Saintess Summons Skeletons

After the clothier left, Sofia had tried all of her new outfits, and for now had decided to wear the very first one that the clothier had recommended. She understood why, now. The thick and ample blue robe matching her arm scale was soft and supple. Despite the early morning’s cold atmosphere, it kept her warm like sitting in front of a fireplace. Wearing it felt like walking while inside of a comfortable bed. The golden embroideries had turned out incredible, the shone under the morning light, and if she looked closer, Sofia could even spot some tiny cute bones and skulls in the flowery patterns. The clothier really had a great sense for details.

Everything is enchanted, from the boots to the tights to the earrings. This was really worth the money.

Sofia already knew the effects, but she identified the earrings again, she needed to make sure she completely had the second level of [Identify] well imprinted as a wildcast spell before she was confident in forgetting the skill to free up a slot.

[Golden and Sapphire earrings of perfect tones] : These gleaming earrings are little marvels of dwarven jewelry. Both enchanted with durability enhancement, the right one also corrects the lighting and shading on your face to make sure you look perfect from every angle, while the left one protects you from loud noises that would damage your hearing. They look good on you.

Really nice. I wonder how expensive those are by themselves. Can’t be less than four hundred gold, right?

Endlessly entertained by her new outfit, Sofia strolled through the academy halls. It was really desperately empty, for now, but it was an interesting place to explore nonetheless. Being alone in a place meant to host many people gave Sofia a strange feeling of uneasiness. Roaming from one corridor to the next, Sofia found the dining hall. It was the largest room she had found so far, and it was currently empty. The long wooden tables and the many chairs were all neatly stacked up in a corner. An entire side of the room was a large buffet which was currently empty, behind it were the kitchens.

There’s light in there. Someone in the kitchen?

Sofia’s mana senses informed her that there was indeed someone, the distribution of their mana seemed to belong to a humanoid race, from the amount Sofia estimated their level to be somewhere around 190.

I don’t know if I’m allowed back there. Sofia thought as she walked over the small wooden gate separating the hall from the kitchen.

She entered the kitchen. They were like a scaled up version of the Church’s kitchen, about four times the size, with many sinks and stoves, and even familiar trapdoors in the whole that might or might not lead to a slime farm.

The person inside was a fox beastman with pointy red-brown ears and a big fluffy tail. He was wearing an entirely white uniform and intently watching the sunny-side up eggs cooking in the pan in front of him as if they were going to explode.

[Artisan - Lv. 139]

“Hi?” Sofia greeted him.

Without looking away from his eggs, the foxman raised an open hand, it signified for Sofia to stop and hold still.

Intrigued, Sofia looked a bit closer, and realized that not only was there no fire under the pan, the beastman was using his mana to cook the eggs. Not a spell, but precise and controlled raw waves of mana bombardment to heat up the food.

No wonder he looks so focused. One second of inattention and he’ll end up with scrambled eggs.

Why not just use fire though?

Despite Sofia’s compliance in not disturbing the man any further, he failed to maintain his stream of mana, messing up the eggs in the pan like Sofia had anticipated. He sighed, defeated.

“Why are you using such a convoluted way to cook an egg?” Sofia asked.

The beastman stretched to relieve his tension before turning to Sofia and answering, “I can cook eggs just fine, I cook hundreds of eggs every day. But I’m trying to develop new magic.”

“Fireless cooking magic?”

“No, opponent cooking magic. I believe that well used, this magic could cause severe internal burns, bypassing armor and most simple magical protections. But it’s still nowhere near there yet…” the cook explained as he tossed the half cooked scrambled eggs in a bowl. With a bit of fire magic, he finished cooking them in an instant, and added a pinch of salt. “Eat up,” he said, holding the bowl out for Sofia.

“For me?”

“Are you not a new teacher?”

“I am?”

