Chapter 40: Particularly bloody

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Nero suddenly exclaimed, forcibly interrupting his teacher for the first time ever. "You can use a cursed item as an ingredient for a spell recipe?"

For once, he was thoroughly shocked by just the thought of it. His entire life, anything relating to curses had been an extreme danger and taboo. If not every day, then at least every other day there would be news about someone dying from curses in some part of Kolar. That was considering that the death was even discovered as countless times, no body remains to be even discovered.

Through every aspect of his life, he had been taught to keep as much distance from curses as possible, and treat them with extreme caution. In fact, Nero was considered somewhat strange for actually becoming more fascinated with nature after suffering from a curse after coming in contact with grass rather than deathly afraid of it.

But from an early age, fear was not really a part of his life, and although he was now much more cautious about where he stepped, that was out of common sense, not fear.

But even so, despite being as open minded as he was, Nero was still taken aback by the very simple statement made by his teacher about cursed ingredients.

The teacher paused, and instead of being incensed by the interruption, smiled.

"What do you think an ingredient is, Nero?" she asked softly, and for once she 'didn't' answer on his behalf, and actually waited for him to answer.

The simple question stumped him. It was not because he didn't have an answer, but because he could guess that since she asked this question, the answer would not be as straightforward as it seemed.

"An ingredient is… a naturally occurring item that contains aether?"

The teacher smiled, as if amused by his answer.

"No, but close. The correct answer is that anything that contains aether can be used as an ingredient. There are no limitations, which is exactly what makes being a card artisan such a challenging career. Unless one sticks to tried and tested recipes, one will need an immense amount of knowledge about the properties of various ingredients and how they may react with one another. That, naturally, also includes curses and cursed items."

Perhaps under normal circumstances, Nero would be stunned for a while as he absorbed this information. But having Enhanced learning activated made it easier for him to digest this information, which meant he thought back to the question his teacher asked. What might happen if a cursed item is used as an ingredient?

"Does that mean… using a cursed ingredient will result in… the production of a cursed card?"

"Not cursed but a Curse card. Curse cards are extremely dangerous, and considered a taboo. They're also illegal in Kolar. Each curse card ends up being a one time use card, but as a consequence, the result is immensely more powerful than another card of a similar star rank. Due to the inherent nature of Curse cards, the user also suffers from some kind of consequence of using it, though not nearly as much as the target. Moreover, they are highly unstable. They cannot be stored for too long, unless done so with a specially designed protective card cover."

Nero was amazed with this knowledge, and at the same time somewhat struggled to conceptualise the ramifications of what he had just learnt. Anything at all could be an ingredient as long as it contained aether. Did that include… people?

"Why are you telling me this?" he could not help but ask. He was almost completely certain that none of this was any approved curriculum - not that he didn't appreciate the timely enlightenment. But he also did not like getting random favours. It meant that the other party had an agenda.

"Am I not your teacher? Isn't that my job?" she asked, feeling amused at Nero's seriousness.

"You know what I mean. This is definitely not something I'd be learning in an ordinary class. Not to mention, someone of your calibre would definitely not be teaching a new student like me. So… why are you telling me this? Or what is it that you want?"

Wariness appeared in Nero's eyes as he observed her. If he considered a real threat, he would never have confronted her outright like this. The fact that he was even willing to show his perception of the incongruity of the situation was a display of trust, at least to some extent.

But instead of being put off by his question, she seemed glad.

"Well, I thought it was fairly obvious. The school, or rather, a few of the teachers are investing in you. Your performance record has been extremely satisfactory as of late, and we find you worthy of nurturing further."

Instead of questioning her further, Nero just looked at her with an irritated expression. He was now certain that, for once, this woman was giving him incomplete answers, and she was doing it on purpose. Why did her personality shift between two extreme opposites in relation to providing answers?

The teacher could not help but laugh at his expression, and finally decided to answer properly.

"You should know that for every high performing student, the school and especially the teachers receive rewards. So it's fairly common for teachers to look for promising students and invest extra time and effort into ensuring they realise their full potential each year. You came up on our radar, and by us I mean old Harvey and I.

"After an initial review, we found that you're a good student, and decided to focus on you this year. That's all there is to it. There's nothing more."

Nero looked at her sceptically. The explanation she gave made sense, but he could not help but feel that there was more to it than that. Just as he was wondering if he should continue to question her, or accept the perfectly plausible answer she gave, the teacher continued.

"It also doesn't hurt that, most likely, all national recruitment tests this year will probably happen here in Aetherpeak. With the ruins just outside the city, I'm really looking forward to the kind of interesting exams they come up with this year. You know I'm a KMA alumni? I remember my entrance exam well. It was… particularly brutal, and bloody."

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