Chapter 1498: I Am Still A Student
I sat in front of Chancellor Vastraea as she started my first actual lesson with her proper.
"I will be using one particular spell and I want you to do your best to see if you can replicate it even though you should by all accounts, be incapable of casting it at your current tier of proficiency."
I nodded, "I’m ready. What spell will it be?"
"Hmm... There’s two ways we can do this... The first way is that I use a spell belonging to an element that you are not that familiar with since that would eliminate whatever potential bias you have in regards to the element... Or I could use a spell belonging to an element that you are already familiar with since you might be able to sense the mana fluctuations better because of that. Which one would you rather?"
I thought about it for a moment before shrugging, "Maybe try an element I’m not that familiar with? But does that mean a new type of magic or just a magic element that I don’t frequently use?"
She opened her mouth to speak before snapping it shut, taking a moment to consider my words instead.
She finally opened her mouth again after a minute to speak, "I was going to say that it would be impractical of me to use a magic you are not even at least somewhat proficient in... But that would only make sense if you weren’t proficient in so many different types of magic already... Hmm... I think let’s just start with an element you at least have some experience in using. One of the classic elements."
I tapped my cheek, "I guess... That would be Geomancy. I think that’s the element that I use the least amongst the standard elements in my arsenal."
Chancellor Vastraea hummed, "Hmm... Very well. I shall use a spell from the Geomancy school then. Do your best to sense the mana around me and copy it."
I nodded at her, indicating for her to start with her magic casting.
Seeing that I was ready, she then turned away from me and lifted her hands.
I felt the mana gather around her before it radiated downwards through her feet and into the ground.
The mana then spread out in an arc in front of her and I felt the ground rumble as it then converged in a single point a short distance away from her.
I was trying my best to sense everything that I could, right as the mana suddenly changed and caused the ground at where the mana was concentrated around to sink downwards, forming a sinkhole.
That was already weird to begin with since we were technically standing in a white featureless space so this wasn’t like we were outside in the field where the earth was being manipulated right now.
It did not remain like that for long as the sinkhole suddenly turned into some sort of muddy liquid and flowed towards the centre of the hole, only for the entire thing to turn into lava before it exploded upwards, sending a giant plume of lava shooting up and spraying the hot, molten liquid all around the place.
I panicked a little, since some of the molten lava ended up crashing down near where we were, close enough for me to feel the heat coming from them.
That unfortunately made me break concentration as I looked up in the air, worried that one of those molten lava pools would shoot itself out to land on top of me.
But in the end, nothing happened to us and the lava settled down before all of it disappeared like they were just an illusion.
She then turned back to me, "Did you get that, Aster?"
I scratched my cheek sheepishly, "Umm... I got a little distracted by the lava being spewed out in the air so... I didn’t really catch what was happening at the end..."
"Ah... The spell is also meant to protect the caster from being hit by the spell itself so you didn’t need to worry. Could you try to cast it according to what you have sensed at least? I would like to see if you are at least able to do the front part."
Hmm... I’m not really confident that I can do it but I guess I can at least try...
I sucked in a breath before reaching out my senses, trying to copy what she did by directing my mana through the ground and converging it in the centre.
From what I believe she did, she first pulled the earth downwards to form the crater so...
I tried to focus on that and used the mana that I had gathered there to pull the earth downwards, aiming to form the same crater that she did when she first cast the spell.
A tugging sensation came from my core and the ground seemed to shift slightly before it started to sink.
The only problem was that instead of sinking down to form a giant crater, it was just small pockets of the ground that had sunk downwards, forming small potholes instead of the giant sinkhole that I wanted.
I was about to try and break the spell and restart again but Chancellor Vastraea shook her head at me, "Don’t stop. Do your best to continue from here."
Trusting her, I did as she asked and concentrated on my mana that was in the ground once again.
Once again, I tried to create the giant sinkhole but either I was doing something wrong or there was some kind of limit that was preventing me from doing so, but the only thing that happened was for the small potholes to sink a little bit more and nothing else.
I figured that I might as well adapt to this and try to continue the spell by making each small pothole into its own lava spewing fountain and shifting my focus to encompass each of the potholes.
If I remember correctly, the next part was someone turning the walls of the pothole into a liquid state like some kind of mud before it turned into lava to start exploding all around the hole.
I tried to do just that until I realised I had no idea how to turn the earth around the pothole into liquid mud.
Nevertheless, I still did my best as I imagined the walls of the hole flowing down into the centre but... Nothing happened.
I still tried a few more times but when it was evident that I was stuck, the Chancellor raised her hand at me, "That’s good enough, you can stop now."
I frowned slightly, feeling a little disappointed in myself.
She seemed to sense that disappointment and came over to me to place her hand on my arm while smiling at me.
"There’s no need for you to feel inadequate, Aster. The fact that you are already able to get this far is already something that most mages are unable to do. You are here to learn, so do not feel that you must get it right the first time. It is alright to make mistakes and learn. Otherwise, this would not be a school anymore."
Ah... Not gonna lie... I actually forgot I was in a school here and meant to learn... I was trying to be perfect from the very beginning and not accounting for the fact that Chancellor Vastraea was here to help me learn.
Sensing the shift, she continued with a kind smile, "You forgot that you were a student for a moment, didn’t you?"
I nodded, feeling a little embarrassed at that fact.
"Fufufu~ There is no need to be embarrassed. I understand exactly how it feels to want to excel as well. If I am to be honest... Seeing you like this has assured me a little."
I looked up at her, "About what?"
"That you are, at the end of the day, still a student here to learn."
Ah... She’s referring to the fact that she still believes I’m an apostle or something... But I’m still a student here.
Well... If it helps her relax instead of stepping on eggshells all the time around me, I don’t mind I guess?
She then turned back to look at the potholes I made before nodding at them, "Are you able to revert them back to normal?"
I extended my senses and tried to do what she asked, spreading out my mana towards the potholes and attempting to manipulate the ground to pop back up to remove the pothole.
Unfortunately, what I did was just make them pop up from the ground to form mini mounds that dotted the otherwise blank landscape.
I frowned a little and turned to the Chancellor, seeing her still smiling at me.
"Fufufu~ It’s alright~ Here. Try and sense this~"
She waved her hand and I felt a ripple of mana flow out, washing over the ground to flatten it and remove any evidence that the ground was even shifted to begin with.
That’s so cool~ I wanna learn that too~