I was wary the remaining day but nothing happened. Helena and Skadi were excited about me getting a better undead. Archibald’s behaviour was not a surprise to anyone. We would simply have to be careful.

The next day went by swiftly and without incident. And so Venday arrived. I would meet with Gronir tonight and find out what he had planned. But before that I had my advanced water magic class. Finally a lesson with Skadi and Helena! With all three of us together it would certainly be fun!

The class had fifteen students. Simon was the only one here from Archibald’s group.

“What element is the most common?” I asked Helena. She seemed much more knowledgeable in that regard.

“In this academy? Fire, followed by air.”

“Why?” I asked.

“They are traditional elements for warfare. Air offers good speed for scouting and has some devastating lightning attacks. Fire… burning things always works.” She shrugged. “It’s not like the other elements are bad but they have more peaceful uses as well. Earth is used in construction, farming and healing, for example.”

“Water and light can also heal and help when growing food.” Skadi added.

“And darkness would fit well but is actually rare.” I concluded.

“Exactly. There are probably two classes for fire magic because it is so popular.” Helena said.

Our teacher Irene entered. “Be seated.” She said,

“You already know me from elemental magic, so I won’t introduce myself again. In this class we will explore water magic! It is a very versatile discipline that is often underestimated. That said, people usually focus on a certain aspect. If you become a healer you don’t need to conjure blizzards.”

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As usual she distributed the books with telekinesis. While I had seen that in a few classes by now, I was still fascinated by it.

“This course will hopefully help you decide what path you want to take. At first you will learn a simple ice dagger spell, a water shield and a small heal. We shall start with the ice dagger. Do you know what the difference between magical and natural ice is?”

Helena raised her hand.

“Helena.”

“Magical ice is reinforced with mana. It can be harder and colder than frozen water.”

“That is correct. While we call it ice it does have different properties. You can create a weapon with it and block a steel sword. But that takes a lot of mana. The temperature, while always cold, can vary as well.”

I raised my hand.

“Koyuki.”

“What happens when it melts?” I wondered.

“Once the mana is used up it becomes regular water. There are two different ways of creating an ice construct.” An ice dagger formed in her hand. “The first is to simply put a certain amount of mana into it. Once the spell is complete you are done. It now uses up the mana to keep the water in this form. If you apply some heat…” She conjured a flame in the other hand. The dagger resisted briefly, then started to melt. Soon there was nothing left but a small puddle on the floor. “You can see the problem. If I had put more mana into it, it would have lasted longer. But any spell like that will be overwhelmed rather quickly in a fight. It is mostly used for single attacks, like throwing the dagger.”

“Then there is the other method, an ongoing spell. You keep pumping mana into it.” A new dagger formed in her hand. She conjured another flame but this time the dagger resisted. “The more damage the dagger takes the more mana I have to use to keep it going.” She stopped the flame. She showed us the pristine dagger. “This method could make you weapons and armour for a prolonged fight but it would cost you a lot of mana. That is usually not worth it. The real use are shields to block an attack. You keep them going while you defend and then drop them when you counter attack.”

Suddenly the dagger turned to water and splashed on the floor. “Once I stop the spell it becomes water again. Any ice magic needs you to create the water, form it into what you desire and then harden it into ice. The water persists afterwards. Of course you can use water that is already here. A much easier and less mana intensive way. That is how you will do it, for now.”

I raised my hand once more. Irene smiled. “Koyuki.”

“Do you throw the dagger by hand or is that part of the spell?”

“Ah, now that is an interesting question. There is a spell that forms and launches a projectile. The launching part is neutral and can be used for fireballs, ice daggers, earth spikes and so on. But you also have some control over your element. In time you will be able to direct water and ice around you.”

The more I learned about magic, the more I realised what it meant to have a large mana pool. So often we were told something is not worth it. But I already had more than three times the amount that most graduates had. And it would keep growing, although I had no idea by how much.

The remaining lesson was about the ice dagger spell. It was described in the book and Irene gave us tips on how to cast it. But it would take everyone some practice to pull it off. She advised us to use a bucket of water. Creating it ourselves would be too advanced.

Time flew by and soon the lesson was over. But my day was not finished yet. I had a meeting with Gronir again. I would find out what he had chosen for my first undead. Helena and Skadi accompanied me towards his office. Then Skadi dragged Helena away so she would not try to sneak into the meeting. I smiled at her antics and knocked on Gronir’s door.