“Welcome to class, Mr. Solace,” growled Mr. Slevonio, pointing to Arthur’s seat. “Get there quickly. We’re doing a mana theory lesson in private.”
Since Arthur failed to disprove Flecker’s theory, the man had to report to class early and leave late. It was quite a hassle, but Flecker utilized the opportunity to discuss theories with the so-called genius.
It seemed Arthur’s intellect had surprised him.
Arthur, without responding to Mr. Slevonio’s harsh tone, sat on the front-most seat in the classroom. The room turned silent, and the only noise was that of chalk colliding with the board as Flecker drew complex magic circles.
Then, he moved onto the equations, and then summarized his works into a few easy-to-understand magic circles.
“What do you think?” Flecker asked, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead. Arthur scrutinized the formulas with glittering eyes. The crimson-eyed man wondered whether Flecker’s work could increase his understanding of mana.
“Is your understanding of mana increasing?” Flecker asked. “I’m getting system messages after summarizing my data.”
“I’m not getting any yet.”
“Your mana circuits must be abnormally powerful,” said Flecker. “I’ve been working for years and am finally seeing changes. Your system messages should be exploding after viewing my work. Or do you not understand it?”
“As if,” Arthur replied, scoffing.
The crimson-eyed man approached the chalkboard. Once Flecker handed him the chalk, Arthur began jotting down his initial ideas on the subject. Flecker watched with excitement oozing from his body.
Arthur’s movements were rhythmic, something that dazed Flecker.
The union between two intellectuals was smooth, and Arthur and Flecker conversed about theories for a few minutes.
“Let’s use science’s Ohm Law as an example,” explained Arthur. “In that, current is described using amperes, voltage using volts, and resistance is described using ohms, or the greek letter for ‘Omega’.”
Flecker nodded, recalling his education on the subject. Voltage, current, and resistance were the three components of a closed circuit. The speed of the flowing electrons across a certain point was considered the current, while voltage was the pressure or potential energy at the initial stage. As electrons flowed from the positive terminal of a closed circuit, the impeding force was called resistance.
“Mana works in a similar way,” explained Arthur, summarizing the details on the chalkboard. “Mana can be described using the symbol M. It’s the same as Ohm’s law. Only, the flowing electrons are replaced with mana.”
[Your understanding of mana has deepened.]
[Your understanding of mana has deepened.]
[Your understanding of mana has deepened.]
“These form the mana circuits within our body,” explained Arthur. “Our bodies are basically a compendium of altered scientific laws.”
[Your understanding of mana has deepened drastically.]
[Your mana absorption rate has doubled.]
[Your mana circuits smoothen drastically.]
[Your senses relating to mana have strengthened.]
[Your connection with the surrounding mana has deepened.]
Noticing Arthur’s gaze, which was focused on a random spot in his vision, Flecker let out a chuckle. “System messages? Considering the information your summarizing, you must have gained substantial improvement.”
“I have,” replied Arthur.
“Class is about to begin, so we might need to erase this soon,” said Flecker. He then extended an arm to Arthur in goodwill. “Discussing theories with you was fun. Let’s do this again sometime.”
“Leeching off of someone is not beneficial, Mr. Slevonio,” replied Arthur, revealing a faint smirk. “Give me some credit in your next article.”
“I don’t think I’ll do that.”
“Leech.”
“Call me whatever,” said Flecker. “Now take a seat. The other students should be arriving soon. You know that we’re sparring with Class B today, right?”
“Yeah, my roommate told me about it this morning.”
Flecker nodded before returning to his endless endeavor of summarizing ideas. He was stuck at a bottleneck, and Arthur’s explanations had loosened it. With a few more months of research, he should be able to break through the bottleneck.
A new, better discovery for the world.
It would be exciting.
*
Once Class A arrived, Flecker led them towards the training grounds, which was simply the arena but with a different name. The bleachers had vanished, and there remained an enormous, flat ground.
Without the decorations that were present on the day of the practical exam, the training grounds or arena seemed quite barren. 𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕.𝚝
It was only dawn, yet the sun was quite high.
In the middle of the training grounds, two student parties lined up. In front of each sing-file line was a teacher. For Class A, the teacher was Mr. Slovenio, while for Class B, the homeroom teacher was Ms. Gomez.
Ms. Gomez was a petite lady with thick, brown hair. She was the definition of ‘loli,’ if there was one.
Despite her appearance, her true age was over sixty. It was a fact that confused many, and mostly herself, too.
“Class B,” said Ms. Gomez. “Today, you will pair up with a student from Class A and will spar with them. I realize this is disadvantageous for you, and the odds of winning are quite low, but sparring isn’t done for the sake of winning.”
“Sparring is a sport, a ritual simply for the sake of improving,” Mr. Slovenio continued Ms. Gomez’s explanation. “Just a head’s up, there will be no foul play, grievous injuries, or death in this session. Do it somewhere else.”
At that moment, Ms. Gomez slapped Mr. Slovenio’s wrist. “Never do that.”
The latter let out a chuckle, causing the former to redden slightly. “Yeah, listen to Ms. Gomez, students. This ain’t your father’s training ground. Treat it carefully, and you won’t be beaten black and blue.”
“By who, sir?” A random student raised his hand. A smirk appeared on his face at the thought of playing with the teachers.
“Her,” said Mr. Slovenio, pointing to Ms. Gomez’s petite figure. Since the latter was a theorist, his physical capabilities were nil. He could even be beaten up by a fly if the latter tried hard enough.
A few students chuckled, but Ms. Gomez just smiled calmly.
At that moment, tremendous pressure bore down on the students, and they struggled to stay standing.
“Mr. Slovenio… I was trying to be civilized.”
“Do you really believe these rebellious teens need civilized training?”
“No, not really.”