Monday, 7:30AM

Adonis stood in his spirit infested room, carefully fixing his tie while he studyed his reflection.

Amidst his concentration, the boy deliberately tuned out the screams of the relentless spirits behind him.

{When are you going to evict those unwanted guests.}

'I'm not sure, they're not that disruptive though. I'm surprised you can see them.'

{I can see everything you see and more mortal. }

'Even when my eyes are closed?'

{Of course, what do you take me for?}

'How does that even work?'

{I don't use eyes to see eyes, I see through both our souls and spirits.}

'That's interesting... How come I can't do it?'

{Kukuku... Because you're not the almighty Devil God!}

'Whatever.' Adonis rolled his eyes.

'I'm too late for breakfast.' Now satisfied with his appearance, Adonis turned away from the mirror and made his way toward the door.

SLAM

{I'm surprised you're skipping meals.}

'So am I, I'm really hungry.' Walking through the corridor, Adonis frowned.

***

Adonis stepped inside the classroom and looked around, studying his classmates.

To his surprise, all eyes were on him, all filled with different emotions.

"That's him!"

"He's even scarier up close!"

"I heard he defeated over one hundred monsters in the forest!"

"That's bullshit!"

{Look who's famous.} The deity said sarcastically.

'To be expected, although the attention is troublesome.' Ignoring the whispers of his peers, Adonis found his seat near the back of the class.

"Mornin' Grape." Luna said enthusiastically.

"Good Morning, do you even know my name?" Adonis frowned.

"Fight me." Ignoring Adonis's query, Luna voiced her demand.

"Huh?" Taken aback by the unexpected demand, Adonis furrowed his brows in confusion.

"You're strong right? So fight me!"

"N-"

"Good morning, Class A." With great posture and purpose, Professor Fitzburg walked into the classroom, a clipboard held firmly in both hands, Hiram Vindicta following behind her.

'There she is!' Seeing Hiram walk into class, Vera scowled.

"Good Morning sir!" The class replied in unison.

"Firstly, well done for your efforts over the weekend. Remarkably, our class had the least amount of casualties, so I congratulate you on that."

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

"I have quite a few important announcements to make, so if you could all just focus for a bit, I'd appreciate it."

"Firstly, continuing with the topic of the outing we've successfully tallied all the points and came up with the top five."

"At number five we have, Rising Star Maxwell Aster who managed to achieve three hundred and twenty-five points."

"Hehe." Hearing his name being called, a teenager of average height with touseld brown hair responded with a soft, warm smile.

"At fourth, Rising Star Lutz van Alexia who got four hundred and thirty points."

"Fourth?" Rather dissappointed by his position, a handsome teenage boy with long, golden hair and stunning cyan eyes, straightened his face into a stoic expression.

"Third was Rising Star and PTC Amber Shine, four hundred and thirty-five points."

"..." Unbothered by the whole conversation of rankings, a girl with cascading platinum hair and gorgeuos golden eyes simply fixed her gaze on the professor, displaying no signs of concern.

"Second was Rising Star Luna Triksta, five hundred points. Impressive."

"Second?" Hearing her position, a girl with stylish two-toned black and blonde hair grinned and directed her hazel eyes on the boy beside her.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

'Five hundred points at second, wow! How many did first get?' Marvelling at the first years' performance, Professor Fitzburg grinned.

'A commoner at first?' Seeing the name at first, Professor Fitzburg narrowed his brows.

"At first place, Rising Star Adonis P. Vindicta..."

'Hm? This must be a mistake?'

"Four thousand..." He whispered

"Four thousand four hundred and thirty five points."

"Four thousand?!"

"How is that even possible?"

"No way!"

"He must've cheated!"

Hearing the professor's words, every pupil in class 1A swiveled their heads to the back of the classroom.

Their gazes fell on a single student, a tall teenage boy whose appearance could only be described as enchanting. Despite his angelic looks, a collective shudder ran through the class as they realized something...

He was a beast.

'I told you I should've held back.' Adonis sighed.

{You wanted to be soft.}

"Moving on to the other announcements." Clearing his throat and hiding his surprise, Professor Fitzburg stole back the class's attention.

"Because of the Wendy situation, the Elders have decided on a new Rising Star to take her spot at tenth..."

"Because of his performance during the entrance exam as well as his performance during the outing... They have decided that the tenth Rising Star will be Toni Modster."

"The commoner?"

"I heard he's really strong!"

"That filthy mongrel?"

Raising his hand, Professor Fitzburg hushed the class in order to continue with his announcements.

