Inquisitory Division (3)

Aurgus 23, 3023 A.M., day of Westar, 12:56 p.m.

Vivian was walking in a hallway.

It's been been 4 days since she arrived here at the Inquisitory Division's headquarters for the Training Course and she was on her way to her first class.

She was wearing a white mask made out of porcelain that had a brown-colored sun symbol on the forehead and a White Cloak with its hood pulled up. She also carried a shoulder bag on her shoulder that had her books and writing materials.

When she finally arrived at the door of the classroom, she entered and swept her gaze around to find a seat.

Oh, lucky…~!

Most of the chairs were already occupied by the other trainees, but there was a vacant chair in the front.

Back in her original world, she was a tall person so she was never permitted to sit in the front by her teachers and classmates. But now that she was only 5'4", no one would dare to bat an eye.

When she got to her seat and sat down, she quickly prepared her books and writing materials.

I never understood why anyone wouldn't want to sit at the back…

At the back, unless the teacher was using a microphone and a large projector, you could barely hear the teacher and also barely read the things written on the board…

As Vivian was busy preparing, their instructor or teacher, a Gold Cloak Inquisitor, came in.

"Good afternoon, Crusaders. And may the God of Light watch over you," he said as he went over to his desk and dropped his things there.

"May the God of Light watch over you as well, Brother Inquisitor Song."

Song went over to the board and picked up a chalk.

"For today's topic," he said as he began writing on the board. "I will discuss the Cult of Infinity. Within this group, one of the dominant groups is the Necromancers."

The Training Course's class schedule was simple.

Every day between 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. was class hours. 

The first class was from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. and the second class was 2:30 - 4:00 p.m.

The first class was from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. which was about demons, demon-worshipers, the Cult of Infinity, demon-kins and monsters.

The second class was from 2:30 - 4:00 p.m. which was about investigation protocols, command structure of the Temple of Priests and other organizations outside the Temple of Priests, Physical Arts, Magic Arts, and the Class Magic of all Classes.

There was no test at the end of each class. But all trainees are required to have their attendance checked at least once a day in either class to make sure that they haven't escaped or gone missing in the tunnels.

And then on the day of Satur and Sunar, those are the days when the trainees can take the 3 Final Exams which begin in the morning.

There are 3 Final Exams instead of 2 because the Written Final Exam is divided into 2 parts.

The first part of the Written Final Exam is about demons, demon-worshipers, the Cult of Infinity, demon-kins, and monsters. Meanwhile, the second part is about investigation protocols, battle tactics, command structure of the Temple of Priests and other organizations outside the Temple of Priests, Physical Arts, Magic Arts, and the Class Magic of all Classes.

As for the other remaining exam, it was the Final Practical Exam where the trainees had to solve an investigation.

Fortunately, each trainee can take all 3 exams separately. However, each exam consists of 100 points and each trainee must reach a combined total score of at least 250 points.

In addition to that, those 3 Final Exams must be taken within the 3-week Training Course. Failure to do so, the trainee will automatically be marked as a failure and the administrators will send the trainee to the appropriate Division for their skills.

In the case of the new recruits, they will most likely be thrown at the Infantry Division. Meanwhile, the veterans will be thrown back to their previous Division.

Furthermore, there's also the ongoing practical exam where they have to hide their identity during the course of their 3-week Training Course. And based on the number of people who have seen their face and know about their identity, that will be subtracted from their total score.

"In order to know the strengths and weaknesses of Necromancers, we must understand their Class Magic spells first.

"First of all, the core principle of learning the Necromancer's Class Magic spells is the complete opposite of the Priest's core principle and more or less with the Wizard's core principle.

"If the Priest's core principle is to ease the pain and suffering of others and the Wizard's core principle is to practice, discover and use spells, the Necromancer's core principle is to inflict pain and suffering to others.

"And unlike the rest of the Classes, the Necromancer has a Main Class Magic and a Minor Class Magic.

"Their Main Class Magic spells are [Dark Halo], [Warrior Skeleton], [Wizard Skeleton], [Curse] and [Undead Ascension]. 

"The spell [Dark Halo] has a passive and active effect. The passive boosts the owner's mana recovery, while the active instills fear to whoever gazes on it. However, the active only works if the owner of the spell has a higher Magic Force compared to the target.

"The spell [Warrior Skeleton] summons a warrior-type skeleton where the only mana cost is from summoning it. Its Physical and Magic Force are based on 20% of the caster's Magic Force, its Physical Arts are based on the caster's Physical Arts, and the number of [Warrior Skeletons] that can be summoned is only 5. 

"They're also weak against Light Magic Arts, such as [Heal], [Greater Heal], [Enchant Light], [Sanctuary] and [Resurrection].

"The spell [Wizard Skeleton] is also similar to the [Warrior Skeleton] but with a few differences. It has no Physical Arts, but its Magic Arts are based on the caster's Magic Art Affinities and it can only cast Low and Medium-Tier spells.

