Serpentine Master of Elements (Lamia Sorceress Tg) Draft

Wizard sleeves were famously spacious, yet James’ were filled to bursting. The young student of magic was furiously crafting notes, ad hoc talismans, and diagrams of magic circles, and stuffing them into his overflowing sleeves. In two hours, the final exams for the Pristine Elemna Academy of Elemental Crafts’ sophomores would start, and James needed all the help he could get.

“Help” being a generous term. He was never one for studying let alone practicing, and now with 60% of his grade on the line, cheating like this was his only hope. Copying the last note, he got up to return to the bookshelf, awkwardly tiptoeing to keep the rustling in his sleeves from tipping off the librarian.

“Come on, one of these books has to have a Fury Flame sigil.” James flipped rapidly through old tomes before tossing them on the floor one after the other. He froze at the sound of approaching footsteps, darting to the ground to pick up the discarded books. “Sorry for the noise, I was just, um…shit!” Half the notes fell out of his sleeves. The footsteps stopped right behind him. He snatched the papers off the ground. “It’s not what it looks like, I’m–”

“–Cheating?”

James spun around. Standing over him was not the librarian, but a girl. She looked barely older than him, was also wearing an apprentice sorceress gown and had very noticeable orange hair that complemented her slightly darker skin tone quite well. If James had time, he would have tried to ask her out immediately, but those things weren't on his mind at the moment. 

“No…? I mean yes… I mean come on!” Jame shouted back, stomping his foot on the floor. “I want to pass this exam too, you know? You can’t seriously be blaming me for doing what I can to have a chance!”l

He didn’t know if justifying his actions was really the right thing to do, but it was the only thing that came to mind. After all, she definitely saw what he was doing. 

“But there are more effective ways of cheating, you know?” the orange haired girl pondered, stumping James with her unexpected reply. 

“...like what for example?”

“Like calling upon the knowledge and power of past legendary mages.” She chirped, patting the book she held in her hands.

“...what? I’ve never heard of that even being possible.”

“It is possible, just a little tricky without the proper guiding instructions. But it's quick, effective, and as far as I know, even legal. I mean, I’ve checked the rules of the exams multiple times and nothing in it speaks against calling power into your own body. That’s why I had planned to do it for the exam.”

At this point James was fully hooked on the girl's proposal. Whether she was telling the truth or not be damned. “I see. Do you know of any other of those instruction manuals that I could use for my exam?”

“There should be more of them around here. This tome is about the school's founder, Elemna the Hexmagnus and I planned to… Hmm…” suddenly the girl started to think, staring at James as some of his notes began escaping his robe once again. She began to chuckle. 

“Alright, you look like you need it more than me.” The girl reached out with the book, handing it to James.

“Wait. For real?!?”

“Yeah. I’ll just look for another one around here. And honestly, I’m not even all that worried about the exam anyway.”

As James stared at the book in his hands, the title “The teachings of Elemna the Hexmagnus” almost burned into his eyes. He looked up at the girl once again, and bowed deeply to her. “Thank you so much!”

“Don’t mention it!” She said, waving goodbye as she turned around. “Let’s meet again after we both passed the exam~”

“Yeah! I wish you good luck too!” James smirked as he opened the grimoire. It was nice to collaborate with a fellow cheater—he should do it more often! “Now, how do you channel power again?” He sifted through his sleeve with his free hand for the proper note. “Ah, here’s the sigil…I think! So I just place it over the book, trace my fingers like so, and–” Violet light burst from the book’s pages, the palpable brightness knocking James to the ground before engulfing him.

The librarian glanced up from his paperwork to see streaks of light beaming out from the gaps in the bookshelf. “Hey! No casting in the library!”

—

It had been a long day, even for a seasoned teacher. Being the leading examiner for over 25 students in a day is tiring even for the best of the best, and that included Darek Polucrates. With quite a few years of teaching under his belt, one would think that he would get used to it at some point, yet it still remained the most stressful and tiring week of the year.

Granted there was something that kept him going. Seeing so many promising students walk up to the plate and demonstrate their incredible skills was inspiring. Going so far that Darek himself saw a lot of promising stars among the students, ones he knew would make a name for themselves as soon as they left the academy.

