Arras woke up, instantly tensing in anticipation the moment his eyes blinked open. He’d compromised on the bed, it really wasn’t too much of an issue… But that didn’t matter right now! At long last, and by long last that meant two days, but at long last, it was finally time for his classes to start!

He had to say, it was definitely a mostly positive experience to be helping out one of his students. Sure, he did have to slow down his usual methods… somewhat. But the fact remained that seeing somebody else improve was very satisfying to him. The same held true for Illia, but she always put up a fuss about it, despite the fact that she clearly enjoyed the process.

Speaking of her, while Arras would usually oblige her habits, today was NOT the day for it! He needed to be up! She didn’t technically need to be up, but he was pretty sure she’d like to be there. So, he needed to get up. And getting up, unfortunately, meant displacing one clingy individual.

“Illia, time to get up.” He gave one warning before beginning, and from there he began to shake. It was 6AM. Frankly, already too late for his tastes. His student of the past two days had always been early, earlier than himself on the first day. That was unacceptable. If he was to be setting a standard for other students to follow, he’d best be the best in every possible regard.

And that included being there as early as possible, so-”Illia you have five seconds.”

Five.

Four.

Three.

Ah Nine Tails he already knew she wasn’t going to wake up.

With a minor pulse of strengthening magic from his artifact, Arras forced himself to his paws, completely knocking Illia over. Her entire body once more flipped upside down.

…That tended to happen a lot nowadays. Once again jumping out of bed, Arras metamorphosized and stretched before once again turning his attention to Illia.

“Illia we need to get going.”

Her chest still rose and fell slowly.

…Arras tried to supress it, tried so very hard, but his mind kept drifting to one rather mean solution. Oh, to be young again… well, he was still young, but to be youngER again.

Waving a hand, Arras perused a selection of sensations and sounds he could project onto others through illusion magic. He hadn’t actually tried his hand at physical sensation much at all ever since his earlier days of life, now that he thought about it. Perhaps another field that he should do some more practice in. But regardless of that, he continued to grin wickedly at the thought.

By now, there was practically no way that he’d do anything else. He’d been nice about practice, as far as he was concerned. He’d very much taken Illia’s plea to go easy on her seriously. So… he figured he was owed a little leeway. Enough for her to not be able to complain… too much.

His grin widened even further for a short moment, before he finally reigned it in. He had one particular moment in mind, and finally managing to bring his face back to neutrality, he lightly tapped one finger against Illia’s cranium as he worked the spell.

And, to his utter bafflement, she barely reacted. Her breathing eased up a little more, if that was possible, but that was about it.

…What?

Had he casted it wrong? Surely not? Maybe he just didn’t have an accurate idea of how that would feel? Against his better judgment, Arras proceeded to cast his own spell, on himself. And with an alien touch against his sides, he shuddered for what felt like an extensively long moment. He expected it, but that didn’t really make it any better.

No, he definitely hadn’t casted it wrong if that was any indication, so what gave?

Forgoing the use of magic, Arras sighed once and just settled for actually doing what he’d intended to spook them with. Picking Illia up under the wings, he watched on in shock as she barely even reacted, her head shortly coming to rest against his arm.

What?

Arras blinked in surprise, not once, not twice, but quadrice, before squinting worriedly at her.

Was she hurt??? Her magic felt fine, he could naturally sense it flowing with her so close to him, he wasn’t crushing her was he? No, clearly not. So was she wounded somehow? One quick search later and as much healing magic as he could muster in an instant (which, frankly, wasn’t much) and he had to conclude, no.

So… did she just… not care? Was she awake?

No, she tended to get flustered about unexepected close contact like this. She certainly wasn’t awake… so… what? She… didn’t seem to care that he was currently holding her.

Last time this happened, as far as Arras was aware she’d freaked out enough to instantly wake up. Just like he’d gotten more used to touch, he figured she wouldn’t have reacted quite as negatively as about a month ago… but to what, relax to it?

He wasn’t sure whether to be concerned, or to be flattered. He was certainly leaning more towards touched, though. For him, enough trust to not even react to completely unseen hands was more than he’d probably give himself for quite literally anything. He couldn’t help but smile at the image before him.

Though, all of this didn’t change that he still needed her to wake up…

Arras sighed as he drooped a little. Now he just felt bad about having anything slightly malicious in mind. It’d be alright, he’d just carry her. After all, she didn’t really seem to mind. C74 wasn’t too far from their room anyways.

