Hammerman

L'Mordryn Academy

"I am indeed not familiar with that term, nor with the flower you are cultivating," Corona answered honestly. "We in Machina never really discusses such topics in our classes."

Answering her question, she replied with a somewhat threatening smile, "Oh, I've been here for a while. I'm actually aiming to enter Master rank sometimes soon."

"And you still haven't answered my previous questions. How and where did you get this corpse?"

With a simple shimmer in the air, all of her bits appeared out of thin air behind her. Half of them were locked towards Nettle herself while the remaining half were locked towards her knight familiar.

She was in no mood for her druidic nonsense.

@A Lowly Wretch

L'Mordryn Academy

"From the graveyard," Corona stated matter-of-factly, now switching full on into her interrogative mode. "You do have permission to use the body, right? From both the gravekeeper and the family this old man belongs to?" She squinted her eyes.

Corona continued examining Nettle as she resumed her work. The flower growing on the corpse's spine had suddenly disappeared, and it seemed to be the cue for Nettle to start using her knife to open up said corpse at where the flower once grew.

She was no stranger to the concept of surgery. She had read quite the number of books pertaining to the subject, though she never actually performed it herself. And if she were to, she would not use such a primitive tool to do it. High precision lasers provided by her familiar would be far safer, cleaner, and easier to use.

Once again, she cringed at Nettle's work, though she had to admit, seeing the inside of a human body certainly piqued her interest, even if that human body was a corpse. It had not decomposed terribly, meaning it hadn't been that long since the man passed on to the next world.

All the more reason to suspect Nettle's method of obtaining him.

"He's still quite fresh," she remarked. "How long has it been since he died?" she asked, crossing her arms under her chest. "Also, such a method of planting would not be feasible for mass production. I suggest you found a better growth medium than a human corpse."

@A Lowly Wretch

L'Mordryn Academy

As she had expected, it was indeed a dead body under that sheet.

Corona flinched a little when he saw the body. Dead bodies were still unfamiliar to her, even though she dabbled in medicines and healing the ailed and sick.

Nettle then explained that she was using the body to grow the strange flower (even she who had seen and memorized many flowers had never seen before) that was definitely growing out of the man's spine, which certainly displeased Corona greatly, as her questioning expression turned into a full-blown frown. Using a human corpse like this, it was simply abhorrent to her.

"So, where did you get this corpse from?" she asked her coldly.

@A Lowly Wretch

L'Mordryn Academy

When the door to the club swung open, Corona's attention momentarily shifted away from her work. She saw Nettle enter with a gurney covered in white sheets alongside her summon.

She didn't know what she was going to do with the gurney, but she could smell that there was something dead under those sheets. From a distance, she couldn't make it out exactly but there was most likely something humanoid-shaped under it.

She sighed. She could only imagine whatever crazy experiment the girl had in her mind. It wasn't her job to do anything about it though. That would fall to the Herbology club leader.

However, her curiosity got the best of her. She decided to pause her work and approached the girl.

"Hey, what's that for?" she asked her casually, staring towards the gurney.

@A Lowly Wretch

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

Hearing the little girl's response immediately made Myrila feel sorry for her. She very well knew how prejudiced some of the kingdom could be against demihumans. She found it to be a foolish notion herself, judging an entire race of people just from their physical form. She had met more unpleasant humans over demihumans, though that might just be because the latter was rare in this country altogether.

"It's alright, little one," she said as she bent over slightly, resting her hand on the demihuman's shoulder with a smile. "I wouldn't tell if you don't want to. Your secret is safe with me. With us," she added, giving a 'Don't you dare telling' glare towards Griffon.

@alexfangtalon@Infichi

L'Mordryn Academy

---

Corona's herbology club session went as swimmingly as usual. Unlike in the Future Tech club where she was certainly one, if not the most, active member, here, she was more in the background, just doing her own thing without really coming out to the spotlight. She didn't really have the same passion in Herbology compared to her passion to Future Tech. She was only in it because she had an expertise in the subject from her former life as the village apothecary. And the knowledge of medicinal compound she got from it, as well as how they affected the human body, could be useful to be used for her healing nanobots project.

Today, she was merely in the corner of the class, mixing her own brew. It was a medicine to repel wild beasts, to be spread around in powdery form around an area you want to be protected. It would create a smell that the beasts absolutely hated, though for humans, it would just be a strange, medicine-smelling aroma.

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

Hearing he criticized her of being impolite just made her even madder towards him. "How dare you to say that when you're the one approaching me uninvited. You didn't even bother to ask for my permission before you started to examine my staff. That is far more rude than merely refusing to give one's name to an ill-mannered complete stranger like you," she retorted. It was in her personality to always be frank about such matters, especially when her opponent was someone below her stature.

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a cloaked young girl bumping into them. As she apologized, Myrila quickly recognized her as the demi-human girl she noticed earlier.

"Hey you, little girl, wait," she told her with a stern expression. "You're a demihuman, aren't you?"

@Infichi@alexfangtalon

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

"Hmph, I think the aesthetic is just fine," she rejected his opinion with a huff.

When she heard him introduce himself like that, her lips curled into a frown. She clearly didn't appreciate his attempt at... whatever that was. Certainly not humor, she held that opinion.

"If you're going to lie, then I suggest doing a better job at it. If you're trying to make a joke, then don't. Clearly, you're not that talented at it," she told him loud and clear.

She couldn't be bothered to introduce herself in kind. She never was fond of being associated with fools.

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

...What is wrong with this guy?

She now realized that he was far more interested in her staff than her own personage since he continued asking more and more questions about it.

"Hey, you're some sort of a staff enthusiast or something? I see now that you seem to be only interested in my staff. It's not for sale, by the way, if you're thinking about going that route."

"As for your questions, as you might have expected, this was custom-made, specially ordered and crafted according to my specifications. The gem is a rare teal emerald, a wonderful material that could conduct magic really well. It's a mineral mined from the Earth, I believe, if I remember it correctly."

She paused for a bit, giving the large gem a slight rub with her free right hand.

"As for who made it, his name was Abraham, and he apparently is supposed to be one of the best craftsman in the kingdom. Paid quite the generous sum for him to make it."

@Infichi

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

Myrila's thoughts were rudely interrupted when some random man suddenly came up to her and began asking questions about the staff she was wielding. His attention was fully invested on the staff, not even bothering to look at the owner before he began investigating it all over.

W-what, who is this guy?

She was so taken aback that she was late to reply. Only after he spoke and commented about her staff some more that she retaliated. She lifted her staff and pointed it towards him.

"W-who are you? A-and what do you want? Don't you ever heard of private space?" She glared at him. It wouldn't be the first that some creep decided it would be a good idea to flirt with her out of nowhere.

@Infichi