Authors Note: I always find it interesting what you guys think might happen in the story. I really like comparing it to what I already have planned and seeing how different it would be.

I also was wondering what you guys thought of the chapter lengths. I have no plans to change them, but I was curious if you thought they were too long, too short, or just right.

Last bit before the chapter. About me having a release schedule? I don't have one. I debated about if I wanted to release regularly, but decided against it. my reason being that I want the chapters to write themselves, and not be rushed by a deadline. After all only the story is planned out not individual chapters. It gives wriggle room when getting from point A to B.

Well enough of that, here is the chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 9

Outside the school, in one of the practice fields, class 2-C was having its first magic lesson. The gruff teacher was standing in front of the students, with four instructors standing behind him.

“All right class let’s review the basics of magic. How many elements are there?”

“There are six elements sir, Fire, Water, Light, Wind, Dark, and Earth.”

“Good. Now, what does having a certain affinity with an element mean?”

Another student spoke up. “It means that you have an easier time manipulating the magic into the spell you want, right?”

“Close enough. Simply speaking if you have a fire affinity, you have an easier time casting fire spells, while it will be harder to cast water spells. It breaks down like this.”

The teacher cast six orbs of light into the air, each one a different color representing an element. They then formed a circle. Going clockwise the colors were, white, red, green, purple, blue, and finally yellow.

“Memorize this if you haven’t already. This is a quick way to see how hard a spell is to cast with certain affinities. For example, if you have light affinity, dark spells will be very difficult to cast. This is represented by the colors being on the opposite sides of the circle.”

A student raised his hand. “What if you have affinities in opposite elements?”

“An excellent question. The answer is surprisingly simple; it means you can use both easily. However it has been noted that those born with such affinities are in the vast minority. It’s still not fully understood what influences what you’re born with.”

“Then what about having no affinity?”

“Hmm, that one is also not understood very well. It seems those with no affinity have the trouble of casting spells as if it was an opposite element, but the power output is usually increased.”

“So basically it’s useless right?” The students snickered. They knew who was implied.

The teacher frowned, but didn’t reprimand the student. “Being useless or not aside, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. One way to overcome the disadvantages is learning how to properly control the flow of your magic. This may seem boring or tedious, but if you ever hope to become a top rate magician this is something you must be able to do as naturally as breathing.”

The teacher made another ball of light. “Each of you will make a ball of light like this. Once you have done so…” The instructor divided the ball in half. He kept dividing the ball until soon 100 little light balls floated around him. “Even the weakest mage in the army can do this much. The hardest part is learning the feeling of your magic and being able to move it to your will.”

The students talked among themselves. “That’s easy enough.” Was the general thought of everyone.

The teacher chuckled. “While I expect some of you to already be able to do this much, I can’t proceed with the lessons until everyone is capable.”

A boy stepped up. “I can do at least this much.”

“Oh? Then by all means show me. Anyone who can do it can spend the time in class doing self-study.”

The boy gathered magic into his hand and created the ball of light. He then slowly divided it in half. He was able to do this five more times before the balls of light vanished. The boy was panting.

The teacher smiled. “Harder than it looks, right?”

The students were surprised at the difficulty of the task. Many who scoffed at how simple it would be ended up struggling.

“Anyone else want to try?”

Callen stepped forward. “I will.”

“Mr. Delgado. Alright show me what you got.”

Callen made the ball of light, and almost just as quickly as the teacher, divided it into 100 smaller ones.

“How’s this?”

The teacher wasn’t surprised. “I expected no less from you. Feel free to engage in self-study until the rest of the class is caught up.”

While the class was making a fuss over Callen, Brett walked up. “Me too, I want to slack off with Callen.”

The teacher rolled his eyes. “Ah yes, Mr. Trevino. Go ahead.”

While not as fast as Callen, Brett was able to make 100 balls of light.

“Woohoo, come on Callen let’s go take a nap.”

“As a teacher I should be happy that you succeeded, yet I can’t stop myself from being disappointed.”

Yumi, who had been silent until now, approached the teacher. “Excuse me; I would also like to try.”

He turned to her. “Mrs. Nishka, you want to take a crack at it too? Alright go ahead whenever you’re ready.”

Yumi nodded and gathered the magic into her hand. The other students either chuckled at her attempt or didn’t bother watching. Brett was trying to leave, but Callen wanted to watch so he stayed too.

The ball of light appeared in her hand. A few seconds passed but the ball wasn’t dividing. The teacher was about to say something, when all at once the ball split into 100 pieces.

