âUrghhhh.â Kira lightly bashed her head against the kitchen table.
âKira! Just make up your mind already, itâs been two hours!â Helina said in annoyance. âIf you groan one more time, imma have to call Resetta over here so she can drag you out.â
âBut⦠ah fine.â Kira rested her chin on the table with a frown. âI donât get how all of you choose your electives so fast. I mean, even Abby chose hers already.â
It was Thursday evening, almost a week since they had first arrived on campus. At the crack of dawn on Monday, after a relaxing weekend getting to know people and strolling through campus, they were guided to their homeroom class where they had been given their entire school curriculum over the next seven years.
It was kind of a lot all at once, with more things then Kira would like to think about, the most important being their future path they wanted to take in school. She had known that the Wondrous Academy had education outside of the campus grounds, as shown by those seventh years talking about their co-ops and jobs during the showcase, but she didnât know that a majority of their schooling, from third to seventh year, was going to be out in the real world.
Third year and fourth year they were to go somewhere abroad depending on what occupation they wanted to pursue, and learn under a teacher chosen by the Academy, having to pass one large assignment given to them. They could go train under a knight, make potions with a herbalist, take care of magical beasts with a professional, etc etc. Third year wasnât as intense since it was split into two terms, and allowed them to switch occupations they were studying. Fourth year on the other hand, they had to stick to one occupational study throughout the eight months that made up their school year.
Fifth and sixth year were similar, but instead of being under the guidance of a teacher and following a standard curriculum, they were to go out and do their own thing. The school was there to help, they also had connections and teachers that could guide them in how to proceed with their year, but it was untimely up to the student to decide what to do.
As for the seventh year⦠Principal Jemina wouldnât tell them about it, just that it was different. The one thing they did know about seventh year was that they were back on campus, and each first year was assigned to a seventh year student who would be there to help them with homework or answer questions over the weekends. This gave students another option to go to when in need, and gave them insight onto what current students had to do, as opposed to their masters.
It seemed, to Kira, that making a decision on what occupation you wanted to study was a vitally important task that needed the utmost thought put into it. The elective they were to take this year could influence their entire future! Principal Jemina had said that they shouldnât worry too much over their decision, they had the option to change electives after a month if they didnât like it. They could also change elective paths in the second year, with the chance that they might need to take a quick class over the summer.
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There was another option if Kira didn't like the electives in the first year. In their second year, they had six electives to choose from. Four were continuations of first year electives, but the other two had no elective based prerequisite. They were Advanced Magic Studies, and Advanced Mage Training, which both sounded interesting to her.
Helina had told Kira she wanted to do Advanced Magic Studies during her second year, and continue down that route afterwards, so these first year electives didn't matter to her at all. She decided to pick Knight Training because it looked challenging, and for no other reason.
What to pick⦠ugh. Kira thought back to the last four days.
This first week of school wasnât their normal weekly routine, instead it was the elective week. Each day, from Monday to Thursday, they had a four hour class on a different elective to allow for students to see which one they want to pick for the year.
Monday was Herbology where they learned about plants and their properties, which lead to a potions class next year. Not Kiraâs first option for sure. Tuesday was Magical Beast Studies, which was jam packed with activities during the four hours. Kiraâs favourite part was when they got to feed little papokaâs, which were these tiny furry creatures that loved affection. Wednesday was Wand Foundations, a class that would delve into the history, culture, and understanding of wands. They were told they would even start to learn wand carving later in the year. Thursday, or today, was the most intense elective so far; Knight Foundations. The teacher wanted them to know what taking the class meant, and it was rough. Four hours of warm-ups, exercises, and stretching. The teacher did explain that they would learn how to wield a weapon, delve into combat tactics and strategies, and practise fighting with teammates, but a lot of it would be hellish exercising to train their bodies.
Kira for sure marked off Herbology from her list. She surprisingly had no interest in anything they taught in that class, nor did the prospect of potions excite her. There was no magic to it. As for the other three classes though, she was stumped. Each of them had something she could see herself using in the future.
But what did she want to do? And not elective wise, but what she wanted to do with her future.
âIâm going to go take a shower.â Helina called out, âYou have till Monday to make your choice so no need to stress over it right now. Maybe even go see what your master thinks, he might be able to give you some good insight. I'll meet you downstairs for dinner.â
That⦠was a good idea! Rynus might be able to help her with her decision. She would have to wait till Saturday to leave campus, but luckily she had already gotten permission from the staff to be able to leave every weekend, so no issues there.
Happy that she had somewhat of a plan, she got up from her seat and left towards the first floor, where some of the other girls were planning to have dinner together in a quarter of an hour. It had been a few hours since Knight Training had ended, but she could still see the exhaustion evident on everyone's faces.
Kira smiled as she found an empty chair next to Vea and Abby. Their voices were tired, but there was excitement to be found as they were discussing tomorrowâs familiar summoning ceremony. She was glad she had already summoned her familiar, it gave her an extra two months to hang out with Caspian, but she did lose out on the shared experience they would all have tomorrow.
Over the minutes, first year girls kept streaming down into the dorm dining room and joined in on their conversations, occasionally complaining about their sore bodies. By now, the dining room was full of both first and second years, all mingling with one another as dormmates, sharing stories with one another for laughs.
It was a warm and welcoming atmosphere, one Kira was glad to be a part of.