Chereads / Rise of the Elementals / Chapter 8 - This is Magic?!

Chapter 8 - This is Magic?!

Relenah looked around her absent-mindedly as she made her way back to the water elemental dormitories. Students could be seen walking around, some carrying books, while others were happily chatting away.

Most of the students she saw though looked young. When she looked at them intently, she assumed they were mostly first year students. Blinking her eyes, she thought to herself, "That's right, first year students only get introduction classes on the first day. Does that mean those in second year and above don't have to go through introduction classes? What about those in S class though?"

Placing her chin on her hands, Relenah tilted her head in question in trying to figure out why S class had an introduction class. Was it because of her? She shook her head at that. Maybe it was because students in S class change yearly?

Nodding her head at the thought, Relenah concluded, "So every year, S class has introduction classes, because the students often change… Teacher Rupert did also mention that S level rankings can be challenged by students and if they were used as bets, then the S ranking will go to the winner."

With thoughts running through her mind, Relenah finally reached the water elemental dormitories. Heading inside, she saw Esther sitting in front of her desk. When Esther saw her, she gave Relenah a smile, "Welcome back, I have a note from your teacher here."

Relenah took the piece of paper from Esther and saw simple handwriting with the words, "Go to your library, find a book, and learn a spell. Will test you tomorrow."

When Relenah saw the message, she felt her eye twitch slightly. For some odd reason, the face of that facial paralyzed teacher popped in her mind. Shaking her head, she thanked Esther and quickly walked towards the teleportation room.

As soon as she reached her library, she squinted her eyes at all the books lining the walls. The note didn't tell her what book she had to read or which spell she had to learn. She gritted her teeth at this.

Her new teacher was purposely finding trouble for her. By not telling her which book she should read and which spell she should learn, there is a high chance she might cross paths with a difficult spell, which she won't be able to learn under a day.

Letting out an angry sigh, Relenah tied her brown hair up into a ponytail, and started quickly pulling out books one by one. She scanned the titles and when she saw titles that sounded complex, she put those books back.

After looking through for half an hour, she finally found a book titled 'Foundations of Water Manipulation'. Smiling triumphantly, she flipped through the book happily. But, after scanning the book for a bit, she felt her blood boil once more.

Spells? These were spells?! Magic? How in the world is this considered magic?

She threw the book onto the ground and was half tempted to step on it as well. When she was flipping through the book, what she saw made her want to leave the academy. Now she understood why the students acted the way they did during the practical magic test.

It's because these damn books are all full of trash!

Page by page, all she saw were chants, simple pictures of what the magic does, and basic descriptions of what should happen. She wasn't mad about those though, what tilted her, were all the so-called spells.

Making bubbles?! Summoning water to drench your opponents? Spitting water into their opponents faces? How to boil water??!!! How was that even a spell?!

Relenah tugged on her hair in frustration. She turned around and quickly found a book that seemed the most complicated, from all of those she scanned through earlier. When she flipped through it, she could feel her soul leaving her body.

She dropped to the floor with the book opened right in front of her. The book showed a spell called 'Water Shield'. Relenah could feel her whole body shaking because, the so-called water shield, seemed weaker in comparison to the water dome she used against Frederick. She didn't even learn that move from a book! It was all from her own imagination and self-training.

Relenah looked down at her pocket watch and saw that it was only 1 in the afternoon. Letting out a sigh, she quickly calmed herself and put the books back where she found them. After another hour of browsing through the books in her library, she finally found a book that looked promising.

The book didn't have a title and it looked dilapidated. The book cover was made of brown leather and looked like it could crumble under her touch. Flipping the book open, she saw yellow-stained pages. Even the words on the pages were slightly faded.

Relenah found a comfortable spot on one of her couches and carefully opened the book. The first page was filled with messy handwriting but it was still readable.

'Water can be used in many ways. It can be used for defense or offense. It's also very strong when used as support. Some applications of using water include high-pressurized water that is strong enough to cut through any metal, freezing water into ice and smashing enemies, heating water into steam and creating heavy mist, and using water to heal the body.'

As Relenah continued reading, she suddenly found herself excited. Her blood was boiling at the thought of learning all the spells in this book.

Calming herself down, she completely focused on each word that was written in the book. 'High-pressurized water are often used as blades or arrows against enemies. To do this, one must be able to summon a great deal of water that is able to move in lightning speed.'

'Freezing water will turn it into ice. This can be used offensively or defensively. Using ice as weapons is harder than using high-pressurized water, because once an elementalist loses focus, the ice will melt.'

