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Day 183 of 1877, month of Arell
The Imperial Institute of War was not the national military academy, despite its name. Strictly speaking, it would be registered as an educational centre that happens to be subsidised both by funds, manpower, and signee by the ministry of internal affairs.
The layout of section three and its immense size escaped the sisters, as they rushed towards the building hosting their first class, one detached from others by distance.
Panting heavily, they would rest some seconds before descending the stairs. They had woken up some two hours earlier, after getting dressed and finished their morning ritual, they noticed a delivery from a day ago, inside contained neatly ironed selections of uniform.
The upper body comes in a black fabric jacket, silver buttons down the front and trousers of the same colour, the detachable shoulder insignia was a single golden stripe. One would expect leather boots but running shoes of the same shade were provided instead.
After getting re-dressed and lost for a while, the made it.
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The ‘tablet’ fortunately comes with a clock feature, reading 7:48.
The building’s architecture reminds her of what was seen in Clement, majestic columns, symmetrical design of decor, marble composite as floorings. Perhaps one could have mistaken this place for a place of worship, but nothing of religious significance can be seen, for its true purpose lies in the underground, the largest lecture room of the entire institute.
With unsteady steps, Ellia grabbed her little sister's hand, “Let's go” she said with a warm smile and Ellie reciprocated with her own. With each of the steps descending the stairway, more people joined the two, eventually they reached a massive entrance door, one that definitely could not be opened by a human.
She inched closer, the massive entrance door slowly opened, the chatter of students immediately struck Ellia's ears, so hard that she thought she would go deaf. It would appear the lecture hall completely isolated the noise within.
The room was large, roughly three times larger than her entire house. Seats arranged in a manner that every part of the room can see where the lecturer was, long curved stone slates served as desks… Looking around and certainly not wishing to sit nearest to the professor, of the fifteen rows, Ellia decided to walk up the stairs to the sixth, which happened to have two seats left.
Placing her belongings under her seat, gaining no reaction from the glassed guy next to her, she observed the room a little more. The room was covered in windows, but seeing how this particular room was underground, the room was illuminated by magical lamps and candles placed around the room. One would wonder why windows were installed when the other side of it is simply dirt.
She observed the floor, “Hey, isn’t that Arieno.” she mentioned quietly to Ellie, who nodded, even if the boy came to the two, there wouldn’t be nearby seats for him to sit on. The boy frantically looked around for places to be, Marcerath sisters tried their utmost best to be as small as possible, no matter how much that may contribute they successfully evaded him.
“Sorry, it’s not like I hate you or anything.” She glanced around, some had pens and papers ready, reminiscent of the time she had classes with community teachers, but she had an alternative.
The tablet provided by the government has noting features, it took a while to realise its full capability, organise notes into categories, multicoloured options to use, cut-and-paste capability, all around superior to traditional notes.
Still, it wasn’t without problem, as there’s no such thing as a physical pen attached to it; thus she had to utilise her finger to draw words.
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“I believe a time of introduction among yourself can be postponed.” a commanding, clear voice echoed across the room, preceded by the sound of the entrance door opening once more. She was surprised to see the source of the voice being a well-dressed man, possibly in his forties. The Imperial institute of war employees ‘Professor’ and ‘Lecturers’ the later do not have a dress code, one could perhaps pretend to be one; the authority in his mannerisms made it clear to Ellia, that he was not an imposter.
One student attempted to salute him only to receive a curt response of “Waste of time, sit.”
Looking to the right, she saw her sister looking at the desk, clearly intimidated, though most students in the room did not seem to follow. Perhaps it was due to the professor's short stature. As the chatter began to intensify again, the professor's gaze began to shift, landing on students as if he were sizing every last one of them. Though his glance was brief, Ellie shook in fear. “What is going on…” Ellie wasn’t the best with people, but to react with such recoil, something was definitely wrong. But for now, Ellia could merely extend her hand “There there, don't be afraid” Ellia comforted, which earned snickers from those around.
