It was an hour past midday.
Time seemed to be racing today. For me, who dreaded my stay in this school, that was a splendid occurrence.
It's my second year in the academy and this time, I was assigned to the Emerald class out of the four classes for second-year mage scholars.
I'm not exactly sure how many we are in Emerald, given that we got new members and I had not done a headcount.
Miss Dorian Dandelion turned her back to the class. As expected of a woman with subtle lewd tendencies, her skirt was very much above her knees and the position of the whiteboard on the wall was inconveniencing for her height.
Don't get me wrong. Miss Dorian was not short. I'd say she was around five feet and five inches and for a woman, that won't be defined as short.
Having to watch her stretch her arm to write and in turn, see her skirt rise with her, generously showing off more skin was very distracting.
I wasn't the only one.
Even Gregory, the nerd of the second-year scholars of the Emerald class, was slobbering at the sight.
From the looks of him, he found it satisfying and knowing Greg, that was more than enough. The thought of having seen satisfied Greg even if he would never touch and do the real deed.
Miss Dorian had written the words 'Spell Casting' on the whiteboard and that was the last thing I vividly remembered.
I recalled that she went ahead to mumble long explanations of the words she had written but I was far gone by then.
...
...
...
It was an hour past midday and the seat on my left side was still empty.
Jasmine had not come.
I didn't think she was coming to class again but I hoped so.
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[ 03 Hrs : 59 Mins : 46 Secs ]
The notification was from my pimp system. Add that to the list of things I will explain to you that read this later.
My pimp system has been buzzing in my head since the class started with endless notifications but how I was going to complete my daily quest with Jasmine absent from school.
So exhausting!
"You. Dickens," the teacher called.
I heard my name being called though faintly. It was not until I sensed a board marker whistling through the air and travelling towards me did I turn to give her my attention.
"You dropped something, Miss Dorian," I said, showing her the marker that I had proudly caught with two fingers.
Such folly. Did she think a simple marker would reach me undetected, let alone, harm me?
I heaved a long and deep sigh in my head.
Miss Dorian's antics to gain my attention were not on my list of problems at the moment.
What bothered me more was the consequence of not completing my daily quest.
I created the pimp system and gave it the leverage to hurt me. I could overturn the feature or render it ineffective whenever I wished but to what end?
I needed the motivation it offered if I was going to achieve what I planned.
The thought of it made it feel like something eerie crawled atop my skin.
...
...
...
Miss Dorian closed the text in her hand and focused all her attention on me.
"Can you tell the class what you understand by the words 'Spell Casting', Dickens? It's Dickens, right? Mr. Dickens Nuttinson."
"Yes," my voice stretched an answer out loud so she could hear me from the front of the class.
I stood up from my chair, hesitating and glaring at the words on the whiteboard like I didn't understand them or the question asked.
The teacher moved out of my gaze to another corner of the large classroom and repeated the question a second time.
"Can you tell us what spell casting is, Mr. Nuttinson?"
Was she being serious right now?
Of course, she was. She even addressed me by my family name this time — a sign that she was taking this seriously.
Feigning ignorance, I cleared my throat and proceeded to answer but Liz beat me to it.
Just as my lips parted to dish out the words in my mind, Elizabeth's voice already reached Miss Double D where she stood in front.
She was pleased and disappointed at the same time with Liz and me respectively.
"Well done, Miss Elizabeth...," she commented, trying to recall Liz's family name.
"Osvenor," Liz said, helping her out.
"Well done, Miss Osvenor."
The class applauded Elizabeth's intelligence — she indeed merited her spot in the top five of our class.
"You see, Mr. Nuttinson," Miss Double D said, turning back to me.
At this time, I was still standing, shameless about what I had just done.
"There are rules in this class," she said, "and you broke the very first one."
Miss Dorian began to amble towards me in the manner that a mother would walk towards a child who had defaulted.
"Never... ever... lose... concentration... in... my... class."
He retracted back in an attempt to dodge whatever was going to come from her rage but nothing happened. Miss Dorian merely took the marker out of my hand.
Having returned to the front of the class, she stopped and moved to the desk that was also in front. Pulling the drawers out, she took out a ragged old stick about twenty-five centimetres long.
It was a magic wand.
Magic was common in Silver City and as such eight out of every ten magic users had one since it allowed for easier spell casting.
She brandished it and moved her wrist with experience like a choir mistress to a glorious choir. With each sway of her wand, books started to levitate out of the drawers.
They hung afloat, dancing in the air to the tune that was controlled by our teacher.
She swung the wand around a few more times and pointed it forward.
"Espreadira novelle," she chanted, casting her intended spell.
...
...
...
In a matter of seconds, every scholar present in Miss Dorian's class had received their copy of the thick-covered book that she magically dispersed.
That was the way of life in the Silver City — everything was done with magic, down to the simplest things. I believe it's the same for other cities too.
"Having passed through your first year in the academy, I'm happy to announce to you that all of you are now officially recognized as mage scholars of the Zenith Academy For Warlocks & Witches.
"Your probation study year is over and those are your copies of the academy's rule book."
Rule book?
I turned to the front of the book and it was indeed a rule book.
Tsk! I don't need that.
Rules are for the weak, and I don't have to stick to them.
I believe they are chains curled around us to limit us for the duration of our stay in the academy.
The rules were trivial to me but I did not need to outrightly break them and show off my rebellious nature, however, I can also find my way around them.
As I basked in my brilliance, the notification flashed through my mind again.
It was the pimp system.
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