Gran Doma's introduction

Next day Gran Doma prepared test for Lucy. It wasn't really special. He just made use of standard tests given by Magic Academy. After all what would be better way to measure Lucy if not measuring her by the same measure as students? Sometimes profesors and activists express their anxiety about using the same measurement for everyone because it reduces measured things to a couple of aspects. At the root of this thinking has always been fear of the consequences of our inequality. Especially for our judgements. On the other side of thinking about measurement there is the idea that objective judging things requires using the same way of measuring for everything. It's one of basic ideas of most of sciences and philosophical systems and Magic Council has a lot of respect for it.

"Your task is to pass this entrance exam with at least 70 percent. Normally our academy accepts students with score of 30 percent and we make them somewhat unhappy with their scores only to make them more determined to be better and to test their ability to handle stress. But to be my disciple you need to be someone better than them having more respect for the knowledge than ordinary mage being able to get strong by training their magic. Prove me that Makarov didn't make a mistake by reccommending you and I'm not going to question your qualifications anymore."

"Sir, this is a lot for a kid. I'm not sure if..." said one of teachers which was ordered to prepare test for Lucy.

Gran Doma is known for his bold attitude and making unpopular decisions as a teacher long time ago. In his worldview if a teacher compromises too much only to be liked by students he cannot be a good teacher. Model of a teacher is someone who raises people's expectations for what they should learn and helps them to form their sense of duty.

"I won't complain. As great mage as Gran Doma agreeing to teach me is more than enought. Being scared of some test I would as well give up on my hopes and I won't just let to fail your trust for Makarov. Give me that test, please." Lucy interrupted.

"Okay, good luck then, Lucy. Let's start." said teacher.

Lucy never abandoned her foundational knowledge which she gained through years of education in home, but later her education mostly concentrated on learning nuances of Celestial Spirit Magic and some letter magic to improve her passion for books. It's easier to be a writer if you can manipulate letters on the paper with magic. Due to that the test was rather easy. She literraly just used letter magic tricks to place answers on the paper faster. Half an hour later Lucy returned the test sheet to her examiner which was nearly falling to the ground due to suprises. Concerned face of examiner twitched from time to time. It was too abnormal for little girl to be able to give so sophisticated answer on more complicated questions. As for Gran Doma he knows about dignity that comes from being patient and calm so he didn't say anything.

"Sir, she's got 97 percent. For sure she could be the top student if she enrolled in the academy."

Gran Doma hearing that smilled slighty.

"Stop. You make me blush." Lucy said waving her hand.

"sigh... Makarov still gives me suprises. It means that your education need to be on high level, which makes me happy. Heartfilias sure have good education."

'Damm! I thought she will fail! That would make me able to give her 'undeserved' opportunity to study arcane arts under my wings. Makarov! What kind of monster did you find? But I promised. Well... Let's try to play it another way.'

Gran Doma doesn't know that Lucy was reincarnated. If he knew...

"Thank you. You can go. I need to talk with her alone."

Examiner left.

"You sure have some talent. But don't get too proud. In this world there are a lot of people smarter than us with knowledge about magic that most likely we'll never get as their knowledge is also the secret of their power. Look at this. What do you see?"

Gran Doma pointed window with viev on city. She could see some great rods made with magnificent not blue but strangely white Lacrimas. They were pulsating with rainbowish mix of elemental magic. There were four main pillars. Each of them were made with different colour of lacrima. Yellow, red, green and blue. In the middle there was even more huge light blue crystal. As beautiful it was the structure was more of terrifying.

"Etherion..."

"That's right! This the strongest weapon we have. And do you know how it works?"

"Well... Not in details. I know it utilise a lot of different kind of magic but how..."

"Don't worry. The truth is I don't know either. That's a secret of our research institutions. We can't have that knowledge, but they have and thanks to that we have something we can use to defend our country. But it's not bad because that way the power that comes with this knowledge is controled. What do you think would happen if dark guild got that kind of power?"

"I don't know. I guess... we would be scarred that they would use that weapon against us."

