Over the week that followed Lasutro’s personal discovery of sutcefre materials, she found their suspicion that the enchanted silver bracelet that Gorv had left to them was not made of silver but Anulmutnygaium, growing thanks not only to the research she had done but the various times it seemed to grant them power. Although the suspicion she held remained a relatively quiet thought if ever present, while she attended to their other magical studies, even reading through some of the texts the Academy had them purchase. Outside of the various personal studies she undertook and in between the occasional trek around the Academy or city with Henry, Lasutro attempted to make a habit of exercising on a regular basis, in hopes of getting rid of the mental note she had made to themselves well over a month before.
When the first day finally came, or rather what the pair had learned was more of a welcome from the professors, Lasutro and Henry, alongside the rest of their fellow students who had arrived over the past week, headed out to the Skire Lapides Citadel. Each of the new students, with the exception of a few, donned the same dark midnight blue mage robes, each marked by a small but discernible symbol of the Academy. The few who were not wearing the typical robes of the Academy instead wore robes that almost seemed to suggest their station within the empire through their intricate designs, which often seemed to include a family crest in place of the symbol of the Academy. Although everyone who donned an alternate robe drew the attention of Lasutro and their fellow students, there was a single individual and particular that drew the attention of nearly everyone when they joined the group of students upon their arrival at the Citadel.
While the first thing that caught Lasutro’s eye about the individual was the near synchronized turning of heads and murmurs among the group of students that surrounded them, it was her presence that really drew their attention. Though plenty of their fellow students gave some space for the other presumed members of high nobility that donned the more fanciful robes, a clear path was made for the young woman in the almost dress-like robes. And as she walked on the cleared space that gradually closed behind her, she led her fellow students inside the Citadel and into the main hall.
Upon their arrival, Lasutro found themselves taking in the sights of the hall once more, the many tables replaced by benches and the front of the hall raised above the floor no more than a meter, with several filled benches of its own. As Lasutro and their fellow students made their way inside they began to find seats upon the various benches that held some proximity to where the young woman, that Lasutro knew she had seen before, had taken her seat. After Lasutro took their seat in one of the empty benches, and along with the rest of the hall waited for all of the seats to be filled up. While she sat through the friendly chatter around them, she found themselves staring at the young woman she could’ve sworn she had seen before, and even though she had no intention of doing so, she couldn’t bring themselves to stop. Instead Lasutro’s eyes burned holes into the woman scrutinizing every visible aspect of her in search of a clue of why she felt so familiar.
Just as Lasutro felt the memory of the woman returning to them, their focus was pulled by a sudden clap that echoed through the hall bringing with it a almost eerie silence, vaguely reminding Lasutro of the spell she assumed Resnya had cast at the end of their tour if more powerful and instead bringing silence to an area. Before their mind could be set ablaze with questions she would likely not be able to ask for several hours, the silence was broken by an unfamiliar voice, that did not echo through the room like a cry on the top of a hill but instead as if a single individual addressed a group of people from no more than a meter or so away.
Though Lasutro along with the rest of the new students found themselves hanging on every word of the gracefully aging mage who stood at the front and center of the raised part of the hall, who introduced themselves as Rotduk Zepecnyrep the Director of the Academy, the older students seemed to listen with varying levels of attention. Following his introduction which went on a moment longer than any humble individual, Zepecnyrep began a speech highlighting the Academy's recent history, praising the work of several individuals who Lasutro did not recognize, before shifting his congratulations to Lasutro and their fellow new students. From which he transitioned to a general welcome that gave a brief description of the how the education of the Academy functioned, which gradually shifted to address the older students mostly on things that was mostly lost on Lasutro with the exception of a mention of new classes and changed professors, who stood up from their seat on the raised part of the hall when they were mentioned.
Eventually after a half hour of the Director’s uninterrupted speech, the entirety of which Lasutro couldn’t bring themselves to ignore a single second of, he dismissed several of the professors that sat behind them, a few of which simply walked off the raised part of the hall only to disappear entirely, though most simply left through one of the many doors of the hall. Immediately after he dismissed the specific professors, he turned back to face Lasutro and the rest of the students, before resuming their speech which ultimately was an elegant if drawn out secondary welcome back to the older students that ended in a polite dismissal.
