Chapter - 6: United Magic Department Students.
Gaius felt a fire burning inside him as he saw the warrior students walk away. Despite professor Marco putting good words about the mages, it didn't undo the fact that the warriors really looked down on the mages.
'Huh, what do these illiterate monkeys really know about the mysteries of this world which only us mages can solve'
He clenched his fists feeling the somber atmosphere in the air and opened his mouth, breaking the silence.
"Everyone, looks like we need to step up to show those warrior …" Pausing a little to stop him from uttering a curse as the nearby noble students looked towards him. He started speaking again.
"What I mean is that we, the more experienced ones should step up to uphold the mages' reputation. The commoners who are new to magic can't do it yet"
This time he decided to put away his contempt for ordinary people and unite together as mages.
He's not the only one, the other noble students also voiced their thoughts.
"I agree, let's show those uncultured warriors what we mages can do"
"I just learned a basic attack magic a few days ago, let me demonstrate it today"
"The commoners haven't even learned any spells yet, and they dare to look down on all the mages for it. Let us show them what real magic is"
With that, Gaius led the nearby noble students towards the commoners.
Charlie smiled looking at such a Gaius, the Gaius who despises commoners the most.
'It's so nice to see everyone united together, maybe this small dispute will bring a healthy development for the whole class.'
He slowly started moving as he noticed that Livia was following as well.
'Oh well, everyone is so fired up. I must also do my best, But I should wait for a while, since my one is a bit special'
…
Felix flinched a little as he found Gaius suddenly appearing in front of him. After being classmates for over 1 year, it's already known to all the commoners how much contempt Gaius holds for them. So it's not a good news for him to appear before him like this.
Felix lowered his head, expecting Gaius to ridicule and blame him for the previous incident. The nearby commoner students also thought like that.
Well, Gaius really felt like doing it as his inner contempt for the people won't vanish so quickly. But he knows that can't be done right now as the whole mage department needs to unite together to face the warriors.
Don't think that Gaius is a hot blooded kid with a loose temper who openly mocks the commoners. That's just one of his characteristic flaws. In fact, as a descendant of an Earl, he knows how to read the atmosphere and what to do in certain situations. In desperate situations, authorities even cooperate with outlaws, let alone this small incident.
Felix opened his eyes with surprise as he felt the sensation of a hand on his body. He saw Gaius's hand resting on his left shoulder as he patted him. He was really shocked. Gaius, that same Gaius Aurelius who even frowned at the thought of sharing the same classroom as commoners is now standing close to him, what more, he's touching him directly. Unbelievable!
Gaius opened his mouth and started speaking "Don't lower your head, it's not your fault for the warriors to ridicule us. While I won't deny that your magic is lacking in power, it's not like we nobles are any better. Just that we started learning magic from earlier days. It's already amazing that you succeeded summoning the elements on your first try and even at a stable level at that"
He quickly took back his hand after that, suppressing the urge to wash it off immediately and turned around saying "But that's not enough to confront the warriors who are strong from the start. Let me demonstrate you the minimum level you need for that"
He closed his eyes after saying that and started concentrating on his magic spell. The area around him became quiet with only his hushed chanting ringing in the air.
As everyone nearby was looking at him, he suddenly opened his eyes, put his right hand hovering on top of the left one with a small gap, where fire was gathering.
Liana, seeing this, opened her eyes wide "Isn't this…"
At the same time, Gaius finished his chanting. With a swing forward, he opened both of his hands.
"Fireball!"
A ball of fire flew towards the distant target.
"Wow! it's fireball"
"Can't believe lord Aurelius casted fireball!"
The students started exclaiming. Fireball is not an ordinary magic. It's far from apprentice level. Infact, in this era where magic is not yet developed, Fireball is already considered as a high level magic. They say, no matter how high one climbs towards the path of magic, fireball is still one of the top arsenal a mage has in their grasp, just in different formations.
Professor Marco in the distance also gazed at it.
'That..'
But as he looked carefully, he thought 'It's not fireball yet, it's only the shape, the embryo form of fireball which lacks proper essence. But it's impressive already for him to able to do it'
Just as Professor Marco pondered this, the fireball, initially launched with impressive speed, suddenly flickered and slowed down, before veering off course with a gust of wind. It hit the ground a bit away from the target.
"Argh… I lost control, the target is too far away"
'It seems fireball is still too much for me at this distance. I was too fired up to notice this'
Gaius was so embarrassed at his fiasco that he couldn't look at Felix at all.
But others didn't think like that.
