After finishing his delicious lunch, Lith had one hour off. No one had approached his table, and that made him actually very happy.
He was very fond of his personal space, not to mention he had no desire of wasting time doing small talk with a lot of kids.
Despite his physical appearance, Lith’s mind was that of a grown-up man, that between his three lives had lived for almost forty years.
Except for being hormonal, due to his teenage body, and being addicted to oxygen, there was nothing he had in common with his classmates.
From that perspective, isolation was a blessing in disguise. If he spoke to no one, it was impossible for anyone to notice how different he was from his peers.
He and Solus had already discussed during the meal, both regretting that, for security reasons, the academy would not make any book available for the studying until the end of the first day.
- "It’s such a pity." Solus said. "If we had them, we could already put them into Soluspedia, getting light years ahead of the other students. Instant knowledge!"
"Yeah. But I can understand the importance of this rules. Specializations are exclusives of the six big academies.
If they just delivered them at the students’ homes, before the beginning of the year, their contents would be accessible to all the family members. This kind of knowledge can’t be released without supervision."
"And what about once the students get the opportunity to go back home, at the end of the trimester?"
Lith mentally shrugged, his stood up from the chair and started walking towards his room.
"By that time, they already have gained the status of students. According to what Linjos told us in his office, they are both protected and kept under surveillance. My guess is that the books can’t leave the academy’s premises.
The only things one can take out, are what he has learned or copied in his grimoire. If you love your family, you will not put them into danger by disclosing state secrets that could cost them their and your life.
If you hate them, instead, the moment they try to coerce you, you just need to rat them out to get rid of them for good. It’s a win-win situation." –
Once back into his room, Lith called his parents. He had left home only seven hours ago, yet the enthusiasm they showed him was like he had disappeared for years.
"My little bay!" Elina was on the verge of tears. "Are they treating you all right? Are you eating properly?"
"Yes, mom. Everything is fine." He lied through his teeth. "The Professors I met today were all amazing. My classmates are kinda stuck-up, but so far so good. Not to mention the food. I wish I could bring you some, it’s just wonderful."
Contrary to his expectations, time flew by, and he was forced to leave Tista in a hurry, after giving her a consult about a patient of hers.
All the activities related to each year, took place on their own floor.
The problem was that each floor was so big that getting lost or taking a long detour was pretty easy. In Lith’s case, he had miscalculated the time he needed to reach the classroom.
Only when he heard resounding the gong that announced the beginning of the lessons, he had realized how long he had spent chatting.
- "F*ck! The first thing I’m going to re-invent as soon as I become a Forgemaster, is a damn wristwatch. How the heck does people keep track of the time?" -
Solus calculated that even going double time, Lith would have not made it, so he was forced to run. To avoid smelling on his first day, he used water magic to collect the sweat in his palm as soon as it formed, sending it straight in Solus’ pocket dimension.
Despite all his best efforts, he was the last one to arrive. Luckily, thought, the professor in charge had yet to show up. According to the schedule, Lith would have met Professor Marth, the very same that had created Blood Resonance magic.
It was a great opportunity to get his attention, and maybe, if opportunity arose, share some of his knowledge with him. Having one of the Light department’s top experts as his backer, or even better as a mentor, could be a real game changer.
- "Be cool, and try not to sound desperate, old man." Lith thought to himself.
"We have a full year ahead together, maybe even two. I need to play my cards right, keep my admission score while improving my status. I don’t give a damn about friends. The other students are useless.
Allies, on the contrary, can help me keep my family safe from the like of Duke Hestia and provide me with the resources I’ll need to set my own Forgemaster laboratory. I can’t waste years grinding for gold, I need time to travel and find the answer to my resurrection problem." -
The classroom was much smaller than the one for the mandatory lessons. It was a square room, with each side twelve meters (13 yards). In front of the chalkboard, there were three rows of desks, separated by small corridors.
It could accommodate comfortably up to fifty students, yet according to Solus, there were only twenty-six students attending, Lith included. He occupied the closest spot to the chalkboard, sitting near the other students.
When they threw a mean glare at him, he just took out the Ballot, forcing them to shut up and mind their own business. After what had happened that morning, they didn’t dare to move away from him.
Not to mention doing that would mean getting even farther from the chalkboard and the Professor. The floor was even, making it already hard to see through all the heads in front of them.
The man who walked in the room was outstanding in his own way. He was quite short, barely over 1.55 meters (5’1") high, at least sixty years old.
The top of his head was completely bald, the hair he had left on the sides was snow-white and so were his waxed handlebar moustaches. His belly was so big that it made hard to guess if he was larger than high.
That, together with his pure white robe, made him resemble a real life Humpty Dumpty.
"Hello, dear students. I’m Professor Vastor, and I’ll guide you through your first steps in the light magic Master healer course."
Not everyone was as ignorant as Lith, most of them already knew what Professor Marth looked like. Before Professor Vastor could finish his introduction, the class was filled with saddened groans.
His disgruntled expression to such reaction, expressed clearly how angered he was by that blatant lack of respect.
"I’m very sorry to disappoint you, but as you should have predicted, Professor Marth can’t waste his precious time with the likes of you. The whole light magic research department rests on his shoulders, so you’ll have to settle for me.
Words cannot express how it saddens me, to notice that even country bumpkins have more manners than the high and mighty nobles."
He wasn’t referring to just Lith, but to all the students that thanks to their poor background had failed to recognize him, looking at him with admiration despite his funny appearance.
"I have good news and bad news, for all of you. The good news is that we won’t spend two hours in this class. I’ll just explain to you the differences between tier three and four of healing magic, after that we will move in the academy’s hospital.
There we will do some trial rounds of our resident patients, giving you the chance to meet both Professor Marth and Professor Manohar, if we are lucky enough."
The class exploded in cheers and applauses.
- "What the heck?" Lith thought. "Where do they think we are, at the stadium? Back on Earth my college professors would have skinned them alive for such behaviour." –
Vastor had a very Earth-like expression at the moment, his hands were trembling with rage, dilating his nostrils at every breath.
"The bad news..." He continued, cutting them short.
"...is that it means I will start evaluating you all right off the bat. Even today’s rounds will help us evaluate your skills, separating the gold from shiny trash."
The room fell silent, most of the students in the first row had lost all their enthusiasm. Some were having stomach cramps due to nervousness, others seemed on the verge of puking.
It wasn’t at all as they had imagined their first day of specialization would be.
Professor Vastor was delighted by the result of his speech, curling his moustaches with a sadistic grin on his face.
"Let’s not waste any more time. I’m sure you can’t wait to stop listening to my gibberish and become real healers, like your hero, Professor Marth."
- "Man, I don’t need tier four magic to diagnose Professor Vastor a really bad case of ’Envy syndrome’. Being so petty at his age is really sad." Solus said.
"Yeah. Happens when you lose your throne to someone younger and more talented. I feel the same way." Lith replied, thinking how lucky his classmates were, being born with cyan mana cores, without having to work hard for years to reach that level. –
"First of all, who can tell me what are the greatest limitations of tiers one to three of light magic?"
Lith raised his hand, but so did everyone else. Vastor chose one of them at random to answer.
"You, with the snob face. Feel free to share with the class." He said pointing to a girl with shoulder length black hair in the first row.
"Professor, my name is actually..."
"I don’t care." Vastor cut her short.
"I expect at least half of you to drop out within the first six months. I won’t bother remembering your names."
Most faces turned red with anger, while Lith was inwardly smiling.
If compared to most nobles he had encountered in the past, Professor Vastor was really polite. At least he didn’t discriminate, he treated everyone like cr*p.