Heavenly Magic Academy. 1 week later.
During the past week, the students studied the meaning of the five tenets of the Heavenly Magic Academy. Despite their efforts in brainstorming and sleepless nights, they still couldn't understand what the first and last tenet implied.
This frustrated them so much that Eluard noticed their sulky expression when he entered the classroom.
"Looking at your faces, you must have failed.", his cold voice further dampened their mood.
Becoming a direct disciple of the academy master was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and they just had to screw that chance. Even Olivia couldn't help but curse herself for being stupid and wished that she had read more books back in her home.
Eluard tried to comfort them.
"Failure is nothing but a path to success. If you think you have lost something big today, think again once you have experienced the future."
He was also comforting himself after the last few days of not being able to cast a simple illumination spell. The difficulty was far from what the system described and what he also expected.
Eluard thought that after a few tries, he could illuminate the room and label himself as a mage. Nevertheless, he was able to finish a book and understand its contents in 7 days.
Looking at the brighter side of things, Eluard regained his composure.
"Tha-thank you, academy master.", Jinmu was grateful.
'Academy master is right. I shouldn't take it as the end of all and move on from it starting now.', he shook his head and calmed himself.
Seeing their mood improving, Eluard nodded, "For today, I will be discussing with you the basics of spell casting."
They didn't object. Maybe they could learn new things from the academy master compared to hearing it from other people. Furthermore, Emi greatly required assistance as well since she was just starting to use magic.
"Mages gather the mana in their surroundings and store it inside their body, through the magic root. Magic roots then absorb the mana like how a tree would absorb water and use it later."
"Spell casting is the 'later' part where we utilize the mana absorbed by the magic root and conjure the imaginations in our minds and turn them into reality."
"For example, we want to cast the fireball spell. Most mages would misinterpret it as simply casting the spell then producing a fireball on their hands without any other processes. This is where they are wrong."
Olivia and the three boys were surprised. They were only taught to incantate the words and memorize the magic circles of each spell so that they could then be casted.
"Imagination is what drives the magic spells to work. We cannot produce something we cannot dare to imagine. What happens next is to control our mana and direct it the way how we want to obtain the said result."
"Since we want a fireball to appear in our hands, we must utilize our minds to imagine how flames work, how to make it appear as a ball, and make it float in our hands. Then, we gather the mana from our magic root and circulate it in a way that the fireball would then be produced."
Eluard's systematic way of explaining how to cast magic spells was based on how people back on earth explain how the natural or artificial processes work before producing results.
The way spell casting was introduced in magic textbooks was similar to a situation where a person is taught how to use the computer, never understanding the ins and outs of binary computations whenever they click something on the screen. All they needed to do was to memorize every step and go away with it.
He reckoned that if the Heavenly Magic Academy wants to produce top-tier wizards in the future, he needed to tread deeper in understanding the magical system of Aludia.
'The masters of magic in this world surely know about this. Only those who could recognize the illusion of the magic circles are those worthy to step in a grander magical world.', Eluard thought.
However, he argued that it might be because some people didn't bother much about how the magic worked. As long as the results meet their requirements, nothing else mattered.
"Of course, turning that into a real magic spell is different. We need to have the magic affinity to turn our mana into a particular element."
"Magic circles are used to measure out the amount of mana required to cast certain spells. They are categorized from formula 1 up to formula 10 magic spells."
"Formula 1 spells require 1 magic circle before they could be casted, and this pattern continues until formula 10 magic spells. Memorizing the magic formula of a spell might be easier but as a student of the Heavenly Magic Academy, you're bound to be different from the rest."
"After all, using the magic circles to cast a spell takes time. You are a mage and wasting your time for the magic circle to form allows your enemies to formulate a plan to counter your attack, or, they will take the initiative to attack you instead. For now, I will assign you all a new task."
Eluard assigned a special task to everyone except Jinmu.
[ Special Task: Formula 1 Spells ]
[ The academy master has tasked you to enhance your knowledge on formula 1 spells. Cast 5 formula 1 spells without the use of magic circles in the next lesson. ]
[ Reward: Blue magic crystal x2. ]
{Author's note: Starting this chapter, I will not include the counter of each new task.}
"Prepare yourself. Failure at that time will incur a great punishment."
The students were pressured because of his ultimatum. They didn't want to experience the punishment they would get if they fail this task. Moreover, the reward was 2 blue magic crystals.
It was a tier higher than the common magic crystals found everywhere.
Eluard stared at Jinmu, "As for you, Jinmu, I have a different task for you."
[ Special Task: Classmate Assistant ]
[ The academy master has tasked you to help all of your classmates in achieving their special tasks. If any one of them fails to achieve it, you will receive a punishment. ]
[ Reward: Access to the public library's 2nd floor. ]
Jinmu was delighted with the reward. The public library's second floor stored all sorts of advanced magical books about magic formations, research, and spells. Their contents were deeper and would greatly help Jinmu in his affairs.
"If you don't have any questions, I will take my leave now.", Eluard waved his hands before disappearing in front of them.
They bowed in respect before rushing to the public library. Olivia carried Emi and personally guided her cultivation.
"Emi, you already know how to sense your mana in the surroundings, right?", she asked to which Emi nodded.
"Good, now instead of staring at them, focus your mind and think of gathering them towards your body.", Olivia continued.
Emi took a while to finish the process but she was able to gather the mana to her body. A refreshing sensation overwhelmed her senses, forcing her to open her eyes and ask Olivia.
"Big sister Olivia, does it feel good if you gather mana to your body?"
Olivia shook her head, "I feel ticklish and cold all over. Sometimes, I can't even bear it and stop for a few days. Maybe because your mana affinity is of nature, Emi, that is why you feel that way."
Olivia was a bit envious of Emi because gathering mana to her body was more of a torture than comfort. Amidst her thoughts, she noticed Jinmu teaching Solordo about magical cultivation.
"Solordo, you are too impatient. Just because you are already in the median ring doesn't mean you should ignore the basics.", Jinmu reprimanded.
"Then where do you think I should start then?!", Solordo was irked because he couldn't cast a spell without using the magic circles.
"The academy master told us to imagine the spell we have to cast first. Since you want to cast wind slash, close your eyes and carefully imagine the scene you throw a big boomerang in a straight line."
"Wind slash is just turbulent wind moving in a direction you pointed at.", Jinmu explained.
Solordo calmed down and did as what Jinmu told him but the latter suddenly held his shoulder, "Go to the training yard. Why would you dare to mess in the public library?"
Solordo laughed in embarrassment and sheepishly went to the training yard. He almost made a huge mistake.
Meanwhile, Lucan was having a headache. Spell casting was his weakest aspect due to his magic root. He not only need to cast five spells; he also needed a large amount of mana pool in case the academy master wanted them to consecutively cast each magic spell.
"You must be conflicted about which spell to focus on first, aren't you?", Jinmu arrived on his sides.
"Jinmu…", Lucan looked at him with a worried expression.
"Focus on the more challenging task first. Once you are done with it, you can proceed and finish the one that is easily done.", Jinmu advised.
He did it that way since people would usually lose motivation after finishing an easy task, then followed by a difficult one.
"Ah, yes.", Lucan felt awkward. Even though he had brought misfortune unto Jinmu, the guy was willing to help him in any case.
He was about to thank him when Jinmu already left. Lucan sighed and forgo it for now.