What was that supposed to mean? Rai had to... make notes??

He’d... never done that before. Rai turned to Sin as Miss Lillia kept talking about the evaluation details.

“How do I take notes?” He whispered.

Sin stared at him. She didn’t know how to react.

“... Uh... The fuck? Just write?”

Rai blinked.

Sin had betrayed him. In his time of need, the one person who would know how to help him had forsaken him. It was a complete, utter, and true defeat. Rai had no other choice. He raised his hand again.

“Sigh. What now, Rai?” Lillia was exasperated. She’d paused her explanation to answer his question. Rai was in the class for a whole two minutes before she was already tired of him.

“How do I make notes?” He asked.

Sin's head creaked as she turned to look at her friend. Are you really this stupid?

The class started giggling amongst themselves. Some were making comments about Rai’s looks making up for his lack of a brain. Some even mentioned him being a country bumpkin.

Lillia was so tired that she’d begun slouching. She simply exhaled. She wondered about how she got to the position she was in now. What choices she had to make to get there, and how it had all led to her having to teach a prodigy to use a pen.

“Rai... Just watch. Don’t worry about writing, just watch and try to remember it all, alright?” Lillia said.

“Yes ma’am. Thank you ma’am.”

Sin was staring daggers into the side of Rai’s face. It was so intense that she’d almost begun drooling. How is he so hot and so stupid at the same time. Huh? Hot? Sin’s face started heating up. She shook her head and focused on Miss Lillia, who was also hot but not in a way that distracted Sin.

“Okay, I will now begin a demonstration of the technique! Please pay attention.” Lillia declared.

She stepped down from the podium and called forth a small ball from her spatial storage.

Lillia placed the ball on a table just to the side of the podium.

“I want you all to memorise the incantation and its components. Take careful note of the way I recite the incantation. How you cast your incantations often plays a large factor in how well you execute your spell. Take care to maintain a consistent mana flow through your body as you cast this spell. It won’t work if you aren’t doing at least that much.”

Eh? Consistent mana flow while casting a spell? That's completely different to how spells are normally cast though... Sin pondered as Miss Lillia explained what the class needed to take note of when she cast the spell. It appeared that most of the other students also realised the implications of her words.

Murmurs among the students began. One boy raised his hand and called for the teacher’s attention.

She gave it.

“Miss, how are we supposed to cast the spell if we don’t speed up our mana flow?”

“I’m glad you were paying attention. Ahem. This spell is not a typical combat spell. It wasn’t designed to be used in combat, nor was it designed to be used in high pressure situations. In fact, it was designed to be used by people who don’t have well developed mana channels.” She placed a finger on her chin. “Though, I suppose that you could create an entirely new telekinesis spell that doesn’t operate on those foundations. But at that point you’d be creating a whole new spell.”

The boy lowered his hand.

“Thank you for the answer.” He said. As much as the boy spoke these words, not one student in the group could actually figure out how the spell would work from her answer.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Rai had an inkling, but even he couldn’t fully grasp the concept of a spell like what she was describing.

“Watch, and listen carefully now.”

Lillia continued the demonstration.

She aimed her right hand at the ball which rested on the table. Rai made sure to try to memorise everything, including how Miss Lillia’s hand was open, with her fingers in a kind of claw shape.

At first, she simply closed her eyes. Then blue motes of mana began flying around her. Her eyes opened, now glowing a cool, yet gentle, blue.

Levitate.

Her voice was serene, but somehow carried an authority unlike anything Rai had ever seen before. A blue hue appeared around the ball’s shape.

It began floating.

The ball wisped throughout the room, following wherever Lillia’s eyes demanded it to go, acting as she willed it. After a minute of commanding the ball to do different things, Lillia called the ball to hover beside her. She closed her eyes.

The hue subsided and the ball fell to the ground. As it rolled back towards Lillia’s feet, she turned back to the class with a bead of sweat traveling down her forehead.

“Any questions?” She asked the group.

Amy looked at Lina, whose mouth was agape in awe. They’d never seen such an awesome spell before, all the two of them wanted to do was to try and cast it themselves.

