Part 5: Settling In

Last time, the faculty of Iyen counted their lucky stars that no one on Lunar has a concept of human rights, or lawsuits, and also our girls got into school.






Ellie and Lena, congratulations! You're now pupils at Iyen. Your first task will be to find yourselves a teacher.
What? Why?
Is it really not enough you tormented a bunch of kids and nearly got them killed? Now that passed your test we STILL have to jump through some stupid hoops?
Wow Ellie, let it go. Have a-
I will not have a cucumber sandwich.
...*munch* Anyway, you were saying?
You did come here to learn, didn't you?
Er, yeah! Of course we did! Right, Ellie?


It is this school's policy that each student must choose a professor and curriculum under which to study. All of our professors are good people. I'm sure you'll have no problems! Do your best!


Or Professor Iason in the gym near the west gate.

So while we could roam around in the earlier chapter, this one is here to familiarize us with the occupied town, and with the faculty.


The teachers here will grant you new magic! Whether you do research or hands-on training, be sure to speak with them often!

So one slightly different thing this game does is that you do not automatically gain new spells. There really isn't a point in the game telling you about this now; it won't be until next chapter that we learn new spells.



And speaking of new gameplay mechanics, there's a super basic and completely pointless item crafting system in the game for some reason. We'll discuss it a little later in the update.


What is 'martial arts magic?'
Ooh! Are we gonna learn how to summon bees by dancing?! That's awesome! We gotta get in those classes!
Where are you getting such weird ideas? He just teaches how to use offensive magic. I don't even think what you described is magic at all.
....aw.


Terena's classroom is west of the plaza, and Ralph's is east of the office.


The lab can be found on the outskirts of town.
Make-up? Did you say make-up?
Yup.
But it's magic make up, right? It'll turn you... uh, magical, right?
No, it's just make-up. My, you kids certainly have an imagination.

A couple NPCs tell you about some of the faculty, but it's probably better to go out and actually meet them. So let's do just that.




*_{Image shamelessly stolen from Lunar-net.}

We've been around town, but now since there are actually people here, exploring the town will have a point.



You may notice there are a few building that don't have a number on them. That's because they're useless buildings and nothing happens in them. They seem to claim they're a shop, but don't sell anything. Even though Iyen is rather small and there are a lot of named NPCs, there's still empty space like this. Seems weird to me.



But there are shops we can actually use. This building is labeled with "7" on the map, and it's pretty much the closest thing this game has to equipment.



We can only buy robes, no other armor or any weapons. Also robes only increase the speed of MP regen, they don't improve defense. Seems slightly pointless at the moment, but later on waiting for MP to regen will take forever, so we'll want robes. The first tier isn't terribly good, though, and we can't afford it right now anyway.



Moving on, here's the library, building number 5. Sadly, there is no funny book text to read, but here we can meet our potential mentor.




Mmmh, I suppose I don't mind.
Alright Ellie! What a relief!

Huh. That was easy. Sweet.


Wait, who's Layla?
Me!
...uh...
I was in the library earlier!


I can't even see you in that picture!
Well I'm there!
I'll be honest. You looked really boring so we kind of didn't... bother talking to you. Sorry.
...


Go and read those books, over there.
Books? What about, you know, lectures? Or practice
Oh... All we do here is read books and ponder their meaning.
That's it? Just reading books!?
As you say. Look, I'll just level with you. I only take students because I haven't got tenure yet.
Do you even have any magic powers?
I do, but they're all book related.
Lame. I don't know, maybe we should find another teacher... I think my eyes would fall out from all this reading. Let's go somewhere else, Ellie!



Huh I wonder if the librarian likes books.



Moving up to building 4.



They do sell herbs we haven't seen yet; the Star Herb, which restores MP, and the Life Herb, which revives. Exciting stuff.



I sure hope you can hook me up with the best herb. Uh, chronic. Marijuana joke.

More importantly, another faculty member!


Aren't you excited?
Yeah! I think we could really be good at this!
Good at what? Do you even know what they do here?
We can be good at anything we put our minds to. Gawd have some self-esteem.


