"You look like shit. Did someone drop a Arcstone on your head?" Tormac pointed out.
"Har Har, no, i was up all night working on my mana veins" Silas said "Maybe if you had stopped ogling at the girls from our dorm, maybe you could have realized the progress i have made so far."
"Yeah, Yeah, I get it. "Traiiiinnnnnniiinnnggg" " Tormac said with double-air-quotes "Prime of our lives and you spend all your time on something so boring. The best you can get with so much effort is a magic scriber role at a half-decent magic tower."
"This is the prime? of our lives? 17 years of tomfoolery and you wanna call this our prime? I genuinely pity you. And half decent? That's what you might be aiming for. Mana pool in and by itself isn't enough for everything, work on your damn mana proficiency."
"Whatever you say, DAD" Tormac retorted "Get a move on, we need to get to quest assignments"

Silas could almost taste the sarcasm but he let it slide, he was still collecting his thoughts after all.
"New beginning, my ass. I got soul-swapped into some angsty teenagers body. Even if the previous memory is retained, my adaptive pace is still too slow. Barely any mana pool, no efforts, no ideas, no ambition. How could someone possibly have lived like this? Tch" 
Silas had his train of thoughts continue "My mana is barely enough to have to be able to control my blood to some extent, progress is present but it is too slow. I need better ways, maybe by undertaking those quests I could get me some experience" 
Grabbing his cloak, he hurried out still thinking to himself "Academies are different here, theory is simply limited to books and not classes, the most the professors or Scholar Mages do is offer advice or apprenticeship. Examinations determine classification of sorcerer within certain limits depending on both mana pooling and proficiency. Unless you pass the classifications assessment you can't access higher level mana-based curriculum material."

He rushed to the Grimsey river overpass to join his peers. One by one names were called and asked for their reports on wildlife and magical species to determine how much an individual understands the quests and their associated risks. Silas turned in his report to Professor Myno, in-charge of the undergoing quest season and hoped she wouldn't point out the raised difficulty bar on the application attached to the report.
"Silas Ryd" she called out.
"Fuck" Silas muttered in low-tone "Yes, Mage Myno?"
"What is the difference between a goblin and a hobgoblin? Which would you say, is a larger threat?" Professor Myno asked, eyes still glued to his report.
"Hobgoblins are sub-species of goblins, smarter, stronger, more disciplined and work in a pack manner. Hobgoblins are the larger threat with their increased agility and intelligence, which helps them realize and escape any traps."
"Are you sure? Hobgoblins are more docile, goblins attack or flee on site. A mob of goblins is a semi-anarchic form of society, living like tribes and following the principle of 'Might is right' and an attack would almost always lead to being swarmed." Myno asked him.
"A large binding spell or a sufficiently powered Area Of Effect(AOE) attack would suffice to display the difference in strength, leaving them to scurry away. Hobgoblins would analyze and understand attack patterns and avoid the attacks by minor distractions." Silas replied, confidently.
"Very good" Myno said "But i hope you don't think answering right would mean that I let you increase the difficulty rating from G-1 to F-2. Your mana proficiency is too low, let alone your mana pool. Your class is a strange one too, what attack spells could you possibly conjure?"
"I'm still working on the blood bullet...."
"Your blood bullet isn't even a solid to begin with and it holds the same amount amount of force as a slap on the wrist, so no, your difficulty rating for the assigned quests remains the same. In the mean time, i would suggest working on more possible spells, perhaps even a defensive one, if possible" said Myno "As a mage, you carry around a knife that barely classifies as a short-sword which in and by itself is a contradiction to you being called a mage. Now go back to your dorm and prepare for your quest."

"Fuck it, back to mana training" said Silas and threw away his robe, back in his dorm. Mana manipulation is dependent on two factors: mana veins and mana core. Mana core works as a battery and stores collected mana for further utilization on other elements, while mana veins worked as conductors or pathway for mana manipulation. Mana vein development takes time and patience which is why the process must not be rushed. This is also the reason why multiple magic casting is difficult as different element proficiency requires different mana veins and having multiple types of magic veins may potentially cause harm if the magic types are not handled well enough. Silas had a weak mana core to begin with and veins were barely present, with practice and mana rotation he was developing a newer system on an older body. This was risky as tracing newer veins on older veins could potentially push the mana system into overload if the old and new ones connected.
"Two days, man. Just 2 more days before i get some experience" Tormac said as he stuffed a jerky in his mouth "Did she miss the changes you made or did she catch you?"
"Nah, she saw it. She caught on pretty quick too." Silas admitted.
"Hehe, i told you. Anyways, I'm gonna get some shut eye, I'm going for a potion run tomorrow as well" Tormac said and plopped onto his bed.

