“So, kids want to play with fire?” Hadean asked, turning from the door to look at them.
“So long as we do so in a safe way,” Maxwell answered.
“Oh, so you’re one of the boring ones? Gotcha,” Hadean said, giving a playful wink to Maxwell.
“First thing’s first, introductions, you kids tell me your name and a bit about yourself. Anything like your interest or speciality, and I will do the same.”
“Professor Hadean, do we-” Daisy began before stopping at Hadean’s raised hand.
“I’m not a professor; hell, I’m doing this because Alex asked me and offered decent pay. But think of me as a visiting mercenary or guest adventurer,” Hadean explained.
“Is Mr Hadean ok?” Daisy offered.
“I suppose it would do. No idea how Alex can deal with the formalities.”
“He did say we should just refer to him by name, but we are a bit too used to using sir, and I think he quickly gave up,” Bea explained.
“Ah, so that’s how it is? Very well, Mr Hadean will have to do.”
“Well, to introduce myself, my name is Maxwell, and my speciality is close combat spells and transformation,” Maxwell answered.
“Bit weird considering how uptight you seem; I always thought transformation types were meant to be flexible in body and mind. Oh well, nice to meetcha,” Hadean said, taking Maxwell’s hand in his own and shaking it vigorously.
“You, the two-headed being,” Hadean said, gesturing to Bea and Gunter.
“My name is Bea, I focus on demon magic, and this is Gunter; he is a crafting specialist,” Bea answered.
“Cool, so we got a mad demonologist and a bomber. You wouldn’t happen to know alchemy, would you? Could do with some sweet ambrosia.”
“No, chief, haven’t taken the alchemy course.”
“Damn. Oh well, next you,” Hadean said, gesturing to Daisy.
“Daisy, my specialities are… just general stuff. Now I think about it. I don’t really have a defining skill…” Daisy trailed off as she looked down.
“Don’t worry, Daisy; you’re the class mum. You take care of us,” Tasha reassured, slapping a despondent Daisy on the back.
“My name is Tasha, and I’m good at fighting things,” Tasha said before he could even ask.
“Well, you sound fun. The last guy, though, requires no introduction, Kline the Worderer. Weird seeing you outside the tavern,” Hadean said.
“I don’t recall you, Mr Hadean?”
“I’d be surprised if you did; I skulk in the corners all mysterious-like. But watching you so eagerly learn from the other bards ignites my passion!! Though you really should talk to Rozoic when she covers your wind lessons. Best bloody bard alive.”
“Well, I have left the best till last, kids. My name is Hadean Clareniff, master of all things fire,” Hadean announced, taking a deep bow.
“Oh, gods, another performance artist,” Maxwell muttered, watching Hadean.
“Hah, I am not a performer because I am the genuine article!!” Hadean declared, holding his arms out as if waiting for the class to rain their praise upon him.
“I’ve never heard of you, though?” Maxwell replied. Hadean clutched his chest dramatically as if Maxwell’s words had genuinely hurt him.
“Oh!!” Hadean suddenly exclaimed, standing back upright and hitting his fist into the palm of his hand. “You probably only know me by my adventurer title.”
“Adventurer title?” Tasha repeated eagerly.
“Yes, you reach a high enough level, you get a title. However, some lower-ranked adventurers get titles given to them by clients or guild members. Your teacher being a good example, never saw someone make so much trouble they get nicknamed after a god of mischief.”
“So, what is your title?” Maxwell asked.
“Oh yes, we were talking about the important stuff. ME!!! My title is Magma the Magnificent Magnaninmus Magus,” as with before, Hadean took a deep bow before rising up with his arms out to receive praise.
“Wait the Magma Magus? I’ve heard of you,” Maxwell said in genuine shock.
“I have as well,” Gunter added.
“The mage whose flames can melt stone and warp magma itself,” Kline added, giving Hadean’s well-publicised tagline.
“Good to know you kids know me,” Hadean grinned.
“Question is, why are you here teaching us? Aren’t you an Adamantine rank?” Maxwell asked.
“Well, we can talk while we walk, kids,” Hadean said, holding the door open.
Rising up from their seats, the class made to follow him to the old ruined arena where they had held their sparring matches a few weeks prior. As they made their way through the school, Hadean began talking.
“So you asked how your boring lunatic teacher got such a handsome stud mage like me to give you a tutoring lesson?”
“I wouldn’t say stud,” Daisy replied. Hadean dramatically recoiled but continued walking.
“Oh, Cyano would like you. You’re both frigid.”
“Back on topic, isn’t your Adventurer clan usually based in Port Staine?” Maxwell asked.
“Why yes, good you know that,” Hadean said with an approving nod.
“Well, it is my family's city,” Maxwell replied.
“Fascinating. Well, my clan and I got a message asking us to come to Academy City.”