…

Surprisingly enough, Illia managed to sleep through the entire trip. Arras wasn’t quite sure where to set her down, but he supposed the stand at the front would suffice. It wasn’t like she would just slide off of the thing, it had a lip.

He’d gotten a few odd looks, carrying her around the way he had. It would seem there were a few students up and about this early, mostly singular individuals making their way around the building. He hadn’t seen any other instructors like himself in the halls, or any of the groups which he’d come to assosciate with students. Which lead to him putting two and two together. There were probably classes that started earlier than eight. Being up around five, maybe four, was certainly feasible… But even for him, he didn’t exactly find that a plesant thought. And on that note, could there have been a class already going in his room if he was unlucky?

...Maybe. Good thing he clearly wasn't particularly unlucky.

Now, his first class of the day! Starting in just two hours! It would last for another two hours after it began, and then he’d have his combat class an hour after that, starting at eleven. He hadn’t actually met any of the students that would be participating in this particular classroom, so all he had was the list of names he’d gotten from the Headmaster yesterday, whom called him in with a familiar to tell him a… few… things. One of those being a date, which he very much could’ve gone without knowing. But he supposed he was never going to be able to avoid it forever.

However, that didn't have anything to do with him until very late in the night! He could, and would, continue to put it off. In fact, the thought didn't even deserve the time of day that he was currently sparing it. So, enough of that. What would serve his time better, was preparing for any would-be students! He was practically bursting at the seams to get to share his work with anybody who would listen. Mind Realms were supposedly largely based on talent, but that was ridiculous as far as Arras was concerned. If you worked on your perception of magic, refined it to an edge, you could simply go ahead and call your level of detection a Mind Realm. They'd practically be equal in ability at that point!

There was by technicality a difference in simple advanced detection, and a Mind Realm, but functionally they served the same purpose. a Mind Realm simply served as the foundation for further abilities. A distinction he'd drilled into his mind among other things.

One of those things being the main lesson of today. What exactly, was, a Mind Realm? Something he was eager to share, that's what... but Arras breathed in and calmed himself. All in due time. Burning out his enthusiasm (like that'd ever happen) before the lesson actually began certainly wasn't what he wanted.

Illia was still asleep, and the building was still dark... so Arras supposed he might as well work on his own perception. What better a time?

...

It was very quiet, almost abnormally so. The building in Arras's vicinity was completely silent, not a sound except for the shallow breathing of Illia and himself. What he could notice however, were faint traces of magic all throughout the locale.

Leaning against the board in the room, Arras stretched his perception as far as it would go. His eyes closed, but his senses as unbound as he could manage. And on the fringes of those senses, were the makings of various forms of spell casting. Presumably from one of those early morning classes that he figured existed. Occasionally, he could make out a few sources of magic in the nearby vicinity, like small flames passing through a starry sky. But they found themselves vanishing soon after. It was difficult to keep track of somebody not releasing any semblance of aura, even if they weren't actively suppressing their presence. Especially from a distance.

So, that's exactly what he did. Straining his ability to track magic to the limit, Arras stood there, for at least half an hour. Simply observing, waiting. At some point, he would've worked up a cold sweat if he was physically capable of such a thing. But alas, he wasn't. So his hair, and likewise his body, remained blissfully un-drenched.

As he continued to perceive the world around him, Arras paused as one source of magic became clearer to him. Some of them had done the same, but this one was somehow different. He took a moment to put his paw on it but... ah, of course.

It stepped closer and closer, becoming ever more defined to Arras's perception. Seeing no further reason to practice, he switched his focus. From that of simply stretching his perception to its limits, to the upholding of a proper Mind Realm. The two things were after all, different.

With his focus now reduced to a smaller, but far more clear area, Arras stood up and stretched as he waited for who he presumed to be a student to walk in. Illia was still asleep, so perhaps not the greatest first impression on her part, but Arras had complete faith that she'd make the day of anybody who gave her shit for it exponentially worse. It would be a lesson well learned that a business mode Illia was not a pleasant find.

Shaking his head slightly, Arras refocused on the individual now at the doors of the room. Their magic, at least to him, felt rather painfully average. Well, average in the sense that they were normal compared to the somewhat wide sample of people whom Arras had observed throughout his life. Those who could use magic effectively, and those who couldn't. The pool of magic that they had available to them was... perfectly adequate, but nothing to write home about.

