A year later.

"Dang it, I'm going to be late again."

A kid could be seen zooming through a giant building, his face flushed red from running. After passing another six doors, Wesley finally saw his classroom

Wesley scrambled into the room, seconds before a loud voice sounded over the school.

“All students should now be present in Block 3.”

Wesley quickly sat down behind his desk, which was more of a slab of wood sitting above the ground more than anything. He was finally a Rank 1 Elementary mage student at the Western Conarite Institute of Magic, learning the same magic techniques that he and his friends had observed in the past.

His Block 3 class was General Mana and Magic Manipulation, taught by a certain Mr. Clayde.

“Late again, Wesley?”

“No sir, I believe I arrived prior to the announcement.”

“But you were not seated at the time of the announcement. That will be another two points off of your final grade this quarter. Come late to my class again and I will report this matter to the principal. Is that understood?”

“…” Wesley glared at the teacher. For whatever reason, Mr. Clayde seemed to be targeting Wesley ever since the first day of class. Other students consistently arrived to class late far more often, but Mr. Clayde never addressed them.

“…Yes, sir.”

Wesley sighed and accepted the loss. There wasn’t much he could do; the school’s management was very strict, and would always side with their teachers if any student-teacher conflict arose.

“Now then…” Mr. Clayde began his lecture for the day. “Last class we talked about how magical energy, or mana, is created, how your mana lake collects and stores that energy, and how your mana channels enable you to utilize it. This class, I will explain to you how to efficiently use the mana. In other words, how to cast spells. Although the school has been teaching you how to cast spells, we have yet to go over the details behind doing so.”

He looked around the classroom. “Now, although you’ve learned about magic through practical and combat exercises, you’ve never been exposed to the history and origins of it. For example, does anyone know the other two ways to cast spells?”

A girl sitting at the front quickly raised her hand high in the air.

“Yes, Nadine?”

“Thank you, teacher. Drawing and imprinting, along with writing, are the three methods used to cast spells..”

“Thank you Nadine, you are correct. First, let’s talk about writing, as this is how most of you will be using magic in the future.

“Writing is the most basic, primitive way of utilizing mana to cast spells. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, our ancestors subjugated the elven race and learned their language, which was capable of directing mana. Now, to start writing, you must draw your mana from your mana lake through your mana channels to your finger. Then, you use your finger as your writing utensil. But of course, you all know that already.

“Everyone here has already practiced writing spells on paper, then casting the spell by activating it. However, in the future, we will transition from writing on paper to writing on solidified layers of air. I’ll explain this in a future class. Now, this method has one key flaw. Does anyone know what it is?”

This time, Nadine and Wesley both raised their hands immediately. However, Mr. Clayde ignored Wesley and nodded toward Nadine.

“Thank you, teacher. The shortcoming of writing, is that it is extremely slow. As such, in fast-paced combat situations, those who are only capable of writing are left at a severe disadvantage unless they are able to finish the bout in a single blow.”

Mr. Clayde smiled. “Right again! Writing is a very arduous process, as you have to fully write out the properties of the magic you are intending to use. For example, if you wish to shoot out a bolt of flame, not only do you have to write the word for fire, you have to describe the temperature of the flame, the velocity and direction of its travel path, the size, and more.

“As such, those who are incapable of utilizing the second method of utilizing magic, drawing, usually end their magical studies after graduating from an elementary institute, such as this one. Although they may call themselves mages… truthfully, their abilities can only help them with everyday chores and the like..

“One can only call themself a true mage if they are capable of drawing. You will learn this next quarter; we will focus on writing this semester. Everyone, divide into your usual teams and we’ll head to the training fields for the rest of the block.”

A student near the back of the class, Alex, raised his hand. “Sorry teacher, but what about the third way? Imprinting?”

Mr. Clayde blinked twice and answered slowly. “Imprinting... requires for the user to memorize the entirety of a seal, and imprint it directly onto a surface for casting. Those who are capable of doing this are truly the best of the best, as not only does it require intense memorization capabilities, but also very fine mana control.

“To put it in perspective, perhaps one out of every hundred people is capable of becoming a mage. Only one out of those hundred will be capable of drawing, and only one out of a million of those, will be capable of imprinting.”

He slowly scanned the room, then continued. “If any student of mine were ever capable of imprinting, then I would have no regrets in life. Alas, even if I manage to teach tens of thousands of students, the odds are against me yet.”

At this point, Wesley fell asleep. About an hour later, he woke up to Mr. Clayde’s booming voice.

“Everyone, group up and head to the training fields, now! We’re wasting time, go!”

At the Western Conarite Institute of Magic, each day was split into three blocks. The third block of the day was the longest, and usually consisted of rigorous practical exercises.

Wesley quickly caught up to a group of older students, all of whom were several inches taller than he was. Most of the group was around 9 years of age, which Wesley being the clear outlier at just over 7 years of age. Despite this, the group didn’t ostracize Wesley, but rather treated him as a younger brother.

“Hey shorty, late to class again? Really, you’re such a disappointment.” One of the students, Zach, teased in a tone mimicking Mr. Clayde’s.

The rest of the group laughed as Wesley responded, “Yeah, yeah, shut it. The old man’s clearly just jealous of my talent and good looks.”

