Aside from my 'mana basics' course, I also had 2 other courses in at noon to 3pm
The second course was 'mana mediation'.
The final course is 'introduction to combat'.
Between 3 to 4, I had free time.
It felt quite game like.
My final class, of the day is of course, 'Conceptual Mage Mentoring'.
Naturally Celeste, and Aura were not with Mark and I as only the two of us had not reached the conceptual mage stage.
We sat down in a classroom, where a door led straight to the training grounds.
I could see the massive grounds through the windows of the class.
"Welcome to 'Conceptual Mage Mentoring', you know me already, I am Vice dean Rachelle."
"I will oversee this class for the time being."
"Now I will introduce the second years mentoring you."
"These kids have personally gone through their own conceptual mage training, whether on their own, or in the very same class you're in now."
"They have also been screened to ascertain their teaching ability."
"Some may be stricter than others, and some may be more abstract, however their teaching ability has been verified."
"Now I will have both years draw lots, and those with matching letter and number will be mentor and disciple."
"For example, 9B will teach 9B. 2A will teach 2A."
"Now one at a time, please rise and receive your lot."
I drew 16C.
I found a second year boy, with light teal hair.
"Hello, I'm Lucas, are you the holder of 16C?"
"Yes. I'm Armen."
He extended his hand to me.
I shook it and he began to explain.
"So according to the vice, we will switch instructors every 3 weeks."
"So with that in mind, I look forward to mentoring you."
"Same, but to being mentored."
He started laughing.
"You are a funny fellow, you know that?"
Well, that is a first.
"I guess, sure."
He laughed even harder.
He let go of my hand so that he could hold his stomach.
Maybe I was funny, but this guy was something else.
Someone came over, and punched his head down.
"Uh, what? Is he okay?"
"He will be, he's an idiot, and one of our year's clowns."
Yikes, that's quite the title.
"Don't look so worried though, although he is quite jokey, he's a great person for advice and guidance."
"Got it, thanks."
"Owww... Farnus, why, oh yeah, sorry kid, my bad, got a little carried away there."
More than a little bit.
"Are you going to be okay to mentor me for the next two hours?"
"Maybe, we'll just have to find out later."
This guy....
Has no idea how bad he's hurt does he?
"Hahahaha."
Wow, he's a barrel of laughs now.
"So what's the first thing I should do to further my circle?"
"Oh, getting serious are we."
"Well, I do want to reach the 4th circle, and as fast as possible."
"Trying to leave me as soon as possible huh?"
I put my head in my palm.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop, but in all seriousness, you shouldn't rush to the 4th circle as it could hurt your further growth."
It actually wouldn't hurt my growth.
But it could hurt my ability to properly wield the power, so I would definitely listen to his words.
"You've probably already been to your meditation class, so sit lets fin a spot in the class to sit down and you should start channeling your mana throughout your body."
With that we sat down in class and he began to explain a few things about conceptual mages I knew from in game, and a few I didn't.
"Conceptual mages are 4th circle mages, they are the beginning of the intermediate stage."
"The reason behind that is, conceptual mages have, well their own concept of mana."
"It empowers their ability to wield their attributes, which is why many cannot practice certain attributes following their ascension to concept, without starting again from the bottom up."
"People who do this are called foundationalists. They are a group of people who sit at the concept stage and bring all their attributes to the concept stage."
"While fundamentally there is no problem with this, technically an awakening of another concept will weaken another, and therefore make all of the concepted attributes weaker, although not by too much."
"As you awaken more concepts, you also will lose more grounding in the attributes strength. This was tested by a man, who although a little crazy, was important to the study of magic."
"The reason I said you shouldn't rush the 4th stage is that concepts are not created equally."
"Some concepts are profound and abstract allowing the power of some attributes to be enhanced far more than usual, or for the user to take all their attributes to the 4th stage."
"I've heard of both. Apparently the first is called predation, and the second is called the red queens promotion."
"The first one I understand, but I will never understand the name for the second."
After his yap session, we left to the grounds.
Some people were fighting, or practicing casts.
"What do you know of final moves?"
"The what?"
"Final moves, magic you cast at the most desperate of times, also known as your hidden weapon?"
"Oh I don't know if the grounds could handle it."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, I damaged a 7th tier dummy almost 20%"
"Wow, and how much mana did it take out of you?"
Well, I can't let him know everything, even my actual final moves that drain all my mana, and then my life force if necessary, but lets say like 45%, since it's just about twice I can fire it.
"About 45%"
"Well, it's close to 50, alright let's see it."
"Now?"
"When else?"
"But what about the damage?"
"I'll take responsibility for it."
Oh? Well that changes everything.
"Alright I'll aim at the walls next to us here, but I would recommend backing up."
With my warning unheeded by the 2nd year senior, I began to cast.
"Wow, that's a lot of mana, you sure you ain't wasting any?"
