Ryuu was finally able to start the lesson in peace after Max went to sit in the seat behind.

"Hello everyone, I'm Serina, your homeroom and general studies teacher. Since I call you all by your first names, I don't see why you can't call me by mine too; plus it will help us get to know each other better. I'm not really one for formalities anyway."

As she spoke, Ryuu couldn't help but stare. If you ever needed reminding of the definition of the word beautiful, all you had to do was look at her and you would know. He’d never seen anyone so stunning in his life. She had perfect, straight jet black hair that flowed down to her lower back. Not a single strand seemed out of place. Her light skin coupled with big dark eyes, long eyelashes and features that seemed to be sculpted by an artist would leave any man in awe and any woman jealous of her perfect body.

"Normally in the mornings you would have general studies with me but since it's the first day of school, they've been cancelled for the headmaster's speech and registering each class. You'll still have magic lessons in the afternoon but that’s with Mr Reyes. Anyway, right now there's still half an hour before lunchtime so how about we play some ice-breaker games to find out more about each other?"

They ended up playing a game called two truths and a lie. Which is when everyone thinks of two things that are true about themselves and one thing that’s not. Then the rest of the class has to guess which one is the lie.

It was a great game to pass the time and Ryuu found out many cool things about his fellow classmates. For example, a girl named Skylar once visited a village of elves. However, the fun was slightly lessened by Max who took this opportunity to talk about and show off his rich heritage to the whole class.

"Well, that was a lot of fun. The things some of you said were really interesting but I'm afraid we'll have to end it here because it's lunchtime now. I'll show all of you to the lunch halls before I leave you to it." Said Serina in her gentle and soft voice.

She got up and headed towards the door, motioning for the class to follow. Her movements were full of grace and poise.

The lunch hall was behind the classrooms and was a very large space filled with rows of tables and chairs. There were people serving food at varying price points from either end of the room. According to Serina, there was more seating outside and two high-class restaurants as well as a couple of stores to buy school materials and snacks. The restaurants were meant to serve the extremely wealthy noble children who could afford the extravagant meals and didn't want to eat in the canteen with the common folk.

Serina explained that lunch break was one hour long and everyone needs to return to the classroom afterwards, before leaving the students of class B to their own devices.

Ryuu, Riley and Mary went to line up to get their food. When it was Ryuu's turn he saw many different types of meat, vegetables, desserts etcetera. There was a piece of blackboard that had the prices of all the food listed. It ranged from an expensive thirty silver coins to just one silver coin. The school tried to accommodate mages from all types of backgrounds as much as possible.

Ryuu's mother had given him ten silver coins for food each day so he purchased some chicken with potatoes and a few veggies. It cost him three silver coins, a pretty average price for food. Mary and Riley bought similar things and the trio went to find a seat to eat.

They ate their food while chatting. Ryuu found out that Mary was from a town called Windermere six hundred miles away or about two weeks travel on horseback. It was still part of the Kingdom of Nidia but Mary had never been to Zouron, the capital before. Riley suggested they give her a tour over the weekend to which she gladly agreed.

After eating, the trio went to explore the school grounds and soon it was time to go back to class.

They were greeted by Mr Reyes, a middle aged, dark skinned man with a goatee and moustache, wearing a set of black mages robes. Introductions were made and then the lesson began.

Mr Reyes talked about the different ranks of mages and how mana pools increased as you went up the ranks. He explained mana percentages and that you can increase it by casting spells and regenerating your mana or by meditation, letting natural world energy flow through you.

Then he went on the discuss the six different schools of magic: Wind, Earth, Fire, Water, Energy and Darkness. Each type had their own set of spells for example wind mages could use [Wind Blast] and eventually learn [Fly], earth mages could harden their skin with [Rock Armor] and produce mini earthquakes. Fire mages could cast a huge range of offensive spells such as [Wall of Fire] or [Ring of fire], water mages can cast massive healing and buff themselves and other mages, providing support.

