"Sir, I always wanted the ability to teleport. Is there any way for specialized mages to do so?" a student asked.
"You're in luck, young man," Professor Burbank smiled. "Other fields can teleport by passing through the Elemental Planes. As for what that is? They are a unique set of dimensional layers of the Astral Plane, accessible to almost all dimensions of the Astral Cosmos — even barren dimensions without life."
"A set? How many exactly?"
"Nine: earth, fire, wind, water, lightning, flora, darkness, light, and the Nether Plane, which is full of undead and negative energy."
"Earth should be able to access the elemental planes, correct?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Anyone else?... In that case, let's move on," Professor Burbank nodded. He did not walk back to the central board. Instead, the chalk floated on its own and began writing under the time section.
"You don't need to worry about Time Magic because the lowest Time-Spell is 7th-tier. Without becoming an Archmage, don't even think about delving into this kind of power. Yes, Mr. Vandame."
"Did Lord Drakken set up a Time-Spell around the school? Is this why we can experience an entire year of schooling, and only one month will have passed on Earth?"
"Unfortunately, that is not the case," Professor Burbank replied. "Lord Drakken is powerful in many ways, but even he knows nothing about Time Magic."
"Seriously? Isn't he an 8-ring Grand Archmage?" someone commented.
"That shows you how rare Time Magic is," Professor Burbank explained.
"Well, there goes my dream of traveling through time and experiencing historical events."
"That's your dream?"
"Don't you think it would have been fun to have a beer or two with Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great?"
"I don't know what that says about you that your two examples involved hanging out with two conquerors with massive casualties in their hands."
Zane ignored the banter and raised his hand to ask, "How does the school's time manipulation operate?"
"While manipulating time usually requires a 7-ring spell at a minimum, there are other ways to achieve the same effect," the professor calmly answered. "The most common and used method is finding areas or pocket dimensions of the Astral Realm in which time moves faster relative to the dimension a Mage is located in. In preparation for this school, the tower found such an area and used spatial technology to move the school into that pocket dimension."
"Is this why the plaza doesn't have an ounce of mana in the environment?" Zane suddenly said.
"Astute observation, Mr. Skylar, 3 points to you," Professor Burbank smiled. "The entire plaza is located in this pocket dimension of the Astral Realm, but the effect of time dilation has been manipulated to only influence the school."
"I see, but isn't that a form of time manipulation?"
"If you want to get technical, I guess you could say so."
Zane nodded, but no longer continued with his questions. His curiosity was satisfied for now.
"Quiet down," Professor Burbank scolded, and suddenly, all the small murmurs or discussions about time traveling ended. Although Professor Burbank has proven to be easy-going, his stern face still conveys a sense of authority and respect.
"The chances of any of you encountering time magic are slim, and I know very little about the matter myself, so I won't go into too much detail. However, there is one piece of advice I can offer: if you want to become a Time Mage, you must first study spatial magic. Space and time are connected, and most Time Mages follow this path of studying both."
"The power to manipulate the space-time continuum," Zane thought, once again feeling the allure of spatial magic.
"Alright, let's move on to the next topic: summoning magic. As I previously mentioned, it is a type of magic that combines Space, Life, and Mind. Summoners can form contracts with animals and magical creatures, commanding them to do their bidding. Of course, most summoners do not like the term command, and believe their summons are their companions."
Professor Burbank shook his head slightly as if he found the concept absurd.
"Talented summoners can summon creatures from other dimensions and form a temporary soul pact with them. The creatures will follow the summoners' orders, and in return, the latter will provide them with a negotiated amount of their mana and mental energy. Well, that's for most standard contracts. Some creatures have absurd demands as a requirement to sign with them, but they are usually worth the price."
"Demands? That implies intelligence," Zane pondered. "Well, considering how stories often portray dragons as wise creatures, I shouldn't be too surprised."
"Powerful summoners are even scarier than Necromancers because their legion of magical beasts does not have the elemental counter of undead. Luckily, contracting a magical beast puts a lot of pressure on the soul, which prevents 90% of summoners from forming a proper legion," Professor Burbank continued.
"Can unspecialized mages form a legion?" a student in a red shirt asked.
"Summoners do not have their own special energy. Although they use a unique meditation rune that alters their mana frequency, it's still mana. The same goes for mind, arcane, and transmutation. So, yes, unspecialized mages can form a legion if they are good enough, and other methods don't even require summoning magic."
"In that case, how does the tower determine if someone should specialize in these fields?" asked a woman wearing a blue blazer.
"Good question. Mind Mages usually have a unique soul or high sensitivity to mental energy. Summoners have an affinity for animals, a soul that can naturally dominate other souls, and a minor affinity with spatial energy. Either of these talents is enough to be a summoner, and having all three represents the highest potential.
"As for Arcane and Transmutation? They are technically not a specialization. Maybe you haven't noticed, but throughout this class, I've been using the terms "unspecialized" instead of saying Arcane Mage, and that's on purpose. Most Arcane Mages choose one or more fields as their focus, including the field of arcane and transmutation."
Professor Burbank suddenly paused for five seconds, "I remember there was a discussion in the student forum about how students introduce themselves. Typically, Arcane Mages introduce themselves as: Hi, I'm so-and so, an Arcane Mage with a lightning focus, or with an arcane focus."