“Oh, so Lord Sloth requested you?” Bea asked.
“Oh no, little Alex asked us here.”
“He said he met you in a bar last night, though?”
“Little lady, less than an hour ago, he said that you should not take his words at face value. I did meet him in a tavern last night to organise when I should be here. He never mentioned not knowing me,” Hadean explained as he tipped his hat to a group of passing students who looked at him with confused expressions.
Expressions that changed when they saw Alex’s class following. Soon a repeat of their sparring practice began to happen as they had a far larger crowd of trailing students who all wanted a show.
“Are they following us?” Hadean asked as he glanced back. “It’s just I was only asked to help teach you six.”
“This happened when we had a sparring match against miss Elissa, and miss Yuu,” Tasha explained.
“You sparred with those freaks? Are you sure he’s not abusing you? Regardless one moment,” Hadean said, stopping in his stride to look at the crowd.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Magma the Magnificent Magnanimous Magus. I shall be putting on a demonstration while I teach these kids. Please feel free to observe!!” The crowd following gave cheers, and a few even rushed off, likely to inform other students.
“There we go. I fixed the problem.”
“By inviting them?” Maxwell asked.
“Of course, that crowd was way too small. I deserve an entire stadium as my audience.”
“Gods, he’s worse than Alex,” Maxwell whispered to Daisy.
“He is a rookie when it comes to showmanship, my fine were-fellow,” Hadean said, spinning on his heel and walking backwards.
“You have yet to explain how Sir got you to teach us,” Maxwell replied, unphased by the eccentric behaviour. However, he was somewhat worried about how unphased he was.
“Ah yes, me and Alex go back way, way back. He is like a little brother to me,” Hadean explained.
“Brother?” Daisy repeated.
“Yes, I’m human. So finding a little human boy who could use magic was a great joy. Then his sister arrived, and woo boy… She is scary. Like a terrifying little sister who you keep the lights on when she’s around.”
“You know Mimi?” Tasha asked.
“Yes, I met them both when they first came to the Dark Continent. You see, the adventurers guild in Port Staine has a big ole assessment event. Rookies can prove their power to get higher ranks.”
“Interesting I wonder if the guild here does it?” Tasha pondered.
“I dunno. You’d have to ask the master that one. But my clan were covering the assessment that year. The way it works is we send them out on quests and observe them. If it gets hairy, we can jump in and rescue them.”
“Wait, so dropping first-timers into a quest is the norm?”
“For Port Staine Adventurers, it is. But I digress. As the assessments continue, the quests get harder, and the applicants drop out. We expected a couple of preteen kids to drop out around copper.”
“Only they didn’t, didn’t they?” Daisy asked.
“Exactly, It was terrifying how capable they were. We later learnt they had lived off the land for months and were basically survivalists. Tragic really. But in a break between ranking quests, we sat down and got to know them.”
“So what were the chief and his sister like?”
“He was a nervous wreck jumping at his own shadow. She was a very angry and wild child who took her frustration out on trees when we rested,” the class paused at this revelation.
What they had heard of Mimi and seen of her, they could imagine her fighting trees to get pent-up energy out. But Alex being a nervous wreck seemed an impossibility.
“I felt sorry for the kid and showed him my fireball spell. He went all wide-eyed and asked to see it a few more times. Every time he watched intently like he didn’t want to miss a single movement,” Hadean had a nostalgic smile at the memory.
“Then the kid pinched a reagent packet and recreated the spell, like he had been casting fire magic his entire life.”
“Anyways, eventually, those two were the last ones left when we reached iron rank, which is the point these assessments stop at. We picked the toughest quest at that level to get them to play with a team. It was a bandit elimination quest.”
“What happened?” Maxwell asked.
“We found out they had camped in a cave. Amelia and Alex looked at the cave and whispered something. She then up and vanished in a blur of motion. Even our enhancer combatants couldn’t follow her movement. When she returned, she drew a detailed map of the entire cave.”
“Impressive,” Kline muttered.
“Exactly what we thought. She had run through the entire system and located all the bandits hiding deeper in. Then Alex asked her something.”
“What did the chief ask?”
“Are there any other ways out? We all thought he was making sure so we could also block those exits. We were pleased to see this nervous kid think ahead. Oh, how wrong we were. When she shook her head, we learnt what he had planned.”
“I imagine something absurd then?” Maxwell asked.
“It was more cold, like the logic of a clockwork machine. He walked to the entrance. We obviously thought he was going to lay some runic traps. No, he launched five rapidly cast fireballs down into the cave. We were in a panic, thinking he would alert the bandits. Then he used shape-earth in such a way even our earth magic specialist Meso was shocked. He closed the entire cave entrance.”
“Why?” Bea asked.
