[Arthur Leywin POV]
"Wait, they are the guys from that new group?"
"Yes, they are DC officers. I think that two of them are vice leaders."
"Wait they aren't only on first-year? How were they able to get into the disciplinary committee?"
"Don't you remember? They are considerated super strong, even the layers between commoners and nobles didn't get in their way."
"One of them has really a title of royal elf guard even if he isn't a elf? Geez.. What are they name again? Luz, Arthur and... What the name of the other one?"
"There is already a rumor that they got in by having a test battle against Director Cynthia, and instead of her stopping to battle, they won it."
"Nah. That's impossible. Who is trying to say this things?"
"Oh! God. Look at that white fox with one of them! I want to hug it so baaaad!"
I sat towards the back of the classroom with Elijah and Luz next to me. The constant murmurs and whispers that echoed against the walls made my head hurt. The professor for our first class, Fundamentals of Magic Theory, had yet to arrive, allowing the discussions of this morning's ceremony to ceaselessly go on.
"Looks like we are popular now, my fellas DC Officers." Elijah nudged me with his elbow while giving me a sarcastic smirk.
"At least they know our names... I think you still needs to get more good attention, that way you'll get all girls. Or at least they will remember your name." Luz backfired our four-eyes' comment, before he could say anything again, the person who I assumed was the professor, walked in with confident strides.
Our professor seemed pretty young, at most, in his mid-thirties. He had well-parted brown hair that he kept neat and styled. His face was freshly shaven to reveal a narrow jaw. He was on the thinner side, but in no ways out of shape, due to his proportions being good for a conjurer, which I could tell by the wand strapped to his side.
Using the folder he was holding as a gavel, he thumped it on the front podium before speaking. "Now, now... I realize that there are many wonderful things to talk about, but you guys aren't very good at gossiping. If the main topic are people in this same room and can hear what you are saying, then it really isn't a gossip now, is it?" He looked in our direction and gave us a wink, making me shake my head in defeat, while Luz just gave a little laught and Elijah looked proud of himself.
Some of the students gossiping shrank down in embarrassment but most of the students just laughed.
"My name is Professor Avius and I must say that it's great to be here with all of you. Even though technically this is a basic class and some see it as unnecessary, I, on the other hand, believe that this class is the basis for amazing things that you can do and learn to become great mages. We won't be casting spells around here, but there will be some projects and oral exams that I will give you, they will make all the knowledge stick well in your minds."
With that, the class erupted in a synchronized groan at the thought of doing projects. I couldn't imagine what type of projects he was going to put twelve to fourteen-year-olds students to do, but it should be rather easy.
"On that note. I think today is a rather fine day to have lecture! No one's going to get any younger, so absorb as much knowledge as you can while your brains are still fresh! Take out your notebooks and writing utensils!" his thin face wrinkled as he smiled.
Elijah adjusted his glasses and promptly took out a fresh new notebook and pen while eagerly writing the title of the class and today's date. I just leaned forward and rested my chin on my hand as I began to look around while listen to the professor. I noticed Luz taking his backpack from one of his dimensional rings, and from there, he took one notebook that has writen "Xyrus Academy - Notebook I" in the corver.
"Today's topic will focus on the segregation between conjurers and augmenters!" he wrote messily on the chalkboard. "There is a deeply embedded discrimination against augmenters by conjurers on the premise that augmenters are 'brutes' or 'savages' that can only fight by getting themselves dirty." He used his fingers to air quote. "This is a rather uneducated stigma that everyone should get rid of right here and right now. Can someone here tell me why we have to do it? If no, I will give some examples." He leaned forward, his face turning serious.
His words caused a few murmurs of disagreement and some of acknowledgement, but my brother lift his finger while right down something in his notebook with the other hand.
"Yes, our fella Officer..." He looked in some list in his desk. "Luz Leywin. What can you say about this?"
Everyone started to look to us, and my brother got up of his seat to talk. "Well, Professor Avius, I am a Conjurer and I can even slightly understand why this discrimination. But that's just because people only look at the initial state or bad examples of augmenters. As I have already lived with several mages, both conjurers and augmenters, I can say that in fact each one has an advantage over the other. While Augmenters can channel and interact directly with their elements, in addition to being more resilient, Conjurers can have a greater range in the attack sense, in addition to having access to elements earlier than Augmenters."
He paused briefly until everyone seemed to understand what he was talking about and then continued. "But if we look at these two categories, the more the core stage evolves, the less differences there will be in these mages, as both of them will be able to use spells that are normally of the other type, my brother and I are examples of that."
