(PDV 3° person, Five Elements Academy)

After three days, the first day of class finally came, and Serena e Maria went to class, guided by their SG, which have their class schedule. The classes in the Academy are simple, they follow the normal high school curriculum, with the magic classes introduced in the middle.

Of course, that extended the contend of the normal high school to one extra year to fit the new curriculum, and don’t make the students die out of stress. Serena e Maria head to their first class: Introduction to Magic.

As they enter, the see a classroom reminiscent of an auditorium, with the seats going up like a stair and with tables that fit three students. Of course, the seats are already reserved for the students, with each one having their own numbered seat.

Maria and Serena sit on their table, beside each other with Serena in the middle and Maria on her left. Serena looks to the student sitting on her right. It’s a boy, of course of the same age as her, 15. However, she can only see his black hair, since he’s sleeping, with his arms crossed over the table and his head resting on his arms.

She sighs. There are slackers everywhere, even here. Well, she can’t judge him yet, the class hasn’t started after all. After a few minutes, the class is finally full of students and the bell that signs the start of class rings.

With the bell, the student beside Serena wakes up with a jump. She holds back her giggle because of his reaction, and pays attention to the teacher who just entered the class. He has red, short hair and a handsome face with brown eyes, with pale white skin, ben quite tall around 1,80.

Surprisingly for Serena, he wasn’t dressed in a robe, but a brown tuxedo with a white shirt underneath.

(Lorne): “Good morning guys, my name is Lorne, and I will be your teacher in Introduction to Magic and Basics of Magic. You guys must be asking yourselves why we didn’t ask for any material, books or anything like that. Well, the reason for that is your SG! Please, put it on your table and say “class mode”.”

Most students got confused at that, but they did what he said. Serena took her SG and laid it down in the table in front of her, and said hesitantly:

(Serena): “C-class Mode…!”

She got surprised when the SG shined and expanded, taking the shape of a big and thick square, unfolding and opening like a notebook. It showed an interface as if it was a screen and a notebook keyboard.

(Lorne): “After a lot of development the Magic Scientists came up with the Student Guide, and it has numerous functions, and can be improved by apps. You can find all of its functions with the ‘function pack app’ later, where you can download all the functions that the SG has is disposition. The ‘Class Mode’ is made so that you can keep making notes and type he content of the class, or film the class to watch later at home for study.”

(Serena): “Goddammit, this thing is so useful…”

She thinks. Of course, the color of her Class Mode is white.

(Lorne): “Alright, let’s start the class. So today, I want to explain to all of you what magic is.”

He says, pressing a button on his table, making the wall behind him lit up for a second, turning into a screen. Pointing at the screen, he begins to write, as the screen can recognize to where he is pointing without the need to touch it.

(Lorne): “Magic, in its basics, is energy, and it flows inside everything in the universe. Of course, that includes living beings in our planet. So, why are you guys, mages, able to use magic? The answer is ‘the soul’. It may sound like spiritual crap, but in truth, is really important.”

He says, writing on the screen. Serena types what he speaks, taking notes.

(Lorne): “The status of mage is achieved when you complete 10 years of age. However, the reason for that is of two factors: the amount of mana and your connection with your soul. In theory, no matter the amount of mana in your body, you can become a mage as long your connection with your soul is strong enough at the age of ten. However, the bigger the amount the better the chances of that connection happen.

The process is simple. A normal human being has three ‘aspects’, the physical body, that acts on the physical world, the spirit, which holds the conscience and memories and the soul, that fuels the life of the body. When you die, these three split, the spirit is sucked to the soul and, in theory, you reincarnate without any memories of your past life.

Although this isn’t confirmed, it is what most of the researchers believe what happen, as we didn’t have enough time with magic to figure it out completely. The status of mage is acquired when your soul fuses with the spirit while you are alive when you are ten years old, where both the soul and spirit reach ‘maturity’.

Because of that fusion, you become attuned to the mana in the universe, and your worlds and will gain the ability to interfere with it and cause the phenomenon known as magic. However, the magic that is inside the mage is known as ‘neutral mana’, or colorless mana.”

He took a sip of water from the bottle on his table.

(Lorne): “This mana can do a lot of things, unrestricted by the laws of nature. However, it is limited in interfering with the forces of nature. To use offensive magic, defensive magic, enchanting magic, etc. we need the ‘colored mana’ that exist in the nature.

The types of mana generated by nature are five, white, black, green red and blue. They are generated in the nature, where they are more common. The blue mana, for example, is generated in the oceans and great bodies of water, as well in artic regions.

Green mana is generated in forest and nature areas, as well in deep forests and places where the nature is dominant. Red magic is found in volcanos and mountains, housing creatures that use fire as goblins and other creatures.

White mana is generated where there are a lot of daylight, in plains and hills, as well religious places that generate white magic that has a holy aspect to it. And finally, black magic, where there are a lot darkness.

Normally, generated where there is also death, like swamps, graveyards, cemeteries and abandoned temples. Of course, the mages cannot generate colored mana by themselves. However, there is where your affinity comes in.”

He says, taking another sip after writing in the screen. Serena nods to herself, taking notes in the exact same way as Maria.

(Lorne): “Your affinity will not dictate what kind of magic you will use, but it will hinder the use of a magic that isn’t the one that you have affinity with. Let’s take a Blue Magician as an example. As a Blue Magician, he has affinity with blue mana, and he can use blue magic with ease.

However, using green mana is way harder, and cost a lot more mana to use a simple magic then it would take from using a blue magic in the same level. And in the case of the use of red magic, that would be fire magic, it would be almost impossible as the two types conflict with each other.

Not that it will be impossible, but it will be extremely taxing and unproductive. And so, I recommend using the mana that you have the affinity with. And now, how do we use magic? Through chanting.

Magic is universal, and can be done in any language as long that the words are clear enough. And, although is possible to use magic without chanting, this method isn’t recommended as in combat keep the focus to control mana into magic is way harder than just chanting.

To use elemental magic, however, you must absorb the colored mana. There’s also another advantage of your affinity. While to use elemental magic, you must absorb the colored mana, with the mana you have affinity with you will passively absorb it. If you are a White mage, you will absorb white mana without noticing, and a Black Mage would absorb black mana without noticing.

Bute there is a limit for how much you can absorb. Of course, there are ways to widen your mana reserves, and you guys will go through them, but there is also the key tool of a magician. The Grimoire.

A grimoire is a special item where you can let spells ready to be used, stored in it. You can also store a large amount of elemental mana from where you can drain in times of need. Also, you can store the monsters that you capture, but we will go into that when we get into summoning, so it will take a while.

However, you Grimoires will be given to you… right now!”

He says, pressing a button on his table. For the surprise of the students, a small compartment opened on their tables, with a small box coming out of it. it’s around six and a half centimeters by nine centimeters.

Serena looked at her small box. It’s white, with a golden disc in the center and a white sun on it. the box was around six centimeters thick. She took in, in curiosity. It wasn’t heavy at all, as if filled with something light.

She looked to the table right beneath her, to the students looking at their boxes. One of them have a blue one, with a wave on a golden disc on the center, while the others have two red ones, with a fire in the golden disc.

(Lorne): “Well then, I’m explain what those boxes are.”