Chapter 205: Purely Hypothetical, Of Course

Stryg walked into the classroom one minute before class began. His classmates were already seated. Back in his 1st year, there were always a couple of students who came in late, others didn’t come in at all. Today, there was not a single student missing. Perhaps it was because he was now in the so-called “elite class,” the 3rd-years with the most potential. Or, perhaps it was because no one wanted to get on Professor Rime’s bad side.

The memory of Callum arguing with Rime in their 1st year resonated clearly in Stryg’s mind, as was the punishment Rime had given them; a presentation project on dragons. Fortunately, back then they had Plum’s help for the project. This time Stryg was the 3rd-year and as he looked at the faces across the room, he didn’t think he’d ever find someone like Plum again.

Not that it mattered, Stryg rarely spent time with any of these people, even his few friends. While the other students attended large classes, most of Stryg’s classes were individual lectures with his private teachers. Stryg preferred it that way, he didn’t have time to spend with his friends, let alone time to make new ones.

Stryg glanced around the desks, looking for an empty seat. There was one seat left open on the second row. Kithina sat on one side, reading her notes with a furious conviction. Stryg sighed as he noticed the other neighbor, the new girl.

Stryg made his way over to the desk and took his seat. He kept his eyes on his book and did his best to ignore the dire vampire sitting next to him.

Sylvie smiled at him and waved her hand, “~G-o-o-o-d Morning!~ How are you?”

Stryg kept reading his book.

Sylvie leaned over, “I’m Sylvie by the way. I said that yesterday, but you probably don’t remember. You’re Stryg, right? I hear you're like the top student in Tauri’s class. I guess it shows, after our match yesterday I mean.”

Stryg closed his book and looked at her, peeved.

Sylvie cleared her throat, “Um, what I’m trying to say is, good fight yesterday. I had fun... Look, I don’t really know anyone here. Your friends seemed really nice though. I like them. I think they want to be friends with me too. Sooo, I was hoping, maybe, you’d wanna be friends too?”

“Not at all,” he said coldly.

Sylvie’s smile died, “Oh, yeah, gotcha... Sorry, I, uh, that was pretty weird, huh? I’m not very good at this. Yeah, um… yeah, I’ll let you get back to studying.”

“Mm.” Stryg opened his book and went back to reading. Or at least pretended to. He had read the summer readings, twice. There was nothing in the book he needed to particularly go over again, he understood the material fairly well.

Stryg glanced at Sylvie from the corner of his eye, her scarlet eyes were downcast and she seemed… sad? Disappointed? Bored? He wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter in the end.

You don’t want to be my friend. I can’t protect my friends, I only end up hurting them, Stryg thought bitterly.

Sylvie flipped the pages of her book, barely glancing at the words. She had tried, badly, but she had tried to be friendly. She tried to ignore the rumors, but perhaps the rumors weren’t wrong.

Maybe this Stryg guy really is just a bad person? Sylvie thought.

Stryg looked at Kithina. Her finger ran across each line of her notes as she whispered to herself. Could it be? Did she not understand the readings?

Maybe I can help? Stryg thought.

“Hey, Kitty,” he whispered. “Do you need hel-”

“Can we talk later? I’m trying to cram study here,” Kithina said without even a glance.

“...Understood,” Stryg nodded.

Nevermind. Best if I just keep to myself, he thought.

The door creaked open, Professor Rime walked in. The drow mage surveyed the students with a cold countenance and a hint of disdain.

“Close your books,” Rime said. “If you still haven’t managed to learn the assignment, you won’t learn it in the next measly few minutes.”

Several groans and mutterings echoed through the class as the students closed their books.

“I will be handing out a test over the summer readings, you will have half an hour to complete it.” Rime glanced at the worried faces of several students. A spark of pity flashed across his drow-blue eyes. Maybe he'd give them a bit of a practice run first?

“Today, we’ll start with the lecture,” Rime said.

The class stared at him, stunned. The professor always started with his exams.

“Red-headed dwarf at the front, what is mana?” Rime asked.

“Huh?” Kithina blinked.

“I won’t ask again,” he narrowed his eyes.

“Oh, uh, mana is ethereal energy. Invisible to the naked eye.”

“Orc girl in the back. What is a magical creature?” Rime asked.

