Chapter 13: Experiments
The classroom filled with the soft scratching of chalk against wood. Some students hesitated, while others dived straight into carving their runes. I leaned against my desk, watching them with amusement.
Five minutes. That was all they had.
Some of them were going to fail spectacularly.
Julien was already halfway done, his usual cocky grin plastered across his face. "Easy," he muttered. "Just like drawing a symbol, right?"
I smirked but didn't say anything. He'd find out soon enough.
Mira worked methodically, carefully adjusting each stroke. Wallace, scribbled furiously, occasionally pausing to double-check his lines. Leo, as expected, looked miserable.
"This is stupid," he muttered. "Why do we need to learn this if it's useless?"
"Because," I said, strolling past his desk, "if you don't understand the fundamentals of bad magic, you won't recognize it when someone tries to use it against you."
Leo frowned but kept carving.
Felix, bless his unfortunate soul, was already panicking. His desk looked like he'd scratched random lines into it, and judging by the sheer frustration on his face, he had no idea what he was doing wrong.
"Spineless," I called. "Are you trying to summon a demon or just inventing a new language?"