Blood Curse Academia - Orientation

Chapter LXV (65) - Group Projects

“One thousand two hundred and four years ago, our great academy was founded. Roughly eighteen years previous to that monumental occurrence, Mt Kazen’s eruption killed 94% of the island’s native inhabitants. This disaster also destroyed the natural magical shroud that protected the island from outside detection. The remaining 6% survived due to their nature as fishermen. They happened to be far out at sea before the devastation occurred. Upon arriving back at their home, those few survivors reached out to all nearby nations in a request for aid. Hon, Tross, Edgeland, and Ilosin-Don all responded. This resulted in a new host of issues. Due to its unique location, Viefae, or Shinzoushima as it was later renamed, was situated in a strategic stranglehold. Any nation that held control of the island, held control of the seas between the four nations. Instead of bringing stability and assistance to the few remaining Viefae people, the nations brought war. After seventeen years and four months of conflict, the Shinzou Truce was signed. It dictated that the island would be a neutral safe haven for all nations. No one held more control than any of the others. Which, consequently, resulted in the formation of Shinzou Academy.”

Kizu listened to Krimpit’s lecture with half an ear as he doodled. The professor spoke in a cold, calculated manner. If the tone actually fluctuated or cadence shifted, the lecture might have had the beginnings of a decent story. Kizu could at least see the bones of one underneath the presentation. Though, he had to begrudgingly admit that the other students in the class appeared enraptured by the information. Krimpit’s terrifying aura held them gripped by his every word.

A student raised her hand. Krimpit acknowledged her, allowing her to speak.

“What happened to the Viefae people?” she asked. “Are their descendants still here?”

“Caught in the crossfires of war, they died. The genetic line ceased to exist after the ninth year of conflict. Some reports speculate that a few attempted to escape down into the World Dungeon, seeking power to retake their island, but there is no evidence to support such an organized expedition and most scholars agree it to be a wishful fantasy. If anyone was foolish enough to descend into its depths, they perished soon after.” He then launched into the details of the new trading routes the academy’s position offered to the surrounding nations. He spoke ad nauseam about how Hon managed to slowly accumulate power over different facets of the island’s government, such as the monetary system.

“What are you drawing?” Ione said, sliding into the empty seat beside Kizu.

“What does it look like?” he asked.

“Half parrot, half dog creature spitting out a rock? Is it a new magical creature you saw recently?”

Kizu grimaced. It was supposed to be Emilia standing in the moonlight. “Where are you getting parrot from?”

“The thing on its face, you see how it’s hooked? Looks like a beak to me.”

He stared at where she pointed. That was meant to be a stomach, not a face.

Kizu crumpled up the paper in a fist. The noise attracted Krimpit’s attention who swiftly exiled him for the remaining class session.

In Combat F, Arclight gathered them all around her.

“Now,” she began. “I know many of you will be saddened to hear, but with the midterms now complete, your class will be moving on from daily cardio.”

The students erupted in cheers and whoops of joy.

She shushed them with a smile and a wave of her hand.

“Today, I plan to instruct you in the art of hand-to-hand. Just the bare basics for now.”

“Why does a mage need to learn how to fight with his fists?” one student asked. “Can’t you just blast them with an ice beam and be done?”

“Would you like to serve as an example?” Arclight asked.

The student quickly backed down, obviously learning from Arclight’s past ‘volunteers’ to not to press the question. From Kizu’s own experience, it made sense to build a foundation of how to fight starting with the body.

“The first thing to know,” Arclight continued. “Is that hand-to-hand is a final resort. Unless you are extremely experienced and specialized in the art, it will nearly always be better to back away and put space between you and your opponent. And if that’s not possible, finding or conjuring a weapon will likely serve you better than trying to punch an enemy. But weapons can be lost, and opponents can back you into corners. So, you must first learn how to block a strike.”

She beckoned someone lurking unseen in the shadows to approach. The student even loomed over the professor. His skin a sickly green tint, Kizu recognized him as Gob Lucas, the half-troll student. The edges of his mouth twitched into a slight smile as he stared down at Arclight.

“Lucas has volunteered to demonstrate for this class. Now Lucas, strike me.”

The half-troll nodded obediently and took a stance in front of Arclight. He watched her carefully for a few seconds, then, without further warning, he attacked.

Arclight lifted her hand and deflected his fist to the side while side-stepping, allowing Lucas’ weight to carry him into an overextended stumble. Arclight then chopped the back of his head with a swift strike. The massive student collapsed in the dirt.

