20 The First Lesson
Greyson felt the morning sun shine down on his face. He slowly opened his eyes before looking around. He would have to get used to this new room of his now that he was finally settled down somewhere. His feet swung over the edge of his bed as he quickly rose up. Rubbing his eyes, he walked over to his wardrobe and opened it. Inside the wardrobe was surprisingly a whole set of clothes. They were all the same robe that indicated his status as a student of Dalia Academy. It was white and hooded with the silver eagle crest of the Dalia Kingdom sewn onto the left breast. Greyson dressed up before heading out his door. On his way out of his bedroom, Greyson ran into Lyle who was also leaving. Lyle looked stunned by Greyson before shaking his head.
"You know, you really match that white robe. It's blinding. Honestly, your looks are so exaggerated that even I can't help but be envious." Lyle also looked good in the white robes that accentuated his dark blue hair and eyes, but even he knew that he was just easy on the eyes not particularly good-looking. However, Greyson looked like he was glowing. The white robe only emphasized his white hair, pale skin, pink lips, and emerald green eyes.
Hearing his words, Greyson rolled his eyes and just shrugged. He never knew how to respond to compliments about his looks. He couldn't even thank his parents because he didn't know who they were and what they looked like.
"Where are you headed today?"
Lyle looked over at him responding, "Water Department, you?"
"Oh, I'm going to the Water Department today too! Head Teacher Elendil told me to report to his office today and that he will inform me then of where I will go for the rest of the week."
"That's right. You said last night that you will be learning from a different element teacher every day. That's going to be crazy. You'll definitely be working hard, I guess."
Greyson just shrugged, "It should be fine. Having a lot to do makes the days go by with more excitement anyways. I will always have something to do."
"Let's walk over together then!"
"Okay!" Greyson followed Lyle out the door as the navigated their way towards the Water Department. The dorm room had contained basic materials for new students and a map was included in those things. They looked at the map last night to figure out the academy's structure. Before long they came up to magnificent looking building with two large double doors. The word "WATER" was carved onto the top of the building. They walked in together before separating because the Head Teacher's office was on the top floor while Lyle's class was on the first. This time the building did not contain a teleportation circle since there were only four floors, so Greyson just walked up the steps.
The top floor was very open and only contained one room. Greyson walked up to the door of the office and knocked.
"Enter." Elendil's cold voice rang out. Greyson opened the door and walked in nervously. He glanced around quickly at the room only to realize it reflected the owner's personality to a T. It was very spartan and minimalist. There was one large desk with two couches and a table in front of the desk that looked to be for guests. Everything was extremely clean and empty. Greyson involuntarily shuddered at the cold atmosphere of the room. Elendil rose up and sat down on one of the couches while gesturing for Greyson to sit on the one across. Once they were both sitting, Elendil finally spoke.
"Welcome. I will keep the introduction short. Your seven teachers will be the Head Teachers of each department. The principal has high hopes for you and only the Head Teachers could give you the best guidance. We are also the only teachers with such a flexible schedule and extra time to focus on a specific student. Normally, we are just overseers and do not teach anybody. Today, you will be studying with me. The order from here on shall be: water, fire, earth, wind, light, dark, lightning. Understood? You will continue cycling between teachers in this order." Greyson nodded while feeling pressured by the special treatment. He thought they would just assign any teacher, but to have all the Head Teachers personally teach him made him feel the reality of their expectations. He would definitely have to work hard to pass the entrance exam for the Idris Kingdom's Magic Academy.
"Alright. I can see you have understood. We will begin our lesson now then. Follow me to the training ground."
...
They walked to an open field before Elendil stopped walking and turned around to face Greyson.
"What water spells do you know?" Elendil questioned.
"Uh... none. I never had access or money to make purchases like that." Greyson scratched his head in embarrassment.
"But I seem to remember Teacher Harrison reporting that your element was water and that you could attack the target well. Did you not use a spell then?" Elendil's facial expression had not shown any contempt towards Greyson's low level of knowledge, but instead calmly questioned him.
"I just will the water to do something and it will copy my thoughts. I have never learned any spells..."
"It follows your thoughts? Show me. Hit that tree over there." Elendil pointed to a large tree around 50 meters away from the pair. Greyson nodded and activated his mana. A water ball formed before shooting out towards the tree and hitting the trunk. To his surprise, his water ball did not do any damage to the tree. He felt this was rather unexpected because his spells normally make trees splinter or completely break apart.
"The tree is enchanted. Only advanced level magicians could do damage to it, but they have a different training ground. However, back to the point, your magic control is very impressive. It seems that you really do not need to learn spells, but you are still limited by your imagination and level. You could probably copy any spell as long you know it, but sometimes the creative ways to use the elements are hard to think of. The spells you copy are all novice level spells as well, so I'm guessing this means you are limited by your level and stage." Greyson listened to his words and realized his teacher was correct on both weaknesses. He only used the spells he had seen before and never tried to come up with his own and the strength of the spell was connected to his level and stage. Other then when his magic acts out instinctively, he never used a super strong spell that drained his mana.
"This will probably completely change your schedule. Normally your teachers would help you understand spell structure and how to decrease the spell activation time, however, you are not in need for this kind of help. I will speak with the other Head Teachers and let you know what your future plans will be tomorrow. Why don't you head back to your dorm room and meditate the rest of the day?" Greyson nodded and, seeing his approval, Elendil quickly turned and walked back to the Water Department Hall. Seeing the teacher leaving so quickly, Greyson heaved a sigh before walking back the way he came.
He would be lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed. He had so many imaginations of how his first magic lesson would go and how much he would learn. Having the lesson last less than 5 minutes before it being cut short was very anti-climatic. Although he was slightly upset, he still obediently went back into his dorm room. There was a third door in the dorm and this door led to the meditation room. There were two spots to sit that had magic arrays in place that would make the room dense with elemental mana. These arrays helped to speed up the rate of meditation and the absorption of mana. Sighing yet again, he sat down and began to meditate. He just hoped that tomorrow's news would make the next lesson exciting.