"Mr. Bells and Miss Ignovor here comes from Aeria, a town with access to a gigantic magistone mine." Miss Camper looked at the two students in quick succession. "Maybe they are willing to explain to us how magistones work?"

Before Eon could make a move, Eve hopped up and started explaining the properties of a magistone with sheer interest.

"Such a lively girl." Razor commented. "Know her?"

"Yeah.. childhood friend."

"Score! I knew I picked the right guy to hang out with!" The silver haired boy's ominous colored pupils gleamed with excitement. "How about you hook me up with her? Unless of course, you're trying out something yourself?"

"Nah." Eon deadpanned. "A little too lively. Get to close and you'll return with some burn marks."

"Aw.. you're no fun."

Eon looked around, shifting his gaze from person to person. The students were either paying attention in the class, chatting or doing their own work. Examples of the last kind would be the boy across him tinkering with something that looked like a mechagical eye of some sort. That kind of mecha magic work looked too advanced to be in the first year curriculum.

Then there was the blonde elf girl in a dark green robe and glasses, polishing her magic staff. She seemed too absorbed in her own work to pay any heed to her surroundings, letting an overgrown bright yellow long legged spider walk around her desk. The owner of the spider, a girl wearing a similar color top as the spider, was trying to reclaim her familiar without letting the teacher notice or causing a scene. Her panicked expression was too funny to Eon.

"I see our Medusa boy has taken a liking to the Arachina girl." Razor decided to comment again, clearly bored of the silence.

"W-what?" Eon stuttered. "Nah it's nothing like that." He looked away, slightly embarrassed, much to Razor's amusement. After a moment of silence Eon's curiosity got the best of him. "What is Arachina?" He asked.

"Curious huh?" Razor grinned. "Well Arachina family is mostly a merchant-mage family that excels in the sales of a variety of very costly silk. You can see that girl wearing a dress made of that material too. Probably some sort of passive advertisement."

"So they sell silk huh. What's the fuss about the spiders and stuff then?"

"The silk comes from the spiders, duh. The family secret lies in the species of spiders they specifically bred since ancient times." Razor explained. "Also they are magical spiders, with a wide range of offensive and supportive spells to help out their masters in battles."

That's actually really cool.

"And what did you call me.. Medusa boy?"

"Suits you perfectly, doesn't it? Staring at enemy eyes to petrify them! Just like Medusa from the old tales! You gotta teach me that spell sometimes!"

"Is something the matter Mr. Shiftblade?" Miss Camper asked in an angered tone.

Oh crap.

***

"So you're the famed Shiftblade! The son of Renzero Shiftblade!" Eon exclaimed.

"In flesh and blood." Razor replied. "How come you just got to know that? I thought you were only putting up with me because of who I am." Razor took a sip from the cup of tea in front of him.

"Not really.." Eon still had difficulty digesting the info. "Now it makes sense though. I thought people in the class were avoiding me. But they were avoiding you!"

"Sorry for that." Razor replied with a nervous laugh.

"I see you've found your familiar as well." Eon was somewhat curious about the black overgrown two headed lizard on Razor's back.

"Actually it found me instead. Two-face tracked me down at midnight when I was fast asleep. Then sneaked through the window."

"Now I'm kind of jealous." Eon admitted. "Maybe I should get myself a familiar as well."

"By the way I have Blade arts for my next class. I'll see you after the class then!" Razor got up from his seat.

"Oh I have that too." Eon followed Razor, pointing at the short blade holder on his belt.

"What kind of mage are you? A spellblade as well?" Razor asked curiously.

"Not really. The blade doesn't effect my magic in any way whatsoever."

Eon looked at the blade Darryl gave him. The boy ran his father's weapon shop. Before leaving Aeria Eon explained to Darryl that he didn't need a spell rod or anything to cast his spells. Which caused Darryl to force him to carry a sword with him to Grimoria for self defense, but Eon negotiated the deal into a knife instead and got away with it.

The blade arts introductory class was pretty boring, but the teacher made Razor exhibit his spellblade skills, which was kind of interesting. Razor ran his Fire Blade through a chunk of wood, slicing through it as well as setting it ablaze simultaneously. He also sliced a glass pane smoothly from two feet away with his Air Blade. Razor's spells were apparently focused to envelope his shortsword in magical aura, granting it various effects.

Next class was Study of Magical Creatures. Even though the reliable knowledge on wild monsters was very limited, thanks to a revolutionary researcher Prof. Alder Repliac, information on domesticated dragons and proper studies about breeding them to create hybrids was made public. Which caused others to take interest in his work and publish their own work on different domesticated monsters and their economical values.

