Perhaps I could learn to control my mouth.
Before the bell rang, the whole began to slowly move to the sports hall. "Carapace Model 3," Kevin said agitatedly. The Carapace series were basically high tech exoskeletons that were powered by mana. They could exert very large amounts of force, and were also much more durable than mages. Skilled mages in Carapace gears were basically on par with older Wardens, which were designed to fight mages. The Carapace was donated to the school by Eternity. Although it was an old model that was already retired, it was still not something the common mage could afford. They had to be crafted with the highly mana conductive metal, Mithril, which wasn't really cheap.
As they entered the sports hall, the machine could be seen in the middle in the field, unmoving since it was unpowered. As the bell rang, the class slowly grouped up. In front of them stood a man in soldier uniform, expressionless staring at the class. "Line up!" the soldier shouted, intimidating some people. The noisy class instantly fell silent, as they formed three lines. "Sub-lieutenant here, you will address me as sir. I'll be presenting the Carapace Model 3 today, do you understand?" the soldier, who looked about ten years older than them asked. There was no reply from the class, some weren't even paying attention. "Do you understand!" the soldier roared, making some people jump in surprise.
"We are not deaf," Flynn said, yawning. "What did you say to me?" the Sub-lieutenant asked, surprised that someone dared to talk back. "I said, we are not deaf. Jeez, I guess you are the one who is deaf," said Flynn, shaking his head. "Come to the front," the man said, face red from anger. Flynn walked to the front nonchalantly, looking at the man straight into his eyes. "You don't talk to a officer like that, do you understand?" the sub-lieutenant shouted, trying to intimidate Flynn. "You barely count as one," Flynn replied, letting his words out too easily. Sub-lieutenants were the lowest commissioned rank in the military, so Flynn was not completely wrong. "Very well, you will be our lucky demonstrator today," the sub-lieutenant said, smiling evily.
He lead the class to the middle of the field, where the Carapace was glistening in its glory. "Get inside of the gear," the sub-lieutenant said, as the 10 foot tall robot opened up, revealing its hollow insides. Although Flynn knew that the sub-lieutenant was definitely harboring some malicious intentions, he couldn't think of a way to get out of this sticky situation. He entered the robot, slowly the machine began to shrink, until it fitted Flynn's body. "Try to move," the sub-lieutenant said. Flynn tried to walk fowards, but not familiar with his new center of gravity, he fell to the ground. Flynn tried to get up, as he struggled, he could feel his mana drain at an alarming rate. "So this is what you were planning," Flynn thought, as the mech suddenly froze.
The sub-lieutenant instantly noticed that the mech stopped moving. "With no mana crystals powering the mech, an average student won't last more than ten seconds," he thought, as a smirk appeared on his face. Pulling out a blue crystal from his pocket, the sub-lieutenant said, "Without mana crystals powering the mech, mages would have to supply the mech with their own mana," he said, showing everyone the vibrant cyrstal that was radiating mana. "Without any power, you would end up like our demonstrator over here, stuck and drained of all mana," patting the half kneeling Carapace on its shoulders. "Mana Fatigue could lead to unconsciousness, and even death. Why didn't you warn him?" Josh asked, worried for Flynn. "Our boy over here was so brilliant, I thought he could power the mech easily, since even the lowest ranking officer like me could power the mech for about a minute," said the man, playing dumb. "Are you Ok in there?" asked the sub-lieutenant with a smug grin, knowing that Flynn was probably nauseous from the lack of mana. The first time he tried controlling the Carapace without any external power source, he lost conscious on his second step, this brat was definitely not fine at all.
