Chapter 179: The Mentor's Gaze
"Join our combat club."
"Huh?"
"Look at our strong bodies, our healthy muscles, our fit physique. Join the combat club and work out with us. Little girl, you're the Dragonborn. Your talents shouldn't be wasted on studying!"
"I'm a student, studying is my duty."
"Sis, think about it and tell me honestly, don't you want to unleash the power within your body? Join us, and you can touch the muscles of our brothers and sisters!"
"Even if you proudly show off your muscles, it doesn't make me happy at all!"
"Well... it seems like I'll have to take you to the club and let you experience it firsthand to understand the beauty of muscles. Many people say the same before joining the body transformation club, but in the end, they all become like us and become their ideal selves."
"Don't come closer!"
Michelle was so scared that she started breathing fire.
"Miss!"
"Where did you suddenly appear from?"
"Don't worry, we're not the same as those muscle barbarians."
"Then are you not here to invite me to join your club?"
"Of course not!"
"Can I leave? I have classes in the afternoon." Michelle thought the other person's mind wasn't working properly, as the club seemed to be a gathering place for eccentric people.
"Why rush? Let me finish introducing myself. Our club is mainly focused on mages, and I want to invite you to join."
"Mages?" Michelle lowered her guard slightly and asked with curiosity, "Really, mages?"
"Of course, we uphold the power of mages!"
"Since it's about mages, why invite me? I can't even construct a third-tier spell..."
"That's not a problem at all, hahaha. Does higher difficulty mean better spells?"
"Oh?" Michelle's heart skipped a beat.
"The simpler the spells, the better! Pure destructive power is the only thing that matters! Join our club and let us show you the beauty of fire and explosive spells!" The person raised their fist high. "Let the light of flames and explosive magic illuminate the world! You're talented, learn spellcasting with me!"
Translation: Michelle was shocked and horrified.
"You're the Pyromancers?!"
Translation: The group that's obsessed with blowing things up, both others and themselves?
Translation: She remembered watching a duel before, and one side was the Fireball Society. When they stepped onto the arena, they charged straight at their opponent with an explosive crystal in their hand.
Their actions, including but not limited to, drinking an extra dose of explosive elixir to charge forward and embrace the opponent, causing magical collapse explosions; enveloping the body with flames, turning it into a cloak of fire and sticking it onto the enemy; implanting explosive spells onto the shield and charging forward to strike with the shield.
“That's right, we are the perpetuators of eternal glory... Eh! Eh eh eh! Don't run! I haven't finished speaking yet!"
...
“And who might you be?”
“Miss, I see that you have extraordinary talents. How about joining our Goddess of the Night?"
“What kind of society is this? I have never heard of it before."
“We worship the Goddess of the Night, obeying her commands and keeping our whereabouts secret."
“Goddess of the Night?"
“Indeed, miss, would you be willing to spend some time to learn about our noble Goddess of the Night..."
“Sorry, but the witches in our clan have a unified belief."
“It's not conflicting. Why don't you take a look at our recent evangelism video of the Goddess of the Night."
Michelle looked down and saw a virtual idol dressed in black clothes bouncing around on the screen.
Goddess of the Night... Is that it?
Tsk! I was so defensive and cautious...
So, they're just a group of anime fans.
...
Defending against a bunch of club recruitments in the middle of noon, Michelle felt like she was about to have a nervous breakdown.
There were only a few serious clubs looking for her, but there were plenty of unserious ones.
The newcomers with a bit of potential had already been recruited by different clubs upon entering school, while the eccentric clubs were lacking members.
When she finally bypassed this group of people and arrived at the classroom, she was already exhausted.
Michelle took out her textbook, checked the course schedule, and immediately felt reinvigorated. The afternoon class was not a theoretical one, but a practical hands-on session.
There is only one practical combat exercise per month, but there are also many other practical courses.
Mechanical engineering students often have to learn how to make screws on the lathe, while electrical engineering students have to learn how to simulate traffic lights and draw CAD. All of them are practical hands-on courses.
