The man scanned his eyes across the group of students seated before him, his gaze icy, some of the children unconsciously shivering as it passed over them. After he had looked over the last of their group his focus seemed to snap back onto the topic at hand, turning smoothly on his heel and grabbing a pointer from the ledge of the large chalkboard.
"The names of our enemies are simple enough but their capabilities, specialties and strengths are what I will drill into your minds along with what we know of their weaknesses." His words were somber as he walked to the far end of the chalkboard. There on the edge was a rather elaborate drawing of what appeared to be a handsome and lithe man wearing what appeared to be some sort of robe. His hair was long, eyes sharp, but what stuck out was his long and slightly sloping ear. If it weren't for the ears one could have easily passed him off for a human, an excessively beautiful one.
"These are the elves. Their defining features are their pointed ears, extremely pale skin and their crimson irises. They may look harmless but they are excellent at manipulation of plants and earth. They also tend to be very capable both in close combat and with the arcane arts." The professor paused here for a moment so that his students could absorb this information.
"Elves may look gentle but they are perhaps the most terrifying of our enemies. They are what we refer to as Communal Casters. This means that when using the arcane arts they do so as a group, usually seven to eight in size. Their spells in turn are exponentially more dangerous."
Jien's ears perked up at the concept of communal casting. He was internally mulling over how one would cast a spell with others. It wasn't unheard of for those who were close to be able to cast spells that play off each other. A perfect example would be that Jien was good with wind spells, while Rosalind had a talent for spells that used fire. If they worked together they could make a more powerful fire spell but Jien was positive that Communal Casting was not like that.
"The elves populate a volcanic island nation past the Eternal Battlefield. You will learn more about the Battlefield in another course later on. Know that if an elf gets a hold of any of you they will not just kill you, they will torture you and ultimately sacrifice you to the volcano itself. Don't expect a painless end if they get a hold of you."
At this point one of the members of Rebecca's unit raised their hand. The professor noticed the movement immediately despite being turned away, using the pointer to point at the student as if directing them to speak. "The girl that had raised her hand gulped as she ran her hand nervously through her blonde hair before speaking up in what came out as a squeak. "You said they are good at plant based arcane arts even though they live on a volcanic island. That doesn't seem to make sense."
The man turned toward the girl and gave her a curt nod that seemed to help her relax some. "You are correct in feeling that it is odd. The reason for this is that once the volcanic island known as Volorais used to be a simple mountain covered in a fertile forest. The elves learned their arcane arts there before the eruption that smothered their wooded cities"
"The elves are still able to hold onto this talent through the fact that across a short waterway from their island is another large island covered in a rain forest. The inhabitants of that forest aren't friendly to any other race but they also hadn't stopped the elves from training at the edges of their land to retain their skills in the field of plant based casting."
When the man mentioned the inhabitants of the rain forest his tone had grown a shade colder. "This is a decent segue into discussion of the craftiest of our foes." He took a step to the right and with a movement that looked like the slash of a sword brought the pointer to a halt on the picture of what looked like a young girl in a simple dress. Once again the only thing that was obvious about the picture as a differentiation between a human child and the picture was the slightly pointed ears, no longer than an average human's but pointed at the tip.
"You'll learn to despise facing these monsters. They are halflings. They may look cute but they are the most devious of all the races. Their specialties lay in traps and poisons. Make no mistake that before you even see them you will already have snarled you in a trap or stuck you down with some other devious method."
The words were more spat than spoken, proving that this professor had a deep grudge against the race of almost cute people. What that grudge was they didn't know and no one was brave enough to broach the topic. "Know that if you are captured by them you will die with absolute certainty. They do not take prisoners to sacrifice, they will simply kill you and move on."
"Beyond the use of poisons and traps they are excellent at other forms or guerrilla warfare and siege tactics." He paused for a moment took a silent breath and seemed to almost instantly regain his composure. "From and arcane arts perspective they are very similar to us, however their main way of using those arts are as a supplement to their other tactics. Always be weary of the possibility of traps both physical and arcane."
"If you ever are able to capture the members of these two races know that you should slay them immediately. If they are left to live even for moments too long it is likely that they will be able to find a way to turn the tables on you."