'Heating water until they become vapor is a move usually used to confuse the enemy. However, it is highly difficult to control water vapor as it is untouchable.'

'Healing water is considered to be the hardest spell. There have been only a few that are able to use healing magic the past five hundred years. No known knowledge has been documented concerning how these elementalists were able to use healing magic.'

Relenah flipped to the next page and was disappointed to see there was nothing else documented. Gripping the leather book in her hands, she walked over to the giant desk that was in the middle of the room and softly placed it inside a drawer.

Even if this book only had several pages in it, it was an extremely important piece of knowledge. Once Relenah was satisfied, she sat down in front of her desk and quickly took out two pieces of paper and a quill made of crystal, and started writing to her parents and brother.

When she was done, she leaned back in her chair and tried to think of what she should do next. Technically speaking, she can just show her water dome to her teacher tomorrow since that was one of the spells she saw earlier. If the teacher isn't satisfied, then she can just create weapons made of ice.

Relenah was quite familiar with a sword, bow and arrow. Since her father and brother often hunted wild game, they would use weapons, and it was her job to clean it when they come back. She grimaced at the memory. Back then Oberon and father told her that she should at least know how to use the weapons since she was going to be an elementalist.

She grumbled to herself at the thought of Oberon laughing at her and shouting, "I told you so! I told you so!"

She let out a sigh and looked at her pocket watch again. When she saw it was almost 3, she slowly got off her chair and made a bee line towards the kitchen. She wasn't hungry just now but after noticing that she hasn't had lunch, her stomach suddenly made a loud protest.

She was glad to see that there were cooking ingredients in the kitchen. After making and eating some steamed potatoes with butter, she let out a satisfied breath.

She suddenly felt the crystal around her neck warm up. Relenah looked down at the crystal and saw it flashing. She held it in her hands and hesitantly tapped the crystal twice.

"Relenah! This is your favorite senior, William! The rest of us are watching some fifth years doing magic practice. You should come down too! It's in the training area!"

Relenah quickly held the crystal further away from her ear but the ringing in her ears didn't go away. With a scowl on her face she replied, "All of you are there? Are we even allowed to watch fifth years during their magic practice?"

She heard movement coming from the crystal and a quick shout, "Teacher Rupert did say that we are allowed to watch over magic practice and act as a teacher's assistant. You don't have to come, but it would be a good experience for you," Relenah heard a different voice come through her crystal.

From the shouts coming in the background, she guessed it was Eric that spoke just now, "Okay, I'll head over right now," Relenah replied. She could hear William trying to say something but she quickly double tapped the crystal, cutting their communication.

She let out a relieved sigh. She suddenly doesn't mind Oberon's remarks if she had to compare him to William, who is always loud and energetic.

She let her hair down and quickly fixed her appearance before leaving the dormitories and heading towards the training area.

When she reached the training area, she saw a group of students gathered in one corner. She also saw her seniors from S class standing not too far away from the group. Several teachers were standing beside them.

Relenah slowly made her way towards her seniors while glancing every now and then at a row of students who were trying to hit targets with their spells.

She quickly looked away when she heard them chanting.

As soon as she was near, she saw William excitedly waving his arms at her.

"Relenah! You actually came! I know you loved your senior brother William!"

Before she could react, she suddenly saw William flying backwards, "Stop harassing her," Malcolm spoke seriously. He had a whip in his right hand and he sent icy glares at William.

"Stop whipping me then! I told you, I'm not into that kink-" before he could finish his sentence, William was sent flying again. Malcolm stood there with an annoyed expression on his face. Skylar was standing beside Preston quietly while glancing at William and Malcolm every now and then.

Eric was looking at William with an 'I told you so' look on his face. Preston just shook his head at the scene.

Relenah quietly stood beside Skylar and ignored William as well. She really can't promise she won't send him flying as well if he opened his mouth.

William continued lying on the floor with a pouting look on his face but everyone already forgot all about him and was instead focused on the fifth years' training.

As Relenah looked at the fifth years, she suddenly felt her soul leave her body.

They were just as bad as first years! The only difference is they were doing more exaggerated and dramatic movements when compared to first years. Relenah could feel her brain slowly melting.

She watched as one of the fifth years was doing an elaborate hand signal all around him, only to summon water and spray it onto a target. She turned her head and saw another fifth year doing some weird leg movements only to summon a breeze.

Relenah had automatically blocked out all the chants that were spoken since she also didn't want her ears to go deaf. Glancing at another student, she felt like slamming her head against the wall when she saw him in a horse stance and punching his fists against an invisible wall. The only thing that happened was some medium-sized rocks being lightly thrown at his target.