"For today let's go back to the basics. I am sure that most of you here know most of these, so let us quickly review and cover it up completely.

A middle age man spoke with a gentle voice. Apparently, he was in his mid-forties but his hair was completely devoid of color. Even his voice was of a man with a lifetime of experience.

It was early afternoon of my second day of classes. The lecture for Foundation Magic just started. Rows of students listened attentively to the words of the man in front of them.

"Magic has been with us since far back into the past," the white-haired instructor continued. "It is not a secret that even before the formation of The Earth, when multiple earths still existed, magic already existed in some of them. Even until now, magic is being used for many things and is already part of our everyday lives. It has become truly indispensable over the years.

"To invoke magic, one must understand it as best as they can. So to start it off will be the definition of magic. To put it simply, magic is a phenomenon that is created or altered with the use of magic particles, and which originally should not have existed. Thus, if a phenomenon involves these particles, it is immediately classified as magic.

"Then what are magic particles? They are substances used for the sole purpose of invoking magic. They are invisible and ethereal in nature, and they exist literally everywhere. The best way to visualize them, is to think of a transparent ball which is hollow and empty inside. In fact, in this room, there are plenty of them, hence why we can use magic here."

The instructor suddenly raised his right palm. Not even a few seconds after, a sphere-like object appeared at the top of it. The bluish and transparent sphere looked like a ball of water. Then with the time it takes for one breath, he lowered his arm. However, rather than falling to the floor as physics suggested, the sphere instead completely disappeared without a trace.

Without batting an eye, the man resumed speaking.

"These particles undoubtedly exist. However, they cannot be perceived by normal means. The only way to do it is to have a sixth sense we call Magic Sense. The moment you awaken this sense is the moment you can start controlling the magic particles to form magic.

"Next is: How do you form magic? Now the specifics of this one is something not all of you knows. I assume that those among you here who can already use magic mostly form them intuitively, unless, of course, you have experienced this lecture in the past already."

My eyes brightened at the man's words. Formation of magic. This was a topic that not even I knew about. The method itself was actually loosely guarded. However, it does not mean that magicians can freely divulge it to the outside either. And even its simplest explanations can not be found in all of the books about magic that I have read. True to the instructor's words, I was previously forming intuitively without knowing the mechanisms behind it. Thus I was extremely curious.

I adjusted my seating posture and prepared to listen more attentively.

"So how? Simple answer is to convert the magic particles into magic itself. To fully understand, however, everyone should know that there's another term for magic particles which is the 'null particles'. They are called that because they are basically nothing.... yet. As I mentioned, they are like empty transparent balls. The role of us magicians is to fill up this emptiness. What we use to fill them up is our purpose. We gather our thoughts and channel them to the empty particles. Once they are filled, they transform into a phenomenon and then we control them to exist in reality.

"For example, let us say that you want to use a simple movement magic to move an object from Point A to Point B. What you are going to do is to fill up the magic particles needed with your intent to move the object and transform them into energy. This energy then becomes the source of the force used to move the object."

The instructor made another demonstration. With a flip of his hand, a pencil from a nearby table flew right into his hand. He immediately put it back with the use of magic. The pencil flew once more, with the same trajectory as before, and landed directly on the table.

Ooooh!

A collective sound of amazement came among the students, including myself. It was understandable though, since the explanation fit perfectly to how most of us visualized the magic we form. It was like doing something amazing without actually knowing its full implications, and then suddenly someone told you about it. It was not hard to feel proud about it.

"Every single phenomenon requires many magic particles to be filled. The exact number actually needed to do one varies from person to person. How it varies depends in the capabilities of the magician. How much intent one can inject into each particle is up to their skills, experience, and willpower.

"It is okay if you still do not comprehend it fully for now. Magic is quite complex after all. If it wasn't then all of us would be top tier magicians, wouldn't we? Well, as long as you are aware of how it works and it fits to your perceived method of forming magic, then that is enough for now at least."

One of the students raised their hand.

"But instructor, why is it possible for us to transfer our intents and purposes to magic particles?"

"A good question," the instructor replied. "But before that, I need to discuss something. Remember that I mentioned the magic sense earlier. Have you wondered why we have this so-called sixth sense?"

He paused and looked at us inquiringly.

"Just like we have eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, skin for touching, tongue for tasting, and nose for smelling, we magicians formed a part inside our body that can establish this magic sense. It is located in the center of our brains - a piece of hardened substance shaped like a pearl - and it is called a 'Magic Core'.

