Ambitions

"Good-Morning-Students!!!" Professor Pandesal bellowed.

"Good morning sir!" the class responded albeit with less energy.

"Today let's talk about the "Three Great Mana Theories" regarding Lyncans having no mana." Pandesal said, chest up as if ready for war.

Satay and Andy sat in the middle section of the tiered seats. Andy was looking more awake than yesterday and Satay was ready to jump out of his seat.

Mitchell Roach who was one tier above was glaring at the back of their skulls.

The first theory; Our kind is born from a primordial origin devoid of mana from the planet.

"Hard to prove to be sure, as the planet as a living organism has its own mana. Over three hundred years of excavations have proved nothing like that exists." Pandesal said.

The second theory; A great event horizon sucked our mana to the point future generations couldn't even manifest mana.

"It's a more tangible idea, but the hard evidence of our local flora and fauna having mana weighs heavily against this theory." Pandesal tapping on the board illustrating his words.

The third theory; Lyncans have no souls.

Hard to prove or disprove.

"Mana is the equivalent of soul energy, or should I say it IS soul energy. So it's only sound to so say us not having mana means we have no souls." Pandesal said, as wrote on the board showing a figure emitting waves and another with none.

"As a mana theorist myself, I'm inclined to believe the soulless theory. Not that I want you to believe I'm soulless. Among the three theories this the one I find most logical." he explained.

Many of the students found a character like Pandesal having no soul laughable if not unnoteworthy.

"Hear that Satay you have no soul." Andy said with a snicker. Upon turning to see Satay, Andy immediately regretted the joke.

Satay's face was filled with anguish and tension.

"Uh, I mean how could you not have a soul!?" Andy said in an attempt to console the Lyncan.

"Now privy to investigating this, I ran into an argument of how this theory is meritless, based on the principle we'd need a soul to be alive in the first place-BUT!" He said briefly.

He unveiled a diagram of the human body on the board.

"Look here at the brain and its connections to the nervous system, we have this in common with humans and most mammals. It serves as the main function for our bodys'-well function. Adding the peripheral system to the notion, it just fits." Pandesal continued on his facts spree, mulling word after word.

No student could keep up and be unable to make a legible sentence in their notes.

Andy couldn't even find the will to try.

For Pandesal it looked like no end in sight until he paused at a raised hand.

"Yes, Satay." he said the class let out a breath they didn't even know they were holding. Andy's head collapsed on his desk.

"Uh, sir as of last year the Third Great Theory has officially been disproven..." Satay muttered holding his head down in guilt.

The sound of glass could be heard shattering to every ear.

The class could only stare at the source as the room went silent.

Was it his mind? His body? Or his soul?

DAMMIIIIIIIITTTT!!!!

A shockwave erupted out the side of the building.

The student's jaws were agape and the room filled with smoldering air from the debris.

Pandesal was on his hands and knees. Eyes to the ground in despair.

Satay consoled him while patting his back.

"I was going to turn in my findings this year..." he said.

Proceeding an hour later, Satay and Andy sit in Hanson's class along with Roach.

"Poor Pandesal, Ella's gonna have a field day. Today students were getting into mixing magic properties." Hanson said with a smile.

The students got excited and even pushed their desks closer to the front.

"Now first the known mana seeds across the world." Hanson started.

Fire; The power over flames and perhaps the most devoured mana seed on Triquetra. Common and can be found anywhere.

Earth; The power to crush rocks and raise earth, like fire very common.

Wind; At the weakest stage a breeze, at the highest a mighty typhoon, also common.

Water; Our world's means of healing magic. Offensive magic can be created with water, however, it takes an absurd amount of training to produce one offensive water spell.

Ice; Freeze the land around you, create icicles from anywhere. This seed can only be found in certain regions, as it is, it's not native to Triskelion.

Lighting; Bring forth electricity from your fingertips or cast lighting to drop from the sky. More uncommon than Fire, water, wind, or earth, but just as findable.

Conjuring; The power to bring about your heart's desire, at least when you make it strong enough. Our native mana seed, and the pride of Triskelion. It is illegal to sell a conjure seed inside the Triskelion borders.

Song; Also called the sound mana seed. Give your voice the power to split stone as well as break glass. Native only in the deserts' oasis. Far from here.

Psychic; With this seed's power you can extend your will over humans, animals, and objects, as well as many other psychic powers. Native to the Tryptytch territories, our neighbors on the other side.

And Light; On the brink of extinction due to being over-harvested by earlier humans. It is called by the moniker, the Ultimate Mana seed. Bring down divine rays of judgment on your foes. It is rumored light mana seeds possess healing equal to their offensive power.

Hanson held out one hand and it emitted flames. He held out the other and conjured electricity. "For this demonstration, I"ll be using fire and lighting," Hanson said and collided his hands together.

The elements swirled together compressing and filling the room with a powerful light. The boys and girls glued their eyes to the phenomenon, and as the light dimmed Hanson raised his hand.

Displayed was a sphere of blue light streaming electricity. Its subtle vibration could be felt by the whole room.

"What do you guys think of my plas-ball?" Hanson asked.

"That's awesome Professor!" Satay said awed by the display of magic. The other students agreed, even Roach and Andy.

"Well that's the messy process, here's the result of my practice." Hanson said, dissipating the ball.

He flexed his fingers and another plas-ball appeared before their eyes.

"When you first start combining magic it can be hard and crude, varying on affinity.

I"ll be advising individually, so please don't do anything drastic before I can get to your seat." Hanson said and proceeded on the first row.

He was immediately met with an explosion.

Andy was covered in soot and charred head to toe. Satay was more or less unharmed, trying to put Andy out like a candle.

Hanson cleared his throat, as he tried to cover up his aggravation. "I guess I"ll start with you Andy." he said.

"What a damn fool." Roach said, cynically adjusting his glasses.

Hanson walked to Andy and focused his eyes on him. A veil of liquid formed over Andy and water poured over him and the desk, extinguishing the flames.

"Thanks, Professor." Andy and Satay said gratefully.

"Let's start with the basic magic process.

First, pure mana courses through our bodies.

Second, that mana interacts with the seeds mana you ate causing a reaction.

Third, it gives it physical form if not a proto-physical form under your will." Hanson explained patiently.

Andy was struggling to follow, while Satay nodded in understanding.

"When you combine and mix magic, you're doing the first two steps for two different types of magic. Andy how many mana seeds have you eaten?" Hanson asked.

With a sheepish smile, raised up three fingers on each hand. "Six, conjure, fire, earth, wind, water, and lightning." he said.

Hanson smiled back and Satay was awed. The row of students behind them was shocked.

"Ohooooo, you have aspirations my boy." Hanson said with an applause.

"Aspirations?" Andy said in confusion.

"It's unheard of for one person to possess every single type of magic, the average person at most uses four. You could make history Andy." Hanson said proudly,

Andy felt a twinge of a bond forming for Hanson at each encouraging word.

"For now focus on this. When you want to combine magic think of your most natural type and start simple." Hanson advised.

"Yes, sir." Andy said, happily.

Hanson placed a hand to Andy's shoulder."We'll talk later, I think you've got what it takes." Hanson encouraged with a thumbs up and proceeded to talk with the other students.

Andy was happy he finally got in Hanson's good graces.

You could make history.

Those words would shape Andy's future.