Their first class was called general magic. It was set in a large lecture hall just like the ones Jack had used during his short stint as a college student. There were a podium and chalk board on the ground floor with most of the room being a set of wide steps, a long table, and a bench on each step. The major differences were the stationary and the lighting. At every station was a stack of parchment, a quill, a jar of sand, a blotter, and a bottle of ink. Light from the torches danced in the reflection of the ink bottles glass. The chairs were simple and sturdy benches that were slightly padded with folded canvas..
Normally, Jack would sit in the back during his college lectures due to his tendency to be late getting off work. That didn’t sit well with him now. The idea of squireling Aster into a back row seemed almost sacrilegious. She would stand out wherever she went like a bright ray of sunshine. So why not sit up front and absorb knowledge as much as possible?
There were a dozen people already sitting all over when the four of them entered the classroom. They were split into two groups. There were the rich kids, and what he guessed passed for the middle class. The rich kids were all under twelve years old and had decided to cluster in the back so that they could lord over the others. It just seemed comical to him. There were children that on earth would be too young to be left alone, acting morally superior to their elders. He just had to accept that this was the way of this world and move on. The rich always believe themselves to be cool kids, typical. Everyone else seemed to come from all walks of life. They represented a mix of ages, clothing styles, and ethnicities. One guy was significantly older than him.
Several of the noble brats had given him dirty looks upon his arrival. He had been getting a lot of those. Most of the nobility had sided with this Cassius fellow and decided that Jack wasn’t ‘one of them’, on top of him being a foreigner. It didn’t help that new hate signs had been posted in front of the building last night. I’ve gotten those looks all of my life. You just keep on glaring kids.
Lillian had bid them farewell soon after lunch, taking all the lunch trays with her. He didn’t know what she did when he was in class but he expected that the lock on the door to his room wasn’t going to stop her if she was so inclined.
Jack and Aster sat down while Virtus hovered behind his charge. The two siblings had a whispered conversation. All he could tell was that Aster's voice was frantic and Casper’s was reassuring in a ‘you got this’ tone. Casper must have gotten his way, for he left after a moment. From the look on her face, she would have been happier if he had stayed.
The door next to the lectern slammed open and a harried man came through, tail-end first. The reason became clear when it was clear that the man was attempting to carry a tall stack of crates as tall as himself. Inside were a variety of bits and bobs that Jack didn’t recognize. He swore that one of the boxes snarled. After some maneuvering, the boxes thudded unceremoniously to the floor next to the lectern. With the obstruction gone the man’s upper half was now visible. Scraggly brown hair sprouted up from his head in every direction. His pale face had heavy smile lines and his hands were callused. The uniform was an elaborate robe that all faculty members wore. The only unique feature being the ornamentation on the collars.
“Hello class my name is professor Fabian and I will be your general magic instructor. In this class, we will cover the basics of many subjects. Before we start, I am aware that none of you are Magi yet. All prospective Magi in the academy are required to complete the first semester before being allowed to bind a sigil. The exceptions being the nobility with individualized teaching programs, but they don’t need to take this class so the point is moot.”
He walked over to the black board and grabbed an oblong chunk of chalk. In a few strokes, he wrote the word ‘Magic’ in the middle. “Can anyone tell me what magic is?”
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A young teenager, with too much bling, in the back raised his hand lazily. Professor Fabian pointed to him and said. “You, in the back.”
The teen put on a condescending look as he scanned the room. “Magic is the ability to cast spells.” He finished with a pleased grin.
Fabian was obviously disappointed by the simple response. His whole body language showcased whatever emotion he was feeling at that moment. “I didn’t ask what Magi can do with magic. I asked what magic was. Does anyone else know what magic is?”
Jack had an inkling of where this was going. He didn’t have the obvious conditioning that people in this world grew up with, so his knowledge was more objective. The professor seemed to expect someone to just jump up and wave vigorously at him or something. He certainly wasn’t about to volunteer. That would just be dumb. No need to show up the rich kids.
