บท 157: Starting School

"Okay, gather around people!" Gerald spoke after they all ate breakfast to satisfaction. "Follow me outside!"

Sera, Qiona, Xilia, and Elly all followed after Gerald to the back of the mansion under the shade of tall trees.

"Before we start, we have to establish what it is that you are going to learn. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask."

As soon as he said that, Elly lifted her hand and said, "When we first spoke you asked me if I knew any Light spells for attack… Could you elaborate on that?"

The girls looked at each other in confusion and then turned to Gerald. The latter just smiled and said, "Good question! Actually, I think it's better if I show you! May I?" He extended his hand towards the Light Staff Elly held in her hands.

"Em, sure…" She handed the staff over, curious as to what he is going to do with it.

"Beautiful staff," Gerald praised and caressed the ornaments on the handle. "Now observe the dummy over there!" He pointed the staff at a training dummy a few dozen meters away.

Mana in the Light Crystal of the staff surged and gathered at the tip. Everyone watched intently his every move and action.

Pfff!

There was a sudden cloud of smoke that violently erupted from the dummy, shrouding it in it and blocking their sight.

Gerald already put down the staff with a slight grin and commented, "There we go! That's how you attack with light!" He then glanced at the staff and frowned, "Although it seems that the staff can't hold many of these kinds of spells…"

The Light Crystal received a tiny crack at the tip, a consequence of expending half of the Mana stores inside in a split-second.

"Wait, what? A Light attack makes a cloud of smoke?"

Sera seemed unconvinced and immediately expressed her doubts.

"Hehe, not quite!" Gerald chuckled.

The cloud of dust was soon blown away by soft wind and the dummy came into sight.

It didn't look much different than before.

"I… I don't see anything difference?" Elly turned to Gerald for an explanation.

The latter just smiled even wider and urged her to go take a look.

And look she did, and exclaimed in shock loudly after.

"Eh? The head has a fresh hole in it? It looks like it was burned trough!"

In fact, a finger-sized charred hole went through the middle of the dummy's head, making it clear that the spell was capable of killing.

"But I didn't see anything, how did you do it?" she inquired.

Gerald returned her the staff and leisurely sat on a rock. "From where I come from, we call it a laser. It's a quite simple principle, really. Just pack as much light as you can into a single point in space and time and send it out in the same direction... Kind of."

"I used only 50 MP to make light this time, and already your staff was barely able to hold it…"

"What's MP?" Qiona asked in her soft and childish voice. Her eyes were open wide and she was absorbing every word that came out of Gerald's mouth, like a sponge.

"Oh, MP… How should I explain this…" Gerald thought for a few seconds and then explained, in detail, what MP was. It was not some absolute measurement of Mana, more just an approximation of energy in spells. But the girls quickly understood what he meant as similar concepts already existed.

"But then isn't this spell quite wasteful? It uses so much Mana and does so little damage…" Xilia voiced her opinion. She could cut the head clean off with just a tenth of the energy with her Wind Blade.

"Good, it's good that you are thinking about it…" Gerald smiled. He then took a metal plate that was a few centimeters thick and fixed it on the dummy.

"Come, use your spells and cut the metal plate."

"Me?" Xilia pointed at herself nervously. "I can't cut through that! That's crazy! It's too thick!"

"Just try it!"

"Yeah Xilia, show him what you can do! Get that smirk off his face!" Sera shouted and encouraged her friend.

"O-Okay! I'll show you!"

She readied herself mentally and chanted:

"By the power of my mind,

With the omnipresent Wind,

Lend your power now to me,

To cut in half my enemy! Wind Blade!"

Woosh!

The spell looked impressive and imposing, the wind blew and whistled, but only a shallow scratch was formed on the metal plate.

"Hmm, that doesn't look good… The bandit behind the armor is still alive," Gerald chuckled.

"Shut up, if this was a real fight I would aim for unprotected gaps!"

"Hehe, but of course… Elly, lend me your staff once more!"

"Okay!" Elly handed over her staff and Gerald cast a laser once again.

When the smoke cleared, everyone gasped in shock. The stone plate was pierced through and so was the dummy behind it. Around the hole were signs of metal being melted and the dummy was charred behind it.

"As you can see, not all spells have the same characteristics," Gerald said. "While a Wind Blade can cut through flesh and wood quite easily, against armored opponents it is quite weak! However, if you concentrate light into a single point, even if your enemy is wearing thick armor, it can burn straight through it, no problem!"

Then he added, "But, you need to keep in mind that going smaller is not always better! If you make the point too small, say the thickness of a needle, even if you can pierce a mountain, the damage done would be minimal!"

"You need to keep in mind what your goal is. If you want to kill, the thickness of a finger is about right, especially if you aim for the heart or brain."

Elly listened to his explanation and swiftly scribbled his words in a notebook. Meanwhile, Xilia and Sera looked on in amazement while Qiona just watched with sparkling eyes.

"But wait, that only applies to Elly… What about the rest of us who can't use Light? And can you really fly?!" Sera asked, unconvinced.

"Well, it doesn't matter if you can't use other Elements for now… What matters is that you expand your knowledge! Many principles don't apply to only one Element, but to most of them," Gerald patiently explained.

"We will slowly go through all of your problems and shortcomings until you become worthy of the name Black Onyx, and become a force to be reckoned with!"

"As for the question if I can fly, well…" Gerald chuckled quietly and looked down. His actions were mimicked by the rest and Sera's eyes almost jumped out of her sockets when she noticed he was soundlessly floating ten centimeters in the air.

"When did you… How did you… Fuck! That's so unfair!" she complained and her mood soured. She wanted to fly too, but her talent for magic was so terrible she could barely do the most basic things.

"Big brother can fly!" Qiona cheered and clapped her hands while jumping joyfully.

Crouching down Gerald pointed at his back, "Would you like to fly too? Hop on!"

"Yay!" Qiona climbed up and hugged him tightly.

Increasing the warped space around himself, Gerald removed the pull of gravity from Qiona and they both lifted up a meter in the air.

"Look at me, big sis, I can fly!" she squealed in delight.

"Hold on tight, don't fall down!" Xilia shouted, with a bit of worry in her eyes.

Eventually, they landed back and Qiona was beaming with happiness. Meanwhile, Sera looked defeated and hopelessness was clear on her face.

'I'm never going to be able to do things like that, the gods are so unfair! Why can't I use magic like him?!' she cried in her heart.

"Okay, that's enough playing around for today!" Gerald's voice woke her up from her depressing thoughts. "I have recently come up with an idea of how to make you all more Mana sensitive."

Her ears perked up and her gaze zeroed in on his face. 'How? How?!' Sera screamed in her mind.

"First you will have to empty your Mana stores and then I'll let you have some of my Mana!"

"Since none of you can control Fire, we will start with that!"

Everyone gasped.

Xilia lifted her hand to attract attention and said, "Are you sure this is a good idea? Mixing Fire and Water is not advisable… My Twin Elements..."

Gerald rolled his eyes and opened his pouch. Out he poured some water that, instead of spilling on the ground, floated in the air. Then, lifting his hand, a pillar of flames was formed as the water started to circle around it, forming a barrier.

As the pillar of flames became increasingly hotter, the water turned to steam and rose to the skies.

"As you can see, there is nothing wrong with manipulating both Water and Fire at the same time… Just don't freak out and everything will be just fine!" Gerald lazily explained.