The lecture hall in front of us was even larger than the ground level of the tower had been. It could easily fit three times the four hundred student petitioners that we had among our number. Curved wooden benches, with connected desk space in front of them, layered down in rows that climbed to the four doors that we students were now all entering out of.

It was hard to see over the other students, but I had a growing suspicion that each of the doors all fed from the crosswalks we'd entered from. The fact that I recognized all of the students entering from the other side of the lecture hall as having entered from another crosswalk cemented this fact in my mind.

"Take seats, all," the voice we'd heard before said, but this time it echoed down from the bottom of the lecture hall. "Now. Introductions will be in order after we are all seated."

I glanced down to the source of the voice. An aging, very tall woman stood with her hands clasped in front of her.

"Go sit," the same woman's voice came from much closer to me.

I almost jumped and shifted my eyes to see the same woman, her hands clasped in much the same way, standing beside the door I'd entered from.

My eyes must have gone wide once I'd glanced back to the lecture hall floor and seen the same woman still there.

"Simulacrum," the woman beside me explained while she gestured towards the benches. "I won't ever tell you not to think too hard about it, but we have a class to begin, so please."

I wasn't the only student starring at the seemingly cloned woman, but most of us turned to sit where she'd directed. A few stayed back to ask her questions, but me and Garron exchanged a glance and made our way to sit.

As I scanned the classroom, I noticed three additional copies of the apparent instructor at each of the entry doors, directing the flow of foot traffic.

"We are all seated now?" The professor on the floor looked around and up to her simulacrums, who nodded to us, pausing her drawl for a moment. "Excellent. Welcome to your first class on sigil and circle craft. I am Elrica Voiness, the Tower Master and Chair of Transfiguration. Your first six months here will consist of classes with me and practical classes with Professor Steelvein; you will meet him tomorrow."

How long would classes be if we would only have one per day?

"Classes will take place twice a week. One with me, on the foundations of magic, circles, and sigils." Elrica continued, "Another session will focus on practical and combat applications. It's a basic fact that many of you may already be aware of: if you don't absorb cores from the appropriate creatures, your capabilities will lag behind others," she said. "However, if you allow your raw attributes to surpass your fundamental knowledge, your own magic will likely immolate you. Some of you will unfortunately suffer that, but not if you mind me and practice what I teach you outside of class as much as you hunt monsters. Flashy magic gets you killed; practically practiced magic is practical for a reason. Doran will undoubtedly reiterate this in your combat class tomorrow.

A hand was raised. The blond hair and smaller stature of the student in question were unmistakable.

"And if we already know the basics, madam?" Cedric inquired in a respectful tone.

"It is Professor Voiness," she corrected him. "As for your question, I cannot find gaps in your knowledge without observing them, and I will not let you say you passed through my tower while having any I didn't at least attempt to fill," Elrica answered. "Basics are never overpracticed. If everything I say to you over these six months proves to be things you already know, at least you will know them twice over."

Cedric lowered his hand. Saints was he full of himself. Unless he really did know all the basics? I looked around. Garron seemed to know a lot more than me as well; did everyone else?

"Any further questions?" Elrica asked. "No, very well."

I caught only a flicker in movement in my peripherals. Then, between my blinks, the four other Elricas were standing in front of her and facing us.

"I will not apologize that much of what I teach you will be by lecture and demonstration," Elrica continued. "This classroom is warded, and we will have practical activities, but you will not cast a single spell in this room before I know you have memorized the formulas and theory behind it." She frowned a bit. "I do hope you all know basic arithmetic, but I will cover that as well. Firstly, however, I'll start with something to interest you."

She continued. "Many of you may know of signs. They are the most fundamental form of arcane magic. They draw on somatic gesture and mana resonance much like the high elven warcasters practice, but they stop far short of forcing their caster to completely align their mana with a particular sign's affinity type, unlike the magic of the Sha'Rivan. We all have specialties, but we do seek to cater to sorcerers here, either born or made." Each of the four simulacrums of Elrica raised their hands, palms out in front of them. "Watch these demonstrations. It is simple, but shows the versatility of arcane magic."

The clone of the professor on the far right lowered her middle and ring finger down to touch her palm; her thumb then placed itself directly overtop and in-between the two lowered fingers. Her remaining raised fingers resembled horns to me.

"Signs require no magical circles to produce basic effects, but nearly all circles require signs to charge them," Elrica explained. "Do note that this means you can identify the elemental type of a spell, in broadest strokes, by the somatic sign being made as it is cast," her voice raised in warning, "but do remember that different arcane lineages use different signs for the same elements. The sign you see my simulacrum brandishing is a sign of flame. I did not say heat, or friction, or solar energy. I said flame. Signs are not versatile; they are specific. Try to cast even a vaguely related effect from the wrong sign, and your sign will fizzle or even backfire. Do I need to tell you not to attempt this, students?"

There was a rise of laughter from the collected students, and even I found myself smiling.

"Watch now," Elrica said.

