Nathan

Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 7

I watch the flesh magician fix Muscles’ hand for a few seconds before a terrifying thought comes to mind.

What if my own spell backfired… and people saw my body near-instantly returning to normal after something like that happens?

My eyes immediately turn back to the device on my wrist.

It’s not like I can avoid using spells, and it would be bad if I lagged behind. Plus I need to know magic to get stronger.

And it would only draw even more attention to me if I tried being reclusive in my magic circle practice in the class – assuming we’re gonna do a lot of that.

Not to mention that it would probably mess me up if I were more worried about others seeing me fail than I am about actually doing it correctly.

So… I guess the only solution is to practice it like crazy on my own-

“I absolutely forbid practicing making magic circles without having an instructor’s explicit permission.” The instructor says whilst moving his gaze between each and every cadet’s faces. “This is for your own safety.”

-in my room until I don’t get it wrong.

Yeah, I don’t really care about what you say, instructor. It’s not like I can get hurt.

Or at least, I can’t stay hurt.

What’s a little pain when compared to my secret being found out and me being turned into a lab-rat experiment?

Although the noise could be a problem…

My thoughts are interrupted as the instructor places his hands behind his back and says, “I think that’s enough for today’s class. Let’s go back to the lecture hall.”

He then walks over to the door and opens it before passing through the portal, leaving us all behind.

I look between the two girls – who don’t seem too surprised by what had happened – before focusing on Muscles again as he lies on the ground in a sweaty heap.

Hmm, guess the flesh magic had other effects on his body along with the flesh manipulation itself.

Makes sense.

At that thought, I turn away from the cadet and make my way straight through the portal, followed soon by most of the others. Interestingly enough, most of the students in the lecture hall seem to actually be doing their work – aside from the few who only looked up at our entrance out of curiosity.

I honestly would have expected more of them to slack off; especially for those who didn’t learn programming before coming here.

Then again, it probably has something to do with whatever the instructor told them before following us into the training facility.

Which makes me curious as to what that was.

I glance at Aidan, only to find him looking back at me with the same pitiful look that he had earlier.

Guess I can just ask him later.

“Class is over for the day,” Instructor Leo declares from the desk up front, “tomorrow’s class will be very similar. I will give thirty minutes to those who think they can manage doing the program, and you will show me the completed program. If it works, then I will send you through the portal to join the others so that you can practice making magic circles.”

Suddenly, the same flesh magic user from before walks through the portal from the training facility, entering the lecture hall with a frown.

“Instructor Dawn will oversee you all as you practice and will teach the newcomers the basics behind the magic circles as I did the other students today.” He finishes with a nod of his head towards the instructor.

Instructor Dawn has blue eyes, with equally long blue hair – which I’m assuming was dyed – sprayed out over her military uniform. One that marks her as both a captain in the military and a Class D magician.

She nods her head towards him, her blue hair falling slightly over her shoulder before both of the instructors walk out of the classroom through the portal.

I glance at the watch on my wrist and frown.

Guess there’s no time to ask Aidan what the instructor said earlier. Not if I want to make it to my class with a reasonable amount of time left before it begins.

I simply send him a nod before walking towards the portal.

After a few minutes of walking, I find my next class on the other side of the tower, along with the other fundamentals of elements classes.

Unsurprisingly, when I open the door and walk through the portal, I find Instructor Leo sitting down in a chair next to a desk looking around at the nearly empty classroom. Which is unsurprising, considering how this is a fundamentals of elements class.

Judging by the uniforms of the students in the classroom, only about a third of them are first years, with there being about four or five second years and about two first years – other than me. Which is just about as I expected.

There aren’t any elements that are particularly rare, excluding some powerful and unique Special Affinities, like the Chairman’s Anti-Magic, but with a class of only thirty students, split between nine different types of affinities, there aren’t all that many that have the same affinities. Not to mention that – from what my dad told me – a lot of cadets tend to get a big head about their element and decide to skip the fundamentals of it, only to regret it later on and take it in their second year after doing poorly in magic circuitry and mana manipulation.

Which likely means that I’m gonna be stuck with a bunch of nuisances in this class.

Wait a second…

My thoughts dribble to a halt as I see the pink-eyed cadet from my last class in this one.

Arthur? He has Fire Affinity?

That’s a surprise.

Arthur seems to notice me as well before glancing at my cuff marking me as a first year and nodding his head in greeting.

I nod back before walking up to the top row of the seats and sitting down in the middle seat, just like with the last class.

Several minutes pass by in silence – which is rather surprising considering how I expected the class to act – until the class time finally begins with Instructor Leo standing up and saying, “Let’s get started. I’ve seen a few of you already in my last class, but for those of you who don’t know me, I am Leonidas de Ashford. But call me Instructor Leo.”

The class remains silent as a wave of nodding heads follow his words.

This prompts the instructor to raise an eyebrow while looking around the room.

“Not what I expected for a Fundamentals of Fire class,” he says, looking directly at each of the students with an emphasis on the second years, “although welcome nonetheless.”

“That aside,” he continues whilst waving his hand and causing a large magic circle to appear in front of him, followed by a large and yet stable flame, “this is the Fundamentals of Fire class. To manipulate your mana, you can’t just get by with your mana manipulation and inscribing skills. You have to have a deep understanding of your mana’s element as well.”

The class continues to listen to him without anyone saying a word as he snaps his fingers and causes another smaller flame to appear above his hand.

“The better your understanding of fire, the stronger and more controlled any fire you summon will be. You will also be able to manipulate your mana at a much faster pace, making you able to cast spells faster than if you didn’t understand your element,” he explains whilst playing with the fire in his hand, “but another benefit to understanding your mana better is that your mana will evolve along with your understanding, dragging your body along with it,” he pauses in his explanation as he grips the flame in his hand with his bare fist, “and your body will begin to grow resistant to your own element thanks to that.”

My eyes widen slightly at that.

Okay, dad never said anything about that last part.

Maybe he didn’t know? Or he just didn’t think my understanding would ever grow enough that it would matter?

Although it’s also possible he didn’t mention anything about it because he knew I would be taught about it here.

Then again, he probably just didn’t mention it since it didn’t matter to me. Not with my immortality.

Would just mean that I’d have a good excuse if I was burnt later down the road. And that I wouldn’t experience as much pain. If it even changed my body in the first place.

“That part always seems to catch everyone’s attention,” Instructor Leo says with a faint grin before extinguishing the fire, crossing his arms, and saying, “and with that, it’s time to begin the lesson.”