Reborn With a Magic System

Damion was not sure why Professor Martin was singling him out. Was it to use him as an example of what one can accomplish with hard work as he claimed? Or was it for some other reason, like making sure he did not make any friends. Already most of the class was whispering about him behind his back and Damion could only imagine the whispers becoming worse as the school term went on.

The last class Damion had before lunch was Magical Materials and Their Uses with Professor Heinrick. This class as it turned out had the same students as Professor Martin's class. Luckily, Professor Heinrick did not feel the need to single Damion out as an example to the class, though he did give the class quite a bit of homework in the form of reading several chapters about various magical metals.

At lunch, Damion joined the entire school in the main hall. Being an elite student he was able to bypass the line to get into the hall for his meal. No longer was there just a single table in the middle of the hall, instead there were rows and rows of tables. Food was already out on the tables and students were greedily filling their plates. There did not appear to be any assigned seats and he had no idea if there was an unspoken structure to the arrangement of students in the all. Towards one side Damion noted a table that had a large number of empty seats, so he headed over.

As he ate, Elicia stood behind him in silence. Looking around, Damion saw other elite students with their attendants standing behind each of them. Despite it being considered normal, he felt quite awkward with Elicia, who he considered a friend, being forced to stand behind him to wait on him.

Not wanting to subject Elicia to further embarrassment, Damion ate quickly and rose to leave the hall. Students were still filing in from the various entrances, but he was able to navigate the flow to one of the elite student entrances. Unfortunately, before he could get out the door he was stopped by Mage Sorin and his couple of friends.

"Leaving so soon?" Mage Sorin asked as he blocked the doorway with his cronies. "I heard there were several standard students looking to put you in your place and take my dear cousin as their new attendant."

"I really don't have time for nonsense," Damion said as he tried to move past the young men.

"I heard you worked as a knight for the last few years. That explains why you are so physically strong, but I doubt you can stand up to a real mage in a fight."

Mage Sorin raised his voice as he spoke, making sure all the elite and standard students in the line trying to get through the door heard him. Many of them looked over to see what the commotion was. All students in their second or later year recognized Mage Sorin. Damion was a mystery to many students, but whispers of his identity quickly spread through the line.

"Are you sure you want to publicly embarrass yourself?" Damion asked.

Mage Sorin did not intimidate him. Even if he did not have a lot of experience fighting as a mage, Damion was certain he could trounce Mage Sorin in a fair fight.

"You will be the one getting embarrassed. I'll make the arrangements for a proper magic duel this weekend. Don't chicken out and reject the official challenge when you get it later."

Mage Sorin and his two friends quickly pushed past him and headed into the main hall. Damion ignored the onlookers and walked out of the hall. He had time before his next class, so he headed back to his dormitory to let Elicia get something to eat. Once she was done eating Elicia explained what a proper magic duel entailed.

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"The rules are fairly simple. You stand ten meters apart and you each get one spell to attack the other. No artifacts, no dodging. The one whose spell lands is the winner."

"Isn't this kind of simplistic?" Damion asked. He had been in numerous fights with Ferocious Beasts, Demonic Beasts and even knights. Never once had standing still and sending one spell out happened.

"This isn't to simulate combat; it is to allow challengers to see which mage has the more powerful magic."

"Does he really think he has a chance against me? I'm a C Rank, my magic power is much higher than his."

"He could be betting that your Icy Grasp spell is your strongest or that your Ice Shard spell won't reach him before his Wind Slash can reach you. He doesn't have to be stronger to win, he just has to hit you first."

"This seems very silly," Damion said with a shake of his head. "Are challenges for elite status like this too?"

"No, those are a real fight with magic. Perhaps Thomas is trying to win against you in this way so others will challenge you for your elite status. Right now, I doubt anyone would dare, but if they thought you were weak, you might get flooded with challenges that you are not allowed to refuse."

"When will this magic duel take place?"

"After the last class of the week is the standard time set. Unless other people have already set up challenges, you will likely be first."

"Great," Damion said annoyed by the whole ordeal.

As annoyed as he was, his classes were not put on hold. Damion's next class was Magic Plants and Their Effects, once again with Professor Heinrick. The class was a lecture on various properties of magic flora and how to recognize them. Again, Professor Heinrick assigned several chapters to read as homework. With so much reading to do, Damion was wondering if he would have time for his magic practice in the evening.

When he arrived at his second to last class of the day, Study of the Ancient Language, he could not help but feel a bit excited. Damion had finally managed to complete the quest to learn the Nashto language and he had been able to complete the first quest, awarding him basic understanding of the language, with this class, he hoped he would be able to complete the second quest, to Increase Nashto Proficiency.

"As you all know, Nashto, the Ancient Language, is the foundation of all our understandings of magic," Professor Toole told the class.

This class was once again made up of the same first term students as his Beastology class. Professor Toole, however, was happy just to lecture the class and not ask too many questions.

"All magic seals, enchantments and spell arrays are made up of glyphs from the Ancient Language. Unlike our common language that has words that mostly have a fixed meaning, in Nashto glyphs will change meaning depending on their order and even on their orientation.

"The glyph for fire," Professor Toole went on while she pointed to a complex glyph projected into the air at the front of the class, "contains not just the core meaning of fire, but also the temperature range of the fire, the intensity, how quickly it spreads, how much smoke it will put out. All of these items are part of the glyph for fire and if all aspects of the glyph are not properly written, then you may find yourself with a fire glyph that does something much different than you intended."

As Professor Toole carried on with her lecture Damion listened for hints at understanding Nashto better. He could look at a tier 1 magic seal and understand how the glyphs worked together, how they changed in meanings with each other through various interactions, but he did not understand how to write his own magic seal.

If Damion could just figure that part out, then he felt he would complete his quest and gain a great deal of knowledge about the Ancient Language. Damion had tried to write a sentence with the glyphs of Nashto, but he had been unsuccessful. Even when he read what he wrote it sounded like gibberish.

Damion could copy magic seals, but copying was not the same as understanding. When he had tried to rearrange the glyphs, everything collapsed. When Professor Toole dismissed class and told them she did not expect any of them to actually pass her course, Damion understood what Mage Teft had once told him that the study of Nashto was a life's work.