The Fruits Of My Labor

Mr Willows dismissed the class, "The first test will begin tomorrow. Report to this room when you arrive at school and then we will start when everyone is here. You are dismissed."

Mr Willows walked out of the classroom without looking back. Then everyone followed him out and Melody and I walked home.

***

It was the next day and everyone had just arrived in room 1B. The teacher was a bit late so we chatted for a bit.

Melody, Terra, Crystal and I were sitting together talking nonchalantly by the windows. Cynthia and her dogs, Aaron and Andrew, were as expressionless as ever. Michael and Jack sat together like yesterday and spoke in whispers while Warren sat quietly in the back like a lion watching his pray.

It seemed like Cynthia still had not gotten over what I said yesterday because she was glaring daggers at me. I pretended not to notice and continued my conversation.

I spoke to Terra, "So you and Crystal are sisters eh? That explains a lot."

They looked very similar and copied each other's movements at the same time. It was kind of freaky. I could guess their respective elements but to be sure I should ask.

I asked them both, "What are your primary elements?"

They both responded at the same time, "Earth and water."

Crystal asked next, "What are yours, Nova?"

I should keep the fact that I can cast hexes a secret for now.

I answered, "Sound, water and air."

Of course I could have other elements as my secondaries that are just as powerful as my primaries because I was good at all the elements but I chose the most versatile elements as my primaries, sound and water. Sound can be used for offense, scouting, and stealth while water was used for defense, offense and, since I learned snow magic from Atlas, hinder the senses of the opponent. I have a few tricks I like to use with these elements. For example, stealing Crystal's and Terra's voices which was a form of song magic since it dealt with one's voice and vocal cords.

They both had surprised expressions but they moved on before I could ask about it.

Terra asked, "Melody, What about you?"

Melody, not expecting the question, thought for a moment before replying, "Sound, air and earth."

As soon as Melody finished her sentence the teacher entered the classroom.

Mr Willows looked at the class, "Follow me."

We all got up out of our seats and followed him out of the classroom.

We all walked around the school to it's rear where a luscious forest resided. Most of the students had the same expression as me because who would have thought the school had it's own forest? Warren was the only one who seemed unfazed as he just stared off into the distance with dead eyes.

I took in my surroundings. There were countless trees as well as some types of birds that I had never seen before. Surprising me the most was that there were no spirit animals in the area. I tried to sense the spirit animals with my Ki instead of my spirit energy because that was the only way to sense an opponent who has concealed their spirit energy and killing intent. I was the only one capable of using Ki because it was from my world. I still could not sense any spirit animals though. I decided that this was because of the schools protective wards because it would be a liability if a student got hurt.

I turned to Melody and whispered, "If you want to place high, use song magic to lead the spirit animals to your area. I will do the same. If the spirit animal, in question, becomes too aggressive, kill it, but as humanely as possible please."

I said to kill them humanely because, after all, spirit animals were living things too. Melody nodded and we kept walking. I also did not plan on using song magic since I want to keep my power a secret for now so I lied to her.

A few minutes later, we were still walking along the trail when all of a sudden I sensed a few spirit animals with my Ki. It seemed like we left the protective wards.

Mr Willows stopped in his tracks and turned to all of us.

His gaze was stern, "We will now begin the test. I will announce where your respective areas are."

Mr Willows held out a compass for all of us to see, "Cynthia, north. Melody, northeast. Crystal, southeast. Terra, south. Warren, southwest. Nova, west. Jack, northwest. Michael, Aaron, and Andrew, Your areas are towards the middle of the forest. You all will have a five minute grace period before the test officially begins to find your area."

Mr Willows paused for a moment then shouted, "Begin!"

This damn bastard. The other students might not notice that Mr Willows did something to attract spirit animals; shouting. Damn it, let's get to my area quickly.

I headed west to my area, sensing a scary amount of spirit animals nearby. After about four minutes of running I found my area. It was quite large but there was a problem with it, the barrier wasn't activated. I looked at my surroundings but there was no sign of a barrier.

There was about thirty more seconds left until the the test started. I took a deep breath then immersed myself in my thoughts. Mr Willows said there would be a barrier so what was I missing?

Barrier...

Wait, if it is a barrier made with spirit energy then I should be able to sense a bit leaking from it. I concentrated on the spirit energy in the area and felt a bit of energy emitting from a tree to my right. I walked over to the tree to inspect it further when i noticed that a small branch was actually a lever. I flicked the lever and all of a sudden the barrier popped up around my area.

This was good, now all I had to do was lure some animals into my area.

I didn't think I would ever use that power again. I didn't want to use that power because of the fact that it caused me to be ostracized by my peers in my world, but it was the quickest and most efficient way. I walked out to a spot where a few beasts were concealing themselves in the thick foliage. Memories of being alone and criticized, being called a freak, flashed through my mind. I quickly suppressed these memories and began to use that power.

I spoke in a direct voice, "Spirit animals, I know you are here. I want to talk with you, not harm you."

I waited a bit for a spirit animal to come out from hiding but nothing came. I was about to speak again when one appeared in front of me. It resembled a lion but it was white instead of orange. It had two blue horns sprouting out of it's head and had three white fluffy tails. It peered at me curiously, as if it did not believe I wanted to talk instead of fight. It approached me cautiously and stopped about three meters away from me.

The animal looked at me and growled, "You can't even understand us yet you want to have a conversation? Foolish human."

It may sound like a growl to normal humans but to me it sounded like perfect english.

It charged at me with frightening speed.

I responded calmly to the beast, "I'm not the one that's foolish, it's you for assuming I can't understand what you say."

The beast stopped dead in it's tracks, a few inches away from my face.

It's eyes were wide with shock, "you..."

I simply flashed a friendly smile in response.