Chapter 45: Term of Suspicion
On the first day of classes, Suria's nerves had calmed down somewhat because no terrible incidents had taken place and she hadn't heard of any other loopers mysteriously disappearing. She wondered if that was actually a potential weakness, since she might let her guard down, but despite everything, she was still excited to begin the term again.
She was entering the term with a runic capacity of seven, despite all the obstacles, as well as the best talismans she'd ever owned and a runebook. That would have made her feel prepared, in any other loop. This time she spent more time wondering how dead Gerial was and whether she should worry over the fact that she hadn't heard anything from Maut-mai.
At last she managed to push those concerns out of mind, because her first class was the Evocation course that Professor Abouric had placed her in. She was finally going back to the Skypiercer, though as she followed the information she'd been given, she walked past all of the large chambers with openings to the sky.
Ten floors up, the rooms were smaller and looked more like ordinary classrooms. When she found hers, she discovered that it was a downright cramped little room with a bunch of chairs opposite a desk. Suria slipped into a chair and got a good look at the instructor.
Professor Anstell Milirent, Throne of Evocation, looked exactly like his portrait: an unnervingly thin old man who somehow still looked vigorous, with a shock of white hair leading down into sideburns. He was ignoring the class entirely, scribbling on a scroll as if he couldn't get the words down fast enough. Even when one of the other students asked whether or not they were in the right room, he went on writing as if he hadn't heard anything.
Suria still didn't know quite what to make of him: Professor Milirent had been one of only two thrones who hadn't been invited to the meeting in the basement. She had heard a little about him on campus, mostly about how academically-focused he was. Hopefully that meant that this class would have nothing to do with the conspiracy for once.
Without warning, the professor set down his quill and looked up at them briefly.
"Time for class to begin," he said. "Welcome to Advanced Evocation Fundamentals. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? But the truth is that the most fundamental elements of our spellcraft, from the formation of glyphs to the casting of spells, are complex acts that deserve intensive study.
"All too often Evocation is presumed to be the mere casting of lightning bolts, but what's fascinating about the field is that it can be so much more than combat magic. The same element that cracks the sky also, according to recent research, flows through our very bodies. I would love to explore that question further, and we may if you take any of my higher courses, but this class is about teaching you how to use your spells more flexibly."
He went on speaking like that, in fully formed paragraphs with barely a breath, as if he was reading off a paper. As she listened, Suria noticed that though his eyes roamed, they never actually landed on anyone in class, and though he spoke with vigor, she got the strange feeling that his mind was somewhere else.
After the introduction, Professor Milirent laid out the format of the course: it would be a mix of lectures, practice sessions, and a personal spellcraft project. Suria felt grateful that Professor Abouric had chosen such a good class for her and she was eager for the project, since she thought she could try to master her force spells so she could use them more precisely.
She would have been happy to start that very lesson, but instead their first assignment involved learning a new inscription that cast light into the air. It seemed similar to the spell she had seen many professors use in class, and she had to admit that it was useful, even if not for combat. More importantly, the professor explained, it was an incredibly flexible spell that would require them to stretch both their glyphcraft and spellcasting abilities.
What surprised her was that, even though the inscription had just been introduced, Professor Milirent seemed to expect them all to begin casting it within the class. Suria didn't think of herself as a genius, but she was used to internalizing inscriptions faster than most students. In this case, she saw plenty of other students who were making progress just as quickly as she was.
For a while she focused solely on the inscription itself, using the stone practice slates she'd purchased so she didn't waste her better materials. Later, once she felt she had mastery, she would make a new glyph on a talisman and then her runebook.
Once she finished, she looked around the classroom, where a depressing number of students had finished before her. She noted that they were older than the usual average and many wore ranked seal pins, though there was another first year student with her. Perhaps this was one of the rare upper level courses that could accommodate a wide variety of students.
"This was good progress for the day," Professor Milirent told them abruptly. "Does anyone have any Evocation questions for me unrelated to their work?"
Suria wasn't sure what to make of that, and judging from the silence, no one was sure either. She could ask questions about the class, but that didn't seem to be what he meant. The silence continued for what felt like an eternity, but was probably about a minute before the professor abruptly began organizing his papers.
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"Questions are always welcome," he said, sounding a little disappointed. "I expect you to do the reading before the next lecture and think about what spell you might want to specialize in this term. Thank you."
Without another word he walked out of the classroom briskly, not looking at any of them as he went. Some of the students seemed as surprised as Suria, but she noticed that some of the older students weren't bothered. Suria leaned closer to a middle-aged woman who was packing up her bottles of ink.
"Is he always like that?" Suria asked quietly.
"More than you know," the woman answered with a chuckle. "I failed one of his classes last year and had to take it again... he gave exactly the same lectures. Every single word. Once he mentioned the wrong duke of Darmkael, the one who died five years ago. I think he's memorized all his lectures and just repeats them."
