Maid with Necromancy

Harmony stepped out of the single dorm room that she’d only arrived at hours earlier. She closed the door on the scene behind her as she stepped into her new life as an academy student. The divot on the bed where she’d collapsed on arrival left an impression that she’d need to request a sturdier mattress for her vital body. Unpacked bags sat next to the open box filled with school uniforms, minus the one she’d thrown on after [Recall] woke her from that bit of sleep she managed to grab.

Her normal morning routine with an extra boost from [Renew Spirit] barely managed to make her look fresh while fighting against the complete lack of sleep from the last three days.  The mad dash to get here from Hazeldown in time for the start of the school year had left Adric behind to deal with paperwork at the Markham checkpoint mid-trip, and Von Trell had only left her with a basic idea of what she was escaping into.

[Beautican] helped smooth out any fold lines on the soft, gray uniform of a long-sleeved jacket over a white button-down shirt, paired with a knee-high skirt of the same gray material as the jacket. The boys had pants of the same material. High quality, practical, and gave her equal footing as other new students.

A crowd where she could blend into and start over, as first years were already buzzing about campus for the start of welcome week and the orientation speech scheduled before breakfast. They mostly had fresh, wide-eyed, innocent faces. [Poise and Bearing] schooled her face and body to match.

“Meep?”

“I’ll be fine, Hyacinth,” Harmony addressed the small shadow toad in her coat pocket, who’d picked up on her nervousness. The familiar hadn’t checked in with such concern before they tackled life and death situations. But this! She couldn’t say his priorities were wrong. First impressions mattered.

That week of constant travel, paperwork, and lessons from Von Trell had made for a chaotic journey with multiple nausea-inducing teleportations. With the city of Hazeldown burning, they’d left before she’d decided on a school. The half a day of magical binding contracts related to leaving and returning to the charter-monitored kingdom had given her time to decide on which of the dozens of schools kept open spots for situations like hers, she’d choose. Quality of education, ability to maintain privacy, and certain amenities were key factors that made The Academy stand out over small schools like Swineverruca, or more exploration-based Astralfleet.

[Keen Investigative Awareness] took in everyone rushing off to the opening speech. Still too short. She’d gone for the average height of women in Hazeldown, but the girls here were slightly taller than there. Stretching, Harmony added height with her vital body, to be a touch above average. There would be time to get used to how the size change affected her strength.  It brought her skirt a couple of inches above her knees, but that wasn’t too unusual a choice of the women here, some going a little below or above.

Height fixed towards a fresh start instead of being noticed or disrespected as the shortest girl here. Harmony continued to check out the other first years; she'd already adjusted her face with [Beautician] to more closely match the youthfulness she’d seen in the Ascendant Games evolved kingdom competitors that matched the majority of incoming students. One thing that stood out was that half the students had bits of color. A ring, a scarf, a bit of hair with a splash of color, mostly red and green, some blue, and more unique colors were drawing small crowds. Factions? Status designations? Fashion?

No way to know without asking. Red was the most common. A tall boy wearing a red necklace eyes lingered on her. That would cost him a question. If there was a time to use the fact that she was more than simply pretty to her advantage, this was it, and on this first day, they were all on equal footing. Letting [Cold Touch] soothe some nerves, she approached.

“Good sir, I’m new to this area. What’s with the color?” [Poise and Bearing] picked a neutral approach that touched on demure, but painted the question with a slight bit of undirected authority so she wouldn’t seem meek and demonstrate she was an aristocrat.

“Oh, um…”

Harmony fluttered her eyes, some feeling a tad ridiculous. The slight extension to her eyelashes had helped with the youthful appearance.

“They’re to let people know they’re looking for a spot on a team as part of The Academy’s dungeon requirements. Red for up close fighters. Green for range. Blue is defensive. Those who pick gold say they can do it all, not that they live up to the bragging, people only want them for if they can heal anyway. Open tryouts are after the speech.”

Yet another thing Von Trell hadn’t told her about. After the last couple of months, a break from dungeon shenanigans would have been nice. That was probably too much to hope for with how cities revolved around the places.

At least she wouldn’t be weighed down by starting off as a necromancer and maid in the students' and teachers’ eyes. You addressed people here by their evolved class and profession. No one wanted to be known as ‘tank’ or ‘scribe’, even the additional bits like necrotuned or rigorous royal were optional.  Apparently, the consequence of some legal dustup around someone with the full professional name of creepy ballhandler. Here, she could leave necromancer and the social stigma it carried behind her for a brief bit of time.

Doubt trickled in. You really think that’s possible? Her necromantic senses had picked up at least three spirits bonded to students in the few minutes outside of the privacy-warded dorm rooms. As much as she reigned in her presence, someone could possibly pick up on it. Plenty of classes and professions, particularly one based on healing, like exorcists and spiritual guide, had connections with those deemed dead. If she established that…

“What color is a healer?”Harmony asked,

The young man chortled. “White, but you won’t find many of those not claimed by a group.”

