by TurtleMe
“Mana is best utilized by absorbing the mana naturally formed in the atmosphere into the mana core where it can be condensed and purified for use when spells or techniques are cast.” She gives me a satisfied look, as if she was proud of her own answer.
“Good. Now. As you all know, the difference between Augmenters and Conjurers lie in the fact that Augmenters use mostly the mana in their cores via their mana channels while Conjurers directly absorb mana from the surrounding atmosphere via their mana veins. So… Why do both types of mages have to meditate and absorb mana if only the Augmenters actually utilize the mana that they absorb into their core?” I quiz, not looking at anyone in particular.
“…” The nerdy girl’s confident hand shrinks down as she thinks about what it.
“While Augmenter’s incorporate mana into physical attacks, thus reducing the amount of mana used, Conjurers manipulate the space that the spell is casted in directly, consuming more mana. Because of that, Conjurers use the purified mana in their mana core as a reserve to avoid backlash.” Kathyln answers, her face unchanging as she remains seated.
“Correct! Then the last question of the day… Is the color of a Conjurer’s or even the Augmenter’s mana core a truly accurate way of measuring the level of the mage’s power?” I lean forward, shifting my weight from my left leg to my right.
“…” I hold in my chuckle as Kathyln’s usually composed and vacant face scrunches in deep thought. “That’ll be your homework for today! Everyone come down to the stage and line up! I want the Conjurers to my left and Augmenters to my right!”
After a few grumbles of complaints, eventually, everyone makes their way to one side of the stadium, all lined up side by side faced towards me.
“For this exercise, I want everyone to initiate the most basic spell of your affinity. Conjurers, no wand.” I state.
For Augmenters, the most basic spells that they’re taught all come in a very similar form. For fire affinity Augmenters, it would be Fire Fist, which was igniting a small ember covering their fist. For wind, it would be Whirlwind Fist. For water, it would be Aqua Fist, and for earth, Boulder Fist. After mages are able to manifest their elements, the Augmenters’ first step is learning to integrate their element into their hands, which are the limbs that they’re most accustomed to using.
The fact that these royal mages are even here is because, thanks to their lineage, they have high talent and usually have the ability to manifest their elements early on. It took my father more than twenty years in order for him to manifest an actual flame, but these 12-14 year olds can already do that. THAT was the difference in genes, something that even I found to be undeniable.
As for the Conjurers, the most basic spell involves gathering a specific elemental mana into a sphere and shooting it. For Fire specialists, that would be in the form of the spell, fireball. For wind, it would be wind bullet. For water, that would be water bullet and for earth, a stone bullet.
Conjurers had it easier since they didn’t have to directly form the element in their bodies, but just absorb the specific mana particles around them and use that to invoke the spell. Why Conjurers had specializations in different elements had to do with how well they were able to sense the specific elemental mana particles around them and utilize it.
I rest my head on my right hand as I watch both types of mages prepare for their spell.
The Augmenters in the class all begin concentrating with their dominant hand clenched into a fist. A few long seconds later, their spell became visible as the element they had their affinity in surrounded their fist. The time it took for the Augmenters varied but not by much.
The Conjurers in class all began softly chanting as the space in front of their palms began glowing different colors, depending on what element their spell was. Unsurprisingly, the time it took Feyrith and Kathyln to form the spell in front of his or her hand was much faster than everyone else’s.
The only difference between the Augmenters and Conjurers in their spell was that the element surrounded the Augmenter’s fist while the element was formed in front of the Conjurer’s palm.
“Now. Augmenters, I want you to try and shoot your spell in front of you, while Conjurers, I want you guys to try and absorb the spell you conjured into your hand.” I give them an innocent smile as they stare at me blankly.
“…” They realized that I wasn’t joking when I motioned for them to do it.
“HURGGH!” “HAH!” “Grrr…” “Urghhh” “Shoot!” “Fire!”
It was almost comical watching the Augmenters try and separate the element from their fists.
“Ouch!” “AHH!” “Kyaa!” “OUCH!” “FUCK!” “OWW!” “DAMMIT”
The Conjurers weren’t any better as all of them ended up getting cut, burned, wet or bruised. After about 15 minutes of struggling, most gave up and looked at me accusingly. Even Feyrith and Kathyln looked at me doubtfully.
“This is stupid. We all know that only high level Augmenters can cast long distance spells!” One of the Augmenter students cried.
“Yeah! And what’s the point in absorbing back a spell we prepared and conjured anyway?” The nerdy girl whined.
Leaving Sylvie on top of the podium, I hobble to the opposite side of the stage, away from the students.
Taking a brief moment to concentrate, I aim at the space between where the Augmenters were lined up and the Conjurers were lined up.
“Wind bullet.”