There are two types of practical courses: one is a semi-compulsory swordsmanship course, which trains the body and teaches swordplay. Semi-compulsory means that after meeting the basic training requirements, students can choose whether or not to advance. The other type is practical magical arts courses, which are only completed during class.
The practical course this afternoon is the regular summoning in magical arts.
Yes, it's like the normal summoning in Yu-Gi-Oh!, where fixed summoning is done through specific mediums and rituals.
Summoning Art is one of the mandatory courses for every mage, but summoning higher-level magical creatures is difficult, and a large number of summoned creatures are no longer used in battle but rather treated as pets. As a result, purist Summoning Art practitioners have become increasingly rare. The summoned creatures used by the military mostly come from elemental realms and are manufactured puppets, ranging from low to high ranks. Actual magical creatures have become scarce.
Because they possess intelligence, they are both afraid of pain and, even more so, afraid of death. When faced with summoning creatures like the Serpent of a Thousand Snakes, if one feels like they are going to lose halfway through, they will simply run away. It's better to choose an elemental creature or a magical puppet giant that won't flee with their tail between their legs.
Michelle has a keen interest in Summoning Art spells, but she hasn't established any permanent contracts yet. The summoning of elemental creatures is usually temporary, disposable items such as Small Rock Fists, Great Stone Snakes, Water Elementals, Seahorses, etc. They will leave on their own once their power is exhausted. There is no need for individual contracts with these types of creatures. And in normal circumstances, encountering extremely powerful higher-level elemental spirits is practically impossible.
She had also considered becoming a Summoning Art practitioner before and thought opening a pet store in the future would be a good idea.
This was a mandatory course. Soon after Michelle sat down, she heard a commotion.
A beautiful figure appeared at the entrance, it was Alena. She had bandages wrapped around her body, indicating that her wounds had not yet healed. She seemed slightly worn out compared to before, still an Ice Queen, but with a touch of vulnerability that evoked sympathy.
Michelle leaned on the table, using a book to shield her view, silently swallowing her guilt. She didn't intend to be so forceful, but in that moment, there was no possibility of showing mercy. She couldn't control herself fully.
Alena approached Michelle without any hesitation.
The gaze of half the classroom turned towards them. Someone took out a bag of potato chips hidden in the desk and assumed a posture of watching a show.
...Huh? She didn't evade or avoid, she simply walked straight towards Michelle.
...Is she coming back for revenge?
...I love watching women fight, let's get it on!
Michelle hid her face behind the book, staring at it without blinking, seemingly intoxicated in the ocean of knowledge.
She knew Alena was nearby. Her breathing became increasingly rapid, her heartbeat quickened, and she nervously didn't know what to say.
Everyone, including her, thought something would happen. However, Alena simply chose a seat nearby and sat down.
She didn't make any trouble.
This disappointed the onlookers, but Michelle's sitting down actually made her feel extremely uneasy. She would rather Alena kick her out rather than just sitting there without saying anything. She felt like she was holding a time bomb that could go off at any moment, only hearing the ticking sound but unable to see how much time was left on the monitor.
She was very nervous, to the point that she couldn't concentrate even after the class started. Even as the class progressed, she still hadn't been able to complete the construction of the Summoning Art.
She was prone to making mistakes when she got nervous, making multiple mistakes in a row. The resulting magic fluctuations spread throughout the classroom, attracting attention and laughter from her classmates. The professor shook his head repeatedly.
Alena glanced sideways at her, and Michelle blushed, wishing she could bury her head and upper body into the snow, just like a Arctic fox.
“You constructed it wrong.” The blooded girl gave her a tip. "Add three to the foundation, shift the Venus, and calibrate the coordinates of the elemental realm."
Michelle steadied her mind and quickly followed her tip to recalibrate. She didn't make any more mistakes this time, but still felt a bit flustered.
Alena observed all of this and thought back to what Sasha had said. This was the familiar Michelle she knew, completely different from the Michelle of the previous day. "Indeed... yesterday's her was not her," Alena murmured in a low voice, audible only to the two of them. And the person she had speculated and doubted... was standing right behind her! The shadowy figure raised an eyebrow, as if a horror movie soundtrack should play at this moment.
