The remaining few days until the start of the semester were filled primarily with training and studying inside of the sanctum. Strangely, Leon and Sophia had made a habit of coming by every night and inviting me to dinner, usually with their group of friends. While Theo was still an annoyance and I rarely participated in their conversations, part of me enjoyed the company, at least in small doses. I was far from a social person, but even I needed some friendly conversation now and then.

It seemed Leon hoped to establish some type of friendship with me, and I was quickly learning that he was an unusually optimistic and amenable man as far as nobles are concerned, to the point I suspected he would struggle as the head of the Esttons. A duke needed to be able to make difficult choices, and Leon seemed too idealistic to be up to that task. Normally, that would be my unsavory duty but if things went as I hoped, that would not become my problem in the future.

Sophia remained quiet and would usually only reply in a few short words, but I was beginning to revise my stance on her. I now suspected that she was withdrawn and introverted due to her personality, rather than any sense of superiority like I had originally thought. I could relate to that at least, though I was able to carry a conversation a bit better than her. However, the flashes of intelligence in her eyes told me that she was the more dangerous of the two Esttons even if she lacked Leon’s charisma.

My studies in Cortos’ sanctum had been mostly fruitless and as I worried most of the books seemed primitive and out of date, except for one notable discovery. In one particularly old tome, I had found an explanation of the process to produce the Draught of Awakening. It was only a partial description, which was of limited value, but it did confirm something I had already suspected about its composition. The primary ingredient in the potion was infused Mana, which was suspended in a prepared liquid to maintain its viability in long term storage.

At one point, I had considered learning the recipe as a method to increase my raw power but I had since altered my plans to focus first on durability and control over my Mana. However, I may have to revise that stance, to help Fortuna continue his growth. If I was able to produce more Draughts, it may assist him in regaining strength, though I hoped to learn what sort of creature he was before he grew too powerful. Of course, I still had to learn alchemy and figure out the rest of the process, but it was a start.

My Channels were continuing to strengthen by the day and the night before classes began, I found that I was able to pull a half dozen motes with little difficulty. I still suspected I was a long way from being able to cast a spell, and multiple spells in a row would most likely stress my body to the point of injury but it was enough progress to push off my distaste for the process. I was beginning to find myself enjoying the sensation of growing stronger more than I dreaded the difficulty in training, though not by much.

And so, the morning of my first day finally came and I found myself walking through the entrance hall of the Academy towards the classrooms. My first class of the day was Spell-Casting with a Professor Merton. Walking into the room, I saw that it was filled with tiered desks arranged in a half moon formation facing a podium with a series of boards behind, presumably for the professor’s use. The woman standing behind the podium looked young, likely in her mid-thirties, which told me she was not the sort of Mage to underestimate.

I took a desk around two-thirds towards the back of the room, and waited quietly, occupying the time until class began gently pulling Mana from my Core and holding it above my hand carefully. While my tempering had seen great progress, my control still left much to be desired and this exercise helped address that shortcoming. When the room was filled with around two dozen teenagers, the professor cleared her throat and walked forward with her arms behind her back, with a cool look in her eyes.

“Welcome Apprentices, I am glad you all managed to find your way here. My name is Professor Merton, and it is my job to teach you all how to take the raw Mana in your bodies and turn it into something useful. I will warn you all, the first few weeks will not be spent slinging fireballs but instead learning the basic skills necessary to cast most spells. If I find any of you attempting to jump ahead of my instruction and put your fellow students at risk, I will personally make your time in this Academy a very short one. To begin…”

Over the next hour, Professor Merton covered the absolute basics of how to cast spells, most of which was at least partially familiar to me. I had already learned that most spells required both a verbal component and at least some somatic components, requiring intricate gestures with hands and arms of the user. The Master also noted that stronger Mages could forgo at least one of these components, but cautioned that no Apprentice should attempt this stage, or risk the spell failing or backfiring on the caster.

The last part reminded me of my visions, where I had apparently reached this stage with at least a few spells. In theory, an experienced Mage would have an advantage due to their knowledge of what spell may be coming based upon the words and gestures used to cast it. Removing those signs would make a Mage far less predictable, though I also noted that it would be extremely difficult to achieve that level of mastery.

