A wasted lecture

Nessa's temple throbbed as she asked herself the most important question she had ever done: Was Professor Hund forced to be a teacher?

The man had spent the better part of an hour trying to explain how to use the fire element. Nessa was forced to raise her hand once, after the Professor had tried and failed for the fifth time—or last time according to him--to explain the concept of fire magic.

"Yes, Nessa," Professor Hund said, impatience poured into every word.

"Umm, I'm sorry," Nessa said. "But I don't understand."

The Professor's nostrils flared and his pupils constricted as he fought to restrain his anger. 

'One, two, three, four…' he counted in his mind, and then with a deep breath, he said.

"I don't care if you don't understand. After all, I'm not getting paid for enduring this torture. Notwithstanding, I'm going to explain this one last time, although this time I'm going to introduce the water element so that I can kill two birds with one stone."

Nessa wondered how adding an extra element eas going to make his work easier, but she could only watch as Professor Hund waved his hand and bowls of water appeared on the desks of each student.

"Although it is possible to produce water from nothing but Ki," the Professor said smugly, "it is easier to manipulate the element in nature. Now I'll go over the explanation one more time, albeit slower." He paused.

"If you can retain your Ki already then you must already know that your Ki currently flows in a particular pattern and with a particular speed. You should remember that changing your Ki's pattern flow, is almost impossible and is unnecessary in using any of the six elements."

Nessa already knew this. She only wished the Professor would get a move on. But she understood that, although she already knew a little about magic, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the students. 

Most of them stared at Professor Hund with forlorn faces forcing Nessa to sigh in defeat. She had no choice but to listen until the Professor said something new.

"Now, I'd like you all to concentrate on the Ki flowing inside your body. Look out for two things, the pattern and the speed. You can calculate the speed in terms of how many times the Ki travels round your body per second."

The Professor watched as most of the students barely even tried to retain their Ki much less understand the flow pattern. He shook his head and turned in Nessa's direction.

She didn't seem to be doing anything. In fact, all she did was stare into the bowl of water on her desk.

What the Professor didn't know was Nessa had spent hours in Professor Avery's office, constantly monitoring her Ki flow-rate and pattern, and now she knew her flow-rate was thrice every two seconds, while the pattern was etched deeper in her mind than her second name.

Moments later, Professor Hund spoke. 

"That's enough. By now, if you're good enough, you should have estimated your flow-rate and pattern. But for the sake of the majority who are obviously not good enough, I'd say this. There are six elements, divided into two groups. Although it's a stretch, you can say that each element has its opposing element."

Nessa's interest was finally piqued. She stopped staring at the bowl of water and watched as the professor continued his explanation.

"What would you say is the opposite of fire—water—and what would you say is the opposite of light—darkness obviously. Although they are not exactly opposites but part of the same thing, it would be easier to consider them as opposite, at least for now.

"That being said, it means you could also divide the six elements into three groups, were a group holds a pair of opposing elements. Soon, you'll understand why I'm grouping these elements as opposites and also putting them in the same class." The Professor paused then turned to Nessa.

"Nessa, please could you perform your darkness magic."

Nessa formed a dark energy ball in fifteen seconds. Professor Avery had told her that the average cast time for someone with an orange cursor was thirty seconds. So if she had used five seconds, as she could currently, she would probably get unnecessary attention from Professor Hund. Or at least so she thought.

Professor Hund was making a conscious effort to refrain himself from asking Nessa a direct question. Just the previous day, she was using a minute to cast magic. Now she's using fifteen seconds. That was a feat unachievable unless…

Professor Hund decided not to ponder on that for now. One thing he was certain of was Nessa was having some sort of advantage over the rest of the students. He just couldn't think now. He had a class.

"Good," he commended Nessa, "What was your flow-rate before you cast the spell?"

"Thrice every two seconds." Nessa's answer was followed by a curt nod from Professor Hund. 

