Professor Admas Alemu (Spellmaking)

Admas turned to face the first arrival trying to make as much of a sweet face as a battle-hardened veteran of the army could. It looked like she was squinting to aim a cannon rather than smiling welcomingly. The student, she observed, was the type she excepted to see here, looking both harmless yet also weirdly ominous, weird clothes (though, at the same time, somewhat cute).

Instinctively she felt the desire to ask her to not use the hood up, but her rational mind reminded her that in here this was a wasted effort. Provided they didn't get her fired, she would be lenient.

"Spell-something, no. This is, however, the Spellmaking class," she said in a sudden harsh tone, stopping herself. "Just jesting, please take your seat. I am sure your colleagues will show up soon." or at least she hoped they would.

"You smell like a necromancer, fought some back in the Salted Marshes campaign, almost lost my leg to necrosis, fun times." she started to draw shapes in the chalkboard. "I guess the topic of spell efficiency might not fit your main style, but it can be helpful for most spells. Geometrical Theory though? Oh, that is gonna be helpful to you for sure."



Yon suddenly interjected the conversation with the sound of a splash. The girl quickly peeked from the grass, she had taken off her dress leaving her in a dark yet colorful shit and pants, now fully wet as she had fallen into the pool. However, the sound of flowing water soon followed.

"I did it! And I didn't even have to use any sort of explosive, just lots of acids." she stepped back into the grass, the drips of what was previously thought to be water fell in one of the plants, causing it to sizzle. She stretched, her clothes didn't seem to be affected by acids all that much, just a few holes, Yon was unharmed.

"Guess I will take my bath first, then uh, Helena. I hope you don't mind being the last Daria it's just that... that blood... Uhm, you get it, right?" she waved her hand and tail awkwardly, almost dripping acid onto the two.

"Ah, the classes tomorrow? They are Spellmaking and Alteration at... uh... I don't know earth time too well. Which will you two pick?" Yon questioned, getting ready for her bath. The overgrown garden seemed to mostly keep the modesty of whoever used the tub, the Lunarian peeking through the plants at the main ara. "Both sound fun, but I guess Spellmaking is more essential? Hmm..."



Mela whined loudly as the world broke apart near her, her eyes going even wider and her face paler than they ever went before, even when she was face to face with people who wanted to eat her.

The little apple witch was left gasping, staring at nothing, as Parr explained the situation to her she slowly understood it, the trauma being forgotten by her plant brain as she couldn't comprehend what she witnessed. "Uh... Wait what!? B-but I wanted to rest a bit! N-no fair!"

Professor Celia Reed (Alteration)

The harpy yawned, resting over a rug as her open space class stayed empty, she almost felt a tinge of hope that no student would show up. Well, there was one she wanted to see.

And to her luck, that one student, in particular, was the first to arrive, along with a dog and a human who smelled like fruit.

She turned to face them but ignored the latter two. "Ah, Sarah! It is good to see you! I have been quite interested since I first read your files. I prepared something just for you, sweetie." she said in a weirdly casual and warm tone as if she had just baked her some cookies. And the gift itself was a hairpin, bright green with a diamond shape.

"M-m-miss?" Mela asked, the harpy just stared at her and tilted her head to the chalkboard, which had the basic instructions of a "clay into glass" spell.

@jasbraq@Cotton@RabidAnubis@Ponn@blackdragon

"Ah, Alteration!" Parr announced as he entered Prof. Reed's classroom. "My father's favorite class! Aside from Temporal Physics, of course!" he added with a slight chuckle. "It is a pleasure to make your aquaintence Professor," the Canine said, removing his hat and giving a small bow. "Your reputation preceeds you."

Helena raised an eyebrow as Daria said that she couldn't read. Part of the ice mage didn't believe her, given her previous stunt, but at the same time... why would she lie about that? And so, Helena believed her, but the catgirl's confession did leave one lingering question...

"So... if you can't read... what do you intend to do? Hoping to learn magic without having to read? Or are you looking for someone to teach you how to read?" the ice mage asked. It was at that time that Yon returned... completely soaked and talking about acid. Did she use acid in the bath? Judging by the damage the droplets of liquid were doing to the plants, she was.

"I... think I'll pass on the bath for now. I'm... allergic to acid, you know? It's painful for me to come in contact with it." She responded, chuckling nervously. "As for classes... I think I'll go to Spellmaking. I'm interested in seeing what kind of things they teach in spellmaking."

---

As her roommates continued to chat with eachother, Alura seemed to have different things in mind, her eyes glancing up at the ceiling for a moment, then down at the floor. Then, she took her book, and opened in, remaining silent as she crouched down, and began to scribble something on the floor in a circle around her using a piece of chalk. Every symbol she drew briefly glowing before vanishing when the mage moves onto the next symbol. Once she's made a full circle - the entire process taking a few minutes - she stands up, a cheerful smile on her face.

