Practical Training
When the bell rang to announce that only ten minutes of lunch remained, Luke finished checking out all fifteen books—having borrowed Mary and Shirud’s student IDs as well.
Now the two of them each carried five volumes for his sake.
Luke watched the young boy and girl walking ahead with a pleased expression and murmured to himself.
“Pai, aren’t the children these days remarkably well-mannered?”
They had taken up the load on their own without a single word from him.
-……?
Pai tilted her head as if she didn’t quite understand.
Whether she had failed to catch the words or simply didn’t know if this was ordinary, it hardly mattered either way.
“Holding hands that tightly and then trying to deny it now doesn’t carry much conviction, you know~”
“I told you, it’s not like that!”
“So that means you’re not officially dating yet?”
“No! We were never that kind of pair to begin with!”
As Shirud and Mary bickered their way forward, Luke smiled behind them and muttered,
“Children really do become friends so quickly, Pai.”
Only before lunch Shirud had been clamping his mouth shut, claiming he had nothing to say. And already the two of them were sticking together this closely.
“I’m glad Shirud seems to have made a friend already.”
One of the reasons he had come to the Academy could already be called accomplished, could it not?
-Luke, ……!
But Pai shook her head furiously, as if to say that wasn’t it at all, and began spitting out a bizarre jumble of noises.
This time Luke could not make out a single word. The various sounds Pai produced overlapped so thoroughly that no ordinary human ear could separate them. At that point language ceased to matter; it was simply noise.
Luke furrowed his brow slightly.
“Restrain the excessive noise, Pai. I’m rather tired at the moment.”
He was thoroughly drained from the heavy mana expenditure earlier. Without the mental fortitude of a former archmage, he probably would not have been able to rise so soon.
-Kiiing…….
Pai let out a sound like a scolded puppy and drooped.
Recess slipped by in a blink, and a wand now rested in Luke’s hand.
He lifted it and examined it closely.
“Hoh. So this is a modern wand.”
Once again he activated Mana Sight. If he could not dismantle it on the spot, observation was the only option left.
First he analyzed the usable spells.
A thoroughly basic wand. Locked to Class 1 only, and structurally incapable of withstanding Class 2 or higher. Forcing it might squeeze out a few Class 2 casts, but that would be the limit.
Next he studied the construction.
Any clue about embedding a circle into an inanimate object… this wand is far too crude. I can barely grasp the rough shape.
Compared with the “real” wands Gerard, Yerna, and the other adults used in the field, its output, structure, and form were all painfully simple. It was, to put it bluntly, a practice wooden sword.
Gerard’s, Yerna’s, and Daiton’s wands had each differed in shape, structure, and output. Yerna’s “Iron Wand,” for instance, excelled at projectile-type class magic. Daiton’s “Gauntlet” suited contact-effect spells. Gerard’s wand was specialized for support magic in both form and construction.
This one most closely resembled Gerard’s, yet it was so elementary that even Luke struggled to find room for improvement. Weapons may improve with simplicity, but a wand is a tool, not a weapon. Crude simplicity is never an advantage.
His overall verdict on the first wand he had ever held: interesting, and nothing more. A toy suitable for children practicing class magic.
It fell a little short of his expectations, yet the fact that he could finally cast class magic himself still left him faintly excited.
Even with only Class 1 grammar I should be able to realize most spells. How many syllables will this wand tolerate…?
While Luke was lost in that pleasant speculation, the practical instructor spoke.
“All right, since we have a transfer student, I’ll go over the safety rules one more time. First: never point magic at a person. The wands you’re using probably won’t hurt anyone badly, but better safe than sorry.”
“Yeees—”
The children answered in unison.
They drill safety thoroughly from a young age. Natural enough, if everyone can use magic.
Luke nodded to himself. Precisely because of such education, a peaceful life could be maintained even after magic had been given to all. Hand the same power to the poorly educated people of five thousand years ago and this tranquil society would never have been born.
“Second: use only the magic you’re told to use. The wand can break, and an out-of-spec chant can be dangerous.”
That was something Luke had already confirmed with Mana Sight. He nodded obediently; the children chorused “Yeees—” again.
“Last: stay away from the tanks that hold Mana Dust. Got it?”
Mana Dust?
Luke knew the concept from books. In modern class magic, which drew on ambient mana rather than mana stored in a circle, continuous casting in one place would soon leave a wand unable to function. Running mana pipes across this wide practice field would be both dangerous and expensive—leaks, construction costs, maintenance. Hence the need for a reusable mana storage medium: Mana Dust.
A fungal microorganism invented long ago by the mage Franche D’Enoska, capable of absorbing hundreds of times its own volume in mana.