The lecturer sighed, “Are you not aware of your situation?” his eyes directed towards the sisters, gaze met with Ellie, the latter darted away instantaneously, his then fell onto Ellia who didn’t budge, not out of courage but rather inattention.
“… What the hell did they do to my sister that night… Could they have hurt her somehow? If so, this bastard might be one of them.” Ellie was returned on the previous day at noon, though no signs of physical injuries can be seen, though the big sister suspected something foul.
“Professor!” a shout echoed throughout the room, deafening the chatters, it was a boy sitting in the third row. He had clean blonde hair, not too long or short. From behind, Ellia couldn't make out much of his features. “I believe reprimanding her would be-”
“I am a lecturer,” he walked the other sided of the room, “And spare me your false bravado, Edward Luthe. You will talk if and only if you are addressed, and that applies the same to the rest of you imbeciles.” Surprisingly, the insult wasn't directed at Ellie but rather at those around her.
“You laugh at the display of weakness, yet Is there a single person who cast a spell here?” He addressed the room but received no reply.
Ellia could’ve raised her hand, but she decided against it.
“Your silence speaks volumes. The fact is, each one of you is equally useless, so do not attempt to mock others with traits you all shared” he paused briefly, ascertaining the rising anger from the room, however well hidden or not. “Be thankful that you are even allowed to be here, lest you wish to be drafted as mere fodders when we finally launch a full-scale invasion to the last of our dear neighbours.”
Scattered chattering filled the room, most being about the last remarks made.
“Are we going to war with someone?”
“Haven't we already conquered the whole continent?”
“No… There's still Farinn, Quaine and Koltinn, and the rebels I suppose…?”
“But didn't the revolutionaries wage war against the royalists to end our senseless warmongering?!”
“Enough, our time is limited. Matters regarding internal and external affairs can be learnt in other classes or outside here.” silence returned to the room once more not long after.
With a nod, he continued, “I am glad we are all in accord, so let us begin with the most fundamental topic. Edward Luthe, do enlighten me, how many kinds of spells are there?”
“Gladly sir, there are four kinds of spells each according to an element, fire water, wind, and earth.” the boy confidently replied.
“Such confidence” he smirked, looking around the room. Ellia followed his line of vision, it's most likely that he was expecting someone to protest Edward's answer. While Ellia didn't have the slightest clue about the answer, she can deduce that Edward's answer is most likely incorrect.
Hand raised, “Divine, Arcane and Spiritual” was their answer,
“Abjuration, Alteration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, Invocation, and Necromancy” another came through.
Just then, the lecturer’s sight landed near Ellia… “I can’t get out of this one” she would formulate a response, but shifting her eyes to the side, she saw Ellie raise her hand, albeit not confidently. Before the older sister could ask, the younger sister recited with perfect clarity. “There are only two fundamental types of magic… Creation and Destruction.”
Turning around, the lecturer would write on a blackboard that just materialised and floated mid-air, not with his hand but with some sort of magical instrument, guiding floating chalk into words. “I am inclined to agree… Fundamentally, there only exist Creation and Destruction. Elemental magic and whatever you mentioned earlier is a subset of Creation, in fact, most things are. Some would argue that Transmutation is a category of its own, but we shall let scholars ponder on that front.”
The fact that the answer was correct confused Ellia greatly, when did her sister manage to get hold of this information…? Regardless, she decided to keep the question to herself until the end of the class, enough attention was on them and chatter would undoubtedly be noticed.
“Moving on… There's a misconception most non-magic users have.” he turned towards the class, and raised his magic item upwards. It looked like a miniature drumstick, onyx in nature with a gold finish, with a flick, the board behind him was filled with all sorts of illustrations and alchemical figures. “Most mages rely on magic items, as you may know, utilising magic items, even household ones, consume mana from the user. But to cast an actual spell, another thing is needed…” Stopping abruptly, he raised his chin, permitting one of the students who raised her hand to speak.
