"Magical theory?" a brown-haired woman looked at a teenager in his seat and repeated. "You can say that Magical theory is important since this class is "Magic Theory 101." But, Steven, did you know the reason that I hadn't given you a lesson about it yet?" she asked, her voice soft but clear.
Steven looked at the professor, his eyes expecting an answer. "Why, Professor?"
"The reason is simple." Raising the book on her podium, she pointed to it with her right hand. "This thing will teach you nothing. You, as gold tier students, have the most responsibility. Do you know why?" It's because the underclassman will look up to you, the upperclassman—Diamond Tiers--are all usually free to do what they want. This makes it so all the proper focus is on you. It's why your schedule is full, yet why, unlike other professors, am I not teaching you?"
No one answered, and the Professor had to chuckle.
"It's a fairly simple and obvious answer."
Looking at the students, eyes focused on her, wanting to hear the answer, the professor smirked.
"You have five minutes, think of the answer and I will randomly choose one of you to do it."
"Ugh! Not again!"
"She always pulls something like this. Why can't we ever get a straightforward answer!?"
"Sigh, let's just do the assignment. No one wants to be at the other end of the question when she picks them."
Everyone groaned and complained, but immediately went to work. Some opened their notebooks and started making a list, others brainstormed with their friends and classmates. A few closed their eyes and deeply thought while some stayed in their places and did nothing.
Iris was a part of the last group. She knew the answer to that question and needed no information. She only stayed because it wasn't a waste of time to learn from professionals, and especially from someone like Professor Samantha.
Known for her unusual yet fruitful methods, Samantha's students were one of the brightest, and a fair number of them advanced into Diamond Tier across the years. Iris listened to her, even though she knew everything Samantha talked about and deduced whatever she didn't.
Iris looked on as other students worked hard to find an answer that they already had in the bag. 'If they weighed her words, they would immediately know…' her thoughts trailed off as she passed the time and five minutes quickly passed.
*Clap!*
"Time's up. I will hear your answers now!"
With a devilish smile, Samantha exaggeratedly looked at each student as if she was about to pick him. Raising her finger and putting it down, Samantha focused more on scaring the class than the answer.
Her gaze stopped at the emotionless Iris. "Miss Knight, care to share your answer?"
Iris stood up as all eyes focused on her.
"If it's her, she would know…"
"We are saved. Miss Iris surely knows the answer."
Not caring for the surrounding chatter, Iris' deep eyes looked into Samantha's. "The answer is: Practice," she said and sat down.
"Correct." Samantha clapped with a smile.
Looking at the surrounding students, she continued. "What have we been doing in our class since the first day? Isn't it practicing magic? Magic theory? Why would I make you read something so useless and boring? Through practice, not only will you get familiar with magic but also put Magical Theory into actual use, by simply… training it."
The Professor's clarification and Iris' response amazed the students. Was it that simple? It was something they had been constantly doing? It wasn't their fault that they didn't know. After all, they thought they were just training their magic.
In fact, the students' response were expected and natural. Magic Theory is usually about knowing how certain magic works and thinking of ways to counter it. It's an analytical class that is supposed to focus on the school of thought concerning magic in a more complex way.
However, Samantha's class is different. Contrary to what the class is supposed to be, she does the opposite. Teaching by practice, she makes her students learn by manually training and getting to know the magic. In combat, it's easier to think of ways to counterattack something heading towards you. Since if you don't, you will die.
"Now that Steven's question has been answered, let's go to the actual class."
Everyone knew that when Samantha talked about the actual class, she meant going to the Magic testing grounds. A specialized location created for magic students to train. It's reinforced with better Formation Arrays and Mana Gathering Arrays to let students recharge their Mana faster than usual.
With Samantha in the lead, everyone exited the class and followed her. As Iris stood up, she spotted a blond-haired girl around her age sauntering towards her. Her walk showed her arrogance as she made her way to Iris with a condescending look.
Stopping in front of Iris, she leaned near her ear. "Don't get too cocky, just because you knew one thing. I don't even know what senior Flav sees in you. Hmph." she said that and left after Samantha.
Meanwhile, Iris looked at her with an indifferent gaze. 'ok? Am I supposed to know what's happening?' She shook her head and followed the class.
A few minutes later, the class entered the training grounds. Each one took their respective positions as they were used to by now and stood in front of a human-like metal doll.
"As usual, the dolls will release a certain magic on you and you need to counter it with your Main element, consecutively. However, whoever loses all their energy first, will clean the training grounds, not just ours, but also the cultivation ones."
Samantha declared with a devious chuckle. "Oh, of course you will do it by hand, and I will make sure of that. Hehehe…"
The students shivered at her smile and returned to focus on their dolls.
Iris did the same, but her mind got occupied by something else, something more important to her and her future.
'I will use it soon. My body is almost completely healed by now.'