A few minutes passed by as I managed to compose myself. The guru used that soothing zen chi wave which he had used many many years ago when I first arrived here. Ren and Arya who were both sitting beside me at the first row gave me looks of concern.

[Eunoia any harm done to me?]

It does not appear so master Kaito. Your divination experience happens to be relatively safe.

'happens to be huh. So not a guarantee.'

"Ahem" I fake coughed into my hands "That was quite an experience," I said with an awkward smile trying to diffuse the tension.

"It was, wasn't it, Guru replied nodding sagely, "First attempt at divination always comes as a shock. I had to make sure your first attempt at divination happened in my presence. As I said before you happen to have enough potential for divination so much that you could even use it unknowingly."

'happen to? The Guru is not the kind of person to use such a choice of words.'

"Who among us wouldn't like a mysterious ability where one can peer into the past or the future? Divination is magic, magic requires desire, will your curiosity over such a mysterious ability not create such a desire to use divination? Armed with the knowledge you learned today I was afraid you would use it unknowingly and encounter some sort of an accident. The world of spirits is a treacherous place for mortals with earthly desires, their thoughts and desires far too removed from our convention of normalcy. Hence divination especially the first one must be carried out in the presence of an experienced diviner. Regardless, I should have been more forthcoming. Forgive me, child." The guru cupped his hands and dipped his head in apology.

I frantically raised my hands, "No no it's fine. It's fine I say so please stop doing that."

I let out a sigh of relief when the Guru looked up and smiled in response, his hand falling back to his sides. "Congratulations on your first divination. I knew you could do it. However, we shall discuss what you saw at a later time."

I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment at the praise. "Thank you and I understand. Although I must admit I did not think I would ever hear you swear. It's..not like you."

Shaun quipped in, "Yeah I must concur. I don't think even the seniors have ever heard you do that and they have been with you as disciples for much longer."

There were some other murmurs of agreement going around the class.

"Ah yes", he put his hands on the chin and nodded, "that was a form of the incantation method and before you say something, Ying, no I am not making that up. Ying who had her mouth open to protest quickly clamped up.

"You see swearing is the purest expression of our unfettered emotions. Both words and emotions carry power so combined their power becomes additive. The raw and primal emotions ingrained in us coupled with the language something that is integral to our daily lives produces magic closer to the ancient magic where magic was not truly completely understood and when magic was as much as instinct and emotions and our desires manifest."

However, it's not all roses and rainbows. The downside is that this is a very simple form of magic and can usually only exhibit a single effect and is often unpredictable, unlike modern magic where the caster retains a degree of control over the magic when used correctly. However, despite being a simple magic mastering it requires very hard effort."

"Haa, how hard can swearing even be?" scoffed Joon-Ho. Aarav who was sitting beside him elbowed him from the side which earned a "heuk" from him. Arak who was on the other side of Joon-Ho tsked and gave him a disapproving look.

Guru had a smile on his face. "It is hard because - one, you have to visualize what form your magic takes in the short time to swear, and two - you have to remember to make your chi flow to use magic in the first place and assign the power of your emotions to the spell. But Joon-Ho... I must say you are getting bolder by the day. To think you would scoff at me."

Joon-Ho audibly gulped as he made himself smaller, "Ha ha ha it's...not like that Guru, I was ...just surprised so I involuntarily did that. It was.... an error, truly..... I will try not to do it again."

The guru turned his back as he went back to the raised platform, his flowing robes trailing behind as he did so. He stopped halfway and tilted his head sideways as his eyes met with Joon-Ho's. "I will have to take your word for it. I hope you remember that your word determines your worth."

"I will take your words to heart and keep by them." Joon-Ho dipped his head as he said so.

After reaching the raised platform Guru carried on with his explanation. "Healing is self-explanatory. Mending the body, healing wounds, removing curses, and healing afflictions and even genetic disorders are all that healing magic can achieve. It is also one of the rarer affinities of magic and also one with a lot of scrutiny due to its history of .....experimentation without consent. Despite all that, no one can deny its usability given its scarcity of affinity."

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The guru materialized a knife and made a deep gash on his right forearm, it was deep enough to reveal the bone underneath. He flicked his hand and the knife vanished from his other hand.

"Curiously enough all nine of you have the healing affinity. Of course, it will come to you in different forms but you all can heal either yourself, others, or even both. Arya, you are one such rare person who can heal both yourself and others. Come over to the front, it seems to you already know how to heal yes?"

Arya stood up from her seat but she did not move after, "Thank you for the opportunity and yes I do know how to heal but it's not so long ago that I started practicing, I don't think I can-"

"Nonsense, you still continue to undermine yourself, come over here." the guru said with a tone of finality.

Arya hesitantly strode over next to the Guru and stood beside him.