"Well, I'd love to chat some more now, but classes will be starting soon." Alura said, closing her book. "And I'd rather not be late!"

Almost as soon as Alura finishes talking, there's a sound not unlike that of a mirror shattering, and the floor underneath the mage crumbled away into a black void, the symbols she drew briefly reappearing around the edge. Moments later, Alura seems to get sucked into the hole, and vanishes without a trace, the hole and symbols vanishing almost instantaneously, leaving behind no trace of the mage other than a partial circle of burnt floor.

---

---

Opening the door to the classroom, Alura saw that she wasn't the first person to arrive at the class. "This... is alteration, right?" Alura asked, a small smile on her face as she glanced over her classmates.

Mild pain radiated from his body, and Ray turned over, grumbling in half-sleep. Unfortunately, he rolled right off the mattress, face-planting onto the floor. The cold, grating harshness of the concrete woke him up. Goddammit. At least, his runic array the day before had taken care of the dust, grime, and other questionable stains, and now their dorm was clean, with only the nicest furniture remaining – for an extremely loose definition of nice, that is.

Ray groaned, and peered over at his room-mates. They were both still asleep. Aching and bleary, Reagan stood up, and stumbled to the nearest shower…which was nowhere fucking near at all! It was still dark outside too. Something about that felt vaguely significant, but the teen wasn’t awake enough to the inkling any attention. It did continue to bother him throughout the shower though…He felt like he was forgetting something.

By the time he was cleaned up and refreshed, the very first rays of sun made their crawling ascent over the horizon…

Wait! The sun! Hadn’t that cat blathered something about sun? The entire memory had been more or less repressed, so Reagan only had a fuzzy recollection of a violent, pink-haired, cat-eared barbarian hissing at him. She did mention dawn, right? He wished he could confirm with Feier, but she was still asleep. Ahh, I’ll just pop over quickly.

Frustrated, and not at all prepared, Reagan displaced himself to a rooftop nearest to where the party had taken place yesterday. He crouched down, looking around. The place was deserted, not unexpected given the early hour. Ray yawned, leaning his head on a palm. Wish I’d brought binoculars. Or had the time to prepare a plan for that food-maniac. He spent some minutes daydreaming about how he might beat the Leopardkin and show her who’s boss, before frowning. She really should be here, by this point. Not the type to be late for ‘honorable combat’…

Concentrating so much on Daria’s words, a realization slammed into Ray with all the delicacy of a freight train. "Oh. Duh," he muttered. She’d said sundown, not dawn, you dolt. Reagan face-palmed, moaning. "Ghhhh," he exhaled quietly. No one must find out about this. Ever. Especially not Fei. She wouldn’t let me live it down for months. Months!

With a sigh, Reagan displaced himself to the convenience store, hoping to find it open. He did, and quickly bought some eggs, milk, salt, and veggies. Returning to their dorm with a hop through space, Ray set out to prepare breakfast. This’ll be my excuse for having left early, if anyone asks. We need to make our breakfast anyway.

He prepared several omelets, enough for the three of them. Mmm, now this is food, he sighed, pleased at the taste. He had lived a decent chunk of his life being catered by servants, but there’d been a point in his childhood when he’d decided he'd learn to make his own food better, and persisted at the activity. He’d never succeeded in surpassing his family’s chefs, of course, but he was good. Not that anyone besides his cooking teacher had appreciated it so far.

Chasing the bitter thought away with practiced ease, Reagan finished his meal, cleaning up after himself. "Guys, I’m leaving for class! I left you something to eat, if you want it," he shouted as he passed the ‘bedroom’ area.

Ray chose to walk this time, seeing the sights on the way to the classroom. He didn’t expect good quality lectures here, but maybe they’d be amusing, at least? He didn’t have anything better to do at the time, so might as well show up.

He stopped mid-step on the class’s doorstep, almost stumbling at the unexpected – but absolutely thrilling – sight. "Oh," he breathed out, exhilarated. "Hello there, professor Alemu," he chuckled at her brashly. "What a pleasant surprise to see you in these backwaters," he went on, a shit-eating grin spread across his face. "I’m suddenly looking forward to this class," he announced. Whistling an obnoxiously happy tune to himself, Ray proceeded to sit down at one of the front-row desks.

Daria pondered for a moment over Helena's words. "..." Helena would likely notice an awkward pause. "Was it required?" Daria didn't recall the travelling merchant discussing the wonders of this school saying anything about needing to read. "Admissions officer didn't say anything."

