"Mr. Tearen, I'm glad you've decided to grace us with your presence. Why don't you come down and introduce yourself individually? You obviously believe yourself to be more important than everyone else here who arrived yesterday."

Standing behind the podium in front of the class was probably the most beautiful Elf Damien had seen since being born. The man was at least as tall as Damien, his silvery-white hair cascading down to the small of his back with a face that was framed in a triangular manner rather than square. His commanding jawline, furrowed brow, and dark eyes would have contrasted his hair perfectly and drawn anyone into a false sense of security, if not for the amount of condescension they were all radiating.

Damien shook his head slightly and began crafting an apology when Gianna spoke up from beside him.

"Terrell, he was only absent be-"

"That's Mr. Terrell. And I don't care for his reasons, Ms. Duflos. Please refrain from speaking out of turn in the future," the man interrupted quickly, not glancing away from Damien. "Well? Make your way down."

Reluctantly, Damien stood up and began moving down the steps. He'd hoped the man was kidding previously but it wasn't apparent now that he was not. If he'd wanted to make an example of someone, it would have been nice to have at least introduced himself as the instructor before being an ass, but then again, that likely happened yesterday.

Damien reached the center of the classroom, just below the podium, and spun around to address the class when he was once again interrupted before he could begin speaking.

"No no, Mr. Tearen. Step up here," Mr. Terrell said, moving out of his position and making a sweeping motion with his arm, indicating he move before the podium.

Damien's face cramped up a bit as he held back a remark or two in his defense and moved to the right, stepping up onto the slightly raised platform. He stepped to his left and completed a one hundred and eighty-degree turn, standing behind the podium and facing the class. Most of the students held expressions of pity except the couple other Celestials and what looked like a Dresmyr with dark purple skin. The two Celestials seemed entertained at his supposed humiliation while the Dresmyr just seemed annoyed, almost portraying exactly how Damien felt inside.

"My name is Damien Tearen. It is a pleasure to meet you all," he said, nodding slightly forward before standing up and preparing to leave as quickly as possible back to his seat.

"Tell us a bit about yourself, Mr. Tearen," Mr. Terrell said, stopping Damien as he tried to take his first step to freedom.

Damien froze and turned to his right, looking at the teacher once again. Just a bit taller than himself, the Elven man held a look of indifference while somehow managing to appear as if deferring to Damien while standing next to him. He seemed to be in his prime still, slightly older than Damien yet timeless as usual for those of this world. Damien knew even less about how Elves aged when compared to Celestials or Humans, so the man could honestly be anywhere between fifty and four hundred.

"Sir, I apologize for not making it to class yesterday. I was dealing with a medical emergency. I won't let it happen again, given that I'm not faced with the same circumstances," Damien said.

"I know about the situation, Mr. Tearen. You were helping a friend. But, instead of allowing her to stay in the infirmary, you decided to personally look after an illness others are more qualified to handle. In doing so, you thus showed how much you care about Alexa N'moran, how little you care about getting her the proper care she'd need, and how non-existent your respect for this academy is."

While Mr. Terrell was speaking, he was also slowly moving his bodies attitude to a posture of dominance, rolling his shoulders back and sharpening his indifferent eyes.

"We haven't had a Human attend this class ever since this academy was established, and you certainly aren't setting a roaring example for them. Don't expect any leniency because of your 'status' in my classroom. If you are absent again, I'll remove you from the roster. You are not special here. Now, take your seat and pull out your tome for this class." he finished.

Damien grimaced slightly at the instructor's words. He was an ass, but had good points. In his frustration, Damien had neglected to consider that Alexa would definitely be cared for better in the infirmary. It seemed the healer would have mentioned that if it would be a large issue, but it still stood. Alexa probably preferred being taken back home, but for the sake of getting her back on her feet... maybe he'd made the wrong call.

Then, the point of him not exactly caring about attending class struck true as well. He'd had a mindset of coming to this academy more for getting out and into the world and less for what they had to offer him. He still didn't understand much of how the world truly worked, and if he skipped out on a few days, he could miss vital information. Vanessa, Alexa, and his parents hadn't exactly taught him everything he could know with regards to manipulation, either. This specific class could very well alter how he did everything, and yet he's already been treating it all as if it were something he shouldn't care about.

It would be insulting, no doubt, to a man that dedicated most of his life to teaching here.

