After a short vacation of a week, Juliette Abad returned to her dormitory room and was just about to head to the registrar to check her new schedule of classes. The Season of Earth was the last trimester of her fifth year as a student. The Season of Fire was typically a break, but of course, some advanced courses and enrichment classes were also offered. For the past couple of school years, Juliette had gone back home to Virtalla City instead of staying. While her father was still young for a Magus, preparing for the succession was always done. Those past Seasons of Fire were both interesting and dreary.
After all, the accounting for each holding was the same process and many of the inefficiencies and inaccuracies had long been drawn out. Only when the family went on a new venture was the process of starting and running a business fresh and new again. She was expected to create a new business with the family's backing, though not everyone in her generation broke off on their own.
Her minor focus in Geomancy was in anticipation of when she graduated and began the family tradition. Although most of the Abad holdings were agricultural, they also branched into the hospitality sector a decade ago. She had the thought of opening a new inn. Right here, probably. After all, Virtalla City was only a Caravan Train away. The Vallavega Pass through the Kerromere Mountains came out just seventy-five leagues from Virtalla. Compared to the hundred leagues one had to travel when coming from Bresia City, to say nothing of the hundred leagues or so from Nirlith to Bresia, travel time was directly cut in half. It's just that Vallavega often popped out new Chaos Founts with alarming frequency. It was fine if it was on the mountainsides, but sometimes, a Fount emerged in the middle of the pass, and it was in the narrow portion, the Fount would have to be destroyed to allow the train to pass.
The couple of times she made use of the Vallavega route had been uneventful, so the risk wasn't really all that high. She had gone to Virtalla over the short break, though she spent four days on the train going both ways and only three with her family. Still, after not seeing them for more than a Season, it had been a welcome relief. Still, her father Alonzo and Grampy Juan were more than a bit concerned about the political climate in Virtalla.
The Scion faction had risen in influence, with most of their constituents complaining about the fact that most of the wealth that flowed into Virtalla City from the neighbouring nations, flowed right back out towards Bresia City and the two Academy cities. There had been public protests, demonstrations, and even a little bit of rioting. Grampy Juan hoped that the troubles would settle down when official campaigning began in the later half of the Season of Earth. Elections for Virtalla City were scheduled in Mid-Fire Season, which was a contrast to Bresia City's elections which were run in Mid-Water.
Funnily, the academy cities were the least democratic of the lot. Juliette learned in History Class that the Dean, who was most often the strongest Magi, was the city's Counselor. It was the same with Briardale where the Brairwin's Principal Magus was the city's Counselor. The fifth member of the Republic's ruling party was normally a member of the Adventurer's Guild, usually Bresia City's Guild Branchmaster. They weren't usually the strongest adventurer, and the duty often rotated between each city and town branch masters as long as they reached Advanced Magus.
Politics had not been something she had just recently learned but had absorbed through her Grampy. Not that Juliette harboured any hope of joining the race. No thanks, she'd rather not enter that pit of vipers. At least, not through the elected official's path.
As she came out of her bedroom, she found her flatmate, Sofia, who was just about to leave for breakfast.
"Oh, there you are. Had a good leave?" Sofia asked, somewhat bitterly. Juliette understood the saltiness, however, since Sofia's family had been from common stock. No vacations or travel for her during her breaks, but more often than not, part-time jobs were on the menu to earn coins.
"It was alright," Juliette said coolly.
It wasn't that she didn't get along with Sofia, it was that the other was more than a bit hostile. At least their time together as roommates had smoothed the edges somewhat. Sofia was a talented Magus Apprentice, and she was practically obsessed with gaining power. Well, wealth, really, but one of the best ways for those of meagre beginnings to advance was to become a Magus or an adventurer, then delve into Chaos Founts. That or sell arcane tools. There were more things than learning spells and finding the best way to advance in Arcana Weaving. Well, things like dancing, finances, sweets, romance novels, and…well, a lot of other things.
The two of them headed to the cafeteria, acting like they were going in the same direction out of coincidence instead of the fact that they came from the same flat. The dining room was sparsely occupied, but the breakfast board was already laden. She took a modest amount, just enough to sate her hunger, and took a table. Sofia piled her plate high and scarfed down everything. It was a wonder the girl wasn't twice her size.
Then, they headed to the fifth layer to pick up their class schedules. Juliette hoped that she wouldn't be in the same class as Sofia, but it was futile. They were in the same dormitory suite because they had the same major, and their grades were close to each other's.
Sure enough, the schedule had them in practical lockstep. Spell Theory 5.3, History, Mathematics, Literature, Natural Sciences, Advanced Combat and Tactics. The professors were all familiar to her, having taken most of their classes, except for one.
"Professor Y. Davar?" Juliette muttered. Someone new.
"Oh, it's her," Sofia said.
"You know?"