Daria didn't respond to the question of wanting to learn. That could have been because of some hesitancy or emotional or cultural quarrel on her part with the subject, but it more likely had to do with the girl who just got out of the bath dripping acid. Daria agreed with Helena absolutely here. "On second thought we do not bathe in my culture." Some blood still covered Daria, but she managed to get the worst out of it with the rag. "Unless blessed by Flamingo. I will ask Flamingo about this water."

Daria wasn't in the mood to die due to proximity to this girl and backed away from a piece of metling stonework that had been a few inches in front of her and looked at Helena with a nod - she'd simply go to that class. It seemed useful enough.

@Ponn@Cotton@SilverPaw@RabidAnubis@jasbraq@blackdragon

Professor Celia Reed (Alteration)

The sphinx sighed and turned around, sniffing the air a bit as others kept demanding her attention for some unknown reason, it was as if the teacher owed them something.

"Yes, this is the alternation class, please take a seat," she said to Allura before focusing on Parr. "Temporal Physics? Don't remember anyone teaching that in our school, still, glad you are interested. Ah... you are not the one who is transformed, would have thought you are like Bertrand." she hoped his father's experience meant fewer questions.

"Okay class, look, this should be really easy, even the least bright of you can do it. Here, in the table, are kits of colorful molding clay. You make a clay figure and then transform it into a glass. Very simple. Try to keep the color if you can, and please do not turn the tables or your limbs into glass." she sighed. "There are some instructions on the blackboard, can I trust you all to do this right and not require my attention? It's important to get this right since it will be what I will demand in my test."



The apple girl whined gently looking at the new person, who in her naive experience seemed normal and harmless, before picking up the clay, going for red and green initially, she suddenly stopped herself, she shouldn't limit herself to what was the easiest, if magic was an art she had to be avant-garde

"So, what will you be molding for the class?" she questioned to the other two. "I am thinking of going a bit abstract."



The lunar girl simply shrugged at first, allergies and cultures getting in the way of a proper bath seemed reasonable, she'd need to learn to live with that "Ah I see, I didn't know either of those things. Well tomorrow it will mostly be water, so it should be safe for you Helena." however, as she finished up, she looked up at the time and gasped.

"Holy Luna on a Tuna, I did not notice the time! The evening went by in the blink of an eye. No wonder you two talked about going to the class!" she rushed to get dressed and pick her things up. "Alright! Let's go! First day of class first! Then soon enough, up to the moon!"

Without further context, Yon ran and jumped out of the window.

Professor Admas Alemu (Spellmaking)

As random background students arrived, Admas Alemu started to draw a few theorems.

"Alright, I think the best element to showcase these theories is water, it is easily accessible like air but unlike with air you can easily notice the difference between manipulating physical water and summoning metaphysical water and... oh?"

She turned to face a student arriving in the class. "Ah... a familiar face. Hello Reagan! I guess I should have expected to see you around here" she said with a wide forced smile as she twisted his little comment about the backwaters.

"And yes this place is a bit off the main roads but... hmm... it has a sense of freedom doesn't it? Compared to the tight rules of the Imperial Institute, I feel like I could express my FEELINGS far better in here." The gravity in the room increased a bit, people would find themselves getting a bit heavier and it was slightly harder to step forward. Then Admas sighed to relax herself, as far as ghost of the past, Reagan was the least bad, while a troublemaker he wasn't the reason why she was fired.

Just after him a girl with hooves and big floppy ears walked in. "Excuse me!"

Gertrude raced down from her dorm, trying her hardest not to swear. It was both unladylike and sinful, and she wasn't sure which was worse. Still, she was late, but she got into her Spellmaking class, overhearing the professor mentioning something about water magic. "Sorry I wasn't here on time, Professor. It won't happen again, I swear to the gods." She quickly bowed, then took her seat.

Saram started molding her clay, forming it into the shape of a crude dog. "I thought I'd do something simple- the transmutation is the key part of this, after all." She stopped to admire her handiwork, then took a deep breath. "Alright, here goes." The redhead concentrated deeply, a quiet hum of sorcery building up around her. There was a flash of light that slowly faded away to reveal the dog had indeed been transfigured into crystal-clear glass- and so had her right arm. "Great."

Kate

"Canada?" Kate asked with a raised eyebrow after Katalynn's failed attempt at identifying Jackie's homeland. "That TV of yours must get signals from other worlds, cause I'm pretty sure there's no place called Canada in this one."

Alura then mentioned something about classes starting, and the next thing Kate knew, the other girl was falling through a portal in the floor.

"I think she might be jumping the gun a little," Kate said with a small chuckle, not particularly bothered by the means of the girl's sudden departure. "Classes don't start for another..."

Her words trailed off as her camera began emmitng a soft beeping sound. Taking a look at the clock on its display, Kate gave a small gasp as she noted the date.

We're a whole day in the future... Huh... Well, okay, then! I guess this is where the fun begins!