My next class was Magic Theory, and when I entered the room, I noticed with surprise that Sophia was also in the class. Despite rarely interacting even during our regular dinners, we had formed a sort of cordial understanding towards each other, and because of this she did not seem to mind when I sat down next to her. I would rather avoid her for the most part, to maintain my disguise as much as possible but since I had met her eyes it would look strange not to acknowledge her.

I nodded politely to her, before returning my gaze to the front of the room. This class was taught by Professor Clemons, a rotund man who typically wore a kind expression and spoke softly.

“Good morning students. I am Professor Clemons, Earth Mage and your instructor in Magic Theory for this semester. After our time is done, you will all hopefully be aware of how to control and cultivate your Mana properly. For our first class, we will be learning about the Mana network in your body and its major elements. With that out of the way, if you will all turn your attention to the illustration on the board.

Turning on his heel, Professor Clemons flicked one hand and the black board shifted to reveal an intricate diagram of a person, with a large circle in the center of the torso and lines running all along the body.

“The Core, present in the center of the body, is the storage point for Mana, which is passively absorbed after a Mage undergoes Awakening, though it can be magnified with active focus, which we will be learning later. The Channels, which extend along the body, allow for Mana to be transferred and externalized in the form of spells. In total, there are seven Channels, one in each limb, one for the front of the torso, one for the back and the last leading to the head. There are many different factors that go into determining the raw power of a Mage, but generally we divide Mages into a number of stages, each divided into early, mid, late and peak substages. In order to graduate, you are expected to reach the second stage by your fifth year of training. Does anyone know the names of the first three stages?

Sophia's hand raised into the air, which left me a bit surprised. Clemons smiled at her and gave a nod, and Sophia cleared her throat before speaking.

“The stages are, in order from weakest to most powerful, Mana Vapor, Mana Mist and Mana Cloud. In order to progress upwards, you have to gather large amounts of Mana and then condense it into a denser state, which increases its power and allows the Mage to store more Mana at once.”

“Exactly right, thank you Apprentice. I will note, these stages are only rough indicators of combative abilities and should not be used as a hard and fast rule for your abilities against another Mage. For example, skill with spellcasting, control and purity of Mana are all major factors which can also contribute to power. Never assume that raw power means that you will win every battle, though I will leave a more elaborate explanation for Dueling.”

While I had known some of this information, my training so far had focused almost entirely on tempering my Channels. The rest of the class was filled with brief explanations on the precise methods to improve the major aspects of cultivation. I learned that Mana naturally starts in the early Vapor stage and that to progress required conscious efforts to compress the energy. In addition, through absorbing excess Mana into my body, I could gradually expand my Core and store more Mana at once.

I also became aware that Cores should be heavily tempered before attempting to compress Mana, because of the notable increase in power from progressing to the next stage. I suspected that Cortos’ chamber was also tempering my Core, but I would need to make sure before I attempted to push into the Mist stage. Professor Clemons noted that our next meeting would focus on the proper technique to actively absorb Mana, which struck me as odd. I knew from my studies that tempering extended the lifespan, so why would they instead encourage a student to increase their power first?

I pushed the question from my head as I entered War Theory, a class taught by a surprisingly meek man named Professor Thorne. His explanations were even more scarce, primarily an overview of the rest of the semester, which would focus on how to properly plan for large-scale battles with magic in mind. I was personally most interested when he mentioned plans to explore strategies for fighting magic beasts or magic users. I had no intentions to lead armies into battle, but anything I could learn to fight Mages or powerful creatures could be of use.

In truth, I had already spent years studying basic battlefield tactics and I suspected most of this class would be review. While a normal army may not have access to lighting bolts or spires of earth, the strategic considerations were mostly the same. I was a little glad for it, to take some of the pressure off in my studies.

After the class ended, I began walking down to the exercise facility for my final class of the day. I already had a pretty strong feeling who may be in charge of teaching this class, and as I approached the two figures standing in the green grass, I felt a satisfied smile come onto my face which I quickly wiped off as I came within earshot. The smaller figure, a young woman and likely an apprentice, turned my way with a blank expression, while the larger man yelled out in greeting.

“Took you long enough to get here Vayne! I hope you’re ready to get a workout in!” Sig said, with a grin on his face.