As I stayed seated cross legged in a lotus position on my bed, I became faintly aware of the sun beginning to rise outside, but I ignored it, electing instead to continue cultivating.

While the rate at which my mana conductivity increased had plateaued, that didn’t mean I was out of ways to increase my strength.

Back in Frosthelm, although I was the one who had first approached Aurelia to begin teaching me how to read and write, I still often complained that I was too tired, or questioned her on why she was so strict with my learning, and every time I did so, she would always just smile and calmly recite, “Knowledge is power,” before lightly smacking my head and telling me to continue reading.

Although I didn’t see the point in doing so, I still trusted in Aurelia’s words, and everyday, I studied beyond what was being taught in Mana 101 and Alchemy 101, with nearly every waking hour being spent either at Celestia’s library, after all, knowledge is power, or physically training, as power is also power.

But admittedly, I was beginning to slack on the latter in favor of training my mana.

The more time I spent absorbing the mana in the environment into my channels, and then promptly depositing it into my central nub, the stronger I could feel my body getting.

But even good fortune could come with a price. As the amount of mana stored within my nub began to increase, although I was physically growing stronger, so too was my appetite, such that I was currently eating some 50% more per meal than previously.

The sympathy I felt for Lunia in being annoyed with needing to eat more food only continued to grow stronger with each passing day. The number of times in the past week alone I was forced to specially make a trip to the mess hall in order to satiate my hunger had already increased to the point I could no longer keep track, and I was already dreading my future after forming a magic circle.

Filling my channels with mana again, I exhaled, releasing the tension within my body.

I had made some progress in how much control I could exert over the mana around and within my body, but it was still incredibly low. Even though I couldn't remember those moments, I likened it to when I was a babe still learning to walk, only what I was currently doing probably took ten to twenty times the effort and time.

Akin to squeezing a fruit of all it’s juices, I sent all of the mana in my channels to my nub, gradually emptying my strings in the span of ten minutes. Confirming that there was nothing left, I willed myself into the inside of my actual soul and peered inside my one mana stone. While it had once been a dull gray and had a distinct air that spoke of emptiness, it had transformed in the past few weeks, especially so in the days after the first dream.

Now, it was about 80% full, and an incredibly pale, light blue, reminiscent of the color of the sky. As I continued to peer in, the mana within seemed to be constantly swirling, captivating me.

It was hypnotizing.

Suddenly, as the sun fully rose, and it’s rays entered through my window, bathing my room in their warmth, an ear-piercing, high pitched noise began to resound from the lightstone imbedded in the wall above my bed, and I was ejected from the soul plane.

Jumping in fright, I accidentally threw myself off my bed and hit my head against the hardwood floor.

Beginning to see stars as the annoying alarm continued to blare, I sighed, though only partly out of annoyance, more from the satisfaction brought on after cultivating. As long as I didn’t use any of the mana I had gathered so far, I expected I would be able to form my first magic circle in a little less than week's time.

I got back up and quickly tapped on the lightstone, causing the alarm to stop.

Going through my normal morning routine of washing up and changing clothes, I set foot outside the U dormitory, before checking the time, the realization that I was slightly late coming over me.

Running to the S dormitory, I reached Lunia’s door and began knocking, even making sure to be soft and gentle about it. But being met with no response, I quickly gave up on that, instead violently pounding until finally, an exhausted Lunia came out to greet me.

Seeing that her eyes were droopy, her hair uncombed, and that she was still half asleep, I forcibly pushed her into her room’s bathroom, before closing the frosted glass door shut.

Ten minutes passed, and she reemerged, still looking drowsy, but less overall disheveled.

As we made our way to the mess hall, we engaged in idle conversation, the morning sun shining down on us even with the presence of clouds in the sky.

“How are you still oversleeping?” I asked in disbelief, “It’s been what, two weeks? And you’ve only gotten worse too.”

“Not my fault,” Lunia tiredly yawned, “Plus, it’s not even that bad. I could have slept for longer.”

“Yeah, but then you would’ve missed Mana 101 again and asked to see my notes again.”

“That’s not fair,” she protested, “Just this Tuesday, I distinctly recall you missing Mana 101, and I so generously, graciously gave you mine to copy?” As if in mock prayer, Lunia pressed her hands together as she spoke.

“That reminds me,” Lunia suddenly exclaimed, “I didn’t ever hear a thank you for that.”

“I am not thanking you,” I snorted, “Your handwriting is horrible. I couldn’t even read it, so I ended up just self-studying for like three hours.”

“Why?” Lunia confusedly asked, “Not like the class is even that hard.”

“Then you’d better get at least in the top ten on today’s test if you’re saying that,” I blankly stated.

As Lunia suddenly stopped walking with me, I turned back confused, about to ask her why she wasn’t moving anymore, when Lunia abruptly jumped at me.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“WHAT THE FUCK,” she cursed, beginning to shake me back and forth, “There’s a test today? You didn’t tell me there was a test today. When did he say that? Fuck, fuck, I am so fucked.”

“Last friday, at the end of class,” I answered while still being shaken and moving up and down.

“I am so fucked,” Lunia repeated, defeatedly slumping down to the ground.

Suppressing a chuckle, I picked her back up, holding my leather notebook under my armpit, before digging out my pocket watch.

“You’ll be fine, we have thirty fi-,no thirty four minutes left. If you skip breakfast, you still-”

Suddenly being interrupted, I felt myself being pulled away by Lunia towards the mess hall.

“Come on then! Let me see your notes.”

Ignoring how she was still going to eat breakfast despite her apparently not having studied at all,

“So you admit that my notes are maybe, just the slightest bit higher quality than yours?” I smiled.

Looking back at me, an expression of exaggerated reluctance crossed her face, before Lunia finally nodded in answer.

