"Alright class, let's shift gears a bit," Matthew said, clapping his hands and drawing everyone's attention. "Today, we'll be covering something practical: magic items and elemental affinities."
He smiled as he turned and gestured to a board that now had several glowing runes drawn across it.
"Let's start simple. I want everyone to call out their elemental affinities so I can get an idea of what elements I'm working with."
One by one, the students began listing theirs. most of them were the base four, being Earth Fire Water and Wind.
eventually it got to Aaron and he said "Shadow," and said nothing else
Matthew noddes and continued to Orin
"Earth," Orin said.
"Ice and Fire," Zek added confidently.
"Wind," Ark said quietly.
"Light and Water," Araki followed.
"Lightning," I said simply.
A few students turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. I could already hear the murmurs.
"is he really the only one with a Lightning attribute?"
"isnt lightning one of the main 5 elements?"
Matthew chuckled hearing their reactions. "Lightning is an extremely rare affinity, so it's not surprising Jack's the only one with it here.
Though I wouldn't be disappointed that he is the only one. Lightning is not only the rarest of the main 5 but also the strongest, so long as you know how to use it and considering he can cast 5 spells at once I think he could probably beat everyone here," he said with a laugh
I smirked. he wasn't wrong.
After going around to a few more students, Matthew clapped again. "Now that I know what each of you can do, let's move on to the fun part. Magic items. Anyone want to help me with a demonstration?"
"I'll try," Orin offered with a shrug. "Though… I've never used one before."
"No problem at all," Matthew said, already walking over to a nearby chest. He rummaged through it until he pulled out a pair of heavy-looking gauntlets. "Here we go."
He handed them to Orin. "These are Rock Thrower Gauntlets. I picked them up off a Red Hand Orc chief a few years back."
Orin flinched as soon as he touched them. His expression tightened—something between anger and fear—but he stifled it quickly.
Thankfully, only I noticed.
Matthew, oblivious, continued, "Clench your fist, raise your arm, and throw a punch. Should activate a simple spell."
Orin did as instructed—clenched his fist, raised his arm, and punched forward. Nothing happened.
He gave Matthew a confused look.
"Ah, right. Magic items don't always activate unless you know what they are or how to use them. That's where appraisers come in," Matthew explained.
"People who can cast the [Appraise] spell can identify an item's properties. Alternatively, wizards often study items to learn what they do, usually by checking magic signatures and structure. But experimentation is risky. You don't want to accidentally trigger something dangerous."
Orin nodded solemnly.
"Now try again, but this time will a rock to come out form the ground and shoot out. These ones don't need you to control any mana but other items will need that." Matthew said.
Orin clenched his fists again. This time, as he punched forward, a rock about four inches wide burst up from the ground and launched across the arena. A few students gasped.
"Excellent!" Matthew grinned. "That's how it's done."
Matthew brought up some other students and gave them some items to have as demonstrations, too.
The rest of the class went smoothly until Matthew brought up mana surges.
"Now, onto something serious that all mages and magic users should know about. Mana surges." Matthew said with a serious face.
i flinched a bit
"These are rare but incredibly dangerous. A mana surge happens when someone's mana becomes unstable and starts leaking out of their body in large quantities. It builds pressure, and if left unchecked, it explodes."
He looked around the class.
"Most mages go their whole lives without having one but it does happen.
a mana surge can be caused by a sudden infusion of mana beyond what your mind and body can control, an instability in emotions or if your arcane heart is damaged, if you have an arcane heart that is.
if someone does have one, here's what you do: if someone else is having a surge, stay calm, don't yell, don't panic, don't touch them. Back away slowly and give them space while also calmly leading other people away. If you cause panic, it gets worse."
He paused to let that sink in.
"If *you're the one surging, the best thing you can do is sit down and stop moving. Try to calm your emotions and guide the mana down its proper channels, usually through meditation. If that doesn't work, control the flow enough to give everyone time to escape."
