A classic cliché

Upon reaching the academy building where mana users attended classes, Raziel and Castyel had to part ways since they were in different years, each assigned to separate floors.

In the afternoon, after the morning classes had ended, Raziel went to the teacher's lounge to request a private training room. His teacher, Valzivet, was surprised by the request, as Raziel had never asked to use one before.

At first, Valzivet wanted to ask why Raziel wanted to rent the room but refrained, knowing it wasn't his business. Instead, he simply took the money and handed over the key.

When Raziel arrived at the training room, he noticed its large and clean space, with a round table and several chairs arranged in the corner.

Some yellow floating orbs could be seen moving around randomly, illuminating the room with a bright yellow light.

Various magical staffs and wands of different shapes were hung on a specific part of the wall, each designed to enhance the power of its bearer.

The walls and floor, though made of wood, were incredibly tough. It would take a powerful spell from a mage with four mana circles to damage them, as the place was protected by arcane runes that absorbed any excess magic.

Raziel admired the room for a while until he noticed a stone altar with a grimoire on it in the center. He quickly recognized it as the Controller, a magical artifact that allowed mana users to summon magical dummies through the enchanted grimoire to test their magic or train their accuracy.

He quickly approached the altar and read the instructions written at the beginning of the grimoire. The altar could also summon weak monsters for students to simulate real battles, but Raziel didn't feel ready for that yet. Instead, he chose to summon some magic dummies to fly around and test his earth spells on them.

Two hours had passed since Raziel started training. His magic had improved a little compared to yesterday, and he also noticed that the velocity of his spells had slightly increased.

Usually, it took a second and a half to summon basic spells and three seconds for more complex ones, but now they were about twenty percent faster.

This result made him wonder if improving his aura had affected his mana or vice versa, as the aura was now flowing almost naturally through his body compared to before.

"Maybe I can try to form my second circle now, but I still don't know exactly how to do it," he said to himself, sitting cross-legged near the stone altar.

Raziel decided to seek help for this matter, realizing it was better to have proper guidance than risk doing it alone and endangering his life. He really didn't want to be so reckless anymore.

'If I remember correctly, Clarice already has two mana circles, even though she's not a student at Revery. Sylfi also has two and is expected to achieve her third next year when we become third-year students and finally get access to explore low-monster density Zones,' Raziel thought as he got up to use the shower inside the training room.

He considered asking Clarice for help since Sylfi wouldn't be in the mood for teaching and probably wouldn't want to teach him anyway. With Mariet still ill, Clarice would remain at the house for a while, so Raziel saw this as an opportunity to finally advance from a single mana circle to two.

After finishing his shower, Raziel donned his academy uniform: a white and blue robe adorned with a golden emblem of the academy. Beneath it, he wore a white shirt and black pants, complemented by black leather shoes.

Sadly, he couldn't wear a wizard hat to complement his wizard outfit, as only official mages or witches were permitted to do so due to school tradition.

Arriving home, Raziel greeted Clarice, who was once again using her water magic to clean the house. Before heading to his room to change clothes, he asked her if she could teach him how to form a mana circle.

The girl was a little surprised by his request, as studying at a renowned place typically includes the concept of creating a mana circle as basic knowledge. However, one of the reasons Raziel was still stuck with just one mana circle was because the original one hadn't really focused on studying.

She remained silent for a minute before nodding in agreement.

Raziel thanked Clarice with a slight bow, making her react with an awkward smile and say he didn't need to do that.

A few minutes later, they were in the office room. Raziel sat cross-legged with his eyes closed on the floor, while Clarice stood nearby, giving instructions on how to visualize his heart and mana circle correctly.

"Young master, first imagine a perfectly circular white ring. Then, visualize a small light blue ball in the center of that ring," she instructed while walking around him.

He followed her instructions and struggled for a few minutes before finally managing to create the correct image as she had asked.

Seeing him focus, Clarice guessed he was trying to maintain the image and said, "If you've managed to visualize it, now try to relax your mind by thinking about things you find soothing. But don't let the previous image go, or you'll have to start over."

