He performed the fireball spell once again, except this time with more mana. Unlike the previous spell, this one went farther and was multiple times bigger, even leaving a trail of crisp, black grass.

"Let's go over how to cast the fireball spell." Mr. Alex's gray robe dragged on the grass floor as he lined everyone up a few feet apart each, and started to explain from the very basics.

"In order to cast a spell, you must imagine all details of your spell, and then manipulate the shape and size of your mana to match that. This process can also be simplified by removing the first step, which is called speed casting. Speed casting is very difficult though and even full fledged magicians might not be able to.

When imagining the fireball spell, you must have a mental image of what the spell is going to look like, which would be a ball of fire that gets propelled forward. After this, you will activate the mana in your blood which you should be able to do by instinct.

But before we begin practice, I'd like to introduce our special guest for the first practice of the year, as well as the first ever magic practice session you guys will have. Please welcome Sir Royce Angevin, the 9-Point Hunting team B fire magician." 

A red-haired man wearing a red cape with a flamboyant golden shoulder guard jumped down from a nearby building. As he landed, the ground around him turned black, and ash rose, covering the area around him in a foggy gray. Mr. Alexander bowed deeply, signifying not only the status the 9-Point hunting team had, but his great respect for Sir Royce, one of the most powerful fire magicians in the world.

Hunters are people that risked their lives to seek out new types of demonic beasts, as well as bring back rare materials from them. Of course hunting now is nowhere near as dangerous as Ms. Jenny's generation, but there are always accidents that happen, whether that's getting separated from your team and then having to face a powerful group of beasts, or simply getting injured because you're not paying attention.

Even the B team of the 9-Point Guild was very powerful, especially because the Guild was the only one in the city. 

"Hello students." Sir Royce started, speaking in his rich soothing voice. "It's always great to see the rising talents of the new generation, so please don't hold back."

Mr. Alex started the practice session, and slowly, people started trying to perform their spells. Some people, like Angela, had practiced over the summer, and was pretty adept at basic spells like fireball.

There were many though, that struggled to even make a flame. There was no clear division between the level of the students, but when you compared the most capable ones to the less capable ones, you could tell a difference in skill and experience.

Sir Royce walked around the field giving tips to anyone that needed it, and praise to anyone that deserved it. He easily weaved between the fireballs constantly flying his way as he reached the end of the line, where Brennan was standing.

Brennan was sweating nervously as he stood trying to figure out what to do. He knew there was a technique advanced magicians had to hide the level of the mana, especially to people weaker to them, but Brennan was faced with the problem of both figuring out how to hide his level, and hiding his level from an extremely powerful magician. He pulled on his shirt even more nervously as Sir Royce slowly came towards him, helping each of the students on the way. 

Brennan started by using as little mana as he could to perform a fireball, which, as he expected, did nothing. The fireball he cast was way bigger than the one he was used to in the 2 months he had been allowed to practice magic. He had been clearly outmatched during his fight with Horone, considering Brennan had 2 years less experience with magic.

Pondering why the law that made it illegal to practice magic before high school existed, Brennan quickly realized Sir Royce was now in front of him. And he had no idea how to control his mana output. 

He once again focused on the tingling feeling from the mana in his veins, trying to reduce the amount of mana. He felt a sharp pain from his left middle finger, but he ignored it and continued to concentrate. He started casting his spell, imagining the feeling of pulling mana to his arms, and the ball of mana forming in his hands. He put his right hand up perpendicular to his body, feeling the warm air flowing from the watery ball of red in front of his hand. 

As he cast his spell, he felt something, a fire within him, ignite.

"Fireball"

A wave of fire shot out, yet it was way smaller than even Brennan's normal fireball, without any affinity or bloodline. 

But even though it was tiny, the flame didn't go out. It continued on it's way, throughout all the air that blocked it, standing strong on its own, with nothing to support it. Until finally, it blew out.