Fen left the Training Hall shortly after that. After reminding him again to not let his mouth slip and talk about his nature, Raisen once again went through the normal capabilities of an Opfer candidate within the Program.
Thankfully, Fen's Mana manipulation skills were no where near as skilled as his Vital energy manipulation skills, so he wouldn't have as much trouble hiding his nature in any Lesson related to magic. After all, it wasn't difficult to hide what he didn't have.
The only reason why he could even put together spellworks was by using the memories of the monsters he killed, but there was a limit to the skill level even a magically enabled monster could possess. With no teacher and limited intelligence, it was worse than searching for something in the dark.
The majority of them simply used brute force, using their powerful evolved minds to piece together magic spellworks. Although it worked, the process consumed much more Mana than a Mage would, resulting in an overall loss in efficiency.
Because of them, Fen developed the bad habit of using his will alone to manipulate magical energy, barely depending on techniques or skill to use spellworks. The purpose of him attending the Basic Mana Manipulation Lesson was to correct his errors and build a sturdy foundation for him to progress more and more in the Magical Arts.
Anyways, after stressing over whether he should skip the Lesson to preserve his secret, Fen managed to convince himself that it'd be a waste if he didn't take advantage of the Lessons provided by the Foundation. Either way, Fen would have to fight for his life in the Tasks, and skipping on essential knowledge was the same as signing his own death certificate.
No matter what, he had to worry about not dying in the Program first before he could even start worrying about what he was going to do about Heaven hunting down. And it was 'when', not 'if'. Fen was too much of a realist to believe that he'd somehow manage to hid his nature within the Program for the whole year. A mistake would be made somewhere, a word would slip out something that he shouldn't have said, and even if his secret wasn't found out people would start getting suspicious. The worst part was, Fen needed more power, but to get that power he'd need to use his nature to his advantage which might get him killed. And if he didn't use the powers of a Vitul, he'd risk getting killed anyways.
'...The future really isn't bright for me, huh?' Fen grumbled in his heart.
After that depressing monologue, Fen just so happened to remember that he had the Death Mark. That realization helped him make up his mind; worst case scenario every time, remember? So, Fen made the decision to use his nature even if he risked exposure. Honestly, he wasn't risking much. It was the difference between 100% risk of exposure and, well, 100% risk, all because the damned Death Mark. At least he didn't have to struggle to come up with a decision anymore.
The Training Hall for his next Lesson appeared in his view shortly after he left Raisen; Fen had to use the guidance system in the inscriptions within the wall to find it. Much to his surprise, there were other youths in the room waiting for the instructor. After a brief moment of confusion Fen realized that he should've expected this, as the Lesson wasn't just tailored for Opfer taking the path of the Knights; that'd be a waste of resources that the Foundation wouldn't tolerate.
A old woman walked into the room after a few minutes of waiting. In that time, none of the Opfer interacted with Fen, mostly because of the 'screw off' aura he had around him. It wasn't as if he wasn't interested in them, more like he didn't care. So yeah, he wasn't interested in them. They were just people who ended up in the same Lesson as him in his mind.
The instructor who walked in had light brown hair with only a few strands of grey, with amber eyes that held little warmth towards the Opfer. She was of a shorter stature, standing at a smaller height than Fen, but her aura was more than intimidating enough to command respect from them.
"Alright, I'm just going to assume that you're all here because I don't care enough to check." With a flick of her hand, the interface connected to the wall started flooding with golden particles until a screen appeared in front of the bewildered Opfer.
"Let's see what we've got... Knights, that side of the room, Mages, this side, and if you're a Warrior dumb enough to want to learn magic, do whatever. I don't care. Find a spot." She pointed to the different sides of the room, with various equipment in them.
Fen walked over to his spot without a complaint, happy to see that he was the only one there. That was to be expected, it was very rare for any Opfer to undergo the operation that enabled them to manipulate Vitality because almost all of them were unaware about magic and the Classes. As far as his common knowledge went, Vituls were the only race in existence who could naturally use Vital energy to empower themselves without having to alter their physiology first.
