^^ Cala ^^

— Alice —

Seeing the little girls surround me like a pack of jackals, I sighed, and leaned back in my chair. "My name is Duchess Alice Taurus. I do not know you, and therefore the least formal moniker you may address me as is Lady Taurus... but go ahead, you wished to speak to me? I usually don't allow people I don't know to take my valuable time without an appointment, but I've nothing better to do than listen to whatever you've got to say, so have at it." I raised an eyebrow slowly at the stunned girl.

She slowly narrowed her eyes, gripping the sword at her waist. "Now see here, little girl-"

I sighed, hearing one of the girls behind me draw her sword partially. "I really, really don't want to kill anyone today, so if you're going to do something stupid, here's my advice: Don't." My Voice deepened dangerously, but I kept my eyes on the girl in front of me.

She glared at me thunderously, and drew her sword, pointing it at me. "I've got a better idea! How about-"

"Are you bothering my friend here?" The orange-red haired girl I'd met briefly yesterday stood behind the other girl, her large biceps flexed from the crossing of her arms in front of her generous bosoms, (for a 12 year old, I assumed, I had no frame of reference, and mine were rather flat, for now,) and waited for a response from the irritated girl.

"Cala, dear, wonderful to see you, but I assure you that I can handle these little rats..." I smiled at her serenely, and shook my head.

"Rats?!? Stand and offer for such an insult!!!" The girl in front of me snapped, pointing the sword at me again instantly.

"I'm a Queen, my dear, I don't stand for rabble." I raised an eyebrow at her, and casually flicked her sword out of my face with a single fingernail, strengthened by my Bulette spirit. The sword ripped itself out of her grasp and crashed against the wall, snapping into several pieces.

She stared at her hands for a moment, looking both horrified and confused, and raised a hand to stop the one behind me from drawing a weapon, but Cala got there first. Her foot, -shod in a steel-studded leather boot and attached to an impressively long leg, which I couldn't help but be jealous of,- shot past my shoulder and slammed that girl down into her seat, leaving her thigh on my shoulder and chest.

I smirked up at her, and raised an eyebrow. "I usually like dinner first, darling..."

She grinned down at me, and patted my cheek while retracting her leg. "First time is on me. Are you sure you're not going to stand up?"

"I believe I was clear, my darling, and I don't like to repeat myself. It denotes that people weren't listening the first time I spoke, and that irritates me more than almost anything other than perhaps patronizing or disrespecting me blatantly." I explained succinctly.

"Now listen here you sanctimonious, impertinent little Bumpkin!!!" One of the other girl's growled, a flame appearing over her hand.

"Yes darling, your Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness is as amusing as your ridiculous notion of superiority due to that spark you seem to believe a proper Conflagration, now I suspect your continued survival would be better served your taking a seat, before you are taught a lesson you shall not forget, not anytime in this life or even your next, which will be sooner than you think, if you throw that at me; regardless of its complete inability to harm me, what with me being immune to Flame and all." I raised an eyebrow at her disinterestedly.

"Sesqui- What?!?" She stuttered, confused.

"Sesquipedalian: A long word, or characterized by the use of long words. From the Latin roots meaning 'a foot-and-a-half long.' And Loquaciousness: That would be garrulousness, verboseness, effusiveness. It is characterized as a predilection by the intelligentsia to engage in the manifestation of prolix exposition through a buzzword disposition form of communication notwithstanding the availability of more comprehensible, punctiliously applicable, diminutive alternatives. It is also known as 'gross verbosity', and before your no-doubt pathetic attempt at a return sally, I have been known to be guilty of it, and I am Axiomatically unconcerned by the predetermined diagnosis of my common use of said system of sorrowfully under-appreciated communication." I smiled calmly at her, then sighed.

Zara appeared next to the girl, having stealthily approached, and then chomped on the hand holding the fireball savagely, neatly severing it before she could react. Then she mounted the fallen and screaming girl, fixing her in place with her baleful scarlet gaze. "Begone with you, Runt!!!" She hissed, dripping gore onto the terrified girl's face.

