Roughly fifteen minutes later after the bell, in one of the classrooms…

Straf and Cycelia arrive to a mostly full classroom, with the same layout as most other ones in the Academy. Tisha and Neela raise their arms, and they wave their hands towards them while Straf is looking for an empty seat.

「Lia!」

Tisha calls out, and wiggles her fingers to be even more attention-grabbing. Cycelia glances at Straf, and he shrugs in response. They walk up the stairs to the girls' desk, and take a seat with them, with Straf sitting at its edge.

「Why don't you just sit with us through the term, Lia? We kept the seats for you two.」

Neela says, swiping some of her brown hair behind her ear as she peeks past Tisha.

「Yeah. We always sit at the same desk since the last two terms.」

Tisha adds with a nod of her head. She props her head up on her hand, glancing at Straf while he's turned away.

The handsome student from before, the one he hit in the eye with a paper ball notices that Straf is staring at him. He returns an annoyed look when their eyes meet, though he quickly looks away towards the window, appearing a little startled, or perhaps intimidated. Straf lets out an amused scoff, and props his lightly smirking face on his fist. While Cycelia and the two girls chat away, a man in mage robes arrives to the class, abruptly cutting their conversation short by pulling their attention away to himself.

「Hello everyone! Magic theory, right? I've got the right class?…」

The man roughly in his 30s asks, while walking in a hurried step to the teacher's desk, tightly holding onto a thick grimoire under his arm. When some of the front row students silently nod their heads back in response, he sets it down.

「Okay, okay… That's good. Finally got the right one… Ahem.」

He remarks, then loudly clears his throat as he walks out to the center of the blackboard. He faces the students, looking at them for a brief, silent moment.

「Some of you may know me, some may not… I am Professor Wolfskopf, but that's not important. I teach magic theory, history, and a few others… The bottom line is, we'll certainly meet again soon after this class.」

Wolfskopf says as he adjusts his glasses, and begins wiping the bottom-most part of the blackboard with a rag.

「Some derisively call me Professor Theory, but quite frankly, I am fine with that name. I will not teach you any spells, I will not teach you anything revolutionary, but I will teach you how to think…」

The teacher explains, halfway done with clearing the blackboard.

「…To be perfectly honest, it's fine if you think my classes are boring. I think they're boring… But if I want to continue receiving the Federation's money, I need to share some of my knowledge with you. Therefore…」

He continues, wiping away some other teacher's barely legible scribbles. Once satisfied, he throws the rag at the rim of a bucket of water sitting nearby.

「…Do we know what magic theory is? You should know. Even if you don't, you benefited from it at one point at least.」

The professor turns around, facing the class as he asks. One of the students at the front raises his hand.

「Yes?」

「Magical research, in other words. Right? Discovery of the rules of magic, and whatnot.」

The student answers the teacher's question, lowering his hand. Wolfskopf snaps his finger, and points to the student, taking a piece of white chalk into hand.

「Right! But when we say magic theory, we actually mean the things we know. However, you are correct. Discovering how magic really works is a part of the process…」

Wolfskopf continues talking, writing on the blackboard.

「…A process, which we call the theory, which is not the same as magic theory.」

He says, pointing his finger to the words magic theory, theory, and the inequality sign between them.

「I do not teach the theory. It is your job as a mage to come up with fresh new ideas and theories. I teach magic theory, which are the established rules and knowledge…」

The professor wanders aimlessly before the blackboard, briefly interlocking his fingers with his arms hanging low as he explains. He pauses for a second, looking up in deep thought.

「…The general magic know-how, if you must have a mental shortcut.」

He then spreads his hands, shrugging, before holding them together again.

「With that being said, I will not teach you the basics… As students of the Academy of Magic, I am sure you know how to cast a spell or two. You're not beginners, in other words.」

「Ngh…」

Wolfskopf continues. Cycelia lets out a soft, discomforted groan. Straf sighs, staring at the professor below with his mouth aslant.

「Despite the fact that I'm doing it for the money, believe it or not, I want you to walk away from my classes learning something new. There will be a theoretical exam in just two weeks from now!…」

「Hrk!…」

A pained grunt escapes Cycelia's lips, visibly cringing when the professor announces the exam. Straf and the girls glance at her, and a quiet murmur begins amongst the students.