Energy and darkness were a bit different since they aren't based on the fundamental elements. Energy mages could cast offensive spells like [Grenade] which is a ball of energy that explodes inflicting damage, they could also cast [Lightning] and other electricity based spells, at first seeming like an offensive magic school. However, energy mages can also utilise powerful defensive spells like [Energy Shield] or similarly [Energy Barrier]. Darkness or Dark mages can be powerful but are usually frowned upon as their skill set is ideal for assassins and necromancers being able to use spells like [Invisibility], [Shadow Leap] or [Raise Zombie] just to name a few. The Energy and darkness based mages are known to become very powerful but are also rarer.

Each magic school has its own set of offensive, defensive and support spells but in general, wind is known as a long distance offensive class. Earth is the tank and distractor among mages. Fire is medium to short range offensive with the most powerful offensive spells. Water is the support mage leaving energy and darkness as adaptable wildcards. From this assessment, you can ascertain that if a combat team contained a mage from each class, they would be very well equipped for any situation even without adding any warriors or martial artists to the equation.

Often a mage would find the school of magic they have the most affinity with and focus on learning the spells from that school since they would be the most powerful. However, it is a bad idea to specialise in only one class, for example, water mages may be vulnerable without a team so it is a good idea to learn a few spells from a second magic school, at least to some degree. This second school will usually be the one the mage has the second most affinity with.

Mr Reyes finished his explanation. It was now time for the students of class B to find out what school of magic they have the most affinity with.

"Alright, now that's all out of the way, we can start to determine all of your affinities. This moment is a really important part of a mages life and determines their role in the future so take some time to really get in tune with yourself." Said Mr Reyes with a serious expression.

"I want you all to hold out your hand and imagine a ball of mana materialising above it. Concentrate and feel the mana and world energy flowing within you. Once you feel it, begin to concentrate it within the palm of your hand. Visualise it escaping from that point and then say the words [Mana Essence]. This will initiate the spell that will produce a small floating orb of mana belonging to whichever magic school you have the most affinity with. This will probably be the first spell any of you have cast so don't worry if it doesn't work the first time. Keep trying and I guarantee you will eventually get the hang of it. We still have plenty of time left today. Just remember to feel the mana flowing within you and try to bring it out in a material form." Mr Reyes continued.

Ryuu closed his eyes and held his hand palm up. He did as Mr Reyes instructed, feeling for the mana flowing within him. At first, he didn't feel much at all but after a few minutes, he started to feel a tiny pulsing ebb of power. He concentrated on this pulse and it started to grow larger and larger until it was like a loud beat ringing in his ears and throughout his entire body.

He began to imagine this pulse of power gathering and releasing to form a ball of pure mana above his palm. He was about to say the words of the spell when he was caught off guard by something that felt foreign within his body. He hadn't noticed it before. It was like a slight sensation hidden behind the constant pulses of mana. The feeling wasn't uncomfortable in any way, just different. It made him want to shiver but not in the bad way, it was more like the shiver you get after peeing.

As he focused on this strange feeling, it started to grow just like the pulses did. As it grew Ryuu's outstretched hand started throbbing and there was a sudden shoot of pain but it was gone as soon as it started as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

Slightly worried by this weird occurrence, Ryuu opened his eyes and looked around and down at his hand. Everything seemed normal, he saw his classmates around him, some were still casting the spell while others already had a floating orb corresponding to the magic school they had the most affinity with floating in their palms. Not wanting to get left behind, Ryuu closed his eyes and felt for the mana pulsing within him again. Soon all he heard was the rhythmic beat and this time he didn’t feel the strange foreign presence. He prepared himself and spoke the words [Mana Essence].

His palm felt warm and he quickly opened his eyes, excited. But instead of a floating orb he had a glowing blue disk stuck to his hand. The disk resembled the magic school of energy but why was it stuck to his hand and not a floating orb like the others? Maybe the spell malfunctioned in some way? But Ryuu was sure he had done everything correctly and said the right words. He cast the spell again and again but each time the results were the same. A disk that was still stuck to his hand formed instead of a floating orb. At one point Mr Reyes came over but he also didn't know what was happening to the spell. He said he'd never seen anything like it before. It was as if the mana wouldn’t leave his body even after it manifested into a solid form. It was still somehow attached to his skin.

