28 Second chances III

Why didn't I think of this before? They're going to be in for quite the surprise after their week of training is done.

Noah closed the grimoire and tucked it back into its holster. He cleared his throat and kicked his legs, twiddling his thumbs. He scanned his room, finding himself with down time for the first time since he'd arrived on this world.

It didn't feel good.

Noah's eyes landed on the pile of papers in the corner. He'd still yet to reorganize them after mistakenly throwing them everywhere with his wind magic. Noah stood and walked up to the pile.

At its top was the paper warning for Skinwalkers.

Skinwalker group spotted in the area. Be wary of colleagues or students that you recognize that speak or move in an odd manner,especially those that have been missing for more than three weeks. It takes Skinwalkers time to completely merge with a body and absorb the residual memories within it. They are especially attracted to people with powerful Runes and can occasionally be well spoken.

Take extreme care when running into anyone that makes you feel uncomfortable, or who simply seems 'off'. Skinwalkers are not especially dangerous after they have been discovered, but they are insidious killers that often have more kills than vastly more deadly monsters.

If you suspect someone you know to be a Skinwalker, seek out another professor or confront them immediately.

"Makes me wonder who's at the top of the food chain here," Noah mused, setting the paper down. "Is it powerful mages? Or are there monsters that are even stronger than them? Those Great Monsters, maybe?"

He wasn't about to get the answers to those questions in his room. Noah sighed and gathered a stack of papers. It was as good a time as any to sort through Vermil's stuff with a more careful eye and see if there was anything important that he'd missed.

***

Going through the pile took considerably longer than Noah had expected. He'd guessed that it would take the rest of the day at most, but it ended up taking him all day and then a good portion of the next morning.

To his great annoyance, the vast majority of the information within the paper could have been boiled down to roughly one sentence.

Vermil was a lazy, entitled brat of a rich family that had peaked in high school and had absolutely no plans of doing anything about that.

He had dozens of letters from girls that Noah suspected to be his former students, trading a variety of favors in exchange for passing grades. Amongst them were several complaints from other professors and teachers directed to Arbitage, all of which had been rejected.

The Linwicks just donated too much money to the school, and Vermil had known it. The smug bastard had literally been given the complaints, which he'd saved as some form of stupid memento.

"You definitely had this coming," Noah informed Vermil's body. "Don't worry. I'll put your body to much better use than you ever could have."

I just hope your family feels the same way. Moxie implied that they clearly cared about reputation, though. Something just doesn't add up. Why would Vermil be allowed to be such a scumbag if he was representing this rich family?

With that, another thought struck him and Noah's frown deepened even further.

Wait. Vermil was in the Scorched Acres, but he was planning on letting Isabel and Todd cheat their way through the exam. How does that make sense? I'm missing something. I'm missing a lot of somethings.

Unfortunately, whatever he was missing didn't seem to be in the now-organized piles of paper before him. Noah pursed his lips. There were all too many things that he couldn't quite put a finger on, and that wasn't even mentioning whoever had tried to kill him.

Noah stood from the desk. The questions would still be waiting for him when he got back, but there were more monkeys to train against. If he wanted to make sure he could demonstrate everything to his students, his form would have to be immaculate.

And I need to find that bastard that chucked the rock at me and send him to wait in a line for a few centuries. I wonder how many different kinds of monkeys there are in the forest. Actually, for that matter, why aren't there other monsters? Monkeys can't possibly make up an entire ecosystem.

Noah grabbed a spare set of clothes from his dwindling supplies and swept out of his room, locking the door firmly behind him before striding down the hall and heading for Tim's tower. The more he thought about things, the more questions he got. Perhaps the older man would answer a few things while he got the cannon prepared.

Before long, Noah had reached the tower. After a short wait in line, the lift rattled him up to the dome at the top and Tim greeted him with a wide grin.

"Hullo there. You've been using the Travel Anywhere In No Time system quite a bit now. It's damn useful, isn't it?"

"It is," Noah agreed. "I've been doing a lot of preparation for the exams next month at Scorched Acres."

"Dedicated bloke, you are. You giving the monkeys the good ole one-two?"

"Doing my best to," Noah said with a chuckle.

"At least someone is," Tim said, rolling his eyes. "Same place, then?"

"Yeah, same place. What do you mean by that, though? Don't the other professors go there a lot as well, especially as the test gets closer?" Noah asked.

Tim let out a snort. "Certainly not with me, but I've ferried a few students to it. Most of the time people don't really go down there."

"I see."

"It ain't just that the monkeys, you know," Tim said with a panicked wave. "There's also that great beastie in the area. The Hellreaver."

"Expand on that?" Noah asked tentatively.

"You know, the Great Monster," Tim said, holding his hands out to his sides, then frowning as if disappointed by his inability to properly show how large the monster was. "The giant ape thing. Nobody wants to run into that."

"And we still have the test in the forest?"

Tim shrugged. "It doesn't go after students. Not enough magic in 'em. Also, the thing is usually asleep. As long as you don't go too close to it, you're fine."

Noah opened his mouth, then closed it. If that was really the case, it wasn't exactly a terrible idea. Powerful animals on earth were usually pretty territorial as well, so if the Hellreaver kept other strong monsters away, it might have actually been beneficial.

Might have been. He wasn't convinced.

"Interesting. I never thought about it like that."

There was a loud clunk as the cannon aligned itself. Tim gave Noah an expectant look, and Noah climbed into the tube.

"Say, do you know why the forest is just full of monkeys and nothing else?" Noah asked before Tim could fire him off.

"We corralled them there a few years back. It's how the forest got scorched. Nothing else can survive, and they just eat each other," Tim replied with a chuckle. "You really are new, aren't you? It was huge news a few years ago."

"Good to know," Noah said. "Thanks, Tim. See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Tim agreed, tipping an imaginary hat to Noah. Energy swirled and prickled at Noah's skin before enveloping his body. The world snapped into shades of blue and Noah was launched into the Ether and sent hurtling toward the Scorched Acres.