“Fire needs three things to work, fuel, air and heat. He essentially launched the fireballs with the intent of suffocating the bandits. When he had done that, he and Amelia sat in front of the wall and watched like they were sightseeing.”
“What happened with the bandits?” Kline asked.
“Next day, we opened a hole and found they were all dead. Suffocation because those fireballs burnt up all the air,” Hadean replied with a shudder.
“They got iron ranks, and as our clan had grown attached, we got the guild to band them to us. I will say this: they only weren’t made higher ranks because they were so young.”
“I didn’t expect a look into our teacher's past. Thank you, Mr Hadean,” Maxwell said.
“Oh no, it was no trouble. If anything, I love to tell stories. Mainly about me, though,” he said with a shameless grin.
“So what happened after that?” Tasha asked.
“They worked with us. Alex, in the end, became specialised with bandit eliminations.”
“Yeah… we know that one well,” Bea muttered as she patted Gunter.
“Eventually, Amelia got recruited by the army, and he drifted away towards Academy City. Afterwards, it was just rumours.” The class mulled over the tale they had been told and had only just noticed they were nearly at the arena.
“It doesn’t usually take this long to get there?” Daisy muttered.
“Oh, obviously, I took the long way around so I could have a bigger audience,” Hadean replied, gesturing to the growing crowd behind them.
“HADDY!!!” An echoey voice shouted from the entrance tunnel.
“Cyano, what are you doing here?” Hadean asked.
“Make sure you don’t burn down where I learnt magic,” Cyano shouted back. As the class progressed further, they could see a pale-white woman in blue robes looking pissed. Looking around the arena, the class could see a large number of students were already taking seats.
“Haddy, why is half the school here?”
“I invited them.”
“This is a private lesson, not an exhibition for your ego!!”
“Please, Cyano, you should know me by now.” Cyano could only pinch the bridge of her nose and sigh.
“Yes, I should’ve babysat you from when you first accompanied Alexander.”
“Kids, this is one of my clan members Cyano Huronian. Though you probably know her as the Ice Age Witch.”
The class and assembled crowd collectively gasped. She was supposedly the greatest ice mage in existence, and someone, the Emperor of the frozen north, had desired to marry.
“Can I start my lesson now?” Hadean asked.
“Fine… Everyone not being taught take a seat.”
“Oh perfect, more mar… I mean customers. Kids viewing rights are one small silver each,” a man in brown robes declared as he stepped down from the stands.
“Meso, you’re charging the kids?” Hadean asked. “Why didn’t I think of that?! That’s genius charging these noble brats.”
With that sorted, the lesson was set to truly begin.
Hadean stepped into the arena area, followed closely by the class while the trailing students were being herded to their seats by Meso, who was happily carrying a heavy bag of coins.
“So, who is the guy charging them?” Daisy asked, pointing at Meso.
“That is Meso Archean. You probably know him as the Earthquake Mage.”
“Oh, so is Lady Rozoic here then?” Kline asked, looking around.
“Appears not. She is very thick-headed for an air-magic specialist. Though consider yourselves lucky, kids, you have the honour of the four greatest elemental mages to teach you!” Hadean held his arms out dramatically as a burst of flame shot up behind him.
The class looked at him with apathy, having grown almost immune to overt displays of showmanship when it dawned on them what he had just done.
“Did you just silent cast?” Maxwell asked.
“Indeed I did, kiddies. I can cast without chanting something I bet even your teacher can’t do,” Hadean replied, looking smug.
“Well he has… other methods…”
“Oh, does he now? Tell me, Daisy, what are these methods?” Hadean asked, stepping up uncomfortably close to her.
“We can’t say it has a seal.”
“Damn. Oh well, I can help you with our lesson as normal then. So kids, show me your lowest level of flame spell.” The class got into a line and readied themselves with a reagent packet.
“FLAMETES!” Bea held out her hand, and a small flame appeared on her fingertip. Hadean gave a nod acknowledging the successful spellcasting.
“FLAMETES!” Gunter cast his spell and produced a far larger flame than Bea had.
“Nice and big,” Hadean muttered as he poked the flame.
“FLAMETES!” Daisy held her hand out and created a small flame like Bea had.
“Not bad… Not great either.”
“FLAMETES!” Maxwell held his hand out and created a flame that was nearly a foot tall but wasn’t too wide.
“Interesting,” Hadean muttered as he held his hand in the flame. “Ok, come on, you two.”
“FLAMETES!” Kline cast the spell and created a flame just as tall as Maxwell’s.
“Ah, so you learnt the basics from the same teacher then.”
“How can you tell?” Maxwell asked.
“You have the same flame; it should be obvious. Now you, my elven girl,” Hadean said, turning to Tasha.
“FLAMETES!” holding her hand at a far length; the flame was a tiny ember on her fingertip.
