The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It was, in fact, far from the definition of fun.

Larek found himself directed by the Dean to a classroom he’d never been in before after he stopped by her office. From a few descriptions he’d overheard from Nedira and Kimble, he recognized that the section the classroom was located was for fourth- and fifth-year Academy students, but as for what was taught in these classrooms, he didn’t have a clue.

“Thank you all for attending on such short notice,” Dean Lorraine said to the 10 Professors sitting along the first bench in the otherwise large and empty classroom.  All of them appeared slightly annoyed with having been called together in between school years, as the few weeks when classes weren’t in session was a bit of a break for most of them. For some Professors, such as Shinpai, they continued working hard even when they weren’t involved in teaching classes; these individuals, however, weren’t of the sort as they weren’t dressed in their normal black Professor’s robes, appearing in casual clothing and looking as if they wanted to get back to whatever had been interrupted when the Dean called for them. Larek recognized not a single one of them, but then again, he didn’t really know many other faculty at the Academy other than his direct Professors from his first year and the Dean.  That, and even if he had known them, with them not wearing their Professor robes, they appeared so… odd, he supposed… that he might not have recognized them, anyway.

“What are we doing here? I thought we already had people working on the updated schedules for next year,” an older man with long, shockingly white hair abruptly asked. As Larek looked closer at the Professor, he had to reevaluate his assumption that he was old based on his hair color, as the youthful face didn’t show even the slightest hint of a wrinkle. Definitely not from the Kingdom, at least. That wasn’t very surprising, of course, as almost all of the Professors in the Academy didn’t hail from the Kingdom, and that was doubly true for those sitting casually on the benches in front of him.

“We do, but that’s not why you’re here. Larek,” the Dean went on, gesturing to the young man by her side, who immediately wanted to shrink back and hide to avoid the intense gazes of the Professors, “discovered something new that he has graciously volunteered to teach us.”

Graciously volunteered? Not exactly the words I’d use to describe what happened. He kept his mouth shut, though, because he felt more than a little intimidated by the people staring at him. While he had a vague sense that they weren’t necessarily as powerful as the Dean was, to have gained a position at Copperleaf Academy likely meant that they were experienced and knowledgeable about things that he couldn’t even imagine.

“The Fusion prodigy?” the same white-haired Professor asked dismissively. “While I can’t deny that the Fusions I’ve seen produced by him are incredible, that’s not really my expertise. I barely passed my Fusions class at the Academy back in the day as it is, and I wouldn’t trust myself to make the most basic of Fusions even today.” The annoyance in the man’s gruff voice, which was completely at odds with his appearance in Larek’s mind, was obvious as he glanced at his fellow Professors. “Moreover, none of us are particularly skilled in creating Fusions. Why isn’t Shinpai here joining us as the as the Head Fusionist Mentor along with the rest of us?”

It took Larek a moment to understand what the man was asking, as “Head Fusionist Mentor” wasn’t familiar, but he eventually worked it out. He remembered hearing that there were Specialization Mentors that acted as guides for those who chose a Specialization in later years; for instance, Nedira had a Mentor that focused on the Naturalist Specialization, and it was this Mentor that assisted his friend on the path she was taking in her last-stage academic journey. He could only assume that Shinpai, being a Grandmaster Fusionist and in charge of teaching Advanced Fusions, was not only a Mentor, but the Head Mentor. If that assumption carried further, then by the gruff Professor’s words, that most likely meant that these others were also Head Mentors of their chosen Specialization.

They might match the Dean in terms of power, but these individuals were strong in their own right.

And I’m supposed to teach them? Talk about intimidating.

The Dean shook her head. “That’s because it has nothing to do with Fusions, as unlikely as that sounds. Instead, what young Larek has discovered is…” she continued, pausing dramatically, “…a new, never-before-seen Mage Skill.”

There was silence as everyone stared first at the Dean before turning their attention back to Larek. Professor “white-hair” scoffed in disbelief. “What? That’s impossible.”

