“Mana is not just a source for power, it is life for us humans.” Professor Cecilia coalesced mana around her hand for a demonstration. She gestured to the students to do the same and they obliged.

“It has allowed us, humans, to stand as the strongest race in the river of time. There are many applications of attacking by mana. For example…” Professor Cecilia flicked her wrist and a condensed ball of mana shot out of her hand. The ball of mana hit the wall and dissipated silently, without any impact.

“One way is to use it as a blunt force like what I just did. Another way is to use it as a slash.” Professor Cecilia flicked her arm and drew an arc in the air to send a mana slash to the wall. The mana dissipated after touching the wall again.

“Professor, these are all basic utilities. We can already do this.” One of the students said.

“Really? Then go ahead and hit the same wall but dissipate mana as soon as it touches the wall.” Professor Cecilia said.

The students tried one by one but failed in the given task. Even the brightest of students couldn’t do something that Professor Cecilia had done so easily. Sirius, Mehr and the group were also trying their best without achieving any notable results. Mehr was the only one who was somewhat successful. He had been able to dissipate the mana in the distance at will, but only a small amount, and that too because he was quite used to mana in his old world. He had realised the difference in abilities of the two worlds way before. Mehr was almost as strong as he was in his prime in the old world, even as a mere child. The things he once found easy had become difficult in this world. A small change in the nature of mana, and it felt quite foreign to him. Even though mana would always help him out in comprehending it effectively, it wouldn’t hold Mehr’s hands through the journey.

“What is the point of this?” Mehr asked the professor.

Professor Cecilia looked at Mehr’s result which was much better than the rest. She nodded and called him forth.

“Fight.” Professor Cecilia said a single word and attacked Mehr. Mehr urgently clad his body with mana and tried to defend the slash coming at him. He thought of blocking the slash but then decided to dodge and close the distance in a single move. He ducked under the slash and put power in his legs to force him forward. However, as soon as his sight became clear of the slash, he noticed another slash coming at his throat. He urgently blocked it and jumped back to negate the impact of the attack, but was baffled to realise that there was actually no impact at all. Moreover, to his horror, there was already a small ball of mana floating in front of him. The ball of mana hit him softly on the forehead and disappeared with a poof.

“Mastery of mana does not mean grand and glorious attacks that lay everything to waste. Even beasts are capable of that. This is what you need to learn.” Professor Cecilia said to all the students but kept looking at Mehr in particular.

Mehr removed the mana around his body and politely thanked the professor for her teachings. He had learned a new aspect of battle today, something that he hadn’t been able to see for himself. Putting in false attacks to fool the opponents was a common trick in hand to hand combat, but he had never thought of doing something like that with mana.

Professor Cecilia didn’t like Mehr’s brazen personality. She had heard about his actions in the trial. She didn’t believe that someone as unscrupulous as Mehr would be the Star, but she still kept an eye on him. And Mehr politely thanking her, even after she had embarrassed him in front of everyone, had softened her heart a bit.

“Mana, in its nature, is infinite. There are boundless possibilities of paths you can take with its help. When you fight someone well versed in the magic of elements, you’ll need to be as versatile as them to match them.”

“Professor, what is stronger between mana and elements?” One of the students asked.

“There is no such thing as stronger magic. As you all know, mana rejects elements. It is quite difficult to learn the magic of elements, so either mana or elements will take precedence usually. However, you should try to create a balance to attain versatility. However, the contrary is fine as well. For instance, my speciality lies in mana. I can use elements as well, but not as efficiently as someone like Professor Sionn. His speciality lies in elements. Neither magic is stronger than the other, the difference lies in people who are using them.”

“On very basic terms, you can create a barrier with earth, water, wind or just simply mana. The only thing that would be consumed is your stamina, and that too of an equal amount. In advanced terms, how many of you know about the 'sea of fire’ incident?”

Nora instantly raised her hand. Professor Cecilia nodded her head in approval.

“It is an extremely famous incident where the King of Leklenia, Lexus Corvus and Lady Maria Frye fought against the Cult of old Gods. Lady Maria used her signature move, The Fireflies, and set the entire city of Walgurpes on fire. It is said that the city burned for a fortnight and people dubbed it as the sea of fire.” Nora told the story in a single breath. It was a chance to talk about her idol, how could she ever miss that?