"So, guess I was wrong about that," Kate said with a sheepish grin. "Looks like classes start right now! Come on, guys," she said to her two remaining roommates. "Don't wanna be late on our first day!"

Professor Admas Alemu (Spellmaking)

The teacher tried not to be angry at the students arriving late, mostly because then she would be constantly angry at the students.

"I see... that saying the class starts at 10 AM means most people wake up a that time and only then get to class." she whispered to herself. "Its fine... its fine... I will JUST drink my tea and wait." and she did exactly that, making herself some green tea on the spot with a fire spell.

She gave the students plenty of time to arrive, letting everyone sit. It was a diverse crowd, that was for sure, people from all over the land seemed to end up here. She took a deep breath.

"Well, once again, welcome everyone. Today the topic of our class will be when to manipulate with magic and when to summon with magic. We will be doing some exercises so you understand when to use each tool.

She extended her hands to the side, palms up, they shone bright, mini-tornadoes forming in each hand. It was impressive with how much ease she could perform both spells.

"To my right there is a wind spell manipulating the air to create a vortex, to my left there is a wind spell to summon the air for such vortex. Standing up close, you can see that the right one sucks in a lot of air while the left one blows it out."

To make sure the demonstration stuck with the students, she moved her hands close to the many student's face, causing papers to fly, hairs to go messy as it was blown away or worse, sucked into the the tornado.

"Now, if we change the element to fire, you might notice the effect is the complete opposite." she closed her hand calling off the wind and opened it again. "In the wind spell, the summoned one was the most stable, yet with fire the effect changes! Manipulation of fire requires fuel, so you can control beforehand the spell potency, with summoned fire however, you are one sneeze from unleashing hellfire as it requires no fuel to intensify and spread. Its a great tool for masterful mages, but often the end of the career of many newcomers. She played around with her fingers, causing the summoned flame to change in colors as she did so, first to blue then to green and finally to pure red.

"Fantastic. Now I want you kids to try it. Use the same spell concept but alternating between summoned and manipulated elements."

---

Professor Celia Reed (Alteration)

The teacher nodded and smiled as the students started their practice. To avoid having to reply to students who were struggling with the spell, she had infused magical crystals into the molding clay which made the glass transformation spell almost surefire, something a keen student would notice if they looked at it closely.

"Yes, do get a little bit creative, it helps if you have a strong image in your mind when using a spell, just making a random clay mess will only make the work harder." the sphinx calmly walked among the tables looking at each student as they made their spells.

She stopped at Sarah and smiled. "Ah, you turned your arm into glass... That is perfect!" once again she went from distant and tired to excited. "Please don't try to fix it yet, I want to see if the transformation carries over when you yourself transform into an animal! Then we can peek at the nature of your metamorphosis! It will be so exciting!" her lion tail wagged a bit, her eagle like eyes deeply focused into the new student.

@blackdragon

Helena was silent for a few moments as Daria asked her whether or not classes were mandatory. And to be honest... she had absolutely no idea herself. She imagined that they would be... but whatever answer she gave would be an assumption. So while Daria too turned down the bath, the ice mage wondered for some time what to say.

Well... I'm not entirely sure if it's mandatory or not... but I think it's at least worth attending classes. Maybe you'll become able to cast magic? The ice mage suggested, smiling. "I'd be happy to help you out with things if you want me to, just let me know! For now though, I gotta get to class. You coming along?" The girl added, giving Daria some time to respond before heading to class, while Yon seeemingly had already jumped out of the window to get to class.

---

---

Having arrived in class, Helena had taken a seat near the front. Not in the front row, of course, but also not too far near the back. Just in the right sweet-spot where she hoped she'd be able to pay attention while also never getting any attention from the teacher unless the ice mage asked for help. Unfortunately for the ice mage, however, she wasn't far enough back to not be affected by the wind magic demonstration. But while her hair might have become a mess as a result, Helena didn't mind too much; she was more interested in learning things.

Then, the teacher gave the class an assignment, and Helena had to think for a moment. Summoning and Manipulating... could she do it by summoning her own ice, and then manipulating it? Would the teacher accept that? With a sigh, the ice mage decided to give it a shot, first creating a chunk of ice, then using her magic to manipulate it's shape, beginning to create small figurines of animals.

---

Alura, meanwhile... was actually following the assignment in her class as well! Though, with a small twist. She was spending quite a lot of time on her figure, shaping it into some strange beast, a winged creature, with two legs with sharp claws, six wings, and a large mouth. The girl seemed very focused on her creation, to the point where she wouldn't even react to being poked while working on it. Once she's finally done with it, the girl triggers the crystals she'd discovered had been infused in the clay, turning her figure into glass and resulting in a very happy and very proud Alura. She seemed excited with her own creation, quietly staring at it for some time and not paying attention to much else beyond, of course, the teacher.

