Hugo sat forward. He was actually excited to learn today. His first barrier class had started off with a bang, and the sage got right into the interesting stuff.

“I wanted to congratulate you all on choosing the best domain. Barrier domain mages have the most flexibility and speed of all of the mages. With my tutelage, you will be able to create anything you can imagine. If you need a giant sword, or a dainty tea cup, you will always have what you need,” Sage Parem said and matched word to action.

He continued, “And with our unique ability to recycle the mana we use, barrier mages have the longest action time of all of the domains. Many of you will go on to be excellent guards and hunters, sentinels and knights. But don’t limit yourself just yet. Our flexibility is our greatest asset. Some of my best students have gone on to be the best ever in unique fields. I have taught the best surgeon, artificer, carpenter, farmer, and pilot in the coalition. It’s all about a unique application of your abilities.”

With a clap, he said, “But before we can get into that, we need to get the basics down. Today we will discuss frequency and practice making small barriers.”

“Let’s talk about that word, frequency. Before we get started I wanted to make sure we are all working off of the same definition. I am going to be using it a lot over the school year, so I want to make sure you understand,” Parem said and started drawing out three sine waves on the chalkboard. One high frequency, one medium, and one low frequency sine wave.

Hugo already knew all about frequency and waves, but he appreciated that the teacher went over it anyway. It was an entirely different teaching method than what Sage Rasmus had. His previous domain teacher just threw you into the deep end and was upset if you couldn’t swim already. Parem explained things patiently and thoroughly, making sure that the entire class understood before he moved on.

“Now that we have a solid understanding of what frequency means, let me explain how we use that term when we are talking about the barrier domain,” Parem said and created three barriers. The first one was dark blue, the second one was light blue, and the third one was so light that it was see-through.

“You may have heard that mana is a wave and a particle at the same time, which is a stupid paradox if you ask me.”

There was scattered laughter at the honest declaration.

“But here is where the wave aspect of mana comes into play. This dark blue barrier is full of mana, all of it moving at a high frequency, just like this sine wave here. The light blue corresponds to this one, and the clear blue barrier is the lowest frequency of the bunch. The one over here is very solid and high mana expenditure, and the one over here provides minimal protection for minimal mana. Now, let’s pretend I decided I wanted a barrier in between these two. Some protection for some mana expenditure. Does anyone know how I would create that new barrier?”

Hugo raised his hand and said, “You can just calculate the sine wave with a frequency in between these two and keep that in mind as you create it?”

“Excellent guess,” Parem said, “And you are going to be so happy when you understand where you got it wrong. Do you see any numbers on my chalkboard? No? That’s because the barrier domain does not have to do math. Just about every other domain has to continue their math classes, but not you. You lot are done with math. No more math!” Parem said with his hands high.

There was applause at that proclamation. Many of them already knew that fact, it’s why they chose this domain. But they had caught on that Parem liked enthusiastic students.

“Instead of boring math, we will be operating on instinct and mental imagery. When I create a new barrier, I imagine a little dial. I can turn the dial left or right to increase or lower the frequency my mana is operating at, and I am able to create the exact barrier I am hoping for.

“Next, I will walk everyone through unlocking a section of that frequency dial. The one in the middle here. It will allow everyone to have decently solid barriers, without having to have the high mana pools needed for the most solid barrier types.”

Hugo slumped in his chair. He had spent hours researching the frequencies yesterday morning, anticipating another assignment like Sage Rasmus had given him during his previous life. All that preparation, and the whole class was getting the same frequency. He shouldn’t be upset, this was probably the most optimal choice. All that wasted time still hurt though.

Sage Parem talked everyone through unlocking the middle frequency, range 400-700. Hugo was happy to hear that this would still give them some flexibility in the barriers that he could create, slightly stronger at the cost of more mana, or slightly weaker for a few less points of mana.

Next, they practiced creating a barrier. Hugo was cautious at first, remembering the first time he had used his formation talent and lacerated his hands. But other students quickly created their barriers without issue, so Hugo made an attempt.

Mentally selecting his solidify skill, Hugo pushed some mana into the skill, imagining a round shield directly in front of him. A stream of mana flowed through his veins, and out his hand. Within moments, he had a blue shield floating in front of him.

The whole experience was very different from the formation domain. It was much faster and easier to create the shield. Much less mana too. This buckler sized shield in front of him only cost him five points of mana. That was a much lower mana investment than he had been expecting. He also expected to get that number lower with practice.

“Excellent, good. It looks like everyone has created a barrier now. Next step is to recycle the mana. This is actually the hardest part of...” Sage Parem said.

