Meditation and Mana

"Of course Chloe has to take all the spotlight... Ahem, my name is Camille. I'm eleven years old, and as you can see, I'm a bunny girl."

Looking down, Alex was a little stunned as her muscular body was the polar opposite of what he imagined a bunny girl would be like.

Even though Camille's slightly bent bunny ear made her look extremely cute, her body didn't fit the mage's expectations at all.

"Ahem, let's start eating now."

Sophia shifted everyone's attention as the food they ordered finally arrived at their table.

---

A few minutes later...

As the girls continued to gossip about class dramas that Sophia and Mary missed, Alex was already finishing up with the food on his plate.

Even as he took out his textbook to read, they were still gossiping about things happening in the capital.

"Hey Sophia, your brother really likes to read that much?" Evelyn quietly asked after staring at him for a bit.

"Yeah, he's a little bit of a bookworm. He always prefers reading over going out and playing."

"He's the perfect match for Chloe, no? She likes to read, too," Luna suddenly suggested.

"W-What? I don't read the textbook in my spare time. That book is too boring." Chloe immediately clarified, her face blushing a little.

"What do you think, Mary? Do you think your brother is a good pair with Chloe?" Camille asked.

"I don't know. But I can see it happening."

"Stop messing around with my brother... Hey Evelyn, how did you grow your chest to be so big?"

Sophia quickly changed the topic after noticing Alex's face looking a little bit uncomfortable.

"Oh, I just ate a lot of a special fruit that my mom gave me. I can show you guys later..."

As the girls went back to chit-chatting, Alex turned his attention back to his textbook, reading it until lunchtime ended.

---

When the seven of them headed back to their classrooms, the six of them went to the back of the classroom while Alex sat in the front.

He didn't waste any time taking out his textbook again as he looked over to his seatmate. Once again, Justin was still writing in his notebook with no regard for the outside world.

After glancing at Justin's work, he was once again intrigued by the design but couldn't understand what each part did.

"Ahem, good afternoon, everyone. Let's start our class now. Please take out your textbook and flip to page 25."

The whole class went into silence as everyone in the class flipped their textbook to that page.

"The textbook has provided the standard edition for a fireball with the triangle Fire element position and Earth core. Following this pattern will create the standard spell like this."

As the fireball appeared right in the middle of the classroom, Alex's eyes immediately widened as it was the first time seeing a spell up close.

"However, to increase its destructive power, you could add more fire elements with a 3 to 1 ratio."

Right before the entire class, the fireball started expanding until it suddenly vanished out of thin air.

"The moment you used the wrong ratio, the Earth's core collapses, leading to the spell dissipating into the air.

This is what happens most of the time, but some outcomes may be more severe than this."

As Amelia snapped her finger, everyone in the class was a little confused until one of them suddenly noticed a fireball right outside the classroom.

The entire class started to panic as it rapidly approached closer and closer until it suddenly fizzled out.

"That fireball had a ratio of 4 to 1, with a square pattern. Does anyone know the answer to why it fizzled out?"

After waiting for a few seconds, no one raised their hands.

"That's because a square is not as stable as a triangle... Now let's get back to the textbook..."

---

Just as the clock hit four, Amelia finally stopped the lecture, giving everyone a short break.

As Alex looked down at the notebook, he still couldn't believe the amount of notes he had taken.

Every page he flipped over was knowledge he wanted to learn. Not a single thing had bored him out in the slightest.

"Okay, break over. Everyone, please sit back down. We'll be doing meditation next before we leave."

All of the students listened as they closed their eyes. Even Alex's seating mate Justin, who hadn't taken any notes earlier, was closing his eyes.

"Deep breathe, relax, and let your mind delve into your body..." Amelia gently whispered as she closed her eyes as well.

As Alex followed Amelia's instructions, he could feel his mind start to lose control over his body. It was almost as if he was half-asleep, unable to move any parts of his body.

Yet, his mind wasn't in complete darkness.

