Chapter 4: Chest flat as bread

Generally speaking, necromancy students tended to wake up early in the morning, rush to get ready and hurry to the Dark Magic Department's classroom building. Jack was about to lose it and was completely unwilling to participate, but his fears dissipated as he listened to Han Shuo's plan. In the end, Jack finally agreed when he remembered that Han Shuo was doing this for him. Was he less of a man than Bryan?

Many statues of the valedictorians and notables of the Babylon Academy were erected along the sides of a path made of rocks. These life-size statues were the pride of the Academy.

One of Bryan's duties was to dust these statues every day. He had been doing this since he was ten years old, using a small ladder when he was smaller. It was only after he had completed this arduous task that he was allowed to take a break to eat.

As they worked the dust out of the crevices of a bushy-mustached statue of an Archmage, Han Shuo turned to Jack and said, "I say Jack, wouldn't it be nice if our statues could be erected here one day?"

"Bryan, don't be silly. We're just runners! It's enough that we get a full meal and don't get beaten up every day. How could we ever become magicians? Oh... Bryan, you are definitely different. You would never have had such crazy thoughts and you wouldn't have shared such a bad idea!"

"Why not?"

"We have to have the potential and pay a lot of gold coins for tuition at a magic school to become a mage. We have to go through countless levels of training and tests, even children from noble families must have a lot of potential if they want to become a mage. This is impossible for us commoners. Oh, I forgot. You're also a slave without freedom, that's even worse, there's no hope for you at all!"

"We're in a magic school right now, and we don't even have to pay tuition. Heh heh, that is a huge stroke of luck! If we don't learn magic now, how will we be able to survive in the future?

How dare we say we're from the Babylonian Academy of Magic and Power!"

"Bryan, don't act so confident. We're not students, we're just runners. Eh... and at least I can leave the school in the future, but you - you can never leave!"

Jack was absentmindedly wiping the statue of Archmage Claire, with none of his usual attention to detail and a face full of ambition. Little fat Jack thought Bryan was being rather odd, so he spoke frankly.

"Hah, let's not talk about that. Look, that witch Lisa is coming this way, let's get back to work!" Han Shuo watched Lisa limping towards them from a distance and thought that at least Bryan had something to show for his six years of running errands for the academy - he knew the daily routines of some people.

Lisa usually woke up later, and most of the time she trudged slowly to the classrooms alone. Today was no exception. Today she was dressed in a black wizard's robe, her long, soft blonde hair cascading carelessly over her shoulders. She didn't seem to have gotten much sleep the night before, yawning again and again as she walked.

Lisa was quite pretty, but perhaps that was because she hadn't quite finished developing. As she was only 16, her chest area was not so well rounded. Rumour had it that Lisa was also very unhappy with her flat chest and had recently been looking for solutions.

Han Shuo and Jack secretly watched Lisa as she continued to dust the statue of Archmage Claire with all seriousness. They muttered to each other as they worked, seemingly unaware of her presence.

"No way, Bryan, you must have heard wrong. How could Bach say that about Lisa?"

The two had been murmuring quietly when Jack suddenly raised his voice and exclaimed in surprise.

Lisa had been walking along absentmindedly when she heard her name mentioned. Her attention was immediately drawn to the statement as she looked cautiously ahead of her.

All girls wanted to know what people were saying about them behind their backs, and Lisa was no exception. She even went so far as to hide behind another statue so they wouldn't see her and be too afraid to talk. Her ears perked up as she sneaked glances at them.

It was that half-crazy, half-idiot Bryan! Lisa was still angry and wanted to put him in his place, but first she wanted to hear what Bach had said about her.

Han Shuo smiled vacantly and said, "No, I didn't mishear, on the way to class Bach told the other students that Lisa's chest was as flat as stomped bread!"

Jack had to hold back his laughter as soon as he heard this. His face turned red and his body continued to shake.

On the other side of the statue, Lisa's face darkened with rage. Her pretty eyes flashed with rage as her sweet lips twitched and her pearly teeth chattered. She trembled with rage for a few seconds and then stomped off in a huff towards the classroom building. She'd completely forgotten that She'd wanted to put Bryan in his place.

Jack could no longer hold back his laughter as he watched Lisa rush off in the opposite direction, her face purple with rage and out for blood. "Hahahaha..." he expelled all his frustration with an explosive burst of laughter. He laughed as he said, "Bryan, you're too bad! Even us errand boys know that Bach likes Lisa and that Lisa hates people making fun of her breasts. Seeing how she was just now, Bach is totally screwed!"

Han Shuo gave a sinister chuckle as he immediately put away his brushes. "Forget about dusting Claire! Let's go watch the show!"

Little Fatty Jack tucked his brushes into the cloth bag at his waist with a grand gesture as he took Han Shuo's advice. He laughed, "Let's go, I want to see Lisa beat up Bach. Serves him right for hitting me this morning!"

