“Who was that?”

A red-haired boy sauntered over towards Servas, his hands leisurely placed in the pockets of his trousers. His bright green eyes stared after Flann, his gaze like that of a predator on a prey.

“Flann Ruzena, the new student in our year.”

“Oh, the rumored one? What business did he have with you?”

“I was asked to tutor him on academic courses if necessary,” Servas stated. “He came to introduce himself and thank me.” 

“Right, I forgot about that. I heard he had no manners, but I guess that was wrong?” The boy smirked looking at Flann. “Well, I think he looks rather meek. Can a guy like that even stand against anyone here?”

“Blaise.”

“What? I’m just stating my opinion.”

Servas remained silent, staring at Blaise wordlessly. His deep blue eyes held an emotion that would be hard to read if Blaise hadn’t known him for so long.

 Blaise rolled his eyes, knocking his fist against Servas’ shoulder. “Stop acting so serious. You’re the one who dislikes anyone who doesn’t know their place.”

“But I…” Once again eyeing Flann’s distant figure, he narrowed his catlike eyes. “I think it might be a bit fun?”

***

While most of the students were dismissed after the opening ceremony and introductory speeches, Flann was required to stay behind for his first lesson on magic practice, as he needed to know the basics before he could attend any of the third year classes. 

“Do you want me to wait for you?”

Clarette’s long hair fluttered in the wind from where she stood in front of Flann.

“No… it might take a while. You can head back first.”

With a slight gaze of concern, Clarette replied, “Alright. Come back as soon as you can, okay?”

Flann smiled in return. “I will.”

Clarette nodded at that, and turned to leave, waving him goodbye. Flann watched until she passed the gates at the entrance of the campus, and then left to where he was supposed to meet his instructor. 

Thunk! Thud!

Flann peered around the corner of a building, finding the vast expanse of flat land that was a training ground. There were multiple other students present for supplementary classes, and he gazed in amazement at the people exchanging swords and practicing their magic skills. Then, he noticed a figure approaching him from the side, and turned away from the other students. 

“Hello, are you Flann Ruzena?”

The person approaching him was a well-built adult male, with short curly brown hair that kept out of his face. A little nervous, Flann nodded quickly.

“You can call me Valens. I will be your instructor for magic practice.”

Flann bowed his head towards him, stating, “...I’ll be in your care!”

Valens laughed a little, and turned around. “Follow me. We’ll be using the lot in the back.”

He led Flann towards an empty space in the training grounds, his long strides making Flann have to rush to keep up. When they were a distance away from everyone else using the area, he stopped. 

“Alright,” Valens said, “So, how about you tell me how much you know first?”

Flann recalled the way that Clarette had taught him how to feel and use mana, and tried to articulate it. “...I know that mana runs through our bodies… and we can feel it through a spark in our chests.”

Valens nodded as if to encourage him to continue, and so Flann did. “...If we guide that spark somewhere, we can release it… and it should materialize as we imagine.”

“Yes, those are the basics of it,” Valens replied. “If you practice enough with your mana, you will eventually be able to feel it throughout your body, and it will be a lot easier to manifest at will.”

“For now, we will be practicing how to efficiently feel and pull out our mana, as well as how to keep it controlled.” Making sure to make eye contact with Flann, he stated, “The most important thing while using mana is safety. You must never recklessly try to summon a large amount of mana, understand?”

Flann gulped, and then nodded. “Yes… I understand.”

“Good,” Valens replied, placing one hand on his hips. Then, bringing his other hand up, he said, “The purest form of mana is the flame.”

Fwoosh.

A yellow-orange flame emerged from his palm, and gently flickered in the breeze. “This is what it looks like before it is shaped into any form.” Then, the flame quickly dispersed above his hand. “All wielders of mana can typically manifest it as a flame, and one form that they practice using.” 

“You will eventually choose and refine one form of mana to use, but for now, understanding the flame is your priority.”

Gesturing at Flann, he stated, “Try using the method you mentioned earlier to produce a flame the size of the one I just did.” 

Flann closed his eyes, trying to focus on the mana within him. A spark emerged from his heart, and he guided it towards his right palm. Lifting it to face up in the air, he opened his eyes and let go of the spark, releasing it into the air. 

A bright crimson flame jumped to life, dancing above his open palm. Flann glanced up at Valens, apprehensive about the critique he might get.

“Alright,” Valens said, eyeing the flame flickering before him. “You can put out the flame now.”

Flann did as he was told, and brought his hand back to his side.

“I just have a few questions to assess your method.”

Flann fidgeted his fingers, wondering if he did anything wrong.

“First, you closed your eyes as soon as I asked you to create a flame. Can you not feel your mana without doing so?”

“I’m… not sure. This is how I was told to feel it…”

“Okay, we can test that out later,” Valens responded. “Next, did you imagine the flame to be the same size as mine when you released the spark?”

Flann’s fingers stopped in their movements, and he hesitated a bit before responding. “...No.” 

“How large did you imagine it to be then?”

Flann wondered if it might’ve been wrong for him to do as he did. He spoke slowly, a bit afraid. “...The size… of my pinky.”

“I see. So the output disparity is between the size of your pinky and your palm…”

Before he could say any more, Flann interrupted. “Is… is that bad…?”

Valens gazed at him with a look of surprise. He noticed the unease in Flann’s face, and patted him on the shoulder gently.

“No, it’s fine,” he responded. “It simply means that your current feel for your mana is not accurate enough, which is something we’ll be working on. Producing flames larger than envisioned is a sign of abundant mana, so you have a lot of potential!” 

Flann brightened up in response.

“You just need to be careful and always imagine things smaller to prevent sudden outbursts.”

Flann nodded eagerly. “...I understand!”

“Yes, so why don’t we practice feeling the flow of mana first…”