Erik was the exception to the rule that Opfers couldn't become Knights, along with Fen, though for very different reasons. His family for some reason already had knowledge about the Magical Arts and so performed the operation on Erik when he was a kid. After training Erik would be able to become a real Stage one Knight, a process which was sped up by his induction into the Program. It was a shame that he died before he could accomplish his true potential.
While he was distracted, Teresa walked over to him without his noticing.
Snap!
"A Knight, huh? So close range magic it is..." Terrence started speaking immediately after using magic to pop an air bubble in Fen's ears, bursting his eardrums... It looked like she was going to take full advantage of his healing abilities as a Knight.
"You're an Opfer, so you know nothing about the Magical Arts, correct? Damn, I'll have to educate you then..." Not once did she look up at him from her mobile interface, instead dragging a summary from the interface and holding it up in the air for him to see. Some of her words were drowned out because Fen was still healing his ears, but he understood the gist of it.
Although the Opfer who were taking different paths were being taught differently, there wasn't much of a difference in the way the the different Classes used magic. In fact, based on the article, there were only two reasons why there was difference The first reason was that Mages were inherently more squishy then a Knight at the same stage, so a Knight gained access to close ranged spellworks and magic that they could use in combat. Before a Mage gained enough strength, they would almost never be seen in close-quarters combat.
Although Mages could also use magical energy to strengthen their bodies beyond the toughness of regular people, the rate at which they could do so was much less efficient than a Knight. After all, Vitality was perfectly suited to life forms, while Mana was a much more simple and so more versatile form of energy.
Of course, seeing the usefulness of both types of energy, there were many figures who tried to utilize both energies in the same amounts to become more powerful. In history, there were three of them on Earth during the war against the Sins. With the support of Heaven, the higher civilization granted promising people with the technology and information needed to traverse a path never trodden before.
Of them, one died in a process one could only describe as reverse aging. Of the three, he died in the most peaceful way.
The other two imploded over a course of a week.
The conflict that the two energies created from being in the same space resulted in disaster for their owners. Of course Heaven knew that this would happen, but seeing that the races on Earth were unique in their universe, they believed that it was worth it to see if they could withstand the pressure and go past the barrier that each type of energy imposed on their bodies.
Their failures were expected, but a disappointment nonetheless according to the document. That was the second reason why the magic used by the Classes were different, a Knight couldn't use as much Mana as a Mage, and it wasn't even worth mentioning what a Warrior could do. According to the document, while a Warrior could use magic, they were extremely restricted in their skills because of the nature of their Class.
"During the course of this one-month long Lesson, I'll be helping you learn how to implement magic in close quarters without killing yourself. Although your own spellworks can't hurt you, you should realize by now that the effects of your magic is more than capable of killing you."
"Of course." Fen nodded. "Will I be learning different spellworks in this Lesson too, or just the magic?"
His question finally made the old lady look at him, realization lighting her face.
"Ah, you're the one Raisen told me about. He might be okay with a lot of questions, but I'm not. I will however, answer this one."
Turning away from him she pointed towards a bookshelf near the wall of the Training Hall, filled with thick books and old texts. With a cruel grin, she looked back at him and took visible pleasure in noticing Fen's discomfort from realizing what she was implying.
"You want me to... read all of those?" Fen had no experience in learning spellworks in the conventual way, he mostly relied on his Vitul ability to experience the memories of the magically enabled monsters to learn magic. It seemed that this inability of his would exist no longer after he finished this Lesson however.
"Of course I don't want you to." Teresa shrugged her old shoulders. "I would, however, expect you to read them if you sincerely want to improve your power. Everybody starts from the same point, and cutting corners won't get you where you want to be. "
'It's worked out so far...' Fen grumbled inwardly.
