Chapter 29: To Delve or Not to Delve (1/2)

The black-haired young man stood up and announced in a soft voice. ”The name's Devin, Rank 1, I'm good at sneaking and fighting with daggers.” He plopped back down.

The twins were up next, the boy stood first, while the girl tried to hide behind him. ”My name is Lloyd, and this is my sister, Rita. We're both Rank 1. I can use a spear pretty well, and my sister is a good shot with her bow.” He looked around nervously for a second before sitting back down.

The elf girl was the next to stand. She spoke in a quiet, almost emotionless voice. ”Call me Tal. Rank 2.” She gestured to the armored figure. ”This is Mejimanethial, an earth spirit.”

”A pact mage?” Philomena broke in. ”Take note class. Mages of any kind are a valuable commodity in the guild, and pact mage's are second only to true summoner and healers in terms of demand.” She turned to look at Tal, ”I suspect that you will have a large number of party invitations once your abilities are known.”

Tal simply nodded in return, seemingly unconcerned, before sitting down again.

Philomena continued, ”Much like Summoners, Pact Mages are able to control spirits and otherworldly entities to fight for them. The only major difference is that pact mage's tend to have fewer and less powerful servants, but are also able to use magic independent of their minions. If you get a chance to work with one in the future, consider yourself lucky.”

There was a brief moment of silence as she motioned to the next student.

”I guess that means I'm up,” the dog beastman said while jumping to his feet. ”I'm Brenden, and although I'm only a Rank 1, I'm really close to getting Rank 2. You can leave the front line to me, because I'm sturdy and good with a sword.” He announced proudly, a goofy grin plastered across his face.

”Yes, thank you for that.” The instructor commented dryly before looking over at Mike.

Sighing, he stood and delivered the short speech he'd been mentally rehearsing. ”My name is Michael, but you all can call me Mike. I'm Rank 3. In terms of combat skills, I usually use a combination of swordsmanship and elemental magic. I'm best at fire magic, but I can use water and healing as well.”

There was a brief silence in which all the other students simply stared at him. Even the elf started looking at him with interest, although Mike could have been imagining it.

”So you are capable of using elemental healing?” Philomena pressed.

”Yes...” Mike answered hesitantly. He wasn't complete sure of the origins of his skill, but judging from the explanation on magic he had received from Morris, it likely fell under Elemental Magic.

She frowned in consideration for a moment before considering, ”As an Iron Ranked Adventurer, this course should be optional to you. Are you still interested in attending? While I won't force you to, I can waive the tuition fee if you agree to provide healing services to the students free of charge for the duration of the session.”

Mike had planned on attending anyway, and hadn't even known there was a tuition fee, so he readily agreed. ”I'm new here, and I feel that the class could be beneficial, so I'd like to participate.”

”Very well. Class you should all consider yourselves lucky. Not only will you have a chance to watch a pact mage in action, but you can rely on an elemental healer for support.”

She started pacing around the room, in a full on lecture mode.

”For those of you who are unaware, elemental healing is the rarest type of healing. While practitioners of the skill tend to lack the versatility of their Arcane, Divine, or Pact counterparts, no other mage can achieve the same feats of healing. Highly skilled elemental healers have been known to heal fatal wounds in seconds, cure deadly diseases and poisons, and even regenerate lost limbs.”

The majority of the group was now looking at Mike with something close to awe.

”That's so cool! Can you teach me?” Brenden asked enthusiastically.

Philomena cut in sharply. ”Not only is that likely impossible, since elemental healing is uncommon skill associated with only a few rare classes, but it would take far too much time even if you did have the talent to learn it.”

She looked at the now subdued beastman for a moment before continuing. ”Now, if you will all follow me, we'll start heading down to the dungeon. In the mean time I will explain a little bit about how the dungeon works.”

She opened another door on the opposite side of the one the all entered by and led the group down a long staircase, speaking all the while.

”The Wyrport Dungeon was discovered underneath the city centuries ago. Many believe that the death of the Great Wyrm Tempestus in the area we now refer to as Wyrmrest Lake led to the creation of the dungeon as the Wyrm's power suffused the region. Whether this is true or not, the dungeon nevertheless features a large number of draconically influenced monsters.”