“Hey, wanna join in?” asked Lily, looking at the “noble breed”, as others called it.

“Why would I?” asked Tulga, smirking.

“You look bored.” said Lily in return.

“I assume you aren’t boring then.” he said and walked towards Jet and Raven, with Lily at the back.

“Sup.” greeted Raven

“Yo.” greeted Jet.

“So, let’s introduce each other.” started Lily, seemingly abandoned her cold beauty act “I’m Liliana Lionheard, 16 years old.”

“Jet Cross, 15 years old.”

“Just call me Raven, 16 this year.” blatantly lied Raven. It would be just strange if a 4 year old was like him.

“Tulga Chino, 16.” said the guest.

“Wait, I’m the youngest?” asked Jet, apparently flustered. It seems he is opening up already. Lily had a funny face, likely pitying Jet.

The teacher shouted “Ok, homeroom’s over! Please go to your chosen talent classes, everyone.”

“So, it’s about time we separate.” said Lily.

“Well then, smell ya later.” said Tulga as he left the class.

Lily soon followed, leaving Jet and Raven together. “Wanna go together?” asked Raven.

“Sure, we have the same ones.” he said and followed Raven. His wings were sticking out of the uniform, which was strange. ‘How does he even wear his clothes?’ thought Jet.

They left the half-empty classroom, meeting the other two dragonmen, followed by the bitch in the hallway.

“Are you from the Quintus branch?” asked the blue-scaled Nicholas.

“I don’t know much about my parents.” by now, Raven was able to lie without even blinking, not that he was much different before.

“Oh, then take this.” he said and threw him a storage ring.

“What is this for?” asked Raven, wondering.

“Just an apology for something terrible my father did.” said the prince.

Raven was dumbfounded. He didn’t even imagine Nicholas to be even close to this, actually, he thought that he would despise Raven for being from the Quintus branch. But even before that, he thought that someone comparable to a crown prince of a kingdom would be much more arrogant.

The surprised Raven walked, soon led by Jet, who was asking for directions to the [Shadow] class.

On the other side.

“My prince, why did you do that?! That was your allowance for a month.” shouted out the red-scaled dragonman.

“It’s but nothing compared to what they suffered.” said Nicholas in self-defense, with an empathetic face.

“But they deserve it, they took away the first prince.” said the red one with fire in his eyes.

“It’s my fault I didn’t stop my brother!” said the prince with tears in his eyes. Realizing his mistake, and touching the prince’s brother-loving heart, he decided to stop. His bride could only look at him doing all the irrational stuff. She was just his bride, and didn’t have a say in a family matter, as of now.

…

Finally, Raven was standing outside the [Shadow] classroom, which was on the third floor, with a previously non-existent sign. Jet knocked on the door and peeked inside. It seems the teacher wasn’t there, and you know what you should expect from a school like this? You’re right, a big classroom.

It was similar to a lecture class, and it didn’t have many people in it. There were many vacant seats, so they decided to take the front row. It didn’t take long for the teacher to arrive, and she just started her class as if not noticing the lack of students, or rather, used to it.

“The essence of shadow magic lies in its ever-changing yet eternal form. Only by using that characteristic, one may bring out the full potential of the element.” she then proceeded by creating a moderate sized shadow ball. Unlike what Raven expected, it was in shambles. The ball changed shape, but not in a geometrical way. More like spikes and blobs appearing out of the ball and going back.

“Today’s subject is this, [Shadow Ball]. Compress your magic into a ball, possibly a moderate amount. Then from there, instead of keeping it that way, use the minimal amount of magic to let it not dissipate into mana particles, and there you have it.” she said as she did it over and over again.

Most students were having trouble with it, including the duo from Tyrannos. They could make it into a sphere as naturally as breathing, but loosening their grip wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Just when they loosened it, the ball would dissipate or it would be short a little bit, which would then result in the first after a try.

The teacher was sitting on the comfortable chair, enjoying her tea. She wasn’t beautiful or anything special, just plain normal. This was quite strange, considering that all the other teachers were extravagant.

