The Academy Life (Part 9) Well Rounded

"First off, you all can call me Anny. As for this situation, I'm pretty much an exact copy of Yuna. Two years ago, during a raid on a recently popped-up dungeon, she was inflicted with an unknown spirit disease. I'm kind of a by-product of that disease being cured." Anny spoke, but it was obvious she didn't expect anyone to understand what she was talking about.

Lia was reeling internally. This was entirely foreign to her. Spirit diseases in general were extremely rare. The fact that they had somehow cured an unknown one was simply astonishing.

Anny sighed. "I'm only in shades of gray for reasons I don't understand. It's almost as if I lack a spiritual connection to the world. Well, that's only a theory of mine. Regardless, after being cured of the disease, I very suddenly appeared. Our memories are shared up until that point. The school employed us as teachers in order to monitor our vitals and check for any potential sign of a relapse."

While Lia was pondering the information, Saro spoke up in an extremely skeptical tone. 'She has to be hiding something.'

To everyone else, Lia seemed to be in deep thought as she replied to Saro. 'I can tell. Regardless, the school wouldn't let her near students, let alone teach them, unless she had convinced them she meant no harm.'

Saro didn't reply, and Lia spoke hesitantingly. "I see... how did she get afflicted, and what were the symptoms?"

Anny paused for a moment, wondering if she should tell the curious student. Eventually she spoke. "She was scratched by some kind of unknown monster. It looked like a typical ghoul, but was in gray-scale, like me. As for the symptoms...she immediately went into a coma and didn't awaken until it was cured."

Lia nodded. She didn't seem to be lying in the previous statement. Lia shrugged before speaking. "Well, that aside, what can you tell me about this class?"

Anny chuckled at the sudden topic change. "It covers the basic knowledge of monster hunting and dungeons. Which monsters are the most common, which monsters contain the most valuable parts, and how dungeons operate. We also do dungeon excursions twice a semester, basically four times a year."

Lia knew what dungeons were. Well, more like she had a basic level of understanding when it came to dungeons. Sisha, however, knew very little when it came to dungeons. She spoke up, posing a question.

"Can you explain a bit about dungeons?" Her question was simple, and her voice burned with curiosity.

Anny nodded before beginning a long-winded explanation. "Dungeons are specific areas, typically designated by the shimmering wall that marked their entrance. Within the deepest part of a dungeon, one can find a bizarre orb-like creation called a Mana Sphere. They collect mana from the earth and use it to seemingly "birth" monsters from thin air."

She paused momentarily, before continuing. "Adventurers use them to seek treasure and money. The monsters within, by all rights, are real flesh and blood monsters. IE: One can collect their parts for potions, weapons, etc. Additionally, some dungeons have been known to host exceedingly rare treasures."

Sisha nodded. "I figured that was the case. How large are they usually?"

Anny seemwd to be in deep contemplation as she began her answer. "Hmm. Well...the general layout is very similar to a labyrinth. It can be very confusing, and is easy to get lost in. As for the typical size...I'd guess the average is around 45-100 total floors."

"Really? They're that large?" It was Lacey's voice, riddled with surprise, that resounded through the area.

Anny nodded. "Indeed. Some are even far larger, reaching upwards of 200 floors. Of course, the monsters get more difficult the deeper you go."

Lia approached the sign-up list and wrote her name before turning to the two girls. "So, are you two going to sign up?"

Sisha merely nodded, and Lacey responded with a resolute: "Definitely!".

Anny smiled as the three new students left her classroom. 'How am I going to dodge her questions next time?' Was her only thought.

.....

The trio of girls slowly made their way back to the summoner class. Sisha insisted they make their way back, and Lia didn't mind. When they arrived back, Sisha and Lacey signed up for the class. Lacey had now signed up for a total of five electives: 'Space, Time, and Soul', 'Swordsmanship', 'Alchemy', 'Adventuring', and 'Monster-Taming' (summoner class).

Sisha had now signed up for a total of five as well: 'War', 'Space, Time, and Soul', 'Forging', 'Adventuring', and 'Monster-Taming'.

Lia looked at the two of them, who seemed satisfied with their electives. "You two completed your elective selections, yeah?"

Sisha looked at Lacey, and both of them nodded. Lacey was the first to speak. "Mhmm. We're pretty content with ours. I assume you have some others you want to check out?"

Lia nodded. "Do you mind if I get that list from you?"

Lacey wordlessly handed it over. "We'll be near the administration office getting our rooms and such."

Lia bid them farewell before looking at the list. There were probably approximately 25 different classes she could still check out. She had two more slots to fill. Lia was going to make sure to acquire as many skills as she possibly could.

Lia had practically spent the entire rest of the day checking out various different classes. Some of the more notable choices included: necromancy, healing, enchanting, black magic, religion, combat tactics, and tactical spells.

As tempting as the necromancy class was, Lia had passed up the opportunity. It simply wouldn't have fit into her schedule, in fact, half of the entire class list was tempting for her to take. In the end, she ended up taking these six classes: 'war', 'space, time, and soul', 'forging', 'adventuring', 'enchanting', and 'tactical spells'.

The teacher for the tactical spells class, Silvana, assured her that aptitude wasn't a definite requirement to learn the various tactical spells. So long as you could weave every type of magic, one would be in the clear.

Silvana has also offered a good explanation of what tactical spells actually were. They were essentially, spells you could find useful in non-combat scenarios. The course would mainly be focused on teaching one new ways in which they could use mana, and Lia definitely liked the sound of that.

After finishing her tour of the classes, she approached the administration office. Towards the second half of her elective tour, the administration office had begun to announce names.

Lia was now looking at a keycard. It looked like a typical metallic rectangular card. On it were two names: "Lia Darkova" and "Page Mellwater". Her only thought was, 'At least my roommate is someone I know..'