"Sora, Sora! It is 15 January 207- "

The robot alarm clock didn't have time to say any more than Sora had already stopped it, and rather brutally.

"Raah only one week and you're already getting on my nerves, you dirty alarm clock. Waking me up every morning... "

She violently took off her sheets and rose abruptly, so fiercely in fact that her blood circulation suffered. The result was a certain nausea that lasted only a few seconds.

When she recovered, she glanced at the floor and noticed her shirt. She sighed for a long time before going to her refrigerator.

__

Today the sun was already shining high in the sky, and no clouds on the horizon seemed to bother her. Sora walked under its soft morning rays towards her bus stop.

When the bus stop was finally in sight, she noticed a familiar face. It was Lily, who was also waiting for her bus. When she saw Sora, she immediately waved her hand.

"Oh, hello Sora!"

"Hi..."

Lily sighed slightly, a little disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm of her 'friend' and continued:

"You could show a little more spirit! You look disappointed to see me!"

"Don't talk nonsense. What are you doing here? You don't usually take this bus. You don't even live in this part of Suva to tell the truth... "

Hearing the question, Lily bulged her chest and put her hands on her hips.

"Haha! Come on, guess! What do you think I was doing?"

Sora tilted her head slightly to the side and after only a few seconds of reflection, she replied :

"I have no idea."

A little disappointed, Lily lowered her head, but raised it immediately and pointed at Sora:

"Couldn't you be a little more curious ? I went to the local market this morning. I walked around a bit and bought a few things I liked. And you know what?"

Sora sighed slightly.

"No, I don't know. In fact, my singularity doesn't allow me to read minds."

Surprised by this answer, Lily took a few steps back.

"How ungrateful you can be! I had bought four bracelets to celebrate the fact that we are a team and that could serve as a symbol of recognition, but in the end I'm going to keep yours. You don't deserve it!"

"It's a good thing, I didn't want it anyway."

Angry, Lily was the first to enter the bus that had just arrived. When she validated her badge with the driver, he was surprised to see small tears streaming from the corner of her eyes.

So Lily and Sora spent their bus ride separated from each other. The difference was that one didn't care, and the other was hurt in her heart.

"How can anyone be so insensitive...".

Inside a grey concrete building, not even having the glass in the windows, about a hundred students were gathered, as well as a few teachers. Among these people, a woman in her second half of her thirties was giving lessons to her pupils.

"Good. Everybody is here. Hello everyone. Today, both this morning and this afternoon, you are going to learn how to train."

Lorena had a frightening smile on her face. On the other hand, Sora's curiosity was instantly aroused.

"For those of you in a hurry, this course must be a real deliverance. But I advise you to be careful and patient, because the improvement process for an arcanist is long and tedious, and sometimes a bit boring."

Instinctively, she looked around her class to see if everyone was interested and listened attentively. When she looked at Sora, she laughed, it was as if stars were twinkling in her eyes.

"First of all, we need to break down the types of training. An Arcanist has many ways of training. The first and most important one for a beginning arcanist, and one that will remain a priority throughout an arcanist's life, is to increase his or her concentration in magical particles. Each person has a particular talent in this regard, but even the arcanists of the smallest ranks can surpass themselves and become very great arcanists. It is important to know that I was originally a A rank arcanist and I intend to become an S+ rank arcanist, or even higher."

Serena calmly explained the first training method to her very attentive students. It was relatively simple: all you had to do was meditate. Indeed, the magic particles are very much linked to the energy deployed by the body.

Meditation allows you to control your blood circulation and certain functions of your body. The more an Arcanist has a strong control of his body, the higher the concentration of particles will be. Forty years after the first arcanists appeared, no one had yet reached their limit particle emission.

Everybody seemed to be thrilled with their teacher's explanations except for a few, including Sora, who seemed to be torn between disappointment and a certain sense of understanding.

'So that's why she forced me to meditate every day for a year.'

The person Sora was talking about was of course her former teacher, Suki Fuyu. Nevertheless, Sora was relatively disappointed that the main training was so passive.

