Having hung out with the Mitsuyas the previous day, Erina was excited for her second day of lessons with Rinte.
"Mama, I can't wait! Yuiko told me that Rinte's lessons are really fun! Even past the first day!" Erina exclaimed, sitting on top of Miyuki's lap while waiting for Rinte to arrive.
Still a bit tired from what she had done yesterday, Miyuki replied a bit absent-mindedly, "Hai... Rinte really is a good teacher, you know many pillar families request her services, although she refuses many of them due to their personalities..."
Seeing the front gate begin to open, Erina jumped off Miyuki's lap and ran to the door to let Rinte in. Letting Rinte in, Erina clung onto Rinte for support as Rinte carried her to the lesson room, "Come on, let's go! I can't wait for the lesson!"
However, seeing Miyuki's face Rinte quietly told her to wait in the lesson room while she had a talk with her mother.
Seeing Erina stumble off towards the lesson room, Rinte turned around and took off her glasses. Seeing her old mentor take off her glasses, Miyuki felt a shiver go up through her spine.
"Did you get dragged into that fool's plan again?!" Rinte snapped, "I have told you many times to not involve yourself in Emily's plans!"
Looking to the side, Miyuki responded, "O-okay, but I didn't mean to... and how did you even find out that Emily had enacted another one of her plans?"
Sighing, Rinte answered, "Of course I would find out, Emily had that expression on her face all morning while I was at the Mitsuya residence, you think I wouldn't notice? Especially, because her plans have a tendency to always work, so it's pretty obvious whenever she followed through one of her plans."
Having spent some time lecturing Miyuki, Rinte made her way to the lesson room to begin the day's lesson with Erina.
*Shhhkk*
Sliding the door open, Rinte saw Erina sitting at her desk patiently waiting for the lesson to start with a book in her hands.
"Okay, I'm here now, sorry for the delay, I just needed to teach your mother some much-needed life lessons." Rinte explained, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "Are you okay? I saw you had really exerted yourself earlier."
Walking to the center of the room, Rinte smiled, seeing Erina cheerful nod signifying she was okay. Drinking some water, Rinte brought up the lesson for the day and got ready to begin the lesson.
"So today's lesson is going to be an overview of Magic Theory, okay Erina?" Rinte asked while looking over at Erina.
Giving an enthusiastic nod, Erina responded with a resounding, "Yes! I'm excited about the lesson today!"
Diving straight into the lesson, Rinte began, "So Magic Theory is just theoretical knowledge of magic, that's fancy speak for how magic works. We'll begin with the basics, for now, getting into more and more detail as you get older. Firstly, magic is measured nation-wide at the age of 12 years old, during this test several things are measured, and if you are found to have more than the basic aptitude that everyone is guaranteed to have, you are automatically enrolled into the state-sponsored Mage school. The first thing that is measured during this test is Magical power, or how much magic can you store. The second thing that is measured is your Magic type, like are you more suited for offensive type magic, like the classic fireball that you see in games? Or are you more suited for enchantment type magic which improves your own body strength and speed, among other things? The third thing you are tested for is your Magical affinity, what elements of magic you are suited for such as water, fire, etc. Any questions so far?"
"Not really! Erina replied with a bright smile, "I understand it pretty well so far!"
Seeing that Erina was ready to continue moving forward in the lesson, Rinte passed out the next handout before continuing on, "So the next thing I am going to cover are the \ aspects of the Magic test you take at twelve, beginning with the first one, Magic Power."
Walking over to the side of the room where a water jug was, Rinte motioned for Erina to join her, "A good comparison for Magic Power is this water jug over here. So think of your magic power as the amount of water in this jug okay? So normally the more the better right?"
Nodding her head, Erina responded, "En! Yeah, the more Magic Power the better! Because then you can do more magic!"
Hearing Erina's response, Rinte chucked a little bit and answered, "Well not quite, see, when you only have a little bit of water in the jug it flows out slowly right? However, when you have a lot of water in the jug, the water comes out much faster, leading to spilling some of it sometimes right? Well, the same thing can be applied to Magic Power."
Looking a little confused, Erina asked, "U-um I don't really get it..."
Patting Erina's head, Rinte continued, "Well I haven't explained it yet that's why. So the way it relates to Magic Power is control. That means if you only have a little Magic Power it's easy to control the output of the Magic, in other words, your spells. However, with a lot of Magic Power, it's easy to lose control, making your spells fizzle, or just explode on you."
"Explode!? W-What if you get hurt?" Erina cried, scared by the new knowledge given to her.
