The staffroom was bigger than Lewis had expected. It possessed a simple layout of a kitchen, including a fridge and freezer, and had eight chairs placed around a square table along with an old black couch placed up against the wall, that he could've sworn was here when he attended over a decade ago.
All the students were currently out on their morning break and as a result, any the teachers not on break duty where in the staff room. Lewis sat alone on the couch, while all the teachers scattered themselves around the table and kitchen. Most of them he recognised from when attended with only a few new faces, most of them being assistants or substitutes. He listened in on their conversations in attempt to cure his boredom.
Thankfully the morning break soon ended and they all started leaving the staffroom, all heading out to the playground to collect their respective classes. Unlike them, when Lewis followed the grey floor to the right and headed up the school. He travelled down the corridor, passing the year three classrooms and the two computer rooms, or suites as the teachers liked to call them, that sat near the centre of the school. He made it to a large open space, the grey floor designed in an octogen, and roof was completely made from glass forming a domed skylight. Three halls travelled away from the open space, left, right and dead ahead, all leading to the classrooms for their respective years. The academy, hadn't changed since his attendance and, still contained two classes for each school year. Years one to three were homed in the first half of the school and years four to six were held at the far end of the building.
Lewis crossed the open space, heading down the corridor straight ahead of him and towards the year six classrooms, where he'd be teaching today. In Elysia, children didn't tend to get many magical lessons until year five onwards, using the lower years to develop non-magic-based skills such as writing and reading, mainly in the common tongue however sometimes classes would dabble in runescript.
At the top of the corridor were two doors, they faced across from each other separated the classrooms on either side of the hall. Lewis pushed the door right. It was locked.
'Damn.'
He waited against the wall and soon children started pouring into the halls following their teachers to their classrooms. It wasn't long before he saw Miss Whiteside walk across the daylight lit octagon followed by twenty-seven students, the light bouncing of her wavy blonde hair. She greeted him with a smile before unlocking the door and entering. Lewis waited as the whole class funnelled into the room, Eri and Sophie giving him a wave when they passed him. Once everyone had entered Lewis followed, gently closing the door behind him. Most students where still hanging up their coats at the back of room by the door, which was filled with pegs and small cupboards for their belongings. He strolled past them and rows of tables to the front of the room where Miss Whiteside's desk and two boards sat, one formed from a crystalline glass material able to project imagery onto itself and the other was an ordinary whiteboard, markers lay in holders at its base.
"Lewis I just need to finish our lesson from before break and then you're up," Miss Whiteside informed as he approached. She placed her coat on the back of her chair before wheeling it out and turning on her computer. Its insides lit up as mana surged through its components and loud fans filled the room with a burst of sound before quickly quieting down to a subtle hum. He watched as she quickly loaded up what seemed to be a presentation slideshow and then activated the main board, her slideshow instantly appearing on it. "You can just sit in my chair and watch this bit," she said walking over to the board.
Lewis sat on her chair and rolled it further into the corner, it was surprisingly comfy. He silently observed as she finished her lesson, going over the answers to some mathematic questions. Glancing over the faces in the classroom most of them seemed to have done well. Or at least Eri did. Miss Whiteside made her way through all the answers rapidly and introduced Lewis.
He'd taught this class as well as other classes before multiple times however, it never stopped the teachers from introducing him every time.
Trading places with Miss Whiteside, he stood at the front of the room, everyone's eyes on him. The first time he'd done this he had to admit it was slightly intimidating but now he felt use to it.
"Alright who remembers what we focused last time I was here?" he asked. After a few moments a girl near the front raised her hand. "Amelia." He'd memorised most of their names in previous lessons and through Eri's stories.
"Augmentation," she stated.
"Correct. Now, does anyone remember what I said we'd be covering this week? Don't worry if you don't," he watched Eri and Sophie's hand shoot up however, he quickly shot them down. "Not you two. I told you the answer earlier."
He waited a few moments and just as he was about to reveal the answer the girl next Amelia gingerly raised her hand.
"Katheryn."
"Was it Affinities?"
"Yes, good job. That was one of them, anyone remember the other?"
"Magic techniques," Kathryn spoke again.
"Correct again," Lewis said. "Now. Can anyone, who isn't Eri or Sophie, tell me what they know about magic affinities and techniques? Doesn't matter how detailed just if you know anything."
The room remained silent, confused faces spread across the room, and Eri and Sophie gave him annoyed glares near the back.
He placed a comforting smile on his face. "Looks like I picked the right lesson then." He turned to the board behind him and realised he'd forgotten to put on his lesson.
'Fuck.'
He quickly pulled out a USB drive and walked over to Miss Whiteside, who already had her hand out ready. In moments, she had his lesson's slide displayed on the board, and had handed him a remote, which also doubled as a laser pointer.
"We'll start with affinities," he told them. "In basic terms, a magic affinity is a measure of how well you can use a certain type of magic and your latent potential in that discipline. They can be quite broad or extremely specific. Now hearing that could anyone give me an example?" After a few seconds hands began to raise in the room, he picked the first one he saw. "Matthew."
"Arcane," the boy said.
"Correct, that would be quite a broad affinity." He quickly pointed at someone else who had their hand up. "Katheryn, what would be a specific arcane affinity?"
"… Jade?" she said, but her tone made it sound more like a question.
"Correct," the girl smiled, "Amelia gives me another."
