--- Ria
Ria was eager to visit the city renowned for its magic, and to learn, no less.
Yet despite that she was going to be a magician, she felt like something was missing.
She knew what it was, and she turned gloomy.
'I miss Lava!' She thought, 'I miss her beautiful scales and radiating warmth...'
Ria started to cry longingly at what she missed, staring at the scale Lava gave her a full year ago even though it hasn't even been that long since they were apart.
On the bright side, for the first time she was given quality clothes.
It's not like Grandpa made her wear tatters, but it had to be kept basic for financial reasons.
The entrance to the academy was incredible, with a well maintained lawn and decorative ferns to stifle any doubts of its prestige.
It was rather clear to the other students that Ria was not a noble, even if they disregarded that Ria knew almost no etiquette.
"Now they're letting country bumpkins in? I bet a gold coin she's worse than Litz!" One group gossips and chuckles.
Ria was too cheerful to hear or be brought down by such verbal attacks.
She could hear Lava in her head telling her that she should be strong.
In reality, she was almost at their level already even though she was younger than most of them.
The first class began soon after her arrival.
She sat in the classroom, anticipating her new teacher meeting the mass gathering of young mages.
Eventually after a few moments of staring, a skinny man with a short robe stepped through the door.
"Greetings, all of you! I am going to be your instructor. Some of you may already know who I am, but in this academy you are to address me as Master Pierre." He announced with a loud authoritative voice, betraying his appearance.
No one interrupted, even the strongest nobles knew their place here.
"Alright, first of all, let's go over the rules. Violations of any of these may be punished with immediate expulsion from this academy, so pay attention!" He said, looking slightly annoyed to be reciting them once again, but he continued.
"First, no attacking other students! Unless it's an agreed upon duel supervised by a teacher or two other students chosen by the participants, there will be no fighting! Of course, you aren't allowed to cause serious harm in a duel either!" He commanded,
"Second, no making up spells within vicinity of other people, you'll need a supervisor if you want to try them with incantations. You'll learn why very soon... Those are the only two you have to remember, but that doesn't mean there aren't more, so have some common sense and don't be fools."
"Understood!" Everyone shouts in unison as if forced to do so.
Finally, the class truly begins.
"Alright, let's begin with the first thing every mage has to know, what is magic?" He asked, but before anyone could answer he continued on,
"Now, if you were going to answer along the lines of power or energy, you're only half right. Magic is knowledge, and knowledge is power."
He had continued on his informal parade for an entire minute before someone in front of Ria finally asked, "Why can't we just make up spells whenever we want?"
"Even accomplished mages are careful with new spells, when things go wrong, at best you'll just be out of strength, but at worst you could harm yourself or others. That's why you should NEVER make a spell out of words you don't completely understand. Think of the spell as the literal command you are giving to the world, and your mental image being your own personal view on how it should be achieved. If they conflict or your focus wavers, the result will not be what you intended." Master Pierre answered.
Ria did her best to absorb everything like a sponge, so that she could impress even Lava when she returned.
"Can you give an example of what could happen?" She asks.
The instructor contemplated for a second and then said,
"Hmm, say you were setting up a tent and use a spell like
Magic was so much more complicated than Ria first thought.
"Alright! That's the end of the introductory lesson. All of you are given temporary dorms on academy grounds. Get some rest, because tomorrow starts practical lessons." The instructor commands, in response to which all the students leave obediently, including Ria.
As she walked into the room assigned to her she was so surprised at how lavish it appeared.
There were furniture and decorations everywhere.
These were indeed made for nobles and the bed was the softest bed she's ever known in her life.
But even so, she couldn't get comfortable.
'I miss the warmth of my dragon sister...' She realized.
That was when she got the best idea of her life. She pulled out Lava's scale and looked at it while pausing.
'Wait, but Lava told me only to use this in emergencies...' She hesitated... 'But this is an emotional emergency, so it's fine!'
She giggled and went through with her plan.
"Alone and cold, in need of help, I call upon Lava to lend me her glow,
Lava, not being present, didn't even notice the tiny sliver of power leaving to warm her little sister.
Ria squeezed her pillow and fell asleep in ecstacy.
She slumbers deeply for hours until she is awoken by a loud, piecing noise.
Master had interrupted them with
"This is where you will learn to fight!" Pierre shouts in a domineering tone.
"F-Fight?" A boy slightly older than Ria asks.
"Yes! If you want to grasp prestige as a mage, you will need to fight, even against other mages! Magic battles are not just a battle of talent. Your life hangs on your creativity and awareness! No matter how much power you have, someone with an average amount of Mana can stomp you easily if you use it poorly!" He grates sternly.
Ria looks at the dummies strewn about the field they were arranged in and wondered if they were already going to be casting attack spells.
"First I'm going to be evaluating your responses to attacks. I'm going to cast
No one failed, and most simply used
Rulio, the most exquisitely dressed, used
The girl by his side cast
But Ria noticed one of them, Litz, didn't have much magic at all. Yet he managed to barely block the spell with
He didn't have enough Mana to just cancel the spell like most the nobles had from the start.
It was now Ria's turn, as Rulio and some of the less considerate students started to giggle.
They knew she wasn't even a noble and expected her to do even worse than Litz.
Instructor Pierre wasn't fazed or swayed by that knowledge, he knew from experience that commoners that made it into this academy were usually more gifted than most nobles could ever hope to be.
Ria, wanting to stand out a little, used
One of the students that laughed at her before suddenly spoke up boldly.
"Hey! You said we'd fail if we got hit! That sure looks like getting hit to us!"
The instructor was pissed off in an instant and donned an intense glare.
"You really dare to look for loopholes in my words?! Ria can still move, can she not? That means she passed. Now shut up and get back in line!" He yelled.
"Y-Yes, sir!" The student submits, a hidden annoyance buried beneath.
"Now we'll move on to basic attack. Everyone will take a turn casting
Rulio creates a large mass of flame that leaves scorch marks covering the target.
Everyone stares in awe as he and his closest friends create the most impressive attacks, while at the same time laughing at the pathetic puff of flame Litz produced.
Then it is Ria's turn, and she waits for a few moments to think.
"Haha, I bet she's scared it'll be worse than Litz!" Some of them mock.
"Shut up, brats!" Pierre explodes in fury, and they do.
Ria wanted to do this right, she wanted to glow just like Lava does!
'I want to make a fire like no other, one that burns as bright as Lava's flame.' She repeated in her head.
Lava had never shown her what her fire breath looked like, which meant the only thing she could imagine in her mind were the most majestically powerful flames that could ever exist.
Most would at some internal level, consider this as their own subjective opinion, but to her it was an indisputable fact strong enough to influence magic itself.
Pierre felt a shiver, and a lone bead of sweat rolled down his face as he noticed surrounding Mana arranging in an extremely peculiar yet vaguely familiar shape.
"
'What the hell is with this girl! Like hell that's a fireball! Gods, how in blazes do you justify calling THAT a fireball?!' Pierre thought in his frozen shock while the students scream and run for cover.
When it was finally over, Ria looked at the completely evaporated target and simply cheered, "I did it! I made a fireball!"
"You sure did..." The instructor panted, using spells to cool the air down.
"I wasn't going to cover this until later on, but depending on your thought processes and experiences, you will all find that you're better at certain spells than others. Which is why once you find what you're good at, you should try to stick to spells in that category, even if there are other, more encompassing spells that can do the same thing." He explained to the rest.
Master Pierre then tested Ria with many different spells, which she was able to cast all of at an above average level.
She was unable to repeat that performance for anything that wasn't a fire related spell.
At the end of the day, a certain student could be seen giving up a gold coin.