Once the day was over, students returned to their dormitories after a long day of lectures and practice sessions.
The second day of the academic year was over.
Cæ, however, found himself going not to his dormitory, but instead towards the combat magic facility in the senior wing of the Elendir Institute of Magic.
STEP
He arrived at the large, empty combat facility, finding one person standing at the very center of the facility.
Professor Mercile.
The man stood at the center of a combat arena with folded arms and separated feet.
His spikey red hair was as unnerving as it had been the previous day, while his sharp eyes bore deep into Cæ's.
A wild grin emerged on his face. "So you came!"
Cæ shrugged lightly as he put his backpack aside, adjusting the sports uniform of the Institute. "Did you think I wouldn't, Professor?"
"Hah, given that you have decided to squander your talents by spreading yourself thin across many fields of magic, I figure that it was quite likely that you would do something quite insane!"
Cæ threw a strange gaze at him, shaking his head lightly.
He didn't even bother explaining himself anymore.
If people wanted to think he was crazy, then so be it.
He was confident in his choices, not just because it made sense in terms of his goals, but also because of his gifts.
As a pure mage, his rate of mastery of magic was vastly higher than that of other mages. This meant that he could afford to spread himself thin because he grew fast enough to be able to master all of them eventually.
Of course, he couldn't use said magic publicly because he had chosen to hide his power as a pure mage.
"My choices are mine and are none of your concern," Cæ replied. "I am here because you have graciously offered to teach me martial magic. That is an offer that I am more than willing to take you up on. One of the things that frustrated me with the Senior Program was that it doesn't simply allow you to give exams for all the courses in the very first year, like the Apprentice Program. If I had more slots, then there's a good chance that I would have chosen martial magic."
"Hah, you should have chosen it from the start! Never mind that, we must get started right away," the professor grumbled as he continued along. "Your unarmed combat is quite good. You have a fluidity that only comes with experience, but your form betrays the absence of formal training in the correct forms. Nonetheless, they're good enough to give you a great foundation. It saves us a lot of time."
Cæ stretched, warming up lightly.
"How will this training arrangement go, Professor? Will I start learning magic right away?"
The professor shook his head.
"No."
His eyes peered deep into Cæ's.
"The first thing we will begin with is actually some basic theory."
Cæ frowned. "Then why did you call me to the combat facility? I was under the impression that we were going to start sparring."
"We will do that."
"But you said that we will do theory."
"We will also do that."
"But that's a lot in a single impromptu session, no?"
"Your questions tire me, lad!" the professor barked. "Shut up and listen!"
Cæ adhered to his instruction, simply remaining silent.
"If you want to master martial magic, you will need to understand how it works," Professor Mercile sharpened his gaze. "Martial magic is different from almost every other field of magic in that it relies on body casting instead of magic circles or incantations. This will differ from your other magic fields considerably enough that it will take some time to get used to."
Cæ nodded with a serious expression.
He was already aware of the fact that martial magic differed greatly in this regard.
Magia, the language of magic, had more than two components.
It also had a component of body language.
Just like verbal language, body language was a powerful means of communication and was capable of forming strong associations with memories and other sensory input. It was also capable of becoming the foundation of magic, and the one field that made the most use of this magic was actually none other than martial magic.
A person could be hypnotized to have their moments strongly associated with memories of eidos templates, exactly as it was done for runes, whether written or spoken. It was the fastest form of magic-casting; however, it also had the least amount of power due to the fact that it was the fastest.
After all, the faster it was, the less the amount of power one could pour into it with one's mana-motive force. The amount of mana poured into a spell was simply a product of the mana-motive force and the time the force was active. Similar to the relationship between distance, speed, and time.
"Because body-casting is very different from magic circles and incantations, you will need some time to acclimatize yourself to it," the professor warned him. "You will also need to master the movements beforehand. Now this is where the shortcomings of body-casting come in."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"Different styles of martial arts and different weapons have different body-casting runes," the professor explained. "Unlike with magic circles and incantations, which are universal across fields and sectors, body-casting runes are limited to one particular style and the particular weapon. Different schools and different weapons have entirely different body-casting runes."
Cæ's eyes narrowed. "This means that I won't be able to learn different styles of martial magic. I will be limited to whatever style I choose."
The professor nodded. "That is the biggest flaw of martial magic. It is the most combat-focused field of magic, but it is also the least universal. You must choose your chosen style of martial arts before you begin. This is especially so because, in your case…"
He sized Cæ up with a sweeping gaze from head to toe with a satisfied nod.
