Chapter 2: Recuperation

Several days later, Theo fully recuperated under Mira's care.

In the early morning, after a long rest, Theo finally stood up and walked through his room, stretching his body before stopping and looking at the reflection of the 12-year boy in the mirror. He could see a youth with yellow hair and blue eyes. The youth had tender skin without scars and had a fragile figure, but was quite tall for his age. Healthy, energetic, and handsome were the first thoughts that came to his mind.

Theo continued to ponder for a bit, admiring his handsomeness.

'Hope that this time there would be no scars appearing on this amazing face. Though scars are proof of battle prowess, I would better keep my face in safety. For a moment Theo drifted into the funny moments from his life when his scars helped him to scare small children when he showed it without a mask, but quickly sobering up and organizing himself, the boy wore clothes prepared for him beforehand and left his room.

He had a strange feeling, as if he was dreaming of his distant childhood while walking, and passing through such familiar walls of his family manor, and took his time to enjoy every moment he could.

He passed through corridors, several big rooms, the main hall, and several doors before arriving at the beautiful green garden right outside of the manor.

Unlike many ordinary or alchemical gardens, this garden had only several trees and bushes in its center near a small pond, but there were a vast amount of purple flowers all over the garden. Several paths led to the pond, where tables with breakfast were already placed under the shadow of the tree.

There were five people on the chairs. His mother Mira, father Darwin, elder sister Stella, elder sister Aurellia, and youngest Lucia. Stella was a beautiful maiden that had red hairs, she would be a small mother's copy if her pupils weren't the same as her father's, she was 15 years old. Aurelia was also 15 years old girl that had yellow hair and green pupils, and elegant glasses. Lucia was 9 years old that had yellow hair and blue pupils.

The weather was sunny, birds were chirping, even fish in the pond enjoyed the day, jumping from the pond from time to time. While his sisters were talking with each other and the parents were laughing with Lucia, he slowly approached them. One would hardly ever believe that these laughing and talking people were actually members of one of the eldest noble families in the Union. The status of a noble made them and their families abide by many customs that could easily transform an ordinary breakfast into a political game or a procedure with strict rules. Such an occurrence was a norm in many other noble families, but the Freinos family preferred a distinct atmosphere with minimal rules when there were no non-family members. For Freinos family - dinner time was family gathering time when any family member could share the news, talk about something, or ask questions about many topics including the training. Each family member could ask and talk with elder members at any moment he or she wanted. Dinner time gathering became an interesting and uniting occurrence that was rarely missed without reason.

Even servants, maids, and officials knew about that tradition when Lord and Madame were not reachable for half an hour each day unless it was ultimate urgency.

Theo looked at a handsome male with yellow hair and green pupils who glanced at him when he sat in his place near to his elder sisters. That man emitted a vibe of danger and power.

He was his father, the one who stayed on the walls together with his people till the last moments of Freinos city to provide his family a chance to escape, and the one who fell together with the last bunch of defenders.

"You should work hard. I will add more guardians to your guard. Just be careful, and don't make us worry again like this time." said father with a kind glance, looking at Theo.

For a moment, many memories flashed across Theo's eyes, and he could only tightly grip his hands and nod.

"By the way, from today, you and Lucia will begin your studies at the city academy. Of course, your classmates wouldn't know your real identities, but you should work hard, study well." said father.

"Is that the academy where elder sisters go?" asked little Lucia.

"It is. You two will study in different departments in the beginners' classes," answered Stella to Lucia's question.

"Your classmates might seem foolish or arrogant to you, but please try to make some friends while you study there. Just behave as children of ordinary families," said Darwin, drinking a cup of tea.

Both Theo and Lucia nodded, agreeing with father.

"By the way, only Silo and Neo of your 10 guardian knights returned alive. I will appoint new after this breakfast."

Theo's face sunk and a feeling of guilt passed through him when he remembered the outcome of his actions when old veterans that served his family for decades sacrificed themselves during the usual hunt of their master that accidentally entered a dangerous place and met danger with no ability to protect himself. Even when he grew up in his previous life and passed through many hardships, the deaths of his guardian knights in childhood because of him were part of the few things he felt guilty about.

"I am sorry," said Theo in a self-accusing tone.

"They died smiling. It's an honor for them to die for Freinos. It was their duty to protect you, regardless of cost. Silo and Neo returned injured. Visit them when you can, they are worried about you. Others will have funerals and will be placed in the crypt. We will take care of their families." said father with a gloomy expression on his face.

