Bookbound Bunny

The class proceeded with the rest of the students, either demonstrating an attack spell or being set aside. Lily was quite surprised at how many didn't know an attack spell, and yet they had still passed and chosen Regarth.

She almost questioned the time and effort she had put in, but quickly stopped herself when she realized the obvious—she had gotten a whole ride.

Even Rose had to pay tuition!

Thanks to that, Lily had quite a bit more personal funds than some of the other kids. Lily's parents hadn't left her much, aside from Arakil's book, but even so, there were funds set aside for her further education. Lily hadn't needed to use any of that, and so it was gifted to her upon her departure.

If I had gotten it sooner, I would have used it to buy some more supplies from Camilla… oh well, at least it means I can have a bit of an easier time here at the start.

Lily obviously had her own small stockpile of coins from her wages, but it was a relatively small amount due to her constantly spending it in Camilla's own shop.

After the last student finished their attempts and Professor Elius noted the two groups, he called everyone over and began walking towards a specific area. The surface was almost as smooth as glass and entirely unblemished except for suspicious dots decorating the ground at set intervals.

"Right. During our next lesson, we will be testing your defensive spells. If you don't have any, then I suggest using your Personal Development slot tomorrow to perhaps seek one out or have one suggested to you. The same goes for those who don't yet have an attack spell, although I'm more than willing to stay after class today and give some minor suggestions if you wish."

"Class is over already?" Arthur asked, sounding disappointed.

The professor shook his head. "No, I just wanted to get the announcement out of the way. Next up, I'll test your reflexes and see how good you are at dodging."

"No duels?" Hana asked.

"Not in the first week. Maybe even the second, too, depending on how the next class goes," he answered, causing disgruntled murmurs among the students.

He clapped his hands, grabbing everyone's attention. "Right, I want you all to find an unoccupied dot to stand on. Don't worry about who's where, every dot is the same, I can assure you. Oh, and please leave your Familiars behind, wouldn't want anyone tripping over them or standing on a tail."

As the students began taking their positions after dropping off their Familiars, Professor Elius continued his explanation. Lily took the first open one she could find, with Lotte taking one behind her.

"As a reminder, this is a dodging exercise. No blocking or obstructions are allowed; you will get plenty of chances to try that out in the next lesson. You are permitted to use any movement spells if you so wish and as long as you do not interfere with another student or leave your boundary."

Professor Elius reached into his satchel and pulled out a crystal ball, and when he rubbed his palm over it, a glowing magical eye began to form overhead. Many of the students began to point and whisper excitedly, having never seen this type of magic before.

[This much reaction over simple scrying magic?]

Lily wanted to giggle at Arakil's attitude, but had no time as glowing circles began to emerge from the dots and form around each and every student. The edges of each student's circle barely missed touching the others nearby.

"This is your circle. If you leave it, that's a fail. If you disrupt another student, that's a fail. You're allowed to freely move within the circle as long as you aren't creating any obstructions or defenses. Any questions?"

"What are we going to be dodging? This won't hurt… will it?" a girl asked.

"It won't hurt," the professor explained. "You will be dodging marking spells; entirely harmless as they only leave a glowing spot on the surface they hit. The fewer marks you have on you by the end, the better."

"So you'll be shooting at us?" a boy asked.

"Not quite," he chuckled as he ran his hand across the orb again.

The rings of the circles began to glow with increased intensity, and materializing in each of their circles was a singular bee made of ethereal lights.

"Oh, looks like it's bees this time," Professor Elius commented.

"Professor, I'm allergic to bees!" another boy shouted.

"They aren't real bees; they're just motes of light given form. This setup was created by Headmaster Fabrelis at my request."

The boy stared at the bee nervously before nodding.

"Anyway, the bee will attempt to sting you, and you must evade it for as long as possible. If it gets you, it will disperse and leave a mark, and a few moments later, another bee will form to take its place. Should you remain unmarked for half a minute, a second bee will spawn, and this will repeat until you are eventually marked and reset."

"Is this really training?" Hana asked, sounding quite doubtful.

"Oh, trust me, you'll see," Elius said with a smirk.

When there were no further questions, he reminded them that no spells were to be used to attack or block the bees, and movement spells were only allowed if they didn't interfere with any other students.

Lily stared at her bee with some hesitation.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

If I had my Nebula Veil, I could easily block it… But that's not allowed this time. The only times I ever really dodged something were after intercepting one of Theo's boulders long enough to get out of the way… but I can't really even call that a dodge. I always assumed I'd be a shield talisman at minimum.

While Lily was fretting over her lack of preparation, Professor Elius had begun the trial. The glowing bees suddenly came to life and began attempting to sting their respective students.

Shrieks and yells erupted, and the panicked students began trying to swerve and dodge as the bee made admittedly clearly telegraphed attacks at them.

Despite her hesitation and being caught off guard, Lily managed to dodge it the first try, but in her moment of celebration, she was caught as it came for a second attempt and stung her on the back. If Lily's circle didn't flash red for a brief moment, she wouldn't have even realized she had been marked.

Lily mentally cursed, glancing at the other students while waiting for a new bee to spawn. She saw occasional flashes of red from the other students' circles, indicating a failure, but she also saw a few of them spawning a second bee to coordinate with the first.

I have to get two bees at least once!

When her fresh bee reappeared, Lily was ready and began trying to frantically dodge around in her circle. She desperately wanted to use her Nebula Veil to swat at it, but knew it would count as a failure. Eventually, when the second bee spawned, she sighed with relief, but only for a moment, as it immediately tried to assault her.

