41: The Graduate Division

To Nyssa’s relief, the dinner passed without much issue. Slade and Kaiser told a couple stories from her childhood, avoiding the mortifying stories that’d leave Nyssa in irreparable embarrassment. Because the stories they told stayed in good spirits, the atmosphere of the table opened up as well, and conversation flowed. The dinner as a whole, though, finished after a couple hours.

With the sky already dark, Nyssa bade her friends goodnight after the dinner and followed Kaiser and Slade back home. Frowning while in the car, she couldn’t help but feel a certain tug of loneliness in her heart.

She’d get a dorm room soon, so she didn’t have to leave every time they hung out...

Like that though, life eased into a rhythm once more as several weeks flew by in a flash.

---

Far from the Luminary Institute.

Deep in the forest, five students from the graduate division sat around a campfire. Everyone sat on logs. Their tents sat behind them in a circle to form a protective wall from the elements. Bundled up in layers of clothing, the five of them ate their dinner under the blanket of night. In the distance, a scene of carnage unfolded as an entire section of the forest had been razed. Splintered and fallen trees decorated the ground while the entrance to tunnels pockmarked the surface. A small mountain of centipede corpses sat in the center of the clearing, disassembled for their most valuable parts and magic stones.

“So, what’s the plan now?” A man with gray hair started the conversation. Deep circles sat under his eyes as he seemed starved of energy. “We technically completed our mission to destroy the centipede infestation.”

“Why were they so large though! Ugh...” A woman with wild black hair propped her chin up with her hands. “I thought they’d be like... dog-sized at most. But here they were, the size of CARS! No wonder we were sent out to kill them.”

“That’s beside the point though, Thalia. That’s not my question since we’ve already beaten them,” The man sighed as he looked towards the others. “Do we try to investigate the cause behind the size increase? After consulting with my terminal, I did indeed find that this species of centipede, if we identified them correctly, has no way of growing to this size.”

“Ohhh, so that’s what you were doing, Ashe,” A taller orange-haired man clutched his stomach as he burst out into belly-aching laughs. “I just saw you mindlessly playing that brick-laying game or something?”

“I mean, I was doing that too,” Ashe sighed. “Though it's an underground game that practically no one I know plays, it’s still a fun time. I digress though. Thoughts, Orion?”

“Nope, I’m fine with anything, ask Isolde and Scarlet, they’re the thinkers of the group other than you,” Orion shrugged, looking back down to continue inhaling his rations. “We have plenty of supplies either way after all.”

“True,” Ashe assented before turning to the other two girls who had been engaging in their own conversation. “Isolde, Scarlet, what are your guys’ thoughts about the situation? Though I may be our leader, you two probably have been thinking about this more than them. Did you two notice anything unusual when we were disassembling the centipedes?”

“Mutated stones, they’re all... sharp,” Isolde pushed her glasses up. Her brown hair cascaded down her chest, flowing out from her hood. “Unlike classical magic stones that we see which have more spherical or ovaline shapes, these ones featured growths jutting outward. Usually they’re seen in growth periods where the creature is transitionary from one stage of life to another.”

“Interesting,” Ashe shook his head as a long sigh left his mouth. “But weren’t these centipedes already larger than the... uh... well, largest they’d get?”

“Correct,” Isolde shook her head. “That’s why Scarlet and I were theorizing that this is artificially stimulating growth. Someone, or something, was doing that. After all, though all currently in nascent stages, most artificial growth research is centered around the mana stone. People wonder if the shape of the mana stone is a result or side effect during growth, or an actual stimulator of growth.”

“Isolde’s really been researching this stuff. She’s far more knowledgeable than me,” Scarlet smiled, her blond hair giving her an almost angelic-like appearance. She reached over and patted Isolde’s back. “Give yourself more credit, I just nodded and listened while you worked through your thoughts.”

“Well, that means we should probably investigate this shouldn’t we...” Ashe grumbled and slouched. “I wanted to go home and sleep.”

“We definitely should investigate it,” Isolde agreed, eliminating most of the debate. “Judging from the battle, we shouldn’t be in any danger. We should just go through and explore the tunnels more carefully. Along the way we may discover treasure or eggs that should also be taken care of.”

“Treasure...” Ashe’s eyes lit up a little more. “Money... Alright, it's decided guys. Sleep well tonight. We’ll try and get most of the investigation done tomorrow. Sounds good?”

“Sounds good.” “Yep.” ““Sure.””

With their planning done, the team of five returned to their idle conversation. They cleaned up their trash from dinner and pulled marshmallows, chocolate, and crackers to make some smores under the moon’s gentle glow.

“Did you hear?” Thalia changed the topic as a mischievous grin appeared on her face. “Our Class Zero got another new student this year!”

“Oh, that’s a surprise, were they transferred from Class One?” Scarlet leaned forward to try and get her marshmallow into a better position near the fire. “I’ve heard about a lovely girl called Olivia who’s been rumored to get transferred for the past few years.”

“No, it wasn’t her,” Thalia shook her head. “It was a girl named Nyssa. She was admitted as a first year student.”

“That’s a surprise,” Orion paused mid-bite, with marshmallows spilling out the sides of his cracker sandwich. “I thought there wasn’t going to be anyone this year, or for the next few years. There hasn't been anyone really forecasted for a while. The name somehow rings a bell though, I just don’t remember where I heard it.”

“Well, it’s because she’s been kept on the down-low, only the people in Class Zero are really allowed to know right now,” Thalia shrugged before leaning in. “She’s the youngest daughter of the headmaster.”

“Ohhhh, that makes sense,” Orion slapped his knee. “I remember now, my older sister Amaris mentioned her. Uhhh... she said she was a cute kid. She met her when she went over to the Ravenstein household with Slade.”

“Do you think she got into Class Zero because of connections, you know, the whole parent thing plus siblings? Or do the powers justify it?” Ashe tapped his chin as a faint glimmer of curiosity appeared in his eyes. “I assume she has strong powers though.”

“She has transformation powers,” Orion answered. “Probably the best in the world. Because she can transform into anything she wants, imagined or real. Amaris mentioned she has quite the exceptional control over it though, so she probably won’t need Class Zero as much as Slade or Roxanne.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Ashe shrugged before dropping the topic as everyone else shrugged as well. No one had any more information...

“Wait, I’ll text my brother, Ryker. He’s in class with her every day, he has to have more information,” Scarlet perked up before sending a message through the terminal on her wrist. “We should go pay the school a visit once we’re done with this mission though! We’ve been doing so many missions back to back, it’ll be nice to meet everyone and catch up with Angelica.”