Both Ragnar and Ymil were very tired the next morning, neither of them had had much rest. The first class they had was Magic with Miss Gorgona. The entire class of 300 students had gathered in the same room as yesterday and everybody sat in the same seats as before. They were patiently waiting for Miss Gorgona to arrive.

Ragnar, Theo, Ymil and Lance sat in the back of the room and were happily discussing the fight of the day before, when all of a sudden:

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

A high pitched voice echoed through everybody’s mind. Every student dropped what he or she was doing and grabbed their heads as the shrill shriek resonated through their being. Some students even started to bleed out of their noses, others fell to the floor.

And then it stopped as abruptly as it started. The children were all panting heavily and looked in every direction, looking for the source of the sound.

“Good morning children,” said a calm voice from the doorway. Everyone turned to the front of the room and saw the sloppy figure of their teacher. She wore a light grey woolen sweater and baggy pants that made it look like she was wearing pajamas. Her hair and eyes were still beautifully blue and mysterious, but the clothes did nothing to highlight this fact.

“I see that none of you are able to block my True Voice yet,” she said as she looked at everyone in the room. She smiled. “That’s too bad though, it is one of the easiest ways to attack your opponent. People that cannot block out a person’s True Voice are easy targets for this kind of mental assault. Every day from now on I will test your ability to block my True Voice in a way similar to just now. Is that understood?”

“Yes ma’am!” shouted the class in unison.

“Gooooood. Now then, I’d like to start the lesson. Yesterday, we went to see the Royal Finals. What did you guys notice?”

All the students started to talk at the same time.

“It was soooo cool!”

“They went like bif, and then baff, and like…”

SILENCE!

The entire classroom quietened immediately. The strength of the word that Miss Gorgona had just transmitted was enough to make their heads throb.

“It would appear that this class is full of monkeys. Are you all little monkeys?” she asked the class.

“No, ma’am!” they shouted in unison.

“That’s right. Monkeys don’t belong in this class, they belong on the dissection table for your seniors to cut open as they scream for their lives. Do any of you feel like joining them?”

A few children swallowed audibly. She couldn’t be serious, could she? I mean, there must be a rule against that.

“No ma’am!”

“Good, from now on I expect all of you to raise your hand when you’re answering a question. I will point to that student and he, or she, will be allowed to talk. Now, let’s try again. What can you tell me about the fight from yesterday? I’m mostly interested in the magic they used.”

Almost nobody rose their hand. Many of them had seen the magic that was used but nobody could actually say what it was. All except a certain red-haired girl and the green haired girl next to her. They slowly raised their hands and Miss Gorgona’s smile turned wry. ‘Always Nobility,’ she thought.

“You there,” said Miss Gorgona while pointing at Rena. “What types of magic did team Chrysos and team Xylos use in their fight.”

Rena stood up and looked around the room. Everyone’s eyes were staring at her.

“I, erm, think that, ehm, team Chrysos used, ehm, some form of…” mumbled Rena as she rolled Gin around on the table. The furball didn’t seem to enjoy it very much but it kept quiet as he was spinning in every direction.

“Stop right there, sweetie. If I can barely hear you then I doubt others can either. Can’t you speak up a little?”

Rena blushed a little and started to roll Gin a bit more intensively as she tried to speak again.

“I think that, erm, team Chrysos… EEK!” Rena jumped up and fell to the ground, knocking down her table on the way. Gin was biting down on her hand as he’d had enough of the tumbling about.

The entire classroom giggled as Rena got back up and brushed the dirt from her clothes. Her entire face was red and sat down as fast as she could, hiding her face in her hands.

“I guess I’ll ask the missus next to you then,” said Miss Gorgona, only slightly amused. “Miss Kafsi, please enlighten us with your wisdom.”

Amalia tapped Rena on the shoulder, hoping to ease her unease, and stood up.

“I can only identify three of the magic types that they used yesterday. The most obvious one was the use of External Magic. The casters on both sides surrounded themselves with pieces of their surroundings that they flung at their enemies using magic. One of them used stone dart, the other used water orbs.”

Miss Gorgona nodded. “That is correct, what about the other two?”

“The next most obvious one was the force field created by the shield on Team Chrysos’s side. They used a type of magic that is unique to the shape and strength of someone’s soul manifestation and is therefore called Soul Magic.”

Miss Gorgona looked at the girl with praising eyes. ‘This girl knows more than the average noble.’

“And what about the third type?” the teacher urged on.