"Stephanie, how about you?" He asked the girl who had used fire magic the previous day. "What is your flow rate when you cast fire magic?"

Stephanie stood up with so much agility, Nessa was worried she had suddenly been transferred to a military camp.

"Five times, every three seconds" She answered in a stern voice.

"Exactly," Professor Hund said. "You see, the secret to casting a different element, is simply adjusting your flow-rate. I said you would understand why I grouped the elements as opposites and put them in classes. It is simple. To cast fire magic, you have to adjust your Ki flow-rate to five per three. But if you want to cast water magic—which is the assumed opposite of fire—you also have to adjust your flow-rate to five per three."

Nessa was confused. Of course, she had been trying to cast a different element other than darkness, but she had failed as many times as she had tried. Sadly, she hadn't even considered the possibility of changing her Ki flow rate.

But even with the new insight, Nessa couldn't understand. If to cast an element one needed to adjust her flow rate, how could two elements have the same flow-rate? It either meant you'll end up casting both elements, or none of them.

Moments later the Professor spoke in his usual heated tone.

"You are probably wondering how two elements would be having the same flow-rate. Remember earlier I grouped the elements into A and B. The elements in A, for instance fire, are easier to cast with just Ki. However, the elements in B, like water, are more easily manipulated in nature than casting them with Ki.

"Also although you can cast fire with just Ki if you want; to manipulate it in nature however, you need to also manipulate the world's Ki. The reason it is easier to cast fire with just Ki, is because the world's fire Ki is difficult to manipulate. However for water magic it is the exact opposite."

Nessa stared at Professor Hund, once again asking herself if he was worthy of being a teacher.

Professor Hund sighed. "I'm no good at this," he seemed to be apologizing, "but you guys are stuck with me. I'm explaining this one last time--the very last time--but first you must understand that there is Ki in every living thing around you. Every living thing is made up of a combination of one or more of the six elements.

"In order to perform magic, you can either decide to produce the element with just your Ki, or manipulate it in nature. But the only way to manipulate an element in nature is to manipulate that element's Ki with your own Ki."

Silence.

"Don't you get it," Professor Hund was yelling now. "Some elements Ki are easier to manipulate than others. Which is exactly why there are two groups. Even though you need exactly the same flow rate to manipulate fire and water, you also need to be able to sync your Ki with the elements own Ki. You know what, class dismissed." With another wave of his hand all the water bowls disappeared, "We'll understand this better during our next class."

Nessa watched as Professor Hund left the class without another word. For some reason she was very angry. If the man didn't want to teach, no one was forcing him. Or could someone be actually forcing him?

Nessa shook her head. No, that thinking was crazy, there was no proof whatsoever. Plus she had just come out of a class more confused than she actually was when she had entered. That was a first. 

She decided she wasn't going to remain confused due to Professor Hund's incompetence, so Nessa made her way straight to Professor Avery's office.

Moments later she stood facing the wooden door with the Professor's name tag. Nessa knocked several times before the door opened and the Professor stood looking at Nessa.

Professor Avery's eyes were red like she hadn't had any sleep in days, and her hair wasn't as coiffed as it usually was.

"What happened," Nessa was forced to ask.

"I'm afraid, I'm having a little problem with a spell."

Nessa's eyes widened. "You are having problems with a spell?"

"It may seem absurd but yes. Why are you here?"

"I need you to explain something for me."

"But it's not our personal training time."

"I know," Nessa said. "I was just hoping you could,"

"Well, I can't help you," Professor Avery interrupted. "At least not directly, not yet. But I could tell you where you could get help."

Nessa pursed her lips. She hadn't expected this, she had thought Professor Avery would even give her points for coming to get help, but it seemed like the Professor had other ideas. 

"Fine, where can I get help?" Nessa said as her shoulders slumped downwards.

"The library of course." The professor said it like that much was obvious.

Nessa inwardly smacked herself. She seemed to be getting dumber. How couldn't she have thought of the very place she had spent half her life in the real world.