House of Amarin

Lia and Keily were coming from the dueling fields after a day of spell casting and exercise. The heavy snowfall was painting the whole island white, but the two were wearing nothing but their simple school uniforms.

"You are improving quickly!" Lia said, stretching, proudly watching Keily, who could now keep himself warm fully, consuming very little mana to do so.

"Teacher Dayen's lessons are really good, and after training with you and the rest, I can manipulate my mana way better! I just hope I can pass the tests tomorrow!"

"It shouldn't be hard! Sion said that all of the teachers do that; it is to not let us fall into false security! His homeroom teacher also holds a similar test!"

"Yeah, and his looks way harder! I looked at what he was going through, and the theories behind magic formations looked really complex! We only have to answer questions about our own elements… Sion had to study all eight of them!"

"And we are not 3rd-year students yet!" Lia countered, reaching out and making a mess of his hair, "Worry only about what is before us!"

"Y-yes!" He nodded, trying not to worry, but he would lie if he wasn't feeling nervous.

Arriving back at the tower, they were met with Koa, sitting on the couch, flipping through a book as if she was searching for something in it. Around her, all over the sofa and the coffee table, multiple other books were piled up, and she was switching back and forth between them.

"Eh… you look weird, Koa!" Lia flinched, coming in, looking at the black bags under her eyes.

"And you look way too relaxed!" She snapped back, continuing to flip through hundreds of pages.

"The test is tomorrow! It is too late to study anything; a relaxed mind is-" Keily said, but then watching Koa turn towards him, he quickly gulped back the rest of his thoughts.

"Leave her be." Ceiline's voice came from the staircase. She was walking down gently, holding a pretty big pot in her hands. "She put it off until yesterday night! Now she tries to cram as much in her brain as possible. Well… it is a way to improve one's memory and brain capacity, so I won't say anything!"

"She has a brain?" pinged their bracelets as Aurora followed Ceiline down the stairs, holding a second, big, orange pot. Yet Koa's attention was back to the books, not paying any more attention to them.

"What are those?" Lia asked curiously, following them back outside, watching the two place them at the top of the staircase leading up to the entry of their tower.

"My newest invention!" Ceiline said proudly, and her purple eyes were glinting with excitement. "While going on with my experiment, a weird thing happened! I managed to infuse my mana into some of the plants, and they… transformed!"

"You made living plants? I mean, thinking and speaking ones?!" Lia asked, yelping, almost hopping between the two pots placed on the two sides of the staircase.

"Not exactly." Ceiline answered her truthfully, "They are… alive in a different way than normal plants! But they are not as intelligent as us or magic beasts! They are artificial, pre-programmed to act a certain way, powered by my mana. Like the system in our bracelets!"

After finishing, seeing Lia's thinking expression, she chuckled, clapping and summoning two jade-green magic circles around her wrists, pointing at the pots. She concentrated for a few long seconds before the circles disappeared, and two plants emerged from the black earth before their eyes.

Both of them were bright green, brimming with energy and life. The first to appear were two tiny leaves, spreading left and right, before a vine sneaked upwards, spiraling around like a spring. After reaching 40 centimeters, it started growing again, taking up the shape of a peashooter. The new plants had small, black, beady eyes at the side of their head, positioned at the far back. They were blinking them rapidly, looking at Ceiline as they were bouncing up and down happily, giving out cute, bubbling-like noises, blowing colorful bubbles from their open, round mouths.

"Awawawa! How cute!" Lia moaned, watching them, leaning close to one, trying to pet it.

"Wait!" Ceilien said, but then the peashooter snapped towards Lia, firing a barrage of peas at her. It hit her straight in the face, making her yell out as she fell backward at once. "Ugh… I did not add your mana to them yet! For now, they wouldn't let you touch them!"

"I… I see…" She murmured, sitting up from the snow and rubbing her forehead. It was bright red, and multiple little bumps rapidly grew on it after touching it. "Achacha! It stings! That was really fast; I couldn't react to it!" Lia added, watching them. They returned to their nonchalant bouncings, blowing bubbles and making happy noises.

"Are you okay?" Keily walked over, helping Lia stand up again while Ceiline was casting new spells, forming multiple rings of mana around the pots until they absorbed them one by one.

"Yeah, yeah! No worries!" Lia nodded, faltering, feeling a little dizzy.

"They are designed to keep out unwanted people, and they are not made to be deadly!" Ceiline continued the explanation. "I am adding everyone's mana signature to them so they will recognize you! But anyone else, if they come unannounced or late, will be attacked by them!"

"Can you make a version that has more… power?" Aurora asked, watching the plants that looked harmless, being cute little decorations, and nothing else.

"I may be able to." Ceiline said after a short pause, "But they would need more mana and would last way less time!"

"How long are they going to stay here?" Keily questioned, poking one after the magic circles were gone. It now remained unbothered and simply bounced around on its springy body, giving out bubbling noises and looking stupid but exceptionally cute.

