Everyone around me was looking at me with disbelief in their eyes. There was no doubt that the opinion of students in Loki hall were all low. Just because they think your hall speaks of your calibre. I wouldn’t blame them though because it was a common stereotype. But for someone to say it out loud and actively look down on them, when even Draco and Chippy who were elites in their own right did not even once judge me for being in Loki, this was too much.

“You said the winner could ask the loser to do any one thing right? For trying to embarrass me, chasing me out of the party and insulting Jenny, I will just do the same thing to you. I already embarrassed you because obviously you just got your ass owned to me in what you felt so proud in. I hope you can wake the fuck up after this. Now, I will ask you to leave the party as well. As for insulting Jenny, apologise.” I said, with a very stern tone. I wanted to ask this guy to take off his pants and run 10 times around the room before allowing him to leave but I did not want to seem petty in front of Jenny. This was also not my own hall as well so I exercised some constraint.

Malcolm was still looking at the disc in disbelief. Then, he narrowed his eyes.

“You must have cheated!” He yelled at me.

“ENOUGH! How much more do you want to disgrace Freya hall?! Do you want to be miserable for the rest of your days here?!” Someone behind me shouted angrily.

I turned and looked at the person who shouted. He was someone who was even taller than me, which was quite uncommon, especially for mages who are typically of a smaller build. He had a sort of aura that was quite peculiar. One that emitted deep, endless strength but it didn’t feel overbearing.

When Malcolm realised who exactly shouted, he immediately went to Jenny to apologise and left the room as fast as he could.

The guy who scolded Malcolm came up to us.

“Pardon this scene during a welcome party. Not everyone in Freya is like him. He is just an arrogant and stuck up first year because he had rather good grades for his QEs. That’s all. I’m the president of Freya hall, Tom. Welcome to Freya hall. I see that you are quite talented in elemental recomposition. No one I knew ever reached level 2 within the first month of school let alone first two days. You really are talented. Do you want to join Freya hall? As president, I can put in a good word for you to the school and ask them to transfer you here.” He immediately offered.

My eyes shined as I now had the opportunity to be in the same hall as Jenny. However, I slowly reconsidered. Yes it was true that this president seemed nice. However, when Malcolm was aggressively taunting me just now, no one among this entire sea of people helped to step up. Some of them also sniggered at me, simply because I was someone from Loki. Are these people really nice then? The people I’ve met in Loki so far are people who really have no regards for your grades at all. They just want to have a good time in school. Tom might also just be eyeing my potential worth, thus wanting to grab me into Freya instead of being genuinely nice. I weighed the pros and cons quickly.

It might be a pity, but I still will be able to see Jenny in school during classes and I can still meet up with her. But over my dead body will I associate myself with prideful individuals who just look down on people based on their hall. They are not even the strongest hall that’s the worst part. I wonder if Odin is like that too.

“Sorry Tom, but I have to decline. I already have made good friends in Loki and I’m pretty comfortable there.” I said, direct and to the point.

“Very well then.” He sighed. “Please do continue to enjoy the rest of the party. And thanks for not going overboard with what you requested of Malcolm. It was greatly handled on your part.” He said and left.

My impression of him became slightly better.

Thus, the festivities continued and the party went on. Jenny was actually part of a performance on stage and she was the singer of a small orchestra. I was very surprised because she did not mention this at all to me. However, once she got up there and sung, I forgot about everything else in the world and in that moment, I could only look at her, listen to that angelic voice, and be completely mesmerised.

We talked a lot during the party about ourselves and I got to know even more about Jenny. I knew where she lived now which was not near but not very far from me. Maybe about a 20 minute walk away. She also had a sibling in this school who was two years older. He was a mage. Then, I heard more about her dreams and reasons for being a Legionnaire.

Jenny wanted to become a Legionnaire mainly because of her family. Her family were all Legionnaires so she did not want to disappoint them and became one as well. From what she told me, her whole family were mages and they were quite successful as well. It seems like subconsciously, after being raised in that sort of environment, she felt an obligation to become a mage as well to continue the family tradition. Even though her family did not force her to become a mage.

