The next day Kroft arrived back at Ms. Ross's classroom. The first thing that Ross did was give Kroft a tour of the classroom. It was much more than just the office which contained Ross's desk. A door in the back led to a room with a fully kitted out laboratory, along with this there was even a separate space for dangerous testings that had magical barriers surrounding it in case of accidents. Finally after explaining the layout of the rooms Ross laid down in her chair and let out a sigh.
"Hm, well then, now that you have acquired the basic bearings why don't we get started?"
Kroft, excited to learn, eagerly marched up to Ross's side. She gestured towards the lab room and he followed her through the doorway obediently.
"Now listen carefully, I don't feel like repeating myself. You might want to write this down so that you don't forget."
Kroft raised an eyebrow and tapped his head, gesturing that he had a good memory and so didn't have a need for notes. Having a good memory in Krofts case was a severe understatement, but nonetheless it got the point across.
"Suit yourself," Ross replied back. "Now, your aptitudes are darkness and fire, which in of itself is a little weird as most people have three to four aptitudes instead of two. This puts you at a disadvantage because you won't have as diversified techniques as other magicians. As you should know already, training in aptitudes that you have no talent for will result in no progress, so to catch up to others you are going to need to focus extensively on the two that you have. The world isn't fair though so don't start pouting about it. Lucky for you, you have an amazing mentor now. As you might have noticed I excel in mastery of darkness."
Kroft barely held in a laugh. He thought to himself, HMPH that's hilarious, did she really just unironically say that she has a mastery of darkness. This might be the cringiest thing that I have heard since coming to this world.
Although difficult, Kroft remained silent and allowed Ms. Ross to continue her speech.
"You have the basics of magic manipulation down at least but now you need to learn how to form that magic into a usable construct. The way which a type of magic can be used varies greatly from one another, you're not going to create a way to see through fog with darkness, the same way you won't grow a flower with wind. Now the way to properly put your magic into a construct that is useful is to use techniques. Techniques have different ranks and the higher the rank the most powerful they become. Now trust me on this one when I tell you that you won't be able to just tell yourself you want to learn a technique and perform it overnight, techniques take months or years to study to fully understand and corporate them into your magic. Now watch closely."
Ms. Ross spread out her arms and a black sphere of energy formed in her palm, as she stared at it the energy grew larger until it was around the size of a basketball. Without muttering a single phrase the sphere expanded instantly and enveloped the entire room, Kroft could not see anything, but he felt a sense of unease, he felt like he was being watched from everywhere and nowhere at once. When he opened his mouth to question the technique he was surprised to discover that he couldn't speak, he moved his mouth and willed for words to come out and yet not a single syllable was spoken from him. Eventually after 10 seconds or so, Ms. Ross rid the room of the abyss and was nowhere to be seen. Kroft, surprised at her disappearance, did not notice her until she held a knife to his throat. She leaned down to his ear and whispered to him.
"That is a beginners technique that can come in handy against unskilled magicians. You must be careful if you don't know how to navigate with your senses withdrawn."
She released the blade from his neck and circled around until she was in front of him again.
"Now then, getting access to techniques is quite expensive. Even the most basic of techniques that you will have to start with wouldn't be able to be bought with money that you would make in a lifetime of a normal person, but would you look at that! You're so lucky aren't you kid, you have such a knowledgeable and generous mentor who would be willing to lend you the information needed to learn your first technique! Isn't that great and all you have to do is be my lab assistant for any and all experiments I need you for."
Kroft, unsurprised that nothing is really free, nodded his head and asked what needed to be done. Ms. Ross explained to him that he would come and help with whatever she needs him for and in return she would teach him like the great mentor she is. (Her words).
"Here take this." Ross said as she handed over a redbook with an unfamiliar symbol on the cover.
"This is a basic fire technique, now I don't have much use for it since I don't have an aptitude for fire myself." Kroft scanned the book cover and then nodded his head.
"Thank you." He responded with gratitude evident in his voice.
