Enchantment Day 2

Sighing in the middle of a teleportation proved to be an extremely uncomfortable feeling, and gave John hiccups as he walked into his next class: Enchantment with Professor Medici. He sat down at the same table as last class, wondering where Layla was. She had his homework, after all.

Layla sneezed.

“Bless ya,” was Tessa’s immediate response.

“Thank you. Where was I?”

“You were tryna figure out how to get ‘nother Aura Crystal filled with wonder boy’s mana for enchantment class today. Which, by the way,” Tessa pulled out her phone to check the time, “already started.”

“It WHAT?”

Layla scrambled out of the sofa and towards her room, only to be tackled to the ground by Tessa.

“Oh no, yer not goin’ nowhere!”

“Tessa, he needs me! I need to be with him!”

“Oh yeah? N’ watcha gonna do when ya see ‘im today, huh? Watcha gonna tell ‘im?”

Layla stopped struggling and mumbled into the floor. Tessa got off of her. “Hm? What? Couldn’ hear ya, Lay.”

“I don’t KNOW, okay?”

“Okay, then let’s get the story straight before ya go off n’ embarrass yaself in front of the ‘love of ya life.’”

“Fine, fine. So what if I tell him I got attacked by slimes on the way to school and show up at his door in tastefully ripped clothes?”

“Slimes don’t rip clothes, they disintegrate them.”

“Goblins?”

“Do you really want him to think you’re weak enough to get hurt fighting goblins?”

John suppressed a hiccup.

Where is she? She still has my Aura Crystal.

“Alright, class, settle down, settle down. It’s time to begin.”

No way, is this what she meant by helping me mask how powerful I am? Just fucking stealing my work?

“Last class, I handed out Aura Crystals for you all to fill. You should have had plenty of time to properly fill them. Let me see what you’ve managed.”

The crowd of hormonal young men that was his class surged towards her desk, all vying for her attention. She giggled, immensely amused by their enthusiasm. John stayed at his desk, brooding over the possible outcomes.

I mean she seems like a nice enough lady, she puts up with these guys patiently enough. Maybe she’ll just give me an extension if I ask. I could tell her I’m still getting used to the schoolwork, and that enchanting things is in no way my forte, and that I just need a little more time. The fact that I was able to fill the crystal should smooth things over once I actually turn it in? Maybe?

John was shaken from his thoughts by the sudden quiet in the classroom. He looked up to the Professor’s desk and saw she was looking right back at him, amused.

“Signor Newman, I see there is much on your mind today. Anything you would like to share with the class?”

Not really, he thought, then repeated out loud for her to hear. He had to remember not all his professors were mind readers.

“Make sure whatever held your attention until now does not take hold of it again until my class is over.”

She stood from her desk and the rest of John’s classmates settled back into their seats.

She didn’t ask for my crystal, at least. I would much prefer speaking with her one on one about it.

The professor cleared her throat and began her lecture. “I am disappointed in you, giovani uomini, especially those of you who have been attending my classes for over a year. Have I not taught you the basic principles of Enchantment? Have I not adequately prepared you for this lesson? Do you all need yet another refresher course of the core and guiding principles of the Enchanting arts?”

The mood of the room immediately darkened, all the jovial murmurs of excitement murdered and replaced with ashamed silence.

“I will not stand here and be mocked by my students. I know you are all capable of at least filling a lesser Aura Crystal. It only holds 150 Maybel, something that should be well within your reach as fourth year students at Firesmith. You all feign incompetence, and for what? To delay your studies? Do any of you even have a true passion for the subject!?”

She took a deep breath, slowly calming herself from her sudden outburst.

“Is this the fervor with which you will serve as alumni once you’ve graduated? Is this what the Headmistress can expect of you?”

There was a sudden uproar of panicked protest, clamoring and blending together for a few seconds before the Professor reached into the pile of Aura Crystals and crushed one in her teal power infused palm. The students’ mouths opened yet no sound came out, but only for long enough to startle them into true silence.

Ding!

John raised his eyebrows and pulled up the notification that came with the Professor’s action.

Status Effect: Silenced
Duration: 3.2 seconds

“Do you understand how pitiful your performance was?” she demanded. “An enchantment such as that, sourced by a properly filled D Class Aura Crystal, should have lasted a full minute. Did you feel when the magic lost grip on the air? Not even five seconds. A mere twelfth, less than such!”

I don’t think I’m going to get any mercy from her after all… John thought as Professor Medici continued to rip into her students verbally as well as demonstrably, showcasing what their failed Aura Crystals couldn’t do and explaining what they should be able to do with various attempted enchantments.

When Arabella had asked the steel elemental to surprise her, she had really hoped he would send a true dummy, non sentient and non sapient. She really didn’t want to unleash her wrath on a cute artificial spirit. Unfortunately for her, the opponent who stood before her was an adorable bunny girl with comically enormous metal gloves.

