Chapter 44

Mage Hierarchy

  The moment Hans mentioned PARV, the mood between the three got tense. Hans had expected Delimira to behave like this since she was an elf and Parv was an enemy nation for them but Chris was showing more hostility than her. Hans was thinking that Chris living in Clander might be the reason for this hostility.

Chris broke the silence between them in a grim voice,

Why are you asking me about Parv, Hans?

Hans felt he should carefully frame his words, so he diverted them.

Because I didn't find much in books about it, it is mysterious. you know me right I'm naturally curious.

Instead of Chris, Delimira interrupted in middle and said in irritation,

Hey, shorty we are giving you a finger and you are sitting at our head. (giving an inch and taking a mile)

  Delimira was usually very difficult to read but this time it was plain as day, as Hans could clearly see that she was agitated. Chris’s hand came to his shoulder as he gently grabbed them and said while looking down,

Parv is bad news, don't get curious about it and stay away from anything related to it.

  After seeing how edgy Chris was, Hans thought to himself, what would happen if Chris knew that he was talking to the alleged prince of that very bad news? The tension somewhat eased when their next professor made her entrance.

  It was none other than Sentinel’s houseMaster and Delimira’s mother, Aredhel Winters. Normally a high-positioned professor was not assigned to the First year but she volunteered to oversee Mana Theory Class this time. It was no brainer to others that it was because of her daughter but Delimira and herself knew the real reason was sitting beside her.

  Aredhel was similar to how an elven woman is depicted, lean and beautiful, she looked a lot like Delimira but the Winter's junior had a distinctive feature that made her stand out, even from other elves, her hair was of silver instead of the usual blonde.

  One more thing that Hans noticed was that, unlike the other elves who preferred to stay in groups with their kind, she was like a lone wolf. He had decided long ago that he would not be nosy with this condescending girl, but her antics and behaviour keep breaking his resolve.

Aredhel addressed the class,

I am your professor in charge of Mana Theory classes, Aredhel Winters. So let's start our lecture with the first question.

  The whole class was looking at her eagerly because she didn't tell them about the credits or objectives like their previous professor and jumped straight into the lecture. Almost everyone was thinking the same but their attention shifted to her as Aredhel asked them,

What is Mana?

  It was the most basic question that everyone in the class knew the answer to, but she wanted to tell them her own views, instead of the textbook contents. So she did not select anyone to respond, but answered it herself,

Mana is the energy of this world. We, a little more intelligent species, use it to make our life easier. Rather than using it for taking lives, I want you all to think of it as a gift from a higher power for aiding it in the betterment of the world.

  Aredhel was a bit different than what Hans had imagined, she was a battle mage who focused on teaching mage warfare to the seniors so her words contradicted her actions. She looked at the new students who were in disbelief and added,

Is it awkward to hear this from a battlemage?

  The class atmosphere was not tense like in the previous lecture and so far she felt more friendly than any other professor. A warm smile that gave others the confidence to speak their mind was quite a welcome sight in the eyes of students. One of the students answered her question in the affirmative and she continued,

Before the discovery of fire as a weapon to hurt others, what was its main purpose of it? To warm people in the cold, to cook food. Just like that, mana was also used for convenience, so take a mental note that you are not learning mana just to destroy things but build a better world, and this is a responsibility of a mage.

  Her words felt right to Hans, instead of using mana as a weapon if it was used to benefit the lives of others. This world would have been a utopia but this world was a messed up place and he saw himself as neither capable nor willing to fight the flow of things around here.

  Hans always felt pointless about reading the hero's struggles to change things in the books. For all their life, Heroes lived miserably to be happy at the end and the villain who lived all their lives in happiness dies at the end. If he compared their lives, a villain enjoyed his time more than anything.

  This was the reasoning that ten-year-old Hans was giving to himself. That's why he stayed far away from the thoughts of doing anything heroic. It was a shortcut to misery in his mind.

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  She kept telling and motivating the children to see mana as a non-combative thing and it might have sounded ambitious but it became boring for Hans. On the other hand, the students were excitingly listening to her thoughts, and even the knight discipline students were also paying attention.

She was explaining the circle methods that he was not using so the topic became more tedious for him.

…

…Mages condensed main their heart as taking in it as rotation….

…inside the circle mana kept rotating….

…The more circles there are, the more mana you have…..

…Each circle can store mana twice as much as the precious one……

..

.

  After her detailed thoughts on mana, she came to the topic of mana resources which piqued his interest, so he started paying attention.

Mana is stored naturally in two things, an exhaustible resource called mana stones and another rechargeable resource called mana gems. We can find mana stones in mines but gems, which are much smaller in size, contain more mana and are only found in highly concentrated mana zones. Even after complete depletion, it will recharge itself after a few days.

She was moving ahead from the topic of resources so Hans raised his hand, Aredhel asked in a sarcastic tone,

So you were paying attention after all.

Hans got embarrassed since he was caught but still asked his question,

What about sunstones? which category do they fall into?

Aredhel replied without changing her warm expression,

That is not of your concern right now but since you asked I will answer, but before that, answer me this, what do you think is inside sunstones?

Hans quickly replied,

Isn't it mana?

Then why do we call it sunstone?

  Hans was thinking, why didn't he ask himself this question earlier, he never thought about why these things are called sunstones. He shook his head in denial and Aredhel answered her own question,

Because they don't contain mana but a similar thing that our sun has, uncontrollable and powerful energy?

Hans quickly fired his next question,

But I have heard that some people have controlled that energy in the past.

  Aredhel showed a little discomfort and Hans realised that she was also an elf and the person he was referring to was Samson, their sinful enemy. Aredhel controlled her expression and answered,

yes there was and still, some people could control it with artefacts but you should stay away from them, right?

Hans realised that she was speaking the truth, sometimes unnecessary curiosity becomes the reason for someone's downfall. He responded,

Sorry professor.

It's okay, you will learn these things in higher classes, so be patient.

Hans nodded positively and sat down. Chris whispered to him,

Hey, what is a sunstone? And what control? There is something that you know and I don't, tell me.

Hans imitated Aredhel and replied to his curious friend,

you will learn these things in higher classes, so be patient.

  Chris got annoyed and focussed his attention on Aredhel. Hans glanced at Delimira and found her behaviour odd, she was like she saw a ghost or something. He did not bother her and did what Chris was doing, focussing on the lecture.

  it was not like Delimira was scared of something but she was baffled, her mother was never the one to show her real feelings but she could sense her real emotions and it was after Hans asked about sunstones.

..

.

Now all of you have heard about knight hierarchy, right? Our mages are divided by the number of circles they possessed,

0 circles known as apprentices that are mostly the first-years, but I guess in this class most of you are first circles called initiates who can learn and use spells with little power, mostly two spells at best.

Then comes the second circle called Novice, and the requirement of mages to pass the first year, with an additional qualification of mastering four spells. For knights, you will all pass without worry so just maintain your attendance.

The knights started appreciating their new professor even more and she continued,

Then comes the third circle called senior mage, you will be considered a true mage from this stage onwards. Your spells will be more effective with less mana consumption. Since there are no restrictions on learning spells in numbers, you are free to learn as many as you can from this point but keep the institution's curriculum in mind.

Then fourth circle high mage, fifth circle Expert mage, sixth circle Veteran mage, and seventh circle grand mage, you will be a distinguishable person from this point.

She looked at the students who were fully paying attention and added,

From the eighth circle, your spells would affect the real world so the term that originated for them is World Mage and then the ninth circle is Warlocks, a nasty existence.

***