Chapter 70.3 - Mana Shield (Patreon)

For those who missed yesterday's author's note!

This chapter takes place after Arien's first meeting with Reyna during their first semester at the Academy.

The classroom used for Mana Manipulation looked nothing like most of the Academy’s lecture halls.

There were no long tiers of benches curving across the room. In fact, there were no desks at all. Instead, they had been given a large, open chamber whose walls shimmered faintly beneath layers of protective magic. Apart from several heavy chests pushed against one side, the room was completely empty.

During their first lesson a month ago, Master Terynheim had explained that the wards did more than protect the room from spells going out of control. They also enhanced Mana Sense, making it easier to observe spell matrices in detail.

Arien stood near one of the walls with Bud, waiting for the Master to arrive while thinking about Reyna’s offer from the night before.

On one hand, the girl already seemed to know far too much about him, and training together would only give her more opportunities to notice things he would rather keep hidden. On the other, he couldn’t deny the appeal of practicing with people who had grown up surrounded by magic.

“Did you ask around about the groups in the other classes?” he asked.

Bud nodded, nervously twisting his hands together. Mana Manipulation had never come easily to him, and lately he seemed to grow paler every time they approached the training hall.

“Yeah. Reyna was right. Every class seems to be forming groups of its own. Class 1B has Senhal, the elf, and Basil is gathering people in 1C. There’s also some guy named Adam who’s been pulling together commoners from all the classes.”

Arien rubbed his chin. “Do you think we should join Reyna?”

Bud nodded almost immediately. “She’s from an Old House, and the Voltoreys are known for producing generalists. It could be a big opportunity for us.”

Before Arien could answer, the doors swung open and Master Terynheim entered carrying a large leather case under one arm.

“Today we’ll begin casting the first basic spells that will stay with you throughout your path as mages,” she announced as soon as she reached the center of the hall.

Arien felt Bud stiffen beside him. He, on the other hand, felt a spark of excitement. So far, every Mana Manipulation lesson had focused on circulating mana through their channels, which had barely been a challenge for him.

“Who can name the Basic Five spells and explain what each of them does?” Master Terynheim asked.

A quiet murmur spread through the class, and several hands rose.

“Miss Miley?”

Pori cleared her throat. “The first is Levitation, followed by Transmutation, Disruption, Fusion, and, of course, Mana Shield. Levitation gives us control over an object and allows us to move it through space. Transmutation changes how the object is perceived by our senses for the duration of the spell. Disruption breaks apart mana structures, while Fusion does the opposite and joins them back together. Mana Shield creates a protective field that can defend us against both spells and other forms of attack.”

“Very good, Miss Miley,” the Master said. “During your first year, you’ll practice these spells alongside manipulating mana within your own bodies. More importantly, this is unstructured magic, so you won’t need incantations to cast it. The Academy discovered long ago that, despite being First-Circle spells, training them can continue to raise Mana Manipulation even after the second Specialization.”

Arien’s attention sharpened. His Mana Manipulation had been sitting on the edge of its first Specialization for a long time now. Could this finally be enough to push it through?

“We’ll cover each spell separately. Today, we begin with Mana Shield.”

Master Terynheim raised one hand and formed the spell matrix in the air. It looked surprisingly simple.

“Those of you who have already assigned Mana Manipulation, follow along with me. The rest of you should focus on controlling the flow of mana, just as we practiced last time.”

The class split almost in half. Those who still hadn’t discovered Mana Manipulation moved off to one side, casting envious looks toward the rest.

“You’ll get it this month,” Arien told Bud.

His friend only nodded before joining the others.

“Very good, Miss Voltorey,” Master Terynheim called.

Arien glanced toward the red-haired girl and found her standing inside a translucent field of mana.

Well. Apparently she isn’t only good at talking.

He turned his attention back to the Master’s spell matrix, which still hung in the air even though she had already pulled a large notebook from her case. The notebook floated in front of her while a pen hovered beside it, rapidly filling page after page on its own.

What a frivolous use of magic.

Arien wanted it immediately.

The Mana Shield spell reminded him somewhat of forming a ring from released mana. Once the circle was stable, both edges had to be pulled upward at the same time until they met above the caster, forming a dome.

