22 Let's go to class! [Final]

Letting go of the orb in front of me, the mist quickly dissipated as if it had never existed in the first place.

No one uttered a single word after the bizarre phenomenon they had just witnessed, making it pretty clear that this wasn't something that happened often.

'I need to get out...'

The intense stares from everyone around me got to the point of being unbearable, my anxiety finally overflowing.

*Poff!*

So I withdrew my clone, not caring about the consequences of skipping the rest of the lesson.

****

[Jessica's Pov]

James had frozen completely when he put his hand on the earth alignment guide, forcing his eyes shut as if he was praying to some higher being that he had to get a reaction from it or something horrible would happen.

When I saw that even though more than a minute passed, and the guide wasn't reacting at all, my heart broke. However, there was nothing that could be done right here and now, therefore I tried to get his attention " Mr. Jackson? Are you alright?"

He turned his head to me and clearly forced himself to smile. Because his eyes sure weren't. "Oh yeah. I'm fine, just a bit of a headache..."

'Liar...'

There were so many things I wanted to say but I had to mind where and what was happening right now. All the other students had their eyes on us, watching us intently. Trying my best to put on a brave face, I did try to plant a small seed in his mind, "Are you sure? You know that you can tell me anything, I'm your teacher after all?"

A lot of people knew me as a heartless woman, a woman who mercilessly slaughtered my enemies with my Psion Manual, sometimes even going as far as literally ripping them apart using Telekinesis, but if there was one thing I couldn't bear to see, it was the torment of younglings and animals. Both of these groups didn't make choices to induce their own suffering, it was almost always the product of parents or owners who forced their wills upon the ones they were supposed to care about.

Even official noble houses could be pretty tough on their offspring if they didn't awaken the traditional element of their house, like if Mike didn't awaken the fire element, but the hidden houses were most likely ten times worse.

James just kept forcing that smile of his as he quickly walked to the wind guide, most likely not seeing any point in continuing this as he had already 'failed', "Yes, I'm fine?!"

Something amazing happened when he put his hand on the wind guide, something I had never seen in my life. Although it was rare, it was known that some individuals have strong enough affinities with an element to make the guides have peculiar reactions, like in the case of Sophie and Sebastian, but this reaction was on a completely different level.

A wave of incredibly dense mist enshrouded us all, making it impossible to see more than a meter ahead. What was even more amazing was that it also completely shrouded the mana signature of the young man who had unconsciously called upon it. It was as if he completely disappeared.

At first, I even thought that he might have died, but just a second after the mist vanished letting everyone see the shaken James standing in front of us. I was speechless, no, we were all speechless.

*Poff!*

And then he was just replaced with a cloud of smoke, having teleported away just like he had done from our first homeroom. Stress and fear started to slowly replace my astonishment when thinking about how the young man was probably scared that he might lose his life now, even though his affinity had been impossibly strong with another element.

Quickly making a decision, I ended the lesson early and as I was just about to run to James's apartment to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, one student stayed behind when the others had left. Adriana blocked my path.

"I don't think you have to be worried about Mr. Jackson, Ms. Turner."

Scanning the proud elf, I felt a slight irritation start to grow in my belly. 'Does she know something that I don't? She is royalty, so it is possible...'

Crossing my arms, inadvertently pushing my voluminous chest up, I made sure to talk with the authority of a teacher at Ainu, "Miss Aldon, I hope that you understand that we do not regard you as a princess at the academy, just like we don't regard Sarah as royalty either. Now, please do tell me why I shouldn't worry about the student who might have hurt himself during the guiding. Also, what is your excuse for skipping class and coming here?"

The weirdest part was that she wasn't even part of the students who had picked this course, I knew that she had already awakened her Ice element before she even came to the academy.

As expected of royalty, she didn't even flinch at my sharp words, probably more than used to being put on the spot in political contexts. Instead, she met me head-on, keeping herself polite but still spouting heavy words, "Ms. Turner, first of all, I got permission from my teacher to come here to see what elemental affinities my classmates had. Secondly, we both know that James wouldn't get hurt by something like this."

