(I was at 1400 words and was like, "Ehhhh, let me make this a bit longer." Then I reached the point that I wanted to end the chapter at and noticed it was 3300 words. Oops.)
The academy is actually quite light for first year students. We only have three classes each day so we have a lot of free time. This makes complete sense though. We have a lot to learn and we also need to prepare our minds and bodies for the more intense curriculum that the future years will hold.
My usual group of four was sitting in a lecture hall. After lunch, we hung around for an hour or so. Since the previous class ended at half past noon, we had two and a half hours until our next class started at 3 PM.
A few minutes before class was set to begin, students were still shuffling in and taking their seats. Along with that crowd, the professor slipped in.
She looked like a walking disaster as she scrambled into the hall. Her black hair was messy and looked like she just walked away from an explosion or a hurricane. Her glasses were the pinnacle of nerdiness but they suited her style. Her professor robes were at least one size too large, which doesn't make any sense as they are supposed to fit perfectly. Her only redeeming factor was how young she appeared to be.
She set up various contraptions on the board in a pentagonal pattern with one in the middle. The contraptions looked similar to vacuum tubes. They were transparent, about a foot tall, and had a metallic base.
Once the clock struck three, everyone was quiet in the room. She looked like a nervous wreck. "Alright everyone, settle down." She chuckled to herself. "I always wanted to say that. Anyways, I am Tokawa Hanako. You can call me Hanako Sensei since my family is from the far east. This is my first year as a professor. I graduated from this academy a few years ago and have been an assistant professor until now."
She coughed and cleared her throat. "I will be teaching you all about the elements this semester. Please pay close attention. This information can one day save your life. OH! Please come by my office at some point to get your textbook. At that time, I will give you a training regiment to practice the elements that you have an affinity with. If you don't know your affinity, that is fine too. I have a tool to test that."
"For now, let's start with a question before I get to the demonstration. Does anyone know what these devices on the board are?"
Jacob raised his hand as he didn't want to fall behind even more in terms of points. Hanako pointed to him so he answered. "They are elemental conduits. Although the design is quite simplistic, they are meant to hold an element. They are mostly used to store spells during magesmithing or enchanting."
Hanako nodded. "Twenty points to Prince Jacob for the comprehensive answer. You are correct, your highness. I will be using these conduits to demonstrate the six elements. I would love to have students come up and demonstrate their abilities but for the sake of time and how expensive these are, I will do it myself."
She summoned a ball of fire in her hand. "We will start with the fire element. Fire is nature's eraser. It destroys but it also creates a blank canvas to start anew. Fire has many purposes other than burning things to a crisp. It can provide warmth, cook food, forge tools and weapons, and cauterize wounds."
Hanako let the ball of flames dissipate before placing her hand on the top most conduit's base. A ball of flames formed inside the glass. She then summoned a sphere of wind. "Next is wind. Wind in and of itself is self explanatory... for the most part. Wind is all around us so it is the easiest element to grasp. However, it is also one of the most versatile. This makes it one of the hardest to master. It can be used to fly, to cut, to score, and intensify flames." She repeated her previous action, forming a wind sphere inside the next conduit. She was moving in a clockwise fashion.
She then formed a ball of lightning in her hand. "Next is lightning. This is the fastest element. It contains extreme power and is also very versatile. Applying it to a blade can boost the cutting power just like wind. It can also be applied to the body to give a mage explosive strength and speed."
After forming a raging storm inside the lightning conduit, she formed a rock in her hand. "Next is earth. It is the best element when it comes to defense. It can also be used to build and terraform. When applied to the body, it will give you a rock hard and unshakable defense."
She then made some rocks form on the bottom of the conduit before forming a sphere of water in her hand. "After that comes water. Water is nature's destroyer. It erodes earth, but is contained by it. It puts out fires but is vaporized by it. It conducts lightning, and is carried by wind. It's countless uses might seem like a daunting task to take on but controlling water is the easiest. It has a visible flow so grabbing hold of the mana is easy. It can be used for both defense and attack."
She then formed a sphere of water inside the conduit before raising both of her hands. In one hand was a sphere of darkness and in the other was a sphere of light. "The last element is light. The element of light is like a coin. The effects of light and dark result from the behavior of the light mana. It can heal, but also decay. I will now display an interesting ability of an elemental conduit."
She placed both hands on the base of the center conduit now that all of the outer ones were occupied. In the same spot, she formed a sphere that was half light and half dark. It was like yin and yang. "An elemental conduit does not just store a spell. It keeps the spell in a sort of stasis. It does something similar to freezing the flow of mana. Usually this would cause the spell to dissipate but the method that the conduit uses actually keeps the spell frozen in time such that one can study it. This ability is why the device is so expensive."