"And to answer your question, this magic core is also responsible for transforming our intents into an ethereal energy that fills up the magic particles. But as to how the core exactly does this, sadly, it remains a mystery up to this day."

Everyone went silent. Most of us are actually aware of the existence of a magic core in our body, but we did not know of its purpose until now. We were simply in awe of the knowledge that we had recently obtained.

"By the way, when the invocation of the magic stops, the transformed particles revert back into their original empty form. With this, the magic cycle stops and the magic particles of the surroundings are then quickly replenished. This means that no matter how much of them you use, the particles will never be depleted. This is also how they can still exist everywhere."

The discussion continued in this way. Needless to say, my afternoon was spent on listening to the instructors of my Magic and History classes.

Just like that my every day life started. There was Physical Education in the morning, Magic Theory in the afternoon followed by History class. I work at the restaurant on my evenings. I was more free on the weekends though. On Saturday morning, I had a language class, but other than that I was not obligated to anything. Hence, the majority of my weekends were spent on our usual spot.

Deanne though. She had been on the back of my mind ever since our encounter but for some reason I had been reluctant to go to the place she designated. Needless to say, I haven't been there even once.

"Fiel?" My friend Eden's questioning tone came from beside me.

"Hm?"

"There seems to be a lot in your mind?" He asked with his usual indifferent demeanor.

We were currently sitting under the tree doing nothing. It is a Sunday afternoon and we just finished lunch. Now we were basking under the sunlight, feeling the slight wind on our faces. There were occasional passersby from the nearby park, and we would look at them solemnly.

"Nothing really. I was only thinking about school. At first, I thought it would be more interesting. It's not that I dislike it, it is preferable even. But it's calmer than I thought it would be."

"Is that so?"

Eden suddenly stood up. He put his things aside and went in the center of the field.

"If you are so bored as to say that, then let's spar. As usual, I will not hold back with my magic." He taunted.

"Fine then."

With nothing else to do, I stood up and complied. This was a completely normal exchange between the two of us. Eden has always been straightforward. If he was not reading or lazing around, then he would spar with me. But despite that, he was actually a very intuitive and insightful guy. Even the current exchange was probably him trying to cheer me up. He was awkward at times, but he always meant well.

Right now, we were face to face at a certain distance. I signaled as the start of the fight.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Here I go!"

I acted forward and ran. It was my standard fighting pattern. Eden was proficient in using his magic. I, on the other hand, was better at close quarter combat. Hence I always start the spar by charging through to close the gap, and Eden also expected that. However, contrary to his thoughts, that was not my real intention. As I was moving, my right hand was hidden behind my back. He let out a confused face as I stopped abruptly on my tracks and showed him what my hand contained - a sphere of water.

He might not show much emotions but Eden's astonishment was clear. The sphere shot from my hand towards him. He hurriedly tried to intercept it by using his own prepared magic. However, I was expecting that. What he prepared was a fire ball. Since I knew him, I could easily predict what he would do and intentionally prepared the magic countering his. The outcome was as expected. The water sphere not only nullified the fire ball's effect as they collided, it also continued on albeit a bit weaker.

Eden could do nothing but cross his arms and brace for the impact of my magic. Unfortunately for me, even though my magic was a natural counter to his own, his magic was still vastly superior to mine in terms of control and efficiency. Hence, a lot of momentum was lost when my magic crashed into his. When the water sphere slammed against him, it only served to stun and knock him back a little. But that single moment was enough for me to buy some time and close the distance.

Finally, I was near him when....

"Eh?"

I slipped and almost slammed my back against the ground.

"What?"

My reflexes were fast enough that I managed to stay upright. However the damage was done. My balance was already lost, and I was simply a prey trapped in a cage. I could do nothing in time as his punch came rushing to my face fast enough as I was powerless to block, much less evade it.

"You lost." Eden declared with a smirk.

The fist that was supposed to come crashing unto my face was stopped abruptly at the last second. It was then retracted, but not before a smug voice sounded directly above. I could only look dumbfounded. It took a while to register what just happened.

"Still. What a monster. It has only been a week and your casting speed has increased already. Is it just because you learned a part of the theory? That is just crazy." He added with disbelief.

"Monster, my ass. Isn't this a water-earth combination magic?! Eden, you just casted a bloody combination magic! If I am a monster then what are you?"

Yes. The reason I slipped was not because of clumsiness. It was because an area of mud formed under me causing me to lose balance. The impressive thing was that this magic was a combination of two elements - earth and water. Most magicians including non-humans would die without managing to do a single combination magic, and yet this guy just did it. And he was still eighteen! And top it all off, the magic was casted before I knew it, and caught me completely unaware. If this was not a genius then I don't know what is.