Perhaps they made up for it with skill, but he certainly wouldn't know until shown. It wasn't as if he could gauge every aspect of an individual just from observing their magic. Regardless, it was about time to introduce himself!

...It was about time to introduce himself!

.....IT WAS Aaaa-aaaand the door finally opened!

A shorter... Arras wanted to say Beastkin, slipped in through the door and breathed out a sigh of relief. Before opening their eyes. Their eyes then proceeded to go even wider as they leaped into the door they'd closed behind themselves a moment ago.

Arras, for his part, merely gazed on curiously. What in the world had this person so freaked out?

As they pressed up against the door, they finally managed to find the words... or well, "words" seemed to fit that criteria better.

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"Who the-what are you-hmmmmmgh!"

Sliding down until their butt hit the ground, they continued to whine as Arras stood stock still.

"Are you alright?" Arras tilted his head slightly, growing slowly concerned over the Beastkin's apparent... panic attack? That's what it looked like to him, anyways.

They didn't respond immediately, instead eyeing Arras up and down as they crumpled against the door. Their chest rising quickly at first, but mellowing out after a few seconds.

"Sorry." They managed to work out a few seconds later, slowly pushing themselves off of the ground. "I apologize, professor...?"

"Veile."

"Veile, oh, of course. I uhm... I didn't expect anybody to be in the room so... early." They continued to reorient themselves, straightening their clothes as they returned to their full height. Now, Arras wasn't quite sure if they were a beastkin or just some other creature using a metamorphosis spell like himself.

Their features were prominent, long, tipped ears on the top of their head as opposed to the smaller ears a human would have, similar to Arras's own ears in an unchanged state. As well as a long bushy tail much like his own. Well, it wasn't as if they had three of them, so that made it unlikely that they were a spirit fox. Or perhaps they were, and they merely had one tail. Though it wasn't like he hadn't seen beastkin with more apparent features, but they were rare. And technically, he couldn't be sure if they weren't just metamorphosed creatures from a different species.

After the awkward silence stretched on a moment longer, Arras frowned slightly as he asked once more; "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes, I'm fine. You just gave me a scare, is all, Professor."

"I see, sorry about that."

"N-no need to apologize." They bowed their head for a short moment, before making their way to the desks. "Are the seats free choice?"

"Yes, there's no prearranged seating." Arras confirmed within short order. "If you have any questions you'd like to ask me, feel free. You have my attention until class begins."

It felt a little odd still, to tell somebody that they have his rapt attention, because usually they certainly wouldn't, but he'd very much come to enjoy this job. At least, he thought he did. The past few days were very much pleasant for him. He was hoping that it would remain that way, and he had no reason to think that it wouldn't.

"O-okay."

...It felt like he was forgetting to ask something. Not exactly something too important, but it certainly nagged at Arras's focus as he leaned against the board once again. Something he just couldn't quite shake from his head, even as he continued observing the motes of magic in the vicinity. But what could it...

"Professor?"

Oh, of course, how could he have forgotten that easily?

"Your name?"

"...What?"

"Your name? I forgot to ask."

"Er... Vergo."

"I see. And you already know my name, yes?"

"O-of course? I'm a commoner but I'm not that dense... I wouldn't dare show up to a class without even knowing my own Professors name..."

Well, Arras supposed that was fair enough. He'd memorized each and every name of everybody in his class, he just didn't have any faces to match to them. He did it almost immediately after he had the list. It wasn't particularly difficult to believe that a student would do the same for their teachers. In fact, he'd expect the effort. It showed that they wanted to learn, at least, it did to him.

With that itch scratched, Arras breathed out once again and continued to lean against the board, closing his eyes once again-

"Uh... Professor?"

"...Yes?" Arras asked in mild annoyance as he opened his eyes once again.

"Can I ask what you're doing here so early?"

He paused for a moment, before tilting his head right back up at the kid in mild confusion. "Isn't it obvious? As the teacher, I should be setting a standard, no? If I want any of you to listen to me, I should be showing you why you should."

"...Oh."

Well, they seemed sufficiently mollified. Now that that was done, Arras eagerly got back to practicing. He could think over what exactly he was going to say outside of what he was required to say while doing it!

...

Nobody else arrived for a good while. Just Arras, Illia, and Vergo. And Illia remained asleep, occasionally shifting around. She'd actually managed to almost shift her way off of her resting place a few times, each of which, Arras had prevented. He didn't mind too much, given it wasn't happening all that often, but it was rather curious that she wasn't awake quite yet.

