"Hrm," Jason said, tilting his head to the side. "Now that you mention it... yes, you do have a draconic aspect to your soul. However, I do not think it was anything so profoundly metaphysical as the universe recognizing me as Ariel's father. After all, 'Ironheart' is a dragon's name- perhaps your father is dragonblooded as well."

  "That still leaves the question of how," I said. "Terpsichore Ironheart didn't give birth to Napoleon, after all- he's pure-strain elf, and Terpsichore was a human."

  "Dragon's blood is transmissible in more ways than heredity," Jason said. "A dragonblooded woman who nurses an infant could well imbue said infant with the blood of dragons."

  "So, dragon's blood is a literal term, and bodily fluids in general are capable of transmitting it?" Talia asked.

  "More or less," Jason said, nodding. "The precise mechanisms are rather complex, so I'll leave that for you to read from a dryly-written dissertation in our archives, but in brief... It is possible, if not always practical, for close friends of a dragonblooded individual to become dragonblooded themselves."

  "Like through blood transfusions?" Emily asked.

  "That would, in fact, be the most expedient option, if you have a trained Healer avaible to perform such a procedure," Jason said. "However, do bear in mind that dragon's blood does not remove more mundane considerations like blood type, and that blood types were in fact discovered by researchers trying to determine why dragonblood transfusions had such high mortality rates."

  "I have no idea what my blood type is," I admitted. "Emily, is that a spell you know?"

  "It is," Emily said. "May I...?"

  "Of course."

  She pced a glowing hand on my own, and then frowned.

  "...We will not be performing transfusions," Emily said.

  "Why's that?" I asked.

  "AB positive," Emily said. "You're a universal recipient, but only other universal recipients can safely take your blood without getting serious blood clots that could kill them."

  "How about everyone else?" I asked.

  "Perhaps we should refocus our attention on academics?" Jason suggested. "Now, Catherine." I was pleasantly surprised that Jason was taking my name change so well, but then again, he was, culturally, a High Elf, and had been around them for thousands of years. "While you are a dragonblood, and therefore have the potential to perform dragonblood sorcery, it should be noted that, as you are already a fully-trained Wizard, you are likely to find sorcery to be a frustrating and inferior path to Arcane mastery."

  "Fully-trained is a bit of an overstatement," I said.

  "I assure you, it is not," Jason said. "Everyone's pcement exams have been graded, and I have the results in front of me. If anyone wishes to keep those details private, I will of course simply hand you the results yourself for perusal in private. Does anyone wish for me to not read their results aloud to the party?" He waited for a good few seconds, looking around for any sign at all that anyone had a concept of privacy. "Very well, then. Faith, Talia, and Catherine, you all have tested out of the 100-level Martial Arts courses, and may take 200-level Martial Arts courses immediately. Emily, I'm afraid you will in fact need to take 100-level Wizardry courses to begin with; your knowledge is above that of a rank beginner, but it is not quite up to the standards that would permit you to skip the beginner courses."

  "Fair enough," Emily said.

  "Catherine, congratutions," Jason continued, pulling out a sheet of parchment with a lot of ornate writing on it. "Your grasp of Wizardry is exceptional, and you have been awarded a Bachelor's Degree in Wizardry. You are now free to take graduate-level courses in our Arcane Arts department; to earn your Master's Degree, you need only complete 18 credit hours of those graduate-level Wizardry courses, as well as either writing a thesis or creating a Masterwork."

  "...I got a Bachelor's Degree... from taking a single goddamn exam..." I said.

  "Well, two exams, actually," Jason said. "And on the second exam, you attached three pages of hand-written spell formu to your answer sheet; the poor proctor who had to grade your exam was very surprised, and it was only after a very tedious two hour discussion that I was able to convince everyone that you had satisfied the requirement of taking a third exam- specifically, the one given at the end of the Bachelor's program for Wizardry, which tests your ability to write new spell formue from scratch. As such, you are now considered a Bachelor of Wizardry, and I would like you to pass my congratutions to your mother; whatever training curriculum she used for you was undoubtedly quite effective."

  I grunted, and took the diploma, rolling it up and sticking it in a pocket.

  "At any rate, now that we know what courses each of you do not need to take, I would like to offer each of you a tentative schedule I've drawn up, along with a finalized course catalog for the semester in the likely event you would like to make changes." He handed out folders, and we all started looking through them.

  "...Is there a reason I'm signed up for the Bardic Studies program?" Emily asked.

  "There is," Jason said, nodding. "The reason is that I always strongly suggest students take a few semesters of History and Language Arts courses, for the sake of a well-rounded education that produces a well-rounded person who is not a sck-jawed idiot in the face of every well-spoken chartan who seeks to make a jackass out of them. Unfortunately, this is a point Helen and I disagree on, and she is the one in charge, here. The University's instructors are legitimately very good at what they do, but Helen is adamant that the education being offered be strictly vocational, and as such, the humanities are only avaible through the Bards, who were able to argue that a solid grounding in the humanities was, in fact, a necessary vocational skill for a Bard."

