Well, that was certainly a disappointment...

I really thought the camera trick was smart, but it seems that nobles have even more privileges in these big cities that I thought! That damn teacher burned my evidence in front of my face, ridiculous! The only thing it did is ensure that we weren't punished for defending ourselves, and those fuckers, second-year students I learned, got off scot-free? I almost screamed in his wrinkled face but remembered that it wouldn't help at the last moment. But I will remember this...

Onto a somewhat less depressing topic or more depressing, depending on who you ask really, our classes finally started. We arrived a few days early in fear of missing anything, but the day is finally here.

We walked in tandem, passing by several wooden doors that were on either side of the long and white hallway, stretching as far as we could see. In retrospect, it was really good that we got up early again since it was such a walk. The building didn't look nearly as big from outside which made us wonder at first, but we chugged that up to the runes that decorated the walls of both the outside and, apparently, the inside of the institutions. "Can runes do anything?" Johannes wondered out loud, "Well, not anything. There are limitations, and any big projects require lots of mana to keep working. Rather than the runes itself, how they power all of this is much more mysterious, to be honest."

And I truly wondered how they accomplished that, something to research later perhaps? Alas, we have finally reached our target, with exactly five minutes to spare if Johannes' watch isn't betraying us. We looked at the sign above the door for a brief moment, "The basics of Sigil and Mana", where have I heard that exact combination of words again? Whatever, we didn't delay any further, swinging the door open as we laid eyes upon the classroom, dusty air filling our lungs in an instant. What we saw was within the realm of our expectations at first, around fourteen students wearing the standard white uniform with silver outlines, all of them sitting and nervously shifting around. Absolute silence dominating the atmosphere, as is usually the case when you throw a bunch of people who don't know together at this age. Well, until I arrive that is.

Upon closer inspection, we did notice something, all of the students wore the same badge as us, a bronze badge with the sign for "Beginner" inscribed into it. At first, I assumed that all of the first years got the same badge, however, Alexander proved my assumptions differently. Whilst still having the "beginner" symbol, his badge was golden. And while the symbol was different, the people who bullied Alex had a silver badge. I assume that the symbol refers to your class, while the color reflects on your social status or something like that. And if my assumptions are correct, all of the people here are commoners like us, good. That makes me feel more at ease, to be honest. Can't get beheaded for accidentally angering a commoner after all!

My friends and I sat down, and I decided to stir up the silence a bit: "Daaaaaamn, yall are as silent as if we were at a damn funeral!" they were somehow startled at my sudden exclamation, but remained silent for now "If all of us stay silent like that for the remaining year we'll go crazy you know? Gotta bring in a bit of 'social interaction' into the mix!" I swiftly turned around while remaining sit down, looking in the eyes of the boy who sat behind me as I stretched out my hand for a handshake "I'll get started, My name is Zach Truuben and I am 16! I hope we can get along" I smiled, attempting to put them more at ease. The boy shook my hand "Liam Co~" Liam's eyes lit up as he promptly stood up at the same time as I registered the sound of a door opening. I followed his example and swiftly turned around and stood up with little delay, our conversation would have to be postponed it seems.

Just as I had thought, the professor arrived, although somewhat early. We all stood, watching with caution as she walked in. She was reasonably tall, about as tall as I am, and looked to be somewhere in her early thirties. She wore, aside from the obviously annoyed expression on her face, a variation of the same robes that we were issued with and which serve as our uniform, being white in color with silver outlines. Obviously, the colors represent our school after all. She spared us all a few glances, even looking me directly in the eyes for a brief moment. 'I wonder whether she heard about the incident?' She threw a book at the table before sitting down and sighing heavily, she was obviously in a bad mood 'I wonder why?' Johannes and I exchanged a quick glance, inaudibly agreeing that neither of us is going to take our chances and provoke her, at least today.

