Lich reborn as a magic school student

—————————————————[Kashra’s Pov]

Walking back to the front of the class, Archibald smacks his cane on the ground, silencing the small chatter in the class. “While Kashra’s invention is interesting, we are still at school.” He steps towards the whiteboard and casts some magic and on the board appears a lot of different schedules.

“Tuesday and Thursday are common days. On those days, I will teach this class about common subjects. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are for magic. You will decide which of the teachers’ classes you go to. For those who’ve only chosen one major, you should head to all the classes of your major, but for those who have chosen multiple.” He looks at me.

“You will have to figure out which classes you wish to take. There will be two tests, one in December and one in July. You will need to pass both of them. For common classes on Tuesdays, we will have ‘Interactions with non-mages’, ‘Mathematics’, ‘Luari Language’ and ‘Entrepreneurship’ and on Thursday, we will have ‘Physical Education’, ‘General Sciences’, ‘Berberan Language’ and ‘Art’ classes.”

“During the common classes, you will be allowed to use magic in any way you can think of to achieve the objective of the class. If you are interested in a subtopic of the class, and you believe you can learn more by doing your own project rather than participating in the class then you can tell me, and as long as I deem it valid you can substitute your classes with that.”

Archibald relaxes his stance and asks, “any questions?” The classes themselves are pretty self explanatory, Luari and Berberan languages being the only ones that aren’t immediately obvious, but then it comes to mind. Luari is the language of Cere, and the neighboring countries, and Berberan is the language of the southern countries which have dominated the world economy for four decades now. Then my last question is what is ‘Interactions with non-mages’ but looking at the schedule, it is our first class, so I don’t ask.

After waiting for a bit, Archibald concludes that none of us have questions to ask, and continues, “Well then if we’ve figured out how your classes are going to work, we should begin with ‘Interaction with non-mages’.” He again walks to the whiteboard, and waving his cane, it clears of the schedules, and in their place is a map of the world. “Across both continents, and all nations in those continents, one statement rings true. ‘Mages are a privileged class.’ While the amount of privilege varies between countries, it is a fact that all countries wish to keep mages within their borders.”

He holds a long gaze over the class, and his expression turns stern. “You all were born special. Magic is a power few can use, and it gives us powers unachievable by those who are without it. Even you who have not mastered any magics yet are beyond the human realm. Before the time of mages, and even now to deal with civilians, a weapon known as the gun is used, but that weapon is meaningless to us. Our magic protects us from non magical powers such as bullets.”

“You all must understand that you are something beyond human. If you still try to live as a human, you will be exploited. Recognize your superiority, and if you are a good person, you can use your superiority for good, but know first that all mages must be selfish to survive. The reason for this school is so that mages who will bow before governments are not born. Mages are better, stronger and smarter than common people.”

“Understanding the special position we are in is the first step in interaction with non-mages. So that they are not harmed you must be careful with all of your actions, but at the same time, to maintain your own existence, you must not allow yourself to be underestimated. This is the Cere creed of mages.”

“As mages, we are exempt from many things. Taxation and many laws are the common points. Many governments in fact have in place special phone numbers you can call when you wish to report a crime you’ve committed as a mage, and the government will try to cover up the crime to prevent chaos. In Cere, this number is 872-111.”

Archibald relaxes his expression, and then finishes, “To start off, let’s do a group project. You can form the groups yourselves, and you will create a presentation on some large-scale interaction breakdown between the general populace or a government, and a mage or group of mages. One such example would be the civil war in Eresh, but as that issue is still developing, you may not use it.“

After Archibald finishes his words, the class becomes rowdy once again as my classmates begin to form groups, but I’m thinking of something else. If we can substitute our time in the classes with other projects, then could I, instead of doing a presentation, actually visit Eresh and journal my findings on the civil war. I decide to try my luck and step up towards Archibald.

“Kashra, what’s the matter?”

“This weekend I plan to visit Eresh in regards to my research in the Ferjok mountains. Could I substitute this presentation assignment with journaling my findings of the situation in Eresh?”

“That sounds fascinating. You’ve planned a trip to Eresh during these times, and you said research on the Ferjok mountains, what exactly do you mean by that?”

“The Eresh civil war sparked from the government, denying mages’ rights to the recently discovered excavation site of magical rocks. Looking at the total excavation sites near the Ferjok mountains, it shows a strange pattern. Even compared to similar sized mountain ranges, it has an overabundance of magical ingredients. Magical ingredients tend to appear around areas of high magical concentration. I wish to survey the Ferjok mountains and find any other regions of high magical concentration to find if this magical concentration might be caused by a magical anomaly or an artifact.”

“You seem to have done your research beforehand. Well, I approve of it, but I would like you to present your findings on the Eresh civil war in exchange for not doing a presentation on something else, and also your research on the Ferjok mountains I would like to ask that you share it with me.”

“I am a mage. I do not share my research without good reason.”

Archibald gives a smile and then says, “That’s exactly what I was looking for. A mage who gives away their hard earned research is a mage that will continue to be exploited.”