“The last one was the large circle that team Xylos used to ensnare Max Chrysos and to limit his abilities. They are slow to cast and require a circle to be activated, which is why it is commonly called Circle Magic. They often have devastating effects and last for as long as the circle in unbroken, if not longer.”

“And what about the magic that max Chrysos used,” asked Miss Gorgona. “What kind of magic did he use?” This was a trick question as even she could not answer this question.

“I don’t know, teacher. That was the strangest ability I’ve ever seen. It looked like it was a type of Soul Magic but it was much too potent for that. Electricity is supposed to need a conductive medium, but Max completely ignored that rule.”

“Thank you, Miss Kafsi. Please sit down or you’ll be teaching these children more than I am.”

Amalia sat down and wore a satisfied smile on her face. Rena had recovered and had heard the entire thing. She was going to say the exact same thing but couldn’t bring herself to say it for some reason.

“Alright, today I will explain the basics of the four types of magic that we use in today’s society. The four types are as followed.” Miss Gorgona stuck up and hand a raised a finger for every type. “We have External Magic, Soul magic, Circle Magic and Runic Magic.

Of all the types, Runic Magic is the hardest to come by. It allows a caster to store a spell by binding it with runic inscriptions, but it can only be used once. The creation of such a device is incredibly intensive and there are only a few practitioners that can use it.”

Someone in the back of the room raised his hand.

“Yes, boy with the blue hair. What do you want to ask?”

“I have two questions,” said Ragnar. “First, in what category do Spirit Braces fall? They have unlimited uses, right?”

The teacher’s eyes looked at the boy intensively, examining the things he was wearing. ‘By god,’ she thought as she saw the two bracelets on his arms. ‘Two Spirit Braces? How rich can you be?’

“Spirit Braces fall under the category of Runic Magic. For those of you that don’t know, Spirit Braces are items found in ancient tombs and contain ability enhancing effects. They are artefacts of incredibly high value that only the Ancients knew how to make. Sadly enough, the Ancients took all of their secrets with them to their graves.”

Ragnar listened to that but doubted what the woman was saying. Did his father make his from scratch? He didn’t think about it for too long as his next question was quite a bit more urgent.

“That cool, but I have one more question.”

“Ask away.” The boy was jumping up and down, holding his hands in front of him of his pants.

“Can I pleeeaaaase go to the bathroom?!”

******************************

The entire class had gathered on one of the training grounds that surrounded the school. It consisted mainly of grass fields and sheds to store weaponry, as well as a few training dummies placed on the sides. The first combat class was being held here and the students had been told to wait there until the teacher arrived.

“Hey Theo and Lance, what kind of weapons do you guys prefer?” Ragnar had been wondering about that question all morning. He was curious to know what kind of weapons they used and how strong they were with them.

Theo’s face turned into a big grin and answered, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

Ragnar smiled as well and readied himself to summon his soul. He was actually quite proud of it.

“Sure, take a look.”

He channeled his energy into his hands and the light blue claymore appeared in his hands. The air immediately turned frigid and Ragnar’s entire body contracted as the weight appeared in his hands. The golden patterns swirled around the hilt and green gem looked magnificent at the end of the handle.

“Wow,” exclaimed Theo and Lance at the same time. “It’s so big!” This was indeed a magnificent sword and if they didn’t know Ragnar was from Sophia Village, they’d have thought he was a Noble for sure.

“I don’t think it’s all that impressive,” said Ragnar but he’d seen the brothers’ reaction. He couldn’t help but feel proud. “Now show me yours.”

“Okay, but don’t expect them to be anything like yours.”

Theo raised both his hands to his face and summoned his soul. In his hands appeared two wooden batons in a shape Ragnar had never seen before. Each hand held a handle that was attached to a longer stick. One of the handles had a yellow gem stuck to it, but the rest of the weapon was made entirely of oaken wood.

“What kind of weapon is that?” asked Ymil who’d been standing to the side. They’d never appeared in any books he’d read.

“They’re called tonfas,” answered Theo and he started to spin them in his hand. “They are quite strong if you know how to use them. I once saw a traveler destroy a boulder with these things.” He looked at Ragnar and said with sly grin, “Size doesn’t matter, ask the girls around here.”

Ragnar looked with some surprise at the weapons but couldn’t see how these things could compare to a normal weapon.

“But they’re made out of wood!” he exclaimed.

Theo smiled. “Don’t judge a book by its cover. Just wait, you’ll see how strong these babies are when I have to actually fight. Now show them yours, Lance.”

