On the other end of the school was where he was supposed to meet Leona for lessons on water manipulation and other applications.

Leona was a tall, dark-skinned woman with hair as white as snow and ears that were sharp to a point. She sat meditating in the middle of the pool of water. As bubbles seemed to form and freely float around her.

The bubbles twisted and swirled, going to and fro. Hither and thither. Though not a single one landed on a student. She showed absolute control in her ability to manipulate water.

“Today you will learn how to create bubbles. It’s a simple technique when learned and can become useful in various situations with a few modifications. I will start you all off with wands when you figure out how it works. I’ll transition you to your hands. After that, you’ll do it with just your mana.”

Kyrion knew of bubbles. He had seen plenty after building the hotel. However, he had never used bubbles as a fun training implement. So he may or may not have gotten distracted and fallen behind on the lesson. Though he certainly wasn’t alone. Class ended, and if someone asked, Kyrion would say he didn’t learn a thing aside from that. Had they pried, he’d have responded with a sigh.

“Bubbles are not edible.”

Kyrion found Gus for the second time that day. This time, however, he seemed to be preparing for a class. His half-asleep eyes passed over everyone in the courtyard.

“Oh, I have you twice. Relax and take a seat, we will begin meditation.” Kyrion may have just met his favorite teacher.

Kyrion took a seat, closed his eyes, and emptied his mind.

…

Within seconds Kyrion began napping.

A fan popped him on the forehead, waking him from his deep slumber.

“Meditation isn’t for napping, it’s training your mind and will. You need to focus.”

“I was just clearing my mind.” Kyrion asked.

“It seems plenty empty. Step one clear your mind, step two feel the mana in your body seal it in. Step three begin to probe the environment.”

“Wait. Is this just spirit sensing?” Kyrion asked, raising a nonexistent eyebrow.

“How do you know about that?” Gus asked with irritation on his face.

“Am I not supposed to?” Kyrion asked.

“You normally don’t learn about that technique until you’re in the fourth or fifth year of this course. It’s the capstone requirement. Kind of the whole point.”

“Uh huh. Well Tiffany can do it too so it’s not impossible. Maybe Gamodren’s just a better teacher.” Kyrion shrugged.

Gus sighed. “Well then. Do all the steps up to sensing and I’ll see what you need to do next.”

Kyrion emptied his mind, ensuring that the mana within his body was still locked in. This state of mind enhanced his ability to sense mana. The circumference of Kyrion’s senses quickly encompassed the training ground.

Gus twirled his fan and sighed. “This is troublesome… Signs like these should be blatantly obvious.”

Mana began to exit the meditating boy like steam from a boiling pot as the sky slowly started to darken.

A closed fan came down on Kyrion’s head at a startling speed.

Kyrion’s eyes shot open, rolling to the side without thinking. Kyrion’s body was prepared for a fight.

“What was that for?” Kyrion asked, huffing as the sudden movement had jolted him into consciousness.

Gus pointed to the ground where Kyrion was sitting. The grass underneath him had grown a bit.

“You were expelling mana. Which is a problem as I told you to keep it sealed. Though its clear you have already mastered the level of meditation I teach.” Gus said with a yawn.

“I just made some grass grow.” Kyrion said.

“Among other things.” Gus looked up towards the sky into the dark clouds above.

“Oh it’s about to rain.” Kyrion replied.

“No, you almost summoned rain. Releasing that much raw mana into the atmosphere at once can cause things like this to happen.”

“I can’t make it rain.”

“You can call a storm. You’re mostly just irritating the clouds with your antics. Thought that isn’t all... Didn’t know you were a redhead by the way. Had me fooled by the tuft of dark hair that started to grow.”

“What?” Kyrion patted his short tuff of red hair. Then he messed with his eyebrows.

“I could cut it off if you need some help.”

“Ugh. It was symbolic, mostly. Rebirth and yada yada. Not going to shave it off unless it gets too long.”

“Yeah. You look different with all that hair. Almost perfect.”

“Uh huh.” Kyrion squinted his visible eye.

“I mean, the eyepatch and mole ruin the symmetry.”

Kyrion had a tiny black dot right next to his left eye that he inherited from his father. A mole. People tend not to bring it up because they don’t care. But he can’t help that it’s there.

“I see. People tend not to mention my physical flaws.”

“I said it ruins the symmetry. Makes you look human to an extent. I’d think you were a golem otherwise.”

“Sure…So what now? If I’m so far ahead, what do I have to learn?”

“Nothing that you can’t figure out in a week. I’d recommend getting a schedule change. It’s uncommon but it happens. Since this is a five year maximum course.” Gus yawned.