Eventually Mr Reyes told Ryuu to stop before he used up all his energy. Even though the spell didn't work as intended, it still served it's purpose since the blue disk was clearly from the energy school of magic. Mr Reyes told Ryuu not to worry about it too much and that they would be learning different spells tomorrow so it was fine, especially as this spell wasn't necessary for combat.

Eventually everyone managed to cast the [Mana Essence] spell and found their affinity. Riley's affinity was water while Mary's was fire.

Today has been a long day, so after a dinner and a little more exploring, Ryuu, Riley and Mary retired to their bedrooms. While getting changed, Ryuu unconciously scratched an itch on his right palm incidentally where the [Mana Essence] spell had manifested the disk of blue energy. Unbeknownst to Ryuu, a tiny black spot had appeared at the center of his palm.

Trey had been watching Ryuu as he tried to cast the [Mana Essence] spell. He was using a magic item called [Mirror Image] to look into the classroom. Before the magic class started, Trey had planted a matching mirror inside Ryuu's classroom which allowed [Mirror Image] to work.

What he saw was very intriguing, the boy's outstretched arm flashed for a split second. Had Trey blinked he would have missed it. But that wasn't the only strange thing, when the spell was cast, a disk shape had formed instead of an orb in the boy's hand. Trey watched as Ryuu attempted the spell again and again but time and time again only the disk shape formed.

Was this what it was like when the body didn't want to let go of mana? Mr Reyes was only a Rank 3 mage so he might not have known about this but in history there was one case where a young mage was unable to cast spells in the normal sense because his mana wouldn't release from his body. However, if this was even true or possible was debatable as very little was known about the mage and what happened at the time.

Despite this, Trey felt his decision of letting the boy try casting magic was a good one. He couldn't wait to see how the boy would fair in his lesson tomorrow. What would happen if he tried to cast other types of spells? Curiosity swept over Trey.

He then set [Mirror Image] aside, knowing he would be back at the same time tomorrow.

----------Planet Andron

"Please give me some good news," Axel said frustrated.

"I'm sorry sir."

"UGH!" Axel slammed his hands down hard on the table in frustration.

"How many test subjects are still alive now?" He questioned, fuming.

"I'm sorry..." His assistant trailed of.

"Just tell me straight, you idiot."

"Just one sir" his assistant replied almost in a whisper, unable to meet Axel's eyes.

There was a pause.

"Ha ha ha ha, just one you say, just one. We had a hundred test subjects and now there's only one left alive?" Axel laughed, frenzied. "It's been more than seven years and there's not even a smidgen of success after all this effort?."

"Sir, the last one might be successful, you never know. We might finally be able to find you the ideal species to change into robots. Then we can brainwash them because of the special serum within them and you will become our absolute ruler. You will be King of a new generation of Andronians, all according to your master plan."

Axel glared at his assistant, but secretly smiling at his own brilliance. None of the stupid Andronians left on the planet suspected a thing.

"How many times have I told you not to say the plan out loud. What if someone overhears? Although I doubt anyone will."

"S-sorry."

"Nevermind. Anyway what of this survivor? What planet are they from?"

"He's from a planet called Erasmas and part of a species called homosapiens."

"Continue. How is his development?"

"Umm... there's nothing so far."

"NOTHING!" Axel broke into a fit of anger again but managed to calm down eventually.

"Make sure to keep a close eye on this homosapien, I trust my minions are still functioning?"

"Yes sir, the bots you sent secretly aboard the ship are still working fine and watching over the boy as well as Acaserina, the Andronian stationed there."

"Good. What about the development of more serum? How many do we have now?"

"We have only managed to make eight more. We are searching far and wide for the materials to create them but it's been quite difficult."

"I see. Well keep working on it. In fact, begin searching on nearby planets too and collect any spare vials of the serum from the failed subjects since I sent two serums per planet. Now bugger off, I have a relaxing bath scheduled to take my mind off of all these failures."