The weight of his tired body seemed to increase moment by moment. His eyelids drooped, and a single bead of ice-cold perspiration snaked down his forehead from his silver locks. Without a doubt, this was one of the most oppressive magical effects that Gio had ever experienced.
Even moving to put down the pen in his hand became a difficult task under the effects of the professor’s spell. He tried and failed to circulate his mana in a meaningful way, as the mana in his body slowed, becoming viscous and thick, almost like his magical field had been filled with some kind of syrup instead of magic.
Gio turned and saw that his classmates, for the most part, fared no better. Chandrika and Jean looked to be in the same boat that he was, which was suffering- but mostly able to function. Several other students in the front few rows of the shell-shaped classroom were also able to fight through the effects of the domain to varying degrees of success. There were a few students who were clearly unconscious, and only a handful of students who looked unaffected.
Gio noted that Vito seemed mostly fine, even capable of preventing an unconscious Minette from knocking over her water bottle onto her freshly graded assignment, proudly displayed as it was.
The imposing figure of Professor Anaximenes, bedecked as he was in the red glass armor that had conjured the dreadful domain, folded his arms and surveyed the class.
“Oh my… I fear that I have misjudged the effectiveness of [Bone-Taker’s Oubilette],” Professor A said. His voice came out warped, like an eerie growl that scratched at Gio’s brain in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant, bizarrely enough.
Professor A clenched a gauntleted hand, and as he released it, the room let out a collective gasp of relief. The red, corroded metal that had crawled over the walls as if it were ivy melted away, revealing the strange comfort of academic beige classroom walls. Gio, having focused on his mana as the professor had instructed, was able to notice the way that the domain receded from his energetic field, which he almost felt like he learned something from… sort of.
“I have to apologize. I really should have known better. Gladiolus, If you would?” Professor A said, motioning to his assistant.
Gio turned around to look at her from behind the class. Gladiolus wore an infuriatingly knowing smile that spoke of schadenfreude and petty amusement. She raised her hand and conjured some sort of wide metal device in the air above the class. The construct summoned by the spell looked like some hybrid of a birdcage and a lantern, and it immediately began emitting soft green light and a pleasant, earthy aroma.
Nearly instantly, a wave of relaxation overcame Gio. He let out an involuntary groan of relief and heard several students nearby do the same.
“Thank you, Glad. Now… I find myself In a bit of a predicament, as the other domain spells that I am prepared to cast today are either far too time-consuming or far more… uncomfortable to be around than the one I just cast. Now… I know a scant few of you have already begun working on your domain spell… so I will offer this: I don’t have any more commendations to give out, but I will offer some academic achievement points to the first student who comes to the front of the class and successfully demonstrates a domain spell. No pressure, this is not a test, merely an opportunity to succeed! As a reminder: there’s a single commendation available in the shop, and it renews every semester,” Professor A stated.
Damn… I could use some points… but I guess I shouldn’t be too greedy, right? I mean, I’m one of the few students in the school to have had more than one commendation in their first school year.
A hand shot up from an unlikely source.
“Vito Akmakjian! To the front of the class, young man,” boomed Professor A.
The raven-haired boy raised from his chair hesitantly upon a gentle prodding from Minette in the seat next to him. He stepped forward, looking down at the floor as if he had suddenly grown very interested in the color of the tile underfoot. He picked up speed as the class turned to regard him, making his way to the front of the class.
People occasionally made fun of Vito when he wasn’t around because his slightly more than tasteful amount of silver jewelry tended to clink and jingle when he walked… and right now, amidst the quiet room, the only sounds that were audible were his footsteps, his jingling, and the giggles of a few petulant students.
“Mister Akmakjian! Thank you for volunteering. If I may be presumptuous, are you by any chance going to try to show us your family’s signature magic?” Professor A inquired.
“Yes, I- You know my family’s signature spell?” Vito asked, bewildered.
Professor A chuckled.
“I do indeed! I have worked with your uncles on several occasions. The twins have… quite the reputation, in certain groups. But I digress, the floor is yours” Professor A said.
Professor A stood to the side, and Vito straightened his back, looking down at his spellbook with determination. Gio hadn’t really noticed until now, but Vito could cut somewhat of a striking image when he wanted to. Vito stood just a hair taller than Gio, and his dark hair and angular features made him look somewhat hostile, even if he had a reputation as a reserved, non-threatening guy. Now, with his face twisted into a severe look of focus, and the way the silver rings on his fingers were all lighting up with spooky red light, Gio could see why nobody ever said anything unkind to his face.
As Vito completed his spell, he held out his hand, and a small, illusory candlestick appeared in his hand. A blanket of darkness rolled out from him, blocking out all ambient light from the windows, and causing a few yelps of surprise from the class.
Unlike with the professor’s spell, Gio was fully cognizant of his mana this time around, and could easily detect the wave of magic as it washed over him. This mana, whatever aspect it was, seemed to actively evade Gio’s mirror mana reservoir. It pooled behind him, settling neatly into his shadow, and coating every aspect of the room like dust on an old shelf. More than that, Gio felt the magic sink into the classroom in a way that he was unable to properly articulate, almost like it had saturated the air itself with mana in a new and unusual way.