I also talked more about myself, and even brought Chippy and Draco to the conversation because they were the ones I would hang out the most with in school excluding her. Jenny also had a friend, called Puggy that she always hung out with in hall.

As the party was ending, Jenny managed to find Puggy and introduced me to her. Puggy was an archer who was also in her first year. She was a petite, short girl who had a slightly tan complexion and short hair which was cut in the shape of a bob. She was someone who looked very cute. She had blonde hair and was mainly preoccupied with stuffing herself with the food throughout the party. I could not blame her, the food was godsend.

She kinda looks like a pug. Maybe it’s just the name making me think so though… I better not tell her that.

I left the party at around 10pm because I was feeling too fatigued from the training earlier, even though seeing Jenny made me feel like I was rejuvenated, my mind eventually still couldn’t resist begging me for rest. I took my leave and let Jenny enjoy the party with Puggy.

I went straight to my room and crashed onto the bed, mentally exhausted from the events from today and needing some much needed rest before class tomorrow.

-The next day-

The morning went as per usual and I had breakfast in the lobby with Draco and Chippy. When we were eating, I managed to spot Jenny and Puggy and I beckoned them over, signalling that I wanted them to join us. And they did.

It was a very hearty breakfast with the 5 of us introducing ourselves, still in the stage of making good friends during the first few days of school. Everyone here was quite open, nice and honestly quite a joke at times except Draco who always seemed to be calm and classy.

We then left for our respective spines and classes. Everyone present was of a different class so everyone split up except for Jenny and I since we were both under Scarlet Witch together.

We proceeded to our usual classroom and just enjoyed each other’s company.

-In class-

“Alright class listen up! Last week you all learnt the first spell of magic fundamentals. Mana arrow, which is the offensive spell. Today, you will learn a defensive spell. It is called mana shield. It is simple but do not underestimate it. It is still a core defence for many advanced mages. Even I still use it quite frequently so learn this well!” Athena commanded.

Mana shield was literally as its name described. You form a round shield of mana at the area you want to protect. You can cast it on your arm and use it as an actual shield or you could envelop your entire body with the mana shield. However, of course it is not just as simple as that.

“Remember! The strength of your shield comes from the quality of mana. The more you pack your mana into the shield, the stronger it’ll become. This is why mana shields that have a smaller surface area are usually stronger. You can pack a shitload of mana into a small shield around your hand. But if you want to have a shield that envelops your entire body, it will be hard to make sure that the whole shield around your body is densely packed with mana. You would need a much larger quantity of mana as well as ability to increase the quality of something that large. This is why it is more practical to flexibly use the mana shield as the situation calls for it. If you are experiencing weak attacks that come from many different directions, it will be good to use a normal shield to envelope your entire body. However, if it is a strong attack coming from one direction, it is better to raise the quality of the shield and place it in that direction instead because enveloping other parts of your body will just be a waste of mana.” Athena explained.

And so, our lesson for the rest of the day concentrated more on defensive spells. The theory portion covered the different types of defences available to a mage and soon, everyone in class was also able to make a mana shield.

Changing the shape of the mana shield was also an important skill that relied on spatial recomposition. Jenny was really talented in that aspect because she could easily change the shape of her shield to her beck and call. However, I still had to consciously adjust the circumference of the shield and the shape of it consciously. It was not as fluid as I want it to be. However, I know that with more practice on my Heaven and Earth technique, which trains every single possible aspect of mana and ki, I will be able to reach that level sooner or later.

Finally, it was the last portion of the class already which was always the most interesting.

“Okay so for the spellsparring segment today, I will actually be explaining to you standard rules of a spellspar. These are rules that have been standardised across the whole of Xector so please listen. Do not shame our academy by not even knowing something as standard as sparring rules.” Athena warned.

“1. Both parties are NOT allowed to kill each other. Releasing of fatal spells is not allowed unless explicitly agreed upon by both parties.

2. Both parties are to wear the standard issued mana vest at all times during the spar.

3. When either party forfeits, the match is immediately stopped.

4. To forfeit, you can either do it verbally or by gathering mana towards the special button in the vest (so that you can still surrender when you are physically impaired or incapacitated by spells.)