She placed her hands down on the desk and then leaned on it. "I have two more things to go over before class concludes. The first thing will be the interactions between the elements. One can not truly master an element without understanding how it interacts with the others. All the elements have interactions aside from light. That element only has an interaction with itself but it's effects can be applied through the other elements. For example, you can imbue a concentration of light magic in a pool of water allowing you to heal something gently. I will get more into that later but for now, I will keep it simple with the other elements."
"There is a reason that I set up the elements in this pentagonal pattern. That reason is because the interactions flow in the same direction I formed them in. Fire will consume wind and use it to empower it. Wind will dissipate lightning. Lighting will disturb the flow of earth mana, nullifying the spell. Earth magic will block water magic. Lastly, water will extinguish fire magic."
"The reason that they don't have a set reaction with the light element is because light is pure creation and destruction. Darkness magic can cause other spells to decay but can also imbue your own spells with extra destructive powers. On the other hand, light magic is not offensive in its capabilities."
She stood up straight and started pacing back and forth. "Now that I have finished that, I will explain what we are learning throughout the rest of the semester. Based on your elemental affinities, you will be learning about how to use that element and how it interacts with the others. However, you will also be learning how to use the other elements. This secondary objective will be enough to give you the foundation to get through the advanced elemental course that we will have together next semester. It has only been a half an hour but I will end class early today. You can come by my office now or at any time this evening before 6. This must be done today so you can receive your textbook and your personalized regiment and begin your training over the weekend. You are dismissed!"
She placed each of the conduits inside her spatial ring and then scurried out of the room in hopes of reaching her office before the students.
I sighed seeing this and turned to Jacob. "Hanako Sensei is interesting."
Jacob nodded and smiled. "She is a genius that has a strong affinity with four of the six elements. She has a weak but still above average affinity with the other two."
I raised my brow. "Is that not normal?"
Jacob nearly choked and fell back into his seat. "NORMAL?! Nonono. It is normal to have an affinity with one, maybe two elements. Anyone with three or more affinities is considered a prodigy unless they have a really small mana pool. I have an affinity with three elements but have no talent with the other three. My favorite is lightning. What about you?"
I grimaced and spoke softly. "I have an affinity with all six…"
Jacob was silent. Even a few people around us that overheard our conversation froze. They were all staring at me like I was a monster. "Callum, that isn't a funny joke. What is the real answer?"
I shook my head and sighed. "That is the real answer. Are you suggesting that Archmage Janna made a mistake?"
Jacob laughed and shook his head. "You… aren't human. You must be a beast in disguise. I don't believe that we are of the same race. The only people in history that have six affinities were elves. Even those are extremely few in number. Wait, are you an elf?"
I shook my head. "I don't think either of my parents were elves. Anyways, let's get out of here."
Jacob shrugged. Internally, he was planning on asking his father about this later as maybe he knew something. Thanatos has quite the sharp nose after all and the comment he made during the initiation of the Beastly Dragon has stuck in the head of every single person in attendance. "Very well. Anyways, shall we head to Hanako Sensei's office? Maybe we could start our training tonight as a group."
Anna cut in. "Actually, that won't work. Today is friday and we have dinner plans with my friends. The six of us are going to eat in my room."
I lightened up from hearing those words. "That sounds fun. What time?"
Anna laughed. "You boys can show up at around 8. Us girls need time to *achem* get ready."
I nodded as I took the hint. "Jacob, Yanni, do you guys wanna hang out in my room before we go? I was thinking of getting some furniture for my room with some of my points and need help. I am not very knowledgeable of that kind of thing."
Jacob nodded and laughed. "We will help you get some new clothes in the future too for when we go out. We can't have you in your usual clothes when we are out on the town."
I rolled my eyes. "My rags are quite fashionable back in Shellham. I was the talk of the town!"
Jacob, Yanni, and Anna all laughed at this. By this time, we had exited the room and were heading towards the professor offices. They were on the other side of the floor from the dorms, past the lecture halls.
By the time their group arrived, there was a line that extended down the hallway from Hanako's office. I sighed and got in line. This is when something amusing happened. Upon seeing our group that included two royals and the first born son of a duke, people waved us on and allowed us to pass. We nearly reached the front of the line like this. There was a point we reached when there was no one else willing to cede their spot in line. I didn't mind though. The wait was already only a tenth of what it would have been.
Slowly, we crept up the line towards her office. As we got closer, I was able to hear a whooshing noise from inside the office. It was faint and muffled as the door was closed but each student would come out with a satisfied expression. Some would even come out looking extremely happy. The happy ones must have more than one affinity. There were also two different types of students. Some would come out with nothing in their hands, while others would come out reading what I presumed to be their personal training regiment. Each person took about five minutes so I guessed that Hanako Sensei was creating our regiments in that time.