"What a delightful assignment!" Parr exclaimed as he took some golden clay. "Oh! That sounds wonderful, Miss Mela," Parr told the apple girl when she said she would be attempting something abstract. "I think it's always best to push one's abilites to their limits. That way, one can tell exactly what they are capable of, and of what they need to improve!" he added with a chuckle. "As for myself, I shall be crafting an hourglass, one of the earliest instruments with which to mark the passage of time."

With that, he produced several sculpting tools and set to work. After only a few minutes, the small sculpture took shape. If one cared to inspect it, they would find that it boasted quite detailed and elaborate decorations and patterns on what would normally be the hourglass's wooden or metal frame.

"Now then, for the transmutation!" the canine declared. Producing an apparatus that looked like a cross between a wand and a tesla coil, he infused the clay sculpture with trasformative magic, turning the small hourglass into, well... glass. "Ha ha! Success!" he declared triumphantly. "Oh, dear! Miss Sarah! What have you done to your arm?" he inquired, after finally noticing his roommate's predicament.

---

Kate- Alteration Class

Having barely made it to class on time, Kate quickly took some clay and began kneeding it between her fingers, while thinking over what to make.

Yikes... she thought nervously, after noticing that one of the students had changed their arm into glass. That doesn't look pleasant... Good thing I already know how to do this kinda stuff.

"Hey, that's lookin' pretty cool, Alura," Kate told her roommate as she watched the other girl sculpt her monster. "In fact, that gives me an idea..." she added. Grabbing some more clay of various colors, she set to work on her own creation.

---

---

Margrave Laura was in her room, calmly reading a letter and containing her emotions as she did so. All she knew was that this would not be good optics, that was guaranteed. Sighing, the woman put the paper aside and stood up, putting on her green cape and leaving her tidily and well organized, if a bit dusty, room.

She advanced through the halls of her mansion, the marble flooring reflecting a stern look on her rather cute face, as she approached her vizier’s “office” (read: bedroom).

Knocking exactly three times, she called out. “Siduri, are you up? We need to talk.”

Siduri looked towards the door closing her journal. “Ah, yes. Come in. Is there something you need miss?”

Laura opened the door gently, stepping in and nodding to acknowledge her protegee. Her mouth twisted a bit. “Remember last month when we were dealing with the matters of the transportation of the students meant to represent out federal unit in the Western-Imperial Matches of Prowess in Spellcasting? In particular, that you mentioned that the route we were taking to transport them to the training facility was having a lot of trouble with krakens and the sort?” though she made an effort to keep her emotions hidden, it was easy to read exactly how annoyed she was at the moment.

“So I take it they aren’t able to participate anymore. Then we’ll be in quite a predicament, as we don’t have a lot of students that could replace them.” Concern covered Siduri’s face as she tried to think of a solution. “I could try to disguise myself as a student, although the potential scandal could be really bad, so I guess that idea is out of the window.” as the mood worsen she tried to lighten it up. “Hey, maybe we can just invade one of our neighbours and get their students.” she said jokingly.

Raising a hand to her chin, the margrave gave actual thought about the topic after merely shaking her head at the previously proposed solution. “Well, it is that or to try to recruit kids from Fae Creek, and at that point I’d rather try my luck at the former than the latter...” she said at first before looking at her Vizier, knowing she was being silly, making a pitiful face at that realization.

“Fae Creek huh, so we’re that desperate.” She chuckled “I guess invasion really is the best solution, but the extra paperwork would kill me.” After thinking things over she gave a warm smile. “Hey, even if they’re problem children, we have you to discipline them into shape. If it worked on the local troop, surely it must work on a couple of kids too.”

She smiled at her ever helpful Vizier, wanting to hug her for a moment. “Well, you have only heard about that place from me, once you fully see the situation you will understand it's like rolling a boulder up a hill.” she looked to the side for a moment. “Yet… I think even Krakens know about that school’s reputation, and that ought to help if we need to send them somewhere as the creatures wouldn’t want to risk a nasty stomach ache.”

“You think they’re that nasty, krakens don’t get stomach aches easily” She started laughing.
“They can’t be that bad that even a kraken wouldn’t come close. From what I heard the teachers would make a nastier meal.” She said as she tried going back to a serious face.
“But hey, I think I could handle them as I’m quite the problem child myself” Her face saddened for a brief moment. “Ah!... Forget I said anything, it’s another tale for another time.” as she quickly reverted to her normal soft smile.

“Well, I know if I was a kraken I would definitely not eat any of those kids while you would be dinner for sure!” she told way too seriously at first, in the voice she used to command troops, before realizing what she said and going red all over. “Ah I sound like an idiot already and I merely thought about Fae Creek for one minute! That is the accursed influence of that place.”

