In another classroom elsewhere in Kraelonia Academy, another class for Primary Magic classes was being held. Timothy Cook had declined the invitation from Penny to sit in front—he didn't want to be surrounded by girls and stuck himself to the back.

And it was also because he didn't want too much attention.

[ Professor ] Lavelda was even more enthusiastic about 'Preparation for School of Magic Specialization' than their earlier class on the 'Fundamentals of Potions'. She was moving back and forth and even had a sketch of a six-sided polygon on the board and each side was labelled with a specific 'School' or 'House' of Magic.

"Alright, I'm sure that all of you guys are quite familiar with the [ Mage ] classes already and how we also classify magic into different schools. Perhaps [ Battle Mage ] Carnus had already displayed elemental [ Spells ], those are his favorite—mostly ice for some reason. Now most elemental types or let's say most [ Combat ] spells are classified to be under House of Evocation and use one's mana and shape it into a powerful form of energy."

Timothy glanced down at his sheets of scrap papers and jotted them down among his already pre-existing list of [ Classes ] and [ Spells ] he had already seen for himself or read somewhere in the old books at his village. They were sparse in his home but he had soaked them up—they were his only form of entertainment there.

So the list of Houses were already present in his self-made notes:

'Evocation - raw power, elements

'Conjuration - 'conjure' things/ summon

'Necromancy - not preferred, death stuff

'Transmutation - change form, enhancement

'Divination - rare, [ Oracle ], prophecies

'Illusion - messes perception, deception, mind tricks

"Now if you would like to be a mage on the battlefield like [ Professor ] Carnus then you might think to yourself that I'd definitely choose 'Evocation' easy peasy, right? Well generally you might be right." [ Professor ] Lavelda nodded as she snapped her fingers and produced a small [ Flame ] that floated above her hands.

It was similar to his [ Firestarter ] Skill but of course it was different as that one used mana and his was…

"But my dear [ Students ] we also need utility. I think [ Professor ] Carnus also showed you guys how to do [ Mana Shield ] today right? Now tell me, based on the listed Schools or Houses in the board, which one does it classify under?"

A few hands shot up.

She chose one of the students to answer.

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"I think it's also under 'Evocation', [ Professor ] as it utilizes mana in its raw form which overpowers and cancels incoming [ Spells ]."

Others were still raising their hands and so another one was given the chance to answer, "It's more of 'Conjuration' I believe as it's summoning a shield made of mana."

And yet other students still wanted to answer.

"[ Mana Shield ] is 'Transmutation' as it seems to change mana's form into a more harder type that blocks out the attacks, [ Professor ]."

Timothy raised a brow, which one was which? Somehow it felt like the 'Transmutation' one was the most correct but it may just be because it sounded longer and more precise than the other answers. He readied his quill for the proper answer but also stared at his fingers remembering the earlier incident.

He and Han managed to make a bad impression of themselves by not even being able to do that [ Mana Shield ] or even mana itself but someone had consistently used [ Mana Barrier ] during lunch time. He glanced over to Ellynn at the other end of the class and wondered if they still had the barrier up, he couldn't exactly tell.

"Well the answer actually depends on how you form the [ Mana Shields ]." The [ Professor ] chuckled, "But I'm guessing that [ Professor ] Carnus may have only taught you one method to produce a [ Mana Shield ] via your body's mana and then changing its malleable property to a more 'concrete' one per se—so I suppose 'Transmutation' is correct in this case."

The [ Professor ] began to walk around her stadium, "Evocation will use up your mana as you continue to project mana outward and cancel spells incoming. Conjuration on the other hand is a bit trickier as you really try to create the 'shield' out of your mana which takes more time. And you're better off having an entire 'sphere'."

She stopped.

"But if you were able to combine all three Houses and combine them, you can create a better [ Mana Shield ]." The [ Professor ] had a small smile on her face, "Transmutation type forms a shield that's closer to your body as the mana in your body only enshrouds you to a certain extent. Using a little of Evocation will enhance the range by using up more mana. And Conjuration added to your specific [ Mana Shield ] can make it more 'shield' than 'mana'."

They procured a wand and performed the [ Spell ] as an example. The [ Mana Shield ] was a lot more visible than the ones produced by his classmates from earlier and actually took the shape of a large kite shield before switching to a small round buckler.

"As you can see that the intricacies and minutiae of an actual shield are created much better. So it's to show that simply focusing on one School of Magic doesn't allow you to use [ Spells ] with much more utility but then again, also focusing on one allows you to master more [ Spells ] related to that School of Magic."

If their first [ Professor ] in Magical Theory made him sleepy with their voice, [ Professor ] Lavelda was a little too enthusiastic and discussed a lot more than his poor brain could absorb at the moment.

Then again this was what made [ Wizards ] scholarly than other specialized [ Mage ] types.

.

.

.

"Mister Timothy Cook."

He froze for a moment.

And looked up at the older woman in front of him, how did they or rather when did they—"Yes, [ Professor ] Lavelda?" Why wasn't he paying attention again? He turned his notes away from the woman's eyes as discreetly as he could. He had been scribbling and he wasn't exactly proud of it.

The [ Professor ] simply grinned, "Well, it's far too early for you to decide on what kind of School of Magic you'll be focusing on but I'm sure it depends on what [ Class ] you want, right? I thought I'd like to ask you what's your exact level and [ Skills ] to see what you'd probably make a good match with and also what you'd probably like to work on."

"Ah, don't you think that it's—"

"I do this with every [ Student ] in my class, I think it works better than a lecture." The older woman placed her hat upside down for a moment and then pulled out a parchment, "We've already gotten your mana pool results last time and I've given it an estimate"