The Hidden World

Yuki left the Main Hall quickly and opened his map to find out where he had to go next. The map led Yuki to a gate that laid between the Main Hall and the Dormitory. The massive wide open field past this entrance was named the Meadow. Past the meadow, Yuki could spy the small outlines of a grove of trees. His watch informed him that this was the Academy Forest. To the left of the field was the Magic Hall and to the right was the Battle Hall.

 

The place that Yuki’s next class was located was the Magic Hall. The design of the building was more like a the high tech base of an organization than a fantasy magic school. It was an elegant building of glass and metal all put together into a modern design.

 

Yuki walked past the automatic doors and looked at his watch to find the room where his class was to take place. It led him to a opaque glass door that had a sign that read “General Magic 1”. Yuki grabbed the gold colored handle and walked into the class.

 

The inside of the well lit room was mostly empty. There were a few crystal orbs that were at the side of the room, some on the floor others on pedestals. But for the most part, Yuki saw no decoration of any kind. The only thing on the walls were windows and the only thing on the ground was a floor.

 

Yuki turned his attention to a person that was resting on their knees with their eyes closed who seemed to be the instructor of the course. It was a female beastkin, a wolf based on the ears. Those ears flicked toward Yuki when he closed to the door.

 

“You can sit anywhere,” she said softly to him, her eyes not opening. “Class will begin soon.”

 

Yuki said nothing but walked toward the back corner of the room. He had arrived quite early; there was no one else in the room besides him and the instructor.

 

Yuki decided to follow her lead and sat down on his knees. Then he closed his eyes and meditated there, clearing his mind of all distractions. He used this opportunity to practice manipulating his mana.

 

There he sat with the instructor doing the same. Yuki didn’t know how long he was sitting, but soon the sound of the door opening broke through his meditation. He cracked his eyes opened and saw students begin to stream in.

 

The number of students that entered the class was small. There were only five students including Yuki himself. Yuki recognized all of their faces from his homeroom including the girl that saved him.

 

‘Maybe it’s because the rest of the first years are split between the three classes,’ Yuki hypothesized. ‘The novice group might be taking a different course as well.’

 

Whatever the case maybe, the class was very small. The instructor’s eyes finally opened upon the arrival of the students, revealing sharp emerald eyes.

 

“Welcome, students,” she greeted them. “You may sit anywhere but please space yourselves out.”

 

They followed her orders and sat spread out throughout the room. The girl seemed to be considering sitting near Yuki as she kept looking toward him but she then she decided to sit in the middle of the classroom.

 

Once the class had settled, the instructor opened her mouth and began to speak.

 

“Welcome to your first magic class at the Academy,” she started. “This is the first year General Magic class and I am your instructor Mabel. As you can see, I am a Wolfkin.”

 

The other students voiced out greetings of their own in return.

 

“The mission of this course is to teach you all the basics of magic,” she continued softly. “As you children are a from the advanced class, I take it you already know some magic. We will expand on that and teach you new ideas and techniques.”

 

Mabel waved her hand toward the general direction of the crystal balls that lied next to the wall of the spacious room.

 

“I understand that you all have taken a measurement when you were applying for the Academy,” she said. “However, I will be doing more a accurate and in depth test than the one you did. It will also give you students an understanding of where you stand in the class and will hopefully motivate you to improve yourselves. This measurement will contribute to your first rankings here at the Academy.”

 

‘There are rankings at the school?’ Yuki thought.

 

“We shall start the testing,” she announced, standing. The hem of her dress hovered above the floor. “Are there any volunteers that want to be tested first?”

 

A rather bulky elf boy got up. He stood there with his chest puffed out and a smug smile pasted on his face.

 

“Okay, follow me,” Mabel instructed, walking toward one crystals.

 

She knelt down and picked up one of the orbs. Then she handed it to the elven boy.

 

“Pour you mana into it. That is all you need to do,” she said.

 

The boy smiled and began to shove mana into the crystal orb. It began to shine brilliantly and became a bright green. Yuki could feel the rush of mana from his corner of the room.

 

‘He’s showing off,’ Yuki thought. ‘You don’t need nearly that much mana to get those crystals to work.’

 

Mabel stared at the ball for several seconds, her lips moving slightly as she seemed to murmur to herself. Then she put her hand up, signaling the boy to stop.

 

“That is enough,” she said. “Now just wait and the results will be displayed.”

 

The elven boy stopped his torrent of mana and waited there with the still glowing orb in his hand.

 

Soon, words began to flow out of the crystal. They hovered in the air, shining brightly for the whole room to see.

 

‘Wind attribute. Mana capacity ranging from Mid to High. Mana production from Low to Mid,’ Yuki read to himself.

 

“Your mana production is a bit lower than average,” Mabel commented. “Mana capacity is a little higher. This may cause problems if you are fighting for consecutive days. Especially if you drain yourself.”

 

She told the boy to sit back down at and asked for another volunteer. This time, a female elf went up. This repeated for the rest of the class. Most of the results were between in the middle range though the girl who saved Yuki scored a mid to high. Now it was Yuki’s turn to be tested.

 

He walked up to Mabel who gave him a small smile as he did.

 

“Hello,” she whispered to him. “You are the human student?”

 

Yuki nodded.

 

“Thank you for coming early,” she said. “I don’t normally get students that motivated to come to class.”

 

Yuki nodded again, this time in acknowledgment.

 

Mabel gave him the orb and Yuki began to stream a thin trickle of mana into the orb. The crystal began to glow brightly, though not as brightly as it had for the first boy. However, the results came much quicker than it had for the other students.

 

‘It seems that the less mana that is used it quicker it can be analyzed,’ Yuki remarked. ‘Let’s see. Earth / Fire Attribute. Mana capacity is Mid. Mana production is High to Very High.’

 

Yuki realized that the last statistic was abnormal and let out a soft sigh. He didn’t want to stand out any more than he already was being the only human in the school.

 

“That is some excellent mana control you have there,” Mabel whispered to Yuki. Then she raised her voice. “Earth attribute which is quite rare and also a dual attribute. Mana capacity is average but your mana production is quite high. This leads to leakage but it seems that you have something on you to keep it under control. Your mana capacity should increase to match your production as long as you practice.”

 

She looked at Yuki with a curious gaze.

 

“By the way, may I know what type of class you are?” she asked.

 

“Support class,” Yuki replied.

 

“Ah, then your statistics fit you quite well. A large mana pool and rapid production are all fine traits for a support class as well as your affinity,” she said with a smile. “I look forward to it.”

 

‘She looks forward to it?’ Yuki wondered. But before he could ask her what she meant, Mabel sent him back to his seat.

 

“We have finished all of the testing,” Mabel announced. “Now we shall begin the actual course.”

 

She detached her watch from her wrist and placed it on the floor gently. With a snap, a large holographic screen popped into existence.

 

“We shall begin with the rules of magic and how it works,” she said with a smile before she launched into a hour long lecture.