Chapter 18

	The sun streamed in through the curtains into your new room. Outside the town began to stir and prepare for the day ahead. Birds called their mates with cheerful song. Dew rolled off the grass, running down to the shimmering lake below. Morala continued to slam against the door.

“Anon! Anon! Come on! It’s time for your first day of classes! ComeonComeonCom…”

You throw open the door for the titania who has been attempting to rouse you for the past thirty minutes.

“Morala. Class doesn’t begin for another hour. Why are you here.” you asked.

She blushed and twirled a bit of her hair. “I wanted to make sure that you weren’t going to miss any classes. Since you’re up, let’s go eat!”

“Fine. Let me get dressed and I’ll be out in a second.”

Morala nodded and stepped into the room.

“Morala.”

“Yes?”

“Could you wait OUTSIDE while I change?” you ask in the least condescending tone you can manage at this hour.

“Oh! Yes, of course. I’ll be out here if you need me.” she said as she walked out the door.

Funny, she seemed a bit more… monsterish than normal. Maybe it was because you weren’t wearing a shirt…

Must be that there banana-mana or somethin’.

	Making a mental note not to flex your rockin’ bod in front of mamono, (just kidding, you were still Oliver Twist mode; starvation and a coma will do that to a guy), you sally out the door to indulge in whatever the succuchef had prepared for you. Mora nearly dragged you down the stairs when she saw you, fluttering off with you behind her to the cafeteria.

~~~~~

	After a delicious breakfast of some sort of eggs, it was finally time for your first class: Introduction to Magical Theory. With professor Aegoli. Try as you may, you could not get the image of her with a mustache and a chef’s hat out of your head. Heh, Italian owl.

Morala had a different class at the same time, meaning that for the first time in two days you had a much-needed break from her saccharine naiveté. Good girl, but completely intolerable at times.

	Right now you had bigger fish to fry; the biggest fish perhaps. Where to sit. This would determine how well you would do in the class, and whom you would inevitably befriend. And avoid rapists. That was probably the most important thing to consider when choosing a seat. A C- in the class was preferable to being molested into an early grave.

	You sneak a quick glance at the guards flanking you. Just by looking you can tell that they are married. Married guards always have a sort of bored look on them at all times. No doubt thinking about what they would rather be doing with their husbands instead of babysitting an alien. But they sure knew how to keep you safe. Already they had stopped two separate plots to abduct you. Or so you’ve been told.

Taking a deep breath, you push open the door to the classroom.

	Naturally, everyone turned to stare at you. Not that this bothered you anymore. After a week or so, you had become accustomed to being the center of attention when you entered a room. They always stopped after a few minutes and things could carry on as usual. Just act casual Anon, just act casual.

But things didn’t go back to normal. The atmosphere was unbearably tense.

“Anon, there’s a chair right here!” offered a succubus.

	The veritable powder keg of repressed sexual tension exploded. Mamono began arguing loudly about where you would sit. It was really more informative than any sort of conventional class introduction could ever hope to be.

	Just like on earth, there seemed to be a gradient of nerdiness based on the position of the monster in the room. The mamono in the front of the room were all engaged in a heated debate over your seating position, laying out carefully constructed arguments and backing up their points with facts. Some were even working in coalitions with others near them.

In the middle were standard students. More insults and ad hominem remarks were being tossed around in this section. You were more concerned with the back of the class.

	The rough-looking monsters were a few seconds away from brawling. A werewolf, an ogre, a dark elf, and a manticore were all raring to go. The desks were covered in claw marks and what appeared to be dried semen. A bold succubus said that they didn’t have a good reason for you to sit in the back of the room, which was countered by “there are more seats back here, bitch.” What a delicate flower.

“Anon, if you come sit next to me, I won’t hurt you that much~” called the dark elf.

The ogre roared and swung a massive arm at the tan woman, who dodged it with an impressive drop.

Should a' just stayed in bed.

As you were debating whether or not to just cut your losses, a chill rand down your spine. Turning around, you find Aegoli only a few inches away from you.

“It seems your presence had caused a bit of a disturbance…” said Aegoli.

“Sorry…” you mutter.