「…I know it may sound sudden, but I prefer short and frequent exams to large ones. I want to test your knowledge early… Take notes! I ramble a lot, and I don't want it all to come in through one ear, and out the other!」

「Urk…」

She lets out another cringing gasp when Wolfskopf mentions notes. Straf raises his brows.

「…What's wrong, Lia?」

He asks, while the two girls also look on with concerned expressions.

「Straf… I brought a bunch of magic books, but nothing to take notes on!」

She replies, clenching her teeth in a cringing grimace.

「That's okay, we're going to take notes with Tisha.」

「Yeah. And we have a lot of old ones from the last time-」

Neela and Tisha chime in. Tisha realizes something mid-sentence, and suddenly goes silent.

「Ahhh…」 「Ahhh…」

They both let out a little disappointed sigh.

「…Yeah… So don't worry about notes, Lia. If we're going to study together, you'll be alright.」

Tisha continues, though now visibly dispirited and in a sour mood.

「Ah… Thanks. I'll be counting on you.」

Cycelia nods, and turns her attention back to the professor.

「…Quick historical example. For the longest time, we thought humans were special, and that's why we could cast spells… This may sound ridiculous to you now, but that was the theory back then…」

The professor continues despite the girls paying no attention, carrying on with his disjointed point.

「…When mages realized magical beasts existed, that shook up the prevalent magic theory very quick. Long story short, that's how we know about mana. Theory proven wrong, adjusted, then turned into magic theory.」

Wolfskopf spreads his hands, shrugging his arms with a little quizzical grimace on his face. His scribbles on the blackboard grew while Straf and Cycelia weren't looking.

「Give or take twenty years ago, we didn't even know about flavored mana. My theory, by the way… I came up with it as a child. It seemed quite obvious to me at the time. I'm still not sure why no one thought of it.」

He says, writing the words flavored mana amidst a spaghetti of lines and arrows that sprouted like vines from the words theory and magic theory.

「…On that note, it's very easy to become noteworthy as a child, but as an adult, it's so very hard to get someone to praise you for your hard work. Isn't that sad?」

Professor Wolfskopf asks over his shoulder, with his chalk still pressed against the blackboard.

「The prof's got some issues, huh?…」

Straf comments, looking at him with a bored expression.

「Yeah… Wolfskopf is… Weird.」

Tisha replies, nodding her braided bang.

「We live in a world, where noteworthy adults are drowned out by the sheer volume of mediocre ones…」

The teacher says in a downcast tone as he turns his face back to the blackboard, and lets out a large sigh.

「…Oh well, moving on… You will learn about flavored mana at a later point. Whenever we'll be going over new pieces of magic theory, I will give you a quick background and a little history, too.」

The sullen professor turns around, pointing his hand at the words he just wrote down.

「…However, I just realized that I'm very badly digressing. I'll teach you magic history during history classes, primarily, but I want you to grasp the context of the theory. I think that's important… Let's begin the class.」

He explains as he waves circles with his hands, and adjusts his glasses.

「You mean that wasn't it? Fuuuuuck…」

「Yeah, he's always like this…」

Straf's head perks up in surprise, and he lets out a disappointed, vulgar sigh. Tisha chimes in, nodding her head again.

「Today's subject is conceptual comprehension. The building block of all new spells, and the inescapable part of being a mage. We have two hours today, so I suppose my extended introduction is… Er…」

Wolfskopf wipes away his previous mess on the blackboard, and writes down the subject. When finished, he turns around to face the students, and awkwardly adjusts his glasses again as he seeks appropriate words.

「…Well. Maybe not as acceptable, as I have some time to spare. Just remember to come back here after the bell…」

He shrugs, spreading his arms with an awkward smile, before turning around back to the blackboard. He begins writing once more.

「…So. As you may know, all modern magic stems from deep understanding of the concepts it manipulates. Without understanding the concept, you cannot cast. Simple.」

The professor writes down the word concept, and once again begins drawing arrows pointing away from it. Life, death, time, matter, energy, motion, gravity… He continues writing more and more seemingly disconnected words, each further away from the central word concept.

「But what is a concept? Does anyone know? Neela? Tisha? You were in my classes before, do you remember?」

He looks over his shoulder as he asks, he notices Tisha and Neela, and calls out to him. They both visibly cringe, and look at each other.

「…No? Not a good sign… Maybe your colleague next to you knows?」

Stolen story; please report.