“How was that?” Yumi asked.

The teacher was stunned. To be able to split it into 100 in one attempt was amazing. It took a great deal of control to accomplish. A girl her age shouldn’t be capable of this. The few students who watched were confused. Callen was just staring at her. Brett just said, “Ooh, fancy.”

“Sir?”

Yumi’s question brought the teacher out of his thoughts. “O-oh. Yeah that was very well done. If you don’t mind me asking, did you teach yourself how to do that?”

Yumi shook her head. “No, I was taught by a very good teacher during the break.”

The teacher raised his brow. “Really? Can I have the name of your teacher?”

Yumi showed a wry smile. “Sorry he asked to remain anonymous.”

He was disappointed. “That’s a shame. They must be an excellent teacher.”

“Yes they are.”

“Alright you can also do self-study with the other two.”

The teacher then clapped his hands. “Alright everyone the other instructors and I will come around and try to help you, please attempt it on your own if you’re waiting to be helped.”

Yumi stepped aside and was approached by Callen.

“Hey, that control was really good. How did you do that?”

Yumi was startled after being spoken to suddenly. “Um, your Callen right?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m Callen. That’s Brett over there.”

“Yo.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Yumi.”

“Nice to meet you too. So? How were you able to get that much control over your magic?”

Brett nudged Callen in the side. “Dude, slow down. This is the first time you’ve met each other.”

Callen argued. “But that control was something else. Even I don’t have that good of control.”

Brett had a shocked faced. “Oh my Gods, you just admitted to being bad at something? Yumi quick, we have to savor this moment.” Brett took a big breath. “Ah, that was good. I can die satisfied now.”

Callen frowned. “This little…”

Yumi couldn’t help herself from giggling. The sight of the two boys made her laugh.

Callen turned to her. “It’s not funny.”

She tried to stifle her laughs. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.”

Callen sighed. “It’s fine. But seriously, how did you learn to do that? You said you were taught right?”

“Yes I did, but if you want to know by whom, I can’t tell you.”

“How about you teach me then?”

Brett held up his hand. “Whoa Callen, you can’t just ask a girl for her secrets. Don’t you think that’s a little rude?”

“Well… yeah you’re right. Sorry Yumi.”

She waved her hand. “It’s fine. While I would like to teach you, I hardly understand how to do it myself. Right now it’s more of a ‘feeling’ rather than me consciously doing it.”

Callen put a hand to his chin. “I see. That would be hard to explain. Guess I’ll have to give up for now. By the way I heard rumors that you weren’t very strong in magic, but that display earlier made me have my doubts.”

Brett just looked at him. “Callen… have a little tact bro.”

Yumi smiled. “It’s true I struggled with using magic, but during the break I finally contracted with a spirit and was taught by an excellent teacher. I can safely say that I have improved.”

Callen asked. “Were you also taught magic by that excellent teacher?”

“He taught me a thing or two.”

Brett said. “I think I know where this is going…”

“Hey, Yumi. Since we are free to do self-study, want to spar a little?”

Brett sighed. “I knew it.”

Yumi thought for a bit, and then replied. “Alright, I’ll have a match with you.”

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The three of them walked to an empty training field. The fields were 120 yards long by 55 yards wide. Each field was set up with its own enchantment spell to protect any participants inside from harm. It even had the capability to determine a winner based on if an attack would have been lethal or not.

Yumi and Callen entered the field and took their places at the starting points on opposite ends. Brett stayed outside the field and just watched.

Callen called out to Yumi. “So how do you want to do this? Just magic? Or should we go all out?”

Yumi answered. “How about just a magic battle? I won’t use my familiar.”

“I’m fine with that. We’ll start on Brett’s signal.”

Brett looked to both sides. “Are you guys ready?”

Callen and Yumi nodded.

“Then begin!”

Callen gathered fire in his hand and fired directly at Yumi. “[Magma Stream]!

Molten lava spewed forth covering the ground between the two fighters. Yumi concentrated magic into her legs and dodged to the side.

Callen was surprised to see that. He had expected her to use a spell in an attempt to block. Again, he was in awe of her magic control.

Even while Yumi was dodging she had simultaneously launched a counterattack. “[1,000 Needles]!”

Callen felt the ground slightly tremble. He jumped back to see a spike of earth appear where he had been standing. From that spike, smaller ones appeared and were launched at him rapidly.

Callen brought his arms up in defense and cast a spell. “[Void Shield].”

A purple aura covered his body and deflected the spikes away from him. Yumi had closed the distance during that time and attacked again.

