The day of our academy life started by this standard of our schedule.

[08:30 – 10:00 am] Homeroom/Combat Theory – Sergeant O’riley

[10:00 – 11:30 am] Magic Study: The Origins of Mana – Professor Morrison

[12:00 – 01:00 pm] Break/Lunch

[01:30 – 03:00 pm] Alchemy study: Basics of Alchemy – Professor Mcdugal

[03:30 – 05:30 pm] Combat Practice – Sergeant O’riley

This was the schedule for the Class-C student on first day at the academy. By tomorrow, we would also be introduced by a new set of subjects as well as a whole new row of teachers.

From Monday to Friday, my time at the academy was only ever so full. It was like college all over again…

To it, the time had just past over 10:00 am and we were moving towards our next class which was the magic study and its origins. As we left the classroom, Sergeant O’riley had to remind us of our last schedule of the day which was Combat practice.

“Remember class, that at our first class of combat practice, we will pair you together with those students that will let you hone your skills to a higher degree. So expect that your assigned partner in our combat class will be unchanging until the end of your midterm semester. So do not be absent on our first combat practice class. That is all, Dismiss.” he said in his commanding tone.

As we left and made our way to Professor Morrison’s class, Jessica walked along me as she had this rather nervous expression on her face. Having notice of her unease, I tried asking her.

“…What’s wrong?”

“Our next class is about magic study…I suck at magic. So yeah, its already a guarantee that I’ll fail.” she said.

“And why would you say that?” I asked.

“To the people born with a great amount of magic like Jessabelle Morrison and you, you were born with the great potential to become mages. Mages could easily overpower other hunters like me, you guys are loved by magic since birth, I wasn’t. I’m not looking forward to see myself fail even if I tried.” she said, ever so dejected.

“…Did you want to become a mage?” I asked.

“No…but its frustrating to think that even with my talents at a sword, I still feel pretty insecure about my weak spot. I hate that I wasn’t born with a lot of magic in me.”

“…Hmm, it’s the first day of the class, how bad can it be?” I asked.

“…wait, you don’t know…do you?” she said, looking at me with a rather shocked expression.

“What?” I asked.

“Our next class is with Professor Morrison. The “Morrison.” she said, putting quotes into our teachers name.

“…Okay, and?”

“Prof. Morrison isn’t someone you can just push away from your thoughts like any other boring teacher in the academy, he’s one of the best in Diamond Reef City! And he’s also pretty high expectant. If he finds you a bore in the talents of magic, he won’t even take the effort to grade you properly, ergo, he’ll fail you if you don’t impress him.” she said.

“…Hmm. How strict is he on a scale from a Goblin hunt [F-rank] to a Dragon hunt [S-rank]?” I asked.

“What kind of scale is that?” she asked.

“…a pretty reasonable one.”

“…He’s an S-ranked hunter, so yeah…S-rank.”

“Hmm, still, it doesn’t matter. I mean it’s the first day of magic study, how strict can he be to his students?” I asked sarcastically.

***

“Okay, since everyone is seated, I want all of you to be able to cast these four basic magic skills in front of me at this moment. Each and every skill made must be perfected and if one fails, you instantly gain a failing gradefor this test.” he said the moment we all sat in our respective seats.

With his ever so dominating and strict aura, professor Morrison was simply a person I expected to be by the book. He was strict and powerful, something that Jessabelle Morrison had inherited in her traits as a person.

One look from eye to eye, and we all could already tell that this class wasn’t going to be easy.

Jessica warned me, and I didn’t care to bother.

Some of the students even started murmuring with one another and to it, Prof. Morrison quickly assisted the situation by putting his presence upfront.

“!!”

The room felt like it shook and to it, the entire class was instantly silent.

“Once I call your name, please step up and proceed with these four magic spells.”

There, he directed our attention to the blackboard. And written on the board were four spells that were quite common for the people hunting in the dungeons.

Mana Detection – Enhances the caster’s ability to sense and detect the presence of mana, helping them locate magical objects or beings.

Mana Spear – A magical skill, formed by molding mana into a concentrated, spear-like form composed entirely of pure mana. The mana spear appears translucent with a faint glow, and its length can vary based on the caster’s skill and intent.

Mana Reinforcement – Channels mana into a weapon or body, enhancing its strength, sharpness, or adding magical effects to the damage

Barrier – Creates a protective barrier of mana around the caster, acting as a shield against magical or physical attacks.

Seeing the descriptions of each one, I somehow got an idea of what it could be used on.

“Any questions?” asked the professor.

“Professor, if I may.” I asked as I raised my hand up.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Soril Remus; if by chance that I don’t know how to conjure some of those spells, what would happen to me?” I asked.

“You fail. Its your own fault that you did not learn the basics of these spells since the day you started being hunter. So, with that said, can I expect you to fail student?” he said looking to me and already forgetting my name.

“…” to his question, I remained silent but worried.

“I’ll give you all five minutes to prepare yourselves.” he said as he sat back to his desk.

When I turned to Jessica, all I could see in her expression was pure worry.

She was seen shaking by her knees and tapping by her fingertips, a clear sign of a nervous reaction.

We sat quite near each other, with her sitting in front of me and me staring at her back, we were seatmates in this subject of our class.

“…Are you okay?” I asked, looking to her in worry.

“…Shut up…I’m thinking right now.” she said, dismissing my concern.

“….O-okay.” Having understood just much of a wreck she was at the moment, I didn’t want to force myself on her.

