Chapter 149: The First Lesson
"So, my dears..."
I walked down the line of Fleur, Penny, and Blake.
"...today will be our first lesson, and it will consist of assessing your knowledge. Of course, I know where each of you stands, though you, Blake, are a different story. You're among our lagging students."
"I know..."
She nodded briefly.
"...and I'll make every effort to catch up to Fleur and Penny."
"Making an effort is good, but speaking from experience, you most likely won't catch up to them. But you don't need to. You need to become a journeyman first. And if I plan to bring the girls up to that level by the end of the summer, then you..."
I looked at her.
"...you must become a journeyman by next summer."
"I can do it faster..."
Blake frowned.
"Possibly."
I nodded.
"However, I don't need people calling me a half-baked master who churns out students after teaching them only the bare minimum. I need to be seen as a serious master, and that means you'll take the journeyman exam with biased teachers who will try to fail you."
"I... all right."
Blake nodded.
"Excellent. Now let's check your knowledge level. While the Quarter was partying, I prepared exam slips for you to complete. Five slips for each of you, and you may draw only one."
Snow-white sheets of paper hung in the air before the girls. Each of them chose one, and questions immediately appeared on it.
"Naturally, no prompting. So if I catch you, I'll give you another slip. Each one already has twenty questions, increasing in difficulty. Answer in detail, but don't quote textbooks. Go."
With that, I gestured toward the small tables and chairs off to the side, where they settled in.
"Hello, hello..."
Yang entered the room.
"Hello to you too."
"Are you having lessons here?"
"More of a preliminary skill assessment, so I can figure out what each of them needs."
"I see..."
She positioned herself to block my view of the girls.
"Are you trying to do them a disservice?"
I turned to face her and tilted my head.
"Huh?"
"It's simple. I've already promised them the most biased examiners possible when they take the journeyman exam. That means people will try to fail them, and if I misjudge their level now..."
"All right, all right!"
Yang raised her hands in surrender.
"Good..."
I turned back to the girls. Neither they nor Yang needed to know about the special spell monitoring them and alerting me to any cheating. Anyone who tried would immediately collapse, paralyzed.
"...did you want something?"
"I wanted to distract you a little, but if you're trying to fail them at the exam, I'd better not."
She looked at me with condemnation.
"I don't want to fail them."
"But you..."
"I said what I said. I want them to pass, but I also want them to know they passed under unfavorable conditions. That they took the difficult road and walked it. So I'll prepare them to pass this exam no matter what."
"Um..."
Yang looked confused.
"And how are things with your team?"
"Well... Mom drives us harder than they did at Beacon. She's constantly swearing about how standards have dropped, and she also curses old man Ozpin for letting Ruby in early. In short, things are lively with us."
Yang shrugged.
"That's good. And listen to Summer. She's an experienced Huntress, so she can teach you a great deal."
"Pff! Who are you telling that to?! She's my mom, and I know she's the coolest mom! So I don't fall asleep in her lessons..."
She instinctively touched her backside.
"True, I take a lot of hits with my style, but that's fine. I'll prove you can fight like that!"
I sighed.
"It's not my place to judge, but if I were Summer, I'd take a belt to you so hard you'd forget that style forever."
"You think a belt would scare me?"
"A belt?"
I looked at her and shook my head.
"No, it wouldn't scare you. But a backside beaten black and blue, one you couldn't sit on, forcing you to sleep on your stomach, would definitely convince you to reconsider your fighting style."
"Tch..."
Yang jerked her shoulder.
"...fortunately, Mom's not like you, and she wouldn't use methods like that."
"Well... that's her business."
"Listen, maybe we can train today? You've been kind of ignoring us, training by yourself or with Mom..."
I shrugged.
"If you want, we can train, but only full contact."
The blonde's eyes lit up with anticipation.
"Oh! I'd gladly do that!"
We talked for another forty minutes, until the girls finished answering the questions.
"All right... Who's ready to hand in her work first?"
"Well... I have the least material, so let me go first. The girls can think a little more; maybe they'll remember something important."
Blake shrugged, stood up, and approached me, handing me the sheet with her answers while casting a slightly displeased look at Yang.
"Hey, Bow, why'd you look at me like that?"
Yang looked at her friend in slight confusion.
"You're too close to him."
"Huh?"
Yang pretended not to hear Blake's words; she'd muttered them quietly enough.
