The rest of the first day was spent beautifully.
I created 3 [hive doppelgängers] and sent each to their own mission:
-explore all the available ground of the academy,
-go to the academy library and make an inventory of books that might interest me except for the subject I was to study,
-one to put in order my things in the dormitory.
I didn't trust the shadow-butler one bit, nor did I care for him. Also, my doppelgängers weren't really that impressive of a creation.
Sure, they could touch and interact with reality and considering their main purpose, they really were perfection.
Truly an unholy spell worth its domain.
But they could neither cast magic nor fight, and even if they did train, nothing would come back to me.
During the week of punishment the Duke so graciously imposed on me, I realised something important I hadn't really considered before.
Mana was not infinite and neither was stamina, but at my current level, training the latter was easier. It also occurred to me, that I didn't really hate physical combat, I just hated being judged by people that didn't know of my condition.
Hence my real plan for the academy was clear.
During the weekdays, my doppelgängers would go to all the lessons, yes all, I didn't accept to be a non frequenting student.
They would accumulate knowledge and inject it directly in me at night and during those days, I would be in the private training rooms, obviously every heir had their private training room and contrary to all expectations, I'd be abusing it greatly.
There was also the fact that Judas couldn't know who the real me was, so he'd need to wander around, after all, I never explained the mechanics of my spells.
As for the weekends, I'd first go with my real body and evaluate afterwards.
And that's exactly what happened.
The first few days, nobody tried to even get close to me. Just the sight of 9 Crows exiting the Lord's dormitories was enough to scare people away, the professors however, they loved it.
They where all wondering the dynamics behind my spell, some even tried to ask for explanations, but when I asked for 1 million mana stones, they were quick to backtrack.
The lessons however, were sadly boring.
Well, not exactly boring, just… nothing exciting. Everything was mainly about memorisation and I discovered another important thing.
My doppelgängers couldn't manipulate mana at all, so mana laws and mana manipulation required my real body. Thankfully the lessons didn't coincide and I was able to tackle them easily, the real problem was that it reduced the time I could spend in the training room.
I also noticed that fighting dummies didn't help one bit, so my physical training was mere conditioning and herbal baths I kept taking even if I noticed their effectiveness was starting to get worse.
Wednesday, library, 3rd floor.
7 mes were around a table filled with books and the sound of writing was unrelenting. Nobody was coming close to us and I was happy again, but I could feel something was missing.
The thrill of playing pranks was lost, after all that happened it was clear I couldn't compensate my good deeds with my pranks, so I needed to find another way. Something that couldn't trace back to me, but still had a good effect and when I was thinking of a brilliant prank to push some chaos onto these tranquil nourishing grounds, something I honestly expected to happen way sooner finally came to reality.
"So you really didn't sign up for any physical courses?" -Yom
"Let it go Yom, none of them is the real body, probably." -Selan
7 voices answered at the same time, like a choir of disorder ready to fuck up some minds.
And I really wanted to fuck yo their minds, but I couldn't just [DMS] them out of the blue, I couldn't expose that curse just yet.
So I went with the next best thing.
"Who is real in this world anyway? Can you prove you're not the dream of a godlike creature? Can you prove you are not marionettes in the hands of a strong puppeteer?"
Yes, instilling doubt was the best thing I could think of.
Yom was a little shaken, but Selan didn't give a fuck about my little escapade.
"The pot calling the cattle black." -Selan
"That would be wrong, after all we are well aware we aren't real."
"You didn't answer." -Yom
The 7 Crows turned towards Yom and encircled him. He felt a little pressured, but he was certain these were just mirages and couldn't touch him.
Until all seven of them raised their hands and started caressing him.
His cheeks, his hair, his shoulders and his back.
That was clear touching.
"We can touch you Yom."
He started trembling and sweating coldly in a heartbeat. Selan too was shocked to see that my doppelgängers could actually touch people.
"As for your foolish, idiotic and completely senseless question, since it is clear you didn't even bother to read the rules of this academy, He has in fact registered for the 2 mandatory physical lessons. However magic is forbidden due to the nature of those lessons, so, for now, He will attend."
"What lessons are they? I need to talk with him." - Yom
"I too would like to have a chat with your… master?" -Selan
"Oh dear, a bastard brother that decided stabbing is easier than thanking and an entitled lady that thinks a mutt shouldn't share his meal at her same table. You can relay your messages to us after all, everything we know He knows."
"Shouldn't you be a little more afraid of the consequences of offending us?" -Yom
"Ha! How could we forget! His grace treats kindness with punishment. Please, forgive us, He obviously wouldn't dare talking like that, actually he wouldn't really waste his breath with anyone at the moment."
Just as Yom and Selan were about to rebuke with I don't know what arguments, my steps, my real steps sounded behind the heirs that were properly ignored.
"I found the book you all suggested, are you done studying?"
"Of course… master… pfffttt"
I raised a brow and immediately understood what was going on.
"Very well. Now die."
The seven doppelgängers froze and exploded in a river of mana directly flowing inside me, the informations were being archived in real time and in a couple of seconds I was able to organise myself.
I turned towards Yom and Selan that were still waiting for whatever reason and exhaled.
There really was no point in wasting precious air for those people, but this could be the perfect alibi for my weekend plan.
Bless myself for being a lying bastard.
"Wilderness survival and Archeology. As my other selves have explained, no magic allowed, so I can only go myself."
"We have such lessons?" -Yom
I really didn't want to keep talking to these people, drinking poison seemed like a much more valuable investment than time wasted on them, but…
"Yes, weekends only, twice a month each. So my only free day is today, now if you could excuse me."
"Wait Crow! I wanted to-"
"Save it Yom, you don't really mean it and I really don't care."
"You don't even know what I wanted to say!"
"So what? Isn't it true that I saved your ass from a nasty curse that got your ass for playing games with Seraph? Isn't it true that I saved Juste from dying in her ritual to advance because she had broken the laws? Isn't it true that despite all the good things I did, I was chained to a contract I had nothing to do with against my will?"
Selan was stunned, she clearly hadn't thought of all the implications my actions had, but I didn't give them time to elaborate.
"Let me tell you something o' mighty heirs of the world. Everything I did, I did it for fun, but my action's consequences had always been good, even beneficial to you all and I was repaid with scorn and punishment, so no. I don't care for you, I never really did. I never even intended to kill any of you."
"Then there's no reason for you to be angry about it."
"Oh but there is. Chains have a tendency to make me want to brake them. I'm not doing it simply because it's useless, but don't push your luck. After all, I could really use the experience of killing for my magic research, let it be beasts and not… humans."