It was also true that he was the only Human in this class. It was titled Advanced Manipulation and upon thinking further on it, it made sense. Advanced Spellcasting was probably the equivalent of this class for those who could not manipulate mana without the assistance of spells.

Damien nodded to Mr. Terrell and moved off the stage back up to his seat at the top of the classroom, next to Gianna. She'd moved from her seat the day before and taken the empty one on his left when he'd picked out a spot earlier, upsetting the other Celestials and allowing him the aisle seat all at once.

"Open your books to page twenty-five. We'll start from where we left off. Mr. Tearen, you'll have to catch up on the earlier pages on your own time, unless you'd like us to begin from the first page for you?" Mr. Terrell inquired.

Damien shook his head slightly, regretting missing this class with each scathing remark while knowing he'd make the same decisions next time he was presented with a similar situation. Hopefully 'next time', didn't happen this year.

"Now then, without reading past where we left off on how we learn to manipulate mana, I'd like... you, Mr. Sunder, please explain different factors that influence how easily one can manipulate the elements?" Mr. Terrell asked.

Damien watched as the body of a smaller Elf in front of him froze up upon being called out. He lifted his head up from the slouched position it had been in, looked left, then right, then back forward to the teacher.

"I uhm... it... I know there is talent... and..." he trailed off, stuttering and continually pausing to think. "I... also... race? S-so talent, ra-"

"Talent, ambient mana density, compatibility, race, month, intelligence or experience, catalysts, and support magic," came an irritated interruption from the same Dresmyr who'd seemed upset at his public humiliation. "Mr. Terrell, would you mind not wasting our time on cocky upstarts and fools? Some of us are here to learn, not waste our time," she finished.

Damien mentally cringed, looking an aisle over to his right to see the girl glaring at him. He immediately began hoping for a harsh response as a small form of revenge.

"Excellent suggestion, Ms. Bellin, and an excellent answer as well. You missed probably the most important one, however," Mr. Terrell responded to Damien's great disappointment and surprise. "The gods are most definitely the largest factor when it comes to manipulation of any form of man-"

"I didn't add them in because Elerian's our age don't c-"

"[Silence]," Mr. Terrell demanded, instantly quieting the girl as Damien felt mana engulf her person and watched her face become one of panic when her words wouldn't come out. "Ms. Bellin, I said your answer was excellent as is. Don't take my dismissal of your earlier interruption to mean that I approve of your attitude," he said, now glaring at the girl. "Backpedaling and defending yourself is not what I asked for, and in fact, I don't recall asking for your opinion at all. Do not speak out of turn as if it is your born right. Now, whether or not your personal opinion is that people should not commune at your age bears no importance to my question. There have been those that have communed at ten years old. Why, the very Ms. N'moran that caused our famous Human over there to decide this class was unimportant has already communed."

He stopped speaking and glared in her direction for a few moments longer as the class stayed on edge, none willing to break the fragile silence. Finally, after a tense several seconds, he spoke again.

"No response to that then, Ms. Bellin? Excellent, let's move on," he said as Damien felt the magic silencing the girl disappear as her expression relaxed. "The gods themselves are the largest influence on our ability as Mages. Whether you commune at birth, or twenty years later, it is no doubt that your capabilities with the element increase further and much faster than they ever had before. Creation, control, longevity, capacity, distance... Why this is, though, is the biggest mystery."

He paced back and forth as he delivered his statements, hair rippling and swirling along each time he turned.

"Why do the gods choose how much they give or who they choose to survive? We understand as much about the selection process as we do about the information we are gifted from a commune. The only glaring similarity between all those accepted is that you have a higher chance of living if you've struggled in one way or another to get where you are. From that, we can conclude they are not just primordial beings who have no thoughts."

He stopped moving in front of the large board behind his podium, lifting his hand up to it as white words began to appear on its black surface, detailing the many different elements and magic types that are known to the world, categorized by similarity.

"Though, this cannot be applied to all of the elements. Some are not dangerous at all and have achievable goals, such as healing, alteration, and enchanting while others are the exact opposite," he continued, separating a few off to the left side in circles of their own titled 'Safe'. "Air has always had less than a thirty percent success rate and continues to decline while being one of the most useless elements for a Mage. Strong at close combat but weak at long range, those who do commune with air typically die in combat shortly after. Lightning as well has, as of late, also had a sickeningly low rate of survival with none successfully communing. Many believe the god to be angry, others believe it useless to learn the element at all even without taking into consideration the danger it poses in close combat. All in all, those that are safe and those that are deadly are the outliers," he finished, adding lightning and air into their own category titled 'Dangerous'.

