[OP: ]
It was early evening and their classes had almost come to an end.
Everyone was starting to understand what this great academy of hope actually is by this time and for most of them, this was an even more amazing place than they had thought at the start.
The atmosphere here was fresh and refreshing, the classes were pretty good too, and the teachers, even with their unique ways of teaching, were all pretty good with their work.
The cafeteria was some of the best places too as the grand variety of food choices they offered, which raged from the most basic things common people were used to, to the most luxurious foods served in the great royal banquets.
And that was also just the basic facility of the academy.
There were places of all kinds and types here, and most of them were open to every student within the academy.
They can go anywhere they wanted or do anything they wanted so it was all a really new experience for them.
Still, there was a curfew time at the academy, so aside from a few night classes, most of the other facilities were closed off inside the academy and students had to return to their dorm rooms or the places they all were staying at for the nights.
Still, that didn't mean they couldn't stay in the academy or the academy garden. They can… at their own risk.
Anyway, their second classes after the lunch break were going on, and aside from Eon and Rein's class, there were some pretty attractive things going on in the other people's classes too.
And just like those two, everyone else had also made some new acquaintances.
Carla stood out among them all as she had fought her entire class in her first (Blade practice) class after lunch and in the second one (Weapon theory), against all of their expectations, she debated against Xlor and Prince Claudius about what the best weapon in the world is and even defeated them in the argument with 'mind is the true strongest weapon'.
She used proven factual points and undeniable data to do that, something people who knew her dislike of theoretical things were never expecting to witness.
But she did it, and later, she even had a debate with the house captain of Fusion Stardust, the now-famous fairy Titania, over how Aura was more destructive and stronger than the 'general' fairy magic.
This argument was also filled with facts and actual solid data and not some baseless debate of personal point of views and childish claims. So, everyone hearing the two of them was also surprised to know all those things that they were hearing for the first time.
Their teacher of that class, their all-famous vice headmaster, the one who knew about the use of weapons the best on this magic island, was having fun teaching this class more than she had expected.
Usually, if the students have some arguments on some topic and have a debate over it, involvement of mostly personal opinions, personal feelings, and stuff totally unrelated to the topic and such things would be common. And she was used to that kind of thing since a long time ago.
Still, she didn't like it too much. So, the one they had today, the one where the points were proven with actual knowledge and in a healthy way, was something she liked a lot.
So she was happy. And thanks to that argument Carla and Titania had, they had become pretty close…
Alf, on the other hand, was attending (Historical magic theories) after parting ways with Eon after their first class, he met Princess Isabella again and coincidentally ended up sitting with her, again.
And there were only the two of them this time in their seat, so they ended up talking. And accidentally, she ended up asking him why he smelled so nice.
But ironically, he was paying attention to something Uto was saying so he didn't catch her words that could have been the beginning… but he didn't. And she didn't say anything anymore, creating an awkward silence between them for the rest of the class.
Chry and Quin, on the other hand, were proceeding well as she got used to the common language and the two of them talked during their class time.
They were friends now, but their ship would not sail anytime soon.
Lizzy… well, she had a (Making of support magic) class where they had to do a group test, and she got paired up with Drowslotm and Deleon, two famous prodigies that many students in the school considered weird.
But, as they did their test and she understood these two not-so-young people famous for their green magic and summoning skills, she understood they weren't anything weird at all.
They were pretty cool if she had to say, but they were just shy to express anything at all.
Especially the Deleon guy. He was strangely in love with slimes, almost obsessed with them. And she didn't know the reason why he wanted to do everything by himself without needing any of their help. But, she was probably the same as him, and also the elf that worked with the plants and their natural energy to create magical phenomena.
She understood them, and maybe, that was the reason she was able to convince them to do their tests properly even if they felt defeated by doing that.
And both of them didn't like her for how she practically used them, so they wanted nothing more than to never get involved with this person… which their teacher ruined by saying the pairs they had right now, would be permanent in all her classes who would have to do practically everything together.
So, they were stuck, and even though the two didn't like it, Lizzy didn't think it was that bad of a thing and even looked forward to working with these two weird people.
Everyone had made acquaintances and friends, some loners were still alone, doing what they were doing and what they wanted to do.
And Zoe was also doing what she wanted to do even though she wasn't actually a lone person…
Zoe, by appearance, was a pretty girl and a new member of a prestigious noble house.
People didn't know much about her more than what was known to everyone so she was a mysterious person if seeing from a logical point of view.
There was no background data on her, and her origin was unclear, people didn't know how strong or talented she was or if she had any talent at all, or if she was just a pretty-looking girl from a top-tier house that they can try to use as a key to their growth.
That was most of the common perspectives of everyone that didn't know much about her so, the students present in the (Artifact creation) classroom, the top minds with top talents and physical bodies to handle the basic heat of a forge, also had the same thoughts when they saw her in that class.
