Magicapita

Cæ spent an hour solely on honing his mana-motive force, leaving him quite mentally tired by the time the day was over. Thankfully, the magicademy understood just how exhausting the mana-motive force training could be; thus, it was usually scheduled before a short break where students could relax.

STEP

Cæ stepped into the extravagant cafeteria, only to be confronted by a large number of gazes converging on him from multiple directions. Students paused their conversations as their loud chatter turned into soft murmurs, stealing glances at him continuously.

Cæ simply ignored it as he grabbed a plate, filling it with toasted bread and some lamir, a simple vegetable stew that was traditional to Elendir, before navigating the large array of tables across the entire cafeteria.

"Here, Cæ." The familiar voice of the president drew his attention as he spotted her with Virlyd and several others of the student council. "We have a seat for you."

"Thanks," Cæ remarked as he took a seat opposite Virlyd, quietly eating.

"I can only imagine how busy you are," President Mileila murmured as she studied him with a hint of sympathy in her eyes. "With the mess that you've been dragged into."

Cæ heaved a sigh. "It has proven to be rather annoying, unfortunately. It will be eating into my time over the next year. Which means that I'm going to have to fundamentally alter the way that I'm going to be living until this matter blows over finally."

He didn't have the highest confidence that it would. It was indeed true that the parties involved were powerful and affluent, but it was also true that the Walyn Family would be doing everything in their power to delay the process and give them as much time to get rid of him as possible.

How it would play out was something that would remain to be seen, unfortunately.

"I heard that Miranda got accepted into a different branch of the Elendir Institute of Magic?" Cæ asked with a composed tone.

"…Yes, I'm sorry." President Mileila's tone was apologetic. "Unfortunately, other branches of the same institute don't have to respect the expulsions of other branches."

"Even if they didn't, she would have undoubtedly gotten into one or the other. No institution in the country would let go of the opportunity to get their hands on an elite-level talent. Of course…"

Virlyd stirred. "…I don't deny that her family had something to do with how quickly she got in. Her mother must have had the process expedited with some contacts in the magicademy."

Cæ heaved a soft sigh, shaking his head.

There was no point in getting upset over something that he had absolutely no control over.

"However, she'll definitely be a pariah in the new magicademy. The story has already become public knowledge, and regardless of what people believe, just the stigma of being associated with attempted murder is damning," President Mileila offered, as if trying to console him.

"I don't give a damn about what happens to her, frankly," Cæ replied with an apathetic tone. "What I do care about is not dying."

The air between them grew heavy as Virlyd studied Cæ with a hint of respect in his eyes. "You are a strong man, Cæ. You know what the very real dangers to your life are, and yet you're unfazed."

Cæ didn't respond to those words, trying to simply enjoy his meal as he put the thoughts regarding the matter out of his mind. The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Being this powerless was truly infuriating, especially when it affected his day-to-day life in such a concrete manner.

"What do you intend to do about Miranda's replacement?" President Mileila raised an eyebrow.

"I think I'll just pick whoever was close to making it in," Cæ replied. "Maybe go over the possible candidates with the head coach."

"You might need to get another divination specialist to compensate for Miranda's absence," President Mileila mused. "However, what I would recommend would be to find someone who is as diverse as she was."

Cæ nodded. "I'll take that into consideration.

Soon enough, the bell rang as the little break was over. They bade each other goodbye before heading to their respective classes.

Cæ had divination.

Divination was one of the more interesting classes that he had taken. He found it fascinating how the principles of magic could be applied to gain more information. It was a field of magic that was not intrinsically strongly tied to one kind of magic over another, whether it was a fundamental form or mode of casting.

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The only recommendation that one had was the fact that having a light element affinity was ideal, while wind and earth were also decent. Any magic whose purpose and function was to gather information as desired by the user was considered divination, making for a broad and diverse field and methodologies.

It was a field that he had found very interesting to learn over the few weeks he had been attending magicademy. What he was especially excited about was the fact that today was his first practical session. He had been put through the magia embedding process to learn the associated runes with several of the most basic divination spells.

He looked forward to getting his hands on actual new magic for his arsenal. All to increase the probability of victory against Vilryd so that he could become the representative of the Elendir Institute of Magic for the Vertir Combat Contest.

