their arrogance is too much." The smallest one of the trio said.
"Don't worry, we'll teach them everything they need to know."