Their next class took place in an identical classroom, albeit slightly smaller than the one they used for Spell Theory. This time, the professor was a young man with wild blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. He wore a simple white dress shirt over pants, with a bright red necktie that made him stand out as he walked on stage.
“Hello everyone!” His thundering voice carried over the excessive enthusiasm. He grinned as he continued, “I'm sure most of you here have already met me, but for the newbies: my name's Tyler Gerran, and I'll be teaching you Intermediate Arcane Studies for this semester!”
As Zeke flipped over the pages of his textbook, Circe scooted closer to him while dragging her glass of unfinished strawberry frappe with her. “Hey, I'm bored.” She whispered, her voice sounding as weary as she implied.
“Hi bored,” He smiled at her, though it morphed into a frown in an instant, “I'm busy.”
“Today's the first day,” Tyler continued talking in the background, drawing Zeke's attention to him in an instant. He ignored the look of contempt on Circe's face. “So I'll be going easy on you guys and start by giving a summary of what we learned last time: understanding mana.”
Professor Gerran took out a small device from his shirt's pocket. It looked like a disc—Or a steampunk-themed beyblade, Zeke held in his chuckles as he watched Tyler stick the odd machine onto the black board. In an instant, a blanket of mana spreaded across the surface, shifting to form large, bold letters atop a white background:
UNDERSTAND MANA WITH ME (Prof. Gerran) ;)
“...How does he know what emoticons are?”
With his question left unanswered, Tyler resumed his lesson. “As you all know, there are two primary sources of mana: External and Internal Mana,” as he spoke, the images on the magical projector changed along, depicting cute illustrations drawn by hand.
“External Mana exists everywhere all around us: from the bottom of the ocean to the tips of the clouds. They also go by the name of ‘Natural Mana’ because of this.”
Tyler changed the slides again. “For Internal Mana, like its name suggests, it is the energy that exists within all living beings. It's not limited to mages, swordsmen may also be born with mana. However, aura training and manifestation can delay or prevent the emergence of mana.”
Briefly, Zeke caught the professor's gaze, but it may have been an accident since he continued on without a hitch. “The amount of Internal Mana within a person cannot decrease or increase by unnatural means. Only on special occasions, such as receiving aura, would Internal Mana leave the body completely.”
“So, how does that information affect magic as a whole?” Tyler began pacing around, “Now that you know the different types of mana, you can better choose a method of control that fits you most. Some may be born with a lack of Internal Mana, but possess exceptional control over External Mana. Do you understand what I mean?”
Upon receiving acknowledged nods and murmurs from a majority of the students, Tyler continued. “As for their pros and cons, External Mana is considerably a lot easier to manage and learn, however, casting with it reduces the firepower and effectiveness by a considerable amount.”
The modified blackboard now showed the doodle of a mage utilizing different mana controls, symbolized by the blue swirl either inside or outside the caster, “It may not look like much when comparing basic spells, but once it gets to stronger, more precision-based magics, the difference starts to become more prominent.”
“Hearing that, many of you may now think about switching to Internal Mana Control,” Tyler clicked his tongue as a playful smile lingered on his lips, “But I'll have you know that it is way more difficult to master than the standardized External Mana Control. After all, it is the basis for the coveted technique: ‘Origin Magic’.”
He shrugged in nonchalance, noting the few disappointed looks on the students’ faces. “Besides that, you'll need to possess above average Internal Mana to effectively utilize the control technique. Sure, there's nothing wrong with learning it, but it won't be as much of an effective use of your time and energy.”
The blackboard's image shifted, but this time, only a large smiley face emoticon glared back at them, with a small, cursive ‘thank you’ written underneath. “That's the summary of last semester's lessons. Does anyone have a question?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
At first, the students remained silent. But before Tyler could resume his lecture, Zeke promptly raised his hand. An excited smile played on the professor's lips as he spoke, “Mister Salvador? Shoot your shot.”
“I've read some books about the history and origin of mages,” Zeke began, mixing in some lies within truths. While he had been reading, he'd only stuck to a few books thus far. “Though I still don't understand how modern mages differ from the witches of the past.”
Tyler's eyebrows twitched upwards, amusement dancing across his features. His smile grew wider with each word he spoke, “That's a great question!” He walked to the center of the stage, “It seems you've read further up the chapters in the Intermediate Arcane Studies textbook. We're going to learn more about that tomorrow, but I can indulge your curiosity.”
With a snap of his fingers, the blackboard's imagery shifted once more, now changing along with Professor Gerran's explanation. “In the past, magic was considered a sacred power. Using magic was seen as a great taboo and blasphemous to the people then.”
“For reasons unknown even in our present time, back then, women had a higher chance to awaken mana than men, and their power is exponentially stronger as well. This began the long, dark point in history known as the ‘Era of the Witches’.”
The blackboard's arts shifted. One side showed the oil painting of women draped in black raining down magic onto screaming humans, their faces filled with despair. On the other half, the people gathered around a blazing bonfire, with the silhouette of a woman flickering within the flames.