“Five year maximum?” Kyrion’s eye twitched.

“Yes. Classes get harder each year, and each class has requirements for progression. Mana sensing is the capstone project for this class. If you can sense mana then there is very little I can teach that won’t be mastered with experience.”

“So. Can I use this class for naps?” Kyrion asked.

“Sadly no. You’ll need to choose another class. preferably of a higher tier.”

“Mmmmmhmmm.” Kyrion did not believe everything the man had just said. Deciding that he would do so on Thursday. Instead of going there, there. No need to rush it.

Gus saw a glint in Kyrion’s good eye and had no idea what it meant.

Upon arriving in his dorm room after a long day of thinking, Kyrion decided to rest on his uncomfortable bed. Which reminded him of his deal with Gamodren. They were supposed to meet with him a bit later.

Maximus walked into the room and dropped his satchel. The boy smelled like he’s just gotten out of a fire. Some of his hair was a bit crispy.

“What happened to you?.” Kyrion asked his roommate.

“Who are you?” Max took a defensive stance.

“Uhhh. Your roommate. Kyrion.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Let me heal you then. Just covering you with my water can heal and clean you.” Kyrion asked, wiggling his fingers.

“No! I don’t want your weird water anywhere near me.” Max was moments away from attacking.

“Did you get hit in your head?” Kyrion asked as he stared into his roommate’s eyes.

“Fine, fine, I’ll leave, just need to get something out of the closet real quick. I’ll be out. Weirdo.” Max said suspiciously. Sliding the door to their closet open. Max then pulled out a cylindrical tin.

“Excuse my paranorma. But what is that?” Kyrion pointed at the tin.

“It’s ointment. Speeds up the natural healing process. External use only and ect. Relatively cheap in most places that make it.”

“Sounds like a waste. I could heal you in seconds.” Kyrion shrugged as he sat on the bed.

“Wait, you meant paranoia, right? I don’t want you. Keep your magic away from me.” Maximus said with a hint of viciousness.

“Oookay...” Kyrion knew something was off but decided that it was cutting into his nap time.

“Well then. I have some things to attend to.” Max left the room, and Kyrion took his nap.

Two hours passed and Kyrion awoke well rested. On the floor again.

“This is getting annoying.” Kyrion stood up and saw his roommate was back and taking up the whole bed again.

Oddly enough, Max smelled a lot less burnt. His clothes also seemed to be in better condition as well.

Kyrion did a few stretches and then grabbed the comforter that Max was lying on. Gripping it with both hands and preparing to attack.

With measured force, Kyrion pulled the cover right from under his roommate, jerking him off the bed. His body fell to the floor.

Thud.

“Owww!” Max yelled as he was jerked awake.

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Kyrion had already made the blanket disappear.

“Welcome back to the land of the waking. Do you need any healing?” Kyrion asked curiously.

“Huh? Ok, sure,” Max yawned as he tiredly got to his feet.

Kyrion wiggled his fingers before latching onto Max’s shoulder, healing mana washing over him.

“Ohh thanks. That feels pretty nice actually.” Max said.

“You don’t think it’s weird?” Kyrion asked with a skeptical expression.

“No. Not really. Your hair is a bit longer and more red than I remember.”

“Yes. Didn’t we talk about that already? Nevermind. What time is it? I need to be somewhere.”

“I don’t know what time it is.”

“Hmmm. Well I have somewhere I need to be.” Kyrion walked towards his door.

“I’ll come along.”

“Are you sure? My teacher’s gonna make you work really hard for no pay if he can get away with it.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Max said.

“I see. Are you feeling ok?” Kyrion squinted.

“I’m fine. Lead the way.”

Kyrion did so. Taking Max from their dorm to the construction site. It was an empty plot five times as big as the dorm building he was staying in. It seems his teacher wasn’t exaggerating about his intentions.

“This is a big plot of land. Are you building a castle here?” Max asked.

“Kind of…” Kyrion approached a large stack of wooden logs, hitting one as hard as he could. His hand was hurt more than the log as it appeared unblemished save for some runic lettering he hadn’t learned yet. They glowed for a moment and then faded.

“What does that have to do with your training?”

“Oh I was just testing the materials we’d be working with. Sturdier than I thought.” Kyrion’s hand healed itself quickly.

“Are you doing this alone?”

“I’m helping with it.” Kyrion tried to pick up the wood and found it too heavy for him to lift. Can’t break it, can’t pick it up.

Kyrion tried pushing the wood with all his strength. Nothing happened aside from some dirt under his feet being shifted, showing that force was indeed being applied.

