Blue Magic was largely looked down upon because of how it was learnt. Learning magics by getting hit by savage monsters or repeatedly observing them casting it was 'barbaric' and 'uncivilized' for most mage's standards. It was not the safest method of acquiring magical knowledge either, and Blue Mages often got injured while on the process of learning the basic skills of this field, which certainly didn't help forming the field's positive reputation. Some mages loved to use the term 'Pseudo-magic' to describe Blue Magic. Some downright felt it was insulting to consider it as one of the five 'Color Magic' field.

But the biggest reason that repelled the magic society from exploring this field of magic was, to them it was a huge waste of time. Mostly because civilized people clearly had superior magical knowledge than, let's say, wild beasts. And any spells under Blue Magic available in public records already had a superior version in some other field of Magic that accomplished the same function or was even better. Also most of these spells helped that specific monster which was the source of the spell in its natural needs instead of making a human's life any easier, making Blue Magic somewhat situational and inferior in magical standards.

Eon knew this, but he also knew there were some spells under his belt that was easier to cast than most of the 'traditional' variations of it. Spells learnt under Blue Magic required no casting gestures, making them way less complicated to learn. This kind of magic seemed almost 'natural' to him for some reason.

"Monsters don't cast any spell. Magic for them is as normal as breathing. For them magic is part of their biology, and most of the monster species learn how to use it with their instinct or know it from their birth."

Eon looked around the medical ward he was lying in. His memories were kind of fuzzy but it was all coming together. He slowly remembered how he slashed Brute's face and the lethal spell actually managed to bypass all the anti-lethal wards planted around the ring. Moreover he couldn't recognize the spell, he didn't remember learning it or even using it before. "Something to look into in the future", he thought to himself.

A knock on the door put an end to his thoughts. "So you're finally awake!" A nurse walked in, a mild smile plastered on her face. "How do you feel?"

"How long was I asleep?" Eon asked, ignoring the Nurse's questions.

"Not that long actually!" The nurse replied, "around 6 hours I'd say. Your parents came running when they heard about it. They told us to inform if anything happens. You were the lucky one in the aftermath of the battle afterall. The other person.. didn't share the same luck.. he will need at least a week to fully recover, with permanently lasting scars."

Eon didn't even want to get into details. But he made a mental note of apologizing to Brute in the future.

After a moment's silence Eon spoke up again, "How big of a trouble am I in right now?" His voice signaled his worry.

"I don't really know the details but rest assured. The champion apparently asked the legal department to call off and put no charges against you. He took the blame on himself as far as I know." The nurse answered while changing the flowers on the vase nearby. "A personal advice, try not to use a magic spell on a person without having full control over it. As a medical staff I can confirm the majority of magically wounded people we take care of, comes from accidents occured from inability to control lethal spells."

"I'll keep that in mind." Eon replied absentmindedly.

Next couple of hours the nurse did some check-ups on Eon to make her final report. "You seem to be just fine now. You'll be discharged as soon as your guardians come by." She declared.

"Eon!" The room's door was slammed open. "Thank the Goddess you're alright!" Eon's mother hugged him tight.

"I won't be any longer if you keep suffocating me like that!" Eon struggled.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Eon was discharged from the hospital shortly after and he decided to call it a day and went to sleep early as he had a class to attend the next day.

***

"So Eon, would you mind answering the question presented on the blackboard?"

The question snapped Eon out of his reverie. He couldn't stop wondering about the exotic magical spell he displayed back in the tournament and kept thinking about it since waking up in the morning.

The current academic year for Eon was coming to and end. The annual exam within a week's grasp, the students retrained themselves from most distractions and the school perimeter was cloaked in a rather serious aura instead of the usual cheerfulness. Most of his classmates were either chatting about what they wanted to do after graduating from this school, others were focusing solely on studying for the upcoming exam. Looking outside through the window, the school seemed quite gloomy to Eon in this time of the year.

He decided to take a look at the blackboard. It wasn't the mundane type of blackboards people used years ago. In the recent years the sheer rise of magical item production and usage has caused significant changes in every field, including education system. It was a tiny black box with a illusion of a rectangular black screen floating above it, with the sentence 'What is the taxonomical class that seperates magical plants from non-magical ones?' glowing on it.

"The answer is Mervellia." He finally answered.

