Villin felt complicated when he stood before the door, he wasn't sure why but he felt like once he entered this room his future would change in some way. Nonetheless, since there were only a few minutes left before the time of the meetup, Villin entered the room.
When he entered he was rather surprised at the number of people in the room, the room itself was large yet barren, with nothing in terms of decoration or seating. Around twenty people had already entered the room.
Most people didn't seem to know anyone else as they just stood by themselves, most of them looking around vigilantly and nervously. The only exception was a group of three in the middle of the room. Villin recognized Amelia in this group and she was joined by a stern-looking boy and a girl with a rather...odd look.
When he entered the room Amelia glanced at the door, when she recognized him, she said a few words to the two people standing with her before walking over.
"Heya there Villin, happy to see you made it! You don't seem too worried about being here, do you have such high expectations of our management?" Amelia looked with him with a smile, she changed her usual glasses for bright red ones with a half-circle making her look more professional compared to usual.
"Maybe I'm not so worried because I don't know as much about the club compared to the others?" Villin questioned raising an eyebrow at Amelia.
These words caused Amelia to look at him somewhat stunned "Hold up- did the prez not inform you of the club?"
Yet before he could ask who the 'prez' was the girl with the unique looks walked toward them. "Ooh Amelia, you got quite a pretty face here don't ya~nya"
When looking at this person Villin felt a bit odd. Standing before him now was a pretty girl with two cat ears. Villin absolutely didn't know how to think of that as something such as the existence of demi-humans was ridiculous. Ignoring the cat-girl's words he turned to Amelia with a questioning look "Some sort of pill?"
Amelia laughed as she heard his question realizing what he meant "Nope, Aria here always liked the look of demi-humans in drawings and the like and found it a shame she wasn't one so after working for a while she found a 'solution' for her problem."
Hearing her emphasis on the word 'solution' Villin suddenly realized something as he stumbled back a bit staring at Amelia in bewilderment.
"Ah right, I forgot you didn't realize the goal of the club yet, whoops," Amelia said with a laugh as she looked at Villin.
Ignoring Villin's bewilderment Aria looked at the duo sadly since her words had been ignored "Amelia you shouldn't hog him for yourself like that~nya".
Villin shook his head taking in the situation but just as he was about to ask something, the door behind him opened and a man entered. A moment later Villin felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked back he saw professor Messen standing behind him.
Villin was about to ask something but before he could say anything the professor spoke: "Don't worry Villin, other than the trio from last year everyone here is new, I will explain everything to all of you at once."
Villin frowned for a moment before nodding and taking a step back. The professor walked toward the middle of the room followed by Amelia and Aria.
Villin waited patiently while staying near the side of the room. He's rather not get seen by too many people and so he decided to leave the room as soon as he heard what the professor wanted to say.
The entire room had grown quiet as everyone stared at the professor who then spoke loudly so that everyone could hear him.
"Twenty people in a single year. I should let you know the previous record of selected students was five." he smiled trying to lift the mood a bit but saying everyone was still on edge he spoke some more.
"First of all, I should let you know nobody here will betray us. I have my own way to tell when a student is telling the truth and I can say without question that all of the people here intend to study gene solutions. Each of you is exceptionally intelligent and capable, you all are people who would certainly turn out to become great Magus'.
Some of the students visibly relaxed, since everyone's words were confirmed to be true there shouldn't be any problems.
"Since I was aware there would be a large number of potential students this year I asked the three that were selected last year to remain in the first grade a bit longer. Please meet Amelia, Aria, and Kay." He pointed at the trio before getting to the crux of the meeting.
"Firstly, I wish you all to study 'Cut and Crease'. Cut and Crease is an extremely popular sport in the higher grades and if you are well-versed in it, you'll be able to secure benefits and reputation. Secondly, I ensure you, you all will be supported and not just in the matter of making gene solutions. Every two weeks you will be getting a spell model from me when you come to this club.
I implore you to make friends with other people in the club. That being said not associating with them outside of the club is also a good idea as this way you will be able to make contacts without making your connection obvious. This class has hidden equipment that makes it a fit class to make gene solutions in. As he said that, with a wave of his hand, iron tables full of equipment appeared. There were microscopes as well as a large number of vials and small pots made out of all sorts of materials.
"The only thing you have to worry about is getting the ingredients here. Except for the ones that are already in the pill-making class, the others will have to join this class next month. This gives you a viable excuse to have ingredients on you. As for where to get the materials, please let Amelia know of your room-number and she will give you a hint leading you to the market, most of you should have no problem finding it. On that note, best of luck to you all."
After saying this the professor immediately walked toward the door and headed out. Villin no longer wanted to leave immediately as he walked toward the iron tables that had appeared with all the equipment. He had only just gotten there when the boy named Kay spoke up.
"Today's spell is called 'Mentallage'. It only has five nodes and we expect everyone to only talk using this spell when you are within this class starting from next week. You all should be able to cast this message silently, it is an extremely useful spell that only gets sold in the fourth grade's library."
Kay looked very stern as he took out an iron book opening it, he quickly got crowded as everyone wanted to get a closer look at the spell blueprint. One of the first students that arrived then asked something confusedly. "Why are there five different spell-lines?"
Kay scoffed and impolitely replied. "We expect you all to have some talent, each of these lines have different effects."
He started explaining each of the lines and explained the differences, he seemed very thorough despite his impolite reply.
Villin shook his head as he saw Kay explain one of the lines that had all three of the middle nodes different compared to the original. He seemed to be the only one of the new people who realized how tough that spell would be to cast since the entirety of the pathing was different.
There were a few useful ones though. The basic spell was used to cast your voice to a single person, there was a version used to speak to a group and one where the receiver wouldn't be able to tell whose voice it was that was speaking. The one with all three of the middle nodes different was actually used to send someone else's voice to them. This could be used to frame someone for example.
Villin felt very good as he realized this should just be a precedence. It was likely that every two weeks he wouldn't just get a spell blueprint but also some of the derivatory spells that could be used, this would save him a lot of time.
People were a bit more at ease at this point and Villin decided to ask Amelia something he had already been wondering for a while. How she was able to put notes in his chest.
Hey guys, I was just wondering how many people are able to guess what has been implied. With the information you got in this chapter and a bit of info from a previous chapter you should be able to get a good idea of something big that is happening. If you have any guesses feel free to comment?
By the way, Aria is the only catgirl in the novel, it’s not a precedent or anything, won’t be a ‘love interest’ either.