Monday morning, 9am.
All 28 first years were seated in ascending rows in the Magical Foundations classroom in the Common Square. This was their first real-real class together, the actual start of the school year.
âHello everybody, Iâm Ms. Lemon!â A cheerful woman waved at them from the front of the classroom below. She had such vibrant long yellow hair, that it almost appeared to be glowing at first. Long strands dragged behind her on the floor, and left a fruity scent in its wake.
âIâm your homeroom teacher for the year, as well as your Magical Foundation teacher. Any time thereâs announcements or activists planned for the student body, Iâll be the one to tell you.â Ms. Lemon tapped on a clipboard in her hand. âLetâs take attendance first.â
Once everyone was called on, Ms. Lemon started explaining their curriculum for the year, beginning with the first month. Like Rynus had told her beforehand, the first month was all pretty much a catch-up class for students who had yet to start using magic. Both Mage Training and Innate Studies were also going to be pretty similar to Magical Foundations for the first month, allowing further time for younger students to get a feel for magic. For those who were already using magic, they still had to stay and follow along, but Ms. Lemon said she would be giving them some newer drills to try in the meantime.
Ms. Lemon was also going to be teaching them the history and theory of the magics they would be learning, which was required knowledge for the end of year examsâ so they really shouldnât miss it.
âMagic has been around for longer than us wizards, and longer than the dragons. It dates back to the creation of our world itself.â Ms. Lemon began teaching. âLike how the water in the ocean exists all around its inhabitants, so does magic, but to everyone, everywhere, at all times.â
âIt has influenced almost everything we know, and probably everything we donât know. The first living thing is theorized to be the simple wisp, a creature made entirely of mana.â
Their class was only two hours long, and Ms. Lemon spent about the first hour talking about the history of magic. Even after an hour, they hadnât gotten to the time of wizards, that would take a little longer. The second hour she began teaching lessons on how to channel magic, like Kira had done at first with Rynus. It was a slow, maybe a tad boring class for most, but it still excited Kira.
She was actually here, at the Academy, learning magic: she couldnât not be thrilled.
Luckily, Ms. Lemon told them that their following classes would be only about 15 minutes of history, and the rest would be dedicated to magic training until everyone was roughly caught up. Then theyâd start with trying their hand at some harder magic and its theory.
At the end of class though, they all had to tell Ms. Lemon what elective they wanted to do. A line formed at the front desk, and after each student gave their answer, they were allowed to leave for their break before their next class.
Abby and Kira lined up together.
âDid you decide yet?.â Abby asked.
Kira nodded. After talking to Rynus over the weekend, and deliberating for much longer than sheâd like to admit, she had come to somewhat of a conclusion regarding what occupation she would strive for.
Eventually it was Kiraâs turn in line.
âAh Miss Thorn!â Ms. Lemon smiled seeing her. âIâm glad I get to teach you this year, itâs not likely one gets to teach a Thornâ actually you're the first.â She giggled to herself. âYou know me and Rynus have worked with each other a few times in the past, heâs quite a gentleman. Sorry sorry, Iâm ranting. Do you have your elective chosen?â
âMm, Iâll pickâ¦â
***
It was Friday, their third day of classes this first week. Unlike human schools, they only had classes every other day, starting Monday and ending Friday. On each of those days, they had two, two hour classes, with a two hour break in between.
After Magical Foundations on Monday, she enjoyed an introductory class on physical education. Some wizards might complain about taking a class that was mostly about exercise and sports, but the teacher went on to say it was vital in the growth of young people, no matter their race.
Wednesday they had Everyday Skills, a very dull class that taught them math, geography, english, and history. They would learn one at a time, in a two month long module, starting with the worst of all; math. Kira was glad though that the other class on Wednesday was Mage Training, it was needed to break up the dullness of Everyday Skills. It was a required class to take, while Advanced Mage Training was a second year elective that was not needed to graduate.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Mage Training was the class Kira was looking forward to the most, because it was the decision Kira had chosen occupational pathway to go with during school. She wanted the skills to be able to fight and protect herself using her magic, but ultimately it wasnât her end goal. She still didnât have a final goal just yet, but she knew that the skills of a mage would be useful to have in any situation.
When she and Rynus talked over the weekend, Kira had brought up the idea of travelling, since it was the only thing that really stuck out to her. Yes, everything else also seemed fun; crafting wands, becoming a knight, taking care of magical beasts, studying magic, but in her heart, she really wanted to be able to see the world and discover the magic outside of her books. The only way to do that, was to first know how to protect oneself.