However, there was always a flipside to every coin. A sorcerer's apprentice to every Prodigy. And the moment Darek saw James enter the examination hall, he immediately let out a sigh. 

As a teacher he was not allowed to let any prior judgment or personal feelings influence the grades he gave out, but he knew James. And he also knew what kind of a minimalistic student James was. And when a cheat note immediately fell out of his sleeve the moment he stepped into the room, it really didn't leave a good impression on Darek. 

“So…” Darek began, staring at the note on the ground. 

“...are you going to throw that out or should I fail you right now?”

“Nono! Please! I don’t know why I still had one of these on me! I thought I threw them all out!”

“Haaaa… James, listen. I’ll give you a chance to show me what you can do. But if I find anything that even resembles cheating, I will be ending this exam right that second. Do you understand me?”

“Y-yes sir.”

“Good. Throw that thing away and then get onto the firing range.”

—

Worst case scenario and it happened right off the bat too. This wasn't good. Professor Polucrates didn’t exactly look like he would tolerate any more slip ups, and he was looking very thoroughly. It was practically impossible to sneak anything past him when he was like that, the best James could do was just comply and throw away all the notes he still had on him. 

Well, good thing James had prepared the spell to call upon Elemna already, although so far, it hadn't really done anything. Which was good since that also meant the professor did not detect anything yet. For now all he could do was hope that the spell actually worked when the time came.

James took a deep breath as he stepped onto the firing range. Professor Polucrates sat down on a floating chair, crossed his legs and let the chair float about 2 meters off the ground. He was quickly joined by two other examiners, one to each of his sides. The professor pulled out an exam sheet and James gulped. 

The exam has begun.

“Alright, future sorcerer James.” The professor spoke, his voice booming through the room, making James shudder. “You will have to demonstrate your knowledge, power and control over each element. Now, please perform the Firesong Energiser spell. And tell us everything you know about it too.” 

“Uggghhh……how do I start that again?” James silently questioned, the hand gripping the wand sweats profusely from his inability to remember even the most basic spell, let alone the spell he should start the test with. He curses himself. How could he forget all the spells that he has forcibly tried to learn in a day at this moment? He couldn’t have calmed down, no, the stress of his lack of knowledge scares him to no end which doesn’t bode well for his performance in front of the professors.

“Can you please raise the stick, like, higher?”

“Huh? Who said that?”

“You ARE trying to cast the Firesong Energiser thingymajig, right? So raise your wand a little higher.”

“Is there a problem, James?” one of the professors asked. “Wha-no sir!” The professor doesn’t look convinced.

“Gosh, are you dumb? I said, raise it a little. Do you want to cast a spell or pick out trash?”

Who the hell is speaking here?! Oh good, now he’s talking to himself. “It doesn’t matter who I am, but you seriously need to listen to me. Without a clear mind, you will fuck up even the most basic of spell. Common knowledge really. Just calm down, just take a breath.”

Okay, I’ll listen to you. He slowly took a breath and slowly raised his wand in the open. James waits for further instruction, and hears the mysterious voice guide him further. “Good, so you CAN listen to reason. Now please follow what I have to say.”

The spell’s name clicked inside his mind and with a stiffened tongue, he repeated what the rude voice said in his head. “I-Invoke the beat of the blazing sun! Firesong Energiser!”

An aura began to seep inside his body, collecting the mana spread out in the air, and all of it concentrated as it moved from the end of his hands and into the wooden construct. Sparks began to light at the tip of the finger and suddenly, a familiar tint of red and yellow form from the black wood. 

“I-i did it!” He shouted, happy that the spell he managed to spit out is lighting out from the wand. He tried to contain his happiness, but dumb face couldn’t stop but to smile from the display of his first successful display. However, the spell doesn’t stop just at the tip. WIth its everlasting flame, it swooped down the stick and spread to his hands. “!!!!!!!”

He couldn’t have screamed as the flames immediately snubs his chance, engulfing his body in its burning embrace. James should have dropped the stick, ran for water yet as his seconds flashed, he could feel as his skin aren’t scorching in pain from the heat, only a pleasurable warmth that doesn’t seem to harm his body

What…..what’s happening? 

