A Predecessor?

Sitrep, the school nurse Miss Claire is now our club advisor. And she just came into the club room announcing her new position to become our new advisor after some rule changes recently apparently.

She still wears her lab coat weirdly enough. I guess it's her time to tell something about the club. Since she knows more than us from the looks of it.

"Yesterday's performance was impressive for just the five of y'all girls. Impressive with how basic you guys know about combat. But enough of the fun and games let's talk about serious business this time.

Everyone in the Proving Grounds, now. We don't have much time to waste if I have to give you guys a perfect rundown of this club." Claire switches from her fun and kind attitude to someone serious immediately once she mentioned the Proving Grounds.

We locked the club room and headed to the Proving Grounds to follow Miss Claire. We followed her to one of the rooms by the field area.

"Everyone take a seat. This will take a while." Miss Claire started making tea as she began to introduce herself properly.

"It's nice that you're gonna be our club advisor Miss Claire!" Mia cheerfully breaks the ice as we're tensed up from the serious tone that Miss Claire has set.

Which made her loosen up a bit and chuckled a bit.

"It's fine girls, you don't have to be scared about me. Actually I'm your senior at this club." Said Claire as she sipped some of the tea.

"Wait, really!?" Sylve and Hailey were shocked at that information.

"You guys figured out that I'm a Mage but not being suspicious that I could know your club in one way or the other? I mean granted, yes, you can become a mage in different ways but being a club member of the Magic Research Club can be proof of your membership and becoming a mage is a bonus from it.

I was part of the last round of club members before this club shut its doors until two years ago when the two of you opened it again which I am glad to see the club open its doors again. Though with magic in a very much decline over the decades it's hard to find members I presume.

Anyways I'm Claire once again and I'm a Supportive Mage a Healer per say. But I specialize in making potions that boost the performance of my allies. But a well capable fighter on my own." Claire proudly reintroduces herself.

"Wait, fighter? Aren't you supposed to be a Support magic user?" Asked Elizabeth.

"Yes, I am supposed to be a Support only but where's the fun in that right? By the way, the theory of Sylve and Hailey of some certain magic can be used beyond just what they're known for is completely answered more than decades along sadly.

No hard feelings, it's just nice that you are learning something that has well documented studies here in the Ground's Archives." Miss Claire raised her hand to show some respect to their endeavor.

"I have a question, Miss Claire." Mia raised her hand.

"Yeah, what's on your mind Mia?" Miss Clare gazed over Mia's direction.

"You're a White Mage right? But how did you manage to become capable of combat?" Questioned Mia.

"That's a long story to tell but to be combat ready is simple to be honest. You learn how to fight, might not sound simple at first but spells follow what you think of them. The mind first and foremost is a powerful weapon.

Most mages underestimate what they think could be possible with their capabilities. When that theory of people having limits is not true entirely. Let me show you an example: you see that dead tree over there?" Miss Claire opens the window and starts showing an example.

And she blasted it using Light magic. Not surprising that Light magic can be used offensively.

"Ok, now look again." Claire clenches her fists and we all look at the tree out in the distance starting to grow back into life.

"Wait how? That was an offensive attack right?

"Magic works in mysterious ways. As my old seniors told me that. What I showed you girls was Magic After Effects. It was a theory from one of my associates from the previous members that I tackled while developing it.

The theory of it is that we know that Magic leaves some kind of residue when we use spells right? And so in our theory if we made our Magic concentrated enough and focused enough. By the time we leave residues the target would still have enough magic on their body that we could use it again.

Like for Combat Magic double-casting, making sure the same attack hits twice despite the second one is just residual Magic. Now this is an advanced technique but I'll teach you girls how to use the basics of it to deal with some special skills.

Beatrix you have body magic so you're not gonna be exactly out of the question because you focus on enhancing yourself. But that also leaves residues and I'll get to that." Miss Claire brings us to the field as she shows us what her theory is about.

"So how do we do such a complex sounding technique?" Asked Elizabeth.

"To be honest girls you can already do this technique you're just not noticing it. You know when you chant a spell you can feel something compressing? Try to keep compressing it until you have enough and just execute it on this test dummy we'd be using.

Here's a basic Light magic attack spell you guys could use for this test. The goal here is to destroy that dummy and using the residue from your spell you revive the dummy back up. This will show how capable and how big the capacity of your magic is in terms of using Residual Magic." Miss Claire gave them instructions as they tried to attempt their test.

"What about me Miss Claire you mentioned something that I'll be doing something else?" I asked.

"Yes, you have Body Magic. So your residue is with you, with that you can recast more of your enhancement magic that will make it 1.25x more effective than before. 25% might not be enough but if you keep using it in a long battle.

That 25% will pay itself off by the end of the fight. Do a simple forward punch in this dummy and keep stacking up that enhancement magic until the dummy bursts. Remember to focus as much as you can then release it immediately once you think it's enough then recast it and repeat." Miss Claire showed me the dummy as I tried out and tested her theory.

I gave out some simple forward punches on the dummy and kept casting the same reinforcement enhancing magic. And as I kept finding residues, I kept going faster and faster on each punch as if I was getting light.

Sooner I added my right hand into the mix. And this feels super effective after a few seconds into the test the dummy exploded upon the final right punch. I guess it can only handle as much force as what I've given it.

"Impressive you caught on how you immediately added your right hand into the mix when I told you to just use the left hand. Quite talented right there Beatrix. You have good potential." Miss Claire complimented my genuine ability to adopt.

Hopefully it's not too flashy, that it might raise some eyebrows. Keep it discreet and learn from the people who know it better. After I finished I checked the other girls. Mia is struggling a bit, Elizabeth could do it but only half of her residue gets utilized.

Hailey and Sylve have the same results by being inconsistent. To be honest I'm not perfect on my end. Despite how it looked I also had inconsistencies. My effectiveness is jumping around 15-25% so that's 10% being left on the table. Hopefully I could reduce that to just 5%.

"Alright girls you can stop for now. But from now on we'll be doing what I've done through the tradition of the Magic Research Club. And soon you girls will be taking an exam to become fully fledged Mages so be prepared for that.

By the way this is separated from the school system so relax. This exam won't be part of your curriculum." Miss Claire reassured us about the details about the exam.

"What will be the exam about Miss Claire?" Mia asked.

"I'll disclose the details at our next meeting, Mia." Miss Claire replied.

"Should we be studying something for this exam?" I asked.

"Miss Beatrix, you will be provided with some learning materials for this exam once I disclose the details at our next meeting." Miss Claire responded.

A Mage exam? I never heard of that. Does that mean I have to go and pass it to become a full fledged Mage like Mom?

"Any more questions? If not see you girls at our next meeting in two days, good bye for today." Miss Claire gave her goodbyes and left for today and we headed home after that.

I have to ask Mom about this.