The simulacrum's hand, brandishing the sign of flame, glowed brightly, and a forge's ember glow permeated her skin, causing the air around the hand to become turbulent and unsettling. A ball of fire-hot energy quickly coalesced between the raised fingers of the simulator.

"Note the heat and glow," Elrica commented. "Her raised fingers are exactly two inches and three millimeters apart, and her lowered fingers must remain grounded to her palm; her hand is being stabilized by her mana so she doesn't twitch. If she moves her raised or grounded fingers for more than two milliseconds with this particular sign, then the mana she's collecting will fizzle or burn her outright. My simulacrums share my fire affinity, which is high enough that my own flame-tasked mana will not burn me if I sign properly. If your elemental proficiencies can't hold up to the energy you pour into a sign, then you will injure yourself. Be prudent. You learn what is prudent for your abilities through careful and methodical practice."

The real, or at least the lecturing Elrica, walked to point at the thumb of her signing clone. "Her thumb pad is lightly pressed exactly on the centerline of her two lowered fingers. This allows her to continue to funnel mana into the sign's focus point. Remember that word? The idea of a focus will come up in harnessing magic circles when we get there." Elrica went to the two raised fingers on the clone. "Furthermore, her body itself, specifically her hand's skin and her raised fingers, are acting as a barrier to contain her concentrated mana—that's the little ball of flame that is growing between her fingers, if you didn't get that."

Elrica continued. "Her skin is glowing, obviously, because it is being super-heated as she tasks her inner mana with the flame attribute. This is fine because, again, she is not overreaching for power she cannot properly wield with her current flame-attribute proficiency. Her inner mana circuits are circulating magic from her soulcore into her hand. Furthermore, her thumb is acting as a waiting release trigger. Once she presses firmly on her middle and ring finger, the magic being contained between her index and pinky will be funneled out towards wherever her hand is pointing."

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Elrica gestured up towards the ceiling. "As such."

The simulacrum of the professor slightly pressed her thumb against her middle and ring finger. The ball of compressed, brightly glowing fire between her index and pinky flashed, and a gout of flame erupted in a directed pillar over our heads.

Quite a few students jumped, some gasped, and a few even laughed in awe; all of us felt a sudden gout of heat nearly burn our brows. Mile growled. For my part, I noted that the sheer concentration of mana in what Elrica called a 'basic' sign's effects perturbed me. She was terribly powerful by any scale I had in mind. My need for such power and the possibility of using magic so casually amazed me.

"That's not the only way you can use a flame sign," a girl said from beside me.

The girl looked around fifteen. She had tied back strawberry brunette hair; it looked natural and not dyed by crushed pigment as my father had mentioned some cultures did. She looked lithe but not frail under her particularly thin and airy-looking initiate robes.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"You can use your individual fingers as switches; she didn't even mention them," the girl said.

"Is that from a bloodline trait?" Garron asked her, which surprised me considering he had been studiously focused and quiet since the lecture had started.

The girl tilted her head at him, as if holding back judgment due to her kind nature. "Bloodline traits start from someone; it isn't always a lucky born trait that turns into one."

Garron took her words in with a look of honest weight. "I've never heard of that."

"Mana mutations can be forced," the girl said. "Adaptions through effort."

"Like a prodigy title can give you?" I asked.

I'd gained the [Prodigy of Spellwork] title by increasing my proficiency with my druidry to the competent tier earlier than most. In addition to unlocking a bonus spell every time I leveled up my magical proficiency, this title also promised potential beneficial magical mutations. Until now, I hadn't really been able to figure out exactly what such mutations might entail.

The girl turned her head to me and studied me much more closely than she first had when I'd spoken earlier. "Yes, exactly. Do you have--"

A blast of water soared over our heads, interrupting our conversation. The water droplets and jet of pressurized water itself dissolved into shimmers of mana before they could drench us.

"And that is a water sign. Notice that, though the sign is different, the fundamentals of having a foci, barrier, circuit, and release are all built into the sign and body of its wielder itself," Professor Elrica said.

The next simulacrum raised its hand with all of its fingers clasped around its thumb. It then lifted its arm violently and removed all but its thumb from its palm. A pillar of earth was raised up from under the stone lecture hall floor itself before the simulacrum returned the floor to its previous state. Elrica continued to remark that earth signs were among the easiest to use, yet the most challenging to apply in practice; it seemed that shifting the ground itself required a significant amount of willpower.

"Allow us to change gears and demonstrate how elements can be used for both defense and offense."

The simulacrums that had cast the fire sign and the water sign turned to face the other two who also responded in kind.

"Earth is obviously oftentimes used for defense, but air magic is also versatile and can be used for movement or offense, but it can be particularly adept at defense," Elrica continued as one of her previously unmoving clones raised its hand in front of her. "Notice how her fingers are bent, separated by an eighth of an inch each, but loose. Her thumb anchors itself to her palm."

I noticed a lean brunette perk up from where he was casually leaning back on his bench below the row I was in. It seemed the carefree Rylan was particularly interested in wind magic. Noted.