I gave a sigh and looked away when he mentioned me, several students now looked at me and him confused. The teacher looked at us and started clapping, apparently that was the answer he wanted.
"Fine! Apparently you know well about this discussion. And you mentioned about you and your brother being examples of how in the end, both categories cease to have big differences. Could you demonstrate something related to that?" The professor looked puzzled.
"With your permission." My brother said and the teacher nodded. He then launched a small fireball in the air, it fell apart after almost passing through the whole room, after that, he made the same fireball, but it remained in his hand, until he pressed the fireball in his palm and then his hand was covered in flames.
"As you can see, I'm showing an Augmenter trait, even though I'm a Conjurer." This sentence of his made me laugh inside, after all he IS an augmenter, but his skills with ambient mana were so good that he was classified as a conjurer upon entering the academy.
The teacher applauded more as the students looked on in disbelief, he kept putting some keywords on the chalkboard like "Augmenter", "Conjurer", "High levels = Low difference".
"So tell me now, class. If both have no more differences in the matter of magic. What other issue will differentiate them to still be called augmenters and conjurers?"
Elijah now raised his hand and began to speak. "Is it the fact that Augmenters' bodies are tougher? Or is it the fact that conjurers don't normally try to learn magic from augmenters while augmenters try to learn spells from conjurers?"
"Ohoho! I was referring to that second answer you gave. My students, would you think that, given this discrimination between conjurers and augmenters, conjurers would look for buff or body spells?" Professor Avius asked and everyone was silent realizing the situation they were in.
After that, the professor started asking other simpler questions and soon the class ended with the ringing of the big bell. We started to prepare for the next class.
"I'll see you at lunch then?" Elijah asked while he packed up his bag, Luz also put his things in one of his dimensional rings.
"Sure. The person who gets there first saves the other a spot in line." I said looking at my two collegues with they waving their hands, before leaving through the door.
As I walked through the densely packed hall, I sensed some gazes here and there after they recognized my appearance and uniform. On the way to my next class, which was Practical Mana Manipulation, I realized that there were quite a bit of students who had bonds. Most weren't so impressive, the ones I saw were a horned rat on a student's shoulder, and a C Class giant lizard that had its owner up in the back.
When I arrived to my next class, I noticed that the layout of this room was very different. It was shaped like a miniature arena, with a battling platform in the middle, encased in a barrier field, and rows of seats circling around it. I made my way to a randon spot and sat down.
"I'm hungry..." Sylvie grumbled as she began impatiently thumping her head on top of mine.
"Yeah, me too... Lunch is still a bit away though, do you want to go and catch something?" Sylvie nodded and scurried off at a speed that startled me. She was surprisingly fast when it came to food.
More and more students started filling the room after a few minutes. While most were first years, there were some second years that decided to take this class later. I soon saw two familiar faces getting near me, with them sitting down besides me.
"Hello, Arthur. How are you?" Kathyln said without showing expressions and sitting in a refined way.
"I'm good, you too?" I replied and she nodded.
"Well, look who we have here! If it is my other great rival, Arthur Leywin. It's good to see that you are well.. But where is my other rival?" Feyrith asked.
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"Luz? Heh. He is in another class, he and Elijah choose some of the same subjects, so there are times that we are together and other times that I go to other way." I explained to him.
"While it is a bit late into the morning it is still technically the morning so... Good morning!" said a strong man who wore light armor while clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. He looked more like a low-class adventurer rather than a professor, when I inspected his mana core level, I was surprised he was on the light yellow stage. But the fact that I could see it, meant he was allowing anyone to watch him.... Does he have that much confidence?
"Well, we have quite the crowd of students. I know my class is always popular, but I'm honored to have this many students! My name is Professor Geist. Welcome ladies and gentlemen, and welcome DC officers. It's a privilege to have you in my class." I couldn't tell wheter he was being sarcastic or not when he directed his little welcome at us but I chose to not mind it.
"This is Practical Mana Manipulation, or PMM as I and some other teachers like to call it. That means we will be doing things very practically! In my definition, means that we will get an old and good hands-on experience with some spars." His deep bass voice boomed throughout the class, waking up anyone that might've still been sleepy, which included me.
"I understand that most of you are first-years and that many of you have just awakened not too long ago. However, parents have been more and more dedicated in teaching their children as soon as they awaken before they even send them here... Unfortunatelly, that assumption is mostly inaccurate. For the sake of equality, I will assume that every first-year is a beginner in mana manipulation... Of course, we have a few exceptions here, the three DC officers in our class." He pointed to the three of us while giving us a wink.