“[Quicksand]!”

Callen’s feet began to sink into the ground, but he kept calm. While maintaining his Void Shield, he cast another spell.

“[Electromagnetism].”

Sparks flew out from his body, and he rose a few feet off the ground. This caught Yumi off guard; she didn’t think he could escape so easily. Callen used this moment to seize the initiative.

“[Arcing Pulse]!”

Lightning jumped from his hands, chasing after Yumi. When she would jump one way the lightning would follow. She couldn’t shake off the attack. Finally she touched the ground and manipulated some metals in the ground into a small pole in front of her. The lightning arced after her, but this time it struck the pole.

Yumi made some distance as the area around the pole became a small thunderstorm. She looked at Callen and wondered how strong of an attack that aura could block. She knew some strong spells, but the problem was the cast time. By the time she could launch the spell, Callen would have already attacked.

My strongest, yet quickest spell would have to be that huh… but if I use that it and miss, I will definitely lose. No, now is not the time to be second guessing myself. Calgar trained me for moments exactly like this. I have to be confident.

Yumi steeled her resolve and hatched a plan. Meanwhile Callen was also using the time to think up a strategy.

Sub-par in magic my ass Brett. This girl, the more I see it the more convinced I am that she could definitely teach me a thing or two. Her reactions are good and she’s thinking trough with her attacks. I also can’t tell what magic she’s capable of, so I can’t let my guard down.

Callen noticed Yumi bringing her hands together. She started gathering a large amount of magic.

A mid-tier magic? Impressive. However…

Callen charged at Yumi. “…That leaves you wide open!”

He readied a fire spell and was about to launch it when he noticed the smile on her face. He immediate regretted his action.

It was a feint!

Yumi had quickly canceled the magic for the spell and launched a new one with her remaining magic. A bright golden energy gathered in her hand and with a slight delay a beam shot forth.

“[Lux Trabes]!”

Callen twisted his body and shot the stored up fire magic in a discharge to launch him out of the way. However, it only partially succeeded, and the light beam hit his left arm. His purple aura dispersed as he was sent spinning to the ground. He rolled a few times before coming to a stop.

Callen clenched his left fist and grimaced as a numb pain shot up his arm. The field’s barrier had mitigated most of the damage. He quickly stood up and readied himself for the next attack, but it didn’t come. He looked over to where Yumi was and saw her collapsed on the ground breathing heavily.

A buzzer rang out signaling the end of the match. Yumi was unable to continue and Callen was declared the winner. He immediately went over to her and knelt down.

“Hey are you okay?” He said in a worried tone.

Yumi was panting, but she managed the words. “I’m fine. It seems I lost.”

Callen laughed as Brett came running over. “Who cares who won or lost, that was a great match.”

Yumi weakly smiled as Brett helped her up. He then commented. “Hey Callen, remember last year, when I said that nobody could be as crazy strong as you? Looks like I have to take it back. Seriously, the Gods must have been generous when handing out your guys’ genes.”

Yumi giggled and Callen just shrugged. The three moved over to the side of the field and rested on the grass. Yumi had caught her breath and it was now that Callen decided to ask her.

“Hey Yumi, are you already in a team for the upcoming tournament?”

She shook her head. “No, I think everyone thought I would just be a burden so nobody has asked me yet.”

Brett quickly picked up Callen’s aim. “Well, that’s a good thing; it means your fair game. So how about it? Care to join us?”

Yumi didn’t have any reason to refuse. “If you’re willing to have me, I’d love to join your team. I’m sure my familiar Calgar won’t object either.”

Brett made a face as if he just remembered. “Oh yeah, you’re a summoner. Watching your earlier match made me totally forget.”

Callen agreed. “That’s right. Today we weren’t going full strength. It makes me really excited to see what you’re capable of Yumi.”

“You as well Callen. I’m sure you going all out is quite the spectacle.”

Brett thumped his chest. “You guys, when I get serious, I’m quite amazing too.”

Callen rolled his eyes. Yumi looked at him and just smiled.

“I see how it is. You don’t believe me. It’s okay, happens all the time. Just know that when it does happen, it will blow your minds.”

Callen ignored Brett and said to Yumi. “How about we meet up in the library after school to plan out a training schedule?”

“That works for me. Shall I request the use of the training field?”

“Yeah, see what is open and we can work around it.”

Callen and Yumi walked back to the other students while discussing future plans.

Brett slowly walked after them. “You guys are cruel for ignoring me... Aren’t we a team?”