The atmosphere quickly became gloomy. Even Lucia knew some of them. They served the Freinos family for many years.

When old veterans die, we place them in Freinos knight's crypt. It was a family tradition to award loyal servants with last recognition. However, his father was the only Freinos that would always visit them for one last time before placement in the crypt.

30 minutes later, breakfast was over. His father was still gloomy and left with Mira for the funerals. Theo and his sisters left for the city academy.

The city academy was created by the Freinos family. We created it to provide the ordinary population a way to learn and get stronger, helped further improve the quality of knights and mages, and assisted the talented. There were two main departments as the Magic department and the Battle energy department, with several minors.

His elder sisters were famous prodigies, Stella as a prodigy knight, and Aurellia as a prodigy mage. They were well-known as "Glowing Duet" across the academy.

Both Theo and Lucia were freshmen in the city academy. He was a 1st rank adept in the Magic department while Lucia was a 1st rank squire in the Battle energy department.

The city academy, Magic class

Over thirty students are sitting down and are waiting to listen to the teacher as he imparts his knowledge. The students are a bunch of children with magic talent; they are city academy's students.

Currently, Theo was sitting and listening to the teacher, 40 years looking, male.

"I heard that our teacher Nolan was sent from the 'Belgon supreme academy' as an exchange teacher."

Some students were discussing among themselves.

They concentrated all attention on the teacher in a robe. Nolan had a tall, healthy body and emitted a thick feeling of magic. He was among a few of the volunteers to be an exchange teacher in the vassal region. The mage was loyal and loved his country. He knew vassal regions played the role of shields against external enemies and their power depended on the quality of local mages and knights, most of whom usually came from such city academies in most vassal regions.

"You are all here because you have passed the "Magic identification" test. Your magic path begins today from the lowest realm of adept, but you should know that each of you has the potential to become a mage or someone stronger. Any famous mage was once an adept, just like you. This stage is vital for your magic foundation and your future. The results you will make, depend significantly on your efforts and the hard work you do, so don't slack off." said Nolan before approaching the board behind him.

A moment later, he began writing something on it.

*An adept realm*

5 ranks

*A mage realm*

4 ranks

*A great mage realm*

3 ranks

*High mage realm*

3 ranks

*An archmage realm*

2 ranks

"In case someone didn't know what it is, this is the power structure of magic users based on their abilities, powers, and amount of mana they can use. Each realm differs in power and abilities, but I wrote it so that you knew about them and how long your magic path can be. Decide for yourself how far you want to reach and work according to your goals." said Nolan, looking at the students.

"Teacher, in which realm are you?" asked a student in a noble outfit.

"I am a Great mage," answered Nolan with a smile on his lips.

Some students instantly reacted to his words, opening their mouths wide while simply looking began talking to each other.

"Hey is that hard to become a Great mage?" asked a student of his neighbor.

"You bumpkin, it's, not every talented person can become a Great mage. Such people should pass through many battles and constant training. Many end up dead before they advance further." said a boy in the noble's outfit.

Teacher Nolan continued to observe after 9-12 years, boys and girls, before a light smile appeared on his lips.

A moment later, a fireball appeared in his hand, instantly attracting the attention of the class.

"Now, I want to congratulate you again on the beginning of your magic path and successful awakening of your mana heart, you have successfully become 1st ranked adepts. You are already different from most humans and have the blessing to use magic. As your teacher, I would be your elder that passes his knowledge to the younger generation. You will have many challenges on your path, little and big ones, but here during my lectures, I would like to ask you to forget about different statuses and places you came from. I hope you will work together with me during this journey and finish it as a new generation of mages." The teacher stopped for several moments looking at the audience, giving them some time to think about his words. Delighted with serious faces on many small children, he continued, "Before we learn the basics, let me provide you some general information. As you all know, most of the mages use elemental magic that has four elemental powers, like fire, water, earth, and wind. Mages can use spells from all elements in elemental magic. However, each mage has a certain affinity to different elements, and you should know that your affinity plays a significant role when we talk about the power of your spells." said the teacher chanting another spell called "Ice icicle".

"You can see that I have used 2 spells from distinct elements, one is called "Fireball", while 2nd "Ice icicle". What can you tell me just looking at them and about my affinities." asked the teacher looking at the audience.

