"Amber! Amber magik!" She'd had been trying to go back to sleep, But once Amber heard her mom yelling, she knew there was no chance of it happening. Oh well, sighed Amber as she got ready for school.
"Amber magik, this is unacceptable! You know you should be awake by now! The priest had emphasized that you have to......" She scowled upon hearing her mom talk about the priest, but quickly hid it behind a poker face. She never understood why her parents believed in the chimera church so much, but boy did she hate their values. They were the source of a lot of problems in her life.
She had just started eating before Amber heard an interesting piece of news. "...Besides, the villains have been kidnapping young mages lately! Who knows what they would do to you if you got..." Amber immediately tuned out her mother to ruminate on that. huh. Weird that the villains are so open with their crimes. She didn't know about the other cities, but Avenir was filled with both professional heroes and vigilantes. It was in the middle of many important locations, but the same could be said about many places so why? "...Whatever." Muttered Amber under her breath as she polished off her breakfast and left for school, her mother too absorbed in explaining the church values to notice.
As she walked to school, she noticed a a figure flying over the street. Instinctively, Amber directed a small portion of mana to her eyes. Her vision sharpened, and she could see the figure in sharp detail. "Ah the Eagle. The most overmarketed hero in existence." snickered someone behind her. Amber's head snapped to the source of the voice.
"What, am I wrong?" added a short, blonde haired boy wearing her academy's uniform.
"No, but I still believe he has potential for growth."
The boy raised an eyebrow upon hearing that, but instead of arguing, held out a hand. "the name is Ethan!" Amber shook it while replying "Amber." Suddenly, she felt foreign mana flow though her hand, pain racing up her arm. Amber quickly recovered from the shock and cast a magic missile spell at Ethan's arm. Immediately, the pain went away as Ethan was knocked to the ground. "What the fuck do you think your doing!? Hissed amber as she readied to cast another spell. "Woah, chill out! It was a harmless prank, I swear!" Shouted Ethan as he got back up.
"Explain." Amber flooded her arm with mana, inspecting for any damage, Huh, nothing is hurt other than the pain receptors.
"The spell I used was completely harmless! All it does is make someone feel a lil' pain!" replied Ethan as he swiftly backed up a fair distance from her.
Amber was still suspicious of him, but a crowd was gathering around them, and unwanted attention was not what she needed today. "Fine, but you better let me see the spell code later."
Ethan's eyes widen slightly, but quickly nodded before running through the crowd, with Amber following his lead moments after.
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By the time she arrived at her classroom, Amber was panting like dog, drawing glances from the students walking by to their own classes.
She walked through the door, and greeted her friend Emily before sitting down.
Professor Winston walked in a moment after. "We will be recapping over what you learned last semester. I'm sure you all already forgot most of it." As he placed his palm on the digital board, screens on both the students and teachers' desk flared to life.
As the professor droned on, Amber took the chance to cast a minor stamina recovery spell on herself. The professor had noticed, but simply nodded in approval.
"Amber, you seem to remember. Tell me, what are the three processes of a spell?"
Amber was caught off guard, but this was drilled into her too much to forget it. "the three processes are: formula, circle creation, and execution."
"Correct. The spell formula is the start of this. To use a simpler example, it is to use words in our language and arrange it into a spell, or in this example, a word." The professor swiped on his screen, causing various articles to appear on the board. "Now, who can tell me about circle creation?"
Many hands shot into the air, but the professor seemed to pick one at random. "Enzo."
A tall, handsome Chinese boy stood up. "The circle creation process, or CCP, is to use multiple formulas to create one last formula, called the spell code, and than place the spell code into a mana construct. The most common of which being the circle."
"Correct, Enzo. But, the mana construct serves a double purpose. Many spell codes use other parts of the mana construct for the spell itself. The most well known example of this is the emergency barrier spell in the Luna kingdom capital, which uses the edges of the mana construct as the parameters of the barrier." The professor continued to drone on, but Amber had already stopped listening in favor of inspecting a magic circle diagram on her screen.