Lance nodded and pointed his fist at the ground, as if to punch someone in the crotch. He circulated the energy through his arm and a small round buckler appeared on his forearm. It was a simple design with an iron rim and simple attachment. The only difference with a real bucker was that a yellow gem was stuck to the middle of it.

“Th-this is my soul,” stammered Lance and he looked away shyly. Both Ragnar and Ymil doubted its strength but they kept quiet about it. They didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

“Not bad…,” said Ragnar but his face showed a bit of concern.

“I-it is enough to block any incoming attacks. Did you see that shield in the f-fight yesterday? I can do exactly the same.”

Ragnar and Ymil were surprised by that. This little shield could be that strong?

“I still think you might have to change it a little,” said Ymil as he looked at both the tonfas and the shield. “You are pretending to be Nobles and nobody would believe you if you used wooden souls.”

That was very true. Theo and Lance had used wood because they were afraid to limit their options in the future. Using metallic souls would make them significantly stronger but would also reduce their magical capabilities. Sure, they didn’t know magic yet but that was about to change.

“You’re right, you guys are better off changing it to something different,” added Ragnar. “Like maybe some kind of golden metal? It’s fit well with your gems.”

Theo and Lance looked at each other and then they focused their energy onto their souls. Both sets of weapons started to glow in an intense golden light. Their shapes didn’t change but it the composition of the soul changed substantially. Once they were done, Theo held a white wooden pair of sticks and Lance’s shield had turned completely golden. They both looked quite out of place and impractical.

“I don’t think this is an improvement,” said Ymil as he saw the new weapons. “Maybe you guys should work on it at night. Refine the designs a bit.”

“While we’re on the subject,” said Ragnar enthusiastically, “why don’t you guys sleep with us? We’ve got a nice sp….”

“Silence!”

Ragnar was interrupted by yelling of the teacher. Everyone turned around and looked at the short man standing in front of the group. He had a bad case of dwarfism and most students were taller than him, but he was definitely not a student. He had very broad shoulders and a robust face, his brown hair braided to the back and his eyes looking at the students like a hawk.

“Students, my name is Michael Nanos. I will be your combat instructor for this year. Got that?”

“Yes sir!” yelled the children in unison. They didn’t want the same reaction as Teacher Jack had.

“Good, looks like you guys were properly educated. Let me tell you this right now, if any of you mess up, or so much as complain, you will be expelled. Is that clear?!”

“Yessir!”

Michael Nanos looked at the children in front of him and saw that there were about 5 nobles in his class. ‘What bad luck,’ he thought.

“The next semester you will all be trained to fight with a sword and shield. After that, you will be assigned groups depending on your personal choice in weapons. Bows, axes, throwing knives, you name it. By the end of this course I expect you to have mastered at least two weapons. Is that clear?”

“Yessir!”

“But before we start training, I want to see you guys fight. No killing your opponents, just spar with one another so that I can gauge your strength. Pick your opponent and come forward, please.”

The group of students began to murmur softly and many children were starting to shake in fear. Many of them hadn’t actually been in a fight before, they had only played around like most children did at their age. They knew they had to win five fights in order to stay in the school, but it had seemed like a distant concept to them. Now that they were facing a real fight, they were starting to lose their nerve.

“Hey Ragnar,” said a voice from behind. The boys turned around and saw Amalia walking in their direction, closely followed by Rena, the green haired girl. They must have become friends after yesterday’s incident.

“Ah, just the person I was looking for, what do you think?” said Ragnar with a big smile on his face.

“I think this is the perfect time, don’t you?”

“Then I hereby challenge you to a fight, Miss Kafsi. The loser will be the other’s slave until the next semester.”

Amalia grabbed her dress and gave Ragnar a courteous bow.

“I accept.”

They both just stood there for a moment, looking each other in the eyes. Neither of them spoke, they were just grinning like fools. Ymil, Theo and Lance took a step back and joined Rena on the side.

“Wanna make a bet on who wins?” asked Theo.

“My money’s on Ragnar,” said Ymil and he help up 10 silver pieces. Rena and Lance’s eyes grew wide as they saw how much Ymil was willing to bet. They couldn’t match that.

“I’ll take you up on that,” answered Theo and he also took out 10 silver pieces. “My money’s on Amalia.”

Theo and Ymil looked at each other and nodded. They gave the money to Lance to hold and then they shook hands. They then went on to look for their own sparring partners as fighting among themselves was sure to lead to some bad blood.