Chapter 59: Joining Class Black
Before setting off on his journey to save Behemoth, Jay promised Merlin that he would join Class Black if he would keep an eye on Fen. Now that he returned, it was time to fill his end of the promise. With Fen holding his hands and Myra following close behind him, he slowly walked towards his new classroom.
"We have a new classmate today, I know that most of you are already familiar with him," said Circe. Circe was the teacher of Class Black, she is a powerful mage that is not much weaker than Merlin. Jay entered the classroom, standing in front of the blackboard. Scanning the room, he could recognize all of the students. "Pick a empty seat," Circe said. Jay walked towards Louis without any hesistation, and he sat right next to him. Fen directly sat on Jay's lap while Myra sat behind Jay. Establishing a mind link with Louis, Jay greeted him, "It's been a while, is everything going well?" Louis was very happy that Jay still cared about him, but he was still angry about the fight. "Don't you ever put your life on the line again without telling me," Louis replied, showing a hint of anger. "Why is he still so angry?" thought Jay, not realizing that the mind link was still there.
Hearing Jay's thoughts, Louis's hand shot towards Jay's thigh, giving him a painful pinch. "Ow!" shouted Jay, even with his stats, a pinch from Louis still hurts a lot. The other people turned and stared at Jay. "Is there anything wrong?" Circe asked, looking at Jay. "I stubbed my toe," Jay said, embarrassed. "I should begin today's class if there are no further problems," Cerci said, looking at her students. She took out her a potion. "Today's class is about potions, specifically transformation potions," Circe said. "Lesser potions are easier to craft, but their duration and effectiveness will be much weaker," Circe said, as she a white array appeared on the desk. A white rat appeared, and it tried to scurry away when it felt Circe's mana. "Summoning magic," Malum was impressed, Summoning magic, being one of the few types of magic he has yet to master. Summoning magic was not easy, it required full mastery over the space element, warping beings from another dimension. Before the mouse could escape, Circe held it down with only the pressure from her mana.
The mouse froze in place, unable to make a single move. Circe began to pour the potion onto the mice, a drop at a time. The drops disappeared once it came into contact with the mice. At first, the little mouse didn't seem to mind at all, but suddenly, it began to convulse. Poof! A white smoke cloud appeared as the mice turned into a goblin. "The potion can change the consumer's appearance and strength, but only very high graded potions grant the consumer's the skills of the thing they transform into," Cerci said, lifting pressure of the "goblin". The goblin acted very weird, it was walking on all fours. The mice clearly had no idea that it was already turned into goblin. "Why is everything so small? Why is my skin green? " the mouse said, panicking. Jay could understand the little rodent, but to the other students, all they could hear was a goblin trying to squeak. After ten seconds or so, the goblin turned back into a mouse. Snapping her fingers, the mouse was sent back to its home.
"Now comes the fun part," said Circe, taking out another potion. This time, Jay could sense the mana radiating from the bottle, it was clearly much higher graded then the last one. "I'm going to show you how potions could be used in real battles," Circe said, looking at Bill, who was sleeping so soundly that he was even snoring. She tossed the potion straight at Bill, and it shattered once it hit Bill's head. The potion splashed all over Bill, covering him from head to toe. "What is going on, who di..." Bill didn't get to finish his sentence as he began to shake violently. With a puff of smoke, Bill was turned into a pig. "Oink," Bill screeched in confusion. "Some potions are temporary, but some strong and expensive ones could cause a permanent change," Cerci said, snapping her fingers. Bill was transformed back into his normal self, but his nose was still that of a pig's. Pointing at Bill's face, Jay was laughing his face off. "It really fits you!" laughed Jay, tears coming out. Seeing that Jay was mocking Bill, Cerci decided to use Jay as an example too. "Some transformation potions could even be casted in the form of a spell," Cerci said, as a wave of mana washed over Jay.
Jay could feel his muscles contract, slowly turning into a different being. "Fight it off," Jay ordered Malum. Malum intercepted the mana that was coursing through his body, absorbing it. Malum, who was skilled in shape-shifting, was already really familiar with this kind of spell. So naturally, he perfectly negated the spell's effects. Seeing that Jay managed to fight off the spell, Circe was impressed. "No wonder Merlin asked you to join our class," she said. Handing everyone a potion, Circe said, "Drink it, and try to fight off the effects." Even Fen and Myra were given a potion each. Fen, who wanted to try and turn into a goblin, drank the potion without any hesistation. And surely enough, he was turned into a little green critter. "Look! I'm a goblin now," Fen said, climbing onto Jay. "Not gonna lie, goblins are quite ugly," Jay said, observing Fen's new form. Hearing Jay call him ugly, Fen immediately activated Shapeshift, turning back into a normal human child. Asher, who was skilled in curing and purging special effects, easily broke the potion's effects. Freddy, who was skilled in controlling life forces, quickly reverted back his life force, turning him back into a human.
Bill, on the other hand, wasn't faring as well as his classmates. Once he downed the potion, he turned into a goblin. He tried to forcefully break the effects, but he only managed to activate Berserk in his goblin form. Seeing a goblin swelling up with big muscles was quite a sight. Jay was desperately trying to hold back his laughter watching Bill wave his muscular arm around. Arthur, drinking the potion, failed to turn into a goblin, and the same happened with Vlad. "Both of you have high magical resistance, that means you are highly resistant against magical potions, but remember, that also means that only higher tier healing potions could work on you," Circe said, observing the two strongest students in her class. Louis gulped down the potion, but as he was going to turn into a goblin, a golden light flickered, breaking the transformation. "Transformation potions are very versatile, they can be used to attack or defend. They will have a wonderful effect if your opponents have no way of lifting the spell. And some potions can transform you into a powerful being, such as a ogre or such. But beware, you might end up stuck forever in that form," Circe said, gifting everyone a Lesser Goblin Transformation potion. "These are easy to craft, needing only some low level magic cores and goblin fangs," Circe said.
The bell rang, marking the end of the class. Jay stood up, preparing to head to the cafeteria to grab some lunch. But he was pulled down by Louis, who was staring at him. "Why?" Louis asked. Looking at Jay's confused expression, Louis asked again, "Why do you keep doing things on your own, why don't you bring me with you? And who is that new woman?" Tons of questions came washing down like a waterfall, and realizing his mistake, Jay answered them one by one. He forgot how much Louis cared about him and took on all the burden on his own shoulders. "Promise me, promise me that you will share your troubles with me," Louis said, looking at Jay. Looking into Louis's eyes, Jay said, "I will."