Chapter 41 - Practical Magic And… Friends?

“Leon is a WHAT?” I burst out, uncaring of the boy himself staring at me.

“Keep your voice down!” Tath hissed. “It sounds suspicious the way you say it.”

“Ah… right. Sorry.” I whispered back.

But Leon was a fairy? I would’ve never guessed. And what was with these quack races anyways? Gods? How were gods a race?

She sighed and skipped forwards, dragging me with her. “Come on! Let’s go!”

“Let’s go where-”

Before I could finish, she pulled me through the castle doors, down the stairway and into the sunlight.

The magnificent garden at the front had disappeared, now replaced by a large, caged off area split into four sections. One was made of concrete, one was a pool of water, one was made of dirt, and the final one had a large ring of poles in the middle.

“Everyone please stop here!” Miss Kleo called at the front of the cage. “As you know, you’ll be studying the four primordial elements this year, starting with earth.”

I almost pumped my fist in glee.

“Your wristband shows your xera purity, cap, regeneration rate and elemental affinity. We’ll be learning a beginners spell today, so everyone should be able to do it with ease. Everyone with a xera capacity over a thousand, please stand to the right of me. Everyone with a xera capacity of below a thousand stand to my left.”

The students burst into an excited chatter as they were split into two groups.

Tath, Leon, and a few others accompanied me to the right side. Everyone except Tath seemed noticeable surprised that I was there. On the other hand, I was surprised to see Tath herself there.

“Hey, Tath. Can I see your wristband?” I asked.

“Sure!” She said confidently, and thrusted it out proudly for me to see.

Like mine, it was silver, but seemed to fit perfectly onto her small wrist. I hadn’t realised they were custom made. As I stared at it, several numbers and words began to glow.

Affinity: Fire, Water

Xera Purity: 32%

Xera Capacity: 1650

Xera Regeneration Rate: 8/s

Wow. Those were some insane stats. Especially for someone so young. And what the hell was with this xera purity?

Slightly shocked, I let go of her hand and simply nodded. I guessed it wasn’t too surprising, given she was a demon, and non-humans had a higher purity their bodies could withstand.

“Can I see yours?” She asked, trying to crane her head over my shoulder.

I glanced down at my own band.

Affinity: Error

Xera Purity: 10%

Xera Capacity: Error

Xera Regeneration Rate: Error

Yeah… something told me I shouldn’t show it to her.

“Uh, no?”

Her face fell.

“Aw.”

[You have lost {1} faith from Tathreiragyl.]

Damn it. This faith thing was more troublesome than I thought. It was harder to satisfy and earn children’s trust, since they weren’t mature enough to control their emotions yet.

“Alright! Everyone to the right of me, please put this ring on your finger.” Miss Kleo lifted up a large wooden box that made a jangling sound and brought it around.

I watched my classmates take out identical bronze rings with strange carvings and slip it onto their fingers.

“What do these do?” I asked as Miss Kleo came around.

“Oh, these are power limiters. They stop you from performing spells higher than the beginner tier.” She replied.

Just like that runestone the other day, that almost caused me to self-destruct. ‘If I destroy this ring, would it release xera?’ I thought to myself, slipping it on my left index finger.

I didn’t feel much of a change or difference.

Shrugging it off, I accompanied Tath and the others into the caged area. Miss Kleo told us to wait on the concrete while the students who were underneath a thousand xera went first.

The first student to step onto the wooden platform in the middle of the earth section was a broad shouldered boy with red hair. He had sharp eyes and looked confident. Strong.

“Tath, what race is he?” I whispered.

“He’s an upper earthen.” She whispered back. “The lowest in the anthropoidal rankings.”

Lowest? Ranking? What was she talking about? I had much to learn about this world. But for now, I just sat back and watched the show.

“Please listen, everyone! The spell I’ll be teaching you is a simple one I like to call ‘collapse’. It is a beginners spell, but can become an advanced spell if you use enough xera. I will demonstrate it once for you, then explain it.”

Miss Kleo stretched out her arm and faced it towards the corner. Her fist was clenched tightly and she whispered something under her breath.

While doing so, a thought struck me.