The two Necromancy errand boys followed Lisa in high spirits, running quickly towards the classroom building. The students they passed on the way were puzzled by their behaviour, thinking that the two cowardly errand boys had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning.

At the Babylonian Academy of Magic and Strength, Necromancy was a sub-category of the Department of Dark Magic. Necromancy students used the same classrooms as Dark Magic students and studied under the supervision of the teachers every day.

One had to admire Lisa's efficiency; by the time Han Shuo and Jack had arrived, she had already vented her spleen and given Bach a beating.

"Lisa, even the Major's errand boys know how I feel about you, how could I have said anything bad about you? Who did you hear that from?"

Bach already had a spectacular bruise around his left eye when he dodged a "bone arrow" attack. He used the respite to quickly proclaim his innocence, and looked rather battered indeed.

Bach had hit Jack hard when he had bumped into him. Bryan had suffered even more at Bach's hands.

Bach was the seventeen-year-old son of a small noble family, but he held the lowest rank of magical apprentice. He was outmatched by a higher-ranked mage apprentice, not to mention the fact that he inflicted his blows because he liked Lisa. No wonder he was quickly beaten when he faced an angry Lisa.

"Huh, that's none of your business. You didn't even want me to hear it, so it must be true. Since you are so mean, feel my wrath!"

Indeed, Han Shuo and Jack didn't "want" Lisa to hear them. Han Shuo was also half mad and half village idiot. There was no way someone like that could make up such a lie. He was also an errand boy, he wouldn't dare to lie!

As this was one of Lisa's taboos, she would never say what she overheard in front of other people. She did her best to teach Bach a lesson so that no one would make fun of her again.

"Souls of the fallen soldiers, heed the call of the dark herald and reveal your existence!"

Lisa raised her slender white arm to the sky and sang an incantation. When she finished, two stark white skeletal warriors with bone knives appeared before her. They rushed towards Bach with their knives held high as she pointed at him.

Han Shuo was stunned as he watched from the sidelines. This was the first time he had seen the mysterious necromancy magic in action with his own eyes. His body almost bursting with curiosity, he focused his eyes and attention on the action.

"Lisa's concentration isn't that bad to summon two skeleton warriors!"

"Huh, the necromancy major is weak as hell to begin with, and her students are not united. No wonder Necromancy is one of the weakest majors at the Academy. What a blot on the Department of Dark Magic!"

...

The students of the Department of Dark Magic began to chatter after Lisa summoned the two skeleton warriors. From their conversations, Han Shuo learned that the same magic could be divided into five different levels based on the level of concentration. If a necromancer Archmage with great concentration used the chant to summon skeletons, he would be able to summon even more skeleton warriors.

Bach was extremely depressed and inwardly cursed the rumourmongers a few hundred times. If Bach had practised dark magic spells and had enough concentration, then Han Shuo and Jack wouldn't be able to enjoy the show they were watching.

The Skeleton Warriors chased him frantically all over the place. Bach finally had to use the same magic to summon a small skeleton. A man and a skeleton began to fight the other two skeletons.

Other students from the Dark Magic department laughed loudly when they saw Bach in such a mess. Bach was affected by the jeers and lost his concentration, so one of Lisa's skeleton warriors kicked him in the stomach. His face turned purple with pain and he slowly sank to the ground.

Lisa quickly stopped her skeletons when she saw that Bach had been hit and the skeleton raised its knife to finish the job. She sent the skeletons back into another dimension.

After all, it wasn't a fight to the death, and the Academy had forbidden such fights anyway. Lisa did not dare to really hurt Bach, and most of her anger had been soothed by Bach's injury.

Bach stood up and sent his skeleton back to another dimension. He looked around and saw that Han Shuo and Jack were also laughing at him. Bach was already feeling quite angry, so he stomped over angrily and cursed, "You two lowly messengers dare to laugh at me?"

Bach didn't dare take his anger out on Lisa, and even less on the Dark Magic seniors around him. He could only vent some of his anger on the two runners, and the sight of them laughing at him only made him angrier.

Lisa had almost satisfied her anger when she saw Bach ignore her and concentrate on something else. This rekindled her anger as she sang coldly, "Oh, eternal darkness, grant me the power of death, inflict the torment of the soul upon his body. Agony of the soul!"

A dark cloud of gas formed as Lisa finished and flew towards Bach. The gas kept shifting as it floated through the air, eventually materialising as a pulsing black flame.

Bach's expression changed as he turned to see the magical flame from the 'Agony of the Soul' shoot towards him after hearing Lisa chant the incantation. Then he suddenly turned and ran towards Han Shuo and Jack as if he'd thought of something. Just as the 'Agony of the Soul' was about to hit him, he ducked and rolled to the ground.

Bach's plan was working. The merrily laughing and completely defenceless Han Shuo watched as Bach suddenly rolled in front of him and the Agony of the Soul crashed down on Han Shuo's body.

Han Shuo's eyes rolled back as his head suddenly hurt and he fell straight backwards to the ground.