“Apologies… I am aware of mana constraints, but what is the reason for everyone to not be able to cast spells more than ten times consecutively?” It was a girl with raven black hair who sat on the complete opposite side of the room. Ellia couldn't make out her features clearly, but she didn't seem to speak that loudly, perhaps some voice enchantment was at play? But before her mind could wander, she gathered herself to listen intently once more.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The lecturer sighed deeply. “No need to broadcast that you have preread the material, refrain from asking about things I’m about to say.” he started to walk to the desk prepared for him in front of the lecture hall. “The reasoning for why and how the rule exists would currently be beyond your comprehension.” Finally reaching the desk, he reached into his bag and grabbed a tomb, revealing it for the class to see.
“… There is a material?” Ellia checked her tablet, and indeed, much reading materials can be found for the courses she enrolled in, granted some were locked. “… Did no one also pre-read this?!” Ellia looked at Ellie, who seemed rather guilty. Why didn't she tell her about it?
She shifted the attention back to the lecturer, the tomb itself did not seem to be in poor condition, on the contrary, it seemed to be in perfect condition, as if freshly made from the printing press. “The answer can be found in this 524 page shelf-filler. Do you wish to hear this for the whole semester and be doomed in your semester exam, or a short version?”
From the silence, the answer was obvious, “If you cast more than ten spells consecutively without rest, no matter how powerful you are or how much mana you have, your body will bloat, your chest will contort, stomach acid will spread across your body, your bones will liquefy and in comes the most gruesome death you can imagine.”
Fear can be seen on the student's faces, Ellia was no different. She was scared until a soft, warm sensation could be felt on her hand. It was Ellie, shaken. “It will be fine…” the older sister comforted, holding on to Ellie's hand tight.
Though Ella could not see the lecturer's face, judging from the echoing silence, she assumed him to be displeased with the reaction. Once she gathered the courage to look at him, he'd already returned to his post and readied to write. “I seem to have your full attention, so listen with care. To cast magic, one needs only two things. Conduit and Mana. Most living things have both, those that only have mana are found to be non-sentient, derive the conclusion as you will.”
A board in the lecture room filled with words he just said, some students jolted some note on either their tablets or paper.
“A spell, regardless of order, consumes exactly one conduit. Most humans are born with ten. The highest on record is twelve, but don’t be tempted to see if you have more than the average, unlike mana where you will feel fatigue upon near exhausting. Conduit has no signs of running out, an easy method to rid the world of your presence is to fail at counting.”
Ellie silently nodded, from her experience using the Magic Cooler alongside other things at home, when she was very young, she recalled vividly that the feeling resembled that of menstrual fatigue. Strangely, upon passing the age of five, the so-called ‘mana sickness’ never struck her again.
“Now, mana cap can be increased if one goes through enough training, but no matter how hard one tries, one can never increase one's conduit. Stitching bodies together, limb replacements, and every depraved insanity had been tried, none worked.”
It was widely known and acknowledged that Serinnian magical supremacy comes at a certain cost, so such a revelation did not seem to move much people.
“Lastly, mana can be replenished via potions, but conduit can not and will be replenished at a constant rate of one per hour.” After saying so, he produced a canteen and took a sip. “Any questions…? We will not be learning any spells in this class, but I'd assume most of you will attend tomorrow's magic classes, if you are wondering, you won’t be forced to cast spells, I won’t spoil how the class is actually conducted though...” He leaned back against teacher’s desk in the room, raising his chin on the right side of the room.
“Sir… Having only ten conduits means we can use that number of spells in succession… But what about other species? Perhaps ten conduits are the highest?” asked a student.
The lecturersmiled, clearly amused. “About thirty years ago, I recall asking that myself… It's the exact opposite, there is no other sentient being that has conduit lower than us humans.”
“But how come we've overcome them all?”
“Look closely.” he flicked his finger and produced an ethereal, see-through flame in a shade of blue, hovering above him with a size matching his head. “This is lumine… albeit slightly modified, while other races have something equivalent to this simple parlour trick, they can’t utilise the exact spell. That is because we humans have the highest contributions… No, monopolised the endless catalogue.”
