Chapter 7 of my fiction.

As usual, if you find mistakes, please do tell me!

Enjoy!

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After finishing our breakfast, we gathered at the main gate, where several carriages were standing in line and waiting.

They were supposed to bring us to the Capital Magic Academy, where we would learn magic.

I couldn't help but feel a little excited.

During the ride the five of us looked outside like some curious children on a school trip.

This was the first time we would see what this world looked like.

“Wow…” Chihiro murmured.

Cobblestone-laid roads with lots of pedestrians and rows of street lamps on each side, planted plants on every corner, shops and cafes everywhere.

What we saw was basically a European city.

The only things missing were cars and skyscrapers.

I was reminded of a certain beautiful city where a certain blue hedgehog ran around in.

“I wonder how far their technology has advanced,” Tony murmured.

“Well, they have toilets, glass and stuff… So I guess pretty advanced,” I replied.

After a few minutes, we already arrived at our destination.

In front of us was a grand building, about five floors high with a clean white front.

Next to it were several more buildings but about one floor smaller.

The windows and doors were all decorated with ornaments and the corners of the buildings with reliefs resembling pillars.

A fence was surrounding the whole area which was covered in grass except for a paved road, which lead to the broad entrance and from building to building, connecting them to each other.

Here and there, a few students in uniforms could be seen walking around or relaxing on the grass.

When we got out of the carriage, we were greeted by an old man with a bald head and a thick gray beard.

Next to him was a female teacher with black hair.

The old man cleared his throat and began to speak with a loud voice.

“Greetings, Heroes! Welcome to the Capital Magic Academy!

I'm Roy Aldin, the headmaster of this place.

The king asked me to let you study here, so I've arranged a special class for you!”

“What? School? Seriously?” someone murmured.

“For the next four weeks you will learn how to use magic,” the headmaster continued,

“You will start with the basics and then gradually learn how to effectively make use of your mana.

Ms Lydia Schwartz here will teach you everything you need to know.”

He pointed to the female teacher standing right next him.

“Any questions?” the headmaster asked.

No one said anything.

“Good! Then Ms Schwartz will guide you to your classroom now!”

With that, we were guided into our classroom.

While we walked through the corridors, I could feel the curious gazes of the students watching us.

“Okay, everyone!” Ms Schwartz said after we got into our seats.

Her voice was soft and had a gentle feel to it.

“Let me introduce myself again!

My name is Lydia Schwartz and as the headmaster said, I'm going to be your teacher for the next four weeks!

If you have any questions or problems, please don't hesitate to ask me!

I will help you in every way I can!”

A few boys were snickering about something.

I could see Smug Face grinning to himself.

Ms Schwartz ignored them and continued her lecture.

“Now, before I can start to teach you magic, you must first know what mana is.

Mana is something akin to life force within every living organism.

Like blood, it circulates throughout our body.

This circulation is the so-called mana flow.

While plants and the like have a fairly simple one, the flow of animals and other intelligent species is way more complicated.

The general rule is, the more intelligent a being is, the more distinct their mana flow is.

Also, if an individual possesses a certain amount of self-awareness, it will be able to control it's internal mana flow.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Now, in order to learn magic, you will need to master three steps:

The first step is to control your flow of mana, in other words, to freely manipulate your mana.

The second step is to freely emit and absorb mana.

The third and final step is to give the mana properties and attributes.

For now, we will focus on controlling the mana first.

I will now go around and forcefully inject my mana into everyone.

Everyone, please hold out your hand!”

With that she took the hand of the boy in front of her and simply held it. The boy first had a confused look but suddenly stared at his hand with a surprised face.

“Focus on your hand and remember that feeling.” Ms Schwartz said and proceeded to the next one.

After a while it was finally my turn.

She took my hand and I held my breath, trying not to stare at her chest in front of my eyes.

At first nothing happened and I was afraid that I wouldn't feel anything.

But then I felt it.

It was… very hard to describe.

If I really had to say it, it was like the feeling of something from her hand flowing into mine, as if the warmth of her hand was transferred to me.

And then it disappeared.

I looked up to Ms Schwartz.

She gave me a smile and then went on to Andreas who was sitting next to me.

“Now then,” she said when she returned to her front desk,

“Everyone has now experienced what mana feels like.

Now please try to recreate that feeling by yourselves.

Because this is something that requires talent rather than technique, you will have to learn it on your own.

I can, however, give you a hint.

As I said before, The flow of mana is quite similar to your blood circulation.

That's why, try to imagine it flowing through your body like blood.

Well then, good luck!”

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

I looked at my hand.

Remember…

It was a warm feeling, like the heat of her hand entering mine.

I remembered it clearly.

Now, she said to imagine it like blood flowing through my body.

I tried to imagine the blood flowing from my heart into my hand.

The warmth, flowing…

Nope. Nothing.

I scratched my head and looked around.

Everybody was either focusing on their hand or just sitting there with closed eyes.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

This time I decided to do it slowly, step for step.

First, the heart beats.

The heart beats and makes the blood flow through my body.

I focused on my right arm.

The blood flows through the heart, then to my shoulder, to my upper arm and then through the forearm into my hand.

And from my hand, back trough the forearm, the upper arm, the shoulder, to my heart and the circulation is complete.

I tried to focus on this circulation, to become aware of it.

And suddenly, I could feel it.

I could feel some kind of heat slowly making it's way from my chest to my hand.

And it wasn't just my imagination.

I'm really feeling it!

As soon as I stopped focusing on it, the heat disappeared.

Whoops.

I tried focusing on my arm again.

It took me a little while but I managed to do it.

I could see that this was going to be difficult.

I probably would have to train until I could activate this flow of mine subconsciously.

I sighed in my mind and looked over to my friends.

Andreas, Lily and Tony all had their eyes closed and their hands in front of them.

Only Chihiro was looking at her hands in amazement.

When she noticed my gaze, I gave her a thumbs up.

She returned it with a smile.

In the end, I became able to activate my mana flow in my arms and legs individually.

But it was incredibly hard to maintain the flow for the whole body.

I probably would have to work on that.