“Fret not. You are not responsible for this disarray.” said Aegoli. She shuffled past you and took her position at the head of the classroom. The front of the room quickly returned to their seats and stopped arguing. The mamono in the middle of the room skulked back to their chairs, but continued to whisper amongst themselves. In the back, the werewolf broke a chair over the back of the manticore.

“QUIET.”

	Aegoli’s voice seemed rang out through the room. Her tone was as soft as ever, but it was like she was speaking directly into your ear. The mamono in the back were subdued by the guards accompanying you. The werewolf and manticore were dragged out into the hallway, flailing and shouting at each other. Everyone watched the door as their voices receded down the hallway. A spine that had been lodged in the ceiling fell to the ground with a clatter.

“Now then, Anon, you are free to choose any seat you please.”

Oh lawd teach, don’t do this too me… There was no way to do this without offending anyone. Time to minimize the amount of despondent stares you were about to get.

The back was certainly out of the question. Even now the dark elf was giving you a wild eyed look and nodding her head to the desk next to her. When you began to look away she flashed a knife she had in her lap and smiled.

Hell naw.

	The front seemed like a nice place, but you didn’t want to be surrounded by a hoard of thirsty orbiters every waking moment. If you sat there, the monsters would surely misinterpret it as a sign that you were in love and wholly committed to them. Some looked crazier than the elf…

The optimal seat was in the no man’s land between the nerds and the normals, closer to the door than the window. Gotta stay focused after all.

	You do your best to ignore your screaming instincts to run and the lascivious chop-licking of the girls around you as you take residence in your new seat. All vacant seats nearby are immediately filled by mamono. There’s a clatter as the dark elf practically dives into a seat two rows behind you. With every ounce of willpower and courage you possess, you look past the lecherous gazes of your classmates and resist the urge to swallow. Don’t show any weakness.

“I am certain that you are all intrigued by Anon’s abrupt appearance…” began Aegoli. “But I expect all of you to be welcoming and supportive of him. You all know what will happen to you if you violate the rules set in place to protect him.”

“Oh I’ll be violating something alright…” said a demon next to you under her breath.

“He already had a tutor, and he does NOT need anything from you. Any advances you make will be unwanted and unwarranted. I will not prevent you from interacting with him, so long as you have good intentions.” said Aegoli.

“The BEST intentions…” muttered a lamia.

“…And I would remind all of you that you are here to accrue knowledge, not just chase boys. Your studies come first, and will give you all the skills you need to find a husband. Now, are their any questions?” asked Aegoli.

“When is he going to be fuckable?” asked the ogre loudly.

“No? Then please open your books to page 46 and read the passage on mana flow.” said Aegoli turning to scrawl on the board with some sort of wing chalk-holder.

	Reading. Right. With all the planning and touring you had been doing it had been a few days since you had practiced your Common. Most of what you knew was conversational. Opening your book you were unsurprised to see a slew of unknown symbols staring back at you. Oh well. Opening a folder of paper, (students didn’t use notebooks, they just used loose-leaf paper to take notes), you begin to take notes as best you can in English. Morala could help you translate them later.

~~~~~~

	Thankfully, the class was intended for novice magic users. It was clear that you were far behind the others, but not so far behind that you were completely clueless as to what was happening. Your knowledge of magic from media and stories on Earth gave you a tentative foundational understanding of what was happening.

	Magic was a way to use mana to influence the world around you according to your whims. Aegoli went into various spells and the mechanisms of how they affected the world, and who created or perfected the spell. Interesting stuff, even if you didn’t know what half of it was. Looks like you were going to be paying a visit to Ixade later.

	As you stretch your hands, you notice that the lamia next to you is watching your paper intently. Not you, for once in this perverted world, but your notes. Glancing down at her paper, you can see she’s attempted to copy some of the things you’ve written down. Cute.

The snake-woman realizes you’re watching her and quickly covers up her paper with an embarrassed grin.

Looking the other way, you could see that the holstaurus sitting on the other side of you was also interested in your writing. Damn, those were some nice titties.

