A whole week had already gone by since Orion's conversation with the Queen. And yet, the entire encounter kept playing and looping inside his mind. However, he knew perfectly that concrete answers was not something he was going to get so soon. He was currently lounging on his bed, in his new house.
Elendorm itself was a rather secretive Kingdom— or rather Queendom. From what he knew, it was a one which has existed for hundreds of years. Consequent to their affinity towards magic, they were a Queendom with dozens of powerhouses at the Sixth Rank and resources enough to compare to the Solas Empire. Though not as big as the Solas Empire—which oversaw the entire Solas Continent of the Inner World, Elendorm was not weaker. The reason behind Elendorm's size was merely because they did not have an ethos of expansionism.
Orion sat up on his bed and turn to look outside his bedroom window to the Valaquen in all its splendor.
"Truly a magical city . . ."
Thousands of Elves were on the streets, going about and doing their thing. Along with elves were dozens of Humans and Beastmen. Strangely, there not a single Orc could be seen, probably because of the tensions between the two Kingdoms.
Looking out, Orion could see pristine buildings made of enchanted marble and quartz as well as beautiful white concrete. The capital was . . . more than splendid. Despite being beautiful, the scenery was not what Orion admired the most. It was rather the massive translucent dome encompassing the entire capital. It was this exact dome that prevented Orion was noticing the Capital when he was surviving in the outskirts of the Royal Garden.
After admiring the scenery for a few more seconds, Orion finally got up from his bed and got changed. He tied his shoulder-length black hair into a simple knot and had a white shirt and black pants, accompanied by lace boots tightly tied. He quickly grabbed breakfast then ran out into the city.
After a few minutes of running and weaving through the busy crowd, he finally arrived at his new school... Valaquen Magic Academy. Although Aurelian Academy was the mainstream and most popular and most competitive of academies, that did not mean there were no academies aside from it. However, these Academies mainly exist either for those who got rejected from Aurelian academy or those who are not wealthy enough to pay for tuition fees. Anyway, today was his first day at the academy as the first week of his stay in Valaquen was mainly for him to get accustomed to civilization again and learn how elves live. Nevertheless, on his free time, Orion still tried to train and finally elevated his Lightning Burst to a new level. He could now damage and burn things with his lightning fairly easily, though in terms of efficiency, he still had a lot of work to do to save mana.
Arriving at the relatively small campus, Orion made his way towards the classrooms and finally stood in front of his designated classroom. On a small wall plate next to the strangely tall door was written "Class 1A."
After taking a few deep breaths, Orion finally pushed open the door and looked inside... and what he saw made him a bit embarrassed. A dozen or so students wearing simply sets of clothing—as per the dress code— stared at him intensely. What made him embarrassed was that most of the students were younger than him. Though Elves themselves already look young and beautiful by nature, he could guess they were minors—far from being an adult— as elves awakened very early. As for the Beastmen... there were none. There was one human though, a beautiful girl with black hair and dark brown eyes who should be 17 or 18 years of age since humans awaken around 16 or 17 years of age.
Orion slowly made his way and sat to a desk right next to the human girl, who was sitting next to the window of the classroom, since she was the only one he could possibly relate to and become friends easiest with. The girl simply glanced at him for a few seconds before turning her gaze back to the sky.
A couple of minutes went by as a few more elven students filed in and took their seat. Soon enough, a tall handsome elf entered the classroom. He walked from the door to the front of the class with a solemn expression and measured steps. He turned, now facing the students, he started.
"My name is Neldor. I will be your homeroom teacher for the next 3 years until you graduate. I know some of you would have preferred to be at the Aurelian Academy but could not. And I know others will apply when they get older. However, do not forget we, elves, have been here for hundreds of years and our education is no lesser than theirs. Cheer up."
Hearing their new teacher asking them to cheer up with such a serious expression made some students laugh secretly. Despite this, Neldor did not mind and continued, "Now, can someone tell me what is magic?"
A large moment of silence went by as no one lifted their hands to give an answer. Eventually, someone did raise their hand. And it was the Human girl. After Neldor prompted her to answer, she answered in an even tone, "Magic is the manipulation of mana into... whatever we want. It can be spells or augments."
"Hm... that is partially right, but there is more to it. Magic is not just manipulation of mana. Magic... is a way of life. It is not a tool. However, it can be used as a tool... a tool to influence others and our own future. Essentially, magic is control—Control over our future."
After a brief pause, Neldor continued, "Now, tell me what are spells?"