A small disturbance broke out in the classroom as the students began discussing that forum post. A few hadn't heard of it, and they were quickly caught up. Professor Burbank suddenly coughed, and his voice echoed throughout the classroom as if he had a microphone in his hands.
"Is that mana channeling? Did he augment his voice?" Zane analyzed.
"Did I answer your question?"
"Yes, thank you," the blue-blazer lady nodded.
"Good," Professor Burbank nodded before continuing the lecture. "The greatest contribution of the summoning field to magic civilization is the invention of the familiar." He suddenly whistled, and a yellow parrot flew from the window and perched itself on his shoulder.
"This is my soul-bonded familiar, Electro — he's a lightning parrot," Professor Burbank explained with a smile while gently caressing the creature.
"Weak humans," the bird suddenly said while glancing intently at the students. The disdain in his eyes was palpable, which made the students speechless. A bird mocked them; the worst part is that the latter could probably defeat all of them present.
"Don't mind him," Professor Burbank smiled. "Any extraordinary path can summon a familiar with the right ritual. However, everybody should be careful in the process. Throughout their entire life, a mage can have 3 soul-bonded familiars and seven regular familiars; knights can have one bond and 3 regular, while warriors can only have one bonded familiar."
"What is the difference?" a student asked.
"As the name implies, soul-bonded familiars are connected to a Mage's soul, meaning that if something happens to them, at best, the person will suffer a serious soul injury and at worst, they will immediately die."
The professor paused for a moment, allowing his words to simmer.
"The death of regular familiars only results in the loss of some mana or mental energy, and they can be replaced. However, please do not abuse this system, or there will be consequences.
"The source of summoners' familiars is the Summoning Plane, a dimension in the Astral Realm created by a powerful faction called the Summoner Alliance. Anyone who tries to abuse the regular familiar system will be banned from accessing it. In some situations, someone from the alliance will use a reverse-summoning ritual to descend into their dimension and teach them a lesson."
"The Summoner Alliance? That sounds like a power similar to the Dimension Tower," Zane thought. He then raised his hand to ask that question.
"The Summoner Alliance is even more powerful than the tower because they have more than one Sage — don't ask me what a Sage is. You'll know when the time is ready."
Zane, Tom Nguyen, and Evans' eyes lit up. As one of the few individuals who understood the concept of a [Sage], they were somewhat horrified. An Achmage is a guardian of a civilization, and only a [Sage] can guarantee its safety. Yet, the Summoning Alliance had more than one. It was truly horrifying to think of.
"If only Earth could one day have multiple [Sages]," Zane dreamt before internally shaking his head. There was no point in entertaining this absurd idea.
"What are the benefits of a familiar?" a student asked.
"There are plenty: from aiding in battle, assisting in experiments, granting access to unique abilities, and even increasing talent, the right familiar could be the key to success for a mage or anyone from the other extraordinary paths."
"What does the parrot do?"
"Who are you calling a parrot?" the creature sniped.
"Electro can not only boost the power of my spells, but he also allows me to easily access the Lightning Elemental Plane," Professor Burbank said, appeasing his companion. Numerous other students raised their hands, but he did not choose anyone:
"We will have an entire class dedicated to learning how to summon familiars, so keep your questions for then," Professor Burbank said before helping Electro fly away through the window. "We should have two fields remaining, correct?" Turning around to check on the board, he was correct.
"Divination is an interesting field," Professor Burbank began. "When most people hear about it, they think about predicting the future. However, only a few talented diviners have such powers, and they are called Seers. They are incredibly rare, and any well-developed civilization will treat their Seers with the utmost respect and reverence because they can act as a guide.
"Whether it's predicting a catastrophe or making the correct decision that will benefit the entire civilization, the assistance of a Seer can prevent countless detours, reduce trials and errors, or warn of catastrophic mistakes."
"Does Earth have any Seers?"
"I don't know. If there is one, their information would only be known to a select few," Professor Burbank shook his head.
"Is it to prevent the Demon Lord from assassinating them?" Zane thought. If Seers were so valuable, it makes sense for the enemy to eradicate them before they can grow and affect the course of the war.
"Let's get back on topic. The essence of divination is information," Professor Burbank stated, calmly looking at the class. "You arrived at a murder scene and wish to know who is responsible? Easy, cast a divination spell, and all the information about the killer — their height, weight, sex, race, and so much more — will be revealed. You want to find a missing person or maybe a rare ingredient? Divination will give you the answer. You travel to another dimension and do not know the language? One Divination Spell and you can gather enough information to understand or translate."
"How fascinating," Zane thought.
"Of course, I'm simplifying an extremely complex concept. The essence or truth behind the Divination Spells is the [River of Destiny]," Professor Burbank explained. "All souls are born from the [River of Destiny], and are connected to it through a soul imprint. After death, if you do not believe in a deity, these souls will return to their roots to wash away their memories before heading to the afterlife: the [Styx River].
"As such, the [River of Destiny] contains the imprints and memories of all souls from past, present, and even future. Divination Spells — mostly high-level ones — can tap into this endless source of information."