I waved a hand and healed the girl with a thought. "Now now, Zara, we mustn't maim them, they are only children, after all. Stupid, very stupid children, but worthy of mercy, nonetheless." I sighed disapprovingly at her.

She snorted lightning at the girl, singing her face savagely, and then trotted back over to me. "Tastes like Dirt anyway..." she muttered derisively, spitting the blood out, and laid down on the desk, looking behind me with pulsing red eyes.

I pet her calmingly, and looked up at Cala. "You see, I have a very reliable friend... but I suppose another isn't without its merits. Would you like to sit with me?" I gestured to the unoccupied seat next to me.

She shrugged and sat, kicking her boots up onto the table. "Sure, sounds fun. My aunt said you're tough, but she understated, I think. You're a little badass, aren't you?" She grinned happily, punching my shoulder gently.

"In crass terms, yes. I am. And this is Zara, my partner." I gestured to the little white dragon.

"She's feisty, too, and I can pet her, yes?" She asked, looking at the dragon.

"Mm." Zara moved her head a bit closer to her hand, and stilled.

"Thank you." She nodded and gently scratched the itchy parts of Zara's chin, making her purr like an oversized, scaled cat.

"If I may start my class? With your permission?" A tall woman at the front of the class asked us dryly.

"I had no intention of interrupting your class, Teacher, and had only a reactionary part in the situation." I shrugged.

"True, my sarcasm was, -this time at least,- unfounded. Girls, find your seats, and report to detention after classes today; further violence in class will be punished quite severely... and you don't really know torture until a Sage does it." She raised an eyebrow, and the girls trudged over to a different part of the classroom, sitting down carefully.

One I hadn't seen had a badly broken nose, which was amusing. "You stomped on her face?" I murmured to Cala.

"It seemed poetic." She smirked.

"And gave you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to mount me?" I grinned.

"Aww, only once?" She chuckled.

"I'm a Queen, my dear... I'm clearly a Top." That surprised a laugh out of her, and she quieted when the teacher narrowed her eyes at us.

"Ahem!!! Welcome to your first day of Basic Magical Warfare, my students; returning students, do your best not to embarrass me. Everyone else, in this class you will learn how to shape basic elements into physical attacks on others, both to hunt monsters and duel with other mages. Are there any questions before we begin?" She sat on her desk, and examined all of us.

"One question; should I temper future physically harmful reactions to people in favor of purely psychological harm, or continue to defend myself as I see fit? I'm unsure as to the school's policy on fair use of violence for defense." I asked, examining my nail, finding it had bent a little, but not cracked.

"I found no issue with your defense; you did not use deadly force, nor War-Magic, and you healed your opponent when your Draconic Companion did permanent damage, as well as chiding her for it. All in all, you did nothing wrong, and neither you or Lady Cala are included in the Detention Punishment." She shook her head.

"Understood, thank you for the clarification, Teacher." I nodded.

"Any other questions? None? Good! Let's begin; magical attacks are separated into magical types, just like all magic, but the broadest form is 'War Magic'. Show of hands, how many of you have the Sub-Class 'War-Mage'?" She asked.

I raised a finger calmly, and Cala kept her hands down, to my surprise. About a third of the class raised their hands happily, clearly proud of themselves.

"And how about the next Sub-Class, Wizard?" She asked, and most of the hands went down. "And how about War-Wizard?" She asked, and only one hand remained, so she nodded. "Wonderful. What about Wizard Lord?" She asked, and that one girl slowly lowered her hand. "Alright, well, War-Wizard is a good Level, impressive in its own right, I'm sure anyone would agree. My name is Lady Davus, and I am a Sage, the Peak of the Mage Class."

"And you teach Basic Magic?" I commented dryly.

"I like weeding out the weak." She grinned savagely.

"I can respect that." I nodded, reassured to her purpose here.

