Start class.

The woman at the front of the class has the ears of a cat protruding from the top of her short black hair. Her bangs are parted to one side, and are coloured blue from a streak down from the top of her head. Though she's dressed in the same formal garb as any other professor you've seen so far, she has a beautiful navy scabbard hanging from her hip with a finely crafted silver hilt sticking out from the end. She stands beside a desk of papers, boxes, and even larger wooden crates sit behind it.

"Any questions so far?" she asks.

What is she teaching? I guess we're the odd ones out. Better not interrupt.

Nobody raises their hand. That is until you notice the woman sitting behind her. In the corner, past the desk, another professor is sitting with a notebook, and ceases scribbling to gesture that she herself has a question. Her hair is thick and flowing. The bright red hair rolls down past her shoulders and nearly conceals her long, pointed ears. She has dark lashes and painted lips, and her eyes are a beautiful shade of blue.

The catfolk turns her eyes to the hand in the air. "Ah. You have a question for me, Professor Davella?"

I'm surprised it took this long to find an elf that works here. I wonder what class she teaches, or if she's helping this one out.

"Thank you, Professor Frin. Concerning doppels. As you said, they can transform into any person they can imagine. However, they lack the imagination to become someone that does not exist. That is the theory. So then what if one implants the memory of a person that does not exist into the mind of a doppel?"

"Interesting." The catfolk referred to as Professor Frin taps her chin. "I'm afraid I've never heard of such an experiment being done. It's difficult enough to catch a doppel in the first place, but it's an entire different ethical dilemma whether or not it's all right to perform such an experiment even if they are a monster. I suppose it may be possible for them to become a non-existent being if such a thing were to happen."

I definitely have experience with those. Of course I had to deal with a high doppel of all things.

She returns to writing in her notebook. "Of course."

"I hope Professor Davella has inspired your curiosity, everyone. It's important to question everything. Now, it's time to move on to what many of you have been waiting for. Please, stay in your seats. If anything is to go wrong, the two of us will handle it. Let's take a took at the first creature, shall we?"

It sounds like we're studying fantasy creatures of some sort.

All you can make out in her pile of stuff are solid crates and a glass bottle between them. The bottle has a tiny spark of light inside of it, and there's a talisman tied to the cork. Other than that, all you can hear are strange noises and the sounds of movement. Surely a professor here wouldn't bring in actual dangerous monsters for a class, so you feel somewhat safe, though the unknown is unnerving.

With impressive strength, she lifts one of the smaller crates and places it on the very edge of her desk. She pats her hand on the top. At this angle, you can see through a series of metal bars that there is indeed a living creature inside. It looks like a tiny black wolf pup, though an uncomfortably long tongue hangs down from its mouth. It isn't jumping around wildly, however. It's just standing and staring.

"This is a rare beast," explains Professor Frin. "I'm quite proud of this one. I'll tell you all the story sometime of how we caught it. It's called a Slime Eater. The natural enemy of all slimes everywhere. They're actually highly valued for keeping subterranean bases free from slimy intruders. For the most part, they do little, but when they see any sort of slime, they go absolutely wild and devour every last bit."

I better keep those away from Jelly...

A girl raises her hand. "What about slimes that devour organic material?"

"Great question. The inside of a Slime Eater is extremely resilient against acidic substances. They can devour mostly any slime with ease. Of course, their outside is not so powerful. There are many that fall to those sort of slimes before they're able to feast. Now, it's important we always face the Slime Eater away from any sort of slime just in case." She turns the crate to face the side wall, and then leans down to lift up an even smaller box. "Especially when we have one right here!"

There are a few gasps from the students.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Professor Davella asks.

"It'll be fine. As long as it doesn't see the slime, it won't do anything at all. I have here another rare creature as well. A white slime." She opens the top, and pulls out the smallest slime you've ever seen. It's only about the size of a cantaloupe. Two beady eyes glance left and right, and it holds between the professor's hands like a blob of Jell-O. You notice that as she speaks, she gently pets the top of the slime's head, and the tiny eyes slowly close as it relaxes. "Does anybody know why they're so difficult to catch?"

A boy raises his hand. "Because they explode?"

"That's right. White slimes burst when excited. Many adventurers end up foolishly setting them off when all one needs to do is be gentle. I'd like one of you to come up, and I'll demonstrate what to do if you are to encounter one in the wild. How about you, Dantan?"

A young man with short brown hair and glasses stands up straight and proper. He walks right up to the professor at the front of the room. "Th-Thank you, professor."

"Just be calm. Now, all you must do is approach slowly. Treat it like you would a bunny rabbit. When you get close, just lay your hand on its head like I am, and pet its head. Softly of course. Why don't you try it?" she asks, and slowly retreats her hand from its head.