	Seeing how interested the mamono were in you made you wonder how many would attend your seminars. The first one was in a few days. The way you figured, monsters will be bored with you already since you can’t be fucked, or the hall will be filled with sycophants hoping to cozy up to you so they can take you when you’re ripe. But that was a problem for future Anon. Right now, all that mattered was class.

~~~~~~

	A short while later, class concluded and Aegoli assigned the homework. Too bad, you had hoped to leave homework behind when you came to a different dimension, but no such luck. Deep down you knew that you needed the extra practice even more than the others. You didn’t understand most of what was said anyways. It was going to be impossible to pass any class or learn anything without oodles of extra help from the faculty and Morala.

On cue, Morala practically ripped the door of its freshly replaced hinges. She blew past the other mamono who were lingering near the door and tumbled over to you.

She brushed the dust off of her uniform and tried to say something.

“Morala, calm down. Catch your breath. What’s going on? What’s wrong?” you said, offering her a chair.

She dismisses you with a wave of her hand and supports herself by resting her hands on her knees. After a few deep breaths, she wipes the sweat off her brow.

“Huuh… huhhh… Hey… Anon. Nothing’s wrong. I just… *wheeze* came to see you.” said the Titania.

She looked like she just ran a marathon. You had seen her belly when her uniform had ridden up a bit and she was not the fittest fairy.

“I thought you had class...”

“I did. It just ended.” said Morala taking a seat. She did a little twist in your chair, gyrating her hips against it.

Hmmm….

“We were going to meet at the cafeteria after the next period. Is there some reason you’re here?” you asked. You really needed to start moving towards the next class. It was pretty far away from this one and you needed to allow extra time in case you got lost.

“Well, I just happened to be in the area…” Morala began trying to look casual.

You heard a disgusted snort and saw a dark mage roll her eyes.

“…And I figured that I’d walk you to your next class. It’s my job after all. You know, to escort you around and all.” concluded Morala. She peeked around the room as she put emphasis on the last line. Sure enough, several mamono clenched their books or hurried off. Fuck.
Was this mild-mannered fairy woman jealous?

No way. This was Morala. She may not be very socially conscious, but she didn’t seem like the jealous or defensive type.

	Okay, so she was probably a LITTLE jealous. But that was probably because she was just protective. Even if she did want into your pants, she was chosen because she didn’t have the guts to try and rape you.

“I’ll be fine.” you insist, trying to defuse the situation. “Just go to your next class and we can meet for lunch, okay?”
Morala’s ears wilt a little. “Yeah… Okay, Anon. I’ll be there to eat lunch with you after the next class.” she said with a bit of forced jubilance.

	She followed closely behind you as you exited the room. Doorways were a difficult task these days with guards, thirsty mamono, and Morala tried to pass through at the same time. It was the only place where your personal space could be violated without offence being taken. A dark priest took a deep inhale as you squeezed past her.

Stumbling out past the warm bodies and lingering hands, you begin the walk to your next class.

~~~~~~

“Lemme see… Yeah, we’re almost there. It’s the second to last door on the left.” said one of your bodyguards returning the slip of paper with your itinerary.

Time for Applications of Magic. From what Morala had said, this was a more interactive course. Gently pushing the door open, you peek inside.

The first thing that you notice is that the monsters here are dressed differently than the ones you normally see in the college. Instead of a uniform, these men and women seem to be dressed in some sort of gym outfit.

“Ah, Mr. Anon. There you are.” said the professor, a rather fit succubus.

“Hello Professor Fornue. Sorry I’m late, I got a bit lost…” you explain.

“Don’t worry, you’re right on time. We were just about to head down to the training field. Some classes will be held here, and some will be outdoors. I’ll let you know at the end of class so that you can go straight to the venue I assign.” said Fornue.
“How far away is the field?” you ask.

“It’s a ways a way. I’ve already organized transport for you. Oh, and here.” she said tossing a bundle of clothes at you. “You’ll need to change into those before you get there. But not here!”

You unfold the clothes a bit to see what they’re like. “Transportation?” you ask refolding the new garments.

“I’m afraid it would take too long for you to walk all the way down to the field itself, so a wyvern agreed to carry you there.” said Fornue.

Now that she mentioned it, you noticed a bored looking wyvern watching you from the front of the room.