All of the nearby students broke out into laughter. As someone whose mana channels began developing at just over 6 years of age, Wesley’s future potential was nearly limitless. As for good looks… At best, he was slightly above average, saved by his large, cute eyes.

…

On the first day of school, the students had been split into groups based on their specialties.

Since most of the students were nobles whose families typically specialized in certain forms of magic, many of their specialties had been effectively determined at birth. As for those who came from outside the first ring, they would be forced to choose within the first week what type of magic to specialize in. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t have access to the secret spells and records that had been built up by the noble families over the centuries, but the school would still provide them with some basic materials.

Those in Wesley’s group specialized in water/ice magic, and were all from the 99 noble families of the Conarite Kingdom.

The group cracked some jokes as they headed to the training grounds with the rest of their class, but as soon as they all stepped onto the training grounds, the entire class went silent.

Tension built in the air as the class quickly lined up in perfect, orderly rows. Only the sounds of people could be heard until everything came to an abrupt halt.

Then, even a pin drop could have been heard on the training grounds.

Nodding, Mr. Clayde strolled past the rows of students and, upon passing the foremost row, shouted, “Staggered, two, six!”

The students orderly ran about the field until they were positioned in two rows, six feet between each person in each row, with those in the second row staggered between and with three feet of open space surrounding each student.

Mr. Clayde finally arrived at the front of the field, and observed the students. After a few moments of silence, he raised his right hand and pushed.

A thin layer of air consolidated in the air. Then, Mr. Clayde quickly began to write, using mana, on the newly formed plane.

After a few seconds, Mr. Clayde finished, then swiped his finger across the finished product.

The words lit up, and then disappeared. At the same time, a thin, translucent barrier formed in front of him.

“As you can see, this is the elementary spell, “Mana Barrier”. Unlike most spells, which require only an initial input of mana, Mana Barrier requires a constant flow, as well as additional mana to deflect attacks, which makes it a perfect skill for practicing mana control.”

After elaborating on the properties and intricacies of the spell, the students began practicing it on their own. After a bit, they divided back into the groups they’d arrived in, and their weekly competition began.

The only rule regarding the competitions was that they could only use the spells they’d learned that week. For example, this week, in addition to Mana Barrier, they’d learned four other spells. Only those five spells could be used during the competition. It just so happened that this week, two of the spells had been water/ice based…

Grinning, Wesley and his team paired off against their first victims.

Along with Zach and Wesley, there were three other boys in the group. Josh, George, Reynold, as well as a lone girl, Emily.

Josh and George were twin brothers from the Creer family, while Reynold was from the Hiringu family, Emily from the Fangen family.

As the oldest, and thereby the leader, Zach took control of the situation and brought the rest into their pre-match huddle.

“Alright, so we’re against the earth magic group again. Don’t think we have too much to care about, right? Of the spells we learned this week, none of them were earth-based, so let’s just go with our normal ‘time-to-win’ plan, okay?”

“Yes sir!” A quick chorus of voices sharply responded.

At the same time, the other team left their huddle as well.

The two teams stepped into the middle of the field, while the rest of the teams formed a circle around them, effectively creating an arena.

Mr. Clayde stepped between the two groups and looked to Zach and Toh, the Earth’s team’s leader, for confirmation.

“Ready?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Ready?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

…

“Fight!”

Zach and Toh both leaped backwards and whipped out special parchment papers and used their mana to write spells along with the rest of their respective teams, while the rest of the students started chatting amongst themselves.

About thirty seconds later, everyone abruptly paused their conversations and looked toward the battle again.

Wesley, Emily, and Reynold had finished writing, while Toh and one other from opposing team finished at the same time.

The five lifted their respective papers and activated the seals with their mana. “Cast!”

Bolts of ice flew between the two sides, and Wesley felt something hit him in the chest. The next thing he knew he was gasping for breath, back on the ground.

At the same time, two from the opposing team backs as well. Disgruntled, they and Wesley picked themselves up and quickly retreated to the edge of the circle.

Momentarily, Josh and George had finished as well - two walls of ice appeared before the twins while a bolt of lightning and a burst of flame flew towards them.

The flame disappeared after hitting the ice wall, but the lightning pierced through and knocked Josh out into the surrounding classmates.

At this moment, Zach finished his spell, mana barrier, and shouted toward George.

“George, send it!”

The ice wall that George had created suddenly rushed forward, smacking all but Toh to the ground.

Toh had positioned herself behind her teammates after unleashing her spell, and George didn’t have enough mana to push the ice wall further.

However, this didn’t mean she was safe. Although the ice wall had stopped, Zach had been running behind it.

Seeing it stop, he raised his hand and activated mana barrier. In front of him, a translucent shield appeared. He lowered his right shoulder and charged through the ice wall, using the mana barrier to break through, then continued his momentum to crash the mana barrier right into Toh, knocking her out of the arena.

With all of those from the opposing team knocked out of the fight, Wesley and the rest of his team raised their hands in celebration and cheered.

Mr. Clayde walked into the center of the arena and pronounced, “Victory to the Water and Ice team, with four survivors. Next, the Fire and Wind teams.”

As he left the arena, he muttered to himself, “God, watching these children fight is so damn boring.”