"You saw the professor, right?"
"Yes. He had red hair, and his name was Thorne, wasn't it?"
"Isn't he the one from the incident a few years back?"
"Has Nexarion's standard fallen?"
The rumors of the redhead professor spread, far and wide. Reactions were mixed, some thought of it as good while some had different opinions.
Nichole sat in the classroom, a large room with multiple benches and desks laid out in orderly fashion. The silence in the room felt unsettling.
She sat on the first bench, at the center of the classroom. It's not like she could sit anywhere else when the only student in the class was her.
CREAK
The hinges of the door groaned from stress when it was pushed open. The classroom itself was way too big, but old. The Manakai class was empty for almost twenty four years, closed and collecting dust.
Jack walked in empty handed, his presence wasn't that powerful, yet Nichole knew the man in front of her was strong.
Nichole stood up from her seat to greet the professor, "Good morning sir."
"Oh," Jack stuttered at the welcome, unused to such formality, "good morning to you too, please sit."
Nichole sat back down, mustering enough courage to ask, "Professor?"
"Yes," Jack replied with a smile.
"Don't I have any tests?"
"Tests are conducted to determine the position of the students," Jack walked towards Nichole, "but we're a bit short on students," Jack looked around the empty classroom, "so the principal exempted you from having to take the test."
"I'll explain the timetable and the subjects," Jack pulled out a folded paper from his jacket and placed it on the desk in front of her.
He walks to the left and sits beside Nichole, taking out a pen, and placing it atop the paper.
"There are a total of ten subjects," Jack pointed at the first sentence in the paper, "The path of Manakai, this is the major subject."
Nichole nodded, looking at the paper intently.
"According to Miss Shia, the academy has a teamwork mechanism in the first two semesters where three students are out in one group."
"Three?" she asks curiously.
"Yes, three students. All the students will have to learn the major subject. Then they have to choose three subjects from the nine fields, but since we only have one student your system is a bit different."
"The nine fields... I'm not sure..."
"It's alright, I'll help you," Jack said kindly. "Are you familiar with the nine fields?"
He doesn't seem like the guy from the rumours, Nichole spoke, unsure, "Some of them."
"Do you have any specific goals?"
"Not quite, I'm pretty unsure of this."
"Haha, it's alright I'll help you so you don't have to learn everything," Jack laughed, but his tone shifted to a more serious one, "Arcanism, it's essential."
"Arcanism, it's the art of forming spells, right professor?"
"Yes, and since we are Manakai, the second one we have to learn is the Martial Path."
"Martial path, do we have to learn Martial Path, I thought our cultivation methods made it possible without following that path."
"While it is taken by Mages who want to become magic swordsman, you can avoid the hassle of having to stuff in too much, because Path of Manakai is a mix of magic and martial arts."
"In short I can learn the two together, it's like taking Arcanism since I'll learn about magic in my major subject."
"That's about it, well now for the next subject, it's up to you, do you need me to give you a rough sketch of the other fields," Jack offered with a smile.
He's just like Sir Laurent, always smiling. "Yes, that would be very helpful."
"Well I majored in Arcanism, Architecture and Gamemaster, and I'd say do not take Gamemaster if you have bad luck."
"Why is that?" Bad luck?
"Gamemasters revolve around probability and chances, and if you feel like your life is pretty unlucky, it's not really the best choice."
"Is that why it's a widely avoided field?"
"One of the reasons."
"How about Architecture professor? I can specialize in barriers, right?"
"If you are choosing Architecture, Runesmith will also be a good subfield."
"But isn't Runesmith a totally different class?"
"The two are actually very different, but if you can understand the full extent of Runesmith, casting barriers and creating formation become easier."
"Formations... what about the other classes?"
"Herbalism, it's a great field if you chose to be a support, and if you intend to follow alchemy in the future, Herbalism is the path."
"Mm, maybe not."
"It's alright, not everyone's first choice," Jack gave a firm nod of assurance. "Bond, it's hard to say for certain if you're chosen for this field, the field isn't really for everyone."
Bond was the art of forming connection with beings affected by eonweave, in short forming a contract of life with an Eonborn.
"So that leaves me with two more choices."
"These are some of the hardest ones yet, I couldn't perfect these fields."
"That means..."
"Yes, Animancy and Necromancy," Jack paused letting the moment build, 'the arcane arts of the dark."
