Bookbound Bunny

Professor Henry was quite thorough in his class, starting from a very basic spell to conjure drinking water and gradually increasing in difficulty as he continued to display various spells. At his caliber, he didn't need to speak the complete incantation, but for demonstration purposes, he enunciated them in slow, methodical detail.

Lily was initially surprised that they were starting so small in scope, but then she realized that Regarth had no way of knowing how far along each student was. If they just assumed everyone who could cast water spells could create drinking water, then a camping survival trip in the dungeon could end in disaster if those students couldn't provide for themselves.

Hence, they needed to review the basics, just in case, and why they said they'd provide a large variety of teachers dedicated to different types of magic for this one lesson slot. At the same time, it would open up opportunities for students who wanted to work on their bloodline or specializations, by already introducing them to the teacher who would most likely be able to help them.

Overall, it was a rather ingenious setup, and even Arakil had to give it some praise. Although it was relatively short-lived, as he grew somewhat bored with such basic spells, he drifted over to the magical items.

Lily was initially concerned when he left her side, but other than a few odd looks at the floating book, nobody seemed to care, as misbehaving Familiars seemed par for the course at this early stage. For example, Yona wanted nothing to do with the water magic and was sitting in the corner of the room, glaring daggers at every other Familiar.

Lotte had initially tried to be with the spell group, but soon her strange bloodline began to rear its head as any water spell she cast took a sickly green color. Professor Henry had been quite perplexed by that, as Lotte hadn't misspoken her incantation. While she was in the middle of an explanation, the professor took a glass of her green "fresh water" and chugged it, much to her horror.

Henry's pinkish-red skin shifted between a few different shades of color before he rapidly excused himself from the classroom and exited. Retching sounds could be heard behind the closed door, before the professor finally returned looking several shades paler than before.

When he returned, he asked if Lotte could stomach the water herself, and when she shook her head, she was told to join the other students. When Lily saw her friend leaving, she was quick to demonstrate her own "lack" in that department by barely being able to produce any water.

This perplexed the professor, as he was torn between having Lily continue practicing the spells or studying the items. His reasoning was that while she could use spells, it would be far more efficient if she used magical items.

Lily eventually chose the latter, driven by her own curiosity about the items and wanting to join Lotte and Arakil. Lily wasn't alone in that, as a few other students produced even worse results than hers and were promptly moved to the other group.

When Lily arrived at the group, she was eager to read the notes that had been provided, but Arakil suddenly spoke up and divulged his findings.

[I've looked over the items quite thoroughly. The flask holds an engraved glyph inside it, and when you channel Mana into it, it activates it and forcibly converts it into fresh drinking water. Even Lotte's bloodline wouldn't be able to override the function.

The choker is quite interesting, as wearing it produces a bubble around one's head for underwater exploration. Usually, this would rather be accomplished using air magic, but it is always fascinating to see unorthodox solutions.

The scepter produces a small stream of pressurized water, not enough to cause damage but sufficient to put out fires or perform some cleaning tasks.

The ring causes you to rapidly sink or float, depending on which hand you wear the ring when you channel Mana into it.

The boots are a simple water walking enchantment, quite common, and let down by being crafted in such a cumbersome form. I think the creator was using large boots so they had more area to work with, a rather crude solution.

The glove is interesting as it absorbs almost any liquid from what I can tell. It would be perfect for drying something, and the stored liquid can be expelled with considerable force afterward. The only downside is it is in no way protected from what it absorbs, so something caustic enough to damage the glove would also hurt your own hand.]

"You've been busy…" Lily whispered as quietly as possible to him.

[I was pretty curious to see what constitutes magic items nowadays. The tools that Camilla had for her alchemy were relatively minor, so I wanted to see what was available. The flask, choker, and boots appear to be made by an individual, while the rest seem to have been created by the dungeon.]

Lily quickly activated her own Magesight, although other than seeing that the items had the glow of Mana, she couldn't exactly tell what had clued Arakil into their origins.

"These items are pretty nifty," Lotte said, walking up to Lily with the flask in her hands. "Look, clean water!"

She gingerly poured out some of the contents of the flask into the palm of her hand, looking quite happy about the result.

"Sometimes the water I make can burn skin, so it's cool to see that magic items work for me."

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Lily paled. "And the professor drank it…"

"I tried to warn him, but he looks okay-ish now. I guess as an expert in water magic, he was curious about what was going on."

Lily could only shake her head; she couldn't understand why he would drink something potentially poisonous. When Lotte handed her the flask, she saw that the water inside had disappeared entirely, and she looked inside curiously.

[It only produces water while you are channeling into it, and reclaims anything inside when you stop. A bit of a detriment as it means unless you have another container, you cannot store and prepare water beforehand.]

Lily was quite curious and held the spout of the flask up to her eye to try to see the markings inside. It was pitch black, but she conjured up a pinprick of Starlight and controlled it to enter, illuminating the inside and revealing the engravings.

"Woah…" she murmured in surprise, examining the handiwork as thoroughly as she could.

"Oh damn, let me have a look?" Lotte asked excitedly.

Lily nodded and handed it over, keeping her Starlight spell active.

"Pretty…" Lotte said. "Although the squiggles mean absolutely nothing to me, the tiny star is beautiful."

That caused a few other students to come investigate, each one taking a turn to look inside the flask. When it was Hana's turn, she was pretty startled by what she saw.

