"Today's lesson will be covering the second phase of the spell tree principles. I want all of you to get all of your grimoires and turn them into page 52." A nonchalant voice coming from one of the Grandmasters from the Leo Zodiac Clan. The voice of Pier.
He directly ordered all of the Astrochist he is handling without any problem. Due to his menacing aura and strict rules and regulations, all Astrochist are doing their best to not mess up or do anything stupid in front of him. Pier is known for his hostile attitude and ferocious behavior in the Military division. All of his men are actually suffering every day because of his intense training agenda and routine.
And whenever he scolds them, his true colors are always showing its mark, making everyone scared of him. But aside from those personalities and characteristic traits, he's also good at fire manipulating. Luong had high respect for him because he always does his best at anything for any missions he received.
"Before we start, I would like to apologize to all of the Fire Elemental User that Lars is handling as of now. I'm sorry that I haven't got that much time to actually teach all of you and had this shorty handle it." Pier bowed his head in front of the Astrochist.
"What did you say?! You bastard!" Lars's constant shout can be heard outside the field. His nerves popped out when he hard Pier insult his height.
"Due to my special mission, I've lost all of my time. Which is why I'm absent for a whole month and a half. I heard the Lars is pretty much doing his best to teach all of you. Although he is a Lightning Elemental user, he's also suitable for teaching fire elemental units. But yeah, he's teaching is too indecent so I apologize for that, but this time."
Everyone clenched their buttcheek when Pier suddenly stared at them intently. They are all sweating because of nervousness. Nile and the rest of the Water Elemental Users are showing anxiety as well.
"This time, you're all going to be doing some serious magical affiliation. For those of you who cannot control their Mana up until now, get the hell out of my sight. Do you all understand?" He asked. Everyone was silent, because of the quietness, Pier slightly showed his true colors in front of them.
"I didn't hear anything, I SAID, DO YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND?!" He shouted.
"YES, SIR!" Everyone was startled about this that they are forces to scream 'Yes, sir!' out of their lungs.
"Okay, if you guys have already turned your grimoires into page 52, let's start." He turned back after he made everyone screamed. He wants everyone to pay attention to every little detail he is about to say in order for them to not mess up the lesson.
'Thinking about it, I could've wished the Lars just continued his term instead of this strict Grandmaster.' Nile made a joking expression while staring at Pier.
"So, I said earlier that we're going to be tackling about the second phase of the spell tree principle right? Well, If I'm correct, I think most of you had already known the basic spell elements and their respective effects on each other, am I right?" He asked.
"Yes, Sir." Everyone responded.
"Well, those basic spell elements are actually just the tip of the tree branch that you guys are practicing. Well, to put it into a simple term, those basic spells don't actually have one particular use." He said. Everyone widens their eyes after they've heard Pier.
"Let me explain it to you, when you guys are using one particular spell, you do 3 steps, right? First, you're going to convert the Mana inside your body, second, you're going to think about your desire on casting this spell, after you've done that, you're going to focus your entire concentration on the target and you will use your personal elemental whatever wand weapon that is and then chants the correct word, right?"
He writes all of the steps on the blackboard. Everyone is listening to attentively without any distractions. It seems like all of them are paying attention because they're scared, on the other hand, Nile is actually paying attention because he finds the lesson, more interesting than any other lessons he has.
'This lesson, I think I've come across something like this in Aqua's adventure book that I'm reading. I just don't know what page is that.'
"And... It's done! Right, so here are the first three steps that you guys are doing. Does anyone of you know how does the chant actually works?" He asked. No one answered but some of them waved their heads left and right indicating that no one knows.
"No one?" Pier looked on the other side of the room, still no one is answering. After a few moments, Nile suddenly raised his hand. Pier noticed this.
"Ah yes, we have someone here. Young man, can you stand up please and tell me what kind of process do you think the chant has anything to do with our lesson for today." Pier called Nile. He stood up from his chair and everyone stared at him.
"Umm, I'm not really sure about this one, but I've read a book that is kinda similar to what we're going to discuss for today. So, if my memory is correct, the three steps that we're doing, can be actually tampered with a few more steps and create a disturbance with the spell and may produce different kinds of outcomes?" Nile explained.
"Bingo! That's actually a bit correct, yeah. But you get the point, very good, you may now seat down." Pier responded. Nile sat down with a confused expression. Pier continued his explanation.
"Just like what the young man have said, these three standard steps of producing a spell can be actually changed and cut into parts." Pier said.
"What? But that doesn't make any sense, right? I mean, if the steps are not done correctly in their own particular order then how does that produce any kind of outcome?" Someone from the back asked.
"That's a good question. Well, we're not actually going to 'change' the steps, we are only cutting them into parts and 'add' a new source for them." He answered.
"But, Sir. How does that actually work? Do we need to do some more proper training in order for us to do the second phase?" Another question from the left side of the room.
