Runes A Tale Of The Abyss - 69 Chapter 62

Julius was an academician. A man that had dedicated his life to scholarly teaching and research on magic. A man who embodied what it meant to have the power of magic. What it meant to wield that power for a chivalric order. He was always ready, that was what he prided himself in. He would never be caught off guard… if ONLY that principal did not exist he would be ready for ANYTHING!

A young man with blue hair and a pair of glasses watched in utter annoyance as two people were tossed into his classroom, and he heard the diabolical teasing voice of his boss…

The students in the class were all tensed seeing their teacher putting up his annoyed face again. It was hard to annoy their professor…

Griff fell on the floor with Sylvie on top of him, and the door was soon closed after them.

“Uh, hi?”

Griff decided to say something because the silence was becoming too awkward. After a couple of seconds the man sighed and gestured them to stand up, which they obliged happily.

“You two are presumably the transfer students, right?”

“Uh yes sir.”

“Call me Professor. I’ll be your teacher from now… tsk damn old hag should have just knocked the door like a normal person… anyway, both of you introduce yourselves.”

The man, Professor Julius, said with a tired voice.

Sylvie was first to speak up.

“My name’s Sylvie. I come from a trade city known as Alfrum.”

She said quickly, looking around the classroom. It seemed that they were both being looked at by the students in interest. Not all of them had the same gazes, but they were definitely intrigued. After she said Alfrum, the class had already started whispering amongst each other.

“You, boy?”

“I’m Griff, same with her I’m from Alfrum too.”

The whispering slightly quelled down as a boy with very short brown hair raised his hand for a question. He had very small eyes, and a smile that could be said to be that of a child who find a new toy.

“Professor, what are their magic attributes?”

“That’s something that only they can say when they feel comfortable…”

Julius replied, while looking at the boy with slight irritation. It seemed the kid liked stirring up the class if the Professor seemed that annoyed with him… well he seemed mostly annoyed with everything so far so Griff wasn’t that sure anymore.

“Okay you two… take a seat. There’s an empty seat behind Kato, and one next to Ellen.”

Sylvie quietly moved behind the sharp eyed Kato and sat, some of the boys were slightly glancing at her. Her silver hair was definitely eye catching.

Griff was also getting a few stares from his classmates. It wasn’t that common coming across someone with two distinct hair colors even though people had very colorful hair.

The teacher had gestured a girl with short, messy red hair that seemed to disregard Griff’s presence. She was busy looking at her textbook and drawing circles with her fingers, seemingly bored. Griff quietly walked behind her desk and took a seat.

“Alright, now that that’s over I will be getting back to explaining the fundamentals of attributes. Could you two help the new bra- kids with their class notes later on?”

“Sure thing professor!”

Kato said with a mischievous smirk. Ellen just nodded, and continued to draw circles, sighing.

Julius started explaining the fundamentals of attributes from where he left off.

“Alright, as I was saying what constitutes an attribute is how you manipulate what we call neutral mana. We can imbed neutral mana with the attributes that we have grasped the concept of. Of course if you use the attribute you have an affinity for your chances of successfully conjuring a spell, and its strength increases.”

He snapped his fingers, and a small, bluish orb appeared to gather around his hand.

“Can anyone tell me what I did just now?”

A blond boy with slight scars on his face raised his hand enthusiastically.

Julius sighed and nodded.

“Yes, Lance?”

“You made a blue shiny ball!”

The class slightly chuckled, and some laughed out loud. Even Griff found the kid funny, smirking.

“No Lance. I’ll be assigning you more homework, it seems you still can’t speak using correct magecraft terminology.”

The boy’s jovial face suddenly dropped as he looked like he could cry in an instant.

Griff was laughing along with the rest of the class now. The kid seemed to be brutish from those muscles and scars, but he was a funny guy.

“Okay prof…”

“That’s professor… Now, what I just did is gather neutral mana floating around us, and condense it i to what we call a mana ball. You can use it to attack your opponents, and it’s the most basic spell. We usually use this spell to determine how much mana a mage can tap into as of the moment as the size varies on your mana reserve. Could you all try conjuring a mana ball?”

The class was suddenly filled with the sounds of students trying to conjure a mana ball. Some were chanting to no avail while others easily conjured a mana ball.

[Hey now you monster don’t actually cast the spell. Do it in moderation.]

‘Huh… why not?’

[Your sense of mana is really distorted… the amount of mana in your body is phenomenal, most likely it remains from the otherworlder that had taken over your body in the past, and it merged with your own reserve as well.]

‘Yeesh fine.’

