Common Classes (2)
Theology wasn't bad.
It wasn't simply that I was sitting through the lectures beside Lucy. The longer I listened, the more genuinely interesting the class became. The professor's delivery had been excellent from the very first word, and the material only grew more compelling as it went. He laid out everything I already knew from the game, then pressed on into what came after, and it felt a little like reading a fantasy novel whose setting bible had been written with obsessive rigor. I was enjoying myself.
If Theology is this good, maybe Magic Studies will be decent in its own way?
There was, however, one fact I had forgotten.
If Theology was history, Magic Studies was mathematics. I had completely blanked on why every mage in Surviving the Academy was arrogant, prickly, or halfway out of their mind.
"To cast magic, you must first calculate the formula. You noble young masters will have formulas of your own, so we'll pass over those. Today we will discuss the Renoa Formula, the one commoners learn most often. Can anyone explain the core of the Renoa Formula?"
"I will! First you differentiate the mana-particle field to induce resonance, then you pour mana in up to the critical threshold so that it manifests in reality! That is the formula!"
"An accurate explanation. One merit point."
Fucking brick-wall prose.
Naturally, I understood none of it by ear, and even when I tried to keep up in my notes I couldn't match the professor's pace. Was I seriously the only one in the room who didn't get this? The doubt made me lift my head a fraction, and everyone else was nodding along as if it were all perfectly correct.
I'm screwed.
Taking Magic Studies seriously had apparently been a mistake. The professor was even simplifying things so beginners could follow, and I am not exaggerating when I say I understood none of it. Not one bit. At this rate there was no point in even being here. I'd thought I could grasp the general shape of it. That had been my mistake.
No. Get a grip, Philip.
I nearly let my mind slip, but luckily I caught it in time. Think about it—I hadn't walked into this class to learn magic in the first place, had I? The only reason I'd taken Magic Studies was to see magic with my own eyes and train myself to break it.
I'll be fighting a mage before long.
I straightened up and fixed my eyes on the professor as he taught. Basic spells unfolded from his hands: Magic Bullet, Barrier, Flash—simple to cast, and useful. I burned every one of them into memory and started working through what mattered. How fast did they activate? Was there a tell before they fired? If I had to answer one, how would I do it?
"There's a student approaching this class with an unusual mindset. Shall we test whether he's actually been paying attention?"
!!!
I was listening that hard when the professor suddenly launched a Magic Bullet at me. The speed was overwhelming—nothing a student could possibly dodge. But I had been watching him the whole time, and the instant he began drawing the Magic Bullet circle I was already moving. Thanks to that, I slipped past it by a hair.
"Perfect! You've been paying attention. One merit point."
"Thank you, Professor."
He seemed satisfied that I had dodged his Magic Bullet. After that, he questioned me several times as the lesson went on. He didn't ask about formulas the way he did the other mages and students. He asked me, a warrior, how I would deal with magic.
"Earth magic has bound your legs. In that state, a flame spell strikes you from every direction. How do you respond?"
"I throw my sword to cut the spell, then escape in the opening."
"And after that?"
"I run. If a swordsman lets a mage bind his legs, the gap in skill is already obvious."
"Ha! A failing grade as a warrior, but a passing one as a mage!"
When I got it right, he praised me. When I got it wrong, he pointed out exactly where. Through that back-and-forth I was able to stockpile knowledge on how to counter magic—and I wasn't the only one gaining from it.
"Say you deflect a lightning spell by throwing your sword, and the bastard closes to point-blank range and swings a fist. How would the rest of you respond?"
"Raise a barrier to block it, then use wind magic to open the distance..."
"Right after an offensive spell, when your circuits are already under strain? The barrier might break. You could very well eat a critical hit."
"Then what should we do?"
"The correct answer is not to let it happen in the first place. If a mage allows someone to close in, getting beaten is exactly what they deserve."
"...."
He was teaching the students who had heard my answer how to counter the counter. His ability to run a class was nothing short of perfect, and I quietly decided I ought to pay a little more attention to this one.
Class wrapped up, and I was about to step out when the Magic Studies professor beckoned me over with a flick of his hand. I went to him once every other student had cleared out.
"Your name. What is it?"
"Philip, Professor."
"Philip. Would you mind telling me why a warrior is sitting in on Magic Studies?"
Because if I avoid Sylvia and Estelle, this is the only class left.
I couldn't say that. Stating my second objective was out of the question too, so I decided to fudge it.
"From a warrior's perspective, a mage is a troublesome enemy. I figured that if I wanted to learn how to face one, I had to take this class."
"A thoroughly sound way of thinking. Advancing your mastery matters, but so does learning how to fight well."
Satisfied with my answer, the professor clapped me on the shoulder and waved me off, as if to say I was free to go. The moment I left the lecture hall, I opened my status window.
"Heheheh!"
Thinking it over again, taking this class had been the right call.
A week passed that way. All told, it had been two weeks since I enrolled at the Academy, and the students had shaken off the outside world and finished adapting besides. Which was to say the faculty was ready to start raising them in earnest—and evaluating them.
The professor should be making the announcement any time now.
Department class. I sat in the lecture hall and stared blankly at the professor. Swordsmanship theory was winding down, and if my memory was right, this was where the talk of a field class would come up. He would announce that the common class was to be a dungeon expedition.
From that moment on, the main story begins.
This episode's name was Lampfire.
If a player went in with no information, they simply cleared the dungeon. From the second playthrough on, the way you played changed a little. You still cleared the dungeon, but along the way you wandered around hunting for a hidden piece—and in the process, you ended up competing with a dark mage who had infiltrated the Academy. The player's goal was to identify the dark mage and keep the hidden piece from being stolen.
It'd be convenient if the dark mage were a fixed identity.
If the dark mage were locked to a single person, there would be no need to suffer. Just find the bastard, wreck him, and hand him over to the guards. But the sadistic developer, in the name of tuning the difficulty, had made the dark mage's identity change every playthrough. To learn who it was, you either figured it out while searching for the hidden piece, or you had to meet them face-to-face in the Shadow episode that came afterward.
...Of course, running into them then would stage a seriously infuriating scene.
No matter what happens, the hidden piece is mine.
I was the kind of person who hated a choked, frustrating plot more than anything in the world. I had absolutely no intention of sitting back and watching the dark mage get what he wanted. On top of that, this hidden piece was a key item whose influence ran past the Shadow episode and deep into the midgame. Whether I secured it or not decided whether Lucy lived or died!
"That concludes today's class. I also have an announcement."
"...."
While I was sorting the information in my head, the professor began the notice about the field class. The contents were exactly what I already knew. There would be a dungeon expedition. Every student in a combat-related department would take part, form teams of three, and clear the dungeon.
So what do I do.
If I could, moving alone would be best. But for this practical, you absolutely had to go with a party of three. You could split up for a while, but wander too far on your own and a signal would go out to the professors.
Looks like I have to form a party.
The important part was who I formed it with. Go after the hidden piece with people I'd just met, and we'd be fighting in no time, wouldn't we?
Lucy is a must-recruit.
The question was who to fill the last slot with. Several people came to mind, but no matter how I turned it over, one character kept surfacing. I'd been planning to make contact during this episode anyway, so forming a party seemed fine.
Mr. Hitman, let's be friends.
I decided to recruit the hitman dispatched by the Church of the Heavenly God.