“Understandable for an Elf. You are taught to avoid flames, and your education in fire magic is obviously limited.”
NOW MY TURN!!” Hadean declared, striding behind the class and facing the crowd. “BEHOLD MY FLAMES! FLAMETES!”
Hadean’s flames shot out of each of his fingertips and were large enough that had he not chanted the flame spell; they would’ve assumed he cast fireball.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Do you know the difference between my spell and yours?” Hadean asked, turning back to face the class.
“It’s bigger?” Tasha replied.
“Obviously, but that's not the case. As I said, three things determine fire. Fuel, heat and air. Fuel, in this case, is the magic I provided.”
“Ah, so you used more mana?” Daisy suggested.
“No, this spell has a set mana cost. I created this using no more mana than you did.”
“Then the heat?” Maxwell suggested.
“No, the flame's colour would change if it was the heat.”
“That only leaves the air?” Bea added.
“Still no. If this were a natural flame, your answers might have been valid. But no, what is different between my flames, hell, the difference between all your flames is the image. When you cast a spell, you have an intuitive image you call upon. It's how I knew Maxwell and the Worderer had the same teacher. Their flames have the same image.”
“So we could make a flame-like yours if we imagine it?” Tasha asked.
“Theoretically. But it is far easier said than done. Like if I said, think about a horse. You will each have a different horse in your imagination. A good mage can maintain a solid image. But the best mages can warp those images at will.” As if to demonstrate, the fire in his hand took the shape of a horse that began galloping on the spot.
“Did you teach Professor Alex this?” Daisy asked.
“Oh yes. Me and the other four great elementals taught him as best as we could. Well, all except Meso; the kid was already his equal in earth magic when we met.”
“That explains how he did it with the light spell,” Maxwell muttered as he watched the flame.
“Real tricky bit is this, though,” Hadean held the flame horse up high, and its colour began to change, slowly changing what colour it was.
“I’m in my imagination changing the nature of the fuel I’m adding to the fire. You can alter your mana’s properties to mimic chemicals alchemists use to alter the flames.”
“You really live up to your name of the Magma Magus,” Kline said, looking at the warping flames with awe.
“Don’t I know it,” Hadean replied, puffing his chest.
“So what are we going to do then?” Maxwell asked.
“Image training. I want you to forget any ideas you have and break the chains of imagery.”
“Could we melt stone if we did that?” Tasha asked, looking even more eager now.
“Possibly. But that one is more a… well, it is merging elements,” Hadean explained.
“Merging?” Daisy repeated.
“Yes, I merge my earth magic to help my fire magic to melt the stone. Cyano does something similar with wind and water magic to create her ice.”
“So if we merged schools of magic, we could create exponentially more powerful magic?”
“Well, yes, but it is one of the hardest techniques in magic. Only the best of the very best can do it. It’s why we elementals hold such well-regarded positions as mages.”
“So your challenge, for now, is to change the shape of the flame you cast.”
“Like this?” Daisy replied, holding out her hand and creating a circle of fire similar to the base form she used for her light circle technique.
“I can do that as well,” Maxwell added, warping his flame into a ring following a similar chain of thought.
“Well, colour me surprised. Guess he is teaching you some useful stuff after all. Guess I can’t take credit for making a group of students lethal weapons.” Hadean said with a shrug.
“What about you kids?” he asked, looking at the rest of the class.
“Not yet, sir, we are practising the fundamentals of those skills, but we haven’t fully gotten it yet. Maxy and Daisy are just weirdly skilled,” Bea replied.
“Fair enough; you kids can practice those skills for now while I show your friends here the next trick I can teach,” Hadean said as he took Maxwell and Daisy aside.
“Ok, kids, do you know wind sword?” Hadean asked. The pair nodded; it was a simple spell from the air-school of magic and could be used as an emergency blade that could be maintained at the cost of constantly costing mana.
“Ok, let me show you a really cool trick. First, when you create the wind sword, imagine the wind going up the blade, then turning back down to the hilt and cycling around,” Hadean explained. Following his lead, the pair cast the spell.
“GLADIUS, AIRES, ZYPHERIUM!” With the spell cast, their hair began to flap.
“Perfect, let me get my own sorted,” Hadean said as he repeated the chant they said.
“Ok, remember the rules of fire? Well, while magic can play with them, they are still set rules. So we got a blade of air circling in our hand with our mana maintaining the air within. Imagine what would happen if I did this,” Holding his hand closer to the invisible whooshing blade, he chanted a second spell.
“FLAMETES!” the flame appeared and was instantly sucked into the blade making the whole edge visible. He was now holding a vibrant blue sword made of flame.
“I called in an Igni-Blade. This baby, because of the flame I fed it, can cut into metal. Its only limitation is how long the wind sword can last. Ok, kids, go on and show your audience a show,” Hadean declared, holding his fire sword aloft to a raptured crowd.
