School Haze

“So how was your day?” I ask Birta as the ogre closes the door to our dorm behind her. The teen shuffles towards her bed and groans. “Right.” I respond. Her time of the month probably made it not very good. “Aside from that though?” I inquire stepping over to her bed. “Need a potion?” I question kneeling down to grab one for her.

“No thanks.” She mutters before slowly lowering onto her bed.

“Oh alright.” I reply standing back up and away. “My day was okay overall.” I continue while moving back to my bed. I feel like talking today for some reason.

“Okay, huh?” Birta replies. The teen turns her head to look at me while she continues “Were you late to class?” I sit down on my bed before speaking.

“Nope. I was early actually.” I answer with a chuckle. “Were you late?” I ask.

“Almost.” She bluntly answers. I am not going to dig deeper about that. “Today we chose our weapons.” The teen continues while turning her head back up to the ceiling “I chose to just stick with my fists.” She gives a quick jab into the air for emphasis of her point before I can reply.

“Oh yeah? How hard do you punch that you decided to stick with your fists instead of something like an axe?” I inquire while crossing my legs.

“I can knock a target dummy onto the ground.” She says with a sigh. Was I annoying her? Or was this just general discomfort? “So that helped me decide real quick.” She adds with a chortle and jabbing into the air once again.

“That’s impressive.” I reply grabbing my ankles. “I’ve never seen someone do that.” I add.

“Glad I can impress an old timer like you.” Birta jokingly replies.

“I did learn a new spell.” I say ignoring her jab. “It’s not as impressive as you punching a dummy over but I didn’t choke!” I continue.

“Good to hear you’ve recovered.” The teen replies with a smile like an older sister. She knows I am older but it is easy to forget.

-- -- --

I look about the room not really paying attention to Rato’s lesson. It seems to be mostly just recapping what we already learned. Is there really not much for introduction to magic? Is this what actual education is like? The States sure were not like this.

“Gold conducts magic the best.” Rato’s droning brings me back to the lesson. “Silver conducts it quite well too.” He continues drawing a crude set of images on the board behind him. “Mythrial is as conductive as silver but as strong as steel.” He explains.

A cough from one of the other students fills the air.

“Copper and bronze are a step lower in conductivity.” The master drones ignoring the coughing. “Still better than iron though!” He adds. “Which after becoming steel its magic conductivity is lowered.” He continues looking back at the class. “The main theory is that because we process it the metal loses some of its connection to the elements.” He explains before turning back to the board. He writes on the board adding “Titannium is the hardest metal known to us. Yet despite being tougher than steel it possesses as much magical conductivity.”

Rato sits down in the chair behind the front desk before he continues.

“Any idea why that might be?” He inquires to the class. A silence falls amongst us. “I know this is an introductory course but I’m trying to have you think.” The master groans in annoyance.

“Could it be that titannium is also processed?” A teen boy in the front answers.

“You would think!” Rato says with excitement pointing at the boy. “The prevailing theory is that the giants imbued bits of the elements after the metal was processed.” He adds. Interesting, what were these giants like that they could infuse a metal with magic? I doubt Rato would be willing to answer my question since this is not a history class. Despite that, my mind begins to stick on those thoughts. What are these giants like? Was the titannium the reason they enslaved the people here for a time?

-- -- --

Practical magic is nice. Aside from being forced to use a wand. I have been using just myself as a focus so it is actually hard for me to change that.

“You’re form is stiff.” Michelada explains to me. She lightly sets her staff against one of my legs and pushes it a little. “You should keep the grip around your wand firm but not tight.” She continues wrapping her hands around mine. They are so soft. “Try it now.” She says with a disarming smile. Damn, she is pretty.

I close my eyes and try to focus with my new stance. The wand still feels odd in my hands but I try to think about it. What is it they always say in moves about swords? Think of it as an extension of your arm I think. The head of a large hammer… Stone is the simplest thing to make a weapon out of...

“Well done.” The master gently cheers. I open my eyes to look at the stone hammer head attached to the wand. “This is the beginning of weapon conjuration.” She reiterates. “This is why you use a focus. It’s much easier to create the head or blade of a weapon. Plus it’s the important part of a weapon anyways.” She continues with a shrug.

“I see.” I reply giving my makeshift weapon a few test swings. Seems sturdy enough.

“Oh wow.” The instructor exclaims. “Normally the head would be falling apart during the first swing.” She explains to me. “I can see that you really do just have a knack for magic.” She adds with yet another disarming smile. This damn woman she is definitely not my usual type but she is quite pretty and she knows it too.

“Thank you.” I respond while giving a few more swings. The head is not as heavy as I thought it would be.