Making his way into the Locker Room, Theo paused for a moment as the memories of high school gym class flashed through his mind. Back on his earth, first-period Gym class was by far his least favorite class in High School. Due to his short stature and non-athletic build, Theo would always get bullied in the locker rooms by the bigger kids in his grade.
Theo glanced at the row of lockers, the other boys chatting and changing into their Practice Robes. The Practice Robes were very long dark grey hooded robes that slip over you in a loose fit. They were reminiscent of something Theo saw at a Halloween store once. The odd look of the Practice Robes helped Theo calm his nerves as he remembered he wasn't in High School Gym class.
With renewed confidence, Theo made his way to the table where he picked out his Practice Robes. Grabbing one of the smaller robes, he made his way over to the lockers. As he was walking through the rows of crowded lockers, Theo finally found an empty locker in between two other students.
As Thoe finally took off his tattered smock and belt heaving a sigh of relief. As he put on the Practice Robes, one of the two kids next to him glanced down at Theo now holding the tattered smock. Noticing this Theo smiled wry and explained his destroyed smock.
"I lost control of a new fire spell I was practicing a few days ago and burned my clothes."
The kid raised an eyebrow as he turned to Thoe and asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.
"What kind of fire spell can do that?~"
Giving a quick glance at Theo's destroyed smock, the kid introduced himself.
"~Anyways, my name's Tony Hoffman. I used to live in Lockmore City before coming to the Academy. What about you?"
Theo thought for a moment about how to reply. Then with a wry smile, he replied.
"I used to live in a small coastal city called Monterey."
Tony tilted his head in confusion as he asked.
"Monterey? I never heard of it and my dad's a merchant so he has been all over the Soran Kingdom."
Theo scratched the back of his head as he explained.
"It's actually not in the Soran Kingdom. I am not sure how far away I am from home since I used Teleport Magic to get here.~"
Hearing this, Tony stood there staring at Theo in stunned silence. Theo checked awkwardly as he realized how unbelievable his claims sounded. In hopes of leaving this awkward atmosphere, Theo silently shuffled through the crowded lockers and headed out of the locker room.
Now back outside, Theo made his way over to the other kids who had finished changing into their Practice Robes before him. After a few minutes of waiting, all the students had changed into their Practice Robes and were standing in neat rows of ten.
Professor White now turned to face the group of students, scanning through the crowd of kids before his gaze lands on a student in the second row. Professor white raised one of his bushy eyebrows and states with his booming voice.
"You there! You were the first to arrive back here, you were you not?~"
the student nodded in affirmation a proud smile on his face. Noticing this, Professor White furrowed his brow as he continued.
"~Why are you look so proud, kid? you may have been the first to return, but in your rush to be the fastest you put your Practice uniform on inside out!"
Clicking his young in dissatisfaction, Professore White shook his head sending the kid back to the locker room. After a few minutes, the kid returned with his Practice Robes on correctly. Glancing at the embarrassed kid, Professor White nodded with satisfaction as he once again spoke.
"That's better, remember kid being first is indeed an achievement to strive for, but try not to undermine your achievement by making avoidable mistakes.~"
The student nodded his head in understanding as Professor White continued.
"~Same goes for magic, if you are casting a spell in a magic duel the one with the fastest casting normally wins. However, being the first to finish casting means nothing if the spell blows up in your face! Do you lot understand?"
hearing this, all the students replied in unison.
"Yes, Professor White!"
this time none of the students were late in their reply. Seeing this, Professor White took out a scroll of paper and spoke.
"Now when I call your name, you will walk over to the Practice mound over there. Then, when I give you the signal you will cast your strongest spell at the stone target dummy. Do not cast before I give the signal! if you do so, it will result in a deduction to your final score. All of you will be scored on Power, Speed, and Control!~"
Seeing all the students understood, Professor White called out the first name.
"~Francis Armstrong!"
One of the kids from the third row of the group made their way to the mound. Francis looked to be 13 years old with a fairly well-built frame. His height reached a little over 5 foot 7 inches. As he turned to face the stone target, Professor White looked up from the scroll and boomed.
"Begin Casting!"
Francis grabbed his Arcane Focus with one hand as he thrust his hand forward with the other as small bits of earth and sand began gathering in front of it. After nine seconds the gathered earth was formed into a large stone spear around three feet long. The stone spear launched toward the stone target as Francis shouted out the spell's name.
"Rock Lance!"
The stone statue cracked slightly as the Rock Lance stuck the stone target. Seeing this, Professor White nodded as he marked the scroll with a feather pen. Looking back at Francis Professor White directed Francis to head to the lockers and wait at the benches on the edge of the field. After Francis was seated at the long bench, Professor White called out the next student to the mound. Theo noticed that the cracks in the stone target had been mended by Professor White's magic.
For the next half hour, a student's name would be called to the mound. then after Professor White gave the signal the student would spend anywhere from 6 to 10 seconds to cast their best spell at the stone target. Professor White would mark the scroll and if the target was damaged he would fix it with his magic.
Theo noticed that most of the student's spells either focused on destructive power or speedy casting. Also, very few of the spells cast actually damaged the target much. The largest amount of damage was done by the kid Theo met in the locker room, Tony Hoffman. He used a powerful wind spell that took around 8 seconds to knock the stature over causing it to break apart.
As Professor White sent the current student off the mound, he fixed the stone target and called out the next name.
"Theodore Jennings!"
Theo closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Making his way up to the mound. Professor White glanced up at Theo and boomed out the signal.
"Begin Casting!"
Theo clutched his Arcane Focus with one hand and thrust out the other toward the stone target. A small white flame appeared a foot in front of Theo's outstretched palm. After six seconds the small white flame was launched at the stone target as Theo shouted out his brand new spell's name.
"TJ's White Inferno!"
As the small white flame struck the stone target, a collum of raging white flame enveloped the entire statue! Heatwaves from the pillar of white flame could be felt by Theo all the way on the mound. Theo hand still outstretched stared at the white collum coldly for six seconds. Then he slowly closed his outstretched hand as he ended the effect of TJ's White Inferno.
As the last of the white flames vanished, Professor White moved his arm that he used to shield himself from the heatwaves. Seeing what was left of the statue, Professor White's eyes widened in shock and amazement. In place of the stone target, there was a red hot glass circle melted into the ground around the area where the pillar of flames formed!
In all his years teaching at Stonehall Magic Academy, Professor White had never seen a student use a fire spell with a white flame and never one that could melt the earth! Professor White slowly shifted his gaze toward the young student who cast the unfathomably powerful fire spell with such ease.
Noticing that Professor White was staring at him, Theo smiled wryly and asked a hint of worry in his voice.
"Umm Professor White, can I go over to the bench now or did I do something wrong?"