"You can use light magic?" she asked.

"Um… yes, but not well, like all my magic," Lily answered.

"This looks pretty good to me. I certainly can't make a light spell that precise, I'd light up the entire room."

"Ah, no, that's star magic, not light magic," Lily answered.

"So Arthur wasn't kidding…" Hana mumbled, glancing at Arthur and Thomas in the magic group.

"Nope. You'll be in for a real treat when the dungeon competition comes along," Lotte replied with a friendly taunt.

"Oh? Interesting… maybe you'll be my rival after all," Hana said with a smirk aimed at Lily.

Lily shook her head, much preferring friends to rivals. She especially didn't want a rival who had two bloodlines targeting her.

The rest of the lesson went on without much more affair. Lily eventually got her turn at one of the sets of notes about the magic items and confirmed that Arakil's analysis was spot on, including which items were crafted, as the names of the student or teacher were listed in the note, while the finder of the item was listed for the others.

"I really can't wait to get my first dungeon item," Lotte said excitedly. "Although I guess it'll be one of the storage bags, since they sound darn useful."

"You'll need to be faster than the power of wind and light combined to get your hands on the bag before me," Hana quickly retorted.

"Oh? Can your wind and light melt monsters quicker than my poisons and acids?" Lotte taunted back.

"Alice made it sound like there was more than one, so I'm sure you both can get one," Lily replied diplomatically.

"Do you not want one?" Lotte asked. "Especially for all your alchemical stuff."

"I do… but I'm not sure if I'll be able to beat you two," she answered. "And even if I do, what if there's something more interesting?"

"More interesting than a storage bag?" Hana asked, sounding doubtful. "The teacher made it sound like the other stuff was all just leftover garbage."

"I mean, you never know, there could be something cool," Lotte replied. "Although I'd probably not take my chances. Who knows when I'll get another chance at a storage bag?"

[Worst case scenario, we could make one, depending on what type of supplies your future enchanting class provides you with. Assuming you were alright with a bit of attention, you could probably sell them to make a steady stream of profit or supplies from other students.]

Lily desperately wanted to cry out at the absurdity of Arakil's statement, but all she could do in her present circumstances was vent in her own mind.

How would I ever explain that I could make storage bags!? Even if I lied and said I was finding them, wouldn't they get suspicious about how many I was seeing? There's a limit on how lucky one can be…

When class was over, everyone started heading back to their respective dorms. A few students stayed behind, evidently curious about either specializing in water or a water-related bloodline.

The girls waved goodbye to Thomas and Arthur, and Lily noted the former did not stay behind, likely due to his prior commitment to lightning.

Lily was naturally joined by Lotte and Hana, who continued to playfully taunt one another; clearly, they were both extremely excited for the dungeon, and even Lily found herself being caught in their momentum.

When it came to dinner, Beatrice warned all the first years that tomorrow was their first lesson in Practical Magical Combat and that everyone should ensure they are fully rested, as they will need it to endure through Professor Elius's lesson.

Eventually, Rose joined them and ran up to Lily, giving her one of her infamous life-threatening hugs. Lily introduced her to Hana, who already seemed to be sizing herself up against Rose and then immediately addressed what was still burning in her mind.

"I can't believe you attacked Alice!" Lily said, pointing at Rose.

"Oh damn, did you have your first dungeon lesson already?" Rose said, chuckling to herself.

"Don't change the subject. I can't believe you attacked her," Lily pressed.

"I mean… she kinda asked for it. Not that I landed even a finger on her, she's too damn fast. I had no idea Lagia could do that. I knew you'd love her."

"I don't know if love is the right word…" Lotte muttered..

"Yeah, she has history with Lily's mom," Hana added.

Rose's face flashed with surprise. "She knows Margit? Wow, talk about a small world."

"Not Margit, Nina," Hana replied.

"Who's Nina?" Rose asked.

"Who's Nina? Have you been living under a rock? Nina and Andreas, famous five-star adventurers!" Hana exclaimed.

"Uhh… sorry? I don't really follow celebrities," Rose answered with blunt awkwardness.

"I have to agree with Rose. I had no idea who they were until the lesson," Lotte said.

Hana let out an exasperated cry of frustration as she clutched the sides of her head.

"Nina is my birth mom," Lily said, pointing to her ears.

"Oh? Oh! Huh… that's a pretty strange coincidence," Rose replied.

"One too many if you ask me," Lily grumbled.

"Did she do anything to you?"

"She just offered to help me if I needed it, or someone to talk to."

"Well, that's pretty nice of her. I'd say do it, take full advantage of that! Alice is an amazing teacher, probably one of the few ones I actually listen to."

"I thought you said you were doing well in your lessons?" Lily asked, squinting her eyes accusingly at Rose.

"Uh… I mean… most of the time? Just some of the lessons are super boring, but Alice teaches you how to be an adventurer. It's the best."

"So you want to be an adventurer?" Hana asked.

Rose nodded, almost like an eager puppy.

"And yet you don't know one of the most famous pairs of adventurers?"

Rose shrugged. "Why care about famous people when I can become one myself?"

The answer left Hana both flabbergasted, yet she was also clearly impressed.

"Damn, your big sister is pretty cool, huh?" Lotte whispered.

"Too bad she's not in our faction," Lily whispered back.

The two girls shared an awkward glance and sigh, before continuing with their meal.