Chapter 7 - Disparity

Reyna started to fit in more to the group and was more natural in our conversations. Alyx slowly became more talkative when the topic diverted to magic, she was asking for our opinions on whether her magic would be strong, but realistically, other than maybe Reyna, we didn't really know anything about magic so we came up with various far-fetched guesses. Ned started to look around, there was nobody around.

"...Wait, are we late to class?"

Reyna took out a glowing stone, it was a messenger stone, on it there was a clock... wait there's a clock on those? Reyna panicked.

"Oh dear, we should hurry, we are late in thirty seconds."

We all panicked and raced towards the classroom. Alyx was normally the one walking, pulling Erin along, but right now Alyx was stumbling over herself trying to keep up with Erin, who was basically flying. Ned did not look back as he pushed on forward.

"Don't fall behind, I won't save you as it will be too late!"

Reyna was laughing freely. When we reached the door, my breaths were ragged. Upon reaching there Ned pulled out his messenger stone.

"Ha.. one second early haha."

On Ned's messenger stone, there was a mini clock that had a blue glow with three hands of varying brightness. My head hung low with a smile on it.

"No... Ha... I was... one second late... my noodle legs."

Reyna had a triumphant look.

"Haha... good thing I have bread legs, else I would've been late just like you."

Some of the students were sneaking looks and Harlow seemed particularly confused.

"...Since everyone is here we can start, but before that."

Harlow walked up to Alyx with a book in hand. It was an inky black with gold engravings decorating and making the title. The title was "To Any Fellow Vanquisher".

Harlow handed it gingerly to Alyx. Alyx took the book with her free hand and looked it over.

"Thank you."

We went to sit down while Harlow went back to the front. He looked quite solemn and was very serious.

"Now, before we start I will have to warn you all. What I am about to tell you is not a joke, it is not something you should brush off with just an afterthought. Magic... is dangerous, very dangerous. Not only for you but the people around you. If you wish to cast a spell you must gain my or one of your own grandmaster magician's permission. You must never aim your spell at or near one another, think about the consequences of the spell before you cast it."

Harlow scanned the room, seeing nobody was taking this lightly, he started to draw a few diagrams on the chalkboard, he made various annotations and highlights.

"First we need to draw in mana, this should be your main goal, to be able to draw in mana as if you were breathing. You need to treat your mind as a muscle, first, try your best to relax and attempt to feel the mana in the air."

Harlow closed his eyes as a draft started to pick up.

"You should be able to feel it, and others should be able to see it as well, as you have seen by the wind around me."

My mind repeated the words that he had said in an attempt to memorize them so there wouldn't be any regrets later. Ned asked Harlow if he could try but after a stutter, Harlow said that we would leave any actual attempts until we were in the courtyard. Harlow then pointed at the diagrams.

"Now I have put up various fundamental spells on the board. These spells are not made to harm, so you can cast them as you wish, go for the one you have an affinity for. As for you Alyx just looks at the spell on the second page. Now as a mage you will have to memorize the formations of spells, if you rely on some parchment and then lose said parchment, it will become quite embarrassing when you can't cast anything. For our final task for the day, try to memorize one of the fundamental diagrams and come to the courtyard when you are done. ...Oh right, Jay you must form the spell inside of your body, using it to force the mana in the right position."

After saying that Harlow left the classroom and left us to our own devices.

Hmm... isn't this just a bit... too sudden?

I guess what I mean is I thought maybe on the first day the teacher would hold our hand just a little bit, but I suppose this is just how it will be.

Looking at the diagrams my focus was arbitrarily on the one that was simply labeled "Earth". My guess was the earth element sounded a bit tamer and thus less of a hassle to cast. Ned looked over at us.

"Hey, what are you guys trying to memorize?"

Alyx smiled sadly.

"Well, I don't seem to have much of a choice."

Reyna who was sitting next to her was baffled.

"But... pretty much nobody could choose to cast that even if they wished to."

Erin hummed to herself.

"Mmm... I'm going to try earth."

The corner of my lip pulled up as I nodded.

"Yeah, I think I will try the same."

It became silent as everyone was looking at the diagrams on the board, reading annotations that marked more specific processes that were required to cast the spell. Suddenly, Kaiden stood up and left the classroom, everyone turned to look at him.

The people in our group mostly looked at him in curiosity, and quickly turned back, while the rest of the class turned back to the diagram after staring at the empty doorway for varying lengths.

After some more time, people started to stand up one after another, which made me feel pressure since my progress wasn't that great. My decision was to generally memorize the diagram and focus mostly on the annotations. Soon it became just us in the classroom. Reyna awkwardly looked at us.

"Should we... go?"

Ned nodded with his hand on his chin.

"I basically memorized the fire diagram."

Alyx rubbed her forehead.

"I am having trouble with mine but I should be fine, I can carry the book with me after all."

Erin seemed very excited.

"Ok, let's go, let's go!"

With that, we made our way to the courtyard. There were many people sitting, legs crossed, and eyes closed. Harlow was watching over them intently.

