After Sophia warps me to the Mariana Trench I am greeted to the sight of a steel man dressed in a suit. "Hello," I say. "Hello, Miss Windshaw. I am Arthur, an automated butler." "Are you like Aria?" I ask due to the similarities between the two. "No, while Mistress Aria is akin to the Master's daughter, I am more as a butler, more built for assistance, and less processing and creative abilities as well. Now let me guide you to the classroom." He turns around and practically glides forward with smooth steps. Eventually he leads me to a corridor that is labeled 'Utility' and opens the door. Inside I see something reminiscent to a High School classroom except for the fact that everything looks like white and chrome. Thomas is sitting at his desk.

"Welcome. You may take any seat." I sit at the only chair in the middle of the room. He sits on top of his desk. "Today we are going to learn about mana and affinities. Now to my understanding you have already grasped the movement of mana and you have an earth affinity." I nod. "Okay, now then. Mana is a particle similar in size to the average neutron. Yet by looking within ourselves, or more accurately our soul, we can shift it around, move it, mold it. A good portion of magic is actually intent. If you were to take some of the baseless or non-elemental mana in your soul and will it to become earth mana it will." At this I look into my soul and turn some mana into its earth form easily. When I open my eyes he continues.

"Now affinities. Affinities are something decided at birth and usually decide what magic we use and how easily it is to transform mana to your will. For example, if you take some mana in your soul and will it to become like fire it will, but will take more effort without the affinity than with it. Eventually after transforming a lot of mana it will give you the affinity. How much it takes depends on genetics. If one were to continue transforming mana it may upgrade your affinity."

"Now the types of mana. There are nine basic types: Non-elemental, fire, water, earth, air, light, dark, order, and chaos. These elements are the basics for mastering spellcraft. By having enough affinity for certain elements, you can combine the mana in a process called Mana Synthesis. Fusing elements give you a focused aspect of the element and the affinity for the element easily. For example, both light and healing magic can heal a person but it takes much less focus to do it with healing magic. Same with light and purification. However, healing and purification cannot do the jobs of the other. Yes, purification and healing can disinfect but crossing is kept to a minimum. Technically anything can be done with magic as there are possibly infinite combinations. On the other hand, if you try and alter space with just order and chaos, the effort will kill you, so be advised. Though if you already know your affinities then willing a mana strand to the type would be faster than synthesizing it, but testing the affinity requires someone shoving their mana through you and seeing what sticks, so multiple types are still needed."

He pulls out a remote and turns on a projector. The screen shows a chart that goes as following:

Earth & Water = Life

Life & Chaos = Death

Life & Death = Spirit

Non-elemental & Air = Aura

Spirit & Aura & Light = Holy

Holy & Life = Healing

"Now as you can see it will take quite a bit of fusion to be able to get pure healing magic. I forgot to mention that on average element fusion requires level three. Some on two or below and some on four or above, but it comes to three. That is why by the end of this lesson I want you to have Life Magic I. That will require Earth Magic III, Water Magic III, and Mana Synthesis. I will help you if needed." I listen to his command and head into my soul.

In my soul I find all of my mana in its non-elemental state. I start the arduous task of raising my earth affinity. I transform all of the mana in my soul one by one. As more earth mana grows I start to feel taxed, like something is weighing down on me. "I forgot to mention, as you start accumulating mana of different types they can start affecting both your physical and mental state. It's a good practice to turn all elemental magic into non-element when you're not using it. It also gives you the non-elemental affinity by doing that." I hear Thomas mention though it is kind of muffled in my soul.

I heed his advice and keep it in mind as I continue turning mana into earth and then turning it back.

[ Through repeated actions you have unlocked the skill: Non-Elemental Magic I(Minimum, Base) ]

Goody. I continue doing this process for a few hours but eventually the task become monotonous. Transform to earth, transform back, to earth, and back. It becomes just a subconscious action after so long that I just neglect whatever System Notifications I receive. Until I get this one.

[ Through repeated actions skill: Earth Magic I(Maximum, Base) has evolved into Earth Magic II(Minimum, Base) ]

[ Through repeated actions skill: Non-Elemental Magic I(Maximum, Base) has evolved into Non-Elemental Magic II(Minimum, Base) ]

I move out of my soul for the first time in hours. "Well, you haven't completely done my task but if you did it I would consider you a monster. I want you to continue this task and get back to me with life affinity by next week. Hopefully by then we can move on to actually making spells." He closes his eyes for a second. "Or else…well, you don't want to know." With that ominous statement he walks out of the room, leaving me behind. Wait, doesn't he need to warp me back?