She slowly regained her cool. “But, yes, perhaps with you by my side I can finally make use of that academy, it's worth a shot, a last chance for them to show service, if you may.”

“The most useful people tend to be found in weird places, perhaps when they grow up they’ll become a great asset, so it would be wise to align them to us so they won’t stray away.” She made an evil smile that would even make demons jealous and Looking quite embarrassed quickly after that. “Oh my, that was a bit unnecessary, wasn’t it?”.

“I KNOW.” the Margrave said in an undignified childish way. “But ANYWAY, enough of this silliness, you are right, perhaps we might find a diamond in the rough, and even if we don’t, then at least we can show up at the competition, it would be rude not to participate.”

She laughed at the adorable display in front of her. “Always the do-gooder.” She chuckled as she tried her hardest not to pinch the cheeks of the margrave . “But that’s why I like you, leave the grey areas to me.” Siduri said as she gave a reassuring smile.
“Then let’s plan a surprise visit, can’t have the staff find out and prepare for it.”

Laura smiled back at Siduri, patting her head gently. “And I am glad to have you around too. Yes, a surprise visit sounds perfect, it will avoid us having to deal with the Headmistresses and her silly antics.”

Daria sat next to Helena - it seemed like she'd made a friend here - and honestly was a little excited about learning some of the basics of magic. She'd be one of the first in her tribe - the druids didn't count - to learn the magic of the north!

Her hair blowing didn't even bother her. But it seemed like the class was beginning with an advanced topic, "Helena isn't this-" Daria began to comment about her confusion to the cat girl, but noticed that Helena seemed to be following along perfectly fine. In fact, everyone around her was.

She looked desperately around the room, hoping that some other student was equally at the beginning of the game's trail like her. She debated asking for help, but instead simply tried to copy the gestures the teacher was making and failing to summon up even an ounce of arcane energy.

"Affect my transformations? Maybe- I'm not entirely sure. Never encountered this particular problem before. Heck, the whole reason I came to this class was to learn to control them better." Sarah scrunched her eyes in concentration, then turned herself into a golden retriever, complete with a glass right front leg. She tried walking; it seemed that even when made of inorganic material, she could move it easily. "How's that?" she asked the professor.

Gertrude took detailed notes, her pencil writing furiously. She had no margin for error in the theoretical parts of magic, given that she'd probably get zeroes on most of her practicals. When the professor mentioned that she wanted to see everyone put the knowledge to use, her features plummeted. "Unfortunately, miss, the only magic I can use is holy magic. Elemental spells like this- they're impossible for me."

---

Helena quietly and cheerfully continued following the teachers' instructions, when Daria spoke up. The catgirl had taken a seat next to her in class, and had seemed quite eager before... but now the girl seemed to be a bit desperate, clearly trying and failing to follow along. Immediately, the ice mage's cheerful expression falls as she begins to think of solutions for helping out. After all, she wanted to help her friend and fellow catgirl, but she didn't really know how...

"Can't channel magic...?" Helena began, frowning. "It's a bit harsh of them to immediately jump into something like this, but I can see why they'd do it if they think everyone knows magic..."

Then, the ice mage seemed to remember something, and began to smile. "Daria, mind coming with me after class? If the teachers won't teach the basics of magic, then I'll just have to teach you! There's libraries here, and even if you can't read, I can, and there has to be something in there about the basics." Helena said, giving the catgirl a reassuring smile. "If you're okay with it, of course."

---

---

"Thaaaaanks, Kate!" Alura spoke cheerfully, looking up at her roommate with a smile, her creation turning it's head in sync. "It's a □□□□□□□! I really like□□□□□□□s, they're cool. It can fly quite fast, especially between places!" The girl spoke, the creature's name coming out as a strange, non-understandable word. "Too bad they're difficult to tame..."

Mela finished her assignment, a very abstract multi-colored statue. She was very tense when she made it, and to add to that it cracked up just a bit under its weight but didn't break yet. Yet just that noise was enough to make the apple girl hyperventilate.

"Y-yeah, I didn't come here to stay in my safe zone... Uhm... whoa Parr you are so good at this... Your wand is so cool too." she commented softly to the dog before looking at Sarah, who had turned her arm into glass, the apple girl gasping.

Professor Celia Reed (Alteration)

"Ahh! How very, very interesting! You even managed to adapt the glass material to your conceptual biological frame, how unusual! What type of transformation magic do you use... let me see... Stepless, Non-Passionsmithian? Could that be the case? I will need to study you more sugar, a whole lot. And I am sure along the way you will learn to control all of this... whatever it is~"

Her cat-like eyes shone brightly for a moment, one could imagine that is what the sphinx of the tales looked like before giving a traveler a riddle they had to answer.