But nobody wants to study under me. I never have enough help around here.
What? Why?
Well, I've got a lot of strong chemicals in my lab. Whenever I mention "strong chemicals" and "herbs" the students that do want to help aren't the sort we'd like to have in Iyen, if you catch my drift. Oh, and they tend to turn your hands into mushy stumps. Like mine, see?
Aaack! Way to ruin my marriage prospects! Nobody'd want to marry me if I had hands like those!
Wow, how feminist of you.
Can it. Nothing wrong with wanting non-mushy hands.
Sorry, Professor, I think we'll pass! I value my skin too much!



Moving onto building number 3, we have the item shop. Which is different from the herb shop. Why?



This place sells stuff that we can use in item crafting. How does it work? Well, the shop sells three special potions; Light Water, Protect Water (or PrtctWater with the character limitations) and Mystery Water (or MystWater). These potions do nothing on their own, but instead combine with herbs to make different items.



We're going with the Light Water, since it's the only one we can afford.



To combine it, you just use it in the inventory.



Mixing it with the Calm Herb gets...







A better HP restoring item. Not... great. The Light Water can be combined with a Star Herb and a Sun Herb too, but not with the Life or Cure herb.

There are 8 items you cannot purchase, and can only find or create, plus three items that you can both purchase and create. The crafted items are generally more powerful restoratives than herbs, but they're all just restoratives. Nothing exciting. It's not a great item crafting system.



Oh, and also this item exists. I'm not sure if I ever used it in this game? For the most part the game will warp you out of dungeons at the end, so this would only be useful if you wanna leave mid-dungeon. Which I usually never need to do, because it's not like I'm running out of supplies in this game with regenerating MP. But, you know, this item exists.



Oh, and there's a faculty member here, too.


Ah... too bad. At least you didn't waste our time. I appreciate that.
Are you still here?



Apparently Alba considers three students to be an over stuffed classroom. Oh by the way his name is Alba.

In the remake, since there are no items, all those shops we saw earlier don't exist in that version. Alba has been changed entirely; he's called Kent in Magic School, and is an inventor. Makes sense, I guess.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. Next to the item shop is the dorm (seems unsafe, but what do I know) which we're already somewhat familiar with.



But it did gain a lunch lady in the meantime!

Sweet! I know who we're-

You cannot study under her.

Damn it.


I don't even want to think about it!
Actually, what will happen to us if they throw us out? What, we just get sent home? It'd be really embarrassing, but we'll live.
Do you really think they'd actually bother to make sure we could get home?
...let's get going then.


Then what do you do now sir? Do you teach, or-
I never said I stopped taking classes.
Uh, this may be a rude question, but-
You don't want to know how old I am.



It sure is.



Next teacher, at building 9. This is Terena, the music teacher. I'm certain she will take the two girls under her wing and this won't be a waste of time.

Let's begin with some speaking practice, shall we?
Oh, okay. There once was a man from Nantuck-
That's not what I mean.


Oh, by speaking you mean... singing.
Don't look at me I don't get it either.


Uh...
Just start singing so she can eventually reject us.
You've really gotten a lot moodier in the last few days, ya know?


Hmm? That's odd... Can I hear that again, please?
La? La? La? La?
Ms. Lena...
Yes, ma'am?
I'm afraid that you're just not cut out for singing.
Huh? Why not?
Putting it bluntly, you're tone-deaf.


That was... kind of mean.
It's best she know now. Poor thing.
Well how do I sound, then? Oh right, haven't sung for you yet. *A-hem* I've got a lovely bunch of coconu-
Get out.

By the way, Lena does actually leave the party at this point. You just have to go outside to get her back, though.






That's all well and good, but that means we've exhausted every other option except...
No...


No! No! NO!
C'mon, Lena, we walked out on everyone else. It's either this or the creepy mask place.
At least in the creepy mask place we won't have to do... PE! And they don't even have dancing bee classes!
That- sounds like a bad idea anyway. Besides, we don't have a lot of options. Let's just go in.


