The next couple of days pass without incident. We manage to kill a few Acriporcos and a Polyporta, but that's about it. Unfortunately, we don't find any more equipment or secret passages. It is agreed that we will not overextend ourselves and only progress a little further each day. Since our dungeon crawling has been so uneventful, we go Punctastar hunting a couple of times and bring back six full Punctastars as well as six more hides. After all our recent expenses, our wallets are flush with cash again, so we feel much more comfortable. Josh reminds us that we need Monster Cores to refill our spell rods, so we keep the Acriporcos cores and sell everything else. The hides of the warthog monsters aren't worth very much, but the meat that tastes like pork goes for about five Denarii per pound. With each one producing about fifty pounds of meat, we also make a pretty penny from that. The twenty-fifth day of the month of ice arrives, and it's time for another class.
"Is it getting too easy for you?"
"No, ma'am." I wheeze. I had a feeling I'd pay for my comments in Jezabel's office, and I was right. The guild master smiles as she tortures me with renewed vigor. My endurance is slowly increasing, so the training would have become easier over time if she didn't increase the intensity like this. I finish my last lap to the tree and bend over to catch my breath.
"I'm disappointed. It looks like you can still stand." The kids pass the finish line shortly after me. Josh kneels down on the ground, and Sakura uses his shoulder to support herself.
[Don't say anything! Don't say anything! Don't say anything!]
"Don't say anything," I say.
[Dammit.]
"Hmm, you're learning to control that mouth of yours. Good job."
[Roll with it.]
"Uh, yes, ma'am." I straighten up and start removing the weights strapped to my limbs.
"Keep it up. I'll see you all next class." Jezabel whistles and disappears into the guild.
[That was weird.]
"What was that about?" it seems Sakura noticed the same thing as me.
"That was weird, right?"
"Super weird." She agrees.
"I'm not sure." We leave the conversation at that and make our way to the classroom. The table at the front is open as always, and we take our seats. The rest of the students shuffle in. I notice people staring at us or whispering while glancing in our direction, but I try to ignore it. The newlyweds are chatting as if they're completely oblivious to the attention we're getting.
[I should take a lesson from them.]
I look at the board and see many poorly drawn pictures. Nothing is decipherable without Travis's explanation, so I stop thinking about it. The last of the students file into the room when suddenly, someone pulls out a chair at our table and sits down.
"Tyrion?" Josh is the first to react and calls out to our unexpected guest. I notice Sakura's questioning gaze out of the corner of my eye and give her a shrug. He's mostly harmless, so I don't feel the need to remove him. The kids seem to agree as they quickly return to their conversation. Tyrion never even looks at us, so an awkward tension hangs in the air.
'Cough'
I cough softly to try and get his attention. Nothing.
'Cough, cough'
I see him flinch, but he still won't turn around.
'Hack, cough, cough, cough, hack, cough!'
"What!?" That last one does the trick, and he flips around in a rage.
"Oh, Tyrion! I didn't even see you there. Are you sitting at our table today?" I feign ignorance and smile. His brow furrows. I try not to laugh as he slowly turns back around.
[Heh heh heh.]
"Welcome to class, everybody!" Travis bursts into the room with his infectious smile. "Today, we're gonna learn about the system."
[I'm pretty sure we were going to have a class similar to this until we were interrupted and almost died in the forest. Good times.]
I reminisce on our first venture into the woods while Travis begins his lecture.
"It's important to remember that the rules, boundaries, and limitations of the system are subject to change. Although it doesn't happen very often, the gods acting as the system's administrators can make alterations. I wouldn't be too concerned about this because we haven't seen any significant changes in over a thousand years."
[When I think about it, the way the seal functions seems a little clunky. It's as if too many cooks had their hands in the design. There's a job level and an individual level, some of the skills that can be acquired with jobs are too similar to spells in the magic system, and the whole bonus point system seems completely busted. What's stopping someone from dumping all their points into one stat?]
These questions swirl around my head as Travis continues.
"Originally, people had to learn magic by themselves, which was not only difficult but also very dangerous. Magic works through a universal language described through magic circles. These magic circles need to be formed by hand, which takes a lot of practice. I've never tried it myself, but I've heard it's like trying to control the flow of your own blood. This fragile structure then needs to be maintained until the spell has finished. If this process is interrupted at any point, the whole structure can explode."
I think back to my battle against the Griffith and how the resultant blast blew apart the gates and still had enough force to almost kill me.
"The seal handles the construction and maintenance of the magic circle so the process can't be interrupted."
"Does anyone learn magic without the system?" I hear this question rise from the back of the class.
"I've never heard of anyone trying, but they'd have to be one crazy son of a bitch to do so." Travis laughs as he responds. I try to pay attention to what he's saying, but I spend the rest of my time in class thinking about all the steps that went into creating the version of the system we use today. What were the abandoned ideas? Is there a better way to set things up? What is the governing philosophy of the system itself? Before I know it, Travis tells everyone to study for the test a couple of months from now which will determine whether we can move on to the next portion of the class. Anyone that fails will have to wait until the next class cycle starts to try again. It never occurred to me before, but some people here are probably retaking this portion of the class.
We gather our stuff to leave while Tyrion still sits at our table. He continues to ignore us, so we do the same. I'm a bit thrown off by the fact that he follows us out of the classroom, so I move to a more secluded area. We all walk around the building to the alley, where we can have some privacy.
"So, what's up?" I ask.
"I want to join your team." Tyrion looks directly into my eyes as he responds. It's clear he's put a lot of thought into this. I decide not to beat around the bush with this conversation.
"We're growing fast, and you want in."
"I have connections that can benefit you."
"We need to keep a tight circle."
"You have Shinobu, so I can't move against you."
"We gain no benefit in terms of fighting strength."
"I can use spacetime magic and know where you can get better equipment at a reasonable price."
"I don't trust you."
"The feeling's mutual." We quickly hash out where we stand, and he makes his case for how useful he is. I'm hesitant to work with him as there are too few benefits given the risks. After thinking about it for a minute, I'm torn.
"What do you think?" I turn to the kids to get their opinion when Tyrion cuts in.
"You're not seriously asking them, are you?" He sneers.
"Of course I am."
"Why would you bother listening to that girl and her idiot? You shouldn't be asking for their opinion."
[Okay, this isn't going to work.]
I roll my eyes and turn to leave.