Sadly (for her) she still had a class to lead, so she turned around and started to inspect the class for their work.

"An hourglass, huh? Very intricate design, good job." She said to Parr, nodding in approval and adjusting her glasses so she could see the details in the work.

"Yours is a bit cracked, please be more careful," she commented to Mela

"Very colorful work so far. No need to rush your creation, there is plenty of class time still." She told Kate.

The teacher froze a bit when seeing Allura's work. Eyes wide as she saw how organic the glass creations were. "Tame? Fly?" she gulped, she hoped she wouldn't have to deal with any sort of trouble. "Well it's good you brought your own style on the table honeybun, but keep them in check."

She sphinx sighed and moved to the front of the class, sitting down. "Well, it seems most of you already managed to do this first task. Good for you." half of it probably was because of how she had infused the clay with magic enhancing gems but... whatever made things easier.

"Now sweethearts, spend some time getting to know your creation a bit better. I propose changing the colors in place or trying to mold it after it was transformed. You should also notice how you create a point of resistance that stops the transformation from reversing naturally, knowing this well will be important when y'all are transforming yourselves."

She sat down and waited a bit, mostly paying attention to Sarah, of course, transmogrification theory running wild in her head.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot. We have a second exercise" It was the entire second half of the class but it honestly fled her mind until she was the materials she had requested. "We will train organic transmutation."

Somehow saying the words aloud made her stare at Allura with suspicious eyes.

"Its very simple! Ever heard how cooking is alchemy? This is pretty much that in concept. I have here some organic materials often used in cooking, flour, grains, some types of meat, did I ask for fruit...?" she had to mess around with the second set of supplies. "Some fruit"

"Using magic to process food is one of the most basic aspects of organic transmutation. The school cantina uses it a lot actually, those folks can make anything into a sausage, I don't even think they use meat in there anymore but don't tell the madam mistress I said this." she chuckled.

"It's pretty useful to get you used to how muscles and all those thingamajigs work with the magic. And if ya stick to the basics and logical, like meat into a hamburger or grain into bread, it's very easy. Of course, some can get creative and try to do an impossible thing or two, it's fine, just don't cause trouble."

@Cotton@blackdragon@Ponn

Kate- Alteration Class

"Sweet!" Kate replied, after Alura had told her about the creature she had created. "I think Nykannis told me about them, once. This crazy lookin' guy I'm making here is called a <<!◊◊◊¡>>, at least if I got the pronunciation right," she said with a laugh. "Nykannis showed me one of them when I tagged along on one of her extra-dimensional trips. Ya had to wear these special goggles when you looked at it, or you'd go totally insane! It was really awesome..." she added wistfully.

If Alura decided to look at Kate's creation, she would see a multicolored octahedron with clusters of four spines protruding from each vertex. Kate had also covered her bizarre creation with a number of eyes of various sizes.

"Now for the fun part!" Kate announced as she placed her splayed fingers over the object. With a minor expulsion of mystical power, the clay sculpture was transformed into glass, which shimmered prismatically in every color of the spectrum, and some others besides.

"Hey, teach! How's this?" Kate asked.

Professor Admas Alemu (Spellmaking)

The teacher looked sternly at the class to see how each student was performing, some were doing good enough, others were trying to show off, finally, some were struggling to even do what in her mind was a basic task. She couldn't help but to think about how low the bar to entering the school was. Still, she felt it would be too humiliating on her side to teach kindergarten level magical theory. What was she supposed to do? Buy one of those toys that go "The fire goes sizz, the water goes splash" while teaching young mages the basics of the elements?

She was about to approach one of the students who had not cast a spell yet, Daria, to discipline her when someone else called. "Yes? What is the situation?" her mood and approach wasn't the most friendly, mostly because her social skills came all from the army. For some weird reason, she felt like she had seen this student before, but she couldn't remember where. "You can only use holy magic? Not even a little spark of it?" she questioned, tilting her head. "Even if you are a priestess you'd be able to call.."

And then the dots connected. She immediately knelt to the student. "Your holiness!"



Yon frowned very hard as she looked at the task ahead. "Ughhh why elemental magic..." she whined. She did well with many styles of magic, like transformation, alchemy, and psychic, but elemental stuff really was out of her zone.

"Maybe I should use that thing mom gave me when I was little." she reached into her mouth and searched a bit, before pulling out some sort of magi-tech toy with buttons.

Upon pressing the button, the toy gave her a clue. "The wind goes woosh" Yon nodded at that, ignoring the giggles of students near her at the childish display. "wooooosh!" she managed to create a little whirlwind in her hand which promptly collapsed and imploded. "Aww"

Daria noticed the eyes of her teacher boring into her with a somewhat angry and frustrated look. The leopardess didn't travel all the way to the academy to flunk out on the first day! She hoped the gods would give her a little of beginners luck as she truly tried and struggled to channel some of the world's energies into her hands.

