29:
“So,” Cynthia sheathed her wand as she walked over towards Lucan, covering the distance before he realized it. “Are you impressed?”
“Uh, sure let’s go with that,” Lucan awkwardly replied, too stunned by the display of sheer destructive power and ingenuity Cynthia had displayed to even bother trying to understand or critique it. “What exactly is your Ice affinity grade, if it’s not rude to ask?” He asked, deciding that the answer was worth the risk of overstepping.
“A Grade,” Cynthia casually replied, as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Affinities aren’t something you can hide in the academy, the professors are aware of them and adjust expectations accordingly.”
Lucan’s eyes went wide in astonishment upon hearing her affinity grade, given that even Eileen Velmoria, a true descendant of House Velmoria, only possessed a B+ Grade Ice affinity.
Well, I guess if you consider her accomplishments in the future, I shouldn’t be surprised, Lucan thought. But it’s not affinity alone that she relies on. A second-year penning down original spells can’t be normal.
“Come to think of it, yours wasn’t mentioned in the file I got,” Cynthia revealed, giving him an intrigued look. “What grade is your Shadow Affinity?”
“They didn’t bother to measure it after confirming that the only affinity I had was Shadow,” Lucan replied with a shrug.
“Hm, I see,” Cynthia nodded. “Well, for now all you need to do is practice mana bolt until you run out of mana. Try to get your activation time to under thirty seconds as a goal for this exercise. You can get floating targets from the reception and if you have money, you can buy basic mana potions from there as well. Stick to three potions, any more than that and you’re going to get mana sickness.”
“Wait, is that it?”
“Yes. The first-year orientation is in two days, so honing your basics is the best thing you can do in that time. Trust me on that,” Cynthia said, before offering him another wink.
Seeing the hint for what it was, Lucan inwardly groaned as he realized that the orientation likely involved a combat component. Maybe it was on him for entering an academy that focused on combat arts, but it wasn’t as if he was on equal footing with any of the other students.
If he could at least use a longblade, maybe he had somewhat of a chance, but there was no way he could hold such a heavy—-
Wait a minute, Lucan thought. The next moment, he hurriedly blurted out, “Cynthia, wait.”
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Cynthia, who had turned around and was heading towards the door, froze.
“Can you teach me the Mana Control spell?” He asked.
She turned around to face him, before replying, “It’s a spell that your professor will teach you in time. The only reason why I’m able to use it so fluidly in combat is because I have practiced extensively with it and I have a knack for it. If you expect even remotely the same results, you will be disappointed.”
“This might sound like an odd question, but what weight can the Mana Control spell handle?” Lucan asked, his interest only rising despite Cynthia’s warning.
“Hm, if you want to retain maximum flexibility, it should be around ten kiloweights, though I only need a single kiloweight for the Hummingbird Spell. If you sacrifice your flexibility by half, you can get to around twenty. But you’re not allowed to carry your own personal projectiles to class, you know that right?” Cynthia asked.
“Yeah, I figured,” Lucan replied, not at all thrown off by her skepticism. “Ten kiloweights is enough.”
Cynthia gave him a confused look, before sighing and saying, “You know you’d be a lot better off just practicing mana bolt, right?”
“Trust me, I know. But even if what you’re hinting to is going to happen, there’s no way I’m winning with a generalist spell. And you know that better than I do. So please, humor me,” Lucan requested earnestly.
“I can’t refuse if you insist. I’m being paid for it, after all, ” Cynthia said with a shrug. “Fine, let me get my notepad. I’ll draw the magic circle for you and explain what all the matrices do and you can keep the drawing afterwards. Keep any questions for until after the explanation is over.”
“Sure,” Lucan replied.
That’s how his half an hour long tutoring session began and Lucan had never been as absorbed in any lesson before because each word might as well have been linked to his survival, given what he was up against.
By the end of it, he understood just enough to cast the spell while actively referring to the drawing, but whether he’d be able to actively maintain it was another question.
“What happens if I reduce the weight matrix to a maximum of three kiloweights and reduce the flexibility matrix to the minimum value?” Lucan asked.
“Why would you want to do that?” Cynthia asked. “Well, it would reduce the mana cost involved drastically, but in turn you’re only going to be able to send the controlled object in two directions— forward and backwards. If it’s a spell to throw projectiles in a straight direction that you’re looking for, there’s a much more efficient spell.”
“Nope, Mana Control will do,” Lucan replied, offering Cynthia a genuine smile, which was rare for him. “But what happens if a mana controlled object comes into contact with something else? Like if it encounters resistance.”
“The spell naturally will resist that encroachment and so your mana cost will increase. Unless it’s overwhelmed in an instant, like say if your projectile is slashed by an Aura Knight—- there’s no saving it in that case.”
“Got it,” Lucan replied, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. It would be clunky and perhaps more effort than it was worth, but as long as there was a chance, it was worth pursuing. “Final question, I promise. How long can I rent this space for?”
“Six hours, though you’ll run out mana before that even with the potions.”
“Good enough.”
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