“Whoops,” she said, crouching down next to Lucas. She offered him her prosthetic hand and lifted him to his feet. “I struck a bit harder than intended. How do you feel, Lucas?”

Despite her apologetic words, the smile never left her face. And Lucas grinned back at her. With how they acted, Kizu doubted that Arclight stuck with any unintended strength. The professor went through the motions of the block again, this time Lucas acting in slow motion. She explained all the different parts of the block, from where she put the weight on her feet, to how high she positioned her hands. But instead of striking him in the back of the head, this time Arclight explained that this opening would also serve as a prime opportunity to slip away and gain distance.

They paired up after the demonstration and Kizu found himself next to Evie, the girl with porcupine-like quills sprouting from her skin. She put on a pair of gloves, to cover the quills there. She took the defensive posture that Arclight had demonstrated.

As Kizu struck at her, she raised her hands to deflect the blow as instructed and the quills pierced the cloth gloves and punctured his skin. He cried out in surprise and wrenched his fist back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, burying her face in her palms.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Kizu said through gritted teeth. He looked down at the back of his bloody knuckles where Evie had blocked his blow. A few broken quills stuck out of his skin.

Arclight approached and immediately determined the source of their issue.

“You’re not fighting a human,” she told him, taking his hand and examining the wound. Kizu winced as she yanked the quills out of his skin. “You cannot expect every opponent you face to be a clone of the last. Many Kemon like Evie here have physical advantages in close combat. But, if you find a way around it and manage a successful strike, nine times out of ten the opponent won’t be able to see it coming. It’s easy to become complacent and rely on a natural resistance.”

To punctuate her point, Arclight spun on her heel and flicked Evie in the forehead, dropping the girl to the ground in an instant.

“How though?” Kizu asked, looking at her uninjured hand.

“There are hundreds of methods! Open your mind and guess! Perhaps the greatest beauty of magical combat is the limitless options at your disposal. Battle acts as an expression of creativity and ingenuity. I can teach you the foundations, but every individual has a unique application.”

“How do you do it?”

“Just now I use a body modification spell to harden my skin to the texture of steel.”

Kizu didn’t know any techniques similar to that. Not without his brewing equipment, at least. He watched as Evie stood up, rubbing her forehead, and looked over at him sheepishly.

Going to his pack, Kizu retrieved a flask of water. He guzzled down half the flask, letting a bit of the liquid run down his chin. Then he poured the remaining water on his hands.

Arclight watched him with curiosity as he motioned for Evie to get ready again. She seemed confused but did as he asked, taking the defensive stance.

This time, right before he made contact with her hands, he froze the water soaking his hand, encasing his fist in ice.

Evie yelped in surprise and dropped her hands, completely forgetting to deflect the blow as she instead jumped backwards. The strike landed on her shoulder with a crack and sent her sprawling in the dirt. Kizu took a quick second to examine the icy shield over his hand, now with quills sticking out of it, before transforming it into steam. The broken quills dropped to the ground as the ice dissipated.

“Excellent!” Arclight said, beaming. “You have a great amount of potential, Kaga. In the right circumstances, you might develop into a proper battle mage! Resourcefulness is key to victory.”

Kizu crouched to help Evie back to her feet, only to realize that she couldn’t take his hand without her injuring him. But she stood back up on her own just fine.

“And you, Miss Alito.” Arclight faced Evie. “As I said earlier. You need to know others will find ways around your natural defenses. Dependency will cost you your life. Knowing your enemy’s spell aptitudes will go a long way into predicting how he or she will act. Unfortunately, you rarely get the chance to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea with your opponent before battle. Instead, you need to watch for physical cues to give you hints. I will assign you a text that might help.”

Evie looked incredibly grateful for the chance to read instead of actively fight. They both bowed and thanked Arclight as she dismissed them and went to assess other students.

Kizu continued to practice with Evie, using his ice shield to ignore her quills, and switched positions. Evie was terrible at the offensive, holding back her blows to the point they were almost slow motion. A bit of irritation built Kizu. How was he supposed to learn if his partner refused to commit to a punch? But after a few more attempts, he relaxed, telling himself it was stupid to be upset about someone’s nature being too nice of all things. Evie definitely didn’t deserve any of his ire. Eventually, the academy bells rang overhead signaling the end of the class.