Hearing this, Raziel was inexplicably reminded of the competitive games he used to play, like CCS and LOW, which instantly shattered his focus. Determined not to give up, he persevered. It took him two more hours of struggle before he finally achieved a relaxed state of mind.

Clarice noticed him diligently working and was impressed that he reached a relaxed state of mind in just under three hours. For her, achieving such a state typically required four hours of concentration in a quiet place, while it would take a normal person six hours.

His time to achieve it was on par with that of a mage genius.

She even compared his capacity to her mother's, who was a genius and could achieve it in just three and a half hours regardless of the setting.

An hour passed with Raziel sitting motionless on the ground, causing Clarice to worry slightly. She had just remembered that she had forgotten to explain how to create a new mana circle.

The thought of him waking up and being angry at her filled Clarice with apprehension.

While imagining him yelling at her for a valid reason, Clarice noticed Raziel's body glowing white, indicating that he had successfully created a mana circle.

She began to feel relieved knowing he was successful, but then his body suddenly started to emit a cobalt blue light instead of the usual white.

"What the heck!" Clarice almost shouted, recognizing the new color as the same one seen when an aura user advances to the second layer of the aura core.

She knew this because her father was an aura user who used to teach the children in their neighborhood about aura energy, helping those who could use it to strengthen their aura core and advance through its layers.

Unlike mana users who rely on mana circles, aura users need to strengthen their aura core, which has layers used to measure a Warrior's strength. So far, only five layers have been discovered, each represented by a different color.

The colors are gray, cobalt blue, orange, red, and yellow, with gray representing the beginner level for every Warrior and yellow signifying the master level.

"T-This is impossible!" she said, astonished by the idea of Raziel controlling two primary classes at the same time.

"If this is really the case, the young master is destined to become a national treasure, as no one has ever been able to achieve this before."

Clarice decided to sit on the couch, not daring to take her eyes off Raziel's body, which still emanated the cobalt blue light, though it was slowly fading away.

A minute passed, and she noticed Raziel opening his eyes, gazing in her direction with a wide smile.

"I DID IT!" Raziel shouted, lifting his arms in excitement.

The blonde maid looked at his excited face and smiled awkwardly, as she wanted to ask him if he was truly capable of using two primary classes.

"Ouch, ouch!"

Before she could say anything, Clarice saw Raziel gritting his teeth and letting out cries of pain, prompting her to ask, "What happened, young master? Did you hurt yourself?"

"My legs... they're tingling so much. I think I shouldn't have stayed in this position for too long," he answered, trying to get up but falling because his legs were almost numb.

"Here, let me help you up," Clarice said as she moved to him, supporting his body and putting his left arm around her neck.

While helping Raziel onto the couch, Clarice heard the office door opening and glanced in that direction. However, she accidentally stepped on Raziel's foot, causing her to trip and fall, bringing both of them down onto the floor.

Because Raziel's body was already inclined, he ended up hitting the ground first, followed by Clarice, who landed on top of him. This brought their faces uncomfortably close to each other.

The door opened, and Sylfi entered, saying, "Hey, Clarice, I saw you coming in earlier, and—"

When Sylfi noticed their embarrassing position, she sighed and left the room, closing the door gently as if not wanting to disturb the moment.

'This is so cliché,' Raziel thought to himself, looking in the direction of the already closed door.

Raziel tried to move the girl, but she remained frozen in the same position, gazing at him like a statue. It took her a few seconds to regain her composure before quickly getting up and apologizing for getting distracted and causing them to fall on the ground.

He just shook his head while sitting on the couch, saying it was just an accident. This made Clarice breathe a sigh of relief. She then bowed her head and quickly left the office, embracing herself.

Raziel only sighed tiredly, lifting his right hand up and gazing at it before saying, "Soft..."

After the incident, Clarice spent the rest of the day avoiding his gaze, looking embarrassed every time he tried to talk to her or look at her directly.