“We need to be going, so you’ll have to get acquainted on the way there. The rest of you, stop staring at him and get down there.”
Monsters grumbled as they exited the room, or took flight out of an open window. They were headed east, past the town towards the fields beyond the city wall.

With a loud scratching, the wyvern strode over to the window sill. She sat with one leg hanging off the edge and the other inside the classroom, looking at you.

“Hi, uhh… nice to meet you. What’s your na-“

The reptilian girl gave an exasperated huff and rolled her eyes. Rude.

“Alright, fine, we can skip the introduction. How does this even work? Do I just dangle or something?”

She motioned with her wing to come closer. You stand next to her, looking out the window.

“Now wha-“

Before you can finish your inquiry, a powerful wing slaps you out the window. The impact leaves you too stunned to scream as you fly headfirst towards the ground.

Then with a painful lurch, your body is stopped. The wyvern had caught one of your legs in her powerful talons.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?” you scream at her.

Ignoring your protests, she leans forwards out the window and begins to drop.

	All you can do is scream and clutch your clothes as you plummet towards the ground. She gently decreased her angle of decent until the two of you are gliding towards the field below. She glided at least, you were busy muttering profanities and trying to get the blood out of you head. The way you kept twisting and swaying weren’t doing any wonders for your stomach either.

	After a minute, your head connects painfully with the ground and you tumble across the cold dirt. That bitch! Instead of setting you down gently, she just slowed way down and tossed you. Rubbing your head, you see her wheel away and fly back towards town.

“Are you alright Anon? Looks like you need to practice your landings.”

Fornue walks towards you as you pick yourself up and dust yourself off.

“Go get changed over there, and in the future, please try to be in those clothes before you get out here. It’s nor very safe for a man to be changing outside the walls.”