"And you don't want to discuss our gloomy looks?"
Fleur put in her two Knuts.
"Um..."
Yang pretended not to understand, or perhaps she really didn't, and looked at Fleur in slight confusion.
"What did I do to you? Blake... well, I might have stolen something from the fridge that she'd been saving for herself..."
"That's not what this is about at all."
Penny shook her head.
"All right, enough chatter..."
I interrupted everyone and began drilling Blake on first-year, second-year, and part of third-year spells. That let me assess her knowledge level. In fact, I ran her through the entire curriculum.
"So..."
I closed my eyes for a second.
"Overall, better than I expected."
Blake proudly straightened her back.
"But worse than it could have been. Task number one: by the end of summer, you must finish third year and move on to fourth."
"I understand."
Blake nodded seriously.
"I'll also give you a reading list to study alongside the main textbooks. These are advanced texts on charms and spells. Studying them will help you understand the subject better."
Blake nodded again.
"The girls already know..."
I nodded toward Fleur and Penny.
"...but my teaching style involves giving you theoretical homework. Then, at the next lesson, you'll have about half an hour for questions before we move on to practical work."
Penny nodded.
"And by tomorrow, you must study..."
Blake quickly grabbed a sheet of paper and hurriedly wrote down exactly what I wanted from her. As she did so, she frowned slightly, but didn't argue.
"...for better studying, you'll take Wit-Sharpening Potion from Mother Narcissa. She'll tell you how to use it safely. It'll help you memorize information more easily."
"Hey! No one offered us anything like that!"
"And I'm not your mentor..."
I shrugged.
"...and if your teachers think you don't need it, then you don't need it. To be honest, I wouldn't give Blake this potion either, but to at least partially close the gap between her and the other girls, she'll have to take it. Blake..."
I looked at her intently.
"This potion isn't a toy. It can seriously damage your brain if you take too much. So I need you to listen carefully to all the safety instructions Mom gives you..."
Blake nodded.
"...and take it strictly according to the recipe. Sometimes you'll think that nothing bad will happen if you just drink a little more. You'll convince yourself that memorizing a bit more today will lighten tomorrow's load, but that's not how it works."
I shook my head.
"So... drink it STRICTLY ACCORDING TO THE RECIPE. Understood?"
"Yes."
She nodded.
"I understand. I know what stimulants are, and that they aren't good for you. If you believe that I need to take a stimulant to get results, then I will."
I could tell from her voice that she was slightly upset.
"Everyone at Hogwarts takes these stimulants..."
I smiled.
"And believe me, people learned long ago how to manage the problems this potion causes, BUT if you overdo it and have to deal with those problems, you'll be out of training for at least a week, and up to a month."
Blake looked at me, slightly surprised.
"It isn't fatal?"
"Well..."
I frowned slightly.
"...I remember reading an article a couple of years ago about a death from overdosing on this potion. About once a year, someone suffers severe brain damage and ends up hospitalized for years. Even after the full course of treatment, they don't fully recover. So..."
I shook my head.
"I understand."
"Very good. You may go. You have quite a lot of reading to do today."
"Uh-huh..."
She left, and I began checking Fleur's work, impressed by her knowledge and skill. In fact, she could easily take the journeyman-level exam right now, if the commission wasn't trying to fail her, of course. But by the end of the summer, she'd be able to pass any exam.
And then came Penny, and her level was slightly higher still.
"Phew..."
I rolled my shoulders and looked at Yang, who was still watching me examine the girls.
"...And? Was all of that really interesting to you?"
"Well..."
Yang shrugged.
"...It was educational. So I don't regret it, especially since I now have a chance to kick your ass. Come on already!"
She waved her hands expressively.
"Hah, someone really wants to get her ass kicked."
"And that someone is you!"
Yang pointed a finger at me, and joking back and forth, we made our way to the training ground, where I defeated her rather easily. Don't get me wrong, she was an experienced fighter for her age, but I'd long since grown used to fighting with magic against far stronger opponents, so all her attempts to pull tricks were like an open book to me.
And even with Weiss, Ruby, and Blake joining her, they still couldn't win. They didn't stand a chance against me.
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...I warmed up pretty well. Time to train properly."
"Oh, go... train..." Yang waved me off, and I left them, actually heading off to train. And also to work on my qualifications. The next day was going to be somewhat more difficult... and it would definitely be far more packed than today.
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