After she had finally calmed her psyche, Jaux realized she didn't have anything to dry herself off. Too nervous to ask for help while naked, she decided to just settle for drying herself with the stolen mage robes. It would sort of ruin the point of a shower, but she didn't know what else to do. However, just as Jaux stepped out of the showering area, all the water in her hair and on her skin had evaporated into a fine mist, leaving her completely dry.
Oh yeah, magic school.
The nightgown was less of a worry after the shower. Jaux still wasn't happy about it, but it was just a different type of clothing verses her new flesh and blood. Nothing could really make things much worse than finding yourself in the wrong body. The nightgown itself was actually pretty comfortable, it felt so soft and slippery against her fair skin.
"You look way better in that!" Said Tricks when Jaux returned to the room.
"Agreed, but that shower was a bit short, wasn't it?" Frey asked.
"Well, she looks clean to me," Desyi said, "here, you should try on this robe tomorrow!"
Desyi held up a thin robe of brown and gold, handing it over to Jaux. This robe actually puzzled Jaux as she looked it over. The design of it was similar to standard Marlifa Mage robes, but she had never seen one this bright in color. Actually, now that she thought about it, the Marlifa mages who visited Welldrop were always male.
"Thank you very much." Jaux politely told Desyi, giving a small smile before putting the robe into her wardrobe.
Jaux was right about the wardrobe cabinet being empty. She would have to collect all new living necessities by herself. No wait... she wasn't planning on staying here, right? Jaux wasn't quite so sure. The black statue wasn't exactly going to go anywhere, and even if she was in the wrong body this was still a fantastic opportunity to learn magic...
It would be something for her to consider after a good night's rest. Jaux sat herself on the side of her bed, stretching out her unfamiliar limbs and letting out a faint yawn.
"So what types of magic do you cast, Suhara?" Questioned Tricks out of nowhere. "I myself am a pretty spectacular illusionist!"
"Uh, I cast curse magic." Jaux answered, taking a quick glance towards her nightstand, where demon root rested inside.
"Curse? Really? I've never heard of a newbie using curses," Frey said in surprise, "you're my complete opposite then, because I use blessing magic."
"Blessing magic? Isn't that one of the powers granted by deities?" Jaux asked, slowly filling with curiosity.
"Oh, you've never heard of your magic's opposite?" Frey asked in return.
"Magic's opposite? I'm sorry, I don't quite understand." Replied Jaux in embarrassment.
"Oh wow," Desyi muttered, "you're completely new then, you don't even know about magical degrees."
"That can't be right, curses are difficult as heck!" Tricks blurted out. "How can you not know about basic magic?"
"I've been to places that focus on very specific magics back when I was traveling in a caravan," Frey explained, "curses might have been the only magic she learned back in Western Beradina. Come sit down with us Suhara, we can explain the basics to you."
Jaux was tired out, but she couldn't resist the temptation of a magic lesson! She quickly got one of the pillows off her bed and planted herself into the girls' little circle.
Frey smiled in amusement at Jaux's eagerness. The newbie liked to learn, that was good.
"Well Suhara, the foundations of all known magic are the eight genres. Those genres are: temperature, motion, concentration, mind, dimension, power, time, and deity.
Every type of magic ever created uses the manipulation of these foundation. Desyi, for example, specializes in manipulating the temperature genre." Frey gestured to Desyi after she said this, and Desyi immediately raised and opened up her hands.
In Desyi's left hand, a ball of flame burst into life. In her right hand, a ball of ice formed out of thin air. Jaux had seen spells like this before, but never really considered them to be related.
"Although both the fire spell and the ice spell are placed under manipulating the temperature genre, they have such different effects because of their magic degrees. Magic degrees can be positive, negative, and neutral, which represents what you're trying to manipulate a genre into. Fire is a very positive degree of temperature, while ice is a very negative degree.
Keep in mind that all Desyi is doing is altering the temperature genre of the air. If she were to use her fire spell underwater, she would most likely end up altering the temperature genre of the water and make steam instead.
Your curse magic is the negative part of the power genre, while my blessing magic is the positive. Curse magic steals some kind of power from targets in order to achieve the desired spell effect, while blessing magic's effect is to provide targets with some sort of power. Do you understand, Suhara?"
Jaux thought about Frey's lecture for a second, thinking back to the two times where she cast her curse magic. The black mist had cracked the crystallized flame, while the sphere of darkness had disabled the crystal pane. So, in this case, her demon root curse was... stealing magic power in order to break things!
"Yeah, I do! Thanks Frey!" Jaux answered happily. "So what do the other genres do?"
Frey and Tricks laughed at that, while Desyi giggled lightly. Suhara sounded very much like an excited little kid learning about magic for the first time? They weren't aware of just how close that was to the truth.
"You'll have to study that on your own Suhara, magic becomes much more complex beyond the genres and it is getting way too late for me to explain things such as genre combinations and spell patterns." Frey said.
