The day after, it's time for me to learn how to control mana.
I did learn it a little bit together with Kim Jaesuk back when we were in the village, and I'm able to control it to some extent.
Adrian and Kim Jaesuk have the same class today, whilst I'm having a different class.
I was really nervous when I joined the class, which has about 17 students inside, including me.
The other students are all sitting in pair, and since we're odd number I ended up sitting by myself.
"Good morning boys"
The teacher then came in with a large book in his hand.
"Good morning, teacher Liam"
'I guess his name is Liam...'
"We've got a new face today I see, do introduce yourself before we start the class"
The teacher then looked my way before telling me to introduce myself.
"Um, I just joined the academy couple of days ago, and the name is Alex"
"Alright Alex, do you have any prior knowledge about mana?"
"Umm, yes.. I roughly know a little bit"
"What about the other?"
He asked the other students, and it seems like most of them knows a little bit about mana as well.
"Okay, I'll explain a little bit about mana. Mana, is basically like the amount of power reserve that you have.
Let's say you have a limit of 100 mana points, and for every spell you cast, it cost you 10 mana. It means that you'll only be able to use your spell 10 times before you ran out of mana completely.
You can cast it again of course, since mana can regenerate itself inside your body, but it can be boosted by recovery potions made by alchemist..."
Teacher Liam then continued explaining about mana, how the term mana was found, its history and improvement, etc.
He then added something very serious.
"Remember one thing. Like I said earlier, if you have 100 mana points and uses 10 points every time you cast a spell, you will be dying a moment after you cast your 10th spell.
And the moment you overuse the amount of mana you have, you will die. This condition is called Mana Exhaustion.
You can still survive as long as you have a little bit of mana left, although it might cost a lot of resources.
But the moment you ran out of mana completely, you die..."
(murmur)
The class broke out in murmur after hearing that.
"Doesn't it sounds dangerous?"
"How're supposed to know how much mana we have left?"
Question popped up here and there coming from the students.
Teacher Liam then calmed the students down and answered the question one by one
"It is dangerous, that's why we're having this class, to teach you how to properly control the mana that you have"
"You will know how much mana you have left yourself when you're able to control your mana. You can feel it inside your body"
"Now I will first show you how mana looks like"
He then put his arm and curled his arm into a ball, leaving his index finger pointing up.
Mana then started to gather on top if his index finger, which formed a spinning sphere, and it keep changing into multiple forms.
"This is what you can do when you're able to perfectly control mana, but this is far from what you can accomplish right now"
The mana then dispersed, and he started to be enveloped with mana.
"This is what you will need to do before being able to pass this unit. Now for the first lesson, feel the mana inside you and try moving it around.
The mana is currently locked inside your heart, and you need to flow it throughout your entire body to be able to feel it completely"
He explained the same thing that I've been teach back at the village.
After that, everyone started meditating to try as the teacher said.
'Now what should I do?'
I thought to myself.
I'm currently considering whether I should expose that I'm able to control my mana.
'It's not fair that Kim Jaesuk's getting all the attention... At least I should have some as well...'
Is what I'm currently thinking, but I'm also afraid of the expectation placed on me should they think that I'm already able to use mana even though I'm just a commoner.
In the end, I decided not to expose myself and started to act like I'm meditating just like everyone else.
I then closed my eyes and started to act like everyone else.
---
"Hey, Alex's class is mana control today right?"
I asked Adrian who's sitting next to me.
"That's right, I wonder what's the difference with this class though..."
He answered while skimming through a book.
I then continued reading a book while waiting for the teacher to come back.
The teacher told us briefly about mana and how to control it, and both Me and Adrian are both able to use mana since we both have experience back at the village.
It surprises me that Adrian is able to use it though.
'You need to be able to control mana to control the flame used on alchemy'
Is what he said.
We're then given a book each about magic foundation and how it's used in daily life.
Just as I was about to continue reading the book, the door to the classroom opened and the teacher called us both.
"Come with me"
Is what she said, then we both followed him out of the classroom.
"Um, Mrs. Burg, where are we going?"
I asked out of curiosity while we're walking through the corridor.
"We're going to the magic practice field"
"Is it different location than the sword practice field?"
"Yes. This one is located nearby but definitely not the same field, a little bit special"
He said.
I then stopped asking question and followed him to what looked like an archery range.
One weird thing is that there is something that looked like a barrier surrounding the field around.
"Over here!"
Mrs. Burg then walked inside through a gate in the middle of a side of the field.
"This is where students practice their magic spells, as well as where magic practice examination will be held later.
The barrier is there to enclosed the space so that the spell doesn't go outside this area, basically to prevent unfortunate incident from happening"
"Whoa..."
I turned my head and Adrian looked very amazed next to me with his mouth agape.
"How did the barrier keep forming even though there's no one supplying it with mana? Is it by using talisman?"
He asked the teacher.
"Good question, as expected of a future alchemist master"
Mrs. Burg praised, before answering his question.
"But no, we don't use talisman. We use mana stones instead"
"Mana stones?"
"Yep. It's a special kind of stone that contains mana inside. It can be made by human as well as can be found in a certain cave"
"I see..."
After answering his question, Mrs. Burg started to explain why she brought us here.
"Now, since you're able to control your mana, we're going to try to transform your mana to an element to find out what element you're proficient with"
Mrs. Burg then opened up her palm and gathered her mana on top of it.
After gathering it, the mana started to turn into a ball of flame which amazes me.
I turned my head expecting Adrian to be amazed as well, but he has straight face that looks like he expected this.
"Adrian? You don't seem amazed at all..."
Even Mrs. Burg is confused by him.
"Well, I kinda know how to do that already..."
He then put up his palm and formed a ball of fire of similar size as Mrs. Burg on top of it.
"What the... where did you learn this?"
I asked in surprise.
Even Mrs. Burg is shocked.
"Well, remember that I said that I need to be able to control mana to control the flame in alchemy? The flame is formed by our own mana of course..."
"Dude..."
I sighed.
Mrs. Burg then said,
"Since you're able to do this, I assume fire element is your specialty then?"
"Umm, actually..."
After saying that, He put out the fire on his hand, and started to form a ball of water instead.
"I also specialise in water element.."
"..."
Mrs. Burg's face looked so hilarious right now.