Evocation

John grudgingly took the bowl of salad and ate it. 15/100 SP. He walked out of the door, and was instantly teleported in front of another classroom. Professor Aarav was standing in front of a much larger class now, and as John turned to leave he called out to him.

“Mister Newman, I have heard many good things about you from my brother. I am Professor Arjun. I understand your confusion. Professor Aarav and I are two of four quadruplets that teach here. Please take a seat. We are reviewing the basics of elemental evocation today, you are very lucky to have enrolled at such a time. Professor Aarav told me you are a talented fire mage, yes? The other fire mages will catch you up, they are over there.”

John just sort of nodded and then walked to where he pointed. A group of about ten students stood in a circle near the rear of the room. He walked up and realized they were almost all girls. Looking around, most of the room was girls. Nearly 50 students total and only 8 guys. A small smile tugged at his lips.

I like the odds here.

He approached the circle carefully, unsure of what they were doing. It looked like they were just chatting, though, so he walked into the edge of the circle between two girls that weren’t talking to each other. No one noticed him.

Odds are better, but still not by much apparently.

He cleared his throat. The circle went silent.

Holy shit.

“Aren’t we supposed to be reviewing?”

That comment got him a few sniggers and ‘who the fuck does he think he is’ looks. He sighed.

“Never mind, I guess, pretend I didn’t say any-”

“Now why would we do that? You basically insulted us. You’re going to have to put your money where your mouth is.”

John turned to the girl who had spoken out. She was a tall blonde, with a pretty big rack and what was possibly a nice ass. John wasn’t paying attention to that (for once). His eyes met hers and a silent challenge was issued. He smirked, a bluff intended to intimidate her. It didn’t work, but it was worth a try. They didn’t know what he was capable of, yet.

“Sounds good to me. What do I need to do to make it up to you, blondie?”

Her smile turned sour. Her fists clenched and she walked into the circle. John followed her example and walked into the circle as well. They were circling each other slowly, analyzing each other. He flicked his wrist. She flinched. He smirked. She growled and fireballs materialized in her hands. John cast flames in his hands and up his arms, ready to receive her blows. She threw the fireballs, and John caught them. Her eyes widened. He held them in his hands. They felt… Weird. Cold. Not his. He threw them back. She tried to catch them like he did, but screamed as they exploded in her palms. She fell to her knees, hugging her burned hands to her chest. Excited murmurs spread like wildfire through the room as everyone stared at the fire mages.

“Mister Newman, was it absolutely necessary for you to assert your dominance by burning the strongest fire mage in your class?”

Professor Arjun was beside John in an instant, scaring the shit out of him.

“N-no, Professor. That wasn’t my intention. She challenged me, and I thought she was a lot stronger than that.”

Professor Arjun tsked.

“It is unseemly and dangerous to assume the power of an opponent. You could have seriously injured her. Mister Clark, Miss Gleeson, please escort Miss Dean to the infirmary.”

Two students broke away from the fire mage circle and half dragged/half carried the blonde away, sobbing.

“As for you, Mister Newman. Did you even ask your classmates about the basics?”

John shook his head.

“I thought so. I will assign you a tutor. Miss Arion?”

A short girl with long blonde hair and glasses looked at Professor Arjun, and then at John, and then back to the professor.

“Yes, professor?”

“You will tutor Mister Newman in the basics of flame evocation. For now, carry on with the review. Class will be over in less than an hour.”

The girl nodded at the professor and walked towards John as the rest of the class got back into their circles, a general chatter building up again.

“Hi, my name is Fiona.”

“My name’s John. Nice to meet you. Sorry to make you tutor me, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”

“It’s fine, not your fault. Trinity’s just a bitch.”

They both laughed a bit at that. Then Fiona got a curious look on her face.

“She was our strongest fire mage though. At least in our year. You’re a lot stronger than she is. Why did you place in our year? You should probably be 5th or 6th year.”

John shrugged.

“I didn’t feel like going until I got my ass kicked. When the last fight was really close, I decided to stop.”

She looked at him with another different expression. Respect? Admiration? John was really bad at this.

Charisma is next, definitely.

The other fire mages were pairing up and tossing fireballs at each other. John looked at them and then at Fiona. Her eyes widened in fear. John laughed. She shook her head and giggled a bit too.

“No way I’m trying to catch your fire.”

John nodded.

“That’s probably smart. Why don’t you just toss some of yours at me?”

She looked at him apprehensively and a fireball flickered to life in her hand. She tossed it at him, and he caught it. She waited. He didn’t throw it back. He knew better. Her fire was even colder than Trinity’s. He felt the fire warm up in his hands.

“Another.”

She furrowed her brows.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I wanna try something.”

She called up another fireball and tossed it at him. He caught it in his other hand, and gently pressed them together. They fused into a bigger fireball. John grinned. It was working.

“Another.”

“John, I don’t know about this. What’ll you do when you’re done with it?”

“Feed it to Ignis.”

“What?”

“Just toss me another one, I got this.”

He smiled at her. She shook her head and a fireball flickered to life in each hand. She tossed one after the other, and John kept adding them to the original. She started to look like she was getting tired, so John faked not being able to add any more. The ball was huge, and it captivated the attention of all the fire mages. The other students were too focused on their reviews to notice, already used to the rising in temperature caused by the fire magic. Professor Arjun kept a keen eye on the proceedings, but didn’t intervene. Then John cast Call Summon, and Ignis appeared in a flaming tornado next to John. The fire mages ooed and aahed appropriately. Ignis saw the ball of fire and sat on her haunches, her fore paws tucked against her body.

Is she begging? That’s adorable. I didn’t teach her that.

“You want the fire, Ignis?”

She nodded. John smiled and tossed it at her. Her jaws snapped shut around the fireball and a muffled explosion shook the room.

Summon Level Up!

Summon Level Up!

Summon Level Up!

Ignis shook her head, as if she were dizzy, and John walked over to her and rubbed her. He burned his hands, but didn’t care. The hp would regenerate soon enough. Ignis purred and nuzzled him with her snout. There were a few ‘aww she’s so cute’ and such from the girls, but when one tried to pet her she got burned. She cursed for a bit and left to go to the infirmary.

Geez, the nurse is going to hate me.

The other mages looked at John in wonder.

“Okay class, the bell will ring soon, so please wrap up your reviews. Mister Newman, please dismiss your summon.”

The class chatter died a bit as everyone noticed the fire fox in the room. Then John cast dismiss summon, and the chatter came back to normal. The bell rang, and John was teleported to yet another auditorium sized room.