Adriana completely resolved all the questions I had expertly, talking with clarity and precision. She also discreetly made it clear that she also thought that the short youth was an heir of a hidden family because, if he was, he would have been forced through enough training that he would be fine.

My eyes narrowed as she had set the stage we were going to play on, "Miss Aldon, what do you want?"

An innocent smile emerged on her face, sending shivers down my spine, "I just want to share information with you. Even if you suspect that he is going to be in trouble, it would be foolish to stick your head out without thinking. Even if Ainu is powerful we both know what kind of monsters exists out there. It would be a shame to act rashly just to doom the entire academy."

Her words instantly cooled me down as she reminded me just what the hidden families were. Even if a lot of teachers at Ainu were extremely capable, they were just pebbles in the road if one were to consider a war against the underground houses.

The proposal also intrigued me quite a bit and even if I didn't have a lot of information to trade at the moment, I was still holding a teacher's position. This meant that I was in a better position to gather information about him than Adriana, and she was well aware of this.

Noticing that my eyes had changed, she stretched out her dainty hand towards me, "Do we have a deal?" Taking her hand, I just nodded as a sign of approval. When she was walking away, there had been another thing bothering me, 'Why did her hand feel so incredibly rough?'

****

[James's Pov]

After spending a couple of hours making the best use of my time, sulking in my bed, I had taken my position at the laptop, searching for information about elemental awakenings while sub-me was practicing with our scythe.

It didn't seem all too complicated to awaken one's element. The main reason why one used the orbs, that I now know as guides, was to make it easier to search for the affinity in the inner self.

'I guess I have to meditate and dive into myself to find it?'

'Please don't dive into me...'

'Shut up, you know what we mean!'

As it was pretty obvious what element I had an affinity for, the mist element which was a derivative of wind, I sat down on the floor, cross-legged, and closed my eyes. From the instructions on the internet, I was supposed to just try my best and first let go of my self-awareness, something which was pretty hard to do as I had two consciousnesses active at the moment.

Thankfully, I had practiced enough with my clone that I was incredibly proficient at controlling my own mind, something which was necessary if one wanted to use the Trickster Manual. Thus it didn't feel like it took all that long before I sank into myself.

A space of pure black, the outer layer of my own soul. 'Now, the next step was to visualize the element and coax it into accepting me as its master. Shouldn't be all too hard, right?'

With the vision of the mist that emerged from the guiding orb still fresh in my mind, I imagined myself being the center of it, hidden from the outer world, safe in my solitude. In no time my dear friend started to approach me, starting as the light mist one might see on a warm morning after a rainy night.

'You want to know me too right? We are perfect for each other after all!'

My thoughts triggered something in the mist, as it started to grow denser and dance around my body, happy to have found someone who knew the joy of isolation. In the end, all of the mist gathered into one big, grayish sphere and entered my imaginary body.

"Hup!"

Back on the bed, it felt as if I had just eaten a three-course dinner, feeling so very full of matter. Smiling, I knew that I had somehow managed to awaken my element on my first try.

'Kukuku! This is where my legend begins...!'

Quickly recalling my clone, not even minding the fact that our scythe fell right down to the floor in the practice room, I wanted to make sure that sub-me had the same awakening as I did as soon as possible.

'Hmm, maybe...?'

===Status===

Name: James Jackson

Rank: E

Strength: F+

Agility: E

Stamina: E-

Intelligence: E+

Mana Capacity: D

--> Main Manual:

[Trickster - Ungraded] - Medium Understanding

An ungraded manual for those who don't want to be understood. A trickster is only a trickster until people understand your tricks.

-Core Skill: [Double Trouble]

-1st Skill: [Swap]

-2nd Skill: [Materialize]

--> Side Manual:

[Empty]

--> Elemental Affinity: Mist

->Elemental Skills: [Empty]

==========

And there it was, neatly fitted into my status panel. My lovely little mist.