Maximus got far away from the stack of logs.

Coach Teus arrived and casually picked up one of the planks Kyrion was trying to push with ease.

“Teus get cut.”

“Teus, pretty strong.” Kyrion nodded in awe.

“Very. Teus here help build.” Teus stated.

“I see.” Kyrion nodded and let the big man start moving the dense wood.

“So, what am I here to do?” Kyrion grabbed his chin and waited before heading to a pedestal in the center with blue paper.

“Ah yes blueprints… Might as well start.”

Day 1

Kyrion’s team: Dig sixty feet into the ground in all the plots.

Teus: Move wood to blue lines.

Workers: After the digging is complete, set up the sewage system.

Day 2

Teus: Supervise.

Workers: Set up the runic pipeline for the sewage system.

Kyrion: Absorb the building materials.

The list went on for three more days with no changes, and Kyrion saw his first free day on the schedule.

“Looks like I’m going to help dig today. I’ll go ahead and get started.” Kyrion went to the plots and decided to get to work.

“Do you need any help?” Max asked.

“I would love some help but this is training..” Kyrion closed his eyes and began to remove four by four cubes of dirt with his earth mana. Each uniform block went into his space for later use.

As he pulled in the dirt, he came across some sort of old monster bones. He put them in the bag and kept on digging.

Ceres arrived a few minutes later. “Master? What are you doing?”

“I’m digging a hole for a new set of dorm buildings. Mind helping me move earth?”

“Oh, sorry for being late, master.” With Cere’s help, the first plot only took an hour.

Kyrion tried to refuse her help, but as per usual. She didn’t listen and helped anyway.

Maximus was clearly bored with his job of just sitting there. After a while, he gave in to his boredom and strong-armed his way in. Finishing the second plot in a mere thirty minutes.

Tiffany, Cecil, Ander, Brion, and Bella arrived, led by Gamodren, who had a raised eyebrow.

“Kyrion you’re early. This is when we were supposed to arrive.” Gamodren shook his head with a smile.

Teus was at the pedestal supervising the workers who had just arrived. They were setting up a sewage system.

“Oh…Thought I’d get it done early.” Kyrion rubbed his bald head.

Ceres started glaring at Gamodren before looking at Tiffany and the others. “Are you here to help?” She asked.

“Not really, I came here to train. We are training right?” Brion said bluntly

“I said we were doing some team building exercises.” Gamodren smiled.

“Does that consist of sparring?” Brion asked hopefully from his chair.

Gamodren conjured a shovel for everybody and pointed to one of the plots.

“Good news is you’re halfway done for the day. Bad news is Kyrion and Ceres will be excluded from helping with one whole plot. That does not include animal labor however.” Gamodren grinned wickedly.

“Why do I have another shovel? I helped a bit.” Max grimaced.

“No better way to build bonds than to get down in the dirt and work. And you need the exercise.” Gamodren stated.

“Are powers allowed?” Tiffany asked.

“Sure. So is training equipment.”

“I’ll be right back,” Ander said to Teus, who nodded in understanding.

“Brion, and others, who I have yet to meet. Do you want any weights?”

Bella spoke up first. “How heavy?”

“How much can you lift with the shovel as well?” Ander asked as he began to spin his spear. A whirring sound could be heard as it gained speed. The wind started to build up.

The small girl hefted the shovel. “Thirty each if you can carry that much. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“A hundred each.” Brion grinned.

“That’s light for you. Oh right you’re going to be standing.” Ander stated.

“Still in recovery, I’ll have to focus a lot on my legs when I can walk again. Kyrion, do you want any weights?”

“I want help carry them since I can’t help anymore. Mind if I tag along?” Kyrion asked Ander.

“If you can keep up, sure.” Ander threw his spear, and it began to fly off. He leaped through the wind and grabbed it. The wind propelled him forward through the air.

“Just don’t hurt yourself.”

Kyrion pressed his feet into the ground, breaking the earth a bit as he pushed off the ground in a twenty-foot leap straight up and then proceeded to start propelling himself on platforms of wind. Increasing his velocity with each push.

“Wind spirit masters sure love to show off. Flying before the practitioner, and expert tiers.” Gamodren grumbled.

“You know. I think Kyrion may be a bit dumb sometimes.” Tiffany stated.

“How so?” Gamodren asked.

“He’s going that fast knowing full well he doesn’t know how to stop.”

“Oh. Oh… no… well he’s heading to the training yard which is outside. He shouldn’t cause too much collateral damage.”

“Was his hair red?” Cecil asked, confused.

“Oh that, yes it was.” Gamodren answered.

“Does he have a sister here my age?”

