The first thing that Jack realized after coming to Hammerhead was, that the academy itself was huge. Yes, it had almost 50 bastards of the former Emperor here, but this did not make even tenth of the total student body. Being a 6 year school and taking in students from all over the empire it had about 800 students per year here. Both young men and women equally, as the school did not limit itself to teaching combat but also manners.

Jack had no doubt it could fit many more, as the school was not big only in people but also sheer size. The inner courtyard was bordered by 7 buildings, including male and female dorms, main building with teacher dorms and other various conservatories no doubt for the various teachers here. These were connected to each other with covered stone walkways, creating a seven-sided inner courtyard. Covered from end to end with decorative grass, intersected by pathways to opposing buildings. In the middle of the inner courtyard was a small gazebo, where the Head-mistress usually had her afternoon tea.

The outer courtyard was situated between the inner septagon and outer nonagon, a nine-sided wall with nine massive guard towers in the corners. As Arandas had explained it, these were not just guard towers but also each contained a magical artifact of untold power, which allowed the whole academy to be encompassed within a magical barrier, impenetrable to any attack without or any magical mishap within. The buildings on the outer wall also contained the numerous servant quarters and of course the guards' barracks.

As Jack had learned from the brief introduction by a blue-haired bespectacled girl, whose name he could no longer remember, only her cold demeanor, the inner courtyard has more of a ceremonial purpose, while all the outdoor training from archery to hand-to-hand combat and magic battles were held in the outer courtyard.

And now Jack was experiencing first hand just how large the whole compound was. He had awoken early morning with sunrise and seeing as Mike was still asleep, he requested some linen clothes that the servants usually wore and proceeded to run around the school outside the nonagonal wall. It became clear very fast that he had bit off more than he could chew. If the inner courtyard already was massive and surrounded by buildings of maybe 8 or 9 stories high, then the outer courtyard and the surrounding wall... he hadn't even made it once around the outside wall and he was already tired. It wasn't just a mile or two in circumference, minimum was 6, maximum 8 or 9. The outer courtyard alone was so big that he realized that if he could fly, he could probably take off with the Warthog right then and there. And probably land too.

He snorted and smiled, not just that tiny ground attack aircraft, the courtyard was big enough take off with a strategic bomber. Not that those had any use in this world. Jack picked up the pace. He wanted to do at least one full circle before morning class and/or collapsing on the ground. Didn't really matter which came first.

*

It had been about a week since he first woke up next to the stream near some remote village. He had already stopped counting the times he had awaken and yet again found himself in this world. At the end of the second day in this world, he and Mike had made their way here and then discovered, that the school actually did not start for another week. That also included the arrival of most students, only those that chose not to use the six weeks off to visit their families, had remained. Didn't really matter.

He had spent the week looking for stuff that was familiar to him that was the same in both worlds. A catacomb full of guns, a war plane and just random loot revered like artifacts instead of being used by their function was certainly not it. Thankfully the two suns were similar, the wind was similar, the grass was the same, despite being cut with weird area-effect magic instead or a mower or scythe. The linen felt the same and running oneself ragged also felt wonderfully familiar. Even hitting the ground was awesome.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

Jack opened his eyes and looked at a girl of no more than 16 years of age, who was standing right in front of him. Staring at him with an angry look in her dark gray eyes, her long fiery red hair flowing in the wind.

"Hi, dude!" Jack closed his eyes again, trying to catch his breath.

""Hi, dude?!"" An incredulous shriek sounded and Jack received a kick to his leg. "How dare you speak to me that way, commoner! I am Diavella Morgenstern, heir to the Morgenstern dynasty! Have you never seen another noble in your life, don't you know how to address them properly?"

"As a matter of fact, I have not," Jack finally responded, "aside from the High King."

"The High King?" the girl started laughing. "Where in a drunken dream would you have met a High King, you worm? Did he step on you by accident?"

"No, I.." Jack sighed, "never mind. What do you want?"

"I want you to apologize to me."