“Excellent, Nora. The rest of the students must have also heard about Maria Frye’s fireflies. Let me give you a demonstration.” Cecilia raised her hand and opened her palm. She turned the mana into a small bubble that floated above her palm.

“Look closely. It is simple in essence, but extremely difficult to do in practice. Make sure to pay attention.” She increased the heat inside the bubble with the help of fire element. She kept increasing the heat until the bubble couldn’t handle anymore and it popped.

“When I increase the heat inside the bubble, it creates pressure. The bubble only pops when the pressure inside the bubble increases to more than the amount of pressure outside. Sounds easy, right? When you start learning elements, try to do what I just did and you will realise how incredibly difficult and strenuous this is. Maria Frye handles an uncountable number of bubbles at a single moment, which shows her range of influence. She can independently burst any of them, which shows her control. And a single bubble of her is enough to burn a hundred men. This is what balance of mana and elements can achieve.”

Sirius looked at Mehr and moved his eyebrows up and down continuously as if to show how happy he was to listen to the praises of his mother. Mehr looked at Sirius’ dancing eyebrows and sighed. He created a small slash and sent it on Sirius’ way secretly. Sirius blocked the small and hidden slash and reciprocated with his own. Those two had been playing around with mana for a while now, without letting anyone else in the room realise it.

Professor Cecilia noticed the time and sighed, “I had gone on a tangent today. Let me give you an assignment for the day.”

“Weren’t those false attacks the assignment?” Mehr asked while trying out the fake mana slash to attack Sirius. He had managed to disperse half of the mana this time but didn’t manage to fool Sirius.

“You can try them if you want.” Professor Cecilia chuckled, “They are quite difficult to master for first years. Your assignment will be simpler. Try to shape mana into an object and solidify it. First five students to do it will get extra credits for this year.”

Professor Cecilia dismissed the class and students rushed out to practice on their own. Students attended the academy five days a week and every day was dedicated to a single subject. The five subjects were -

Mana utilisation

Magic of elements

Artifacts

Politics and History

Battle arts

Students had seen four out of five professors who would teach them but hadn’t met the Master of Battle yet. Well, the day for the subject was still four days away and the students soon became busy with mana utilisation’s assignment.

Mehr and the group had also gone out to the little garden outside the dormitory to practice. Surprisingly, Adhara had also come with them. She noticed that other people never approached this little group and it was far quieter and comfortable to practice in the same vicinity as them. While Sirius and others were practising diligently, Mehr was just sitting around the pond and playing with the fishes.

“Mehr, why aren’t you practising?” Nora asked while wiping off her sweat. Her breathing was rapid and disturbed as she had been trying to shape the mana for a while now.

Mehr looked at Nora, and then at the other people who were looking at him. His eyes moved to Sirius and he laughed exaggeratedly.

“Little children, this hero doesn’t need to practice such trivial matters. Look!”

Mehr held his hands together and then pulled them apart. In between his arms, stretched wide, a spear made of pure mana had taken shape. This was as natural as breathing for him. He had been doing it for such a long time that he even forgot that mana manipulation to this degree was impressive even in his old world.

The rest, except Sirius, looked at him with a baffled expression on their faces. Even Adhara was looking at him with somewhat wide eyes. After all, even she couldn’t do anything this advanced yet.

Mehr got up and walked up to Sirius and patted his shoulders, “Young man, this hero will let you follow and learn from the great myself.”

Sirius looked at Mehr’s smirking face and giggled, “No, Young man. You’re still no better at ranged attacks. Why don’t you follow me and let this great hero teach you great lessons of life.” Sirius also laughed exaggeratedly while patting Mehr’s shoulders.

It was a scene quite familiar to both of them. They were friends but also rivals. They didn’t remember who started this, but this hero-follower dilemma was an old ode to their experiences. However, to the others, they both looked like maniacs laughing uproariously while patting each other’s shoulders. They all sighed and came to Mehr to ask for lessons.

Mehr, still smirking, looked at Sirius and moved his eyebrows up and down. Sirius sighed and shook his head and admitted defeat in this small battle. But again, such battles would occur regularly to them.