5. When the middle signal indicator of the vest turns red, the wearer loses.

This should cover the basic rules. Of course, any type of magic is allowed except those with the intent to kill. I will show you all the vest. One vest is very costly to make so please take special care with it.” Athena said.

She passed one vest around and explained to us the properties of the vest. Especially the centre button and the surrender button which was somewhere located on the inside of the vest instead of the outside. This was to make sure only our own mana could reach it and call for a surrender in case someone else’s attack actually hit the surrender button.

“This vest is specially designed for spellspars. It is magically protected with an enchantment of it’s own. You see the indicator on the front and centre of the vest? This is your health indicator. It starts off green, then will change to orange before it turns red. Red means you lose okay. This health levels are sensed by the vest and depicts your actual vitality levels. Which means to say that this vest detects your maximum vitality level. It will then carry that amount of protection. When a spell hits you in a spellspar, you will feel pain but the magic enchantment will protect you from some of the damage and inflict it upon the vest itself.” She explained. However, everyone still looked puzzled.

“Let me give you an analogy. Numbers are always easier. Let’s say that you have 1000hp. This amount changes according to every person. Inner mana gives additional magic defence. Inner ki gives additional weapon defence. This is why mages are innately weak to physical attacks and warriors are weak to magical attacks. Total hp can be trained but we will touch on that next time. This vest will sense that you have 1000hp and will take about 700hp as a gauge. This means that this vest’s durability is about 70% of your total vitality. The moment spells hit the vest, let’s say a 150 damage mana arrow hits. You will be left with 700-150=550 hp left in the vest. It will also turn orange in colour to indicate that you have received some damage. Once the hp of the vest reaches 0, or goes below that, you lose. This vest also has defensive properties so any spell you take in a spar will still result in pain, but minimised damage to your actual body. It is quite effective, about a 90% damage reduction rate. This is why spellspars are usually not dangerous at all. Imagine. If your vest blocks out 90% of the damage, if you have 1000hp, an attack will need to cause 10,000 damage for you to die.” She explained.

Everyone nodded this time instead because it really was easier to picture with numbers. For short, it is safe and when the vest turns from green to red, we lose because we have taken substantial damage.

“Alright so let’s begin. Your assignment is to use the two spells you have learnt so far, mana arrow and mana shield to spar. Jinx get your ass down here. Mortred you too.” She said.

Both of us went down to adorn the vest.

“Jinx, use level 1 elemental recomposition only. I heard about your feat in Freya hall. I was also from Freya hall by the way. Good job but don’t use level 2 here. It is supposed to be a spar on equal grounds. If you rely on brute strength every single time, when you meet an opponent with the same level of strength as you, your fighting ability will be unpolished and insufficient.” Athena whispered to me.

I nodded.

“Alright this will be a spellspar with a maximum of 3 minutes. Begin.” Athena announced.

Mortred immediately started casting a mana arrow and threw it at my direction. I immediately conjoured a small, condensed mana shield to block the attack. I looked at my vest. Still completely green. I must have blocked out every single ounce of damage from that arrow. Mana shield is quite a strong defensive spell. Its drawback is not in the strength but in the flexibility of the spell. The more you needed to spread out the shield, the weaker it gets. Mana shield was like a perfect counter to mana arrow because mana arrow is only a single point attack. As long as the mana shield was decently casted, it would almost always be able to block the spell, unless there was a vast difference in strength like quality and quantity of mana.

I threw a level 1 elementally recomposed arrow at Mortred. He also conjoured a small shield that blocked out my arrow. Whenever Mortred threw an arrow, I made a shield. Whenever I threw an arrow, he made a shield. Since both were blocking each other perfectly, there was literally no damage done yet. It was a complete standstill. I decided that this has gone on long enough.

When Mortred was throwing yet another arrow, I too threw one of my own. However, the difference was that while throwing my arrow, I also conjoured a mana shield on my other hand to block the incoming arrow of Mortred. Both of us threw the arrow at the same time but mine hit Mortred whereas his hit my shield. His centre display immediately turned amber.

