Athena woke up to the sun beaming on her face. She yawned and got up, stretched herself, and looked around. The exhaustion of traveling had worn off, she was in a good mood.
She looked around to see her roommate bury her head under a pillow and continue to snore. They still had two hours until the first class started, so she headed to the bathroom to freshen up. She woke the heating rune and took her first proper bath in weeks! Today they had introductory classes for this month. All the classes were compulsory. It was so students knew what they were in for the rest of their school days.
Humming, Athena exited to find her new friend grumpily getting up. “Good morning, Princess. ” Athena perked up.
“Don’t” the person in question looked up at Athena through her frisky hair. Prisca sighed, snatched a towel from her bag, and stormed towards the bathroom. Athena used this moment to go through her storage ring. After going through healing potions, mana balls, and emergency supplies she got to the money. Her father had stuffed enough gold in there to buy a kingdom. Athena pulled up some gold coins, she would exchange them for the more usable silver and bronze coins later.
She opened her bag and made a checklist for what she would require for her class. Books and pens, check. A small easily carriable bag and a good mood.
“Are you ready for class? What class do we have first anyway?” Prisca inquired stepping out of the bathroom.
“Oh, we have a magical theory, by Prof Linda. I don’t know what to expect let's see.” Athena replied.
Prisca grumped her assent, both of them headed down and towards the classroom. The freshmen classes were held in a small two-storied building. As they wouldn’t be participating in any experiment or research, the building consisted of two classrooms, a training room, and some labs for teachers to explain.
They got in early, yet the room was almost filled. All the students were eager to get started and had arrived early.
“Oh, my cousin is there. Sorry Athena, but I promised him that I would sit with him.” Prisca spoke with a wince.
“It is all right. I will find a seat, I will see you after class.” Athena replied. She never considered Prisca to become a close friend by just spending one day together. She looked around and found an empty seat next to a blond guy.
“Hi, do you mind if I sit here, most of the seats are filling up” Athena politely asked?
The boy looked around and hesitantly spoke, “All right, I was expecting someone but it seems he is late. Please have a seat. I am Alexander by the way.
“Thank you, Alexander. I am Athena, nice to meet you.” Athena sat down and pulled out her stationary preparing for class.
Alexander gave her a confused look and was about to say something when the teacher walked in.
Elder Laura looked stunning in a black dress and everybody hushed down when she walked in. She walked up to the teacher’s table and turned around. With a smile on her face, she looked at all the students in front of her.
“I don’t believe in wasting time for frivolities like introductions, names. If you perform well, I will know your name, or else I won't bother to. Today’s class is one of the most important classes for students who don’t know how the world works. For those not so ignorant, let this be a revision.”
She walked up to the board, and spoke again, “ Magic requires three things” She wrote on the board, “ Mana, Will, and Directions. Directions were formerly called as spells and rituals but that will be covered in detail in your history class.”
“We are not that ignorant as we were 200 years ago before the magic revolution. During this time many views and ideas were put to rest and we got a picture of how the world works. We realized gods are not beings who created who could cause disasters. But today we know that they are beings like us, who are slightly overpowered and cannot live in this realm. They also cannot directly affect the mortal realm.”
“ The denizens of hell were thought to be evil creatures who tortured mistaken souls. But recent diplomatic efforts and studies have shown that hell is civilization just like Panga and demons are the species that inhabit the plane like we inhabit the mortal plane.”
“It was earlier believed that magic is an act of god, the magic-wielders or Mages were blessed by the gods to perform unnatural deeds. But we now we know that magic is just the imposition of your will and thoughts on the outside world and bending it to your desires.”
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“ The first requirement is mana. All of you here have some capability to perform magic. Only 1.5 percent of the population can do it. Of the gifted people, half of them are stuck in purple.”
“ Oh! Before I forget remember that an aura of a person shows how strong, the levels are purple, blue, green, yellow, and red.
I will answer what will happen after red later in the lecture. A person can compress their aura, but it is impossible to fake a higher aura.”
“To perform magic, you need to have some mana bonded in your blood. Even a person with very little mana bonded can perform magic. The amount of mana bonded does not matter, but the mana in your blood enables you to use the mana outside.