“Then eat. Teachers can eat here for free. And I’ve already had twelve eggs today…”

“Looks like you have been at this for a while. Alright, thanks for the meal. I’m Sofia by the way. Summoner battle strategies teacher.” Sofia grabbed the bowl and fork the cook was insisting on giving her.

“Oh, right, Eltiel’s gone on an imperial mission, isn’t she? Welcome to Brighthall, Teacher Sofia. Name’s Paul, and as is obvious, I’m a cook. You can always stop by the kitchens if you want a meal, but if it’s the off hours, you can’t always choose what you’ll get.”

Eltiel… Right, Beligenus mentioned I was her replacement. So this is why they were suddenly looking for someone fil up the spot, sudden imperial mission. Can the emperor give system quests like Sun can?

“Nice to meet you Paul. Are you always in the kitchen? Who works on the off hours?” Sofia asked. She ate as he answered, these were good scrambled eggs.

“Not just me but there is always at least one cook in the kitchen. Many of the teachers here are sleepless, you among them I suppose, so we’re open through the night in case they get hungry.”

“Interesting. The year hasn’t started though.”

“For us in the kitchens and for the cleaning personnel it has never ended. Some people stay here all year round, can’t have an interruption of service.”

“Makes sense. Sorry for interrupting you then, good luck with your magic research.”

Sofia thanked Paul for the snack and left him to his own devices in the kitchen. She heard the distant cracking of eggshells as she left the dining hall.

Despite her very long stroll, Sofia failed to find the student dormitories. The academy was just too large, and it seemed indicating directions hadn’t been a priority of whoever designed the place.

After two hours of random walking, she had decided to return to the teachers’ tower. Going up the stairs she decided to knock on every teachers’ door until someone opened. Surely I can’t be the only one here today?

To her dismay, the first few floors were all silent. Astelia was not present either, but when she knocked on the door of the sixth floor, ‘Floor 6 - Teacher Eternam Aoldun - Necromancy & Alchemy’, someone answered.

It was a skeleton in a display case.

“Who is it? Student?” it said in an exasperated voice.

He’s talking through the skull… I can feel a tiny hole through the barrier he used to create the link.

“Hi, I’m a new teacher, I was hired to replace Teacher Eltiel for this year’s classes.”

“Oh. Have a nice stay,” the skeleton answered, sounding decidedly uninterested.

“Thank you, I hope we could discuss necromancy, I specialize in summoning skeletons and-”

“Ah! Where is my head, excuse me for being so impolite, surely you would come in for some tea, yes?”

Oh, waow. Changed discourse faster than I could turn around. “It would be my pleasure.”

The teacher’s connection to the talking skull in the display case was cut, and Sofia patiently waited for the barrier to open.

From inside, the door was opened by a shade wearing a maid uniform.

What the…

“Please come in and sit down, I will be here in a minute,” a deep voice called out from one of the side rooms inside.

Sofia walked in, the shade gently closing the door behind her. It’s like Ihuarah became a maid. This is weird to look at. The interior was decorated much like the entrance. Every wall was a bookshelf, covered in ancient tomes. There were several skeletons and skulls on display either hanging from the ceiling, in display cases or on pedestals. Strangely enough, there was no bed, or anything of that kind. The non-booshelf furniture was limited to tables buried under piles and piles of books, scrolls and loose pages, as well as one small round tea table with three chairs.

At least I know where to sit, not much choice.

Sitting down at the only table in the room, Sofia gave the room another scan, noticing about ten shades hiding in corners and behind bookshelves. There’s probably more. I wonder what level they are, perhaps I could snatch control of them with Ihuarah’s skill. That’d be a bad first impression though.

From the room where the voice had originated, Sofia heard clicks. Rhythmic clicks on the floorboards, to be exact, like the long claws of a Dog’s paws hitting the floor.

Their origin soon revealed itself, these were indeed claws hitting the floor. Bird talons, to be exact.

The tall and gaunt, feathery figure of the teacher left no doubt as to his race.

Avian!

[Mage - Lv. 400+]