Nina's lips formed a thin smile as she looked at the students who were noticeably surprised by what she just said.
"What? Were you kids thinking that getting rid of curses is that easy? That's very naive of you know." She stated. "You thought that if you just attend the Black Magic Class then your curse will magically disappear? Did you all thought that the Academy will get rid of the curse for you?"
"Well, sorry to burst your bubble that's not happening." Nina chuckled softly as she took a seat. "The Academy has no responsibilities in ridding you of your burdens. We're here to provide you with methods on how to do so. Doing it will ultimately depend on you all."
"So again, if you're just attending my class with the hopes that I, or the Academy, will get rid of your curse, then I'm sorry to inform you that, that's not happening."
"If you don't plan on putting on the effort to remove it yourself, then you might as well start living with it for the rest of your life. Don't waste time here."
Nina's gaze roamed the class and saw some students who doesn't look fine. They look like they've just been betrayed, lied upon and furious. They look as if they want to demand an explanation.
She couldn't help but scoff at this inwardly. As long-time Professor of the Academy, she had seen it all. This scene is nothing new to her.
Nina wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow some parents would visit the Academy to demand an explanation from her or the Headmaster. What usually follow is embarrassing them with cold-proof that the Academy wasn't in the wrong, that it was them who raised their expectations to that point.
The Academy never said that it will remove the curses from these students. All the Academy promised is help, and that help comes in the form of knowledge.
"Those who feel unconvinced and wants to demand an explanation from me or the Headmaster, feel free to set-up an appointment. We won't mind reminding you that we never promised anything like that in the first place."
"Also, those who plans on dropping-out of this class may do so after this period. I'll hand out forms that you can fill, submit it to the Teaching Department and the Black Magic Class shall be removed from your schedule." Nina stated.
Some students were feeling rather complex right now. Ashton on the other hand, already recovered from his initial shock.
Well, it's not like he was expecting someone to come and help him get rid of the curse anyways. Admittedly, that would be nice, but he never really banked on that.
His goal hasn't changed. He's here to know more about Magic and to learn more about his condition. If he can gather enough knowledge to learn how to remove his own curse, that would be for the best. He can handle himself just fine.
"Anyways, since I've already informed you about the common misconceptions about Black Magic, let's move-on with the topic."
"Black Magic is another branch of Magical Studies. It's one of the Fundamental Knowledge that every budding Mage must learn in order to grow stronger and achieve their goals."
"Black Magic is formed under the virtue of 'Fighting Fire with Fire'. Due to the hostile environment of this world and how limited our resources are, we needed more methods on how to effectively take down our enemies. We needed an option that provides more lethality. And thus, Black Magic was formed."
"See, kids...Black Magic existed even before we coined the term for it." She said, "Back in the early stages of cultivation, when our enemies started seeing that we're slowly recovering from their attacks, they used their own versions of Black Magic to curse our Race."
"Back then, we don't have any clue as what happened to us. Only when the succeeding generations showed signs of 'difference' did our ancestors notice that something wrong happened."
"They cursed us. Not all but some. Also, it takes on different forms and mostly unpredictable so we couldn't really minimize the casualties."
"Those monsters wanted to seal our potential. They want Humanity to decay on it's own so that they can rule this world. If it weren't for our tenacity and our burning desire to progress, we will never figure out the cause of our weakness. We'd probably be extinct by now."
"As our knowledge towards Black Magic increased, we eventually developed certain ways on how to get rid of the curse but so far, even to this day, only one method remains the most reliable..."
"And that is by removing your own curse through your own efforts." Nina revealed. "This method is the most dangerous but also the most effective. The process is sensitive since it requires no outside help at all. Removing the curse should be done all according to the will and effort of the bearer."
"This is why even if you pay the Headmaster handsomely to get rid of your own curse, he will never do it. Neither does any expert for that matter. Nobody wants to he responsible for your death. You decide that, not us."
"This is also why the Academy never promised you anything of that sorts. If you want to know how, sure! We'll teach you how to. But if you want to regain your freedom, you must do it yourselves."
Once again, Nina's thoughts pretty much confirmed that Ashton's thought process was in the correct direction. What she said makes a lot more sense and now, Ashton also knows who was responsible for this curses.
However, this also brings up something that he's curious about. So he raised his hand to ask a question.
"Yes?" Nina noticed him and asked.
"You told us that the 'monsters' cursed us during the earlier stages of cultivation. Which means that we're still recovering from their onslaught. Why didn't they finished us instead? Did someone or something stopped them from doing so?"
Ashton could feel the incredulous stares of his classmates. He could even almost hear their thoughts, saying; why would you ask that? Do you want Humanity to end? Did you want them to kill us all?
But of course, he didn't care about those. He was curious and this is a place of learning so naturally, he would ask someone who might know so that he can learn.
"Excellent question!" Nina exclaimed, "The answer to that is simple. Indeed, someone stopped them. Specifically, it's the First Hero."
"You'd learn more about this in your History Class but basically, at that time when Humanity is still recovering, the Heroes were around to ensure our safety. Around the time, the First Hero had already grown old and could only guide the next generation to become stronger."
"Before he died, he made a decision to sacrifice his life as well as all of his strength to form a bubble that will serve as a protective shell for Humanity."
"His Divinity along with the overwhelming faith humanity held for the First Hero, made this shell extremely tough to crack. No monsters were able to get in, only humans can pass through it without getting harmed."
"Thanks to that, we were pretty much safe to recover and develop. The monsters outside didn't like that thought though. While it's true that the shell protected us, it didn't make us invisible. They can see our progress and they feared out potential."
"Somehow, only Curses were able to by pass our protective shell, which is precisely what they used to bombard us from afar. And since we have no idea on how it works back then, we suffered greatly from it."
"With the amount of time that passed since there, many Heroes followed the footsteps of the First Hero and strengthened the protective shell even further. We also devised a way to stop the curses from getting in so those stopped completely."
"Unfortunately, some of the curses are hereditary, not in the sense that they'd be passed down to your own flesh and blood though."
"Curses that are not removed will be passed on to a new host when the previous holder died. From our research, this is random so far so we can't really predict who's going to have them. Moreover, their curses doesn't work with the scale of time."
"What I meant by that is, for example; there is someone who is been cursed to be blind. The holder of this curse died without removing it so the curse will be passed on right? Well, there is a chance that, that curse - the Blindness Curse, will not appear immediately to someone else after the previous holder's death."
"It can appear at a much later or sooner date. There's also a chance that it will never appear again. Sadly, we haven't developed a way to track the more accurately which is why we still need students to personally inform us what curse they hold so that we can provide you with necessary ways to remove it. Of course, that is if you want to remove it."
"Any other questions?"