After a break, which Flora skipped, the class learned about animating mounts. While Animate Attacker and Defender tolerated a bit of metal in the enchanted objects, the material for the mount had to be metal-free.

"Never animate brooms!" The Woodling lecturer said sternly. "The witches won't forgive the appropriation of their culture."

Flora snorted and hoped that flying vacuum cleaners were excluded from persecution. Although she still hadn't built a motor without metal, she had a few ideas on how to accomplish it.

The students proceeded to learn the spell and animated their chairs. The legs of them started to move, and they carried the laughing mages through the classroom.

Meanwhile, Flora carved a board out of a tree trunk. Using Transformation, she elongated the four corners of the board and put wheels on them.

<Animate Mount>!

Instead of rolling, the board wavered. It tried to use the wheels as feet, but got no traction and wobbled in place.

"Try just to rotate the round things, dear," Flora said to it while conveying the idea of driving telepathically. The chassis took the advice and started rolling. Flora hopped on and guided it back and forth with her will. At first, the ride was rocky, but with a bit of practice, Flora smoothed the movement.

Flora was delighted, although a moving chair was arguably more awesome than a vehicle that six years olds would jeer at a soapbox derby.

Next, she tried to take off, but the board remained on the ground. When the lecturer explained that making the mount fly was only possible with the skill at level 100 and the object should have something that it could use as wings, Flora permitted Aidan to level it without a cap.

"I need objects to animate in the boxes, Milady."

Flora nodded but was too engrossed in the lecture to log out.

"I'm astonished that the board was able to rotate the wheels. Although I put a stopper at the end of the axle, the wheels are loose−otherwise, they wouldn't be able to turn. So what conditions must the object fulfill that it counts as ONE? Has the professor answered this question yet?"

"No, Milady."

"Ask her and skip the video to Cetvivos-time that I can listen in."

The video jumped, and the lecturer spoke in slow-motion because of the time dilation.

Flora heard Aidan's voice. "Pardon, Ma'am. What-"

"Stop!" Flora said. "You can't just interrupt a teacher. You have to raise your hand−err, tentacle− and wait until she signals you. And you have to speak slowly that she can understand you despite the time dilation."

Aidan followed Flora's advice.

After the Woodling finished her sentence, she smiled wrily in Flora's direction. "Let's hear what the octopus in the last row has to say."

The entire class turned around, and Flora hoped she wasn't drooling while meditating.

"Thank you, Ma'am. What conditions must the object fulfill that it counts as one mount? The question refers to loose parts on the target." Aidan said in one-third of his usual speed.

"Good question, long dissertations have been written about it by people smarter than me. I go with the rule of thumb: after you rotate the target and shake it, anything still attached counts toward the mount."

"I like this teacher. Aidan, look if she has more courses to offer." Flora said.

They skipped back in the video and soon reached Aidan's question.

Just as the Woodling started on the last spell, Animate Companion, the video stopped. Flora had reached the current time of the class.

"What a mean cliffhanger," Flora complained. "We'll use the time and go over my stat gains that I know what affinities to concentrate on. I'll add the stuff to animate when I set up the new boxes."

All her attributes rose around three levels, even the perceptions. Aidan thought it was because of bonuses from the Sweeping Aptitude Test.

Faith only rose two levels to 89, although Flora spent much of her time in Faith+Ice boxes. The Ice Affinity rose 12 levels to 42 because it was much lower. Scrying rose unexpectantly again by three levels.

"Can you think of any other reason for the growth except that someone spies on me?" Flora frowned.

"No, Milady. That seems to be the only explanation."

"How nice of them to level my resistances! Nonetheless, I don't like being spied on… okay, I signed away my privacy to CentralTank. Maybe I get a little kick out of the fact that people find me interesting. Whatever, buy some anti-scrying stuff for my lair."

When Flora went down the list, she noticed that Aidan had been diligently leveling her new skills from the divine classes. On the other hand, most of the party-role skills were in their infancy. He was missing a party member to transfer aggro.

"You could summon an elemental or even better, use the Golem." Flora had automatically received the last spell of the class, Animate Companion, when she learned the mount skill.

