Book 1, Chapter 3 - Crimson Premonition (Pt. 3.1/3.3)

"Synth. Can you please come up with a feasible explanation as to why you would choose something like this as a class?" Verain said coldly, staring daggers at Synth.

Seeing the unamicable expression that Verain had on his face, and the strange light in Verain's eyes, Synth felt beads of sweat starting to form on the back of his neck. Hurriedly waving his hands, Synth started to explain why he had decided to chosen what others would consider to be a useless class.

"Verain, you should know that my latent talent is at the Spark Stage, right?"

Verain nodded. "Right. I could judge from your aura. I have a strong affinity to Darkness, after all."

What the hell does an affinity to darkness have to do with judging someone's aura? Doesn't it just make the power of their spells stronger? Unless Verain's an assassin or something?

Pushing that thought out of his mind, Synth replied, "Yes. Due to my latent talent being horrible, I wish to study the Magic System and see if I can find a way around this demerit. Also, I want to research information on my strange Energy Base."

Verain raised a hand to his chin, and grinned. "If it's like that, then I guess you taking this course is justified."

"Justified? What are you, my guardian? Having to overlook everything that I do?" Synth joked.

Although this was meant as a joke, for some reason, an extremely painful stinging sensation suddenly assaulted Synth, making him temporarily lose his balance.

"Ah!"

Just as his face was about to collide with the board, Verain reached out a hand, pulling Synth back. "Oi. Are you all right?"

Synth laughed awkwardly, before making a troubled expression. "Sorry. For some reason, a spark of pain assaulted my mind..."

For a moment, Verain's eyes grew sharp, almost turning into a crescent moon, as if trying to evaluate something. Quickly withdrawing his gaze, his face returned to its usual placid expression. "Well. Since today is the first day, the first two lessons in the morning, The Runic Languages and Battle Basics classes are cancelled. However, we still have to go to the other class that we signed up for."

"My class, [Adv. Darkness] starts at 5:20pm, so I have plenty of time to kill. However, your first class, [Adv. Light], should be starting now... in fact, you're half an hour late for the class. It's 11:45am right now."

Hearing these careless words, Synth's expression immediately paled. Glancing once at the pocket watch that Verain brought out, Synth hurriedly left the auditorium, while saying over his shoulder, "Crap! Sorry Verain, need to go!"

"See you." Verain replied, casually waving a hand in Synth's direction. When Synth's back disappeared from sight, his eyes grew sharp again, focusing in the direction where Synth left.

Hmm... did that Binding Contract have a flaw? Well, whatever. It's not made to contract with humans, after all. If anything happens, I can deal with it.

______________________________________________________________

"Is this the place?"

Synth was currently standing in front of a tall building three stories high. All in all, it appeared to be a very ordinary building, but that was only because it was constructed using Magic Absorbing Bricks, in fear of any 'accidents' that might happen in these magic classes.

Magic Absorbing Bricks were, like their name implied, plain looking bricks that could hold and absorb magic up to a certain amount, depending on the quality of the magic bricks. This commodity was also used to create defensive walls around the towns, and although saw widespread usage, the manufacturing process was unknown to most of the general population. Only a select few knew the exact refining and manufacturing recipe of these bricks.

They also had a ranking system intact, and higher ranked Magic Absorbing Bricks could withstand spells of a higher caliber. For the academy's purposes, the Magic Absorbing Bricks used were a combination of B and C rank bricks.

Sighing, Synth made his way inside the building. Each floor had roughly twelve classrooms, and the name of the class currently being taught was on an indication marker outside the door.

It seemed that the first and second years had classes on the first floor of the building, while the third and fourth years had classes on the second floor. The fifth years and sixth years had their lessons on the third floor.

Walking to the door with the words [Light-Elemental Class] written beside it, Synth gingerly opened the door and walked in. What he saw upon entry was an almost empty classroom, having just two youths sitting at the desks in the back row, looking disinterested. Standing at the front of the room, next to a chalkboard, was a relatively young woman that appeared to be in her middle 20's.

Upon seeing the new arrival, the eyes of the female teacher lit up, and the two youths turned around to size Synth up. Feeling a bit awkward, Synth walked to the back of the room, and took a seat next to the two youths who were currently also sitting there.

"Hello! Are you here for the [Light-Elemental Class] or the [Adv. Light-Elemental Class]?" The teacher asked, with a friendly tone.

Synth looked up, then replied, "I signed up for the [Adv. Light-Elemental Class]."

Upon hearing this, the female instructor motioned for Synth to stay seated. A bit confused with the amount of students attending the Light-Element classes, Synth couldn't help but ask, "Only three people are taking Light-Element classes?"

The female instructor sighed. "Yes. All three of you are taking the [Adv. Light-Elemental Class]. In reality, nobody really wants to take this class if they don't have an affinity to Light."

Synth was puzzled. Nobody wanted to take the Light-Element spell classes? Why? What was the reason for this?

As if understanding what was going on in Synth's mind, the brown-haired youth next to him spoke out, "Tch. Why are you so surprised? You seriously don't know the reason why no one likes to participate in these [Light-Element] magic classes?"