“Can we start trying now!?” Amy blurted out.

“Of course! Come, there will be a ball for each of you.”

She snapped her fingers, causing an array of tables to appear from spatial storage. Once more she snapped her fingers, causing a ball like the one she was using to appear on each of the tables.

“Pick a table and start practicing! Ask me for help if you need it. Oh! And before I forget, you should try to learn telekinesis by the end of the week and showcase it during your evaluation. If you can earn at least an epic tier ranking on it, then you will earn the right to a magic tome from the headmaster's private study. I guarantee that there will be tomes in that collection that will be useful to all of you.” She said with a grin.

At first there was silence as the students registered Lillia's words. Then there was a boom in happy voices.

Sin was smiling wide. She might have been one of the headmaster's two mentees, but neither her nor Rai had open access to his study. Even they had to earn it somehow. The tomes in there would probably contain techniques that would supplement both of their arsenals well.

Rai felt the same. Even though he couldn't use mana right now, he felt motivated to at least understand telekinesis to a high level. Rai still had another book he had to read, from the old hobo, but he hadn't found the time to sit down and read it.

“Don’t worry, we can practice together when you’re able to use mana without it hurting again.” Sin said to Rai.

“Thanks. I know you’ll pick up this technique super easily!”

Sin shot him a goofy grin, then turned to join Amy and Lina near their tables.

Rai smiled to himself as he watched Sin walk over to the twins. She's really... awesome.

Lillia loathed the idea of talking to the boy, but she thought that she should check on Rai. She walked over after making sure that everyone was starting off alright.

“You okay?” Lillia asked him. Her voice was sincere, Rai could tell at least that much.

However, Rai raised a concerned eyebrow in response.

“Are you okay? I thought you hated me...”

“Oh, please don’t get me wrong. I do. But you’re still my student, so I should at the very least check up on you when you’re going through a rough patch.”

“Phew. That’s a relief. I thought you’d gone crazy for a moment. Haha! I’m fine though... I just can’t use... a certain technique right now or my whole body feels like it’s on fire.”

Lillia looked up at him as he sat in the stands. She saw how he looked over the whole class, watching in envy as they all tried and failed at casting the spell. In a way, Lillia felt like she could empathise with Rai right now. She knew all too well what it was like, not being able to do what you want because of something out of your control.

It was suffocating.

“... I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.” Lillia said, showcasing more sympathy than Rai’d expected.

“... You really have gone crazy.”

“Hahaha. It was just a moment of weakness, I assure you.”

“That’s more like the Miss Lillia I know.”

Sin spent some time replaying the demonstration in her mind before she even tried casting the spell. Like Rai, she memorised all of the little things. The intonation of Miss Lillia’s voice as she casted the spell. The way her hand was shaped. Even down to the amount of emphasis on each syllable in the incantation. But she still couldn’t grasp why this spell even worked in the first place.

Amy popped her head into Sin’s view.

“Whatcha doin?” She asked.

“I can’t figure it out. Telekinesis doesn’t make any sense, why does it work without an accelerated mana flow like literally every other spell. Look around, no one else can do it yet.”

Amy scanned the room. All she saw was students struggling and straining to cast the spell.

“Well... We don’t get it either. It's only been a few minutes since we started too. Hmm... Maybe Rai knows? He is a monster when it comes to magical stuff after all.”

“Nope. Even if he does know, I can’t rely on him for everything. That’s not fair to either of us. I should be able to figure this out, or I don’t deserve to call myself a mage.”

Her words lit a fire under Amy and Lina’s asses. The two of them had simply coasted their way through their own schooling program on the Isle of Chimes. They’d never been motivated enough to push themselves like Sindyl.

Amy somehow puffed smoke through her nostrils like a bull.

“You’re right! I’ll work harder and harder!!” Her energy levels kept rising.

Sin was somewhat jealous of Amy’s uncanny ability to generate energy, but she was grateful that she’d made such an energetic friend. Despite her words earlier, she looked at Rai from where she sat. He looks so bored... There’s no way he’s already figured the spell out... right?

Right?