"I'm sorry I ran into you."

"That's it!?" She asked.

"That's it." Jack got up. "No if you excuse me, I have a course to run."

"No I won't excuse you!"

"Don't give a shit."

Jack continued his run, leaving the furious red-headed girl behind. He was actually relieved that nothing else happened, like an errant magical attack or even a flying stone. This meant he could actually continue his run and actually reach his goal and collapse.

*

"Young master,."

Jack heard a familiar voice and slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh. Hi, Mike. You've been following me?"

"No, one of the servant girls notified me of a commoner lying down outside the walls. As no servants are allowed outside, it wasn't much of a mystery. So what are you doing?"

"Running myself to death. Like every morning in this world."

"What for?"

"What else is there to do?" Jack suddenly thought of something, "hey, Mike. We've been here for a week and each day your speech has become more cordial. May I ask, what's the deal?"

"Well, I am to be your retainer," Mike said, "so I have to act like it around other students."

"Despite you being one of the other students?"

"Well, it was nice of the High King to get me accepted as a student here."

"It is that rare for commoners to attend here?" Jack asked.

"As a servant, no. As an actual student it is unheard of. There have a few cases of distinguished commoners who saved their master at an early age, and been adopted to the family as a reward, attending, but those might as well be legends."

"Well, were I not a Knight-Errant, you'd be a person of legends."

"Are you done with your morning run?" Mike asked.

"Pretty much. You came to get me?"

"Yes. It is time for morning assembly."

"Have to wash and change." Jack slowly got up.

"I've already factored in that time, master."

"Have you now?" Jack smiled.

"I am your humble servant. I aim for perfection." Mike also smiled.

*

Jack was actually glad they did not make it to the morning assembly. It was much better to just show up in the first lecture of the day. In this case from what he heard from scribe Arandas, a civics class, which aimed to explain and educate them about the social, economic and political structure of the Empire.

Jack and Mike were one of the last people to arrive in the auditorium room, taking two of the side seats in the curved and staggered lines of desks. The professor's desk with the blackboard was in the middle of this room resembling an amphitheatre.

The last people who arrived with the professor were the red haired and blue-haired girls that Jack had already met. The professor he recognized instantly too. Her robe was the same crimson robe with gold accents which had ingrained itself deep into the boys' mind. The last arriving students took their place, the red-haired girl instantly recognized Jack and frowned. The professor then stepped in front of the blackboard and lowered her hood. This revealed a beautiful face of a woman with big dark eyes and shiny long black hair.

"Good day, from now on I will be your civics teacher. My name is Elbra Appleyard. You all will address me as "mrs. Appleyard". I've worked in the court of the High King for over 20 years, sometimes as a war mage, but mostly as a master of court ceremony."

She looked around the auditorium as if expecting somebody to say something rash or stupid.

"Now, I know that most of you are the sons and daughters of nobles and have probably already learnt at an early age how to eat with a knife and fork, how to dance and what's the difference between a knight and a Knight-Errant. If you haven't thus far, then you will now. If you think you don't need it, then think again, even our High King himself needed several strict lessons on court etiquette, so I am sure you all need at least that much."

She noticed a hand raising, and redirected her gaze. Jack also looked around noticing that the red-haired girl behind him had raised her hand.

"Yes, miss Morgenstern, what is it?"

"Are you aware that a commoner has sneaked into your lesson?"

"There is a commoner here, yes, but he has been accepted here as a trusted retainer to a student here."

"No, I mean this commoner here!" the girl was pointing his finger at Jack.

"Miss Morgenstern."

"Lady Morgenstern," the girl corrected the professor.

"No, miss Morgenstern," professor Appleyard insisted with a stern voice, "you are making several mistakes here. Firstly, the term "Lady" is only applicable if you've been knighted by a King, a High King or the Emperor. And to my knowledge, you haven't been in the last 16 years. Being the daughter of a titled noble does not make you a titled noble yourself. Lower nobility is not hereditary. And as such you are not a Lady, unlike your fellow student Lady Schneider or Baroness Schneider."