"You're right. That's why it's important to have some secrets and to specialise in some kinds of magic. Having some secrets makes impossible for your enemies to prepare for you. Being specialised in some kind of magic makes your cards stronger. Of course first you need some kind of foundation. If you want to create something like Etherion you can't just choose your kind of magic and train it. You need also to know how to utilise it, to know it's properties and reactions between different atributes, and to learn forms your magic can take. Otherwise you cannot create something more advanced. Knowing forms you can use help of others in preparing greater magic. In general magic is about control. Following rules. If there's no rules sometimes you need to create them. Harmonizing people. Harmonizing society. Harmony is what you can find in every kind of spell. In every drop of magic. The world was born from chaos but chaos gives life to order. I hope you understand that."

"Yes, Mr Gran Doma."

'It's a bit different from what Makarov believe to be magic. Makarov always says that magic is good because of our feelings. I still remember that I believed that first and the most powerfull magic comes from love. Mavis... In some ways it was really comfortable to think this way. But is that really truth?'

"Mr Gran Doma, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Makarov seems to think that magic is an emulation of our feelings. In fact it's not only his opinion. I guess that even dark guilds and some cults share statements that their feelings is what makes their magic stronger."

"That's... a serious question. We still can't tell that we know all nuances. However I can give you an answer. No, magic isn't an emulation of our feelings. As you know we use our spirits ad body movements to cast spells. But it's no use if we don't have any ethernano. Etherion works despite not having any feelings and it's strong. The other point is that someone without ethenano won't be able to cast magic just because his feelings were intense. People are born with magic and awaken it at some point. Eventually they get it from external source, but not their feelings."

"So... let's say hypothetically of course that two persons in deep despair fall in love with each other and one person got very strong magic power. Is it possible to explain that?"

"Lucy, we really shouldn't make so unrealistic assumptions. But if you want my opinion in that case we should suspect that the magic power comes from external source or were there before. Normally even people being on the verge of breakdown doesn't get stronger magic power If it happens it's usually because that power was for some reason dormant. However if that magic is abnormally strong, it's because the orgin of that power is external. Sometimes that abnormal magic power comes from being a child of strong mage or having great ancestors. Such cases are common. We still work on making magical power stronger. The best known results were achieved in the past by being blessed by some very powerfull beings with unique for their species kind of magic like gods and dragons."

For a moment Lucy fear flashed of her face.

"What's matter?"

"Huh? Nothing. I just thought about Acnologia. What if he was blessed by someone way more powerfull than him?"

"That's a nonsense. I'm sure if that kind of person exist it would not remain unnoticed. Even if Acnologia was blessed he got his power different way. We still don't know how thought."

"Yeah. Right..."

'Is that possible that Mavis was just arbitrary blessed by something way more powerful? We were sure that it's cause that curse which Mavis got due to using black magic, but there's a lot of people deciding who will die and who will live everyday. Some of them uses very powerful magic. Even black magic. So why Mavis? Why Zeref? Why not Laxus or Makarov?'

Grand Doma changed his tone a bit.

"I tried to not put too much pressure but we have to go to the point. As a member of Magic Council I have my duties. I won't be able to really teach you all the time. It means that I have to give you rather a guidance and some explanations than direct teachings. I can request some persons to give you lessons but first we need to decide about general shape of our relation. Yesterday you showed me simple enchantments. Is that all?"

"I'm able to make objects glow, make my weapons harder and summon Celestial Sprits. First two abilities comes from Enchantment Magic. Second is a form of Celestial Spirit Magic. I can also manipulate letters."

"So you have three kinds of magic. Did you considered concetrating on Celestial Spirits?"

"Yes, it's not weak magic but its potential depends too much on spirits. Moreover for now all more powerfull spirits belongs to some mages. Probably I won't be that lucky to get more spirits for the time being. I know how to perform one strong spell but I don't dare to try. For now it consumes too much power. Using it would kill me."

Lucy decided to hide that she knows how to perform star dress as she agrees with Gran Doma that it's right to have some secrets.

"I think it can be helped. Celestial Spirit Magic is not all about summoning spirits as I thought yesterday. There are a few spells based on star atribute. Not as strong as more elemental magic but you would be not defenceless. That way your star atribute would become stronger over time."