"For a month. After that, they wither if I don't reinforce them with my mana. This is why I said they are… well, artificial. They are not alive and simply operate on a set course that I programmed into them. But it is a start! For now, I want to experiment more and create multiple versions! These use the element of nature, obviously. But I want to make other versions, capable of wielding different elements!""

"Looks awesome!" Lia clapped, forgetting or, more precisely, ignoring the painful little horns growing on her forehead.

"Some would be very useful in the army." Aurora added, looking at Ceiline, "Placing plants in place to listen and warn others in time can be invaluable."

"I can try to do something like that and give you the method after it is finalized." She said, thinking about it for a moment.

"To us?" Aurora asked back, surprised, "We are Amarins. You are a Nerifit."

"But we are friends…." Ceiline said, in a soft, quiet voice and now a bit unsure, making Aurora blink her eyes and then turn red as she lowered her head, ashamed.

"Nyahahaha! Of course!" Lia laughed, hugging Ceiline so strongly with her inherited strength; she felt her pelvis crack but just chuckled with a groan, patting her head. "Friends forever!"

…
….
……

Everyone was coming in nervously into the auditorium while Dayen, their homeroom teacher, tried to ease their minds with a motherly smile, greeting them individually. Koa looked like she didn't sleep at all since Victory Day. She couldn't explain why, but somehow she was anxious about this test.

"Why?"

She asked herself after every ten minutes since waking up. She didn't want to come to this school in the first place. She would not care if she flunked out; what then? Her grandfather would yell at her? And? She was still a talented mage who would do well anyway. Then she remembered the dream she had two days ago. In that dream, her grandfather wasn't yelling at her, and neither did her father. They just looked… disappointed. They WERE disappointed with her. Then there were the faces of Lia and Aurora. None of them blamed her; they even encouraged her that it was not the end. But… their eyes told that they were hurt. Especially Lia. The usual admiration that Koa saw in those mismatched eyes was gone. She no longer looked at her like looking at a cool, older cousin. This was driving her nuts.

"Hey…" She whispered as they sat down. "Let me peek over sometimes, okay?"

"Sure!" Lia winked, and even Aurora nodded before Raufon, sitting in front of them next to Keily, as he turned around.

"None of them is going to have questions about water-based spells."

"Fuck…" Koa realized, looking around with panic, but there was nobody else there she knew or wore the badge of the element of water.

"I see everyone is present!" Dayen clapped, her voice reaching everyone effortlessly as she raised her arm with her bracelet on, tapping on it.

Around everyone present, an energy field had sprung up from nothing, obstructing their views and distorting the outside world as if they were looking through thick, obscured patterned glass. Even any other voice besides Dayen's was being distorted.

"Now," their teacher continued, "To ensure all of you have a calm environment to work on your tests, the system will separate you from the rest! You don't have to rush it! You have until noon to finish it! If you are done early, just tap the curtain of light, and I'll know~! Good luck!"

She chuckled, knowing full well that this was the anti-cheat measurement implemented by Lucian when he became Headmaster. Of course, it was not without flaws. Many, in fact, and many of those were intentional. When the other teachers confronted him with why the spell had so many holes and points that could be attacked, he simply smiled before answering.

"I learned something while attending my own school back in TriPaw." He said, drawing circles around his teacup's edge with his index finger, "Students work the hardest when they try to come up with how to cheat. The most unique spells I ever saw being used were always for that single reason! To make sure, the user could cheat and pass an exam!" He laughed, his voice filled with nostalgia. "Let them exploit it! That is why I left them in! I want them to search for it, find it, and use it! Of course, if they are busted by you, go ahead! Punish them!" He looked at his teachers, "But if they did it in a way that you can admire… leave them be. Let them have the rewards for their efforts!"

While she was thinking about it, smiling and curious, a two-sided paper appeared before every student. The first, facing the students, contained ten questions with multiple choices and answers. Lia and Keily received one that asked six questions about the element of fire, discussed in one of the Monday classes, while four were from the Friday classes, held for the entire class. Flipping their paper to look at the other side, it had ten different questions and empty spaces for their answers.

What nobody knew was that the second page was distinct for everybody. It was compiled by Dayen and specifically tailored to every single individual in her class. The questions Keily was reading were wholly separate from what Lia or Koa had on theirs. Even more, to those questions, there were no wrong answers. Its purpose was simple, to let Dayen know how her students thought and how deep their understanding went. It was to help HER prepare for the end-of-the-year exams and devise exercises that focused on the weakest parts of the student's understanding.

"How weird…" Dayen thought to herself after thirty minutes went by. Nobody had tried to cheat yet. Her previous class, five years ago, was already trying their hands at testing the curtain and seeing if they could send mana through and establish a connection with their friends via voice projection. Yet this time, everyone was working silently. "Not even them?" She closed her eyes, watching the Amarin sisters through the spell, seeing them working on their papers.

