A few minutes later, Cale sat up expectantly, glancing at the door. Damien was sitting on his bed, alternating between experimenting with his mana and trying to pretend he wasn't sneaking half-curious, half-terrified glances at Cale.
Then a knock sounded, and Damien immediately shrank back, giving the door a nervous look. Poor thing probably wasn't used to a single guest in any given day, let alone multiple visits. Cale gave him a sympathetic look, then walked over to open it—he'd sensed Akkau's mana even before the dragon had started knocking. He'd been waiting for this.
"Akkau!" he said happily. "Come on in!"
Damien gave him a terrified look. "You can't just call him by his first name!"
"Why not?" Cale asked blankly. Damien just sank his face into his pillow. A moment later, Akkau entered the room, expression bemused.
"You are settling in, I see," the dragon said impassively. "Good to see you, Damien. Cale, come with me."
"Did you finish setting things up?" Cale asked. "That seems fast."
"No. That will likely take at least a week," Akkau said plainly. "We have over a hundred different resonance courses. I am prioritizing the ones that will help you develop a [Baker's Domain], but there has been rather significant pushback from my faculty members, as it were."
Cale frowned. "Really?" he asked. "They're not just gonna take your word for it?"
"Many of our professors are archmages in their own right," Akkau said, arching a scaled brow. "And while they respect me and my position, they have their own... eccentricities, you could say. Many of them simply require proof of your talents before they will agree to your enrollment, and I did not think it would be an issue. Am I wrong?"
"If they need me to prove myself, I guess I can do that," Cale said with a shrug. "Unless they want me to cast basic spells."
"They are aware of the situation, though many of them need to see it for themselves to believe it," Akkau said dryly. "They have decided that you must prove to them you are as capable and experienced as I say. I suspect the process will be educational for all of us."
Cale narrowed his eyes. "You want to figure out what I can do, too, don't you?"
"I will admit to some curiosity." Akkau didn't seem to feel particularly guilty about it. If anything, the old dragon was wearing a subtle smirk. Cale grumbled under his breath.
"Fine," he said. "What do I have to do?"
"Each professor will come up with a test of their own and incorporate it into their classes so as to ensure minimal disruption," Akkau said. "You will attend classes according to your schedule, in other words, but you may be tested during them. Be aware that many of the rest of us will likely be observing, especially in the beginning."
Cale scowled. "I told you I hated tests," he said, sighing dramatically. He didn't mind that much, though—an opportunity to flex his talents was always appreciated, as long as it was actually interesting. "They better be good. Don't just make me blast a target and call it a day."
"I suspect you will not be disappointed," Akkau said, his lips twitching into a slight smile. He held out an old, tattered-looking scroll, and Cale took it, frowning. There was an enchantment on it, that much was clear. "This will be your preliminary schedule. I have taken the liberty of giving you our standard set of mandatory classes and a single resonance class to shadow, so that you know what to expect. More will be added to your timetable by the end of the week, once I have cleared your inclusion with the necessary teachers."
Cale opened the scroll, eyeing it with some distaste. "How am I supposed to know when it's time for the next class?" he asked. "I don't see any clocks..."
He trailed off. The scroll was vibrating.
"Huh," he said.
"I have taken the liberty of enchanting your scroll to alert you a short while before the start of a class, depending on distance," Akkau said. "There is also an enchanted timer in the upper right corner of the scroll, if you need to track the time."
Cale eyed the scroll like it was going to bite him. "I feel like I should be offended."
"You should be grateful. I left out the electrocution part of the enchantment."
"Do you always go around electrocuting your students?" Cale asked, raising an eyebrow. He doubted Akkau had left it out to be kind. In fact, he was almost certain the only reason it had been left out was because the dragon knew he was immune to most mana types.
"Bah. It is a minor zap at best." Akkau seemed far too smug about it, despite his words. Cale examined the scroll a little more carefully. There was the timer, the list of classes, a moving arrow that was presumably meant to guide him to the location of the next class, and...
Cale paused. "There's a sound enchantment on this thing," he accused.
"Is there now?" Akkau grinned. "Perhaps you should hurry."
"You act like I'd be late if you didn't do this," Cale grumbled, ignoring the fact that he absolutely would have skipped a number of these classes without the "incentive" Akkau had built into the scroll. "I could just dispel this, you know. I can do a basic dispel."
"You could," Akkau said agreeably. "But I suspect you will find these classes far more interesting than you expect. And allow me to remind you that a part of our agreement involves you helping my professors teach their classes—surely you have not forgotten?"
Cale sighed. "I remember."
"Besides," Akkau said. "Your first class is Ancient Artifacts. I presume this is the sort of thing you may be interested in?"
"Depends," Cale said carefully. "Are we just studying some fake relics, or is this something that's actually interesting?"
Akkau laughed. "I see you have much the same opinion on fake relics as our Ancient Artifacts professor," he said. "Imrys makes it a point to destroy any fake relics we come across. In fact, I believe the class you will be attending involves the identification of an unidentified relic. That is the sort of thing you have an interest in, I presume?"
Cale blinked, then tried to swallow back the drool his traitorous body started producing. True unidentified relics in any academy were rare; most of them prioritized the safety of their students. He doubted this one was any different, but if there was even a chance that this was something he hadn't encountered before...
"No?" he tried, though even as he said it he knew how unconvincing he sounded. Akkau simply stared at him with one eyebrow slightly raised, and Cale sighed. "You've only known me for like three hours," he complained. "You shouldn't know me this well."
"You may be an anomaly, Cale Cadwell Cobbs," Akkau said, wearing the faintest hint of a smirk. "But you will find I am quite familiar with anomalies."
"...Please just call me Cale."