Mentor

The professor introduced herself as Miss Dianne and gave them a brief overview of what the year ahead holds for them. It was very different for S-class in terms of teaching and expectations compared to A-F-classes. This is because these fourteen students were recognised as outliers, and despite being the same age as all the others, their abilities had far exceeded them. Therefore they couldn't be measured and subjected to the same standard.

Hence in order for the students to receive a more suitable education, each of the students was assigned to a professor to serve as their mentor. Although theory classes would still be taught and compulsory to attend, they were only held twice a month and none of the content was examined.

Instead, it was the role of the mentor to examine the student; whether that be through errands or adventurer guild missions, spell mastery etc.

Adrian was surprised at this information. He didn't expect S-class to be structured so differently, but inside his chest, his heart bubbled in excitement.

He envisioned himself in the future, basking in the shallow water and watching as the water around him stirred to his command. He could use his power to create strong waves and quickly ease the ships along, and how he could shape a castle of sand from the seafloor, undisturbed by the water and similar to the one he had imagined in his dream.

"By now I'm sure all of you are wondering who you're mentors are," The professor's thickly coated with ruby lipstick lips parted, as she broke into a smug grin and her eyes blossomed with pity, "But I won't tell you until of class, otherwise I know none of you would pay any attention."

There was a murmur of unsatisfaction amid the students, but a sharp glance from the professor and the threat that she wouldn't tell them at all, hushed them up quickly and the three hours of the morning lesson flew by at record speed.

It was just a general theory lesson, refreshing the students about mana control and where it came from; the soul. To use mana, it was necessary to first absorb its energy because only after that could you harness its true power and transform it into spells or general use.

Adrian listened to each word intently, absorbing the information like a sponge. To blend in with everyone else here, he needed to use magic just like them and absorb it first before using it, which wasn't a step necessary for mermaids.

When around water, due to his fish blood, Adrian supposed he was already assimilated with its power and therefore could just manipulate it as it was, especially when in the ocean. But it was a lot easier to make waves in a rockpool than it was in a bathtub, and even then his degree of control was quite small and weaker than when he absorbed the mana first.

The lesson flew by fast, and just a few minutes before midday, Miss Dianne had finished speaking and sketching on the blackboard. No one had any questions, as it was basic material. On his right, Adrian noticed that a few of the students around the room had fallen asleep, but the professor didn't seem to care.

However, they quickly snapped back awake when she began to announce the mentors. Several unfamiliar names floated around the room, but from the gasps of joy and shock, Adrian knew that everyone was pleased.

Callan's gaze also deepened when his name got called out, along with another girl.

"Do you know him?" Adrian whispered under his breath, referring to Callan's new mentor.

"Yeah, he's good," Callan replied, with a small smile. He was a bit unhappy that he hadn't received the same mentor as Adrian so that they could spend more time together but it couldn't be helped either as their abilities were far too different. He was a fire and light user, whereas Adrian was water and ice.

They were opposites; maybe that was why the attraction was so strong.

Damien was an earth magician and his name had already been called out, and assigned to another mentor and so had Ethan's.

Almost everyone else's name had already been called out when Miss Dianne finally looked up from her list.

"And for the three of you whose name's have yet to be mentioned, you may stay behind after class, so that I, your new mentor, can introduce myself to you."

Her green eyes curved up like crescent moons as she scanned the audience. Adrian felt her gaze trace over him, and he gave her a small smile back before it moved along.

His heart still held a degree of doubt in it, and mistrust towards foxes, however, he was determined not to let it affect him.

He glanced to his other side to see Damien staring right at him, and could almost read his mind, "It's okay, I'll be alright." He whispered.

"Just don't push yourself." Damien responded, "And I'll wait for you afterwards."

"Okay" Adrian agreed, his ocean eyes flickering with enough determination to make Damien sigh internally. Although he too was empowered to grow stronger he was a bit apprehensive at the time they were going to be spending apart, especially because he knew how lax and oblivious Adrian could be at times in hiding his secret.

Maybe he would've been more diligent and scared too if they had told him the truth about the disappearance of his kind. Although Adrian knew that he was the last of his kind, or at least the only one to appear in over 200 years, he wasn't sure why exactly.

As far as he was concerned, mermaids existed in human society until they didn't. He never sought to find out more either, his apathy a source of both confusion and comfort to his parents, and Viscount Dyamere and Damien.

Damien's father, in particular, had done quite a lot of research into the disappearance of mermaids. As a reasonably high-ranking noble within the kingdom, he naturally had more access to official records and documents.

And to summarise his research, he told Damien and Adrian's parents two things, that the records regarding the disappearance of mermaids or their legacies at all were purposefully destroyed and that sometimes more than two hundred years ago, for an unknown reason pure mermaids rapidly dwindled in number and those that remained who had mermaid ancestry were exploited for it in rather horrible ways.

They had tried to explain it to Adrian but could clearly remember how his warm and pretty face had stiffened unnaturally and he refused to hear a word of it, whenever they brought it up.

It wasn't a denial of his own identity as a mermaid or loneliness at being the last of his kind. It fell somewhere into the unmarkable grey zone of apathy. They had all been at a loss for what to do, so in the end, they decided to drop it, but even if Adrian didn't seem to care, Damien was determined to find out the truth himself.

