"So, this text says… door?" Sebastian said.

"Yes, well done. You got the basics done, now what's left is to practice. I have a few easier books I was planning to give to you, I'll bring them next time. Until then, try writing, so you get the shape of the letters right." Anabelle told him.

"Ok, I will." he nodded "And… thanks."

Anabelle smiled before answering him "Don't worry, it's not that much effort. I have other classes where I have to teach dozens of kids at once."

"Really? Does this school have that many students?" Sebastian looked at her with wide eyes.

"Oh, I was talking about before that. And there are many more students here. I'm not really sure how many, there are a lot of other classes. Now, I think we should be done for today, see you Sunday… Oh, yeah, on Saturdays and Tuesdays you don't have classes with me, I have other appointments then. I'm not sure if someone else will come, you'll probably be announced tomorrow."

"I understand, thank you miss."

After walking back to his room, this time in only a few minutes, Sebastian stood again to think about his plan for today. He'd leave meditation for later that day, as he didn't think doing anything else while his brain was crying in pain would be a great idea. So, what was left was… trying to better his English? So, he got a pen and paper and started to write.

At first, he worked on individual letters, writing one 10 times before moving to the next, but then figured out that trying to write words would be more efficient, as it would also make writing in the future easier. He'd made progress, for sure, but as Anabelle said, this would take practice. He'd heard Tom say he'd read almost 50 pages of a book in a day. Just how much did he practice?

And again, as soon as it started to darken, Sebastian got into bed, sat in the most comfortable position he'd find, and started meditating.

After what seemed like an hour, Sebastian could feel his mind approaching the limit. He had not succeeded yet again, since the first time he had tried his luck seemed to go away. At least this time his brain didn't feel like exploding. Now he understood what Tom felt, both in terms of failing and in terms of feeling tired.

And then a thought struck him; if Tom was so much better than him at reading because he had time to practice, just how good would the kids at the academy be at magic? He hadn't even begun learning anything, but if he understood a little bit from the magic theory lesson, it was that the mental capacity of someone played a very important role. Had they been meditating daily for years?

