Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[Eon's POV: ]

"Hmmm~. Being back feels prettttty good~." Back to the very last seats of the classroom, the two of us were not surrounded by our group of people anymore.

"It sure feels like we have been away for some time now, right?" It was only a few weeks for the rest of the students, but for us, it was a few months. The time we spent in the forbidden forest, especially, was not something the other students would understand.

Still, being back in this classroom reminded us of the many days, many months that we have spent here.

The time we spent learning from our teachers, the time we spent laughing, the time we spent teaching others and giving them new perspectives… the time we spent in the academy before going back was certainly fun.

But, now that we are starting the second year of the academy, and since we have learned all the basic things that we were supposed to, creating a base strong enough to learn real things, it was time to get into the real stuff.

"How do you think Sir Jez would be doing? Do you think his story progressed with that miss-." Rein was going to talk about something we shouldn't talk about in the class so I grabbed her hand and shook my head.

'You know you shouldn't say it out loud!.'

Words weren't really needed between us so I just looked at her and she understood what I was saying. She also realized she was going to make a mistake at that moment… but I don't think anyone paid any specific attention to us.

"I don't know how they did over the holidays, but I'm pretty sure they progressed somewhere. He seems happy." He was walking towards the class right now– yes he was walking and wasn't floating like he usually does.

So, I guess there was some kind of progress at least.

"Don't be too shocked when you see him, ok?" I was seeing him with my third eye so the others had no idea.

I didn't tell Rein what I meant either and just waited as I scanned through the classroom one more time.

'The students were pretty much in the same spot that they usually were in— Quinny was at the front, the same for Captain Alpha. The others were sitting with their friends like they usually do, those who had gotten close over the holidays were sitting together right now, while those who had fallen apart had changed their places.'

The classroom was the same, the students were the same, and the magical board at the front was the same as well… However, aside from the positioning of the students, one more thing that had changed in this classroom was the very nature of this classroom.

-Step. Step. Step.

-Scrrrrrrr…

"Good morning, students. Welcome back." Seeing the class teacher Sir Jezebel entering the classroom on his feet was a big surprise to the others.

We had only seen him floating into the classroom with his books and materials, but this time, he was walking.

There was also a noticeable positive expression on him instead of his usual stoic one.

His gothic clothes were still the same, and same with the lavish jewelry, but along with that, while the others might not notice it, there was a certain bracelet around his wrist hidden under his cuffs.

It was a very normal accessory, something he wouldn't have been wearing in the past… but right now he had it on him, hidden under his sleeves, which definitely indicated something, right?

[{ "You will not believe me-." }]

[{ "Tell me later. I know it's pretty believable already." }]

Just like how we are now in the second year of the academy life, the teacher also seemed to be in a new phase of his life right now.

"Seems like you all had a good time on your vacations, huh?" He looked around the class with his sharp gaze, one that had remained the same as I remembered.

They were analyzing us, looking through all the visible aspects of us as they had always done in the past.

As a vampire, he could also tell the changes in someone's physical body through the scent of their blood… Something I thankfully took into consideration when designing this new appearance of ours.

"Hmmm… some of you had been working even during holidays, I see. While some of you have become quite rusty." His eyes were always honest.

Not just me or Rein, but anyone who could see and read those deep eyes could tell how they reflected his positivity and negativity towards anything.

He liked some things, like the growth of his students and how they had taken care of themselves, but then there were things that he did not like— things like the disguised evil cultists that had infiltrated the academy.

'Yup…'

They were here as well… and I fucking hate that I cannot kill them right this instant.

'It was so difficult to come to terms with it that we almost got late this morning.'

We repelled them at the finals, but here they were, in the skin of the students, ready to hinder us once again.

[{ "If even his eyes could not tell them apart, they must have been disguised by a skilled individual." }]

We did not know what happened to the students, but now that they are here, we cannot deal with them by ourselves either.

'My [Dynamic heart] might have picked up on them and Rein's eyes might have been able to identify a thread of darkness that they had, but the technique, skill, or whatever means that they had used was a very, very powerful one.'

Perhaps it was something divine, or perhaps they had someone far more capable than we had imagined— or perhaps we failed to correctly guess the strengths of the high-ranking members of this cult. Whatever the case, they were here right now.

And it felt fucking disgusting to be in the same class as these damned cult bastards.

"Anyway…"

The teacher looked around the class one more time and nodded.

-Tap. Tap. Tap.

Then he put the books on the desk and went behind the desk, looking up at the students with a new smile on his face.

"Now that you are in your second year, everyone, there are a few things that you should know about."

Starting in the second year, the academy students receive certain privileges. The unique virtual points like (W) coins and such would become more important for students.

They would also receive some points from the school which they had to dispose of within a week since they refresh and are temporary.

The privileges also include access to the Library of Time's higher floors where the students previously could not go.

As student council members, we had free access to the deeper areas of various sections of the academy, but the same was not true for the common students.

But now that we were in the second year, we could access the library as well as the practical areas of the alchemy lab, the Cemetery, the greenhouse, the Shrine, the magic engineering lab, as well as the Iris tower.

Aside from these accesses, we would also have access to classes that weren't available to the students of the first year.

As such…

"Last year, I was teaching you the basic understanding of Mana class but this time, I will be in charge of teaching you [Applied understanding of MAP], a subject that focuses on the applications of Mana, Aura, and other kinds of powers.

Your six compulsory classes will include my subject, [Sociocultural understanding of species], [Fundamentals of spell crafting], [Geometric analysis of wealth], [Theological bases of Nature], and a class focusing on the relational understanding of weapons [Weapons as companions].

You can once again choose from a list of classes for your individual six classes, however there will be something you should take note of.

-Snap!

With a snap of his finger, a magic screen appeared before us containing a list of all the classes that were going to be available for the second-year students of the academy.

"Aside from the basic classes that will be the same this time as well, you may not get the option of some of the other classes.

Or in simpler words, the list of classes available for the students this time will be different."

It did not mean we were going to have to choose from a limited list since the actual list of subjects available to us would be constant, however, his words certainly caused a commotion.

"You will get the list by lunchtime so do look through the subjects carefully. There will be subjects that are suggested to you based on your previous performance and results, but if you still wish to go to the other classes, no one's stopping you anyway.

Just get into any other class and attend the one you want, or go to the subject teacher and pass a test that they give."

There were ways, certainly. The academy wasn't going to restrict one's choice of freedom or anything.

If they wanted to choose the same subjects that they chose last year as their personal subjects, that was fine as well.

It was up to us at the end of the day… They were just guiding us in their own way.

"Finally, as your homeroom teacher, I wish to make some announcements and retell some of the achievements you all have made over the one year you have been here."

His class today was going to be all about that only.

I guess it was the same for the other classes as well. It was a common tradition to appreciate some of the significant efforts and achievements of the students.

'Though in my opinion, they do this to remind the class what great things the students had achieved in just one year.'

It's a tradition. A good one that makes the first class of the new semester much more fun than it could have been…