Ch14

"That. Was. AWESOME!"

Atria grabbed me by the shoulder and started shaking me like crazy.

"How did you suddenly dodge me and hit that hard?!"

Everyone else in the arena was staring at us with gaping mouths, Durreg included, excluding the twins.

"Wait, Atria. Stop trying to shake her brain out of her skull before you ask her anything." Silia said.

"Oh! Sorry about that. Hahaha!" she laughed, taking a step back at her sister's admonition.

I shrugged.

"I am a gravity mage. It's a form of magic you get by making use of arcane and force magic."

"Force magic, as in headmaster Iltani's attribute?" Silia asked.

"Two opposite attributes, and one's atypical. I didn't know that was possible! You have got to show me what you can do..."

***

After chatting for a bit, Silia went back to the controls to start the arena. We began sparring again, but we took care not to deal any fatal damage. It was definitely a lot trickier than mindlessly blowing through enemies, but it was really beneficial.

The other three students had rather interesting fighting styles of their own.

The armored warrior had weights installed inside his armor, making him hit that much harder without being moved. Unfortunately for him, his armor was bulky and impeded his movement, so I was willing to wager he was the least capable fighter in the class, at least against human opponents. Against dumb beasts or stationary objects, he would likely prove to be a menace.

The lady with the boots and gauntlets was more interesting. Besides a few small plates covering her vitals, most of her body was lightly armored. She uses the enchantments on her boots to have the spikes dig into the ground, and her gauntlets can change between blunt and piercing forms, giving her great flexibility in a fight. It was definitely unique since I hadn't seen a pugilist before.

Last was the old man, who didn't make use of any techniques or abilities that held him down. Instead, he practiced a form of martial arts that lets his opponents strike first. He relies on his superhuman agility to dodge, then counterattacks from the ground up, punishing rash maneuvers with his fists. Unlike the woman, the old man was a strict pugilist, and shunned the use of any weaponry, citing the benefits and restrictions his class had for him.

Soon enough, it was time for class to end, and the dome fell down after we'd all sparred against each other.

***

"When did you get so strong, cousin?" Durreg asked as we made our way back to the lobby.

"I managed to advance my class during my trip to the Serpent's Throat with my party. I got into some sketchy situations that needed me to get creative, so I am pretty comfortable with my abilities so far." I shrugged.

"Well, I am about to reach my rank B evolution and my level 100 class advancement soon. Appraisal says you're already at your level up limits; how come you haven't made the transition yet?" he asked.

"Well, I got a skill that lets me see evolutions and advancements I am close to unlocking, so I am waiting to complete them first. Speaking of appraisal, I forgot to appraise Atria and Silia. What were their ranks and class levels?"

"Atria's a newly minted rank C, and her class level was around 78. Silia's in the middle of rank C and has a level 87 class. Any further details were obstructed." He shrugged.

I hummed, and we turned a corner to enter the lobby.

Just as we did, the same receptionist from earlier waved at me.

"Ms. Azoth! I've got some news for you!" he said.

Durreg and I looked to each other then walked up to the reception table.

"We found a force magic instructor for you. In fact, it'll be a one-on-one class!" he said excitedly.

"Well, that was fast." Durreg commented.

"When is the class held?" I asked.

"In five minutes. We've already taken the liberty of registering you for the class."

After telling us where the class was held, the receptionist bid us farewell as we went on our way to it.

"How did they find one a force mage that can instruct you so quickly?" Mumbled Durreg.

"Hmm."

A strange idea floated in my head, but I quickly dismissed it. "There's no way, right...?"

***

"You're one minute and 13 seconds late, Ms. Azoth." A voice said as I opened the door.

Standing on the room's arena was Headmaster Iltani in grey enchanted mage robes covered in silver-glowing lines.

Durreg's foot did not even land on the class's floor before he'd turned around to abandon me.

"I am sorry, Kiara. I'll find the best flowers for your grave."

"Durreg!" I yelled, but the boy was already running down the hall.

I shook my head and walked to the arena, where I noticed a staff member attending to the controls.

"Send us to the first layer, Ahum."

The man nodded, and the dome rose over our heads.

Soon enough, I found myself standing in the familiar obsidian great cavern of the first layer.

"Well then, let's not waste any time. What do you know about force magic, and how do you use the spells and abilities at your disposal?" she asked.

"I use my gravity magic to change my and my opponents' weights, attract objects and other people to each other, and find other ways to throw my opponents off their guard while I strike

them with something else. At least, that's usually how I do things. I don't actually have any pure force abilities or spells, which is why I am here."

The woman put a hand on her chin and spent a few moments lost in thought.

"Well, to answer your question, the system grants you spells from time to time when you use your mana in different ways. Have you ever tried converting your mana into force mana?" she asked.

"Umm, sorry, what?" I asked.

"I'll take that as a no. Do you at least have the mana manipulation skill?" This time, I nodded.

"Good. Now listen carefully; in each person's body, near the center of their chest, a mana core can be found. The mana core is divided into two parts; a part which stores pure mana, which is called the mana tank, and a part that converts mana into the elemental mana of the individual's attribute when passed through it, which is called the elemental converter."

She paused to see if I was following. With a nod from me, she carried on.

"Normally, you release your mana without going through the elemental converter. However, when a mage wants to use elemental mana, they pass it through the converter – and in the case of arcane attributed individuals, that converter makes your mana unable to mix with any attributes, keeping it pure and raw. It takes some practice to be able to control it, however, given that you're the first person to have two attributes, and with one of them being arcane at that, it'll be a little tricky to get it right."

"I see; that makes sense. Let's give it a shot anyway and see what happens."

"Very well. I am going to give you some instructions, so follow them one at a time." She said, and I prepared myself.

"I want you to sit down and get comfortable. It doesn't matter how, even if you have to lay on your back, but I don't want you getting distracted. After that, close your eyes, and try to move your mana throughout your body. Keep doing that until you find your mana core."

I did as she asked, sitting down cross-legged and closing my eyes. I used mana manipulation to move my mana through my body, and sure enough, I found a tiny gem in the middle of my chest.

"I found my mana core."

"Good. Now, try to feel out its shape by moving mana all over it. Tell me what it looks like."

Using a small cloud of mana, I pushed through every nook and cranny I could find. Eventually, I got a vague idea of what it looks like.

"It's rectangular mana gem with a small hole on either side. In the center of the gem, I felt my mana being lightly repulsed, but with enough pushing, I managed to confirm its shape."

"...I see. Fitting that your mana core is as unusual as your attributes." She muttered to herself.

"Anyway, each of these exits is likely the elemental converter for one of your attributes, while the area that repulsed your mana is your mana tank. Normally, your mana tank releases mana without going through the converters, but I want you to try and move the mana from the tank directly into the converters instead."

I tried to do as she asked, but only plain mana was released from my mana tank.

"Keep trying. You'll get the hang of it; it shouldn't be too difficult." She said encouragingly.

It felt like I was trying to flex a limb I didn't know I had, so I ended up just fumbling around. Still, it shouldn't be out of reach.

Minutes of feeling it out later, I finally managed to get a few specs of mana through the top converter, only to get regular mana out.

"That's your arcane converter; try the other one." The headmaster said.

With some more effort, I finally produced force mana.

I moved it out of my body and into my hands, moving it left and right.

"Well done. Now, we can get to the real practice." The headmaster said with a slight, thin smile.