The academic calendar was organized in such a way that at Keito Institute, classes are supposed to take the first 28 days of every month. The remaining two days are off. There was earth magic from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, fire magic from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM, water magic from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, wind magic from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM, lightning magic from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, and light magic from 9:30 PM to 11:30 PM. Of course, the majority of students practised only one element, so they attended a total of two hours of classes daily. Renji being dual-element meant he had four hours of classes every day; attendance was voluntary, though, so if one didn't feel like going, no one would enforce it.
The earth magic classes were divided into six grades, each in different buildings: the first-rank students and new students were in the first-grade classes; the second-graders belonged to the second-rank classes, and so forth, up to the sixth grade for sixth-rank magi. The choice afterward of graduating or continuing to study was absolutely free and could be done anytime.
On February 10, Renji went to the earth magic first-grade classroom, large enough to accommodate hundreds of students. Upon his arrival at 8:00 AM, there were already almost fifty students in the room.
"I estimate only a few of these students are new. I wonder how long the others have been here," Renji thought to himself, because he himself had not ranked second for several years of training.
Next came the middle-aged man with brown hair and kind eyes. His introduction was, "Hello, everyone. I'm Wesley. I am to be your Instructor, teaching Earth Magic. Today, we have about twenty freshers in our class. Introduction is first on my list so we can all get to know each other."
The new students introduced themselves: "My name is Gerrald. I come from the great grasslands to the far east."
Renji was quite surprised. "The students here definitely come from the corners of the Aerthos continent. There's even someone from the great grasslands in the far east," he thought, considering the great expanse of land between the grasslands and the Keito Institute.
"My name is Renji. I'm from the Sacred Alliance," he said as he introduced himself.
After the introductions, Wesley entered a lengthy discussion about the power of earth-style magic. It really wasn't until the second hour had passed that there was actually instruction in earth-style magic. Renji had listened quietly throughout when Kaiya Tanaka had appeared next to him.
"This instructor has a solid foundation. Even though he isn't very strong, for teaching first-rank magi, not even eighth or ninth-rank magi would necessarily be better," Kaiya Tanaka commented.
Renji had been well-acquainted with earth-style magic from within and found the lecture easy enough to follow. "But Grandpa Kaiya, as much as he was on a solid foundation, he can't distill the profound into simple words the way you do. He seems to make it more complicated," Renji said.
Kaiya Tanaka stroked his white beard with confidence. "Of course a Saint-level Grand Magus' grasp of magic is far higher than that of an eighth or ninth-rank magus. A Saint-level is a new realm of existence, and my teachings are going to show that."
Feeling somewhat frustrated after that class, Renji resolved that he was only going to attend the earth magic class once a month. The rest of his time, he would spend training in magic away from classes, but anyway, he had already figured out a place to be training in magic—a mountain, near Keito Institute.
In the afternoon, Renji attended the wind-style magic class. A handsome, yellow-haired young man stood upon the podium to introduce himself. "Good afternoon, everybody. I am sixth-grader Fei. From today on, I will teach you wind-style magic. If you have any questions after class, feel free to come to find me in dorm 0298."
As sixth-graders, they were considered magi of the sixth rank and hence could teach first or second-grade students. Fei opened the class with some introductions.
"Hey, Renji, have you noticed? There are so many cute girls among the wind-style people. See, that little blonde girl just smiled at you," said Kaiya Tanaka, referring to a girl named Rika.
Renji turned to Fei, who now started off enthusiastically about the merits of wind-style magic. "The wind-style magi are the fastest, most agile. We are the only magi who can fly before reaching the Saint-level!" The enthusiasm on his face made Fei's voice go so high.
"Saint-level magi can fly, but our Keito Institute might produce just one in a century. Wind-style magi can use the 'Floating Technique' on reaching the fifth rank," Fei continued unceasingly. "We also have techniques like 'Supersonic' for enhanced speed and legendary forbidden techniques like 'Desolation Gale' and 'Interstice Slash'."
All the students widened their eyes and listened. Kaiya Tanaka grumbled at Fei's praising of the Desolation Gale: "How can the Desolation Gale be the most powerful destructive technique? What about my earth-style 'Divine Skies Crumble, Earth Trembles' and 'Heaven's Starfall'?"
This somewhat aroused Renji's interest, and he inquired, "What is the 'Interstice Slash' technique?"
Kaiya Tanaka explained, "The Interstice Slash can cut through dimension walls. It's an enormous power but it's a one-shot spell. It can't compare to our earth-style's 'Guardian of the Realm' continuous one."
She said so, but Renji was interested in the Interstice Slash and what could be more combined with the Dragonfire Warrior ability by adding wind-style magic to it. He listened further, hugely interested in the mysteries of the wind magic style. The ocean of magical knowledge was great, and Renji was ready to plunge into it.