“Duh….that’s what the spell does. Not a listener, aren’t you?”

The flames kept burning his body, yet neither his body or his clothes were being affected in any way. The magical fire only serves to shine his body, and it doesn’t seem to fade away. He nervously laughs at the spell he casted and looks at the professors who are writing something on the paper.

However, outside of his sight, something else is happening more than the harmless flames. On his skin, the flames are subtly burning away the imperfections that coated him. The pimples, its scars, the uncontrollable hair growth, and the rashes have been burnt away, leaving a new layer of pure, smooth and untainted skin on his body.

The body also doesn’t seem to remain the same. James notices as the professor is looking a little higher than before. He narrowed his eyes to confirm his view, and is weirded out as the height differences are getting more obvious.

“See, bozo? That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

‘Maybe, but what the heck happened to me?’

“Dunno. Didn’t look.” 

“Do you mind telling us a little bit about the spell you have just cast?” One of the assistant professors asked, more as a reminder than anything.

“R-right…” James shuddered, but the voice in his head seemed to have a blast.

Oh man, what a freebie~ Let’s see~ Back in my days we used this spell to psych us up before big events, performances and battles. It's one of the most potent spells to make your head focus on the right things, ya know. It makes you forget your worries and see your strengths. Def a must cast before any grand battle~

There was something strange going on besides the weird voice still talking in his head. James… he… knew all that. In a strange way, it didn't feel like the voice was telling anything new. It felt like he had cast the spell dozens of times before, knowing exactly what the Firesong Energiser did and how to cast it… and just forgot until now.

“I-It’s a spell that was used in ancient times for m-mages that needed to psyche themselves up before battle. Or performances.” James spoke, trying to organize his thoughts as he did. He could feel the flames around him, still attacking his body in the same soft manner that was hard to ignore. 

He felt like something was crawling up his legs, his skin giving in at spots with something else making their home on it. Only when he looked down, did he see that scales were slowly crawling up his legs, becoming easier to see and more plentiful as they traveled. Also his legs began to look a bit longer, making it hard for James to pinpoint if they were actually growing or if the performance anxiety had finally made him dizzy.

However and surprisingly, James managed to keep his head. Though on second thought, he even knew why. “T-The spell is supposed to calm the nerves and make you feel energized to rush into battle, and I am kinda feeling it right now too.” 

“So you are saying that this spell was used a lot in the past. How about modern day? Can you think of any use-cases for it there?” Professor Polucrates asked with a cryptic expression, making James unsure.

“Probably…?” He replied, hoping for the back of his head to answer.

Don’t look at me, I dunno what's happening in ‘modern times’ as you love to call it.

“I… I can't really think of any use cases, but I am sure they exist.” Hearing his help, also having no clue, James doubled down on his answer.

Professor Polucartes only chuckled. “Do you think it would be useful in an exam to calm students down and help them give their all?”

“Ah.” Thats when it clicked for James. “Yeah, that makes sense. Especially for a first spell in an exam.”

“Exactly.”

—

‘That’s… surprising.’ Darek thought to himself, genuinely taken aback by James’ performance. The answer he had given was… satisfactory. Not good, but at least passable. And the execution of the spell was really good. ‘Did I miss something?’

There was this underlying feeling that James would cheat despite the warning, but so far, as far as Darek was concerned, this performance was utterly clean. Which was the confusing part, because as far as Darek knew, James had never been that good at controlling magic in class before…

‘I should stop thinking about this.’ Darek sighed internally. If he is this good, then he must have practiced hard. And if he practiced hard, then that's a good thing. As long as he is not cheating, there is nothing wrong with James delivering a good performance. Although Darek still held out a skeptical eye out for any funny business. 

“Alright, good job.” Darek declared, giving an approving nod. Maybe that snake scaled legged boy was capable of more than he led on. “Next up tell us what you know about the spell Aerodynamic Wall?”

—

“Pfff, that spell? Whassup with these standards? Totally lame~” Again, the voice haughtily spit off a remark.It is enough that this woman complains in his head. He needs answers now. Okay, who the hell are you again? Why are you helping me?!

