Published at 16th of February 2024 2:23 pm

Chapter 2.25 Back To Class

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Advanced Dungeon Combat’s delving sessions wouldn’t start until the week after. As a result, the party got Fifthday off. The rest of the week’s classes provided mostly introductory knowledge, going over what to expect and what they needed to achieve by the semester’s end to pass.

Nox didn't particularly enjoy Intermediate Dungeon Theory. However, passing it, completing Advanced Dungeon Combat, and advancing his star to the next stage was essential for an adept delving license. The qualifications came with several additional benefits. A party of all adepts and an expert could legally enter expert dungeons. Talented adepts occasionally got invited for lesser jobs in Archon domains, too.

The course spent a lot of time on pre-godfall history and roving dungeons. The latter of which was the only part of the syllabus that intrigued Nox. It touched on Archon dungeons and dungeon lords, too, but focused on the topics less than the advanced course, and Nox has no plans to waste time on it.

In comparison, he loved his other two courses.

Dean Woodson was a fascinating woman. At over a century old, she knew more about the world and the universes beyond it than anyone Nox had ever met. The fact that she was the last known druid made her even more fascinating.

Dean Woodson reprimanded him for not nurturing his Shaping Planet as much as the rest of his system. She had expected him to grow its mana count more during the break. However, his first moon temporarily satisfied her. She paired her students for upcoming projects—Nox was pleased to end up with Caitlin—before explaining the course's goals.

“Finesse Shaping is a niche field,” she told the class. “You'll primarily find artisan mages training the techniques. Battle mages don't often spend time on the micro end of things, and the concentration demands don't make it ideal either. The truly dedicated can make it truly dangerous, though. You.” She pointed at a chatty young man sitting near the back of the class. “What do you hope to achieve with Finesse Shaping.”

“M-me?” He stuttered, reddening. The mage’s eyes darted between his friend and the rest of the class, and his cheeks reddened. “I'm a healer, Dean.”

“I know that, but why don't you tell the glass how Finesse Shaping is relevant to your specialty.”

The healer stood up, and it took him a moment to get past his stammer. “Regeneration magic, while potent, slowly reduces away at a target’s lifespan. It doesn't set bone or fix internal damage but instead heals around it, often leading to greater issues. I'm devising methods to reduce our reliance on Regeneration. Using magic to surgically fix damage first will make combat healing significantly faster and more effective. I hope to Shape cells and tissue while Manipulating things into place.”

Dean Woodson turned her attention to another student. “What about you?”

“I am a stone mage specializing in graphite,” she answered, sounding much more prepared for the interrogation. “I aim to Shape it at a molecular level to alter hardness, malleability, and other material qualities.”

“And you?” Dean Woodson pointed at Nox.

“I aim to pair the technique with Live Spell Weaving,” he answered, “Imprinting and altering runescripts on my essence arrows could create a variety of effects. Versatility will help me overcome my opponent's weaknesses and perhaps alter the environment to my party's advantage.”

“All of you have goals most would consider crazy because of the volume of work involved and the related mental strain, and I respect you for it,” the ancient druid said. “I've paired you with mages with goals close to yours. By working together, you'll hopefully cover each others’ blindspots and think outside of the box.”

Nox turned to Caitlin when her grandmother turned her attention to the chalkboard. “You want to print spells on your wood armor?”

“The elemental floods it with mana and wood-related essences,” Caitlin answered. “I might as well find a use for them. More protection. A healing aura. Toxic or irritant sap. Suffocating dandelion fluff. There is a lot more I could do to protect everyone better or provide more offensive support.”

Nox and Caitlin sat together in Spell Weaving, too. They were both pleased to spend time with the grandmotherly professor, Diya. Nox adored the older woman and wished he had grown up with her instead of the glacier-hearted crone that was Queen Mercer’s mother. After class, instead of returning to her office for lunch, she hung around to critique his spell work.

“Unique rune work,” she commented. “Is that an alchemy filtration technique?”

Nox nodded. “Yes, professor. I got the idea from the spellform for purifying Nurgle Pox killer.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Clever. It feels incomplete, though. Did you run out of room?”

“I would’ve loved to add a mana storage rune in each filtration layer to store the surplus. Unfortunately, my star isn’t big enough yet. Perhaps it's something I can do after ascending to adept. Solidifying the stolen mana into a physical barrier could help strengthen my defenses.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea!” Diya exclaimed. Almost every inch of her face wrinkled when she smiled. “Or, you could create temporary external mana wells.”

“Don’t those only last for a few seconds?” Nox asked. “I doubt Ratra’s Bow will benefit from them.”

“It’s just a thought. The mana might be useful for empowering the spellforms you create with Live Spell Weaving.” A mischievous chuckle escaped her. "Imagine your enemy's frustration if you throw their mana back at them?"