Luke raised his hand a little.
“Yes, transfer student. What’s on your mind?”
“I should like to see the Mana Dust for myself.”
A mage through and through.
“Hey, what did I just say?”
The instructor looked down at him with an incredulous expression. Luke met the gaze and pressed on.
“A request. Just once—surely it can be arranged?”
The earnest look in the child’s eyes made the instructor waver for a moment, but permission was never going to be granted.
“……No! Without protective gear, Mana Dust will suck the mana right out of a person. If you take it out of the tank and inhale even a little…… kids like you are in real danger.”
“Is that so……”
The books had indeed mentioned the risks. He had hoped the Academy might have some workaround, but safety was safety.
“Very well. I apologize for being stubborn.”
“So I said no…… wait. Oh. All right.”
The instructor scratched behind his ear, surprised the child had given up so readily. Children’s stubbornness was usually hard to break. If Luke had already resigned himself, so much the better for everyone.
“Good. Line up, everyone. Transfer student, take the very back. Watch the students ahead of you carefully and copy them.”
“Understood.”
The children formed a line by attendance number. Mary stood somewhere in the middle; Shirud was near the very end.
Once they were ready, the instructor nodded.
“All right. The spell you’ll be using is ‘Abet’—lift the red ball on the table twenty centimeters.”
The most basic of basics. Abet helped train target designation and coordinate setting, and because it was a levitation spell the result was immediately visible, making it easy for children to grasp. It was also simple to cast.
Common and elementary as it was, the spell saw almost no use outside education. The heavier the object, the more mana it consumed, so only the lightest items could be lifted—and for those it was simpler, cheaper, and cleaner just to move them by hand. The chant had been designed purely for teaching.
“Begin.”
At the instructor’s word the first child thrust out a wand.
“Abet.”
The red ball resting on the plate rose about ten centimeters from the table, then dropped back with a soft plop. It did not bounce, so Luke deduced the ball was made of something light and non-elastic, like sponge rather than ordinary rubber.
“Mitchell, too low. Try again.”
“Yes……”
Mitchell received two more chances but never managed the full twenty centimeters.
“Abet.”
Mary’s chant. The red ball rose lightly to twenty centimeters and settled again.
“Oh, Mary, you got it on the first try! What’s the occasion?”
“I went to the library today. Maybe I absorbed some good energy?”
Mary scratched the back of her head with a sheepish grin. The boy behind her teased,
“Whoa, you actually went to the library?”
“I did so!”
Mary was lively and good-natured; no wonder she had plenty of friends. If Shirud grew close to her, his social skills might blossom quickly as well. While Luke was thinking such things, time slipped by and it was Shirud’s turn.
“Shirud, step forward.”
“Yes.”
The answer was crisp, yet Shirud looked faintly tense. A slight tremor ran through his mana—nerves, no doubt.
Luke offered a quiet word of encouragement.
“Shirud, don’t be nervous. It’s nothing special.”
“Luke……”
Luke clenched a small fist; Shirud bumped his own against it and took the cheer.
Right. Nothing special……
Still, anxiety lingered. Until now the circle had made class magic difficult for him. He had never been skilled with magic to begin with, always tense and prone to mistakes; after the circle was engraved, every surge of unease fed the circle and squeezed his heart, making concentration even harder. Before he knew what the circle was, he had simply claimed chest pain and gone to the nurse’s office. Some might have called it running away.
“Shirud?”
The instructor called. Shirud snapped back to himself, gave a small nod, and pointed the wand at the red ball.
“Do it.”
A short command. Shirud adjusted his grip and drew a long breath.
“Huu……”
He recalled the meditative sensation he had practiced with Luke. That had always calmed him. Inside the settled quiet, Shirud suddenly felt something—something that was water and fire, wind and stone all at once.
This…… is mana.
In that instant he perceived mana completely.
So this is what mana feels like!
There was no clean way to describe it. Sensation is abstract; explanation is concrete. The sudden realization pushed Shirud one step further.
Second Circle—that was the fruit of his insight.
Luke watched through Mana Sight and smiled.
“Well done, child. You’ve taken a fine step.”
Luke’s own mana already filled Shirud’s circle in abundance; a single moment of enlightenment had been enough to promote him. From now on Shirud would no longer suffer mana runaway. The thought was deeply satisfying.
Whoooosh……
A breeze rose from nowhere, as if congratulating the new Second Circle. Second Circle meant authority over phenomena; phenomena would now answer to his will.
“Abet.”
Will rode Shirud’s murmur. And in that instant the entire table began to rise.
