"Care to explain?" The man asked when the rest of the class broke for lunch. Several students were carried to the nurse's office but I doubted they were seriously injured.

He referred to the blade in his hand. The wood even maintained a dark tint similar to the swords I had left at the inn. Standing against the questioning was me and the other person who had seen the sword transform. Syph.

"Honestly?" I asked. I then grabbed the blade from him. Since he asked I would be honest. "It's magic."

When I said the words I generated a small bit of mana, enough to morph the blade into the shape of an octopus. Each wood tentacle stretched organically prodding at the air. Once i was satisfied with the show I pulled the wood back into the blade shape it possessed earlier in the day.

I handed it back to him and nodded simply.

"Wood Magic?" He asked scratching at his balding head. "Never heard of such a thing."

"Me neither." Syph said carefully touching the blade the teacher held. It didn't bite her and she seemed relieved by that.

"It's not 'wood magic' exactly. It's just magic." I said waving my hand to the mistaken duo. "Look."

I point to a nearby stone and with a swing of my finger slice it clean in two.

"Modern theory about magic is wrong." I said nodding my head like it was known fact. I was lying of course about the nature of the magic but if this helps them discover the theory that the professor mage proved then this would be good.

"Syph, take him to her."

"But I haven't had lunch!"

"Don't complain!"

"Fine. Come on Drew lets go." She grabbed my hand firmly and pulled me towards the hallway we entered from before the fiasco.

"Where?"

"School's mage tower."

"I see."

"Mhm, class will start soon but I agree with his judgement, this is something the professor needs to see before the rest of the class assemble. You have already drawn enough attention to yourself."

"Right."

Well this was not going well. If this mage was truly competent they would see through to my real abilities. It was the reason I had avoided the professor mage in Colgate on my way back. Not that I had a ton of time to visit with the town.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A woman said as we rounded the final spiral stair step.

I was surely blown judging by the look on her face.

"You are interesting. Aren't you?" The woman said lowering her glasses and opening her eyes wider. The sound of Syph's stomach interrupted the scene. "You can go. Just don't be late."

"Ok, thanks! I will bring you something too Drew!" She said as she dashed off.

"Oh, but if I'm correct he doesn't require food or water." She murmured as the girl disappeared. "Do you?"

"Then you know what I am?"

"From what theorize I think I know exactly who you are. You are a ruler of gods aren't you? But for the ruler to be so young was something I couldn't expect."

It seems she understand much, but not all about me.

"My name is Drew Goldianus. I am leader of the Land God tribe known as the 'Blood Hook', I am also the Duke of Blood from the Mountain Bay."

She grew a great smile across her face. She then deeply bowed to me.

"Blood Hook? Then… This explains much. I don't even know where to begin. What to ask? Oh, I am being rude, my name is Lucille. I used to be a traveling magical researcher. I settled when I heard about the mysteries in the Bay. But now I think the pieces are coming together."

"Do you want to know the whole story?"

She grew extremely excited but then she glanced at a small board that was placed outside the window. It was a small sundial. It seemed the next bell would ring soon. She looked horrified that this chance would slip her fingers. I assured her I would tell her after class if need be.

"Thank you. But, well can I… Ah well, you seem to possess great amounts of mana, I'm curious do you…"

"I can do some magic, but it's all self taught and self developed kinda."

At the words her eyes grew wider than before. I suppose those were very strange things to hear. But I can't help it I'm a strange person I guess.

"Here." I said holding my right palm out. I tried to think of what to make. Something that would require little amounts of energy. Water would be predictable, and it's something anyone could do.

No, i needed something interesting and thrilling. Earth would be incredible, even earth mages can't create dirt. But even that would be a little boring.

Perhaps I can work off of that though. I began to focus the mana into my palm. I imagined the chemical makeup of what I desired. It was the most basic reaction in the universe. I generated large quantities of a few light elements. I then increased the pressure around the invisible gasses until they had compressed into a single superheated point.

From there nature took over. All i needed to do was protect us from the UV and Heat radiation that was generated by the small fusion reaction.

I had made a sun.

Or a star to be more specific.

It's hard to consider it a star though, it fizzled out after a few moments, and was likely less than a few grams of total material. A real star would be a billion times this size. Even with my power it would be impossible. Or at least improbable.