Before anyone else could say anything to discount the possibility, the Dean immediately displayed her new Focused Division Skill to everyone as it hovered in front of her. Larek was shocked to see that it was already Level 4; he could only assume that she hadn’t taken any time to rest after he left her office earlier that morning and had been frantically practicing with it. He had already learned during his first year that his own speedy progression with his Mage Skills was highly abnormal, so for the Dean to have progressed so quickly was amazing. Then again, with how powerful she was and the fact that the first few Skill Levels were typically easy to increase, it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

The revelation elicited a response way out of proportion – at least in Larek’s opinion – than it warranted, as there was shocked silence from some, wildly enthusiastic exclamations from others, and there was even one woman who actually had tears leaving tracks down her face as she smiled so widely that it appeared as though her head was going to split in half. Needless to say, it made Larek extremely uncomfortable, especially as they tore their gazes away from the Skill that the Dean was displaying on her Status and focused on the burgeoning Fusionist once again. He suddenly felt like defenseless prey in the sights of some vicious predator as he could practically sense the desire and hunger for this new Skill emanating from their bodies.

Dean Lorraine went on to explain the basics of what the Focused Division Skill did and its beneficial uses, which Larek largely ignored because it wasn’t anything new to him. She even demonstrated her newfound “expertise” with the Skill by utilizing a training hoop that was near the edge of the classroom, launching two simple Fireballs that had their spell patterns just barely separate enough not to interfere with each other. He could tell that the head of the Academy visibly struggled to accomplish even that much, but the triumphant smile on her face belied her efforts in the face of the observers’ astonished expressions.

Larek briefly wondered why he was even there teaching these other Professors if she could do it, but when he thought back at how she accomplished the successful Focused Division of the Fireball spell pattern, he had to acknowledge that she probably wouldn’t be very successful at teaching others – at least not right now. Her execution of the division was extremely poor and lopsided to boot and the struggle she had with it caused her to draw the spell pattern, fill it with Mana, and then split it in the blink of an eye – which wasn’t exactly a great visual aid. Unfortunately, for her to successfully cast the spells, she had to do it that quickly or risk the patterns falling apart; he could only assume as her Skill Level reached much higher, she would be able to slow down as she could control the patterns better, but for now, that was impossible.  Unfortunately, that meant that his demonstrations with a Fusion, which was much more visible and easier to follow, was needed for the moment.

Then the Dean, as if taking perverse pleasure in leaving him to the figurative wolves, claimed she had other matters to attend to and left him there alone with the starving predators. With a sigh and a refusal to look at any of the Professors as they desperately pleaded with their eyes to impart the knowledge of this new Skill unto them, he began to demonstrate the process of creating a thicker pattern, infusing it with Mana, and then dividing it into two separate Fusion formations.

“Can’t you show it as a spell pattern?” This came from another of the Professors, a woman with short, spiky, pitch-black hair on top of her head, with a relatively pale complexion compared to those from the Kingdom. “As Professor Purdy mentioned earlier, none of us are as familiar with Fusions as we are with spells.”

Larek shook his head. “No, I can’t cast any spells, unfortunately.”

She appeared shocked. “What? How is it you’re so well-versed on Fusions, but you can’t make a spell pattern? How did you even discover this new Skill, anyway?”

He hesitated on what to say, but he eventually decided to tell at least some of the truth. “Oh, I can make spell patterns, but I can’t infuse them with Mana or they’ll blow up and destroy half of this classroom in the process. I discovered this Skill because I wanted to be able to make more than one Fusion simultaneously to save time.”

“Are you saying that you cannot cast spells… at all? Explain that, if you would.”

Larek went on to describe what had happened to him when he first tried casting as spell; it wasn’t really a secret, especially now that everyone knew about his ability with Fusions. In addition, he thought that if they knew he couldn’t cast spells, they would leave off in asking him to make spell patterns.

He was wrong. Against his protestations, they had him demonstrate creating spell patterns for some of the most basic spells he knew strictly for the purpose of demonstration. At first, he was extremely wary of doing so, as he flinched at the memory of what happened previously, but he quickly discovered that he had nothing to fear from the spell patterns he created for the others to look at. As long as he didn’t infuse even a tiny drop of Mana into it, the pattern was completely inert – and it was strong and stable enough that he could keep it visible for the others to learn from, as they initially had trouble translating what he told them to do regarding the thickness of their pattern lines without a visual aide not in the form of a Fusion.

It was only after the majority of the Professors were able to reliably construct a thick enough spell pattern that he had to switch over to his Fusions once again, as he could then demonstrate the infusion of Mana and subsequent division of the pattern. This method got plenty of annoyed protestations and actual whining from a few of the Professors, which seemed to further exhaust his already depleted social energy.