Just how… strong were they? How strong… could he be?

~~~

“Um, I have a question.” Sebastian told Mathew as he was taking them to classes again.

“Hmm? Sure, ask away.”

Sebastian thought about it for a few seconds, trying to think of a way to not sound rude "How… what can you do?" He eventually decided.

"Oh? Like, as a mage right?" Mathew asked as he saw Sebastian nod "Well, I'm a third year, so pretty advanced stuff. It differs from person to person since we can take basically any classes we want except for- oh wait you're not yet into the whole mage thing yet. Anyways, I can ignite things, reinforce my body a little, throw a fireball or a cone of fire, that sort of thing."

"...you can do what?" Tom asked him with widened eyes.

"Heh, if only you'd know. And this is because most people usually focus on diversity: lots of low cost spells. I know a second year that takes aeromancy and can create blasts of air strong enough to destroy buildings, but it takes half of his reserves."

Sebastian was amazed. Destroying buildings? Creating fire? Yes, he'd seen teleportation and mind reading before, but this was more… destructive. He'd seen a few fights before, adults throwing things at each other, and nothing seemed anywhere near "destroying buildings". How could a human hold that much power?

"You're still thinking about that aeromancer? Don't let it get to your head, he'd get eaten by a wolf as long as he's flanked, or he'd probably kill himself if he wasn't in an open area. Magic of this caliber isn't really that effective unless you have other spells or allies to help." Mathew told them "No one needs a giant explosion when a cut to the neck does the same job."

"Oh, talking about that, I read that the academy was built partially for combat training, but it didn't really explain that part. Do wizards have wars or what?" Tom asked him.

"Oh, that book, huh… Not really, there are big fights between families every few decades, but even those don't lead in as many deaths as you'd think, they are more of a… show of power. The combat is… not against humans, usually." Mathew said with a little apprehension.

"You mean… monsters?" Tom asked as he was becoming frightened.

"Monsters… no, don't worry about it. Think of them as… magic creatures? Technically? Uhh… you will find out, I don't know about it." He answered as they finally reached their destination "See you tomorrow." He said before quickly running away.

"... it's monsters isn't it?" Tom spoke.

"What are those?" Sebastian finally asked him, not really understanding what the conversation before was about.

"Oh, scary creatures I guess? Like a ghost, or giant spiders." Tom explained to him.

"Oh, I guess spiders are scary… But what is a ghost?"

"...ok, so, when someone dies, their souls stays behind, and…"

Tom continued teaching Sebastian about different types of monsters he'd heard about, or read in stories, for the next few minutes. He had not realized it until now, but Sebastian didn't know many things he'd consider common knowledge. This, however, was the perfect opportunity for him to make friends with the kid.

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"Have you seen any of these monsters?" Sebastian asks him, after having heard about more types of monsters than he knew to count.

"Uhh, no. You see, most of these are fictional, someone made them up." Tom sighs. "Not the giant spiders tho, there's probably some big ones out there. And I'm pretty sure I heard a ghost at home on some nights." Tom says, now trying to think of any more monsters that might exist.

"No no, most of those are not real." A voice spoke from outside as the door opened, as Vernon had finally shown up. "Ghosts, as far as we know, require intense amounts of focus to sustain, and even to this day a naturally occurring ghost has not been sighted. As for the others… perhaps they stem from the magic creatures of this word, but they tend to stay close to mage towns as the concentration of focus there is much higher."

"Wait, so 'focus' is a physical thing? Not just… how strongly we can focus?" Tom questions the old mage.

"Hmm, yes and no. It is… both. You spend this focus when you meditate or use magic, and regain it either by psychological triggers, the process of which is not that well understood, or by absorbing some of the atmospheric focus while you sleep"

"..." Sebastian thought.

"But let us not digress from today's lesson, which should hopefully answer some more of your questions: How do you use focus to influence the physical world!" Vernon cheered "Let us begin! There are a multitude of specific techniques or ways one can go about using focus, but they fall under the 2 most common categories: Extension and origin-visualization. The first one, extension, is very often used when affecting your own body or doing slow-moving magic. What it entails is the solidification of focus inside of your body, followed by a moulding process that forces the psychological shape outside of your body. Very useful for techniques like hardening your body. Origin-visualization, on the other hand, is the opposite, hard to use on your body, but very accurate and fast, the accuracy drops however when you try to instinctually use it as it's hard to visualize it relative to your body. Now, what this technique entails is that you visualize a point in space where you overlap your focus with reality, transferring your focus to that space at extremely fast speeds. Pretty simple."

"..." They both thought.

"Ah, yes, I should have seen that coming. Let me try again…"

Vernon continued his, although short by his standards, arduous lecture. This is not the first time he had done this, of course, he had been doing remedial classes for newly awakened individuals ever since he became a teacher at Venesicia, but it somehow gets harder every year. Thankfully he will only have to do this for a few weeks before classes start fully, and he can get back to his usual routine, but the short time also left a bitter taste in his mouth as he knew, the kids before him will have a hard time catching up with everyone else.

"I guess I can spend some more time on this… better talk to Azay about that first."

"Very well, it seems you two have picked up the very basics of spell-casting." Vernon tells them as the time for this class had almost run out.

"We… have?" Sebastian question him, as he was not sure what exactly they 'picked up' in this lesson.

