Chapter 161: Chapter 160

Chapter 160

2 days prior…

It was her very first day of school, and Allie was excited.

Allie’s living quarters were built into one of many two-story barracks behind the arena. Though she wouldn’t have ever called this specific set of quarters a barracks herself as the rooms were made for high class lords and ladies of the court. She nevertheless was given one of the best available and was stationed on the top floor, despite insisting to be treated like any other of the academy attendees.

Following Sherine - who was doing her best to act like it wasn’t a struggle carrying Allie’s five heavy books, she gave an amused smirk and stopped the handmaid. Taking them from her without saying a word, Allie head-bobbed for Sherine to continue leading.

“I’m-I’m sorry I’m so weak…” stammered the girl. She obviously was worried beyond what should be normal due to Allie’s action and it showed, though Allie hadn’t intentionally done so to make the girl feel put-off.

The vampire - who now just looked like a very pale and extremely beautiful human girl - gave an encouraging smile and motioned for Sherine to lead on. “It isn’t a problem at all. I’m naturally stronger, you shouldn’t feel bothered at all."

After entering the roman styled barracks building through a set of heavy double doors just like the one she had walked through earlier to meet the Archmage, Allie was immediately led up a spiral staircase to his front amidst a lavish reception area filled with red velvet couches, paintings, and a cards table. Carpeted hallways extended to his right and left with doors spaced out every twenty yards. Coming up the spiral staircase she came immediately face to face with a door having her own name inscribed on a golden nameplate in the system’s generic language.

Sherine pushed her red locks to the side and fumbled with a key as her eyes glanced up quickly. “Here my lady, this is a copy of the key to your room. I will have the spare.”

Allie took the long delicate key and felt the cool brass against her skin. As the door opened and the maid shuffled to the side to let Allie through, a sweet aroma met her senses to match the décor.

It was a large well lit room with marble countertops, fine glass windows from ceiling to floor with curtains opened wide for a view of the front walkways leading to the building. There was a door leading into the less splendid maid’s quarters on her left and a built-in kitchen too. Fine linens on a feather bed to Allie’s right had velvet drapes around a king sized bed with a polished oak headboard. The center of the room had a rectangular dining table also created from polished oak big enough to fit eight people with chairs to match.

“Mara will like this.”

She walked over to a closet that slid open to reveal numerous sets of fine noble’s clothes similar to those she had seen on the women in the classrooms. Frills, silk robes, dresses and fur coats weren’t her style but she could certainly appreciate the quality of the finely made shirts and feminine pants that were in abundance in multiple colors. Vests along with well-made leather boots were also present and she was quick to pick out a basic outfit and lay it on the bed.

Sherine was standing directly beside her, expectantly, and Allie looked down at the slightly shorter woman with a confused frown.

“Just give me a moment and I’ll be ready.”

The girl’s eyebrows furrowed and she nervously shuffled her feet. “You… don’t want me to dress you?”

Allie’s frown turned into a smirk when she began to chuckle. “No. I’m a grown adult. I can dress myself.”

Again the girl seemed worried, but Sherine nodded and stepped back. Minutes later Allie had finished changing, and she glanced back to look at herself in the mirror. White formfitting shirt, blue vest, pants that clung to her skin and high-top leather boots with heels.

She looked pretty good.

“Lady Wraithtide, you put your vest on upside down.”

Allie paused and looked down. It appeared to be on correctly, at least in Allie's opinion. “Are you sure?”

“I’m certain.”

Allie sighed, facepalmed, and took it off. She threw the vest onto the bed in irritation and picked up her five books next. “Ok. We can go now. What’s my first class?”

"Are you not going to don something warmer?"

"I feel very little concerning the cold."

There was a pause, and the maid nodded after processing her words.

“Your first class for the day is already over as morning classes start shortly after sunrise. Your second class is currently ongoing and will last another two hours. Here is a copy of your first year schedule, I have it memorized so feel free to keep this paper for your own knowledge. This said, the schedules are simple and you may choose which class to attend if they overlap. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. It depends on what the instructor decides to teach that day. Classes occur every day unless the instructor for that day decides to take time off.”

