"While magical spells themselves are rare, their power cannot be compared to typical weaving. Mana weaving itself is mostly effortless. When you weave, your will is exuded by the mana that flows through your body's circuits. It enters the world, mixes with the natural mana in the atmosphere, and creates an effect. This is a simplified description of mana weaving." Silvana explained as she walked back and forth in front of the class.
After pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts, she continued.
"Spells on the other hand are cast using only the mana in your body. It's much more difficult to perform, but the power behind actual spells is far above that of any typical weaving. Does anyone have any idea why?"
No one seemed to know the answer, although Lia had a vague idea. She figured it had to do with the mana in the world being mixed with some other unseen force.
Silvana smiled. "The answer is simple. It's because the mana that occurs in the world naturally is resistant to the will of humanoids. In other words: It attempts to resist the effects our will exerts. Many aren't sure why this is, but I suspect it has to do with where mana comes from, the roots of the world."
Lia raised an eyebrow. The world roots are what create and spread mana throughout the atmosphere. Not many would be aware of this, but her status as a royal had granted her access to a great deal of otherwise unknown knowledge.
Silvana cut off Lia's thoughts as she continued the lecture. "The world roots will not be covered in this class, well, not yet at least. Regardless, to give a brief description, they are the force that creates and spreads mana throughout the world. In areas with a higher mana density, it will be much harder to perform mana weaving. Spells on the other hand, will remain unaffected."
Silvana looked down at her wrist before clicking her tongue. "The class is almost over. However, in the coming days, each one of you will pick a single element to focus on. The greater your understanding of the element, the easier it will be to cast spells using said element. Many of you will choose a 'light' element but, here at Kedia, we do not forbid our students from studying 'black' magic. Magic is a tool; it does not matter what tools you are using, only what you do with said tools.
That's all I have for today's lesson. Class is dismissed."
Lia stood up and began wandering outside, towards the training yard with Sisha in tow.
.....
Lia's schedule looked something like this: General Studies, Magical Theory, Combat Lessons. The electives she chose to take were the last classes during the day and extended into early evening.
Of course, how many electives you chose to take was directly proportional to how long your school day actually was. For Lia, who chose to take six electives, her classes went into the early evening.
They held classes all throughout the day. Mainly so that students could pick and choose whichever electives they wanted. They didn't want taking a specific one to loco you out of taking this separate one.
.....
Entering the training field, Lia and Sisha glanced around. Both of them were looking for Silvanna, as they were fairly sure she was their teacher for this class. Indeed, it did not take them very long to find her.
Silvanna was floating above the training yard, seemingly gazing down at everyone. Lia raised her head and smiled at her. Silvanna put a finger to her lips and smirked.
Lia understood then what this was. As far as she could tell, it was likely a thinking exercise. Some manner of test or something.
The first person, aside from Lia, to find Silvanna happened to be Saf who spent a few extra seconds looking for her.
Silvanna descended then, gently floating to the ground. She smiled at the students and made a rather interesting face.
"Congratulations to those who had found me. This was a rather small thought experiment. During combat, you must always be aware of your surroundings. Extra danger and even the unseen could strike at any moment.
You all must learn to gauge your surroundings and potential threats. Even while in the midst of combat."
The students all looked around, seemingly unsure of how the rest of the lesson would go. Silvanna smirked in a very vicious manner.
"Right. Each of you pair up and begin to spar. If you have no clue what you're doing or have little to no combat capabilities, tell me. Mostly so that I can order a re-evaluation of your skills to put you in the appropriate class. I'm serious when I tell you that this class will have the hardest time when it comes to training. If you don't think you're up for that, tell me now."
No one spoke up with such concerns, which made Silvanna don a look of what Lia understood as disappointment. She theorized that Silvanna was something of a sadist.
Sisha turned to Lia and nodded. "The two of us, then
Lia nodded. "The two of us."
Following the students pairing up, each of them spread out and began to square off with each other.
Lia drew Hysteria. "Hysteria darling, you are going to have to seal most of your abilities."
The sword shook lightly in response.
Meanwhile, Sisha looked around for a bit. Lia raised an eyebrow. "You don't have a weapon of your own?"
Sisha shook her head. "I do not, no."
Lia smiled. "Well, we'll go shopping sometime then. I'm sure we can find a rather nice one."
Sisha nodded as she wandered towards the weapon rack. Picking out a single sided axe, she twirled it a bit before nodding to herself. Once again, she strapped a couple of throwing axes to her person and returned to standing in front of Lia.
Sisha was the first to make a move. She dashed forward, bringing her axe down towards Lia with two hands.
Quickly flicking Hysteria at the side of the incoming axe, Lia deflected the blow almost effortlessly. The force of Sisha's swing was redirected to barely miss Lia.
Sisha's axe hit the ground hard. A small fissure was formed along the ground. Thinking quickly, Sisha summoned tendrils of earth magic from the small fissure.
They sprang forth, rushing towards Lia's form.
Lia hurriedly summoned a barrier of Decay magic. The Tendrils slammed into the barrier as Sisha leaped backwards.
Each tendril that hit the barrier turned to ashes on impact. Utilizing some of what she was practicing earlier, Lia ordered the barrier to begin spinning.
Lia herself dashed forward, launching herself at Sisha. Her wings carried her much faster than most could detect. She wasn't flying, but more to say she was using them to launch herself.
She was roughly two steps in when a Sigil appeared beneath her feet. Chains of golden magic erupted from the sigil and instantly chained her up. The Decay barrier she erected earlier popped like it was a weak balloon.
The chains bound her arms to the sigil and Lia understood the exercise rather quickly. Silvanna was going to be attacking them as the students fought.
Sisha, seeing an opportunity, rushed towards Lia who was wondering how to snap the chains.
Saro spoke up, interrupting her analysis of the sigil. "She's moving forward."
Lia's head snapped to attention as Sisha bore down on her. Lia thought quickly and ducked an axe swing that would have impacted her rather heavily.
She performed a standing kick, lacking the movement to perform a more devastating one. Sisha took the kick rather heavily and skidded back a few paces.
Attempting to overload the sigil, Lia swiftly slammed Hysteria into the sigil and began funneling Decay magic through her. The sigil cracked under the pressure and the chains disappeared as quickly as they appeared.
Sisha, however, was not to be outdone. She was already to Lia's left and preparing to swing.
Lia turned suddenly, a smirk on her face. Sisha's shadow grew larger, stretching in front of her and erecting some kind of barrier. Sisha felt some of the strength in her swing disappear as she passed through the shadowy barrier.
Sisha's swing went directly through the barrier and collided with Hysteria. Lia smiled as she began a renewed offensive.