Silence filled the lecture hall. After an uncomfortably long time, Fabian seemed to finally understand that this wasn’t going to change. He let out a long sigh and pressed on. “Disappointing, disappointing, can no one tell me anything? You are all here to become Magi after all.” He clapped his hands together loudly and took a deep breath. “Magic is the phenomenon that appears when mana is channeled through a medium to create an effect. I am aware that this definition is vague. There are so many forms of magic that an exact definition is all but impossible. At one point in history, there were more than a thousand magical traditions. Over time this sizable number has whittled away to only three major factions.”
“First, there are our northern neighbors, the Samsonites. They practice Mysticism, they craft vessels of great magical potential and bind it to a power found in nature. They separate the mana types in their cores and keep the mana that is compatible with that power. When they cast a spell the mana goes into the vessel and creates a spell that alters their environment.`` He pulled out a small orb filled with swirling mist. With a small chant too soft for anyone to hear, he sent a pulse of power into the sphere. A small cloud of mist came out of the sphere and filled the room for a moment before evaporating. With a gesture, Fabian returned the sphere to his robes. “Out of all of the remaining magical systems, it is the most versatile out in the field. Yet they lack the sheer power or customization of other magic users.”
“Cultivators absorb and purify mana in their cores. They do not immediately attune to any power, instead, they focus on turning the mana inwards. This empowers them till they become living weapons. Once they reach past the novitiate level, they can bind a power and fuel what they call techniques. These are spells that focus on altering the human body or immediate environment. Their physical prowess is uncontested in direct combat but they cannot utilize their power efficiently at range.”
Fabian took a step forward, or did he? Suddenly the erratic man was standing twenty feet away. He was starting down a small wooden mannequin that Jack hadn’t noticed before. Swirling white light covered Fabian's fis. Then he threw a powerful playmaker right into the mannequin's chest. Jack noted that he had good form. His old man had made him watch a lot of boxing matches on top of all the street brawling he had endured at a later date. The mannequin exploded in a swirling white flash. Wood shards pinged off in every direction like a frag grenade. Everyone ducked.
After all the wood shards had finished falling, people started to come up from under the tables. The shrapnel was so bad that it covered every corner and was embedded in the wall and the podium. Slowly, Jack lifted himself off of Aster. When the explosion happened, he had dived in her direction. “Are you okay?” Virtus asked Jack.
The guardsman was holding a shield between the podium and their location. Where he had gotten it was anybody's guess. He certainly didn’t have it a minute ago.
“I'll be fine. I didn’t get hurt.” He turned to examine Aster. She was curled up in a ball, her posture defensive. “Are you okay? I’m sorry for touching you like that, but it was an emergency.” At his words she looked up at him and her eyes softened a bit. It took Jack moving one seat over, for her to begin uncoiling.
A voice came from the podium. “Sorry everybody, it seems that I do not understand my own strength. That was a new technique that I have been working… Well, that’s not important I guess.” He scratched his head before sending out another swirl of mist. This time it came from his hand. As it traveled across the room, everyone’s injuries closed and their complexion improved.
“This brings us to the last of the common magical traditions, our own. Magi bind the powers of creation into our own cores. In this form they are called sigils. Each sigil is the personification of primal power or ideal. This bond gives us great control of mana from our foundational ideal. That isn’t the end though, aswe grow stronger we can bind more sigils to our foundation sigil, allowing for the creation of multi-elemental spells. The spell I just used was a great example. The was a spell that mixed the sigils Mist and Regeneration to create a mass healing spell called Revitalizing Mist. I invented it myself.” His expression was so smug that Jack bet he could give the pompous idiot in the back a run for his money in a sneering contest.
He turned to the black board. “Now it’s time for the practical part of the class. For the second portion we will be going over the ten most common sigils. Everyday we will cover another ten sigils.” He started drawing a familiar symbol on the board. “This everyone, is Fire.”