Professor Elsa Robles was sitting in her office, looking at the list of students attending the Spell Weaving class, which was part of the Mage Course.
“There are more mages this year,” she noted, seeing that the number of mages was greater than in previous years.
Mages were rarer than swordsmen because even without talent, a person could train in swordsmanship, but without talent, one could never become a successful mage.
She stood up as it was time for her class to start.
Asher checked the location of the classroom he was going to attend. Then, he entered the class and saw many students staring at him.
Rumors about auctions were going wild, and many thought that Asher was trying to offend the senior-year students.
They couldn’t guess why Asher would try to do that because now the seniors could interact with the first-year students and wouldn’t like people like Asher who disrespected them.
Although Asher’s background made it extremely difficult for any senior to go against him in any way, there were still people inside World Academy that could make his life difficult. And Leonard Tarvian was one of them.
The reason Leonard got angry at Asher was quite simple: being the son of the World Association Chairman, not once in his life had anyone dared to question his worth. On the contrary, even heirs of elite families treated him with equal respect.
Asher had not only disrespected him once but also made him lose like an idiot in the auction. But most believed that Leonard wouldn’t let this matter go easily either.
There was a reason Leonard treated everyone he met with respect while hiding his intentions.
Asher walked to several empty seats in the back and sat in one of them. Most people in close vicinity were averting their eyes to avoid trouble with him.
Amelia arrived a few minutes later and saw Asher sitting in one of the seats. She walked up to him and sat beside him. Unfortunately, Damian was not in the Mage Course, and Amelia hadn’t made any friends either because most people were afraid of approaching her due to her background and Asher.
Soon after, everyone began appearing, including Elena, Eva, Lishia, and Gavin, who were in the room. However, most were sitting in different rows than Asher and Amelia.
Amelia turned to look at Asher, who was staring out the window. Seeing everyone talking with each other, she felt a bit lonely, and Damian’s face popped into her mind.
“This is boring,” Amelia muttered, tapping her finger on the table.
The voices in the class died down as Elsa entered, followed by several staff members carrying various books.
Elsa entered the classroom and looked in front of her.
“Welcome to the Spell Weaving Class,” Elsa said with a smile.
“As you all know, this class is the very basic and most important part that makes you a Mage,” Elsa said, and the screen behind her changed.
“Now, before I start teaching you about spells, does anyone here know the difference between a mage and other hunters?” Elsa asked, and many people raised their hands.
“You,” Elsa pointed out a brown-haired girl who stood up.
“Mages are people who use their mana core as storage for their mana and use it to nourish their spells instead of their bodies,” she replied.
“Yeah, but that’s not entirely true,” Elsa said as she told her to sit down.
“Even though mages are considered physically weaker than, for example, a swordsman, it doesn’t mean our physical bodies are not nourished by our mana,” Elsa said as an image of a Mana Gem appeared behind her.
“Let’s start with the basics of ranking up,” Elsa said as she made a ball of mana in her hand.
“This is your mana core,” Elsa pointed as she made a circular motion with her fingers, and multiple rings started to hover around her.
Many students were surprised she could handle mana in such a refined and delicate manner. It was extremely difficult for anyone to use mana freely to make shapes like this, so most people used spells to shape that mana into elements.
“These rings are the symbol of ranking up from one rank to another. So treat them like a band of energy that binds the massive amount of mana in one place,” Elsa said as the rings started rotating.
“Now, a mage doesn’t use this mana to nourish their bodies, but it’s because our mana meridians are more suited for the travel of mana than the absorption of mana,” she said.
“But then again, we have mages like Augmenters, who can still buff their own and others’ bodies to increase their strengths,” Elsa pointed at Amelia.
“If we look at just the fundamentals of awakening as a Hunter, the mana core is the same for all human beings,” Elsa explained.
“But then a distinction among them appears that makes you choose a path according to your talent,”
“As you know, to become a mage, you need to have different mana meridians than a swordsman, which helps you construct a spell rather than absorbing that mana to form an aura,” Elsa said.
“As I said, I am an SS Rank Mage, but my speed doesn’t fall below most of the other S Rank Hunters. So, why, despite being a mage, is my speed comparable to an S Rank hunter?” Elsa raised a question.
“The answer lies in the mana core and rings. As I said before, the ring formation symbolizes ranking up. It is theorized that the ring formation around the mana core does not happen until your bodies reach a certain threshold,” Elsa said, and students started nodding.
“But then again, Mages are naturally weaker than the hunters of the same rank, but an SS Rank Mage is considered more powerful than an SS Rank Swordsman in most cases. And why is that?”
“And why do we consume more Mana Gems for ranking up than non-mage hunters?” She questioned the whole class.
“Because, unlike non-mage hunters, we use most of our mana in our spells and to form the mana pool, which fuels those spells. Unlike non-mage hunters, our ring formation is different, and this is the reason mages need more mana gems to rank up than non-mage hunters,”
“And this is why non-mage hunters can never become as strong as mage hunters of the same rank, and doing so is useless because it is how our bodies are structured,” she said as she looked at Asher.
All the students were looking at Asher, and they felt he was disrespecting them as mages, thinking it was easy to become a mage.
“Although there are people with special bloodline abilities that help them, a natural mage will always be better at spell casting than a non-mage. And this difference will only grow bigger in the upper ranks where the spells become the embodiments of your thoughts,” Elsa said while looking at Asher.
“Any questions?” Elsa asked as one boy raised his hand.
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“Professor, couldn’t people with more mana gems simply rank up faster than those without them?” He asked,
“Then why do you think that some people in the Elite families are stuck at S Rank for their whole life despite the number of resources they have?” Elsa asked, but the boy had no answer.
“Mana Gems are a pure source of mana that most hunters use to rank up and increase their strengths, but that alone will not help you rank up,” Elsa turned, and the image on the screen changed to a human body.
“You all know about mana circulation techniques, right? So each Mage uses those techniques to circulate their mana and fill their mana pool. And each of you has your unique threshold that needs to be filled, and some have bigger thresholds, and some have smaller thresholds depending on your talents,” Elsa said.
“And seeing them is very easy, as people with bigger thresholds will rank up faster than their peers. And this is why those who reach higher ranks at a young age are considered stronger and more talented than those in similar ranks,” Elsa said.
“But that doesn’t mean they needn’t meet the thresholds either. Without proper resources, even a talented individual will rank up slowly, and even with resources, they still need time to hone their bodies until they’re ready for the next rank-up. That is where people use Mana Gems,” Elsa said.
“Using mana gems at breakthroughs is advised, as it will affect your threshold, and especially in mages, you can increase your mana pool a bit as well,” Elsa said,
“But let’s put this topic aside for now. Let’s start with Spell Creation for today’s class,” Elsa said as she pointed at the books she had brought.