"Your physique is most of the way there. Your body is fit. Your muscles are decently developed. Your strength is good, but your flexibility can use improvement. However, you will need to learn the movements of the style before they can be associated with magic. And since each style has unique movements, you will need to choose your style before we can reach this stage."
Cæ frowned.
As a pure mage, the limitation of the body language rune of each style being limited and unique to that one style alone was not relevant to him.
His magic did not require Magia.
It was devoid of runes.
That was why it was pure magic.
What he imagined simply came to be.
Thus, he could learn any style just by practicing the imitation of the magic of that style.
Of course, he couldn't just run around mastering every style under the Sun in the blink of an eye; that would be a dead giveaway that he was a pure mage, attracting more attention than he could possibly handle.
It was frustrating because he would have to abstain from making use of all that power, because he was hiding his true power.
"…Unfortunately, I don't know any martial arts styles," Cæ remarked. "I think I have seen a few board signs here and there in my life, but nothing more. Ah…"
He paused for a moment. "I do know the Plum Blossom Style that a student named Senthil showed me."
"Hm," the professor nodded gruffly. "The lad is in a student exchange program with the Mount Hua Sect's Elendir Branch. Since he is dedicated to focusing on the Plum Blossom Style, he has more to gain there than he does here. Right now, he is surely mastering the secrets of the plum blossoms. Do you have an interest in learning this style?"
Cæ shook his head.
"I'm not particularly good at weapons, although I have had to use them. I feel most comfortable with my fists," Cæ glanced at his balled hand. "However, if I have to, I don't mind learning to use a weapo—"
"No," the professor interjected, shaking his head. "Comfort is most important when it comes to picking a weapon and a style to dedicate yourself. If you are most comfortable with your fist alone, then so be it. Rest assured, there are many unarmed martial arts styles that are ferociously powerful in martial magic."
Cæ raised an eyebrow, growing more intrigued. "…I don't think I have ever heard of any."
"I will show them to you in time. But for today…"
THWACK!
His fist smacked against his palm as a wild grin emerged on his face.
"For today, we will focus entirely on sparring, of course."
Cæ shrugged lightly.
"Works just fine for me."
The two of them stood before each other in the combat arena as they took their stances.
Cæ heaved a deep breath as his left foot went forward and his right foot behind, while his two arms were propped before him in a great defense.
The professor simply stood there with an eager grin. "Anytime, lad."
Cæ's eyes sharpened as he surged forth with great speed and vigor.
His initial stance was made to convey that his intentions were to rush in and throw a charged blow.
But that was a fake.
In a sharp shift, he went down instead, charging for the professor's waist in a shooting maneuver instead of a blow. His arms wrapped around the professor's waist as he leveraged his momentum to throw him off-balance.
THUD
Cæ's eyes widened as his charge was stopped dead in its tracks.
"Hah, you chose to grapple because you lost the last spar, good thinking, but…"
His wild grin grew wider.
"I'm afraid I'm just as good at grappling as I am with striking."
Cæ learned that the hard way that day.
His grappling was good himself; he had gotten into many brawls where he ended up in entangled wrestles. Fights often tended to go that way very easily, making it a necessity to know how to deal with them.
And yet, compared to the professor, he didn't stand much of a chance. Not only was the man physically stronger, but he was vastly more skilled than Cæ was. He canceled out his charging maneuver with perfect counterbalance, allowing him to negate Cæ's charge. Before proceeding to completely wrangle him in unyielding locks that grew more painful each second until he tapped out.
Cæ knew that the professor was much stronger than he, but when he saw just how easily he was bested in grappling, he realized he had underestimated the professor.
"You have great potential." Professor Mercile grinned. "I am going to hone your martial prowess and elevate you to a greater level. You might even become the chosen participant representing the Elendir Institute of Magic when you."
Cæ raised an eyebrow. "Despite Vyrlid?"
Many people had expressed their conviction over his victory."
"You have a chance," the professor admitted. "Not as you are right now. But in one year's time, you may be able to overcome him. Although he will likely still win no matter what."
Cæ frowned. "Then why place such high hopes on me to want to train me for the event?"
"It's not just for the event," the professor grumbled. "It's also because of the fact that despite possessing the opportunity to become a great magetant, you chose not to. Not to mention, even if you aren't selected for the individual event of the combat contest, you can still be a great asset in other events. Ultimately, it will come down to the benefit of the Elendir Institute of Magic if I ensure that you are as combat-ready as possible by the end of the year for the Magic Contest."
Cæ heaved a soft sigh.
It appeared that even the professors were extremely motivated to do well in the Magic Contest, having gotten infected by the air of anticipation that hung around in the battlefield.