"Hmm, yes, I'd say so. You might not have an understanding of the subject, but that comes with much more study and practice. I will show you, here…" The old man then takes out of his pocket 2 small pamphlets with colorful drawings and text "... is one of the simplest spells with a physical effect, commonly called 'Reinforce'. Its intended effect is the hardening of one's body, although the effect can easily be changed with practice. The main reason why I want you two to learn this spell is to figure out the feeling of focus, and eventually, you should be able to realize without actually spending any focus whether or not a spell will fail or not. For now, though, you will sadly have to use the spell every time you try, which will consume some of your focus."

Tom glanced at Sebastian for a second before grabbing one of the pamphlets and looking over it, reading the text until he reached the first image "Umm, you said this is about our skin, but what are these shaped here?" He pointed at that area of the pamphlet.

"Ah, you did not study biology? Well, you are young, and mortal schools differ wildly in quality from area to area, so it's understandable. This will make things a little harder, but let me explain: Your skin is made out of tiny things we call 'cells'. These cells are pretty stretchy, as you both know, you can stretch your skin. To train in this spell as a beginner you use an object or your finger to lightly press on your skin, then focus on that area and try to harden it by forcing it to return to its original shape. Do not worry about the details of it, just try, and tomorrow we will go in-depth about what you felt and what to change."

"We really… can we really do this? Magic?" Sebastian was still unable to comprehend that, all of his life he had not heard or seen anything similar to what he'd seen these past few days, yet Vernon spoke as if such a thing would come naturally to them with enough practice.

Vernon glanced at his wrist again, something the kid had noticed him do every once in a while, before speaking "It seems we've ran out of time, this concludes our magic lessons. Next, is maths! With me!" The mage laughed "Tom, you're free to stay here if you wish, we'll be going over the basics, which from what I was told you already know, but I'll try to make the lesson more interesting for the both of you."

The thought of leaving did not even enter Tom's mind. Yes, he knew math, but getting to hear an old wizard, sadly lacking the white beard, teach it, was an opportunity he would never think of giving up; until he gets used to it, that is.

"I see you've made up your mind, very well. I will not be casting spells if that's what you were hoping, using focus for mundane tasks is a habit you should never develop. But I will be using this." Vernon pulls out a pen from one of his pockets, the tip encrusted with a white rock. "Come here and pay attention."

The mage stands down and holds the pen in front of him, high up, facing the back of the class, before slowly moving it down, a white, slightly translucent trail following it, remaining in mid-air. "An air-carver, technically, although this is a more toned-down version. Perfect for writing quick notes that don't need to last long. Now, I'm no artist, but I believe math holds enough beauty by itself. So, Sebastian, let us first see what you know…"

For the first half of the lesson, that is what they spend their time on, figuring out what Sebastian already knew, and slightly adjusting any wrong knowledge he had. The kid knew some basic terms, like numbers up to 26, with a few exceptions, and almost knew subtraction and addition. Impressive, considering he had learned this on his own by observing those around him speak.

"Very good, very good. Now, let's try writing these numbers. Here." Vernos held the pen towards Sebastian, waiting for him to grab it. And with slow, unsure hands, he eventually did, now holding it tightly in his hands.

He moved his hand up and down, trying to copy the symbols Vernon had written before. Crooked, twisted, but comprehensible. Perhaps those writing exercises had helped him in some way after all.

"Well done, well done. Sadly, I can not do that much to help you, you will have to learn to count better, and the best way to do that is to practice. Now, this isn't homework, but I am going to give you a few exercises to do, to help you memorize the numbers and get a better grasp of basic operations. If you finish those I am sure any of the students would be more than kind enough to show you the next steps."

"You mean Mathew?" Sebastian asked him. Besides him, he knew of no other students, after all.

"Ah, he's been the one showing you around school, I'm guessing. But the other kids are also pretty well-rounded, they should have some experience with tutoring. Hmm… at this time there are not a lot of students at school, but miss How should be there. She's very good when it comes to tutoring others. I believe you will be most likely to meet her in the sculpting workshop." Vernon spoke to the kids, but a quick glance at them quickly revealed that there might have been a problem he had not foreseen.

"Umm, mister Vernon, we're not… allowed to go on the campus." Tom spoke slowly.

Vernon stood still for a few seconds, his eyes widening a bit before squinting and asking them again, unsure of what he just heard "You… can't go on the campus? What? Did Azay tell you this?" Both kids, again, sported a confused look, never having heard that name before "Wait, you did not meet with the director? Did they just drop you at the… no, you talked with Mark when you arrived here, am I right?"

This time neither Tom nor Sebastian answer him, as they were frightened by the mage's confusion, choosing instead to give him a simple headshake, prompting the wizard to mutter something under his breath before raising up, handing Sebastian a few sheets of paper.

"Here Sebastian, take these and look over them when you have time. I'll have to cut class short by a few minutes. And remember to practice the spell, both of you!" Vernon told them before quickly rushing out.

Sebastian was still feeling uneasy, the mood of the mage having affected him "Did we… did we do something wrong?" He asked Tom.

"I… don't think so. Don't worry, I'm sure everything is fine. Let's just go back while they figure things out."

Both kids walked back to their rooms. Despite Tom wanting to use this as an opportunity to get to know the other kid better, Sebastian wasn't looking that good, and he did not want to cause his mood to worsen, so he kept silent all the way until they entered the guest building.

"...If you need help with that, I can help you. Really, it wouldn't bother me at all." He ended up saying, just before Sebastian opened the door to his room.

"...thanks, I will… think about it." Sebastian entered his room.

"...sigh… maybe we'll be friends…" Tom thought, a little saddened by his response, before he too entered his room.