Chapter 2 - Chapter 2 Eric's POV

Growing up here at Charlotte Academy was fun (not always), but everyday was a new learning experience for me. The first thing I learnt? No matter how awkward or unique you think you are, there's always someone out there that has virtually the same quirk as you. We were also taught that the phenomenon of being an Irregular is not necessarily hereditary as it could affect anyone, anywhere. The Irregular society makes up for about 7% of the world population and while some Irregulars also had abilities unique to them, every Irregular could use magic to a certain extent. "Magic?!" I exclaimed when I first heard "guess we're living a fairytale". The teacher was quick to answer me "Trust me. This is not the usual bedtime stories your parents tell you to get you to bed. This is a battlefield. Just you wait, you'd see soon enough" and that was enough to keep me quiet for the rest of the lesson. At our first magic training, we were sorted into groups based on our magic aptitude; Tricksters, Magicians, Sorcerers, Indexes and Grimoires. The Tricksters were the ones with the lowest magical aptitude and it increased in that order. Our trainer also told us that there were two other levels of magical aptitude, but as no one having such power had not been born in the past two thousand years, there was no need to dwell on them. "What are those levels?" A girl behind me asked to which the teacher replied "Infinites and Gods". At the mention of the word "Gods", I felt such a sharp pain in my chest that it took all my willpower not to scream out. I then decided to ask "is it possible to raise one's magical abilities from one level to another?" "Yes" came the reply "you can, if you're willing to endure hellish training". I was grouped with the Tricksters because of my relatively low magical ability. Even among the Tricksters, my magical aptitude was the lowest and as such, I was bullied by other people, both my fellow Tricksters and others with an inferiority complex. We also discovered (the hard way) that I was incomparably stronger, even among Irregulars as quite a few people were sent to the infirmary by my fists. It caused quite a ruckus that my teachers had to subject me to special training just so I could learn to control my strength and give my fellow students a fighting chance against me. Even after training for a while, I realised that I couldn't cast even the most basic elemental magic so I visited my magic trainer and asked for help. After reviewing my magical aptitude, he advised me to follow up on illusions as they require almost no magic and everyone could use them. I realised that most people actually ignore illusions as they were perceived as weak so I started working with illusions, using my strength to augment where I knew was lacking. There were two ways to which we mainly train; Hand to hand combat and magic training. Any other training is by personal interest. One day, I decided to test out all I've learned during a training session. I was to face a Sorcerer level student. We started out, facing each other and, as the match started, I cast a brightening spell 'BRIGHTEN' (This spell works by creating a bright light over a set area, illuminating every thing around. This light also serves to obstruct vision). I then closed my eyes and casted 'ECHOLOCATION' which works by enhancing the caster's hearing precision at the cost of his other senses as I started the battle. While I had the upper hand, I failed to factor that Irregulars had superior senses so it was not much of a challenge for my opponent who thrashed me easily. Using my losses, I tried to get better as I trained more, simulating other situations and getting better. Apart from changing myself, I also facilitated some changes in the way the school was run, one of which was what I called 'FREE FOR ALL' which allows one to test the synergy between their H2H, magic and other forms of fighting which they had learnt. Among the students body, I debated that as the Tricksters and Magicians don't have a representative in the students body, they had barely any say so it would be best if they had a representative from each level so that decisions affecting all levels could be made in such a way that it benefits the parties involved. I kept up this way until that fateful day.