Once he was sure he understood the process, Arien released his mana and tried to copy it. The circle formed easily enough, but the moment he tried to pull its edges upward, the rest of the structure collapsed.

He tried again with the same result. On the fifth attempt, the spell held until the two streams of mana were about to meet.

So timing matters too.

Arien glanced at the Mana Shield appearing and disappearing a dozen feet from the Master. When she did it, the whole thing looked effortless.

“Very good, Miss Rath,” Master Terynheim said.

Mel stood in the middle of her completed Mana Shield. She muttered something, her face turning red, and the spell dissolved around her.

Arien looked over at Sebastian and Pori. Both were still trying to reproduce the spell with deep frowns, occasionally glancing toward Mel and Reyna.

He sighed and started casting again and again. With every attempt, he could feel himself getting closer. The spell itself wasn’t difficult. What he did with Life Magic was several times more complicated. Mana Shield simply demanded much better timing.

Around the room, the only sounds were the faint hiss of mana taking shape and the scratch of the Master’s pen as she filled page after page of her notebook.

Several more minutes passed, during which Arien cast the spell dozens of times. Fortunately, Mana Shield required very little mana, and his Vitality was already restoring almost as much as he spent.

“Good,” Master Terynheim announced. “Now I’ll come around one by one and show you where you’re making mistakes. For now, stop casting and—oh. Congratulations, Mr. Terryson.”

Half the class turned toward him. 

Arien stood inside a translucent field of mana. Knew it wasn’t that difficult.

He took one step forward. The shield collapsed.

Huh?

“The spell itself is simple,” the Master said, apparently noticing his expression. “Using it effectively is not. The strength of your shield depends on how much mana you can maintain within the structure without losing control.” She gestured toward him. “And unless you actively manipulate the spell matrix as you move, you won’t be able to take a single step without breaking it. Running while maintaining one is considerably harder.” A faint smile appeared on her face. “You have years of practice ahead of you, my dears.”

By the end of the lesson, despite Master Terynheim’s advice, only Sebastian had managed to cast the spell correctly as well.

The whole group sat together in one of the Academy cafeterias beneath the Palace. The room was full of clattering plates, scraping chairs, and dozens of conversations blending together. The smell of hot food hung in the air.

For once, none of them seemed interested in talking. They ate in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Pori was the first to speak. She had barely touched her corn chowder.

“So, what do we tell Reyna?”

Gilly looked up at her with tired, slightly red eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t like her.”

Pori nodded.“Reyna can be difficult. But she’s really good at this stuff.” She looked toward Arien. “What do you think?”

“She was the first one to cast the Shield,” Arien said slowly. “I assume she already knew how. How old was she when she discovered magic?”

“Reyna is a Six,” Pori replied with a sigh. “And yeah, she probably knows all of the Basic Five already.”

“That explains a lot,” Gilly agreed. “Still don’t like her.”

Bud pushed his almost untouched plate away. “I think we should try. If I fail out during the first semester, my father might actually disown me.”

“We can always stop if we don’t like it,” Pori pointed out. “Why don’t we vote? Who wants to do it?”

Everyone except Gilly raised a hand. She pretended not to notice the looks directed at her for several seconds before finally sighing.

“Fine, fine. We can try. Maybe we’ll actually learn something.” She raised her hand as well. “Sebastian managed to make the Mana Shield too, after all.”

“And you’ll get another chance to look at Matt,” Bud added with a grin.

To Arien’s surprise, Gilly didn’t explode. She only gave Bud a long look.

“How’s your mana circulation going?”

Bud’s eyes dropped immediately.

“Gilly!” Pori protested. “That was mean.”

“It’s fine,” Bud said in a strained voice. “I deserved that.”

“We’ll practice tonight,” Arien offered. “What do you say?”

“Sure,” Bud muttered.

“I’ll let Reyna know,” Pori said with a faint smile. “Knowing her, she’ll keep us so busy we won’t even have time to complain.”

Arien nodded. He was starting to suspect the Academy had no intention of waiting for each of them to learn at their own pace. Even today’s lesson had made that clear. The Masters didn’t seem to care that some students had spent years practicing magic before coming here while others had barely practiced at all.

The worst part was that this clashed badly with his plans for choosing Skills. Right now, he still had an advantage over most of the other students, but at this pace, he wasn’t sure how long it would last.