"Azure."
"Good. Now there's a second common wide-ranging magic discipline, one that can match arcane in size. Could anyone tell me what it is?" Once again hands reached into the hair. He gave someone new a chance. "Steven."
"Elemental?"
"Yes. Now could you give me a more specific answer?"
"A fire affinity."
"Good," Lewis said happily. "Now when I say it's a measure of your potential and how well you can use a type of magic what exactly do I mean?" The only person who raised her hand was Eri, a determined stare directed at him. Lewis gave in to her. "Eri."
"That you're above the national threshold," she stated.
"Keep going."
"Erm… an average mage will have a basic affinity to most magic types. The average of this value is classed as the national threshold."
"Go on." She gave him an annoyed glanced.
'You put your hand up.'
"Even though most mages will be capable of performing different magic disciplines, even if they're not above the threshold, we don't state that they have an affinity for that magic. This is because your potential and ability to use the magic will be limited and they'd never be able to reach the level of some who possessed an affinity. Their skill and talents would always fall behind and commonly they'd only being able to perform the basics, if even that."
Lewis grinned. "Good. I guess you do listen to me after all. Now let's say a mage has high affinity for … we'll go for arcane. Do you think anything happens to their affinity for elemental magic?" No hands raised into the air, not even Eri's, but he assumed that was because she didn't want to answer another question. Suddenly, Sophie's hand lifted off her desk. "Sophie."
"It'd decrease."
"Indeed it would. Now what about their affinity for weapon magic. Would that be affected?"
"No I don't think so."
"Why?"
"Arcane and elemental magic are classed as … opposite affinity types, so as one goes increases its opposite normally decreases … but I also know that there are some rare cases where it doesn't," Sophie informed.
"Correct, well done," Lewis said proudly. "If you develop a high affinity in one type of magic there is a chance your affinity for other types of magic disciplines will decrease, usually being its magical counterpart. However, like Sophie just said, there are exceptions." He paused to let them absorb the information and advanced the board to the next slide. "Usually an affinity develops for a specific aspect of magic such as fire or jade, but people can have an affinity for all of arcane instead, though it is much rarer," he paused for moment, "There's one exception to this rule of magic of opposite affinities. Does anyone know what that is?" The classroom stared at him confused. His eyes went to Eri. Slowly, she lifted her hand. "Eri."
"A universal," she stated.
"Yes, a universal mage is the one exception to this law of nature. There are also bi-mages and tri-mages, I won't say too much because you'll learn about them when you're older. They're all extremely rare and a universal maybe one of the rarest phenomena this world can produce. They're extremely powerful, having the potential to utilise many disciplines and aspects of magic to their fullest, with the exception of techniques." The class listened in awe.
"Do you know any universals?" someone asked him.
"No," he lied. "Like I said they're extremely rare. There's a high chance everyone in the school will live their entire lives without meeting one." He used the remote and put the next topic on the board. "Now onto magic techniques. Does anyone, but them two near the back, have an idea on what they are?"
Matthew raised his hand. "My dad told me it's like unique magic."
"Sort of yeah, that's not a bad way to think about it. Magic techniques are basically special ways of utilising magic to produce unique results, whether that's just adding unique properties to existing magic, increasing your potential in certain disciplines and aspects, or granting you access to completely unique types of magic. Now does anyone here know the biggest difference between affinities and techniques?" When no one raised their hands he continued on. "Techniques are carved into your body and soul from birth whereas affinities are based on the properties of your mana. Techniques are pretty much guaranteed to be passed down through genetics, while affinities are not guaranteed to be. That's why you can't replicate the effects of techniques if you don't possess them, as the instructions to using the magic are inscribed into your very being. As you grow your body subconsciously mutates and develops to be able to use the magic."
"Does that mean if a technique isn't in your family you can never get one?" a boy from the middle of the room called David asked.
"No, although its rare, mutations can occur causing you develop one during birth. I'll also mention many don't realise they have techniques until they're older, as they can manifest between the mana awakening to about the age of fourteen. In some cases even older," Lewis explained.
It didn't take much longer for him to finish his slideshow and answer any questions the students had. After he finished Miss Whiteside and the class said goodbye and he left the classroom.
After getting back to the orphanage, he worked tirelessly in his room, letting the rest of the day pass by. Everyone returned to the orphanage by five and by ten they were settling down for the night or already asleep.
Suddenly there was a knock on his door. Lewis swung it open, revealing Arthur standing tensely in his doorway.
"What's up?" Lewis asked, while letting him in and closing the door behind him. He noticed the boy's stiff movements as he entered. What could have Arthur on edge?
"Lucina is going to do something dumb," he said, bluntly.
"What's happened?" Lewis sighed. He should've guessed.
"At the gymnasium we overheard that Eric and Kate's plans had to be moved to tonight instead of in two days. Lucina knew something about it, and she had that look in her eyes."
'Blade.'
"You sure it was that look?" Lewis questioned, concern rising his tone.
"Yes," Arthur confirmed.
"Fuck," Lewis grumbled, already guessing what she was doing.
He and Arthur rushed from his room and sprinted down the halls to Lucina's room. Lewis knocked on the door. No answer. He tired the handle but it was locked. Even with the intense training for the Atlas games he knew Lucina wouldn't be asleep yet. He burst through the door and was greeted with an empty room.