It was a spell she had personally created, but even with the spell creation guide from the school, Amber was fairly sure that it would explode the moment she tries to cast it.
Amber's attention snapped back to class when another student stood up.
"Sir, what about abilities?" Asked a tanned, brown haired girl in a smug tone.
Ah, it's Sarah, She was one of the top performers in the class, but her personality made her the target of jealousy rather than awe.
"Good question. As I am sure you know, abilities are unique traits every mage has. In most cases, abilities only appear in one mage, but there are some abilities that can be found in many people. For example, Sarah here has the ability of enhanced mana sensitivity. There have not been any reports of someone else with the same ability, whereas Amber has mana manipulation, which is found in several mages."
Sarah seemed satisfied by this answer and sat down, shooting a mocking smile to the rest of the class. Amber felt mildly annoyed, as the only reason why she got into the Avenir academy instead of some third rate school was thanks to her ability being much stronger than the other mages with the same ability.
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"...now for the exciting part." the professor walked to the door and opened it, standing just outside the classroom. "Meet me at the field. We will be performing a practical test today."
As Amber got up to leave, Emily quickly sped through the wave of students to walk next to her. "Long time no see, Amber!" Emily was holding a small staff that looked like a stick with a marble on the end of it.
"Hey Emily." Replied Amber as she took one last look at the diagram before following the rest of the class.
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The professor patiently waited for the class to all be seated before explaining. "We will be pitting you against one another in a one on one format. The rules are as follows: you are not allowed to leave your designated area, All large AOE spells are not allowed, and please, try not to harm your opponent too badly." The professor let out a long-suffering sigh. "The healers are already trying to get my head on a pike for this..."
"Now, the first three duels are: Emily and Sophia, Enzo and Zhang wei , Amber and Sarah."
Amber widen her eyes in alarm and was about to protest against it, but the professor shot her a look to quiet down.
"This duel is to test you and see how you would act in a real fight. Please note that this will affect your grade."
...crap Amber held back the urge to sigh as she stood on one end of the makeshift court that used paint as the outline. He knows I can't refuse now.
Sarah twirled a battle staff with a smirk, while Amber readied a magic missile spell.
"Start!"
Sarah immediately dashed toward Amber, not stopping even as the magic missile was about to crash into her. Instead, she used the tip of the staff to cast a short-ranged dispel spell. The magic missile seemed to dim, before exploding in a small burst of mana. Sarah tried to dodge by leaping to the side, but Amber had another spell finished, and launched three fast moving fire bolt spells at her.
The first fire bolt was about to land, but Sarah reacted in time and cast three small mana shield spells, perfectly blocking the attack.
Amber took the chance to cast a minor strength spell on her legs, before sprinting at Sarah.
Sarah didn't seem to care, instead opting to finish casting a spell.
Alarm bells immediately rang through Amber's head as she used mana to enhance her senses, but was confused to find that there were no mana constructs.
Suddenly, Sarah jumped from her spot, using a wind blast spell to gain more height and unleashed a rapid fire spell on Amber. Using her enhanced legs, Amber whizzed past several flaming projectiles, but was still hit in the shoulder.
Sarah grinned like a madman, before launching another barrage of spells, but this time, they seem to home in on Amber's shoulder instead.
Amber tried to dodge them in order to save her low mana reserves, but it was clear that she would lose before Sarah runs out of mana. Her mind worked furiously to try and find a way out, but nothing came to mind. 'Wait, what about...' Amber didn't want to use it due to the fact that she hadn't tested it, and it could explode on her, but it could also save her if it works. 'fuck it, let's try it at least.'
Amber cast a weak magic barrier spell to temporarily block the attacks before focusing on her spell. Eight invisible mana constructs appeared around her.
Sarah noticed them thanks to her ability, and stopped firing in favor of readying a spell.
Eight balls of mana appeared, before exploding into several dozen strings, each still connected to the mana construct.