Wolfskopf suggests, pointing his hand at Straf.

「Who? Me?」

Straf responds with a ridiculing smirk, with his cheek still resting on his fist.

「Who else? Can you tell me what makes a concept in magic?」

「I don't fucking know…」

「Language, young man…」

Straf groans, rolling his eyes in response. He glances at the words on the blackboard, and the professors bespectacled expectant face.

「…If you have a living thing, with enough time it becomes dead. If you have enough energy, you can make stuff move, I guess…」

He shrugs, responding to the professor in a disinterested tone.

「Excellent! Everyone, remember that! Take notes! We'll come back to that later!…」

Professor Wolfskopf's eyes light up. He snaps his fingers, and points at Straf.

「…What is your name, young man?」

He asks, adjusting his glasses.

「Straf- Are you fuckin' serious? That's it? That was obvious.」

Straf replies, spreading his hands with his brows furrowed in disbelief.

「…Things may appear as obvious to the gifted ones, Straf. I thought the same with flavored mana, and yet here we are.」

Wolfskopf adjusts his glasses once again, and looks at the rest of the students.

「…What the fuck is flavored mana? Like vanilla? Chocolate?…」

Straf mumbles, while the professor resumes his lecture.

「There are two types of concepts! The derivative concepts, and base concepts. As Straf has aptly pointed out, certain concepts stem from others. Those that do not stem from anything, are the base concepts…」

The teacher says, and begins writing the two down. He then draws more arrows, each pointing to the words he wrote down before.

「…The derivative concepts become more vaporous as they stem away further and further. Very quickly do the concepts stem from their base into more subjective ones, such as society, or perception.」

He adds, writing those down, too.

「The more derivative, and therefore formless the concept, the easier it is to manipulate. However, this also means the effects are very minute and weak. The opposite also holds true…」

Wolfskopf continues his lecture, writing down the words costly and cheap, then drawing more arrows. The blackboard quickly fills with another spaghetti of chalk lines, much like before.

「…The more base the concept, the more difficult it is. For most ordinary people, the concept of time will be impossible to manipulate. Deadly, even. Do not attempt it under normal circumstances.」

He cautions the students, briefly peeking over his shoulder with his index finger extended.

「The concept of life and death are a special case. You will learn about the different types of magic at a later point, but I will only quickly say that this is the field of healers. Please note, both stem from time.」

The teacher loudly taps the concept on the blackboard with his chalk. Straf lets out a sigh.

「Lia, I'm going to show you the concept of death from boredom. Watch.」

He says while Cycelia peels her eyes off of the professor below. Straf's mouth is heavily scrunched to the side, and his bored eyes are staring idly up at the ceiling. She giggles softly, and Wolfskopf continues his lecture…

…

「…Remember, that concepts used also flavor mana… This can result in rather chaotic spells, if done improperly. That being said, most of the spells you know have already solved that issue.」

The professor drones on. Tisha and Neela copy his scribbles from the blackboard to their blank pages with bored faces. Though Cycelia is listening, she's reading through her magic tome, trying to follow what the teacher is talking about in the chapter of the book regarding the current subject. On the other hand, Straf has his face sunken in his arms, while he's slumped over the desk.

「Fffuuuuuuck… How much longer of this shit? I can't believe there's an hour to go still…」

He lifts his head with a groan, looking down at the teacher with a tight-lipped grimace. Straf lets out a frustrated sigh, and props his head up on his fist.

「…I think the break is coming up soon.」

「Yeah. I'm kind of hungry, too…」

Neela and Tisha chime in, letting out tired sighs. Straf gives them a brief glance, before locking his eyes with Cycelia.

「Lia, do you mind if I go do my own thing after the break, instead of sitting through yet another hour of this guy's boring world building?」

「…World building?」 「…World building?」

Tisha and Neela ask, tilting their heads in Cycelia's background.

「No, not at all… To be honest, I'd do something else too, if I could…」

Cycelia shakes her head, responding to Straf with a soft smile. She also lets out a little sigh, and turns her attention back to the professor.

「…Which brings me back to my previous point, and Straf's answer to my question! Do you remember, Straf?」

Wolfskopf abruptly turns away from the blackboard, pointing his finger at Straf again.

「What? No I fuckin' don't. I completely tuned out for the last half an hour or so.」

「Language, young man!… If you want to pass my classes, you better pay attention. This will be on the exam!-」

The teacher warns, adjusting his glasses with a serious expression on his face.

