The Gigolo System in the Academy of Magic-Chapter 36: The Witch Tribe

When James woke up, it was still early in the morning, but Selena was gone. There was a note by the bed, saying that she had to leave early.

James smiled. He guessed she was still embarrassed about yesterday.

He silently made an appointment on his communicator to go to the library with her in the afternoon. After all, he needed to go through the books Helene had given him. He was a little curious if she would still have that same stern face when he saw her later.

James also decided to buy a perception enhancing elixir. He checked his affection points.

"More than seven thousand, not bad!"

He could buy quite a few things from the system mall now, but there wasn't really any need. Most of the immediate needs have been taken care of. Instead James glanced at the most expensive items, these were the things he really wanted.

[Diamond Level Item: Soulbound Substitute Doll]

[Acts as a one-time life replacement artifact. Absorbs a single fatal blow dealt to the user.]

[Cost: 1,000,000 Affection Points]

His eyes twitched. At his current level, it would take a few years to buy something like this, and that's if he lived like a monk and didn't spend any money. But then again, to gain an extra life, a few years wasn't too expensive.

James went to the dormitories in the morning but he didn't go into his room. He just surveyed outside for a while, while letting his shadow creep into the room. He could sense that everything seemed normal inside but he didn't care. He wasn't planning on returning to his room until after the training camp.

After he had breakfast in the canteen headed straight to his first lesson, Runes.

By the time he arrived at the Runes class, he was running a little late. But the real surprise was waiting inside.

Demons. In his class.

They sat near the back. Among them was Amon, the red-skinned demon warrior; Gorran, the massive stone demon he'd fought yesterday; and the fox demoness. There were also a few other demons he didn't recognize. fгeewebnovёl.com

Strangely, a few of the usual human students were missing - whether by coincidence or design, he wasn't sure.

James peeked at their system favorability levels. It was not as low as he'd expected, he thought most of them would hate him, considering he was a human. But there was one that stood out the most.

[Gorran – Favorability: 15]

James blinked. This was a strange guy...

Class began, and Professor Meredith summoned a few students forward.

"James, Kira, Edwin—you'll assist our new guests with the wind rune formation."

James nodded.

For him Runes was getting simpler and simpler and he thought it was okay to start showing more of his talent.

So the three civilian students went to the back of the class, while everyone else paid attention to the lecture.

Kira barely helped, too proud to teach anyone. Edwin, meanwhile, was too busy gawking at the beautiful fox demon to speak coherently. So James ended up handling the explanation.

"Hey human, how did you find out my trick?"

James glanced at the audience who were not listening, and then finally turned to the stone demon, "How about you pay attention first, then I'll tell you."

Garron waved his hands lazily, "We already know all of this. We demons know more about runes than you humans ever will!"

James glanced at the complex magical tattoos on his body and nodded slightly,

"Actually it's simple, you were too obvious..."

James saw that the stone demon was waiting anxiously for him to continue, so he smiled and got up from the desk, "Well if you guys know everything, I'll be going back!"

He left without any reluctance leaving Kira and Edwin stunned. From behind, he heard Gorran curse.

"Bastard!"

James laughed. What was the point of wasting time with this? He'd rather go through the system mall, he couldn't buy most of the things but he was happy to look.

The lessons went by normally, no one talked to the demons and the demons didn't to them. Today was Friday, so most people were not really paying attention in class, eager for the weekend. Even James was the same.

In the afternoon instead of going to the cafeteria for lunch, James headed straight to the library.

The grand halls of the Ainsworth Academy Library were quieter than usual in the afternoon. The soft rustling of pages and distant footsteps were the only sounds that broke the silence. The tall marble columns, enchanted to emit a faint glow, cast warm, dappled light across the rows of ancient shelves.

James had already found a desk in a very remote corner, and was now waiting for Selena. Lessons were not till evening, so he decided to spend some affection points and buy a perception enhancing elixir and stay in the library for a while.

As soon as he took the potion, he felt his mind grow clearer and the familiar feeling returned. "Is this how a genius feels every day?"

It seemed he could never grow tired of this!

James quickly opened the books Helene had given him and went through them carefully.

The texts were dense. Most were handwritten, filled with ancient symbols, marginalia, and magical theory James barely understood. But with the help of the perception-enhancing potion, he began to pick out patterns. Mentions of memory suppression, curses that masked injuries, or spells that targeted a person's magical roots without leaving external traces.

The Witch Tribe deserved their reputation, he had searched all over the library but he had never come across some of these curses. The more this was the case, the more felt he had discovered the truth.

If it was someone from the Witch Tribe, it had to be a high level magician. Even if their curses were more advanced than the rest of the world, to hide from Selena and the other professors only a high-level curse could do so.

Does that mean he stumbled into a place owned by the Witch Tribe during the training camp and happened to be cursed by some sort of protection mechanism or...was there some relationship between the Everhearts and the witches?

But the witches have always been allied with the demons...

James' mind was racing, and with the help of the perception enhancing potion, he made all sorts of associations.