Q: What is a Warlock?

A: Some spirit practitioner, preferably a Sorcerer or Magus, who broke one or many of the seven laws of Magic.

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The classroom of the Magus Department was more vacant and extravagant compared to the knights'. In the wide classroom that could hold a hundred students, there were only forty-odd students sitting on the semicircular benches all the way to the slightly high stage.

Among the forty-odd students, only a dozen or so were male, completely the opposite of the knight department. Usually, girls have more affinity towards high arts than boys, while the exact opposite for physical arts, though exceptions are everywhere. For example, Yasmine got her knighthood a couple of days ago, and she had the highest score among the knights, and as for a male magus, Adarsh Starlight would be the best example.

So it was true that gender plays a role here, but with hard work and talent, it could be overturned as well. Though even with all that, something could not be changed. The nature of men was always forceful, and even if they learned sorcery, their spell would be more forceful than that of a woman. Similarly, a female knight would be more protective than a male. This is how man and woman were created or manifested—I would say, as I do not believe in god or gods.

But should I now? Oh, Almighty Author, please don't put me through all the misery Scar had been through. Completing my daily prayer, I put my attention back to the class.

I was sitting in the high seat in the back with a couple of notebooks and fountain pens before me. Even though I had a splendid memory, I did not want to take chances with the first class.

All the students were already here, and among them, I saw the familiar figure of Elinor, and next to her was the showoff prince Dareth. He had not stopped in his approach to ringing her in. Ciara was not far away from them as well. Another noble young lady seemed to want to talk to her, but Ciara was oblivious to all that.

Apart from them, I did not recognise anyone, though a few of them were giving me unnerving gazes. I was, after all, a couple of years late to take the class here.

The door of the classroom opened, and my aunt entered with a few items in her arm. The students greeted her by standing up, and she greeted them back, telling them to sit. I checked the items she was holding, a worn-out short branch of a tree—a wand, a few coins, and nothing else.

"You forty are the best candidates on the mainland," Rosalyn said. "Ignoring Ruthalyn, that is," she continued, correcting herself. "The forty-odd of you came from different families, with different heritages and different fortunes, but remember, to the academy, you are all the same. Any other distinction only comes after you prove your worth."

If only all of that were true.

"But first, I must inform you of a few facts, shattering some misconceptions, I should say. You may have heard or dreamt of learning some great spell and winning a war single-handedly or flying from one nation to another. Lofty dreams, but all that is hardly possible. Those are all lies. Even the great general of the Mahenar Empire, Gareth Sholinar, cannot win a war single-handedly, nor can our president fly freely from one nation to another."

Mutterings came from the students, and Rosalyn let them out for a certain time. The two names she mentioned just now were the two people at the peak of their art. Well, Adarsh Starlight most likely is not, but he will be soon. They said that even if the emperor collapsed, as long as the great general still held the reins, the empire would still stand.

While our new president was still young, he still needed to showcase his strength to create a legend for himself. I think the young president is far more powerful than his mentor, though I'm not sure how powerful he is right now.

And yet, Rosalyn said they could not do the things others heard in the rumours. Well, what my aunt said was not wrong. Gareth Sholinar or Adarsh Starlight could not win a war by themselves, but their involvement could overturn any situation. There were a couple more like them, though.

"Remember, what we teach here are the known arts, and there are limitations to the spirit arts," Rosalyn continued. "And understanding one's limitations is the first step in learning the arts. You can do many brilliant things with the spirit force, but if you cross the limit, you have to pay for it dearly."

That was unfortunately true. A magus' mind could break if he pulled more force than he was capable of, or his body could just burst out if the spirit force went berserk, causing turmoil in the blood vessels. That was why the school. The Starlight Academy will make sure none of us make such a disaster for ourselves and others.

"Then come the laws of magic, seven in total, and if you break any of them, the consequences will be dire." Rosalyn's soft voice turned sharper. "I think most of you are aware of a few of them, but it's my duty to inform everyone about them.

"First law: Thee shalt not toucheth the other side. The first law was erected by the progenitor, Ishar himself." And the progenitor spoke Shakespearean. " The first law forbids touching anything related to the other side and demons."

And Saider, well, hardly any of them believed it if my aunt mentioned Saider here.

"Second law: Thee shalt not consume the flesh of humans or drinketh the blood,” Rosalyn's voice reverberated in the classroom as the students looked at one another. "The second law forbids eating the flesh of humans or drinking the blood of humans. It was created specifically to combat the bloodsuckers and other undead that still roam the land.”