"I don't think these two are for me either," Nichole said.
"She's right," the Count appeared beside him, "she doesn't have the ability to sense nor feel the other world."
"I guess it's decided, I'll follow architecture."
"That's a good field, I'll make sure to help you understand it."
"Thank you professor," Nichole picked up the pen and began filling the form presented before her. He isn't as bad as the rumors made him out to be. Is that what she meant by that?
"I'll be back, I have to give this to the principal," Jack slowly moved himself towards the door.
"Professor," Nichole spoke, unsure of the words about to come out of her mouth, "you look a lot like Sir Laurent."
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A test? Really, I forgot about this, I remember not getting much on this in my last life, but can I do it any better this time? Finn flicked around his pen.
The questions themselves are pretty easy, just asked in roundabout ways, for example the first question, A door that exists in a state of equipoise, neither open nor closed, presents a paradoxical opportunity for passage. One might think the answer must be the door is completely left open.
"Ten more minutes, hurry up," the hall invigilator spoke loudly.
But the answer is, Finn began writing, The door is ajar, letting you pass through without it being fully opened or closed, his pen screeching against the paper.
The second question is Distance measurement inherently requires a reference point, typically an object or a fixed location. In the absence of a discernible object or reference point, distance cannot be accurately quantified or measured... aren't these supposed to be hard?
"Five more minutes."
The academy never revealed the purpose of these questions and only seven children got the answer right, but they were rewarded by making them the seven stars of the junior year.
"One more minute."
I won't be answering these, it'd be trouble if I got caught up in that.
Finn just looked through the paper for the rest of the one minute, waiting for time to pass by.
"Times up, I'll be collecting the paper," the instructor tapped on his desk. All the papers began glowing white before floating off to the desk and stacking on top of each other.
"Did you see that? The special admission kid did not write anything," murmurs began.
"He must be getting arrogant because he got in via recommendation."
These guys, they will bully me the moment I step out of class, Finn thought as he stared at a strand of his hair.
"This is going to be a problem," Finn mumbled, his voice barely audible.
_________________________
"Dani," a girl yelled as she ran towards her, "how have you been?"
Houdin Pascal, Daniela's best friend at the academy. No matter how cold Daniela was she would always stick by her.
Her personality was quite the rollercoaster. She can be the overprotective friend who can kill anyone to a dumb rock who can't walk without help.
"I'm fine, how was your vacation?" Houdin asked as she pulled a strand of brown hair back, her face more clear, the hazel eyes shining.
"You changed," Houdin couldn't help but comment.
"I have, I have decided to change, I will no longer be the old Daniela."
"Old Daniela?"
"Don't burn your brain," Daniela put her arm over her shoulder, and walked through the long hallway.
"So where are we going?"
"Nowhere, we're just going to take a look around." Since we're the second year, we don't have class on the first day, well I'll take a look around with her.
"Hey, want to join any club?"
"What are the choices?"
"We got The Literature club, Mathematics club, The Magic Engineering, Alchemy, and what else did we have?"
"Have you joined any yet?"
"Nope, not yet, I was thinking of joining Magic Engineering."
"I will be joining Business Administration," Daniela said.
"Business? I never knew you liked that?"
"Well I'm starting to like new things now, but engineering? I thought you liked alchemy more?"
"I do, but I wanted to try something new."
It doesn't matter what she chooses, she still ends up coming back to alchemy.
"I might end up losing interest, but if I do please help me stay in it," Houdin said.
"Why should I force you to stay in it?" Daniela asked, confused at the odd request. Wait, if she can stay and learn it maybe I can...
"I can't tell you yet, but I need you to do it."
"Alright I'll try," Daniela and Houdin continued walking, the walls covered in posters, many about welcoming the new students.
"There, it's the clubroom," Houdin pointed, but Daniela's eyes were elsewhere.
Duke!
_________________________
"Woah, we're so high up father," Gabriel yelled, the wind brushing against his skin.
"Do you like it?" the Emperor who was holding Gabriel in bridal style, grinned.
"I didn't know you could fly, father."
"Well, I have a few tricks, but I'm glad my son is having fun," the Emperor said, the air kissing against his face. A pair of ethereal wings glowed behind him, the feathers of the wings glowing golden.
"Woah, what's that father?"
"Let's take a closer look, shall we?"
_________________________