F tier. F tier. F tier. F tier. F tier. F tier. F tier. F tier. F tier.
It was worse than what Kaede could have ever imagined. According to the other students, that meant that using mana was going to be a very difficult task for him. So it wasn't just that he didn't know how to use it. It was damn near impossible for him to even do something impressive!
Kaede laid his head down on his desk. Was his life really destined for absolute loss?
"Mr. Savage, I advise you to pay attention." Mr. Lewis said.
Kaede raised his head slowly and turned his attention to the class. Other than him, Alette was the only person in the class. When she arrived she had pointedly sat a few desks away from him. Today was their first day of remedial classes. Kaede didn't mean to get distracted. He really did want to learn about mana. It was just that his mana level was very treacherous and he could barely think about anything else.
"Kaede, would you like to explain what you've learned today?" Mr. Lewis asked.
Kaede straightened his back. "Mana is a special element that only mages can access. It's in the air around us, but we can't see it."
"Unless?" Mr. Lewis prompted.
"Uh…"
"Unless it's sitting ungathered and unbothered." Alette supplied.
"Correct!." Mr Lewis said. "As mages we kind of speed up this process by intaking the mana in a room and then expelling it."
"Then does that mean mana can run out?" Kaede asked.
"Very good question! But no. Mana renews itself in the mana cycle."
The mana cycle? This stuff was much more complicated than he originally thought.
"Imagine a closed room filled with mana. The mana doesn't sit idly in the room; it gradually grows more and more and becomes denser. This is where mages come in. We take this mana, store it within themselves and then disperse it back into the room as dead mana. If there is no mana user then the mana will build up and start infusing itself into objects which creates mana beings. Finally this dead mana sits in this room until it rejuvenates itself back into fresh mana and the cycle starts again."
"So when you were talking about dead zones a few days ago that had to do with dead mana?" Kaede asked.
"Yes. A dead zone is an area where there is more dead mana than fresh mana. It's advised to avoid them because dead mana is not necessarily good for mages. And in case of a crisis you'd have no mana to rely on."
Kaede frowned. It wasn't like he could feel the mana in the air around him at all times. "How are we supposed to tell where these dead zones are?"
Mr. Lewis sighed. "Well that's where mana levels start to come in. The higher level you are, the more you can sense the mana around you."
Great. Another thing that Kaede couldn't do.
"The Mage Council scouts out mages to search for these dead zones and report them to warn mages who can't sense them, so there's really no need to worry."
That was not what Kaede was worried about.
Alette raised her hand nonchalantly. As if she were doing it as a courtesy to Mr. Lewis.
"What's the difference between these mana levels anyway?"
"It's all down to a matter of skill." Mr. Lewis said, glancing at Kaede. "Your mana level determines how much mana you can intake which also determines what kinds of styles you can perform. S tier mages can intake a very large amount of mana while F tier…"
"What determines our mana level?" Kaede asked. "Is it random?"
He needed to know if he should curse the universe for making him such a puny mage.
"Nope. It's up to genetics. If your family is mostly high tier then you'll most likely be high tier as well."
Kaede deflated a bit. He didn't even know his biological parents so it wasn't like he could protest in some way.
"That being said. It is possible to increase your level."
Kaede perked up again. "Really? How?"
Mr. Lewis slightly smiled at his enthusiasm. "With a lot of hard work and training. As a F tier you'll probably never reach S tier, but you can still make it as a successful mage."
Kaede was filled with an invigorating sense of motivation. F tier wasn't going to be in the cards for him forever. He didn't care how long it took him or how hard he had to work. He'd be the first F tier to make it to S tier!
**********
Feel the mana. Feel the mana. FEEL the mana.
Kaede could not feel the mana.
Directly after his remedial classes were over he joined his classmates in the gym for mana training. Same as the past few days he had been in this school, he would go sit in a corner and try to sense the mana around him. Some days he could conjure up something while other days he couldn't muster anything. Kaede was beginning to get frustrated at the inconsistency.
He looked over to his classmates. Marin summoned up a few whips of mana and used them to combat Larillis' balls of mana. Poe and Thorton Style respectively. What he had learned over the past few days is that mages took the five families and their styles quite seriously.
The five families being Harris, Poe, Weaver, Thornton, and Yoshida. They were filled to the brim with skilled mages and had massive reputations. Kaede felt a little envious of them. They had hit the genetics jackpot and their families could provide all kinds of resources for them to become better. Meanwhile Kaede had to sit in a corner by himself and try to figure it out himself.
Ever since the other found out he was F tier they didn't talk to him unless they absolutely had to. Now he understood what Mr. Parker meant when he said the kids were competitive. They were really only interested in him to see if he was competition and now that they were sure he wasn't they'd just go about their regular studies.
He understood being competitive but still… shouldn't they be a little nicer to him???
He was an absolute newbie and no one was willing to help him? Didn't they feel a little bad for him????
Kaede had tried to ask Nova for help, but his explanations weren't very helpful. When he asked Nova how he was supposed to sense mana he replied with: "I don't know it's just there."
He still didn't know Nova's mana level, but it must've been much higher than his if he could already sense the mana in the air.
He also had tried to ask for help from Alette, but she wanted nothing to do with Kaede. If there was one thing Kaede could appreciate about her was that she didn't cut around corners with him. She very plainly told him that she was only here to reach a goal and standing around teaching a F tier was a complete waste of her time.
Kaede sighed, still looking at his classmates. So what if none of them could or would help him? He'd just figure it out through brute force. Even if he had to study ten times longer than the rest of them.
The school dog walked up to Kaede and he petted her head.
"I'll catch up to them in no time right?" he said to her.
She barked in, hopefully, agreement.
He focused again and tried to focus on the mana that should be around him. The other times he had felt it, it was a buzzing feeling. He just needed to focus on that feeling again. He shut his eyes tightly and twisted his face up.
Feel the mana. Feel the mana. FEEL the mana.
He probably looked so stupid right now.
"You look really stupid right now."
Kaede's eyes flew open and found Nova looking at him. He looked slightly amused as Kaede's surprise.
"You're trying too hard." Nova said.
Kaede frowned. "If I don't try hard then how am I ever going to get it?"
"No. I mean it shouldn't be this hard for you to get some mana. Even for an F tier."
Kaede's stomach dropped. "So you're saying I'm worse than an F tier?"
Nova rolled his eyes. "No. I'm saying that whatever you're doing now is not the way to do it."
"What am I supposed to be doing then?" Kaede asked, exasperated.
"I don't know."
Kaede's face fell. Nova really didn't know how to talk to people.
"Don't worry. You'll figure it out soon."
Kaede sighed and looked at his hands. He really hoped that was true.