My group decided to make me go last so that they wouldn't have to follow up my monstrous affinity. I could only shake my head at this. After waiting for fifteen minutes, the three of them were out in the hall so I made my way in.
As soon as I entered her office, I was assaulted by an atrocious sight. A tornado must have literally swept through the room. Papers and open books were everywhere along with countless tools and devices. The walls were covered with notes and designs. I presumed that she must use the walls when she runs out of paper.
Hanako smiled from the other side of her desk when she saw me. "Ah, if it isn't Mason senpai's new pet. I'm curious to see what affinities you have. Come, come. Take a seat."
I sighed as I sat down in the weirdly comfortable chair. "Is that how all the professors know me?"
Hanako laughed. "Unfortunately yes. We all gossip about everything that happens with that man. He is a fun conversation topic."
I chuckled. "I can't disagree with that one. How does this work?"
She nodded. "This crystal ball here will glow with the colors of the elements you have an affinity with. Red is fire, green is wind, yellow is lightning, brown is earth, blue is water, white is light, and black is dark."
I tilted my head in confusion. "Why are there separate colors for light and dark?"
She smiled. "That is a great question. Five points for that. Although light and dark are two sides of the same coin, you can have more of a disposition towards one than the other. Those who are closest to having a perfect balance are the people with the most potential for healing magic. Now place your hands on the orb and channel your mana into it. Make sure it isn't elemental or the test will fail."
I nodded and placed both hands on the orb and channeled my mana into it. While doing this, I inwardly thought to my partner. 'Okami, hold your mana in. I don't want to mess with the test.'
For a few seconds, the crystal ball remained transparent with no changes. However, a bright rainbow light began to form in the center. It gradually expanded until the sphere was filled with all seven colors of the six elements.
Hanako was sitting there with her jaw on the floor. She had never seen or even heard of this before.
I sighed and spoke playfully. "Hanako Sensei, do you need help lifting your jaw off the floor?"
She blushed and shook her head. "Nonono. I'm good. There must be something wrong with the element meter. Let me get another one."
I shook my head. "There isn't anything wrong. I have a strong affinity with all six elements."
She shook her head and laughed. "That's not what I'm talking about. According to the meter, you have a perfect balance of light and dark. Yes, you are a monster for having six affinities but there has been no recorded human since the invention of this device that has a perfect balance for light."
I scrunched my face in confusion. "Jacob said he doesn't think I'm human. It's not like I could just ask my parents. They were killed by a dragon."
Hanako sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. You must have had a rough time. I'm sure they'd be proud of you."
I shrugged. "I miss them, but I'm happy. That's what matters. I had a lot of good people to help me out."
She sighed. "Well, there's no point in me transcribing a training regiment for you. I'll give you a copy of the book I wrote. It has various methods of training all six elements. Since you can use all of them easily, it is up to you to find the method of training and control you prefer. I can tell that you are already quite adept with water magic and have some experience with wind magic as those colors were slightly brighter than the rest."
I tilted my head in confusion. "What does the brightness mean? Do I have a higher affinity with those two?"
She shook her head. "Nope. The affinity you have is judged by the amount of the sphere that the color takes up. The intensity of the light released by the color is what shows your comprehension of the element."
I nodded. "That makes sense. Can I ask something?"
Hanako nodded and smiled. "Of course. It's my job to answer those after all."
I smiled. "How many elements does the next most talented student have?"
She thought for a moment. "So far, no one has had more than three affinities. There are several students with that amount and I believe you are already friends with a few of them."
I nodded. "Thank you, Hanako Sensei."
She waved her hand and two books landed on her desk in a stack. One was quite large and the other was a leather bound notebook. "The large book is your textbook. It has a comprehensive analysis of the elements. Each week you will be assigned a reading that I will give you a quiz on before lecturing on the topic. The small book is a handwritten copy of my training regiments. Everything I have come up with in terms of honing your control and comprehension of the elements is in there. I wish you luck, Callum. Feel free to come to me if you need any help!"
I smiled and nodded as I put the items in my storage ring before standing up. "Thank you, Hanako Sensei. I will probably take you up on that since I don't have Master Warren to teach me anymore."
Hanako's eyes lit up. "You were taught by Archmage Janna Warren?!"
I nodded. "I was."
Hanako was floored upon hearing this. "WHERE?! I mean, where is she?"
I laughed. "She is trying to live a quiet life so you will have to find that out on your own. Please don't bother her as she can be quite quick to anger."
Hanako sighed. "Fine. Keep your secrets. See you on Monday!"
I waved as I walked out. "See you then, Hanako Sensei."