Chapter 41 - Meeting a Demi-Human (Part 2)

  We tinued asding one of the castle towers until we reached my teacher’s quarters.

  “I have to let you know something, kids. I have a very special appreing as my assistant. She’s a bit older than you and a bit reserved, so be kind to her. I’ll be doing most of the reading while she’ll hahe basics with you. Once you uand the fuals, we’ll be ready for some a,” Adrihna said.

  We followed her into her suite. It was a rge and luxurious room, far more opulent than my room or any of the Legacies' rooms. Living in the mansion in the castle’s interior was more practical for training our minds. The castle, being the royal resideny family, was pletely different in decor—very luxurious, with paintings and statues that were certainly worth a fortune.

  In the mansion, we didn’t have many things in the corridors to allow uardian, ellian, the space he o move around at night. We didn’t even put rugs on the corridor floors. Everything had to be the way ellian requested turies ago for my aor. The castle, oher hand, was filled with decorations, long red carpets, and ornate furnishings. After getting used to the practicality of the mansion’s rooms, it was hard to enjoy staying in a castle room, with all its fshy cushions, armors, statues, paintings, and curtains. Despite the luxury, it felt cluttered pared to the mansion’s simplicity. Moreover, the mansion was more secure, with better trol over the enviro and uardian’s presence limited to that territory.

  Professor Adrihna knocked on a door to another part of the suite.

  “Kinue, I’m ing in,” she said, opening the door.

  “Lady Adrihna!” her assistant quickly stood up.

  “Were you napping?” the elf asked.

  “Yes…” murmured the voice.

  The professor stood in the doorway, blog my view of her assistant.

  “That’s fine. I know you have your sleep periods due to your species' growth phase. These are the other trentices: Chloe and Nathao know each other while I review some parts of the work for you. I o test you... and also take a rest,” she said, lighting her pipe and sitting in an armchair.

  My professor picked up a book from a table and began reading in silence. We uood this was her peculiar way of w.

  When I finally saw the assistant, I uood what my mother had tried to vey about demi-humans. In front of me stood a very beautiful young woman, a few years older than me. She had long, golden hair and wore a red dress called a ‘kimono’. Her striking green eyes were plemented by two animal ears on top of her head and a tail. She was a rare demi-human from the fox tribe, a golden fox.

  Her body was like that of a regur human, but with the added characteristics of her tribe’s animal. I wasn’t sure how having animal traits affected a demi-human’s behavior, but it surely had some impact.

  “o meet you, my name is Kinue,” she said, bowing.

  “o meet you, I’m Nathan,” I introduced myself, trying hard not to stare at her ears.

  Now I uood what my mother meant by “cute.” It definitely applied to this fox girl.

  I was interrupted from my thoughts by a pinch from Chloe. When I turo the little monster, she was gring at me.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Nothing…” she said, huffing.

  I guess I stared at Kioo much...

  “o meet you, I'm Chloe,” she introduced herself.

  Kinue bowed to us again. Her ears were so cute, and I could see them twitg as if reag to her emotions.

  “It’s best if we leave Lady Adrihna alone for now,” she told us.

  Our teacher just raised her hand. “It's fine. I’ll be the two of you while you get to know each other better. Then, expin the basics to them just in case. Their family probably initiated them into magic, but we’ll cover everything from the beginning anyway,” Adrihna said.

  Kinue nodded, ahered, sitting on the floor close to each other. She scratched her head a bit, feeling shy.

  “I-I-I’m a demi-human…” she said nervously.

  We could tell.

  “Don’t worry about being nervous, we are too,” Chloe said.

  Kinue seemed to rex a little.

  “How should I address you? Lord and Lady? Or do you prefer something else?”

  “Just our names are fine. We don’t really like being called that,” I said, and Chloe agreed.

  We talked for a while until Kinue became more fortable with us. Our teacher kept reading her book while we got to know each other. I learhat Kinue was rare among the fox tribe because her fox features had blonde fur instead of dark brown.

  “ we talk about the types of mana?” Kinue asked us.

  “Types of mana?” a fused Chloe asked.

  “They’re the three existing forms that mana funs within someone’s body. They’re also called mana categories. The secret to getting stronger in mastering your element is uanding how mana flows through the els in your body, which helps you identify your categories,” she expined.

  “I read some books that mentioraerms, but my mom never expihis to me,” Chloe said.

  “Of course not, she didn’t want to influence you to try making mana flow incorrectly in your body just because you thought some mana category was ‘cool.’ Proper mana flow is key to stimuting the Gem and making it evolve in grade,” Professor Adrihna expined while reading her book.

  Mana categories? So there’s a way mana funs inside us?

  “What are these mana categories?” I asked.

  The professor remained silent, and we looked to Kinue for an expnation.

  “There are three mana categories, and the users of them are called: Transmitter, Emitter, and Summoner.”