Familiar

-----Kaede's POV

After the announcement from the headmaster, I made my way to the next class I'd be taking which is one of the tactician classes for specializing in summoning magic. I have no idea how it's going to be like, so I have my hopes that I can fit in there, unlike the previous knight and magic class I been attending.

I've now taken my seat in class with only a few people staring at me, mainly from the boys after I had finished introducing myself once again for this class. To be honest, it feels weird calling myself with Fleur's and Faye's last name 'Ilaria', but they've been like a family to me so it only made sense in my mind.

It does seem better than the other 2 classes so far, but my nerves wont leave until this is over. Plus I have the issue of having no idea how this kind of magic works. Suddenly, a familiar face walks into the classroom. It was the teacher that lead me to the headmaster's office when I first enrolled.

Julius: "Before we start, I'd like to make sure everyone is up to speed. Kaede, you missed out on only a few weeks of classes, but do you know anything about runes and crests?"

Kaede: "No sir."

Julius: "Well runes; to briefly summarize, are special stones that can absorb the magic of it's holder. Crests are essentially mana circles that can also be made on these stones, with the rune acting as a substitute for a mage. For example, someone who uses fire magic can created a fire rune and give it to someone else, and that person can use the magic imbedded on that rune by activating it's crest. Everyone has different mana levels within them so creating lets say a simple fire rune may take a person 2 hours to make, and another person may create it within minutes. It all depends on how much mana is stored within you, and how fast your mana regenerates. Also the more mana you put into the rune, the more potent the magic will be."

This is all new to me, I didn't think of magic having a limit like how he explained it, but after recalling events that happened growing up, I could understand what he meant. But he makes it seem like mana regenerates naturally, whereas for me it feels like I only get it back when I drink someone's blood... I raise my hand before asking a question.

Kaede: "Is it possible some people may be unable to regenerate said mana?"

Julius: "No. Everything living has mana inside them in order to live. The speed at which you regenerate your mana is entirely dependent on the spirit housed inside you, so it may be possible for a person to take years to fully regenerate all their mana if they are so unlucky. The limit of that mana is what you can control."

Yet again, more stuff I have no idea what he's talking about. So~ I have a spirt inside me? And is that spirit one that has given me the strange ability to control light magic- and also my other magic? I raise my hand once more as my mind floods with more questions.

Kaede: "What are spirits?"

He looked dumbfounded by my question as I could hear faint laughs coming from some of the students in class. Was this question stupid to ask or something?

Julius: "Well... Spirits are beings are essentially our ancestors from when the age of magic began. To cut a long story short, a family made a contract with some kind of being which granted them power, in this case it was magic. Depending on what region, some people call it a god, demon, and many other things. The lore gets a bit confusing since it's so ancient, but essentially the world began to flourish after the families death which gave birth to the spirits which we know today. At least that's what we think, it's all quite a mystery since only that first family truly knew the story. Some believe that spirits don't even exist."

This is all hitting too close to home. This sounds somewhat like a religion with all this talk that my first instinct was to dismiss it all as just a legend, as it didn't help answer any of my other questions at all.

Julius: "But back on track though, this class will be focusing on specific crests that creates things such as constructs. Constructs can vary depending on how detailed your magic crest is and the amount of mana you put inside it. There are other forms of summoning magic, but for the first year, we'll be focusing on getting everyone able to create a decent construct that is fit for combat. If we have time in the year, I can teach other things."

Kaede: "What are the other kinds of summoning magic?"

Julius: "Well we won't be covering them all this year. But there's advanced magic such as spatial magic which allows one to create a doorway in two places to quickly traverse long distances. Of course teleportation is another way, however it can be quite dangerous. Weapon summoning, or any other kind of tools are also possible with such magic-"

Wait, weapons? My mind immediately thinks back on all those times I used my magic to create light spears, large blood swords, light bow and arrows. Is all of that tied to summoning magic? The idea of me being ahead of this class dawns on me as all that hope I had before class is slowly dissipating. Wait, but I don't remember ever needing to use runes to do that...

