This day, Sora woke up easier than usual. Yesterday, a big weight was taken off her shoulders. She was scared that she wouldn't be able to pass the exam.
Luckily, her training finally paid off. In fact, among all the students, she was one of the best.
So her morning went well and in a blink of an eye Sora found herself in front of Xenia. This time she didn't stop, surprised, in front of the gate, but entered directly as if it was her home.
As always, even if it was unintentionally, Sora was very popular, although she was considered unapproachable. Actually, Sora hated talking to strangers. She was not interested in their stories, she didn't feel concerned. So she rejected most of the people. Only a few like Lorena or Lei were able to approach her naturally without being pushed away.
So she walked through the school to the main building, under the gaze of tens or even hundreds of other people. When she entered her classroom, few people had arrived, but Lei was already there.
Lei was usually a punctual person, she never arrived late. Although she sometimes lacked a little tact, her philosophy reminded her greatly of the samurai one. Of the four members of the group, she was the person she was the closest to.
So, although it was not her normal behaviour, it was not so difficult to approach Lei.
"Hello, Lei. How are you?"
Lei, who was a little lost in her thoughts, was surprised by that interruption. She turned her gaze towards the person who had interrupted her:
"Oh, hello, Sora. I'm fine, and you?"
Sora sighed lightly before answering her:
"Aah... I haven't felt this good in months! What a burden this examination was."
Lei looked at her a little surprised, then laughed softly and elegantly.
"Haha, it must have been quite a lot of stress for you!"
Sora replied slightly annoyed:
"It's certain that, unlike others, I had to work... "
A little ashamed, Lei began to blush.
"It's not my fault... And then, look on the bright side, you've been able to discover a fantastic power during this training session.
Sora seemed a little sceptical, but nevertheless agreed with Lei's words. At that moment another figure appeared, it was Lily. She greeted them and they did the same. So they continued discussing yesterday's exam and only stopped a few minutes before the class.
Surprised, Sora noticed that their fourth member was almost late, Loki arrived only one minute before the class started. In fact, since his recent argument with his father, he has been staying in the free dormitory of Xenia's high school students. Being very close to the class, he wakes up very late and arrives later and later in class.
However, another person arrived very late. Indeed, their teacher still hadn't shown up, which had never happened to her before.
The whole class was wondering what was going on that made them so late. When no information was found, Lorena arrived fifteen minutes late.
"I'm sorry I'm late, I was held up by something important."
She took a few seconds to put down her things and came to sit at her desk facing the classroom.
"Well, to conclude on yesterday, I would like you to know that I am generally very proud of you. For those who let themselves go, don't worry, there is still time to catch up. Don't hesitate to come and see me at the end of the course or during a break if you have any questions. "
Some people who felt concerned, like Hyacenthe, lowered their gaze.
"Well, today we will talk in detail about a new notion. We call it the 'Magic Number' and represents your Enkainias density score in parts per million. When this number is, for example, between 0 and 50, you are considered to be E-. Usually a rank represents a range of 50, so an arcanist of rank E+ has a Magic Number between 100 and 150 ppm. The exceptions to the rule are the ranks A+, S-, S and especially S+, which have much larger intervals, to the point where there are almost no limits for the rank S+, making it a rank with a very disparate level. "
At that moment a hand was raised among the students. A young girl then asked:
"Madam, what are 'parts by millions'? "
Lorena smiled slightly before answering her:
"Let's take an example. In a glass of water you have 5000 ppm of syrup, so out of a million mass fractions, five thousands will be syrup. We can put this back in percentage and we would have 0.005% syrup."
Lorena finally looked at a glance to see if anyone else had any questions, and then continued:
" Well... This magic number has a certain threshold, called critical point. This threshold varies greatly from person to person, but according to researches led on that, this threshold can't be met before reaching 305 ppm. Otherwise, it will be about twice the number of ppm that a certain arcanist had in his early days. This is why it is very important to meditate at an early age as an Arcanist in order to pass this threshold, because an Arcanist is not really considered as one until he or she has reached this. This is the minimum level that you must reach before leaving high school."
"It is important to know that an Arcanist is not just a simple 'magician' as described in fantasy books. No, in reality, an Arcanist is much closer to a scientist. Indeed, an Arcanist seeks first to master his element, so that he can then modify it as he wishes. And that is what this threshold represents. A person who has surpassed it will enter into a much deeper symbiosis when manipulating his singularity. That person will be able to manipulate the element as he or she wishes."
"Let's take the example of Lily, an oceanid. In practice, an arcanist familiar with his singularity, in other words having gone beyond its course, will be able to manipulate its singularity with enough expertise that he will be able to modify some of its properties. This is how a water manipulator is able to transform its water into ice, and then into gaz without even going through chemical, thermal or physical phenomena. It is also possible to give it new properties, such as changing its pH or boiling temperature. However, this requires considerable scientific knowledge. It can be said that the Arcanist in question becomes one with water when it enters into symbiosis."
Lorena paused slightly and looked at her pupils. To the right, to the left. Everyone, without exception, was amazed. None of them had fully understood what Lorena meant.
Well, it's going to be a long day...'.
"Well, the most important thing you need to remember for now is that in a month there will be a mandatory training camp that will last two weeks. The aim of this camp is to familiarise you with your singularity and the life in the nature."
Suddenly, a big uproar comes out of the room. All the pupils were surprised, and many of them were happy. For a lot of them, a training camp meant many things.
Lorena asked everyone to calm down and continued the explanations :
" You will be trained to live alone in the nature for a whole month. Classes will include combat training for those who don't know how to fight, and basic knowledge."
She then continued on the former topic.
For a whole day Lorena talked to a class that probably didn't understand half of what she was saying, but she hoped that the other half of what she said was understood.
At the end of the class, the group discussed for a few minutes with the upcoming training camp, which Lily fantasised about a lot. Lei, on the other hand, was much more interested in the course they had just attended.
Sora, on the other hand, was not very interested in the training camp, in fact, she wondered what the difference was between training far away in the mountains or right in front of her house.
Sora left Xenia around 5pm. The sun had already started to come down and would be setting in a couple of hours.
The alleyways were gradually getting dark and Sora hurried home. Since discovering her new abilities, she had only one thing on her mind outside of class: training. Indeed, she wanted to discover even more about her singularity, and even more about the role of an Arcanist.
So she went home, full of spirit, although it was not apparent from her gestures.
All this, without suspecting the shadow that had followed her since her departure from Xenia, sneaking from alley to alley.