Kaido and Caerwyn talked a little more with the devilish bastard taking advantage of her weak point, before stopping due to Gloria entering. The Professor came to the podium and glanced at Kaido unconsciously. Her eyes widened briefly before going back to normal.
"Good morning class. Today, we shall be covering two important topics. The first, are Mediums. You see, when a Mage tries to manipulate the surrounding Mana into whatever they want, they do so by using their own Mana Pool as a power source."
"For example, say you wanted to create a fireball out of thin air and blow up a tree. You could use the Mana in the air, but that would cost a lot more to produce than if you simply used a pre-existing source. Like a camp or house fire."
"The people who have it easiest are usually Wind and Earth Mages, for the obvious reason that their Medium is everywhere. Casting your spell or whatever magic you are using in this way decreases the cost by a good bit." She paused as a student raised their hand.
"Is this why we use Staffs?" Gloria smiled and began writing on the blackboard
"Yes, you are correct. Staffs not only help with decreasing the load on our Mana Pools, but they can also increase the effectiveness of our magic and potency of our spells. The greater the Staff, the better the effects."
"Professor? Could we make our own Mediums? Like if I were to use my Mana to create a forest fire, would it work that way?" Gloria looked at the blond Riener who asked this and smiled
"I like the question, but unfortunately it wouldn't work. All those flames burning the trees are still yours and will not act as a Medium. However, it would work if you lit the forest on fire using say... a torch."
Done with that, she moved to another portion of the board. While Gloria was writing about the next subject, Kaido had a contemplative look to his face.
'This Medium stuff, isn't it kind of useless for me? My Mana Pool is nearly infinite and grows with each Rank, so I'd never be in danger of it being exhausted. The only thing of value would be the Staff, but I'd rather use my hands instead. I would look much more handsome and cool that way.'
"Next up are Monster and Beast Ranks. Since some of you have already reached the 1st Star and might be itching to test yourself in The Forest, it'll be good to know your enemy's strength. Personally, I'd recommend holding off for now and using The Library to research about Monsters and their weaknesses."
"The reason I say this is very simple. The Forest, while located within the Academy's territory, is not a place to play around in. It is an extremely dangerous area, where one can easily find death if caught unaware." Some of the excited students suddenly felt as though a bucket of cold water was poured on their heads.
"Although there are counter measures in order to protect you, like the enchantments on your uniforms, this is not guaranteed. Do not become complacent, for that is the quickest killer of new students. And Adventurers and Mercenaries in general."
Kaido thought deeply about the enchantments placed on the uniform he was currently wearing. It was only a faint guess, but he reasoned there might be a Tracking Rune carved into it. Definitely was something he would have done.
'Looks like I'll need to take a class or two for Rune-Crafting. If I want to move unhindered within the Academy, that Rune needs to go. I should ask Raeve about it. She's talented at this Job.' A frown appeared on his face as he massaged his eyebrows.
'It seems there's a lot of work to be done. After setting up my Soul Palace later today, I need to begin working on my personal laboratory for my experiments. Of course, that'll need to be placed in it's own Dimension for safety reasons. Which I have no clue on how to start.'
Sensing his distress, Yin gently licked the side of his cheek to cheer him up, stunning him for a moment. But he soon smiled and gave her an appropriate amount of love in return. Caerwyn, seeing this, wanted to pet the fluffy fox as well. Of course, she would never say so lest this horrible playboy tease her.
Suddenly, Gloria's voice came from the podium.
"Now, let's move on to the Monster Ranks and how they gain power. Unlike us who gather the mana in the air to create Stars within our body, their system is far different."
She drew a small circle on the board, which soon left and floated in mid air. It's shape changed and became far more unique with designs across the surface.
"This, is a Monster Core. Every single Beast or Monster has one inside them. They, similar to us, gather the mana in the air, or from wherever else, and draw it into the Core. After filling it to the brim-" Suddenly, the floating Core shattered into many pieces. It made many students gasp in surprise as they watched the pieces start to come back together.
"-they shatter and rebuild the Core, making it far stronger than before. This is also how they advance in Ranks."
"From weakest to strongest, we have:
Low Class = Normal people to 1st and 2nd Star
Medium Class = 3rd and 4th Star
High Class = 5th and 6th Star
Ultimate Class = 7th and 8th Star
Mythical Class = 9th, 10th, and 11th Star
Demi-God Class = 12th Star
These are also further divided into Sub-Tiers as they grow. For example, Low-Low Class, Low-Mid Class, and Low-High Class. Afterwards, they break the Core and move up to Medium-Low Class. Any questions?"
"Are some Monster born stronger than others? Like Dragons?" One girl asked.
"Yes, that one is especially true for Dragons. Even the weakest ones are born at Medium-High Class. For this reason, it's not exactly hard to imagine why they are the strongest species in the world. Next?"
"Miss Gloria-"
As the students asked whatever was bothering them, Kaido tuned it out as it bored him half to death. Instead, he played with the cute and adorable Yin who loved his care. It was only after ten minutes later and the end of class did she finally say something worth his attention.