Judging by the blank expression on his face, and seeing that Synth truly didn't know, the brown-haired youth let out a sigh and began explaining. "[Light] based magics are considered useless, trash magics by many. Most of the spells focus on defense and support, and there are barely any offensive spells in this category. Not many people are willing to take this class because of this. They prefer to focus on offensive magics."

"Oh, so there's such a reason." Synth understood. After all, many of the people attending were hot-blooded youths. More action was going to be on the front lines, rather than staying in back and supporting the group with utility spells.

Also, the fact that [Light] based magic mainly focused on defensive spells was a bit... that.

For those reasons, Synth could see why it wouldn't be too popular. Continuing on, the brown-haired youth next to Synth kept on talking. "In short, the only reason why we're here is because we have an affinity to this queer element. If I didn't, there's no way in hell that I'd be taking this class."

"Hey, Ceno! You do realize that Teacher can hear you, right?" The sudden interjection from the female instructor caused the youth next to him to smirk, while also causing Ceno's face to turn red. Ceno awkwardly laughed. "Sorry, Instructor Liling."

The female lecturer sighed, then said, "Even though there are only fifteen minutes left remaining in the period, I do wish to do something constructive. I don't really blame you three for this, as today was the Class Registration Day, but we need to do something productive."

"Therefore, I will introduce a spell array for you all to study. Try your best to reproduce it, okay?"

"This spell is called [Sunlight Shield]. Its effect is quite self-explanatory. It creates a gentle shield of light that envelops the user's body. The amount of time that it lasts and its durability is reliant on how much energy is used when creating it."

Ceno raised a hand in objection, as if not wanting to do what the instructor asked. "Teacher, Yun and I already know how to do this. We're second-year students, after all. Shouldn't you be explaining that to the new kid? Blue and I both want to work on the magical array of [Light-Spear Blast]."

Hearing this, Synth awkwardly chuckled while saying, "Today's my first day. Er... I haven't even taken a single [Battle Basics Class] or [Runic Languages Class]. In short, I think that with my current knowledge, I have no way to reproduce the magical array needed to cast spells."

Although using arrays was not the only way to be able to cast spells, and was in fact more troublesome than its counterpart, Chanted Spells, when one was able to understand the spell's base of origin, then they would be able to use it more effectively.

The other benefit of doing this was that one could store the magic array inside a Charge Drive. In doing so, the spell could be instantly cast using the weapon was a medium.

"Fine. If it's like that, then although you can't learn the magical array of [Sunlight Shield], you can still learn the chant for it, right?" Instructor Liling asked.

"Erm, no... I still haven't even learned the very basics of the runic languages..."

Although Synth tried to protest, in the end, he gave in to the instructor's constant pestering. Inwardly sighing, he listened to the magical chant used to cast the spell [Sunlight Shield], and tried his best to repeat it.

It seemed as if the majority of new students broke through already and became Mind Invokers, using the World Essence Crystal that the school provided. Therefore, it was assumed that the new students already had Energy Bases, and could draw from their reserve of energy to power and maintain the spells.

"O, Golden, Sanctioned Light, bless me with your divine protection, and protect me from ill omen..."

Chanting the magical incantation in the runic language to activate the spell, a brilliant golden luster faintly enveloped Synth's body. His body shone with a golden radiance, and it was bright enough to hurt one's eyes if one wasn't prepared.

However, for some reason, Synth found it hard to keep the [Sunlight Shield] up for more than a few seconds, before his Energy Base gave up on him, and completely drained out.

When one does not have sufficient energy left to keep a spell going, the spell would naturally dissipate. The golden luster that was currently enveloping Synth's body slowly faded, and Synth tiredly sat down in the chair.

"Instructor, wasn't forcing me to maintain that for five seconds too harsh? I just broke through and became a Mind Invoker, after all. I still haven't really experimented with my Energy Base yet."

Hearing this, the female lecturer gave Synth a puzzled, and annoyed look. "If you don't have the willpower to hold on and do this, then just leave the Academy already. Since you're this audacious, I'll give you some extra homework. Learn the [Mortal Judgement] Magical Array AND Chant by Friday."

Damn! Why is my luck so bad???

Pushing aside the negative thoughts wandering about in his mind, Synth bitterly cursed under his breath, while accepting the handout that the female teacher gave him.

Looking at the runic words for the [Mortal Judgement] spell, a grin spread across Synth's face. If one was familiar with him, they would be able to instantly recognize this as Synth having a very mischievous idea.

I want to see how powerful an offensive light-magic is!

"O, Blessed Spirits of the Heavens, Judgement Day has come. Punish these ignorant mortals who refuse to acknowledge your divine grace..."

The reason why Synth was able to understand the runes used in the chant for [Mortal Judgement] was because they were extremely similar to the runes used in the [Sunlight Shield] spell, that he had hastily memorized in a few minutes, under the instructor's guiding.

Before the three other people in the room could react, Synth was already chanting the magic spell for [Mortal Judgement]. However, since it was chanted in an extremely rushed fashion, and also the fact that Synth's knowledge of the runic languages were still rudimentary, a part of the chant got sabotaged.

Hearing this, the facial expression on the female instructor's face changed dramatically. "Not good!"

Ceno hurriedly rushed to stop Synth from continuing, but his chant was already almost completed.

*BOOM*!

A violent explosion rocked the classroom.