"Now we'll start with something that I dare any of you who said you had the War-Mage Class to fail: A Fireball. Make one, Like so." She nodded and created a small white ball over her hand, so hot that I could feel it from here, 15 feet across the room.

I raised a finger, and conjured a small ball of raw heat, creating a one-way barrier and raising the temperature inside it until the air ignited, and then formed a plasma, shaking the oxygen until it lost valence electrons, and vulcanized. Cala sighed, not even trying, and I raised an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong? Fire is the easiest element to manipulate. See?"

"I've never managed magic before. All muscle, no mana." She explained calmly.

I hummed and poked her chest, looking at her mana core, which was indeed as small or smaller than a commoners. "What's your Class?" I asked, curious now. Even Lady Jade had a decent Mana Core.

"Barbarian." She grinned.

I nodded and sent a thread of purified mana into her core, weaving a net around it and gently integrating it, then nodded after I'd doubled its size. "Try now."

"What... the fuck... was that?" She asked slowly, clutching her chest.

"I gave you some mana. Use it, before it fades; mana gifted from someone else isn't regenerated, after it goes away." I explained.

She nodded and closed her eyes, holding a hand out, and pitiful little spark appeared, shaping into a ball of fire about the size of a ping-pong ball. She peeked, then gasped, staring at it like it was a miniature star in her palm. "Awesome!!!" She cheered loudly.

"It's a puny ball of fire, not a god, keep your voice down, please, the weaklings are still concentrating." The teacher commented dryly, and glanced at my ball of vulcanized plasma. "Hmph... alright, Lady Taurus, you've made your point, now put that away before you incinerate your Peers."

"Hmph. Peers." I sneered, and crushed it in my palm, smothering it as it burned my palm. I healed my hand with the magic I re-absorbed from it, and relaxed while we waited for the others to finish.

Zara stood and stretched, suddenly, then waddled over to the teacher's desk, raising her head barely over the desk, and hummed. "Should Zara Participate?" She asked adorably.

The teacher blinked slowly, tilting her head. "Would you like to?"

Zara raised a claw, and drew a Rune in the air, creating a massive ball of fire, almost thirty feet across, that slowly collapsed in on itself, the mana purifying and condensing until it left only a baseball-sized sphere of white light, surrounded by a barrier. Then she placed it on the desk, as the barrier shaped itself into an Apple, and gained a coating of glass.

"Zara participates!" She squealed happily, and then toddled back over to me as I rubbed my face slowly from the massive waste of mana.

I pet her when she crawled into my lap, smirking proudly. "Yes, yes, you did very good, my dear. In the future, perhaps don't create Plasma Grenades for teachers? There's a good lass."

She tilted her head slowly, and then grinned, pleased with herself, and curled up in my lap. As she was already bigger than when she was born, I could barely see over her, though her weight wasn't an issue.

"You'll need to lay around me soon, with how big you're getting." I murmured, scratching her scales gently.

She opened an eye, gazing at me, then went back to sleep while I fed her the mana and nutrients from the prisoners. They were looking a little thin, I realized, and cut off the drain; they'd need nutrients to build themselves back up soon. The bones of whatever animal they brought Zara would likely be enough.

"Alright, if you haven't managed by now, you've failed todays lesson, I gave you five minutes. Now we're moving on to another spell, this one with verbal components; shield spells. Who wants to show off a shield spell? Anyone?" She asked, looking around and glancing at me and the War-Wizard girl.

I hummed and constructed Besan's shield from this morning, only gold instead of green, and she raised an eyebrow at me slowly, then whistled. "You can use Besan's Barrier Spell? Why and how did he teach you to do that? And when?"

"This morning, I guess? I hadn't cast it yet. It'll get quicker as my control increases." I shrugged, and dispelled it.

"Interesting... Alright, does anyone else want to follow that act?" She grinned sadistically.