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With Vito’s candle being the only source of visible light in the room, every flicker of the dancing flame seemed to dramatically shift the light in the room. Long shadows dragged across the walls, buoyed about by the soft orange light of the magic flame.
“Wonderful! Simply wonderful!” Professor A chimed.
“Thanks… but It’s not perfect at all. I can’t do any of the stuff my uncles can… Mini, would you mind?” Vito said.
“Oh, Sure!” Minette chirped, flopping open her spellbook hastily, and bolting out a quick spell. From the bracelet on her arm, a glob of pink candy-colored goo leaped forward off her desk, congealing into a bouncy pink orb that landed on the podium with a messy “splat”.
The blob began slowly sliding towards Vito.
Is that… some sort of slime? I didn’t know Minette was a summoner, I thought she mostly did water magic.
Vito lifted a hand carefully, angling himself so that the shadow of his hand fell over the monster, but away from any students. When his hand passed the light of the flame, a profound darkness overtook the place where the light didn’t reach. It was as if the act of depriving that area of the light had somehow taken its very existence away, slime and all. When Vito removed his hand, the slime was gone.
“I don’t see what seems to be the issue,” Professor A spoke.
Vito once again waved his hand in front of the candle, and an eviscerated mess of gelatinous chunks appeared when he removed his hand.
“Well… that part of the spell isn’t supposed to be harmful,” Vito said.
“I see. Well, you succeeded anyway, so I will transfer your points to you after class. You may be seated. As an additional learning opportunity, can anyone tell me what aspect of mana that Vito just used?” Professor A quizzed.
Gio shot his hand up.
“Someone besides Mister deGloria, perhaps?” Professor A smirked.
A student a few rows back who may or may not have been named Steven raised his hand.
“Mister Feinstein!” called out Professor A.
“Darkness?” The student said.
“Close! Mister deGloria?” Professor A volleyed.
“I think that the specific nature of the mana was focused on the absence of light, so I would say Shadow mana, I think?” Gio pondered.
“Correct! Darkness denotes the dark, while shadow denotes the absence of light. This probably sounds like the same thing to a lot of you, I bet... And you might be right in a whole lot of circumstances! But learning your mana subtypes is important, especially when you get into complex spellcasting later in your spellcasting career! Some really gnarly and granular delineations of mana can get incredibly specific, and they absolutely matter when you’re doing spell definitions. I have seen a spell that tried to specify “Coral” mana from “Reef”, but ended up completely ossifying a herd of livestock aboard a maritime trading vessel. Turns out that reef mana denotes an aquatic ecosystem, whereas coral is a specific skeletal invertebrate! I refuse to further traumatize you with that anecdote… just know that those sheep didn’t stop moving once the spell was cast. It was equal parts horrifying and inspiring for a mage like me.” Professor A rambled.
Professor A stopped for a few seconds, looking ponderously off into the distance and letting that last troubling revelation hang in the air for just a moment too long for Gio’s taste.
“Anyways. Domains. I hope that seeing Mister Akmakjian’s domain was helpful to you all. To be frank, the first-year domain examination is highly controversial among the faculty of the school. Many of us, myself included, believe that there’s no reason that a young true mage needs to learn to cast a domain this early into their time at the academy… but this is one area where the spirits disagree, and in fact, will not relent. Before this School was… the way it is now, the collective consciousness of the spirits designed a few tests… I really should not… cannot… say much more than that, but basically, it’s not an option to just not have the examination.” Professor A spoke.
Gio eagerly grabbed his writing materials, detecting the start of a lecture.
“We’ve bargained and fought tooth and nail to assign the examination at the furthest point into your time here that the system will allow- which is approximately two-thirds of the way throughout your first year… it’s a bit odd, to be honest… but, as it stands it is the absolute last point in a young mage’s journey where the spirits will allow you to continue learning here without demonstrating a domain.” Professor A said.
Which is stupid. I don’t care if the collective weave of spirits is pretty much all-knowing or whatever, this decision is dumb.
“There are rumors… about the why. The System is famously oblique with its justifications and purposes, but there is a prevailing notion that the reason for a domain being required so early is because casting a domain is one facet of magic that simply speaking, can’t be half-assed.” Professor A continued.
Oh? I would argue that almost all magic can’t be half-assed, right?
“What I mean by that, is that a domain requires utter mastery and knowledge of its components. Your grip on your magic must be ironclad to impart a domain, even temporarily, upon reality. Vito did exceptionally well today, and he has demonstrated phenomenal control of his magic- even still, he has a lot of work to do. A domain simply cannot be accomplished by dumb luck, or by relying on a well-crafted spell. A domain requires utter focus, impeccable mana control, objective mastery of arcane knowledge, and perhaps most importantly- willpower. I believe in all of my students absolutely, but I need to caution you- you can and will fail if you do not take this seriously. If you have relied on some crutch or advantage to limp you along to this point in the school year, now is the time to address your shortcomings, as you will not proceed if you fail to do so. I shall see you all after the long weekend for our first practical lesson in domain mana-shaping… I hope to see all of you there, on time, and with the assigned homework! Class dismissed.”