  The requirements for the Bardic Studies program were, honestly, pretty straightforward: you were required to take four semesters worth of the cssic Core Four of math, science, nguage arts, and history. Sure, there was also a bunch of other stuff in there that was more specific to being a Bard- music theory, Occult spellcasting, et cetera- but there was, nonetheless, a proper curriculum of core competencies that were in fact chosen for a good reason.

  The math and science requirements would only be onerous to Faith, anyhow. As a Bachelor of Arcane Sciences, I was considered to have already taken all the math and science courses a Bard would be expected to take; likewise, Emily, a Doctor of Medicine, was good on the science front, and would also be studying to become a Wizard as well, just like me. Talia possessed no advanced degree, partly because she was normal- or at least more normal than Emily and I were- and partly because Druidcraft wasn't taught inside a cssroom, but since she was here to study chemistry and potioncraft, you better believe that was her math and science requirements taken care of.

  Faith, however? Faith was a knight, just like me, and this whole academic core curriculum thing was completely outside the wheelhouse of a knight. So... Sucks to be her.

  "There is a solid argument to be made that the Bardic Studies program is the most academically-demanding degree path this University offers," Jason continued. "I do understand why you would be reluctant to add on the csses that make it so demanding, but... I do believe it's for the best."

  Faith shrugged. "I'll live."

  The door to Jason's office opened, and Helen let herself in, followed by Summer. "Congratutions on your second adventure, children."

  "Third," I corrected her. "Remind me to tell you about the trip up here sometime."

  Helen grunted in acknowledgement, and took the st seat at the table, leaving Summer to either stand awkwardly or go sit on the couch.

  "At any rate," Helen continued, "The Tempestuous Teapot has turned out to be far less useful than I imagined it would be. I don't suppose any of you would like to start a collection of useless magic items?"

  "We've already got a collection, but sure, what's one more?" Talia said. "Hey, by the way, why did you summon Summer and write her name in the Book of Heroes?"

  "That is..." Helen paused, then sighed. "Well. I may as well tell you. Just... Keep this quiet, alright?"

  "Our lips are sealed," I said.

  "There is a prophecy," Helen said. "Demon King Paimon-" I winced, inhaling sharply through my teeth; around me, everyone else in the party had a simir reaction, which Helen did actually notice. "Yes, a Demon King. You're right to be afraid- the prophecy states that he will emerge onto the mortal pne, and require the intervention of a great hero to sy. At the time, I hadn't been aware of you, Joseph-"

  "It's Catherine, now, but that's actually the less important correction," I said.

  "...I beg your pardon?" Helen asked.

  Wordlessly, I produced from one pocket the broken, saurian skull of Demon King Paimon the Usurper, which had been stripped of its flesh and polished clean, with the shards kept floating nearby with steel wire that had been enchanted to be invisible.

  "...What am I looking at, exactly?" Helen asked. "A skull, yes, but the skull of what?"

  "Demon King Paimon," I said. "That's, um. That's the adventure we had on the way up here. His cult kidnapped Emily, made a sacrifice of her blood, and the portal opened to let him through. And then, Talia and Faith grabbed his arms and pinned him down, and I punched him in the face with iron knuckles until he died."

  Helen chewed on that for a few moments, before turning to regard Summer.

  "Well, I'm not wasting a page of the Book of Heroes," Helen said. "Go out there and find yourself a new adventure, kid."

  "Summer, do you maybe wanna join the party permanently, or...?"

  "Nah," Summer said, shaking her head. "Love you guys, but... I wanna get out there and see the world." She blinked a few times, and then frowned. "I, uh. Am going to need some money, though, if I wanna survive."

  "Didn't The Abyss give you any coins?" Helen asked.

  "Only twenty gold," Summer said.

  "Oh, you'll be fine," Helen said dismissively. "Gold coins are hardly standard currency these days; if those coins are the weight I think they are, they're worth five hundred dolrs each."

  "Ten thousand dolrs is a decent chunk of change, but-"

  "A thousand dolrs will buy you a house," I said. "Ten thousand dolrs will go a long way."

  "...Oh. Huh."

  "Also," I continued, "I'll write a letter of introduction and get you a train ticket to Redwater to get you set up. I'm sure my parents will help you out."

  "Thanks," Summer said.

  "Anyhow..." I yawned. "Helen, if that's all? I'd really like to go to bed, now."

  Helen grunted wordlessly as she stood up. "We're done here, so... Knock yourself out."

  AnnouncementAs always, if you like Ironheart and want me to keep making it, the best way to do that is to leave a comment, here or on my discord server.

  Also, I'm taking suggestions for public bonus chapters in between books. The ideas I've currently got range from "The remaining Kings of Hell react to the political upheaval caused by Paimon's death" to "Joseph Ironheart visits a neighbor and pys dominoes." Anything goes.