Here, he turned back to the class and moved back to the podium.

"But, excluding those four, then what? Are the gods kind for gifting us this knowledge, or cruel? If they wanted, they could surely grant us a greater understanding of the powers they bestow. They could choose not to allow criminals to commune. They could allow all to live. Why do they choose what they choose?" he asked, staring out at the class.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

No one responded to the question; everyone silently processing the information themselves.

Damien hadn't realized it, but the entire lecture had already engrossed him in wonder. The question he'd never heard asked bounced off the walls of his mind, looking for an answer.

'In the event Terrell is right and the gods are sentient, maybe they chose this path based on whatever caused the knowledge wipe of a few thousand years ago. If they'd kept on in the same manner, perhaps the wipe would happen again, so maybe the gods separated themselves from civilization to prevent it?' he wondered, glancing down. 'If that's-'

"Regardless of their reasons, they give us what they do and we take what they give. Which of the factors is the second most important to manipulation?" Terrell asked, interrupting Damien's introspection while rapidly dropping the interesting topic.

"That is easy. It would be race," a member of the Succubus race called out from the center of the seating area as a few heads around the room nodded.

"Wrong," Mr. Terrell called out immediately with a neutral expression. "While it is true that in the early years, race plays the biggest factor towards one's growth and ability, that tapers off significantly in the years following. Also, once again using our magnificent Mr. Tearen as an example, it would appear that even race could have a much less drastic effect than once assumed. You Celestials," he said, staring to the right front of the room at Cedar and Arion, "don't often test into gold yourselves, perhaps this will serve to humble your arrogant race a bit. Try again."

The declaration once again silenced the class while Damien could feel Gianna tense up next to him.

Damien considered the new question for a few moments but couldn't come to a solid conclusion. Talent, ambient mana density, compatibility, month, experience... whereas he could probably rule out month, whatever that meant, the other four seemed to all be solid answers. If he had to hazard a guess, he'd go with talent or experience. Most likely experience.

"Talent," a girl called out, ending the minute-long silence that had consumed the room and answering Damien's internal question.

"Wrong again. Talent is similar to race in that regard. It is something that may inhibit someone's ability, but ultimately, it can be overcome with enough practice. With that hint, I'm hoping the next to call out gives us our answer," Mr. Terrell ended with sarcasm.

"Month!" the boy from earlier called, Sunder if Damien remembered correctly.

Mr. Terrell massaged the bridge of his nose and looked downward in obvious disappointment from his podium. Damien almost felt bad for the prick.

"Intelligence, or experience," the Bellin girl called out, once again irritated at that specific Elves answer.

"Right again, Ms. Bellin. Indeed, it is experience. I would daresay intelligence is not the way to go about defining that specific category, even. Experience in hadnling an element is quite easily the second most important factor when dealing with an element or mana in general. It is what gives us greater strength and creative ability. Experience and thereby training is by far the second most important factor to take into consideration. This is why almost every single person on Eleria has practiced mana in one way or another, though most are Combatants by nature of practicality with general life. Mana manipulation is easy to learn and can help someone live a relatively long life if done once every few days."

With that, he once again moved back to the board and placed the words commune and experience above everything else in the center in large, bold lettering.

"Thus, that makes the two most important influences to manipulation things we as Elerians can affect. Things we can control with our own thoughts and actions. If you aren't willing to put in the time, effort, or risks involved to become a great Mage, I suggest you leave this class and academy. In fact, I suggest you leave right now if you do not plan on communing with a god in the future at all. You are only wasting your and my time. Become a Combatant," he said, spitting the word out at the end as if it were filth.

"Now then, I would like you all to form groups in your aisle. Decide amongst yourselves on the order the other influences rank in terms of importance. You have twenty minutes. After, you will all present your conclusions and why," he finished, walking to his desk at the far left corner of the room and sitting down with a huff.

Looking right, Damien saw the rude Dresmyr sitting next to an Elven female, and further right after the next set of stairs was a male Werewolf and a male of the Cat race. Less cute and much more threatening in appearance, he seemed to have a similar color scheme to a Black Panther. All appeared to be in their mid-teens from Earths standard, same as Gianna.