"I'll see you later then." Damien stood up along with his roommate and Callan, moving to exit the classroom. Adrian stood up with them, however, his own feet never left the doorway, as he stood together with the two other students at the front of the classroom.

The mint-haired boy didn't spare either of them a glance, however, the other girl, whose hair was a light shade of blue just like a clear sky, had her eyes firmly rooted in his direction.

"Hello!" She smiled at him warmly, as Miss Dianne was at the door, patiently watching the other students exit the classroom, with her green fox eyes, "You should be Adrian Oreanus, right?"

Adrian's ocean eyes widened, "Yes, that's me. How did you know?"

"Well, you're pretty infamous already." She shrugged as if her response was most obvious, "Anyway since we will be under the same mentor, it's best to get to know each other better. My name's Anna Zenith, 16 years old and although my parents are commoners, I have a strong aptitude for water magic which is why I'm here."

Her words were rather braggy and her tone self-righteous, but Adrian didn't pay too much attention to that. He wasn't too sure how to reply to her either since she already knew his name, how else should he introduce himself? Thankfully, Anna already raced to continue the conversation,

She knew the people standing before her were the 2nd and 3rd strongest in the class, so she rejoiced in her blessing to be added to the same mentee group as them. Surely she would receive endless future benefits if she were to become close to them, right?

"And you're Zacchery Hezart, right?" Her eyes danced over to the cold-faced, mint-haired boy.

A pair of cold eyes stared back wordlessly, neither affirming nor denying her words, before briefly glancing over to Adrian, then turning away in disinterest.

Anna frowned like she hadn't expected him to ignore her. She opened her lips about to speak more, however, the words never left her mouth as Miss Dianne approached them.

"Sorry for making you wait," Her apology was light, holding no more weight than that of a feather plucked from a soft quilt as she smiled, almost coquettishly at them three, "Well seeing as I'm your designated mentor from now on, it's best to get acquaintanced. I've already read all your files, so I have a basic understanding of who you are."

Her green eyes curved up again, "So as your mentor, the first task I'm going to set you is to go into the forest and bring back one live three-thorned snake vine. You will have one month to complete this task, and you must do it as a group. You mustn't cheat either or else you'll face severe punishment."

Her gaze seemed to burn into Adrian's face, and he felt a shiver run down his spine as he felt like prey in front of a predator, the smell of fox threatening to flush all other thoughts from his mind.

"And it would be a shame to punish such a beautiful face." She whispered under her breath, her words so sweet they seemed to drip with honey before she continued "Well that's all I have to say for now. Feel free to come to see me at any time if you need anything or want to talk. You're senior brothers and sisters are also scattered around the school so make sure to introduce yourselves sometime, okay? Alright dismissed."

It was over quicker than Adrian had expected, which pleased him greatly. He still wasn't too uncomfortable being so close to a fox woman yet... and so as politely and quickly as possible, he departed the room. Callan, Damien and even Ethan were waiting for him in the hall outside the classroom and together they went to lunch.

Anna seemed a bit unsure as to whether to chase after Adrian and his group or go find her roommate. But although her decision was still uncertain, she also exited the classroom, leaving only Miss Dianne and Zacchery behind.

Instantly the temperature of the room seemed to plummet, as the two exchanged an icy glare. Familiarity was obvious, but not in a friendly manner.

"You didn't need to come here, Prince." Miss Dianne's emerald eyes sharpened like daggers, and her sweet voice soured like spoilt cream.

"It was father's orders." The mint-haired boy's eyes still had yet to flicker with a single shred of emotion as they stared blankly at her, "He wants to know why, after all this time, you haven't been able to locate the mermaid."

Miss Dianne scoffed under her breath, "This foreign land isn't Tarypton, I have to be more careful. Also, was I not able to trace the mermaid's location to this Academy? Do I not deserve some credit for that?"

"It took you 16 years to do so." Zacchery replied simply restating his father, the king's, words in his same frigid tone, "His majesty says that you're lucky he didn't-"

"His majesty sent me to a foreign land with nothing except a few stammering words of rage. It's a miracle I was able to find anything in the time that I did." Miss Dianne cut him off, her voice seething with suppressed rage before crinkling her brow, "Forget it, there's no point arguing with you....you're just his tool anyway."

Zacchery's eyes already black-pooled eyes further darkened, although he didn't refute her.

"Don't worry, I'll find him his precious mermaid." Miss Dianne exhaled deeply, furrowing her brows, "In return, don't cause me trouble and keep a close eye on those two kids."

Zacchery nodded compliantly, as Miss Dianne continued to talk,

"It might not be either of them, but out of all the first years, they are the most likely candidates. Especially that pretty boy... even if he turns out to not be the mermaid, I think I'm going to take him anyway."

The tip of her red tongue slipped into sight as she licked her lips as though imagining a delicacy laid out before her.

It would be such a shame to watch such a beauty be ripped to shreds by the claws of their king.

Seeing as she seemed to have nothing else to say to him, Zacchery excused himself and vanished from sight, leaving Miss Dianne alone in the large classroom.

She sighed under her breath as she packed up her items, "If only that crazy bastard had just given me the feather..."

The crazy bastard she was referring to was the King of Tarypton, who had been reborn from the ashes to seek revenge.