Meanwhile Lorena continued her explanations:

"It's not for nothing that one recognises the power of an arcanist in relation to his rank. Although the rank in itself reflects much more than the particle concentration of the person concerned, having an order of magnitude of these particles makes it possible to fix an impact force to this arcanist. If one can emit a large number of particles, then it will be able to call on more resources, and more quickly."

Lorena, who hadn't stopped talking for several minutes already, took a little break of a few seconds. She took the opportunity to drink from a bottle of water and then continued:

"Don't worry, I won't ask you to sit and meditate all day. It is up to you to meditate the rest of your free time. The recommended amount of meditation time needed differs among Arcanists, but the government advises you to meditate for at least one hour a day if you want to become at least a confirmed Arcanist. Afterwards, it will depend on your mastery, but with one hour a day you will be able to become a little useful. Afterwards, if it were up to me, I would advise you to meditate as soon as you have some free time at the beginning, because an arcanist who is not at least A- rank is not very useful. Finally, let's move on to the second training that concerns you for the moment: mastery."

At last something interesting!

The flame of Sora's curiosity was instantly rekindled.

"Mastery is very simple: you just have to constantly align your own Enkainias with those of nature. This will increase your speed in invoking your techniques, but more importantly, it will prevent you from failing to invoke it in full action! So what I will ask you today is very simple: just like two days ago, invoke your magic again. It doesn't matter in what form. Start with the simplest. Whether it's creating a simple flame, a little breeze, or a bouquet of flowers, do whatever you want. Just try not to hurt others. When you're done, come and see me. Anyway, you can start."

After these words from their teacher, each student joins his or her team. It was the same for Lei, Sora, Loki as well as Lily. As soon as they met, Lily spoke first:

"Say, don't you think it would be a good time to ask her?"

Lei looked at her surprised:

"What question?"

"Well, you know, about our group."

"Ah, why did she bring us together like this? "asked Loki.

"Yes, it bothers me a bit... I mean, originally we had nothing in common."

It was at this moment that a figure appeared behind Lily. It approached slowly, until it was only a few centimetres behind her. Feeling the person's breath, Lily was startled and took a few steps forward, in order to move away from her, slightly frightened.

"Kyaah! Madam! Don't scare me like that! And what are you doing here in the first place?"

"Me? I'm just passing through. I came to see my dear pupils and it so happens that they were talking about me! You are wondering why I have gathered you into a team, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Everyone was surprised. And there was reason to be, indeed. The person who had just spoken was none other than Sora.

"Well, well. You see, I've brought you together because you're a hell of a team of troublemakers!"

Once again, everyone was surprised. Especially Lily and Lei felt a certain sense of disgust. Sora, on the other hand, had a face of 'I knew it'.

"Yeah, you see, when I applied here, I expected to find nice students! But you four... Your singularities are very rare, or even special. Not only do you make me jealous, but I don't know how to help you train at all. The Oceanides have one of the most difficult capacities to imagine, which makes many of them useless, gravitational attraction, the dance of the shadows, and the Enkainas of flowers..."

Lily's gaze went to the ground, while Loki clenched his fists. Lei asked in spite of herself:

"But do you still have some information for us?"

Lorena looked at her, a little confused, and then nodded:

"Yes, she did. I do have an indication, but only one. In fact, the funny thing is that this is advice that is rarely given, but it applies to all four of you. Sometimes some Enkainias can only be found in specific environments, for example your singularity, Loki. Others are more present in specific places, or can only be invoked in specific places. This is why I advise you to train in the woods of the school, because this is the best place to train to invoke your magic."

Lorena pointed to the entrance of the wood, while continuing :

"The woods are very big here, but you don't have to go very far. Just stay close enough, that should be enough. But for the rest, I'm sorry, but you'll have to manage on your own, because I don't think there's a single teacher who can help you in this school. So you will have to help each other. On the other hand, be sure of one thing. If you train properly, you could become one of the best teams in the world. Indeed, each of your singularities are very powerful if mastered, and good holders of this type of singularity can easily become the best in their field. Well, go ahead, it's time for you to start your training."