Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]

The weekend passes uneventfully. In the back of my mind, I continue to worry about Alicia, and I can sense the lingering dread that Chloe goes through every waking moment that she’s not back with us, safe and sound.

I hope she’s being treated well, wherever she is. She better be. For the sake of her kidnappers most of all.

Unfortunately, there’s not much the two of us can do, besides relying on our assets and doing what we can to prepare for when it’s time for us to do our part. A sort of uneasy détente fills our home over the course of the weekend. I spend most of my time sitting around, practicing with my glyphs and building up an arsenal ready to go for battle, while Chloe is outside, training her sword techniques. Without the threat of mortal danger, our training and practice won’t yield nearly the same results in terms of acquiring Skills and Skill ranks, but every repetition helps.

As they say, prior proper planning prevents piss-poor performance.

The weekend passes, and with the arrival of Monday, the two of us return to our normal routines. Chloe is back in her robes and with her new longswords safely tucked away in her [Inventory] as she goes for her shift at the local hospital. I, meanwhile, make my way down to campus and hope to have a few minutes of relative peace and quiet before the start of class.

Any chances of that are shattered the instant I touch down on the edge of campus. If I were something of a minor celebrity before, this past Wednesday’s events have left no doubt. I might be the single biggest celebrity in the city now, and I can only pray to the goddesses that Chloe has more security and privacy with her job than I’m currently getting.

Thank the heavens for [Dimensional Rift]! No longer do I have to worry about awkward conversations with the paparazzi and news reporters hounding me from location to location. And with a nearly quarter-mile range on the Skill and a conveniently-located window to my office in my line of sight, I give only a few noncommittal responses to the inane questions I’m asked before I pop out of existence and leave them with more questions than answers. Future Seraphina’s headache; she can invoice me later.

A knock on the door follows; since it’s Amalia and not someone from the news, I open the door and quickly let her in before anyone gets wise to my location.

“I didn’t even realize you were already here, Seraphina,” Amalia says. “You must’ve gotten here pretty early; I’ve been waiting around since ten after seven and I didn’t see any sign of you coming in.”

I put my hand to my lips. “Please keep it down; there’s about three dozen reporters waiting for me, and I really am not in the mood to deal with them.”

“Do you need someone to call security? If they’re causing that much of a ruckus–”

“I’m personally not worried, although I do appreciate your concern.” I’m definitely not in the mood to deal with any more crises today, but I’m not going to put that on Amalia. “Anyway, is everything ready for class today? I have the lecture notes with me.”

“I think everything is good, Seraphina. At least as far as class is concerned. There were a couple of student questions that came in over the weekend via e-mail that I wasn’t able to answer, so I forwarded them to you.”

“Hmm. Might need to see about getting some of the preceptors involved, just to get a proper chain of student contact. I don’t think I’ll have time to deal with thousands of e-mails each week. Anyway, before I leave for class, is there anything you need my assistance with?”

“No, I think I’m good. I’ll be a couple minutes behind you.”

“Very well.” Amalia gives me a look that just screams ‘there’s something fishy that you’re not telling me about’, and she’s not wrong. But again, not in the mood to explain how I learned how to teleport over the weekend.

My Introduction to the System class was standing-room-only even before I stepped onto the stage. This past Wednesday, my class was about two hundred and fifty students taking the class for credit, a comparable number auditing, and another similar number just watching in the back. Today, however, there must be at least three thousand people gathered; so many people crowding the walkways and aisles that I think the fire marshal would have an aneurysm if they’d been around to see this mess.

Jeremy looks at me with an almost reverent expression. Oh please, I’m the last person who you should be directing your hero worship toward; I’m selfish and I’m in this to protect me and mine. Everyone here just got to benefit by the fact that ‘protecting what’s mine’ also inadvertently protected a lot of other people.

Before class starts, I scan the audience. I don’t see anyone who looks like the FBI agents from the other day, and I don’t sense any hostile presences, nor any particularly strong individuals. Then again, I’m sure there are plenty of individuals with disguise spells, and at least a few abilities that can fool my [Valkyrion’s Perception]. Maybe it’s just paranoia getting the better of me, but I prefer to call it proper vigilance. After the previous few days, I feel I can never have enough.

Combat training class is more of the same. An absolutely titanic crowd wanting instruction, far beyond my capacity to teach. Instead of a class of around forty, I have my forty students, plus another… one, two… six hundred or so people, many of which I’m pretty sure are not students at all, let alone actually in my class.

A certain phrase slinks its way to the forefront of my mind: the reward for a job done exceptionally is yet more work. Now I understand exactly what that means.

Chloe arrives right as class is about to start, with the same overwhelmed expression I had just a couple minutes prior. “I hope I don’t have to be responsible for healing all of them. Even I have my limits.”