He sighed. "If you can't stop it, you'll likely die. But if you can contain it for some time, you can at least save others."
His words were blunt, and silence followed.
Then Zek glanced at me, probably to ask me a question, but noticed my expression instead.
~~~
After class, most of the students filtered out. A few stuck around to ask Matthew questions.
I quickly let Matthew know I wouldn't be in class tomorrow, as I had a specialist quest and had to leave tomorrow afternoon.
he nodded and thanked me for the heads up, and I went back to the others.
We decided to head out and started walking towards the school with no real destination in mind.
Eventually, we came to a more empty spot outside and stopped so we could talk and go over today's lessons.
Before we could do anything, Zek approached me as I leaned against the wall.
"You seemed tense during the mana surge talk. Why?"
I sighed, set up a soundproof barrier and let my back rest against the cool stone. 'Here we go.'
"Because I've had one," I said, folding my arms. "And I almost killed a few people. Terra, her father and Araki's father Rirki."
Zek blinked, stunned. Araki froze mid-stretch. Ark and Orin both looked up in alarm.
"What?" Araki said, voice low.
I looked down at my hand, a faint tremor running through it. "It happened after my village was attacked by the Red Hand. I was helping with the search a week later. Found my father's body. That's when I lost control."
Orin flinched. His expression tightened.
Ark stepped closer and leaned on the wall beside me. "Are you okay now?"
I smiled, just a little. "Yeah. It was a long time ago."
Ark nodded.
"But wait," Araki said, furrowing his brow. "Weren't you, like, seven when that happened? why would you be helping with the search?"
I chuckled. "I turned eight the day of the attack. The search was a week later. I've always been... weirdly mature. if you didn't know me at the time, most people would think I was an adult in a child's body."
everyone gave me concerned and shocked looks but Ark gave me a more confused look, though only I caught it.
Araki laughed. "I remember you were mature, yeah, but I wouldn't say 'adult'. More like a moody teenager."
I shrugged and we all laughed.
we talked a bit about the items we used and Zek pointed out it was odd for a teacher to let students use so many items in one day.
i agreed and figured we would ask the next time we met him.
after talking some more we eventually got the the gauntlet Orin used and Araki turned to Orin, and asked. "Hey, what's up with you? You've been stiff ever since the gauntlet thing."
Orin tensed and looked away.
he sighed and said, "I feel like everyone's hiding stuff from me," crossing his arms and looking at me.
I looked away. 'He's not wrong.' I thought
both Ark and Araki caught it, and Araki gave me an annoyed look, and I gave an apologetic one back.
Orin sighed, pulling Araki's attention away from me, looked around at all of us, and finally said, "I've got history with the Red Hand. I don't talk about it much. They make things harder for people like me and my mom."
Araki's expression softened. "Yeah… I get that."
Ark looked at me in confusion, and I whispered, "I will explain later," and he nodded.
Orin stayed quiet for a moment, then hesitated. "Jack... do you... Hate the Red Hand?"
I looked at him carefully. I suspected why he was asking.
"I would be lying if I said I don't," I admitted. "But I'm not going to hunt every member down and kill them. I won't sit back and let them burn everything either. But... I can forgive those who left of their own will. Especially if they want to make things right."
Orin looked at me and nodded, tension finally easing in his shoulders.
We continued to talk about a few things, and when we had finished talking about the tense and heavy stuff, I dispelled the barrier.
"Alright!" Araki suddenly said, clapping his hands. "Dinner time?"
I smiled and shook my head. "We've got plans."
Orin raised an eyebrow.
I threw an arm around Ark's shoulder and pulled him close.
"See ya later." I waved at them.
Ark flushed slightly but didn't pull away. We walked off together.
Behind us, I could hear the other three chuckling and whispering.
I smiled and looked at Ark.
"Are you ready for our date?" I asked
Ark shyly looked at me and nodded.
I laughed and put my hand on the side of his head and pulled him in close,
'He is so cute.' I thought as we left the school grounds.