The blue-haired girl with cold demeanor lowered her head for a moment.

"You, miss Morgenstern, I might as well address as "hey you," but being polite, I will refrain from that. Secondly, only children of commoners point. Are you are small commoner, miss Morgenstern? In this situation you should refer to him as master de Lune. When referring to him in a written note, the word 'master' should be capitalized. And thirdly, he is not a commoner but a new Knight-Errant as proclaimed by the High King himself."

"Wait, what!? Him!?" the girl was visibly shocked, "but that's even worse, he's just a commoner and a bastard given pity by the King!"

"Miss Morgenstern, I will not tolerate such language in my lecture! As for your status, you are currently equals! In fact, because he has direct relation the Emperor, he might actually be of a higher rank. My girl, you should apologize to him right now for your impoliteness."

"Me? To him? Never!"

"Oh really, Miss Morgenstern? Is this how you plan to ruin your family's name before you even get the right to bear it? If so, I would be happy to write a letter to master Lucius Morgenstern right away."

The girl with red hair stood up suddenly and clutched her fists starting to shake all over. Finally she pressed through her pouting lips, "I am sorry, master de Lune."

Jack turned and gave a silent nod.

"Very well then, now, Master de Lune, would you mind explaining why you were running outside the wall in clothing of commoners?"

"To keep fit?" Jack asked with a sarcastic tone.

The whole auditorium roared in laughter. As if he had said something incredibly stupid.

"Very well, why did you pick the servants' clothing?"

"Linen breathes well and is easy to wash." The deafening laughter only loudened.

"What's the big deal?" Jack turned and asked Mike.

"Have no idea, master. Must be some weird noble's thing."

"It is a weird nobles' thing." The blue-haired girl next to Diavella turned around and said in a cold voice, "most nobles never exercise, unless forced to. They think its beneath them. Most focus on magic. Yet swordplay is fine."

"Could you explain more?" Jack asked.

"Not now, later." The girl responded.

*

"Hey, Mike. How is your geography?"

"What do you mean, master?"

"I've been trying to figure this out for days now, but I can't. It seems I can speak the language just fine, but I cannot read books or maps so.."

"What?! You can't read?!" A tall boy with flowing blonde hair stopped and asked mockingly. "How in the devil's name did you become a Knight-Errant?" his entourage of similarly dressed young men and women were bearing a similar expression.

"And who might you be?" Mike asked sternly.

"I am the first Knight-Errant of this school. Leonardo de Amane la Lune." He took a deep bow, "the late Emperor was my father, and my mother is the first concubine of the Emperor of Xing. You're Jack de Lune right? How pathetic that your mother was of such a low birth that her name is not even worth mentioning next to the Emperor's." He smiled viciously. "My how the institution of the Knight-Errants has fallen! They just give this title out to anybody now. Just wait until the whole school hears that the last Knight-Errant in this school cannot read or write!"

"I never said I can't read or write, just not your language," Jack responded.

"Not being able to read or write in the language of the greatest empire on this continent is the same as being illiterate! Come comrades!" he addressed the students around him, "let us leave this poor commoner, before he taints us with his stupidity."

"Well, Mike?" Jack continued, as if nothing had happened.

"How can you be so calm!?" Mike asked in anger, "he was mocking you! Mocking us! I may be a commoner but I can still read and write!"

"Why is that so relevant?" Jack asked, "I can't now, but I'll learn. No point in losing your composure over it."

"Master, but.." Mike tried to rebut.

"It seems the ones that most often lose composure over insults like those are the nobles themselves." Jack continued, "are you sure you want to be like them?"

"No, I do not," Mike retreated.

"Okay then, can you explain to me on the maps where we are, where the capital is, where our base is and where your village is?"

"Ah, so you want to make that clear. Then come." The red-headed girl started dragging him up the massive main staircase to the section between two floors.

"So this was a map?" Jack asked.