From behind Felix exclaimed "Fireball! Lord Aurelius, you can cast fireball"
"Never thought someone of us would be able to cast fireball already"
"Right, Fireball is a Journeyman level spell"
"I can't even cast Apprentice level spells and someone already casted Journeyman level one T-T"
Gaius looked back with surprise at the others' reaction. At that moment professor Isabella spoke.
She smiled while saying "Don't be surprised Gaius. While it's true that your spell was incomplete, it's already an amazing feat that you were able to cast the embryo form of fireball. It's just that you don't have enough mana to maintain it, thus the spell lacked strength to fly further."
At that moment a noble student chuckled while speaking "Lord Aurelius' opening is so grand that I'm hesitating to show my spell"
Another one chimed in "Right. He almost casted a 2 star journeyman spell. While I at most can do a 3 star apprentice level one"
Hearing them talk like this made Gaius calm down, he knew that they were cheering him up. So he opened his mouth to change the subject.
"Come on guys, it wasn't anything great. I already embarrassed myself with my failed magic spell. So don't talk about it anymore. How about you all start showing your spells instead?"
Hearing it, the others agreed.
"Right, Let me embarrass myself. It's nothing special compared to the fireball"
*Fire Specks*
A shower of tiny embers got shot forward and shortly disappeared. [ Imagine the sparks flying from a welding machine ]
"Aha, My one is a short range spell, it couldn't even cross half of the distance before disappearing. Such an embarrassment."
Laughed the boy who casted the spell.
"Good job Rowan, you became better at your spell as it's more stable and the duration is longer. Now let me show you my improvement"
*Magic arrow*
A cyan colored arrow materialized in the air and got shot forward with tremendous speed. It soon hit the target in the distance which briefly shone with a dim light.
"You improved a lot too, Lord Kael. You conjured the spell quicker and it's forward speed was also fast."
*Stone shower*
*Airshot*
*Fire Whip*
*Hollow earth*
*Water Splash*
Like this, one by one the other noble students also came forward to demonstrate their own magic spells.
Charlie came beside Livia who was preparing to cast her own spell.
"I never saw them so excited and lively before."
"Yes, I just hope everyone always stays as united as now."
"Hope they do"
After pausing for a bit. Charlie started walking forward, leaving Livia behind.
"Oh well, I waited for a bit. It seems most of them are done showing their skills. Now it's my turn."
He stood before everyone with a smark and Livia also paused to allow him to do it first.
"My magic is a bit different. I need a close target to show it properly. Since the original target is too far, lemme get closer"
Saying so, he started running before anyone could comprehend his words. At the same time he started chanting while doing so.
As he neared the metal target at the front, he spread both of his arms and opened the hands. A surge of concentration flowed through him as he willed the earth to obey.
Two roughly shaped stone swords formed on his both sides and he grabbed them. As soon as he did so, he jumped with a spin, appearing in front of the target.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two sharp air cutting sounds could be heard and the target glowed for a bit as Charlie appeared behind the target with 2 cracked stone swords in his hands.
But he didn't stop as the swords crumbled to dust. With some chanting, stone and dirt gathered around his left leg. It felt like something shining also got mixed there as Charlie jumped just like before.
He ended his performance with a spinning kick and this time the target glowed for longer.
The students were amazed as the dust settled. 2 shallow blunt sword marks could be seen on the target which recovered quickly.
Charlie could hear them whispering as he stood up.
"Amazing. He managed to leave marks on the target!"
"For real! That's Moonlight Metal which absorbs all magic upon hit"
All the targets on the training field are made of a special mana absorbing material called Moonlight metal. It absorbs all the damage and mana of the magic spell upon hit. Their form might be different but every spell is made of mana, which the metal absorbs to repair itself while glowing. The duration and intensity of the light indicates how much mana and damage it absorbed.
Even Professor Marco paid attention to this.
'This… Is he a magic warrior?'
From the movement of Charlie and how he executed the moves without hesitation, it's very clear that he's very good with his body control, which is different from the frail mages who don't exercise much.
Professor Isabella doesn't seem surprised, it seems she already knew about it.
There are some rare kinds of genius people who are good with magic but also talented as warriors. They shine in both worlds.
And Charlie is such a genius.
"You were so cool, Lord Owen. Those movements were so clear and without any of hesitation"
Charlie got showered with praises as he returned.
Gaius suddenly posed a question amidst the praises.
"But the body movement looks very refined. That burst of speed and clear sword utilization, it wouldn't have been so smooth without a lot of practice. On the other hand, the magic seems a bit…"
He didn't finish it but everyone can tell what he wanted to say. Yes, the movements were good but it's more of a physical skill than magic. The magic was all about molding 2 swords out of earth but it was too brittle and broke with one hit. Though it might look amazing to the commoner students who couldn't even summon the elements, it's too simple in the eyes of the noble students.
