Astrid entered the class, and the other student looked over at her. This was the first time since she arrived at the school that any of the students paid attention to her. Maybe it was because there were only seven other people in this class compared to over thirty in her previous one.
"Hi,” she said nervously. “This is the combat magic class, right?”
“It sure is,” a boy said. “You must be the new student. I’m Villads.” He held out a hand for her to shake, so she took it. His straw-colored hair was cut short. He wore a deep blue tunic and crisp white pants.
“I’m As... um... Sigrid.” She had almost used her real name instead of her late sisters. Maybe it would be harder than she had expected to remember which name to use at any given time, but she had to try harder. She couldn’t afford to make a mistake like that.
“Nice to meet you, and thanks for joining our class. Have you studied combat magic before?”
"No, not yet,” she said sheepishly. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“Not at all. We work at our own pace.”
At that moment, the teacher entered the room. And Astrid hurried to find a desk to stand behind, mimicking the other students.
“There is no need to sit down. We’ll be going out to the training grounds,” the teacher said. He was tall and broad-shouldered. Long scars ran down his arms.
The students line up in a single file before following the teacher out of the classroom.
Astrid had a lot of questions, but she wasn’t sure what to say, so she followed the class out to the training grounds behind the school.
As soon as they reached the big open lawn behind the academy building, the teacher began leading the class through a number of warm-up exercises, and Astrid found that she had no trouble keeping up with the others. She had feared she would be far behind the other students, but the exercises were easy.
Even as they ran multiple laps around the training grounds, it hardly made a dent in her stamina. The other students were breathing hard by the time they all came to a halt back where they started.
“Now that you’re done with the warm-up, the real training can begin,” the teacher said. He still hadn’t introduced himself or even acknowledged her as a new student in class. “We’ll start with a race.”
As soon as the teacher said that, a message about the new task popped up.
Current tasks
Partake in combat magic class
5 grade tokens
Complete the race
Up to 10 grade tokens depending on performance.
After quickly reading through the new task, she got in line with the other students, mentally preparing herself for the race. The distance was short compared to what she usually sprinted when she was in the forest, and the terrain here was a lot easier as well. No branches to dodge and no root to trip over. That meant she would have enough stamina to run at full speed the entire distance without issue.
The teacher gave the signal, and Astrid set off with the other students down the long side of the training ground. She quickly pulled ahead and wasted no time looking back. The others had to be right behind her, but if she kept up the pace, she might be able to win.
Halfway through the race, she pushed herself to run faster. This drained her stamina faster, but she still had more than enough to make it to the finish line. She was the first to complete the race, and when she finally looked back at the others, they were only just crossing into the final stretch of the lap.
“That was impressive,” her teacher said, and he finally introduced himself as Teacher Birk. “Do you have a lot of experience running?”
“I’m at level two.”
“I see. I’ll have to take that into account for your physical training going forward. What about your other skills?”
“Running is my highest skill, and I don’t have anything else combat magic-related.” Astrid would prefer not to reveal her other skills. Not only did she have a lot, which was looked down upon by the more affluent people, but some of them might also get her in trouble if someone found out. It would make it obvious that she followed the god of Deception.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
She considered mentioning her monster-slaying skill but decided against it. There was no way of knowing how people would react to a fourteen-year-old monster slayer, and it would make it harder to keep her two personas separate. It was best to keep that skill to herself as well.
The other students passed the finish line one by one, and as the last one arrived, the teacher beckoned all of them over. He led them through a series of other exercises, and Astrid could keep up with the other students but didn’t excel at the unfamiliar movements.
She was beginning to wonder if they would ever get to practice magic when the teacher called an end to the training.
“Go grab your staffs so we can get started on the spell work.”
Astrid followed the others to a shed containing a multitude of equipment. She didn’t have time to study any of it as the other students quickly got the staff and left. She did the same. The staff was taller than she was, and it felt a little awkward to walk with as she didn’t know how she was supposed to carry it. Looking at the other students didn’t help, as they all had their own way of doing it. Some used it as a walking stick, and others rested it over their shoulders. She ended up holding it out with a stretched arm as far from her body as possible, as if she worried it would bite her.