“We got this, Daisy,” Maxwell said, holding his arm at its full length. “FLAMETES!” sparking up a thin flame like he had the first time; he held it closer and closer to the blade till it got sucked in and lit up.
At the sight of a massive flame shooting up out of his cupped hand, Maxwell recoiled and loosened his hand, cancelling the spell prematurely.
“Don’t worry; that happens to lots of mages. Hard to overcome the reflex of crap big fire in my face. I lost my eyebrows so many times when I first developed this spell,” Hadean said as he comforted Maxwell.
“Though I was still such a sexy beast even without eyebrows.”
“FLAMETES!” Daisy chanted, taking her turn; she was determined to keep the Igni-Blade from dissipating. The moment the flames sucked into the blade, it shot around, and she was holding the igni-blade successfully, only till she noticed a burning sensation and loosened her grip.
“Cyano, can you do some basic healing!” Hadean shouted, calling out the ice age witch.
“While I commend you for trying to be big and brave like me, you can’t keep such a tight grip on the igni-blade.”
“How did that happen, though? Aren’t we meant to be immune to our own magical flames?” Maxwell asked.
“And you are till they separate from your body. It’s why deflecting a fireball back at your opponent still works. The Igni-Blade is technically fire-separated from you and contained by your wind spell. So it can still burn.”
“By the way, what kind of fire mage uses wind magic?” Maxwell shot back angrily.
“The kind that doesn’t overspecialise. What if I was against a firedrake? Or a magma-knight? Fire magic may be useful in combat, but it isn’t the be-all end-all. All the four elementals are proficient in the other elements.”
“I… I suppose that does make sense,” Maxwell replied, lowering his head.
“Don’t worry, loverboy, it is only a mild burn. You kids weren’t making flames that could melt metal like me,” Hadean added in a conspiratorial whisper as he winked.
“Guh… Buh,” Maxwell began sputtering, trying to respond while Hadean approached Daisy.
“You ok?” he asked as Cyano focused on healing her hand.
“Yeah, it only stings a little,” Daisy replied.
“Feel free to blame him. This dolt puts putting on a big show before safety,” Cyano said, shooting a cold glare at Hadean.
“One day, I will melt your icy heart and have you fall for me.”
“That will be the day I freeze hell over myself,” Cyano replied.
“Anyways, you kids can practice that one; when you have time. Be sure to wear heatproof gloves. Your titan friend there can probably nab you a pair,” Hadean said, gesturing to Gunter.
“Anyways, how are you kids managing?” Hadean asked, turning back to the rest of the class.
“I think I got it, chief?” Gunter said, holding out a flame in the shape of a hammer.
“How very artificer of you,” Hadean said as he poked the flame before quickly recoiling his hand.
“Wowzers, that is hot enough to soften up metal. Hmmm…” Hadean tapped his chin as he thought over something. Jumping up, he wrapped his arm around Gunter's shoulder, pulling him down to a crouched position.
“Come with me, kid I got some spells you may like,” Hadean said with a grin.
“You Meso, got any scrap metal?” Hadean shouted to his companion.
“You gonna pay for it?”
“I will have a Sloth Academy Student help improve its quality,” Hadean replied.
“Very well, I accept,” Meso replied, throwing a small pouch from under his robe, which Hadean caught.
“Ok, Gunter, your flames can soften metal, which is perfect for a craftsman like yourself. What if I said you could alter the properties of metal by smashing them together?”
“That is smithing one, oh one, chief.”
“Indeed, but that is boring smithing. Using magical flames impresses your mana into the metal. A bronze sword made in a furnace and one made with magical smithing flames will be two very different beasts. So my friend there gave me a few strips of copper and tin,” Hadean gave the bag he had been thrown a jingle.
“I want you to make me a bronze block with your hammer.”
“I’d need an anvil,” Gunter replied, looking unsure.
“Yo Meso an anvil for the smith!” Meso just groaned and stomped his foot. A thin crack shot forward from his foot, and a block of the flat ground shot up in the shape of an anvil.
“There you go, hammer away,” Hadean encouraged. Feeling put on the spot, Gunter agreed and began hammering away at the materials. Slowly but surely, he hammered out a rough-looking knife.
“Cyano care to cool the blade?” Hadean asked.
“I’m here to stop your shenanigans, not to interfere nor help with your lessons.”
“Oh no, I guess I will accidentally pick it up and throw it into the crowd.” Cyano began to radiate a mist as she released a cold aura.
“Very well,” Cyano said with a miffed expression as she twirled her finger, and the bronze blade began cooling slowly.
“Ok, we got a rough blade I’m sure Yuu would stab me with if I let it be known; one of her students made it,” Hadean said, holding up the new blade. “I also had this pocket knife I bought in the market a few weeks back,” Hadean said, holding up a cheap bronze knife.
