Chapter 73: The old man?

"100 points to Blake Wilson for being the second." Professor Langston announced.

[There is no harm in trying things out and at least you got 100 points.] The system tried to cheer Blake up.

'I am meant to have an advantage over her, I mean I have three elements, and being an astromancer gives me greater mana sensitivity and control when compared to others. Even if I wasted a few seconds trying something else I should have beaten her.' Blake said with a serious look.

[First of all, when did you become so competitive and why do you think you are the only one special? Everyone has their secrets just like you, I mean she comes from a major family known for their lightning prowess, so what makes you think this is her first time of trying this?]

"…" The system's words put Blake into deep thought.

He had always thought that because he had the system, he was better than the nobles from the major families, but the system's words just made him realized that it only gave him a fighting chance against them instead of being in the pool of commoners that were bound to be normal for the rest of their lives.

"50 points to Lyris Karius for bring the third to complete the task." Professor Langston's announcement further reinforced the system's words.

'Guess it was wrong to use Vlad as a standard for all nobles.' Blake let out a low chuckle

"20 points for the rest who were able to complete it, for those that were not able to finished the task 10 points for attempting it." Professor Langton said with a smile and went on to explain the last part of the lesson.

"Most of you must have seen that it is very difficult to change the flow at the center, this is because that is where the spell is being generated making the amount of will needed triple the normal amount. If you have enough will to change the flow, it will be the same as changing the flow of the spell immediately it was cast rather than doing it one after another time."

'It would be way way better. I better put more time into increasing my mana control.' Blake knew how important a second was in combat, he couldn't tell his opponent "Will you hold up a second, let me focus and change the flow of the spell?"

And if he did no sane person will agree, rendering the new found knowledge useless, unless he practices enough to reduce the time of changing the flow of a body part or having enough will to change everything at once.

'Old man is there any way to increase my mana control quickly?' Blake asked.

(AN: It sounds odd for him to keep calling it system and it wouldn't be nice naming part of the consciousness of the All-Father, so calling it old man feels better.)

[There are two ways to increase one's mana control; Continue with your normal training or you drink a bottle of Schweitzer's rejuvenating potion.] The system replied.

'Who the heck is that?' Blake asked with a confused expression.

[You don't need to know about the history. Schweitzer's rejuvenating potion increases one's mana control very quickly without training, but someone who works hard always beat those that take shortcuts.

Apart from that, Schweitzer's rejuvenating potion is very rare and costly because of its effect, meaning you wouldn't be able to afford it. Even if you manage to get your hands of the rare ingredients you are no alchemist.]

'That means I would have to stick to the plan.' Blake sighed when he saw their were no shortcuts.

After the class had ended, Blake returned to his room just in time to receive his package. When he was done with dinner, Blake began practicing how to draw the mana gathering array.

He put forging on hold because the system told him that practicing the array would also help increase his mana control.

[When using the array plates, you can decide whether to use it normally or you can decide to compress mana at your finger tip and make indents.

Using it normally has no effect other than helping you master how to draw the symbols perfectly, but if you chose the second option you would learn how to control and steady your mana in order to draw the symbols perfectly.

The second option is tasking, so I advise you to start with the normal process and familiarize yourself with array.] The system explained all he needed to know before he started.

Drawing the mana gathering array needed a lot of focus and precision, according to professor Mack the effects of the array depended on how perfect the symbols were.

If the symbols were perfect the power of the array would be at its peak, but if they were not perfect the power would be mediocre. He also said that explosions and other dangerous effects could occur if the symbols were not in the right order or if some symbols were missing.

At first they were scared of an array blowing up in their faces, but the professor calmed them down by explaining it was only mid to high tier arrays that could cause explosions.

"Now I know why you insisted on buying nothing less than hundred." Blake threw away the 5th array plate after meeting another failure.

Practicing the mana gathering array was time consuming, Blake had been on it for more than 5 hours but had not even gone half. It was after his 12th trail that turned out to be another failure that he decided to call it a day.

'60 points had been turned into scrap metal just like that.' Blake couldn't help but sigh as he went under his sheets and slept with a heavy heart.

…

"This would be the last class we would have on mana control as we would move to another topic. With everything you've been taught so far, you should have gotten enough insights that would make training on your own easier.

From next week we will be looking at some arcane spell and how to cast them. For you to fare well in the classes, you need to have a decent level of mana control." Professor Gibson addressed the students at the end of the class.

"Before I go, I would like to inform you all about the field assignment that would be on the weekend." The sudden announcement of the field assignment brought about murmurs.

"Yes, Brian?"

"Professor Gibson, what will the assignment be based or what should we expect?" Brian wanted to get as much information as possible in other to prepare.

"Good question. I can't tell you what it will be based on, or let me put it this way, expect anything. Class dismissed!" Professor Gibson said while leaving the classroom.

'Why say it's a good question if you are not going to answer?!' Brian cursed as the professor gave him nothing to work on.

Because of his elements and nature, Brian planned for everything like when he fought against the pyromancer in the awakening test. He was against going with the flow, because time and time again luck had proven not to be on his side.

"Hey, do you have any info on the test?" Blake askes as he approached Brian.

"Nothing more than common knowledge." Brian said shaking his head.

"Common knowledge like?" Blake had no clue of what the so called common knowledge was.

"A team exercise or a solo exercise. It could be to escape when placed in a tight situation, to survive for a certain amount of time or achieve something in a given amount of time and so on." Castiel joined the conversation.

"How is this common knowledge if I haven't heard a thing about them?" Blake began wondering if they were still in the same magic school.

"Do you have friends apart from us?" Both of them asked in unison.

[Do you ever leave your room or the concealed space?] The system snorted.

"You were meant to be on my side!" Blake retorted.

"Who is meant to be on your side?" Both Castiel and Brian were confused by Blake's words as they asked in unison.

"Oh, its the old man." Blake replied.

"The old man? Do you mean the system?" Brian was even more confused.

"Yeah the one that always win arguments…" When he saw they were still confused, he couldn't help but ask. "Wait you guys can't hear the old man?" Blake began wondering if he had lost his mind when he saw them shaking their heads.

Everyone that was summoned to the this world from Earth, had seen battle angel Alcane who had gifted them the All-Father's blessings which was the system, so it was quiet weird that they didn't have the AI features in theirs.

'What is going on?' Blake couldn't help but ask the system because he felt something was wrong.