Maid with Necromancy

Impeccable posture, an unassuming smile, and the ability to use [Stride Before the Fall] to avoid near-certain death let her relax into the role of being a center of attention. It wasn’t her first time, and now it wasn’t thousands of screaming fans, but instead curious or jealous peers, like her escorts' wide eyes.

“I’m as surprised as you are. Keep in mind that a lot of subjective measures went into designing that magic. I’m sure people needed for specific tasks who are highly experienced or specialized will be more important than a silly number.”

Alex laughed. “You don’t need to lecture me, princess. Plenty of the high rankers are piled with advantages to get those top spots.” The young man flexed his muscle. “You’ll see that time has a way of making sure those with real talent and effort get the places they deserve.”  

Did he really call her princess? After all the trouble she’d caused messing with one of those. And the flexing? There had been a time when she’d freeze him to his seat.

“As long as you don’t hold my number against me. I’ll look forward to future rearrangements in the rankings. You mentioned dungeoning team tryouts after the speech?”

“Unofficial ones. They give us an hour until breakfast to socialize in the arena, which is about as long as your number will last over your head until they release the list at the Hall of Records. Some came to this school with teams planned out, but often the first rankings have people kick out members who are in the low thousands, or people with high numbers get full of themselves and leave. We have until the end of the week to register an official team for the quarter. Care to join me in meeting our peers?”

And back to being useful. It’s not like she could completely blame him for his assumptions, even if they did make him an ass at times. [Poise and Bearing] was still getting its social footing, while [Keen Investigative Awareness] had to muddle through the competing clash of cultures from students who arrived from different regions as they talked in the stands.  Many more first years descended towards the open arena floor.

“Join you? I’ll rely on you to help explain the ins and outs of all of this until I get my bearings. As long as you don’t mind me shamelessly using your goodwill, I think we’ll be fine.”

The young man blushed.

That was as bluntly truthful as she could get, and Alex took it as flirting. Boys always did like to have their value acknowledged.  His presence was useful. Alone, with the three drawing all that attention, it might have been overwhelming. But there was a familiarity in having an overly eager man-child supporting her after these months. It reminded her of Tyler, Adric, and Max, but it was not that she actively collected the men; they seemed to fall into place. This new man merely made her miss Ambrosia more, her best friend, who’d laugh at the comedy of it all and write a song about this situation.  May this departure keep them all safe.

Leaving the riots and their instigators without a solid target was only a short-term solution. If her friends were to be protected. The hands, Queen Talia and her controllers, would need to be dealt with. Here, she could gain the knowledge, levels, and power needed to do that. Another quick smile to Alex as they stepped onto the arena floor, for friendly people like him will pave the way towards those goals.  

“Let me introduce you to Tasha. I know you want to be selective of who you’ll be entering the dungeon with, but you’ll see her value.” Alex eagerly suggested.

Harmony couldn’t quite make herself breakaway from her guide, even if he clearly had designs on recruiting her. One more name to go with a face, and then she’d stretch her legs among the crowd. At least the dinners at Ma Bell’s table had gotten her used to meeting new people.

Tasha had a similar necklace for her color piece to Alex’s, but hers was green, which made her a long-distance fighter. The number over her head, one thousand and twenty-two, put her in the upper quartile of incoming students. If there were a way to swap numbers with the redhead, Harmony would.

“Lexi, did your serendipity stat land you a rare find?” She asked as they hugged.

“Not even a comment on my number, Ms. Valedictorian. Harmony, Tasha, and I went to Unseen Preparatory. I’ve been chasing her heels forever.”

“Well, I still have another bond to form, and my half-step potion is being worked on by Maester Gregor. We’ll see who is ahead of whom after the next quarter rankings.”

Harmony offered her hand. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Tasha took it with a firm grip and shook a little more vigorously than Harmony was used to back home.

“I think I bruised my hand squeezing yours. What kind of body do you have for a…” Tasha eyed the white lock of hair. “...healer?”

“Revivalist, but durability is a key part of my body. No one likes having an overly squishy support member.“

“Ha! No kidding about that. Too many nasties go after anyone with healing skills out there.“  Tasha said with a slight shove to Alex. “I like this girl. Have you convinced her to join our team yet? Maybe try that thing that got Belle to follow you around like a puppy all of last year.”

Alex flushed again. “Please, Tasha, I’ve only just met Harmony. I’d like her to see that we’re a good option. Right now, it is just Tasha and me. We’re looking for three other members to register with our group.”

Two people with a preexisting relationship were manageable. Three, and then the outsiders could get outvoted if any decision came to that. This was too small a sample size to get an idea of what these teams would be like. Relying on Alex alone for information was overly reliant.  “I’ll be keeping an open mind, but I’m still getting my footing after my long journey here,” Harmony admitted.

“Where are you fr…” Tasha started.

“You!” A young man interrupted with a gesture toward Harmony. The kid's golden hair and skin were nearly equal in shimmer, probably a side effect of whatever body type he’d acquired. The number four hovered above his head.

Was he looking to climb in the rankings? Did this school have a challenge system? Etiquette clearly wasn’t a factor that went into the rankings. “May I help you?” Harmony asked a bit sternly.

“We can get one, two, three, four, five, together as a team, and can face the dungeon before the end of the quarter requirement. The powerful lead and set the pace. You have no reason to associate with those beneath you.”  Four finished with authority and a social skill echoing through his words.