“Between you and me, Meso doesn’t give the best pocket money when he manages the clan's funds,” Hadean said with a wink as he dropped the blade onto the rough-looking knife.
The entire class and arena watched on in wonder as the far nicer-looking blade split in two against the one Gunter had roughly made.
“Mana-infused metal is crazy,” Hadean said as he handed the two halves to Gunter while giving the rough knife to a pleased Meso.
“Find a way to utilise your flame spells in your crafting, and you will make wonders,” Hadean added, giving a supporting slap to a stunned Gunter.
With his little one-to-one with Gunter finished, he returned to his position in front of the class and looked over their attempts to shape their flames.
“I’m sorry, guys, I seem to have been neglecting you by depriving you of my presence,” Hadean said to the rest of the class. “Though you are doing exceptionally considering how tricky this technique is. Still, there are methods of using the conventional spells in weird ways that you can try.”
“Meso, you got the nesting dolls?” Hadean asked, turning to the brown-robed mage who was admiring his new rough bronze blade.
“Yeah, why?” Meso replied, not looking away from the knife.
“Can I have them to help demonstrate a few spells and have the kids practice their shooting?” Hadean asked.
“Sure, just be sure to recharge it fully when you are done,” Meso replied as he reached under his robe and took out a set of nesting dolls and threw them to Hadean.
“Ok, guys, you ever seen one of these before?” he asked, holding the dolls in front of the class. The class, in response, shook their heads to indicate no.
“These are nesting combat dolls. Inside each,” Hadean paused to open up the outer doll to show one inside. “Is a smaller and small doll. We got an artificer to engineer this out of a monolith mana stone,” he explained as he took the tops off more and more dolls till, eventually, he reached a doll the size of his pinky finger that was made of blue crystal.
Putting the stack of tops on the floor, Hadean carefully removed the stone. As he did, the bottoms all separated themselves and connected with their corresponding top until twenty dolls were arranged before the class.
“What do you use them for, chief?” Gunter asked, looking at the dolls intrigued.
“Combat practice,” He replied as he snapped his fingers, and the dolls began to levitate.
“They will actively avoid any attacks and respond as if they were organic, despite being made from inorganic materials.”
“What do you mean?” Bea asked as she tapped one of the floating dolls.
“Say if you created a vacuum around one, it would eventually drop as if it suffocated,” Hadean explained.
“Are they tough?” Tasha asked, poking one of the larger dolls.
“Not particularly; they are only as tough as a normal human,” Hadean explained, poking a doll himself.
“So I take it we will need to be careful when we target them?” Daisy asked.
“Oh no, go all out, vaporise them if you want to. The core stone here,” Hadean held out the blue doll in his hand for the class to see. “This little one regrows the dolls outwards when supplied with mana. It’s why Meso told me to recharge it when we were done.”
“So we are going to use them for target practice?” Daisy asked.
“Yes, but only to try a few spells that I will show you how I cast,” Hadean explained as he made a few gestures with the hand holding the stone, and the dolls all began moving further away from the class.
“Ok, who here knows how to cast fire-flash?” Hadean asked the class, in response, only Bea and Kline raised their hands.
“Wow, surprised; I thought it was a common low-level spell?”
“Half the class are learning from Alex as supplementary lessons technically,” Daisy explained.
“Ah, so a class of slackers? Or maybe a classroom of students who weren’t given the right direction? Only time will tell that one. Anyways would you be so kind as to ‘kill’ all the dolls using fire flash,” Hadean asked, looking to Bea.
“Mr Hadean, that would be impossible. Fire Flash only creates a quick flash of flame to distract your enemies,” Bea replied.
“Oh, is it now?” Hadean asked in a tone of voice that made it clear he knew it wasn’t.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” With his chant, a flash of fire appeared between the dolls. All at once, the dolls dropped to the ground.
“Well, that was clearly a cheat. You have the control stone,” Tasha said, pointing to his hand.
“I didn’t cheat. I used the spell as is, but I increased the flame's intensity.”
“Why?” Daisy asked with a tilt of her head.
“Remember that story I told you about Alex and the bandits? That use of fire magic got me thinking, what if I made a flame that could suck all the air out of someone. I did some research and math and figured out it would need an intense but rapid flame. Engineering a spell like that would take decades.” Hadean then had a smirk growing across his face.
“The thing is, kids, a real teacher is always willing to learn from his students while he teaches them. Seeing the weird ways Alex used shape earth a basic spell, I realised I wouldn’t need to develop a new spell; I had one already.”
“Fire-Flash?” Kline suggested.
“Exactly. It already had the flame element and was rapid. I just needed to go full lateral thinking and warp the way it works. So I did and made a spell that in a clustered group of people is horrific. So kids, you ready to try yourselves?”
