35) The Magical Being.

It was a new day. Dio laid on his bed with his feet up, perplexed by this weird, uncomfortable sensation around his stomach. 'It certainly wasn't the food….' He had a little over 10 minutes to kill before attending his next class, The Magical Being. Alternatively, he could've just focused on taking more combat-related courses. However, after the first class involving the mind, existence, and whatnot, Dio found a certain interest and was less hesitant to attend the next class. 

Having done nothing for the rest of his time in his room, Dio left for class, closing the door behind him. There were plenty of reasons for why he didn't prefer the practical courses. To a certain extent, practical learning courses had two main purposes or goals. One, to solidify the knowledge and application learned, second to allow for their instincts to be better developed. 

Dio had an advantage; he could never forget the application, so the immediate solidification wasn't a concern. Moreover, he had plenty of time to train, thanks to his abilities; the general constraints didn't matter to him. Regardless, he was a firm believer in getting the fundamentals down.

His next class was truly exciting. Think of a large cauldron, and add in every ingredient that you know would and should never be mixed. That was how he would describe the circumstance. He was happy to see a few familiar faces, unfortunately, that list continued a little too much.

Both the Godfreys, Hina, Alex, Jand ohn, not to mention some of the applicants, were also here. Seemed like this course, in particular, was rather popular. Nevertheless, it was a pain in the ass for him. 

Dio stood at the entrance for a second, entranced by the view and, in all honesty, relatively fed up. He noted two people still in bandages, one more than the other. John waved to him eagerly, kind of gesturing for Dio to take a seat next to him. 

"…..uhhh.." In truth, Dio had no issue doing that. However, at the given second, he was more caught off guard by how calm John was about Jin sitting in the same class as him, same row even. "Haah.." He gave up and slowly walked over; this was going to be his home for the next three years.

"Forgive but don't fo-"

His head flung around; it was instinctual, but his reaction was conscious. He could hear it; he could definitely hear that clearly, but there was nobody. He could feel his heartbeat increase ever so slightly. Massaging his forehead and sighing, Dio simply walked over to the seat next to John.

'What the heck is going on…' he wondered. Forgive but don't forget. It was obvious to him what the voice was going to say, but he lacked context. Was it referring to the recent events? Or was it a reference to his memory? Either way, wouldn't taking this seriously validate the existence of the voice?

"Desire and imagination allow for us to conceptualize magic in a structured manner. Essentially saying that our Desire to do something is so strong that it is magical. Isn't that beautiful?" A maroon-haired woman placed her bags on the table; in her mouth was a half-smoked cigarette that looked vaguely familiar. She had rectangular spectacles that sat at the edge of her nose, a top with the last button unattached. Her wavy hair freely flowed over her shoulders as she raised the bud and pushed it into nothingness.

The next second, a tiny magic circle appeared and acted as a surface for the cigarette to be ashed. 'Truly convenient…' Dio thought as he stared at her in awe. Hexora so far had been a life-changing experience. Was it society, or was it this particular institution that constantly challenged his personality?

"It's beautiful because it's natural to life. It's instinctive that we act out our desires, which is what makes magic so special. However, there's a caveat. Is there anything that impacts our desires?" She paused for a few seconds to look around the class.

"No takers?" she smiled and stood in front of the table, slightly leaning back and sitting on it. "Maybe you need some motivation?" she chuckled and scanned the class with her sharp eyes. "You," she pointed at John and gestured for him to come closer with her finger. 

The next second John's world went to shit. One moment, he sat there in his chair listening to the class. The next, the entire left side of his vision felt as if he was moving forward extremely fast, and the right seemed like he was moving backward with the same pace. Two opposite blurry visions overwhelmed his mind as he found himself face to face with the Professor.

"What is your desire?" her voice now sounded far more demonic, every word echoing a few times, was it her voice or was it John's senses? He couldn't tell. With every sense failing him, he did his best to keep his eyes open. "Everybody has one…." She snapped her fingers and John looked around, dazed as if he had woken up from a nightmare. He was back in his place, almost like he never moved.

The students looked confused. Some of them even snickered at John's behavior. However, Dio stared down at the Professor. The second John felt transported, there was a slight change in the mana density. This was another momentous occasion for Dio. Other than the structure for the spells, Dio often read up on the different type of spells as well. Of course, knowing of their existence and using them are two separate matters.

However, Dio sat there, a little befuddled and perplexed, for the first time in a while, he had no idea what the heck just happened in front of him. None of the books he had read up till now aided him in understanding the circumstance better.

"What is your desire?" she asked again. This time addressing the entire class at the same time. Every single student there feeling the pressure and weight of her words. Some were even forced to lower their heads. Her words had power…but so much?

'What even is this place…' Dio's fist tightened as he looked straight at her. The pressure so far wasn't too much for him, but he couldn't understand. Who was this lady and what was her point?