The dubious eyes on me were slowly driving me crazy. In spite of our instructor clearly speaking upfront, their attention was placed upon me. Specifically to my face, they're scrutinizing every part of my face then slowly descending to my body. It's disturbing because of how serious their expressions are. Then Instructor Sienna gave me a wink after the brief introduction.
"Is that for real?"
"No way."
Numerous bewilderment came from classmates and Lars was also part of it, except for Erik as he only had his one eyebrow raised while looking at me. "Who's she?" he said. Erik was the only person who doesn't know the identity of my master. Well, the first time I heard it, I also don't have any clue about it too, so it's truly understandable.
"Now, now, let's calm ourselves. And I truly understand all your reactions since we don't often see a disciple of a person of such caliber that even holds the Blade Saint by the pope, so let's don't make a fuss about it." Instructor Sienna said calmly.
"That's not even what we're thinking! Even if you were saying the truth, it's still impossible for us to believe that a manaless person would ever be a disciple of such person!" One of my classmates shouted. It was a male with curly brown hair and a slightly disfigured chin.
"Come on, some of you guys saw him along with the elven princess earlier right? I mean, isn't that fact alone would raise some suspicion?"
"I don't want to be disrespectful, but that still doesn't mean anything. I acknowledge his h-handsome looks but there's only to it. He might even just a..." The girl said with a big blue ribbon tied on the back of her head, she's kind of plain-looking from her bangs hiding her face.
"Fufufu~ Believe what you want to believe in, but what I just said are just facts that came from the headmaster himself. It's his own words, so either you believe in the headmaster's words or not. That's your choice."
*Silence...
However, the stares at me only got confusing. Whether they wanted to believe it or not, they're having a hard time on it. I'm sitting right here at my very spot not flinching nor giving them an eye, as I only stare at our instructor's well-rounded breast to get my head out of this situation—a distraction or to make our educator uncomfortable. Of course, Instructor Sienna noticed it since the beginning but didn't bother to scold me or point it out, as she just lets me stare at it openly while giving a glance from time to time.
"Let's start the class then. There will be an exception for this class which is Claude over there. But the rest shall comply with my instruction."
Then one man added. "Obviously, he's manaless. He's not going to do anything." It was a man with long hair that reaches below his shoulder, tied up in a ponytail. He's a pretty good-looking and also distinguishable large scar over the corner of his mouth all the way to his lower eyelid. At the end of his sentence, he scoffs at me.
"Really now? You're no good than a manaless person you know? What's the purpose of your mana when you can't even bring out your spirit's potential? If I remember, you're Adal the one with the vengeful spirit."
Rogue spirits are spirits who defy the essence of the world. And, vengeful spirits are on the same categorization. Unlike, Eleos spirit who seeks companionship through contracting anyone, the vengeful spirits seek revenge as it already stated on their names. Their vengeance varies to different kinds.
According to the books that I've read about it, the records stated that their hatred came from their past, and seek revenge. What is it then? Not sure. The book only gave me a speck of details about them. At how rare they are, we can't really fully understand behind their intention of what they seek, otherwise, the person who contracted such spirit would find a way to solve it. They're among the unfortunate.
However, one thing's for sure, the vengeful spirit would possess their benefactor's body and take over. That's why the life span of whoever contracted such a spirit would decrease drastically, at how unpredictable the spirit was. At any given circumstance, that person would be considered lucky enough to live for five or ten years. But there's a way to get rid of it. It's by breaking the contract or by getting rid of it entirely. It's plausible. But, I've read it needs approval between two parties. That's why people deemed it as a death sentence to whoever acquired such spirit. I'm certain they're well-monitored by the authorities, what's more, he's able to attend the academy.
Furthermore, they feed on their host which's like a tenant spirit living in the body without paying the monthly rent or any necessities, basically.
"Y-Yes..." Adal glances the other way, hiding his face from us.
"Then how can you speak such way to him, when your situation was direr than him?"
He didn't utter a single sound and stayed his head low.
'She murdered him.'
"You thought having mana is a blessing and not having it is a curse? The perspective of society really fascinates me, but at the same time, it makes sense. Either way, I'm here to remind you he's not just a simple person. It may not look like since I announce him being manaless, but he's a certified platinum adventurer in the Seeker's guild."
While Instructor Sienna basically gave out every piece of information about me, I'm wondering how come she knew a lot about me, or how the headmaster knew it. And, why is she telling this to my classmates? I don't recall talking with the headmaster regarding me. Did the headmaster instruct her that to make my life easier or harder? She mentioned me being manaless, yet she also mentioned my relationship with Master Irene and my guild rank. Honestly, I find it contradicting because it will only add more to their confusion.
I do have a plan of laying low in the academy considering my unique body constitution. I don't want to alert some troublesome authorities and mainly because of Master Irene's warning. But knowing them, they probably already knew about it.