She doesn’t seem to be bothered however. “Well, ya summoned me for one. Kinda my job to help my summoner, no matter what…..goner they are.” The words hurt him more without a filter for him to hide in. “And you think I want to tell you who I am. Lmao even? Did you even read the spell? Or did you luck off here?”

The battering remarks don't make him feel any better and her intelligible words are fraying his mind. Alright, alright. I’ll shut up. Please, teach me the spell…… Despite her venomous and arrogant tone, he begged for her assistance as she might as well be his only ray of hope in this line of fire. Without it, he might as well have wasted his entire future working on the farm. He heard a snicker from the haughty voice. “Aren’t you suddenly a good little boy~? Alrighty~ Let’s see how you’ll catch up, like, now.” 

“What was it again? Aerodynamic Wall? Absolute clown. Trapping gales in a mana bubble is child’s stuff. You just gotta take a breath.” She commanded. He took no time to follow her instructions. He began to take a deep breath, pooling all of his oxygen into his lungs. Holding off a few seconds, he desperately tried to hold the air inside before she continued her instructions, “Good enough. Now hold the stick close to your lips.”

“And blow.”
So he did. Quickly impressive winds started to blow all around James, making his clothes flutter in the breeze. Guided by his magic, the wings were weaving and intertwining, amplifying and combining, until James had felt like he was standing in the middle of an artificial tornado. 

A tornado under his control. It felt like the tornado was more so blowing through his body, rather than pushing him per se. Like he was part of the Tornado. 

“Yeah, that's how it's supposed to feel, Mr. Blowaway candle.”

Despite knowing that she was insulting him as a wind and fire magic beginner, James somehow knew how to continue the spell. He focused on moving the tornado, bending it to his will and moving it in front of him. And to his surprise, the winds actually cooperated quite well.

His body however, did not. The wisps of the winds that’s passing through his body are far more powerful than he imagined. Though he did hold surprisingly steadfast, it felt more like the wind was passing through his body rather than pushing it, like it was eroding it from the inside.

James moved the circulating wind to his front, like he was preparing to launch the spell, giving his best to his slowly shifting body. It was subtle, but his shoulders were gradually shrinking towards each other, taking a lot of the thickness of his arms with them as well. At the same time his waist trimmed down a little bit too, giving his body much more of a curve than it had before.

“Now go! Aerodynamic Wall!” Yet, he felt in control, shouting the name of the spell. The cyclonic winds continued to rotate even after he let go, gently blowing wind into his face as he marveled at his creation. He could barely contain his excitement for pulling another spell off flawlessly, so much so that he barely  noticed that his hair was slowly elongating way past the length he had before. Quickly reaching to his shoulders if not a bit further down.

“Decent work, chump.. Tots knew you could do it. Not that is was anything fun, Mr Blowaway Candle…”

“Would it hurt you to not insult me for once after I pulled off a spell I have never done before?” James whispered under his breath.

“Tots~ I’ll stop the moment you actually cast like, a really good spell~”

“Erhem.” James turned towards the teachers, leaving the cyclonic wall stand as he got ready to explain. He did give a side eye to the little voice inside of his head, hoping she would once again help him out. 

“You’ll owe me for this.” She giggled, but did start telling James everything he needed to know about the spell. 

So he began to explain. “Aerodynamic Wall is an intermediate level spell that uses Wind for something that is unusual in the grand scheme of things: Blocking attacks.” He began, following the words of his guiding voice while making everything sound… just a little less ridiculous compared to her.

“The main idea is to have a stable sideways vortex, that disperses attacks to the outside and not let anything through.” James was feeling more confident by the second, however once again, he felt like calling upon his mysterious helper has its price. 

His legs felt like they were pushed together even more than they were before, to the point where it felt like someone had cast a binding spell on him. In fact, he had a hard time feeling where one leg started and the other one ended. At the same time there was an ever growing pressure just below his shoulders, as if something was slowly pushing out. 

James decided to ignore as much weirdness as he could once again, and just finish his explanation in peace, but the push and pressure below his arms just became really hard to ignore. “...and the most pressing advantage is that the wall one erects is mostly see-through, which allows tracking of the enemy and andjusting strategies while on the defensive. Although in modern times the spell has become rather obsolete, because it is too destructive and does not have the versatility to be used in any non-combat related job.”