"These next two weeks will be fairly packed, on thursday you'll be having your first magic practical exam and next week you'll be participating in the solo battle royale."

'Magic practical?' Adonis frowned.

{Tick tock Oizys, you're running out of time.}

"More details on these events will be revealed closer to the date."

RING

"It seems we've run out of time, I'll see you all at the end of the day." With a brief salutation, Professor Fitzburg left the classroom, with Hiram staying behind.

As Professor Fitzburg exited, Professor van Ani, a short elderly lady who taught magic theory, entered the classroom.

"Good morning first years..." Professor van Ani possessed a soft yet powerful voice. Her demeanor and appearance failed to accurately mirror her prestige and skill as a powerful mage.

"Today we'll be briefly touching on special magic affinities as well as discussing the intricasies of magic circles."

"First of all, as you already know Special Magic Affinities are affinities that aren't composed of neither primary, secondary or tertiary and are they're own thing..."

"There are many different special magic affinities and these came to be in various different ways, some as a result as 'gifts' from gods or devils and others were 'naturally' manifested by humans as a reaction with mana."

{She forgot genetic combinations and mutations, you mortals are really ignorant.}

"Although there are numerous known magic affinities, there are seven that stand out and are reffered to as humanity's divine magic affinities. "

"These are the special magic affinities that dominated the Golden Age and are symbols of humanity's peak."

"We call these lost magic affinites as lost because of a simple fact, they haven't been manifested by anyone since humanity's peak, so much so that we barely know what they are capable of."

"The magic affinities in this group that we know of are: Speech Magic, a magic affinity that recently manifested in the PTC Scipio Mars."

"Dead Magic, a magic affinity wielded by PTC Leo Frank Underwerld jr."

Adonis smiled softly.

"Time Magic, a magic affinity used by the PTC Ragnar Norn."

"And Storm Magic which was wielded by the former General Percy of the Wakoku nation, often referred to as the Thunder Oni. Real name, Eurodos Hermes..."

At the mention of his father's name, Adonis involuntarily emitted a chilling aura, sending shudders rippling through his classmates.

'Papa...'

Hearing the last name Hermes, Lutz manifested a bitter expression and clicked his teeth.

At the mention of Eurodos Hermes, Amber Shine frowned.

"The other three magic affinities have been lost in time and we know almost nothing about them..."

"But what we do know is that one of them was wielded by an ancestor of the Wakoku Nation's Emperor family, the Amaterasu."

"Another lost affinity is the Illusion affinity, although there are no known current users nor do we know the ancestor who wielded it."

"The last lost magic affinity is commonly reffered to as the strongest one although we know nothing about it."

"The recent manifestations of these lost magic affinities all at once gives us reason to believe that we as a society are steadily reaching power comparable to the Golden Age."

"Unfortunately, that's all we know about these Special Magic Affinites so we'll be moving on to Magic Circles."

"Magic circles as most of you might know are tools both mages and magic knights use to cast spells. "

"These are essential tools to us, allowing us to cast spells faster and more consistently. Their purpose is rather simple, they act as 'calculators,' allowing us to shape magic with both precision."

"Magic Circles are essential because of the limitations of the human mind, accurately computing the intricate calculations required for complex spells is beyond our capabilities."

"Magic circles bridge this gap, simplifying the spellcasting process significantly. Once a magic circle is established, all we need to do is input the necessary 'variables', 'values,' and the necessary amount of mana."

"The speed which one can create magic circles is correlates directly with both their mental strength and mental capacity. "

"It's also important to note that simple spells, such as merely manifesting or conjuring one's magic affinity, don't need the use of magic circles. For example, if a flame magic user wished to simply summon a fireball, it wouldn't be necessary to summon a magic circle."

"However, despite their usefulness, magic circles do have their drawbacks. Mainly, they are inefficient, demanding the expenditure of mana not only for their manifestation but also to sustain them. This results in a certain amount of mana being wasted."

"To make things even worse, even when mana is directly channeled into the circle, it is not all of it is utilized properly, because a sufficient amount of mana is needed to execute these calculations."

"To provide some context, a seasoned mage might have a magic efficiency rate of thirty percent, whereas an amateur would lose a staggering ninety-five percent of channeled mana when executing a spell."

'A thirty percent efficiency rate isn't acceptable...' Adonis sighed.

Extra Information:

One doesn't need a fully tamed mana core to manifest a magic circle, but they would need one to use it to cast spells using the magic circle.

(Think of it as being able to turn on a calculator but not being able to use it because the batteries aren't able to supply it with sufficient energy or punch in the numbers and symbols.)