Chapter 18 : First Class (2)

"Are you okay Jean?" asked the worried Fiona

"I just learned something new," replied Jean smiling. However deep down Jean had now grown hatred towards Ethan. After all, no professor treated her this way.

"Let's move on with the lesson. Anybody has any ideas on how I did what I did?"

"..." A complete silence followed his question.

"Very well, I will try to explain it as simply as possible. I will show you a normal fireball casting"

Ethan then raised hand and 3 magic circles merged partially with each other.

"As you can see there are three magic circles here. The higher the magic's level, the higher the amount of magic circle there will be. So why do these magic circles appear?"

There was still silence. No one dared to answer anymore after what had happened with Jean. "Sir it is for the calculation" Out of all the students, it was Jacob who answered it.

[ This guy was the second in theory after Jean last semester wasn't he? ]

"Great answer Jacob. So if you want to hit a target right in front of you, what things exactly do you need to calculate?"

"The distance, speed, destructive power etc"

"Yes but how do you calculate that? Do you measure every time how far your target is, at what speed your magic should be at or how powerful you want your spell to be?"

"...It just happens?" Jacob couldn't answer. Even if they could do magic well from an early age, they didn't know how things worked.

"It just happens. The only thing you decide is if your target is far or close, if your spell should go fast or slow, or if your spell should be big enough to destroy a boulder or not."

He continued on,"You might not realize this but your brain does this calculations unconsciously. If your target stands 10 meters in front of you and you cast a spell for a target 20 meters away, you are naturally wasting mana and casting time. This matter is so simple yet hard to comprehend. If there's an exam about the theory of mana and you study the entire theory of Battle Arts for that exam, you are merely uselessly tiring out your brain."

Ethan then aimed at the target. "The target is around 15-17 meters away from me, since the target is near me, there is no need to cast a fast fireball so I will go with average speed. Since its just a target, there is basically no means for destructive power, so I will lower it a bit. Now take a look at my magic circles carefully."

The sizes of each magic circle were different. 

Boom

The next moment a fireball came out at a tremendous speed out of Ethan's hand. It took even less time than the first fireball he showed. 

"As long as you know where you want to hit it, how you want to hit it, you will not waste any mana and your casting time will drastically decrease. Those old geezers in magic towers have low casting speed because they are old. They are experienced. Their mind unconsciously knows how far the target is and how hard it should be hit, hence their casting time is lowered. In the end it's all about how you see things."

Ring Ring Ring

"Time does indeed pass quickly. That is all for today. Think hard about what you learned today and train on it. You will be having an exam in the training ground in the next class. Good luck."

The class ended at noon. None of the students could open their mouths in awe of this ground breaking discovery they just witnessed. THe first-years who just came here for fun were the most excited to witness something like this in their first year in Honden.

They all looked at Ethan again. His first impressions were very serious and intense. But who knew they could learn something like this from him.

Everyone in this academy greatly respects knowledge. The more time one spends here the more he comes to love it. Just doing what previous teachers did wouldn't be enough to earn respect from them. But Ethan's demonstration made all the students have special feelings beyond respect towards Ethan.

Some students even shivered in thought how many more assets could a man who doesn't care about a discovery like this could have. A spark ignited among all the students present there. If they could learn more from him they could grow stronger.

On the other hand Ethan was standing there looking elegant, had cold sweat running down his back. Fearing that their eyes, that rivaled the molten lava surging from the depths below, would burn him he got out of the class.

[ I only wanted to get a little bit of positive response not those eyes filled with passion ]

[ This one technique won't be enough to keep me in Honden long enough ]

[ Honden has six weekdays and one weekend ]

[ Among the weekdays, I have my classes only two days ]

[ So I only have four hours of classes per week, also some extra classes here and there ]

[ I have a lot of free time in-between ]

[ I wonder how Seraphina is doing? ]

[ I should check up on her later ]

[ Should I go to the old granny for lunch? ]

Ethan exited the main building with his mind thinking about various stuff.

_____________

"This is much better than I expected" Jacob was satisfied that he was able to attend this class.

I just came to check this class because of the rumors. How lucky I am to have not trusted those. Those nobles always badmouth others.

I attended this class since I heard how arrogant professor Ethan was. Before professor Ethan only professor Rudiger taught Battle arts. However he discriminated against commoners.

Jacob, even though having a commoner background, had passion for magic like no other. This passion of his made him climb all the stairs to this class.

"Hey" Jacob suddenly heard a call from behind

"Yes?"

"Don't get proud of yourself just because you answered few questions. Know your place, commoner."