Aurora was calm and relaxed, and her hand held the quill elegantly, circling the answers with a steady pace. She always read it through twice before thinking about the answers and a third time as the tip of her quill stopped above her chosen answer. On the other hand, Koadriana was gawking at the questions and the four possible answers. At first, Dayen thought she was unsure about them… she looked especially worse for wear coming in. Then she heard her murmur.

"This is it? I… I know this…!" She circled her answer and then almost yelped out again, "Eh?! I know this too! What? Is this really a test?!"

"Well…" Dayen chuckled, sounding a bit hollow, "She is from a House… Maybe I should amp up the difficulty for them next year?" She shook her head, letting the little bells connecting her horns chime playfully.

Checking on Lia, she was stunned once again. She was tilting her head left to right, tapping with the dry tip of the quilly on the first question's answers, whispering.

"This. No… This. No. This. Nooooo…. This? This? No…Pizza pizza pizza pie, If you eat it, you will die, If you die I will cry, Pizza pizza pizza pie! This one!" She smiled, circling her answer, not knowing that on the other end, Dayen was twitching her mouth.

For two reasons. One, Lia was unbelievable. Was she choosing her to answer with a count-out rhyme? Was she serious? But she was, as she was already onto the next question, and when she couldn't decide, she did it again.

"Ip dip sky blue, Granny sitting on the loo, Doing farts, playing darts, Out goes you!"

"You can't be serious…." Dayen gasped audibly once more… for the second reason. Lia chose the correct answer again. Even more, she wasn't hesitating anymore. She just went for the next question, murmuring another silly rhyme and choosing her answer. Correctly. "This is a first!" Dayen moaned, quickly refocusing her mind and switching to Keily.

Watching the young bunny boy was finally restoring her sanity. His face was severe yet composed. When he chose his answer after a brief deliberation and looking at it, he nodded and went to the next one. He was already at the last of the ten by the time Dayen checked on him.

"Ah… he is right with all of them." Dayen nodded happily, already forgetting about Lia's image. "He is hard working and talented. Good. He may have started late, but he has the potential to graduate with an Honorary!" Switching to the last of the group, she expected to try and see him cheat. She was, once again, stunned. Raufon was leaning over his sheet of paper, just finishing his first page, looking over his answers.

"Should be good… some I'm not so sure about but heh… whatever. I should pass!" He shrugged, turning towards the other page, gasping audibly. "Nooooo… I don't like writing out long answers! Ugh…” He groaned, holding the quill weirdly, and as soon as he started writing, Dayen understood why he said that.

Raufon's handwriting was awful. It was horrible. Dayen saw and read many papers in her long life, grading countless students and helping them put many new theses onto parchments… but Raufon's handwriting was so bad the boy heard Dayen's voice coming from the curtain of light around him.

"Please use print-like letters. Thank you."

"Ah… y-yes!" He answered, quickly changing, flinching, now realizing they were watched closely. He gave a relaxed sigh, happy to forgo any thoughts of cheating. He thought about it, but in the end, did not want to bring trouble for Lia and the rest. “Damn… this is hard…” He moaned, slowing down to a crawl while writing, having to gradually 'draw' the letters one by one.

"Still a mess…!" Dayen moaned, feeling a headache coming. It was still barely readable. As to not suffer any longer, she decided to check the other students.

To her surprise, none of them resolved to try and cheat, which didn't happen for almost a decade. She couldn't help but smile at them as they slowly started tapping on the glass-like walls emerging from their seats and turning in their papers. She said the same to everyone;

"Go, have a rest through the weekend! The results will be on Monday, so attend the first class of the second half of the semester!"

When everyone was out of the auditorium, and she put all the documents into her spatial ring, Lucian appeared in the room.

"Headmaster!" Dayen bowed towards him.

"How did it go?"

"Surprisingly well. They didn't try to cheat at all!"

"Hm… I'm not sure I would call that good… but oh well!" He chuckled, "Dayen, can you copy the Amarins' papers and send them to me?"

"Headmaster?" She asked, surprised, tilting her head.

"The last time one of the Houses sent people here was centuries ago. I'm curious about their thoughts, that is all~ I won't tell you how to grade them, ahaha!"

"Of course, Headmaster. I'll send them over tonight."

"Thank you~!" Lucian nodded, turning around but stopping at the door. "On second thought… please send me all those papers that are part of the House of Misfits. I'll go collect the boy named Sion's papers too. Thanks."

She was surprised, but it was not her place to ask why. Not that it really mattered. Dayen knew Lucian, and he would not look for trouble. Quite the opposite. He was on friendly terms with the Amarins… He worked with them more than once when being an adventurer.

"Don't worry, Headmaster!" Dayen said kindly, "I think they all passed it~!"

"Ahaha!" Lucian's laugh echoed as he disappeared, "I never even thought about that being a possibility!"