The Iron Sole Alchemist and the Magical Girls (Chapter 8) Education
by Howlin
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)
The goal of the school that had been set up in Liore was so that I could pass on what I'd learned in my travels between worlds. Every citizen of Liore had the right to attend and we maintained boarding facilities for students from farther abroad to attend. In addition to the magics I'd brought with me from beyond the Gate, the school also provided a top quality education in math, science,history, and literature.
There was no shortage of teachers for the mundane subjects. Plenty of alchemists came to Liore to do research with the red stones we produced, so hiring a competent alchemy teacher wasn't overly difficult. Captain Ukitake had teaching experience with the soul reapers' style of spiritual arts and was eager to pass that knowledge on. That still left a significant number of subjects for which Sloth and I were the only qualified teachers.
In place of a sorting ceremony, the school year began with every new student being stabbed through the heart by the special sword Kiske designed to safely and reliably transfer soul reaper powers. Every student was given a wand and a blank zanpakto so they could begin the process of bonding with it.
The first year went pretty smoothly. Students came in with various skill levels in a lot of subjects, but the subjects Sloth and I needed to teach personally had nothing but beginners. We were able to divide up the teaching load between us and still have time for lives outside of work, socializing, helping set up the new afterlife, and continuing on our own training to broaden our abilities and to really master what we'd already learned.
Kiske published some interesting discoveries that first year. Among them was the fact that holowfication didn't naturally occur in this world. He hypothesized that it might be akin to a ubiquitous infection back in his previous world, since in addition to not hollowfying, people from this world lacked the normal antibodies against hollow energies. Transferring soul reaper powers also transferred the spiritual antibodies, but baseline humans would undergo soul suicide rather than ever be able to integrate hollow energy like fullbringers.
Having access to a properly clean population also allowed Kiske to determine that the chain of fate being visible like it was for human souls in the world of the living back where he came from was, in fact, a symptom of early stage hollowfication. When expelled from their bodies, permanently or otherwise, people from this world didn't have a visible chain of fate, though it still functioned as a pressure point like it did for soul reapers.
Sloth and I took an annual vacation to return to the other worlds where we'd made friends and catch up with them. It also let me keep an eye on my long term projects like the Rukon Militia and the growing homunculus population of magical Britain.
The teaching got harder the second year and every year after that. Sloth and I were still teaching multiple subjects each, and each passing year we were teaching an additional grade level of those subjects. We had to use time turners to keep up with the load and maintain some semblance of work life balance.
By our third year, the world was starting to change in significant ways. Mustang had finally succeeded in getting the assembly to bend on the human transmutation issue, licensing State Alchemists to perform such research under strict supervision and with considerable oversight. That led to numerous State Alchemists getting access to my earlier papers on the subject which had previously been heavily restricted. They came to me for advice. In another year, the assembly was giving serious consideration to authorizing the State Alchemists to convert volunteers into homunculi like I'd been doing secretly in Liore for years.
Between the renewed interest in bio alchemy and the various healing potions now being sold throughout the country, automail was becoming a dying art as a form of simple prosthesis and limb replacement. Engineers who wanted to continue plying their trade switched over to automail as a means of enhancement instead.
After five years, we graduated our first class of OWL certified students. The ones who decided to go on to NEWT level were given the opportunity to undergo hollowfication. Without having spent generations dying at the hands of hollows, the students were willing to accept my assurances that their inner hollows weren't evil, and they managed to establish relatively healthy relationships with their hollows.
It helped that by that point, with all my time turning, I'd finally mastered external manifestation. Tsumi no Rensa, Araña, and Vaccine were able to come out of my inner world and interact with the class directly. Since each of the students would get a copy of Vaccine when they underwent hollowfication, getting to know him a little before making that commitment made the transition easier on them.
"It's hard to believe it's just been seven years," said Sloth over breakfast.
"For us, it hasn't been," I said. "I haven't kept track of all the time turning we did to keep the students' graduation date on track."
"And if nothing goes wrong with the NEWTs next week, soon it'll all be over. We'll have qualified people to take over teaching."
"I can't imagine anything going wrong," I said. "We've prepared them as much as we could, gave extra help to the ones falling behind. They're already qualified. Next week's just about proving it."
"It really is amazing how well everyone's taken there being a real afterlife they can visit while they're alive, get visitors from,and talk to on the phone," said Sloth. "I expected the Ishbalans to react a lot worse than they did."
"Mustang's managed the whole situation better than I could have imagined," I agreed. "It's all just a fact of life now and the religious leaders are busy updating their doctrines. They'll probably have to update them again if Alphonse's research trip pans out."
"A unified theory of death that applies across all the worlds we've visited," said Sloth, shaking her head. "You couldn't figure it out."
