Waking up in the morning, we sat together in the dining room for breakfast before separating for classes.
While eating, I got reminded of something and asked the other,
"Come to think of it, I saw a lot of upperclassmen yesterday, I wonder why the sudden change..."
"Oh I know about that"
Adrian replied, then continued
"I asked the same thing to the headmistress because I realised a lot of upperclassmen has been showing up around the area recently, that's because apparently all classes for upperclassmen are theory for the first week, which is basically a recap of what they learned from the previous year"
"Ohhh I see..."
"Yeah, that's why they're starting their usual activities just as usual"
"That means the gym will be packed as well?"
"Do you think I go to the gym?"
"..."
Just as I become speechless, Kim Jaesuk joined our conversation.
"Are you guys aware that it's almost the end of the year soon?"
"Huh? Ohh, that's right..."
"Come to think of it, it's already December huh..."
Since this world used the same date as earth, it's now December and the end of the year is coming soon.
To be exact, today is the 14th of December.
I then asked Kim Jaesuk,
"And? What about it?"
"There's gonna be a festival held both inside and outside the academy to celebrate the end and the beginning of the year"
"Huh? How come I didn't know about that?"
I asked in surprise.
"They're planning to announce it on Friday later, but they assume that everyone already knows because it's routine every year"
"Ohh..."
Kim Jaesuk said that the headmistress told him the festival will last for two whole days, which are Saturday and Sunday as its the 31st of December and the 1st of January.
The academy will be opening its door they will place guards around the empire as well to ensure the safety of the students, therefore they're free to roam around.
But Kim Jaesuk think otherwise and told us,
"Well, do you remember what the teacher said though?"
"Who, what, when, where?"
"... Instructor Alex"
"Ohh.."
"He said that he could got killed if he fought against that guy... if an instructor can't fight him, how are the guard supposed to protect us if another guy like him shows up?"
"Now that you said that, I don't even know what's the standard of power level here... is instructor Alex even that strong?"
"I'm not sure either, I'll ask the headmistress later about it and let you know after"
After saying that, he got up together with Adrian to walk to their class.
"We'll see you later then"
"Okay, take care..."
After that, I started my way to the classroom as well.
It's Wednesday, and my first class is Mana control.
Just like last week, teacher Liam entered the classroom and told us to meditate for a while to feel the mana inside our body.
"Those of you who's already able to control even a little bit of your mana, stand up"
Out of the 17 students inside the class, 9 people stood up including me.
"Alright, those of you who's able to control mana a little bit, you'll be learning to control it more than a little bit soon"
After saying that, he proceed to separate us into two groups for those who's still trying to figure out how to control the mana inside their body, and those who's able to control it a little.
He teach the other group for a bit before approaching our group.
"Alright, show me the extent to your control"
Everyone then started to pour mana outside their body without letting it disperse.
Some are able to cover their arm albeit not perfect, and some are only able to move it around without forming shape.
I then covered my whole arms with mana, which made the other gasped in shock.
Teacher Liam then continued,
"Okay, everyone aside from Alex, listen up. The key to control mana is to be able to feel it first, and then you need the power of your imagination since you're just starting to learn how to control it.
Imagine the mana pouring out of your body and slowly moving towards your whole arms and covering it whole, but do it very slowly."
After saying that, he started to do as he said and mana started to flow through his arms starting from his shoulder, forearm, until it covered the hand although it's not in perfect form.
"Now when you succeed in covering your whole arm like this, while maintaining it you need to solidify the form"
The mana around his whole arms then started to take the shape slowly until it become perfect.
"Whoa..."
"That looks satisfying"
He then smiled slightly and told the students to do the same.
After that, he looked my way.
"Now, show me to what extent can you control your mana"
Nodding my head, I uses body strengthening which surprises him.
"Wow, you're able to use body strengthening? not bad, not bad..."
After that, he started asking me to do bunch of stuff, such as forming ball with mana, hovering it around my body, etc.
Finally, he told me to throw my mana away without letting it disperse.
"Can you do it?"
"Um, yes I can..."
"Really?"
"Yep"
"Ok, let's go to the magic practice field to try it..."
After that, we both went outside the classroom after he told the students inside the classroom to continue what they're doing.
Because it has the same concept as my spear attack, it's easy for me to do so.
Arriving at the magic practice field, we entered the barrier and he started to stare at me.
I formed a ball of mana in my hand, solidify the form, and throw it away, which disperse at the moment it hit the barrier.
"Hmm, not bad... it's good enough to use in practice"
He praised, before continuing
"Do you know what is your element?"
"As in fire or water or something like that?"
"Yes."
"Not sure yet..."
"Okay, try to do as I say"
He then put his hand together and formed a ball of sphere on top of it, which I then did the same.
"Imagine the sphere turning into different kinds of elements, be it fire, wind, water, or anything"
I then tried to imagine it turning into fire first, which it did turns into a fire sphere.
"Ohh fire, that's nice... continue with other elements"
I started to imagine it changing into different elements, but none worked out aside from fire.
"I guess you can use fire then"
"Yeah, I can only do fire"
"Okay, it's one of the common elements, so there's a lot of technique that you can learn just by reading a book... of course if you're creative enough you can make a technique by experimenting what you can do with that fire element of yours, but I think most academic mage out there have already figured out most of it"
After saying that, he said that he's able to use two kinds of elements, which are earth and wind.
He showed me an example by chanting a spell in front of me.
A magic circle then appeared right in front of him, and blade-shaped wind came out of it in an instant, which disperse when it hit the barrier as well.
"Did you see the magic circle that just appeared? That's will appear whenever you 'chant' a spell. There's two types of magic that's most commonly used, they're magic that you chant, and spontaneous magic.
Spontaneous magic is basically like that sphere you just formed, you can either throw that to someone and explode depending on its composition.
So, here's the thing about the chant. In most cases, the longer your chant, the stronger the power output, although it will consume a lot more mana.
You can shorten the chant to reduce the power, but here's the thing. Just because the chant is short, it doesn't always mean that the power output is low. There's people out there who are able to chant a spell powerful enough to destroy a building without chanting."
"Which means it depends on the person?"
"Yes. A powerful mage will be able to do a chanties spell, but the power output will still be monstrous. Okay, now you practice with your fire until the class end... I'll check out the other students now."
After saying that, he gave me a book which is about fire magic theory and walked away back into the class building.
I then tried to do a lot of thing with my fire magic.
I chanted a spell according to the book, and a magic circle appeared in front of me throwing out fireball.
'Just like that?'
You just basically need to read the chant and a magic circle will appear, which is so easy to do.
'What about spontaneous magic then?'
I tried to form the sphere again and turned it into fire, and uses my imagination to make it disperse its form but maintaining the fire property, and it works.
The pieces of fire is still there maintaining itself, but then I got exhausted pretty quickly because I spent too much mana.
After my class is finished, I went into the gym to do my daily exercises because it's been a while since I did that.
Arriving there, its indeed packed with people unlike the week before.
'Oh, my usual spot is still free.'
After that, I took out a mattress and did my usual exercise there.
Nothing unusual happened, so I went back to the dorm straight away and wash myself up.
Instead of training my spear, today I'll be try to train my mana quality.
Sitting on top of my bed, I sat in lotus position and start to meditate.
I gathered a bunch of mana recovery potion that Adrian gave me and put it in front of me.
Then I started to train my mana quality.
According to my knowledge about isekai world, it seems pushing yourself over the limit is the key to improve, so I prepared myself to suffer for a while.
"Arkk!"
And just like that, the first groan of the night came out of my mouth.