When we got closer, there was a breeze which was from people drawing in mana. As we chose a nice grass patch to sit on we saw Kaiden standup, who once again drew attention to himself.

He grit his teeth, closed his eyes tightly, and reached out his hand. A small strand of blue started to form in the air, slowly and weakly going through motions.

A few droplets of water started to form at the end of his hand. Harlow's eyes lit up and took a step closer to Kaiden. He ended up forming a small amount of water that filled his hand. Kaiden let out a relieved sigh then smiled proudly. Harlow nodded.

"Well done, you can already cast spells."

My eyes closed and tried to focus. My understanding of how I was supposed to draw in mana was lacking. Despite multiple attempts, none were successful. As my body became a bit fatigued, it suddenly felt like my body was breathing in the fresh air. It was passing through my body, which was quite a strange, but nice feeling.

Assuming that this was mana and my mind tried to forcefully grab it and create the earth spell. However, my memory of the diagram was too blurry and made a rather lackluster replication.

Upon failing there was a great discomfort in my sides and my mouth opened to let out a groan. My eyes opened. Most people were still in their meditative position, but Erin was gathering mana on her fingertips. She seemed a bit frustrated.

When she handled mana it consisted of various colors and she seemed to be able to handle it deftly. She had a good idea of the diagram but did not follow some of the specific instructions on the annotation.

"Erin when you make the sphere you have to do it by circling clockwise then start compressing it, not just making a sphere."

Erin perked up and then started to ruminate with her head down. She tried again but she made the original sphere too small and the compressed version ended up being too small as well.

There was a strong wind surrounding Ned, it was causing his hair to flap in the wind and his shirt to flutter. Ned raised his hand and prepared to snap. Orange mana rapidly gathered and formed at the tip of his finger right before he snapped.

A flame the size of a basketball formed at his fingertips and started to crackle loudly. Though the fire was quite close, the fire didn't feel scorching, just warm. Ned was laughing and giving the flame a once over, some eyes were attracted. Harlow was shocked but quickly composed himself.

"Haha, I suppose that is only to be expected, with talent like yours."

Alyx was still looking at the diagram in her book furrowing her brows. Harlow peeked at her but he turned away later. My eyes took a peek at the diagram and gave up any notions of trying to understand what it was.

It was much more complicated than the diagrams on the chalkboard, especially since it contained multiple angles to show the obscure parts of the three-dimensional diagram. The earth spell had the least amount of annotations, only two, and the most was lightning containing four. However, hers had eleven that not only were long but referred to other addendums.

What could that spell possibly be? My head turned to Reyna but she had a troubled expression on her face, it seemed that the spellcasting wasn't going too well.

My head then turned to Erin. When she drew in mana it was very slow, but it seemed she was able to retain it well, given how fast she prepared her next cast. The multi-colored mana flowed at her fingertips and my eyes followed it, trying to recall the diagram.

She condensed the sphere again, this time it was slightly too big and then the spell fell apart. Remembering the diagram my eyes closed and my mind felt the mana again.

My mind slowly started pulling the mana in a similar fashion as Erin did, albeit much more clumsily. Once the spell was almost finished, out of anxiousness, my spellcasting sped up, however, the sphere was a tad too large and the spell failed.

My sides started to feel like they were burning, my fingertips and toes also felt numb. My teeth grit and despite the pain, my wish to continue forced me to prepare for the next cast. My eyes were drawn towards Reyna.

Reyna was almost done casting a spell, it was with light blue mana. Before she finished though she ended up failing it, sighing sadly. Ned was also watching.

"Hey, what is that last part of that spell?"

Reyna dejectedly explained.

"You are supposed to enclose the entire spell with mana, but it is so hard to remain focused enough so that the original spell doesn't collapse."

Ned pondered for a while before reaching out his hand. Like last time the wind around him was whipping. Light blue mana started to gather, but slower than last time.

Ned ended up casting the spell first try, making a cube of ice condense, about three-quarters of the size of the previous flame.

Reyna was shocked and then smiled bitterly. Even more people turned to look this time, and Harlow had wide eyes.

"What..."

Ned smiled triumphantly.

"Now I can cook and freeze our food."

A laugh uncontrollably escaped me.

"So that's why you chose those spells."

Ned started to laugh as well.

"Damn right."

My mind refocused on casting the spell. While my movements were clumsy, they were methodical.

In the end, a pile of dirt fell onto my palm. A smile appeared on my face. Although my entire body felt numb and tired, it felt better feeling the dirt that was slightly overflowing from my palm.

Before my mind really acknowledged my success or anyone else for that matter, my face suddenly slammed into the ground, in a daze, my head pulled out of the dirt and my ears picked up Erin's voice.

"I did it, I did it!"

Our group was looking at the square mound of earth we were standing on, it was raised about five meters and was also five meters wide. Not a single person wasn't staring in our direction and Harlow simply had his jaw dropped.

My eyes shifted from the pile of dirt in my hand to the mound...

This is a little too unfair, isn't it?

.

.

.