A small light appeared right on top, and then more and more light appeared right below it, making a figure similar to his body.

He could feel that his mind was located on the top star, with a hint of connection towards the other stars as mana flew upward.

Thinking back to Amelia's lecture and the textbook, Alex slowly shifted his mind towards the top star until he gained control of it.

As soon as he reversed the mana flow, a burning sensation immediately started tingling in his mind, but it was still bearable.

With every push, he could feel a slight expansion between the star connection, allowing more mana to flow through.

After who knows how long, he could feel the stars around his body no longer able to take any more mana.

Any further attempt to push in more mana was starting to worsen the burning sensation, almost kicking him out of the meditation.

With no progress made, Alex eventually was forced to give up and regain control of his body again.

Despite being able to see again, everything was pitch black for him until he moved his head a little back.

To his surprise, Amelia was right before him, sitting on his desk, curiously looking down at his face.

"How was your first meditation?" Amelia asked as her voice appeared in his head.

"It was okay. I felt the stars in my body, but I couldn't really put much mana into it... Wait, why is my mouth not making any sound?"

Alex was a little shocked as he somehow managed to reply with his voice sent over to Amelia's head.

"Shush. Don't wake other people up yet. It's extremely dangerous to wake someone up when they are still meditating."

Alex nodded in agreement, closing his mouth as he realized it was Amelia's magic that made them able to talk to each other in their heads.

"Your meditation is a little short, only ten minutes... Usually, people meditate for at least an hour to increase their mana capacity."

"I felt that burning sensation again... I couldn't put any more into it."

Seeing Alex looking a little down, Amelia didn't really have a way to comfort him.

"Everyone feels that. It's a long and slow process, usually takes at least an entire year or longer just going from level one to level two."

"Thank you..."

As the two fell into silence, Alex's eye couldn't help but notice Amelia's leg was slightly spread apart.

Her knee skirt was also just slightly too short, allowing him to see her panties a little.

"It's black...S-Sorry." Alex immediately apologized, realizing his mind was still talking to Amelia.

"What black?"

Amelia looked a little confused until she looked down to see where Alex was looking at earlier. Her face immediately started to blush a little as she got off his desk and went back to her seat.

"Alex... Who taught you to look at other people like that?" Amelia questioned, her voice sounding a little angry.

"I-I just couldn't control myself. I don't know why I was looking at that. I'm sorry, Auntie."

A short silence appeared between the two until Amelia eventually accepted Alex's apology.

"You better not look at other girls like this. If you weren't my nephew, I would have thrown your dead body in a dark alley."

Alex nodded several times in repeat, not doubting Amelia's threat. At the same time, his mind was a little confused.

The way Amelia answered him sounded as if she wanted him to only look at her panties rather than not look at girls' panties in general.

Amelia's face soon started to blush, almost as if she had realized what she had said was too misleading. Still, she doesn't bother fixing it, hiding her embarrassment by looking inside a crystal ball on her desk.

Meanwhile, Alex started looking at the people around him.

To the back, his two sisters were still meditating, showing no signs of opening their eyes. Her new friends also showed no signs of opening their eyes.

The entire class still had their eyes closed, including his seating mate Justin, whose eyebrows started flinching slightly as if he was experiencing some difficulty.

"I really am just that bad..." Alex murmured in his head, realizing he was the only outlier of the class.

With little to do, he quickly resumed reading his textbook, absorbing as much knowledge as possible.

After almost half an hour passed, people finally began opening their eyes. But nobody spoke up, sitting in silence as they waited for their classmate to finish meditation first.

Soon, another half an hour passed, and this time, almost the entire class was awake—except Sophia, Mary, and Justin, who were still meditating with their eyes closed.

As everyone started to get a little impatient, one of the students in the back decided to get up from his seat. However, within seconds, his body was completely frozen, unable to move a single part.

"Do not wake someone who's still meditating in class until I say so." Amelia's voice appeared in everyone's head.

The student who stood up bowed down in apology, sitting back in his seat before waiting in silence along with everyone.