I chuckled, before beginning to full heartedly follow her.

***

“How do you think you did?” I asked Lunia, the two of us joining the sea of other people leaving Mana 101.

“...I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Come on,” I attempted to comfort, “You couldn’t have done that badly? I mean, you even said that you understood the content. Plus, the test wasn’t even that bad? At least compared to how you were panicking so much earlier.”

“Shut up,” she dejectedly muttered, before falling silent.

As I reached the alchemy building, I turned to Lunia, about to reassure her once again that she couldn’t have possibly done as bad as she thought she did, but I stopped, staring and slowly raising my finger to point in blank confusion towards the sky.

“Is it just me, or are we falling?”

“Yeah,” Lunia absentmindedly nodded, affirming my question, “Fourth years begin practicals this week.

“I’ll see you later,” she suddenly sighed, “I’m going to go study.”

Nodding in response, I promptly entered the alchemy building, anticipation mounting. The previous week, the lecturer, an austere woman with hair colored a dark, metallic silver, had stated we would finally begin learning the basics on how to draw magic circles, and as those who were only tangentially interested in alchemy were already filtered out, the excitement from those who still attended class after hearing that was palpable.

As I entered the lecture hall, I immediately noticed that at each seat was a stack of incredibly thin sheets of paper, a square foot of some dull green colored skin, a small little black case, and a glass container of what I assumed to be goblin’s blood.

Going to my seat at the very back of the room, I opened the black case, finding a measuring stick, a dozen needles of varying thickness and length, a square of incredibly fine, almost silk-like cloth, and a clear cylindrical container, that when unscrewed, exposed a liquid that smelled like pure, distilled alcohol.

Closing the black case back up, I absentmindedly rubbed the dull green colored skin, finding that it was reminiscent of a dried leather. Judging by how the jar of liquid on the table was likely goblin’s blood, the square also probably came from a goblin.

Eventually, as the lecture hall completely filled with people and the hour and minute hands of my pocket watch struck ten and twelve, the professor finally entered, with the previously loud and boisterous room becoming so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“Today,” she stated, picking up a piece of chalk and drawing on the blackboard behind her, “We will begin learning magic circles, or alchemy proper as I call it.

“To begin with, there are two main factors to take into consideration when drawing a magic circle, the canvassing material, or the actual surface on which the circle is on, and the catalyst, or what you will use to actually draw the magic circle.

“There are a myriad of other things that are important, such as the synergy between the two, the age of the two, or even the time of day at which the catalyst is applied to name a few, but today, we’re only going to discuss the canvas’s main function and the two principal qualities of a catalyst, it's mana conductivity and whether or not it has the ability to store mana.

“Mana conductivity, as each of you should know, is just how much actual mana is able to be absorbed by something in relation to how much you actually infused, so say you infuse ten units of mana into a magic circle whose catalyst has a mana conductivity of 20%, it would only absorb two of those units.

“This can be especially troubling in battle, where such details can be easily overlooked. Say the magic circle of the artifact you’ve drawn needs three units of mana at minimum to be activated, but because of the low mana conductivity of the catalyst, you forget such a thing, and you fail to activate your life saving artifact. Then you die.”

“Poof,” she turned to us, exaggeratedly motioning with her hands, “All gone, because you forgot such a seemingly rudimentary detail.”

“Of course,” she continued, turning back around, “It is possible to just infuse the magic circle with mana until the thing activates, but what I’ve just described is nothing but ignorant barbarism.

“The vast majority of magic circles are all or nothing, where they either activate or they don’t. By just blindly infusing an artifact with mana, not only are you wasting precious mana, but you’re also placing too much strain on the catalyst, running the risk of damaging or even destroying it.”

“The next quality,” the professor breathed in, “Is whether or not the catalyst is able to store mana. Some catalysts naturally absorb mana from their surroundings, such that you essentially have extra, no cost to you uses of the magic circle it is a part of.

“However, once the stored mana runs out, the catalyst will need time to recharge, but that doesn’t mean the magic circle is completely unusable, as you are still able to infuse mana into it to activate it.

“Though, I feel the need to state this.

“A fundamental law of alchemy is that the vast majority of catalysts are unable to absorb mana while they are being used. Save for catalysts made from dragons, while a catalyst that is able to store mana is being used, it is unable to, at the same time, absorb mana from it’s surroundings.”

“As for the canvas,” she continued, “It’s primary function is to act as a support for the catalyst, akin to the foundations of a house, where by itself, it’s useless, but also without it, the house, or the magic circle in this scenario, is easily destabilized. This, every leading alchemist has reached a consensus on.

“However, what is less agreed upon is what the secondary purpose of the canvas should be. The vast majority of higher ranked monsters have fundamental natures, so it would thus make sense that the canvasses and catalysts formed from such specimens would as well.

“You wouldn’t use the blood of a sea serpent as a catalyst for a magic circle that creates and launches a flame spear, but you would if it instead released a venomous fog, or a stream of pressurized water.

“However, there exist different schools of thought for the canvas. Going back to the sea serpent spear of fire example. Say you acquire the blood of a firewyrm and alchemically refine it such that you now have a quality catalyst with which to form the magic circle.

“Great, that’s one half done with, but what about the canvas? Do you etch the magic circle on the sea serpent’s venom sack leather, such that the fire now has a venomous quality as well, or do you find a patch of that very same firewyrm's skin, so the fire can more intensely burn?

“Such a discussion is still ongoing in the world of alchemy and it will probably continue until the end of time itself. Of course, the vast majority of credible alchemists agree there is no one correct answer. Both have their advantages, both have their drawbacks; I only strongly suggest that each and every one of you experiment and draw your own conclusions on a case by case basis.”