On stage, Monica didn't care if her actions scared the children around her. She extended her index finger and spun the crystal ball with her fingertips as effortlessly as if it were candy.
"Meditation. Through mental immersion, feel the elements around you, draw the elements towards your body, and integrate them with your own magical power. This is the most stable way to enhance your magical power and shape your own magic."
The crystal ball spun lightly on Monica's fingertips, bright white arcs occasionally flashing inside.
"Meditation can also stabilize your mental state. If one day you feel like you're about to lose your mind, you can try using meditation to maintain a certain level of sobriety and make decisions."
Monica lifted her red lips and smiled slightly, as if she had found something amusing. "Of course, if you can't resolve the cause of the disorder, you'll still lose your mind completely."
Then Monica began instructing the new apprentices on how to enter meditation.
She asked everyone to choose the image they found most pleasant and to observe it through the crystal ball in front of them.
Damian endured the discomfort and quickly flipped through the album he held in his hand.
In just a few minutes, he immersed himself in a vision and finally could only choose an image that made him feel more uncomfortable.
To be strong, he needed to put himself in the most dangerous, demanding, and complex situations to avoid feeling comfortable.
The image he was seeing in the book in his hands was that of a demon. This demon had four horns on its head and huge arms hanging down to the ground.
The most notable thing about this painting was that in front of that demon stood a man, but this man held a sword instead of a magical staff.
But if there was something strange to mention, it was that this person was also using magic.
Damian's heart began to tremble when he set his eyes on the crystal ball, and that most terrifying demon figure drawn in the book came to life in that crystal ball.
"I can see you..." Damian's eyes, hidden under his black bandage, began to glow, showing him beyond what anyone else was visualizing.
Damian couldn't look away; his breathing started to quicken, and at that moment, he breathed as he had learned to do, but this time his control over the suppressed magic in his body started to become unstable.
Damian's change was not small at all; his gaze began to show exaggerated pain, and the nails of his right hand dug into his skin.
"Argh!"
Damian clenched his teeth tightly as he breathed according to his training method.
He felt it; he clearly felt how that demon was looking at him, and at that moment, he began to tremble.
He knew it was an illusion, but he couldn't allow himself to feel fear, not now that he had committed to staying focused only on improving to kill demons.
This time Damian's surroundings changed; he felt like he was immersed in a kind of lived scene and soon found himself standing in front of that purple demon with four horns on its head.
There were many corpses around the demon, all of them belonging to humans and elves who had died in combat against this horrible demon.
"What are you going to do, young human?"
Damian didn't respond to this question; he knew he should never converse with a demon if he didn't intend to kill it, and right now, he didn't feel capable of doing so.
He could feel how tiny he was and how weak and fragile he could be against this demon.
"This is the first time someone has looked at me with those horrible eyes."
Damian wanted to look away, but he didn't; he wanted to convey that, despite how weak he was, he wouldn't cower against this demon even if death awaited him.
This was like a duty, a mission that all living beings had against demons and evil beings.
Every living being with a bit of reasoning should kill demons; they should never turn their backs on these common enemies, and under no circumstances should they beg for mercy from these horrible beings that have been massacring them for generations.
At this moment, there seemed to be a noticeable change in Damian, but he was suppressing it so well that no one except Professor Monica could notice.
Damian clenched his left hand tightly and stood facing the demon, throwing a punch with all the force of his body. At this moment, he stopped thinking; he only had one purpose in mind, and that was to fight.
Boom!
The air around Damian stirred, waking him up, and when he came out of that illusion, he found himself in a completely different place.
"What did he do?"
"Did he try to hit the mentor?"
Damian held his face with his right hand and saw how his skeletal fist had hit a magical shield. When he tried to step back, his legs, which were numb from the pain, lost strength, and he almost fell to the ground, but at that moment, Monica held him.
There were laughs around, as if they now wanted to see the punishment Damian would receive; there were even people hoping for his companion's death.
But those who didn't laugh were the third- to second-class mages; they had all been close to a demon and understood what Damian had visualized from the demonic aura emanating from the book he had left on the side of his cushion.
Damian's eyes, filled with tears, showed surprise and confusion; he looked at Monica, who was helping him stabilize, and murmured, "Thank you."
"Ignorance is also a serious offense, and this is not funny at all. He acted that way because he entered into a deep, illusory meditation where he faced a demon head-on. Have any of you been able to visualize any illustrations through your crystal ball? Unlike most of you who would shudder at being in the presence of a demon, he decided to attack with all his might, knowing he would die."
Monica's words made Damian realize what had really happened a moment ago.
