Sophia von Eisenwald III...?
Whispers erupted amongst the students and even more glances towards me.
Well it should've been obvious especially to me, an Eisenwald teaching here? Well she doesn't mean any problem right?
"I know what you're all thinking right now and no, I'm not here to defend a disgrace that share, unfortunately, the same family as mine." Way to feed me off the wolves but I can't deny it at this point.
"I don't like cleaning after a mess that I didn't made after all." She sneered towards me while tilting her head as the others gave another look as well whispering things like
"I wouldn't be even safe if a family member is here."
"I'm all alone so I should just give up." and all sorts of mockery.
"Let's get one thing clear: I'm here as your professor — not as a noble, and not as an enforcer. I may be strict, but the rules bind me just as much as they bind you, I wouldn't dare to be bias here." She added writing her rules in her class on the board with extreme precision using mana alone.
"These are just my 3 simple rules, just follow them and we'll be all on good terms."
1. Don't be late, if you are, provide a letter of writing as to why you're late.
2. Don't cause ruckus in my class (that's for the lunchbreak).
3. If you couldn't follow my instructions, don't try to guess and feel free to ask me questions.
"Aside from this, we're all gonna be fine." She said knocking on the board making sure our attention are focused on what's written.
"I can let you off with a total of 3 warnings... with the exception of 1 known rulebreaker. I wouldn't have to mention his name but he knows himself, who wouldn't?" She sneered again but this time she's looking down at the learning material — she doesn't even need to say my name because this entire class is already shooting me glares like give me a break!
I'm not Elric!
"So you're all.. at Lesson 8 Chapter 4 already? You brat are fast learners hahahaha!" Sophia sounding so cheery flipped the pages of the book while skimming through it until she stopped on one page.
"... Advance Types of Mana... Chapter 1." She held the book up before walking around gathering the attention of students around her, finally.
"Alright, as commonly known by the people — there are 5 types of mana:
[Null], basically like a paper, empty and blank until you mold it into something by yourself. It's similar to what a demonstrated from earlier, it's a [Null] Mana, not an [Offensive] one.
[Offensive], exactly as it sounds, Mana taking form of something meant to harm, destroy or subdue. Like fireballs and the likes.
[Application], these are the ones meant to strengthen one's physique, endurance and to enhance other people too.
[Fractured], those for the unfortunate with this kind of mana, these are usually unstable Mana that is insanely difficult to control and results to even more damage fo one's roots." She's explaining it really well in simpler terms but I've never heard of the [Natural] Mana back in my days.
Last but not the least! [Natural], these are the Mana coming from our surroundings and the ones who usually can wield it are either elves or the dryads. There are some cases where humans could wield this but some people think that's just a myth. Who knows?
Don't people in this age normally wield mana from outside sources to enhance or boost abilities?
"But—!
There are other two rare types of Mana only wielded by few people in the Kingdom. I wouldn't even dare hope to get one because it's even harder to wield the 5 types above as there's basically little to no learning reference for those, you gotta figure it out yourself.
They're called [Excelsus] and [Sordidus]."
That very last line made my jaw drop, what does she mean by rare?
Those things are the standards for soldiers in my era in addition to the four types at the start!
"[Excelsus] is what we call, a divine or holy power granting you powers to manifest miracles and the likes, usually given to the Saintesses of this kingdom... ahem, ahem."
Pardon?
After the mention of the Saintess, I felt chills run up my spine feeling as if something added to my list of crimes that I didn't even know?
I felt like a clueless animal wondering why... again, why there are so many glares towards me!?
"[Sordidus] on the other hand is said to be the opposite of [Excelsus] but that doesn't necessarily mean it's used by evil people or anything. They're more for siphoning outside mana to use for yourself but I wouldn't even enter the morality of using this since it's most likely never."
Sophia continued explaining the subclasses of the 5 types of Mana while the fact that [Excelsus] and [Sordidus] are considered rare at this day and age lingers on me.
I pondered deeply about it since it's basically impossible for those two major staples of being a soldier of the Empire or Kingdom.
It couldn't possibly fade into existence within just 2-3 years if the war ever have ended after my death?
"..lo.."
That's too much exaggeration, so it couldn't possibly be.
"...ter Elric..."
Now I regret not taking a look at the calendar yesterday.
"Mr. Eisenwald. Are you listening?"
I snapped back to reality after hearing that serious voice from Sophia, looking around and towards her, I could feel pressure mounting on me.
"... P-pardon?" I replied.
"I asked if you're listening to the discussion or do you wish to get dismissed from my class early? I wouldn't mind the latter." Her arms was crossed giving me that serious look screaming that she didn't want me to waste her time.