This whole demonstration instead seemed like a …
"Yes, I was originally meant to be a warrior. I trained with the sword since young and planned to enroll in the local Knights' school since the Imperial Academy is too far away from my home. Magic is something I only learned recently."
"If so, why join this academy and the magic department at that?"
Gaius asked, even the other kids were interested. Yeah, what caused the sudden decision. It's actually not strange to choose the Imperial Academy over the local prestigious ones, but what perplexes everyone is enrolling in the magic department.
If you say that it's because Charlie wants to be a magic warrior, it's strange that he started learning magic recently. People hardly train as a warrior once they discover they have talent in magic and if they find that they are also good with bodily movement, thus aim to become a magic warrior, they train in both from the beginning, not like Charlie who is late to learn magic but trained as a warrior.
[ Commoner students are gonna cry hearing it. What! We can't even summon the elements and you expect him to be good, both as a warrior and mage!!! ]
Charlie looked towards Livia and said with a soft smile "It's all because of lady Navis. I came to find her"
…..
Author's note (For early readers): One thing I'd like to announce is that this is my first novel and I'm very confused while organizing my thoughts. The things I wrote are not set and might be changed in the future. But I can tell you that the overall plot will remain the same, the only things to change would be the background data.
Like I wrote that Elena died in a rebellion in her past life but I tell you that it's absolute bullshit because the plot doesn't match at all. I just filled up the blanks to continue writing as I haven't planned Elena's future path at that time.
Another thing I changed is her age which I previously set as 12 but now 11. It's because I remember that I was 12 years old when I was in class 2 but forgot that there's something like class 0 back then. To begin with, I skipped 2-3 years because of sickness and completely oblivious of the proper system.
And I regret writing about a world which is not developed yet. Many thoughts about changing this setting appeared in my mind. Infact I felt like dropping everything and rewrite the novel. But alas, I can't do that since there's already people reading this novel. I can't be an irresponsible writer who drops a novel right after starting it. Furthermore, it's already a rewritten work. I wrote 13k words before dropping my previous draft about Elena and the story is completely different since in the previous draft, Elena was 5 years old and there was no academy arc yet. She was studying in the internal kindergarten of the imperial family.
But at least the world was developed in that draft, but in this one, magic got discovered recently and that's very troublesome. I have to write about it's development, research etc. Plus there's something more troublesome. The novel is from the imperial princess' point of view.
The readers might not think much about it. BUT I"M GOING CRAZY BECAUSE OF IT. I have to finish the world development quickly, write about the power system and important characters. It's such a pain in the head.
Unlike normal cultivation and fantasy novels where mc climbs to a higher realm from a lower one where the author can introduce each one gradually, I've to cram a huge information dump from the start. Because it's a higher being's point of view where she knows such information from the start.
I also need to quickly figure out all the important people's data since it's also in her grasp. And there's one more thing which I hate is politics. I'm a noob when it comes to this but I can't go without it. That's why I wrote about the nobles even though they are not related to the story I aimed to write.
The only characters I needed were Elena, Olivia, Letizia. The other ones including Livia, Charlie, Gaius etcetera etcetera are just fillers for me. Yeah, they are all fillers. Even the whole academy is a filler.
But I realized after starting a novel that story writing is not just about writing the plot. You need other things to narrate it beautifully. If a plot is about going from one place to another, you just don't directly write it on a page.
You need to write about the road from where you are going to travel through, but the road can't be empty. Otherwise it's gonna be desolate. You need to place some shops, buildings and residential houses beside the road. But those structures can't be empty. You need to fill them up with people. But the people also can't be just filler NPCs. You need to also write a story about them such as their background history and characteristics.
Just like this, you need to slowly build a whole world besides the protagonist which you are writing about, so that even if you remove her from the world, it doesn't feel incomplete.
Story writing is more like creating a new world instead of just creating a simple character.
It's troublesome, but I love it so much. Like I initially wanted to quickly write some filler characters like Livia, Charlie, Gaius, Liana and so on just to quickly pass the filler arc. But I slowly realized that they became not just simple fillers but characters with their own story and something amazing came out.
I'm fascinated and felt like writing more about them. Story writing is so much fun.
Also sorry about blabbering so much in an author's note. I automatically treated it as a personal diary instead of a novel. My bad :P.
Chapter word count: 2203
Au note word count: 779
Chapter page count: 7.5
Au note page count: 2
Total page count: 9.5