There are two ways to do this. First, bloodlines. You can inherit the ability from your parents because the ability to bind mana to your blood is genetically passed. Though it does not guarantee the ability, it does explain the higher percentage of mages from the noble class. The other way is to live in a high mana density area. Your blood will absorb the mana over time. It is also easier to perform magic for those who live in these regions due to the body adjusting to the mana levels.”
“This is the reason why elves have nearly half of the population as mages. Be warned that these regions have high danger levels. If your go west of the mountains of the dwarfs, east into the lost forest, or above the domain of the elves, the mana levels increase progressively. You can also grow faster and become stronger in these regions. But they are also filled with powerful beasts and fauna.
“ The Human plains have a low density as they are cleared out of forests and animals, reducing the mana levels. This keeps us safe from dangerous beasts growing in the middle of kingdoms, but it also impacts the quality and number of mages. The academy is located far away from any major city because this area has a very high mana concentration, making It easier for you to grow. The higher mana also leads to dangerous beats roaming these lands. So don’t forget to be very careful outside the academy boundary.”
“The second component is will. Technically anyone with sufficient will can become a mage but the use of mana and thereby magic helps in strengthen your will. The levels of power I mentioned earlier are a consequence of your will. Stronger your will, the more effect you can have on the outside world.”
“Will also give, what is believed to be your soul, weight. Yes, weight. The mortal plane is like a sheet of paper. Take this marble, for example, this represents a green level mage. But this ball represents the red level. Both of them cause depression in the paper, which is proportional to the effect they have on the outside world. But if I keep a heavy rock on the paper it will tear.”
“This is the same thing that happens when a person goes beyond red. The mortal realm can no longer handle their soul and if they stay it will cause a tear in the space continuum. They then migrate to the heavenly realm, which is very strong and can hold their weight. Moving beyond the red is believed to achieve godhood. The gods cannot act on the mortal realm due to the same reasons, but they can indirectly influence it.”
“ I will explain about will and how to strengthen it in later lessons. During your stay here you will learn how to manipulate mana and strengthen your will. The component is Directions, it gives you an easy path to perform magic. Mana is the means of magic, which will enable magic but Direction makes it easy. It is akin to giving a guide to explore a maze. You will eventually, after spending time and effort, discover the exit but Direction shows the easy oath. For example, the fire spell for a violet takes 10 seconds to chant. Try to cast without a spell and only your will, it will take a minute and ten times the mana required in the spell. Directions are essentially the way to tweak your surroundings for a particular result.”
“ Creating and discovering directions are an important part of the research here at Ethero. Many are accidentally discovered, while others can be derived. The Ice spell is a mix of the water spell and the cold spell. In the same way, it is possible to create complex spells. Many families hoard spells and hold on to them. There are many spells on the market, but the good ones are very costly. Here you will be taught some basic spells and spells held by Ethero as part of your education.”
“Every level has three stages-low, mid and high.
90 percent of the mages never cross low green. Magic is not only a tool but art to create your mark on society. Since this is your first class, your homework for today will be to write a five hundred essay on ‘Magic’. I am leaving the topic open to interpretation. Well, I hope you impress me. Class dismissed.”
Saying these words, the teacher walked out while the transfixed students slowly came to their senses.
Athena looked around and realized that everyone had been enraptured by Elder Linda’s lesson. She jotted down the points and realized that she enjoyed the class. Her bench mate got up and took off without a goodbye.
While she was packing she saw Prisca and her cousin approach from the corner of her eye.
“Hey Athena, so making friends from high society. It seems being a roommate with a Ducal scion is not enough” Prisca teased.
“What do you mean?” Athena retorted,
“Ahh. I just meant that you were sitting next to the Prince of Browe Alexander, I thought you were friends. Never mind, it is not like they teach foreign royalty to peasants. No offense, Athena.”Prisca answered, she looked at Athena slyly and continued, “By the way, I never introduced you to my cousin, Arthur. His family is a direct retainer to mine. We are distantly related but we are very close.”
“Hello, you must be Prisca’s roommate. It was nice to meet you.” Arthur shyly replied. Embarrassed, he proceeded to drag his laughing cousin out of the room.
She spied two elves, leaving and remembered that the kingdom had included them as part of a diplomatic arrangement. She decided to meet up with them, she had limited experience with elves but here she was as socially awkward as them.
Athena shook her head and took off towards her next class. It was going to be a long day.