Reina went behind her desk to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk. She started drawing wavy lines in the air. She turned around.
"You can return to your seat now, Alec."
'Whoops.'
Alec nodded and did as she suggested. He hoped he hadn't been caught staring.
"Alright, students. This…" She tapped the lines she had drawn. "Is an illustration of Aether in the air. It isn't perfect since this isn't how Aether acts, but it will do for this." She then drew a simple human body.
"When the Aether enters the human body, it condenses into a more dense state that we mages call mana. Warriors call it aura, which is a little different, but that's not what I teach.
"Now, as the Aether goes through the condensation process to form your circles, it is affected by the body it passes through. You can think of it as a filter. Your body squeezes the Aether into the shape and color that suits it best.
"In Maura's case, that's fire." Reina drew a flame where the heart was on the body she had drawn.
"When mages cast spells, they don't reverse the condensation process. They simply push mana out of their bodies and into spell formations. We'll get to how those work later.
"When Maura wants to cast a fire-attribute spell, all she has to do is push her mana out, and she's done. However, if she wants to cast a spell of another attribute, she has to change the attribute of her mana. That's easier said than done.
"So, in the process of expulsion, she has to revert her mana to Aether and then condense it externally into the mana of the right attribute for the spell she wants to cast. That is actually easier said than done once you get the hang of it." She drew the flame transforming into lines again and then into drops of water. Two more steps to cast a spell.
"I should also mention that humans are rarely perfectly aligned with one element. This slab only picks up the majority affinity. So, you might have hidden affinities that make converting your mana into some elements easier than others.
"In short, casting spells of your main affinity is easier and quicker, but casting spells of another element isn't impossible. However, there are exceptions." She pointed at Alec.
"He is one of them.
"Sometimes, people are born without affinities, or overbearingly strong or unique affinities that make it almost impossible to cast spells of other elements. Although rare, people can also lose or change affinities later in life, but that's not what we're talking about right now. "Right now, we're talking about what someone without affinities does when casting magic. Does anyone have any guesses?" Reina scanned the crowd.
It was something most people, even those with noble and mage backgrounds, hadn't heard of before.
"Victoria." Reina pointed at her, who hadn't raised her hand. Victoria didn't seem bothered by being targeted, though, and stood up to answer.
"Since a person without affinities doesn't have anything to squeeze the Aether, they don't condense it into mana. They absorb it as it is."
"No. He still has a body, doesn't he? That's what condenses the Aether. Affinities merely give shape to the condensed mana."
Alec put up a hand.
"Yes," Reina nodded.
"So, when I condense Aether, I get formless mana—mana without an attribute? So, when I cast spells, I can transform that mana into mana of other attributes without needing to revert it into Aether and re-condense it."
"Exactly." Reina nodded with a slight smile.
'That sounds…'
"It sounds very handy, right?" Reina said to both Alec and the rest of the class.
"It can be," She continued.
"But unlike most of you, Alec doesn't have an element that suits him. You all have one element that is easier to master and will produce more powerful spells. Assuming you're all equally talented, everyone except Alec will advance quickly with specific spells and fall behind with others. Alec will advance slowly with every element he studies. There's also the fact that transforming formless mana into elemental mana isn't the easiest thing to do, from what I've heard.
"That said, you shouldn't underestimate Alec or anyone else. I am not supposed to be teaching you combat, but I'll say it once.
"The one thing that kills most people in combat is underestimating the opponent.
"It doesn't matter what or how much you think you know. Never underestimate the one you're fighting." Reina's serious gaze swept over the classroom, pushing her words into their heads. She just hoped it would stick.
"I went on a little tangent, but it was important, so it doesn't matter. Does anyone have any questions about what we just talked about? No? Good. Let's continue."
***
Going through the rest of the students' introductions and affinity tests took most of the morning. During the second half, Alec had a hard time concentrating for several reasons.
The first was what it meant to have no affinities. It sounded like a jack-of-all-trades situation. That wasn't necessarily bad. Versatility was something he valued, especially since he didn't know how the world was supposed to end. Being ready for anything could be good.
The other reason he couldn't concentrate was the gaze drilling into the back of his head.
It seemed Victoria hadn't liked being wrong. Or maybe it was the fact that a commoner had shown her up by using her wrong answer as a stepping stone.
That had to have bruised her pride.
Unfortunately, Alec couldn't become invisible or disappear. He had to live with his mistake. But he should probably find an opportunity to apologize and bow his head.
If it had been modern-day Earth, he wouldn't have cared. Being wrong, especially in a classroom, was just natural.
But this was a medieval, feudal fantasy society.
And after the affinity testing resumed, Alec scanned the books he had read yesterday. Victoria's surname was familiar, after all.
She wasn't just the first daughter of a noble family. The Fosra Family was a Duchy that ruled the eastern region of the Kingdom. She was one of the people Alec definitely did not want to be on the bad side of.
She could make his life hell before cutting it short.
He had to be smart and apologize. That was what he was planning to do as soon as class ended.
"Alec, stay behind a beat." Unfortunately, Reina wanted to talk to him in private. His apology would have to wait.