“I’d avoid her like the plague. She isn’t into boy’s.” Gamodren said in a monotone.

“So she’s...” Cecil tried to prod Gamodren.

“A sociopath that is focused on her research into plants and alchemical augmentation.”

“Why does that sound familiar?” Cecil mumbled.

“Dwen was the town alchemist, you know, your first love or whatever. She tricked you into being her guinea pig and she awakened the mana inside of your body by accident.” Bella scowled.

“Oh? That’s where she ended up. Cecil, if you want to go home, speak to Thalia and tell her about Dwen.” Gamodren seemed to write a few things down.

“So Kyrion there is the person I’ve been waiting for.” Cecil smirked.

“Great…” Bella rolled her eyes.

A black cat with a top hat seemed to look up from its perch on a stone wall before tiredly curling into a napping position.

Kyrion caught up to Ander, who had begun to slow down as he was now gliding.

“Kyrion, why are you only using wind mana as a way to jump again?” Ander asked.

Kyrion opened his mouth, and air rushed in. He closed it soon after and nearly missed a leap as he began to approach the ground.

“You’re also not covering yourself with an aerodynamic barrier of wind… What was your plan?”

Kyrion kept his mouth shut and shrugged mid-jump.

“Well, it’s training. Spin a wall of wind mana around your body.”

Kyrion did so and could feel his movement stabilize a little.

“Now try to expand it like a ball and grit your teeth.”

A ball of wind covered his body like a barrier. It was quite big in size.

Ander let himself fall behind and kicked the ball with enough force to send Kyrion careening into the dirt below.

His fall slowed the closer he got to the ground. The mana caused him to land relatively softly at the cost of a lot of mana.

“Who taught you how to use wind mana like that?” Ander demanded.

“Myself?” Kyrion asked.

“Ah. No. Don’t do that again until you’ve had training. Who’s our teacher?” Ander stated.

“Someone named Gus.” Kyrion stated.

“Ah. Find Lingar or our study group in the training field D. It’s where we meet up to train and discuss our experiences with wind.” Ander told him.

“So no one goes to his class.” Kyrion grimaced.

“If he wants to teach, then he’ll find you. He’s flighty like that.” Ander replied with an irritated expression.

“Teachers here are weird.” Kyrion stood up and dusted himself off.

“I could see how you’d come to that opinion.” Ander looked off with a world-weary gaze.

Ander led them to a rack of weights that could go around a person’s arms, legs, and torso.

“These don’t look that heavy.” Kyrion picked up a fifty-pound weight with ease.

“Around three hundred on each arm and leg then a five hundred pound vest on my chest is my limit. A little over half a ton.” Ander seemed bored.

“Were you holding back that much during the trial?” Kyrion raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a bad habit. I’m aiming for the top seat so every day I strive to get stronger than the number one. The number two is pretty weak but I’m of the philosophy that number two is second best, number three just means I’m in the top three.” Ander said unashamedly.

“Amadeus wasn’t that tough.” Kyrion grumbled.

“Said the person who managed a draw. A neverending flood of attacks that can’t be dodged, blocked or countered without the right training. When competing with your endurance and healing it seems that you are perfect counters for each other. Most of my attacks are physical, mostly wind based, while lightning takes a lot of my mana.” Ander nodded.

“Lightning doesn’t take up that much mana,” Kyrion recalled Fujin and his gift. That spirit still owed him one, maybe…

“Hurry up. Let’s not keep the others waiting.” Ander had a look as though he had just remembered something.

Kyrion went over to the three hundred braces and hefted it. He then moved to the five hundred and found that he could still lift it with one hand though it was a little heavy. He strapped those to his legs and found that he could move well enough. Two four hundred pound weights went on his arms, and Kyrion felt heavy.

Ander grabbed the weights and held them over his arms as he began to spin his spear again. Taking flight and flying much faster than he did before. Even with all the extra weight.

“Show off.” Kyrion ran back, and honestly, it was hard. The total weight was more than the rock from earlier. However, he had the added benefit of not being drained from battles before and only made it back to the building site ten minutes after Ander.

The groups were loading up dirt and transporting it elsewhere.

“So. Heavy.” Kyrion’s legs were tired, while his arms seemed fine as he swung them around.

“You’ll live. What did you do with the dirt from your excavation?” Gamodren asked.

“In the domain.” Kyrion said in quick succession.

“Great. Deliver it to professor Willow tomorrow, it’s pretty fertile land.”

“Ok.” Kyrion rested as his friends worked on clearing out the area. Soon after, he was quite bored.