"That sounds downright devios, professor," Caitlin said, chuckling. "Just imagine it. An adept boss hits your Crystalize Essence with a lightning bolt and it does nothing. Instead of dying, you take all of their divine-gifted power and use it to drill a hole through their face."

"The same goes for dungeon lords. Sure, they give up most of their original power to grow, operate, and empower their domain, but that doesn't mean they're easy to kill. You could take all the mana emitted by the final boss to take out their ruler and then finish off the spent minion."

Diya invited the pair for lunch, and they gladly accepted the offer. The trio spent a pleasant afternoon together. Nox found it disappointing that he only had Live Spell Weaving once a week.

The party planned to assemble in Nox’s apartment on the days they weren’t in class, and they did just that on Fifthday. Professor Wolfhammer wanted them to use the first couple of weeks to warm up against his more powerful summons and eliminate any unnecessary habits developed during their months away. Apparently, the dungeon under the city was different from any other journeyman or adept godly domain because of Ygg’s presence. So, he supplied them with opponents who’d get them used to the local monsters.

Michelle only joined them during lunch or dinner. Her laboratory on campus demanded her presence. She appeared withdrawn but denied anything being wrong. Nox asked Michelle about it. Unfortunately, she had no answers for them. Ernest, obviously, didn’t say much either. Nox reminded the Beaufort siblings that he and the party were always there for them. If the pair had any issues, including troubles with the Imperium, they’d face it together.

A small voice in Nox’s head questioned whether Michelle was stealing his work to rebrand as her own. Not all of his patents were up to date. Lillin echoed the thought. Then Nox’s better judgment and he pushed all such thoughts out of his mind. It wasn’t just that he knew the minutia of Michelle’s work, including several unpatented projects. She was his friend, and he trusted her.

The apprentice-ranked alchemists made keeping up with the business’ brewing needs much easier. Nox only required to get them started, check their progress, and troubleshoot when the spellforms struggled or sputtered. Aisha needed more help and attention than Kishan, but her performance was still better than what Nox expected of an apprentice. He recalled Mou’s underlings struggling a lot more and needing double the help and attention. She had a lot more staff and paired journeymen with the underlings to ensure everything stayed on track.

Nox finally got time to work on his personal research. Baron Edelweiss hadn’t given him a timeline or update requirements. However, he felt bad accepting the man’s money and not reporting any results. So, he got to work in his private workshop.

Half a dozen elite myconids stood chained against one wall. The bindings felt unnecessary since Nox’s fire slimes had irreversibly damaged their brain stems. However, a city guard officer had declared they had to be secured appropriately and threatened the Edelweiss delivery vessel with fines. Nox was forced to vouch for them; only his adept alchemy license got them to calm down.

Before starting, Nox studied the samples he had already treated and noted any changes since his last inspection. One showed signs of more lingering life essence than others. He marked it and the connected brew for further study. It wasn’t quite as good as what Nox hoped, but it was a decent start. He planned on summoning Pudge to supervise while he fed the fungus to testing animals. His magic would detect any adverse effects and fix the damage before the creatures suffered.

Next, Nox extracted samples from the newest specimens before exposing them to the latest version of his flame slime concoction. His apprentices popped in while Nox studied the changes in the fungus. They hadn’t earned his trust yet and, as a result, he only gave them a surface explanation of the project. Eager to advance their favor and learn, Kishan volunteered to assist outside of regular working hours. Nox evaded the offer, claiming he’d probably need help at a later stage.

Unfortunately, Nox had no breakthroughs on the Fifth or Sixth days. He could only treat and track changes. Meanwhile, the shop continued to perform well. Louis showed up with his entourage and half a dozen more students from the dungeon studies and war magic departments—including Harin, the leader of the third team in Advanced Dungeon Combat. They appeared to unify under his princely aura. Ratra’s Knightly Brews made substantial recovery and empowering brew sales. All who had witnessed Nox fight also purchased crates of Trap Foam for their upcoming.

Harin had apparently heard a lot about Nox’s creations and requested a crate of his personal cocktail. They had a poison mage in their team with the ability to resist alchemical toxicity and purge it from their companions’ bodies. They wanted to test it the following week in the city’s dungeon. Nox promised to deliver it on the coming Firstday’s class and gladly took a deposit for the order. The shop didn’t sell as much cosmetics as the opening weekend but more than made up for it thanks to Louis.

After closing for the day, Nox wanted nothing more than to focus on research and rest. Unfortunately, he had given Aria Edelweiss his word. So, he bathed and dressed in his best clothes—an outfit Annabelle had purchased for him—before leaving the apartment for the evening. Lillin offered to tail him, but Nox rejected the idea. Instead, he carried Ratra’s bow and an assortment of thumb-sized essence pellets in his pocket. Otis also followed out of sight, keeping Nox informed of his surroundings.

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