Free A Mage's Power (Journey to Chaos) by Brian Wilkerson Page B

answered. He looked just like any
normal Threan lizard, except he was as tall as Eric and stood on his hind legs.
His clothing looked just like Eric's own except the pants had a hole for his
tail. “The diffffferensssse isss that Sssapients are sssentient and
Monssstersss are feral.” His tongue slithered out with each word. Huh . . .They
really do talk like that.
“Could you elaborate on that, Mr. Oito?” the teacher asked and the lizard boy
nodded.
    “A monster'sss mind isss full of chaosss becaussse of mana
mutassshion. No one could sssshink clearly wisssss a mind full of chaosss.”
    “Correct,” the teacher said. “How does the mutation occur?”
     A human girl answered. Her hair was blonde, her right hand
was a cat paw, and a Pez dispenser poked through a hole on her shoulder. “Mana
mutation occurs when a sapient is exposed to a large amount of highly
concentrated mana in a short period of time.” Does she know from experience?
    “Correct,” The teacher said. “If a sapient's mind is full of
mana when it transforms, then why did Mr. Oito say the mind of a monster is
full of chaos?“
    Aio pushed Eric out of his seat. The Otherworlder stumbled
and fell over the person in front of him. All eyes turned to him and he turned
red.
    “Otherworlder? You think you know this?”
    I do. “The source of all mana is Lady Chaos. Noitaerc
dilutes chaos into mana. While chaos is more potent, for the purpose of mana
mutation they are synonymous.”
    “Correct, but what do they look afterward?” First there was
that wolf thing that attacked him and then the Venus Fly Trap that bewitched
him and more in the books . . .Reason through it.
    “ . . .Well . . .since monsters are born through sapients in
mana mutation . . .then . . .a  . . .monster can look like anything?”
    “Yes, though not all monsters were once sapient. Now someone
else, what kinds of species fall into the sapient category?” Eric sat down with
relief and Aio handed him a note under his desk. “ Was that so hard? ”  a smiley
face asked.
    “Humans are the only true sapients,” said a human boy with
silver hair. He didn't bother to stand up. He sat with a bored expression. “The
others are just beasts.”
    “Who are you calling a beast!?” growled the person next to
Eric. It was a cat-like human: cat ears and tail, but naked skin everywhere not
covered by cloth.
    “You, of course,” the speaker replied. “Didn't you hear me
with those freakish ears?” The cat-boy lunged, but was held back by the lizard
from earlier.
    “Enough!” The teacher pounded on his desk. “Mr. Norej, I
will you see you in detention this afternoon for improper conduct to a fellow
student. Now apologize to Mr. Revas.”
    Norej stared at Revas, “I'm sorry . . . that you're a
jumped-up dumb animal.”
    “Double detention!” the teacher roared, “Do I have to make
it three?”
     Norej leaned back and crossed his arms, “No, two is fine.”
    “Technically . . .” said a female voice that belonged to a
face crowned by long gold-brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, revealing
pointed ears. Is she a trickster?
    “The designation 'sapient' includes all forms of life and
unlife that are not monsters, including gods and other extra-dimensional beings
such as tricksters and enforcers. However, the more common use of the word is
anything that is mortal and not a monster with other beings being designated as
'Divine' or 'Immortal' to avoid lumping the vastly different functions and
physical rules governing the latter with strictly mortal beings. Thus 'sapient'
includes: fish, birds, lizards, amphibians, and mammals.” She said all this in
one breath. Taking another, she added, “Plants and insects are a little more
complicated. Shall I go into that?”
    “No need, Ms. Annala,” the teacher deadpanned. “We get the
point.”
    Following the review was a lecture about Horlfs and how their
behavior differed from their sapient counterparts. Eric took notes,