Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Hearing the teacher mentioning the South randomly, Evin's ears perked up.

"Griffins are definitely the prime examples of Manipulators, as they're arguably the strongest users of the World of Emotions, Ferlour. I'm sure many of you haven't yet heard of the World, so let me clarify things a bit for you," Alvert said.

"The World of Emotions allows a mage to affect or even change someone's emotions. As with most Worlds, one can achieve many other things using it, such as relieving one's trauma, altering one's mindset to a more optimistic one, and even blocking off an undesired emotion once and for all."

<Maybe we should study this one a bit further…> the voice murmured, <It might be helpful to our situation.>

"But... considering the war that's been happening, very rarely these things are used for good things. I know most of you wouldn't want anything to do with the war with the South, but let's take the battle example once more. Let's say you're about to face an army of Griffins. If you're feeling fearful of this prospect beforehand, then during the fight, you're going to be so terrified that you're not even going to be able to properly function due to the Griffin's spells. If you're fighting a stronger griffin, then you would be feeling fearful even if you're feeling fine."

"But of course, the kingdom knows about the dangers of the Griffins and so it makes sure that its soldiers in a battle against griffins wears the proper precautions against these spells and that there are proper Manipulators in a battle, to fight against the Griffins' mental warfare. So as long as the troops aren't caught off guard, it's nothing too terrible."

Evin saw the youths around making relieved face, but he was more concerned about what the voice said. Its words made him listen to the teacher's speech much more carefully, as it could possibly contain a method to cure Evin from the voice.

"So, the South found a new method to make use of these masters of emotions. To have them help the Myrmis overcome their biggest disadvantage as a species. Now, who here knows about the Myrmis?" Alvert asked.

"They're the Ant-people, right? Giant, human-sized ants! With six legs and giant eyes!" one of the teens said.

"Not quite. Their bodies are practically the same as humans, but they have carapaces similar to insects instead of skins like we do. These carapaces can be many colors, depending on how the Myrmi Queen decides to make them, but mostly they're red or black," Alvert said as he pinched at his hand, "That makes them very durable compared to us, but at the same time, very… hmm, brittle as well. Since their bodies are so hard and dense, it's really easy for them to lose a limb because of an accident.

"How does the Myrmi Queen create the Myrmis?" Arza asked suddenly.

"We don't know for sure, but if we assume they work similarly to real ants, the Queen must lay eggs and eventually, they grow into the Myrmis. And these eggs must grow into adults terribly fast, as with each battle against the South, they're used almost exclusively as cannon fodder to wear our troops down," Alvert said, "Every fight, it's the same thing. A wave of red men charging at our soldiers and then dying."

"But why would the Myrmi allow themselves to just… die like that?" Kona asked weakly.

"Well, there comes the use for Manipulators. You see, Myrmis as a species are quite the cowardly bunch. When faced with a threat, they often preferred to run away, instead of trying to fight back. But the Griffins solve this problem by emboldening these armies of Myrmis to become fearless soldiers willing to do anything for their country. Even throw their lives away in a suicidal charge."

Evin looked sideways and found a teardrop materializing in Kona's eyes. She seemed so genuinely concerned for the fate of these Myrmis, that even Evin felt emotional.

"Why can't we just mount an attack on these Southerners, and remove them from the face of Alvox once and for all? We've won against them before, right? We've pushed them back all the way to the barren South, so why can't we eradicate them now?" one boy asked.

"Truly, I'm not someone who's well-versed in these subjects. But if you take the classes of Society and History, maybe you'll be able to find the answers to these questions yourself," Alvert sighed. "And on that note, I should probably stop talking about these topics as well."

Alvert loudly clapped his hands twice all of a sudden to dispel the class of the weirdly depressing mood.

"Alright. I know I'm the one who started all this, but let's get back to our original topic: Mage Specializations. The purpose of this class is for you all to pick one combat class and one non-combat class to study in. I know some of you already picked the classes for Runes and Illusions, so for those students, you don't have to pick a non-combat one."

"Conversely, you can pick all the classes, as long as you're confident you won't die of over-exhaustion. But remember, to properly graduate from this Academy and receive a Mage Seal, you must become a respectable expert at least one Specialization class, alright? As for what the requirements to be considered an expert at the field, it will depend mostly on the class itself," Alvert reminded.

<Wait, wasn't there a class for Chemistry and Mana Beasts? Can you ask him about those?>

"Mister Alvert, I remember seeing classes about Chemistry and Mana Beasts. Why aren't they added as Mage specialization classes?" Evin asked.

"Oh, mostly because they're too short to be proper Specializations. If I'm correct, Chemistry classes are only about five or six classes in total and Mana Beasts are even shorter than that. Maybe things will change in the future, but for today's society, a Chemist isn't a proper job, unfortunately."

<Huh? Chemistry only has five classes? Or are we talking about a different Chemistry?> the voice sounded quite baffled.

Evin waited for it to calm down so it would tell Evin which class to pick, before he realized something disturbing.

'Why am I letting it decide so many things for me? What the hell happened to me?'

Then thinking of the previous few days, he was even more baffled.

'Now that I think about it, ever since I became a mage, I turned so much more docile to its orders and suggestions… No. It's my own life, and I should be the one living it, not it.'

"Okay, everyone. If you want, you can tell me your decision now, and I'll put you in the relevant class. But if you want to think about it some more, you can find me here tomorrow morning at 8 am and tell me then," Alvert said.

Some kids in the class went up to the teacher to declare their intents. Arza picked the class for Enchanters and Runes, Kona picked the class for Heavy mages and also Runes, while the Gesture caster girl picked the class for Light mages.

Evin walked up to Alvert and said confidently, "I'll become an Enchanter."

Alvert nodded and told Evin when the classes were. At the end of it, he added, "Also, the Chairman told me to put you inside the Combat Training Class."

"Huh?"

"It's a class where you do live combat against other students. Usually, students of non-noble/mage families can only enter the class from the second year, but I heard he decided to make an exception for you."

"Oh, I'm gonna be in that class too!" Arza said from the side. "Nice!"