"I— I just got a little bit distracted... ma'am...!" I tried ckming up with excuses and this is the best one that appeared on me yet because god have mercy on me, I'll be squeezed alive by this mental pressure alone.
"...Very well then. Please do avoid getting distracted even if you're a dropout since learning things like will benefit you, however despicable of a person you are." She replied.
Small giggles from the other students calling me a dropout and I feel like I could jump out of the window outside just from the sheer embarrassment.
...
Stundents coming out of the classroom stretching their arms as they all talk about what to eat and where to go next.
Other students asked one another if they did the project for the next class or should they do it right now.
I on the the other hand sat on this place all alone because god forbid Elric have friends of his own, if he had any in the first place.
"I wonder if the system had absorbed the new information or Elric already did? Meh, what hell, does it even matter? This kid's mana is fractured!" I said to myself burying my face on the desk before finally leaving the classroom myself after a moment of pondering.
I wonder if they're serving anything good in the cafeteria to relieve of this stress of trying to figure my place in this academy aside from being the most despised student.
Because let's face it, I'm just mistake away from getting my head hanged and paraded on a pitchfork.
Worse case scenario of all? burned in a stake alive.
But unlike Elric, I can never make such mistakes! I'm on e the proud and honorable knight of the Empire.
But I'm not sure if I have the tendecy to make myself regret my own words in the future even when I'm being cautious but I think fate has other plans for me.
And that other plan is watching me fail miserably and stumble towards an even deeper pitfall.
Walking on the hallways lf the academy and avoiding every, by that EVERY student I see!
With just few maneuvers here and there, using my experience in the past as a tool to hide myself in the vicinity of these people.
That part, maybe a challenge, I'd consider the easiest part.
But the most grueling task of them all had to be ordering from the cafeteria that is filled to the brim with students, especially Reinhardt, his friends and the twins along with them.
Look at them, laughing like that— How i'd love for them to keep on conversing with one another had I tried to enter the cafeteria.
I wanna avoid as much tension as possible but this is the only way!
Especially after my dumb arse forgot to buy food from outside!
But I trust myself.
I have to keep repeating it, I am proud knight!
Proudly I stride towards the cafeteria, immediately sensing the change in atmosphere as I can feel the thick tension it could choke someone out.
I can feel Elias's anger and his urge to just run up to me and punch straight in the face had it not been for Seris stopping him alongside Reinhardt.
Other students also lingered on me...
BUT!
This very moment is the deciding factor whether I'll be resilient enough to face these brats, living with the fact that I'm known as the Academy's pervert!
So like hell I'll back down right now!
"One sandwich please!" I said after reaching the counter.
"... That'll be two silver coins." The lunch lady replied in a rather less enthusiastic tone.
"Two silver coins, eh?" I smirked.
Before completely turning away as I walk the other direction, because out of all the important things that I've forgotten to check — I forgot the most important of them all.
Money.
"No, thank you very much!" I replied striding away with proudness.
Instead of judging glares, the room was just filled with utter confusion that even Elias stopped.
"...What was that all about?" Is probably what they're thinking at this point because what else could it be?
On the other hand, I was thinking on how can I achieve getting burnt in the stake by the masses like I'm some kind of evil entity.
As soon as I got out of the cafeteria and out of the vicinity of the students, I felt my legs almost give out just from the mounting embarrassing things I've done today. It almost felt like fate is laughing at me and I couldn't even do anything about it.
"How could this day get any worse!?" I threw in some curse words while stomping on the ground scratching my head.
Because I'm starting to think that this kid's reputation is beyond my reach as it kept plummeting even harder.
This tired old soul was suited fr war but not dealing with an odd situation like this. Everything's kept going back and forth to the point I'm reaching insanity and it's just been day 2!
"I wish the system gives me a skill to automatically work as a student so I can just skip this entire week over.
My resolve is already crumbling." I said to myself before standing up and making my way back to the classroom, hoping I could get a momentary peace.
But of course, as Elric, I couldn't even have that.
As soon as I turned to the rightcpath of the hallway, something bumped to me as books started falling on the ground, scattered everywhere.
"Argh... come on! Watch where you're going!" I groaned, before regaining my composure and helped in picking up the books, stacking them on each other.
"E...E-E-E-E-Elric!?" Huh? What's this person so afraid of?
I almost forgot to check who did I bump into.
But I shouldn't even had since that utter horror in this person's face can't be described, this aren't the same the other students because I can feel her fear.
"H-hey! What's wrong?!" She looks like she's having a panic attack as I tried to calm her down, but unfortunately.
That was my worst mistake of the day.
"NOOOOO!"