It was the next day and Cecil and his group were attending class normally this time, but after the whole fiasco from yesterday, the rest of class S would constantly send him weird glances. Naturally, Cecil didn't care, but it couldn't be said the same for the girl who decided to start sitting next to him though.

Lucia was happy that Cecil got to befriend such a famous character and even thought that it was such a good opportunity for him, but Cecil didn't want what actually happened behind the closed doors of the library's core area to be spread, so he asked his friends to keep mum about it.

So, when the other classmates came to inquire about what happened yesterday at the library, the group only brushed it off as just a misunderstanding and didn't really explain anything. As proof, they just said to look at Cecil, he wasn't harmed or anything and he even got his hands on a really advanced training manual that was personally handed to him by the Sage.

Since Cecil was fine, they explained that there were obviously no problems at all and the Sage only asked their group to clean up the core area as punishment for barging in without permission. Plus, they were even compensated for it.

Most of the class accepted this as the truth and only some were skeptical, but the ones who were most skeptical were the leaders of the factions who had received a report about what happened and the instructors present at the scene.

If this was all concluded as a 'misunderstanding', then wouldn't it mean that the Sage had only mistakenly apprehended Cecil and he was the one at fault? These people wouldn't believe that, of course. There was no way that the Sage made a 'mistake' since there were many witnesses that heard the Sage say that Cecil had done something to blaspheme the books in the library which then angered him.

So, to chalk it all up to a misunderstanding and say that it was a mistake on the Sage's part even after that? Not likely. There was definitely something more to this incident than what Cecil's group had let on, but since they were being so tight-lipped about it no one could garner any further information from them since they would just brush off the conversation if anyone brought it up.

It was only after 3 days had passed did the commotion towards this incident finally settle down. Since Cecil and his group were attending class normally, everyone could only conclude that it was truly just a misunderstanding after all.

Back in class S, the professor was currently teaching the fundamental principles of mana and magic to the class. It was class S, so most–if not all–of the students here had already had the basic and fundamental knowledge taught to them before even enrolling into the academy. Of course, the academy wouldn't do something so pointless like re-teaching the students these basics that were borderline common sense to them.

Instead the fundamentals they taught were the academy's results of intensive research and study towards the basics and underlying principles of mana and magic. Just this alone caused many in class to seriously listen in attention... except for 2 individuals however. These 2 were a certain foxkin duo. One had his full attention to the book he was reading while the other was scribbling incomprehensible magic arrays, crests, and formations on a magic scroll.

These two were Cecil and Lucia. Although the lesson that was being taught was really intriguing to the point where even Ainz, Eli, and Fina were listening in rapt attention, it couldn't be said the same for the duo. Why? This was because in their eyes, the lesson being taught was too rudimentary and simple. The theories, facts, and principles being taught were basic knowledge for these two.

At first, Lucia and Cecil were very much looking forward to these classes just like everyone else, but soon their interest died since oddly enough, the materials being taught were very pretty much the same as the results of Lucia's mother, Mrs. Anna's, preliminary research into the Principles of Mana.

The materials being taught were literally only scratching the surface of Mrs. Anna's entire research results which she had finished only recently. She was at a bottleneck in her research, but after Cecil shared his knowledge regarding atoms, the building blocks of all matter and life, she then made a large breakthrough in her research.

After Cecil and Lucia left on their journey, it took another 3 months of research and testing for Lucia's mother to finish her research which she called the 'The Foundations of Mana'.

In the current age, Mages only attributed to the fact that Mana existed in the world in an all-encompassing incorporeal state. It was there because it was there. Although many magic researchers wanted to find the actual reason to why and how mana existed and in what form, they didn't have the necessary tools to aid them in their research.

Mrs. Anna was the same. She didn't have any tools to help her research move forward, however, she had Cecil. When Cecil read through her research he had involuntarily explained that back on Earth they also did research on something similar. This explanation lead towards him explaining the theory behind atoms and particles as well as the tools used to prove their existence.

Of course, Cecil couldn't explain things in detail since he only had basic knowledge about the topic, maybe if he had his brother Gabriel's brain then he could have contributed more to Mrs. Anna's research, but just the basic knowledge he imparted to Mrs. Anna had given her the necessary outlook and direction of where to proceed with her research.

So, after Cecil and Lucia left, Mrs. Anna gave her all and together with her husband, had successfully created a magic tool that helped her determine the 'color' of mana. The tool was similar to a microscope, but instead of amplifying vision, all it did was detect the mana in the air and give it a visible appearance through the magic tool. The tool was complex and Cecil didn't understand at all on how it worked. All he knew was that the magic tool worked similar to one of his Mana Eye's abilities.