What if I used ‘xera vision’? I’d never actually seen what happened when someone used magic- only when the magic was laying dormant in their bodies.

“Xera vision.”

Darkness wrapped my sight and the world turned grey. Every figure around me lit up in a display of green and white. There was no visible difference between the people next to me or in front of me. There was no difference between the teacher and her students. This wasn’t good. I’d thought it would help me determine how strong a person was.

As I watched her perform the magic, the glowing green colour of her xera circuits seemed to ebb and flow, collecting in the centre of her palm. A thin, fluorescent line connected the area where she aimed her hand. It spread like a pool, seeping into the ground and began to run through its surface.

All of a sudden, she opened her fist and a pulse of magical power travelled through the line to the ground, shooting through its dull veins.

“Cancel.”

Once my vision returned to normal, the class was clapping. The place where she’d used ‘collapse’ on had, literally, collapsed. The dirt was now broken into little pieces and a half-metre hole lay where it’d been before. I, too, joined the clapping.

“As you have just seen me do, the spell ‘collapse’ is intended to trap or destroy. When you’re performing the spell, simply imagine the ground closing in on itself. You’ll have to determine the height and width of your hole. If you make it too large, you won’t have enough xera to power it and the ground will only crack. If you make it too small, the dirt wall surrounding it will crumble and fill back in the hole.”

Everyone nodded.

“Jason, it’s your turn now.” She smiled encouragingly and beckoned for him to step to the edge of the platform. “Try it a little closer first. It’s a bit more dangerous, but it’ll be easier.”

He nodded and followed suit. Once again, I flicked on xera vision. Thankfully, it didn’t have a cooldown- unlike slow motion.

Jason closed his eyes and stretched out his hand, just like Miss Kleo had done before him. He inhaled deeply and held it for a few seconds, before letting it go. Xera had already begun to collect in his fist.

“Collapse!” He shouted, and his hand burst open. The xera shot out, but with no line to follow, simply zig-zagged around before harmlessly disappearing into the ground.

A few of the students applauded the effort, but most remained silent.

Miss Kleo patted his back reassuringly. “It’s not all about calling out the name of the spell. You need to remember to make the xera travel to the area in this scenario. Try again, but this time, direct the xera. Control it.”

Jason scratched the back of his neck, like he didn’t fully understand. But he still nodded and stepped to the edge of the platform once again.

“Collapse.”

This time, he did not shout. He also kept his squeezed eyes shut.

A grey line slowly extended from his palm, reaching the ground a metre away from him. It dug deep and formed a bowl shape. As he opened his hand once more, the collected xera followed the line into the ground and spread throughout the bowl. However, the ground only rumbled and cracked. It did not collapse.

Panting, Jason wiped the sweat off his brow and returned to the centre of the platform where Miss Kleo stood.

“That was a great attempt, Jason! It looks like you aimed too deep, so the spell wasn’t very effective. Keep practicing with the rest of your group, alright?”

“Yes, Miss.” He replied and trudged off to his group of friends that slapped him on the back.

Once everyone was off the dirt section, Miss Kleo raised two fingers in an upward motion and whispered something I was too far away to catch. The ground began to shake and rumble, and several fissures began to appear, dividing the section into twenty four metre-by-metre squares in a grid formation.

A large metal pole shot out from the ground of each of the squares, becoming a small circular platform.

“Everyone, please choose a square. If you need help, call me and I’ll come over. Make sure not to use up too much xera!”

Chattering excitedly, we all began to pick our squares. But before I knew it, all of them had been taken except three in the far corner. Well, at least if I failed, the teacher wouldn’t be able to see it.

“Hey, Mister June! Hurry up!” Tath called, already on her metal platform.

“Ok, ok, I’m coming!” I shouted back.

My platform was small. As soon as I stepped on it, I immediately felt cramped. I could barely stand on the darn pole without falling; forget sitting. I bent over and stamped the ground below me, feeling its sturdiness. It was the kind of dried, soiled dirt that was used to make up paths.

“Collapse.” I heard Tath say.