"As expected from Eon! You'll do wonders in biology if you wish to pursue this field in future, I'm telling you boy!" The teacher's enthusiastic voice radiated too much energy despite of her old age. "You might still reconsider pursuing your magic studies in Grimoria and focus on being a researcher instead! The world needs more people interested in the flora and fauna and you know it!" Apparently she really wanted Eon to join a school focusing on wildlife research in Grandor instead of joining a magic school. "So as I was saying, the class Mervellia signifies that a plant exhibits magical properties. And for animals the Mystica family seperates magical ones or 'monsters' from the typical ones. These will be on the final exam.."

Eon knew she wasn't entirely wrong. When he was enrolled in this class he expected to learn more about monster habitats and their characteristics and so on, but what he realized was that the world documented very little about these creatures and the stuff written on most books are very often unreliable as the writers tried to glamorize the creature to unbelievable degrees for the reader's amusement. The knowledge he seeked couldn't be acquired through conventional biological studies. The world truly lacked wildlife enthusiasts as he knew it.

He lazily walked out of the classroom as the lecture ended and came across Evelyn. His flaming red haired childhood friend wore an expensive mage robe that made her stand out and announced her coming off a highly respected mage family. They had high hopes for their daughter's future and she also took her learnings very seriously.

"Oh hey Eon! Ready for the Magical Spell class?"

"Uh I guess.."

"Oh come on. Show some enthusiasm! You should be pumping for this class like I am! Especially after the stunt you pulled yesterday!"

Eon frowned on hearing the last part. "You know about that..?"

"What do you mean? Everyone knows about that. Heck, you're the hot topic of the entire school today. Some people who watched your fight first hand has been being treated like celebrities and people were making them describe the whole battle again and again!" Evelyn recited the whole thing in a breath. "We are probably the only two students from this town who are aiming to enroll in Grimoria Magic Academy. Now that you're using spells other than those used by stinky animals, maybe you'll even be able to get near my level as a mage. But not on my level though."

That explained why Eon's classmates were staring at him weird when he wasn't looking. He obviously wasn't the most social of the students but he wasn't entirely unapproachable. People mostly knew him as 'that jungle monster kid'. And fewer people actually cared about that annual tournament to keep tracks from it. But even for them Brute was very much well known and news of his defeat was bound to bring unwanted attention to Eon.

"So what do I need to do to make you teach me that mighty spell of yours?" Evelyn asked with a grin.

"Pardon?" Eon replied comically just to see Evelyn's reaction but he was slightly confused at the question as well.

Evelyn chuckled a little and continued. "Don't pretend that it wasn't a spell from some book you illegally got your hands on. Now spill the beans. Name your price."

"Well Eve, I honestly don't know what to teach you. I don't even know what that spell was and how I even performed it. I never even saw that spell in my whole life." Eon tried to explain.

"Oh come on Eon. You can't monopolize over a spell like that!"

"I'd let you know how to cast it as soon as I get to know it myself. I promise."

Evelyn frowned at that answer. "Stubborn as always huh. Then let it be your way for now. I'll get that spell out of you sooner or later. See you in the class."

Eon watched the red haired girl walk away towards the class angrily. He had to find a way to make her believe him. You wouldn't want to get on that woman's wrong side.

***

After school he decided to roam around in the forest for a while before heading home. It was the second week of the month of Yukartic. Winter was almost coming to an end and most monster species were about to come out of their hibernation. So he mostly focused on learning as many spells as he could from these monsters in the limited forest area he had access to. He looked around for a reported 'King Scorpion' that had fled around here from the deep forest area.

King Scorpions lived in caves or underground tunnel systems. They were not venomous but were famous for their strength and agility and notorious for attacking anything they found remotely threatening. If Eon was careful enough he would easily be able to observe it from a distance and in best case scenario, he could study it for long enough to maybe learn a spell from it!

The boy was scrutinizing the surroundings for claw marks or so, to reduce his search area. Just then an unusual rustling noise alerted his senses. He carefully moved towards the noise to find out its source. He was a little shocked to find out the source was not a giant arachnid but a young elf girl trying to reach one of the higher branches of a tree to harvest some walnuts.

"Eek! Wow.. You kinda scared me a little there." The elf said following with a nervous laugh upon noticing Eon. "Hey! Uhh.. do you mind helping me harvest some of those?" She pointed at the walnuts above her. "They fetch a high price where I'm from."