—

I didn't learn anything in the class, beyond the level of my classmates' basic knowledge and skill in magic, which was beneath most standards I'd set for myself, based on the people who came to Grand Pillar or my Guild. I now knew that my Forest was categorized as an Intermediate-Rank 'Natural Dungeon', and therefore the people who went there were not Normal Hunters, like I'd thought, but rather Upper-Middle-Ranked. Adjusting my expectations for my classmates was difficult, especially when my own power was so newly upgraded, and therefore difficult to quantify. Still, the magic I'd learned at eight years old was what was being taught, so that told me all I needed to know.

I reasoned that it actually made sense to start so low; you could test everyone, even the fighters who aren't Magical Classes, and anyone with even a spark of magical power would eventually pass the course, but the wheat and chaff would separated themselves naturally and without much interaction.

Lady Davus had said she wanted to separate the Weak, but I think that she meant it more as a fuel to the others to give their all; she wasn't lying, because she did separate them, but then she focused on them, teaching them with a carefully calculated callous air of boredom, which was a perfect way to galvanize the weaker individuals, who were mostly young people, and therefore easy to manipulate.

The next class, Basic Fencing, as well as Basic Healing, was likely to be the same; find out who had talent for a subject, set them aside, and then build the rest up with careful prodding. When they moved on, they'd all have a 'Basic' knowledge of the three subjects of Healing, Magic, and Swordsmanship, the three main focuses of the Academy.

—

The Fencing Classroom was more of a gym; weighted metals in the shapes of various weapons and suits of armor lined the walls, the shiniest of which were runed and clearly magical, though their purpose wasn't clear. Given their status as weights, it was probably something to make them heavier.

Lady Jade was, unsurprisingly, the Teacher of this class, and was seen with a bench-press, lifting an enormous amount of weights. She set it on the rack, seeing the class filling up, and grinned at us. "Hello!!! I am Lady Jade, and I will be teaching you Fencing! I am also in charge of building your wimpy little Mage Muscles into Proper Form!!! You don't get away from this class, nor do you ever truly Pass it, so I would expect your intimate attention and some basic amount of Enthusiasm! If you are not Enthusiastic, you will have detention, in which I show you how to be enthusiastic about fitness! So, save yourself the trouble, pay attention the first time! Any questions before we begin measuring your physical aptitude's?" She stood up, wiping sweat off her face and smoothing her hair back, her heaving chest clearly outlined by the thin clothes she wore to exercise in, and I swear I heard nearly every one of the boys and at least three of the girls gulp audibly.

She grinned knowingly, and nodded. "Good! No questions, just how I like it! There's a changing room off to the left for the girls and right for the boys, and then the room behind me is my changing rooms and Showers, and can be used by those of you who prefer to not use either of the aforementioned options. There are also showers and bathrooms in all three. You'll be too tired to do anything stupid, and if you aren't I will fix that, so there's that handled! Now go and change into proper clothes, and we'll get started!"

My armor changed to mimic her wardrobe at a thought, and she hummed. "Neat. Well, off with the rest of you! As for you, Lady Taurus, I'll begin testing you first; might be a good show for the rest of them. Display my expectations for their progress." She pointed me towards the bench press.

I shrugged and slid onto the bench, positioning myself calmly, and smirked at the people tittering about how I would crush myself before lifting the massive weight. Instead, it lifted easily, weighing only about four hundred pounds, and I pressed it without any visible effort, setting it back into the rack and standing, not a drop of sweat on me. "Have you got something heavier? There's no point to exercise if you don't exert yourself, after all." I asked, smiling wickedly.

She laughed, and dropped one of the runed bars into my hands, making my muscles strain to hold it up. "How about that?" She asked.

"Closer. Gimme two of those." I placed it on the bar for the press, and repositioned myself.

She obliged, looking genuinely impressed, and I grunted softly, lifting the weight and pressing it for a full set, though my arms began to tense uncomfortably with every passing second. "Perfect..." I nodded, happy with the warmth of my muscles. "Now that I'm warmed up, how about a third?" I asked, and grinned at her pleased expression.