“Yes professor…” you reply. Shaking the dirt off of your clothes, you walk to the stand of trees to get changed.

~~~~~

	The new clothes were comfy, but they were a bit thin for the weather. Goosebumps overtook your arms as a gust of wind buffeted you.
The field was exactly the same as any field on Earth; flat and empty. A few targets were lined up some distance away, and there was a row of stone weights resting on the ground. Beyond that, only thing around was a crowd and your class. There must be some sporting match or something today. Maybe the school had scrimmages between classes?

Striding over to the class, you situate yourself between some bigger girls for shelter and warmth. They don’t seem to mind.

“Alright, we had a lot planned today, but I know that none of you are going to be focusing on anything by Anon’s aptitude test, are you.”

“You got us there, professor!” shouted a monster.

	The class chuckled, but you were a bit worried. Morala had mentioned a test in this class, but the way she talked about it made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. Oh fuck, were all those people here to watch YOU? Normally stage fright wasn’t a huge issue for you, but the idea of botching a first impression on so many people made you swallow.

	No big deal, just don’t fuck up. They probably know that you don’t know much magic; they won’t even have any expectations for you. Just some curious monsters who want to see you, as soon as they figure out that you’re a normal guy they’ll go home.

“Anon, do you know what the aptitude test is?” asked Fornue.

“No, but I’m guessing that it’s a practical exam.” you said.

“Correct. Don’t worry, everyone here has taken it already. It’s just a simple test to see what your magical abilities are like so we can measure your progress. Just do your best; you can’t fail.” said Fornue. “Are you ready? I know it must be nerve-racking to be out here in front of all these mamono…” she said looking at the crowd.

“No! No. I can do this.” you said. No sense waiting. Better to just be done with it as soon as possible.

“That’s the spirit! We’ll start over here.” said Fornue moving towards the weights.

The weights were simple balls of rock, ranging from the size of a softball to the size of a medicine ball. Fornue picked up the smallest weight and placed it on the ground away from the others.

“Telekenisis is a simple spell, but one of the most convenient. Even experienced mages rely on this spell to expedite the simple tasks that would otherwise consume their day. Just pull the rock towards you.” said Fornue.

Yeah, you can do that. Raising you hand, you focus on the small orb and begin exerting mana. The stone begins to tremble and roll towards you. Ever so gently, you try to apply more force to the rock; enough to get it off of the ground.

The rock zigzagged towards you before shooting off at ludicrous speeds over your shoulder. Twisting around, you watch it sail over the rest of the class and land at the other end of the field. Your face flushes in embarrassment, made worse by the giggles of your peers.

“That’s alright Anon, just try that again with the second weight.” said Fornue.

Shake it off, you can do better with this one. Don’t let it get to you.

	This time, you pulled the rock towards you first. It rolled slowly along the ground, over the lumps of grass or over divots in the earth. The class around you was silent. In your peripherals, you could see a demon crane her head back and sigh. Sorry this isn’t exciting enough for you, bitch.

	When the rock was close to you, you stopped it and collected yourself. Holding out both hands, you pour all of your mental strength into lifting the rock into your hands. The weight began to vibrate violently and hover off the ground.

Yes!

The stone began to hum as the vibrations turned the stone into a smear of color. With an ear-splitting crack, the ball exploded.

No!

	Shards of stone pelted your peers as they screamed. You got the worst of it, feeling several cuts open on your legs and arms. Thankfully, you had twisted away from the explosion and your face as unharmed. You really needed that, it was your bread and butter now.

Fonue stared at you as you coughed out the rock dust.

“Wow… uhhh… I mean…” she said. Sorry professor, but there’s no salvaging this.

“Is everyone okay?” you ask.

There was a wave of grumbling and pained groans from the class but everyone seemed fine.

“Well, there’s usually more to the test, but I think we should just skip ahead to the very end.” said Fornue. “There’s no way that you’ll be able to do anything that involves any precise control, but Magnara did mention that you packed quite a punch. Let’s see how you do with a spell you’ve used before.”

	Fornue walked you over to a line in the dirt in front of the targets. The rest of the class followed, albeit a bit further away. You don’t blame them. The crowd had begun to disperse. Too bad, you really wanted to make a strong impression on the town. Looks like you would just have to earn their respect the old-fashioned way.

“Just hit that target in the center there. No need to hold back. Just show us what you can do.”

“…Besides get us killed…” muttered someone behind you.

The class snickered and Fornue glared at the mob behind you.

Get you killed? Bitch, I’ll show you killed!

	Drawing on the power within you, you begin to focus on the target. It’s only about thirty feet away, and easy shot. Your heart pounds and your mind races with anger and humiliation from the day’s events. The dust around you began to swirl in a small vortex.

“Err, Anon? Maybe not that much…” said Fornue. You didn’t listen to her.

Another vortex began to spin around the target. Several classmates jogged further away.

“Anon!” shouted Fornue.

The familiar feeling of power coursing through you fills you with warmth. The almost orgasmic feeling of release is within reach. With a shout, you pour your being into a destructive blast.

	A column of blue energy shoots down from twenty feet above the target and incinerates the bundle of straw and wood. It also takes out the other targets in the row. And a good chunk of the ground. The blast wave knocks you off your feet, which would have happened anyways. By the time you were on the ground, the world was already a muted smear of grey. Oblivious to the screams of the monsters around you, you nestle your face into the cold grass.

~~~~~~

Something smelled good.

Really good.

Your eyes shot open to find the origin of the enticing aroma.

There’s a hot plate of food next to your bed. Launching over to the nightstand you begin digging into the meal. Food never tasted so good!

	You pause your feast when you realize that you have no idea where you are. Taking a look around, you quickly ascertain that you are back in the hospital bed that you had spent more than three weeks in. You rang the hand bell next to he bed, and heard the familiar noise of approaching hooves.

“Back so soon, Anon?” asked Hicera.

“I just couldn’t wait to see you again.” you said. Hicera blushed a little but gave a small laugh. “How long was I out this time?” you asked.

“Not long, just a few hours. Your body must be adapting nicely to the demon realm.” said the equine doctor. “That was quite a show you put on from what I hear.”

You groaned. “Is it already a rumor?”

“More like rumors. I heard that you blew up a boulder the size of a house, that you’re possessed by a malevolent force, and that the fabric of reality is rebelling against your very existence.” said Hicera.

“The only malevolent force I’m possessed by is hunger. Is there any more food?” you ask.

“Of course. That was one of the most thorough cases of mana depletion I’ve ever seen. I told the chef that you needed enough food for two people over the next few days.”

