Kothar took a seat in the almost full classroom, a shriveled old teacher standing at the front. He was Professor Daredale, and had had one of the more dry speeches of the the teachers at the orientation. However, he was one of the most acclaimed magical theorists, and the packed class reflected his accomplishments.
Fred was unsurprisingly absent, he had told Kothar and the others that he preferred to spend the majority of his time gathering mana, as he had attended almost every possible class by this point.
"I am sure you are all familiar with the concept of mana by this point, and that aside from the pure mana in everything around us there exist different elemental types of mana." Professor Daredale's voice crackled mand rasped, it sounded as if his voice box was made up of old dried parchments.
"Firstly, I would implore you all to remember that we have yet to discover the different kinds of mana, and there may be yet undiscovered elements. Those with only one elemental affinity take heed of this, as to date, we are only able to detect for those elemental affinities that we have discovered." Daredale paused, looking pointedly around the class.
"Initially, civilization only knew of four basic kinds of mana, these are the elements of earth, fire, wind and water. We happen to have more mages of these types, but I believe it is due to our extensive knowledge of these mana types, and as a result we easily detect mages of these affinities." The scratching of pens across paper filled the room.
"Then we began to discover new types of mana, some of the first pioneers horribly injured themselves, creating mana cores that their physique was incompatible with, and it is only due to their sacrifices that we have that knowledge today."
"I will list the more common of these types, they are lightning, light, dark and space. Not only that, the combination of some types of mana in an individual can lead to unique mana and magic."
"One that I'm sure you're all familiar with after yesterday's dining room incident would be magma. Magma Mages have a dual affinity to fire and earth, however they must fuse their mana cores together to create a magma mana core, so it isn't as if they have access to 3 kinds of magic. Rather they choose to specialise in one kind that is more unique. Does anybody know any other types?"
A mousy girl raised her hand eagerly.
"Life Magic Sir, mages who combine their earth and water cores can create a life core."
"Correct, although more recently it has been called plant magic, to avoid confusion due to the recent discovery of a possible soul type of mana." Professor Daredale continued to explain the intricacies of mana core interactions, and how careful one must be when attempting to fuse or synthesize a new mana core.
Back in his room, Kothar sat down and began to compile the information he had learned, realizing that he could tolerate more types of mana cores if he managed to integrate the Starheart technology with the concept of mana cores.
The Starheart created an integrated cage with high resistance to heat and radiation, and some mana cores would be suitable to this. For example, Kothar could easily integrate a fire mana core, as it demanded an intrinsic resistance to the extreme heat of the mana core. Extremely pleased, Kothar began to sketch out the plans for a modified Starheart module.
Kothar made his way to a training room he had booked earlier that day, Fred had been very helpful in telling Kothar about the less known facilities the Novice Mages had access to.
Kothar had acquired copies of new Basic Lightning Spells from the library. He had decided to focus on Basic Spell: Lightning Aura to begin with. Lightning Aura created a field of lightning around the caster, the field served to defend against attacks but also served to grant the Mage increased speed. Kothar had chosen this spell as it would synergize well with his use of a sword, giving him the speed to contend in a melee with most opponents of his level.
Drawing mana out from his core, Kothar dispersed it evenly through his body, rather than focusing it out down his arms and through his palms as he did with Bolt. Kothar drew out more and more mana, depleted almost half of his reserves, before sparks began to fly along his skin. He leapt to his feet, dashing to the far wall of the training room, surprising himself with his new speed. If he were to meet the Fidour Wolf again, he would be able to dodge its attacks at the very least.
Done with testing his new spell, Kothar decided to see how many Bolt spells he could fire with his remaining reserves. A series of cracks resounded through the room as he fired them off. He managed to fire off five bolt spells before his reserves were depleted. Kothar sat down, to draw in mana and accelerate the recovery of his mana reserves.
Far off, at the fringes of the Academy, the msyterious figure paced, muttering all the while.
"%@$@$@%@**! mages, I'd rather walk headfirst into a net of razor wire than pick through all these tracking and defense spells."
The figure continued to pace, then turned and disappeared off into the tangle of Trinquile's streets.