At this moment, everything had dispersed, and he felt his magical power increase greatly from this experience; suddenly, he also had certain ideas about his magic.
Monica looked at the boy, who was still trembling, and nodded with respect. When she looked at the painting Damian had chosen, she felt a little fear, knowing that he had been able to make a connection with that demon.
But she quickly regained her composure.
"Your deep meditation was really brave but very dangerous; you must know when to exercise moderation in your actions. No matter how much strength you have, if you can't distinguish illusions from reality, you'll get into a lot of trouble."
"Thank you, mentor!" Damian seemed to learn quickly, and Monica truly considered him a good example to follow for all the new students.
This made many newcomers envious as they saw Damian stand out once again.
Damian lived up to his expectations and immediately immersed himself in it on his first attempt.
This time, he didn't follow Monica's meditation method; Damian focused on his breathing technique to stabilize his magic.
According to Monica, this method was primarily used to adapt the mage's mentality to a direct confrontation with demons. Many people in their first fight with a demon or monster tend to freeze, and this is the best way to avoid that.
At this moment, what illuminated Damian's world again were small balls of colorful light.
Under Monica's guidance, Damian immediately brought the small ball of light to himself, gradually mixing it with his eyebrows.
Everything went very well. The first magic particle from his surroundings entered Damian's body and merged with his existing magic.
Damian was extremely excited and immediately began to increase the mana particles in his body.
Now that Damian seemed to have good control over his magic, Monica stepped back, allowing other students to try the meditation as Damian was doing.
Not all new apprentices can immerse themselves as directly as Damian, and many haven't even found a suitable meditation point.
"Take the crystal ball next to you; that will help you concentrate your imagination and open your mind. But if you can't control your magic, I don't recommend using the crystal ball." Monica returned to the front and spoke tirelessly, paying attention to the key points of meditation but not personally guiding others as she did Damian because it was a waste of time.
This made some people feel dissatisfied: How could a mage apprentice who had successfully cheated deserve the most attention from their mentor?
But no one dared to express dissatisfaction.
The first meditation class passed quickly, and Damian didn't come to his senses until everyone had left.
Adda originally wanted to ask Damian to get up, but Monica interrupted her.
Adda looked at Monica, confused, and saw an inexplicable smile on the latter's face.
"Come out; I have something to tell you in private."
Adda immediately looked at Monica suspiciously.
Being looked at like that by a red-haired girl, Monica's face darkened immediately, but before she could get angry, Adda quickly escaped.
She left after closing the door.
Then Monica returned to where Damian was, extended her hand, and snapped her fingers.
A series of electric sparks immediately hit Damian's forehead.
Damian came back to his senses, shocked by this sudden stimulation. When he opened his eyes, he saw a pair of long legs of Monica in front of him.
"Professor Monica!" Damian looked up and looked around, only to realize that no one was around.
"I'm sorry, Professor Monica; I'll leave right away."
"Elemental perception is something I will talk about in the next class." Monica's red lips opened slightly, but her voice was cold. "Elemental perception is actually a feature of mental power. Just as everyone's appearance is different, everyone's elemental perception is not exactly the same, and that's what makes magic different for each person."
"Our body represents its sensitivity to elemental ions with specific attributes. For example, an image with three attributes of red, yellow, and green at the same time on paper, and then something else with red, yellow, green stones, and blue. What colors do you think you can see?"
Damian didn't really understand. "You mean, does a piece of paper mean nothing in the assessment?"
"Have you understood? New magical research says that it doesn't really matter what elements are present, but what the mage really wants to do and what he or she is capable of achieving with effort."
"Doesn't that make the mage useless? Every human being should do their best at what they are most talented at. If we focus on what we want knowing that we don't have talent, we will be even weaker, and that's not exactly what we need."
Monica nodded and said, "The piece of paper that demonstrates the elements you are compatible with tells us with which elements we are talented to guide us in that type of magic. The color you can see the most is the element with the strongest perception your body has. The strength of your mental power will also affect the number of elements we perceive."
After saying that, Monica took a small piece of paper and said, "I was talented with fire magic, but I liked the destruction of lightning, so I evolved my magic to the point that now I'm only compatible with that magic."
"No matter what magic you learn, you can shape it with your imagination; that's what makes a mage talented, and as long as you have good ideas about your magic, you will have control."
Damian looked confused at Monica; he didn't know where she was going with all this.
"What you must do now is train on your own; these classes won't help you if you already have good magical power and a lot of control over it. You should only learn spells, and surely in a few months, you could qualify as a third-class mage."