I spun around, surprised that she was already starting. A thunderous crack filled the air, and I stared in awe as the square metre of dirt she stood on crumbled into a hole. The only reason she was still standing was because of the metal pole that remained untouched.

“I did it! I did it!” She called out happily and bounced around on her pole.

So she did. “Why are you even 1-F anyways, if you’re so powerful?”

“Hm?” She put a finger to her lips. “Maybe it’s because I flunked my academic and physical tests… I’m only good at magic, anyways.”

Leon, on the other hand, who had chosen the third spot in the corner, was having a hard time doing the magic. The ground was riddled with splinters, but not enough to actually cause it to crumble. The veins on his forehead were clearly visible and his face had turned red from the strain. I wanted to ask if he was ok, but what Tath had said before made me hesitate.

For now, I just wanted to focus on my own magic.

I activated xera vision and looked down at myself. Hundreds of circuits stretched from my core to my arms and legs. Where my potato body resided was another set of circuits. These were smaller, more condensed around my xera core. Speaking of my xera core, it didn’t glow as brightly as before due to the restraint the enchanted headband created.

However, what was most surprising was the way it dimmed. Everything except a pure white slice on the side had been shut off- completely dark. The darkness wasn’t mixed with the white like everyone else’s was.

Ignoring this, I focused on the spell and my hand. I faced my hand directly to the ground below me, watching the grey outlines spread below the pole and dirt.

I pictured it breaking, disintegrating, falling.

“Collapse.” I commanded.

Just like when Miss Kleo and Jason had done it, the xera began to collect in my hand. However, the colour wasn’t transferred from my human body- it was transferred from my potato one. Putting that aside, it was an electrifying sensation, accompanied by a strange feeling of pleasure. Or was it satisfaction?

Whatever it was, it felt good.

All of a sudden, once the feeling had reached its climax, a sharp pain shot through my body, originating from my left index finger.

The ring.

“You son of a-” I mumbled, instinctively wanting to wrench it off my hand. Fortunately, I remembered that I was wearing it for a reason. A very good one, in fact.

I took a final deep breath and, once again, focused on the ground below me.

“Collapse.”

This time, my concentration wasn’t broken and a beam of green light shot out from the centre of my palm. It coarsed through the ground and forced it apart, shaking the pole, almost causing me to fall.

Smiling and breathing shakily, I deactivated xera vision and stared at the hole below me. It was a metre deep, large enough to sprain my ankle if I ever fell into it.

I bent down and inspected my work further.

It wasn’t void magic that had destroyed it.

The earth had perfectly bent to my will.

Relieved, I sighed and moved to join Tath on the opposite side of the caged area, where everyone who’d successfully performed the spell resided.

“Mister June! Good job!” She called, waving over to me.

“Haha, thanks…”

I turned back, looking over the rest of the students who were still struggling. Leon included. It seemed like only a few of us had actually managed to complete it in such a short amount of time.

As I sat on the concrete, I watched Miss Kleo dash around, desperately trying to assist the people who were left. When she approached Leon, he tensed up and stared at the floor, refusing to look her in the eye.

I didn’t think too much of it.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

“Alright everyone!” Miss Kleo announced, stepping back onto the platform in the middle. “That about ends today’s practical magic class. Those of you who didn’t manage to do the spell- don’t worry! With more practice, you’ll begin to understand it. Everyone please move back onto the concrete while the earth section resets itself.”

Resets itself? There was that kind of magic too? Oh, I was really getting excited.

Everyone moved- some reluctantly- off their metal poles and onto the ground. Miss Kleo had already left the caged area and was moving back into the school.

Everyone… except Leon.

His eyes were still closed, fist constantly opening and closing. Sweat trickled down his face.

No one else seemed to notice or care that he wasn’t moving.

“Come on, Mister June. Let’s go.” Tath said, pulling my sleeve.

She, too, ignored him.

“What about Leon?” I asked.

“Leave him.” She said, already at the exit of the cage. “He’ll come soon enough.”

I hesitated. Some part of me wanted to help him. Was it because I had been in the same position that he had been in before? Unable to do magic?

“You… go on ahead.” I told Tath.

She shrugged. “Sure. Just don’t be long, ok?”

I nodded.