“Arent the dolls dead?” Tasha asked, pointing at the downed dolls.
“Oh yes, they are, but they aren’t destroyed. The air was sucked out of their imaginary lungs to fuel the intense flame. You kids just need to try that. Now that I think about it, it’s a good thing you weren’t familiar with fire flash, as you now have the image I provided,” Hadean said with a big grin as he spread his arms wide in triumph.
“First, you little miss, as you already know the chant, it may be easier for you.” Bea stepped forwards as the dolls shakily began floating up again, only to start swaying left and right.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” with her chant, a flash of fiery light detonated between the dolls. Only a few stopped swaying as if disorientated.
“Don’t worry, it takes practice; give it another shot. Remember, think hot, so hot that it takes your breath away.” Bea blushed as her imagination brought up a certain someone rather than a structure of the spell.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” her chant this time was far hotter. So hot that the class could feel a backdraft from the sudden flames. Looking at the dolls, they could see the smaller half of the dolls had dropped.
“You nearly got it,” Hadean said, giving a reassuring pat on her back. “Practice when you do adventurer gigs. Oh, also, never do it in a confined space. You will recreate what Alex did with the bandits to everyone near you,” Hadean warned.
“Next up, the worderer,” Hadean said as he shot flames above him, shaping them into Kline's tavern name. A beet-red Kline walked up to the spot.
“One moment,” Hadean said as he concentrated for a moment, and the dolls taken down by Bea began to float back up and bob like they had. “Ok, shoot when you’re ready,” Hadean said, giving an encouraging wink and thumbs up.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” chanting the fire flash spell. This one was far larger than the previous attempts and singed the dolls.
“Ok, Worderer, you let the spell spread out too much. You want it concentrated to s small a spot,” Hadean explained, clasping his hands together tightly to give him a rough image to work off of.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” this time, the flash of flame was smaller but only by a small amount compared to the first time. It still left the dolls only lightly charred, but none dropped.
“That's ok; you can get more practice in a similar way to Bea there. Just remember,”
“Yes, don’t use it in confined spaces,” Kline said with a nod.
“Next up, big guy,” Hadean said, gesturing to Gunter. Gunter stepped up to the point the others had stood at and held his hands out.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” Gunter’s flames flashed bright and hot. When they cleared, the larger half of the dolls were gone, reduced to ash.
“I’m sorry, chief,” Gunter said, lowering his head in apology.
“Nah, it’s ok, we can just conjure up more,” Hadean said as he tightened his grip around the stone, only for a medium doll to start to appear, only to continue expanding larger and larger till it was back to its original size. Opening it up, Hadean took out the stone that was rattling around inside the medium doll and let them reorganise themselves.
“Ok, round two. You need to concentrate them into a smaller space. You got the heat right though,” Hadean said as he took Gunter by the shoulders and faced him towards the dolls.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” Gunter chanted while imagining compressing the radius as small as possible. The flash of flames occurred, and all twenty dolls dropped to the floor.
“Perfect, you got it. Though you being an artificer probably helped.”
“Did it really help, chief?” Gunter asked.
“Yes, you crafters have a head for making tools smaller and more efficient. It’s why artificers often are the inventors of new spells and methodologies. Ok, next up, teacher's pet,” Hadean said, turning to the class.
“But Freki isn’t here?” Tasha replied with a confused tilt of her head.
“No, I meant one of you guys,” Hadean said with an equally bewildered look.
“Oh good, she’s getting back to her old self. I’m guessing the teacher's pet is a reference to me?” Maxwell said, stepping forwards. “You know, just because I’m a werebeast does not mean I am a p-”
“Oh no, I meant Daisy. She is the one he spoke about most when I got info on you guys, so naturally, I assumed she was the teacher's pet.”
“Oh,” Maxwell’s demeanour visibly deflated as he looked towards Daisy as the wind had been knocked from his sails.
“Well, as you volunteered, you may as well go forwards,” Hadean said hastily, trying to cheer up.
“Though don’t assume things just because of your race. It will make things so much easier. Like me and Alex, when we did missions together as extras for other clans, we just pretended to be oblivious to the blatant anti-human culture amongst some of the races because it pissed them off more. Remember, kid; some people say mean things just to get you to react.”
“Very well,” Maxwell said with a nod as he stepped up to the line.
“Ok, I’ll get the dolls busting a dance move for you,” Hadean said with a wink as he gripped the stone and got the dolls to start bobbing up and down.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” with his chant completed, a small flash of flames occurred in the middle. “Nothing happened?”
“Well, you had the right heat; this time however, you had the reverse problem. It was too concentrated into a single spot. Try expanding it to about the size of Gunter’s head,” Hadean explained. Maxwell nodded and rolled his shoulders, ready to try again.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” a bright flash far larger than it was the first time shot out and scorched three of the dolls but caused the remainder to collapse.
