The bodies of the Rocs were littered with damage, plugged with dozens of arrows, but few of the attacks actually made it past the under layer of their feathers, which Karl found to be as strong as Rae’s silk when he tried to pull a few of them free.
“No wonder everyone is afraid of these things. Look at that, an arrow fired by an Ascended Archer didn’t even cut through the flesh. Between that and attacking from a thousand metres in the air, most of the world couldn’t even fight back.” Karl muttered to himself as he examined the corpse that had landed closest to the lines.
That was where everyone had gathered to see what a bird with a fifty-metre wingspan looked like up close.
It was large enough it could prey on Hill Giants and carry them away in its claws, a true terror of the skies. But it also had magic, both defensive Earth Magic and offensive Fire.
While the students examined the closest body, Hawk flew back out and stealthily stole three for himself. They had secrets that he wanted.
He was powerful, but they were powerful and scary.
It was nearly twenty minutes before anyone noticed that the other bodies were missing, and teams were sent out to go look for them, in case they were wounded and escaping.
“Professor! They’re not alive, Karl’s monsters looted the bodies. They do that.” Lotus shouted out to avoid being sent with a team to look for a giant bird that she already knew they wouldn’t find.
“What do you mean, they looted the bodies? That thing weighs literally tonnes, how could they even lift it?” The professor asked.
“Don’t ask me, it’s some magic thing. They just whoosh, vanish, into a separate space. They do it with the Giants all the time.” She explained.
“Why would they even want them?” The teacher asked, not following her explanation.
“You know. Snacks, growth resources, decorations.”
On Morgana’s shoulder, Remi nodded happily. She would negotiate with Hawk later, as she wanted some of those feathers for her space, and he had a lot of them now.
Maybe she could get some of those colourful ones from the belly with the multicoloured stripes. Those ones would make great ornaments.
“You know, there is just something about you that attracts trouble. Did you see how those things basically ignored an entire offensive line to attack you?” One of the other students asked.
Morgana laughed and patted the student on the shoulder, before he noticed Remi staring at him from only centimetres away and dropped to the ground in panic.
“Dammit, woman, that’s a poisonous snake.” The boy shouted.
Remi laughed, which opened her mouth and made her fangs drop, further panicking the student.
“As I was about to say before you freaked out, it’s because Karl gives off the aura of a Monster, not a human. They likely thought that he was the leader of the army here, since there is nobody above Commander Rank, and he’s the only one who would feel different to them.” Morgana explained.
The student looked like he was considering the options much more seriously than Karl would have thought necessary, then he spoke again in a suspicious tone.
“Are we certain that he isn’t actually a monster hiding in human form, like a transformation spell?” The terrified boy asked.
Karl laughed, and Lotus smirked.
“No, we had him checked, one hundred percent human. It might have occurred to the Doctors at the rehab hospital that he could be a polymorphed spy as well.”
Karl put a hand over his heart and looked offended. “Such little faith in my abilities. If I were truly a monster, how could gentle souls like Rae and Remi stand to be around me? I’ve been framed, I tell you.” The Elites who weren’t part of his group all froze in place, slowly blinking as they tried to process the fact that he had used the opinion of a venomous Naga Spirit Snake and a Bloodbath Spider to vouch for his credentials as a human.
But more than that, he called the Bloodbath Spider a gentle soul? Remi, they could believe. She was actually rather adorable if you weren’t terrified of snakes. But Rae? Her favourite pastime was making it rain blood.
“I think you need better character references.” Morgana informed Karl with an exaggerated sigh.
“Well, I’m not sure anyone would take the word of a War Cleric or Lotus on the topic, and Dana went somewhere with Ophelia.” Karl shrugged.
Lotus frowned. “Why does Tessa get her profession mentioned, but I get called out by name?”
“Because the reason nobody takes you seriously is that you’re Lotus, not because you’re a Nature Priestess. Your choice of Goddess is like a side effect of you being you.” Karl explained.
Lotus frowned, then smiled happily. “You know, that’s right. Nature Priestesses become Nature Priestesses because we’re already like this. It’s a calling right from the start, not something that we learn.”
“You think that the Red Dragon’s favour is something that is learned?” Tessa asked as Lotus finished her speech.
Lotus started to nod, then frowned. “You know, I recall that you traumatized a boy so much that he runs away and cries every time someone mentions your name, and that was before you were confirmed as an Acolyte of the Red Dragon. Maybe you have always been like that.”
Karl laughed at the memory of meeting the man they were referring to.
The young cleric had been quite arrogant when Karl was making that book for the Blue Dragon High Priestess, but the mention of Tessa and Lotus had sent him running.
The Ascended Rank warrior who had remained on the ground to stay further from Remi looked around at Karl’s group in dismay.
“What I’m taking from this is that you’re all a bit odd. Maybe that’s the secret. All of the most powerful Elites have strong personalities. Those who don’t, seem to get stuck at Awakened and then don’t really progress.” He noted.
“Are you saying that you have a strong personality?” Lotus asked, looking down at him.
He nodded. “Yes. And an intense fear of snakes.”
[Who could hate me, I’m adorable?] Remi asked.
Karl smiled, and Morgana looked between him and the snake. “She just got offended that someone called her scary, didn’t she? I’ve never seen her try to act cute and offended at the same time.” The Witch Doctor laughed.
“Is that what she’s going for? She just looks offended, like she slithered in something foul.” One of the nearby mages joked.
Remi tilted her head, wondering what she was doing wrong that they weren’t getting the message.
“See, that is adorable. The other just looks offended.” The mage added.
“Does everyone suddenly speak snake?” The snake phobic warrior asked, backing away as he rose to his feet so that there were two other people between him and Remi.
“She’s really good at it. Out of all the beasts I’ve ever met, I think only my pet dog and Thor are better at conveying emotion, but Thor only knows happy and playful.” Mick joked, with a gesture toward Thor, who was playing kickball with some of the students.
{Off-duty students may now return to your regular schedule.} The radio announcement sent everyone walking toward camp, leaving only about a tenth of their total number along the front lines.
“Alright, Karl is with me, and I think the rest of you already have your assignments. Oh, Mick is with us as well. I’m doing the ancient history lessons today.” Morgana informed them.
“Great, straight from rock dust in combat to super dry history lessons.” Mick sighed.
Karl patted him on the shoulder. “It’s not that bad. Morgana finds the interesting parts of history to bring up. Though some of that is certainly because I’m most interested in the parts that might lead to System relics and rare resources for the beasts.”
“Well, that has to be better than Professor Jones’ descriptions of his times spent exploring the catacombs under the Capital. How can you spend forty years on a career without a notable accomplishment?” Mick sighed.
“Well, at least I don’t need to worry about that. I have found a number of cool things already.” Karl replied.
“Oh?” Morgana gave Karl a sharp look, but he knew most of it couldn’t be mentioned. The dungeon in the hills near the Frost Giant border wasn’t classified, though.
“There was a mission, not long before the war started, where I went to investigate an anomaly, and it turned out to be a combination of Yeti magic and a dungeon instance that had appeared beneath a cavern complex. There was a whole trial challenge series, and a village of Dark Elves, plus the Dungeon Instance itself. That’s where I found Remi as an egg.” Karl explained.
If they were already enthralled in the story, they would remember more of the lesson.
“Let’s start there today. Why don’t you describe the architecture, and we will try to match it to an era and region.” Morgana decided.