The magical creature class was allotted to a relatively small classroom. Eon arrived a little early and decided to explore the classroom a bit to pass time. He noticed a seat snapped in half. "Poor victim of a newbie mage's spell huh." Eon casted Sticky Web and in a crafty way managed to stick the pieces of the seat together.

"Interesting." A voice from behind spooked Eon a little. It was the Arachina girl. Her spider familiar sitting on her head, in a fashion that anyone who never saw the girl and her spider before would definitely mistake the latter for a fancy hair clip. "What kind of spell was that?"

Eon realized why that spell seemed to interest her. "Your suspicion is correct. It's Sticky Web."

"I thought so!" The girl gasped. "How did you do it? I've never seen a human cast that spell before!"

"Well I'm a Blue Mage. I specialize in monster spells."

"I've heard of it from my grandparents! They used to say Blue Magic is kind of.. uncommon? I must be pretty lucky to have a Blue Mage as my classmate!"

"The pleasure is all mine." Eon laughed nervously, not knowing how to react.

"I'm Cindy, by the way. Cindy Arachina. I represent the Arachina family of Grimoria. I've heard you are from Aeria. Hope you'll like it here!"

"I'm Actaeon Bells, a first generation Mage in my family. I don't really know about Mage families and stuff, but a friend had been telling me about them from time to time."

"Oh, That's okay! The Arachina is a matriarchal family, and as the eldest daughter I'm the heir of the family. So I hold my fair share of information on Mage families as well. Don't hesitate to ask me about anything!" Cindy replied with a smile.

"A matriarchal family.. It maybe just a coincidence but I can not help but think about the fact that most spiders species are matriarchal, females being stronger and larger than the males."

"Exactly! That's the actual reason! I'm surprised you know that. Our family mostly focuses on spider familiars and spider silk afterall!"

The conversation went for a bit longer till more students started to enter the classroom. Eon was a little amused by how much the girl loved spiders and how she could talk about them all day. Her obsession for spiders could almost rival Eon's love for magical monsters.

"So what other arachnid magics can you use?"

"Aside from Sticky Web I can use the passive ability 'Wall Climber'. And not really a spider-related spell but I have a decent control over using a modified version of the King Scorpion spell 'Grappling Hook', which also falls under arachnid magic." Eon explained.

"That's amazing! Hey do you think I can learn Blue Magic as well?" Cindy's voice brimming with excitement.

"I don't see why not." Eon was genuinely surprised to see someone else actually being interested in his magic. He felt a little blessed.

"I'd be looking forward to our Blue Magic sessions then!" The girl smiled brightly.

***

The next day the students gathered in the gymnasium for practical Defense Against Magic class. The gymnasium itself was heavily warded against lethal spells, Eon stared at the massive amount of runes drawn all over the walls.

"Isn't it too soon for this sort of class?" Eon whispered to Razor, to which the silver haired Spellblade responded with a shrug.

"Being in Grimoria means you're constantly exposed to magic. And thus many students find themselves getting into trouble by criminal mages or so on. That's why the academy prioritizes the safety of the students by giving them an essential magic defense class." Evelyn explained.

"Ah that makes sense."

Torton, an elf boy, volunteered himself to make a disaster spell. He was apparently the only one in the class proficient in Earth Magic.

Torton stood in the center of the room, a brown magic circle appeared below him. The ground shook a little.

Some students were visibly panicked. "Good job Mr. Terron. Keep increasing the power slowly." A teacher guided Torton.

A few smaller magic circles appeared on the ground. The earth underneath the circle gushed out smoothly like a fluid, forming a pillar. Then the apparently flexible pillar bent and closed in against the students. One was aimed at Eon, which he deflected with a Quick Shield spell. The other was targeted at an unfortunate student who couldn't react in time and got knocked down on the ground.

"Oops.. sorry.." Torton apologized.

The ground shook harder, throwing many students off balance.

"Mr. Terron you may stop now." The teacher commanded.

"But.. I didn't even do that.." A panicked Torton replied.

"What do you me-" The ground shook harder before the teacher could finish his sentence. Some students started screaming and some ran out of the room. Some did both.

Within the next ten minutes or so, the experienced teachers managed to evacuate the students from the building. But the view outside was far worse.

The city was on fire. Buildings reduced to dust. Eon was presented with a recurrence of Aeria attack from four years ago. A towering feathered serpentine figure slammed its tail against the Academy building, turning its west wing into dust. Some shrieked in horror as a response.

The giant Quetzalcoatl spread its wings wide and let out a deafening roar.