My mind is foggy, I can't gather a single thought.

My eyes threaten to close if I don't resist.

Yet that sound plays over and over again.

Bang!

I felt the wood chip as I slammed my fist into the table. It was infuriating that the bell would toll so many times, I began to question the sanity of the man who woke up so early to ring it.

I stumbled out of bed into the personal bathroom that comes with every dorm, brushing my teeth, and dressing my wounds, changing out the old bandages for new ones.

It was better now that I was alone, but really, this body is too disgusting to look at, much less feel comfortable to be in.

I finally remembered who that professor was in the medical room, it was Professor Marietta. I couldn't remember because well, let's be honest, who the hell did a healing build?

I think the only times I took her classes was when I misclicked. 

This time, I have to do it though, the spells in that class are fundamentally used to reverse and stitch up. There's also a magic that speeds things up but it's in another category of magic since reversing and progressing are two entirely different properties.

After putting on the academy uniform, a dark green uniform akin to that of an officer yet still sporting the look of a student, I put on my mask and began to walk to school. The same path I'd taken over a thousand times.

1107…1110…1108…there it is.

Room 1109.

As I walked in, I noticed nearly all the seats had been filled up, the seats were arranged in a descending order of altitude. I sat myself in a seat near the middle, but closer to the front.

Professor Marietta promptly entered the room shortly after. When her eyes landed on me, her face had a strange expression. It was such a sudden shift I thought I was hallucinating, and the next moment it was back to normal.

"Hello, I am Professor Marietta."

I felt goosebumps all over.

"I'm in charge of the Foundations of Healing Magic course, or more specifically Synthesis and Restoration."

It was an eerie feeling, stirring up within me. It was no doubt caused by Professor Marietta.

"Do you all remember the healing circle that you saw when you were taking the practical exam?"

The majority of the classroom nods, and a few of them stay still.

"That's what we'll be learning today, how that circle works. This isn't about healing just yet so the contents of the circle such as effects can't be learned."

The magic circle consists of four quadrants, the system in the game required you to actually learn to make spells according to their rules.

The quadrants are separated each with a maximum of three sides per quadrant, what matters is what the logic behind the pattern is. For example, if a tangent is connected by a ray then that means it's directed at something, if it's not connected by a ray, then it's indiscriminate. Sides represent the number of cores the spell has, due to each core taking up a ton of mana and not always being efficient, you'll find most spells being used at 6 sides or less.

"Positives and negatives are the effects of the circle, they control how the mana is distributed and the balance of the spell."

She finishes explaining as I finish thinking.

She hands out a sheet of paper to the entire class.

"Now, I'll give you an example of cause and capacity."

She draws a circle with one side in two of the four quadrants, placing two tangents in each side.

The quadrants are shaped like a pie cut into fourths, with each side being a triangle that stems out from the middle.

"If I draw the sides adjacent to one another…and connect the rays…then that gives us a circle that's used for defense. Because mana is injected through positive and negative adjacently it causes the spell to come to an equilibrium."

She finishes drawing the circle, somewhat proud of her work.

"That's why for healing and synthesis, we use the defensive formula for perfect equilibrium that allows for healing, that's what we'll be learning in this class. Now then, give me an example of the defensive formula, draw it on the paper I handed out to you all."

This is why Callus is a genius, because he can draw these formulas in an instant, and calculate the effects in a second. Plus he has the mana to back it up.

He's a goddamn supercomputer.

I lazily drew the defensive formula and slumped down into my seat.

"You'll want to remember this for when you step on the battlefield."

My eyes went from threatening to close to snapping wide open.

I had nearly forgotten about that.

The war entails saving the world as its final act.

The academy is a secondary area, it's like a military school at this time, what was once a prestigious university is now a facility used to train new soldiers for war.

It might seem excessive now, converting schools into military training camps, but Arkesster is right.

Since the twenty-year war is coming.

"Now, even though the base spell is positive and negative for defense, we will also be experimenting with negative and negative."

She draws the same circle, but instead of adjacent sides, she draws the two in the quadrants side by side.

"Normally we wouldn't teach you this but since it's wartime, you'll need a spell like this."

The spell drawn is a negative and negative which shifts into a positive. Because of the way mana is injected here it inverts itself and causes the region around you to become unstable.

Simply put, it's a basic explosion spell, its effect is similar to that of a landmine.

After another twenty-five minutes, the fifty-five-minute lesson had concluded. 

The toll of the bell sounded to signal the next hour.

Most students had pocket watches to check the time, and as the bell tolled, they packed their items and left.

I did the same.

As I left the classroom, I felt the professor's eyes graze over me. 

It was now that I wished I had played through this route at least once.

What is it that you want? Marietta.