"And what kind of questions is he looking for?"
"Hell if I know. I've seen him be happy with a few, but he never gives any sort of credit for questions, so there's no point."
Even though it was all somewhat puzzling, Suria walked back out of Skypiercer Tower in a better mood. She could spend this partial term learning what she could, and if any questions were asked she might be able to learn something about the professor. This felt more like the sort of problems she loved solving between loops, without any grim traps waiting for her.
The next day she needed to attend Foundations of Modern Spellcraft, since there was no question of skipping it while the professors were alert for loopers. She saw several other first year loopers and they all made sure not to look at one another as the class began.
When the professor proved to be a woman instead of the middle-aged man Suria was accustomed to, she sat up a little straighter, hoping that the class might have changed. But the woman delivered basically the same lectures, rigidly shutting down student distractions - she was the only one who could distract herself, since she occasionally went off on tangents. Suria got the sense that the woman was stuck up and left the class in a worse mood.
Introduction to Hazardous Naturalism was another disappointment: they got to meet in one of the Wyvernry classrooms, and it was a little exciting to be next door to growling beasts, but the entire lecture was covering the basics of magical safety standards. Professor Nulphus Abouric was a competent and friendly teacher, stiffer and brisker than he had been in their personal conversations. He barely paid any attention to her during the class, most likely because he wanted her there to serve as a spy.
The large classroom included a number of other loopers, including Xuhriha, the small man named Tabimu, and two of the Endelythans. At first she felt a rush of relief that Xuhriha was alive, but it gave way to new concerns. Had this class been designed to lure them out in some way that hadn't been explained? None of them did anything that would particularly draw Suria's suspicion, so she headed out hoping that there wouldn't be any trouble.
"Hello, stranger," Xuhriha said, appearing beside her as they walked out. "This seems like it will be a fun class."
"Hopefully." Suria made herself smile and resisted the urge to look behind herself.
"Sounds like we might need to choose laboratory partners, and I could always use someone to study with. Want to team up?"
"No one else has asked me," Suria said with a shrug. "But it doesn't seem very hard yet."
"Just in case." Xuhriha beamed at her and skipped away.
Suria's heart rate slowed back down as she realized this had just been a way to establish a justification for them to meet one another. Despite her eccentricity, Xuhriha seemed to be taking the threat seriously. She was bright pink and perkier than the average student, but not as wild as she had been in previous loops. Hopefully she was matching her behavior prior to the time loop, which might strike the right balance of being just odd enough that no one would suspect her, because a looper wouldn't draw attention like that.
There wasn't a scheduled class for Arcane Tides of History right away, and Suria was both anticipating and dreading the first. She headed back to her room - cavernous without a roommate - and settled in to finish reading the first books. They weren't required yet, but she felt as though she didn't understand enough about politics, so she wanted to enter class prepared.
Unfortunately, she didn't enjoy this reading as much. Perhaps in the past she would have read through everything eagerly just because she had so few books, but now that she had a huge list, these frustrated her.
The first text was called The New Age of Junn, which was a blatantly political screed about the revolution in the Republic of Junn. She learned a few things from the historical sections, especially about the complexity of the revolution that had overthrown the old aristocracy, but soon she got sick of the author going on about his opinion. Yet when she set it aside for Inscriptions of Revolution, she felt betrayed because the book wasn't actually about inscriptions at all - that was just the author's metaphor. Instead it was some sort of grand theory of history about how magic affected political systems.
When Suria finally packed up her books to go to the class, she wasn't sure whether or not she was prepared. Usually she ignored politics because she felt so helpless in comparison to large systems: the Westlakes region was a backwater in between great powers, so no one cared about what it wanted.
At least the class was in a familiar place: the Earth Society Building. She knew the layout from the loop where she'd taken artisanry classes, this was just one of the larger lecture classrooms as opposed to a workroom. On her way she made sure to take some wrong paths so as not to reveal her knowledge of the building, and in the process she was distracted by a child sitting completely alone in one of the outer rooms, with a book on her lap that looked like it weighed as much as she did.
Was there really no one around watching her? Suria instinctively wanted to check, but she risked being late for class and nothing seemed to be going wrong, so she set the child out of her mind and slipped inside the lecture hall.
Professor Tollvard Rhamsolk stood at the front of the classroom, his arms behind his back, his marble features imperious. His eyes fixed on her as soon as she entered, but he seemed to be staring at every new student, so it didn't last long. On her way in, Suria couldn't help but notice several loopers among the students, mostly people she didn't know well from the Akrashic and Junnite factions. She busied herself with setting up her books and toying with her satchel so she couldn't be seen staring.
"Everyone finally here?" Professor Rhamsolk asked rhetorically. "Good, let's begin."