As the sage was explaining the process, Hugo jumped ahead and used his instincts. The mana in the shield was still his, he felt the connection to it. With a minor effort of will, he tried to draw it into himself, like when he was circulating the mana within his body.

To his surprise, the shield disappeared right away. A puff of blue sparkles was left in it’s wake. A check of his stats screen showed that he had regained a single point of mana. He had used five points and only regained one. Not a great conversion rate.

“Oh, good job. What was your name?” Sage Parem said and pointed at Hugo.

With a mental switching of gears, he said, “Hugo. I mean, my real name is Cristian, but I go by Hugo.”

“Ah, I recognize that name. One of our prodigies in the class. I expect great things from you,” Sage Parem said with a smile.

He was the only one smiling. Several other students frowned at him being singled out, chief among them Elise. She practically radiated hate at him showing her up in the first class.

He didn’t really know why she still hated him. He wasn’t wasting his potential, he had chosen the barrier domain like she wanted. Plus, this wasn't a competition, they could both do well.

With a bit of effort, he ignored the crusty looks he was getting and practiced creating and dismissing shields. He was here to learn, they would have to get over themselves.

After class got out, everyone filed up the stairs and out of the stadium. Hugo was a bit distracted, looking at his stat screen. Everyone else had bottomed out their mana and was complaining about mana headaches. Hugo wasn’t even close to empty. He was looking forward to all the extra practice he would get with his large mana pool. He would prove Sage Parem right, he was a prodigy.

Directly after he had that thought, he fell flat on his face.

As he got up groaning, he heard a chorus of laughs behind himself. An outstretched foot showed that he had been tripped. Flush with anger, Hugo jumped up.

A quartet of students stood around him, laughing at their prank. Their perverse pleasure at his pain seemed overblown. Hugo was already plotting revenge. He actually expected to see Elise laughing too, but she wasn’t. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her backing away with a frown on her face.

Her reaction made him take a second look at the boys and girl in front of himself. Although they were all dressed in the academy blue and white, these four also had crests stitched into their tunics. They were nobles, and high enough ranked to warrant a noble crest. Hugo couldn’t afford to anger them.

Biting back what he wanted to say, Hugo forced a smile and said, “Looks like I need more practice walking, huh? I guess I still have a lot to learn.”

Their laughter died down. It wasn’t as fun if Hugo wasn’t fighting back. With a dismissive glance, they shoved past him. Hugo was sure that he would have fallen again, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was paying attention this time and used his dexterity to stay upright.

He had a belated recognition, he knew one of these nobles walking away. That black curly hair belonged to Mattias, Alice’s boyfriend for the first part of the year. He was a well connected noble, one with an upperclassman as a brother.

He stood alone for a bit there, realizing that he needed to think ahead. He needed to escape the notice of the jerks in class, and still develop friendships that would benefit himself. It wouldn’t be easy. In fact, his first instinct was to give up on the whole idea and focus on classes. But that hadn’t gone well last time around, so he needed to play the politics game.

...

The next day in class, Hugo paid close attention to the group of four that had tripped him yesterday. He needed to know more about them if he was going to play the game. He needed to know more than just Mattias’s name. He needed information about them.

Unsurprisingly, each of the four was very social, talking to several people before class. Hugo wasn’t close enough to overhear their conversations. Judging by the expressions on the people they talked to though, most of their comments must have been insults.

Hugo sighed. They must belong to the school of thought that insisted that the only way to raise yourself up was to put others down. It reminded him of a book from grade school. In the book the young dock worker was bullied by a group of old jerks, they made his life miserable. The worker used his wits to fight back, eventually beating them at their own game. In the end, the young worker got a job as a foreman and the old jerks had to report to him.

That wasn’t real life.

In real life, the people in power stayed in power. The bullies in front of him were nobles until the day they died. Their power would never be taken away. The only way to deal with people like that was to work around them. A direct attack was out of the question. An indirect attack was also a bad idea. It would be best if they just forgot about him.

During the practice portion of the class, he saw the four of them go up to Sage Parem and talk about something. He guessed that they were talking about him, since they kept glancing back at him. After the four of them walked away, the sage cleared his throat.

“Hugo, would you please stay after class?” Sage Parem said.

Shit.

Hugo decided to play the game, but he was already a few moves behind. The nobles' plans were already in motion. They had probably concocted some lie that would make him look bad and would be hard to disprove.

Swearing internally, he walked up to the sage after class. Expecting a frown, Hugo was confused when Sage Parem smiled at him.