Chapter 322: Soulmates ?

Chapter 322: Soulmates ?

The poem was reconstructed by cross-referencing the two versions and filling in the two blanks they had both forgotten with whatever seemed most appropriate. After some debating, they guessed that the first admin was a Dragon who got erased by the Deep based entirely on the word 'gone' and because they couldn't let go of their first theory, the second they thought was a Hero who tried to return to their world and failed, and the third one They werent too sure about it. Saria seemed to think it might be the fourth Lord, but Sofia knew there was something wrong about that. The pieces didnt quite fit, and as she reread the last line of the poem, They will leave nothing in their wake, she remembered a line from her previous encounter with the Orator, which further consolidated her suspicion that the third Admin couldnt be the Annihilator.This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

The Annihilators function is not to annihilate, or this world would have long ceased to exist.

Saria thought leaving nothing in their wake might also be a metaphor for the destruction of the system, since the poem was about the admins, which could mean that the systems integrity depended on their continued sleep.

The finality of it all was that Sofia had to leave for her second lesson.

Perhaps it was thanks to the skeletal crows escort, but nobody attacked her this time, and she made it to class before any of her students showed up. The classroom and corridor had been repaired, leaving no trace of the previous days events. Only the faraway Look, its the hand demon! and other such whispers of the half-awake students trudging to their classrooms reassured her that she hadnt dreamed the whole thing. News spread fast.

Looks like Im a bit early. Might as well get comfortable.

Erian entered the classroom first, a surprised look on his face.

Sofia waved at him from her chair, not bothering to take her legs off from her desk, Hi, Erian. Surprised to see me?

Greetings, teachers Erian gave her a polite nod and did so for Pareth as well. He sat at his desk, ramrod straight, and finally answered Sofias question, Slightly surprised, yes. Most teachers dont come half an hour early. There have also been rumors circulating

About the hand?

Erian nodded. So you already knew. I find it disturbing that they would try to slander the name of a new teacher so openly. I know necromancers are often negatively perceived but these rumors are ridiculous

Its sweet that you would think that, Erian.

Its no-

But whatever you heard was probably true, Sofia continued.

Huh?

I havent heard the rumors themselves, but from what Ive heard on my way to the classroom, its probably just true.

The- I-... Did you actually suck the bones right out of their hands like honey? Erian asked, dubious.

Ah nevermind, thats a bit exaggerated, I dont eat bones, no, Sofia denied. Erian relaxed a little on his chair. I did steal them, though.

You stole Their bones? Erian asked with a shiver.

Want me to show you? Sofia asked. Despite Erians uncomfortable looks, she poked her left hand with the sharp claws of her scaled arm, struggling a bit to get past her tough skin until her entire finger pierced through.

What do- No, wait! Ah, no, I, uh. I will be fine. Thank you Does this not hurt?

Sofia shrugged. It does hurt still, but Im used to much worse, you will too, eventually. And this is honestly nothing. She pulled her finger out of her palm, and waved her injured hand like someone who just touched a hot pan. She stopped to wipe it, and showed her hand to Erian again. See, already healed. Are you not a Dukes son, I thought you would be more used to this kind of thing.

Eiran shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

I wasnt done. Youre forbidden from using [Invoke Swords].

Wha- This is unfair! How do you want me to-

Shh. Listen to your teacher. You have wings, Erian. I think youre not understanding how big of an advantage that is for someone in the first filter. Just for this week, try to get some fights in like this. Try to win with your traps, walls, and aerial superiority.

Erian was unconvinced but Sofia gave him some space to think about it and, back behind her desk, discreetly cut her leg over a bone basin to try to convert some of her blood to light in the time until someone else showed up.

She managed to convert one drop and smiled away the weird look Erian gave her when she cursed from the pain all of a sudden, claiming she had a cramp.

One drop is still progress

En was next to enter the classroom and the other three students arrived in quick succession.

As promised, Sofia went over everyones skills. Guerand had different skills for his different golems and they all required some prior preparation. Despite the apparent rigidity of these summons, Sofia spent some time thinking about the best way to use them, and the task she gave to Guerand for the next class was to try to make a wall-climbing golem like an arachnid. In her opinion, the biggest flaw of his golems for now was how he defaulted to giving them a dwarven appearance because that was what he knew best. With more variety in form, he would gain variety in function.

Lolas [Soul Guardian] turned out to be some kind of immortal fake soul which was capable of learning. It was a lot like a ghost Pareth; and while the girl had been demoralized by her last fight against Pareth, Sofia really thought Lolas class had the most potential out of the five students.

Shailys sprites were quite versatile and powerful for her level, where she struggled was not so much in using her skills to win, but in managing her mana and cooldowns. Sofia wasnt too sure what to do about it yet, she would have to see her fight a few more times to understand it well.

Lastly, En had her totems. It turned out she had to make them entirely by herself, all their effects were enchantments she had put on them with her own hard work. It was impressive but also not something Sofia could help much with. Although she was going to help her with fighting, Sofias first task for En was to get her to sign up for Zerei's classes.

This whole skill analyzing session had taken much longer than expected, and there was no time to do the fighting part of the lesson afterwards. Four of the students left the class but Shaily stayed behind. The fierce aura she had in her exercise against Pareth the previous day was nowhere to be seen, she was meek and demure whenever she wasnt actively fighting.

Do you need my help with something?

Teacher, I- I wanted to know if you would trade a skeleton for supplementary lessons.

Sofia spaced out for an instant, this was not what she had expected at all.

Is it not possible? I thought because Teacher Vakaria is a necromancer

It is possible. What kind of skeleton are you talking about? Is it intact? How did you get it?

I have several, from the monsters I train against, I dislike wasting materials so

Oh, sure, show me them, what kind of extra lessons do you want? Im flattered that you trust me like this when I havent really proved my worth or taught you much yet.

The lightning you threw yesterday

You want to learn that? Try to have your sprites emulate it maybe? Good eyes. I dont know how feasible that is but I could try to teach it to you. Thats going to cost you a lot of skeletons, this is one of my best moves.

Stars gleamed in Shailys purple eyes, For real?! There is a facility in the academy to visualize skill patterns, its expensive so I never used it but the higher levels use it all the time! Ah, but right, skeletons! Follow me, I'll show you my stash, I have a lot!

Shaily was so lively it was like a different person, there had been more excitement in that one sentence than anyone had shown for any of Sofias teaching yet. And Sofia was getting excited too.

This girl has a skeleton stash?!