"Al's smarter than me," I said. "He and Ed both are. I wasn't the one who cracked how to modify the fideleous charm so people other than regular living humans could use it."
"They were doing straight research. You were spending half your time teaching and the other half working on your hollow and quincy powers."
"I'd been poking at the problem off and on since before they even heard of it," I said. "And they didn't even stay for their NEWT years."
"They were getting restless," said Sloth. "I can't really blame them. I've been looking forward to getting back to exploring new worlds for a while."
"I definitely needed some peace and stability after those last worlds, but seven years has been a bit much," I agreed. "I cracked segunda etapa two years ago, and that was the last major spiritual power on my list. Refining my powers is all well and good, but I've been itching for the chance to learn something completely new."
"Well, we'd better take Loki out for his morning run," said Sloth, clearing the table. "We've been doing enough time turning lately without needing to use it to get to our morning classes on time."
Exams went smoothly. With how much of my own magical education had been interrupted by wars, prison breaks, and evil wizards trying to murder my friends, I was a little conflicted over how smoothly this had gone for them. I knew this was how things were supposed to go, but I felt almost like I'd left out something vital when they went into exams with their biggest worry being how their grades would turn out.
Roy Mustang, head of the Amestrian civilian assembly, came to attend the graduation ceremony. The man had long since stopped wearing his eye patch, and no longer felt the need to carefully hide his oroboros mark. He was accompanied by his entourage of close subordinates, many of whom had also decided to become homunculi in the intervening years.
A device plundered from the Soul Society's Department of Research and Development database was critical to our planned events. Somewhat resembling a spotlight, the device emitted a cone of energy that caused spiritual phenomenon to be visible and audible to muggles. The stage was lined with them. Without that, only the students and faculty would be able to appreciate the display as quincy archers lined up on one side of the stage, hollowfied students donned their masks on the other side, and fired arrows and balas upward so they'd collide and explode in a fireworks display that showed off the talent and control of the advanced class.
After the ceremony proper, there was a reception where staff, students, and guests could mingle informally. Mustang approached Sloth and I while we were splitting a plate of hors d'oeuvres with Loki.
"Rose tells me the two of you are planning another expedition through the Gate," said Mustang.
"It's something we've been planning for a while," I said. "As existentially terrifying as the last couple worlds were, we learned a lot from our time there."
"We are hoping the next world will be less existentially terrifying, even if that means we learn less," said Sloth. "It's no sure thing, but the Gate's generally been good about sending us to the sort of place we want to go. Easing back into things this first trip in a while, you know."
"I have to ask about certain strategic resources," said Mustang.
"The Oin, the hogyoku, the dragonballs, and the Philosopher's Stones are all staying here," I said. "If we needed more than our personal power and our normal equipment, we're probably better off leaving that world and coming back later anyway."
"It's good to know our trump cards in case of another invasion through the Gate won't be gone," said Mustang. "Of course, once we finish integrating what you've already brought back, it's going to be a nasty invader that'll force us to play one of those cards."
"Remember," said Sloth, "the dragonballs run on Greed's karmic potential. If they go dormant, it means somehow, he's been killed. In that case, we'll probably need a rescue."
"Edward and Alphonse are the only ones quite as comfortable with Gate travel as you two are," said Mustang. "They'll be the first to hear about it if we detect anything like that."
"Not that we're expecting trouble," I said. "Like Sloth said, we're going to try for a world where there's something new to learn, but where our current powers are enough to keep us safe."
"I know you don't hear this much from people in authority, but thank you for everything you've done, for me personally, for our country as a whole, and for the people in the other worlds who are becoming our allies. Having people willing to go out there, visit new worlds with all the risks that involves, and come back to share it all with us is invaluable."
"Likewise, thanks for what you do," I said to Mustang. "Societies have torn themselves apart over changes that are a minuscule fraction as extreme as Amestris has been through lately. You've kept things progressing in the face of social inertia and political resistance, and done it without resorting to violence."
"Throwing our weight behind you was definitely the right call," said Sloth.
"So, when are you heading out?"
"We're already packed," said Sloth. "The plan was to leave as soon as the party ends."
"Well, I won't keep you. Good luck," said Mustang before heading off.
"We can probably slip out early," said Sloth after he'd gone.
"I've spoken to everyone I needed to," I agreed.
We let Loki finish licking his plate clean, called for him to follow, and headed out. We ducked own the nearest empty alley and huddled close together. I clapped my hands and a glowing blue transmutation circle drew itself in the air above my head. It swept down over us and we were on our way through the Gate.
Author's comments:
The knowledge they've brought back is finally taking root and changing the world. The beginnings of an interdimensional alliance are beginning to form thanks to repeated contact. As for the next world, there's always something new to learn.