Avryn was wandering about and noticed Instructor Yeizura in the hallway. He approached the shinkitsuri man. He told him he wanted to learn more magic under his wing. Yeizura’s interest was piqued. He was intrigued on why a student like Avryn was interested. Especially coming from a non-magical background. As far as he knew, Avryn was an ordinary human. He asked the young man why.

  Avryn replied with his interest in such topics. He wanted to learn more than what the textbooks had currently offered. It was reason enough, so Yeizura took him under his wing. He first introduced Avryn his philosophy of what magic should be, at least according to him. It is one that many of the shinkitsuri: it was an extension of every day life. They lived in harmony with it.

  He demonstrated by waving his hand around the air. Particles of mana became visible and fluttered around Yeizura’s hand, following his gentle movements.

  “No matter how many times I see it in action, I still feel amazed by this,” he said. “Such a splendid sight.”

  He then dispersed the mana, and turned to Avryn.

  “So what’s your true goal in this?” he posed the question.

  “Magic is the lifeblood of this world. I’d like to understand it the best I can,” he replied.

  Yeizura nodded along. He gave a list and spare key to his study. The list had tasks for him to do weekly. The key was the key to Yeizura’s personal library. Avryn was permitted to study the books there.

  “This is but one part, do your best here and we’ll do the next steps,” he said.

  Avryn used his spare time to visit Yeizura’s study and absorb the knowledge that lied in the books. It truly was different on the books on magic he read before. He often wondered what life was like in ancient Eyur, where magic was more prevalent. Where mortals were closer to the gods but still lived in harmony.

  He also learned about how magic crystals came from. Aside from the normal crystallisation, crystals can also be concentrated once a mage returned to the earth. The mana gets recycled in a way. There were a handful of cases on the second form of crystallisation. Lerosa hummed as Avryn read aloud.

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  On alternating days, Avryn redid the obstacle course he failed. He spent many hours observing the part he had difficulty in. It took him a long time, but he finally found the timing to beat the last part without taking a hit.

  He ran other simulations. He integrated magic into his arsenal. Magical bullets and the standard mana crystals were used. Frost and lightning magic were his forte, after weeks of experimenting were in the simulation rooms.

  On other days, he spent running errands for instructor Yeizura. He went on trips to gather crystals along with the rest of his student-assistants. He even made a couple friends there. They shared their foundings as they learned together.

  The time to apply that knowledge came. Yeizura challenged Avryn to a magic battle. Some parameters were logged in. Avryn would be turned into a full fledged mage, and they both have unlimited magic use.

  “This’ll be different from your usual fights. Hope you’re ready,” Yeizura summoned his ice.

  Avryn smirked,

  “This is gonna be amazing,” he summoned his lightning.

  Yeizura shot a spiralling ice beam towards Avryn. He countered by shooting lightning straight through, then he combined it with fire, turning the ice into water on the surface. The magical collision resulted in a powerful explosion.

  Yeizura transformed the smoke back into fire and shot several chunks of it at Avryn. He rolled through, and dodged the barrage. Avryn took control of the last fire balls and shot them straight back at the instructor.

  With a snap of his finger, Yeizura stopped the fire attacks and reflected it back to Avryn. He repositioned himself after. Avryn redirected the fire once again, but it was reduced into smaller bolts of fire. It then became small embers when it reached Yeizura.

  “Let’s see you solve this,” Yeizura prepared his next attack.

  He slammed his hands on the ground and the earth moved. It reached below Avryn and trapped him inside of a rock prison. Lightning shot from the rocky ball. Yeizura slammed his hands down, reinforcing the crumbling prison. Avryn countered that by splitting it forcefully open and send a rock fissure at Yeizura at near lightning pace.

  Yeizura transformed the earth into wind energy and cut up Avryn with it. Yeizura finished him off with an icicle barrage. Each ice crystal landed turned into parts of a prison and Avryn was encased in ice quickly. Yeizura gestured one last time and the prison explodes with Avryn in it.

  Avryn fell on his back, victory eluded him today. Yeizura helped him up.

  “That was not bad as your first. You almost got me once or twice, there,” he gave him his props.

  “Good to know, instructor,” Avryn dusted himself off.

  Avryn and Yeizura went and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee. Yeizura applauded his enthusiasm and wished more students would take initiative as he did. Avryn remained humble and thanked Yeizura for being a good teacher. The smell of freshly brewed coffee beans indicated their orders are in the process of being made.

  The serene moment was interrupted by shouting and running somewhere off the distance. Police were chasing a group of robbers. They were about to come up on the streets.

  Avryn urged they should do something. Yeizura nodded and told him to leave it up to him. He gestured with his hand and the robber’s escape route was cut off thanks to the ice wall Yeizura conjured.

  Police then tackled the robbers to the ground and made their arrests. Yeizura was thanked for his helpful efforts. The ice wall dispersed as they became snow on the ground.

  “Order for Avryn and Yeizura, it’s on the bar,” the barista hollered.

  Avryn grabbed and gave Yeizura his order. The two shared a toast together as their final task of mentorship.

  “That’s all I can teach you. Hope you’ll use this to help your goals, Mr. Starbright.”

  “I will. Thank you, sir,” Avryn shared one more toast.