"What was that?"

"With one of those you'd have more hours in the day." I said pointing towards the sundial that indicated students should arrive soon.

"Then it really was a miniature sun?"

I didn't bother correcting her celestial body misnomer. The fact that she understood the concept of stars being a mass of heat and energy amazed me enough.

"I brought food!" Syph said as she bounded up the steps. From the looks of her it was as if she owned the place. Perhaps she is a magical prodigy. As it stood I couldn't see the reason for her attending the school. Her parents weren't particularly rich from what I remember. If they had been I doubt they would have bought the ratty house beside the inn.

"Oh? Smells like you already ate."

She was right there was a strong smell of cooked meat. Susan and I raised our eyebrows and glanced at the palm of my hand where the sun had sat moments ago.

It was bone and sinew.

I tried to remain still but I couldn't help move my fingers slightly. Each muscle was visible and the small movements could be traced by their spiderweb pattern.

I raised my other hand and put my finger to my mouth to quiet the restless Lucille. I didn't want Syph to see this. It would be over in a moment but this was still not a pleasant sight.

It was fascinating however.

Lucille and I couldn't take our eyes from the scene. We watched as each muscle grew an outer layer. Those outer layers then merged together and began to fill with blood vessels and tissue. We watched as my hand reassembled, all while Syph munched away unaware.

Once it was completed Lucille turned to me with a wild look in her eye.

She looked to be planning to cut me open with knives. I was semi-against it.

Luckily the start of class interrupted the live autopsy.

They weren't happy to see me but I was happy to see them.

Class was interesting. Even if the instructor was distracted for the most part, she spoke on many advanced topics.  After talking about air magic for a few moments, she broke the class into groups based on their magic specialization.

There were four groups surprisingly. Two students in the class were fire spec. and one student was an alchemy novice.

One of the fire mages was Julius, the other was a quiet girl who I had struck in the chest with the blade earlier. I tried to apologize to the girl but she just shied away while clutching at her chest with a pained look.

The novice alchemist was none other than Syph.

The groups of water and earth practiced amongst themselves, while The professor focused her attention towards the two smaller groups who had to train harder to see results.

The magics they possessed were rare and extremely rare, as such no long term training methods had been developed. Or if they had, they have not spread nearly as much as earth and water. I wondered how alchemy fit into the mana breakdown that the professor in Colgate theorized. Was it a Pure mana, or Corrupt mana based skill?

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I checked the contents of Syph but it was fairly typical. Only real difference was the calmness of the mana maelstrom within her. Most of the students in the class had extremely churning masses of mana. Hers was almost still, it just revolved slowly.

Perhaps I was happening upon a theory of my own. 'Mana forms' might be a part of the equation.

The fire mages were clearly such because they possessed higher than normal levels of Corrupt mana. I could tell this from a single glance of mana vision. This followed the theory the professor mage had. But I may have just added to the theory.

I realized then that I was the only one left out.

The teacher hadn't even noticed that I had simply stood aside when the groups split. She likely assumed I had started with a specialization just like all mages, and only over time acquired these skills. She was wrong though, in fact it was impossible for me to use magic until eight months ago. Maybe I should keep that to myself.

"What are you doing standing around?" The stocky boy I leapt over earlier asked.

"I don't have a magic specialization, so I don't know what I should do." I had said that phrase often as a child, but only now did I hide a smile behind it.

I was honest.

"What?" Another mage beside him said mockingly.

"So yer only good with your hands?" The first said with a flip of his hair.

I wasn't sure what type of character he wanted to play.

"If you want to fake an accent you should maintain it for the whole sentence." I said cocking my head at him. "But just because I'm not specialized doesn't mean I'm not a better mage than you. I could probably even teach you a thing or two."

I watched as the professor silently warned me not to continue. But I couldn't just stop now. It actually fit into the request I received from the king all those months ago. It was on a smaller scale but if I could show this class how greatly outclassed they are in magical ability, it will force them to work harder.

"Watch closely." I said smiling brightly.

I then stepped towards the window and pointed up at the air. The sky was clear blue. A single cloud could be seen in the distance. There was no sign of impending storms.

Until my mana reached the upper atmosphere.