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Gradually after a brief pause, the hall filled with a cacophony of shuffling feet as, with the exception of a few and all of the new students, a myriad of students made their way quickly out of the hall. While they took their exit, the Director directed a good portion of the professors off the makeshift stage into a well spaced line, handing them each a small object, before returning to their speech. By the time the last of the leaving students had reached the doors of the hall, the speech had finished its transition into a lecture directed toward the students who remained.
As Zepecnyrep went through what he called a “The uneducated understanding of magic” he gradually introduced concepts that poked holes in the general definition of magic he initially introduced, which seemed to intentionally broaden Lasutro’s personal understanding, as well as the rest of the students left in attendance. Eventually he introduced a concept Lasutro was familiar with, if not in any real practical way outside of its traditional use, mana and did a similar thing of the course of his lecture properly defining concepts about mana she had only scraped together from context and concepts she was unfamiliar with in its entirety. Some of which she found themselves purposely avoiding rumination on, though she couldn't exactly say why, instead choosing to maintain their focus on the Director’s lecture.
Not long after, at the end of Zepecnyrep’s lecture, he began talking about mana affinity, briefly speaking on the duality of each mana type and the general effects of affinity on arcane spell casting, which included efficiency in mana use and increased effectiveness. As he wrapped up his short lecture he thanked the students, although not in an earnest fashion but simply to be polite, he instructed Lasutro, and their fellow students to make their way to one of the lined up professors in an orderly fashion. To which the students promptly made a poor attempt at spreading themselves out equally and orderly to the various professors. While they did so the Director quickly notified them of the purpose of the instruction, that being a basic evaluation of each student's affinities, and following which they would be given a completed class schedule. After which he congratulated them once more for their successful entry into the Academy before disappearing in a flash of dark purple light.
When Lasutro finally arrived at the front of the messy line she had entered several minutes before, the tired professor who was managing Lasutro’s line outstretched their hand towards them. As soon as Lasutro went to grasp it the professor quickly, but gently grabbed and twisted Lasutro’s hand to face up and with their free hand placed a small, well polished crystal ball into Lasutro’s hand. After making sure she had a good grip of the ball the professor quickly instructed Lasutro to push their mana inside the ball, and before she could ask how the professor explained that all she needed to do was to pull mana as she would to cast a spell but instead of focusing on the effect or any other element of typical spellcraft, she was simply to pull the mana into their control and then push it into the crystal. Following a brief pause, during which Lasutro carefully considered the professor’s words before she attempted to execute them and while the act itself wasn’t difficult, she simply was inexperienced.
As she pushed the mana, as gently as she could into the crystal, Lasutro watched the previously clear crystal ball slowly filled with a spectrum of colors, which gradually turned into an impossibly familiar storm of colors. Not long after the storm formed, the professor snatched the crystal from Lasutro’s hand, and dropped it into one of the few visible pockets of their robe before asking for their name before pulling out a box just large enough to fit a small scroll. Immediately after getting their answer the professor quickly scrawled Izora Norkra onto their scroll box with a fanciful quill, then following a brief pause, they scrawled O.A. in the same spot before removing a small scroll from within.
Afterwhich the professor handed over the scroll to Lasutro and once again answered their question before she could voice it, pulling them in close as she did so. “You have Omnisyngenian affinity, that is to say affinity with all types of mana, which is the most powerful type of the multiple affinity types or rather the one with the most potential. However, keep in mind that despite the larger workload granted to you because of your affinity, you will still be expected to perform as well as your peers, if not better. ” When the professor finished their short warning, they hurried Lasutro out before returning to what remained of their line.
As Lasutro made their way out of main she stopped for a moment in one of the quieter corridors, taking a moment to properly inspect the scroll that held their class schedules. A scroll that, to some degree of disappointment, provided them with far less time for their own personal studies she had been hoping for, though the greater degree of lectures more than made up for it in their mind. After confirming the location for their first class, Lasutro tucked away their scroll in their new student robes and made their way over although it wasn’t set to start until the next morning. Following which Lasutro made their way around the Academy grounds going from building to building as she made a mental map for their future classes, closely following the order of their schedule. When she finished, she returned to Gallina House, and had a brief exchange with Henry to see if they shared any classes, of which there were four. Two of which were affinity related and the other two being: Component symbolism and Deciphering Grimoires. After they finished their conversation Henry returned to the book he had been reading before Lasutro’s return and Lasutro set themselves to finishing their analysis of their spell scroll.