"Yes, you didn't notice before?" the girl asked. "By the way, this counts as an apology for earlier."

They stood before a massive mural easily more than 60 feet wide and 20 feet tall.

"This is the whole map of the empire."

The red-haired girl took out a frail wand of ebon color, drew a circle on the air and some strange and hurriedly sloppy symbols within it. The lines she draw stayed in the air and then suddenly formed a beautifully complex and intricate mandala-like magic circle which glowed once in purple color. Then it seemed as if the circle was sucked into the wand. Moment later a visible laser beam left the wand and struck the mural with a bright purple glow.

"You know magic!?" Mike exclaimed in wonder.

"Yes. All Morgenstern family members are adept in magic. That’s where our name comes. Morgenstern means 'Morning star.' The last star of the night heralding the rise of the Sun. Carrying with it the magical light of the night and the power of the Sun."

She glanced at Jack who wasn't nearly as astounded as Mike was.

"Let's get back to business," she said, "This is the empire," she pointed slightly off the center of the map, "this is the nexus of the empire, the capital city, where the king resides. We are here," she directed the laser dot to the middle of the map, "Mittheim. Loosely translated from the demon tongue as Middle-lands."

"So the are are demons in this world too?" asked Jack.

"Of course there are!" Diavella answered in a surprised voice, "where have you been living this life of yours?!"

She stared at Jack for a few moments.

"Now, we are here." She pointed to about the center of the map.

"About a month away from the capital of Goldstone Empire, Leonidium. The village where your servant is from, lies here." She pointed the laser light near a small dot next to a forest like structure.

"Next to the secretive black forest. Technically the forest itself is no longer part of the empire. It is said that beyond the forest lies a valley of untold secrets, but no man who has sent there has ever returned, so have all who've tried to cross it by flight perished. By the way, this is located about another month from here, in the whole other direction, to the east, beyond the Coldwood mountains."

"It belongs to our neighbors, the Chekhov empire." the blue-haired girl stated quietly.

"You're wrong, Elizabeth," Diavella answered, "it it rejected by both empires, neither lays claim to it, so it has become a veritable no man's land."

"So this," Jack took something from his pocket and shone a blue much brighter laser light onto the mural, "is where compound A-10 must be? Right Mike?" He circled an area with the blue dot.

"Compound A-10?" the blue-haired girl tilted her head and asked silently.

"How are you doing that?!" the red-haired girl exclaimed. Strangely not in wonder or anger, but sheer fear. "I did not see your movements or your magic circle activate!"

"There is no magic circle with this." Jack gave the laser pointer to Mike. "Show me."

"How is he able to use that?!" Diavella continued to question them, "wands are tuned to a specific person. The effect should stop as soon as your magic is no longer flowing through the wand! How are you doing that?!"

"It should be around here," Mike showed a different area.

"So it took about a day for us, in a wagon pulled by magically pumped horses, and three or four horse changes, to cover this little distance?" Jack wondered, "so the empire is truly vast.."

"Well, nobody really travels long distances on horseback. Only artifact recovery soldiers do, to minimize the dangers. Normal people either use magical gates, or fly with griffons or pegasae."

"Here, master," Mike handed the strange object back.

Suddenly Diavella grabbed it from Jack's hand.

"How does this wand work? I have magic, why can't I draw a magic circle with it?!" She moved the strange wand violently in every way possible but nothing happened. "How does it work? Both of you commoners used it, yet I can't!"

Suddenly, the blue beam of light activated, and pointed to the floor. This greatly startled the red-haired girl so she started to jerk the laser wand around.

"Hey, stop that!" Jack shouted, "this is a 3.5 watt solid state laser. The light will blind instantly if it hits an eye. The beam itself can burn paper at close range!"

"Really?" Mike turned and asked in wonder.

"Yes, didn't I show you?"

"No, you did not."

Diavella dropped the wand from her shaking hands.

"Is-is-is-is.. is this an a-a-arti-an artifact?"

