A year and a half later...
After the legendary beating he had received from his father over a year ago, Vicente had managed to spend quite some time without getting into any kind of trouble.
During that period, Vice had spent more than a whole year having no free time for fun with his friends and colleagues at all. Wherever he was not studying at home or was not at the academy, Vice would accompany his father.
Because of this, he gained many insights about his old man's profession, acquired some negotiation skills, and even developed a deeper understanding of the economy of this society.
In Polaris Realm, the primary currency consisted of three types of coins, which were normally used in all kinds of business transactions every day: gold, silver, and bronze.
One gold coin was equivalent to 100 silver coins, which in turn was worth 10,000 bronze coins.
Anyone would find these three minerals in Polaris Realm in this specific ratio. Hence, their values were such.
However, other items could be used as currency, but they were less common given their rarity. These alternative forms of currencies included gemstones, high-value-added resources, and, most important of all, magic stones.
The latter was a unique kind of natural resource magicians could use as support items in their activities or in battle.
Among these, this last option was definitely the most valuable of all, and people usually didn't trade them and were only used when business transactions were really very high.
Although Vice had not yet seen one of these magic stones, he had heard about them when he witnessed a business deal between his old man and a nobleman from another province.
That period marked the first time Vice had ever ventured outside Martell Village with his family for the first time, exposing him to the magical and marvelous world in which he now lived, extending his perception beyond his small village.
Amid juggling these newfound responsibilities, he, Rory, and Ian had returned to walking in groups. In contrast, Darek's team had stopped bothering them after their street brawl that day.
That day, two members of Darek's group had their bones broken and needed medical attention outside the village in order to fully recover.
Because of their need to stay out of the village for a while, Darek's group had been temporarily reduced, forcing the two others to keep their mouths shut lest they get beaten by Vice's group.
By the time the two injured by Vice and Rory returned, the group of those two with Ian had reunited and now these three could be considered to be as strong or even stronger than Darek's group of four.
Finally, a few months ago, Vice and Rory's group progressed to class 5, while Darek's group had graduated from the academy. Because of this, they have not crossed each other's path since and, for the time being, have also left the previous disputes behind.
Ian still remained unaware of the truth about Rory's mother, but it didn't seem as if he was looking for such answers either. He had accepted Vice's made-up excuse and had resumed his friendship with Rory.
...
It was a sunny day in Martell Village, with the birds singing and the residents bustling about their activities.
Some were fixing things in their small stores while others went out to buy or trade their resources, which was typical in such small human communities.
Meanwhile, some of the village children were at the academy. At the same time, some kids remained at home, waiting for the day when they would reach the minimum to study at the Academy of Stars.
Amidst this, in one of the most prominent rooms in the building of the Academy of Stars, class 5 was receiving a lesson from the strictest teacher present in the institution.
Professor Julian!
After years of studying here, once again, the group of Vicente, Rory, and Ian had fallen under the responsibility of this teacher.
However, unlike their initial encounters during the class with this man, everyone in the class had already gotten accustomed to him and no longer feared him as they did back then.
Nonetheless, this man had earned the respect of these students and no longer needed to be so strict with them.
And today, he was starting another class, talking about something essential.
"Today, we will finally begin studying Magic Gems and Magic Pentagrams," he announced right after greeting his students, who, without causing any trouble to him, turned silent as all of their eyes turned towards the professor.
He then directed his gaze at his best student in the class and asked, "Vicente, can you tell me what Magic Gems are?"
Vicente stood up from his seat and began explaining aloud, "Magic Gems are fantastic things that connect to a magical being's body once they reach maturity.
These beings include humans and other magical creatures who can make a connection with the Magic Gem upon reaching maturity through the Awakening ceremony.
The Magic Gem that connects to some being is the one that is the most compatible with that being's characteristics. Hence, each gem is unique and is expected to have different properties and different effects on each magician.
Upon connecting with the Magic Gem, the magical abilities of that magical being are greatly enhanced. From this point on, they gain the capacity to cast spells or use their innate magical attributes at a level far beyond their own natural abilities.
Since the moment of Awakening, we can store our experiences in these gems and use them to create new spells that can automatically etch themselves onto them.
From then on, they will be empowered to assist us in spell activation, development, and much more.
If I were to summarize how important Magic Gems are to magicians, I would say that they are akin to how essential brains are in mortals who cannot use magic." Vicente concluded
Brains were also important to magicians. However, Magic Gems served in a similar way in helping just as the brain functioned in normal humans.
Simply put, a magician without a Magic Gem would be akin to a being who doesn't have a good brain. Due to this, the creature might be unable to develop its intelligence. Likewise, a magical being can not use magical 'LANGUAGE' without a Magic Gem.
A magical being without a gem is similar to a human on Earth who can't read, speak, write, or use any of the things associated with the aspect of learning. While it might be okay to live this way, such a person would naturally be marginalized, and their lineage would be erased over time.
The professor nodded affirmatively and said, "What Vicente explained is correct. Magic Gems are mechanisms that allow us to comprehend the magical language more easily, and through that, it allows us to better use our characteristics and affinities.
Now, let's move on to Magic Pentagram." The professor then shifted his attention to the room and searched around until he found his second-best student, Tessa Asper.
"Tessa, can you tell me what Magic Pentagrams are?"
"Hmm..." The girl looked away, embarrassed, as she didn't know what that was all about, "We haven't learned it yet, professor."
"But haven't you ever wondered about that? I bet you've seen the Magic Pentagrams on your parents or relatives. You should have some insight about this." The professor insisted, knowing that these students should have a good idea of what it was all about.
Ian eagerly raised one of his hands and was soon after granted permission to speak. "Magic Pentagrams are special marks that we acquire, or rather, that we need to have in order to advance through magical realms. They give us an ability that is compatible with our inherent characteristics."
"Ian is not wrong. But that's not all." Professor Julian started explaining as he walked around the room and spoke while illustrations appeared on the blackboard.
"While the Magic Gem allows the magician to harness the different elements that exist for spell casting and broaden their skills in different ways, the Magic Pentagram offers an innate ability and stability to a magician's mana.
As we continue to grow stronger in our journey, the mana in our bodies also continues to increase in volume. It undergoes transformations that alter both our body and soul.
This transformation is so drastic that we are naturally unable to advance any further in the ranks of magic without using secondary instruments.
Without a pentagram to stabilize our mana, we would be at risk of exploding due to the density of mana in our own bodies upon escalating a certain point!"
Gulp!
A collective gulp echoed through the room as the students absorbed this information.
"That..."
"But that's terrible!"
Some of the children commented.
"And indeed it is. That's why in the past, most magical beings were limited to low-level power for a really long time and had to struggle for long to figure out how to solve the problem." The professor acknowledged, excited to share this topic with his students.
"But lucky for us, our ancestors have already solved this dilemma tens of thousands of years ago.
So now we know we need to absorb Magic Pentagrams every time we make stage advancements to stabilize our mana.
Without that, it's risky to keep accumulating mana, so not absorbing a Magic Pentagram is the same as placing yourself in a bottleneck..."
The lesson continued with Professor Julian explaining in-depth classifications of Pentagrams, their origins, how one could absorb one, and some other essential details.