Lightning occasionally brightened the dimly lit room in flashes of brilliant white as rain cascaded down the windows. Damien enjoyed the view of Blackthorn from the Mayor's office, but the weather had ruined his mood.

With nothing else to do until morning, Damien decided to assemble his group and conduct a magic study session. He was a Master Mage with the duty to teach his disciples, not just use them as free labour.

Fay was so excited the cold facade she had developed recently crumbled as she shifted around on the dull brown leather sofa in anticipation. Damien allowed Fay to pick items from Mayor Leon's stash, so she now modelled a beautiful white dress with golden phoenix earrings and various rings, which complimented her raven black hair that hung loosely and her ocean blue eyes. The jewellery helped amplify her presence as the future Queen of Blackthorn despite her short figure and nineteen-year-old features that had yet to develop fully.

The oversized couch had enough room for all three of Damien's eager students to sit comfortably, especially since Varn was small. Thar took up the majority of the room.

Damien had to admire Thar's unique appearance, which suited him very well. The half-orc was almost equal to Damien's height, giving him an imposing presence even when seated; his greyish muscular skin covered in mysterious blue runic tattoos pulsed with power as he breathed. A strange magnifying glass sat snugly over his right eye; he also had a white beard closely resembling dreadlocks that draped over his red robes. Overall the half-orc had human features, but two large tusks and a relatively flat nose gave away his half-orc heritage.

A bizarre creature that was half owl, half-monkey rested on his right shoulder. It never made any noise, except when a pink spider tried to reside on Thar's left shoulder for the night.

Thar also seemed to have an endless supply of nuts and berries hiding in his robes as he never once had to restock his supply over the last few days while feeding his pet every few hours.

Varn eyed the creature nervously with his yellow snake-like eyes, his ears flat on his head like a scared rabbit.

'Maybe that creature is incredibly powerful? Nah. Varn is just a coward. Despite being over fifty years old, he acts like a little kid.' Damien mused to himself, and he positioned himself in front of his three students.

Damien stood tall, back straight and cane in hand, "As this is our first seminar together, I will start with the basics to bring everyone up to speed. So, what is Magic."

Varn slumped and groaned.

Fay shot him a death stare for interrupting with such a rude gesture and then answered Damien's question, "Magic is the act of manipulating something by using our body as the catalyst."

Damien smiled, "Correct! Any person inclined towards magic will be born with a magic circuit that converts the null affinity mana surrounding us into a particular affinity such as Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark and the list goes on."

Damien then used Psychokinesis to float his cane before himself, "Your body sucks in mana from the surroundings, forcefully converts it into your affinity by running it through the desired mana circuit, and then your brain does the spells construction. The final step is using the runic language to manifest your spell in the mortal plane."

Fay then asked, "But master, you didn't need to chant a spell?"

Damien nodded, "Every magic school has a kinesis type spell such as Pyrokinesis for Fire or Hydrokinesis for Water. This spell is a Psychic-type spell meaning it is fully manifested by only your mind and therefore doesn't require a chant."

Thar then asked in his booming voice, "Master Nightshade is a Psychic-type mage, so can you use the kinesis spells too?"

Damien took his glove off and used Pyrokinesis; a small flame appeared on his palm for a brief moment before disappearing. "A Psychic mage can use all the kinesis spells, but with a significant drawback." Damien then showed his palm with a burn wound that was quickly healing, "A Fire mage can create flames in mid-air and manipulate them with his mind using Pyrokinesis, but as I don't possess the fire element, I have to use my skin as fuel for the flame." Damien then made a snapping motion, demonstrating that he couldn't summon a flame above his hand.

"Psychic magic is best described as having spectral hands and limbs that I can control with my mind." Damien then gestured towards Fay, "Use your Hydrokinesis."

Fay nodded with excitement; she then concentrated on an empty glass previously filled with red wine that rested on the table in front of the couch. Seconds later, the air condensed into a mist inside the cup and eventually turned into water. "Phew," Fay reclined back onto the sofa while wiping the sweat from her brow.

Damien pointed at the cup, "Fay has a Water affinity circuit; she converted the mana inside the cup into water by running mana through her body. But as you can see from her condition, it's incredibly inefficient and strains your mind, so it's prefered to use water in your environment rather than creating water from nothing."