Looking left, Damien saw her and smiled slightly, happy to know he at least had someone that he knew in his group.

He and Gianna stood and moved to the center desks as did the two boys from the right. They hopped down a flight of stairs and stood behind where that rows occupants were sitting, facing back up at the same eye level as the two who remained seated in their row. The Panther stood next to him with the Werewolf on the other side, furthest away.

"My name is Jenra, and this is Kreil," the Panther said, motioning to his friend while reaching his half hand/half paw out to shake Damien's hand. "It's nice to meet you all."

Damien smiled and accepted the offer to shake, opening his mouth to respond in kind when the Dresmyr interrupted him, glaring down from where she sat.

"We already know your and the Celestials names, fool. What I want to know is why you have that ridiculous marking on your neck," she said, motioning to his dark red bond mark. "Is that a scar and you're just poor and couldn't heal it, or is it some ridiculous religious symbol?"

Damien almost wanted to let his mouth hang open at her attitude, wondering how she'd made it this far in this world without upsetting someone to the point they killed her.

"I am... well, also a little curious about that, if you don't mind sharing?" the Elf asked from beside her meekly, as the two other men down the row nodded along. "It's just so unique."

Damien shook his head slightly, holding back a remark directed at the Dresmyr once again.

"Does it really look so strange?" he asked Jenra, who continued to nod.

"It looks similar to a slaves mark, to be honest. Is just in the wrong spot, on your lower front neck rather than the back," came a deep-voiced reply from the Werewolf.

"I think it looks nice," Gianna chimed in.

Damien turned around and looked at her, confused. Nice wasn't exactly how he'd ever heard someone describe it. He liked it and never made moves to cover it up, despite Alexa's change in heart about her placing it there, but whenever someone inquired about it, they never seemed to appreciate it.

"You like it?"

"Sure. I think it gives you character," she finished, lifting her right hand up and moving it to above his collarbone, resting her finger along the lower side of the marking.

Damien tensed and backed up almost immediately, feeling goosebumps from her touching him where only two people had ever touched since the mark had been placed there. He didn't mind too much if she wanted to grab his hand, lead him by the arm, or hug him, but that specific spot was not hers to touch.

"I'd... don't uh, don't touch that," he said. "It's... uncomfortable."

He sighed inside his mind as she lowered her hand, stress of the day beginning to weigh on him. Eventually, if this continued, he'd have to tell the girl to keep her hands off of him altogether. Alexa seemed to like Gianna, so he'd hoped he'd never have to have that awkward conversation with her, but that was looking more and more bleak the more time he spent around her.

Looking up, the other three in the group were looking away awkwardly while the Dresmyr was glaring at them still. Damien briefly considered stabbing her eyes with his fingers.

"So, what is our answer going to be?" Damien asked, hoping to change the subject to a more productive one.

"Well-"

"Find out for yourselves. I have my answer. There's no chance I'm going to risk looking like an idiot with you lot," the Dresmyr responded, interrupting Jenra and breaking through Damien's last bastion of patience.

Terrell, her, Gianna, even the Elf not introducing herself, sitting above them like a queen... the plethora of strange situations had piled up and this was the last straw of unnecessary cruelty his mouth needed.

"So what the hell is your problem, anyway? You're young and edgy and don't care about anyone except yourself? What are you, ten? Act your age for gods sake," he said in an irritated tone.

"Twelve, you arrogant little shit. I can't help it if I hate morons like yourself," she said with a shrug.

"No dude, screw you. Get off your high horse and off my ass. I just freaking met you and you act like I murdered your brother or something," he argued back, voice slightly raised.

Damien watched her eyebrows furrow angrily as her shoulders squared toward him and she leaned forward a little.

"Bite me, pretty boy. 'I'm so special and talented everyone should be nice to me.' Go to hell. You get everything handed to you on a platter and immediately throw your weight around once you show up, like a fucking noble. Advanced Combat, skipping the basic classes... such a special boy doesn't even have to work for his recognition. No, he gets it just by existing," she finished with a sneer.

Those in the group remained silent as Damien felt those behind in other groups begin to turn to look up at them.