Taking a seat near a stone wall. Kyrion pulls out a few plates of roasted fish, chicken, and some haunches of other meat.

“Meow?” A cat spoke from above the peckish redhead.

“Hello, kitty. What can I do for you?” Kyrion asked as he pulled out a delicate bowl.

The cat looked at the fish and then the chicken.

“Ah, I can share. I’m not a selfish glutton.” Kyrion put some food into the bowl and sighed.

The cat consumed the food and looked at Kyrion with an intelligent expression.

“For feeding me human I will tell you a few secrets of the universe.” The cat spoke.

“No thanks?” Kyrion began to scoot away.

“Too bad.” The cat spoke to him anyway.

Kyrion’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as blood began to flow from every orifice on his head, and his body began to spasm.

----------------------------------------

One hour later, Kyrion awoke a bit confused. His food was gone, and it seemed he was under some shade. Tiffany was currently looking down at him. His head was presently on a pillow of red grass.

“Kyrion, are you ok?” Tiffany asked

Kyrion opened his mouth and began to cough. In moments he was rolled onto his stomach as the crimson attack continued.

Cecil was passed out under some shade alone. He had gone down ten minutes ago.

“Ah right. Healer is down for the count. Since the day has taken a turn for chaotic. I say we should call it a day here. Get Kyrion back to his room while I’ll look for another healer.” Gamodren vanished in a puff of smoke.

“He’ll get to it eventually. I’ll bring my friend back to the dorms.” Bella picked Cecil up and began to carry him back to the dorms.

Ceres removed the weights from Kyrion and brought them to Teus.

Tiffany and Maximus helped drag Kyrion back to his room.

“Sorry,” Kyrion said as his vision faded.

----------------------------------------

Kyrion awoke with a metallic taste in his mouth. He looked down and noticed his tan clothes were now a rusty red. He left his dorm room and washed off.

Cecil approached Kyrion when he finished.

“Did you wait here all night?” Kyrion looked at the sun, which was currently in the wrong position.

“You were out for about five hours. So, you’re the guy?”

“I am Kyrion. I do have a friend named Guy. Well Guy is his middle name technically.” Kyrion tried to derail the conversation.

“I’ll shoot straight with you. Imala told me to find you. She also told me that if I brought you to her then she’d willingly join my harem.”

“What is she going to do to me when she gets me?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Hail? It’s still the fall.” Kyrion looked at some red tinted leaves.

“Uggg. I like keeping things simple. What do you want as compensation for my bringing you to Imala in whatever amount of years it takes to get you there?”

“What do you have?”

“Nothing aside from knowledge on magic and technology. I could push this world forward into a technological revolution.”

“Techno what?”

Cecil produced his curved stick and pointed it at a boulder. He pulled the trigger and an orb coated in fire and lightning shot out and exploded in a ball of destruction when it connected. Plants caught fire, and most of the boulders had become rubble.

“Wa?” Kyrion’s eyebrows raised before he snuffed out the fires with a water whip.

“Impressive right?”

“That’s a weapon for killing isn’t it.”

“It can be used as one yes. There are some nonlethal cartridges I can load into it. This is just a demonstration.”

“Oh. Can anyone use it?”

“Yes. Anyone with this weapon can use it so long as they have access to mana. There is a ritual for granting access. I could teach it to you.”

“No. This country is one at war with the Beast Blood empire. If you want to make and sell these weapons, that’s your business. If you want to be my friend then you're a little late with that request.”

“Why is that?” Cecil holstered his gun.

“Because we’re already friends. My allegiance right now is to the academy, if you desire to help me accomplish my goals then I will help you with this harem or whatever.”

“Now about your sister.”

“I wouldn’t add Asela to your harem. She’d roast you alive.”

“Who? No, the other sister.”

“Curella? She’d take out your innards and replace them with plants.”

“No… Thalia. Your other sister.”

“Did I… Oh right, I haven’t seen her in years. She might accidentally poison you. Good luck with that.” Kyrion sighed.

“You aren't going to introduce me?”

“You know how I was weakened when we met. I was sick and vomiting when those jerks jumped me?”

“Yes.”

“I had gotten food poisoning from a bar that she gave me.” Kyrion said plainly.

“I see. So you won’t be mad if I make any moves?”

“Listen. If you hurt her in any way, I won’t heal you after she gets her vengeance. I have some very vindictive family members so tread lightly.” Kyrion warned.

“That has been noted.”

“Good, good.” Kyion gave his friend a broad smile that reached his squinted green eyes.

“Well see you tomorrow Kyrion.” Cecil ran off.

“Well then. Time to get to work.” Kyrion did some stretches and left the campus unhindered.