“I did it.” came an excited voice from behind; this was the ninja girl from the practical examination. Now that he saw her, she wasn’t far behind in terms of beauty than Lily. However, none of them could rival the Ruler. Raven was in love with her after all, one who was picky about woman, who didn’t even care for Lily, a significantly beautiful girl and didn’t even shy away from staying in the same room.

“Wow great, now you can go to your other classes, Miss err…” she said while scrolling through the journal “oh, right, Miss Ravines, you can go now.” said the teacher awkwardly.

“Isn’t she taking the word ninja too far?” asked Jet.

“Yep” said Raven as an image of a Naruto with Kushina’s hair passed Raven’s otaku mind.

She quietly left the class, as the other students started finishing up as well, including Jet and Raven, of course.

[Shadow Ball] said Jet as ball appeared on his hand, Raven followed suit, to check in case it was a fluke, and surely enough, it wasn’t.

“All the rest fail, you are free to leave.” said the teacher heartlessly. Students left the class, some long-faced, some happy.

“So, wanna go to the [Lightning]?” asked Jet.

“Well, let’s finish these 2.” said Raven as he asked a passing teacher for directions.

…

The lightning class teacher was a handsome man with almost no muscles, and had blue hair with matching eyes. He was wearing Acritas’s clothes, which were mostly a grey suit.

“Now then, let’s start class, shall we?” asked the teacher as he explained a few basic theories that everyone knew, except the talented commoners, who didn’t give the written exam. Although Raven didn’t take the written exam, he knew it from his chat with Liliana.

For audience’s sake, he felt it was his duty to think of it inside his head.

One had to absorb mana particles and make it into their own magic, which they then use to control the mana particles. Without magic inside them, forcing the mana particles to move will result in magic overuse. The container is small, so mages are advised to conserve their power.

This was the case for Raven, as his Arcane Qi had a much bigger container, so he didn’t have to worry as much.

“So, how about learning a spell?”

“Yeah!!!” the students shouted, excluding Jet but not Raven.

“Well, to do that, we must learn the characteristic of lightning. You must be attractive yet repulsive, if you do that, you’ll see the true might of [Lightning] magic.”

He threw a metal pen to the air and said [Polarity Shift] as he held his hands below it. As the pen fell towards the teacher’s hand, it then jumped back up.

“What I did was simple, I changed the electric charge in a certain area, which was above my hand just now. With training, you can use it in battle.” he said and watched the students perform it, like the other teacher.

Raven easily pulled it off, which wasn’t the case for Jet. His [Lightning] affinity was weaker than Raven’s, it seems.

Soon, the class ended. It wasn’t as interesting as Raven thought, so he wanted to excuse himself to the library.

“So, that’s about all, so let’s separate.” said Jet.

“What about [Soul]?”

“There is no instructor.”

“Oh, right.”

…

Raven was walking alone, towards the library and saw the homeroom teacher on his way.

“Hey, classes over?” asked the teacher, a tad bit shorter than Raven.

“Yeah, there’s no body modification class, so I guess I’m free.”

“Great, come with me.” she said as she dragged him to one classroom. Raven had already lost count of the floor. The room was more like a lab than a class, with no seats whatsoever. But before the sight, the smell hit him.

“Just bear with the smell, you’ll be used to it soon.”

“What in the world do you mean?”

“You’re a [Disease] mage, something like this doesn’t have the right to faze you.” she said as a bottle of liquor was grabbed by her. She then opened the plug and poured the green liquid into some kind of dish, a small one. “A strain of Nether Delusion, a dangerous one.” she said as she threw the contents to Raven.

He was caught unguarded, so he didn’t quite have time to defend himself except by trying to grab it with his hands. But the unexpected happened. No liquid hit him. It was now in his palms, with a little distance.

“Hmm… Talented. You’re my apprentice.” decided Lulu.

“What was that for, I almost had a heart attack.” shouted Raven.

“But now you know you won’t be sick ever again.” she said, sniffing Raven’s neck, which was some kind of a sexual harassment.

“So, how can I practice it?” asked Raven.

“You’re forbidden to use it outside of my vision, do you understand? This is too dangerous for a kid to be playing with.” said the carefree Lulu with a cute serious face.

“Ok, I understand.” answered Raven.