With the school day coming to an end the students were eager to finish the last lesson and go home, either to study or relax. Zain was no exception as he sat in the back row in an attempt to relax and rest his mind and body. His final class for the day didn't really help him as much when it came to combat, and thus his interest lay elsewhere. His chest rose and fell slowly as he slept in the quiet environment.
"Hey, check her out!" Yet suddenly an uproar of male students entered his ears and roused him from his slumber. Painfully, Zain opened his eyes to see the other males of the classroom stare at a single female as she walked into the room. Her icy blue hair caught his attention first as her silver irises looked around the room before landing dead on him. Instantly anger filled her orbs as she walked up the rows before standing before him.
"You…so you really are here."
"Why wouldn't I be…? I have the qualifications to be here, so it's only natural I am. You got a problem with that?"
"Do I have a problem with that? Of course I do!" Her voice quickly rose as a slight vein showed on her forehead. "Because of you I-" She was about to continue, but noticed that others in the classroom were staring at her. No doubt the other royals in the room knew they shared a classroom with a commoner, and if they didn't they would obviously find out in time. The last thing she wanted to do was expose herself having lost to someone so beneath her in status.
"Now now everyone, settle down. I know you're all excited to leave, but just stay long enough for me to finish my class. Please?" All the attention in the room then transferred down to the center of the room as a lady with curly hazelnut hair walked to the center of the room. What stood out even more was the three eyed owl that perched on her shoulder.
"Now everyone, please get to your seats now." Her gentle voice got carried throughout the room and brought everyone to a seat. All but Elise.
"This isn't over between you and me. You'll regret the day you made an enemy out of me, I'll make sure of it." With that as her final words on the topic, Elise promptly sat down in the row in front of Zain as the male in question started to sit up in his seat.
"Alright, good! Now we can begin." The professor said happily as she placed her hands together. Her smile beamed across the entire room as all the attention fell on her.
"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Daisy! I'm not much of a stickler for stiff rules so no need to refer to me with Miss." Her personality gave off a strange wave of calmness to the students, helping them relax and ease into the final lesson for the day.
"I will be your teacher in Ecology. The world outside is veeery scary if you aren't fully prepared, so I'll do my best to guide every one of you." At the mention of ecology, many of the students had complaints about it, but multiple others seemed intrigued in the manner. "For the first few lessons I'll just be going over two core beings in our world.
"Now, let's get started. As you all know, our world is inhabited by the wondrous occurrence known as mana. It lives in the air and earth, flows into plants and lets our four great cities thrive. Mana also flows through us humans, enriching our bodies and allowing us to use magic." To demonstrate, a gentle light was shown coming from the palm of Daisy's hand.
"Magic is an amazing occurrence, bringing beautiful new creations into existence. Like my beloved pet Kuu!" On que, her golden owl made a noise, recognizing its name being called while raising one of its wings.
"Now, here's a question for you all. What is my darling little Kuu?" A number of students raised their hands at the question. Daisy ended up choosing a random person.
"It's a magic beast." Elise quickly answered her question.
"Correct!" Daisy beamed at her pupil. "One of the many changes to our world with the introduction of mana is magic beast. We still have regular animals of course, but every now and again, thanks to the mana in the air, an animal can absorb it. Mana changes them from the inside out, giving them wonderful abilities similar to us."
To demonstrate, Kuu ended up breathing out flames towards the students, which quickly dispersed before it could harm anyone.
"Mana has blessed us with many things that help in our day to day lives. However with all the wonders it has brought, misfortune was not far behind…" Her tone changed slightly as she placed her hand over a crystal that was embedded into her stand. The lights in the room dimmed as a hologram projected itself onto the whiteboard behind her. Images were shown of lands in ruin and nature in disarray.
"As I said earlier, mana resides in the air and earth, in other words nature itself. And just as how the world has natural disasters, so too does mana. There are certain areas of the world that are so rich in mana that it sometimes clashes with itself, causing destruction and mayhem in its wake. We call these areas 'Chaotic Mana Zones'."
Zain's eyes looked towards the images displayed, taking in the scenery.
"But that's not all. These massive areas of land have also brought out some dangerous animals. Does anyone know what they are called?"
"Demonic beast." Elise answered her question yet again. "Animals who have absorbed too much of the mana in the environment turn violent and lash out in blind anger. They usually appear in chaotic mana zones, but it's not too uncommon to run into them in other areas."
"Right…it's a sad existence, but some animals can't really handle all the mana flowing in their bodies." Daisy continued after Elise before shutting the projection off. "Depending on the animal that started absorbing mana they can become very violent, and powerful creatures. Some are even strong enough to destroy entire towns and cities." More slides started showing a variety of demonic beasts, ranging from small and large sizes, and each being more grotesque than the last.
"In the past, these demonic beasts have gone out of control and found their way into towns and cities, causing mass destruction. Though thankfully some brave mages have stood up to them in the past in order to fight them. As a result of that, a profession was made for them in order to try and bring more aspiring mages to combat the massive number of demonic beasts that roamed the land."
More documentation was shown, giving everyone present a better view of what happened.
"But, enough of the gloomy things in life!' Her tone turned back into a bright and cheery one as she turned to her students.
"Alright then, now for a hands on lesson! I'm sure you're all tired of being cooped up in this building all day, and just seeing still images on a projector isn't stimulating enough , let's all go outside!" Daisy led the students outside the classroom, leaving them all in confusion as to where outside they were heading. Once they all gathered in the courtyard, Kuu started to fly off her shoulders before growing in size. Its wings and feathers grew to larger proportions as its shadow encompassed the entire class.
"Alright everyone, hop on!"