"Yes it is." Jack answered as he picked up the device and hid it again, "I took it from Compound A-10."

"Won't master Arandas be angry with us?" Mike asked.

"He will, but I think he will also understand."

"Because it is you, right?"

"Yes. What's our next lesson?"

"Magic theory by Master Arandas. But it won't start for a while now. Seems it is dinner time for the students."

"This early?"

"After the magic theory lecture, there will be sword fighting. It would seem they want us properly able to give our all."

"Of course they would." Jack sighed.

"Excuse me!" Diavella suddenly asked, "would you care to join us for dinner?"

"Mike?"

"I leave it to you, master."

"Very well then, we shall join you." Jack smiled.

*

"So what exactly are you?" Diavella asked as they sat down at an empty table as far from other students as possible. "If I was a normal student, I would be notifying any and all professors in the school that you have an otherworldly artifact. You know the law right? You could probably get expelled from school for carrying that around!"

"What about her?" Jack asked, looking at the blue-haired girl.

"I don't care either way," the girl said in a disinterested voice.

"What is your name anyway?" Jack asked.

"Elizabeth."

"So you can't read or write, but can speak perfectly. You have an artifact, can use it and you treat them like they're nothing. And yet you're a Knight-Errant with unknown lineage. Just where are you from?"

"The north," Jack responded, "anything beyond that is classified."

"Classified into what?" Elizabeth gazed at Jack with an interested glint in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I misspoke," Jack said, "its a secret. It is classified information, as in the access to said information is classified, between people who can have the access and people who cannot."

"I see," the blue-haired girl focused on her book again.

"And what about this compound A-10? What is it? A material? A location, a place?"

"More of a private joke." Jack smirked, "anything beyond that is again a secret."

"You know, I am getting really tired of you and your secrets!" Diavella responded.

"Elizabeth." As a surprise to Diavella, Jack addressed the other girl. "Earlier in class you said that most nobles see no point in exercise. What did you mean by that?"

"It's the magic." She responded. "Most noble families in the empire have excellent magical traits, so that if they are put on the spot and have to duel, it will most likely be magical duel. People learn sword-fighting too, but outside the army, sword-fighting only holds a ceremonial function. Most nobles abhor fighting with swords and likewise any kind of physical training simply because they have never needed it."

"So if one is to be a noble, one doesn't really need to come to a school like this?" Mike asked.

"One could always live comfortably off the family's fortune and be a scholar or a scribe or something. But no military education means no advancement in rank. School is mostly for lower nobles and knight-errants to gain knowledge and skill to one day advance themselves and their family to become higher nobles. Most of the high nobility is home-taught, except for the troublemakers who are also sent to the academies.

During wartime, the actual fighting is done by the numerous castes of the lower nobles. Higher nobles are either military high command and they may have extensive knowledge of tactics and training by the finest swords-masters, but have rarely seen combat, or are appointed as government figureheads."

"There are a total of seventeen levels of nobility, including you, the knight-errant. The sixteen real levels are divided into four tiers." Diavella explained. "The first tier is the Emperor, the King, the prince-elector or the kurfürst, and the lord-prince.

Royal Prince is the son of a king, Prince-elector however is a title given to a non-family member like the title of Lord-Prince, but comes with the added benefit of being able to be chosen and being able to choose a King. The second tier is made up of Archduke, Grand Duke, Duke and Prince. The third tier is made of Count-palatine or simply Palatine, Margrave, Landgrave and Count. The fourth tier is made of Altgrave, Burgrave, Baron and Knight.

And outside of tiers there is a Knight-Errant who have the same rights as the Knights, but they cannot be addressed as Sir or Dame or Lady."

"Miss Morgenstern's father is a Burgrave, but she herself does not have a title." Elizabeth continued.

"But you are a Baroness at your age," Jack interjected.

"I inherited the title," Elizabeth said.

"I am sorry," Jack apologized, immediately realizing his mistake, "I should have considered it."