"Everyone here, including myself, is curious to know the power level of the people who were put in charge of protecting the students." Several shouts of agreement spawned from around the room.
I inwardly sighed, realizing that this professor was going to make this class a real pain in the ass for me, since I was the only one here at the moment, that was something near as a leader. I saw even Kathyln's brow twitch in annoyance on her usually expressionless face.
"Hmph! Well, if Professor Geist insists, even if I'm not a powerful one between my group, I shall volunteer myself to demonstrate some of the ability that our group, that was personally picked by the Director, possesses." Feyrith got up from his seat and placed his right hand over his heart in a proud manner.
"HAHA! That's more like it! Feyrith, correct? Come down to the stage." He gestured.
"Just be careful, even though we were chosen by the director, not all of us are trained in real fights. Don't fill yourself with pride for nothing." I warned Feyrith as he made his way to the arena, he raised his hand as if understanding the situation.
However, in reality, he didn't seem to have understood the situation, as he started to walk in a pompous way, showing arrogance as if he was going to beat the professor, even after both had revealed the colors of their cores. The professor even said he was only going to do ranged attacks, causing Feyrith to start thinking he would humiliate Geist. Kathlyn was by my side, watching the scene and already warning that Feyrith would obviously lose, I knew that being arrogant gave a chance to have breaches in the defense, but what was she seeing that I couldn't repair?
"Let us begin!" He grinned after casting some incantations, creating a protection spell around the arena, as Feryrith took ouy his wand and prepared for a spell.
"Water Serpent!"
"Flood Domain!"
Feyrith managed to cast two spells in a row without delay, the first created a kind of Serpent made by water, and the second caused the floor of the arena to be covered by a thin layer of water that covered their feet. A domain spell was a higher-tier technique that was used to make the territory more advantageous to the casting mage, I wasn't so impressed about Luz having two types of domain spells, but seeing a non-reicarnated doing this was amazing.
"Fireball!" Professor Geist said to my surprised, the low-tier spell that every fire attribute mage learned formed in his palm but rather than the normal reddish-orange color, the spell glowed a dim blue.
"Wait, did he get the same knowledge related to oxygen consumption with fire? Or was that a lucky experiment he kept as a muscle memory?" I thought, curious as to whether he was really very smart or just lucky, as I could do that too, but only because of my knowledge of basic science from my old world.
Feyrith launched the water serpent towards the Professor, who counterattacked, causing the fireball to surround his arm and the same punching the elf's summon in the face. Everything was covered in a thick layer of steam, but I could see Feyrith being knocked to the ground by that same fireball that had now been shrunk to the size of a fingernail by the splash of water.
"Do you surrender?" Professor Geist gave a wide grin as he walked out of the cloud of steam while juggling two more blue fireballs in his hand.
"Y-Yes... I concede." Feyrith had his head down in shame as he trudged back to us, his uniform soaking. The students were all mumbling about how the DC wasn't that great, doubting wheter we actually had the capability to protect them.
"You did well, Feyrith, considering that you didn't know what you were up against." I patted the elf's back and he looked at me as if he was sad that he didnt take my previous advice seriously.
"Would anyone else like to volunteer?" He stated while looking at Kathyln and I. I got up, but also she got up at the same time, I sigh and let her go instead of me.
"Be careful." I said to her, but I don't think she understood what I said. Her gaze was only in the professor, I could feel a little bit of bloodlust in her. I was surprised, since normally someone get bloodlust after killing a lot of mana beasts or other mages. So why she had this? Is there other way to get this type of presence?
She went to the arena while drawing her staff out from the dimension ring on her pinky. The Professor Geist gave a deep, exaggerated bow. "Kathyln Glayder, I must say that it is an honor to have your presence in my humble class. Please do not hold whatever the results may be in this 'demonstration' against me." He said, putting on a pitiful face, while she nodded with her cold expression unwavering.
"Very good! Let us proceed!" The Professor clapped, fire igniting from between his palms.
Without a word, she lifted her sky blue staff. Before he had a chance to unleash his fireball, two javalins of ice formed around Kathyln.
"Shoot." she said in a very low and cold way before the javelins fired towards our professor. She decided to go the offensive route to keep Professor Geist from attacking her.
A faint smirk crept up on our professor's face as he lifted his hands that were still aflame, with the ice javalins touching his fire and instantly melting, disappearing slowly as a sharp hiss.