"Ah yes, about that, no. You guys won't do anything of the sort. Instead, you will have to memorize the specific words and chants in order for you to do this. You see, in the spell tree principles, we have branches, and those branches actually have more sub branches." He answered.
"Then that means..."
"Yeah, if you guys are thinking what I'm thinking then that's your answer. In other words, you guys can also subject yourself into the roots of the spell tree and gain more knowledge about an specific spell. This will help you understand the nature of your elemental powers down to the very bottom of the tree. Remember that the roots are the origin of all things, same thing with your powers, if you guys want to become more stronger then you guys have to dive in deeper into the roots and determine the difference." He said while smiling.
"Sir, can we have a demonstration of what you're talking about?" Denz suddenly asked out of the blue.
"Oh yeah, sure, I will do it. But first, I need all of you to cast a magical barrier. I don't really want to do this because of my high emittance, but we have no choice." Pier said.
"Water Magic Skill: Aqua's Barrier!" Everyone cast a magical barrier. This magical shield will protect them from the shockwave and impact that Pier might cause in the process of demonstrating the spell. Multiple blue powered particles have suddenly appeared right in front of them. A large neon rectangle shaped shield erupted and after a few minutes, they're now ready.
"Alright, seems like all of you are good now." Pier checked all of them before he returned back to his position in front. Everyone braced themselves including Nile for what's coming. Some of them are scared that they might get hurt while the others are excited.
"Okay, so first thing first, I will show you the three basic steps that will let me cast the firebolt spell. I want all of you to pay attention to the magic and to the words that I'm going to say as well. This is very important for you to understand the roots of all magic elements." He said.
Pier went to the board. He took a single step and started doing as stance by raising his hand upward with his left leg being on the back. He leaned his body a bit and after that.
"Fire Magic Skill: Firebolt!" He chant.
A medium sized fireball have appeared in his hand and after that, it exploded into pieces creating some light yellow and orange particles with a bit of smoke. Everyone was shocked that a single firebolt can produce that much explosion. It's an induced explosion with a lot of mana concentration.
"That's the standard basic spell, now let's do the phase 2." He said.
Pier did another stance by raising both of his hands upward, he crouched for this time with his left leg still being on the back.
"Fire Magic Skill: Fire, Bolt, Release!" He shouted.
After the chant, flames have started to circulate around his arms, he shot it upward and it began to formulate a blast. Within the blast, an electricity can be found sparking around the wave of flames making it more powerful. The room is now full of smoke and all of them are feeling the heat. After a few moment, the flaming blast have dissipated and the temperature returned back into normal.
"Now, see the difference? Let's do another one, let's see if we can do another spell." Pier said.
Everyone doubled up their magical barrier as they clenched their body. Pier still did the same stance as the 2nd one and then after that...
"Advanced Fire Magic skill: 2nd tier, Flame and Lightning bolt conduction!"
By this point, Pier have released an advanced spell using the root spell. The flame that is circulating around his arms suddenly became wider. In mid air, a flaming ball have appeared and numerous particles are gathering in the center of it. The room's heat have increased tremendously into an intense level and everyone was having a problem negating it.
'Damn it! So this is the power of the grandmaster?' Nile thoughts were preoccupied by Pier's skill. He's barely negating the heat with his weak magical barrier.
The flaming ball suddenly explode and the whole room turned into a mess, after the explosion, sparks of electricity can be found all around the area. Pier have successfully destroyed half of their desks and the ceiling is almost melted. The black board behind him were already in dust and the door for the entrance is gone.
"Well, how's that?" He smirked while staring at all of the Astrochist. Everyone dropped their jaw while hiding under the table and the others are still scared to go out.
Meanwhile, Nile stood up. He smiled.
"Sir!" He bowed.
"Yeah?" Pier smiled as he responded. Everyone stood up as well and decided to follow Nile's lead. Meanwhile, Faye is currently hiding behind the room while monitoring all of them. She's leaning into the wall with her arms crossed.
"Please teach us your ways!" Nile and the rest of the Astrochist bowed their heads directly into Pier. They all said the words in synch without any failure. Pier was shocked that. It's pretty new for him to recognize such Astrochist that is really determined to learn his style. In the Military Division he was called a demon for his way of training but in this case, he's absolutely respected and everyone likes him.
"Well, seems like you guys are up for the challenge, then?" Pier asked as he smirked.
"No..." A voice can be heard. It was Nile.
"Hmm?" Pier stared at him.
"We're not just gonna do the challenge..." he said with a monotone voice. His eyes were dead serious as he faces Pier.
Everyone stared at him.
"We're going to surpass you..." He smirked. Everyone gained confidence when he declared that. Pier, on the other hand, laughed.
"Hahahahaha! Well, that was unexpected. But sure, go try and beat me." His fangs have erupted as he smiled.
"Heh... This is going to be interesting..." Faye softly said as she walked away.