“What?”
The instructor reeled in shock. This was not Abet! A children’s practice wand could never produce such output. Lifting the whole table with Abet?
“Shirud, stop! Something’s gone wrong!”
The instructor ordered him to halt at once. But—
“Huh?”
Shirud himself was just as startled. What on earth was this? He had only meant to lift the red ball……
Fear of the unknown power flooded him. The will inside the magic was overwritten by terror. Ordinarily that will would have scattered, yet the Second Circle and the ample mana refused to let it go. Even if he lost consciousness the will would remain; stopping the circle meant stopping the heart.
-Luke!
Pai called urgently, sensing the danger. But Luke’s own circle had already shared so much mana with Shirud that little remained, and Shirud was now Second Circle as well—interference between equals was impossible.
“I’ve said it many times: you are far too emotional, Shirud.”
Given his magical talent, this personality should never have been his original nature. At first Shirud must have been self-righteous, arrogant—in a positive sense, possessed of unshakable self-confidence. Such a person never doubts what he has done. Yet now, unable to understand his own act, he had fallen into fear. He had lost the confidence he once held.
Through Mana Sight Luke saw Shirud’s wildly scattering will streak toward the Mana Dust tanks.
Crack!
A fine fracture etched itself into one of the tanks. Left alone, the vessel would certainly shatter.
I have to reel in that rampaging will first.
Luke ran through methods of suppressing ambient mana. Circles alone would not suffice. But a wand now rested in his hand. With Class 1—or at most Class 2—chants he ought to be able to calm the situation.
Calm the mana itself? Class-magic grammar was poorly suited to handling raw mana. Burn it all away with random spells? This wand would never survive the output.
Very well—if he could not act on the mana, he would act on the target. Every class-magic chant Luke knew specialized in target designation; precisely designating a subject was far more mana-efficient, which was why the system had developed that way.
So what needed immediate influence? Shirud, of course.
Luke calculated a way for Shirud to safely withdraw his will.
Rabet, Ahanum.
Life-target designation mixed with mana manipulation. Fragments of a chant Gerard himself had once demonstrated. Body reinforcement—magic that could exert influence on the body. Applied to Shirud, it could forcibly slow the rotation of his circle. That would end the crisis.
Originally “Rabet” and “Ahanum” were Class 2 and Class 3 chants, but he broke the calculation into base units and lengthened the chant.
"Riu, Vera, Tdi, Anu, Hau, Numen."
⟨ Body Reinforcement — Circle Suppression ⟩
Split this way, every syllable fell within Class 1. The longer chant made the formula more complex, yet that hardly concerned him. If even a sliver of possibility existed, it was enough to force an opening.
Questions of first-time class magic or whether it would work were set aside. After finishing the lengthy calculation, Luke thrust the wand toward Shirud. The magic rode the wand and struck precisely into Shirud’s heart.
Then—
Crash, thud.
The table and red ball dropped. Shirud clutched his chest and gasped for breath.
“Haaah, hah……”
Not mana runaway—will runaway. His heart did not actually hurt, yet the shock left him reeling. Luke and the instructor rushed over, supporting him.
“Shirud, are you all right?”
“Are you unhurt? Nothing else injured?”
“Y-yes…… I’m fine.”
The instructor sighed and gestured to Mary.
“Class president, take him to the nurse’s office.”
“Y-yes!”
Mary hurried over and supported Shirud. Being taller, she managed easily. Luke watched and felt a measure of relief. Had the calculation been even slightly off…… Instant class-magic computation was still unfamiliar territory. Looking back, splitting the chant had been a gamble whose success he could not have guaranteed.
“The wand’s completely snapped. Was this a defective one?”
At the instructor’s muttered remark Luke gripped his own wand. It, too, had broken cleanly in two. Noticing, the instructor slowly rose and looked down at Luke.
“Transfer student—Luke, was it?”
“……That is so.”
Looking up at an adult from a child’s body carried considerable pressure. The man also seemed thoroughly angry.
“What did I tell you? Never use magic on a person, did I not?”
“There was no other choice. To calm Shirud’s rampaging will I needed to soothe his circle……”
“No excuses. Whatever the reason, casting magic on a person is a serious matter. Causing trouble on your very first day of transfer—problem child, are you? After this class, follow me to the faculty office.”
“……Understood.”
“If you understand, go sit down.”
The instructor pointed to the seats where the students who had finished practice were waiting. Luke turned with leaden steps and sat among them.
-Luke……
At Pai’s worried call, Luke offered a faint smile and spoke softly.
“There’s nothing to worry about. Once I explain the circumstances, it will all be settled properly.”