Going out into the world meant you ran the risk of stumbling upon dangerous beasts, villainous wizards, bandits, or worse. If you couldnât protect yourself, youâd be dead before you knew it. Rynus had been adamant about Kira learning to fight, why learn to fight in this era of peace? But in the end, he caved in. He couldnât actually stop her from learning to protect herself, if he did, heâd be no master worth his salt. There was also something he mumbled about how his master would kick his ass if heâd tried to stop her, but Kira didnât pry any further about that.
He told her sheâd be good at it, and sheâd have fun training her magic for combat, but he had left her with a single word of advice, and those words still rattled around in her brain.
âNever hesitate to kill when in danger. Never.â
She had honestly never seen Rynus look so serious before. It kind of spoked her.
So that was her plan, but it wouldnât really change much for her until her second year when she had to change elective routes. For now, she would have to wait and get through the elective she had chosen first. Not that she would hate this electiveâ actually she was looking forward to it for a few reasons.
âWelcome, welcome, come find any open seat.â A softly spoken man ushered a small group of students into the classroom. He was a small statured man that wore a green vest underneath his wizards robes, and he had a pair of thin spectacles resting on his nose.
âIâm Mr. Woodsworth, your wands teacher for the year.â He introduced himself. âThereâs six of you, just under a quarter of the first years, which isnât too bad of a turn up for this class.â
Kira had asked around during the week, who had taken which elective, and was more than happy that at least two people she could call her friends were in this class. The first was Marcus, he had been delighted that they took the same elective together. The other was Yuli, her roommate!
Abby and Helina went into Knight training. She knew why Helina chose that class, but had to ask Abby why.
âArenât knights the coolest!â Was her answer. It sounded very much like her own answer to Merran back at the wand shop.
While Vea didnât even need to know what the other electives were, she went full in on Herbology. Kira thought she herself was obsessed with magic, but Veaâs love of plants might just outclass her.
Resseta surprisingly chose Magic Beast Studies. Kira swore she would have gone into knight training seeing Ressetaâs frame and knowing about her daily workouts, but she was wrong.
Those were the people she was closest to right now. She did talk to others, but⦠she knew just by the way they spoke to her that they werenât entirely themselves. They were too respectful or too nervous around her, which then made Kira feel bad. The only other person Kira had been talking to was Alexander Gryphon. He of course wasnât nervous around her, he was a noble as well, and his respectful speech wasnât exclusively at her, he was like that with everyone. And he, as his family was known for, went into Knight Training.
âLet's get started then, thereâs much to talk about regarding wands.â Mr. Woodsworth said. âDoes anyone know when the first wand was created, and by whom it was made?â
Everybody's hands shot up. This was common knowledge that all wizards should know.
âMarcus.â The teacher pointed to him, and he stood up to answer.
âThe first wands were created over 10,000 years ago for all eight founding wizards, but the very first wand was created for Founder Oak. Her wand is known as the most powerful wand ever made: the Prime Wand. And the creator of all eight founding wands was Elder Korrokhan, the Dragon of Wisdom.â
âVery good!â Mr. Woodsworth clapped. âAnd with added details, very knowledgeable!â
âYes, one of our 13 Elderâs, Korrokhan, was the creator of the very first wands. He used Oak wood created by, well, Founder Oak, and his own blood to forge them. Wand Weavers didn't exist back then, so the only way to merge his blood with the wand was to turn it into mana, and then let the core absorb it. This method still works today, butâ¦â
The two hours zipped by in the blink of an eye. Mr. Woodsworthâs voice was calming and nice to listen to, while his knowledge of wands was top notch. His sheer passion he radiated towards wands made the lesson even better. As Kira left the classroom with Marcus and Yuli by her side, they couldn't help but start ranting about how great that class was. Marcus loved wands, so that was no surprise, but even Kira who wanted to go into mage training in the future, was starting to understand the appeal of wands.
The class was completely different then the one during elective week, even though that one was also great. Back then, Mr. Woodsworth dove more into what theyâd be doing during class throughout the year, touched on some famous wands, and for half the class he got them to start carving pieces of wood as practice.
It was fun, but very different from the real class.
Mr. Woodsworth had briefly talked about the syllabus of their class, and the part Kira was most looking forward to was when they began actually learning to carve in a few months. The mix of art, science, and magic that went to making a wand was what truly spoke to her tastes. The more she learned about wands, the more she appreciated them, especially the one in her own hand. At one point she had stared at it and tried to memorize all its little details.
âI wanna be able to make something like this in the future.â Kira vowed to herself.