Although the classroom didn’t have blackboards, demonstrations could be done. Thanks to those demonstrations, Gaius finally had the chance to see why everyone looked so tired and depressed.

  When one wants to learn healing magic, they have two options for practice, get hurt and then heal themselves or heal wounded things with their magic. Weirdly enough, even dead things could be healed and Arlana showed that by healing the cut of a chicken that was supposed to be cooked soon enough, she caused the cut herself.

  “As you can see, you should start healing from the borders of the wound for the skin to mend faster and for the mana not to disperse,” Arlana explained. “Using more mana won’t make the process faster if you aren’t careful enough. So, focus on dexterity first instead of speed.”

  Seeing that process was a kind of mentally taxing, so it made sense that not many people wanted to learn all that much healing magic. Gaius also realized that most people would want to increase their firepower instead of getting rid of those who want to harm them. It was a simple but very effective tactic.

  “I guess they can use potions for healing… producing them should be a lot less mentally taxing,” Gaius thought. “There must be countless ways to heal wounds, but light magic is the most basic.”

  Despite that, Gaius didn’t lose interest… because while it was the most basic, it was the one easier to improve and teach others. He could tell that his magic would make the healing magic more effective. In any case, he needed to study more since his knowledge was behind the other kids and Arlana was only teaching the most basic healing spell to close wounds.

  After one hour, the class was over, and then Gaius checked the schedule once again. All classes had two lessons during the day in order to give the students the chance to study all the subjects that they wanted. The schedule had been carefully planned with that in mind, so Gaius could go have a lesson of alchemy magic soon after.

  “I don’t think that I need to listen to the same lesson again, so I will have the afternoon free,” Gaius thought while he was checking his notes and Arlana was leaving the room. “Still, I guess it will take a few days of research before I can try to use my mana for healing.”

  Considering what he had learned, Gaius confirmed that he had to change the frequency of his mana while making it active in his hands to perform the healing… aside from the tips of focusing on the border of the wounds, that was the only thing he truly learned that day.

  “Come to think of it, I can use the skills of the enemies that I defeated, but only their specialties, nothing else.” Gaius thought. “I should be able to have a specialty as well, but it should take years to develop it.”

  The other students began to leave the class and then Gaius did the same while wondering if he should go to the alchemy lesson or if he should go to the library to do some studying about the previous lessons. He knew the book that Arlana had used as a reference, so he should be able to find it there.

  In the end, Gaius got curious about the next class and decided to head it there. It was on the right side near the entrance of the academy too, so he just had to walk in a straight line to find the room.

  This time around, the students looked a bit more normal and less tired. So Gaius got a lot of stares as he walked around.

  “Don’t stare too much. You are making me blush,” Gaius thought. “I know that I am a catch, but don’t look at me like I am a piece of meat.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Naturally, no one was looking at Gaius like that. They had frowns on their faces, so they saw him more than a weird animal than anything else. The classroom was already filled, but Gaius was still able to find some empty seats until the instructor arrived. The next instructor was a redhead woman with shoulder-length hair and round glasses as well. She was also middle-aged, so Gaius had a hard time confirming or denying if Laws were using his authority to only hire women.

  In any case, the new instructor barely looked at Gaius… probably she already had too many students and that gave her some prestige. She also had this no-nonsense air around her.

  “Today, we will study once again some herbs and their effects when they are used alone…”

  Gaius had been looking forward to the alchemy class, imagining it would involve a dive into the mysteries of herbs, potions, and their practical uses. He had imagined the instructor teaching them through the processes of mixing ingredients, perhaps even experimenting with different combinations to create potions that had unique effects. The idea of learning something as direct as alchemy, where theoretical knowledge could be directly applied to craft something useful was more than a bit interesting. After all, healing magic was mentally taxing, and he thought alchemy might offer a more straightforward way to help those abilities.

  However, as the lesson began, Gaius quickly realized that it wasn’t going to live up to his expectations. The instructor, despite her no-nonsense attitude, seemed content to simply read aloud from a book. Instead of interactive demonstrations or discussions about the unique properties of certain herbs, she simply listed their names, origins, and basic effects in a monotone voice. There was little to no explanation beyond what could easily be found in any beginner’s textbook. Each herb was described in a clinical, detached manner, making the lesson feel like a drawn-out recitation of facts, rather than a discovery of alchemical secrets.

  “Well, that was unexpected…” Gaius thought when he saw the instructor leaving the room after the lesson was over.

  Gaius could feel the weight of disappointment settling in. He’d been excited to dive into something new, something that would spark his curiosity and challenge him, but this felt more like a chore. Glancing around the room, he noticed that some of the other students were just like him. Still, they seemed fine with it.

  “Well, let’s go to the library…” Gaius thought.

  It was almost lunchtime, so Gaius imagined that he would have a place for himself… he and Aisha received money to buy their food in the cafeteria of the magic school, but he was fine skipping lunch since he didn’t do much exercise that day.

  While he was looking for the library, Gaius found Aisha walking toward the cafeteria with a group of girls around her age. She looked quite happy and satisfied, so it looked like she would have some friends. They looked at each other for a moment, but Gaius soon looked away and she did the same. Since he wasn’t that interesting, it was better if they keep their distances from each other.

  “I wonder if what Laws said is the cause of this…” Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

  It was hard to explain, but mages had a certain aura… they probably could sense each other auras and, just like Laws, they could sense that Aisha was skilled and had potential while Gaius was a different matter. Still, he was fine with it. He didn’t come to make friends. He didn’t want to make friends with kids, even less so with teenagers.

  When Gaius reached the library, he found some kids there, but their numbers were quite small. He soon found the book he was looking for and then headed to the corner in order to avoid being bothered.

  Some of the kids looked at him, but he ignored them all. Gaius had plenty of experience being avoided or being stared at in schools. Morons like him aren’t just born, they are forged on the hellish landscape that the public education system.

  “Well, let’s see…” Gaius thought after he opened the book. “Principles of healing magic. Basic healing magic works to mend simple wounds and accelerate the mending process of skin by the means of mana. Its main goal is to prevent further damage and the spread of diseases through wounds…”

  Gaius felt like rolling his eyes since he had to read a bunch of pages talking about the concept in detail. He was the type of guy who would press skip the cut scene when it involved characters that he didn’t like and, thanks to that, half a second later, he would see himself fighting bosses without understanding how the situation came to be.

  The good side of all that was that Gaius obtained all that knowledge pretty easily and he could easily recall it thanks to his wisdom as well. His parameters also affected him outside of battle, but the system didn’t explain that.