A gold-haired noblewoman from the Pass opened the door to the lecture hall, a low murmur ruled over the room for the time being as the professor was nowhere to be seen. Sofia spared no time for idle chit-chat and sat down. 

If her memory didn't fail her the lecture about Mana Theory and its general applications should start any moment now. It was one of two subjects which didn't involve casting magic, given that even the peasantry could read, nobles were expected to be able to at least read and write to not disgrace their House of origin leaving the study of magic to be the only consideration for their Oriripol teachers. There were more scholarly classes ranging from history to philosophy but nobles shied away from them, even the native nobility or rather especially the Sophists tried their best to avoid filling their schedules with Geni'i subjects, choosing to either completely devote themselves to perfecting their magical arts or more commonly partake in balls and joust of power between each other. 

This didn't surprise the frontier noble as compared to the more militaristic nature of frontier nobles giving them a reputation of being rather blunt about things the other nobles partook in what Sofia saw as pointless games.

An Oriri professor entered the room causing the murmurs between the students to cease as each of them put on the mask of a diligent student if only for the sake of not losing face in front of their blue-blooded kin.

Sofia's quill left an inky trail behind its tip as she tried to transcribe the man's words onto the paper. It was difficult to both balance speed with readability of her writing and pay attention to the lecture doubly so as she found listinging to the subject beyond fastinating unlike most of her peers. The detailed knowledge of how geography influences mana flow and its concentration which determined if a village became safe and profitable or an eternal drain of resources thanks to monsters spawning everywhere was immeasurable. The concept in it of itself wasn't entirely foreign to Sofia as she recalled their priest saying something similar to the mage's words. That monsters appear where land was the lowest, this was the reason why graveyards were built somewhere higher than the ground around them if the terrain allowed it, preventing undead from rising. The issue was that lowlands are fertile places and near a source of freshwater used for drinking, cleaning and trading. Nevertheless, the frontier noble was already hatching a scheme to survey her House's land in search of locations where auxiliary industries could be built. The surrounding hamlets around the central village had to be specialised anyway meaning that many problems like access to a trading route could be outsourced to one fortified location.

While Sofia's mind drifted toward her beloved valley, her pen began to meander more making the sentences about the effect of moving water on the direction of mana winds ever more illegible.

A sudden bang of the door slamming itself shut pulled Sofia out of her trance causing her to look around. The nobles who owned titles inside the large cities where most of humanity hid from the monstrous world around them seemed to find the topic boring while the rest diligently kept their notes updated with lecture words. An unexpected pause gripped the room as everyone peeked over their desk to see the source of the bang.

Standing next to the door was a handsome young man with a hooded figure a good meter away from him, under further observation it was perhaps better said that the man was standing a meter away from the figure. It wasn't hard to realise that the man worked or rather was owned by the Academy by the uniform he was wearing. The entire lower rungs of the Academy were slaves of sorts, Oriri mages letting their faithlessness erode the human compassion we have for one another by turning some of their slaves into nothing more than mindless puppets.

The man standing near the door wasn't one of them nor was he an ordinary slave but rather he was a copper-ranked student. Those students were people whom a member of the Geni'i had to take under their direct tutelage for one reason or the other to be allowed entry. They lived in rooms they shared with their fellow copper ranks in a separate building away from everyone else at the expense of their masters. Coppers were the closest thing a Geni'i had to an attendant in the sense a noble understood the word but unlike valued member of a noble's household, they were indebted to their benefactors until the day they died.

True to their nature, all the nobles focused on the hooded figure, having seen the mage's pets many times over their stay in the city. The secrecy of the person's identity further fueling their curiosity and sparking their imagination. Most of the nobles returned their eyes on the servant taking another look at him , trying to pry any useful information on the figure's identity and purpose. From the way the teacher looked at him it was clear that the man acted like a temporary guide to the figure but it was usually the job of the Academy's many slaves rather than a job fit for a servant of a Geni'i and a student of the House of Wisdom.

Could it be that the mages wanted to curry favours with the figure? The question seemed to appear in the heads of many after analysing the situation.

 One would think the figure was a sheep among vultures ready to unmask its secret but as the copper student advanced forward, his proudful face was squished into a tattered wreck as he nervously looked back at the figure behind him before he took a seat in the front, at the very base of the room, moving to the far side of the bench as the figure took her seat.

Sofia couldn't take her eyes off the stranger's back as proof of yesterday's events had appeared making her head hurt.

How could I forget something this important?!

While the heroic Scion reprimanded herself the rest of the room seemed to darken as the short hooded figure radiated her sinister aura outwards for everyone to sense. A whimsical anger began to seem in everyone's minds inflicting fear onto those who didn't raise their defences in time.

"Stupid rules..." A quiet grumble came from under the hood filled.

"What is your name?" The professor seemed not too happy about his class being interrupted.

The lamenting figure seemed to mule over the mage's words, she looked around herself, appearing shocked at where she was. 

"Siri." A pleasantly soft voice answered with a hint of annoyance as the woman reached for the book left by the professor at the front of the class, her aura settling down before an eerie emptiness replaced it.

"Pay attention to the class rather than showing off." The mage said while watching the new student in front of him being absorbed by the book.

The old mage then proceeded to continue the class but expectedly the nobles found the new force who had barged into the room their aura radiating off of them in a clear show of power more interesting than the scholarly class. Their eyes periodically glanced at the bell glass in the corner of the room. 

The last grain of sand fell through indicating that the class should have ended right then but the lecturer forced everyone to stay for a moment longer as he finished his statement. 

To Sofia's relief, most nobles had grown bored of the mysterious Blackworm coming to think of her as a simple brat who thought showing off was a good idea. They twiddle their thumbs not paying the slightest attention to the mage, their realms were placed safely near major cities where the knowledge of avoiding monster spawns was useless thanks to the added security and the constant disturbance human activity caused. Unfortunately, the Aspects were not so merciful as to leave only her interested in gaining access to the powerful high noble as few other acute nobles seemed interested in introducing themselves to the figure with a copper for a servant.

Curse them.

The minor noble cursed as the copper man stood up, careful to not approach the Blackworm absorbed in reading a book. The hooded girl jumped off her seat and followed the man her head still buried among the pages before she disappeared behind a door.