She leaned over her desk, crossed her arms, and sighed melancholy.
"But for years, I wasn't able to obtain my spirit beast inside the veil; instead, I ventured out of the tribe and looked for my path.
I tried everything, such as increasing my strength as a magus, learning other elements, and eventually learning how to compound them to increase my star counts. For example, I already learned my ice element, which gives me 1 star already, and if I learn another one, let's say, the water element, that will increase by 1 star, it will be 2 stars in total. And if I learn how to compound these two into a new element or nature phenomenon, of course, learning a new element is already hard; it can be purely by luck, but compounding it to make a natural phenomenon is another hill to climb on. Some said learning three new elements is much easier than learning to compound elements to replicate nature's phenomenon."
At first, the class was super engrossed in her stories, but kids have one big problem: they have very little attention span. "My plan was to replicate the freezing and melting phenomenon of ice with the element water. If I was lucky at that, I would've jumped to 3 stars just like that. Oh well, that's how it is. Those were very frustrating years."
She sighed again, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the students already doing their own thing. They did reach their limit. Even the studious Eigh at the back is already reading a book.
"Anyways, that's how it is. Anyways, here is something interesting."
She caught the student's attention using her newfound enthusiasm and crossed her arms.
"Did you guys know that someone, or maybe something, has been watching all of you since earlier?"
Upon her question, everyone looked around, trying to look for what she was talking about, but their efforts were for naught.
"You couldn't see her? Of course, because even the tribe leader would have to take it seriously to look for it before he could see it. Okay, you can show yourself now."
On her queue, something emerges from her back—something big, around three times her size. Slowly, it appeared from her back, as if unblending with the colors of the wall. The earlier vacant area on the back of the teacher has now turned into a black leather-like skin.
For the kids, it looked huge compared to their average height of less than 5 feet. But what's more shocking is that it was crouching. The needle-looking thing that is growing from its skin shone, giving a sense of its true sharpness.
It suddenly stood up and walked its way towards a student in front, looking at the kid eye-to-eye, just a meter away. It opened its mouth wide enough that it could swallow it in one bite. The kid was frozen in the process; his body motor forgot that during danger he had to run away to save his life. All he could do was look for his impending death.
"Umbra, come on. Stop teasing him."
The humongous thing closed its mouth, and for some reason, they felt its mischief from the gleeful smile that it made. And suddenly, a poof happened. The humongous monster was gone, and what remained was a palm-sized version of it.
The small monster went circles on top of the kid's desk, pulled out one of the needles from its body, and showed it to the kid as if giving it to him.
"What what??" The kid was scared of that act.
"Hahahahahahahaha. Sorry about that. Don't worry. It means Umbra likes you. It's his way of showing that he sees you favorably. He's giving you something that protects him, so it could protect you as well."
"Ooohh. Thanks, little Guy; I appreciate it."
He picked up the needle and looked closely at it. "Be careful, it's sharp even though it's not poisonous anymore." The little monster looked satisfied after seeing its newfound friend happy with its gift as it circled again on top of the desk and crouched to rest.
"Teacher, is it a spirit beast?"
"Yes. It is a spirit beast I found in Midnight Forest."
"Waaahhh, is it true? Midnight Forest?"
Everyone in the classroom was shocked about the place that was mentioned. "Why did your parents tell you that they would throw you inside there if you're being naughty?" said the teacher.
The kids then nodded their heads quickly.
"HAHAHAHAAH." The teacher laughed. She kind of expected that reaction; after all, she once was like them too. She remembered the first time she went inside the midnight forest; she almost peed her pants when she heard rustling behind her. "Don't worry. As long as you stay quiet inside, you will be safe from getting eaten in one gulp," she chided. She was also satisfied with the reaction of the kids to what she had said.
"Anyways, Umbra is a Hystio, which you can find almost in every wild. But my Hystio is kind of special. He has an Element of Darkness, which is why he had the skill of invisibility like earlier. They can learn more skill by increasing their knowledge in regards to their element."
"Did Umbra learn more skills?" one of the students asked.
"Of course. If you compare him with a human Dark Mage, he would probably be slightly under High Level Dark Mage," she said smugly. Even the resting Umbra raised itself and posed to show off.
"Ooohhhh. Can she show more skill?" Another student asked.