 

"I'll summon, Milady. You have to touch the golem for the new spell, Milady. We have no materials for it in the boxes."

"I'll add the materials. Please, buy the weapons I have liked but don't own yet: a greatsword, a shield, no make it two shields, a small non-metal one for animating and a big one to hide behind, an arcane focus, and a kusarigama. I want only S rated stuff, but keep the expenses low because sooner or later, I'll create my own set."

Flora opened the advanced information for Animate Companion. After she gaped at the wall of text and formulas for a minute, she closed the display, blinked, and then chuckled.

"Ok, I have questions. Nevermind, let's first install the new boxes that you can level this beauty for me." Flora sprang up. "I'm excited!"

First, she speed-carved a wooden doll on a string and hung it around her neck. Due to the minimum weight of 3.4 kg, it was quite heavy. Because the spell required her to touch the doll, she had to put it under her armor. Flora felt like a creep who secretly carried around her murdering puppet. "I won't call you Chucky, that's for sure. Let's call you ImNice."

Flora replaced the boxes with the four new ones in her workshop and the simulation grounds. Next to them, she placed a box with the removable rune-scheme discs and a weapon rack with a greatsword, foci, a rocket launcher, a Kusarigama, a tower shield, and her three mech-suits. She put the buckler in the boxes for animation training.

Aidan had bought the weapons from the market place and because Flora's only order was "cheap and S-rated," the effects on them were a bit strange.

The greatsword was the cheese knife of a giant. Depressingly, it was the coolest looking weapon of the bunch.

Name: Cheese Slayer

Type: Greatsword

Effect: + 3 to Sword-Fighting against cheese or targets that smell like cheese

Effect: + 3 to Sword-Fighting while a food buff is active

Tier: 1(2)

Rating: S

The Kusarigama had a metallic pink finish.

Name: Pink Ninja-Kusarigama

Type: Chain weapon

Effect: + 3 to Chain Weapons while wearing pink ninja garb

Effect: + 3 to Intimidation while doing kata's

Tier: 1(2)

Rating: S

The shield looked like a grey tower, including battlement and a princess, drawn with the skill of a fifth-grader.

Name: Tower-Tower Shield

Type: Shield

Effect: + 2 to Blocking while in a tower, defending or conquering a tower

Effect: Less stamina consumption when climbing stairs

Tier: 1

Rating: S

Name: Elder Wand with Authentic Effects

 

Type: Arcane Focus

Regular Mode: 1 OV Mana-Regeneration

Built-In Skill: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

Effect: + 3 OV to every mage skill

Curse: Stops working forever for you when you die while it's bound

Tier: 1

Rating: S

It was a bumpy and crooked stick, just begging to be broken in half.

Name: Mirror, Mirror in the Hand

Type: Shield

Effect: + 2 OV to Physical Power when you ask the buckler Who is the most beautiful in the land. Duration: 25 min.

Effect: + 3 OV to Poison Attacks.

Tier: 1

Rating: S

Flora groaned and giggled when she inspected her new toys. Nevertheless, she learned a valuable lesson: Rating isn't everything.

"Our training focus should be getting the new skills leveled up. Concerning affinities, I want to level my favorite ones, which are Psychokinesis, Lightning, and Ice. Water has impressed me with its utility and Wood with its damage. Leveling Faith is a must because Evailyn said she could only speak freely when I reach level 250 in Faith." Flora thought aloud. "Let's look at the boxes and pools we have available.

Body 1 with pool-values 1 – Cetviwos:

I'm only in Box when in my Lair and currently sitting in a classroom meditating. Hmm, I have portable boxes, but it would be impolite to use them during class.

Body 2 with pool-values 1 – Flora's Workshop:

Boxing Box 2.0 with Faith, Lightning, and Ice. Hands: Twelve -Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Glove, Shield.

Body 3 with pool-values 2 – Simulation Ground:

Boxing Box 2.0 with Psychokinesis, Wood, and Faith. Hands: Wrench, Twelve-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Glove.