The professor looked as if she was contemplating her life choices for a few minutes, but it appears that she ultimately gave in and stood up, taking a piece of chalk in the process. She turned around and began writing, "Prof. Snakewood", had been written onto the board followed by a loud exclamation: "Professor Snakewood, this is the way that you will address me for the next year, my first name and anything else about my personal life is completely irrelevant to you tra~ oh, I mean students." What she intended to say was clear, but nobody said anything. We knew we were lucky enough to be thought proper magic at all. Nobody would die from a word or two so anything else didn't matter. "We'll start with the basics of the basic and make sure that everyone is on the same page, for now, that would be page 7 in your books, " a brief pause, in which we all opened the intended page and the explanation followed: "What we use to cast our 'spells' and perform magic is mana. Mana comes in several different types, the first of which is pure mana, pure mana is everywhere around us and we constantly collect it with our bodies without even having to put in any effort. As it seeps into our bodies the pure mana is collected in our core." Snakewood pointed at her stomach area, the general location of one's 'core', and by some's beliefs, the general location of one's 'soul' as well. "To use spells, most mages need to convert the pure mana in our cores into the corresponding type of mana that they wish to use, for that we use our Sigil." She pointed at the back of her right hand, a moment later a strange tattoo, light blue in color, appeared. I recognized this particular pattern somewhat, guessing it to be an Elementalist Sigil. "This particular one is an Elementalist Sigil, " 'Bingo' "it allows me to convert my pure mana into either Earth, Fire, or Water mana. Advanced Elementalists are even capable of mixing some mana types, creating Magma, Ice, and Mist mana. However, Elementalists are somewhat of an exception when it comes to their big versatility in mana types,"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

In the following hour, we also covered Shadow mages like myself who use Shadow mana, Warden Sigils, which utilize Life mana, Light Sigils, which utilize Light mana as well as Mana Shapers and Rune carvers, which both utilize pure mana in one form or another. We also covered the basics of each Sigil and mana type, but I mostly concentrated my notes on my own. Shadow mana, although technically capable of being used directly as a weapon, as demonstrated by our senior the other day, is often used more indirectly in battles, with the purpose to give you an edge and confuse your opponent rather to directly harm them. It is capable of projecting illusions, make its wielder invisible in the right conditions, and it is easier to use the darker it is. The same also applies the other way around, making it more difficult to use the more light there is at the moment. 'Somewhat tricky, hmm'.

Despite the initial remarks, it appears that this professor is professional enough to properly educate us, at least for now. "What's next?" "Combat Training" Sera answered my question with a broad smile, of course, she looked forward to this. 'Pain.' I am fairly certain that thought explains my feelings well enough.

We hurried towards the gymnasium since it was so far from our previous classroom, "Honestly, I believe Johannes is the only one of us who could reach the gymnasium with much time to spare if he wouldn't be holding back this much, thanks for that by the way, " Johannes nodded " but why are the classrooms so far apart?" "I don't knoooooow~" Liam sounded as he sprinted by us 'Surely we aren't so short on time to have to resort to such measures?' I grabbed Johannes' arm and checked the time to make sure, "Fuck. EVERYONE FENDS FOR THEMSELVES!" I screamed as I picked up the pace, I could barely make out Johannes' smile before he overtook all of us and disappeared into the distance 'God damn Wardens' I thought, but I couldn't delve upon that thought for long, I had a class to catch. I leaned forward slightly and began breathing steadily, my focus was at its maximum. I had to avoid crashing into any nobles as I do this, don't want to be beheaded after all. Step after step I progressed with little time left, 'This must be deliberate. They want us commoners to suffer.' I briefly theorized, but I had no time for that now. Any distraction could potentially cost me my head. I kept running through the halls when it happened. An older student walked into the halls from a classroom and directly into my way. Our eyes met for a moment, he seemed certain that I would crash into him, raising his arms in self-defense, however, I managed to side-step him at the last moment. I continued onward, not giving him time to catch who I really way, perhaps I would apologize later, but most likely not.

Drops of sweat flowed down my face, but with my destination in sight, nothing would stop me. I slowed down a bit since I would have to open the door, but it seemed that Sera didn't have that idea, crashing into me and propelling both of us directly at the door. We crashed. My face hit the door directly, whilst Sera's crash was somehow cushioned by my existence. I began sliding down, opening the door with one of my hands in the process and almost planting my face in the ground as well, although my other hand stopped it this time.

"What a graceful entrance, Truuben." 'How did the teacher know my, wait... I know this voice. No! NO! NO!' Sera stood up from me, at last, and confirmed my fears "Good day professor Trif." 'Hell, this was hell itself.'