Soothing Erina, Rinte replied, "Don't worry, the worst explosions leave you with just a few burns and a lot fewer clothes, however, it isn't life-threatening. So because of this lack of control, the more Magic Power a mage has, the more time they have to practice to control it."
Leading Erina back to her seat, Rinte returned to the center of the room where she brought up a video of a fight between two mages at a competition.
Full screening the video, Rinte gestured and explained, "This is a recording of a famous battle that took place during the Inter-School championships held between the 9 Magic academy cities. During this video, Contestant 39 shocked the entire audience by winning against the clear favorite Contestant 47. Observe carefully okay Erina?"
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(Start of Video Segment)
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! (Daniel)
WE ARE HERE TODAY FOR THE FIRST BATTLE IN THE QUARTER-FINALS OF THE BATTLING PORTION OF THE ANNUAL NINE SCHOOLS COMPETITION! (Robert)
Today our match is between contestants 39 and 47! Who do you think will win today Robert? (Daniel)
Thanks for asking me, Daniel, in my opinion, it's obvious that contestant number 47 will win today. If we just take a quick look at a comparison of the results of their Magic Measurement Tests you can easily see that contestant number 47 has an S level mana pool, while contestant number 39 only has a B minus level mana pool. (Robert)
Yeah, Robert, I have to say, so far contestant number 47 has shown overwhelming power in all of their matches, so I have to say, I don't think that contestant number 39 stands a chance. (Daniel)
I have to agree with you here Daniel, number 39 seems really outmatched today. Well, they're walking on stage and getting ready for the battle, but who knows, maybe number 39 will stun us all and beat the crowd favorite, who knows? (Robert)
Not me Robert, but the battle is about to begin so we'll know shortly! Both contestants have shown they are ready... AND THEY ARE OFF! THE BATTLE BEGINS! (Daniel)
Yeah! So number 47 leads off with a long chain of weak spells, hoping to overwhelm number 39 with sheer numbers, but it seems like number 39 is unfazed! Long chains of weak spells are a common strategy employed to overwhelm the opponent! (Robert)
Number 39 certainly seems relaxed Robert! He enchanted himself with a speed boost spell and has been dodging each of the spells by a hairsbreadth! What a demonstration of skill! (Daniel)
It seems that contestant number 39 had taunted number 47 into losing control! I just saw several spells just fizzle because number 47 lost control of them! (Robert)
Oh my God! Look at contestant number 39, he just deflected one of the higher-powered spells that had been casting for a while! He even managed to get closer while deflecting! He is closing the gap between them! (Daniel)
Yeah, it seems that number 39 is just waiting for a chance right now! He has a few spells that are done charging up! He just needs the right chance to release it! However, he needs to keep in mind that soon those spells will start dispersing! So the question is, will number 47 loose control, giving the win away? Or will he be able to keep up this pace of high powered spells raining down on number 39? (Robert)
Well said, Robert! So far number 39 has been faring well, but eventually, he will be hit by one, and when that happens it's all over for him. (Daniel)
All of a sudden a spell has blown in the face of number 47! It has disrupted all the spells that number 47 was casting! This is his chance! This is the chance that Number 39 needed! (Robert)
Number 39 has just released all of his pent up spells into 47's chest! AND number 47 has been blasted off the stage! (Daniel)
AND HE HAS WON! NUMBER 39, DEFYING ALL EXPECTATIONS! HE HAS SHOWN US A GREAT SHOW OF STRATEGY AND CONTROL! (Robert)
Yeah! He managed to hold his spells for an absurd amount of time under that pressure! (Daniel)
Ladies and Gentlemen, I think that we have just witnessed history today! With an incredible show of control, contestant number 39 has just shown us an amazing feat! So join us again for the next match after this short Ad break! (Robert)
(End of Video Segment)
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Giving her undivided attention to the video in front of her, Erina was stupefied with what she saw. Once the video ended, her mouth was still hanging wide open. Originally, she would have thought that Contestant 47 would've won, but Contestant 39 managed to win, without even being hit once by a spell!
"Wow..." Erina muttered, still amazed by what she had seen, "I can really see how control is important now... number 39 held his spell for a really long time under the pressure from number 47..."
"Yes! In fact, Erina, when this battle first took place, many were stunned, and it took the world by storm." Rinte elaborated, handing Erina a cup of water, "Later on, because of this battle, Magic control was emphasized much more in school. So Erina, when you eventually become a magician, make sure to practice your control thoroughly, especially because you will have a lot of magic power."
Nodding fiercely, Erina replied, "En! I'll make sure to practice it a lot!"
Smiling while nodding, Rinte went back to the center of the room and continued,
"And the next topic we'll cover is the different Magic types."