"Ice javalin." She muttered, and this time, instead of two, five spinning javelins formed near Kathyln and they were lauched against her enemy after she said "Shoot" like a coiled serpent ready to spring.
Our professor concentrated as the five spears shooting toward him, ready to pierce through if not countered.
"Ember Wisps!"
The spell he prepared finished in time is he jumped back, releasing small floating orbs of blue fire. This made me have a disgust look on my face, since it was the same spell Lucas used during his rank examination....
Wait a minute.... Isnt it a type of spell that after shoot cannot being deactivated.....?
"Break." Kathyln muttered, causing her five ice boars to crack into countless little pieces.
"FIRE!" The professor made his spell shoot in her direction, but I saw that she wasn't focused on defense, but on finishing another spell.
"Ice Tornado!" Her voice showed panic, as her intention was to attack him before being attacked, but it seemed that it was too late.
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[Professor Geist POV]
"Is this girl stupid or what?!? Why didn't she defend herself instead of trying to finish that last spell? Does she have a screw loose? Doesn't she know how to fight?!?" it was my thought as the tornado of ice shards began to whril around me, I became nervours. I wasn't scared of this fancy spell, I was scared that she might be gravely injured from my attack.
Isn't it common sense for a conjurer to have a layer of defense in battles? I chose a spell that any fool, especially a deviant ice prodigy, could defend. Did she want to win so badly that she forgot about it?
I cancelled the spell but only the ember wisps disapeared. The blue fireballs they shot at this bitch was still heading her way.
Damn it. I'm screwed just because she's incompetent.
I willed a layer of heat around my body to melt the shards of ice circling me. I was left with some light scratches but I didn't care. What happened to her? I didn't hear any screams from the other students. Maybe she was okay?
Damn... I should've stopped after making a fool of the elf.
After the layer of ice shards that were blocking my view melted, I immediately tried to find the princess but instead, I found the last member of the three DC officers in my class, Arthur Leywin, in front of Kathyln, who was still covering her face with her arms in panic, just showing how she was a little girl in that moment. His palm was out in front of him while his other arm wrapped protectively around the princess.
His eyes... I couldn't help but involuntarily tremble from the baleful glare that pierced through me. It felt even sharper than those ice spears that the princess threw at me.
"I think this little game has gone for enought time, don't you think?" he was watching me with a cold, stern expression, without any remorse, I couldn't find a twelve-year-old boy in that. Was that his true face?
"While I am thankful for your concern over the princess, it was unnecessary, as I had it all under control." No way was I going to lose face right here, on the first day of this semester, in front of all of my students.
"Under control?" Arthur's brow began to tremble, as if it were a tic of irritation. Was I the only one feeling some pressure? This was not normal, not even AA Class mana beasts exude that much pressure.
"Yes. Do you think that I, a professor at this esteemed academy, would actually put one of my students in harm's way?" I said calmly. There was no proof! Today was all just a little mistake.
"I see... then in that case, allow me to take the place of my colleague in this 'demonstration'."
"Haha... Well, if you insist, I seem to have scared the princess a little too much with my last spell. I should've cancelled it earlier if I knew you were going to interrupt. Now some of my students may misunderstand that I was trying to actually hurt her." I could hear some murmurs around the class that most of the students already believed what I was saying.
He turned his back for me, looking to the Princess, it looked like she was shaking so much from panic that she had trouble getting into her seat, needing the elf's help to do so. She sounded like she was whispering a specific word over and over as if it was pure paranoia, but I couldn't hear what it was.
"Then please guide me well." Leywin turned back to me and drew a translucent teal blade, making me wide-eyed.
"Wow.. What a beautiful sword, maybe I'll steal it and blame it on one of the second year students." I thought, wishing for something as magnificent as that.
"Quite the nice weapon you got there. Since you are an augmenter, I suppose it would be fair to let you choose which method you would like for me to fight with." I put my dual handed sword out of my dimensional ring.
"It doesn't matter." He responded
"I insist." I reply, as I felt my blood boil with rage.
"Then please, go with what you're more confident in." He took a couple steps forward, with his gaze studying me.
"Does this idiot think he's the biggest? I've seen his file, a quadra-elemental... This is complete nonsense! I'm going to teach him that in this room, I'm in charge, and if anyone refuses, I'll go all out!" I thought, a fake smile creeping across my face as my entire face grew hot with anger.
"Fine, I'll start with something easier." I said holding my sword firmly.
"If that's the case, I'll restrict myself to using only my weakest elements... Earth and Wind." He said with a serious expression, but I could feel it, is he kidding me?
Enough! Come here you little shit!