Xavier decided on the subject of enchantments, one of the few lectures whose classroom was in the central part of the main building.
The main building was a humongous infrastructure with floors upon floors and more than a few atriums aside from the central one which Xavier knew from his first day. The hallways were different from yesterday for the same location.
’So the hallways do shift every night as Professor Woodburn briefed us.’ The new paths were different but not confusing.
Xavier simply kept walking in the direction of the classroom and eventually reached.
He entered the classroom to find a central stage for the professors in front of which lay long wooden seats, raising a level for each seat as one walks back.
There were many students present already seated, chatting in groups.
The Imperial Academy had a structure where students from any of the five years can select a subject, so most of the classes had students from across all years.
Even in this class, more than half were seniors.
Xavier’s eyes fell on a girl sitting on the first layer of seats, lowest level, closest to the professor’s podium.
Her unique nature captured Xavier’s attention.
A translucent blue skin, blue eyes, blue hair.
Her skin looked unreal or rather surreal.
Xavier had never seen a slime girl before. His curiosity won over his steps as he approached her.
"Is this seat taken?" asked Xavier to the slime girl, pointing at the seat right next to her.
She was sitting alone. A slight confused expression appeared on her face as she replied,
"No, it’s not." Then her eyes fell on Xavier’s face.
"Oh, it’s you, rank 2 from the freshmen. Xavier Drakenfell, was it? Do you need something?" Her voice became polite. Almost every student knows the top 5 rankers of each year, and all of them know the freshmen rank 2 was a Drakenfell.
Drakenfell dukedom holds considerable power in the empire. Even if the academy preached equal treatment, the influence his name carried could not be easily erased.
"No, I don’t need anything. I was just planning to sit here," said Xavier and took his seat right next to the slime girl.
"So you know my name, but I don’t know yours," said Xavier, politely gesturing her to give her name.
"I’m Melli Mariselle, rank 34th among 2nd years," said Melli in her normal tone, still with a slightly confused expression.
Each year had almost 500 students, with the top 100 securing luxury dorms. To be rank 34 in her year meant that she was no less than a genius.
It also showed why she was being wary of him, not because he was a first year but because he was rank 2 of the first years.
"I can sit somewhere else if you want to sit here," said Melli as she was almost about to get up.
"No, it’s alright. I wanted to sit by your side," said Xavier as he saw the confusion on her face grow stronger, which confused Xavier a little. Her caution was unwarranted, and he couldn’t understand why she was acting this way.
"Oh, you said you don’t need anything, so there must be another reason?" asked Melli.
"No special reason. I just wanted to sit next to a pretty girl for the first lecture of the day," said Xavier.
"You think I’m pretty? Is this some prank?" asked Melli.
"Why would you think that?" asked Xavier.
"Well, all of my classmates avoid me, saying they’ll get dirty from my slime. I keep telling them that’ll not happen, but they still keep their distance, so it’s a bit hard to believe that you want to sit next to me just because you think I’m pretty, which I also can’t believe you do," said Melli.
"Your classmates might be stupid, but I don’t care if your slime touches me. In fact..." said Xavier. His hand reached out to gently rest on her cheek. It was soft and jiggly, almost like jelly, but still firm enough to hold its own structure. It felt wet on his hand, but when he withdrew, his hand was completely dry. It was a unique sensation Xavier had never felt before.
Melli was left speechless from Xavier’s action.
Her eyes focused on Xavier’s face all the while his hand touched her face, clearing her doubts about him wanting something from her or about any pranks, only one question remaining in her mind.
"So you actually think I’m pretty?" said Melli.
"Yes," replied Xavier, short and confident, a slight blush appearing on Melli’s translucent blue cheeks.
"Thanks. You are different from the rest," said Melli.
"Can we be friends?" asked Melli.
"Of course. That was my intention from the start," said Xavier.
"Really?" asked Melli, but before Xavier could answer, the doors to the classroom swung open as a tall green-skinned woman walked in, her black hair tied in a bun, green eyes piercing.
Two short protruding horns on her forehead.
A tight sleeveless buttoned white shirt paired with a short pencil skirt hugging her voluptuous body, with what looked like birthmarks in the shape of tribal sigils on her lean arms and a slit on her skirt revealing another similar tribal birthmark on her lean thighs.
Her face mature yet alluring, she walked up to the raised stage, taking her place at the podium.
"My name is Professor Grushka Redrock. I will be teaching you all the enchantments from basic to advanced throughout the year, and I abhor slackers, so keep that in mind." A sweet yet firm voice echoed throughout the class.
She was an orc woman.
Xavier in his 18 years of life at Drakenfell Castle had only ever read about all the different types of races that not only exist in this world but also live in harmony under the rule of the Evander Empire.
He never imagined that these races would have such beautiful women.
"Do any of you have any questions before we begin?" asked Grushka.
Several hands raised and questions flew in one by one.
"Professor, are those tattoos on your skin?"
"Professor, aren’t orcs naturally gifted in physical strength? Shouldn’t you be teaching practical lessons in hand-to-hand duels?"
"Professor, is it true that orcs eat humans? Are you going to eat us?"
The student-teacher dynamic was rather relaxed in the Imperial Academy, since most of the students were either talented or heirs to noble families. Teachers didn’t behave strictly unless students crossed lines.
Grushka knew some of the questions asked were meant as a joke, but she still answered.
"The marks on my skin are birthmarks which act as enchantments to keep an orc sane and make them intelligent. I am also gifted in physical strength, but as a woman I like enchantments as they are more elegant. And yes, orcs do eat humans, but that’s only for wild orcs with no enchanted birthmarks, so don’t worry. I won’t eat you, even if you beg me to," said Grushka, the last part with a chuckle which also made the class laugh a little. Then she started with the basics of enchantments.
"Enchantment is when you take an object and force it to act in a way outside of its natural capacity by supplying mana onto the symbols and sigils either drawn or carved onto the object," said Grushka as Melli raised her hand to ask a question.
"Professor, it sounds awfully similar to runes," said Melli.
"The main difference between runes and enchantments is that not only do runes require a larger area like ground or walls, they are mostly automated with an inbuilt mana source, whereas enchantments are more customizable, could be used on a range of different sized objects from small to large, and it often needs to be supplied mana directly at the time of activation," said Grushka as the lecture went on for a few hours.
By the time the lecture ended, it was already time for lunch break.
"If you have any doubts or queries, you can visit my office at working hours and don’t forget to revise everything we learned today," said Grushka, and then she left.
"Shall we go to the cafeteria?" asked Xavier.
There were several cafeterias across the academy providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a buffet free of cost for every student.
"Uhm, I don’t actually need to eat anything, but I can join you if you want," said Melli.
"What do you mean?" asked Xavier.
"Well, I’m a Gelkin. We don’t eat the way humans or other humanoid races do. Actually, I’m good for another week or two," said Melli. Xavier took in the information, then they decided to go together anyways.
They both walked to the cafeteria. Upon entering, Xavier heard a sweet voice.
"Hey, over here." He turned as his eyes caught the sight of Elena sitting at a table, waving at both of them, gesturing them to join.
Melli and Grushka’s uncensored art is available on my discord: .gg/46RzQWVvsR