(What kind of music have y'all been listening to? I've been on Motive by Ariana Grande and Higher Power by Coldplay. They're such bops.)
I woke up in a great mood. Everything had been going well as of late. My training was progressing nicely. Following my discussion with the headmaster, I started using the gravity seals to train my body. In addition to applying them to staffs of varying sizes, I also applied them to my body in order to constantly train.
I was proud of my progress. It had been seven weeks since then and I was already able to bench 90 pounds. Considering that I only weighed 115 pounds, this was a huge amount of weight. I could only expect to grow more as I aged over the next five years.
Another exciting thing was that my birthday was coming up in a few days. Back when I was formally adopted by James and Sonia, I found out that my birthday is on November 6th. Fortunately, it landed on a Friday this year. This is important because I'd become a teenager this year… physically at least.
I almost literally hopped out of bed, excited for the day. This was mainly because today was going to be anything but routine. Aside from the usual workout, shower, then breakfast, today would be the start of a spontaneous field trip. It would last two days!
News recently arrived that a volcanic eruption would be occurring near the western border of the kingdom. This wasn't just any volcanic eruption. The special part was that there was also going to be a lightning storm in the area. This meant a few things.
First, the volcanic eruption would give a massive boost to the fire mana that is naturally present in the area. Once the volcano erupted, it would also increase the amount of earth mana as the flow would be raging. Usually rock would be solid. However, when it was turned into magma, the flow rate of earth mana greatly increased. This was obviously beneficial.
Secondly, the lightning storm provided the uncommon opportunity of elevated levels of lightning mana in the environment. It might not seem like this would be uncommon but it was. Thunderstorms weren't the most common occurrence in the kingdom. In addition, lightning storms that didn't have any rain were even more rare.
Lastly, the combination of the lightning storm and the volcanic eruption would give birth to an extremely rare type of elemental known as hybrids. There would be three types of hybrid elementals being created by the extreme environment. They included plasma, explosion, and magma elementals.
To understand why these three types of elementals are so rare, one must understand what elementals are. Elementals are creatures that are at the pinnacle of being in tune with a specific type of elemental mana. They are born naturally in a process similar to the forming of tornadoes but with mana and not air. The mana flow condenses and focuses on a specific spot like a whirlpool, eventually taking form in a physical sense. Thus, an elemental is born. The reason they are rare is because they can only form in environments that are very extreme. The flowrate of mana needs to be extremely high for them to form. This can only happen in extreme natural events such as monsoons for water elementals, tornadoes for wind, solar eclipses for darkness, summer solstice and no clouds for light, volcanic eruptions or wildfires for fire, thunder/lightning storms for lightning, and earthquakes or volcanic eruptions for earth.
Even rarer are hybrid elementals. They require these extreme natural disasters to combine for hybrid elementals to be formed. With these conditions for the individual ones already rare, the combinations are even rarer. Thus, the lightning storm occurring during the volcanic eruption was a massive opportunity for all types of profits.
Without even putting a shirt on, I began my workout. Today was pull-day. Thus, I'd be working out my back and biceps. In addition, every day is ab-day. That is just a given for anyone that works out.
Almost an hour later, I was getting ready to leave my room. I was dressed in my uniform and had all my storage rings on. These days I had three of them. One for weapons, one for school stuff, and the other for personal belongings.
As I walked out of my room, a familiar sight greeted me. Yanni and Jacob were standing there. This time, the result was in reverse. Jacob rolled his eyes as he flipped a gold coin into Yanni's hands.
I chuckled at their antics. They made a bet every morning as to whether I'd be early or late in coming out of my room. "You guys excited for today?"
Jacob and Yanni both nodded excitedly. Jacob replied. "Only thing that sucks is that Anna can't come with us. If she had one more of the three types of elemental mana that'll be present, she'd have qualified."
I nodded. "Yeah, at least the three of us fit the bill. Let's go eat. It'll probably be the only proper meal we have until tomorrow night."
Yanni shook his head solemnly. "I like food too much. I should have turned down the invitation."
I rolled my eyes as I locked my door. "Oh shut up, will ya? It's important for us to improve our comprehension. We also might get some sick loot from the elementals. I could definitely use the money."
Jacob chuckled. "Needing money is still a weird concept to me."
I scoffed. "I'm sorry I grew up as the son of a guard Mr. Silver Spoon."
Jacob shook his head. "It was actually a gold spoon."
All three of us laughed hysterically at this. A few minutes later, we arrived at the cafeteria. With the three of us undergoing physical training, our appetite doubled on top of the initial increase from training with magic.
I could only laugh when I saw the faces of the students behind me as I ordered four quesadillas and two cups of hot water for tea. Jacob and Yanni both had similarly large orders. The eyes of the server were open almost as wide as the plates we were being served on.
Within the hour, we were gathered with the rest of the students that were going on the trip with us.
Hanako Sensei and Assistant Headmaster Beatrice Talon were standing before us, looking over the crowd of students.
Talon smiled and waved her hands, signaling for everyone to quiet down. "In a few minutes, we will be distributing rings to each of you. They will provide you with low level shields to protect you from the extreme heat and frequent lightning near the volcano. We will be getting quite close so this is absolutely necessary. The rings will be recollected following our return to the academy. Please get into two lines to retrieve your ring from either Hanako Sensei or myself."
Everyone quickly organized into two lines, retrieving their rings. When I got mine, I couldn't resist putting it on after taking just two steps. As soon as it slipped onto my finger, I felt a certain warmth wash over me. A gentle but consistent flow of lightning and fire mana was covering my body. Is this what an elemental shield felt like?
After about ten minutes, everyone had retrieved their rings. Talon quieted everyone down again. "For this trip, we'll be heading to the academy's teleportation center. We can't open a portal to travel such a long distance."
Hearing this made me curious about how Titus was able to send me all the way to the academy from Shellham. I'd probably learn sooner than later but I had a feeling it had to do with a magic item.
Talon turned around and started walking down the hall that was adjacent to the front doors of the academy. "Follow me! We are off to Mt. Patron!"