"This? Anyone can learn this with enough practice, if they actually tried to learn the concept. The non-humans mostly just settle for mediocrity so they would not really know this. You, on the other hand, have only been practicing for a year with a week of theory study, and yet you are at this level already. Not to mention you are also good with melee combat. I reckon you will surpass me in combat ability in less than a year," Eden stated with amazement.

Even I was embarrassed being told all that with a straight face. So I could only reply.

"Really? It would be nice if that happened. But stop kidding me, man. There's no way that is gonna happen."

My best friend only shrugged.

We had a few more rounds after that, all of it ending with my defeat. It had been like this as far as I could remember. According to my own assessment, I was by no means weak, Eden just excels too much in fighting, especially at using his magic. He was versatile and quick to react. No matter what I did, there was always a response from him. And before you make a misunderstanding, he is also decent in close combat, and his physical traits were far from bad. That was why until now I still had to get my very first win.

The two of us rested once again, me being more exhausted than the other party.

"If you are too bored, Fiel, I have heard that school is fun with a girl. Why don't you try having a girlfriend?"

"Wha-?!" I muttered reactively.

I was shocked at the sudden change of topic, and went speechless for a while. It was the first time Eden mentioned about 'girls'. No matter how you see him, he was not the playboy type. In fact, there was nothing coming out from his mouth other than magic and knowledge stuff. Throwing something like this was totally unexpected.

Despite that however, an image formed in my mind. With red hair flowing through her back and a somber look on her face-

I immediately dispersed the image as fast as it emerged. There was no way I had time to mess around with the opposite sex. I could barely get my life together and I did not want any more troubles.

"No way, man," I responded along with a shake of my head. "I am bored, yes. But not in that manner. It is more like I have no goals to look forward to in the short-term. Of course there's still wanting to become a God but it seems so far away yet, so I can't help my motivation from slipping away sometimes. At least before this, I had looked forward to school. But right now there is nothing."

"I see," He nodded. "So that's why you had been slacking off a bit recently. You had no idea about that."

"What do you mean?"

A confused expression appeared on my face.

"Did you not know that your draconian professor's apprentice graduated this year? Ms. Lianna, was it? She always takes one apprentice every time. Since her old one is gone then naturally she will be picking a new one. This is your chance to make an impression. Get picked and your abilities will skyrocket."

"What?! Is that true? From where did you get that information?"

I was flabbergasted once more. There was no one who mentioned that to me, not even the subject herself. I did not have any friends aside from Eden, so naturally aside from knowing about it firsthand or hearing it from him, there was no other way to get any sort of information.

"Yes, it must be true. Sorry that I forgot to mention it. I heard it from one of my classmates in Magic Application. Apparently he was also urged by his parents to attend PE to test his luck in that regards. The opportunity was too good to pass up after all. He only decided against it because he never had any aptitude with physical skills. Otherwise, he would have gone there, for sure."

"This is good news! You really should have mentioned this sooner. Hmm."

So there was actually such a thing. Fortunately, I have made a favorable impression on the very first day of classes. I could only call it luck.

The whole thing suddenly made sense. There were many students in her class, much more than expected. There was also the arrogant draconian, Edric, and his two elvish companions. I previously found it weird that he was too hostile towards me, but after thinking about it, he might have been displeased that I had made an impression preemptively. Not to mention that there were actually dark elves in a Physical Education class. If I connect it to them just trying their luck in hopes of being picked as an apprentice, then it was actually quite understandable.

'If I remember correctly, Edric said Ms. Lianna is his aunt. But seeing him agitated that time, I can only assume that the professor might not be inclined to treating relatives more favorably. If so, then as long as I continue to have a positive image and show her that I improve fast, then it might not be bad to aim for this. I actually have a decent chance!'

A grin crept into my face before I knew it. The whole ordeal got me pumped up. This was the motivation I had been looking for.

"Looks like I hit the spot." Eden remarked with a slight smile.

"Haha! You bet!"

"Oh, then it looks you are ready to get beaten once again?"

"Heh, you think you can still win? Not a chance!"

I intentionally responded to his taunt. We stood up once again to continue our sparring session. This time, I was determined to temporarily use only physical attacks and defense. If I were to have the highest chance at getting the apprentice spot, I had to improve my reflexes and techniques even more. Then what better place to start improving than to beat the cocky opponent in front me?

But well, despite my renewed determination, in the end I was still defeated miserably every single round.