"Hmm, I would love to, but teaching is only my part-time job. It is in the interest of my main job to not tell anyone regarding our capabilities. Maybe once I finally retire, I can disclose this to the public and teach your generation our job."
A kid raised his hand, wanting to question something. However, the teacher turned it down and said, "Are you going to ask me about my job?" The kid nodded. "Hmm, sorry, but nope. I can't answer that question. But in return, let me show you something. Umbra?"
The little Hystio yawned as it stood up. It closed its eyes as its body started to glow until it became a ball of light. This ball of light flew towards the teacher's chest and went inside it. Afterwards, her body glows at the same luminosity, and her body outlines change shape. Seconds later, the light vanishes, and the teacher now looks like a humanoid Hystio. Her hair turned into spiky needles like the hystio had. Her skin, which was pearly white, turned black, and her skin thickened by half as well. The spikes on her body formed how a dress looks. It's not hard to see that she's wearing a ball-gown-like dress with all her spikes.
"Woaaahh!" Everyone in the room exclaimed.
The teacher smiled smugly after showing off to the class.
"Everyone. This is what you call a spirit beast form. If earlier, I was showing my magus capability, now that I can combine with my spirit beast, I am now a Spirit Witch.
There's a perks in this form. One is that you can freely use your spirit's power and blend it with your own. Let me show you.
My body now has Umbra's needles, right? I can.. "The needles on her body started to go in and out of her body at her will. "Use it however I want. Also," Needles appeared on her hand, and it produced a dark violet color goo around it and froze in the shape of the needle, but longer and much sharper. "With the innate poison their needles have, I can freeze into this shape to make it much sharper. It made it much lethal and could easily kill anyone who would be stabbed by this."
"Woahh. Thankfully, this isn't poisonous," said the kid who was given a needle by Umbra.
"Not just that, I can also go invisible." Slowly, her body disappeared into nothing.
"Amazing, right?" Everyone nodded. But they nodded toward a blank space. Inwardly shocked by what they just saw. They kind of expected it already since Umbra already showed it earlier, but seeing it for themselves is still different from just a mere educated guess.
The teacher appeared yet again, but she glowed again before reverting back to her original state.
"Earlier, I showed you that I could control the power of the dark element, but that doesn't give me 2 stars at all because in my normal state, I can never do that. Instead, it gives me 1 star for being able to successfully make a contract with Umbra, and that gives me 2 stars already. And lastly, I am a weapon meister as well. Can anyone guess my weapon of choice?"
The kids thought through the question, and it was Ford who raised his hands first.
"I think it would be needles, right?"
"Yes, you are right about that. I mastered the art of needle with the help of Umbra by doing what he always does in his practice. And now, mastering the art of needle gives me another star.
In total, I am a 3-star celestial."
She took a deep breath, and her surroundings started to shake, followed by three shining things appearing in front of her, looking like the stars in the night. These slowly connected with other less shiny stars and formed a Hystio needle-shaped constellation.
After finally forming, the constellation disappeared, and ice needles appeared on her hands.
She threw the ice needles toward the back of the room. After a series of thuds, the needles disappeared into thin air. And the next thing that happened made their hair stand straight in fear. From the point where the needle struck, the area around it started to corrode until it got bigger and bigger enough to fit the big-sized Hystio from earlier.
"Like how I showed you, that was my path.
Started from ice enlightenment, I contracted with a dark Hystio, learning the way of needles. But of course, I'm not letting it end just there. Currently, I'm trying to learn how to use the dark element so that I don't have to rely on umbra most of the time. We can be a very powerful two-man team." She caressed the head of the Hystio to show her affection, to which it chirped happily.
"And after that, I'm not sure yet. Because one thing I learned in my journey is that you may plan your trip, but there's no guarantee that you will find yourself at your planned destination. But the new things will most of the time be better than the planned ones. So never doubt your results, as there's no weak or powerful path there is. Only perseverance and better wit."
Each one of them put those words into their hearts. Those words were said by someone they now look up to. They all feel envious of what she has achieved. They all feel a burning desire to reach the same height, or more than that.
Eigh on the back and look out the window, watching the snowfall that only happens rarely. It isn't clear what she is thinking, but she's not exempt from that desire as well.
"Will I be powerful as well?"
...
