Valiance gulped, concentrating on his palm as he tried imagining fire in his mind. It was warm, smoke coming out of it. However, whenever he tried to make it into reality, he couldn't seem conjure it.
He took a sneak peek at the man sitting at the edge of the table, looking at him intently. He was wearing plain white sleeves and black pants. There was an eyeglass on his eyes, with red colors serving as the glass' frame. It was the Magical Fundamentals professor, Edward Rombuss.
Seriously, how did it come to this?
Valiance grumbled in total disbelief. This was supposed to be a peaceful first day for him as Orith Magical Academy's student. But because of that accursed roommate of his subtly setting him up, he landed his first trouble in the academy.
It's not supposed to be like this. He sighed.
---
"Who is that, Eira?" a student asked, approaching them with a calm and easygoing smile.
Valiance silently observed him, noting his characteristics. This guy was of average build, not muscular and tall, about just the same as him. His hair was painted red, looking like that favorite chicken Kalli loved to bet at the local cockfight back in the small town of Smilla. Exactly like Valiance, this guy was wearing a blue long-sleeved uniform with the insignia of Orith on his left chest. The insignia composed of an eagle with a magical wand on its beak, its wings spread outward. For his bottom, he got a black pants that, as Valiance noticed, most of the boys in this academy wore. It was different from the skirt of the girls here, which was a blend of blue and black with "X" patterns.
"He is going to be our classmate, make sure to respect him and make him feel he belonged here," Valiance's roommate explained, whom he realized from that guy's question that her name is Eira.
He leaned slightly towards Eira, whispering, "Am I supposed to introduce myself now?"
"Do what you want," she responded, voice icy. She just left him rooted on his position as he moved toward the seats, sitting on her assigned chair.
"Is Eira your roommate?" the red-haired guy who remained close to him standing asked.
"Yeah…"
"Must be rough," the guy whispered. "She's not exactly the friendly type."
"I can see that," Valiance nodded, agreeing to his viewpoint. He turned to the guy, reaching out his hand. "I'm Valiance Esteban, and you?"
"Steve Morish," he replied, shaking Valiance's hand tightly.
After completing a handshake, Steve grinned. "You got a peculiar name."
"You're the second person within 24 hours to ask me that."
"Oh? And who is the first one?"
"That woman called Professor Ayanna Blackrose," he answered truthfully.
Steve revealed a pleasant surprise when he heard this. He leaned in closer to Valiance, whispering something. "Did you know? The reason Professor Ayanna demoted to being the person in charge at the entrance is because she blatantly disrespected the headmaster twice."
"Sounds intriguing."
"Right!?" Excitement was written on Steve's face. "Rumor has it Professor Ayanna grew up rather spoiled."
"Why are you telling me this anyway?" Valiance frowned slightly.
Steve grinned upon hearing his question. "Why not? I mean, we are fellow students now."
I know the old man often said I should make friends so that I can gather information, but not like this.
"Right," Valiance helplessly answered, voice full of uncertainty.
"Alright, enough talking here, let's go to a vacant seat," Steve suggested, to which Valiance nodded in agreement as he silently followed him.
Looking forward, he realized the other students were staring at him curiously. He felt a bit embarassed, attracting attention like this, but he tried hiding it, masking a face of calmness, as though he hadn't noticed them yet. Or rather, he acted like a person who did not give a shit.
"Made your first friend here? Congrats."
"What?" Valiance frowned, looking at Eira who was just plainly staring at the front, her posture straight.
"Nothing."
"Hey dude, over here!" Steve waved both his hands, sitting at a vacant seat around the corner. Well, not actually a corner, since the wall is curved. Valiance noticed it just now, but the entire classroom seemed like oval shape. He did not know what's the idea behind this kind of architecture, but whatever, if it works then good.
Valiance stared briefly at his roommate before marching forward again to his supposed friend, though he still don't treat him as one.
Sitting beside Steve, the door suddenly blew open, with it a person entering the room, carrying a vibe of confidence, masking the wrinkly plain white sleeves that man wore.
"Alright class, sounds like many of you's still not up yet?" the man slammed the table on the podium, scanning the entire classroom without moving his head.
When he mentioned this, Valiance suddenly became aware of this fact. Looking around, he noticed there were many empty seats.
Steve said in low voice, "Because of how early the class starts, most of our classmates can only manage to attend to attend the second or third class."
"Can't they wake up or sleep earlier?"
"They can, of course," Steve unhesitatingly whispered. "But they're just a bunch of slackers."
"So even here, it's widespread?"
"Well, what can you expect? It's just human to go sleep more. Anyway, it's not like they will be kicked out just because they always skip class every day."
Valiance frowned, confusing dawning on his face. "Meaning?"
"Attending classes everyday earns a student 2 points. There are about 7 subjects in the morning and 3 subjects in the afternoon. That's a total of 20 points. Now, do you understand what I'm about to say?"
"Yeah," Valiance nodded. "If they somehow skip the first and second class, that will only deduct 4 points for them. Anyway, are these so-called points necessary to fulfill the quota given by the academy?"
"Correct," Steve answered. "At the end of first semester, that's, like, 4 months, if we exclude the rest days, that's like 12 thousand points. But the minimum passing quota is 20 thousand."
"Wait, then isn't it disadvantageous then?"
"Well, there are events held, some are weekly, some are monthly. Winning these events gives you massive amount of points. Then there's the written exam conducted every 2nd month. And the missions which reward you points as well."
"Interesting," Valiance muttered, looking at the professor who was scribbling something on the chalkboard while they're having a conversation.
Inspecting them carefully, he found out they are words related to the basics of magic. For example, there was that one written on the board that said: "Imagination is the foundation of a mage's journey."
