Ch 40: Mourners
*Anos's POV*
"Uh... How's life going for ya?" Simon said awkwardly.
" It's stinky or so is my perception of it. I'm your History Professor Cuthbert Binns now please grab a chair and sit down. I must tell you that the table you're sitting on is the closest replication of the Round Table from legends so I recommend savoring the experience." The now introduced Cuthbert Binns ushered us to our seats.
As I sat down between Simon and Alucard I looked around and found the table to be surprisingly spacey.
"Now take out your parchments and quills please." Professor Cuthbert Binns said as the last students took their seats around the table.
" Wait you won't write in parchment?" Simon asked as he saw me taking out my notebook.
"In a yellow paper that will turn to dust in a strong breeze? Hell no. It would be a nightmare to arrange them and store them anyway." I said as I looked around at the others.
Hermione also had a large muggle notebook and a pen for every color in the color spectrum. Lan Zhan had taken out a silver-colored needle to write on his parchment.
"Woah cool stuff Alucard," I said as I looked at him putting on a pointed silver ornament on his finger.
"It's a rememberer. You write using it with blood." Alucard said as he used the ornament to pick at his wrist and as he took it out I could see a single drop of dark red blood on it.
The blood traveled up the ornament and filled the ornament with designs as Alucard adjusted it on his index finger.
"I'm gonna be sick." Simon made barfing sounds from beside me.
"You want one too? It's hard to use without practice first but it has a lot of uses." Alucard asked as I shook my head.
"Nah I've got my own." I slid a hand into a pocket in my coat and took out the semi-cursed tool needle. I could see that most of the class had thought that I was taking out my wand and some had even flinched.
*Woosh*
The needle started to burn with blue flames as I held it between my middle and index finger.
"Wait what's that spell?" Harriet asked as she looked straight at the needle.
"What spell?" Hermione asked as she followed her gaze to the needle in my hands.
"Wait you can see it?" I asked surprised. There weren't a lot of creatures that could see cursed energy without any trace of mana within it and the needle right now was pure cursed energy.
I looked around and noticed that none of the other students except Alucard and Lan Zhan could see the flames.
'Maybe it's because of her scar?' I thought and noticed the lack of reaction from everyone else confirming that no one could even feel the flames.
Alucard had cast a curious glance at the needle and I had seen the flames reflected in his eyes so I was sure he could see it and Lan Zhan had murmured something indecipherable while looking at my hand so most likely he could too.
"I request of you to not use that spell frequently in this classroom." Professor Cuthbert ordered and I could see a bead of sweat between his brows.
'Woah ghosts sweat?' I thought and now the other students were also looking at me trying to find what spell had been used but gave up after a minute probably chalking it up to me being weird.
Finally, the lesson started.
"Since this is the first day I'll only be introducing myself and we'll be going over a piece of history that's my personal favorite and can be found on page no 28 of your books. My name's Cuthbert Binns and I have recently celebrated my 180th birthday. I was born on a small island that has now been buried deep in the sea off the coast of a country that no longer exists. I have a varied fondness for different periods of history and throughout the year I'll try my best to impart a flicker of interest upon all of you and it's my sincere hope that we'll share a pleasant classroom where we will all get imparted with a bit more knowledge." Professor Cuthbert introduced himself as he floated on top of the table.
" Since I would like no further disturbances during the time I'll be explaining I would like to get this out of the way early on. I died from a beast called Raiju and I hope that would be enough to satiate your appetites. Now if you'll all pay attention to the purple-colored excerpt on the top left corner of page 28 and have a quick look at the words."
This was followed by a minute of silent reading by everyone on the excerpt detailing a tribe of humans called Beast Mourners.
" Now if you would all please pay attention to me. The paragraphs you've just read have a few details on a now near-extinct tribe of humans called Beast Mourners.
Beast Mourners were an important faction in any area they inhabited and at the height of their power could've compared to a city of wizards. They as some of you might have guessed are the inspiration for the Beast Tamers that grew into popularity in the latter half of the 18th century.
Though it's grave misconduct on a wizard's part to put any Beast Tamer above a Beast Mourner. Since it's a habit of humans to consider anything before them a bit beneath their boots so to speak modern wizards consider Beast Tamers to be much more intricate and refined versions of the Beast Mourners."
Everyone in the class watched silently as Professor Cuthbert explained about the Beast Mourners and every once in a while he would use a part of his white mass to turn it into an emblem or symbol to more accurately represent his words.
"Beast Taming or Creature handling is an Attunement type art. Beast Tamers unlike how mighty their names might sound were named so because their methods were a lot more 'Tame' compared to Beast Mourners.
Though most modern Beast Tamers rely on Runes and Inscriptions to make connections with any Beasts that they work with Beast Mourners had a lot more crude methods only using markings on the most important or favorite of their beasts and even then most markings were made of good agricultural soil. I'll expect all of you to be more polished in these parts after a fortnight or so." Finally, there was a sound of notes been scribbled as everyone tried their best to keep up with Professor Cuthbert.
*45 Minutes later*
"At the next meeting, we'll talk about how Tomes became the downfall of the royal hobgoblin family. I wish you all farewell" Professor Cuthbert ended the class.
There was a quiet groan and cracking of fingers by most students as everyone started to gather up their notes.
" Hey I didn't notice during the class but your needle thing was a finger away from the paper so how come you've got these perfect notes now?" Simon asked giving a glance from his own scribbles to my notes.
" Oh it's just somewhat similar to a constant stream of spells easier to write that way and it's better practice to hold the wand," I said as I looked down at the Blue Black Notes I had made during the class. Cursed energy couldn't be observed or felt by most creatures but if I used it the aftermath could be visible. So the pure cursed energy when in contact with the paper could be observed by others but none of them even the most perception-based Wizards would most likely be unable to see the slow crawl the energy itself had nor would they see the edges and the fine strokes.
I had told a half-truth to Simon. It was originally supposed to be a way for me to learn more about Six Eyes and Infinity since even now I had almost no actual understanding of the techniques.
Sure I could execute them but they were watered down so much they were almost a joke of the original and since I was the only one of my kind in this world it also meant I was the first one to start on the path I was walking on. No footsteps to follow.
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Author's Note: Shit...I'm sick again. But I'm trying my best to save for a laptop so maybe just maybe I can get a better release rate. Also I found out about Mogolian Throat singing so that was cool.
I'm having a lot of ideas regarding the book so if you have something that you don't like or you do please leave a comment. I'll try to answer. I'm not the best but I'll like to be, thanks for reading. If you want to read a bit ahead and help me with the laptop at the same time then maybe you can check out my Patreon. I'll be happy to see you there.
There's also a link down below and on the book page
Please take care of yourself. Hope everyone has a nice Day/Night.