After her spew of information was over, Teresa walked over to the next group and started instructing them on what the overall goals of the Lesson was. Alone, Fen resigned himself to spending some time reading, and it was with a heavy heart that he selected one of the books on the basics of Mana manipulation to get started.
The ambient Vitality within his body already improved his natural ability plenty, including his brain's ability to process new information. Slowly, his body was changing into the Vitul's standard of genetic perfection, which was still a mystery to him. Would he turn into a humanoid with scales? With wings? He didn't know, but so far no extra body parts started growing in weird places so he was thankful enough.
The book didn't have much information that Fen didn't already have a grasp of in his knowledge, but it did give him the terms for what he understood.
For example, the idea that Mana required three overall steps to cast was called the 'The Theory of Mana Application', and apparently had many different branches that were separate from the combat applications of magic. There was the magic engineering branch, which applied Mana into constructs and tools using unspecified processes to create everything from a magical toaster to powerful weapons of war.
Among the most powerful weapons of war created by applying Mana into constructs were the Seraphs created by Heaven. Although the combat capabilities of such constructs weren't mentioned within the book, they did have an artist's depiction of such a weapon. Flipping the page to see it, Fen shivered as his mind registered the terrifying image of a metal winged humanoid with several glowing eyes all over its body. The construct looked like several metal wires connected with one another to form itself, the wires disconnecting and reattaching themselves to form wings and a long spear.
'So this is what destroyed the Vitul civilization...' He ran his fingers over the page, not knowing if the feeling in his chest was anger or sadness. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice.
"Everybody gather around me for a demonstration! You can't learn magic just from reading. If you pay attention, you might even be able to awaken your senses to Mana. That's the crucial step for a normal person to begin the path of a Mage, and usually it depends on talent and hard work. However, we're in the Void right now, a place filled with so much magical energy that it spawns its own monsters within itself. If you can't awaken your senses here, then you're not worth anyone's time, much less my own."
Fen set down his book to watch the demonstration. Even though he already could sense Mana, he knew it was within his best interests to watch and look like he discovered magical energy here so as to not raise any suspicions among his peers. The teacher didn't worry him that much; while she didn't seem friendly, she wasn't hostile either, and didn't appear to care enough to be to suspicious about his ability to use magic.
There were only about twenty youths in the Lesson, which wasn't much by any standards, but the space quickly became crowded when all of them squeezed next to each other to watch the demonstration. Fen had to threaten the people around him with his damaged short sword just to get some breathing room.
If he had to sacrifice potential cordial relations just for some space, it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make.
"This is a rock." Some sounds of excitement arose among the Opfer surrounding Teresa before a glare silenced them. "It's literally just a rock, calm down. This rock isn't special, what I'm about to do is."
She spread out her arms and sent a flood of magical energy around the flood, making sure the entrance was sealed so that none of her Mana would escape from the room. In an instant Fen's senses were overwhelmed by the powerful energy the old lady was emitting. The energy was so thick and powerful that he felt like he was drowning, and his hands instantly came up to his throat.
"This is my Mana. You, you, and you," She pointed at him and a few other Opfer, "can all sense my energy. Impressive. I'll withdraw myself so as to not kill you." Following her words Fen could feel the air around him clear, with the Mana retreating towards his peers. Those who could also sense the magical energy all took a deep breath as they became free from her oppressive magical energy.
A frown spread across her face.
"The rest of you are weak. So much Mana in one place, and you don't even notice it. If it were up to me, I'd kick you all out the Program this instant." She muttered. "Unfortunately, I'm not. Now, what I'm going to do is essential try to kill you. I'm going to slowly apply a constant increase to the Mana density around your bodies and force your mind to recognize Mana."
"If you still can't feel my energy after the end, then this Lesson was just a waste of time for you, and I'm sorry for not giving a fuck. Leave if you fail, and don't make me kick you out."
Before she started the process, she let Fen and others who could also sense Mana back next to the bookshelf to start their studies. While she attempted to awaken their peers, they would strengthen their understanding of Mana.