"Place your hand just above the wound" Arya brings her hands to hover above the ghastly wound and the Guru places his hands hovering above hers. "Since you are so unsure about your abilities we shall do this instead. Now I am going to send healing magic through your hands, all you have to do is direct it to the wound and in the meanwhile add some of your healing as well."

Arya closed her eyes as she focused on the task. From the hands that hovered above Arya's healing motes of light came down to hers. The motes of light passed through Arya's hands and down to the wound mending it. As the healing went on the motes of light from the Guru's hands started diminishing with each passing second till there was no more.

At that point the Guru removed his hand and yet the healing motes of light continued to be generated through Arya's hands down to the wound. Anyone could see the wound knitting back together, the bone no longer visible and the blood flowing back to the wound. A few seconds later the wound was completely healed as Arya opened her eyes to see the wound mended and the Guru's hands no longer hovering above hers. The class started clapping and Arya finally processing what had happened felt redness climb up her cheeks as she blushed and hung her head down in embarrassment.

"You tricked me."

"No, I believe you tricked yourself. Being humble is good but you must not undermine your capabilities and live in doubt. Now back to your seat." the guru motioned his hand for silence and the sounds of applause soon faded away.

Arya soon returned to her seat but her head held high this time with a smile tugging the corners of her lips. "It's not been long since I started practicing, some liar you are." I snickered and Arya turned her head towards me. "Shush, we are still in class" Ren just laughed at her antics. "Always the stickler for rulers, you gotta loosen up sometime."

The Guru continued. "That was a fantastic display by Arya. and Ren I am sure you can loosen up sometime after class." A small portal appeared beside Ren just as the guru spoke and the guru's hand came out through the portal and began pulling on Ren's ears. The classroom erupted into laughter as Ren profusely apologized amidst 'ouches' and cries of pain for his slip of the tongue during class. The guru let go of Ren's ears and the hand was pulled back through the portal soon after which the portal vanished as well.

"Moving on, the class of Movement is magic related to transportation or affecting the space itself usually around close proximity to the mage. Another one of the rarer classes of magic given its hefty requirements to utilize. Only experienced mages would dare to dabble in magic affecting space or turn themselves into particles or motes of energy to move faster. The knowledge, talent, and courage that is required to utilize such spells make it one of the rarer classes of magic. The portal you just saw was one such application of it."

"Binding refers to magic such as contracts, stealth magic, restrict movement, locks, seals, spells of preservation that halt time in a subspace, and so on. It is the rarest affinities to have. I shall demonstrate this sometime later."

"Ren you have the highest potential for binding magic among all here. However, you are not at such a level where you can apply it. Neither do I want to show a usage of it right now with your incomplete comprehension that could potentially hamper your understanding of your unique magic and grace. So I ask you to practice some patience on that front and I will get back to you on that matter at a different and more suitable time."

Ren made a small bow, "I will do as you instruct."

"Aside from these nine, many subclasses are created by the combination of the nine classes."

"Arak's mutation is the combination of enchanting and alteration, Ying's aura manipulation is the combination of incarnation, manipulation, and emission kinds of magic all fused into one. While the abilities of others are of a more ...... complex variety. Such abilities often have layered effects to them but that also makes it more harder to counter and even harder to master completely. Have faith and put in the effort, your efforts and hard work will not betray you."

"Now I am sure you have noticed me talking about affinities. All these classes, types, and methods classify magic. Yes, there are many different kinds of magic but not everyone can use every kind of magic. Some magics come off easy to some while some find it completely impossible to perform certain kinds of magic due to varying reasons."

"An affinity refers to this innate ability to channel some kinds of magic more easily than others. I mentioned the preserving spell that halts time. Time magic of any form is an extremely rare affinity to find. Practitioners of time magic are even rarer since not much information about it is out there. Some kinds of magic like time, especially those of the esoteric type require an affinity to work with so others cannot even use it without any affinity."

"But magics such as those of the elemental variety can be used by every mage with training regardless of affinity, unlike the esoteric types. That is why some parts of the world call the affinity to utilize some sort of esoteric magic as 'Traits' or 'Talents'."

"All these rules and classifications may not be making sense to some. But..magic is not supposed to make sense dear Ketszang. Magic is a miracle and miracles are named such because they are beyond our understanding. One who claims to understand magic is nothing but a fool who knows nothing of true wisdom."

"It is useless to make you all fit into one mold when you all are so unique and different in your own right. I would love to take all the time in the world and see you rise to be the best version of yourselves but we do not have time. Strom clouds of war are brewing. You will find yourself in a cutthroat world where people will reveal their true selves and won't bother pretending once you show your back to them. Those with Kindness and manners would be far and few between. It would be best if you were prepared. You have no choice. Now exit through the gate at the back. You will find yourself in a training area."

"We have no time to spare and we must get you prepared so that you can weather the storm that is about to come for us all."