Kaede: "Is it possible to summon things without the use of runes?"

I cut him off from continuing which was a bit rude of me, but I needed to know this, I needed to know if I was some sort of freak in this class as well.

Julius: "That's an interesting question! Yes it is possible, however it is extremely difficult as it requires you to mentally create those crests inside you instead of actually creating them physically. Only high level summoners are able to summon things like that. However things like- this, aren't considered summon magic as it's not physical at all, it's just magic-"

He conjured up a water ball before morphing it into the shape of a a small hand axe. A wave of relief rushes over me to know that what I been using this whole time wasn't this absurdly complex summoning technique.

Julius: "-It's only when you give it a physical form does it require the need for crests."

Suddenly, that small hand axe shaped made of water turned into an actual iron axe with a strange blue glow. Wait, so does that mean he just created a crest inside him mentally in order to do that? Looking at his face, he was smirking almost like he was showing off as the entire class watched on in awe, me included.

Julius: "This is a nice loophole actually to create enchanted equipment, but instead of giving the weapon magic, you're giving your magic a weapon. Which is why the weapon took on my magic as you can see here. It is quite taxing to do it this way, which is why we just enchant already exiting weapons."

Makes sense, I didn't expect someone who's a fire mage to be able to create something that the teacher just did. My eyes lit up at the idea of learning something as the teacher continued on with class.

Julius: "However since this weapon was created using my mana, I can freely control it however I please."

Suddenly, the hand axe de-materialized back into his hand before the water magic completely dispels. The sight of that alone was amazing as I found myself getting more hooked on this class, I found myself craving to learn more.

The class was actually going surprisingly well, as I found myself learning quite a few things, however it looked like most of the class was quietly chit chatting throughout many parts of it. Most likely they had probably already gone over this material so I don't blame them, so I do my best to pay attention to the teacher in order to catch up as soon as possible when suddenly, the bell rings.

Julius: "-Ah, We'll stop here for now. Enjoy your lunch everyone, we can continue out in the training area after lunch so meet me there."

Getting up from my desk, I began to walk out of the classroom when suddenly, I felt a slight tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I was greeted by 2 faces of a guy and a girl who surprisingly looked alike sharing the same crystal blue colored eyes along with their dark black hair, contrasting beautifully with their pale skin.

Guy: "Hey, your like uhm- 'the' Kaede that everyone in the other classes are talking about right?"

I have pretty much made up my mind to choose this class, so I found this to be a great opportunity to possibly make some friends of my own, however being asked a question like that scares me.

Kaede: "Err~ Yes, I'm that Kaede. N-nice to meet you."

I try and give the innocent, shy act a try to maybe come across as vulnerable so that they don't see me as some kind of monster.

Guy: "Nice to meet you too. Name's Collin, this here is my twin sister Violet."

Violet: "Nice to meet you!"

Kaede: "Hehe~ Nice to meet you too."

Seeing her nervous outburst as she yelled that out brought me to chuckle a little, making her somewhat loosen up as she opens her eyes back at me. Maybe I could invite them to come with me to join Yui and the rest? Or would that be too soon...

Collin: "Have a place to go to for lunch?"

Kaede: "Ah- yeah, I have a group I've been going with. Would you two like to join?"

Collin: "Sure- ah, uhm. What about tomorrow actually? Sorry."

He looked over to his sister who was getting visibly nervous upon hearing my offer, grabbing onto his sleeve cutting him off. Yeah perhaps it's a bit too soon for that.

Kaede: "You're fine!~ Tomorrow sounds good. I think I'll be taking this class so I hope to get along with everyone here."

Collin: "Mhmm! As do I. Okay Violet, let's go."

Violet: "M-Mmm!"

After exchanging pleasantries, I also make my way out to the cafeteria to meet back up with Yui, along with everyone else.