Despite Larek wanting nothing more to do with teaching them, as after 5 hours of trying to appease them all by thinking of different ways to explain the same thing, he kept on encouraging them to keep trying. As his stomach rumbled and a pair of Academy staff members appeared and delivered dinner so as not to interrupt the training, for which Larek was thankful (not necessarily for the non-interruption, as he wouldn’t have minded a break, but for the food), his teaching methods finally bore fruit as the first of the Professors had a breakthrough and succeeded in gaining the Focused Division Skill. The success of the spiky black-haired woman who had spoken up earlier for him to demonstrate spell patterns seemed to spur the others on, and 15 minutes later the next one accomplished the same feat. As they practiced with their new Skill, the remaining 8 Professors doubled their efforts and began to follow their success every 10 to 30 minutes.

It was already dark outside before the white-haired man, Professor Purdy, became the last one to unlock the new Skill. As if that was some sort of signal, the Dean swept into the classroom, smiling at the ecstatic expressions on everyone’s faces. Well, on every face but Larek, as he was once again absolutely exhausted, even more so than when he had taught the Dean.

“Thank you so much, Larek!” Dean Lorraine said, actually coming up to him and giving him a brief hug before turning to the Professors, all of whom were still practicing their new Skill. The personal contact would’ve normally left Larek feeling a bit flustered, but he was so tired after the day of teaching and short amount of sleep the night before that he barely even acknowledged it.

“As you can see, this new Skill is extraordinary, not only for its uses, but for its help in the development of all Mages. I know that most of you have been stuck at your current Level for years, unable to advance any of your Skills despite a lot of effort, but this is a way to get it moving once again.

“But this isn’t just for us, those who have hit a wall in our development. On the contrary, I want to have this new Skill available to as many as possible, given the current situation with the Scissions throughout the Kingdom. I don’t have to explain to you how even a few extra Skill Levels for a Mage can spell the difference between life and death, as an increase in a personal Level can mean enough AP allocated to different stats can help one survive against impossible odds. Not only will Mages be inherently stronger, but this new way of casting a spell and dividing it into two or more can change the tide of battle in an instant.

“Because of this, I’m going to be implementing a slight change in our curriculum, centered around our young prodigy here. I will be taking him out of some of his classes to help teach our fourth- and fifth-year students how to gain this Skill this year, before moving on to teaching the SIC stationed in Thanchet. All of this will be in between his own studies and creating needed Fusions, so Larek will be a busy man for the next few months!”

Hearing that, Larek’s exhaustion finally caught up with him, and the next thing he knew he was on the floor looking up at the ceiling with no memory of how he got there. Dean Lorraine came into focus above him, her face appearing extraordinarily worried as she gazed down at him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Bartholomew hovering at the edge of his vision, shuffling from foot to foot as he looked at Larek with worry. He had forgotten that the Martial trainee had even been there at the door, patiently acting as a bodyguard for him throughout the training.

“Larek? What happened? How are you feeling?”

He wasn’t sure how to respond to the questions, as he really didn’t know the answer. All he knew was that he was extremely exhausted for some reason, more so than he really thought he should be. When he told her that, she looked confused for a moment before comprehension seemed to pass over her facial expression.

“Ah. I see. I believe you’ve been inadvertently using your unique… trait… to assist with your teaching more than I considered,” she said softly, too low in volume for anyone else to easily overhear.  “I think with a few days of rest you’ll be better, and we’ll see if we can figure something else out for the training for the time being. I had no idea that this would happen, and I apologize for putting you in this situation.” She looked up at Bartholomew, gesturing for him to come over. “Let’s get him to bed; he’s worn out and needs to rest.” Staring back at Larek, the Dean said, “We’ll talk again tomorrow; I’m going to reschedule or outright cancel some of the other Skill trainings until we can get to the bottom of this.”

He felt himself nod, before the Martial trainee was there to help him to his feet. Glancing around the room, he noticed that all of the other Professors were still consumed with practicing their new Skill, as if they were small children that had just gained a new toy. Nevertheless, they all looked at him with gratitude and worry when they saw he was up and around, but none of them said anything.

That was fine with Larek, as he didn’t want to talk to anyone else at the moment. The next few minutes were a blur as he was led back to his room, where he collapsed on his bed. He was asleep seconds later, still fully clothed, and descended into a dreamless sleep that felt vaguely like falling into an abyss.