"There is also an additional title High, which is given to people, as part of the Royal warrant. In this case, the title High is a part of their position. As in, one can be a King without being the official ruler of a nation.”

“Interesting.” Jack mused. “So a High King is a ruler, but the non-High King is just another noble.”

“A very powerful noble.” Diavella insisted. “Although not the ruler of a nation, their magical nor political power loses very much to the High Kings.”

“This additional title is rare nowadays.” Mike said. “Only the High King as a noble carries it. However I’ve heard that in the military it is more prevalent. For example, when a higher noble or official gives a person special dispensation to act as a superior to others.”

“Yeah, for example, when there is a low-ranked soldier who is otherwise unremarkable, but has a high affinity in some field. If his expertise is needed, he can be issued a higher rank on the spot with the additional title high. For example, making a corporal into a High Captain.”

“And once he is done in his role as High Captain, he goes back to corporal?” Jack asked.

“Depends on the merit of his service. Mostly not.” Diavella said.

“There is a third side ranking as well.” Elizabeth added in a quiet tone. “The Dark lord ranking.”

“Yes, the Dark lord ranking.” Diavella continued. “The Dark lord ranking is for those who have achieved merit in the Nobility Wars."

"And what are Nobility Wars?" Jack asked.

"All nobles are constantly engaged in struggle and competition with their counterparts.” Elizabeth continued. “This may take the form of covert sabotage or overt violence. The landscape of influence is ever-changing, Every day dozens of nobles are destroyed and made on various levels. But there are some who are special. Some, who can go beyond their station. Who can surpass their counterparts and carve themselves a place amongst the masters of their counterparts. For example, an Altgrave who can fight and hold on against Counts is considered a Dark Count."

"But also anybody with the Dark title is considered an outlaw and nobles of the same level or even lower levels will do anything and everything to prevent the rise of such a person and once such a person has appeared to destroy him, by any means necessary."

"Master," Mike stood up, "we should be going. Master Arandas' lecture is about to start."

"Yes, better not be late to that," Jack also rose, "thank you for your company," he gave a bow and then followed Mike.

"Is it me or do they know master Arandas?" Diavella asked her friend.

"Why is it relevant to you?" Elizabeth asked.

"I just want to know what is his deal. He is unlike any person I've met thus far. It irritates me. He is not a noble, he is not a knight-errant and he is obviously not a commoner. That makes him unpredictable and dangerous."

"People are always afraid of what they can't understand." Elizabeth calmly responded, "and you are really as afraid of him as you are of that artifact he used on the map."

"I am not! Stop saying that!"

"You are," the blue-haired girl also rose, "we should follow them. We have the same lecture."

*

Diavella also stood up and soon was making the pace in their walk. But her aim wasn't not to be late. Her aim was to follow the two young men and see as much as possible of their interactions with the people in this school. Only now was she realizing, again, that this person had an artifact. An artifact! An otherworldly artifact at that. Something of unknown power and danger. And yet he had known what it is and how dangerous it is. He knew how to handle it. In fact, he knew it so well that it erased all the sense of danger she had felt upon seeing it. As if... as if as long it was in his hands it was no longer an artifact, but exactly was it was. Whatever it was.

She suddenly stopped walking when she saw Jack and Mike being stopped at the lecture hall's door by master Arandas himself. His demeanor was not as a professor to a student or even a master of his discipline to his student. No, it was much stranger.

"Master Jack, in the evening after you have finished with your lectures I need you to come to our.." Arandas looked around nervously.

"To compound A-10?" Jack asked.

"I see," Arandas smiled, "yes, young master, to compound A-10. There is a situation that has developed."

"I see. I guess this was expected."

"Indeed. I can't wait to hear what you find!"

Diavella turned her pale face towards her friend. "Did.. did you hear that?"

Elizabeth nodded silently.

"A world renown master or the science of artifacts is treating those two as.."

"His elders," Elizabeth added, "his masters. I think we should pull back."

"What?!" Diavella asked so loud that it even gained the momentary attention of their professor, never mind other students.

