Chapter 016

"Glad we both agree!"

Mr. Carlson paused.

"As for the reason a combatant is in a mages class, well, even if a combatant can't cast magic, they should at least know how it works to defend against it, shouldn't they?!"

"Ye…"

Before Caleb could respond, he was cut off again by Mr. Carlson.

"Another rhetorical question, Mr. Harrison! With that aside, I will continue from where I was rudely interrupted."

He said, looking at Caleb, who turned his face away upon making eye contact.

"I am not here to teach you how to cast magic; I am here to teach you how to use it to hit where and when it hurts. In simpler terms, control.

The current you can cast a spell, but most, if not all of you, use over three times the amount of aether for a spell that should cost you less than 1/18 of what you use.

I call this Magic Incontinence, M.I if you would be so bold as to abbreviate it. You leak your aether out of your body like a newborn child; remember I said you were newborns, so this is all of you.

"Magic Incontinence" leads to another thing I call "Intransitive Casting" I.C, meaning you invest overly in a spell, curse, summon or blessing.

Your spell now not only has an absurd amount of your aether invested into it, but it is now also more unstable and excessive than it should be.

If this persists, you will drain your entire aether pool long before your enemy consumes a tenth of their absolute aether.

You all know what happens after that…."

He walked up to his desk in front of the class and sat at the table.

"I want those that can cast to try casting a basic version of their magic type, only after I finish explaining what I'm about to say.

Instead of casting with your aether flowing into the spell through a pipe, I want you to do something else.

I want you all to let it flow through a small pipe. Compress that pipe so much that it shrinks into a straw.

Let it-"

A girl already cast, and her spell grew beyond control as the pressure of aether pouring into the spell was came in with too much force.

If it kept up, she would end up blowing her hand to bits as the spell was already far too unstable, but Mr. Carlson immediately appeared and disrupted the spell.

"What part of only after I finish explaining what I'm about to say did you not understand? That is my final warning to you all. I want all of you to learn from her mistake!"

He went back to the teachers' desk and sat on the table before continuing.

"What you all just saw was stupidity, one at a level that it could've cost her hand or her life and possibly injured some of you.

By compressing your gateway for feeding aether to your spell, you make a pressure gun and when you cast, what else would it do but shoot out.

If you try casting, aether already within that pipe would want to exit somewhere and empty itself from it all at once.

Your job is first to compress all that aether in that pipe and then force it back into your aether source; that is your assignment for the remainder of this class."

He said as he went back and took his seat.

This process was more complicated than he made it sound; I had done this training with the "Phantoms of Carnage," which was quite challenging.

The only difference was the level of the teacher's expertise and the fact that I had to compress it to the diameter of a needle.

It took me three whole weeks to get to that level, and even worse, I had to be able to hold that diameter in my sleep.

It was painful to do, but its rewards were more than logical, my spells had more control behind them, and it perfectly hid my entire aether pool.

Due to the extensive nature of my aether pool, it was needed to keep the outflow from flowing out, completely sealing it.

So, seeing this training sent me on a trip down last month's memory lane, as I remembered the struggles I had when I started this training.

Once one learned to compress their aether, letting it out was as easy as breathing because the imaginary pipe through which our aether flows would return to its natural size.

"Xavier!"

"Hmm, huh?"

I was woken up from my memory trip by Mya's voice.

"You still haven't told me how you knew the guide would attack us?!"

It seemed she was intent on getting an answer.

"I didn't!"

"What?"

She was visibly confused, her sister as well.

"Wait, so if you didn't know, then how…."

Mia asked as if reading her twins' thoughts.

"I didn't know the guide would attack; It is different from being able to react when the guide did attack us, don't get them mixed up."

"Are human combatants meant to be able to react or move that quickly in their first year??"

Mia asked, the question not directed at anyone, most likely rhetorical.

"Well, let's just say that I'm quicker than others; that's why I was admitted to Horizon."

I could not exactly explain why I was in the school, as I was in the dark. I got two letters, two locations, seven pairs of two different uniforms and a time.

For all I know, I could have been admitted to the school because someone lost a bet on a game of poker.

As for me, I was isolated from the world straight from birth, making me more receptive to the existence of several other worlds living on ours.

Others would be more skeptical and wary upon gaining such knowledge, as their first action would be to ignore its reality.

"We're expected to believe that just because of your speed, you were admitted to the school… that's a joke, right?"

"You tell me...."