[Lifespan Remaining: 20 days, 22 hours, 48 minutes.]
The instrument placed in front of Noct consisted of a large crystal ball on the right and some kind of box on the left. But even from the outside, he could see something shaking from within.
’Is something...alive inside?’
"Open the boxes to your left!" Apollo instructed.
Doing so, Noct found a shallow layer of water covering the bottom of the container, and inside, something dark was curled up against the bottom.
Finn resisted the urge to throw up right beside him, and Annie and Alice were not looking a whole lot better, their faces turning pale by the second.
The creature slowly stretched itself out. It was about as long as his little finger, with a soft, translucent body darkened by something moving under its skin. One end remained attached to the glass while the other lifted toward him.
"What you have there is an Energy Leech," the instructor’s voice rang loud and clear. "As its name suggests, it feeds on energy. What it absorbs remains within its body for a short period before being digested."
Apollo held his leech up for the class to see. "For today’s assessment, you will allow it to take a small sample from you. After doing so, simply give it a little squeeze next to the crystal ball. Doing so will make the leech regurgitate your energy into the ball, allowing you to see what your energy looks like."
The assistants went around the class, passing each person a glove to handle the leech with. But as the students received theirs, Noct could practically hear several people reconsidering the decision to attend the Academy.
"You want us to let that thing bite us?" Violet voiced her complaint from the other side of the room. "This thing is disgusting!"
The instructor simply sighed. "Miss Reine, I did not allow you to speak. However, since this is the student protection period, I will let it slide."
"If you do not wish to do so, then you can choose not to," the man continued. "However, without knowing your energy, your subsequent classes will suffer and you will receive bad grades."
Then, the man simply smirked. "Once the student protection period ends, I will no longer accept refusal to participate as an excuse. Persistently failing to meet this course’s minimum requirements...will be grounds for expulsion."
Violet sat down instantly. Whatever complaint she had been preparing disappeared as soon as expulsion was mentioned. Around her, several students who looked equally dissatisfied hesitantly looked at the device on their desks.
Noct, however, was thinking about something else.
’The student protection period...’
It took him a moment to connect the term to something he remembered.
’Ah. The tutorial phase.’
At the beginning of the Academy portion of the game, players were given some time to familiarize themselves with the classes and mechanics. Making mistakes was expected, and the consequences was more forgiving.
Noct glanced toward Apollo. Though judging from the man’s expression, being protected from the worst consequences didn’t mean they were protected from his temper.
’Might as well figure everything out while I still can.’
He picked up the glove and pulled it over his right hand, flexing his fingers a few times before reaching into the container. Beside him, Finn watched with an increasingly uncomfortable expression.
"You’re doing it already?"
"That’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?"
"I know, but..."
The prince looked down at his own leech, which had begun moving along the bottom of its container. Noct couldn’t really blame him. Up close, the creature wasn’t getting any more pleasant to look at.
He carefully pinched it between his gloved fingers and lifted it from the water. Its body curled around itself, trying to find something to attach to.
’Ugh...’
Still, after crawling around a graveyard and getting covered in things he would rather not identify, holding a small leech wasn’t particularly high on his list of concerns. Noct rested his bare left hand on the desk, then lowered the creature onto the back of it.
The leech attached almost immediately, causing a small sting to follow. But other than that, Noct thought the whole thing had been quite overexaggerated.
Alice leaned closer, though she remained far enough away that the creature couldn’t possibly reach her. "Does it hurt?"
"A little. Nothing worth getting expelled over, though."
She gulped, reluctantly putting on her glove as well. Noct turned his attention back to the leech, paying closer attention to it. Underneath its tarnslucent skin, something had begun to gather, gradually filling its previously empty body.
’It really is taking my energy...’
After a moment, Noct remembered that letting it continue to feed on his energy was probably not a good idea. He carefully removed the leech and brough it toward the crystal ball. With a soft squeeze, the energy escaped its mouth, drifting toward the crystal before being drawn inside.
Noct put the creature back into the box and closed it, bringing his full attention to the crystal ball which was now swirling around with his own energy. Yet, what he found was quite strange.
At first, the energy behaved exactly as Noct expected. It flowed around the inside of the crystal, gathering into a small pool before slowly spreading out again. Without him trying to shape it into anything, it simply sloshed around, movement aimless.
’Liquid. So mana, obviously.’
He leaned back slightly, wondering what they were supposed to do after observing it. But all of a sudden, the pool simply disappeared, causing Noct to spring forward in shock.
Upon closer inspection, Noct realized that it didn’t disappear. Instead, it had spread into a faint haze, occupying the space above where the liquid had been just a moment earlier.
’...Huh? Is this...supposed to happen?’
The haze remained for a few more seconds before suddenly gathering toward the bottom once more, becoming a thin stream.
For some reason, his conversation with Amon in Altaire popped up once again. His father had mentioned that Noct had inherited more than just the Arcadian bloodline. Whatever he received from his mother was also present within him.
He had experienced it in Graveyard, where his power had somehow purified the lich’s core. But now that he was seeing it in person, it was quite...uncanny. At least the two forms fit what Amon had described, albeit a lot more unstable than what Noct would’ve hoped.
Though just as he was beginning to make sense of it, the energy inside changed again. This time, it didn’t return to its previous state.
Instead of the haze, it had drawn together into a thick mass that clung to the inside of the crystal. It shifted slowly, almost possessing a sort of...viscous-like state. It wasn’t a solid, Noct was sure of that, but it certainly wasn’t any of the other two types as well.
"Uhmm, Instructor Nova? I think something’s wrong with mine."