YEAR 1 SCHEDULE:

Beginners Magic Theory – Instructors Kremsin Bots and Ori Orumi

Mornings

Beginners Battle Abilities 1: Applications of Magic, Miracles, and Martial Arts –

Instructors Jaimest Vorvus and Thoi Jorsem

Afternoons

Beginners Battle Magic 2: Combined Warfare Tactics – Instructor Mince Quarteple

Afternoons

Combined Combat Class – Instructors Nester Rose, Jokzofrie Belfast, and Jupis Astirith

Evenings

Beginners Healing and First Aid – Instructors Nuthak Ororin and Jan Wetzle

Evenings

Allie grimaced as she realized there was no form of organization to it. “When do we eat? And do we get any time off?”

To this, Sherine let on an amused smile. “You are the queen of the Thane Necropolis my lady. You can do whatever you want.”

“Yes, but that’s not what I mean. Nobody knows I’m the queen except for you, the archmage Zefima, and the king. So pretend I’m not a queen and tell me like it is if I were a normal person.”

Allie would be damned if she didn’t get a true college experience out of this. It was all she’d ever wanted as a kid, and now this opportunity had presented itself she’d not be treated any differently.

Sherine opened her mouth to renounce the idea, but shifted uneasily upon Allie’s intense gaze and nodded with a gulp. “You have time inbetween each class for meals, you’ll be able to either eat in your private quarters or the academy’s dining hall.”

Sherine followed Allie out the door and locked the room behind them. Then she pocketed her own key and motioned for Allie to follow with a small bow - hands clasped in front of her. “As for time off, you’ll be done with classes somewhere around an hour before sundown if you truly wish to keep the schedule. Most of the time each class is many hours long, taking up most of every day. You’re free to do what you want with the time after classes and before you go to bed.”

“What happens if we don’t go to class?”

“You are able to attend class at your leisure, but if you fail any examination more than twice you will be immediately dismissed from the academy. Or at least that’s how it is for other people, not for you. For this reason it is very rare for people to not attend class as this school is very expensive. Even for nobility.”

A beam of sunlight reflected off drifting snowflakes hit Allie full in the face and caused her to squint when she exited the building. Sighing to herself and bearing the light with a grating of her teeth, she still couldn’t help but feel excited and simultaneously nervous for the coming day.

Why was she of all people nervous?

She was a god damned serial killing blood sucker mage badass!

Yet here she was, palms sweaty.

No spaghetti.

Allie gave an uneasy but unnaturally beautiful smile, tossing her brown hair to the side with a laugh. “Yeah... Well let’s go. I’m interested in seeing what this school has to offer me.”

***

Unlike many of the other classes where they’d been located within indoor amphitheaters – this one was actually outdoors in the middle of a field with round tables set out at intervals and people occasionally lining up to practice casting given spells. At the ‘front’ of the class was a series of stacked shelves, boxes, and wardrobes with a man lecturing from a grimoire enthusiastically about the wonders of lightning when used in conjunction with water magic.

Allie was lead across the snow-covered grasses, adding her boot prints to many others as the white field crunched underfoot. Oblivious to the cold, her blue eyes scanned the class of perhaps 40 or 50 people excluding any servants that stood in wait.

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However as she followed Sherine closer and closer to the rows of tables and the lecturing old mage dressed in a burgundy robe, the class slowly began to focus on her. Eventually the lecturer noticed his students weren’t paying attention to him anymore, and huffing in irritation he zoned in on the cause of the distraction while scratching his wrinkled chin.

Settling his eyes on Allie, even the old man stopped and stared - eyes widening with mixed expressions flitting across his face.

But the old man was quick to recover from his apparent shock when Allie stopped in front of him beside her handmaid Sherine, evaluating the staring, slack-jawed young men around her or the hatefully glaring young women.

