I really wanted to shut her arrogant laugh up.
I looked over to Petra, silently asking for her help. Thankfully, she saw my look and obliged.
"Was the cigar tasty?"
"Yup! It was sweet and strawberry-flavored! Want one after lunch? I got an extra piece on —" Her words stopped. "Petra! Why did you do that?! I thought we were friends!"
"I didn't say anything. I just asked you if it was tasty."
"B-but!" Ilmarë stuttered out, but she couldn't find a reply. It was true that Petra just asked her. It was Ilmarë who messed up and tattled on herself.
"If Petra doesn't want it, can I have it?" Vera, who was too busy eating to notice the byplay, innocently delivered the follow-up punch.
Her previous arrogance forgotten, she weakly agreed. "O-okay. You can have it."
She pulled out a lollipop suspiciously shaped like a cigarette and handed it to Vera. "Eat it at home since I can't have everyone see you having the same cigarette as mine."
Vera nodded as she handed the candy to Petra, asking her to keep it for her. With Ilmarë's brief intermission over, we continued eating our lunch. The food was delicious as per usual with Petra's cooking. The only problem was a certain someone leaning their head close to our lunch boxes as we ate — a little too close in my opinion.
She drew closer and closer until Vera finally couldn't take it and pushed her face away. "Come on!!! Veraaa! If you like Arty, then you have to let me eat a bit! I'm Arty's bestie! Ergo! You should treat me as you should Arty!"
"I'm telling Miss Artanis!"
"Good things, I hope?"
The strength in Vera's push weakened at her shamelessness. "Do you really think I would?"
"Yep!"
We couldn't stop our chuckles at her confidence, though it went without saying that Petra was as stone-faced as ever.
"Hey, how long has it been since the two of you met Petra? Have you seen her break yet?"
"We met when we first arrived in Lumisade so it's only been around two weeks. What do you mean by break?"
"Like, Petra's usually like this right. But, once in a blue moon, when something happens that really interests her. She gets super into it and her reactions are great! There was a time that she wouldn't stop laughing at all! Don't you want to see that too?"
I shared a look with Vera. The memory of Petra's outburst when we talked about cuteness flashed into our mind. "Yeah, we have — once. Actually, it was right after you left after I took the exam."
Ilmarë's beautiful face turned ugly — but somehow still in a cute way — as soon as the words entered her ears. "WHAT?!"
Her shout was ear-shattering. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?! I SHOULD'VE BEEN THERE!!!"
"We didn't know it would even happen. Senior Petra was suuuper cute! You should've seen her Ilmarë!" Vera's excitement unknowingly stabbed the knife into Ilmarë even deeper.
"SPILL! What did she do? What did she say? What made her break?" Her barrage of questions came one after the other.
Vera turned to answer, but Petra's cold stare stopped her mouth from opening.
"Well? What was it?"
"Senior Petra doesn't want me to." Vera frowned. The look Petra was giving Vera softened after she saw her relent.
Just as we finished up our lunch, the pouting face by our side suddenly disappeared. When we looked around, we found Ilmarë back at her previous location at the middle of the field with the 'cigar' still in her lips.
We were about to call out to her when we heard the arrival of some students. Deciding to let it go, we patiently waited for all of the students to arrive.
"Okay, time's up. If someone's not yet here, well, too bad for them." Professor Ilmarë stood up from her makeshift chair. "I'll show why I was forced to hold the first day of mana training for the lot of you. Sit down all of you."
She nodded her head in approval once everyone followed her orders. "For today's mana training, you can leave as soon as it starts. And by that, I do mean it literally. When it begins, you can leave as soon as you can. Am I understood?"
A chorus of yeses sounded out. Then she smirked. That was the first time we saw any sort of emotions reflecting on her face while she was her professor mode. "Start."
Immediately, pressure came weighing down on my shoulders, rooting me to the ground.
So this is what she meant by being able to leave as soon as it starts. As long as we can resist this pressure, we can leave whenever. It all hinges on if we could handle the load bearing down on us and get out with our own strength.
Some couldn't handle the weight and were now lying down flat on the ground. In my opinion, it wasn't that heavy. I'm pretty sure that even Vera for all her complaints about physical activity could deal with this. I looked over to her direction and, sure enough, she was seated and looking no worse for wear. In fact, it looked like she wasn't under any pressure at all, even though even I was a bit bogged down. She was seated close to Petra since she didn't move closer to the rest of the students like I did.
I'm pretty sure that I was stronger than her, but she wasn't even fazed. I was unaware of any Standard Magic that could do this from the books I've read — even in the books I read before I regressed.
Maybe the pressure Professor Ilmarë exerted on us was inversely proportional to our distance from her? There is a chance that Standard Magic could do something like that. No, that wouldn't explain the people sitting further away than me and people the same distance to the professor as Vera being downed by the pressure. So the two options are either: it's the same pressure everywhere and Vera is actually just stronger than me or, more frighteningly, she could tailor the strength of the pressure on each student individually.
No, that would be absurd. No? It would be like someone being able to precisely control the strength they exert on each of their fingertips at the same time, but multiplied by fifty.
I need to understand what she's doing and how she's doing it.
I closed my eyes to focus up.
Have I read anything about this?
An excerpt from a small untitled unbounded book in our library back at home west of Forostar came to mind.
A person's mana is intrinsic to the individual, something innate to them, something within them. Yet we are able to draw it out into the open through manner of chants, intents, and action. Through Standard Magic, the mana that we exert takes different forms depending on the Invocation or Evocation used.
A good friend of mine has theorized that our current usage of mana is incredibly primitive, for what is mana but energy? From her perspective, the rigidity and limitations present in our magic are but excuses to validate our lack of proficiency in manipulating mana. I have debated this topic with her from adolescence and into adulthood, and still neither of us has conceded.
Her belief stems from the fantastical stories handed down from the ancient past that most think of as fiction, myths, and legends. I used to tease her for it. Now... I think she's right.
If one is able to manipulate their mana as they pleased, the possibilities are endless.
That book, though it was more like a diary, mentioned the possibility of magic outside Standard Magic. Was this an example of such a thing?
I should ask Professor Ilmarë what spell she used. I guess she really is the dean of the College of Mana after all.
I was brought out of my thoughts when the pressure suddenly became heavier. Caught off-guard, I reflexively looked at the source. She wasn't noticeably not looking at me. She had her head on top of her knuckle as she stared out into the distance.
I wasn't sure of how much time passed, but no one has left the field, so far. I'm pretty sure Vera can just stand up and leave anytime she wants, but she was sitting facing towards Petra and away from the crowd. They were probably busy talking.
More and more fell to the ground as they ran out of juice to keep going, unable to withstand the constant downward force.
I think it's been hours of constant pressure already. It didn't seem like those who could use mana could win the challenge. I got way too distracted by how she's doing the magic to quietly make my leave and move towards Vera and Petra. If I stood up now, I'd immediately be the center of attention with how nearly everyone was lying down by now. Only a handful of us were still sitting down.