I can already tell this is going to be wonderful.




Uuuuuuuh....
....yes?


Obviously, WOMEN can't turn into MEN, so obviously, I can't accept you!
Huh? Why not?
Women don't have... well, MANhood!
You're horrible! This is discrimination! You at least have to give us a chance!
...heh, why not? Could be fun. Might as well let you take the test!
So you'll be our teacher? Great!
If you want to be a real MAN, you pass through the MAN's Dungeon! Beat the monsters to obtain proof of your MANhood! You get that, and we'll start with the lessons.
Doesn't sound too tough.
The monsters in there are some of the toughest on the island. I doubt you'll even last one fight. But I won't keep you from trying!
Pheh, we passed that stupid entrance exam, we're ready for anything! Bring it on!
You are certainly eager to get into PE class.
Look, when it involves showing up a chauvinist pig, I am all over that. PE or not.
And yet you're worried about your marriage prospects.
I'm a complicated woman.



We did in fact see the MAN's dungeon earlier. But I'm still not going to talk about it yet.







Because Iason wasn't joking. You can't win any of the fights in here.


This isn't about a woman becoming a man!
Isn't it, though?
No, it's about the horrible murderous beasts you're keeping IN TOWN.
And?
Aren't you worried that they'll get out, sir?
Eh, it's happened before. We just beat them back.
What if they kill someone?
Eh.

You'll still have to find another teacher.


This was a terrible idea and I blame you for it entirely.
Say, uh, since he rejected us, that means we've only got one more option...
...


Have you gone to see Professor Dadis yet? He should be back now!
Do we- do we have to?
We really don't want to study under a cultist!
Cultist? What are you talking about? Where did you get that idea? Dadis isn't a cultist-
...Actually...
Well... maybe... Eh, don't worry about it. He's harmless.
I hate my life.



By the way, as Emma alluded to, Dadis won't be here at the beginning of this chapter, so we do have to waste our time with the other teachers. Yay.


It somehow smells even worse now...


I'm Dadis. I teach cosmetic magic. Whaddayawant?
I'm really going to regret this, but... We want to study with the teacher here.
Huh? Guess that's okay. But you needta pass a test first.
A test? The last one we had didn't go so well...
Nah, s'easy! Just grab me some cinnabar from the basement.
Wha? That's easy! We'll be right back!


We got it, thanks.


Maybe you should have listened to him. How will we know what this cinnabar looks like?
We'll be fine. A few extra minutes rummaging around in a basement ain't gonna kill us-


AAAH!
Uh, Lena?


Oh. Sorry, I'm still a little jumpy.
I get you.


At least he made it easy for us.
Cosmetic magic, huh? I guess...


Aaagh! Who're you? How'd you get in here?
You wanted cinnabar, right?
Huh? Cinnabar, cinnabar... Oh, right! Sorry, I musta spaced out there for a minute.
Is that so?
So! Whaddya doing here?
We're HERE because you wanted us to bring you some cinnabar!
Ohh, cinnabar! ...why'd you bring me cinnabar?
This is getting us nowhere... But, we have to pass the test...
Eh? Test? I'm sure you did fine. Whatever. Report to me first thing in the morning, right?
Okay...


I know, we just did that.


It's okay! You can copy my notes.
I'm still worried!
Well, I'm not!
Of course you're not.



And... that was it. That was the whole chapter. And yes, that one fight at the end was the only (winnable) fight I got into for the entire chapter. Kind of a let down after the last chapter had three (admittedly small and piss easy) dungeons, three mid bosses, and a boss fight. But that's just how Walking Schools rolls.

By the way, in Magic School Lunar, this chapter is pretty much the first chapter. You still apprentice under Dadis, although there you have to fetch him from an island cave. Even when Magic School Lunar and Walking School have the same plot points, a lot of the finer details differ significantly. For the most part I won't bother pointing them out, just the broader strokes.

Next time, classes will finally happen in a game with the word "school" in the title.