First day (Part 1)

"Throughout our world, any living thing has mana, from the grass, from the trees to the animals. Even the rocks if it happens to have moss. My kind of course have none, but that's a different topic. To that end, we have learned to use mana for more than magic. Your mana can provide protection like a shield and prevent worse-case injuries. Overall effectiveness depends on the person, your shield will only be as strong as you are. The only way to strengthen your mana is to practice and practice. No one is born with a strong mana." Pandesal lectured, continuing, as students took notes or simply stared and listened.

Satay did both, never more eager to learn. Andy was more fascinated with Satay and his work ethic. "The way you beat Matty yesterday was awesome." he said just low enough for Pandesal not to hear.

"Is that his name? He kinda rushed off yesterday after I won. I can't believe we didn't get in trouble." Satay said, keeping pace with Prof. Pandesal's lecture.

"Matty does that to every freshman, the mana rings are open during certain classes for seniors and he takes advantage of it. His royal highness probably didn't say anything after his reputation got a hit." Andy said with a smirk.

"His highness? Is he the king of the rings or something?" Satay asked, still keeping an ear to Pandesal.

"You could say that. Not anymore though. I was worried you'd get eaten up by his monsters, but you put em out flat." Andy said imitating Satay's punch from yesterday. My roommates a Lyncan, so coming to school early should make sense. But who comes to school days early?" Andy asked eyeing him taking a few notes trying to show he was still paying attention.

"I was just so excited I got ahead of the caravan I was with. Made great time." Satay said, picturing dead monsters at his back on a road through a forest.

"Alone? You must be something fierce back home." Andy said, envious.

"Nah, my mom is way stronger, compared to her I've got a lot to learn. I want to be like her someday, and my hero. She's the reason I picked this school." Satay said with a giddy smile.

Andy was about to ask who but had to get back to his notes, to make sure Pandesal didn't scold him again. About 2 hours passed before Prof. Pandesal finished his lecture.

"To that end, magic doesn't really help with mana at all, the strongest spell will only give you a 10% mana yield overall. I hope I see you all again tomorrow bright and early. Satay I'll lead you to the next class. You come too Mr.Thorston it's the same place." he said moving towards the exit. The two nodded and went with him up the stairs.

"How was your first class boys? Hope I made an impression on your minds." Prof. Pandesal said heartily.

"I wish it was longer." Satay said with a frown.

"(Seriously?)" Andy thought staring at his friend like he had two heads.

"Oho, I love that enthusiasm, your next class is Magic and Magic craft, I think you'll find it most fascinating, if not now than in the coming months." Pandesal said, entering a classroom not too far from his own. With the boys in tow, they entered a room with three rows of desks arranged in five. Off to the right, a church window.

Pandesal headed towards the desk in front of the others, where a man stood. "Greetings Hanson, ready for the workday?" he said, broadly waving a hand to greet him. Hanson wore a dark purple dress shirt, tucked in his dark-brown pants, his brown hair was meagerly groomed.

He looked up to Pandesal to reveal his glasses. For some reason, his appearance gave Satay deja-vu.

"Sriracha my good man, are these the two stragglers I've heard about?" he said shaking Pandesals' hand. The size difference was real. Hanson was about 6 feet, but Pandesal was, at a glance, two heads taller.

"Satay, meet Harold Hanson, your Magic, and Magicraft teacher. Like myself, he is an alumnus of this school." Pandesal said, proudly.

"Nice to meet you, I wish we could've met yesterday, I hope you've come prepared." Hanson said holding out a hand to Satay. Satay took his hand carefully to not make the man fly off.

"Andy, I didn't see you yesterday. I'm glad you could make it. It's a good thing you've got teachers like Mr.Pandesal and me to keep the other teachers from being too harsh on you." Hanson said, the glare off his lenses shined directly on Andy, betraying the calm demeanor he displayed.

Andy went silent, daring not to speak. Only grunting inside his throat.

Students started rolling in, and Hanson cleared his throat. "You don't have mana, but I hope you find everything in this class useful." Hanson said with a smile.

"From this next class you'll go to the gym, and you know where that is already. I won't be free again till after that, so you'll have to introduce yourself on your own next time. Be seeing you." Pandesal explained, he gave Hanson a nod and left the room.

"Take your seats, everyone." Hanson said, as the last students entered, Andy and Satay took open seats in the front.

"Good, let us begin today by reviewing the basics. While any living creature can use magic, we can only use magic thanks to these." Hanson said, and pointed to three planters on his desk. Each carrying a sapling that looked relatively the same, but had their own shade.

"Mana seeds. The source of all magic in the world, all from the planet. The most marketable resource we have." Hanson said, plucking a small seed from one of the saplings.

"Mr.Sabai, if you could come here please?" he said, holding up the seed. Satay did as he was told.

"While we have the opportunity, I'd like for you all to see this first hand." Hanson said, holding the seed to Satay. "If you would?" Hanson asked. Satay took the seed and plopped it in his jaw, swallowing it down with no trouble.

"Now since we couldn't invite Mr.Pandesal today, I'd like for you all to see firsthand mana seeds' effects on Lyncans." Hanson said. Satay put up a hand. The class looked at him and waited to see what he would do. When a whole minute passed a student raised his hand.

"Uh sir, nothings happening." they said, bluntly.

"Precisely, I thought after yesterday you all could use a refresher on Lyncans, they have no mana, hence they can not use magic." Hanson explained. The class murmured among themselves some unphased, others looking legitimately intrigued.

"It seems that helped some, thank you Satay, would like to introduce yourself to the class? No pressure, I think you made yourself pretty know yesterday." Hanson said, egging the boy to brag.

Satay gave a hard smile, unsure of his intent. He stood straight in front of the class and cleared his throat. "I'm Satay Sabai, I look forward to getting along with you all." he stated, Andy snickered a bit at how stiff Satay seemed to be.

The class whispered and looked upon him like he was a puzzle. Regardless Satay smiled and could only look forward to interacting with them all, this first day would be a great one.