“That bad, huh?” you said reclining onto the bed.

“Worse. I have to wonder, did you REALLY not know what you were doing? Most mamono and human mages have to train a long time to be able to access that much of their energy.”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“Most magic users will grow more and more exhausted the longer they use magic. Similar to exercise, even a simple spell can become difficult if it is preformed enough times. Mages can use most of their mana, but only the best can access ALL of it without being consumed by pain of fatigue. And they always need three times as much food as well…”

“Guess I’m just ahead of the pack…” you say shoveling a large medallion of meat into your mouth.

“You are though! You may not realize it, but if you can learn to control your magic just a little more, you could do incredible things! You just have to believe in yourself.” said the unicorn.

The doors burst open and Morala cartwheeled into the room. Scrambling across the floor, she hoisted herself up by the foot of your bed. It looked like she had been crying.

“Anon! I was so worried about you!” she said nuzzling her face against your blanketed feet. “I was on my way to go see you when I heard about what happened. You have to be more careful!”

“I know, I know. It’s not like I’ve ever done this before…” you retort.

“Well, don’t worry. I’ll make sure to help you recover. Don’t worry about a thing! Your teachers already know about what happened, so you don’t have to worry about class tomorrow.”

“No, it’s alright, I’m fine.” you said. “I just needed that sleep, and a good meal.”

The titania’s ears drooped in despondence. “A-are you sure? I’d be happy to just sit here with you! I could help you with your work too!”

“I appreciate the concern, Mora, but I’m fine. Really. I have to get back out there. I can’t spend my whole life in this bed.”

“You’re certainly trying…” ribbed Hicera.

You swing your legs off the bed and stretch. The fatigue that usually accompanied a mana purge was present, but much more tolerable than last time.

“Well, I’d better get to my OTHER bed. Gotta be ready for the day tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning, okay Morala?” you said, hoping to raise her spirits a little.

“Yeah! Of course! See you soon.” she said.

She still looked sad, but you knew she would be back to her chipper self in the morning.

Collecting your things, you wave goodbye to the nurse and fairy.

~~~~~~

“Umm… excuse me…” said Morala quietly.

She was back in her dorm, and most of the fairy flock were sleeping soundly in their tiny hammocks in the rafters.

A pixie wheeled about and turned to face her. “Oh! Morala! How’s it going? Having man troubles again?” she asked condescendingly.

“No! I told you! Anon is free to love whomever he pleases. I-I’m just worried about him, that’s all. I don’t like it when he runs off; it make me worry for him.”

“So, you want him close to you…”

“Yes.”

“And you want his attention right? You don’t want him mingling with other monsters. They may harm him!”

“Yes! Exactly! That’s all it is! Concern for him! He just doesn’t understand what’s best for him. How much I give to try and keep him safe...” exclaimed Morala.

“How insensitive! He should be dropping to his knees in thanks for all that you do.” said the pixie.

Morala blushed. “He doesn’t need to do THAT, but I would enjoy some affirmation for my efforts on his behalf…”

“Then why don’t you get them?”

Morala paused. “Huh?”

The pixie did a flip in front of her.

“Yes, Mora! There are ways! Ways to keep him safe! Ways to prevent ill fortune from befalling him! Ways to ensure that he only has eyes…” the tiny woman flew close to the titania’s face. “…For you.”

“…For me…”

“Yes! Wouldn’t it be lovely? And Anon would never have to know. You don’t want anything to happen to him, right? It would be terrible if he was taken by some savage beast who couldn’t appreciate him like you can!”

Morala squirmed in her seat and looked out the window at Anon’s building. The light in his room flickered softly. She could just make out his shadow shifting around the room.

“You say that there are ways to do this, but I have never heard of any such magic…” lamented Morala.

“You know much, mistress. But not everything. There is more to be learned! Much more! I know the way, mistress. But I must ask; do you truly wish to learn?” asked the pixie.

Morala watched as the light in Anon’s room was extinguished. She turned to the tiny pixie with an uncharacteristically stern look.
“I do.” she said confidently.

The pixie showed her teeth in a pernicious grin. “Oh, mistress… you won’t regret this…”