“We’re definitely going to have to get some more help in the long run. Thankfully, we’re not going to be doing actual combat today. Although if you can help me help the students with [Ether Manipulation], I’d appreciate it.”

“And the others?”

“They can observe, so long as their observations don’t interfere with the class itself.” I sigh. “I’ll probably need to speak with the administration about getting a formal policy set up.”

“Today,” I say, “we will start with a dozen laps around the track, and, after our brief warmup, we’re going to start working on Skills. Now, you have fifteen minutes. And, begin!”

Four miles in fifteen minutes seems eminently doable for even level 15’s and 20’s, if they apply themselves. If not… Well, they’re going to have a really, really rough time with the rest of the course, and it’d be better for them to find a different course now, rather than choke on the battlefield because they’re allergic to physical exertion.

“Alright,” I say as the last stragglers finish up. Sixteen minutes and thirteen seconds; disappointing, but at least the guy was making an honest effort of it.

“Today, Chloe and I are going to be teaching everyone here about [Ether Manipulation], with the goal of everyone in the class gaining it as a General Skill. For those of you in the back observing, you are free to practice the exercises, but I want to give everyone a word of caution. What we are going to teach you is not without danger. [Ether Manipulation] runs the risk of damaging or even rupturing one’s [Ether Channels], preventing you from using your Skills and magic.”

“If you damage or rupture your [Ether Channels], you will inform us immediately,” Chloe says, brooking no discussion or compromise. “You will wait until you are fully healed. You will not under any circumstances dismiss it as ‘just something to work through’ or ‘a minor setback’ or whatever hare-brained machismo you might be thinking right now.”

Her tone switches from a concerned medic to the very embodiment of Drill Sergeant Nasty. “My job here is to keep any of you from doing anything stupid that might get yourself killed; do I make myself clear?”

A chorus of tepid agreement sounds out. I nearly pop a blood vessel at the nonchalance. It hasn’t even been a full week and they’ve already forgotten the number one rule of this class? Well, time to remind them.

I don my own Drill Sergeant Nasty persona, all but screaming at the students. “Some of you may not have been here for last class, so I will give all of you the benefit of the doubt and remind you how things work while you are under my supervision. You will do what Chloe says, when Chloe says it! If Chloe tells you to listen to her, you better damn well be listening to her like your life depends on it, because it damn well may! Now then. Do I make myself clear?”

The chorus of ‘Yes, Seraphina’ and ‘Yes, Instructor’ and a couple of ‘Yes, Coach’ is far more poignant this time around.

“Sorry about that, Chloe.”

“No, thank you. If it keeps them alive, then it’s time well spent.”

I take her hand and give her a gentle squeeze. “That’s all we can do. Train them as best we know how and hope that we’ve done well enough when they find themselves in a real battle.”

“Good! Now then, I’m sure all of you already know about [Ether]. You can think of it as magical fuel. When we activate our Skills, we use our [Ether] to create supernatural effects. Sometimes these Skills are subtle. A charm that boosts your recall in the middle of an examination. A Skill that gives you a temporary boost to your [Speed] and [Vitality].

“Other times, they are more impactful. Such as a–” I fire a [Fire]-aligned [Elemental Ether Strike] into the sky. “Blast of concentrated energy. Or–” I [Dimensional Slip] for three seconds, then reappear. “A brief bit of invisibility.”

“Invisibility? That’s what you’re passing it off as?”

“If there’s even a chance I can mislead our enemies as to my actual abilities, I’ll do it, and I won’t regret it.”

Chloe shakes her head. “If that’s what you feel is best.” Her tone suggests she’s unimpressed with my line of reasoning.

“However, it is also possible to learn to manipulate your internal [Ether] directly. Cycle it throughout your body. I’ve heard of some individuals using it to gain Skills which allow them to more quickly regenerate their [Ether]. I’ve used it myself to gain visual and perception-based Skills by channeling my [Ether] into my eyes. The blasting technique I just showed you is a more advanced application of the same, concentrating hundreds of points of [Ether] into a single strike and releasing it in a burst of explosive force.”

The crowd is sufficiently enraptured by the display for my purposes. Even though many of them have magic-based classes and can cast simple spells, seeing such destructive potential on full display— and potentially available to melee-focused martial classes or even non-combat-focused ones as well? That has renewed everyone’s focus.

“Now then, another rule about this class. This class is rooted in cooperation, not competition. Our goals are to uplift one another. Chloe and I will not always be here, and the next time a demon or a dragon shows up to cause chaos, the people you’re standing next to are going to be the people you will rely on to defend yourselves and one another, as well as those unable or unwilling to fight for themselves.”

I give them all a glare and a moment to process. “Which means if I catch any signs of sabotage or subterfuge or trying to take advantage of each other, I will throw you out of this course so fast it’ll make your head spin. And you can see how many people would love to take the newly-vacated space.”

Everyone goes silent. After making them squirm, I break the silence. “Now then, let us begin.”