"Before I let you go, I have an announcement to make. In one week, we shall have our first exam." The students moaned and groaned as Gloria raised a hand, a smile to her face.
"Quit your whining, it's not that bad. I'm not cruel enough to give you something hard just a week in. Trust me, it'll be easy for you as long as you've paid attention thus far. However, I do have some important news after the exam, so make sure you are there."
With that, she said her goodbyes and left as the students gathered their things to do the same. As for Kaido, he grinned at Caerwyn and stood up from his seat.
"I'll see you later. Soon hopefully." Caerwyn, curious asked him.
"Where are you going? Which Class?"
"None. I'll be heading to The Forest after I finish a project of mine. Wanna come with?" She immediately shook her head.
"No, not until I reach 2nd Star and become a little more familiar with my Element. Rather be safe than sorry." After that, they said their goodbyes to each other and left.
Kaido himself went back to his room first to complete the Soul Palace. When he got there, he placed the disgruntled Yin on the couch next to him as he sat down.
"Sorry my dear, but I have to focus. I'll make it up to you later, I promise." He soothed her gently, scratching behind her ear and making her eyes narrow with delight.
Kaido took a deep breath and concentrated, placing his hands in front of him, palms facing each other. Within a moment, the space between his palms rippled visibly as he shaped it according to his will. He wanted to make the space as large as possible, but also stable. If it collapsed inside his soul, the result would be an obvious brutal and embarrassing death.
After a few minutes, it finally began to take shape. The rippling space began to shrink to almost half it's size before stopping. Suddenly, it collapsed on it's self and became a black hole, one void of any color or substance. Similar to one as well, it sucked in the surrounding mana wildly. Luckily, this is just what he wanted.
With sweat going down his brow and a serious look to his face, he started to construct his Palace. Inside the black hole, a foundation appeared out of thin air. As he built the rest, walls and whatnot, Yin stared at him with a little smile to her face. A bundle of emotions could be found within her eyes. The main one however, was love.
"Finally. Fuck this is exhausting." Kaido said as he put the final touches on his Palace.
It was less of a palace and more of an evil Demon King's castle. The entire structure was mostly black, with gold and silver lines here and there. Around the castle was a moat filled with glittering stars, glowing like a galaxy.
At the moment, the inside wasn't very furnished, but he could take his time in doing so. The area around the Palace, or Castle as it should be called, was completely empty. Kaido did want to add in a whole bunch of miscellaneous things, but simply couldn't. The Castle and moat were all he could accomplish.
"If my Mana Pool wasn't so large, I might have died." If his Mana did run out, the space between his palms would have gone out of control. It was very likely it would have swallowed him up.
"Now, the real hard part. Just have to be gentle." Letting out a breath, he carefully and slowly moved the black hole to his chest.
Yin, knowing the insanity he was trying to accomplish, watched nervously. She wished to be of aid, but she rarely every trained, let alone master Space. Instead, she loved to laze around and nap as even if she did nothing, she gained vast amounts of power.
'I should be more serious.' For the first time in her life, she was determined to actually try for once.
As for Kaido, he had pushed the black hole into his chest and closed his eyes. He pushed it more and more using his consciousness, until eventually reaching the grey soul floating right above his Mana Pool. With gentleness, he guided it inside his soul and brought it to the middle. Carefully letting go of his control, he waited for a few seconds before sighing in relief.
"Success. Phew…" He let out a breath and decided to start testing it. The exact amount of space inside was known to him, almost by instinct. It wasn't too large, about the same size as the inside of his Castle which was a little small at the moment. However, he specifically made a Storage Room where he would store his goods.
It wasn't too terrible and it would grow with mastery of both Soul and Space, along with his own Rank. He gave the relieved Yin a pat on the head and placed her around his neck once more. Getting off the couch, he turned around and placed a hand on it. Instantly, it vanished in thin air and appeared inside his Castle.
"No problems with that. What about taking it out again?" Suddenly, the couch plopped back down in the same spot, a little off angle.
Kaido had a wide smile on his face as he laughed wildly, immensely pleased with himself. It was only natural after all. A genius like him always got things right. However, his vision soon turned to the confused Yin, who tilted her head to the side cutely.
"Sorry darling, but you'll be fine. Probably." Before she could understand what he meant, she suddenly found herself inside of an empty room. She yelped adorably in surprise and looked around curiously.
The only reason this could work, despite her being much stronger than Kaido, is because she did not resist and trusted him that much. Otherwise, it wouldn't have worked. As she explored, Kaido saw the scene for himself and smiled. But soon, he frowned.
"Living beings can move perfectly in here. If I want to transport any materials, this won't work. What if they can harm my soul through here? A sedative? It works but it's sloppy. It could always wear off at an inconvenient time. I wonder-"
He suddenly paused and thought of something. A sigh came from him as he pulled Yin out, surprising her.
"Of course, Time. Another Element to learn. Considering how many I have access too, this will be a common occurrence I'm sure. Oh well." An arrogant and narcissistic smirk appeared on his face.
"That's what I get for being so amazing. A genius like me should do this much at the minimum. Right Yin?" His partner in crime yelped and licked his cheek, wrapping her tails around his head.