Elrica went on with her lecturing. "What we will demonstrate here is a simple wind sign." The instructor's fire-casting clone raised its hand and began to form her flame sign. "The fire attribute, as you may guess, often lends itself particularly well to offense. It can, with equal skill, however, be thwarted even by the very air that can feed it."

The simulacrum wielding the fire sign pressed down with its thumb, sending a gout of flame toward the one signing the wind spell.

The wind-wielding clone lifted her finger off of her palm, and a blast of pressurized air met the pillar of flame cast by the other simulacrum. Where the wind and fire met, there was a stalemate as the fire was extinguished. The two simulacrums ceased their signing moments later, as the instructor continued to talk.

"You may argue that this wasn't a defensive sign and that the fire could have overcome the wind if the casters weren't evenly matched. This is much my point in showing you signs in this way. Signs do not allow for complicated casting; they can summon and direct an element, and that is nearly all they can do. However, if you were to add a basic circle into the casting of a wind sign—"

The fire and wind simulacrums each reformed their signs in the other's direction. The flame wielder released her gout of flame, and the wind wielder likewise lifted her thumb off of her palm. However, a flash of further magic materialized in front of the wind casting clone. A luminous circle of magic symbols appeared and then flashed away as she released her sign. No blast of wind left the wind-casting clone's hand this time. Instead, just before the pillar of flame cast from the flame-wielding simulacrum was about to hit the other, the wind-casting clone began to slightly rotate her signing hand. A spinning shield of wind, growing in intensity, disrupted the fire gout, harmlessly spiraling the flame sign's fury inches from its target.

Both the air and fire-wielding simulacrums lowered their hands once more.

Professor Elrica smiled. "This is arcane magic at its most basic. The magical circle you briefly saw cast was a simple sigil, which is what we call a completed magical formula. The sigil directed the wind-tasked mana of the wind sign my simulacrum formed into the sigil's focus. The focus then split the mana through magical switches that led into individual circuits that carried the wind mana into a spiraling shield spell. As you saw, all of this happened in a scarce few seconds."

Elrica clapped her hands together before finishing her tangent. "The sign my simulacrum cast was one I have long since grown used to. However, it will take all of you much longer to use your mana to draw a sigil that you are new to. When you practice enough, the proficient casting of a properly formulated sigil will unlock a spell for you, such as the wind shield you saw. Drawing and developing sigils requires you to do math relating to your own mana output and the desired spell's effect. You must have the control to feed the right amount of mana into your sigil at any given time, while also having done the calculations needed to determine everything from the magical circle's barrier thickness to the exact distance between its circuits and the placement of its switches."

The teacher lifted her hand, formed a sign I didn't recognize, and a series of six black stone slabs descended from the high vaulted ceilings. "We will, of course, need you to understand the math behind arcane sigils and the calculations you will be expected to do to form your sigils. Over the next two hours we will go into the theory and calculations of mana flow and tolerance within basic barriers and focuses. We will also define the five fundamental glyphs that go into designing a magic circle and solidifying it into a proofed sigil: these glyphs include the focus, barrier, release, circuit, and switch. After that, we will practice using mana to stabilize your signing hand for the last hour."

As Elrica spoke the names of the five glyphs that made up a magical circle, purple glowing diagrams of them were drawn into the black slabs floating in all of our views.

The depiction of a focus was drawn four times over, as vague geometric depictions of a flame, stone, something resembling a ripple in water, and a vortex of air.

A barrier was shown as a simple circle, with another barrier next to it being displayed with insanely complicated-looking symbols being interspaced over and breaking up an underlaid circle.

A release was then shown as another simple circle within the four aforementioned geometric focus symbols. Magical power glowed within the release circle, however, unlike with the barrier drawing.

A circuit was drawn on the black stone board as two contained lines that seemed to line more linear barriers.

The switch was the only magically animated image, as it was a simple vertical line with a circle in its center. The circle would flash in and out of existence at a two-second interval.

I leaned back against the stone wall that made up the next row's bench space behind my own row. Now I knew what my dad had been talking about when he said I might be suited to arcane magic; from what I could tell, arcane magic was going to involve a considerable amount of memorization. Thanks to my born trait [mind of memories], I didn't ever really forget anything.

I refrained from smiling because I was certain that something would prove difficult for me, but I was relieved that remembering magical formulas and symbols correctly wouldn't be that something.

Elrica gestured, and notebooks and quills appeared before all of us. "Take copious notes. If you incorrectly learn the formulas we're going to explore, your circles may not function properly or might even explode. The first floor of this tower's library will be open to you following this class. I would suggest studying there if you don't want to fall behind in my class. Should you fail a written exam twice or not meet my basic expectations, I have the right and the willingness to remove you from my class.

I looked down at the notebook in front of me. Should I even take notes? I didn't strictly need to.

I looked around me. Everyone else was already preparing to scribble down what was being shown and said. I looked to Elrica. I didn't want her to see me not doing what everyone else was doing and think I was a problem.

With some hesitation, I opened the parchment-filled notebook. Appearances might matter among so many faces.