“Discrimination and fear of the unknown plagued the land, humans began hunting down witches in the name of god, causing them to retaliate in an attempt to fight against their unjust killings,” though his lips smiled, the distant look in Tyler's eyes told a different story.
“From what we could infer from the historical evidence, it appears that witches utilize some form of Internal Mana control to influence External Mana.” A hint of intrigue laced his voice. “That is something we've tried but failed to mimic. They're different types of mana, mixing them is impossible by both theory and practice. Somehow, the witches found a way to do it, and that makes them unparalleled in terms of magic.”
Professor Garen let out a long sigh, “It's unfortunate that the witches’ bloodline had long faded through time. We speculate that the impurities of mixed bloods cause their magic to weaken until it eventually disappears.”
“And that's about it,” Tyler beamed as he looked at Zeke, “Anymore questions, Mister Salvador?”
Zeke nodded, “I have no more questions about witches. But,” he quickly added, “Is it true that mages have existed since before the Mana Bloom?”
Professor Gerran went quiet, his eyes slightly turned round, surprised by the unexpected question. “Oh, yes. The Magic Tower had existed long before Lord Pryce became its master, after all.” His demeanor returned to normal as he continued, “But you're right to doubt the information's authenticity. Back then, mages weren't particularly powerful, and people saw them as…odd scholars more than anything.”
“The Mana Bloom had changed that,” Gerran said as he crossed his arms, eyes averting to the side in deep thought, “Although it did ultimately send millions to ruins, magic took a stronger root in our world…” He shifted his gaze towards Zeke, a small smile played on his lips, “I see why you asked that question now. Do you also believe that the Mana Bloom isn't an event, but rather a pre-existing phenomenon?”
As Circe looked at Zeke with confusion plastered across her face, he nodded at Tyler's question. “Yes, I do. It wouldn't make sense otherwise why mages began appearing more often after the Era of the Witches. They could be the offspring of witches, but if their power can fade throughout generations, then magicians would not exist today.”
Professor Gerran's thunderous laughter echoed throughout the hall. “Ha! Like master, like disciple. I'm jealous that Lord Pryce managed to find himself a hidden dragon.” he sighed, “We don't know for sure, of course. But the Grand Mage's theory planted a seed of doubt within our known history. Perhaps someday we will have our answers.”
Suddenly, Tyler clasped his hands, the sharp noise jolting every drowsing student awake. “Well then, if anyone has more questions for me, I'll be happy to answer! If not, you're free to sit here and do whatever you want until class's over.”
With that, the class erupted into a flurry of chatters. Circe took it as an opportunity to garner Zeke's attention again, wrapping her arms around his while pouting playfully. “Can Mister Busy entertain me now?”
Zeke let out a sigh. “Okay, I get it,” his voice sounded exaggerated, but the smile on his lips hinted of his merriment. “What do you want us to do?”
“Well…” Circe beamed, and for a moment, Zeke thought his heart flatlined. Failing to notice the faint blush on his cheeks, she continued speaking. “Could the honor student please start by telling me why you're so invested in school so suddenly?”
Zeke raised an eyebrow, “I thought I already told you that I find the subjects interesting.”
“You asked very specific questions earlier,” Circe pulled back, straightening herself as she looked him in the eyes. For once, he couldn't read her face. “Is it because of what Nasrin said a while back?”
“...Witches were scattered throughout the lore in the game,” Zeke replied, his expressions stiffened in deep thought. “But they're weren't any deeper details on them, so I thought they held no importance to the story.”
Zeke's eyes glanced at the textbook laying before him, “Reading the Witch's Codex drove me to find out more about them, and when I read through the books in the estate's library, I realized that they were more interconnected within the lore than I initially believed.”
“So the question remains…” Looking back at Circe, Zeke noted the intrigued glint in her eyes. “Why didn't the developers add more details on the witches when they're practically the predecessors of magicians?”
Although the chatters continued to resonate around the hall, silence had fallen in between them. Eventually, Circe broke the ice, her lips parting to speak. “...Maybe it's just a plot hole.”
Zeke rolled his eyes, caught off guard by the blank expression that contrasted her words—or perhaps she simply didn't care. “Are you entertained?”
To that, Circe's lips broke into a large, smug grin. “Totally.”
.
.
.
An eerily empty hallway stretched out before them as the sound of their heels accompanied them through the quiet. A gentle breeze carried with it the scent of flowers from the garden next to them, drawing their attention often to gaze upon the beautiful bushes and shrubs.
“What's this last class again?” Circe asked, her hands nonchalantly crossed behind her.
With his eyes still fixed on the holographic map, Zeke responded bluntly, “Elective study.”
Hearing that, Circe raised an eyebrow, “What the…? Then where are we going?”
“Where else?” Zeke glanced up from the minimap, instantly spotting a familiar figure standing in the distance. The moment Solren Pryce noticed him, he beamed as he flailed his arms around, gesturing them to come closer.
No more words needed for Circe to understand the situation. She took a deep breath and sighed. “I wish I could change my track sooner…” With her fervent desires left unfulfilled, she begrudgingly stepped forward.