"The spell [Curse] is the complete opposite of the Priest's Class Magic spell [Blessing]. It temporarily decreases the target's Physical and Magic Force by 1 grade.

"The last Main Class Magic spell of the Necromancer is [Undead Ascension]. 

"Once the Necromancer activates this spell, they can never undo it. They will forever be an immortal rotting corpse that no longer needs food and rest.

"However, there is a downside to this spell once activated. In exchange for immortality, healing potions no longer affect them and Light Magic Arts and the Priest's Class Magic Arts are deadly to them.

"So if a Necromancer receives any injuries, they heal through a passive Class Magic spell called [Death Eater] which they will receive upon activating [Undead Ascension].

"In fact, they will receive two Minor Class Magic passive spells upon activating [Undead Ascension]. And those are [Death Eater] and [Touch of Death].

"[Death Eater] heals the owner's injuries by simply inflicting pain and suffering, preferably death, to others.

"Meanwhile, [Touch of Death] causes fear and paralysis to the target through any form of physical contact, be it physical or through spells. However, just like the [Dark Halo], the fear and paralysis would only work if the owner's Magic Force is greater than the target's Magic Force."

Song put down the chalk and faced the class.

"Now, you must be thinking that the Necromancers aren't that powerful, especially to us Priests, because they're weak against our Light Magic Arts and our Class Magic spells. On top of that, even if they cast [Curse] on us, we can easily cancel it out with [Cleanse] if we have the Light Affinity.

"Yes, that is true. But it becomes a different story once a Necromancer acquires the Lesser Chaos or Chaos Affinity.

"Even with just the Lesser Chaos Affinity, they will have [Lesser Chaos Enchant] which boosts a skill or spell by 1 grade and [Lesser Chaos Transformation] which can cure any fatal wounds.

"I don't think I have to explain to you people how dangerous it is if a Necromancer boosts their [Dark Halo] with [Lesser Chaos Enchant]. And combine that with their infinite lifespan without the need to eat and rest, they have all of the time in the world to train.

"And that's just the Lesser Chaos Affinity. If they have the Chaos Affinity?"

He returned to face the board and picked up the chalk.

"Now let's talk about the demons."

*** 

A couple of hours later.

Vivian was walking down the streets of the Inquisitory Division base when she grabbed a gold pocket watch from her pocket and opened it.

It was one of the things she bought the other day.

9:24 p.m…

After her class ended around 4:00 p.m., she bought 2 huge pies, 2 bottles of wine and a small barrel of water before heading back to her room to do some self-study until 9:00 p.m.

She returned the pocket watch inside her pocket and took out her Identity Papers and flipped to the map section.

The first thing I have to solve is how can I go find a human settlement in order to feed…

Ever since she arrived at the Inquisitory Division's headquarters, she hadn't eaten any live prey so her blood was slowly reverting back to blue. 

She thought about eating humans in this underground settlement but had to toss the idea in the end after doing some investigation these past few days. By her estimate, there were only less than 1,000 people.

She also considered eating the animals. However, there were no aggressive animals around. Every time she gets close to them, they would simply run away in fear and she was too embarrassed to be seen by people trying to catch an animal. 

On top of that, even if she could catch or buy a live animal, there was no way she could bring it back to her dorm room. She considered renting a hotel but didn't want to add any more debts on her Class Crystal or necklace.

My only choice is to venture out in the tunnels…

Hmm…

The map listed on her Identity Papers was a simple one where and it only highlighted 3 exits.

The Southwest Exist was the pathway Gars used to bring us here…

No point in going there…

The East Exit leads me out to the mountains…

If I exit there, there's got to be wildlife around the area…

A village or town as well…

And the Northwest Exit leads me to a cave…

I guess I can also assume that there's got to be wildlife and a village or town there once I exit…

But which one would I choose…?

The East Exit…?

Or the Northwest Exit…?

Vivian continued studying the map.

Hmm…

The closest exit is the East Exit, while the farthest is the Northwest Exit…

Okay, I've decided…!

She continued walking until she reached the exit that she had chosen and stopped right in front of the entrance.

Vivian activated a spell.

[Greater Transformation].

Blaaak.

Her eyes transformed into her demonic form, causing it to turn into the color black with yellow irises.

Let's try the East Exit first…

She entered the dark tunnel.

********************

********************

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

By the way, I posted some Chapter Drafts at P-a-t-r-e-o-n. And to view them, you can read them at…

https://www.patreon.com/Immortal_Shades

There, you will have access to the Chapter Drafts for $5 a month.

Please note that the chapters posted there are only drafts. So when those said Chapter Drafts will be published here, there will be some edits. They also involve a few secret outline notes/details that I won't publish here because they contain spoilers or dispel some of the mysteries. And at the moment, Chapter Drafts 268-272 are posted there.

I would like to give my special thanks for this month's Patrons:

• 

Thank you once again and I will see you in the next chapter.