And that's when I began to cast.
"Silent casting huh? Focus then."
Combine.
"A combination spell too, intriguing."
I launched Starlight and queued up Curse as I began to draw more mana for chain lightning.
I launched curse mere moments after Starlight had hit and created
Armen cleared the smoke and debris flying around with wind magic, but that entire part of the wall was damaged severely, and the grounds and lower wall, were partially destroyed.
Some parts of the ground still crackled with the Curse and Chain Lightning combo, although it shouldn't harm any mage with a self defense barrier who is at least 2nd circle, so we were all safe.
"Do you wish to explain what just happened here Armen?"
"I asked the student to launch his secret attack."
"Are you joking?"
"Not at all, I needed to know where his level in mana control, casting speed, endurance, and focus were."
"The boy you are teaching is ranked 7th for his potential, and technical ability. On top of that he may be a 3rd circle mage, but he is a 4th star swordsman, do not take his mana reserves to be that of a normal 3rd circle."
"Ah, so that's why the damage was so great."
"And why it is imperative you don't try this again, understood?"
"Yes, ma'am."
With that the vice dean left to go contact the construction detail at our school to fix the destroyed wall.
It should be fixed within two days, if not by tomorrow.
Those guys are master artisans, and mages.
They'll probably even clear all my remnant mana from the location making it completely safe to terraform with magic.
"Well, I saw some issues with your cast, mainly your cast timing, and the spell creation."
"The goal then for the next two weeks is to shut down the down time between launching Curse, since Chain Lightning is being formed, and Starlight."
"We also need to work out a better precision for your Chain Lightning."
"You need to know how to make the most efficient structure given a certain amount of arcbolts your lightning will hit."
"So let's head inside and begin the plan for tomorrow."
We went back inside and sat down at our original spot.
"So what is your primary shape of the Chain Lightning you wish to create?"
Well since the cast is supposed to mirror
"A dome."
"So a 4d object, then you'll need at least 4 arcbolts."
"But lets go to where it actually begins to look like a dome, 15."
"You're going to start memorizing the difference in angle and distance between each arcbolt, to create the most efficient coverage of the area inside the dome."
"This is where we'll begin tomorrow."
With that he turned around and we both faced the vice dean.
"Alright, time's up everyone, class is dismissed."
With that everyone left class.
"Mr. Lucas, Mr. Arjing, please stay behind."
"Lucas, did you warn him about the damage your move caused to the dummy?"
"I did and he said he would take full responsibility."
"Is that so?"
"Yes vice dean."
"So why would you still let him launch such a spell, if you knew it could almost damage a 7th tier person up to 19%."
"Wait, you actually almost hit 20?"
"Yeah?"
"I thought that he was sitting in the low 10's like 14, 13, I didn't expect him to actually hit so high."
"What exactly did you think of me?"
"Well, most incoming freshmen are not so humble people, and tend to exaggerate their scores to raise themselves in the eyes of others, so I didn't know until you launched your spell, that you were the real deal."
"I did tell you to back up though?"
"I feel like me saying that should've been enough of a heads up that I had already tested and seen the power of the attack."
"Fair, but by then I was too invested."
"So then, Lucas, do you have any misgivings about having Armen as your mentor?"
"Actually, I'm quite satisfied, he pointed out issues in my casting that I had also seen, and helped me figure a plan to resolve it."
"He also explained the 4th stage and other components of it thoroughly."
"Well, then, I'll overlook it this time, Mr. Arjing, since you didn't harm your mentee or other students."
"Be wary to avoid doing this again."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Okay, go, you two are making me feel bad for keeping you here."
With that me and Armen left.
"So where you headed off to little man?"
"Dude, we are one year's difference from each other and you are like, maybe 1 inch taller than me."
"Fair point, but, I don't care, and therefore, it doesn't matter."
"Also you never answered my question."
"Probably to escort my Lady back to the dorms."
"Hey, Lucas, I was wondering where you were."
And that's Mark.
"A friend of yours?"
"And roommate too."
"Cool."
"Alright then, I'll leave, since I have to catch up to my buddies too, see ya."
"Well he certainly is excitable."
"I don't know who he is, but he seems energetic."
Definitely.
"So did you like your mentor?"
"I did actually."
I really did, he was decent as a person, but actually really good at explaining.
"How about you Mark?"
"I did too. I had a quiet teacher though."
"What do you mean?"
"Well her voice was soft and it felt more like a questionnaire to begin with."
"Really?"
"Well, before we got outside, after that, she started to help me really cast properly."
"She moved my body into ready cast positions, and taught me basic control over 3rd circle spells."
"How did you get in here Mark?"
"I can't recall exactly, but I think I was just good enough too?"
"Well, I can't argue with that I guess."
"So how did you pass the thousands of applicants and secure a spot in the mage course?"
Of course I already knew how that happened.
"I can wield light and dark attribute mana."