He was done. Finally, Task two completed. James wanted to ball a fist in victory, but quickly noticed something very strange. First, he couldn’t move anymore. His legs were not only glued together, but also almost as if they were encased in a thick layer of… scales. And second… he made three fists. And that's with leaving one hand open. 

“Aw, shameee~. That was one of my fav spells and it’s useless now? Plebs now really no fun. Lame……”

“Wha-...how? Why do I have four arms?!?” He whispered energetically, hoping for a response from his headmate.

“Hey~ Really? ~ Hehe, you’re looking like a lamia fr fr~”

 “You are not helping”

—

‘That was next to perfect… I am more than impressed.’ Darek thought to himself, trying to not let his wonder be known. Although even the rest of the teachers were visibly impressed. There was no denying it. This was a very clean presentation of the spell.

‘Never thought I'd say this, but our four armed boy really has a few tricks up his sleeves. I wonder why he never showed this much enthusiasm in class.’ Darek wondered, although he just shrugged his shoulders. ‘The mysteries of student minds’

“Very good. Let's move onto the next spell.” Darek declared, checking briefly with the other teachers who all seemed to be in agreement. “In front of you you have probably already noticed the lump of aluminum metal laid out on the table. Demonstrate and explain an advanced grade earth molding spell on that lump. Note that only the execution of the spell is of relevance, so as long as the spell is fine, we won't judge the resulting masterpiece too harshly.” 

Darek smiled as the exam went into the third round. 

—

‘Is the spell ‘welding’ an advanced spell?’ James asked in his head. 

Whatcha asking me for? All you did is some basic kiddie tricks. Do you really study here?

‘Grr… Is it on the same level as the stuff I used before? Because that’s all I need to know. I think I know this spell actually.’

Uuuuuuu? Sucks to be a loser~ Because yes, that ‘welding’ spell is totally the same~ But against my fav? Noooooo~

“I choose to perform the spell ‘welding’ on the Aluminum. If I may ask a question: This may be to my nervousness, but is this an eligible spell for this test? I just wanted to make sure before I start.” James asked, turning to Professor Polucrates with a bit of fear in his eyes. 

The professor however just returned an unreadable expression, making James fear for the worst. To be fair he didn’t really studie what he was or wasn’t allowed at this exam. So he was kinda bracing for the worst.

“Welding Aluminium is a fine choice in this case. You may proceed.” Much to James’ surprise, professor Polucrates reacted much more leniently than he expected. It gave James quite a bit of a confidence boost.

Congrats, dudeeee…...Now you’re totally open~ Do what you want. Just don’t be shy to ask me for help for sure~

This might have been the first time in this exam where James had the feeling that he really knew something. He remembered seeing the spell once in the stuff he tried to make notes of and he knew he had never cast it before. And yet, he had quite a solid grasp on what he needed to do. So he began carefully making his way towards the table that held the metal, his much longer legs not budging from each other at all. To the point where what he did was more crawling than walking, though he tried to stay dignified.

“Precious metal, form to my will…” James chanted, feeling the energy flowing through his body and focusing on the tips of all of his twenty fingers, causing them to become increasingly warmer. They even started to glow, which was a good sign… at least according to his gut feeling.

Atta boy! Glow your ass up!!!

With a favorable word from the backseat, James went on to touch the metal with the tips of his fingers… and immediately felt the impact. 

It felt like there was a connection between him and the metal, one that he could push and pull on and have the metal react in turn. Although something deep within him told him that it wasn't just the metal that was being molded, should he make a mistake. But now was not the time to worry about that. 

“...let me shape you into whatever form I desire! Aluminum Welding!” Digging his digits into the metal, he felt the material viciously giving into the pressure, making it not easy but possible to form the aluminum with his hands. Much to his surprise, the whole spell worked much better than he imagined. 

In his mind, the objective was clear: Form the lump into a staff. 

A……stafff? Seriously?

‘They are easy to make and need no talent to form’ James answered in his head, although that slight bit of lost concentration made him feel like some of the magic was starting to be diverted to a different place.

