After all formalities were done, we had to send guards away. Everyone in here is noble and academy would be very cramped if all started to walk with bunch of guards following them. Only Vivian was allowed to follow mother, most nobles had one attendant as well. After we arrived at theory department, we entered our first class.

"...but just because they cant cast spell on their own, never underestimate spellblades. Among common soldiers they are called immortals for a reason. Mana flows differently for them and because of that, body is very sturdy and normal weapons or arrows have hard time to do any damage. Its almost like spell of "stone skin", but that spell fades over time and soon you need to recast it. And only mages with good affinity in earth can cast it. Spellblades allways have their protection, even when sleeping. Now if we add regenration tool, that only spellblades and water mages can use, we get terrifying warrior..." when we entered classroom, professor was in middle of lecture.

Professor was elf and looked quite young. Of course you cant judge elfs age by their appearance, but i somehow had immage of old teacher. After he noticed us, professor stoped with lecture and just looked at us. Hmm not us, but lightning spirit dancing on mothers body.

"I am sorry for interupting. I am Celina Darkmoon and this is my servant Vivian. I am new student who just arrived. Will be in your care from today." said mother with slight curtesy.

"So you are famous lightning mage ? Oh i am sorry Ms. Darkmoon and wellcome to Eruanna academy. I am professor Erlar Erumollien and we will meet mostly on subjects "basic introduction to magic" and "magic application in combat". You can get aquinted with others after lesson, now please take free seat so i can continue. If i forget where i left, will have to start all over." said professor and we started to walk towards empty seats.

As we walked to our seats, others were whispering among themself while looking at mother. We could see some humans and elfs or even few demons, but most students were demi-humans.

Weircats, lycans, vixus and gorgon. Those four races were considered as demi-humans. Weircats had ears and tail of cat and lycans those of wolf. Vixus like Vivian were fox kin, and once they had three tails, were considered adults. Vivians third tail just started to grow and still had few months til she is considered adult.

Now gorgon had reptile features as you could see scales instead of skin here or there. They stil looked mostly human, but instead of hairs had small snakes. It is said that those snakes produce paralyzing poison and gorgon warriors coat their blades and arrows in it. Unlike other demi-humans their tails were big and reminded those of lizard.

Demons have many species, but in class i could see only two. One was male minotaur and other was female naga. It was first time i saw demons in real life. I recognized them only from descriptions in books.

Minotaur had very muscular body. This one had two pairs of horns on head and i heard that very old ones can have even three pairs. Face was just like humans, and had dark hairs reminding lions. As he was siting, i couldnt see, but minotaur legs had hoves instead of feet.

Naga girl had upper body of human with four hands, while lower part was giant tail of snake. Tail was over twenty feet long and because of that, she alone was occupying space of three seats.

"Now please calm down, you can get acquainted with Ms. Darkmoon after lecture. Lets continue where we left. Now who can tell me why spellblades have lesser position when compared with pure mages ?" professor silenced whispers and asked question.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Because we have higher range and power with our spells." said human girl after geting permision to speak.

"Thats partialy true, but hardly a reason. They dont waste time with incatations and can attack more often. Their whips deal decent damage to regular soldiers and only mithril weapons or armor can withstand them. Some elite units might have them, but there is no way army can have all equiped with those." said professor and looked once again to class.

"They cant use magic without tools and even then there is limited amount of tools they can activate." This time it was weircat boy.

"That might be true, but hardly a reason as well. With the ones they can activate they are deadly already." dismised professor and looked for more sugestions.

"Even weakest spells ignore spellblades defences, and defences are what makes them so dangerous against others." answered elf boy after geting permission.

"Yes. Mages with their barriers can protect themself from weaker spells, but defence of spellblades collapses instantly once spell reaches their body. Some spells can cause them even more damage than regular soldier would recieve. Because their mana defence collapses and damages their own body. Of course expierenced spellblade will try intercept spells with their whip, but thats only possible against weaker ones. Stronger spell will kill them anyway. Thats why they are considered lesser than pure mages. But dont let it fool you. This comparison came from my breathen elfs in Illuminati Empire. Recognized elf mages are old and powerfull and can cast spells without incantations. Should regular mage fight against spellblade without guards, most mages would loose. Unless mage have attack spell tool. That brings our next topic - incantations." professor made pause then walked near board and wrote incantation for firebolt.

Elements of Fire answer my call and burn my foe.. Firebolt

"Who knows why we need incantation to cast a spell ?" asked professor Erlar after facing class.

"Incantation is vocal blueprint for spell construction. Mage follows it to create spell with desired effects." answered same elf boy as before.

"Very good. Just like Sildur said its vocal blueprint. When we construct spell, there are countless micro action that we perform. And with incantation we make sure to do it right. Its like when craftsman creates complicated structure, he glances at drawings to make no mistakes. If we create spell without incantation, there is place for errors to be made. If we are lucky, final result will be just twisted spell that uses too much mana or spell power is barely one tenth of what it should have been. If we are not so lucky, mistakes can cost us our life. Thats why never use spell without incantation." said professor.

"But what about those powerful elf mages you mentioned ? You said they can cast spells without incantation." asked gorgon girl without permission but professor wasnt angry.

"Yes we can. But you should also remember that i said old and powerful. Old is very important here. In long life we elfs constructed those spells countless times. At this point every litle detail of spell construction is part of us, like muscle memory. Most old mages try to do them without incantation from time to time to see if they reached that level. But you should know that they are expierenced mages and have little chance to harm themself in case of fail..." while professor was explaining we heard loud sound of gong.

"Ok our time is up for today, we will continue next time." said professor and after cleaning board picked some books and left.

"Hi i am Jun and this is Minori. Why is your servant white? Oh and what is this lightning ?" after class ended mother was aproached by two vixus girls and one of them barraged with questions while reaching hand to touch lightning spirit.

"Stop it Minori !" shouted another fox girl and held her arm.

"I am sorry for my sister. She is allways like this. I am actualy Jun and my sister is Minori. We are from Aritail House. She mix our names as prank. People cant discern us and she makes it even harder by wearing evryting identical. Tried using diferent accessories to make it easier for others, but now she got them as well." she started to apologyze.

Jun with her sister Minori were twins and like she mentioned, they looked identical. Same clothes, hairstyle, accessories and same face. Behind them i could see other people aproaching us as well.

"No problem. I am Celina Darkmoon and my servant is Vivian. You can just call me Celina."