She was the only person there wearing a pretty dress instead of the usual clothes of an artifact blacksmith, so some had negative thoughts about her while some looked down on her for being in that place.
Artifact creation was no small thing and it was a profession few could master and reach a certain level of even after spending their entire lives.
It required strength, perseverance, an unbreakable mentality, talent, and affinity to handle different kinds of flames, and ultimately, a strong will to bend an unshakable chunk of metal.
It asked for sincerity, and the way Zoe appeared in their class didn't show even a shred of it but disrespected the profession and art that they all wanted to learn with all their hearts.
And their teacher, one of the few famous grandmaster blacksmiths of this world, was also offended by her appearance so he scolded her, even asking her to leave his class.
But she didn't move an inch from her place, gently asking the teacher for the reason for his angry behavior.
And this made him angrier. Enough to unconsciously give off a strong opposing aura.
Someone was practically disrespecting their art, the object of their worship right now, but he can't be angry at a student for something so trivial as that.
He was a teacher and she was still his student.
He did not mean to but he still did something wrong, and he accepted his mistake when he realized it.
But in the meantime, everyone just motionlessly looked at her when they felt that great pressure from him concentrated on her, and she still stood there as if it was nothing, earning greater surprise and awe from her fellow classmates.
And after their teacher apologized to her for his great misbehavior, even asking her for any chance to right his wrongs, she humbly forgave him, saying that mistakes are an inevitable part of mortal lives.
Still, she was determined about taking this class, and their teacher could see that in her unshaken blue eyes resembling the purest of the blue flames.
Now that he looked closely at her, even with that weak-looking appearance and pretty dress, he could see some very fine pieces of artifacts on her, some so great that even he admired them.
And when he looked even more closely, he finally caught on to the fact that the very dress she was wearing, was an artifact in itself.
And it was a very fine work, even finer were all those complex enchantments carefully sculpted on it.
He was blinded by his sudden anger and did something very wrong and even if she forgave her, he cannot forgive himself for something like this.
He would repent over this, but first, he had to test his new batch of students and see the talents of these children of the golden era.
So, he opened the workshop to them, presented them with an ingot of magic iron, a jade of fire, and some very common materials, and asked them to make the best thing they can with it.
It was a test, they all knew it, so they had to give their all and make something that would at least meet the passing standards of their teacher. So, they got to work and so did Zoe.
Artifact creation was much more than forging, blacksmithing, science, and technology but the blacksmithing part was the basics. And they had to start with the basics in this exploration class.
The place they were in was a giant workshop enhanced with spatial expansion magic and there were tens of forges, equipment, common ingredients, creatures, and forever blazing spirit flames.
Forging, as everyone might know, basically involved fire, bellows, hammers, anvil, and materials.
They had materials, a hammer, anvil, and bellows were there, but, their personal forges were not yet on fire.
So, their first step was to turn on the forge and produce a workable fire… and there were many ways one could do it.
With magic, with Aura, with other artifacts, or by traditional means.
There were many ways to do it, and Zoe chose the hardest, weirdest, and craziest one.
She walked up to the master forge, the place only their teacher could work on, and stood before the strongest spirit flames that they had heard were produced by a superior flame spirit.
It was very difficult for someone to merely handle the intensity of that flame so it was situated quite a distance away from their personal forges, but she just walked up to that place without breaking a sweat, stood right before the blazing forge of pure red flames, 'talked' with the flames with a smile, and after a while tried picking up the flames with her bare hands as if picking up water from a pond.
It almost gave the ones looking at her a heart attack when she did that, but to their surprise, she wasn't hurt. No, more than that, when she walked back to her place, there was a flame of the same color burning on her hands.
It was the very first time in their lives they had seen something like that, but, their teacher was even more surprised at how she still had a calm expression while holding those powerful flames.
If he tried something like that, he might be able to do it, but would still have to face the heat of those flames. And they knew they were very intense, definitely not something just anyone could handle.
But her expression at that time was as if she wasn't even feeling those flames… making him question just how great her affinity with fire must be to cause such absurd phenomena.
It was the first time in his life that he was so surprised like this. But that was just the start.
By the end of their class, the techniques she would use in her forging, the way she would totally erase the image of a delicate girl from their minds, and how she would create something so unbelievable with those seemingly common materials, would nearly give their teacher the same heart attack as some of the students were feeling right now…
But, that was something we probably wouldn't get to see as when this class was ongoing, a certain group of people was finishing the decoration of a certain auditorium.
And on the stage of this auditorium, looking at everything going smoothly, stood the current student council president Zodiac, caressing the little head of his dear family member and mythical creature, excitedly smiling with the thoughts of his meeting with his new student body, as well as some certain people that had become the talk of the entire academy and also some parts of this very sky island…