“Well, I failed,” Maxwell grumbled, looking at his hands despondently.
“What are you talking about? You did it.”
“But I burnt some of them?”
“Kid, this is a fire spell burning some of them is to be expected. You still dropped all the others by sucking the air out their imaginary lungs.” Hadean gave an appreciative pat to Maxwell’s back as he looked at the remaining two students.
“Either one of you,” Hadean said with a shrug.
“I’ll go as I was meant to be next anyways,” Daisy said, stepping up to the line. Holding out her arms like the previous attempts, she readied herself while Hadean repaired the damaged dolls and got them moving.
“Whenever you are ready,” Hadean said with a nod.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” with her chant done, a large and roiling flash of flames shot out, incinerating the entire collection of dolls continuing towards where the class were standing. With a single swift motion, Hadean yanked Daisy backwards and stood between the class and the rapidly approaching fire.
Holding out his hands without flinching, a pulse of something shot out of his palm, and the flames impacted an invisible wall.
“What happened?!” Daisy cried out in shock.
“Three things needed for a fire. Best shields are sand wall which helps dissipate the heat, though I prefer perfect nothingness, a wall with no air for the fire to burn with,” Hadean replied as the last of the flames died down.
Looking behind her, Daisy could see the falling dust of sandwall descending in front of her classmates while a crystalline ice shield began to crumble in front of the stands.
“Mr Hadean, please tell me what happened?”
“Well, likely the image you had was very clear; second, you probably have a natural aptitude towards fire magic like I do.”
“Aptitude?” Daisy repeated.
“Yeah, everyone has specific schools they are more proficient in. Me I’m a master of the fire element. Each of the four elementals of our clan are specialised in their given element. Alex, likewise, is very good at wind and earth magic. Also, illusion spells, the kid could put my showmanship to shame.”
“So I could’ve hurt people with that?”
“You’d likely have killed a lot of people with that spell. It’s why we are here. You can find these things out in a controlled environment. Not like some of us who stumbled through learning this stuff out in the wild.”
“Everyone ok?” Hadean asked, turning to look back only to get an ok hand gesture from both Meso and Cyano.
“Should I try again?” Daisy nervously asked.
“Best you don’t. I will speak with Alex about this, and we can organise some more one-on-one lessons with me to help you properly harness that strength,” Hadean knelt down so he was close to Daisy’s eye line.
“Why don’t you stand up, brush yourself off and return to your friends, who are all looking worried about you?” Hadean whispered as he offered his hand to help her back to her feet.
“A big round of applause for Miss Daisy for trying to upshow my fire magic!!” Hadean declared as he conjured a larger wall of fire. “Don’t think you can outdo me just yet, little lady,” Daisy looked back only to see him give a wink.
“Last is you miss Tasha,” Hadean said as she stepped up to the spot.
“I’ll be a minute while I replace the dolls,” Hadean said as he conjured a fresh full set of twenty dolls, only to dismantle them and send them to the target spot.
“Whenever you are ready.”
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” Tasha chanted the spell only for a slight fizzle of fire to spout out. Looking at Hadean with pleading eyes, all he could do was sigh.
“You have the opposite issue that your friend has. You are negatively inclined to the fire element. It’s ok; this happens with many elves, Meso himself can barely light a fire. Ok, Tasha, do me a favour. Are you ready?” Tasha nodded.
“Close your eyes and imagine a barren desert. Something like where I was born, the Grey Wastes of Envy,” Tasha closed her eyes and imagined such a barren and empty plane.
“Ok, I can see it.”
“Great, now into the plane, imagine the fire spell you saw Gunter cast,” Hadean guided as he held Tasha by the shoulders from behind, keeping her attention solely on him.
“When you can clearly see that image in your mind, an image so vivid you can even imagine how it would feel, cast the spell.” Tasha nodded, acknowledging his guidance as he removed his hands from her shoulders.
“NIKESH, FLAMETES, COLMUNDO!” this time, there was a bright flash of flames far larger than her previous attempt. “I DID IT!!” Tasha squealed with joy as she jumped on the spot.
“You didn’t succeed with what we were trying, but I’d say overcoming the innate fear of fire, we have taken a large stride. Get used to calling up that image, and you can start using basic fire spells.”
“While she did not succeed in the task, a big round of applause for a good effort!” Hadean declared to which the class and assembled students observing gave a smattering of applause.
“So, Mr Hadean, what is next?” Maxwell asked.
“That’s all for today, kids; I’ve been burning my mana recreating those dolls and giving a big ole show for your fellows there,” Hadean said, gesturing to the students in the stands. “Even master mages need a bit of rest. Don’t worry, though; next week, you will have Rozoic. She will knock your socks off with the way she uses wind magic.”