Lily thought she might get to three bees, but unfortunately, while barely dodging one, she was caught on the ear by the second. This went on for a while, until she had barely any energy left to scamper around. By the time Professor Elius called it off, she had never managed to get up to three bees.

"I got up to four!" Arthur cheered triumphantly.

"Only four? I got to six!" Hana declared, usurping his victory.

A few of the other students began to avow their numbers, while others lamented their failed attempts. It seemed nobody got more than Hana, and she was ultimately the "winner" for dodging.

"Don't look so glum," Lotte said as she walked up to Lily. "I only technically got three because I got caught not even a second after it emerged."

"I think it still counts…" Lily mumbled. "I'm more upset that I focused on blocking more than dodging. This feels like it was designed for me to fail…"

"Well, I'm sure the other kids felt the same after you nearly destroyed the dummy," Lotte pointed out.

Lily sighed. She knew Lotte was right and that she was being childish, but she was finding it a tough pill to swallow.

"Plus, if you've focused on defense, then you'll get to show off your stuff next lesson! And let me tell you, that's not an area I'm good at."

"Don't you have earth magic though?" Lily asked.

"I can't go making walls of rock if that's what you're suggesting."

"Right, good job everyone. You put on a great performance, and I'm glad that this year, everybody at least tried to dodge. I understand there's some frustration and that some of you aren't suited to dodging and prefer to block, deflect, or intercept, and if I'm honest with you, that is perfectly fine! I don't expect you all to run circles around your enemies like Hana did, or leap over them like Arthur did, but I want you to have an open mind that dodging is at least a possibility."

Some of the grumpier students were nodding and looking a bit more relieved.

"Not to mention it was some great exercise, wasn't it?"

Any momentary goodwill he had garnered was quickly squashed as the sweaty students stared daggers at the professor.

"Tough crowd," he chuckled, placing the orb back in his satchel and causing the glowing eye to vanish. "Nobody here accumulated more than twenty marks, so you all passed the first lesson. Now go run off and hit the showers before dinner, class dismissed!"

The students watched the professor's unexpected and abrupt departure with some confusion. They hadn't expected the class to suddenly end like that, but the majority were too tired to complain.

The students began reuniting with their Familiars and slowly started to wander off back to the castle.

"Well, that was a fun class. I look forward to the next one," Hana said, jogging up to Lily and Lotte.

"I'm shocked you still have energy to spare," Lotte commented.

"Really? Over that little bit of exercise. Maybe I should start waking you two up in the mornings to join me on my jogs."

"I bet what you consider a jog is a sprint to us normals," Lotte replied.

"I'm not very good at running," Lily admitted.

"But you're a Lagia?" Hana questioned, looking dumbfounded.

"And before I got my magic, I could barely walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath," Lily replied. "I mean, you saw Alice; she towers over me. I'm anything but normal."

"To be honest, I thought you'd have a growth spurt."

"It came and went…" Lily grumbled, still feeling quite bitter about that.

"Guess that's your price for being the only star bunny?" Lotte joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Does that mean you can't enhance your body through killing monsters either?" Hana asked.

"You're being awfully nosy," Lotte snapped back.

"Oh, crap. Me and my big mouth…"

"No, it's fine," Lily quickly replied. She appreciated Lotte having her back, but she didn't want any animosity between the two. "Monsters don't do anything physically for my body."

"The price of magic… I get only a trickle compared to my brothers and sisters," Hana replied.

"I get what I assume is a normal amount," Lotte admitted. "But it's hampered by my bloodline effectively fighting against my body."

"Guess all three of us will need to focus on our magic then," Hana declared.

[You know you could start learning strength magic if you really wanted. It's unorthodox and not really used that often, but if you wanted to lift heavy objects with your bare hands, then it is an option.]

Lily made a quick, subtle gesture and hoped Arakil took it as a no. While Lily had some fleeting moments where she wished she were an ordinary Lagia, she was far too engrossed by magic.

Plus, it would look absolutely stupid if someone as tiny as me picked up something heavy! I'd be a circus attraction!

The girls continued to walk and talk as they headed back to the girls' dorm. Hana was still looking energetic while Lotte and Lily were gradually losing steam.

"I wish we didn't work up so much of a sweat… the first year dorm showers suck big time," Lotte whined.

"Really? I thought they were fine," Hana replied.

"They're far too cold for me. I'm used to much hotter water. I've honestly been avoiding baths as much as possible since we've arrived…"

"And here I just assumed that I always missed you two. What about you, Lily?"

"Oh… I haven't used them," Lily replied.

"Not even once?" Hana asked.

Lily shook her head.

"How?" Lotte asked, almost pleading. "Are you sneaking to the second floor with Rose? Is she letting you use her bathroom?"

"Um… no, I've got my own setup."

"You have a private bathroom?" Hana asked. "Do you have a VIP suite or something?"

Lotte frowned. "Not that I've seen…"

"No, I used glyphs to create bath water. I've got it at the perfect temperature," Lily admitted.

Lotte's eyes went wide. "Lily…"

"Yes?"

"Have I told you that you're my best friend?"

"Uh…"

"'Cause best friends share baths!" Lotte said, and then attempted to put on the most puppy-dog expression she could. Unfortunately for her, her reptilian eyes failed spectacularly in that regard, but Lily still felt obligated to give in.

"Sure… I can share."

"Lily, you're the best!" Lotte said, grabbing her into a hug.