We were in practical lessons now, this would be the more difficult class for me, with my incapacity to use magic, but at least it could be used as a way to progressively better myself.
There were at least six hexagonal earthen structures like altars arranged into two columns and at most six students were to surround each side of the altar. Being six-sided it was ideal.
"Now it's time to practice some sorcery." the professor said, so far she seemed nice, this was based on personal opinion so there was the possibility she could be patient while helping me discover my magic.
The best and first thing to do would be to understand her ideological concept of magic and see how best to reverse-theorize one of my own.
"You might not think it necessary anymore, but you all will be starting from the most basic of exercises even if you're in the senior division. Do not underestimate the basics." Elena articulated.
I agree wholeheartedly with her system, if we didn't start with the basics how would I hope to achieve better control over my situation. Even the greatest mages are no exception.
As I solemnly soliloquized, the professor had asked what "magic" was, and Belitha was ahead of Rosemarie in providing an answer.
"Magic refers to the art of reconstructing mana, the primary building block of matter in our world."
Very good, that was the generic definition of magic at least. Well, it goes way more than that, but the professor had already agreed to the otherwise correct answer so it'd be best to remain mute.
At the very core of magic is the conversion theory.
Professor White had her right palm out and first manifests a blue magic circle with inscriptions of computerized functions on it.
Bright light slowly amassed from photonic particles surrounding her palm and the mana emanating from her direction was much more palpable, aeriform than what had earlier been displayed when she made that ice pebble.
[Mana transformation...]
[Analysing...]
[Material Conversion...]
Basically, what she was doing, was first, transforming the mana. At this stage, there is still excess data to account for.
So she removed the excess by analysis and recollation, this decoding puts the data back in order, and moves to the processing stage. In this stage you can either add or remove more data before you finally manifest it.
I was astound when she manifested a small replica of our academy out of cryokinetic matter. So these were the fundamentals of magic.
But one more thing to note was that anything created, can also be erased. This was proven after she'd caused the manifested object to turn dust reconverting it back to what it originally was, thus balancing the Mana Cycle.
Magic is a theoretical phenomenon and is derived from the understanding of technique.
Everyone was impressed, but mine was more relating to the process than anything else.
"Any questions about what I've displayed thus far?"
Belitha was the first to take up this opportunity, "Yes ma'am" her right arm up as a show of respect. Very well then, the Professor awaits her question.
What she'd asked wasn't particularly difficult but it was a tricky answer nonetheless, she had asked if there were any limits to the things reconstructed by mana.
Dogmatically speaking, there aren't. The exact same words that came out from the professor's mouth. It all depends on the mages own capability.
"Magic is, fundamentally the art of utilizing mana to conjure matter or phenomena. Matter can be separated into four categories." she first creates a palm-sized spherical ball of ice [Solids].
She then morphed this into a what was a momentary gelatinous blob that breaks down to water which falls from her palm [Liquids].
These streaks of water on their way to land on her desk evaporates into free moving molecules of no fixed volume nor shape [Gas].
With the mana back into the mana cycle again, she placed her palms against one another "And finally, plasma." opening the palm a buzzing and electric whirring sound was heard.
She'd just manifested a purple translucent ball of energy, and within it is a smaller more denser energy sphere with streaks of energy flowing through it [Plasma]. Then she dismissed it before stating to us that, anything else was classified as a phenomenon.
They were impressed by her showmanship. Gosh, I really had to start learning anything and everything about magic as a more feasible aspect than an infeasible one.
The chance to ask a question was still eligible and Rosemarie was the next to ask.
Herʼs was even more complex: "You said anything can be erased as it has been created, to balance the mana cycle, can this prove anti-magic is real?" as you'd expect from someone with a score of 97 in the written exams.
Still, the professor was prepared for any kind of question, from her view, the anti-magic theory was merely a postulation made by Karmichael, and it's a doctorate-level study at that. And she made it known to us that students didn't need to understand it yet.
Rosemarie did infact withdraw her curiosity as she was satisfied with the response. But I could only strangely stare at her all this while, it felt strange that anyone my age other than me would build any interest in that.
Now wasn't the best time to pursue that. It was time for some exercises.
[ Some minutes later... ]
Whereas some people struggled with the practices of what Professor White had just shown them, Belitha and Rosemarie were already good when it came to shape transformation.
They could both manifest simple houses as a sculpt of ice, but inferior to the professor's nonetheless as she could construct shapes with intricate designs that required more detail.
Everyone praised the two, "Leave it to a lady born of one of the highest noble families to get the job done." I said to Belitha, encouraging her after she'd crafted her's in mere seconds.
"T-Thanks.." her face was a bit flushed, was it something I said? I was unable to tell that she held me in high regards so my opinion mattered a lot. "I love it so, so, so, so, much!" said another girl in reference to Rosemarie's work of art, slightly better than Belitha's.
This didn't say who was infact stronger, it just shows who has the slightly upperhand in mana control.
On the other hand, I wasn't even able to create a snowflake, unacceptable. Folded arms, a puzzled look and momentary deliberations as I observed the top of the stone altar trying to think of alternatives.
"What was that supposed to be?", "That was child's play.", "But didn't the headmaster say he passed the exams?", "Yeah... that he was some kind of genius?", "What's his problem.", "He's totally useless." there were a lot of downplays surrounding you know who, but focusing on how I could better the manifestation and control of mana had more importance than whatever they had to say.
Belitha may have felt sad about the intentionally loud whispers made to shame me, but she knew addressing it would only make prove fruitless.
Contrary to normal belief, the best way to handle criticism is to say nothing, do nothing and be nothing.
Still thinking. Bang! A focus well established was broken by the pompous fellow from before [Dilbert Filum] and everyone's attention was drawn to him.
He didn't manifest the house completely, no, but at least he was able to conjure the shape of a basic house, a straight pentagon made from ice. But why did he slam his altar? It became obvious when he said "Cross..." menacingly, he was disgusted by this level of mediocrity. "Whoa... Dil?" his friend tried to calm him down, but it was futile.
He sharply turned to face me, certain meters away, declaring that as a member of the Filum Household he refuses to acknowledge the existence of a talentless magicless wizard. It was unneeded, too theatrical.
His drama wasn't the problem now, concentration was still more directed at trying to make a block of ice something that was a mundane task to others. After another attempt and failure, it was clearly becoming obvious that performing magic as a Cross was far-fetched.
The classes continued as normal, with everyone choosing to act as though they hadn't heard what Dilbert said. It was for the best, after all the professor didn't address it to avoid stirring up any conflict. She made the right choice.
Don't wait guys, I didn't even create anything by the end of that class.
Ah Geez...