From there the clouds began forming. It was actually a simple water magic spell. Just used at an incredible height. Within moments flakes of snow began settling on the building. It wasn't cold enough so they quickly melted but the students still understood the message.

But why should I finish there. I only motivated half of them.

I grabbed a handful of rocks from the table the earth mages were working on and held them in my palm.

I had learned from last time, so I protected my palm with a thicker layer of mana. I heated the rocks with fire until formed into a thick bright paste, I then molded the magma with my left hand without touching the mass. When the heat dissipated I placed a small intricate cockatrice sculpture onto the table.

I had demonstrated fire and earth magics in a single step.

Everyone but the teacher now looked between Syph and I. Only the professor had seen me show my use of alchemy earlier before class. But it would be lazy to just use that again. I also worried my protective layer wouldn't be enough, it had been sufficient for the warm lava but a fusion reaction was different.

These people didn't need to see that kind of gore yet. It would have traumatized them.           

No I would do something elementary. But it would still be seen as an incredible level of skill.

"Would you hand me two glass containers." I asked Syph who also seemed intrigued.

I received the two containers from her and placed each on the table before me. I wasn't sure how most alchemist used the art but I likely used it differently.

I placed the palm of my right hand to my chest and it ignited with mana. I wasn't sure why it glowed but it sure amazed the crowd. I then carefully held the breath that I had taken during the pulse. I grasped for the container and unlidded it. I then blew the breath into the glass and shut the container. I repeated the action into the other container but used two breaths the second time.

Everyone, including the teacher looked at me with a confused expression.

Stay with me.

I collected the surprisingly advanced tools the lab had acquired. Some of them were actually inventions I had recently developed with the help of Susan. I found several glass tubes and other scientific glass instruments. I carefully arranged them into an apparatus to combine the two gases.

I unlidded the gases with the help of Syph and quickly pressed them against the two tubes I had left exposed. From here they would flow upwards and combine in a clear globe. The reaction should be visible while safely contained.

Hydrogen and Oxygen. Both can easily be made by changing the structure of my lungs. Obviously I can also just assemble to gases in mid-air from water vapor but that would ruin the effect.

This way all the students could understand what had occurred. It would cause two things. An interest in alchemy, and an interest in chemistry. A concept that doesn't even exist. As far as they are concerned magic is the only way to form water, but here they had watched a drop of water form without any use of magic. Other than me assembling the ingredients.

"See, I don't have a specialization. But that doesn't mean I can't be skilled with magic. It just took lots of practice." I lied.

"Woah."

"That's amazing. Did you see what he did with the rocks?"

"He's easily better than professor."

"Think so?"

"Yeah, she may know a lot about magic but she can't do em all like that!"

Oh man, I had started a chain reaction that would not lead to a good end. I had to think on my feet.

"Woah! Hey I couldn't do all this without the training I received from her though." I again lied while pointing to the teacher who stared at me.

"Wait, you taught him?! Can you teach me that too? Can you?"

"Me too"

"And me." Syph added believing my lie and lining up with the rest behind the professor.

I seemed to have messed up again. I may as well dig the hole deeper. It's the only way out.

"Teacher I think that shipment of books you ordered from Colgate will be here soon. Maybe they are ready to receive them now." I said to the professor pointing towards the class. She seemed to understand what I meant. I would be giving them books. She had no reason to not follow my lie now. She had interest in the book's contents as well.

"I suppose they might be." She said carefully eyeing the students as if judging there worthiness.

She put on a good act. The students all stood firm against her piercing gaze. They desired knowledge now. And here a few minutes ago they were slacking off and not training properly.

You can thank me later teach.

Now I just needed to get some books to mass produce for these students. The professor in Colgate had books about varying levels of magical training for almost all magic specs. Even some I had never heard of. Most of the rare ones only contained small pieces of training but even a small step was huge to an aspiring fire or air mage.

As for Syph she would have the one book I had been interested in most. It was basic so I would fill in blanks with theories and knowledge of my own.

I was sure Susan had a prototype printing press somewhere. Producing a couple dozen books over a weekend shouldn't be a problem.

Maybe I will write some textbooks for all the classes and donate them anonymously. Math and science need it most. And it wouldn't hurt to write a true history textbook. What harm would telling the real story to the world be? It was hundreds of years ago.

Who will care?