He needed to finish fast, but the pain in his chest only grew along with the panic he tried to suppress. Over and over he told himself that it was fine and nothing major was happening, though when his staff grew to about half its maximum length, he noticed a distinct pull on his chest.

There were orbs. And not small ones either. 

Wow, some badonkers for real~ Do you want to get touchy-touchy with it?

‘Could you please let me concentrate? These freaking boobs alone are making this hard enough as is!’ 

It wast much of a secret anymore, James was definitely turning into a girl. What’s with the longer hair, daintier body and now growing boobs, it was more than apparent. The thing that he just couldn't figure out was ‘why?’.

But what he did notice was that his concentration, or rather, his proficiency with magic was increased by a substantial amount. At the start of the exam he wasn't even sure if he could cast an advanced spell with full concentration, and now he was just casually letting his mind drift without any worry of losing control.

Something in him just told him that no matter what he did, he couldn't stop his breasts from growing, so he simply stopped worrying about it. Using two of his arms to stabilize and two of his arms to form, the metal was already starting to take shape. It was getting longer and thinner, looking more like a staff by the second. That his chest had overtaken a solid D cup by this point was something he just tried to ignore because.

“And finished.” James declared, presenting the freshly welded staff to the instructors. From what little the instructors were showing, they seemed to be impressed with his work. Now came the part where he had to talk about his work again, which made him a bit nervous.

The master is waiting for your call~ or can ya handle this solo~?

The moment she spoke up, he could once again feel a weird tightness through his lower body. It was already basically only a single muscle down below, but it somehow felt even tighter than before. And somehow it felt like taking her up on her offer would only make it worse.

“I probably have no need to tell you this, but this is no more than a husk of a staff.” James explained, although the pulling force on his lower half just continued to increase. It seemed like no matter what he did he was getting longer. 

“If I might ask, why did you weld this metal into a staff? Any particular reasoning behind that?” Professor Polucrates asked, to which James gulped. His legs… I guess the tail at this point was getting longer again, so thinking of a smart answer just felt so hard at that moment. So he just gave his honest gut feeling.

“While I agree that it's not the most impressive display of the skill, the welding of a staff still should still show how the magic can be used.” James declared, trying to ignore the fact that his tail was reaching truly absurd lengths of like 3-4 times of what his upper body was. “Though I mostly chose a staff because I am nervous and wanted to weld something that was in my line of sight. And my staff just happened to be there.”

“Understood. It was more about the demonstration of the spell anyway.” The professor replied, writing something down in his notes, as James once again breathed a sigh of relief. Although there was still an underline question that he needed to ask a certain person.

‘Do you know why I am becoming a four armed lamia chick? A real answer would be highly appreciated!’ James thought really hard, hoping the voice would respond.

lol, seriously? Silly little pleb. Don’t you see a lamia forming out of ya? One that, wonderfully, looks like me!

‘Wha- I thought you were the spirit of Elemna. That's who I was trying to summon anyway!’

Oh oh~ History noob alert~ Don’t you know which race your dear founding headmaster was~?

‘Oh no’

Oh yes indeed~

—

‘Today he just keeps impressing me again and again.’ Darek thought to himself, writing down the results of his spell. ‘Form was great, mana control was fantastic and he even integrated a few fancy techniques with his four arms. He must have really practiced this spell a lot.’

That gave Darek a little bit more food for thought. ‘We don't really teach enough techniques for multi armed students and neither is this examiners hall built for lamias. It might be his nervousness, but judging from his performance it might just be that the hall is uncomfortable for him. I might want to make a note to bring that up to the headmaster later on.‘

“Outstanding performance so far. Let’s go on to the last trial.” Darek declared with a nod, standing up from his chair again. “Name and demonstrate a technique of the water attribute which you would call effective against metal based weapons. The interpretation of ‘effective’ is on you, but your reasoning needs to be explained.”

‘This is getting most interesting.’

—

‘So my initial thought immediately went towards the water laser spell. Do you think that’s a good idea?’ James asked inside his head, hoping for the voice of Elemna to answer.

You wanna bszzzzt the metal? That’s gnarly!

‘That was the plan’

Would be a 100 for that. That kinda spell, a total vict-o-rama for you. But that’s just little ol’ me, so your call.

