It's midnight and everyone is currently asleep. On the other hand, something is wrong with Nile. At some point, he is constantly changing his position every three seconds. He twitches his head and his arm is flailing left and right. His legs are also shaking and twitching. It turns out that he is having some kind of a bad dream or some sort.
Because of that, the bedsheet is a little bit wet due to excessed sweat coming down from his body. He gritted his teeth while he continues to struggle.
In his nightmare, Nile can be found inside a black void without any direction. He looks around for a while but he cannot see anything.
"Where am I?" He whispered. He then began to slowly walk without thinking about the direction when suddenly, a spotlight was lit up beside him. He followed the light until another one appeared. As he continues, the spotlight that keeps on appearing is becoming farther and dimmer. He doesn't know what is happening at the moment but he keeps on running around follow it.
Right before he took the final step, the ground suddenly breaks and lava appeared on the bottom. He got shocked by this in which he accidentally tripped over a small rock. Fortunately, he managed to grip onto something.
"Damn it!" He exclaimed. He dragged his body in order to get up. Most of the ground had already been broken and the lava is continuously rising up.
After realizing that he is now in the center of a pool full of lava, he looked up in the sky to find something ominous.
It was a black hole that is constantly breaking that world he is currently in. And inside that black hole, a man can be found wearing the same exact clothes as the organization X is wearing. Nile tried to resist the air compression that is sucking in by hanging on a large stone. He raised his arms to cover his face and then he saw the man inside the black hole.
The man began to laugh hysterically with a demonic sound screeching. He removed the cloak. It was King Yama on his prime. He has a grey hair with 2 horns sticking out from his head. Other than that, 2 wings can be also found from his back.
"Who are you!?" Nile tried to shout but it doesn't reach King Yama.
After a while, King Yama flapped his wings and suddenly flew down to approach Nile. He grabbed Nile on his neck as he raised him up. Nile was struggling but he is facing King Yama with a large amount of confidence and intent. He saw the red Eyes on King Yama as well as his demonic face with sharp fangs. Nile also noticed the amount of dark tattoos and black streaks accumulating from King Yama's chest.
King Yama raised his arms and on his hand, a sharp fingernail grew longer. However, when he is about to strike Nile with his claws, the whole nightmare abruptly ended.
Nile suddenly woke up while panting very hard. He scratched his eyes and sighed. He also noticed that he is sweating a lot. Then after a brief moment, the bell began to ring. Their 2nd day had started.
"Nile... Are you okay?" Stell woke up after he heard the bell and the first thing he saw is the look on Nile's face. He noticed that Nile is scared and is feeling distressed.
"O-Oh um... Nothing, I just had a bad dream..." Nile answered him in a soft voice. He wiped off his sweat using his hands and started fixing his bedsheet.
"Bad dream? That's new... do you like to discuss it?" Stell asked while watching him. Nile stared at him and smiled.
"Nah... I already forgot. Anyway, we should go now, we will be late if we don't hurry. I'm going to the washroom first to take a bath, then I'll let you know if I'm done." Nile responded.
"Alright then, I'll get my things first," Stell responded. Nile went out of the room and slowly closed the door. He is still shaking and nervous about what just happened. He lied about forgetting the bad dream he had to stop Stell from worrying too much.
'That guy... could it be?' He thought.
-
"Alright, welcome to your 2nd day. At this point, we're going to be starting our regular classes. From 7:00 to 9:00 I will be your first teacher. And the rest will be given to the other grandmasters to switch places with us. Keep in mind that the time between each grandmaster is short only. All of you need to make sure that you will listen carefully, otherwise, you won't level up." Faye explained to them the process that they're going to be taking every day.
Every regular day, they're going to be studying each element by their respective grandmaster. Once they're finished with their terms, there's going to be an evaluation of their own elements and how much they've learned about it. If they passed the first test, they're now going to revert back to the normal schedule and it will proceed to physical evaluation for the next semester.
The Astrochist started placing down their bags and sat down. On Faye's table, 50 plus books can be found and some wands. All of them have some special design or some sort and they're also different based on the colors and thickness and shape.
"First, I would like to ask everyone. Can you control your element? Raise your hand if you're able to control and manipulate your personal Elemental power." Faye called out the attention of each and everyone in the room.
About half of the Astrochist were able to raise their hands without any problem and the rest including Nile didn't raise their hands.
"I see, so only a few of you can actually manipulate your power. You, over there." Faye called someone from the back.
"Stand up." She followed.
A girl from the back stood up and she looks surprised when she suddenly got called.
"What's your name?" Faye asked.
"Chell..." She responded.
"Okay, Chell. Can you demonstrate to us how you manipulate your element? I want you to say a basic spell and control it for about 10 seconds." Faye ordered her.
Chell nodded. She raised her hand and chanted a spell.