"But in the future I expect to have more Celestial Spirits. I will be happy to be able to learn some, but when I get my spirits stronger spells with star atribute will be too taxing."

"I don't agree. Some mages are able to summon multiple Celestial Spirits. For them this is even more taxing than casting spells, which is the reason I didn't know even that there are spells for Celestial Spirit Magic. Having a little more tricks will give you more flexibility than just summoning spirits. Not to mention that usually you can summon spirits only in convenient periods of time. Learning spells is a bit more smooth way to become capable Celestial Spirit Mage. Why not only that?"

It was a bit suprising how someone who yesterday was unable to see usefullness of Celestial Spirit Magic today gave her advice to concetrate on it as he tried to compensate his ignorance. Lucy tried to be more patient towards Gran Doma. His knowledge about Celestial Spirit Magic is lacking and he knows that, but he sure has something worth of learning. It's just she has to suggest him that it's not worth to press that matter on her.

"Because I already know some ways to become capable Celestial Spirit Mage. The problem is that not only my magic is too weak. I think that in the future my comrades and partners will be in some situation requiring magic able to support them. Sometimes in fighting oponents they are unable to defeat. Sometimes in casting too taxing spells. Yesterday I said that I have my plans for enchantment magic. I didn't change my mind. Enchantment magic can help improving their performance. I'm sure as great organization as Magic Council has a lot of that kind of magic."

"I see you thought it over. Yes, we have knowledge about enchantments. Some of our squads perform those in form of Dark Ecriture. Useful to prepare battlefield. That kind of magic combines effects of enchancements with forms of letters. The only problem is its atribute. Celestial Spirit Magic's star atribute is somewhat related to light atribute which opposes dark atribute of Dark Ecriture. In your case more suitable would be to learn magic involving usage of runes with light atribute. It's an old kind of magic. A hundred years ago it had a lot of users. As for more pure kinds of enchancements we also have some teachers as I guess It's what you want to learn. But that's a lot of learning. Do you still agree?"

"Yes. That's what I wanted. I'm ready to put enough."

"So that's what you are going to do. It seems I can't prevent you from trying. Next we have to choose your subjects. I believe that you exceed our youngest students, but it's possible that it's still something worth to learn. I ordered to bring you this."

"What's that? Some kind of novel?"

"Of course not! This book contains informations about what kind of things we teach here. Our students have to follow curriculum. Read it and choose subjects in which your knowledge lacks. You don't have to attend everything as this test showed it would be a waste of time. Choose only subjects that will help you to get on graduate level. Especially look for language that will be usefull to use in your magic. Your foundation has to be sturdy. That's only my recommendation. First I wanted to know your level and to plan your education, but your score is a prove that you are on the level which lets you to reflect on what you know and what you don't know so I believe in you."

"I'm sure I'll read it."

"So we're established. Tommorow I expect you to inform me about your choices. I'll contact someone who knows some Celestial Spirit Magic spells. As for runes and echantments..."

He raised his serpent stuff and waved giving it omnimous green glow and reavealing runes written practically everywhere...

"It's just so happens that I can teach you some myself."

"And you prepared it while standing here? That's cool!"

Her expectation rose immediatly. To perform something like this one has to represent some real skills and knowledge. Maybe not in every field but in some.

Indeed Gran Doma decided to show a bit of his power. He discovered that it's easier to motivate people to learn when you have in front of their eyes practical goals of learning. Otherwise students often complain something about knowledge good for nothing.

"I didn't get this office for nothing. Only those with power can keep balance in this country. It's good to show sometimes what I can do if it's for the sake of education."

"But what this barrier does?"

"This is just preventing anyone from entering this room. This power is not really offensive, but for example it can do miracles if it's about puryfying evil. Being well made it can even protect from bane particles."

Gran Doma waved again dispelling his barrier.

"Enought showing off. We have work to do. Good bye, Lucy."

And he disapeared mysteriously.

Lucy pondered a bit on what she saw. He clearly ran away!

'How this is even possible that man died right before battle with Tartaros?'