After bidding farewell to Charlotte, Kohota went back to his room without a word. Bidding good night to Latus, Kohota just went to sleep while tossing and turning. Too many complex emotions pressing on his heart, and thoughts invading his mind. He finally fell asleep well after midnight.
Kohota was awoken by Latus falling off his bed and falling onto the floor. Latus just groaned and didn't wake up. Seeing as it was morning, Kohota got up with a sigh and went to go figure out how to take a shower. Sometime later Kohota came out feeling refreshed, only for his thoughts to pray on him again, weighing down his shoulders as he got ready for his first classes. Latus came from a well-off middle-class family, so he had already used "rich person" amenities. Latus got ready in half the time Kohota took and attempted to talk to the silent Kohota.
"So... What class do you have first" awkwardly questioned Latus. "Same as everyone else. Physical training. Then more physical training. Then lunch. The rest of the day learning magic principals" drawled Kohota as he gazed at the floor. "Kohota is everything okay with you?.. I know we barely know each other, but you seemed a lot more... cheery last night? I just thought we could stick together for now" retorted Latus. "No, it's just.. nothing, don't worry about it I'm fine. Sure, we can stick together if you want to. it's just something I learned about recently is all" responded the apologetic Kohota. Not wanting to follow the topic, Kohota Tucked his newly acquired locket away under his shirt, grabbed a water sack and went with Latus to their first class.
*****
A large crowd had gathered in the parade field, somewhere between three to four hundred strong. Across the field came Kohota and Latus sprinting to make it before they started. As they reached the crowd, a loud noise came out of thin air, sounding like someone striking a bell. The next moment later a beast of a man walked out onto the parade field. The man stood 8 feet tall( same as 8'), bulging muscles, and an angry face with teal eyes accompanied by a vein threatening to burst out of his forehead. He stopped in front of the group, making everyone go silent. Unfortunately, that was exactly where Kohota and Latus were. with an almost guttural voice he introduced himself "Alright maggots I'm not going to lie to you; this is gonna be the most grueling, shitty time of your day. I almost feel pity towards you lot that it's your first class. Any of you that are going to whine and complain after training today, can take your sorry asses and leave. As for those of you that stay, good luck, and don't break anything; or you'll be doing your own paperwork, I hate that stuff. As for my name, you can refer to me as captain Bull" The murmuring started up again, but was soon followed by a powerful pressure, making everyone collapse to the ground and struggle to breath. "Oh good, you already knew what to do next. however, I'm going to need you to line up in even rows and not speak unless spoken to. Is that understood?!" A series of "yes sirs" followed as they moved about in silent dread. After setting their belongings next to them, Kohota and Latus lied on the ground like everyone else. "Alright, give me 2 sets of ten to start out." And following that began their morning of tortu- exercise. Their long morning of exercise.
*****
After getting a shower and having lunch, the duo went to their first class of magic principals. Even the glum Kohota was excited for this, not to mention the ecstatic Latus. Not wanting to make the same mistake as they did in the morning, they got one of the middle seats in the lecture hall, towards the wall. The sheer amount of people their was astounding. almost as much as this morning but it was just 100 people. The theme of the seating people chose was one side of the class boys the other girls. There was loud chatter in the room, until the professor came in. She stood tall, 5' 8" was slightly tanned, was beautiful and her visage just as beautiful. One of her eyes had a silver iris like Kohotas' were, while her right iris was a very dark blue. Her thin lips parted and she spoke in an almost melodic voice "Hello class, you may refer to me as Professor Lydia. Today we will only go over information and you will receive books to study and understand before class in a week. Now to go over the basics of magic, ranks, as you already know, are Mage Apprentice, Mage Assistant, Mage, Wizard/Witch, Arch-mage, and Sorcerer/Sorceress. There is a rumored stage above this that only one known person has reached, but I digress. It's crude to sum it up as just magic, but we call it that so simple minds can understand it. Inside the very core of everything is mana, a pure essence of the very world you're all born from. It's the very energy that sustains life and the very ground you're standing on. The things that taint mana are what we call elements. Pure mana, as I said before is in the very core of everything. Be that as it may, it is the very life that is created from this mana that contaminates it with elements. These elements create many things, and given enough time, an element can be integrated into your very being. That's why a flash boar is a flash boar, and each of you have the water element coursing through every fiber of your being." After she said this she took a pause, stopped pacing, and seemingly stared at everyone at the same time. "Living beings can use a combination of mana and elements to affect the world, at a price of either the mana within them, or around them. No, mana isn't taken away from you forever idiots, you naturally accumulate it but can actively accumulate mana as well. I'll teach you more about that later but for right now, I want you all to partner up." She waited for everyone to pair up, catching two glimmers of silver staring back at her from the corner of her eye. Obviously, Kohota and Latus paired together. "Now, as you're all paired together, I want you to try something. Put your left hands against each other and face your right palms toward each other but leave space. Calmly, say 'fostai'" As the students followed Professor Lydias' instructions, small trembling blue orbs appeared. In some cases, they were the size of baseballs, where in most cases they were the size of marbles. Between Kohota and Latus, It was just slightly larger than a baseball. "Now, slowly raise your right hands up, which will tell your orb to float upwards. Good, now imagine it disappearing. Okay, now that that's over, remember the feeling that was inside of you when you did this. If you can recreate that feeling, that's your key to your mana pool. That will be all for today, go enjoy the rest of your first day. Remember to study those books!" Everyone got up and started heading for the door by now.
"Oh silver eyed boy, come down here a minute." Called the now sitting Professor. Kohota and Latus shared an uneasy look "Wait for me" Asked Kohota. Latus gave a curt nod and waited by the door.
"You wished to see me Professor Lydia" questioned the nervous Kohota.
"Ah yes. do you know what family you're from? And what's your full-name? To have two silver eyes it's.. rare to say the least."
"No I don't I'm sorry. my adopted mother told me she found me left in front of her door one morning. My name is just Kohota Professor"
"Hmm... I see... well anyways, be careful Kohota. I can tell you have a gift for magic. Don't get into any trouble."
"Okay thanks, anything else?"
"Hmm... No, nothing else, see you tomorrow Kohota."
Hearing that he was free, he briskly walked back to the waiting Latus.
"So, what did she talk about?"
"Just asked me where I came from and admired my silver eyes. Also that I have a gift for magic"
"Right, okay. anyways want some food?"
As they walked out the door Kohota was about to respond when they both got yanked into a corner by a small group of boys. "So what did you guys talk about" Asked a snobbish boy, with a knife to Kohotas' throat.