“And who may you be?” Thoi asked rather rudely when he’d finally gotten ahold of himself. The old mage was just starting to bald and was otherwise clean shaven with a set grimace that almost never left his face. “What makes you think barging in during my lecture would be tolerated? Why are you here? Surely you can see that I’m teaching my students. State your name, girl.”

Allie’s eyes silently shifted back to the old man as she stood with straight posture - all perceived nervousness gone. Instantly the instructor was simultaneously overwhelmed by both her extreme beauty and a sense of eerie dread in the background that he couldn’t get a true hold on.

“Lady Allie Wraithtide. I’m of a noble house in the outlands, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Allie already knew this would be a general reaction to her presence for those that didn’t know her, which is why she recognized the conflicted signs immediately. According to Kathrine, it was a well documented phenomenon amongst pureblooded vampires when around humans - or even with the lesser vampires to some extent.

But Sherine was quick to intercept the angry mage and handed him a sealed letter. “Master Thoi Jorsem, a letter from the archmage.”

Thoi’s eyebrows rose at the maid’s words and he ruffled his robes to glare at Allie again. “Funny accent you have, girl.”

He took it, quickly unsealed the letter and began to read. A look of surprise crossed the old man’s face, a minute passed when he re-read the letter, and he set down the parchment to quickly turn on Allie afterwards. “So she expects you to just walk in halfway through the year and be able to catch up to the others? What is Zefima thinking!? Ridiculous! I’ve never heard of something so stupid before! You’re an ENTIRE SIX MONTHS behind them! Who’s strings did you have to pull for me to put up with your horse shit?! I will have words with the head of your house for this!”

Allie was taken aback by the abrasive rudeness of the old mage and slightly recoiled. “Listen… I don’t know-“

“YOU LIKELY DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” screamed the old mage to the amusement and curiosity of many of the students sitting around their group tables. “DO YOU TRULY THINK YOU CAN KEEP UP?!”

Allie’s features darkened, and with massive amounts of self control she quelled her rising aura with a vice grip. Quickly considering whether or not she should outright blast the man into hell right then and there, she closed her eyes - took in a deep breath, and calmed herself. “I don’t know what I did to offend you, teacher, but I do apologize for whatever mistake I made. If it appeases you, I’ll just sit silently by and mind my own business while attending your classes passively.”

Sherine was the only person there who knew Allie’s true identity, and thus was the only one who’d gone absolutely rigid with a pale-white face that almost matched Allie’s own natural complexion. Stuttering a whisper of something unintelligible, she raised a hand to stop the mage before he did any real damage - but she was of a much lower caste than this old man and eventually got cold feet in her brief attempt.

Thoi sneered and crossed his arms, beginning to mock Allie by mimicking her perfect posture and clasping his hands in front of himself like she was doing while holding her books. “Let you mind your own business? I am paid to teach you ingrates. Every one of you comes here with a big head thinking that because mommy and daddy have money that you can get away with murder. Well I have news for you, little girl! You’re going to sit your ass down in the chair I assign you to and you’re going to struggle like hell while trying to catch up! BECAUSE IT’S MY JOB TO TEACH YOU WHETHER I LIKE IT OR NOT!”

The withering elderly man spun around and gathered some materials from a series of shelves at the front of the classroom. He walked back to the large desk at the front and placed it all on top of Allie’s books. A series of vials and ingredients none of which Allie was familiar with were placed in a stone bowl, leaving her absolutely clueless.

“Which ability types do you have access to?” asked the old mage.

Allie frowned and shifted uncomfortably, side-eyeing the other students who were whispering in low tones to one another and quietly laughing. “As in which pillars do I have an affinity for?”

“Yes, that.”

Allie shook her head, then she began to lie. If she was going to play the part of nobody important, she was going to play it well. “I haven’t accepted any attribute for magic yet. I was hoping to do that when I get a feel for it and can decide which of the foundational pillars I like best. They’re permanent right?”