For now, Cecil had determined that Mana Eyes had 2 functions. The first was Control. Thanks to his unique set of eyes and a little bit of training that also involved the use of his unique elemental physique that allowed him to wield Non-Elemental Mana, Cecil was able to gain full control over his mana, some control over the mana in the atmosphere, and very minute control of mana that was under someone else's influence. The second was Mana Vision, which was basically the ability that let him see mana, or the particles of mana in the air.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The magic tool took Cecil's second ability and let the user 'see' mana. The mana in the air after looking through this magic tool showed that the mana had a multitude of colors, but it was dominated mostly by a golden color, exactly like what Cecil saw through his Mana Eyes. So, if they abided by the current knowledge's theory of mana being incorporeal then that would mean that there was no way it could have a color if it was viewed through the magic tool that Mrs. Anna developed.

However, because there was color, then that meant that mana existed in a corporeal state. You could touch it and even see the mana move through and around your body, but won't feel anything because mana was just like air. Just this knowledge was groundbreaking. If Mrs. Anna could somehow create a magic tool that could directly manipulate mana, then by using this tool, a person would be able to gain access to Cecil's first ability, Control.

Mrs. Anna was able to document more knowledge, facts and raise more theories and hypotheses on Mana, it was to the point where one question beget another. It was an endless loop so she could only send Cecil her current, up-to-date version of her new research. She wrote in her book that Mana existed in the air not in a formless incorporeal state, but instead it was present everywhere in the form of particles.

On Earth, there were 3 types of particles, electrons, neutrons and protons which formed an atom. Mrs. Anna, however, changed 'atom' to 'mana' instead. Though this was still only a hypothesis, Cecil wanted to believe this to be a fact since if mana was the equivalent of atoms then it was safe to say that Mana was the building block of all matter and life on Alterna.

With this theory, it could be hypothesized that every living organism and object on Alterna was created by mana. This could then explain the reason why every living creature had mana inside their bodies and when they grew more mature this mana would take on an attribute which then explained the colorful silhouettes in Cecil's Mana Eyes.

This was the same for the color of the objects he saw through his Mana Vision. The rocks, dirt, and terrain were a mix of gold and brown with brown being the dominant color. The same went for the air and water. For air, it was a dominant shade of green with gold mixed here and there. As for water it was different shades of blue with gold dotting it.

The world in Cecil's eyes when he activated Mana Vision was full of color and it was always fascinating for him to observe the world this way. The color of each elemental attribute of Mana, every shade of red for the fire element, blue for water element and so on. However, a golden color was present everywhere.

This golden color most likely represented the non-elemental or the attributeless type of mana. When Cecil observed his body through Mana Vision, he would see his body being gold in color. Lucia was a mix of red, blue and violet. Fina was teal in color, Eli was green and red while Ainz... well, he was a chaotic mix of red, blue, green, and yellow that kept swirling in a circle which would cause Cecil a headache every time he looked at his friend.

However, if going by this logic, then wouldn't it mean that Mana was just Atoms and for whatever reason, the people on Alterna were able to manipulate atoms to their will and create things out of nothing? This was a theory that Cecil had formed in his mind, but kept it buried in there because he wasn't smart enough to try and figure it out. After all, he was only a 14 year old and the knowledge he had was very limited.

Anyway, Cecil and Lucia decided to just do their own thing during this lesson since they've already read Mrs. Anna's new research results tens of times over the moment they were delivered to them by the adventurers Mrs. Anna had commissioned and this was a month ago when they were still at the Magic City.

Since the materials of the lesson was only the downgraded version of Lucia's mother's research, the two decided to just forgo listening to the lesson and go about doing their own things in the meantime.

Cecil was reading a mana cultivation manual called Breath of Mana. It was a cultivation manual that helped with the circulation and cultivaiton of mana that was made by an ancient person of the past only on a whim. Not many people picked up this mana cultivation manual since there were other better breathing-type cultivation manuals, however, this manual was special since it didn't have any preferred element, so it was the perfect manual to serve as reference for Cecil who used Non-Elemental Mana.

Beside him, Lucia was creating quick-casts for her new original spells. The formations and arrays were much more complex than before. If someone who was inexperienced with quick-casts was to take a look at what she was drawing, they would most likely pass out from confusion.

Even Cecil had a headache after taking a small glimpse at Lucia's parchment. The complexity of the finished scrolls looked like it was a mini-large scale magic array than a simple quick-cast scroll.

It was a good thing that they looked like they were seriously taking notes and not doing anything else so the teacher didn't call out to them for not listening to the lesson. So they were able to 'peacefully' not listen to the lecture, however, this 'peace' couldn't last... not after the teacher started walking around the class while continuing with the lecture.

When he got to Cecil and Lucia's desk and saw how busy they were taking notes he was inwardly admiring the two, but then he saw what they were actually doing and his impression of the two immediately took a nose dive. The instructor was a young female elf, Gal'ania Sunchaser. She was a member of the famed Sunchaser clan, the wood elf clan that tended to the branches and leaves of the world tree, Urrugdrasil.

When she stomped her way to the podium in front of the class her face was smiling, but at the same time everyone in class could since the air of irritation she was emitting. They were all puzzled since only a moment ago the teacher was happily giving her lecture, so just what could be the cause of her sudden irritation?

While everyone was looking at each other and discussing in small voices, the two who were the cause of the teacher's change was obliviously continuing their activities. Seeing this, Gal'ania clicked her tongue in annoyance.