Chapter 334 – Basic Notions

Chapter 334 – Basic Notions

Two lifetimes, fifteen years of struggle from the bottom rung, more brushes with death than could reasonably be counted—all to end up behind a school desk.

Kai sank into the hard wooden chair, unable to shake the sense of strangeness that had gripped him since he woke up.

Should I say that I’ve made it? Or that I’ve failed completely?

From the top of the lecture hall, students streamed in from ten sets of doors, filling the rows of seats; half of them already wore the burgundy first-year robes. Contrary to what Alden had said, the front seats hadn’t been contested until more than half of Beryl Hall had filled.

He spun his dad’s pen between his fingers beneath the desk. The golden clock above the podium ticked down the last four minutes before the lesson began.

And this is why I don’t come early.

The academic atmosphere felt somewhat familiar yet different.

Teens with imperious bearing chatted about spellcasting; mana and runes thrummed through the floor beneath his feet. The massive hall, covered in polished stone, exuded a presence and elegance unlike anything on Earth, rising in semicircles to accommodate one thousand seats. It would be wildly impractical if not for the higher Perception, allowing even the last rows to see the podium clearly.

Kids on Earth can’t fling fireballs from their hands, or crack desks with their fists either…

“Something up?” Rain gave him a glance from the seat beside him. The siren’s gaze flitted over the sea of students, unable to hide his giddy fascination. “You smell… melancholic. Have you been to a school before?”

Damn his nose.

“It’s my first time at an academy. I’m fine. Just… overwhelmed, I guess.”

Rain nodded, his eyes still scanning the hall. “I never imagined masters would tutor such large classes. Everyone from the Winter Intake must be here. It’s quite crowded.”

A snort came from behind them. “It won’t last. The halls will empty once the trials start thinning the numbers. How can someone come late to their first lesson?”

Kai turned to see a boy fidgeting with a wristband of rubies. The young patrician looked over to them, seemingly content to have aired his grievances without saying more

Personable.

Just as the hour was about to chime—latecomers trickling in to fill the remaining seats—the door behind the podium swung open.

A man marched in, punctuating each step with the tap of a staff topped with a sculpted lion’s head. Golden scrollwork decorated the sleeves and collar of his indigo robes. Despite his white hair and beard, his face was remarkably smooth, showing barely any wrinkles.

Kai stood to greet the professor, grateful for Valela’s warning.

The mage paused before his desk, hands clasped behind his back. He regarded the hall with a cold scowl, prompting a shuffle of chairs and feet as distracted students scrambled to stand. The lively chatter faded till the last chairs screeched into a silent hall.

“You may sit.” The man’s voice carried a deliberate drawl. With a tilt of his head, the doors to the hall swung shut. “Welcome to Guide Fundamentals. I’m Professor Albeus Rowenni Lysander, High Magus of Mana Theories. You may address me as Professor Lysander. As new students, today will be the first and only time I’ll be lenient on your lack of decorum.”

A hardass, like Rob said. Uhm… Why did I even sit in the front row?

Kai nodded along at the spiel on the importance of a mage’s manners.

Chin raised, the man paced on the raised dais, his tone dry. “As you should know, if you’ve read the papers delivered with your schedules, Guide Fundamentals is one of seven basic courses you must pass within the next two months. Your time at Raelion will be remarkably short if you must retake more than one test. We have little time to waste…”

Despite the drowsy cadence, the introductory speech was brief. Moving into the lecture, Professor Lysander took a crystal cube from the fold of his robes, setting it on the desk and tapping it with his staff to channel mana into the runes. The top face glowed, drawing the words he spoke on the wall above the podium.

“Since many of you have yet to receive your course textbooks, I’ll keep this lecture to the fundamentals.” He smiled thinly. “I recommend you take notes. Anything mentioned will be on the test at the end of our lectures…”

A rustle of paper and muffled groans spread through the hall. Few students seemed surprised by the floating words. Once the writing filled the wall, the first line faded to make space for the next set of sentences.

That’s neat.

The projection itself was a simple application of Light Magic; Kai was more intrigued by how the enchanted cube registered and translated speech into text. Just imagining the necessary runic matrix made his head spin.

At least several interlocking arrays with thousands of runes each…

Professor Lysander’s sweeping gaze brought Kai back from his daydream. He quickly scribbled the projected words and gave his best impression of a dutiful student.

“…under the blessing of the Seven Moons, the Guide grants us endless possibilities for growth. It’s up to us not to waste this gift.” His voice rose, echoing with the shadow of passion. “Millennia of experience and research have gone into understanding the potential of our status. Yet we grasp but a sliver. You’ll continue studying the paths for growth throughout your years at Raelion. And beyond, if you have any sense. For the purpose of this course, we’ll focus on the basics.”

The mage gazed over the hall, disdainful. “Each year, I see students claiming they’ve already mapped out their profession and skill paths with their family’s repositories, thinking themselves above these basic lessons.” He punctuated the word with a thud of his staff. “And year after year, I see hundreds of those same students fail to specialize a skill, miss the evolutions they wanted, and fall into dead skill paths. At the first pitfall, their road to Green crumbles into dust.” His attention shifted from student to student as if he had already seen their failure.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Your skills, professions, boons, and attributes. Everything in your status is interconnected. A window to your being, of all you have and will achieve. And like the roots and leaves of a tree, every part serves a purpose. Every decision affects the larger whole. A single crack, a missed specialization or lower attribute, can cripple the tree’s growth and cascade into a failed path.

“Though let’s start with something simple: a general skill. The first addition to your status in childhood. Even easier, let’s pick a skill you’re all familiar with: Mana Sense. One of the cornerstones for those studying the arcane.

“If you’re enrolled at Raelion’s Mana Studies, you must have evolved the skill to Yellow. Some of you might have even reached the level 50 milestone, but let’s rewind the clock to when you first learned Mana Sense at Orange.” He tapped the crystal cube.

The words above faded, replaced by a branching skill tree with over twenty specializations for the level 50 and level 75 milestones, connected through a web of lines ending with ten evolutions at level 100.

Are there really so many?