"Wow. Here I was, thinking you'd be racist or something, but instead, you're just a jealous bitch. As if I didn't work to get here. I busted my balls to get here, way more than you had to." Damien stated, leaning toward her slightly while smirking. "What are you, Gold? And a Dresmyr? What, your blessed ass couldn't make it to Gold on your first year, and now you're behind a Human and crying about it? Go fuck yourself."

His frustration mounting, Damien leaned back up, turned, and moved past Gianna, aiming to return to his seat and calm himself down. It was already the second time he'd said that to someone, just two days since classes started. His heart pounded as he wished he hadn't had to be the one to lose his cool and turn away first, but if he hadn't, he knew it would devolve into a shouting match that got them kicked out.

A cool feeling of comfort flowed through the bond from the girl's end, bringing a slight smile to his face as his mind calmed somewhat. Right as he was reaching his seat, a shard of ice skimmed past his shoulder and ripped through his clothing and skin, leaving a large, visible, and very painful gash. The slight calm he'd grabbed ahold of moments before disappeared in an instant.

"Oops, I- OOOF"

Without leaving the slightest moment to spare, Damien spun around and shot a right cross in the direction her stomach was, sending a chunk of condensed, raw mana into her gut, knocking her backward off her bench. He followed it with a left and could almost feel the impact it made against her jaw as her path backward altered.

When used correctly, raw mana was the perfect blunted weapon, if costly. Not heavy enough to do any real damage when used but still heavy enough to feel like a fist, it was definitely the right thing to use in this situation.

The girl didn't collapse entirely to the ground, able to catch her fall on the wall behind her with an arm. She pushed off it and stood quickly, scowling at him. She had murder in her eyes as she took a step in his direction when Gianna suddenly injterjected, placing her body and wings in a manner that entirely blocked Damien's view of the Dresmyr.

"Guys, this isn-" Gianna started, quickly being interrupted by a slow, deliberate, and intense clapping that echoed around the room.

Gianna lowered her wings and looked down, the Dresmyr looked away from Damien, and Damien sighed while turning to his left, looking down the steps. Coming up was the instructor, step by step until he stood in between them next to Gianna.

Damien stared up at the man, regretting yet another poor decision. Temper had just got him kicked out of an interesting course, the only silver lining being that bitch was probably out as well.

In a little more than a second, Damien had his wound closed and clothing rapidly fixing itself. Once again, he began to feel the icy cool of opposing emotions crash against the agitation he'd been feeling.

"Excellent job, Mr. Tearen and Miss Bellin. You've just volunteered to get the hell out of my class," Mr. Terrell said, turning around to look at the rest of the class.

'God dammit. You were already looking for a convenient excuse to kick me out, weren't y-'

"Well then, shall we ladies and gentlemen? Nothing quite beats watching two amateurs attempt to hurt each other in a duel. Let this be another lesson for this year: A shouting match is annoying and will get you removed from my class, but expressing yourself in such an interesting manner is a wonderful way to get rid of anger. Raw mana... No residue, no hassle, and used as an extension of your fists? Such wonderful simplicity. I'll be sure to give excellent commentary on the duel. It will be a great opportunity for you all to learn from. That is, if they both accept?" Terrell asked, turning back toward Damien and the girl with another smile that did not reach his eyes. "Keep in mind that if you say no I'll be removing you from the roster."

Damien's body felt like it had cold water poured onto it. He'd just attacked someone in a class, and instead of removal, he'd been praised and given the opportunity to fight her in a duel?

It took him no time to nod in agreeance.

"Oh I'd be glad to," the girl said coldly in response as Damien saw her mouth began to bleed from the right side.

"Already patched up? Mr. Tearen, you are certainly a prodigy. I particularly enjoyed how you held back on her weak frame, please continue to do so in the duel or her ego might break," Mr. Terrell commented unnecessarily, fanning the flames further as he began moving down the steps.

Scant minutes later, Damien found himself in one of the school's many Arenas, standing across from the Dresmyr. She hadn't lost her glare since the moment he'd fought back, while he came off as impassive. Internally, he was a bundle of nerves though, excited and nervous.

'This... this might be perfect. I get to set the tone for future duels, see where I actually stand, practice against an entirely new opponent...' Damien wondered, too in his head to hear the rules, his opponents first name when she'd introduced herself, or the signal to start when he didn't respond to Terrell asking if he was ready.

The large wave of fire advancing towards his face was more than enough of an indication, though.