"They are different in terms of power. Your fire spell is made of pure orange flame that can easily melt pure iron while a water spell looks like ordinary ice and has nothing special. I think the teacher has a small affinity to the water element, and amazing to the fire element." Said one of the noble students.

"Right! As I have already said mage can use spells from all elements but not each of his spells would be similar in terms of power. Take my spells as examples, they might seem identical in terms of power and efficiency, but a keen eye is enough to see through them, and now let's see the difference with our eyes." said Nolan, releasing two spells into each other.

"Fireball" and "Ice icicle" quickly met and began the clash of fire and water. The class got quickly illuminated while sparks and steam began appearing in a clash of spells, but a moment later fire spell ended up victorious and it would have continued its way towards the audience if the teacher didn't dispel it.

"This is the difference. I guess further comments aren't necessary, but you should always remember that a spell based on strong elemental affinity will always be stronger than the same spell with no affinity. This is the 1st rule which you should keep in mind. I would also recommend trying to get good affinity for 2 elements instead of one with the help of affinity for improving resources." said the teacher looking at the class.

Some poor-looking students sighed with regret after Nolan's words, while rich-looking smiled.

Understanding their thoughts, Nolan was quick to add.

"Those students who can't get such resources, I suggest you concentrate on your mana control and overall skill of using spells. Polish them and improve till perfection, and try earning such resources when an ordinary mage with 2 strong affinities is no longer an opponent for you. I will just say that it's possible, and I have seen it with my own eyes when students with poor affinity ended up victorious in duels with students with strong affinities. Work hard and you will become stronger, even without a strong affinity to elements. Have you noticed anything else regarding my spells?" asked the teacher.

The audience stayed silent, thinking about the answer before a poor-looking student didn't open his mouth.

"Teacher, you have used no chanting during the creation of "Fireball" while said something during the creation of "Ice icicle"."

"Good. Affinity also impacts the time you need for chanting certain spells. It can decrease your spell chanting to the minimum."

"But teacher, I heard that strong affinity can only decrease the time for chanting while your spell appeared momentarily." Said another student.

"This is because I am a Great mage, when a mage becomes a Great mage he can create any spells without chanting, so if anyone can't improve his affinity, I suggest concentrating on the mastering of own abilities, it will be useful when you become a Great mage when your casting speed will no longer be a problem," said Nolan, looking at the new students that had its own questions.

While students began asking their questions from the teacher, Nolan continued to answer with a polite smile to any question he got.

"Teacher, what about attributed magic?" asked one of the noble students.

"Good question. Attributed magic is another type of magic. There are space, light, darkness, and many other attributes. However, unlike elemental magic, it's not available to every mage or has a price for usage. Light and darkness are those attributes that would take your ability to use elemental magic. That's why battle priests can't use elements and have their own arsenal of spells. Other attributes are different, they are available to a small portion of mages with magic bloodlines or those who have unique artifacts."

"Teacher, what about basic light spells that can be learned from priests?"

"Mages can use basic light or darkness without need for body transformation and price for usage." said the teacher chanting a spell "Light luminaries".

In a moment a small bright ball of light appeared on Nolan's hand.

"As you can see, I used a basic spell of the light attribute. You will also be able to use it when the time comes. However, I could never use advanced or great light attributed spells, they are only available to priests or battle priests." said Nolan looking at the class.

While the teacher continued answering the student's questions, Theo drifted back into his distant memories.

Before the resonance with his artifact, Theo had an affinity for the fire element and had no attribute. He was nostalgically memorizing all his experiences when he was just making his first steps in magic.

'Since I already know many things related to magic, it's better to concentrate my attention on the battle energy on which I slacked off a lot in my previous life and it would be better if I find someone to nurture to become my follower while I attend this academy. This is a good place to learn new things.'

While Theo was in deep thoughts, teacher Nolan continued lecturing his students when a soft jingle resounded across the whole academy.

"It's my pleasure to become a teacher of such clever children. However, everything good ends. On my table, there are booklets with instructions on mana circulation and meditation techniques. Take them and practice at home on your mana control. Those who already know how to do it, help your classmates. The first steps in magic are very important for any mage, and you can make a friendship with a potential mage just by explaining simple things. Magic learning is a tedious and effort-consuming task, but those who pass through all difficulties will become unique existences with broader opportunities in life. Use your time for meditation and learn how to circulate mana. It is the end for today, you are dismissed, see you next lesson."

Teacher Nolan grabbed his stuff and left the class.