Unlike their first class at the Azure Sanctuary, this time the Bea year 1 students’ class is going to be held at the lower decks of the Academic Complex, in a large room named Multipurpose Magic Room Number Four. Located just two decks below the top deck, the room looks like they’re constructed out of wooden panels, though anyone that looks at it carefully can know they’re fake woods made of metal. Panels of white Starlamps are used to illuminate the otherwise enclosed room.

“Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great day yesterday.” greets Irinna cheerfully to the whole class standing in front of her. Although she’s smiling just as she does the day before, she has an air of being extremely happy today. Finally meeting Charleone must have boosted her mood.

Standing beside the Bea Professor is an Imitation Doll with short reddish hair. She dutifully watches over the class with both hands clasped together.

“Today we are going to have another practical lesson, which is why we have to move to this Multipurpose Room.” She begins her lecture. “As I explained yesterday, to cast a Water Magic Spell you would need to have a framework using General Manipulation and General Application, and to do either of them you would need liquids like water.”

She looks around the whole class.

“Now, what will happen if you don’t have water around to cast a spell?”

One of the students raises her hand, it’s the Melkisian Alice Seabook.

“You carry some water with you?”

“Well, of course, you can do that. In fact, a couple bottles of pure water is one of the mandatory equipment for a Bea Magus on active duty. But sometimes there will be cases where even that is a luxury for you, on top of it being cumbersome. So then if that’s not even available to do, what can you do? Does anyone have an answer?”

This time it’s Kara raising her hand.

“You pulled water from the moisture in the air?”

Irinna smiles at her.

“That is correct, good job Miss Nelsy.”

The Bea Magus then raises her wand. “To elaborate on that, moisture in the air is composed of water, though there’s only a very small amount of it depending on the humidity. In cases of emergency, you can gather that moisture to use as a foundation for General Application and General Spells.”

She looks at the ID, who replies with a nod of the head before waving her right hand in the air.

“For example..”

In an instant, two “wooden” tiles on the floor near Irinna raise themselves from the ground and form into a pair of “wooden” pillars with a loud hissing sound, surprising most of the students. On their surfaces, the pillars have several panels on them, one of which slides down on each pillar. Another hiss is heard, and both pillars now let out what appears to be a mist of vapors at Irinna.

The Magus then flicks her wrist, swinging her wand in a circular pattern. Suddenly, as if being pulled by an invisible force, the mist is being pulled towards the tip of her wand. Compressed into one point, the vapor soon gets denser and denser before finally transforming into a liquid form, a ball of water floating on top of the wand.

“And this is how you do it,” she says rather proudly. She then flicks her wand upwards, sending the ball of water back to the air where it changes back to its original vapor form.

“The principle is actually the same as what you have learned the day before, but this time the source object is going to be much smaller and harder to feel. It’s going to be more difficult, of course, but that’s another aim of today’s class as well, to train your control.” She explains. “Now, for today’s practice, you are going to enter a chamber full of water vapor and try to do the same as I showed you. If you exit the room with a ball of water, then you pass the lesson. As for the chamber itself, Milena here will take care of it. If you will please…”

The ID dutifully nods her head and turns around with her back facing the class. With both hands raised, she waves to the empty space of the room. In seconds, just like the two pillars, from the floor below rises rows of wooden pillars that automatically arrange themselves into a small enclosed chamber. A small door window is the only way for people outside and inside the chamber to communicate via sight and sound.

“Anyone volunteer?” asks Irinna to the Bea students.

Most of the students, true to their nature as students, instead just look at each other, hoping that someone that is not theirs is doing it instead.

One student, who didn’t participate in this student’s ritual, raises her hand. Her long silky hair flutters slightly as she moves to the front of the class. It’s the Zakuran girl, Yuki Inugami.

“Ah, Miss Inugami, right? Just step inside and prepare your conduit.”

With an expression as cold as ice, she nods her head and walks inside the chamber. A dark wood wand is ready in her right hand.

“Ready anytime, Ma’am.” says the ID Milena after Yuki closes the door behind her.

“Good, start it now.”

The ID nods her head and waves her right hand towards the chamber, making the walls of the chamber send out water vapors that soon fill up the room.

Yuki stands in silence for a few seconds, before raising her wand in a sharp quick move high above her head. Just like what Irinna demonstrated, the vapors converge to the tip of her wand and turn into a big water sphere.

“It’s done,” Yuki says when she exits the chamber.

“Good job Miss Inugami, I know you can do it.” praises Irinna.

“Thank you, Ma’am,” replies Yuki. “Umm….”

“Yes?”

“What should I do with this?” Yuki points to the water that is still swirling in the air above her wand.

