'J-join the academy?' Kaluar uttered in disbelief, his hands slowly lowering as he thought about this answer. The bird chirped over their hushed conversation, the silence thick enough to cut it with a blade.
'I'm sorry sir,' He said, his voice barely above a whisper as he denied the Director's offer.
'I can't join. I want to venture the world, not to be held back, I wont be tied down again. Not when I'm this far.' He looked at the Director, the look in his eyes, though a bold move, leaves no room for further discussion on the matter, he made his choice and he was going to die with it.
Celi look at him in concern then back at the director who looked rather disappointed, but nodded nonetheless at his choice, his fingers slowly sliding off the smooth, golden brown table before turning to the window overlooking Prospera. The sun against his face in a warm glow of the evening shimmer.
'Then, can I at least ask you a favor?' He pondered, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked over the city, a city soon to be taken by chaos.
'Y-yes sir.' the young elf spoke up.
'I know you don't want to join the academy, but can you at least pretend to be a student here, well- at least until the matter has been resolved.' The director asked, turning to see the reaction of the boy.
Kaluar pondered for a minute before giving his answer, nodding at this plea, his hand to his chest ready to be of assistance.
'You can count on me.' He smiles warmly, leaving no doubt in the Director's mind.
He smiled at his understanding, moving over to the desk before him and giving a sheet to fill out.
'Just fill this out and you'll be sent to one of the dorms while you work with us you can use any room you see fit as thanks.' The Director assured.
Kaluar nodded, and accepted the offer, taking the page from the Director.
The next day rolls around, the sun shining down on Prospera giving it the golden hour glow it was known for, yet it marked as a reminder that the clock was moving ever so slowly to their doom.
Kaluar sat in a classroom, his hands skimming against the smooth, wooden desk, it's golden brown hue illuminated by the sun, notes and spell books offered by the school flooded the desk before him. He eyed the room, chairs set up as though it was a cathedral, wooden pillars supporting stone, marked with the banners of the school, it's striking yellow hue and the black silhouette of a lion holding a wand and a hammer, makes it all to recognizable, even from a distance.
Most of the students with him are humans, often turning to him and snickering about his ears in a hushed voice as though he couldn't hear them. Though some remained quiet around him, including a boy with gray hair and yellow eyes, his hands too skimmed the desk.
'Morning class!' A voice was heard before seen, a man stepped through the doors wearing the clothes of a scholar, his black hair flowing with his majestic and fluid strides.
'I've caught wind that we had a new student today.' His yellow eyes panning over to Kaluar as he spoke. His hands signaling him to rise from his seat.
Hesitantly he does, his hands pressed on the desk for support as he fought against the bench to stand.
'Morning everyone!' He shouted a little louder than necessary, his body as stiff as a board and his words emotionless, pupils slowly dilating in horror.
'My name is Kaluar Fairglen and I'll be studying here for the time being!' The teacher laughs lightly at his awkwardness before signaling him to sit.
'Well, my name's Vasrien.' He informed, walking up to the board.
'I trust that you make yourself at home in our little school.' He picked up a chalk and started to write, practically beating it against the board with each stroke, the writing the word 'Mana Alchemy.'
'Now, does anyone know what this is?' He asked, turning to the class, looking for raised hands.
A hand shot in the air next to Kaluar, the boy with gray hair standing up before giving hi answer.
'Magic Alchemy, the act of using mana to create new objects mostly used by tinkerers and mages.' he explained, soon taking to his seat once more.
Vasrien smiled at the child's response, writing on the board the answer he had just made before turning to the class once more, dropping the chalk on his desk.
'Well done, that's it!' He exclaimed. His hands rest against his desk, putting all of his weight on it in a nonchalant posture, his fingers twirling in the air to create a small ring of mana.
The children watched in awe as he created it with little to no effort. The ring slowly getting bigger the more he does it.
'Mana alchemy is the pinnacle of legal science.' He explained, his hands crushing the small ring and transforming it into a ball of light.
'By manipulating the mana around us we can create all sorts of things.' He tosses the ball to the back of the class, a dove coming out of it as it flew over head, the sun shining on it's angelic wings as it struggles to soar. The near by students ducked as it flew overhead soon catching its baring and flying through an open window.
Kaluar watched in awe at this level of sorcery, he haven't seen anything like it before, not even the most skilled adventurers did this in front his eyes.
'Mana in it's base form is our life force, well, one of them besides our soul of course, and it can come out of anywhere, not just our staffs or hands, which is often forgotten.' Vasrien explained, trying to grab the attention of the class once more.
'Mana doesn't have a physical form, that's why when we use magic it comes out as elements, to abide by our world's natural order.'
'Although,' He continued, his hand starting to make a clear hardened shell, only visible thanks to the refraction of the sun's rays.
'We can stop it's transformation and harden it's form to create an invisible barrier, one that blocks magic.'
'Mana, being tied to our life so closely can also be used to accelerate time on a certain object, blend two things together by infusing their mana or heal someone by moving their mana to an open wound, well that's the basics of healing at least. All this, falls under Mana Alchemy, though there are more intermediate forms they're lost in time we've only managed to reinvent up to here with the concept.' With a smile Vasrien picked up the chalk once more, writing on the board and the other students started to take notes themselves.
Kaluar looked around confused before rummaging through his bag for his notebook, trying to keep up with the sudden change in pace. A smile started to form on his face, he was learning more here than most adventurers would in years of traveling.
'Whats...all this?' Celi pondered, sitting on one of the beds as he came back to the dorm holding stacks upon stacks of books. Her mind passively trying to count them all but they kept on going forever.
'Books on tinkering!' He announced with a proud grin, the room had a bunk bed which he shared with no one since he isn't a full time student, and two desks and chairs on opposite corners of the room, it was a decently big dorm not much to complain about but not much to praise either.
He plopped the books onto the desk, wiping his brow from the sweat of fatigue that formed from carrying so many books at once.
'I thought, since my musket broke, I can make a new, better one with the help of these!' The young elf announced, his hand slapping the top of his stack of books.
'How did that thing work anyway.' Celi murmured. Jumping onto the desk to take a closer look to what he was going to read.
'I only managed to make it work once- and that's when it broke so-' Her voice trailed off, expecting an answer from Kaluar.
He sat down at the desk, smiling ear to ear as he took a book and flip through the pages, their soft delicate surface flying across his fingers as he finally came to a stop, pointing at a specific diagram in the book.
Celi looked at it, it was the picture of a musket, with arrows representing mana.
'I don't have the best mana output, much less reserve so i decided to make my mana pack a punch with this.' He grinned, proud of his genius back then.
'My mana comes out as a burst of flame, concentrated only by the muzzle of the musket,' He informed.
'Though I could make it more explosive but that depends on how i manage my mana. It's called mana channeling, a little trick my dad taught me.' Celi looks in awe as he explained, something that sounds so simple yet so complicated, a thing she only got by pure chance.
'And maybe I can make some premade items to save my mana even more! Haha I'm a genius!' He pats himself on the back, his hand flipping through the pages, searching its contents. Celi rolls her eyes.
'Or you can just train your mana.' She sighs, her hands folded with a slightly disappointed expression, but her words fell on deaf ears as Kaluar got even more engrossed in his books, his eyes sparkled in wonder as golden literature floods his mind, his fingers dancing across the page, looking for every bit of information he could consume and regurgitate into his own works.
Celi sighed and climbed into bed, knowing that there's no getting through to him when he's like this.