His smirk grew alongside the students’ confused expressions.
“No one really knows how it works, but imagine an inventor, when you invent something you can get a patent. A spell is like that too. Once you invent a new spell, you can get it catalogued. After the spell is catalogued, any member of that race can use that spell by simply uttering its name and manipulating their mana. I will leave it to your imagination to fill in the blanks, if you wish to know about the topic in depth, I recommend enrolling in either 'race studies' or 'relevant history'”
“So that's the reason behind the Magocracy’s existence…”
Zern Magocracy, a city state surrounded by Serinn herself, Ellia always wondered why it had yet to be conquered when drawing the continental maps, but her classmate’s theory was most persuasive.
Seeing no further questions, he ordered the first row of students to help him distribute what resembles a wristband, it has ten crystals engraved on it with a blue hue, once everyone was equipped with the new trinket he continued.
“Now replicate what I did, if you somehow run out of conduit for now, sit still.”
[Lumine] Ellia's attempt went as flawlessly as it could be. She did not do a single thing other than saying the word, part of her consciousness determining the shape and size, but she could not tell whether that contributed or not. Her neighbour quickly followed, and their neighbour did the same.
An impressive light show was created as one after another, successful conjuration of the flames arose, none failed in the attempt, but the outcome came in varying sizes and colours.
“Good work, your parents would certainly be proud.” he snapped his finger, once the sound of it reached the flames, they disappeared in a gradient. “Creation type magic, lumine is considered to be one of the First Order Magic, notice the wristband I gave you, one of the gems would be red instead of blue.”
Ellia checked hers, though it looked rather pinkish than red in her opinion, but the point stood.
“These handy items are called [conduit counter], do not mistake it as a measurer, conduit cannot be measured. It simply turns one of the orbs red if you use a spell, then turns one back to blue every hour. If you ever lose it, walk to the Imperial Institute of Magic in and buy another.”
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“You, Ellia Marcerath.”
“Y-yes sir?” She stuttered those words out, the lecturer had demonstrated the ability to recall student names, but to be so abruptly used on her a distinct sense of dread could be felt.
“Your entry files are a funny read, so answer me this; We categorise magic into first to fourth or even fifth order. What do you think qualifies a spell as a first order?”
“Strength” She would have answered that had every encounter so far increased her level of paranoia, though she had mostly regained her tact, something was irreversibly lost during the ordeal. “Ease of control, sir.”
The lecturer's expression didn't change, though he nodded slightly, “Elaborate.”
“‘To cast a spell one only needs two things, conduit and mana.’ as conduit expenditure is constant, thus something about mana must be the distinction between the orders…” She glanced to the side unconsciously, being looked at from all directions was not something she could handle well, her eyes landed on Arieno, standing and making a cheering motion. “… What was I even saying?” “Um… specifically… I believe the difficulty in mana manipulation is the difference rather than the amount spent.”
“Curious answer, justify why your answer makes no relation to the strength of the spell? Grand explosion should qualify for high order on its own, correct?”
“When we begin this class, your first question provokes a false response to those without knowledge, humans naturally gravitate to answer what they could relate to most… So I did not answer strength.” she took a deep breath, “We are all here because our mana is naturally high, correct? When you ask about if any of us can use magic is simply a hint to that fact. So, suppose all of us have high mana, why did you choose to waste your conduit that spell? Surely, there is non-volatile higher order magic that we can use and more impressive to demonstrate, even if I’m wrong on that end; if restrictions of mana control are concerned, you could simply put us in a box, give us all the spells we should use and throw us at the enemy-” A slight pull from the side stopped Ellia.
“Your answer to my original question is correct, however a visit to a psychologist may be in order, I will sign some hours at the re-education centre on your weekends for your own good naturally.” a tablet appeared in his hand, one very much like the students' albeit slightly smaller, he made an intrigued expression but did not say anything.