“Ah, you can dispose of that. Milena will take care of it.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

The Professor then turns back to the rest of the class.

“See, it’s very simple. I’m sure all of you can do it. For the next students, let’s start from the front, shall we?”

As ordered by their professor, one by one Bea Year 1 students enter the chamber to complete the lesson. Some manage to complete their task as quickly as Yuki did, people as Diana or Edgar. Those who the day before also managed to complete their bowl of water test quickly. On the other hand, some of the other students are struggling to even gather the vapor in one single point, even though they also managed to accomplish yesterday’s task very well.

“I can feel the water, but every time I try to use Magic on it, they’re always moving around. It’s hard to concentrate all of them in one single point.” comments the Nusan student Rizna Boa to Irinna when asked why she took a long time accomplishing the task.

“Yeah, the water feels very paint, It’s hard to concentrate Magic on them.”

“It’s faint, not paint.” Horatio is correcting Robin again.

Meanwhile, some students both succeed and fail at this task. They manage to turn the vapor into a ball of water but fail to keep it in a steady form, resulting in an explosion of water that drenches them right in their faces.

“AARGH! My makeup is ruined now.” groans the Orlenian Beatrice Fosh when she suffered this fate. Both her face and her long wavy hair look messy.

“Now, now, I’m sure it’s not that bad. Here’s a towel.” Diana is handing her a towel that Milena has prepared. Irinna has expected this sort of thing will happen.

“It’s still frustrating, I spend a lot of time doing it…”

“Don’t worry about it, Beatrice, I’ll help you do it. I’m sure It won't take long”

One by one the class entered and finished the task to varying degrees of success. Soon, it’s Kayrus’ turn to enter.

“Are you ready, Kayrus?” asks Irinna, smiling widely.

Even Kayrus knows that the eyes of the smiling Magus hide something else. What else did Charleone tell her yesterday?

“Yeah, I’m ready,” he says entering the chamber. He has neither the time nor motivation to think about it, dismissing his suspicion to focus on the task at hand.

The moment he closes the door, the walls of the chamber hisses, filling the room with water vapor.

Feels wet, he thinks to himself.

Kayrus sighs, trying to calm himself to use Magic. He raises both his hands, covered in his Conduit gloves, ready to direct the flow of the water vapor.

Remember yesterday’s lesson, remember yesterday’s lesson, remember yesterday’s lesson…

He soon can feel the flow of the water in the air, along with the flow of energy inside of him. Directing that energy outwards changes the trajectory of the water, and controlling that energy also allows him to control the direction of where the water goes.

“Good, good, it’s working…”

He puts down both of his hands in front of him, and all of the vapor follows them to inhabit the space between the two hands. Soon enough all of the vapors are gathered in that space, being compressed into one point, and transforming themselves into a ball of water.

Kayrus smirks.

“I did it! I can do-”

But his celebration is cut short when he suddenly feels a jolt of energy from inside of him, a strong jolt that for some reason reminded him of that feeling inside of his last night’s dream.

”What the-”

That energy suddenly unleashes itself on its own out of Kayrus's body, like a beast that breaks out of its cage. And the result of that beast’s action is the ball of water that’s floating in the air suddenly spinning itself wildly. Faster and faster it spins, before finally like a wild bird it flies around the chamber, its flight path erratic.

“Whoa!” Kayrus yells as he crouches to dodge the flying ball of water. “What is happe-”

But before Kayrus can finish his sentence, the ball flies upwards to the ceiling…and explodes. But the amount of water that drops down from above is much much more than what it should be, creating a mini rain that drenches Kayrus from top to bottom.

“K-Kayrus, what happened?” Irinna has a look of genuine surprise and concern on her face like a mother is worried about her children.

“It’s...I don’t know either. It just sort of happened.”

“Let’s dry yourself first, shall we?”

Irinna raises her wand, and with a flick of her wrist, she drains all of the water from Kayrus’ clothes, almost instantly drying them.

“There, now go dry off the rest of your body,” says Irinna. “Somebody hand him a towel.”

“Kayrus, here’s a-”

But before Kara can hand him a towel, Diana already gives him one.

“Thanks..” Kayrus does not notice Kara.

But the look of disappointment on Kara’s face is noticed by Rebecca, Edgar, and Elizabeth.

“Oh, this is interesting…”

“Ha…Dammit, Kayrus.”

“...What an idiot.”

All three can only express their disappointment at him in secret respectively.

“Still, what happened there? There shouldn’t have been enough water inside the chamber to drench you like this unless you did something. What did you do, Kayrus?” asks Irinna.