To be honest, my life goals have progressively changed every time, an inconsistent one. But right now, I want to revolve it around the people that I dear more than myself. It's one I regretted back in my life, not being able to reciprocate those kindnesses to the people in my life. That's the only distinct goal in my mind.
"A platinum?! That can't be!"
"Indeed. Isn't he so cool? Why don't you bring out your guild plate and adventurer's card?"
I squint my eyes in suspicion of Instructor Sienna. "I don't have it. I left it back on my dormitory."
"Awww~ You know, an additional piece of information. You can still use your adventurer's card for a good use for a dungeon quest. Well, we've been wasting quite a time by standing here and talking irrelevant things."
Later on, I'm sitting at the corner of the class listening to our instructor's thorough lesson from understanding spirits. Instructor Sienna was standing in front of my classmates, manifesting the mana throughout her body and controlling it magnificently. Obviously, the eyes on me were still intact.
"We have adversity as a Spirit Contractor that we face both mentally and physically. Mental Trauma, for example, that alone could affect our ability as the spirit was connected to our mind. We are the master and shall be the meister of our body, not the spirit."
"The job of a spirit was to allow us to access the wonders of their benevolent powers. But of course, there are still some special circumstances, for instance, Adal with his spirit; however, that doesn't mean it's helpless. Needless to say, we can still overcome everything by ourselves. In Adal's case, he can make his spirit docile which is close to impossible, but not impossible entirely."
"Does that mean there's a chance for him? Yes. That's the reason why he was sent here by his household. That also applies to you all... Perhaps, except for our little Claude."
Instructor Sienna places her palm over her cheeks while gazing at me. What does she really want for me? What is she scheming? What are her objectives from doing this? Did the headmaster tell her to do so? I'm hating this. The temple. The academy. They have too many schemes.
"Okay, that's enough and we shall continue on the main lesson for today. We shall test your ability to identify the problem. Fret not, I already reviewed every single recording of your physical evaluation and I could only say that majority of you didn't do much."
Instructor Sienna points her finger to us, only to Erik to be exact. "I saw your fight and I must say you have my acknowledgment. Despite the adversity, that didn't hinder your potential to fight your way. And what's more, you fought with your bare strength. Your mana control on your body is excellent and I applaud you for that."
"Thank you," Erik replied.
Soon after, all of us went into specific spots in the training ground assigned by Instructor Sienna. We are yards away from each other. She's telling my other classmates what to do one by one while giving them a piece of white crystallized stone. Then upon approaching me.
"I can't really give you this since it holds insignificancy to you, but I've got a question for you."
"What is it?"
"How do you like my little introduction about you? Isn't it lovely? I wanted to protect my dear students."
My face made a reel expression and said. "It's not. You won't introduce me out of pity or anything. Stop treating me like a fool."
"Suit yourself. You're a special case. You're the unknown of the unknown in this academy. Even the headmaster himself doesn't have any clue what to do with you. We already have gathered crucial information to even make you in the S-class, but we can't make it happen since you're identified as manaless and there would be a lot of disagreements with other students and staff if we don't disclose everything about you to them."
'Well, that's true.'
"Because of that, the headmaster sent you here and you're the sole reason why I was assigned here in the first place. I'm the supervisor of the S-class, you know? I'm living the life since I don't really need to teach that hard. I know that you will be subjected to different questionary by the people. And, you also pose a threat to other people."
"Threat? What kind? I'm the most lovable, innocent person you would find in this world." I said indifferently.
"I like your shamelessness. But other educators like me saw your spirit as an anomaly or a threat which is why it was able to grant you powers from an unknown existential power outside of this world, that we're not familiar with. That's why we categorized you as one. They wouldn't place you over to S-class as you pose a threat and they don't want the S-class students to get harmed."
"And, you're all okay harming the F-class students?"
"Indeed. That's how the world. Insignificant people don't matter. Wait, not my words okay? I love every student of mine."
"How laughable. Basically, you're telling me, you told them those things just to warn them about my existence and make them wary? You guys don't care." I said in disdain.
"Don't be angry. Isn't it good that I honestly told you everything?"
"Honesty? It's more like a threat against me. The academy won't hesitate on making a move once you guys deem it as dangerous, am I right?"
Instructor Sienna grins. "We just want to protect every student."
"And, among those students, I'm not included then? No, scratch that, we're not among them. What a twisted academy. If we're going to be treated this way, isn't it for the best if we're not admitted in the first place?"
"Miracles can happen you know? Every person is born in this world serves a purpose, whether it's for the better or for the worst. The purpose of this academy was to unveil the hidden mysteries of the cosmos. This academy was built to continue the exploration of the world."
Our eyes caught each other. Instructor Sienna could only smile at me before going back.
"The last thing she said didn't make any sense," I muttered.