"The third law: Thee shalt not killeth innocent mortals implies that it is forbidden to hurt or kill a mortal with magic, but there are many complications to this rule. For example, if a non-spirit user is trying to kill a magus, then you could use spirit force to harm them. I recommend using some free time to read the rulebook carefully.

"Fourth Law: Thee shalt not invade the body or mind of another. The violation of mind and body. You shall not forcefully violate one's body and mind with spirit force. Any type of black curse, dark magic, or necromancy is prohibited. If you are found in the act of committing any one of those, you will be put to justice immediately.

"Fifth law: Thee shalt not summon creatures of another realm or open the outer gates. Any type of summoning arts is forbidden, and so are the ones that mess with the outer gates."

I did not know if my aunt understood properly what she was saying. Well, she should know what the summoning arts and outer gates imply, but she probably did not know why. I could barely guess a little. Now that I think about it, I have already violated two of the laws, though it was hardly my fault. I have violated Scar's body and mind, and I was also summoned from a different realm.

In my defence, it isn't my fault.

"Sixth Law: Thee shalt not enslave another. It is forbidden to enslave another with spirit arts." But it's alright with brawls.

"Seventh law, Thee shalt not alter the current of time."

I knew all the seven laws, and I could not help but think that all of them were connected to a single thing.

And it is needless to say, I have no intention of violating any of the rules, though my intention hardly matters on the grand scale of the plot. I had broken two of the laws already, unknowingly. Fortunately, nobody had come to put me to justice.

"These seven laws are those that every magus, sorcerer, and spirit practitioner has to follow. If you are found to be violating any of the laws, you will be punished dearly. This rule applies to everyone, from the student to the adept or grand magus. You can check the mission board to know the bounty put on those warlocks who broke the laws."

I really didn't want to break any of the rules, but as I previously stated, my wish is meaningless. The way the events in the book will occur, I'm bound to cross the laws and not just me. My eyes drifted towards Elinor and Ciara.

"Now that I already mentioned the laws, it's time to start the class." Rosalyn finally rested in her seat. "For today's class, I'll explain Spirit Binding. It is a fundamental art that is useful in many other arts."

I have read about Spirit Binding and even wanted to try it, but I stopped myself, as I only have the knowledge. Spirit binding comes in handy in many arts, from sympathetic communion to thaumaturgy, and even sometimes in Evocation.

Think of it as the voodoo doll; like how, with the hair of some person, a practitioner sticks it to a doll and then harms the owner of the hair. It was something like that, but for real.

Thaumaturgy and Sympathetic Communion were very similar. The only difference was that in Sympathetic Syphoning, you had to draw a sympathetic line between similar items, whereas thaumaturgy was more difficult and worked on a grand scale. But in both of them, a link must be formed before attempting the spell.

While Evocation is the fastest spell that a mage or sorcerer could attempt directly, It uses the practitioner's own spirit force, so it was faster and easier to cast, unlike the other two, where you have to create a link and force the spirit of the realm to work along with your spiritual force.

Rosalyn showed the small wand to the class, and after shaking it for a little while, the wand flew away from her arm and hovered in the air along with her finger.

"Can anyone tell me which form of magic this is?" she asked.

A few of the students picked their arms up, and I did too. Rosalyn looked at all of us before pointing at the frail girl.

"This is sympathetic binding," Elinor said.

"Correct. Can you explain how I did it?"

Elinor nodded. "Obviously, the wand is yours, so you have a deep connection with it," she said. "You drew your spirit force and linked it with your connection to the wand to move it in the air."

"Correct again." Rosalyn gestured with her arm to tell her to sit down. "Communion is a somewhat easy art to learn, but it's far harder to master. Where Thaumaturgy is even harder. Many small but efficient skills, like tracking someone or Warding, use Thaumaturgy, and it has uses in broader spells such as Domain Arts.”

"But,” She continued. “Without learning these two, you could not be called a true magus. Though there are many powerful individuals that become famous without even learning one of those."

"Professor, how could they do that?" a girl asked, standing up.

"They had mastered their evocation art to the limit," Rosalyn said. "Evocation is the direct way of spell casting. It is fast and effective magic. It takes your spirit force as you do not manipulate the spirit force of nature with it. So naturally, it would take more of your force. The less talented students in some auxiliary classes, all they learned was evocation, and even many other places taught the general laws of evocation.

"You all know your element, so your achievement in evocation skills on that element would be the largest, though you could learn the other elements as well, but it would be inefficient and take a lot of your spirit force.

"I'm the head professor who will be responsible for your course this year. I will teach the basics of Spirit Binding along with communion, and wind element Evocation. For other elements, there are other professors.

"Now here are a few things you need to get before starting your tutelage. . . ."

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Edited my Mysteries. Proofread by kqwxz.