We both had General Magic Theory as our first class of the day, but we were assigned to different lecture halls; there were about two dozen of them across the campus.
The teacher was an unfamiliar one. She was a young, black-skinned woman with the distinctive poise of a combat mage. She walked with the assistance of a cane, which helped to conceal a limp. A dueling wound, or a war wound, maybe? It took me a moment to realize that the cane she used was a dueling cane. A normal dueling cane might barely reach from elbow to wrist in length; the longer style that could double as a walking cane had fallen out of fashion a century earlier. I’d never trained with one, but I’d seen my great-grandfather’s on display at home.
She took her place at the podium, grinning and revealing a perfect set of teeth. “Good morning, class. I’m Professor Meltlake.”
That line drew a murmur from the class. Her surname was a local legend. She’d earned it by literally setting a lake on fire during a magical duel. I still had no idea how she’d done it.
I was very eager to find out.
“This class will go over the basic principles of magic that are applicable to all users of attunements. As this is the first class, I’ll be taking some time to cover the structure of the course, some basic terminology, and the reading material you’ll need to get started on. But first, we’ll take attendance.”
She read student names from a list, and I answered at the appropriate time. I recognized a few names of people from my dorm, but none of the ones who had strongly interested me. Patrick Wayland was there, though, and I looked at him when he responded to his name. He caught my look, gave a startled expression, and then gave me a subdued wave. I waved back.
I regretted it almost immediately and began to worry that he would want to socialize with me later. This was followed by a few moments of self-recrimination — after all, why wouldn’t I want to reunite with a childhood friend — and a longer stretch of crushing self-doubt.
The professor tapped her cane against the desk, which snapped me back into attention. “Now that we’ve handled attendance, let’s discuss this class, shall we? Magic Theory will be your primary class this year, and in spite of the generic name, it contains the most important things you’ll be studying. Consequently, Magic Theory will also be the class where you are tested on the sum total of what you’ve learned in other classes.”
She gestured with her cane toward the right wall. “On the other side of the campus, you’ll find the testing grounds. You will be tested three times during the semester on those grounds, typically with a group. These tests will determine if you’ve managed to pick up enough to apply the teachings of all of your classes. Think of each of these tests as being similar to your Judgment, but with a team and more difficult challenges.”
I nodded along with the rest of the class. I’d heard of simulated Judgments before; my brother had taken one. Apparently, it had been insufficient.
“These tests are important for allowing your teachers to evaluate if you’re ready for more dangerous tests such as reentering the tower through the Climber’s Gate. If you make it far enough, you’ll go in through that gate at the end of the semester.”
I heard a series of murmurs from the class on that. I’d already heard about the tower excursion, but apparently it wasn’t common knowledge. Professor Meltlake tapped on the podium again, signaling for silence.
“Of course, that requires a degree of success with the previous tests. Historically, only about sixty percent of our students make it to the final test. Those who fail early in the year will be dismissed and sent directly to military service, without the benefits of being a fully-trained attuned. If you fail toward the end of the year, you’ll be forced to repeat this year’s classes and try again. That will not count as your second year at the academy, and thus, you would still have to complete an additional year of classes before beginning your mandatory service.”
I can’t let either of those happen. If I get sent off to the military without learning to use my attunement, I could die without ever getting another chance at the tower. Even being sent back to restart the year could lower my total score to a point where the military would never allow me to be a climber.
“I’m certain most of you will want to avoid those unseemly fates, and thus, it behooves you to study to the best of your ability. For this class, your primary text will be Elementary Concepts of Magic by Steven Bryer. There are three optional texts, and you’ll find those listed in your papers. I encourage you to read the optional texts, but only if you are keeping pace with your reading for your other classes.”
She smiled, raising her cane. “Now that we’ve gotten through the boring part...”
Meltlake’s cane sprouted a stream of fire into the sky. I heard murmurs of awe from a good number of the students. They apparently hadn’t seen as many demonstrations of magic as I had. That barely rated as a parlor trick.
“Let’s talk about mana calling, shall we?” She grinned, lowering her cane.
“Mana calling is the foundation of all magic. All humans have mana in our bodies, and that mana can take several distinct forms. For non-attuned humans and most weak monsters, the majority of this mana is generic. In academics, we refer to this as gray mana.
“Non-attuned can generally only utilize their mana through devices, such as a dueling cane. As an attuned, however, you will be learning to utilize your mana for a broad variety of different purposes. An individual application of mana for a specific purpose is generally called a spell, and the use of spells is referred to as magic.”