An Everyday Prick

I finally arrive in a large hall filled with Apprentices, following those near me I find a corner and sit down. Like when I was outside, a lot of the kids turn to look at me curiously. I pretend I don't see them as I stare at the podium in front of the hall.

It doesn't take a genius to notice that no one wants to sit near me, I am not here to make friends but surprisingly it hurts a bit. I hear some giggling behind me and turn to see a group of girls looking at me. I thought they would look away when they caught me looking at them, but surprisingly they are not afraid of eye contact.

"Grandpa." I hear someone say to my left, followed by laughter.

I suppress the feeling of annoyance that surges up within me and decide to focus pointedly on the podium, ignoring everything around me. After all, I came here to learn magic, nothing else.

After some time a Teacher comes on stage and begins to talk. He speaks the way teachers do in a normal school, welcoming us to a new term, encouraging us to work hard yadda yadda yadda. I barely listen to him as I begin to play with my nails.

He soon rounds up just as I feel a bolt of magic run through my body. A series of letters and numbers appear behind my eyes before promptly disappearing. Just as I am wondering what is going on, the Teacher on the stage tells us that what we just saw are our classes. He then tells us to find our classes, we will find our timetables there, before bringing an end to the assembly.

I stand up with the crowd and follow them out of the hall, wondering how I am going to find my class. Just then I hear a boy telling his friend about his class, which is the same as mine.

Feeling relieved I follow the boy to the class. I did not explore the ATC while I was still a Student, as a result, I don't know the layout of the building.

The classroom is not too big, but not too small, with enough seats to accommodate around thirty people. I choose a seat near the middle of the class and settle down. The class is mostly empty as most of the students haven't arrived yet.

Slowly the class begins to fill up, like in the hall everyone seems to unconsciously avoid me. The way things are going only the last people to come will get to sit near me.

Suddenly there is a commotion at the back of the class. I turn around to see that most of the kids are gathered near a boy who has just arrived. He is of average height and looks and has a good sense of fashion from what I can tell. From the way he behaves, I get the feeling that he is more mature than most of the kids here. Still, I can't figure out what makes him so popular, that is until I hear someone mention the word genius. Then everything clicks.

I turn on second sight and study him with it. His Uua is purer than most of the students here and a bit large as well. Not bad, I think, not bad at all.

All of a sudden he catches me looking at him. "Aw, it's the grandpa," he says. At that moment my good impression of him goes out the window. The kids around him begin to laugh and I look away, ignoring them as I wait for a Teacher to come.

I don't have to wait too long, as the Teacher walks into the class a few minutes later. He isn't someone I have seen before. He is very tall and well built, a small goatee is the only facial hair he has and his black hair is folded into a small bun.

He walks to the front of the class and turns to look at us. Without any sign, all the kids in the class stand up and bow a little as they greet, "Karenatha Zimear." I don't expect it and only follow a second too late, making me look awkward.

The Teacher shoots me a look before nodding to the class, after that we all sear down.

"I am Master Speller," He begins by introducing himself. "I want to congratulate you all on becoming Apprentices, but, as you would have figured out by now, this is just the beginning of your journey. Do you remember the creed?"

"We live to protect," the students' chorus.

He nods. "Good to see you still remember, from some of your behaviors during the holiday I was beginning to wonder if you still remembered. You should keep in mind that our powers are not for satisfying our selfish desires, but to help keep the world safe, and if you fail to realize that then you do not belong here."

As he speaks I notice some of the students lowering their heads as their faces redden. I wonder what they did to make him so displeased.

He nods when he notices their reactions. "With that out of the way, I want to welcome you to the Laen. You all should have figured out by now that a Student is not truly one of us, there is a reason they do not have robes. The Student phase is just for us to weed out those who are not Laen material, and all of you passed. As Apprentices, you will now begin working in earnest to truly become Laen.

"This year is going to be similar to last year. You have approximately two and a half months to learn all you need to know as Apprentices, a month and a half after normal school begins your Pre-protector exams will be held, so you have enough time to practice. In addition, if you pass the Pre-protector exams, you will then get to choose a Teacher to apprentice under. The Teacher you choose will be who teaches you the most when you become a Pre-protector, you should note that your Teacher can only teach you what they know, more specifically, you can only learn the Trump of your Teacher so you should know to choose carefully as your future will be decided by this. You have until the Pre-protector exams to think of who you want to choose so that should be enough time. Lastly, your timetables will be given to you at the end of the class.

"With all that out of the way, let's begin our learning. Today, we will be learning Advanced Circulation Techniques, more specifically, the Tryer techniques. You should all be aware of the effects of circulation, what you are not aware of is that circulating your Uua according to one of the Tryer techniques gives the added effect of increasing the recovery of your Uua…"

I am immediately interested in the topic. During my fight with the golems, there had come a point where I realized that my Uua was not enough, given Master Speller's description of the Tryer techniques, if I had known the techniques I would not have had that problem because I would be recovering Uua as I fought. While the rate of consumption would be greater than the rate of recovery, I would still have been able to last longer than I did, far longer.

Not wanting to miss a word he says, I bring out my notebook and begin taking notes. Surprisingly I am the only one in the class who is doing so, but I don't let that get to me, I ignore everyone and listen attentively to Master Speller.

The class progresses and at a point, he picks up a piece of chalk and begins to draw some diagrams to illustrate a point, when suddenly I feel something hit the back of my head. My hand flies to the back of my head just as I turn around. Everyone behind me is focused on Master Speller. Dismissing it I turn around only to hear some giggling behind me.

I continue to listen to the lecture when I feel something hit my head again. I turn around once again and like before everyone is focused on Master Speller. This time I feel a bit of annoyance mixed with anger. I take a deep breath and suppress the feelings before turning back to face Master Speller, but this time I activate the enhancement rune, close my eyes and listen.

For a few moments nothing happens, but I persist. Then I hear it, it is almost inaudible but there is something moving through the air towards me. I turn around sharply and see something white flying toward my head. With a single thought, it stops, floating in front of my face. I retrace its path and cast my gaze on the perpetrator, the so-called genius who had called me grandpa earlier.

I shoot him a murderous glare and raise my finger, releasing a small surge of Uua which consumes the wad of paper in an instant. To my chagrin, the little imp smiles sweetly at me.

"Walker," Master Speller says suddenly, attracting my attention, "is there any problem?"

I take a deep breath and shake my head. "No sir."

He nods and turns to the 'genius'. "Keldin, I do not care if you are a genius or the greatest idiot the world has ever seen, if you dare disrupt my class again…" He lets the threat hang and continues to teach like nothing just happened.