STEP

He arrived at the divination facility where the other students gathered in their athletic uniforms, having already changed, before quickly putting his bag aside and joining the crowd.

He ignored the attention that he drew, having already grown used to the excess attention. The divination facility comprised a column of training stations that stretched like a track, each with a trap door on the other end.

"Welcome, students," the professor of his divination course arrived, drawing attention with a clap.

The old man looked to be about sixty, wearing a long, dark robe that reached his shins atop a formal shirt and pants. His spectacles were thin and circular, while his white hair was neatly combed. All of that, in addition to the book he carried in his left arm, made him feel like the textbook definition of a professor.

"Today, you will be casting your first divination spells." The professor's tone was one of enthusiasm as he swept a gaze across the students gathered before him. "You have learned the necessary runes to attempt the most elementary divination spells. And today, you will be pleased to know that none other than the Headmistress herself will be overseeing your training!"

The students grew jittery with excitement at the thought of being trained by none other than the Heart Seer when it came to divination. Headmistress Lenolia often took the opportunity to interact with the students of the Senior Program as an educator, using her vast experience and mastery of the field of divination to help her students get an edge over countless others who didn't have the privilege.

It was difficult to overstate the value of such a class. Not even elite and affluent families had the ability to have a master mage train their students. Master mages were exceptionally powerful and highly sought-after in many ways by many people.

And yet, the Elendir Institute of Magic created an environment where even master mages could be persuaded to teach, like Master Zymshire, who taught healing.

CLACK

The door to the facility opened as none other than the woman herself entered the facility with a measured gait. Headmistress Lenolia's appearance in the facility caused a wave of excitement to wash over the students, as if they had just run into a celebrity.

She wore her standard purple cloak atop formal attire.

In her hand was her staff, brimming with magic energy, forged from powerful and expensive mana-conducting metals, enchanted to the very brim with its

She arrived before them, directing a sweeping gaze across them with a calm gaze and a gentle smile. Her gaze never once stopped on Cæ, hiding her interest and her relationship with him perfectly.

"Students of the Elendir Institute of Magic," she began with an elevating tone. "I will be overseeing your training today. I had many years of experience teaching students at this very magicademy when I was a senior professor of divination. Rest assured that you are in good hands."

Not a single person doubted that, of course.

"The spell that all of you will be learning today is known as Enlight," she continued, getting right down to the point. "Enlight is a divination spell that relies on the light element to be able to discern a part of your environment by having magic scan the desired location with the light element and then supply that information to you," she explained. "It allows you to get an understanding of a part of your environment that you are unable to see, which is convenient in a wide variety of situations where your actions are constrained. Enlight, as you might know, is part of a sub-category of light-based divination spells that rely on the illuminating aspects of the light element to gain information. It also…"

She smiled. "…happens to be the kind of divination magic I specialize in. Although my master-level specialization comes from divination of people rather than the environment, which is how I have earned my moniker."

The Heart Seer was a master mage known for her ability to gain deep insight into people, making her an excellent candidate for Headmistress, even if she wasn't supposed to run around using it willy-nilly on just about everybody.

"I'm sure that all of you have memorized the runes and magic circle associated with the spell," Headmistress remarked. "I want all of you to keep it in mind when we attempt the spell, but before that, I seek to impart to you the correct imagination. While we rely on the memory model of eidos to cast magic, our imagination can affect the quality of the spell; it also affects how much we can leverage it to our benefit. And in order to have good imagination, you need to have a very grounded understanding of exactly what the mechanism of the spell is. That is what separates good mages from bad mages. The greater your depth of understanding of a spell, the more you can do with it."

The students absorbed her words deeply as they listened to her with engrossed expressions.

"The way that Enlight works is by relying on the principles of our vision. The way that our eyes work is by receiving light reflected from the world around us, and our brains interpret the signals to create the image of what we see. Enlight functions similarly, spreading a wave of magical light across the designated area," she continued with an erudite tone. "The light upon contact reflects back, carrying with it the information of what it touched. Then, the second part of the spell is to have the light enter our eyes in a manner similar to how real light does so that our eyes can 'see' what the spell touched."

She waved her hand, causing a three-dimensional animation to emerge in front of her with a simple wave of her hand, without any magic circles or incantations, displaying the mechanism by which the spell worked.

"This is the spell that you will be casting today," she informed them. "Any questions?"