Everyone gasped when they saw what happened. Apparently, it didn’t cross their minds that you could cast both mana arrow and mana shield at the same time. This time, I conjoured two mana arrows, one in my left hand, one in my right hand and threw them both at Mortred. His eyes widened. He placed his palms out on both sides, one for each arrow and tried conjouring two shields at the same time. For a brief moment, I thought it would work but somehow, the shields did not come out and both arrows hit Mortred. Centre display: Red. I won!

“Jinx… You again….” Athena looked at me with a confused look.

“What did I do now???” I asked.

[/i]I only used level 1 elemental recomposition! I only used mana arrows and mana shield! I was never better than him at all in terms of brute force we were quite even![/i]

“When did you learn simultaneous casting?” She asked.

“What? What’s that??” I said.

“Casting two spells at once. You even managed to cast two DIFFERENT spells at once that is insane!!” She replied.

It turns out that simultaneous casting was the process whereby your channel your mana to different parts of your body and not the same part in order to produce two spells at the same time. For example, channeling your mana to two different directions, left and right to conjour two mana arrows on the left and right hand. This was easy for me after learning the Heaven and Earth technique. However, it was even harder if you had to spatially recompose your mana differently. Like for mana shield, I had to make my mana into a round shape and for my mana arrow, make my mana into the arrow shape. It was literally drawing an arrow with your right hand and drawing a circle with your left hand simultaneously. It was hard to do it well.

The Heaven and Earth technique must be a lot harder than this. I basically did what I just did by feeling just a tiny bit of mental strain. Channeling two different types of energy, mana and ki, to different parts of the body must be a super advanced level of channeling. As for spatial recomposition, a plain circle and arrow shouldn't be comparable to the two swords I made, even though they were of the same shape. Furthermore the quality of mana I have to embed in those swords are ridiculous. I did not do that for my spar…

I told Scarlet Witch that I just had prior experience multitasking like this and she just shook her head.

“Class. What Jinx did was simultaneous casting. You all can try it now but I bet none of you would be able to do it. It is something that requires you to have extremely high concentration to be able to independently cast two spells at the same time. It is easier if you cast the same spell though so if you all want to try, either cast two mana shields or two mana arrows and you will be able to understand what Mortred tried to do and why he failed.” Athena announced.

Everyone in the class immediately tried to conjour two spells, each in different hands. Ten minutes have passed but there was still nothing.

“As expected.. No one can d-“ Athena was talking when suddenly she saw something.

Jenny was holding two mana arrows on each of her hands, both clearly larger than average and shining brightly.

“It took me awhile but I think I got it!” She said.

“This class is interesting indeed. Two people capable of simultaneous casting. Furthermore Jinx is already at level 2 with regards to that. Jenny you can try casting one mana shield and one mana arrow now.” Athena said.

Jenny tried, but she was unable to do it. It was a much higher difficulty. Channelling your mana to two different parts of your body was already something people are not used to and is hard to do but to spatially recompose them differently, it was even harder. What they didn’t know and what I did not know myself was that channelling both ki and mana at the same time to different places was already level 3 of simultaneous casting because they came from different sources. The fourth level would be when I needed to spatially recompose ki and mana into two different shapes.

I was just happy that Jenny was showing so much talent and she was on the way to becoming a great mage herself.

The rest of the spars went on but majority ended up in ties since most of them could only cast shield or arrow independently and not simultaneously. One interesting thing happened though. A mage actually ran up to the other mage and tried casting mana arrow in close range. He did not throw it but tried to physically stab the arrow into the other mage to avoid the mana shield. He won and this drew praise from Athena. A mage needed to be flexible and he dealt with the weakness of the mana shield brilliantly. She thought this was the only way to win this spar. Until I came along and messed it up. Oops.

Class ended and just before I got up to leave with Jenny, Athena came over to me.

“Jinx, I need you to follow me after class.” She said.

“Why??” I groaned.

“I need to bring you to see the headmaster.” She whispered to me.

What nowwww…