Chapter 12: Road to Beginnings II
"Please forgive my tardiness sir." Skye said softly with a pleasant smile on his face.
"Alright, just take your seat." Instructor Leo said while pointing at an empty seat in the room.
As he walked towards the empty seat, some of the students began to spare in hushed voices.
"Ooh! Who is that boy? He looks so handsome!" A girl said with stars in her eyes.
"Yeah, I know right? Almost wants to make me take a bite out of him!" Another girl with red hair joined in the conversation.
"Tch! What's so great about him? He clearly doesn't know anything about basic etiquette for him to dare come to class on the first day. I say— all he has is just a handsome face! Just look at his stupid grin! Makes me wanna puke!" A boy said with an envious and slightly condescending look.
"Aw! Are we jealous? Why don't you go and get such a handsome face then?" The girl with red hair said with a teasing laugh.
"Hmph!" The boy answered with a scoff.
As Skye sat on his seat, a voice soon spoke out to him.
"Hey there! I'm Layla Rey. What's your name?"
"Skye."
"You know, coming late to class is rude behavior right?"
"You're not the teacher. Back off will ya?"
"Whoa there! Sensitive much? I thought you were a happy kid, not an aloof one. What gives?"
"Oh! Hey there! How you doing? I'm Skye! And I'm sorry I came late. I promise not to ever do that again! Please forgive me. NOT!"
"Sarcasm. That's what you're going with? How original."
"Shut up. The teacher is talking."
"Hey you—"
"Oy! You two! Do you guys want to come over here and teach the class about your little discussion?" Instructor Leo called out to Skye and Layla.
"No sir."
"Then keep your mouths shut. Like I was saying— there are nine known power levels of magic users. The Apprentice, Basic, Intermediate, Advanced; which is collectively known as the Inferior, Superior, Epic, Legendary, Mythic and Divine levels. I'm sure that some of you may or may not have already been exposed to this kind of knowledge. But let me remind you— it would do you well to pay attention in my class. Else— suffer the consequences as a result."
"When practicing magic, we can use the surrounding mana to control and perform it. We can also use spells, arts to perform magic. Either way, they both draw on the universal energy of the world and use it to create extraordinary phenomena—magic."
"Instructor Leo, you said earlier that there are two means of using magic. Which one do you think is better sir?" Skye asked.
"You idiot! Don't you know that using spells is better? Or are you just a bumpkin with a handsome face?" The boy from earlier asked with a sneer.
"Hey Kim! Are you the teacher, or am I?" Leo asked.
"My apologies sir." Kim said with no visible respect on his face.
"Good. Well Skye— to answer your especially tricky question– it usually depends on the level of the user more than anything. Lower level magic users, are advised to use spells and arts. This helps them familiarize themselves to the process of how mana moves, both inside and outside the body when using spells. Higher level users, due to their high reserves of mana, and their closeness to it, usually affect the mana to cast spells. Which brings us to the topic—"
"Spells and Art are classified into 6 major classes. Offense, Defense, Sealing, Movement, Healing and Summoning. These are known as the Six Arts of SpellCasting. There are many minor classes of magic that I won't go into them now, but you will eventually come in contact with in the future."
"Sir. Why do we chant some spells? Is it totally necessary to do so?" Skye asked once again.
"Good question. Remember how I told you that higher level magic users can directly affect mana to cast spells? Well— when a high level magic user creates a spell, some spells they create are—blessed— by the world. In other words, the spell gains the world's recognition and can be cast with a chant. It is possible to cast them without chants, but doing so limits their power. Not all spells created by high level magic users are blessed. Some may not be, and some can even cause a backlash that can kill the caster, regardless of their high level."
"When you say high level magic users, do you mean like—at least Advanced level?" A student asked.
"I mean— at least Epic level!" Instructor Leo said mysteriously.
"Whoa! No shit! That might take us eternity to reach that level!" Kim said in surprise.
"For those of you that have low talent, that might as well be true. But if your talent is high enough, some of you might reach that level in less than 10 years." Instructor Leo said.
"How do we determine the level of talent a person has?" Skye asked.
