Burned It White
I burned it white. "Nuuuuh..." Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the blinding light. It felt like déjà vu or something. Nah, just my imagination, right? Yeah. I rolled over to go back to sleep.
Whoosh—my blanket was gone?! "Time to wake up, Professor Miriel."
Huh? Who's that? Through my blurry vision, I saw a pink silhouette and a massive bosom. Oh. Cordelia...?! Why the hell are you in my room?!
"I came to fetch you since you were late for class. Fortunately, you've got a smart little automata here."
Mew? What the heck is she talking about? The faculty intros are on March 1st, and my first class is definitely March 5th. No way it's class time already!
"Today is March 5th, and it's 2 p.m. Class started thirty minutes ago."
"What?!"
Five days already?! My mind snapped awake. And by then, I was already tucked under Cordelia's arm, being carted off.
Um... Miss Cordelia? No offense, but are you even human? You can't use magic!!! Whoa... people can fly...
"Given the time crunch, please forgive my rudeness."
Uh... sure. I wonder what everyone else will think if they see this... She was moving at a pretty good clip, but surprisingly steady. Wait, my clothes...
"Also, please forgive me for changing your clothes while you slept."
"What?!!?!"
****
Long story short, I was an hour late to class. Free ride success—nope. Ahem.
I straightened my robes as best I could in front of the lecture hall door and stepped in. The place was packed with students.
Ah... farewell, my easy life.
The buzzing hall fell silent in an instant. Bathed in all those stares, I climbed up to the podium. This room was made just for me, apparently—that's why the podium was perfectly sized for my height. Nice, nice.
"Ahem."
I cleared my throat first. So, what lecture do I even give now? Nearly two hundred eyes locked on me. Eager, expectant gazes full of enthusiasm for the class.
Tsk tsk tsk. As your senior in life, let me tell you: that stuff's all useless. Life's all about blood ties! School ties! Hometown ties! Heh, so I'll give you all... self-study!!
"Sorry I'm late. I was in the middle of an experiment. Anyway, what do you all think about magic?"
Build-up is important, right? Yeah.
Hands shot up all over the room in a flash. Ugh... seriously, you don't need that kind of enthusiasm. The most important things in life are bed! Pillow! Plushies!!
I scanned the raised hands. Yep. Screwed.
Original characters were here!! No, you guys should be taking magic theory or attribute magic, not my class!! Why are you here!!! Eeeeek!!!
First, shiny gold. Your Highness, sorry, pass. Pitch black. Our protagonist. You too, pass. Light purple hair. Perdita... wait, why are you here? You've got three attributes! What are you doing in a place like this!!!
And red glow... yep, Belinda Premier. You're a swordmaster, right? Why take magic? Oh. Yeah. I get you.
And Cressida. Do you really need to be here...? At least some leads weren't around. Imir or Metone, say. Actually, no Imir was surprising. Well, yeah. Imir Ainber. From a magitech family. They need attribute-less magic the most... you pass too.
So who do I pick? Alright, you. Brown hair... uh, what's your name?
I checked the roster on the podium. Flip—yep, you.
"Student Kiruba?"
Uh... sounds familiar. Imagination?
While I tilted my head innocently, Kiruba stood up.
"The magic I envision..."
He paused, glanced around, then fixed his gaze on me.
"...is something I envy, since I have no mana. To me, who can only swing a sword up front, magic is that untouchable force that can flip the battlefield in an instant."
Silence blanketed the room. The bad kind...
Like they wanted to snap, Why's a mana-less guy taking a magic class? But that's just knowing half the story, kids.
Do you know swordmasters' sword qi is attribute-less mana?! Nah, not telling. Too much hassle.
"And?"
Whoops... slipped out. Luckily, Kiruba didn't suspect a thing and continued.
"Still, I think there's something for me to learn here, that's why I'm taking this class."
Huh? Did I ever force Kiruba to take my class? I'm super nice, I don't force anyone...
Must be confusing me with someone else. Yeah, yeah.
"Well said. Kinda bittersweet, though. Magic requires the blessing of mana, after all."
I skipped the part about everyone having that blessing.
"So, what's the essence of magic?"
Hands up again. Even our leads. Yep. Pass. Tangling with you is a hassle—
I pointed at a light pink twin-tailed girl. Name...
"Student Haitel Keriz?"
Haitel Keriz stood, blushing.
"Th-the... essence of magic is... b-based on attribute affinity... overlaying mana to... manifest the attribute."
'Correct.'
"Wrong."
Damn mouth!! Haitel bowed her head, face crimson. Murmurs erupted instantly.
Makes sense. In my memory, that's the right answer now.
Suddenly, Perdita stood.
"Professor, Miss Haitel Keriz isn't wrong."
Perdita, being common-born, used formal speech to noble Haitel.
"Or has the professor opened new horizons?"
"Hm..."
Gyaaaah!! Knew it!!
"Nope."
"Then why is it wrong?"
Argh!! Seriously! Perdita!! Don't geniuses fail to understand normals? Fine, you're a genius! Boo!
Haa—gotta do it.
"The answer is overlaying attribute affinity onto mana."
The room stirred again.
"Professor, isn't that the same as overlaying mana onto attribute affinity?"
"Different. The subject changes."
This is why geniuses... tsk tsk.
"Think of it this way: how do you boost magic power?"
"Two ways. Raise attribute affinity or input more mana. The former's way easier than the latter."
Yep. Right.
In game terms... level up skills for damage multipliers (affinity) or boost weapon attack for base damage (mana). But weapons are fixed. Strengthening them? Costs a fortune in resources with crap odds. Everyone knows.
Skills? Just level up and spend points. Done.
So in this world, boosting affinity is the easy way to power up magic. That's why attribute-less gets shunned. Stuck to attributes. Grinding affinities.
But what if you could level up that "weapon" too? If you just don't know how?
"So, methods to raise mana and attribute affinity?"
"Mana grows slowly with tons of spell use. Affinity rises faster just from attribute spells."
Suddenly, the room froze. Like they were piecing something together from my back-and-forth with Perdita.
"Why?"
"That's..."
Perdita faltered. Genius, but she hadn't thought that far.
Duh... I learned by dumb luck—jumped into insta-kill fire, survived thanks to a necklace blocking one fatal hit. Experiments after confirmed: eat fire or dive in, fire affinity skyrockets. Deep sea 1000m+, water. Eat dirt or bury 1km deep, earth. Lightning strike, lightning. Face 40m/s winds, wind.
Yeah... game's devs are nuts. Who suicides for affinity? It's a game, so... bullshit!! Even games insta-kill!
But the room gasped in shock. Why? I tilted my head.
Perdita's pupils shook. Even ever-composed Princess Ersa Portia's did.
Wha...?
"Professor Miriel, you're serious?"
Aha! I said it out loud! Happens! Yeah!
Can't say that, huh? "Ahaha..."
How to fix this? Time for Master card!!! Ah, never missed thwack more. Master... I miss you.
I stared at the ceiling to dodge stares. Eh... screw it.
"Ahem, just kidding. Anyway, homework time! What's attribute-less mana, and how exactly do you raise mana?"
Haha. Good save?
"Attribute affinity's fine if that's easier! Oh? Time's up already? Class dismissed!"
Whew—escape first. They think I'm cute, so it'll be fiiiine~ Wait, no? Just drop the class? Honestly, 100's too many!!
Out of the chaotic room, Cordelia waited.
"Good work, Professor Miriel. How was your first class?"
"Yeah. I burned it white."
Mentally speaking.