Silas didn't reply back, he simply glanced over and turned away. Tormac Kempo was a friend of Silas before the body swap, bonded over the strange ways of their classes. While Silas was using mana for blood manipulation as a Blood Mage, Tormac was born with mana disability where his mana veins were not always responding to mental commands but he found a unique alternative by controlling mana through whistling, essentially becoming a Tonecaster. 

Silas brought his focus onto his own body, sitting on the ground with legs crossed and took his shirt off to reveal scars all over his body, made in attempt to be able to better control his own blood. Mages traditionally avoided physical weaponry as they deemed it unnecessary, but he needed it to force his body to bleed and use the same blood for his spells. Theoretically, Silas was ready with new ideas but his body was not seeming to be cooperative. He began with mana collection from the environment. Natural mana was too unstable by itself to be used as it is and must be stabilized with the mage's body as a medium. His weak body was quivering with the incoming mana, but he didn't stop. The body and core needed to be used to the sensation of both mana saturation and mana drain to be able to expand and push his limit.
He raised his hands, used the shortsword he had bought from the market where the shopkeeper told him an adventurer sold it to him after a goblin cave raid, to make long superficial cuts on his palm and let the blood drip. It was painful but it was just as necessary if he can't draw out his blood simply through mana. 

He visualized a drop of blood floating, liquid and red and gave it shape a form of cone, to make it aerodynamic. He opened his eyes and let the mana flow through his mana veins and let the shape take form. "Easier said than done, huh?" Silas thought to himself as the bullet was very slowly forming, a pointed end and a sleek cylindrical shape. he immediately increased the mana applied to force the liquid to take on solid form to make a credible projectile, mana took form of a container and was slowly shrunk on the blood. Silas used his last remaining mana power to make a crystalline structure with that drop of blood. With mana exhaustion, Silas dropped onto the floor, laying on his back "Miles to go before I sleep" he chuckled to himself. After a few minutes, he sat up and looked at his crude projectile, except it wasn't crude looking at all. Surprised, he picked it up and held it up to the lantern and saw that it was beautiful, so beautiful and perfectly shaped that anyone else would mistake it for an elongated ruby as big as his finger.
Silas jumped with joy at this achievement. Mana based element solidification was completed, now he needed practice.

The next day, Silas tagged along with Tormac to the general market in Grytrand, about 18 kilometers from the Academy town of Fludark. Bustling streets of this walled town was filled with traders who come from nearby towns to sell their wares. Nate had migrated as an orphan named Silas to the Velmara Kingdom in the Saureykir County, a peacefully tucked away land even within the Kingdom and far from the whole wide world. But even within the Saureykir County, there were dangers lurking like the occasional goblin camps and orc bands, all of whom are hunted as part of quests. Quest season in the academy was referred to the time when budding mages and adventurers are allowed to be part of minor quests to be able to gain experience and hone their skills. Silas wanted to get into a quest with an agility dependent beast to improve his accuracy as the Velmara Magic Academy's training grounds had no suitable moving targets as practice material. 
"The blood crystallization is near perfect, i need to make some adjustments that will either pierce or rend flesh on impact" Silas was wondering when he was suddenly jerked aside by Tormac, saving him from almost walking into a stationary cart.
"Eyes up, dickhead. Might as well pump some more blood to your eyes if you can't see anymore" Tormac retorted.
"Stuff it, Shit-Sniffer. Your shopping trip is driving me nuts, pick what you need and let's go!" Silas retorted back
"I'm done with what I need, you knob. I'm waiting for you to be done with your Mana stone purchases; and at least stop picking the Lumos Mana stones, they are quick on the mana recovery but they are of only 2 uses." Tormac continued "Pick the Ash-shard for the smoke-screen and you could get some distance from targets". Silas looked at Tormac "That was a good suggestion, actually. Did you hit your head somewhere recently?" Both of them chuckled and nagged at each other all the way back to the dorms. 

Back at the dorms, before bed Tormac said "Alright, show me the new trick you said you were working on"
"Oh yeah, i made a crystal bullet from my blood."
"WAIT, WHAT? How? How does it work?" Tormac said, surprised.
"I put intense pressure on quite a few drops of my blood together and make it compact, then combining it with a bit of mana and with a lattice structure in mind, it takes shape" explained Silas
"You got physical proof to prove you did it?" 
Silas tossed the bullet he made at Tormac, who caught it. "This looks like ruby, a very well shaped one too."
"Yeah, i noticed that too. Blood, in and by itself couldn't have been crystallized that way, it's the mana's influence. I will show it to you tomorrow in action, if you end up on my squad. Cool?" Silas finished.
"Alright. I hope we end up on the same squad too." Tormac smiled.
"Hell yeah. Now, go on and sleep, i still gotta finish some refining to the bullets"
Silas worked on the shaping of the bullets, and made quite a few of them as reserve ammunition. He only stopped when he felt dizzy from all the blood loss. 
"Can't be too prepared for tomorrow" Silas mused.