"Yeah." The shorter girl smirked. "I met her at the library last week. Strange woman. She was reading the library's basic spell theory books and advanced spellcraft at the same time."
Juliette raised her eyebrow. "And what were you doing there?"
"Runescript conversion." Sofia frowned. "She mentioned something weird."
"What?" Juliette asked, annoyed at how the other girl always drew things out.
"She asked me why my spell activation tool was designed to only cast Fire Bolt when it could be made to cast other Elements."
"Because if you don't have the proper Affinity, calling the Elemental energies for the cast takes longer and requires more effort?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," Sofia agreed. "The Academy is called Elemental Mastery for a reason. Briarwin's ideals are nice, but more often than not, their cyclic reinforcement either takes too long or simply implodes."
"Oh? But you look like you have some second thoughts?"
"Yeah," Sofia grunted. "Well, making a non-Affinity spell into a casting implement means that the difficulty to cast would be lower, though if most of the components are runescript instead of vocal or somatic, control is sacrificed."
Juliette shrugged. "Well, isn't your bracelet supposed to be used as a fast strike? How quickly would it fire off in any case?"
"Dunno. I'll try with a different set, this one's almost done and I don't want to ruin it and get nothing."
The conversation dried up and the both of them headed off to their shared classes. Advanced Combat and Tactics wasn't until Fireday, two days from now, and Metalday, two days after.
Spell Theory was always dry, and this being the fifteenth in the series didn't make it any better. Honestly, once the basics were set, the rest was just building up on it. Well, there were only two or three classes a day, each one roughly three hours or so.
The next couple of days were more of the same. Sophie scribbled her notes on runescript conversion, but the real thing was called Spell Modification, which Spell Theory class touched on. That was when each component could be altered and moved around. It was a skill that required decades of study to do right. Anything less and either nothing happened or things exploded.
What Sofia did was basically copy well-known modifications and etch them into her prized tool. The complexity and delay were because she rearranged the components, and from the looks of it, the new professor advocated creating more modifications. Well, fighting wasn't really Juliette's cup of tea for all that she was in the Battle Magus specialisation. It was that or go full Caster, and according to Grampy, being unable to fight at close range was asking to be ambushed and killed. That and her childhood dreams. Haah.
By the time Fireday came along, she was back into the grind. Getting a Niria diploma opened many doors and was a point of pride. Both Battle Magus and Caster Magus required Advanced Combat and Tactics to graduate. She wondered how the new professor measured up to her predecessors.
By the time she and Sofia arrived in Training Field 5, the midmorning sun had been concealed by clouds and the winds were cold. The regulation light cloak the students wore flapped all over the place, and it took a cast of Minor Telekinesis to keep the thing closed. At least the training field had windbreaks and walls.
The field was empty when Julietta, Sofia, and the other students arrived. She pulled out her pocket watch to check. It was precisely nine o'clock. And the professor wasn't there. Huh.
The rest of the students, nearly fifty in the class, looked around. Some of them didn't seem to mind and just sat on the ground. Others didn't like this at all and an angry muttering sounded.
Ten minutes later and their teacher still wasn't there.
"You think she forgot?" Sofia said with a frown.
"Why would the administration hire a professor who's this tardy on their first day of class?" Juliette muttered angrily. The cold wasn't helping and since they were at least a third of the way up the mountain, there was little to really hold the wind back.
"...yeah, what gives?"
"...we should go and complain."
"...what, let's leave…"
Francis Carra, one of the annoying people Juliette had ever had the misfortune to meet, growled, "This is a waste of time. I'm leaving." Twenty minutes had already passed. He spun on his heels and began walking away, with a couple of his goons on his heels.
Juliette shook her head. She wasn't sure what was the right move here. She's wasted several minutes already and it was rather uncomfortable. On the other hand, this was a new teacher so they didn't know what her proclivities were.
She watched Francis, and then, a dozen other students walk out of the training field. Juliette sighed. At least it was a free period now. Heh.
She turned to look at the entrance and decided she wasn't going to wait fruitlessly. She had taken one step, and Francis was just about to leave the designated field, when…
Fwoom! Bang! Boom!
A brilliant beam of golden light slammed right in front of Francis and swiped sideways. It carved a trench on the hard-packed ground.
"Aieee!" Francis' high-pitched squeal bordered on soprano octaves and he jumped back and fell on his bottom.
"Twenty-three minutes and three seconds. Nobody thought to look up." The voice was gentle, chiding, and utterly mesmerising.
Juliette and everyone else looked to where the voice came from. It was from the direction of the sun. A glowing figure floated down, and for a moment, it looked as if the sun had split in two.
The woman, Professor Davar, arrived in front of them, still floating half a dozen paces above the slope.
"Information. On the battlefield, correct information is life." With that, she landed in front of them.
Juliette gulped as she felt the professor's presence bear down on them. It was a lesson she knew she would never forget.