“A person who can use mana to cast spells?”

“Wrong,” Rime said curtly. “Anyone else?”

Sylvie raised her hand, “A person born with the ability to convert the mana in their body into a physical manifestation which we call magic.”

“Correct,” Rime nodded. “And what is the difference between a spell and magic?”

“Spells are a kind of magic. But there is another kind of magic, innate magic,” Sylvie said.

“And what’s the difference between spells and innate magic?”

“Spells are learned and cast by mages. Innate magic is done naturally by the user, no learning is needed. They say it’s like moving an arm, you just know how to do it.”

“And who can use innate magic?”

“Huh? Oh, right, sorry,” Sylvie cleared her throat. “Only elemental species can use innate magic, like sirens or white eels. Some elemental species are mageborns too, like frost giants. However, there are no innate magic users in any of the chromatic species, only mageborns. And more importantly, only some people born in a chromatic species have the potential for magic, whereas every single member of an elemental species has the potential for magic.”

Rime nodded, “Very good, a thorough answer. It seems the new student is more well informed than half of you. I say this because despite this information being rudimentary, half of you failed to answer correctly in the recap section of the exam last week.”

The students looked everywhere besides Rime’s frigid glare.

“Now,” Rime began, “Can someone else explain to me the finer nature of mana?”

Callum raised his hand and sent a smile towards Sylvie.

“I’m waiting, son of Veres,” Rime frowned.

Callum stood up and cleared his throat, “Mana is an ethereal energy. It exists all around us. Mage researchers say that the Ten Null Realms create mana naturally from deep below the surface. The mana then rises up from the ground and floats around in the air. As mageborns, our bodies naturally absorb the mana types we are attuned to and store it within our hearts.”

Callum finished and sat down.

“You failed to explain the differences between mana,” Rime shook his head. “No, don’t stand back up. I’ve wasted enough time with your idiocy. Anyone else?”

Stryg raised his hand, “As the names imply, chromatic mana is used by chromatic species. Elemental mana is used by elemental species. Chromatic mana has the unique trait of mixing with elemental mana. Each of the ten chromatic colors bonds with two of the ten elemental types. Therefore it is impossible to find pure chromatic mana naturally occurring within an environment.”

“Correct,” Rime said. “But you also failed to mentio-”

“I’m not done,” Stryg interrupted. “There is an eleventh elemental mana type, chaos mana. It does not bond with any chromatic mana, nor are there any elemental creatures who harbor chaos mana within themselves. This is of course all rudimentary knowledge, the basics we learned as 1st-years. So if you could stop wasting our time and get to the point of this lecture, if you can even call it that, I’d appreciate it.”

Rime smiled, yet the warmth did not reach his eyes, “Stryg. Yours is one name I have not forgotten. Your penchant for drama is almost as great as your hubris. Do you plan on breathing fire over the class again?”

Fire? Maybe he really is bad news, Sylvie thought.

“Do you want me to?” Stryg asked.

“Stryg!” Kithina whispered cautiously.

No one wanted to get on Rime’s bad side. Let alone like this.

“Oh, I hope you do, Stryg,” Rime grinned coldly. “So I can get you expelled right here and now.”

Stryg crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, “You’re a powerful master mage and a respected teacher. I’d even say you’re a skilled scholar, from what I’ve read of your research on flora spells. But we both know if I was to cast a spell in this class and you were to stop me, I wouldn’t be the one getting kicked out of the academy.”

Rime glared at him, “Are you threatening me, boy? Simply because you have the principal’s backing? Are you daft?”

“Honestly? I’m just sick of you being an ass to my friends and me. You want to throw around your status in front of us, threaten us with expulsion? Great. Let me do the same. I am Stryg of Ebon Hollow, godson of Elzri Noir. If you want to attack me go right ahead. Lord Noir will return the favor ten-fold.”

The class stared at Stryg in stunned silence.

“Godchild?” Callum whispered, shocked.

“Get out of my class,” Rime seethed.

“Sounds good to me,” Stryg stood up. He had already read the summer readings anyway. He wouldn’t be missing out on anything.

Stryg reached the doorway and stopped, “Oh, and if you try to give shit to any of my friends I’ll get you expelled myself.”

“GET OUT!” Rime screamed.