“First order magic spells are so easy to use that if you are ‘initiated’, even without knowledge of mana flow, you can cast by uttering its name without prefixes nor suffixes… With second order magic, none of you may cast it without knowledge of personal mana control, third order requires some understanding of the fundamental make-up of that spell. Fourth is practically impossible to use. Fifth... exists. I’m sure you can come up with various analogies for this…”
He clapped his hand, and out went the lights. The room was so dark that the only experience Ellia could relate to this is the depths of caves without light. For even in the darkest night, some lights came through from above.
“Ignoring Marcerath’s conspiracy, the reason I chose that spell is, simply, for this. [Lumine]” Ethereal blue light expanded from his body like a wildfire fuelled by hell itself, its rapid expanse vanquished darkness in its wake. It passed Ellia, doing no harm and merely a second later, it had enveloped the entire room.
“Some first order can carve mountains, some take lives so easily that none of the higher order can even do, this trick is usually used by infiltrators to signal for artillery. With enough control, you can change the colour, shape, and size” the light flicked back on alongside the spell being cancelled.
“Next lecture, we will cover how to control mana, and try to modify the base lumine spell. For now, the lecture is over, three hours and a half early actually, you may leave or sit around until noon.”
“Lecturer, do we, um, have to sign our names for attendance?”
“... This is not a school nor university, you can even go home or never attend any classes, as long as the assignment is submitted, and you believe you are competent enough to take the semester exam, there's nothing stopping you. If you are too lazy to attend other course, leech knowledge from others so you can make it through the exam”
Detecting the confusion in the air, the lecturer sighed loudly, “Did they not tell you anything?!” With some fiddling on his tablet, every screen in the room flashed at once, ‘Notification : New Assignment’.
Ellia clicked on it and reveals a single question. ‘Research more on definitions of creation/destruction, elaborate and answer the following: based on your understanding, suppose healing magic exists, would it be creation or destruction?’
“What I assigned to you is a course assignment, if you finish it, you get some extra credits at the end if you did each work well, but generally, if not too atrociously bad, attempts will be accepted, if you don’t complete even a single one assignment, you will not pass that particular course.”
He looked around the room briefly, intent unclear.
“Another type is school assignment, assigned by the institute itself, tailored to each individual. You cannot collaborate or even mention the details of those with other cadets unless you wish to… be warned sternly.” the phrasing sent cold down Ellia’s spine, the fact that he was looking at her did not help. “Failure to complete each in time will inflict a heavy penalty. Forced labour, torture, or even execution…”
Hand raised, “W-What if the school assignment requires knowledge we didn’t know? What if we didn’t enrol in classes relate to that-”
“Library exists, go figure.” he shrugged. “But you don’t have to be too worried about that too much. You’ll understand what I mean upon receiving your first one.”
The chattered seemed to grow some people had got up and began to leave, the lecturer had no intention of stopping that and simply sat on the table, the lecture seemed to be concluded.
“I don’t know what to expect, but is this normal?” She looked at her neighbour, who had already left. There was enough room to walk behind her, such that she need not nudge her seat forward to make way.
Ellie remained still, looking curiously at the assignment. “Let’s do the assignment together…”
“Good call, I will skim the materials then…”
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Time of submission : 9:12
From: Ellia Marcerath
“Creation magic refers to the act of creating a concept in theory, but in practice, it denotes acts of introducing new mass to reality. To reiterate, an immortal person could flood the world if they conjure a single droplet of water each day, assuming the world remains constant.
Destruction magic refers to the act of removing a concept in theory, but in practice, it denotes acts of removing mass from reality. To reiterate, an immortal person could dry the world if they destroy a single droplet of water each day, assuming the world remains constant
Though in reality, Zern Magocracy counteracts major creation spells to ensure balance, with some exceptions.
To answer the question, regarding healing
Creation magic can only introduce concepts, not overwrite. For someone to be injured, it means that the concept of that already exists, thus destroying the concept of one being injured or the very definition of being injured itself is needed.
So the answer should be destruction“
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