A stream of air shot out of my palm and bent the wall surrounding the stage into a small crater.
“…”
After getting over the initial surprise, one of the students just retorted. “Big deal… It’s strong but most can do that once they’ve reached the orange stage.”
“True. Since it seems like no one figured out why what I did was special, let me explain.” I raise my other arm and will a gust to form around my hand. I shoot the newly invoked wind bullet, but this time, as the wind bullet goes across the room, by the time it reaches the wall, only a soft ‘fwoosh’ sound is heard.
“THAT’S what most are able to do once they’ve reached the orange stage.” I give a slight wink, leaving them confused.
“I can’t accurately demonstrate what would happen when Conjurers are able to absorb the spells that they invoked, but trust me, it’ll only help you.”
I stagger back to the podium and grab Sylvie. “That’s it for today. Try and come up with the answer to the question and practice what I just told you to do. See you tomorrow.”
They won’t be able to produce results on that level anytime soon. I wasn’t aiming for that anyways. My hope is that, through this, both types of mages alike will be able to at least overcome one of their major weaknesses right now, while their bodies are still undeveloped and malleable.
Chapter 59: Confrontation
I take a deep breath as I sit on a nearby bench outside. Realizing that I ended class a bit too early I noticed the campus was fairly peaceful with most students still in their classrooms. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this weak, but getting up and walking around definitely helped.
I sat idly, watching Sylvie chase after a butterfly through the grass lawn in front of me when I hear footsteps approaching my direction from the right.
“Is this seat taken?” I turn my head to see Princess Kathyln lean forward so her face was level with mine.
“No, go ahead.” I say as I slowly scootch a bit to my left to make room for her. As she carefully placed her handkerchief over the bench, she took a seat on top of it, straightening out her rumpled skirt. We sat there, silently, as both of us just watched Sylvie finally capturing the agile butterfly that was now struggling in her paws.
“I heard what happened from my brother... I’m sorry.” Her voice grew quiet at the end of her sentence.
I keep my eyes focused on Sylvie but I respond with a soft chuckle. “Haha, why are you saying sorry as well? Even if it was your brother’s fault, which it isn’t, he already apologized.”
“It’s just… I feel like my family owes you many apologies. For what happened with Sebastian and my Father as well. That time at the Auction house… he’s not usually like that but he was shocked as well at the turn of events and he needed to keep his image and…” For the first time, I witnessed Kathyln getting flustered as her usual composed face becomes flushed and her expression panicked as she tried to make me understand.
“Pfft! I think this is the first time I’ve seen an actual difference in your expression, Princess. It’s a nice change.” I snicker, as she blushes even brighter, covering her face and turning her body away from me.
“…Please, don’t mock me, Arthur. I didn’t expect you to be this type of person.” She said with her hands still covering her face.
“Oh? What kind of person did you expect me to be?” I tilt my head in curiosity.
“W-well, when I first met you at the Auction event, I noticed you held yourself with much maturity…” She murmured while her back was still facing me.
“You notice how people hold themselves when you were barely 8 years old?” Reading the posture of a person is something keen adults barely learn how to do later on with years of meeting many different kinds of people.
“Yes… being the only Princess of a kingdom, you end up acquiring that skill fairly quickly. Also, with both my father and brother being quite the character, I felt like my mother and I were the only normal ones at times.” By this time, Princess Kathyln turned back towards me after composing herself.
“Oh? I didn’t really find anything unusual about your brother. He seemed to be quite charismatic.” I remember meeting Curtis for the first time at the Auction house. Compared to then, he matured quite a bit.
“Yes, he’s gotten a lot better, seeing as he’s able to apologize to you. That would’ve been very hard for him a while back because of his pride.” She let out a sigh as the both of us spectated Sylvie’s little battle with another bug.
“When I first saw you, I noticed right away that you were very different from everyone else. How should I say this? I was very intrigued by you…” Her head lowered a bit as she continued speaking.
“Haha… is that right? I thought the opposite since your face had no reaction or change while being near me the whole time.” I let out a soft laugh in reminiscence, remembering the event that happened four years prior already.
“I apologize. I-I’m not the most proficient at using my facial muscles effectively.” I found it cute as she pushed her cheeks up and down with her fingers in an attempt to forcefully make different expressions.
“Tell me about it. I was beginning to think you were wearing a mask by how stiff your face was.” I feel her gaze on my face when I smile, making me feel a little awkward.
“…I will practice.” Princess Kathyln suddenly nods to herself as I spot her expression looked slightly more determined than usual.
“Pfft! I’m not sure if this is something you can practice. Just don’t force your emotions down and let your face move the way it wants to according to how you feel. When you feel sad, your face will naturally want to frown. When you’re happy, your face will naturally want to smile. Like this!” I over exaggerate the expressions on my face as I switch from an ugly frown to a bright smile.