Body 4 with pool-values 3 – Deriga's Workshop:

Acid Pool with Faith, Lightning, and … a random Element. Hands: Ring. Probably, I can't wear gloves while swimming. Let's try it out another time.

Body 5 with pool-values 4 - Bedroom

No Box. Maybe I should wear Twelve-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Gloves while sleeping."

After Flora arranged her bodys in boxes, she went back to the lecture.

In the classroom, every student had received 5 kg of tier 1 clay. Aidan bought and transported the clay to Flora's bedroom that she could join the exercise.

"We do the classic humanoid model−Two legs, two arms, and one head." The teacher said while she explained the process of working with clay.

Flora was familiar with pottery. The tier 1 clay was malleable but held the form exceptionally well. If they had used earth clay, the heavy arms would have broken away from the torso.

While the other students struggled with the basic shape, Flora added fingers, toes, and a cute face with a bulb nose, a grinning mouth, and big eyes.

When Flora glanced at the screen, she saw the Octopussy creating a Flora-golem.

"Aidan! Don't use my countenance! There are already too many Flora-looking entities in this world. Model someone, we have no qualms about smashing up. Oh, I know! Give the people spying on us something to think about, use the guild leader of the SwordOfMichael." Flora grinned. She didn't know who ran surveillance on her, but her bet was on the CoCC clan at the center of Aito's conspiracy diagram.

"If you form the golem yourself, you get + 1 OV bonus on all stats. Very valuable, even crucial at the lower levels." The Woodling said as she walked through the classroom, helping the students. When she reached Flora, she shook her head. "Oh my, I thought I had taught magic to all kinds of beings, now I can add robots to the list. Very nice work, Octopussy."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Aidan answered as politely as always. The teacher was right; Flora could even recognize the face of Sergius Cathedral.

"The spell Animate Companion only adds the touch sense to your golem. For every five Mana-Regeneration invested, you get one more sensory organ. Our first animation will be for 5 MR/min, so I suggest you add sight." The teacher drew a triangle in an ellipse on the blackboard. "Carve this glyph into the place from which you want the golem to see. Common places are in the eyes or on the forehead."

Flora and Aidan chose the forehead while the teacher showed them the glyphs for smell and hearing.

"Every Golem has at least one magic emitter. You can use a glyph to place it on the body, or you add a crystal that functions as a focus for it. If you can't produce the crystal yourself, it might be advantageous to buy one. You'll lose the + 1 OV self-crafting bonus, but a focus usually gives more bonuses and allows your golem to shoot cantrips." The teacher pointed her wand to a stack of papers. With a flick of her wrist, one sailed to every student. "You get the blueprint for the tier 1 arcane version for free. The shops of the Halls of Magic sell the higher tier as well as elemental and intent versions."

"Aidan, buy all the tier 1 rune-schemes that they have and we don't," Flora said as she carved a wood disk with the arcane rune-scheme.

"At the moment, your golem can't use melee attacks, but when you get better with the spell or invest more mana-reg, your companion can physically attack. You can even equip them with weapons, but remember, they inherit their abilities from you. If you can't wield a greatsword, don't expect your golem to be proficient in it."

Flora smirked smugly. "I know it was a good decision to buy that greatsword!"

The video ended, and Flora instructed Aidan to resume it as soon as the teacher had finished a sentence.

Finally, Flora cast the spell for the first time.

<Animate Companion>

A popup appeared.

"Refresh and hmm… Animate Companion!" Flora said, envisioning her army of golems with golems subordinates with golem subordinates with golem subordinates…

"Refresh and Summon Elemental!" The army before Flora's mind's eye shrunk but was still impressive.

"No," Flora sighed. "Then Refresh and Lightning Bolt. Oh my, they even manage to suck all the joy out of my new toys. Not all the joy! We will build toaster-robot-golems and then connect them to turrets robots, and I'll have my army with toaster generals!"

Flora cackled while her new golem pelted the dummy with lightning bolts.

Spoiler: Details for the Animate Companion Spell

Spoiler for Attributes

Spoiler for Skills

Spoiler for Abilities