A small, blue mana ball started to conjure around Griff’s finger and started to grow slowly as time passed. Some students who couldn’t cast a mana ball looked in awe at Griff. His mana ball could be on the larger side in the class.

Sylvie was struggling as she didn’t even understand what mana was. She was looking at Griff with sad puppy eyes, and he truly felt like petting her head to calm her down…

The girl in front of Griff had not attempted to cast the spell and was now lying her head on her desk, napping. A few seconds later Julius walked up to her and flicked her head slightly.

“Ellen no matter how good you are with magic you have to follow my directions in class.”

She grumbled, raising her head.

“Sheesh… fine.”

The girl replied with an irritated, and strong voice. She snapped her fingers, and a mana ball conjured around her finger, a fairly large- no the largest in the room. The students were sighing looking at her.

‘Huh… apparently we got a genius here.’

[She’s very talented in human terms, interesting.]

“That enough Professor?”

She said, still irritated.

“Alright, enough. Now let’s get back to the lecture…”

As Julius walked back to the front, Griff tapped Ellen on her back.

“Hey! That was pretty cool! I’m Griff, nice to meet you. What magic do you use?”

He asked curiously. He was very intrigued by someone who had such mana reserves, and wanted to see her magic.

[I’m starting to think you’re a magic nerd.]

‘Duh! Of course I am.’

The girl looked over her shoulder. She had amber gold eyes that seemed to look down on Griff… or was that to his imagination.

Unknown to Griff some of the students were looking at him with worry, and some were shocked.

“Is h crazy?!”

“Does he want to burn to death?”

“Damn… the Elemental Queen’s gonna roast him for sure.”

Were amongst those that Griff could hear. Ellen simply pushed his hand away, and before turning back to her nap she spoke.

“Don’t talk to me or touch me. Just because the professor told me to help you doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

[Ouch.]

‘My self esteem as a man…’

Griff looked shocked at her sentence.

“Oh she didn’t kill him.”

“She’s not annoyed at him yet, that’s probably why.”

Griff shook his head and decided to not back down. He was NOT going to get treated like this, not on his watch.

“Hey, I’m just trying to be friendly. No need to be stingy you know.”

“Shut up. I don’t associate myself with weaklings like you.”

Griff’s eye twitched. Oh he’d show her his magic alright.

‘You’re on my shit list now lady…’

Suddenly a boy tugged his shoulder from behind. The boy sitting behind him shook his head sideways and whispered to him.

“Don’t provoke her! She’s known as the Elemental Queen. She’s one of the strongest in the class. No one bothers her because she beat up anyone who annoys her! Save yourself my man!”

Ellen had already turned away and was minding her own business.

Griff looked back at the kid.

“That may be the case for now… I’ll make it change. You’ll see.”

Suddenly the guy’s eyes widened in slight fear, and a couple students looked over in fear.

“What, something on my face?”

Griff pointed at himself.

“Uhh- behind you.”

The guy replied meekly.

Griff turned around to see Ellen looking back at him with sharpened eyes and an angry scowl on her face.

“What was that newbie?”

She said, looking as intimidating as she could. To Griff, however, a school girl wasn’t about to make him tremble. Not after facing a horde, however artificial it might be.

He locked his gaze with her. Screw trying to stay lowkey for now. He won’t be pressured by her.

“You heard me right. You won’t stay one of the strongest in this class with me here.”

A couple of the students gasped, some looking in shock, and even a whistle was heard. Julius seemed to not have a care in the world and continued explaining the class to those who were listening.

“You’ll regret those words you half-and-half freak… you’ll see our difference later on, mark my words.”

“Did you seriously try to insult me with my hair. Yikes… I’m scared, oh I’m trembling!”

Griff replied with a harsh and sarcastic tone, acting like he was horrified. This earned a couple laughs from the class. Seems like he would get along with his classmates, bar this bratty girl.

“Tchh-”

She stood from her seat, but a stern voice forced her to sit down.

“That’s enough! Sit down Ellen. I will not have childish power squabbles in my class…”

She grumbled and sat back down, but not without giving Griff a final, dirty look.

“That kid… he’s got guts.”

“I wonder how the Queen will respond.”

“He’s gonna fucking die! Somebody help him!”

“He seems interesting…”

The class was gossiping amongst itself.

‘Seems like I made one heck of a first impression. Good job me!’

Caphriel was watching the entire ordeal like one would watch a sports competition. She had cut ber mental link with Griff as she shouted in his mind.

[ATTA BOY! SHOW EM WHOSE BOSS! I DID NOT CHOOSE A LOUSY HUMAN AS A HOST! HEHEHEH! RIP THAT GIRL APART GRIFF!]

She was… a bit too enthusiastic it seems.