32 Ch. 32 - Pets
"It's almost time for history class. Should we leave now?"
"Give me a minute. I'm about to finish eating breakfast." (Ronald)
"If you eat so much in the morning, you're going to feel bloated the entire day." (Valde)
With food still in his mouth, Ronald replied, "Cry about it."
"First of all, disgusting. Second of all, don't say I didn't tell you so later." (Valde)
Valde and I proceeded to talk a little bit about some of the books we were reading last night in the forbidden section of the library as we waited for Ronald to finish eating.
"Alright, I'm done eating now, let's go." (Ronald)
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(In the history classroom)
"Well, we got here a little faster than I expected." (Valde)
Looking at the watch hanging above the door, we still had a good ten minutes before class started.
"Hey, Valde."
"Yeah?" (Valde)
"So I've been thinking."
"Continue." (Valde)
"What if there is a potion that would be able to make it so that we don't need as much sleep."
"You talking about coffee?" (Valde)
"No, no, no. You know how the body requires an average of seven to eight hours of sleep, yeh? Well, what if there was a potion that would make it so one only needs four, five hours of sleep and be just as rested as if they had seven to eight hours of sleep."
"I don't know man." (Valde)
"I mean, if there are potions that can turn the user temporarily into a giant fire breathing lizard, my idea of a potion can't be that much of a stretch, could it?"
"I guess you're right, but where would we start?" (Valde)
"I guess we first research what sleeping actually does."
"Alright, there should be many books about sleeping in the library. We can consult them later today." (Valde)
"We're sneaking back into the library tonight?"
"No, what are you thinking? Books about sleeping aren't going to be forbidden knowledge. We can read them as rule-abiding students." (Valde)
"Oh yeah, you're right."
"The lack of sleep is really impacting you, isn't it." (Valde)
"It is. Hopefully, it doesn't become too apparent as the day continues."
"What are you two talking about?" (Ronald)
"Potion making, you interested?" (Valde)
"Nah, I'm good." (Ronald)
Valde and I kept talking about the sleep substitution potion. We decided to name it the Sleep Enhancer as the idea was not to substitute sleep with the potion but instead make sleeping more effective so your body doesn't need as much. We kept talking until the bell rang, and Professor Godfried arrived to start class.
Today's history class wasn't very interesting as Professor Godfried picked up where we had stopped yesterday in class. Professor Godfried just talked about the many dynamics between early common-bloods and the beings of magic.
Class ended before we knew it, and now it was time to head to Professor Joseph's class.
"Oi lads, ya'll excited to learn about magical creatures today!?" Professor exclaimed cheerfully to the bored students.
"C'mon, where's the enthusiasm, the bottomless pit of youthful energy?" (Professor Joseph)
There wasn't much of a reaction from the students.
"Y'all enthusiasm killers, you know that? Now, I don't feel like teaching class. But I must if I want to get paid. You see, I've accumulated a little bit of debt over the years. I've got to get my paycheck if I want to keep my kidneys, ha ha ha ha ha." (Professor Joseph)
"Anyways, today we'll be learning about the characteristics of common magician pets. We will be talking about owls, mouses, lizards, crows, snakes, and toads. As you'll probably already know, the academy highly recommends bringing a pet with you to school. Almost all of you probably do have a pet in your dormitory. The owl is, by far, the most common pet of a magician. Does anyone know why?" (Professor Joseph)
"Because they are good at delivery letters?" A student answered.
"Yes, but that's only half of it. Owls are the best means of sending letters in the magical world because of their innate ability of owls. You see, from very early on, magicians discovered that owls are very good at sensing danger. This ability comes in very handy in sending letters over long distances as the owls can avoid the many dangers of traveling by sensing them beforehand. Sending letters through owls is by far the safest and most consistent method of sending letters." (Professor Joseph)
"Next, we have mouses. Compared to the owl, the mouse pales in utility. One of the biggest reasons a magician would choose to have a pet mouse is that mouses are very friendly, cute little creatures. They're always fun to play with. Plus, unlike rats, they like to keep themselves very clean, which is a plus in my books. (Professor Joseph)
"Pssssss, Azrail, don't you have a pet mouse?" Whispered Ronald.
"Yeah. Why ask?" I whispered back.
"Just asking." (Ronald)
"Lizards. Who here has a lizard as a pet?" (Professor Joseph)
Two students raised their hands.
"Do you two want to share why you chose a lizard as a pet? No pressure, you don't have to if you don't want to." (Professor Joseph)
"I chose to have a pet lizard because I like reptiles," one of the two students answered.
"That's a great reason. The point I'm trying to make here, lads are that in many cases for magician pets, sometimes the biggest reason they choose their specific pet species is that they like that species. There's nothing wrong with it. Though, I do want to mention one thing. One aspect that is not well known about lizards being pets is that they do great reconnaissance work. Lizards are extremely sneaky creatures and can't be detected through magical means because they don't emit magic, typically, and they are cold-blooded, so heat-detecting spells won't find them. If the master of a lizard creates a close enough bond with the lizard, they would be able to use the bond they have with the wizard to borrow their vision and give them instructions from long distances away. This is familiar-based magic that we'll be going over in a future unit."
The two students who had lizards as pets looked very excited right now. They probably didn't know that their lizards had so much potential.