Orion half-excitedly lifted his hand and waved it slightly. After seeing Neldor nod at him, he answered, "Spells are ways to project mana into the world... and if you are asking philosophically, then Spells are ways to project our will into the world... but I digress... anyway, Spells differ in their structure as different spells use different affinities to work and thus different structures and incantations."
Neldor sighed before nodding, "That is right. However, there are few things you all don't know yet, I shall teach you. Firstly, you all are here to learn magic and become mages. However, some of you will see that their body are either not adapted towards magic—in terms of mental capacity— or their body constitution are leaning more towards physicality. There is no shame in that."
"Now, when we say mages, we think spells, incantation-less spells and I presume one or two of you have heard the word Will once or twice in your lives, especially if you have strong mages as parents."
"Every individual who awakens possess a certain affinity towards an element or concept of the Universe. Whether it is Fire, Water, Wind, Earth or Lightning, or even abstract concepts such as Shadow, Light, Life, or Metal. Some of you might have affinities which you have yet to unlock and be able to use. This is normal as Abstract affinities are... well abstract, and you do not have the mental capabilities to understand properly yet or have enough understanding of the Concept itself. For now, as you grow stronger and train, it is inevitable that you will awaken them, as... well... you have an affinity towards that concept."
"However, all of you need to remember that affinities do not limit one's range of spells, only their rank. Affinities basically mean one's soul is innately attuned to said concept, not that you cannot use spells requiring other concepts. For example, though I do not possess the Sound affinity nor wind affinity, I can still use a sound isolation spell— Given that I use the incantation or know the spell enough to not use the incantation."
As Neldor spoke sentence after sentence, scribbling sounds could be heard as each and every student tried their best to write every key word and main points into their notebook. Everyone except Orion, who of course had near perfect memory...
"Now, incantations. Incantations are basically moulds which we smash our mana into."
Upon hearing this, many students paused, some frowned, some were dumbfounded, others lost.
"When someone says an incantation, while meaning the words, we call our intent towards the structure of the spells, making the mana do what we intend."
"Eventually, as one trains the same spell many times, they come to a point where no mana is wasted and thus, efficiency over that spell increases. Also, as we train and gain understanding of a spell, we can break down the steps in the incantation and thus shorten the incantation. This can go on to a point where a spell can become something comparable to muscle memory and can be used without any incantation."
After saying all of those words in one go, Neldor sighed and took a few deep breaths while sitting down at his desk. He drank some water and waited for the students to finish taking note of what he said. When the students stopped writing, he continued.
"Now, Structure of Ranks. An awakened individual can choose two paths. Becoming a Conjurer or Augmentor. Augmentor are people who mainly augment their body using mana and mixing it with Intent to form Aura. However, note that Aura itself is conceptually not Mana + Intent. Aura is Aura, Intent brings out Aura, Mana is the Fuel. You all will learn more later when I will teach specifics."
"Then, there are Conjurers, who are Mages who use spells. That, we all know how that works. Following this comes ranks themselves. On Earth, Ranks of individuals and Creatures range from 1 to 6. Apprentice to Warlock for a mage, Novice to Warlord for an Augmentor and Rogue to King for Creatures. For Awakened Individuals, they are subdivided into stages from Initial to Peak Stage. However, do note that Creatures, who have awakened or have lost control, do not have a subdivision. However, they do have classes, ranging from Beast to Titan."
Orion raised his hand, which caught Neldor's attention.
"Yes?"
"Um... Sir, does a higher class mean the creature is stronger than those of the same rank?"
"No, classes simply specify which type of monster they are. If they are big, they titans, if they have minions, they are Sovereigns, or Tyrants. If they are not intelligent and can use only base attacks from instinct, they are Beasts. If they have intelligence, they are Monsters. If they a specialized enough... they are Fiends... and from my experience... Fiends are the worst."
Neldor added the last part with a tinge of coldness that swept the entire class and made everyone's spine tingle. However, Orion was even more intrigued.
"Sir, then, um... can a creature be of multiple class? Like.. Uh... be big, have terrifying abilities and have minions?"
Neldor suddenly became even more serious, a grave expression embracing his face.
"That... is right. There was Creature exactly how you described. It—no— He was the one who conquered Asia before going into hiding. To this day, no one knows if the ancient heroes managed to kill him or if he is in the Outer World, slumbering and waiting. His name was... The Great Korvath. He was of the Titan class, who also possessed Fiend-like abilities and had millions of thralls. As for its rank, He was a King."