He looked momentarily confused by this statement. Why would a mage need imagination to cast a spell? Don't they just chant some bullshit and a fire will be conjured in an instant? At least, that's what his old man told him.
"Now, eyes on the board everybody," the professor slammed the chalkboard, turning around to look at his students. "Can you tell me what is the most important factor that must be considered for one to be a great mage?"
The whole class felt silent, then a hand was raised after a moment. Valiance looked at it and realized it came from Eira, his cold roommate.
"Yes, Ms. Eira?" the professor cold out, smiling.
Eira stood up from her seat, answering the question. "The most important attribute that I think I mage should have is not imagination, or knowledge, but a deep magical talent. All spells came from our magical core. With an inferior magical core, they would just remain in the state of obscurity."
She paused, taking a moment to catch her breath before continuing, "This is why mages with the title of Archmage are all renowned for being genius. If we look at the history, there's virtually no person with pathetic talent that attained the level of Archmages."
"Good," the professor nodded, clearly satisfied. "Anyone got objections?"
Valiance narrowed his eyes at her own answer. There were some facts to it, but he did not agree with her viewpoint. A person's talent does not equally mean he's useless. With a fully-functioning magical core, he believed that anyone could reach that level.
At least that's what his old man taught him. He suddenly recalled that one sentence Kalli said to him when they travelled the slums of Westside.
"The reason why mages with poorer talent cannot rise to the top is because our world works in a flawed system where those at the top thinks talent is everything," Kalli explained, those words still etched clearly in Valiance's memories. "They didn't have enough resources, as mages with better talent more often than not hoard all the resources. The power balance is unstable, just like how it used to be in my world; the poorer kept being dragged below, while the more talented ones are given even more resources, leaving nothing but dust to those hardworking mages."
Even though that's like decades ago, it was as though those words were told to him just yesterday.
"It seems like someone is not agreeing to my answer."
What?
A foreboding feeling rose within him as sweat poured out of Valiance's forehead. He looked at Eira who said those exact words, who in turn was also looking at him with a slight grin plastered on her face.
"Who?" the professor inquired.
Eira pointed at Valiance. "Looks like he got a different viewpoint than what's generally accepted."
"Hmm?" the professor took a good look at Valiance, his peering and intrusive gaze making him uncomfortable. "Who is this?"
"He's a new student here, just got admitted last night."
"Really?" the professor muttered, beginning to lunge at Valiance's direction. Few moments later, he's now in front of him. "Who are you?"
Valiance immediately stood up. "I…I am Valiance Esteban, Professor."
The professor's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "I take it you still didn't know me."
"That's indeed the case," Valiance nervously admitted.
"Well, I am Edward Rombuss, the teacher of the Fundamentals of Magic."
"I'll be in your care, Professor Rombuss." Valiance bowed down respectfully.
"The thing Eria mentioned, is it true?"
Valiance fell into deep thought. Trying to retort someone's opinion, especially if the majority of people here agreed with it and treated it as the truth rather than mere viewpoint, was of course a very troublesome move. He did not want to get into trouble in his first day here, but he just felt it wasn't right to remain silence, especially when he bore the mantle of Kalli.
"While I respect her answer, I don't think it's entirely right. In fact, there was no right answer to that question."
"If you think there's no right question to this answer, then why do you disagree."
This bastard, he silently cursed. It was obviously because everyone got their own opinion. It's not as if he rejected her answer loudly. Well, probably Eira tried reading his face and realized he's not agreeing to her.
That damned mind-reader.
Collecting his own thoughts, Valiance finally answered. "While there's no such thing as perfect answer, I have my own opinion as well?"
"And that is?"
Valiance could feel a look of interest gathering around the classroom. His fingers trembled, nervousness overtaking. He had never experienced attracting this much attention. Most of the time, it was the old man who basked the spotlight.
"It is true that having talent is a huge advantage in one's journey. But having none is fine as well, as long as you have magical core. With enough hard work, I believe even a some random guy living in slums could reach the level of Archmages."
The entire room froze the instant Valiance uttered those words. A few seconds later, the professor who got initially stunned by his answer suddenly laughed loudly, as though hearing the joke of century.
"What kind of bullshit are you spouting in my class?" When the professor said those words, his entire demeanor turned entirely serious. "Did you not hear what Eira said earlier? No one recorded in written history was bestowed the title of Archmage while having no talent."
"As you said, 'written history'," Valiance immediately retorted, not amused with the professor's reaction. "Just because someone's name did get included in the annals of history doesn't mean that person did not exist. In addition, how can you be so sure that every person who got bestowed by that title are truly talented? What if some of them are also mages with the same shitty talent you're trying to mock, compensated by hard work and determination?"
The professor blinked at his answer, clearly finding it unbelievable a kid in freshman years that has been his first day here will try to argue with him. However, instead of being angry, he just forced a smile. "Valiance Esteban is it? Where did you come from? Why have I never heard of you?"
"I'm a traveller, professor, I didn't belong here," Valiance straightaway replied with respectful tone, realizing he had gone overboard just a moment ago.
"No wonder you think you know how the world works," Professor Rombuss sneered. "If, as you claimed, mages with poor talent could compete with those truly talented ones, then how about demonstrating some magic for us?"
"Do you really want to do this, professor?"
Edward Rombuss formed a dark smile. "Why not? How about this, I'll reward you with 200 points if you managed to create a simple fireball more destructive than what I can do."
"Right here?"
"Yeah right," Rombuss lowered his head.
Valiance heaved a sigh before closing his eye, trying to think if he should accept the professor's challenge. But then, his pride was going to feel hurt if he backed down. Even that old man who was probably watching him in afterlife will get angry once he cowered.
"Fine, that's the deal."
But how exactly can he do that? He had never casted a single magic spell in his life.