When he arrived in Enchanting C, he took his usual seat next to Basil. Today, the shapechanger looked younger. While his height remained, his features looked like that of a gangly first year. Kizu assumed he chose the look to cover up his lack of physical mass.

Kizu still hadn’t properly spoken to Basil about his betrayal down in the World Dungeon. Every time he got close to addressing the issue, there was always another student within eavesdropping range. It was something that continued to eat him up inside and he didn’t know the right way in which to address the issue. But before he could come up with a good way of confronting his friend, Professor Kateshi stepped through the painting that served as the class’ entrance.

“Today,” she said, addressing the students as she took her usual place in the front of the classroom. “You will need to find a group to work with.”

There was a groan from the class. Kateshi ignored it as she continued.

“Enchanting goes beyond just what an individual can accomplish. You are now all at the point where more complex devices are within your understanding. Working together, you can complete a piece of a project and combine your skills, each of you creating one metaphorical cog, to accomplish an enchanted device beyond an individual’s ability. You will be working in groups of three or four. And this project will act as your final. We’re still a couple months away from the semester’s end, so you have plenty of time to brainstorm and develop an enchantment.”

Kateshi tapped the front blackboard and a glowing number appeared on it. It ticked down from one hundred to ninety-nine. The class immediately erupted into chatter as everyone found their group mates.

“You with me?” Kizu asked Basil. If he kept the changeling close, it would give him more time to figure out how to question him.

“Of course,” he responded. “I told you from the very beginning I was going to rely on you to get a passing grade in this class.”

Kizu scrambled to get a few other random students’ attention, but they all blew him off. Just his luck this was the one day Basil decided not to appear as a drop dead gorgeous model. By the time the countdown dropped to zero, almost every student in class was in a group.

Professor Kateshi patrolled through the class, jotting down their assembled teams.

“Kaga Finn,” Kateshi said. “You’re still sitting alone. Join your brother’s group.”

Finn’s eyes widened in horror and he started to stammer a protest, but Kateshi ignored him and moved back to the front of the room.

“You have eight weeks,” she said, addressing the entire class. “Which might seem like a great deal of time, but it will pass by quicker than a blink of the eye. Today, you should begin hypothesizing with your group and sketching out ideas. Remember, the key is to incorporate the strengths of the individual to create something especially remarkable as a whole.”

Finn plopped down in a seat near them with his customary scowl.

“So,” Kizu said. “Any ideas for what you guys want to create?”

“A clothing mannequin,” Basil immediately proposed. “One that can change sizes and body shapes based on who is looking at it to showcase how the clothes will fit without needing to actually try them on.”

“I hate that idea,” Finn said.

“Do you have something better?” Basil said defensively.

“I’m not working on a useless clothing mannequin for my final.”

“Okay, how about a mask that helps people learn how to smile,” Basil shot back. “I think you’ll find that mighty helpful.”

Kizu quickly spoke up before the two of them ripped into one another.

“I have an idea,” he said, proposing the first thing that came to mind. “What if we were to develop a bookshelf? Like one of the ones they have in the library that conceals hidden passageways and disguises books.”

To his surprise, neither of them protested the idea. Finn looked away, sulking, and Basil just shrugged.

“You’re both good with this then?” Kizu said, shocked. He expected push back from them. He hadn’t even given the idea more than a moment of thought. “I’m all ears if you have any other ideas.”

“It’s fine,” Finn grumbled.

“I’m good with whatever,” Basil said, giving Kizu a thumbs up. “Like I said, I expect you to carry me through this project. You owe me afterall.”

He and Basil began hypothesizing on the different things they might be able to enchant the bookshelf do and methods of how they might be applied, with Finn occasionally muttering criticisms. Eventually, they decided on creating a gate tied between two different bookshelves. Divvying up the roles, Finn took on the base enchantments of the bookshelves, being surprisingly talented at glyph work, while Basil agreed to enchant the triggering mechanism. They quickly hit a hurdle though when they realized how much their project relied on spatial magic. Reluctantly, Kizu agreed to take the bulk of that on himself, as he was the only one with any experience with spatial manipulation. Though jumping was significantly different from the portal they proposed. Which meant more studying. On the bright side, Kizu thought he might be able to gain access to some restricted areas of the library thanks to the project. He hoped to satiate the growing curiosity about those forbidden sections that had been building over the last few months. He couldn’t help feeling just a bit giddy at the thought of all those new books.