"These two are obviously not who they claim to be. So if they have to keep their real identities secret, then that means that if they feel that you may in any way endanger their secret then.. imagine what would happen if an unknown artifact was found on your person, and it caused a scene in school."

"You really think they would go so far?"

"It would not be hard to slip that strange wand on your person and then activate it."

Diavella fell silent. Her friend had made some important observations. She could not risk it, not her position in this school, and not her family name.

"Fine then," she gave a faint smile to Elizabeth, "i will rethink my approach."

The entered the lecture hall and this time Diavella took the farthest position possible from the two young men.

*

"Now, let us start!" Master Arandas' old and somewhat bored voice reach across the lecture hall. "I am Arandas, many of you know who I am. I have been on the forefront of magical research and artifact studies for over 50 years and now I have been given this chance to teach here."

"Yeah right." Jack heard the mocking voices around him. "Given a chance, the old geezer probably demanded for it." "Why would a scholar of his caliber come to teach the basics of magic?"

Jack turned around to see people who were obviously more informed than he was. One of them stood out. The same large build, short hair and robust face, but without a scar.

"How would you know this?" Jack asked.

"So you don't know me, you little pissant?" the burly young man asked, "my father is the leader of the magical knights, count Ivanhoe."

"Never thought of that man as a family man," Jack wondered aloud.

"So you have met with my father?" the student asked.

"I've had the displeasure."

"I see," the son of Ivanhoe let out an evil chuckle.

"Now," Arandas continued, "many of you are from noble families and have been taught magic from an early age. So you might ask now, why are you here. The truth is: anybody can benefit from knowing the basics better. Magic is a game of effectiveness, so there is always room for advancement. In addition, what most of you have learned is the theory of four elements and transmutation of magic energy based of them. This theory, although it has its uses, is limited. And allows little advancement in magic, because the interaction of four elements is fundamentally wasteful. Nobles with their huge magic reserves may not feel that this is of any concern, but average magic solder or mage in the army will feel that waste instantly. Thus I am a proponent of the 'circle theory' of magic where the basis for any result is the magic circle. This circle is drawn by the mage himself and thus bypasses the need to use the elements. Some of the lower noble families who are born with lesser mana, such as the Morgensterns, have long since advocated its use and have thus managed to catch up to older and stronger families."

"Excuse me, professor Arandas!" Diavella's voice rang out. "Are you meaning to tell that our family's magic is really weak?"

"Its not a matter of weak of strong, it is a matter of how you use it," the scribe responded. "But you are weaker in raw mana than say the Rutherford family. For example, miss Morgenstern, how many four element conversion can you do until you exhaust your magic?"

"About fifty."

"Okay, mister Rutherford, how many can you?"

A more adult-looking young man with spiky lilac hair stood up and responded "I have no idea. I stopped counting at around 170 and then did magic arrow until I ran out of mana."

"Just a regular magic arrow?" Arandas asked.

"Yes," the Rutherford boy responded.

"And how many did you manage?" Master pressed on.

"149."

The lecture hall was suddenly full of gasps of wonder.

"Very good, magic arrow is also one fo these spells that has a specific mana cost in both skill systems. Now miss Morgenstern, how many magic arrows can you shoot until you're out of mana?"

"I have never tried to count them. I usually do about 21-22 volleys of 50 arrows each."

This time the gasps and whispering were a lot louder and laster longer. But this time there wasn't any wonder, only sarcasm, mocking and disbelief.

"Miss Morgenstern, one more request, if you will. Could you give us a demonstration. Mister Rutherford said that he could shoot 149 magic arrows until he was out of mana, right?"

"About 350 if i really try from a fresh start," the youth answered.

"Very well, miss Morgenstern, could you conjure and target a volley of 400 arrows, lets say.." the old man smiled "at me."

"Sure," Diavella had no qualms about it. If the old man was so sure to ask, then he must have a way to defend himself.