"Who are you to talk to me like that? Your status outside the grounds of Honden is invalid here, don't you know that?"

"I am the second son of baron Katali, Zanuba Katali. How dare you talk to me like that ?!! Seems you need to be taught some lessons." He then put a wand out of his robe and aimed at Jacob.

"I would recommend you to stop there" Another student hopped into their conversation. "No matter who you are, you won't get off easily here. Also people are watching"

"Hmph! Count yourself lucky, commoner", The student then got out of the class.

"Umm, thank you. May I know your name?" Jacob asked the unknown student curiously.

"Kazuha. You should be careful of people around here. Noble students in their third-year are the most scary. Since students graduate after third year, they create factions to gain reputation. The one who tried to fight you now was from Hohenheim's faction."

"By Hoenheim do you mean the son of Duke Hoenheim?"

"Yes, and it's not only him you need to be careful of. Jean Usher, the green haired girl, also has an astonishing amount of followers. There's also a rumor that there is one nobility among us in disguise but who knows if that's true or not. You should take care of yourself. Try to not fly too close to the sun"

Just like that the student called Kazuha also left, leaving Jacob behind.

_______________

"Hmmm is this my office?"

Ethan was now standing in front of a door that had his name on its template. Teachers at Honden were given a considerable amount of space. After all, the administrative building was totally dedicated to teachers and other staff. 

[ I am curious how it looks from inside ]

Ethan opened the door but couldn't help but become surprised to see the person inside.

"Oh come in!"

It was Grimhild sitting on the couch. "So how was your class?"

"Something tells me you intentionally dropped some troublesome students onto me"

"Ah, maybe I just wanted to see you suffer, haha. Or maybe this is just a coincidence."

"So why are you here?" Ethan put his cloak on the hanger and also sat on the couch across from Grimhild. 

"Just wanted to check up on you. So what are your plans now?"

"Whatever the fate holds"

"Sigh then goodluck with your fate. See you later. Oh, Seraphina also finished her class before without any problems" Grimhild went out shutting the door closed.

Ethan looked around his office. There was a nice wooden table. In the middle of the room were two sets of couches across each other with a small tea-table in between them. One side of the room had an empty bookshelf. Behind the table was a window with a clear view to the courtyard of Honden.

As for the lighting, the room had a magnificent chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The book shelf was fitted with four magic lamps. There was also a table lamp on the table.

The room was very luxurious. But to Ethan, something still felt missing. This won't do.

Tap tap

Ethan looked at the source of the sound. There was a bird pecking on the window. Looking closely the bird had a paper parchment tied with its leg. Ethan opened the window and the bird flew on top of Ethan's finger.

Ethan untied the paper. 'Meet me at the gate'

It was easy to guess who the sender was. Ethan let the bird out and closed the window before going out of his office. 

"Took you long enough" Seraphina with arms-crossed and her usual attitude greeted Ethan.

"Considering the fact that the administrative building and the main gate is-"

"Let's go" Seraphina interrupted Ethan in the middle of his sentence.

They walk through the streets as they once again find themselves in the bustling streets of the city,

"So… Where are we going?"

"To find our informant"

"And where would we- Nevermind"

They were now standing in front of a bar. This bar was deep in one of the alleys. Unless someone knows there is a bar here, no one else would come to this place. Perfect place to hide something.

I had to gather a lot of information from various sources when you disappeared. These guys are our first choices.

They entered the bar. It was empty. The bartender was cleaning glasses and someone was sleeping on the counter. There was no one else.

"How can I be of service?" The bartender spoke up as Seraphina went to the counter.

"I would like the red-winged angel."

"What toppings would you like?"

"A white flower"

"I see, please check what kind of flowers you want from the back"

Seraphina then led Ethan to a room behind the counter. It was a small room with no furniture. Just a trapdoor that leads down. The more they kept descending, the darker the environment became. When they finally reached the floor down, a corridor lit by blue magic lamps greeted them.

In front of them, stood a man in ragged clothes. "Please follow me"

The man then led them to one of the rooms in the hallway. The room was also lit by blue light and there was a hole in the wall.

"Greetings, what can I help you with?" A voice came from the hole. There was probably someone else in the other room. 

"Donovan Stormblade, I need any possible information about him. Specially a list of who he meets often"

"Hmm… that is a hot topic recently. "

"State your price"

"Unfortunately we are prohibited provide information on that man"

Seraphina's forehead twitched at the words of the man.

"How about we exchange some information instead?"

"... You want to sell information to us? Are you not aware of-"

"The red crescent of the dead night"

The other side went completely silent after hearing what Seraphina had said.