Arabella took a deep breath, shoving her negative emotions deeper into her psyche before smiling sweetly at the Artificial Spirit who was babbling away about how fun their match was going to be. To test the waters, she willed her Ophiotaurus hide bracers and greaves into existence along with a mundane steel rapier.

The bunny girl’s ears swivelled and twitched as she immediately switched into a relaxed boxing pose. Arabella took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then lunged forwards at half her usual speed. The bunny twirled effortlessly away from the attack, then planted her feet in a solid stance for a quick two-forward-jab combo, a right followed by a left. Arabella ducked just as effortlessly, flourishing her rapier before bringing it under the bunny girl’s arms and towards the now exposed belly. The bunny girl hopped backwards several steps and brought her gloves in to guard against Arabella’s next thrust. Arabella’s rapier skidded across the metal of the bunny’s gloves, throwing her off balance as her thrust yanked her arm to the side. The bunny was immediately upon Arabella, seizing the opening and leaning into a strong left hook. Arabella, unable to recover her balance, was thrown backwards several feet. She lay there stunned for only a fraction of a second though, and as she stood there was a fire in her eyes she could not contain.

Arabella willed her mundane steel rapier back into its holster in her aura, where it disappeared and was replaced with a mundane iron longsword. Its weight slowed her down considerably, but it wasn’t more than she could handle. With a savage grin on her face, she charged forwards and engaged the bunny with a whirl of swings that sparked and scraped against the metal gloves. Without losing her spinning momentum, Arabella sheathed the longsword in exchange for a dagger she wielded in a reverse grip.

The unexpected immediate absence of resistance threw the bunny girl forwards, and directly into Arabella’s blade. With barely enough time to react to the dagger cutting her belly open, the bunny girl was surprised yet again as the dagger was replaced by an enormous kanabo. She was thrown backwards as its blunt end shunted into the space she had just been occupying, leaving a large dent in her torso. The kanabo disappeared before the bunny girl could land, replaced by a handful of kunai, which were immediately thrown at her with expert aim.

Arabella’s rage was only further fueled by the bunny girl’s ability to gracefully dodge all her kunai. She switched them out for a halberd and charged with a ferocious growl. Much to her annoyance, the bunny girl hopped over, under, and around the polearm with ease. Before Arabella could change weapons, the bunny girl executed a swift and brutal five hit combo: two jabs followed by two hooks transitioning smoothly into a powerful uppercut. Arabella was yet again sent flying backwards, though this time she was unable to immediately recover her senses.

The bunny girl waited for Arabella to stand, this being a friendly sparring bout and all. Arabella stood on shaking legs, a stream of Spanish curses flowing from her mouth. One more deep inhale, one more deep exhale. She willed a shortsword into existence.
Then another.
And another.
And another.

“I’m warmed up, conejita, tell them to send in more Spirits.”

The bunny girl’s ears twitched nervously, though she nodded and closed her eyes to focus on her mental connection. Half a dozen steel mannequins phased into the room moments later, and Arabella charged forwards at her full speed, a full suit of enchanted armor manifesting itself to replace her leather bracers and greaves.

John sighed deeply as the Professor’s lecture droned on into near hysterics. Having gone to public school in the United States all his life, he was quite used to teachers going off the rails like this. A feeling of disappointment and guilt often permeated his classrooms growing up, and this was no different. She did, eventually, run out of Aura Crystals to critique and destroy, though John was unsure whether she had even noticed that neither his nor Layla’s were among her collection. She slowly calmed herself and summoned another box of Aura Crystals from the item storage rune on her desk.

“You will redo the assignment. You will do it well. I will accept nothing short of excellence, and if any of you dare to fail me, you will find yourself before the Headmistress before any miserable excuse can cross your lips. Class is nearly over. Come retrieve your crystals.”

John trudged up to her desk along with the rest of the class and reached for a crystal. Professor Medici handed him two. When John raised his eyebrow at her, she responded, “For Signora Viorica.”

John nodded. The classroom environment wasn’t conducive to conversation. As he sat, he noticed that the crystals were bigger this time, and rather than dodecahedrons they were tetradecahedrons. He thought they were uglier this way, with their mix of hexagonal and pentagonal sides rather than the purely pentagonal sides of the dodecahedron crystal he had filled last class. John cast Observe.

E-Class Aura Crystal
A small gem cut into sub-optimal dimensions for channeling energy. 0/200 mana. Fill?

Yes No

John read it and grimaced.

She made the assignment harder this time around. These guys need to start taking this class seriously or it’s gonna be hell for me. At least my hiccups are finally gone.

He pocketed the Aura Crystals and waited for class to end.