She wished she had paid more attention to those damn old druids in her tribe. Maybe then one of the great spirits would intervene on her behalf and grant her some desperately needed insight. She whispered a silent prayer to them.

Her holiness answered.

Daria sat there, utterly stunned as the glowing woman admitted that she too could not channel magic. Not only that, but she seemed to calm the teacher down entirely. Daria began to debate the implications of this sudden fortune as Helena made a very generous offer. She could think on the message the great spirits were trying to send her later. For now, she pounced on the opportunity offered by her fellow cat-girl as she answered with a quick nod and a small smile as she responded with a serious voice. "Legends of the Ice Kitten's generosity will be passed on for generations. A white cat in your class will symbolize luck in learning." It was hard to tell if Daria was joking or not about transforming Helena into some sort of minor deity.

As for her other roommate ... she may have not been the brightest but she was thankful for the extended distraction the silly girl offered her.

---

Helena couldn't help but smile at Daria's response to her offer. Whether or not the catgirl was serious - it was hard to tell with Daria - Helena still appreciated it. Her roommate seemed genuinely grateful, after all, and that was what mattered to the ice mage.

"Then I will have to make extra sure I'm worthy of such a honor." She began, having dispelled her creations. "I'm sure that, by the time we finish our careers here, you'll be fully capable of using magic and reading spellbooks."

---

---

"Don't worry miss! She will keep them in check! She's good with creatures, after all." Alura explained to the teacher, a big grin on her face as she soon turned her attention back to her roommate, watching and listening closely. When Kate finishes her work and casts the spell, Alura lets out some small noises of excitement, clapping her hands.

"Soooooo cooooool!" The strange mage began, a twinkle in her eyes. "So many shiny colours too..."

It was then that the teacher began speaking of organic transmutation, and the girl's attention was immediately drawn back to class as the teacher explained a thing or two about it, and a mischievous smile began to creep onto the girl's face as quickly grabbed herself some meat and some fruits, bringing them back with her and setting them on her desk, the grin on her face already revealing that she is very likely up to something as she opens her book, and begins to browse through it in search of something...

It was then that Alura's eyes widened, as she seemed to remember something.

"Of course, I could make some of those!" She said to nobody in particular as she closed her book and grabbed the meat. With expert care, she laid out the few pieces of meat she got out in front of her, and closed her eyes. Taking each individual piece, she laid them flat on her desk, shaping them into five-pointed stars by tearing off bits of meat where needed. She had the vessels, now she needed the life. The mage knew one thing that represented life best; a heart.

She had no spare hearts to use though, but she did have some fruits. And this was organic transmutation she was doing.

Can't spell organic without including some organs.

Reaching out towards her stack of fruit, the mage grabbed an apple. It was red, it was a decent size.

It would make a perfect heart.

Focusing on the red fruit, the mage let her magic run into it. She stared at the apple intently as it began to shift, transforming into something else. Then it began to beat very faintly.

She had shown her favour.

Holding the faintly-beating heart in her hand, she pressed it against the pieces of meat she had prepared. With every move, the heart's beating grew fainter, and it's false life was drained away into her creations. And with the fourth and final piece of meat, the heart stopped and withered away, crumbling away and decorating the last piece with it's ashes.

And slowly, the pieces of meat began to transform. They began to grow skin. Four star-shaped globs of skin, with faint vein-like lines of red from the false heart's blood.

And just as slowly, they stood up. Four small beings of skin, waiting for their master's command.

Their master, of course, was not concerned with commanding them. She simply watched her creations with a look of pride. She had done it, she'd gotten her help with it, and they were still her servants. But Alura had created vessels for her power.

It took all of her self-control for the mage not to burst from her happiness and pride. Instead, she simply quietly watched the rest of the class, often turning to Kate to see her roommates work, or her own creations, watching as they stood on her table.

---

Once class was finished, the ice mage turned to her fellow catgirl, giving her roommate a smile as she stood up and stretched out. "Well, Daria. Shall we go to the library now? Helena asked, fully intending to give her friend some proper lessons on magic and reading.

"I'll admit beforehand that... I don't know exactly where the libraries are, but I'm sure we'll figure it out!" the girl added, heading towards the exit door. "Maybe we'll even find the third library, I heard it was special in some way, don't exactly remember in what way."

As they leave the classroom, the ice mage decides to make some more smalltalk with her roommate, hoping to learn more about her, maybe figure out if there's anything in particular she'd want to learn. "So! Looking forward to this? Do you want me to help you with reading in general first, or start with magic directly?"