For once, her family name held a bit of irony. Running her hand through her hair, [Beautician] and [Manipulate Dead] worked together to change a long lock of her hair white. “Thanks for the information.”

The boy’s eyes widened even more. “I’m Alex, would you like to form a…”

Harmony laughed at the bluntness.“ That’s cute, but I feel like it might be best to be selective when joining a dungeon team.”

“At least let me escort you to the auditorium for the headmaster's orientation speech. My grandfather went here, so I've had several tours of the campus before I evolved.”

Selling her the knowledge she didn’t have. It would be better than faking it, using [Keen Investigative Awareness] to hunt for subtle clues. Von Trell had said many students show up, having grabbed a spot because of the history of this school, without visiting.  He paid for that lingering gaze; she might as well agree to the offer as thanks for the information.  Making friends and connections wasn’t completely off the table.

“A quick tour would be nice. I’m Harmony White, revivalist.” No reaction, except the eager smile of a young man getting the opportunity to show off for an attractive young woman. “Is Firowen your home kingdom?” Harmony continued with small talk and started to walk with Alex joining her

“Oh, no, Bellspire. We share a border, but my grandfather visits often…”

While the tour consisted mostly of the young man pointing out statues and buildings. “Groggins secured the growth chamber for the school by selecting it as a reward from defeating a tier four dungeon with a tier three team…  The Gregory House will be of interest to you since all the classes on healing are taught out of there.”

Smile, nod, and have Alex continue talking while taking in her new place of residence. The late-night drop-off hadn’t given her time to actually view the campus. Select manicured green spaces dotted the campus, usually around some of the aforementioned statues.  The campus’s seamless stone walkways and tall boxy buildings that looked like shiny windowless cubes of metal having wide double doors and plaques like Barrowbell Hall,

Alex’s company was good at keeping other interested parties away from her white hair; some looked at them with jealousy, and others with curiosity. It helped that they all had a place to be.

The arena they’d joined the crowd to travel to was more familiarly shaped in a large oval, though the construction materials and aesthetics of metal pillars with smooth white stone were unfamiliar.

The several thousand incoming freshmen only took up a small corner of the arena. A sea of gray with the sprinkle of color designating those seeking groups. Not a servant. Not standing out. Others were much more interesting. A tower of sculpted blue hair on one student, who clearly strived to garner attention. A handful of beastkin, a tiger with stripes stuffed into a jacket a little too small. Seeing them made her miss Loap and Tyler. Maybe it would be good to connect and learn more about the Shin’ee’s culture, surely they wouldn’t be as close-lipped as the bunny had been.

The man in long, billowing robes of dark blue silk trudged out of one of the arena tunnels. Above him, a large projection manifested for everyone to see as he trudged towards a podium waiting. “Headmaster Crottish, I had tea with him last year,” Alex informed her.

Crottish spoke, his voice projecting clearly from his podium. “Welcome incoming first years to The Academy, the oldest educational institute in the world, founded at the first dungeon where The Guild was formed. Here is where you will emerge from your chrysalis of evolving and gain your first new choices since reaching the first step to greatness. No longer will you have the easy, cultivated path your family, clans, temples, and warrens built for you. Graduation will be your second evolution.  

Here you will learn from the best. I just got news that Maekus Von Trell, the Master of Five Apes, will be a guest instructor.”

That got a smattering of applause, enough for Harmony to shift uncomfortably, as she hadn’t found his teaching particularly instructive on the journey here. He had told her he’d be around after dropping her off at her room.

“You’ll challenge our tier three dungeon and visit the god entombed within. And you will form friendships and connections that will last you the centuries you’ll live. During this first week, we’ll get you situated with finding your dungeoneering team, have your academic advisor sign you up for classes, and introduce you to the many clubs and sports activities our school has to offer.

Many of you will rise and fall as you face the challenges needed to grow as a student. There will be danger and the possibility of death. This will all be driven by The Academy’s spirit of competition. Since I know how you all want to see how you match up against your fellow students, welcome to your inaugural class rankings!”

What?! A wave of magic rose up from the floor. [Mana Rotation] let Harmony see some of the spellwork under the students' feet. A high-level inspection skill. But at least this time she wouldn't get a personal statue of herself. A quick and dirty surprise, she didn’t have time to work out a defense before it washed through her system.

Numbers appeared above each student's head. A lot of students were looking up to see what they got. Alex smiled warmly at his silver ranking of two-hundred-and-fifty-seven. But the way he schooled his reaction with a social skill when he looked at her made Harmony not want to look up.

“Gree, gree, gree..” Hyacinth chuckled squeakily from her pocket.

[Poise and Bearing] kept her face pleasantly relaxed as she finally looked up at hers. A golden three hovered above her head. That rotting corpse smuggling ranking system, there was no laying low now.

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