Oops. Was I overdoing it?
KATHYLN GLAYDER’S POV:
I couldn’t show any weakness. As the only girl in the royal family besides my Mother, I had a duty to uphold. When males came to visit me, hoping to gain my favor, I wouldn’t show any weakness that they might use against me. That was my fight.
I couldn’t read minds, but it wasn’t hard to see that all of the males that came to me, both my age and ones a lot older, had ulterior motives. Royal lineage, superior ability, and physical appearance… the things that all people believe make their lives easier were shackles that robbed me of the freedom that I wished to have.
Yet, here I was, with a boy my age that is so much more talented and sought after, yet still so… bright. He shined with a brilliance that made me want to be like him. What made him so different from me? How was he still able to express his emotions freely without being afraid of what others will view him as?
I couldn’t control myself from letting out a laugh as Arthur contorted his face like that. He looked so silly.
*Giggles* I instantly cover my mouth, trying to hide the smile coming out.
“See! That wasn’t so hard!” His exaggerated smile turns gentle, comforting me.
“I should teach stuff like this instead of Mana Manipulation, right?” He lets out a pained laugh as he leans down to pet his bond that was now sitting down between his legs.
“That reminds me. The wind bullet spell that you used to demonstrate seemed almost like a Conjurer’s spell compared to the second one that you used. How exactly did you do it? I am also curious as to why you made the Conjurers try and absorb the spell back into their bodies. I have never heard of Conjurers doing that.” I went on like an excited child about the questions that filled my mind, making me embarrassed.
“Whoa! Is that why you came up to me? Is this what you were after?” He leans away from me, shocked.
“N-no! Of course not! That was never my intention!” Oh no! I wasn’t like the men that came after me with some motive. I just saw him sitting there and wanted to… why did I ask to sit next to him?
I realized my hand was slightly touching his arm so I pulled it back quickly.
“Heh, I was obviously joking, Princess. I’m not sure if I should tell you though. It wouldn’t be very fair of me to give you the advantage like that, right?” He gives me a little wink that makes my chest feel heavy all of a sudden. What was that?
“I-I guess you are right. It would be unfair to give me answers on the homework that you assigned.” I respond quietly.
“Mmm… well, I guess I can give a little pointer for a fellow Disciplinary Committee member. Watch now.” I look up to see him concentrate as he lifts both his hands, palms faced up.
His left hand began to glow as soft winds swirled, surrounding his hand. As for his right hand, only a small portion in the center of his palm glowed and the wind that gathered towards this hand didn’t surround his arm, but instead, swirled into a sphere just above his palm. With a brief flick of his wrists, he shoots out the small gusts of wind in both hands forward.
The wind that surrounded his left hand dissipated after a few meters but the spherical wind that he conjured with his right hand shot out several times farther before dissipating with a soft “pa”.
“There is your hint for the Augmenter’s homework. As for what I assigned the Conjurers, think backwards.” He gets up as I contemplated about what he just did.
“I should get going now. Let me know if you need more lessons on facial expressions.” He gives me an exaggerated scowl, then a perverted smile, making me almost laugh again.
“Aww… you didn’t laugh this time. Too bad.” He slowly walked off with his bond scampering next to him. I couldn’t help but feel a bit empty as I sat alone on the cramped bench that now seemed too big for just me to sit on.
ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:
“Psst. I heard you got hurt on the first day of class. Are you okay?” Emily’s thick glasses shift down as she leans forward next to me, whispering in the middle of class. We were learning about the basic components that make up different types of artifacts.
“Fwoosh.” All of a sudden, a piece of chalk flew straight at Emily, disappearing somewhere in her curly hair.
Gideon gives a light cough as his hand still stretched out after throwing the chalk at her. “Miss Watsken, please enlighten the class on the various components in a basic light producing artifact.”
“The basic light producing artifact is made up of the basic foundation crystal, Florenite, found abundantly near the outskirts of Sapin and also in the Kingdom of Darv. After Florenite is refined, it will constantly let out a dim light so in order to control the output of the ore…”
“Ok ok, that’s enough. Sheesh, I just asked for the material.” Gideon grumbles something under his breath as he cuts Emily mid explanation.
Giving a light shrug, she takes out some paper to write on while she makes futile attempts to scavenge the piece of chalk buried somewhere deep in her hair.
We exchanged notes for a bit, writing to each other about what happened. I tried skimming over the details but that didn’t really seem to work with her.
Eventually, because of the lack of details from my side, she wasn’t really able to piece anything together, leaving her frustrated and curious.
“Something seems off…” She eyed me as we left class after packing up our things. For homework, we were already assigned some sort of mini project where we had to assemble a light-producing artifact or LPA for short.