The skill he used begged her to accept the logic of such a statement. And up until he stated there was no reason to associate with those beneath her, she might have agreed. But she’d lived as that rock under others’ heels, and she’d never abandon a past or a future due to inconvenience. His authority was wide, but not very deep. Sounded like he was well known, but without deep connections yet.

“I’ll pass.” Harmony answered Four dismissively, before turning to Alex and Tasha, “I’m going to mingle a bit, but I’m happy to sit with you during breakfast.”

They nodded and allowed Harmony to slip away quickly between them, forming a wall separating her from the rude young man. They at least had tact, outside of Alex’s princess remark, which was a point in their favor.

Harmony took to socializing as a fact-finding mission, both chatting while asking more questions than giving answers, and using her vital body’s keen hearing to listen in on conversations being held. She opted for introducing herself and avoided those who seemed too intent on seeking her out to maybe pin her down for their dungeon team. In the process, she learned that nearly every person here was from outside the kingdom, and were their region's rising stars, having received acceptance letters through a glowing worm that would climb up to the edge of their bed, holding it in their toothy mouths. They were all level twenty-five as incoming classes arrived while they were still in the post-evolution stabilization phase, meaning two classes came in a year. Basic information, regional curiosities, and a whole lot of names, faces, and numbers she’d be using [Recall] on and taking notes about later.

There was a lot of play happening in addition to the hour of socializing, with the informal testing of skills. Without tools or weapons, it was foot races, grip tests, jumping, and a few magical strikes to demonstrate range and accuracy.

Harmony held the broken fur-covered hand, grateful it was a clean break, and using her knowledge of skeletal anatomy to set the bones back into place before using [Mend] to fix the wound, with a hint of [Cold Touch] sprinkled about to keep the swelling down. “I don’t see why you have to challenge yourselves against each other this way. Surely there will be tools and weights for measuring these things later?”

“It’s about demonstrating you’re willing to take risks and push yourself, Shin-ee Healer. Tun-Knee has gratitude for the tending. I’d rather not embarrass myself by needing to use my off hand at breakfast.” The large tiger beast-kin answered.  He had a yellow pin, signifying he was a support class, but he had no lack of challengers who had more defense or strength-based set-ups because of his size, animalistic appearance, and the number seventy-two above his head.

“This might be an odd question, but have you heard of a bunny Shin’ee named Loap?”

The lion had a deep inhale, puffing him up even bigger. “You’ve heard of our diamond? Others might dismiss her as merely being a high gold, but no other of my rank has her skill, grace, and beauty. I dream to earn the right to serve her, and grow from my lowly brass to that of silver.”

The crazed reverence in the tiger’s eyes reminded her a bit too much of some of The Songstress’s more devout fans. How Tun-Knee would react to learning she’d become Tyler’s pet was not something that needed testing. “Her name has come up. I hope you can make your dream a reality.”

A bell rang out to remind everyone of breakfast. Harmony followed the crowd, her black striped patient close behind.  

Outside the arena, long tables covered a large square of short-cut green grass while a buffet of colorful food sat heaped on them for students to sit around. [Keen Investigative Awareness] quickly found Alex with his tall stature next to Tasha and her red hair.  Other observations that the skill picked out were that golden boy, Four, found his group with two, six, seven, and nine, all sitting next to him, a far cry from his initial proposal, but still a group from the top ten students.  The beastkin who’d gotten to the tables early and  all came from the same large island nation were sitting together. They weren’t the only ones with some regional separation or glares that were exchanged between one group and another. Were they warring countries? Some other kind of drama? Nothing she’d picked up socializing yet.

“I told you I’d find you,” Harmony said to the pair as she arrived, taking a seat beside Tasha.  On the other side of her, her elbow got jostled, Tun-Knee snapped up the seat next to hers and became one of the few beast kin not to stay with their group. Harmony introduced him to the pair.

“Hey, Tony.” Alex greeted enthusiastically

“It’s Tun-Knee,” the tiger-kin corrected.

“When you’re with us, we’ll work on softening some of that formality for you,” Alex said with a somberness that was a tad comedic.

Us?  She hadn’t agreed to anything yet.

“Catch that one?!” Tasha asked urgently in her direction.

That was when Harmony turned her attention to the food rather than the students and the evolving social situation. It was all moving, all strange and unusual, and her necromantic sense told her most of them were alive.  She managed to catch the egg with two legs, trying to run off the table before it dove off the edge like it was falling off a cliff. How were you supposed to eat these? Most of the others weren’t having issues as they dove in.

Never one to be too squeamish, Harmony did the same. The killing of her meal did fulfill some of the violent wants of her base necromancer class. It helped that the food was delicious, but she spent more time not looking at the food as she shoved it into her mouth between the table conversation. It was too easy to imagine some of it going “Please, Harmony, don’t eat me!” But she wasn’t going to switch to a plant-based diet because of it.

By magic, at a second bell, their plates were replaced with letters titled Harmony White -3- Academic Advisor Appointment. While no staff were present, it was clear they were being watched on some level.  Opening the envelope, the necrotuned revivalist peeked inside.  Advisor Maekus Von Trell, Aperture Science Building, Room 302, with a moving countdown showing she had less than ten minutes to find the building and make it to her appointment. It was not one of the buildings Alex had shown her. “Bloody bones.” She murmured quietly as she stood up. “If you all could excuse me, and maybe point me to the science building? I have an appointment to get to.”

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