As soon as she got in line with the other students, Birk said, “Now show me that you can cast a basic shield.”
Astrid took a quick look at the new task she had received, hoping it had some instructions on how to cast the spell.
Current tasks
Partake in combat magic class
5 grade tokens
Cast a basic shield
Up to 10 grade tokens depending on performance.
Around her, the other students swung their staffs in a circular motion in front of them while saying “basic shield." In front of each person, a shimmering barrier appeared. Astrid tried to mimic their movements, but nothing happened in front of her. The shield spells disappeared again a moment later.
“Not so impressive now.” The boy beside her said, He was stocky, with black hair and gray eyes. He was dressed in a red silk shirt, and his off-white pants had golden embroidery down the sides of the legs. Astrid could tell that his clothes were expensive, and it made her a bit self-conscious about her own dress covered in patches from the many repairs she had done. “You can’t even cast the easiest spell.”
“It’s my first day. I have never done this before.” She answered, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment and anger over being called out like this, though nobody else seemed to notice. Part of her wanted to comment on the boy’s own spell, which had been significantly smaller and more shimmery than all the other students’, but she didn’t want to make enemies on her first day if she could avoid it.
“Nicely done,” Birk said. “Now, let’s see how well your basic shields hold up to attacks.” He began casting spells at the shields one by one, and about half of them held up to the attack. The other half collapsed in on themselves, including the mean boy beside her.
Ha, he deserved that, Astrid thought, then realized she was next in line, and she still hadn’t figured out how to cast a shield spell of her own. She got ready to dodge the attack, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The teacher walked back to the front of the class and began giving new instructions.
“Those of you who didn’t manage to block the attack will continue to practice the basic shield spell for the rest of the class. Those who blocked can practice another defense spell of their own choice. Sigrid, you will come with me.”
Sigrid followed Birk to the side of the training ground.
“Since you haven’t done this before, I’ll go over the basics with you.” Birk said. "First, you have to push the necessary amount of mana into your staff. Start with just one mana point, as it will be enough to cast a weak version of the spell.”
Astrid followed his instructions. She intuitively knew how to move her mana, so it didn’t take long to push it into her staff.
“Good,” Birk said, continuing his instructions. “Now you have to focus on what you want to happen. In this case, you want a barrier to appear in front of your chest. Make sure to visualize it clearly in your mind.” He paused for a moment, giving Astrid time to follow his directions. “Once you’re ready to cast, you draw a circle with your staff in front of you where you want the shield to be, and afterwards, you push your staff forward while saying basic shield.”
Astrid did what she was told, carefully carrying out each step.
“Basic shield,” she said.
Nothing happened except the one mana she had focused on the staff was spent. She looked at the teacher questioningly.
“You have to speed up the movement and make sure you visualize what you want to happen the entire time. Try again.”
Astrid pushed another mana point into the staff and made the movement as fast as she could.
“Basic shield.”
A few sparks sprang from her staff, glittering in the air for a second before fizzling out.
“Good try. In order to maintain the shield, you need to keep visualizing it and continuously feed it an appropriate amount of mana.
“My full mana capacity is only ten, though.”
“It will grow stronger with practice, so don’t worry about that for now. The only thing that happens if you deplete it is that you won't be able to do magic until it has had time to recover a bit. You can stick to using one at a time. Now cast it again and try holding it for as long as you can.”
She did so, making sure that she maintained her focus on the spell. After a second, it began to fade again, but she pushed another mana into it, and it regained its glow. She helps with the shield for a few more seconds. She began to feel the strain she normally felt when one of her stats was getting low. The faint muscle ache that spread throughout her entire body urged her to stop. She was used to it, so she kept going until she ran out of mana to feed the spell.
You have unlocked the defensive magic skill
defensive magic is level 1of 10
You now have the ability to cast level one shields
“You should take a break for the rest of the class. Then you might be ready for when we cover attack spells later. I have to check on the other students.”
Then he left, and Astrid sank to the ground, exhausted. Despite the pain she felt, she was excited. She had just cast her first magic spell. She couldn’t wait to learn more.