“All magic is based on six concepts.” Fauna pointed towards the blackboard. Six words were written in a circle with lines connecting the diagonal ones. “Creation, destruction, foundation, manipulation, connection, and obstruction.”

She traced the lines, “These concepts can be paired into three sets.”

“Creation and destruction.” A forest thriving after a fire.

“Foundation and manipulation.” A soul and body versus its environment.

“Connection and obstruction.” A dam blocking a river flow.

After seeing June perform a wind vortex spell, Lexi asked her about the theory of magic. Later, she found time between her studies and read all the books in the library.

Although I can’t practice magic until I’m thirteen, I can learn about it.

“Each pair represents a domain and are each other’s opposites.”

Yawn. While most of the students sat straight, Jules tried to stiffly down a yawn.

From her seat, Lexi saw that his eyes were blank. She knew he already started his magic classes with Sister Lena, and this was his fourth one. They probably repeat this part.

He unconsciously opened his mouth before lifting his hands to muffle the sound. He must be tired of it.

“Every spell starts with a bit of creation and ends with a touch of destruction.” And those were the first and last symbols in a spell.

“In between, the concepts meet and mix to create the contents of a spell.” That’s how mages and artificers combine concepts to create new spells.

Lexi remembered Sister Frida’s spacial ring: creation, manipulation, and connection. It was a complex combination, but most mages could recreate it with practice.

“All concepts are communicated through the ancient magic language.” Fauna moved across the board and pointed towards six sets of symbols. “These are the 68 common symbols, all divided by concepts.”

“They combine to create the most common spells.”

Lexi nodded along. In June’s spellbook, the symbols of a magic circle were translated into a spell. While there were 68 common symbols, they were only the most widely known ones. Lexi had seen June study more advanced characters.

“In this class, I’ll introduce you to wind elemental magic.” Fauna raised her hand to cast a spell. A glowing ring of white symbols appeared in front of her. Jule’s head perked up, and Lexi gasped. All five children stared at the circle with wide eyes, gawking at the sight. It was enchantingly beautiful and bright.

After a few seconds, the circle glowed brighter before abruptly disappearing.

Then, a gust of wind swept through the room. Bright streaks of white light followed as they all swirled together, forming a small vortex in Fauna’s hand. When Lexi reached out her hand, it didn’t get cut. Instead, the wind calmly flowed around and comforted her. “This is a level one wind vortex.”

A few days after June’s successful casting, she found Lexi and corrected herself. It was a level three spell.

“Because it’s lower level, it contains fewer symbols and takes less mana to cast.” With a wave of her hand, the vortex vanished. “You can also cast it quickly.”

“With experience, mages can quickly cast higher-level spells.”

Then, Fauna directed the group’s attention toward the symbols on the board. “Wind, like all elemental magic, focuses on the manipulation of something. In this case, air.”

“Now we’ll spend our first lesson learning about manipulation and memorizing its symbols.”

Lexi opened up a journal. She looked at the book and started copying the common symbols. This was gonna be her spellbook.

------

She had her birthday one month before she began her first wind elemental class.

When she turned thirteen, the previous beginner class was almost over, so she decided to join the next one. Better to start from the beginning than fumbling through the last eighth.

Instead of attending lessons, Lexi spent the class time practicing archery. She had gotten stronger and a lot better. Now, she could properly hold the bow and aim.

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But she still wasn’t good enough to join hunting sessions. Unlike Saxa and Inu, Lexi wasn’t focusing on combat. Most of the time, she was learning herbalism with Sister Rose.

Her strength was lacking, so she couldn’t fight off and kill most wild animals. At best, bunnies and birds.

With her additional spare time, Lexi studied herbs, read magic books in the library, and practiced combat with Saxa. Eventually, everyone knew to look for her in the library or the field.

It was kinda embarrassing when she found out.

“Lexi!” a masculine voice shouted from a distance. It was Inu followed by Saxa.

“Yeah?”

Saxa pulled her from the hall, dragging her toward the field. “Come and judge this.”

Lexi groaned, “Another spar?”

“Yep. I’m definitely winning today,” exclaimed Inu. His confidence oozed out.

Some things never change.