“…Sorry…its just that I’m worried. Looking into those four spells, I don’t have enough to accommodate each spell properly.” she said.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes I’m sure. I’ve been studying the basics of being a hunter since I decided to come to this academy. That involves the study of magic as well…but even with my efforts, my tutor said that I wasn’t talented enough to cast them efficiently. I wasn’t gifted with the talents for magic.”

“…Hmm, I see. But you can use all of those skills right?” I asked.

“I mean…those four spells are just the basics, I can handle them,but I don’t have enough mana to do so.

“Hmm, okay. Wait here for a moment, I have something to ask the professor.” as I stood up from my desk, I approached Professor Morrison and had a little chat with him.

….

….

“How can you provide such a thing at this hour?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” I said.

By then, after we talked, I went out of the classroom and four minutes later, I got back to my desk with a glass bottle on my hand.

“Here, drink this if you feel like your losing your mana.” I said as I handed Jessica the Glass Bottle.

“Hmm? What is this?” she asked.

“Its a mana potion.” I whispered.

“!?” to it, she was genuinely shocked.

“Don’t worry, I got permission from the professor himself. I mean, he didn’t really said that we can’t use potions to refill our mana, he just said that we had to simply create all of those spells successfully.”

“Yeah I guess your right, but where did you get this? I don’t think the academy just sells this stuff at the canteen. From what I know, you need to at least have a certain item to obtain a resource like this. And even if you did, these potions aren’t cheap.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just pass this test and all is good.” I said, giving her the motivation to move forward.

“…Thank you, I really appreciate this.” with her thanks, her knees and fingertips finally turned calm.

It was easy to obtain this magic potion, it was simply thanks to the System point store that I could access it as easy as that. All I had to do was go to a bathroom for a little bit of privacy and come out with a bottle of potion on my hand.

By then, the professor finally started the test.

And to it, his role call was by the order of our ranks given by our capabilities in ranking.

So likely, Jessica Young was the first person to be called.

There by her name, she walked confidently upfront and performed each test with little to no flaw at all…or so it seemed from my perspective.

After performing the mana detection and conjuring her mana spear, she was instantly put into a pale state. It was no joke to see that she barely had enough mana to accommodate just two spells.

There, when she drank the mana potion, I noticed that professor Morrison’s expression was filled with criticism.

After she performed her next two spells, mana reinforcement and barrier, Professor Morrison had to test her capability in maintaining the barrier by swinging down a manifested sword made of mana.

*Thud!*

The sword struck her barrier and it was able to maintain its form. So I guess, it was a success.

“That’s enough, I’ve seen your potential…and seeing as how you were the rank 1 of this class section, I am quite disappointed to see just how unstable your control was in using your mana. Not only were you excessively using it and wasting it to other unnecessary portions of the spell, but your spell was barely good enough to even handle a basic swing of a sword. You lack the will and the basic understanding of mana and magic as a whole. Its pathetic.” harsh words were said by the professor, but it was more of a constructive criticism than anything.

“…I’m sorry. I’ll try to be better.” said Jessica as she looked distraught by this comment.

“But…although your presentation on magic was mediocre at best, you were able to succeed in my test. So you pass. Next time, try to be better.” he said.

With that, she worryingly walked back to her desk.

“Next, Soril Remus.” with me being the second ranked student of our class, I walked ever so nervous of what was to come.

“As I’ve asked before, I have no prior knowledge to some of the spells you wanted to see…I’m only efficient in one spell.” I said as I stood in front of him with a nervous stature.

“…then you fail.” he said, straight to my face without a sense of hesitation of his words.

“Yes…” with a look of distraught the same as Jessica I turned my back on him and started walking back to my desk.

“Before you leave, tell me, what kind of spell o you know out of these four spells written on the blackboard?”

“…Mana Spear…sir.” I answered as I stopped to look back at him.

“…Demonstrate it. Let me see your potential in the field of magic.” he said, demanding by his authority.

“…Yes.”

With that said, I brought out my hand towards his direction and I thought of my skill, my mana spear, and to it, without even chanting, I was able to develop the spear with no prior difficulties.

“…Fire it at my direction.” he said as the spear was seen pointed at pin-perfect to his chest at a good distance of about three meters.

“What?” I asked, confused by his request.

“I want to see just how well-forge your attack is.” he said.

“…” thinking about it, I had no reason to doubt that he would even be injured by my attack, but still, it was quite a surprise to hear such a request.

“O-okay…” I said, nervously.

“…” in that moment of clarification, he brought out a barrier in front of his body and to it, he nodded to me, pointing out that I was ready to fire at any point.

So I fired.

Willfully so, the spear flied across the room and straight to Prof. Morrison’s direction.

*Ting!!*

To it, my spear was able to clash against the professor’s barrier, and seeing its display of power, the Professor only ever looked at my spear as if he was observing the very whole-manner of my attack, just like hoow he evaluated Jessica’s presentation.

Soon after, he swung his hand and as easily as it was, the mana spear broke into a thousand pieces.

“!?” my attack seemed like nothing to the professor.

“Hmm, a good strike…and even more so, it was a voiceless chant, making it more impressive. its good enough that it could rival a proficient mage’s spell. Not only that, your control and understanding of this spell is good enough that one could say that you have a talent for magic. If you applied this talent to the other three spells, you would have passed, but sadly, you failed. Go back to your seat.” he said, ever so coldly.

For some reason, I was complimented, but at the same time, I was insulted…I didn’t really know how to feel by his words. When I returned to my seat, all I could see was the sympathetic look on Jessica’s face.

And seeing it, it hurts.