With that Kroft helped with a few experiments that Ms. Ross wanted his assistance with. She was given a pleasant startle when Krofts knowledge in a wide area of different subjects shone through. By the end of the day both Ross and Kroft were happy with the results of their union and split in high spirits. Kroft returned to his room and studied the book which he received and tried to decipher the processes described in the book. Not only was the book literded with many complicated explanations about the technique, the steps that were needed to be followed for a first time technique user to grasp the concepts were much too complex. Kroft estimated that a person wanting to fully acknowledge the technique would take at least a couple of months and at most perhaps half a year.
"This is going to be fun." Kroft muttered to himself as he closed the book and left it on the top of his desk and walked over to his bed. He understood that this was to be a long and lengthy process and to be able to accomplish his first technique, he must have patience. He laid back on his bed and closed his eyes and soon enough sleep washed over him, ending his day.
23 days later
[Assembly Complete]
[Salvine Technique Recorded]
In only a little over 3 weeks Kroft was able to come to an understanding of his first technique. This was all due to his comparing the information written in the text with what was already recorded within his memory. His gift allowed him to accelerate through the learning process exponentially, as the more he deciphered the technique the faster the learning became as he was building off the information he gained to figure out what was to be learned. The name of his first ever technique was Salvine. It was a fire based technique where through channeling energy into one of your shoulders you could push it through your arm, snaking it into your palm where you could manifest flames to flow out of your hand into the direction you wished. Kroft could only perform this technique with his right hand, but as he raised his proficiency and practiced with it he would gain familiarity and eventually be able to do it with his left. Krfot felt accomplished, he knew that compared to other magicians he wasn't very powerful, but to be able to finally have a technique, he felt like he was taking a step in the right direction. He could defend himself but other than that he liked the sense of power he felt growing in him. The feeling of being able to control a form of energy with his fingertips, to manifest it into what he wanted, gave him a power trip he had never gotten before. With that feeling and a new sense of confidence he continued with routine, he trained, went to Ms. Ross to help with her experiments, and maintained his job at the library. That nice comfortable little routine lasted for an entire 3 days! Yep and then of course something had to interrupt it. The place, Azael Ross's classroom. Kroft and Ms. Ross were mid conversation about whether or not it is possible to create light aptitude effects through the use of dark aptitude techniques. Kroft argued that darkness is the absence of light so light was the absence of darkness. If they were opposites of each other then using the knowledge that the absence of one or the other means you could theoretically simulate the effects of the other with the right use of the other one. Ross listened to her apprentice and thought it over, she argued in defense that it was a much too simple explanation for a system of magic that is much too complex. If creating effects that way were so simple then there would be no need to diversify your different aptitudes because focusing on one would allow for you to get the effects of the others. Kroft countered that counter.
"I'm not saying that studying only one type of magic would allow for the effects of all of them. What I'm saying is that direct opposites might be able to give the effect of the other if given the right conditions. I feel that It would be extremely difficult to simulate this, so diversifying your strengths of your aptitudes would still be an easier and more efficient process. For someone like me thou-"
Kroft stopped mid sentence.
"Wait.." Kroft glanced around the room, he didn't know what was happening. An internal instinct inside of him was blaring off the charts, no not an instinct, his gift. All of the sudden-
[Unidentified Energy is detected]
[Unidentified __________ is coming, is detected, is]
"What's happening?" Kroft said out loud. The unidentified energy he assumed was magic, but what is so unrecognizable that not even a snippet of his knowledge would be able to even make an inference of what it was.
"What wrong Kroft?" Ross asked with concern, perforating her voice. To her Kroft seemed so lost, this wasn't anything like the apprentice that she knew who always seemed to be filled to the brim with curiosity and knowledge. But then Ross sensed something, but she was too late.
In an instant the air glittered all around, a flash of purple, no red, no orange, no green, all colors that the eyes could see flashed between them. In the end both Kroft and Ms. Ross's vision was filled with a screen of blue and before they could let out a petite part of a phrase, everything changed