「Okay, but I'm not a student, so I don't care about your nerd world building.」

Still propping his head up, Straf lets out a large sigh, and shrugs with his free hand.

「World bui-? Wait, you're not?…」

The professor's head shakes a little in surprise, with his brows furrowed. His question trails off, while his shoulders slump.

「Yeah, I'm not. I'm just a bodyguard for Lia… And don't try to knowledge-check her, just because I don't care.」

Straf replies, shrugging his shoulders. He throws his hands up, and crosses his arms.

「I… I see… Very well. In that case, I will remind you… Ahem.」

Wolfskopf turns to the rest of the students. His bespectacled eyes briefly scan over them all as he clears his throat.

「Straf has noted the connection between concepts. This is no accident. Your very incantations are based off those concepts as well, in something called conceptual comprehension…」

He says, waving his hand in circles while he slowly paces around in front of the classroom, explaining.

「…The very reason why properly learning a few common concepts lends itself very well to being a good mage, is that these concepts stay consistent across common spells. Let me ask you this…」

The robed man turns to the class, adjusting his glasses one more time before placing his hands behind his back.

「…Why do you think memorizing the incantation, and simply calling the spell's name does not work? Is that not enough?…」

Wolfskopf asks, looking over his students. His eyes drift up to Straf and Cycelia, as well as Tisha and Neela next to them.

「…'Cause contrived writing?…」

Straf mumbles with a snide smirk. A handsome student by the window raises his hand, drawing the professor's attention. Wolfskopf stares at the student with an expectant gaze, giving him a little nod of acknowledgment.

「…It's because the incantations don't really matter, professor. They're something akin to acronyms, or pet names. They're for us as mages, not the world, or the flow of mana.」

The student replies, lowering his hand. The teacher nods his head in approval, and the handsome man turns his face back to the window, continuing looking outside with a disinterested gaze.

「Very good, very good. That is correct, I'm glad you've been listening. Professor Aria, for example… She knows multiple spells in their shortened forms. I believe she mentioned incantation shortening, at least in passing?…」

Wolfskopf returns to pacing around, still nodding his head. Straf turns his gaze to the student.

「Man, I just can't stand that pretty boy. Bet he thinks he's just a guy, but he'll get into wacky situations and get a harem soon enough!… Someone ought to teach him his place…」

Straf grumbles, staring at the handsome student by the window as he's pensively looking outside.

「…Average people see their years fly by with nothing interesting happening in their lives. Who came up with this shit? Fuckin' wish fulfillment bullshit. Get real…」

「…Hm?」

Cycelia tilts her head, hearing only half of Straf's disgruntled mumbling.

「…In other words, conceptual comprehension is the knowledge of the concepts by heart, enabling their manipulation with mana. It also largely depends what you are trying to do, but-」

Gonngggg… Donggggggggg… Gonnnnnngg…

While the professor carries on with his lecture regardless or whether or not Cycelia is listening, the bell's heavy tolling interrupts him.

「…But more on that after the break! Remember to come back here, and review your notes in the meantime!」

Defeated by the bell, Wolfskopf throws his arms up, cautioning the students with his index finger raised. Straf stands up, letting out a relieved, sighful groan.

「Finally… Fuck.」

He shakes his head with his hands in his pockets, as he walks down the stairs with the three girls.

「Straf, Lia… Are you coming with me and Neela to the cafeteria?」

Tisha asks, squeezing through the crowd of students next to them both to ask a question.

「I don't know, Straf, are you-」

「I don't know…」

Straf replies to Cycelia with a fatigued groan.

「Ah, I see… Well, sure.」

Cycelia turns her head to Tisha, and returns a smiling nod, holding her magic tome close to her large chest. They reach the bottom of the stairs, and turn for the door.

Just as the four are about to flow outside the classroom with the rest of the students…

「Straf!… Can we talk for just a second?」

Professors Wolfskopf calls out. Straf throws his head back, and lets another, frustrated groan out at the ceiling.

「Argggggrhhhh… This is going to be a pattern, I can tell… Go on, Lia… I'll come back to the room in the evening, when I'm done doing stuff, I guess.」

He sighs with a slanted mouth on his face, waving Cycelia and the two girls off, while he turns around to approach the professor in a languid step…