“DAMN IT ZEFIMA!” screeched Thoi in rage as he shoved the ingredients over, off her her books, onto the ground. The old man quivered in rage and was practically seething as he glared even harder at the stunning young woman in front of him. “IS THIS A BAD JOKE!? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WORK WITH YOU IF YOU HAVEN’T EVEN CHOSEN A SINGLE AFFINITY TO MASTER!? DO YOU EVEN HAVE A KNACK FOR MAGIC AT ALL?! WHAT ABOUT MIRACLES OR MARTIAL ARTS? I AM A GODS’ DAMNED MASTER OF OCEAN, STORM, AND VOLCANO - AND WILL NOT WASTE MY TIME ON THE LIKES OF YOU!”

The mage spun around again in a rage now with open laughter of many of the onlookers as he began to sort through his desk. Shortly afterwards he pulled out a glass cube and shoved it into Allie’s hand. “If you don’t get this cube to light up, I’m dismissing you from my class immediately. You’d better hope daddy and mommy thought this through when they assigned you to the academy. Without potential you’re as good as dog shit and will be dismissed immediately even if I have to go above the archmage to do it. Now hold this cube and focus on it, pour your soul energy into it like your very future here depends on it, girl. Because believe me, it does.”

Allie curiously turned the cube in her hands while Sherine glared hard at the ground with a gaunt look. Allie had to assume this was an item that would indicate what affinities someone had. In fact she was sure of it when she let tendrils of her mana feel the contraption, localizing certain spots that would churn out different colors based on what type of mana was naturally produced.

“FOCUS GIRL! SHOW ME THAT YOU BELONG HERE!”

Rage boiled up inside of her as the laughing became more pronounced and obvious amongst the onlookers. Why was this man such an asshole? Was he trying to piss Allie off or make her look like an idiot? She looked up, stared hard into the other man’s eyes and gritted her teeth.

Should she do it?

Considering whether or not to let out an absolutely wrathful blast of death mana directly into the man’s soul, Allie sighed and let the slight go. Pouring in just a teeny tiny bit of magic, she handed it over to the mage to inspect.

“Give it here.” Instructed the old mage, brushing off snowflakes in irritation and while continuing to glare. He picked up the golf-ball sized cube and set it on the table, muttering under his breath as the onlookers curiously waited for his assessment. “I’m going to assume you know how this works, girl. Say your prayers now, though I doubt they’ll help you if you truly don’t have the knack for it.”

Allie just sighed, a bored expression painted across her visage, and waited.

The old man took it as a sign of resignation and sneered in disgust. “These god damned nobles think they can send just any of their filthy children here to get-”

Thoi tapped the cube with his finger and to his astonishment it simply shattered with a wave of overwhelming death that followed immediately after. He gasped as the mana hit him, only a microfraction of an ounce of what Allie could really dish out, and stumbled forward to catch himself on the wood in front of him. Other students had gone wide-eyed at the display while Allie calmly looked on, and eventually the old man got ahold of himself to stand back up. Staring at the pieces of the shattered cube, he then shook his head in disbelief. “These fucking things don’t work like they used to. Hold on.”

He turned around and quickly retrieved another cube.

The same thing happened a minute later.

And then again.

And again.

Upon the fourth time Thoi saw the cube shatter he raised his eyes to Allie with both suspicion and curiosity. Muttering and low whispers around them followed. “Are you… what are you doing to the cube, girl? Is this some sort of trick?”

Allie gave the older man an annoyed stare - her usual confidence and lack of empathy trickling into her words as her patience began to rapidly decay. “No, imbecile. Apparently your trinkets are nothing but garbage. At least the ones at the last school I attended worked.”