"Nice question. The level of talent a person has is determined by the amount of mana they can absorb in a 1m radius. They are divided into 10 grades whichs are grades 0 to 9. Grade 0 talents can only absorb less than 10%, grade 1 talents can absorb 10–19%, grade 2 talents 20–29%, and so on. Alright, enough questions for today. In three days, you will undergo an assessment to determine your talent level. For now, we need to assess your skills. Get ready! You guys are going to be in this academy for a long while."
...
"Whew! So much info! I was getting tired in there. But he did say some important things though. It would be great to create my own spell sometime." Skye muttered to himself as he walked towards the training area.
"Tch! You? You would be better off trying to not be sarcastic sometimes." A voice said right next to him.
"Oh! It's you. The annoying girl. What was your name again? Loli...or was it Lychee? Hmm..." Skye said absent-mindedly.
"It's Layla. LAYLA! You jerk! Jeez! You really don't know how to treat a girl right do you?"
"Oh! Yeah! Sorry."
"See—"
Layla was about to say something when Instructor Leo's voice sounded.
"Listen up! For your first assessment, we are going to test your speed and flexibility. This track we have prepared for you should be able to at least push you to your limits. When I call out your name, you are to move around the track in the shortest time possible to you. Good luck. All right, the first person— Hela Precht."
As soon as he finished speaking, a slightly short girl with purple hair and an immature face walked out towards the field. As she approached the area, some students couldn't help but silently gossip.
"Hey, who's she?"
"You idiot! Don't you know? She is Hela Precht, a member of the Precht family, one of the Six Great Noble Families."
"What are the Six Great Noble Families anyway?"
"Where did this idiot come out from? Apart from the Imperial Monarch and the Royal Family, the six Great Noble Families hold the highest power in the Federation. The Precht, Dreylar, Shin, Remington, Vernon and Scotia Families are the Six Great Noble Families, second only to Vermillion; the Royal Family."
"Oh! Thanks for clarifying that for me. You didn't need to say so much though. I felt like you put in a lot of unnecessary details."
"You fool—"
Similar discussions could be heard about the young girl and her background as she quickly manoeuvred around the track. She quickly reached the end of it, slightly panting.
"145 seconds. Pretty good for your first try. Next! Nova Precht!"
Another girl that looked extremely similar to the first girl, execpt for her green hair— walked towards the field.
"She looks like the first girl. Are they sisters?"
"You'd better watch it Raymond. You've been asking a lot of stupid questions today. Of course they're sisters you dummy. They're twins. Nova is the elder, while Hela is the younger of the two."
"Ok. Sorry Kim. My mistake."
...
"130 seconds. Good job! You can go now." Instructor Leo said.
"Yes sir." Nova answered curtly as she left the field.
"Next!"
...
"Now—Skye!"
Skye manoeuvred around the track, dodging through the obstacles like a fish in water, amazing some of the students.
"Whoa! He's amazing! Can you do that?" The girl with red hair from before, asked.
"You know I can't Freya. Are you mocking me?"
"No Xena. Just a friendly question. No need to be so worked up. But you have to admit, he is pretty good at this!"
"I know right?—" Xena was soon interrupted by Kim.
"Tch! All you guys have ever done is praise him. What he did is nothing much. It just proves that at least he's not all talk and a handsome face."
The two girls didn't bother with him and slowly moved further away from where he was standing.
"88 seconds. Superb! Your score is the best the school has ever seen in years!"
"Thank you sir."
"Next is the strength assessment...."
....
"That concludes the assessment for today. Tommorow, it will be a battle test. Class dismissed." Instructor Leo said as he walked away.
"Hey Skye! Nice work you did out there. How did you do that anyway? Are you some sort of gymnast?"
"Thanks. Sort of."
"Ah! So you ARE a gymnast. I was thinking—wait! Did you just say thanks? To me?" Layla asked with slight surprise.
"Yeah. What gives?"
"Nothing. I didn't think that that word could ever leave your mouth. Hehe!"
"You don't even know me. How do you— forget it. Let's go grab some lunch."
"And lunch now too? You aren't trying to flirt with me are you?"
"Oh please! You aren't worthy."
"What the— hey you!— I'll have you know that thousands of guys try to hit on me every day. So I wouldn't be surprised if you fell for my glorious charms." Layla said while flipping her hair.
"Oh yeah! Good for you! For now— let's go get lunch." Skye said with a look that clearly said he didn't believe what she was saying.
"Hey! Come back here! We aren't finished yet!—" Layla said as she chased after him.
...
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