Stryg turned and walked away without another word.

Sylvie stared at the empty doorway and cocked her head to the side. Did Stryg just try to protect his friends? Maybe he isn’t as bad as I thought? Sylvie shrugged, Then again, he just threatened our teacher, so what do I know?

Rime picked up the stack of papers from his desk, “Exam, now.”

The class groaned.

~~~

As Stryg walked down the hallways of the academy he thought about what he had said in the classroom. He didn’t like to throw the name of Elzri around like that, but he was tired of all these professors and their waste-of-time classes. At least now he could go practice his swordplay with Gian Gale.

As for the lecture on void mana, well there wasn’t much to it from what he read in the library. There was barely any information on the theory known as “Void Mana.” It was an unexplained phenomenon with little actual evidence to point to any real causes.

~~~

Centuries ago, long before the Schism, an elf mage had come across a mysterious pond hidden deep inside a forest in the Ivory Realm. The pond was barely a dozen feet wide, but its waters were a silvery hue, with a clear reflection like a mirror.

The elf did not know what to make of the strange waters, so she brought some of her colleagues to help investigate, including a prominent true blue mage, Estelle Oakenheart. When Estelle had reached the pond she had used blue’s true spell-form, clarity magic, to enhance her vision, allowing her to even see ethereal energy.

Oddly enough, there was no mana circling around the pond. Mana of both types existed everywhere, in the air, in the water, and in the ground. Yet there was not a single spec of mana near the pond.

At first, Estelle believed the pond was creating some sort of barrier to prevent mana from getting close. But that theory fell apart when she stepped into the pond. The water was shallow, barely reaching her knees. The moment she stood over the silvery water she felt the mana in her heart ripped away. She watched, fascinated, as her blue mana was pulled into the air and devoured by something she could not see, invisible particulates even to her own magical sight.

Estelle theorized that perhaps there was a different kind of mana. Similar to how chromatic mana is absorbed elemental mana, perhaps there was a third type that simply absorbed mana as a whole. She dubbed this third type void mana.

If her theory was true it could possibly explain why her clarity-sight did not allow her to see it, for the void mana was absorbing any chromatic mana in its surroundings. The problem was there was no way to prove her theory. But that did not stop Estelle and her colleagues from trying. They stated that perhaps this pond acted as a haven to void mana in a similar function as did Shadow Lake to chaos mana, the mysterious body of water near the city of Undergrowth in the Ebon Realm.

Unfortunately, when visitors from other Realms came to see Estelle’s pond they were greatly disappointed. The silver waters that she claimed existed in the pond had disappeared. The waters had returned to normal and the void phenomena was long gone. Magi from all across the Realms ridiculed Estelle and ruined her reputation as a mage and a scholar.

Yet strangely enough, long after Estelle’s death, there were several accounts regarding the findings of other silvery ponds across the Ten Null Realms, all of which seemed to disappear after a few months at best. The theory of void mana began to grow in the mage communities, yet no one was ever able to prove Estelle’s theory.

~~~

Stryg had found the book interesting, yet the ending was disappointing. Another mystery with no explanation. The concept of void mana was fascinating, albeit unlikely. Either way, Stryg supposed it was best if void mana did not exist. If for nothing else, then simply for Estelle’s most important entry of all.

“Many of my fellow mages call me a liar, a fraud. I do not believe that I am, but I do hope I am. Void mana is the most aggressive ethereal energy I have ever encountered. It does not absorb and mix with other energy like chromatic mana does. Void energy rips apart everything in its wake, leaving nothing behind. I have found that simply standing in the silver pond for a few minutes has left my body weakened, beyond the loss of my mana.”

“I feel as if my life is being slowly drained the longer I stay here. My colleagues feel the same. The trees and grass around are all dead, there is no life near the pond. This is not like death mana. Elemental death mana congregates around the dead, it does not take life, it only follows the departure of it. Void mana however takes life and gives nothing back, not even death mana surrounds this area. These facts all lead me to believe void mana is incredibly dangerous and I’d even go so far as to say unnatural.”

“My research is all purely hypothetical, of course. But, if by any chance, there existed a creature born of void mana, I shudder to think of what its existence could entail for the Null Realms. I do sincerely hope I am wrong.”

~Estelle Oakenheart