She took out her black wand and conjured a glowing yellow magic circle, which she draw full of crude symbols, once the circle was completed, it became one of those elegant and intricate magic circles, which had three concentric rings that rotated like the insides of a lock mechanism, until they found a match of positions and then locked and signaled with a glow. Suddenly all around them smaller yellow magic circles appeared. Faces of the circles were all aimed at the professor. Then small cracks formed in the circles as if tears in the dimension and arrowheads made of light moved slightly out of the cracks as if readying themselves for launch.

"Count them all if you want." Arandas smiled victoriously, "400 arrows ready and aimed at my head. All of which were conjured up at a moments' notice. Now, we have not yet officially conducted the measurement of mr. Rutherford and miss Morgenstern, but from being able to do 170 four element conversions would place his raw magic power in the neighborhood of around 14-15 thousand units. This would be more than twice the expected capacity of miss Morgenstern at this point. Yet the ability to invoke essentially the same spell under 2 different systems is is vastly skewered towards circle magic."

"Yes, professor, but magic arrow is a basic spell of circle magic." A young man with striking blue hair asked. From his clothing and demeanor, it was obvious that he was a noble, and not the lowest kind. "What if mr. Rutherford used a basic spell of four elements?"

"Okay mr Gruber, why not," Arandas smiled, "mr. Rutherford, among the four elements, which is your strongest?"

"That would be wind." The young man with spiky hair answered.

"Very well, now, how many wind blades can you fire until exhaustion?"

"I have never tried myself, but by the theoretical calculations, i should be able to fire about 1500 of them."

"1500, that is an impressive capacity!" Arandas gave a praise. "How many can you, miss Morgenstern?"

"I don't know." Diavella replied, suddenly her face became paler. I have never tried."

"Do you know the spell?"

Now, the slightly pale face of Diavella was colored bright red as she hunched over her desk.

"I do not." She replied in a small voice.

This reply was immediately met with sneers, whispers and attempts to hold back laughter.

"How come? Wind blade is also a basic spell to be taught to all noble children. As a noble, one's acceptance to this academy is predicated on knowing the most basic spells of every school and style of magic so a student has a general idea about each school.. This is a rare gap in your education, miss Morgenstern."

"I don't like wind blades." Diavella continued in a small voice.

"Let me help you out then. According to basic theory, a wind blade in circle magic has about the same cost as magic arrow, so if proficient, you should be able to trigger both spells the same amount. Thus if you can do about 1000 magic arrows before you start to feel mana exhaustion, that means you should be able to do a total of around 1300."

Arandas looked about the lecture hall to see if any students were getting what he was trying to say.

"So. Mr Rutherford. Theoretical capacity of mana, 40 000 units at the lowest. 1500 wind blades of calculated spell capacity under four elements. Miss Morgenstern. Theoretical mana capacity 20 000 units at the lowest. Theoretical spell capacity of 1300 calculated, under circle magic. This is why what I will teach you is important." He slapped the blackboard several times. "The greatest effect is seen here, with direct offensive magic. Thank you miss Morgenstern and mr Rutherford."

Diavella finally erased the magic circles with a small movement of the wand. Her regular smug appearance had finally returned.

Arandas instantly noticed that.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, miss Morgenstern," your magic circles are still sloppy and the engagement is slow,. with proper education and training you can both increase the power of the volleys and speed up the casting time. Also mark my words, before you graduate this academy, you will learn to cast wind blades to the fullest extent of your capacity."

He turned his attention back to the rest of the hall. "Also, do not be misled by numbers which show theoretical maximum capacity or even measured capacity. Mana exhaustion usually sets in at about 25-35% of mana remaining, at which point it become harder and harder to draw mana out for magic. So unless one has gone through rigorous training which runs their mana pool dry on a regular basis, one can only use maybe 75% of their maximum capacity."

"Now as for those of you who have no idea why the demonstration by the two students has any significance, i shall give a small history lesson. Over the hundreds and thousands of years there have been several theories of magic, magical essences and mana."