Thoi sputtered something under his breath, not used to having students mouth off to him. “And WHERE is it that you attended girl? If you haven’t even chosen a pillar to follow I find it hard to believe that you’ve-“

“Just give me a basic ritual from any of the affinities you or the students here witnessed and I’ll recite it. You can see for yourself.” Allie insisted with a shake of her head. She had already had enough of this babbling fool and was very tempted to just head straight back to Brightsville to continue her own, much higher-level experiments while dabbling in the necromantic arts. “Stop wasting my time or I’ll leave to find someone who can actually teach me something. I know for a fact that the most basic rituals will still react to people even if they don’t have the attribute for a class acquired - as long as an affinity is present. Give me anything at a base level and I’ll be able to perform it, and do it now.”

A sneer crossed the mage’s face. “Quite the arrogant bitch you are'nt ya? Fine. Repeat this one brat. I’m no necromancer, but since there’s an obvious death attunement in here somewhere I’ll give you one from the textbooks.”

Allie’s maid, Sherine, hid her face behind both hands and groaned in dismay on the sidelines.

The battle of wills was on. A parchment was set on the table and the grumpy mage began writing furiously with a quill pen. The ink splotched twice with the man’s sloppy handwriting but Allie was still able to make it out easily enough to sound it out.

“This is a base spell for conjuring soulflame, a common element used in low and mid-tier battle necromancy. Go on girl, show me that you’re not just full of proud words.” Thoi continued to sneer while Allie raised an eyebrow to glance down at the poorly worded ritual.

She looked back up. “You wrote it wrong.”

“HA!” Thoi pointed and began to bark a deep, guttural laugh. “I THOUGHT SO! NOTHING BUT HAUGHTY ARROGANCE FROM THE LITTLE BITCH WHO’S PARENTS BOUGHT HER WAY IN! YOU CAN’T EVEN CAST THE MOST BASIC OF-”

His words caught in his throat when Allie’s ritual spun runes of teal and black light in the air.

Swirling discs one after the other compounded on the original, creating the one he’d given her in a bigger, better, and far grander cinematic that eventually resulted in a hovering ball of teal and black flames the size of a bowling ball.

It was essentially just a death ball, but a larger one stabilized in ritual form. It was a spell she'd mastered, long, long ago.

Silence followed, and Allie could hear the ragged breathing of the man while seeing the shocked expressions of all the other students who sat wide-eyed in their chairs.

“You said you didn’t have any affinities…” Thoi muttered, bewildered at the display.

She condescendingly glared his way with a snort. “I lied. You not only drew the ritual wrong, which was either on purpose or you truly are an idiot, but you also didn’t explain any of the fundamentals concerning basic spellcasting that would be needed even for a ritual like this. You purposely sabotaged me thinking I didn’t know about the initial intent requirement even if rituals don’t have a lasting intent later in the casting. Not only that but you failed to mention vision, you didn’t talk about any of the lock and key mechanisms, you failed to distinguish between any of the other affinities I had also incorporated into the cube and assumed that I’d mix them - resulting in a failure just by inherent lack of pillar separation. You are nothing but an old, miserable man who is quickly nearing the end of his life in more ways than one - and I doubt I’ll be back. It’s very apparent that you’re good for nothing but insults, and I don’t have time for an old fool like you.”

Then she turned heel to leave.

Turning over her words with a shocked expression, he reached out a hand to clamp down on her shoulder. “You little witch! Did you just threaten me!?”

She stopped, glanced back at him, then gave an innocent smile. “You picked up on that? Good to know. Now remove your hand before I remove it for you.”

The old man’s mouth dropped open in disbelief, but he quickly removed his hand with a yelp when she sent a pulse of death energy through her shoulder that caused the top layers of his skin to quickly and painfully decay.

“But in the end, your drawn spell is most likely just a fraud. One made to make me look poorly.” Allie said confidently as the magic died down, coldly staring at the old man as he clutched at his hand. “Don’t ever touch me again, Thoi Jorsem, or it’ll be a lot more than the top layer of your hand that you lose next time.”

Surprised mutters and whispers followed Allie out amidst the embarrassed screeches and insults the old mage was flinging at her as Allie angrily walked away. But she didn't look back.

Her first day at school had not gone well.