"Water Magic Skill: Alo verasta." A squared shape water barrier suddenly appeared right in front of her. Everyone was amazed by the beauties of the water. 10 seconds have passed and she successfully retained the magic spell. Everyone else from the class clapped their hands. On the other hand, Nile was still staring at her with a blank face. He took a gaze on his hand.
"Thank you for the demonstration, Chell. Alright, now most of you are already wondering. How do we actually manipulate our own power? Are we using our minds? Our body? No, the answer is none of those." Faye said.
"In order for us to actually regulate our own elemental powers, we need to understand the basic structure of it. For every elemental power, they have their own corresponding elemental tree. These trees I'm talking about is pertaining to a certain spell that is linked to the other spell as well. We use the principles of these trees to be able to create a spell we desire. But how do we activate and control it? The answer lies in how you convert your mana using your body. Everywhere in this world is blessed by Mana." She followed.
"Um, I have a question?" A guy from the back suddenly raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"How can we know if there's mana inside us? Does mana have any physical presence? If so then how can we actually convert it if we can't see or feel it?" He asked.
"Good question. Actually, only rare magicians can see the physical look of Mana. In history, some of the leaders of each Zodiac Clan have discovered that Mana resembles a glowing light with wings. They are small in size but its light is pretty sparkly. The only way to sense if there's some Mana inside you is by concentrating on your desire. Yes, that's right. In order for you to cast a spell is by being loyal to your own desire. The stronger your desire to use it and its reason, the stronger your spell will accumulate." She answered.
"Now, of course, you guys wouldn't understand it easily. That's why I have prepared these things in front of you." She followed.
Faye started approaching each and everyone until she found Nile.
"You..." She pointed out.
"Can you join me in the front?" Nile nodded. He followed Faye until they reached the table.
"Now, here, I want you to pick a wand and show it to everyone," Faye told him to choose one of the magic wands placed on the table. It took a while for Nile to pick a wand, in the end, he picked the normal-sized wand with 2 black stripes on its handle. The color of the wand he picked is dark brown with a little streak on the body.
"Great, now, say this: Discharge Recollection." Faye said.
Nile were shaking for a bit. But after a while.
"Discharge recollection" He blurted out.
The wand he is holding suddenly began to emit some light blue aura. Everyone was amazed and after a few seconds, it went out.
"Now then, this wand is yours. You've released the recollection this wand has and it is now holding it's owner's authority. Which means that, only you can control this wand. This is called, PECW. Your Personal Element Control Wand. With this wand, it will be easy for you to manipuate your skills and abilities without having to rely on mana. We made this specifically for those who are unable to control their own powers nor activate it. This wand will help you convert mana and cast a spell on your own will. Now of course it will be only temporary, you still need to learn on how to convert Mana by yourself without relying on the wand." Faye said.
"Now, pick a book, any of that and go to page 2." She followed. Nile scooted to the left the pick a book and then he opened it on page 2.
"Right here, these are called, grimoires. A grimoire is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities and demons. This book will be your guide on how to control your powers and how to summon a spell. But of course you need to keep in mind that you can only do the basic spells indicated on each tree principles. This grimoire has all the Water element spells." She explained the concept of the book.
"Nile, pick a spell and try to cast it using the wand you're holding."
"Okay, I'll do this..." He responded.
"Water Magic Skill: Stingray" After he chanted the spell he flailed the wand a little bit.
A stingray fish made out of water suddenly appeared and he shot it on the back side of the room. It made a lot of splashes and everyone was surprised of how powerful it was. Faye were surprised about it as well.
"G-Good job." She twitched.
"Alright, you guys understand how it works now? Later on, after our discussion, I'm going to let you pick your own wand and personal grimoires. Make sure that you guys will memorize all of the basic function and spells accordingly to help you with your skills." Faye ended the demonstration and Nile went back on to his seat. He noticed that everyone is looking at him in which he didn't pay any heed.
Meanwhile on Stell's class.
"Alright, since you guys know about the PECW. We will be having our own magical evaluation on the outside later. I want everyone to showcase their own skills and how you perform them is up to you. Using the wands, manipulating your own elemental power is going to be easy, but that doesn't mean that you guys will keep on using it. Remember that we, earth elemental users are bulky and should be fast a creating and casting spells. We are mainly build for fortification and frontline attackers. Defensive abilities are important for as well." Brook said.
Aella's class
"If you guys are wondering, I recommend that all of you will read this grimoires that the royalty and grandmasters have prepared. Make sure that you guys are going to memorize every basic spell and connection and their own effects. You don't have to bother reading the advanced magic parts since you guys are still beginners. We will work our way up until you guys are leveled up." Syphyl said.
Adara's class
"Hey! Hey! Hey! What the hell are you guys doing? Start memorizing this books now or I'll burn all of you. We're going to have an evaluation of physical magic later on. You guys will need to show me your own powers and how to perform it." Lars exclaimed.
"I hate this guy..." Adara whispered as she glared at him.
Meanwhile, on the top of the central building. Luong can be found looking at the sky.
"It finally started..." He said.