Before the sub-lieutenant could "save" Flynn, the mech suddenly moved, slamming straight into the sub-lieutenant. The sudden burst of force was so powerful that he was sent back flying, perhaps some of his ribs even cracking. The sub-lieutenant fell to the ground, covered in dirt and dust. Slowly walking towards the sub-lieutenant with wobbly steps, Flynn shouted, "Are you Ok, sir?" "Don't come near me!" the sub-lieutenant screamed, losing his calm composure. The Carapace opened up, and Flynn instantly rolled to the side. With out anyone controlling the robot, it fell over, right on the sub-lieutenant. The Carapace was not light at all, since it was made with metal, it probably weighed about the same as a car. It wasn't enough to kill a mage, but it was certainly enough to knock one out. Before the sub-lieutenant fell unconscious, he stared with terror at the kid who was supposed to be devoid of mana.
The sub-lieutenant wasn't wrong, just unfortunate. A mage's mana reserves are like muscles, as you overload them, they break down slowly. The body then builds stronger muscles to keep up with the usage. So basically the more times a mage empties their mana reserves, the more their mana reserves could hold. Flynn, who had been helping his mother almost daily, casting healing spell after healing spell, had a mana reserve so large that the sub-lieutenant couldn't imagine.
"You madman, you knocked the instructor out," Brian said, shaking his head. He wasn't that surprised by Flynn's antics anymore. However, some of their classmates freaked out, rushing to alert the teachers. "Is he still alive?" Kevin asked, pointing at the sub-lieutenant. "He is from the army, I don't think they would die so easily," said Flynn, not really caring about the man. Drew was checking the man's vital signs. Noticing that he was still alive, he let out a sigh of relief. "Josh, Flynn, come heal the officer," he called for the two classmates that were better at healing. After running his mana through the man, Josh found several broken ribs, and some a ruptured spleen. Although this would definitely be considered as certain death a couple decades ago, with a mage's regenerative prowess and robust body, paired with healing magic, it was almost certain that he would make a full recovery in less than a week.
"Stop the internal bleeding first, without a catalyst, it is not likely we could heal something like this on a mage," Flynn said. Josh did as Flynn said, slowly healing the ruptured veins. But what Flynn left out was that they should've applied anesthesia first, before Josh started fixing the blood vessels. The unconscious officer twitched in agony, as if ants were biting the insides of his body. Flynn also helped, skillfully closing the leaking vessels. About five minutes passed, and the two were drenched in sweat. Eyes closed as they tried to recover their mana. Flynn's mana reserves were already half empty because of the Carapace, after performing first aid on the sub-lieutenant, his mana reserves were empty. Looking at the small blue crystal that was poking out of the officer's breast pocket, Flynn was quite tempted to just snatch it. But before he could do anything, the sound of footsteps stopped him.
Some of his classmates had called for help, so another officer has come rushing in. "What happened?" the man said, judging from the badge, he was a captain. "Sir, the sub-lieutenant asked me to operate the mech. But he didn't insert the mana crystal, so I lost consciousness and fell on him directly," Flynn said, voice full of respect. Brian almost rolled his eyes, wasn't he so against the "respect" for the officers just a minute ago? "That's impossible, an officer would always check the mana tank before anyone controls the machine," the captain said, not believing Flynn. Pointing at the mana crystal that was visible, Flynn said, "I wouldn't dare lie to an officer. Maybe he was in need of some quick cash?" Mana crystals were really expensive, so there were definitely incidents of officers stealing mana crystals. Seeing the blue tip of a mana crystal sticking out of the sub-lieutenant's pocket, the captain was furious. "How dare a civil servant commit such crimes," the captain said.
Flynn could feel the captain's mana fluctuate as his muscles swell in size. "Enhancement magic," thought Flynn. Most soldiers would learn some Enhancement magic, which allows them to empower their body with mana, becoming much stronger, faster, and durable. Grabbing on to the machine which weighs about half a ton, the captain lifted it off the sub-lieutenant easily with a single arm. Dragging the unconscious man, anyone could see that the sub-lieutenant definitely had to do some explaining after he wakes up. "I'll send another officer over to instruct you all, stay here," the captain said, mercilessly dragging the sub-lieutenant across the floor.