"Oh, okay," Jaux sighed in disappointment, picking up her pillow and heading back to his bed, "uh, good night then, I guess."
"Night newbie."
"Good night Suhara!"
"Watch out for any nightmare spirits, Hara!"
"Geez Tricks, don't try to scare her on her first night!"
-+-+-
Jaux slept peacefully, the discomfort of her new body overwhelmed by the softness of the bed and the smoothness of the borrowed nightgown.
In her senseless dreams, Jaux heard the echoes of distant giggles, and then a loud lock's click silenced them.
-+-+-
Jaux woke up to an empty room. Desyi, Tricks, and Frey were nowhere in sight. The sound of running water lingered in the background, so Jaux had to guess the girls were washing up. She rolled around a bit longer, trying to drown herself inside her warm blankets. Why would anyone ever want to leave their bed if it felt like this?
The brand new girl needed no reminder about her body's situation. It was hard to ignore her tangled hair or the packets of extra flesh being squished on her chest. Oh, and what do you know, nothing uncomfortably hard first thing in the morning.
Jaux vaguely recalled what Hawkshire told her about reporting to the enrollment center today, but it wasn't enough to get her to pop out from the covers. He never really specified how early he meant, so Jaux guessed that she had roughly until noon.
Over time, as feelings returned to her body, Jaux felt something snugly hugging her neck. When she went to feel what it was, she was shocked to find that she was wearing some kind of metal collar!
Jaux immediately burst out from her sheets, feeling around her neck with both her hands in a frenzy. The collar was made from what seemed to be a thick and flat piece of metal, completely rigid. The entire piece fit perfectly on her neck, but didn't damage her skin because it was smooth all around. There was also a slight bulge at the front and what felt like a small hole in the back.
What did those crazy girls do?!
Filled with annoyance, frustration, and confusion, Jaux sprinted to the bathroom and practically threw open the door.
The sound of the swinging door caused the two girls in the bathroom to turn and stare at Jaux, and neither of the girls were a roommate. The first girl had shoulder-length brown hair and was washing up by the sink. The other girl had blue hair and was floating upside down in the very center of the bathroom for some reason.
"Oh, it's a baby chick," The blue haired girl noted, "just got collared too by the looks of it."
"W-what do you mean collared?" Jaux asked nervously.
"It's a thing here," said the brown haired girl as she dried off her hands off with a small towel, "ace class mages get to claim a novice class mage of their choice, all they have to do is get a collar on you. Frey is the only ace in your room, so that's most likely her collar."
"The boys do it with an anklet, but they don't really claim mages as often as we do." Mentioned the blue haired girl, who was now spinning around slightly.
"Claimed?" Jaux whispered, as she slowly turned to look at her reflection in the mirror.
The collar was jet black, very similar to Jaux's hair. The bulge at the front turned out to be a flat pearl gemstone that was fused into the metal. It didn't necessarily look bad, but Jaux really didn't like the idea it was supposed to represent.
"It's not too bad of a thing," said the floating girl, "you just listen and follow what your ace tells you, and then your ace usually protects you from the other students and tutors you in magic. It'll be like having a bossy big sister for the school."
"I'm not a stupid pet!" Jaux whined. "Why does it have to be a collar?"
"Eh, traditions are weird," claimed the brown haired girl, "just roll with it, chick."
"I don't want to! How do I take this thing off?!" Complained Jaux, who was now trying to get her fingers to slip under the collar.
"Gotta get your ace to do it, she'll have the key." Said the blue haired girl, who had now floated back upright.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Jaux grumbled as she made her way back into her room.
Jaux dressed quickly into the robe she borrowed from Desyi last night. The inside of the robe was actually lined with the same soft material as the nightgown, which felt nice, but did not make her any less annoyed. Once she got her hands on her wand, papers, and key, she swiftly stormed out into the hall.
Of course, right as the doors to her room closed up, Jaux realized that she had no idea where to find Frey. Not having anywhere else to go, she just ended up heading to the enrollment center like she was supposed to. She'll confront Frey after curfew, she was sure the girls would be back in the room by then.
While on the way over to the enrollment center on the first floor, Jaux noticed the wand shop where she got her demon root. If she returned the wand and explained what happened to the shopkeeper, maybe he could help her reverse her transformation! Then again, it may have more to do with the black statue than the wand, and the wand was literally the only thing that let Jaux cast any real spells.
Jaux decided to walk past the wand shop for now, leaving that option for another day. However, as her mind drifted to her transformation, a morbid thought crossed her mind. This collar she was wearing was almost skin tight. If she were to suddenly turn back into the boy, she would no doubt choke to death.
That idea scared Jaux, and for a minute the priority to get rid of the collar jumped right up to the top. She held up her wand, honestly considering the idea of shooting the collar with it to see if it broke. Then the image of the exploding crystallized flame danced in her head.
Now was probably not the best time to risk blowing oneself up.