Aether.

'In hindsight, it's obvious they don't work the same way.'

'I mean it would be ridiculous if it did, real life was reality and novels were fantasy,'

Even if Astreal seemed somewhat fantastical at times, it also had it's own rendition of reality, just not the same as the reality Ace was used to in his past life.

'Hmm ~ it's that girl from earlier.'

His mind wandered to the events of this morning,

A blonde haired girl with a noble spirit stood within in a pool of blood, firmly staring the receptionist in the eyes, refusing to back down.

'How foolish.' Ace remarked,

The risking of your life for someone else was something Ace would never do—Not because he didn't understand it, he understood it very well, because for a long time in his previous life he would have done the same.

The reason why he was not onboard with it, was because losing his life made him know the value of it. It was only when he lost it that he realised how much he desired life.

'So in this life, I'll make sure to live long a long fulfilling life at all costs, because I might not get a third chance .'

Within and without the classroom a screeching sound resounded, marking the start of the day's lesson.

The screeching of the bell rang through the souls of everyone one in the class, waking up those that were immersed in their cores and irritated the ones that weren't.

Ace took a sharp inhale, after the bell finished ringing.

The bell's sound had given sent a sharp migraine piercing into his skull.

'Damn this soul injury.' Ace said, massaging his temples, to try and relieve his headache.

The disordered students quickly went back to their seats like puzzle pieces taking their places.

They all sat in uniform silence waiting for the teacher to enter the room.

"Hello class." A blue haired man, fitted with with the standard academy uniform but with a long cape draped over his back—contrary to the caplet all students had.

"I am your teacher for general studies this year, My name is Castus ageno, but you guys can call me teacher."

He said with a crisp voice straightening his unruly hair as he made his way to the lectern.

"If you have any questions to ask you can raise your hands, I emphasize this, do not interrupt me!"He warned in a stern tone.

One of the students in the students positioned near the front rows of the class, raised his arms.

Castus pointed towards him, "Ask away."

"What do we actually learn in general studies?"

"Great question! The topics taught in general studies are the common knowledge that is known within the community of bestowed, from continental geography to the paths of progression for bestowed."

Castus answered in a hurried manner, as if he wanted no time of his to be wasted.

"Any other questions?" Caster asked, after surveying the room and seeing no hands up, he continued "Since there's no questions I'll proceed to today's topic."

"Today's topic is about …" He paused, before he raised his hands and manifested a series of letters above himself «Aether and it's relation to the three supernatural forces».

"Aether is an integral part of a bestowed, as it is the essence of supernatural powers."

A freckled face boy from the class raised up his arms.

"Ask away!" Castus said noticing his outstretched arms.

The freckled face student put down his arms before asking,

"What is Aether?"

"Aether is the energy found within your cores, It normally assumes the form of an ocean." Castus said while making an translucent construct that outlined the shape of a core.

"Does that answer your question?" Castus inquired,

"Yeah it does."

"Then, back to the lesson!"

"Aether is the inmate energy that every bestowed has in their cores, it only exists within the core, if tried to be taken out, it degrades into one of the three supernatural forces; mana, vitality and spirit."

"In simpler terms …" He paused before manifesting a translucent rope above his hands. 'If you imagine Aether as a rope, and mana, vitality and spirit as …" he dragged on his sentence while tying up the rope he had manifested earlier. "… Knots of Aether, when taken out of the core the strand of aether ravels up into one of the three naturally occurring knots of aether; i.e., mana, vitality, spirit."

Castus paused.

"That's the end of today's lesson, It might seem like it ended early, but General studies is a short subject."

"If you have any questions say them now." castus said to the class.

Very few hands raised their hands after he spoke, most people in this were from noble families and had already been taught this before, the only reason they were even in here was because it was the first day of school.

"You can ask your question." Castus said as he pointed to Ace's outstretched hand.

Ace rose to his feet and cleared his throat before asking.

"Earlier, you said when Aether exits the core it degrades into one of the supernatural forces; mana, vitality and spirit. which one of them does it tangle up into, is the specific force it turns into random or predetermined?"

Ace had to know, because every single time Aether—previously called water of growth by him—exited his core, it automatically turned into vitality.

Castus replied,

"The specific force aether transforms into is dependent on the affinity of the person, for a psychic it automatically transforms turns into spirit energy, for a warrior it turns into vitality, and for a Mage it turns into mana."

"But what if you have multiple affinities?" Ace asked back,

He was curious to know why aether didn't turn into something else like mana, in his case it only turned into vitality.

'If it did it would've been sooo much easier for me, I wouldn't have to dig through miles of stone to try and use mana.' Ace thought bitterly in his mind.

Castus quickly replied.

"In the case of multiple affinities, it depends what meridians the Aether passes through."

"Meridians?" Ace said in a confused tone.

His ignorance made some of the noble–looking students in the class let out a slight chuckle.

'what the fu—is there something I missed, why are they laughing.'

Castus voice rang out, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yes Meridians! Spirit meridians! mana meridians! vitality meridians does that ring a bell."

"Not really." Ace replied.

"Well that's not my problem, my job is to teach you about what's given on the syllabus, if you really want know the answer to your question, you can go to the academy library or ask another teacher, I really don't care." Castus said to Ace before walking out of out of the class with hurried footsteps