“I don’t know Ma’am, it just happened. One moment I had the water ball in my hand, and the next moment it flew around and exploded.”

“So you lost control of it?”

“Well, I was in control of it, but then-”

“Then?”

“Ah, no, nothing Ma’am. I think you’re right, I just lost my focus and my control of it.” Kayrus realizes he can’t tell them what actually happened, they will not understand it unless he tells them about the dreams he had. But those things will only raise more questions, so he decides to keep it a secret as well.

Guess I can only ask Charleone about it.

“Well, either way, you still managed to turn the vapor into water, so I guess you passed the test.” Irinna decides to let go of the matter, she needs to continue with the class after all. “Just don’t do it again, okay?”

“Yes, Ma’am…” Kayrus returns back to where the rest of the class are standing.

“Let’s continue, shall we? Who’s next?”

Ignoring the “accident” that happened to Kayrus, the class continues normally until, in the end, everyone manages to pass the practical lesson.

“Good, good, this is actually as good as I expected. I knew that this would be a piece of cake for all of you.” The Professor praises the whole class. “But don’t be discouraged if you do find it difficult. With enough practice, I’m sure everyone here can master it in no time. Practice is key, after all, and you will find many opportunities for practice while you’re in Zennardi.”

Before she dismisses the class, however,

“I almost forgot, but those who have decided on which classes and courses they want to take, please raise your hand.”

Surprisingly, almost everyone in the class raises their hands. Kayrus is also one of those who does it, though he actually still doesn’t know which classes Charleone and the others are signing him up for. All he can do is prepare himself for those classes, whatever they are.

“That’s good news if you have already made up your mind. Again, if you’re still unsure about it, you can ask me for advice,” says Irinna to the class. “If you give me the papers now, you can start on some of the classes from tomorrow. I will give the schedules to your Dormmasters, you can ask them for them later. Aside from that…I guess that’s it. Class dismissed, have a nice day everyone.” she smiles widely again.

After giving their papers to Irinna, the students immediately disperse into smaller groups, all leaving the room. On their walk, all they can talk about is their choices of classes.

"So which classes did you choose? How many?" Asks Ilias to the other boys.

"Not much, just going for the simple ones, like Utility Magic." Says Marcus.

"Mine's Alchemy." Answers Jean.

"El, El, did you take the Transportation Magic as well?"

"Stop calling me that, Rebecca," Elizabeth is frowning, "but yes, I'm taking that as well as the others."

"Why? You never said you're interested in that."

"I have…reason."

"So you're going to take the Communication class, Beatrice? The same as Orphea?" The Orlenian Balthazar Zefran is writing down which classes his classmates are taking in his notebook.

"Yeah, but why are you writing that down though?" Asks Beatrice back.

"I just like to make notes of something, it might be useful."

"...you sound like a geezer saying that. But sabizla, you do you."

"Um...Kayrus, are you okay? You've been silent this whole time." Asks Kara who approaches the former thief.

"Oh, Kara…No, it's nothing, I'm just thinking about some stuff."

"Are you still hung up about the class? If you…need help, you can ask me for pointers."

For a moment the young man is genuinely surprised at her suggestion, but he then changes his expression to that of a faint smile.

"It's okay, I can do it on my own. Besides, I'm thinking about other stuff."

After all

"Such as?"

"Such as…" He looks over to the side. "You know what, that reminds me, have you decided on your classes?"

"M-Me?"

"Yeah, I remember you were talking about it with your brother, right? So have you made your decision yet?"

The girl's face reddens a little as she smiles.

"Kind of. I already made up my mind to take classes like Magic Theory and Medicine & Healing Magic, but I'm still conflicted about the others….like Combat Magic."

"Combat Magic huh…"

I hope Charleone picked that one for me

"By the way, Kayrus, what about you? Which classes have you picked?"

"It's…"

"Ah, there you are Kayrus!" Someone calls him from behind, interrupting their talk.

It's Irinna, who is catching up to them with a paper in her hand.

"I forgot to give you this. Since Cha-I mean, your sponsor, submitted your choice yesterday, your schedule is ready this morning."

She hands the folded paper to him.

"Good luck Kayrus, you're going to need that for this." She says before leaving them.

"What is it, is it your schedule?" Asks Ilias, making the other Bea students curious as well.

"Kayrus' classes? So which ones did you pick, Kayrus?" Asks Rebecca, with Elizabeth following her from behind.

"Nice, so how many classes did you pick?" Edgar is smiling at Kayrus with his usual suspicious smile.

"Well, it's…" Kayrus opens up the folder paper. His face, however, then turns in just a split second to that of horror.

" …it's fourteen."