Titles (part 2)

Althea and Ellie were already gifted in their own right. With Rhald's mentoring, their training has accelerated at breakneck speed. His drills and discussions on the finer point of Water Magic has pushed the girls to Perfect Water magic. Ellie who has a near photographic memory absorbs streams of information that could only be considered unearthly. In less than a month, Ellie has learned Illusion magic. Though her illusions are still weak, she shows great promise in identifying and dispelling them.

She has also begun work on developing Acid and Life magic. Ellie has now reached proficiency level in all her classes. In fact, her Healing prowess is so great that she is nearing the master level of that course. The child healer from the tournament became Ellie and Thea's personal tutor after they reached proficient level. She puts them through the most rigorous daily training and every time they exceed her expectations.

Some days, the child healer would bring them to the Royal Hospital where they get to learn and practice diagnosis and healing spells on some of the most unique and difficult medical cases in the kingdom.

Rhald would serve as their onsite supervisor as he was nearing mastery of the Healing class. He is already as good as the doctors who worked in the hospital. In fact, he has had many offers to work as a full-time Healer doctor but he has other plans. He wants to be an adventurer since he thinks it would be a waste of talent to follow the path his family has laid out for him. He only has a handful of classes left. To receive the Grand Magician title as a second-year is an impressive feat.

Rhald's mentees are showing equal promise. They sometimes get to do supervised surgeries for basic procedures. Within less than two months, they had become reliable healers in their own right that they were jointly referred to as "the princesses of Gaia's Touch." It was an allusion to the medical aptitude of two mythic healers of old who were said to have played a significant role in thwarting the Advent of the Void.

Their names have been lost through the millennia leaving only the sobriquet of their ability. It is as if the planet herself, Gaia, has blessed these legends with Healing abilities. They were widely regarded as among the first heroes and heroines. The thwarting of the Advent of the Void was a pivotal event that ushered the Magical Age.

Meanwhile, Althea has been secretly mastering the variants for all her elements. Lest, Vane, and Rhald had been let in to her secret. Lest assures Althea that there are so many powerful people in the Capital that even if she divulges her secret, no one will care. Rhald adds that the Grand Magical Academy is under the protection of the Royal Family. No one would dare attack the magicians who matriculate at the academy. Nevertheless, they swore an oath to keep her secret.

In her Perfecting Light element class, Thea learned that her Light chains are a type of variant called Manifest magic. She had also learned Purification, Spirit, and Sealing Magic to varying degrees. Currently, she is working on Holy Light which seems to be one of the hardest variants to master. For some reason, it was tougher for her to learn Light element variants.

Even though it was easier for her to learn variants from other elements, Althea still struggled with one thing: Time. There was just so much to learn and she couldn't wait to master all the elements and their variants.

Terrick is helping her learn Explosion magic, which he recently learned. Rhald has successfully helped her acquire basic levels of Mist, Acid, and Illusion magic. Ellie is also helping her with mastering Ice and Illusion magic. Lest who is a Wind magician helped her quickly learn the variant magics of Shields and Speed. She has grown them enough to be usable in battle. The Wind-based variants came to Althea naturally.

Vane tutored Althea in the Earth Magic variant magics. Earth element was harder for her to learn but Vane was patient and kind. In the end and despite some effort, Althea barely learned the primary levels of Metal and Rock magic. This led the acquisition of Earth magic variants to be the least of her priority. She planned to learn the other variants of Earth magic when she had more time.

Since school started, their levels barely rose. Sparring and practicing accumulated EXP but no where near as fast as an actual battle. Thus, they devised a plan to gain some EXP quickly.

Meanwhile in a dark cave, a group of shadows was discussing opening a portal to the human realm. The conversation became heated as one of the generals opposed the idea. The woman sitting at the head of the table blasts him. His headless body falls limply to the floor. No one else dared to speak.