“Erhem. I’d like to perform the Water laster spell and attempt to cut clean through a metal weapon.” James declared with a slight hand gesture, shivering a bit on his snake lower half as he still tried to get a feel for it. “In my personal opinion, if water can really be used to saw through a weapon, then I would call it effective.”

Then James turned towards professor Polukrates. “What do you say, professor?”

“I’d say that is a fair assessment.” He answered, making James’ breath a sigh of relief as the stress levels in him sank considerably. 

“Would you like us to prepare another weapon for you or do you want to use your prepared and welded staff?”

Joo! Take the staff!

“I’ll perform the spell on my staff!” James quickly declared, seeing a massive opportunity. Elemna most likely also saw it, which is why she had the same reaction.

The staff was made from aluminum, which is much softer and easier to cut than almost every weapon that is currently in use. Even compared to other staff, this thing was soft. So even if it's not as impressive to cut through it, it's easier and therefore will more likely lead to a successful demonstration. 

James was not about to pass up that opportunity.

“Very well. You may begin.” the professor spoke and James nodded. Time to show one final time what James was made of.

Atta girl! Get em Queen!

At this point James didn’t even want to react anymore. He just slithered towards the desk that held his staff, as that very object began to float. From the corner of his eyes, he saw another teacher raising his wand, having clearly cast a levitation spell on it.

“It’s just a levitation spell. So you don’t have to worry about cutting the table.” The professor explained, having noticed James’ quick glances towards him.

“Understood.” James nodded, then assumed the position. He put two of his hands together into a finger gun position, then supported them with his other two hands. He could already feel the mana flowing through his veins, directly into the tips of his fingers, and he hasn't even started the incantation yet.

“Compress this liquid of tranquility into a ray that can cut anything…” James began to chant, his fingertips feeling like they were about to explode of energy. Which made him smile. “Time to let loose! Water Laser!”

From the tips of his finger a thin yet incredibly strong ray of water shot out, surprising James at first with its intensity. Yet he remained in control, took one deep breath and slowly started moving his fingers down… until the water made contact with the metal.

That’s when he felt it. Not any trouble with piercing the metal, but once again something weird going on with his body. Like he was slicing away parts of himself as well. 

But that wasn’t something new. Lately any spell he's been casting changed his body in exchange for a brilliant performance. What was a little more when he was so close to the finish line?

So James went for it with renewed vigor, the ray of water making contact with his staff once again and this time going further, sinking into the staff as it started cutting a deep hole in it. The entire time James felt his body trembling, but in a way he didn’t expect. It felt surprisingly pleasant. Like he was getting rid of or cutting away all imperfections from his body.

He was barely a quarter of the way through, when he felt like the tip of his tail had gotten a bit heavier. And when he quivered, it now made a somewhat distressed rattling sound, like that of a rattlesnake. But he could hardly spare a glance when he was this far.

When he got halfway through the staff, he felt a surprising level of extra support on his shaking arms. But this time, he could actually see the cause, as an additional pair of arms had appeared and James had instinctively immediately used them to hold his casting arms as well. So now he had two water laser casting arms, and four that were supporting them. 

‘...Just how many arms do you have…?’

Always the right amount~

‘...of course.’

On the second half of the staff James could really feel the pressure building on his manhood between his… tail. It didn’t feel like he was cutting of his manhood directly, more like he was cutting off what little manliness he still had in his body, causing the little guy to recede more and more, while the things like his breasts, hair and tail, just seemed to grow just that tiny bit more.

And yet, he was almost done, he couldn't stop now. He could feel two dangerous teeth poking out from his mouth, but he was so close. A ringlike pattern appeared alone his purple scales, yet he was almost through…

ZING

And as the staff's wholeness changed from present to past, so too did the rest of James’ manliness. With the triumphant clanking of the staff to the ground, the fresh lamia girl finally felt like she could relax again, causing her to nearly faint on the spot.

Hey you silly dweeb!. Exams not over! You can go party-hardy in your dweeb heaven once you get the pleb prof happy!

‘I know… I am just… at my end.’