Damien then concentrated on another empty glass and tried to use Hydrokinesis for the first time. Yet nothing happened, "As you can see, I cannot replicate what Fay managed; however, watch this." Damien then looked at the glass filled with water; mana surged through his brain as the water began to swirl in the cup, "I can use my spectral hands to stir this existing water; although I cannot make water from nothing, I can still control it with my mind."

Damien relaxed his control and continued, "For a Psychic mage, Psychokinesis is the easiest and most practical; next is Aerokinesis assuming I am outside on a windy day; Geokinesis is almost impossible as stone is very dense and hard to manoeuvre without Earth affinity."

Thar nodded his head in understanding, "So Psychic mages are versatile but weak compared to pure affinity mages?"

"Yes," Damien spun the cane around in the air, "Although Psychic mages have the advantage of not using the runic language, we have to maintain constant concentration, or my 'spectral limbs' will disperse into nothingness."

Damien then clapped his hands, "Onto the next topic that follows on from this one. Null Spells, also known as 'lifestyle' spells, utilise kinesis on a far smaller scale. As a result, they are inefficient and worthless in combat." Damien gestured to Fay, who had recovered from creating water, "Use your cleaning spell on Thar's pet."

The creature shot Damien a dangerous stare as a tiny water tornado manifested and soaked the monkey with owl wings. A warm breeze then fluffed up its fur and left it looking shiny and clean.

"The cleaning spell that Fay is using is likely unique to her due to her ability to manipulate the four basic elements. First, she utilises Hydrokinesis to manifest the water tornados, followed by Areokenisis combined with Pyrokinesis to create a warm wind. Yet, since the water tornados are small, slow and weak, and the warm wind is not a firestorm, it is considered a lifestyle spell."

Everyone nodded in understanding, so Damien continued, "Now, if Fay increased the mana expenditure and had far greater mana control, she could manifest an apocalyptic spell that could devastate the lands and wipe out armies. Who said a cleaning spell could only clean up some dust? But of course, it would no longer be considered a lifestyle spell."

Fay's eyes shone with a dangerous gleam as if imaging herself high in the sky destroying her enemies from afar with a mere wave of her hand, like a goddess judging mortals for their sins.

Damien continued, "Everything in this world is perfectly balanced with advantages and disadvantages; nobody is all-powerful. Take my Father, Kazimir Nightshade, for example."

All his disciples shifted uncomfortably in their seats, debating if to comfort Damien for his loss or sing praises for those brave people that brought the monster down.

Damien waved his hand in dismissal, "I hardly see that man as my Father, but my lesson still stands. He was one of the few S rank existences in the world, yet a small team of A ranks beat him."

Fay raised her hand in confusion, "But Master, how could an S rank lose?"

Damien paced around while looking at the various artefacts haphazardly littering the room, "A ranks are powerful in their own right, able to lord over countries and run magical institutions or even be Archmages. But power comes at a great cost. For my Father, the first hurdle was living for almost five thousand years without being killed. Next, he had to consume blood from those stronger than him to advance to S rank."

Damien shook his head as if telling the saddest tale, "Even after ruling over the Vampires, hunting Dragons and terrifying Kingdoms, he went mad from his blood magic."

Damien paused while inspecting an odd-looking mana stone from the chest Zero had retrieved earlier, "He was easily baited and defeated by a mere silver blade and a magnificent light show by some lowly humans."

Thar coughed, drawing Damiens attention, "What about us? How will our magic affect us in the end?"

"Metal magic is rather tame; you will steel your heart and lose most of your emotions." Damien picked up a lump of metal from the chest and examined it, "And perhaps, worst of all, only the most expensive magically enhanced metals will be able to hold your power."

Damien then pointed to Varn, "To ascend to A grade, one must either consume an elemental stone or enter a contract with a spirit. In your case Varn, there are no Wild magic stones or spirits."

Damien leaned closer, "Only those who watch from beyond the curtain can provide the power you seek, and they do not play nice to their host's body. At best, you will enter a berserk state every time you manifest your powers. At worst, you will become a being of pure untamed raw mana. Although incredibly powerful, also a very miserable existence."

Varn's yellow snake eyes shuddered as if he could hear the voices whispering their sweet poison in his ear, beckoning him to look beyond. His long purple ears pressed down against his skull in terror.

Lighting whitened the room as thunder roared across the sky, and the relentless rain continued thumping against the window. Damien glanced at the moon partially hidden by the dark clouds and decided to wrap up the lesson, "That's enough for today; tomorrow will be busy as Project Angel tears begin operations."