For the past year or so, Inu challenged Saxa to a sparring match every Friday evening.

And every single freaking time, they had Lexi judge the fight. It was entertaining at first but soon became a chore.

“Yeah, right.” Sarcasm dripped down in Saxa’s tone. “If you win, I’ll buy a sword.”

“Ha. Then I’ll buy you a dagger if you win.” Inu accepted the challenge.

Lexi smacked her hand against her face. Hah. She didn’t know where this confidence came from. He wins twenty percent of the time.

Saxa grinned, “Deal.”

And the three of them entered the field.

Lexi walked to the bench and sat down, watching as both sides got into position.

Saxa stood in the shade of a tree, a dagger in both hands. Her olive scales blended into the background, camouflaging her presence.

Despite being a reptilian, Saxa had always been skinny and lanky with tight muscles. But it matched her quick, fast combat style and personality.

On the other side of the field, Inu was stretching. He cracked a few stiff bones, relieving all tension. His muscles bulged as he flexed, showing off the efforts of his training.

Then, he grabbed his sword and got into position.

Lexi raised her hand and yelled, “Three.”

“Two.” Saxa stopped leaning against the tree and crouched down, lowering her body to the ground.

“One.” Inu scanned her, searching for weakness.

“Go!” They charged at each other.

Saxa dashed forward with her tail stretched back. She leaned her body forward, balancing her center point with her tail and shrinking her area.

As Inu slashed at her chest, Saxa ducked underneath the attack and countered her left blade.

Expecting the retaliation, Inu quickly jumped, dodging the blade. He swung his sword down and blocked her right dagger.

He probably knows she’s left-handed. That’s good.

Then, he kicked forward, attempting to knock Saxa off her feet.

The surprise prevented a counterattack and caused her to stumble backward. She barely dodged the blade and it scraped against her scales.

Well, it’s better than being knocked off her feet.

As she stabilized herself, Inu took advantage of her loss of focus. He rushed forward with eyes locked onto her left leg.

Noticing his gaze, Saxa brought a dagger down and prepared to block.

Suddenly, his blade turned and aimed at her right arm. Lexi calmly watched with a hand under her cheek.

Lexi didn’t have much experience with combat, especially close combat.

Clang. The sword banged against Saxa’s other dagger.

That’s too obvious. So she wasn’t in a position to judge their matches or training.

Saxa quickly twisted her body, whirling her tail around. She was aiming for his left side.

But having watched them spar dozens of times, Lexi already came to a conclusion.

Perhaps a little shocked by her counter, Inu reacted slower than usual. Saxa’s tail smacked his side, causing him to stumble right.

The same conclusion as his instructors: Inu needs to train his mental fortitude.

Both of them had similar levels of experience, and Inu naturally had better strength and a studier body. Theoretically, he should be winning.

But Saxa had the higher win ratio.

That was because Inu lacked mental training. In most of their matches, they started even. Both sides held their ground, and neither took an advantage.

Over time, Inu would push Saxa back with his strength, gaining the upper hand.

Despite that, she constantly caught him off guard, and Inu only regained focus twenty percent of the time, allowing Saxa to capitalize on his dull reactions.

She won through combos and trickery.

While some might say that it’s in bad faith, their training was meant to train them to survive.

If you wanna survive, be prepared to use all advantages and face any adversities.

This fight seemed to replicate everything.

Saxa pushed him back, repeatedly smacking his sides and slashing his skin.

Inu couldn’t keep up, taking more and more damage from her relentless assault.

Just as Lexi expected her to knock him down, Inu quickly turned.

Although he dodged the brunt of the attack, Saxa’s dagger managed to slice his skin and draw blood.

But Inu was back in the fight. He steadied his posture, facing her with a large grin.

“I said I wasn’t gonna lose.” He confidently declared.

Either a free new sword was too enticing…

Saxa imitated his grin, excited by the sudden challenge, “And I said yeah, right.”

The two traded hits. Their blades clanged against each other as Inu pressed down and Saxa pushed up.

A smile flickered across Lexi’s face, and she shook her head.

Or Saxa’s dagger would break his savings.

A sigh escaped her lips. It seemed like they were gonna continue these matches into the future.