Despite that, she used up all her remaining strength to straighten herself up and turn towards the professors, whose seats were now flying down to her level again. With a big gulp, she prepared for the judgment of teachers…

—

“Jamie Hydrastone. We want you to know that your lineage really played no part in this evaluation. We here in the Pristine Elemna Academy of Elemental Crafts strive to judge all students equally, and all of us teachers agree that the tasks you had to perform today were no easier than those of any other student.” Darek declared, the other teachers nodding behind him. Although Jamie looked a bit confused.

“That being said, with one above par cast, two excellent casts and one perfect cast, we hardly have much room to debate your grade.” Darek declared proudly. Although that being said, he really wasn’t surprised she would get such a result. 

And why would he? Jamie was a descendant from the legendary Hexmagus Elemna which was very apparent since both of them were from the six armed lamia race, which was a very rare species, even among non-humans. 

Even in class Jamie always was one of the best, outclassing and out matching most other students with not only magical power, bit finesse and skill too. It would be hard to call her a perfect student, as she still often takes liberties and prefers to walk the easy path over the one that would give her the most recognition, but that was completely fine. 

“The results of your performance today will be posted on Thursday. But there is one thing all of us are pretty sure of already.” Darek declared, checking left and right with the rest of his examining teachers. And after they gave him an approving nod, he turned back to Jamie and spoke: “You passed with flying colors. Congratulations.”

And Jamie’s face visually lit up. Of all expressions a student can make, that one is the one Darek always looks the most forward too. And although he didn’t have a lot of Lamia students, neither with six arms nor just two, her happiness very much emanated through her fanged face, to the point where Darek also couldn't hold back a smile anymore.

“Alright. Time for the next examinee!”

—

“How interesting. Did the entire world change around us?” Jamie asked, slithering down the hallway, checking out her three sets of slim arms as covertly as she could.

Looks like it.

“And I am now apparently a descendant of yours?” She asked, gliding her hands along her smooth purple scales, making sure everything she is seeing is in fact real.

Like, that is sooo awesome~ A mega super-duper granddaughter is always my dream, girly~

“Also I am stuck with these puppies?” Jamie asked once again, lifting her honestly very respectable chest up to get a feel for their bounciness. And they had a lot of it, that was for sure.

Hella stacked girl~ No joke, those jugs look amazing on you! You just need some extra pizazz to truly show them off!

“When are you leaving by the way?” Jamie asked as she left the school building, trying to get a feeling for what else had changed in the surroundings. Although pretty much everything seemed rather unchanged.

How could I know? Girl, you are the one who brought this queenie back and did all your things. I’m just along for the ride~

“So you are saying you have no idea how to end this spell.” Jamie said, scrambling out a note from her backpack.

Nope. Like, I don’t make this with a backdoor spell lol. If those dweebs from early haven’t made one, then you sure as won’t find one who does. 

“But this instruction said that the spirit will only stay for a single piece of advice.”

I don’t know about you, honey. Buuuuuuuut I think I stayed a lil’ longer than just one piece of advice. Just sayin.

“Does that mean we both don't know how to end this?” Jamie asked as the reality of things dawned on her.

Headmates besties for life?

“Looks like it.”

Yaaaaay! I can be headmate besties for life with my mega super duper granddaughter! Awesome!

Jamie chuckled. There was just something infectious about Elemna’s happiness. The more time she spent with her, the less Jamie actually minded her presence. Elemna was wise, intelligent, fun, a little bit chaotic and a bit rude at times, but the perfect amount so that you would like to spend more time with her.

And even if Jamie now had a new body, a few more arms and two boobs on her chest, there was one thing she knew for sure.

“I am so glad I cheated in this exam. Now I have a much better body and a new headmate bestie for resty. I can’t wait to explore all that my body has to offer…”

…

…

…

WAIT! We cheated?!?

“Of course we did. What? Did you think outside assistance was allowed in this exam?”

Nyooooooo! My based, cutie and schemxy queen honor is tarnished! How could I…?

“…I guess even a millennial old valley girl has her pride, huh?” Jamie shrugged, now having to put up with the ranting of Elemna on the entire way home. In hindsight, bragging about cheating wasn’t the best idea…

—

In our prestigious schools final exam only a fool would dare to cheat. And of those, only a master would be able to get away with it.