Meanwhile...
About thirty minutes before Theo cast TJ's White Inferno, Tina was standing in a similar group of students lined up in rows of ten. Tina looked at her father through the crowd of nervous kids, Arthur's normal goofy smile was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Tina saw a stern critical expression plastered on his face. After a few moments of tense silence, Arthur introduced himself to the group.
"Listen up, my name is Arthur J. Croff! I have acted as one of the 16 Advisory Professors and the Advanced Magical Combat Professor at Stonehall Magic Academy for 5 years! For many of you, this is our first time meeting so let me set the ground rules! Rule one! Unless outside we are speaking outside of the classroom, all students are to address me as Professor Croff! If in the classroom not feel free to speak with me casually! Do you all understand rule one?"
The tense crowd of students replied in semi-unison.
"Yes, Professor Croff!"
Tina who was looking a lot less nervous, beamed a smile as she let out a casual reply.
"Yup! I got it, Arthur."
All the students around Tina turned their gaze and stared at her with a look of astonishment. Seeing this Tina tilted her head and with a raised eyebrow stated slightly confused.
"What? We are not in the classroom right now. That means we can speak to my father casually."
A loud hearty laugh bellowed out from the front of the crowd. Arthur was holding his face while shaking his head, a goofy grin now spread across his face. After a few moments of laughter, Arthur calmed himself down a bit. Letting out a sigh, he smiled wryly as he explained.
"Technically, little Tina there is actually correct! Since we are outside of the classroom, feel free to relax and call me Arthur."
There was a slight pause as the gathered cluster of kids stared at Arthur blankly. then all of the students who were staring all blurted out in unison.
"Eh!?"
The only ones not reacting were Tina and Arthur as they were both wearing beaming smiles. Arthur seeing the confused students, coughing slightly to gain the group's attention as he began to explain.
"About five years ago in my first year of teaching, the students in my class were always intimidated of me and my serious attitude I kept from my time a War Mage. It was to the point where none of my class ask any clarifying questions out of fear. Naturally, I didn't realize this until I saw the final grades of my class at the end of the semester. when I asked them why knowing the magical potential of the students there. one of my students finally spoke up~"
Arthur paused to look at the group of the kids in front of him. Letting out a sigh as he remembered what his old student said. With a wry smile, Arthur continued his story.
"~that kid said "I was too scary" at the time I was at a loss for words. That's kids words echoed through my mind all throughout the mid-semester break. This made it really hard to be cheerful for my daughter who had come to visit me. Seeing me all glum my daughter asked me what was wrong. After I explained the problem, she thought for a moment then my little Tina beamed up a smile a simply said..."
Tina, still wearing a beaming smile cheerfully stated.
"Then be their friend, just like you are with me!"
Arthur nodded with a warm smile as he continued.
"I realized that in order to nurture the next generation and fill my role as a professor, I need to hear my student's problems and react to them accordingly. In other words, I not only need to teach my students but be their friend too.~"
The group of students all turned to Tina who was still smiling. Although this time the kid's eyes were filled with stunning admiration rather than worrying surprise.
Arthur once again coughed slightly to gain the group's attention as he continued his story.
"~After the break I stood before my class and explained my new Ground Rules. Rule one! Unless outside we are speaking outside of the classroom, all students are to address me as Professor Croff! If in the classroom not feel free to speak with me casually. Rule Two! If you don't understand something please let me know and I will try my best to explain it in a friendly manner. Rule Three! Please just try and relax when in class and I will try to not be that scary. Rule Four! Please do not fight or belittle any of your fellow classmates out of spite or ill intent. We are all friends here after all!~"
After hearing the full set of rules the group of nervous kids nodded in understanding. Seeing that the students were a lot more relaxed Arthur Clapped his hands together and continued with a friendly smile.
"Now that you know the Ground Rules let's get started! All of you go to the locker rooms and change into your Practice Robes. Take your time but try and be back in ten minutes. After that, we can begin the Magical Assessment Test!"
After around ten minutes all of the students were back in rows of ten. Arthur took out a scroll and feather pen and began to call kids up to the mound to take the Magical Assessment Test.
Tina noticed that of the students who were going for speed rather than power to get a good score, the fastest casting time was one student who was able to cast a Firebolt in 7 seconds. As far as the most damage that was done to the stone target, one kid used Stone Cannon a more powerful version of Rock Lance. However, it took the student nearly 16 seconds to cast and the actual damage was not much more than the target losing an arm.
As Arthur sent the previous student to the bench after casting his spell. He looked down at the scroll and called out Tina's name.
"Tina J. Croff!"
As Tina walked up to the practice mound her eyes were alight with the flames of determination. looking up from the scroll Arthur gave the signal to begin.
"Begin Casting!"
Tina clutched her Arcane Focus with one hand and thrust out the other toward the stone target. A small dark red flame started to appear a foot in front of Tina's outstretched palm. After five seconds the small dark red flame was launched at the stone target as Tina proudly shouted out her recently learned fire spell's name.
"TJ's Flame!"
Arthur watched in surprise as the dark red flame enveloped the stone target before the flames dissipated after six seconds. With a wry smile, Arthur turned his attention over to his smiling daughter who was pumping her fist in success shouting out.
"Yes! I finally managed to use Quick-Casting! I bet Theo is going to be so impressed!"
Arthur coughed slightly to gain Tina's attention. Then as Tina turned to face Arthur, he asked with a friendly smile.
"So I take it that is the new fire spell young Mr. Theo told me he was teaching you?~"
Seeing this Tina bushed slightly out of embellishment and nodded with a warm smile.
"~Well I am sure you will tell me all about it later. For now, head over to the bench with the other students that have finished their test.~"
Hearing her father, Tina beamed out another smile and hopped off the practice mound. waving goodbye to her father Tina raced over to the bench of students all chattering about how fast Tina's casting time was.
Arthur smiled warmly as he watched his daughter chat away on the bench. With a slight chuckle, Arthur mumbled to himself.
"~Theodore Jenning, I wonder if he is related to him?~"
Snapping himself out of his thoughts, Arthur resumed calling students to the practice mound to be tested.
After Tina sat down, a bunch of the kids sitting on the bench instantly swarmed Tina with tons of questions about TJ's Flame.
"Tina, what was that spell you cast?"
"Who taught it to you?"
"Was it your father?"
"I have never seen a spell cast in five seconds! How did you do that?!"
Tina smiled warmly seeing the other kids in her class so eager to learn about Theo's fire spell. Clapping her hands together causing the kids to back off a bit. Then with a wry smile, she began to answer all the questions in order.
"The spell I cast is called TJ's Flame and it was taught to me by my new roommate Theodore Jennings, not Arthur. The reason I was able to cast the spell in under six seconds is by using something else Theo taught me called Quick-Casting. It allows me to shorten my casting time by one second every time it is applied to one of Theo's spells. However, I am only able to use Quick-Casting at level one right now. Theo can currently use it at level two making his casing time only four seconds."