She had a habit of sleeping in, but with all the talking and jostling, it was rather odd that she hadn't woken up yet. Arras didn't think anything was wrong, she was perfectly fine magically and physically, her breathing was steady... but it was slightly concerning. He currently had no plans of waking her forcefully, but if she wasn't up soon his hand would be forced. Mostly just because he was, as mentioned prior, concerned.

Though, he supposed that time may be sooner rather than later. On the horizon of his senses, Arras was able to pick out a few more presences than usual. Specifically heading towards his room. Righting his posture once again, Arras stood up and got himself ready for the incoming horde.

...

Well, regardless of what Arras did with her, Illia simply wouldn't wake up. Oh, she was sure to "voice" her displeasure, given her tossing and turning with a light shake, but stubbornly she refused to wake up! And that was an actual problem now, two hours later, because the room had been slowly filling for a few minutes now. Faced with no other choice, he was unfortunately forced to place her on the ground for the moment.

Starting simply, Arras weaved a spell into existence.

"Good morning everybody. Given this is likely the first time any of you have seen me, I will now introduce myself. My name is Arras Veile,-" and he managed to prevent any venom from leaking into that word! Progress! "but you may call me Professor Veile."

He'd need that restraint soon enough.

Anyways, supposedly now was the time to have everybody introduce themselves, but Arras... he wasn't sure how much he'd appreciate being put on the spot like that. Sure, he'd probably do it if his goal was to learn like he assumed it was for everybody else here, but if anybody here had anxiety similar to his own, he imagined that it would be quite unpleasant. So, a compromise.

"If anybody would like to introduce themselves, please raise a hand."

One, then two, three, a wide assortment of hands broke free into the air above. frankly, Arras had expected fewer hands, but it was fine by him. These were people here to learn, and that was a social interaction that he was eager to deal with. Unlike literally almost anything else. The only people who hadn't raised their hands, were, in Arras's humble opinion, dressed slightly less to impress. And that included a student whom he'd already acquainted himself with, Vergo.

Well, he had time today. The only technical restriction he'd been handed down was that he needed to root out talent within the first week. Initially, he'd been a little skeptical as to doing that... but, after doing a little more research on the subject, Arras figured he'd be perfectly capable of it. He fell within a... certain category of Mind Realm users, but he was no less capable of discerning who would be capable than somebody else versed in the field. Some might find more success in his class than others though...

Regardless, that was all for the future. For now, he had students to meet.

Raising a hand, Arras snapped and produced a small flame. Maintaining the minor spell as he formed yet another illusion spell.

"Whoever the flame is closest to may speak, understood?"

A chorus of murmurs, and a few more enthusiastic "Yes sir!"s were what rang out in agreement. And without further delay, the flame began to move.

"My name is Hugo Mirscy, a pleasure to meet you Professor."

A nod of acknowledgement, and the flame drifted once again.

"Mellia Javets, sir."

"Mason, Professor!"

And on, and on... it was a fair amount to take in all at once, but Arras was fairly certain that he wouldn't forget one face. He should be able to do at least that much.

...

"Does anybody need a refresher on the basics?"

Somewhat guiltily, a single hand raised as the rest of the class stared at the perpetrator. But, the flame had proven to be an effective method in Arras's humble opinion. Quickly, it made its way towards the individual, whom Arras had figured to be a commoner of some kind by this point. Commoners held no last name, and were also somewhat less... he didn't want to say visually appealing, because that wasn't quite right. Just, less overall clothing. Their name being Nathan.

"What do you mean by 'the basics', Professor Veile?"

"I suppose I should explain that." Arras agreed freely, nodding slightly. "The basics of maintaining a Mind Realm, how to properly use one, and its effects. So, does anyone need to hear about any of those three things?"

This time, a few more hands went up. Including Nathan's.

Nodding again, Arras closed his eyes for a moment and dispelled his flame.

"Everybody is naturally born with the ability to sense magic, it's a simple thing, and an instinctual sense that any creature, no matter large or small, possesses from birth. This is one of the most base uses of attributeless magic. An ability that anybody at all is capable of. Now, a Mind Realm is also an application of attributeless magic. A rather advanced one, for that matter. And something that not too many are capable of. Even fewer being capable of properly utilizing one in any combat scenario. While not too dissimilar from simply sensing magic, it is the basis to a few more uses of attributeless magic, and it allows for a few additional benefits that would otherwise be extremely difficult to reproduce with only ones base senses."