Sarah unleashed a large dispelling wave, but the mana strings seem to be to have a mind of it's own, each dodging the wave in different directions. Sarah, not expecting this, was hit by many string that stabbed through her limbs. The immobilized Sarah tried to cast another spell, but Amber used the mana strings to spin her as if she was a frisbee. Disoriented, Sarah seemed almost drunk as she tried and failed to cast another spell.
"Enough! The winner is Amber!" Amber felt amazing, as the class cheered and congratulated her, most of which seem happy that Sarah finally lost to someone who she thought was weaker than her. Amber felt amazing, as the class cheered and congratulated her, most of which seem happy that Sarah finally lost to someone who she thought was weaker than her.
Sarah tried to downplay her lose, saying that she would win if they fought again, but Amber didn't care, it was the first time she won against Sarah, and she had to admit, it felt good.
BOOM
A explosion could be seen in the distant, only a few blocks away from the school.
The professor squinted at the building while muttering something. "...Students, go back to your classroom. The wards and other teachers should be able to protect you."
Immediately, the class was being herded by the class president back into the school building.
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It has been half an hour, and Amber was dying of boredom.
Emily had generously given her stationary to Amber, it only helped a little.
"Hey, why do you know the professor is a retired B rank hero?" Amber, who was in the middle of making a tower out of pens, accidently pushed it over. "Wait, actually?"
"Yup, but he wasn't very famous due to him being part of some government strike squad."
That would explain a lot, Thought Amber as a distant explosion could be heard.
"Why is he only a professor than? surely an B rank could have gotten a better job." Asked Amber as she repaired the tower.
"Dunno. I never thought about asking him," Another explosion, but it sounded closer than before.
Amber frowned as she thought about what he said. Wait, why did he think that we need to be protec-
Suddenly, the wall facing the field, collapsed as something shot through the classroom, only stopping after crashing through the other wall.
Once the dust cleared, Amber saw that the man who was sent flying was... "professor Winston!?"
"Aw man, did he die already?"
A man wearing a masquerade mask, with a cloak that hid the rest of his body, flew through the hole.
"Oh hello children! Always a pleasure to see how next generation's education is coming along."
A swarm of magic missile homed in on the man, but a shield appeared around him, blocking all of it.
"What are you guys doing!? Run!" The professor unleashed another spell, this time shooting a wall of fire towards the man.
Some scrambled to leave, but most of them was still frozen in shock, simply staring at the man.
"Now, now, Winston. The kids should watch."
The man snapped his fingers, causing a translucent barrier to appear, trapping the students.
"Most normal people would pay a hand and a leg for this kinda experience," He snapped his finger again, causing multiple mana constructs to appear.
The professor quickly cast a barrier spell as well. A barrier that seemed to be made out of multiple smaller mana barriers appeared, protecting the entire class and himself.
The man gave a amused chuckle. "Come on now, Winston. I know I have a bad track record, but even I wouldn't target the children."
Several projectiles shot out of the constructs, but all of them were blocked by the barrier. several pieces of the barrier broke apart, only to be repaired a moment after.
Amber watched the fight from the safety of the barrier, trying to find a way to support the professor, but she hadn't fully recovered from the fight with Sarah yet, and could only watch.
Suddenly, another man, this time wearing a robe that seem to glow, flew through the barrier and landed next to the man.
"He will though."
"Stop playing around, the ritual is going to start soon," The new person said as he casually dodged a strange green glob that the professor launched.
"Fine, but what do we do with them?" the cloaked man jabbed a thumb toward the class.
The robed man seem to appraise the class before replying. "There is no one special amongst them. Kill them all."
The man sighed dramatically. "Oh well. It was fun while it lasted." a large mana construct appeared that seemed to cover the whole school, and Amber could feel mana gathering around the center of it, right above them.
She and Emily immediately cast a mana barrier spell, and poured all of their remaining mana into it.
a large beam of light rained down on them. It was stopped for a moment by the professor's barrier, but eventually broke through.
It was bright for a moment, before it all went dark.