The start of my second year was a little hectic. This year, we were separated based on our performances the previous year into eleven different levels. The levels went from A to J, then there was the rank above all of that, S. These were to be the homerooms of the students, then we would go to the different classes as we had them. Our homeroom teacher was Mr. Colbert who, according to himself, wanted to follow our progression to see where we would go. Because apparently, that is how it is, one teacher follows a cohort till they graduate so they can better understand their problems and provide assistance whenever possible.

My homeroom consisted of myself, the princess, Brandon and 4 other people. The first is Lancelot Reinhardt of the Reinhardt earldom. He has red hair, blue eyes, a sharp stern face and a solidly built figure. He is a sword freak, as is all his family with the famously cliche sorcery of sword which allows an inherent understanding of all swords and sword styles once he touches them.

The next is Octavia Duvall of the Duval barony. She has brown hair, black eyes and looks very average, but her mind is anything but. Her family specializes in potions and is known to possess a sorcery that grants them an instinctive understanding of potions. This is a sorcery that has been added to generation after generation as they choose, grow and mature concepts that are known to mesh well with and combine into their sorcery to be passed on to the next generation.

After her, came Bam Udonavon of the Udonavon Earldom. He has Dark brown skin, coarse black hair and hazel eyes. His family came to the continent from a far away land with many of their citizens some thousand years ago and joined the empire as an earldom for their contribution in smithing. Now, during the extended peacetime, they concentrate their talents on making the most exquisite jewelry. Nobody ever pinned down the sorcery the family had, if any at all, but it was speculated that it had to do with forging.

The last, and possibly least, of the students in this class is Serena Campbell. She has long blonde hair and brown eyes that evoke somewhat of a protective feeling in them. She was beautiful and already had suitors that frequent our class to talk to her from time to time, though she was just a commoner. However, don’t let her looks fool you. To be in this class, you had to be at the extreme of exceptionality, nothing less is accepted. And she is. To be at this height when she had no outside tutoring like the most of us in this class had…...well.

‘Brandon is going to have to step up his game if he wants to keep third place in this class, because fourth is nipping at his feet.’

This year, there were different electives that we could opt into as well as our regular classes. To my schedule, I added magic theory, potions and alchemy on top of what I was already doing. There were other options like blacksmithing available, but I didn’t want to take that. On the other hand, alchemy was usually taken at the third year because an understanding of potions was needed (I just started that in the second year) but I was exempted on the condition I pass the ‘entrance’ exam, so to speak, which I did.

A few weeks after the start of the semester saw me entering my magic theory class. The teacher was a large woman named Sophie Daliom, a 5th circle magician. She was extremely competent in her chosen field of magical theory and that showed throughout the few sessions we’ve had her. In this class along with me were Octavia, Brandon, Serena, the princess and a mixture of other students from the rest of the classes. She stood in front of the class and began the lecture.

“Today, we’ll be looking at the classification of magic users. Or at least, what they’ve come to be known as. At a time, these words were used interchangeably, and they still somewhat are by laymen. But laymen, you will no longer be by the time this academy is through with you.” Suddenly, she got an irritated look in her face.

“It used to be that this class was necessary, at least in the first three years, so that you could learn the deeper intricacies of magic as you learn the spells themselves. But there were complaints that this class was too difficult and not absolutely needed for those that don’t want to be scholars. Hogwash, I say!” She took a pause.

“Alas, I’m the minority. So congratulations, those of you that saw it fit to take this class, you will use magic knowing the mechanics behind it and when it comes time to build your own spells, you will have the advantage.” She walked up to the board and wrote some words, then she turned around and started lecturing.

“Wizards, that is the correct term for a magic user that builds their magic circles and learns the magic formulae to cast spells. It us unisex, so the male and female connotation is still wizard. A witch is not a female wizard. Rather, a witch is a subset of magic users that uses a particular brand of magic.” She paused for effect.

“In their conception thousands of years ago, they concentrated so heavily on a certain type of magic and spells along with the veneration of their passed members that it became their bloodline, their sorcery, if you will. Witches remember the spells of their ancestors instinctively and can draw on the magic of a passed family member after a ritual is done upon burial. As you can imagine, a witch with a long line will then have a large library of instinctive spells as well as an enormous well of power to draw from.”

“That is why new spells in the witch community are somewhat uncommon, though it does happen. Prominent families have grimoires to house the spells that have not been ingrained in them as of yet. As with wizard, witch is unisex.”

“A sorcerer is a magic user that uses magic on instinct, magic passed down by their progenitors. Aura users give birth to sorcerers after passing 65% saturation of their concept and birthing a sorcery, whereas it is a little more complicated for wizards. If a powerful wizard, I’d say 7th circle and up, uses a certain type of magic so much that it becomes instinct. It can grow into an affinity for their children. Over generations, that affinity grows ever stronger until it becomes a sorcery. Though there are exceptions. For instance, if a very powerful wizard, so entrenched in his speciality that it stains his mana and even the surrounding mana has a child, that child might immediately be a sorcerer. An example of this is Professor Flamel.”

“A warlock is a magic user that borrows strength from beings not of this plane. They can be nefarious, good or neutral, doesn't really matter. Priests, you could say, are warlocks of gods and though this is a highly debated topic, that should suffice as an explanation. The gods they serve ingrain spells in them to be used after they are selected from the most devoted of their followers. We will be tackling the formation of gods in a different class.”

“These are the main subsets of magic users and we will be going into detail later, though you should know that these are not all. There are more rare ‘classes’ like druid, sage and others.”