Pausing for a moment to recompose and carry on, Arras's tails flicked gently as he stopped himself from using them as a focus point. He hadn't actually used this much illusion magic in a very long time. And while he didn't exactly need the assistance as of the moment, it was somewhat mentally taxing to continually form different variants of the same spell over and over again. Magically taxing, as well, but nearly to the same degree as the former cost. He'd be able to keep this up for at least another few hours. He recovered his magic almost as fast as he expended it.

"Now, bearing that in mind, a few of you may have wondered, why is it that a class for such a complicated matter is available for first year students? That would be because some individuals are born with an innate talent for the usage of one such magic. Which, is what we will be going over during the class for the next few months. I expect that many of you will unfortunately be leaving this class within the first few weeks, but such is the nature of it. Now, before I go over how exactly one maintains a Mind Realm, allow me to explain the benefits of it."

Raising a hand once more, this time Arras conjured a few barriers out of force magic, making no attempt to mask the spell. In fact, he actively casted as poorly as he could, allowing a large amount of magic to leak during the process.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, I casted a spell just now. A poorly made one, but a spell regardless." A few nods later, and he carried on. "You felt magic in the air, and then felt it materialize in one place. And no matter how much you focus on that one individual place, no matter how hard you strain your focus, that's all you'll be able to see, as well as a vague sense of how much of it was used. Not that it isn't a useful skill to have, but you simply won't be able to determine anything, other than that there was magic in a certain location."

Tolerating the waste no longer, he broke down his magic, fixing the spell in an impromptu fashion and recycling the force magic he'd used a moment earlier.

"That is the key difference between a Mind Realm and simple magic perception. Everything around you becomes far more clear when working with a Mind Realm. Whereas before you simply perceived magic at a baser, simpler level. Were you to place me a room across from a mage, I would be able to tell you the kind of magic they used, how many different spells, down to the exact amount of magic used. Additionally, it also becomes far easier to track down smaller traces of magic. The world around you becomes clearer, and your focus sharper."

Were these students of his to be able to use a Mind Realm, they might've noticed the cluster-fuck of magic that Arras was currently working with. Working out a sentence or two with illusion magic really wasn't difficult. He simply had to weave a few different spells, and then work them in order. Perhaps one for each word. It was a simple task, the sounds were easy to produce, and it wasn't as if he had to mask that they were in an illusion in any real way. He just needed to speak. It was just a sound.

But, producing a different spell, again, and again, and again, dozens of times per minute, started to get VERY difficult. So difficult, that Arras realized he may have underestimated the task at hand. He'd been practicing and practicing all day long, every day, learning what he needed to learn, but apparently he'd failed to realize the quantity of illusion magic that was going to be required without the ability to speak.

Frowning in self-admitted defeat, Arras finally loosed the proverbial grip over his tails, allowing himself to work with them once again. And instantly, his spells formed quicker, more clearly, the strain on his mind vanishing almost immediately, and his natural recovery rate quickly outpacing any expenditure from the minuscule spells.

"However, maintaining a Mind Realm requires, well, a very specific state of mind. There's a few ways to achieve that, but in most cases, it's almost impossible to properly learn that skill. In essence, it's necessary to clear your head of all other thoughts. This isn't to say that one cannot think of something else while using one, in fact, I'm doing that right now, but that your focus needs to remain completely intact. No interruptions, at all, or the entire thing risks collapse. There's a few ways to do this, and most practitioners are already very naturally talented users of Casting Patterns. The ability to clear one's mind of all other distractions at a moment's notice lends itself well to the usage of a Mind Realm. However, there's also a second way of doing this. Which coincides more-so with those skilled in Primordial Casting."

Given he still had the entire classes attention after a short pause, he continued on to the final part of his opening speech.

"The ability to focus on one's spell-casting, to the point of being able to efficiently use Primordial Casting, also works well with the usage of a Mind Realm. Personally, this is how I manage to use my own. I've always been very capable of clearing my head when it comes to using magic, in fact, it's somewhat of a passion of mine. It's somewhat difficult to properly put into words, but the clear state of mind that comes as a result of perfect spell work only serves to help, in my opinion. But, as I've heard, this method is by far the less common of the two. But, we will be going over both regardless. Does anybody else have any more questions before we begin for the day?"

Finally taking in a proper moment after that massive unloading of illusion magic, a flame rose from the tip of one of Arras's tails and into the air.

That wasn't so bad, he could do it again.

And he would.

A lot.

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