The previous day has come and gone. A new day has begun as the students of Hexvale University's Advanced Spellcasting class are filing into their seats and waiting patiently. Everyone has arrived on time except one man, Instructor Cricket himself.
Sophie remains in her chair, arms crossed, silently furious at his tardiness and at herself for ever having hope that the man would change his ways, even though by the rules of the duel he's required to do so. Eventually a few more minutes go by, and in his signature slouched and lazy style, Cricket walks into the classroom and leans against the class podium.
"I won the duel, so why are you late? I thought you were supposed to take your job seriously!"
"Hey, I only remember you stipulating I had to teach you kids; we never discussed when I arrive to class. Choose your words carefully next time, princess."
Cricket says in an almost bratty tone as he blows a raspberry in her direction before grabbing a textbook and placing it on the podium.
"Guess I'm doing this for you snot-nosed brats. Alright, let's see. I'm supposed to instruct you in... Advanced Spellcasting, the book says... okay, let me just... read a bit of this."
Sophie stews, both arms and legs crossed, angry at his behavior and the fact he hadn't even read about the textbook he's supposed to instruct the class on. Meanwhile, Julien, who's sitting right next to her, is just amused at this, poking her cheek with a grin as he keeps telling her to chill out. Eventually, after about two minutes of silent reading from Cricket, and the class just sitting and waiting for him to say anything, some students bored, and others amused yet again by his behavior, Cricket closes the book and looks directly towards the class.
"Wow, I must say after skimming through that textbook, I'll admit that this university's resources are... UTTER SHIT!!!!"
The class looks on a bit shocked at his loud, humorous outburst at the end there. Cricket then chucks the textbook aside as he shakes his head and slams his hand on the podium.
"Whoever wrote that book is a damn hack! A mid-tier mage at best who doesn't even comprehend how magic truly works! This is the crap they're using to teach you guys?"
Sophia looks down at her textbook, then back at Cricket, shocked at the words she's hearing from him. She then begins to speak.
"If I may ask, Mr. Marlowe... I mean Cricket... um, what do you exactly mean? What's so wrong about what the textbooks are saying?"
"In short, whoever wrote this textbook's views on magic, the rules behind it, and how it works are incredibly narrow."
The class nods along, starting to get invested in Cricket's words, curious as to what he's getting at.
"Let's start with something simple. Let's see you in the glasses; I need you to tell me about incantations. What are they?"
Cricket says those words while pointing at a student close by Sophie and Julien; she's a rather petite brunette girl with large glasses named Sera Gibbs. She stands up nervously and tries to answer the question.
"Um... like... an incantation is... words spoken by all mages that bring forth magic?"
"You're close there, glasses, but it's a bit more than that. You see, it's not the words themselves that bring forth magic. I mean, after all, you lot saw me use incantationless magic."
The classroom nods along with him, intrigued by his words. Sera tries to correct Cricket on her name, but he just ignores her casually as he continues his lecture.
"No, you see... the words themselves are just tools. Tools used by us to help us visualize. You see, it isn't about incantation when spellcasting, where these books put a heavy focus on the aspect of the words; in truth, the key to expert spellcasting is merely visualization. Visualization and understanding will get you far in the magic game."
The classroom nods along as some of them begin writing notes. Sophie then raised her hand, and Cricket pointed towards her to speak.
"So wait, you're saying the incantations don't really matter. That they're just tools used to help us visualize the spells?"
"Yes, Sophie. That's the gist of it. I mean, obviously it's not just that; otherwise everyone would be able to use incantationless magic. You see, the main things you need are the understanding of what your spell exactly is or does, the ability to fully visualize what it will look like, the mana capacity to be able to support the spell, and lastly, familiarity with the spell through continued use and practice of it. Once you've got all of that information down, you'll be a pro at spellcasting."
"So if we were to grasp all those things... then could we be able to do spellcasting without incantations like you?"
Cricket smiles and closes his eyes as he nods towards Sophie and the class. While it seems like a lot of work would be required, being told they could become one of the rare few that don't need incantations makes everyone's blood start to pump with excitement. Cricket then gives them an example of what he means by all this.
"I'll use a basic move. An enhanced kick. So first is the understanding. What I'm doing with my enhancement magic is strengthening the muscle in my leg. Binding and condensing all the muscle together, and using mana to temporarily build more muscle as I bind and condense that down even further. Now, mana capacity—obviously I have enough to use this move, as over time the more magic you use and the bigger the spells, your mana capacity will slowly expand. Then there's the familiarity through practice; I've practiced enhancement practice like this thousands of times. Then we just need to visualize, knowing all that we know now, just envision the muscles in the leg doing as I said they did before. Envision the attack that is to follow. Then all that's left is to bring it to life."
He then takes a deep breath before using his enhancement magic on his right leg, doing a quick and powerful sidekick in the air that creates a powerful burst of wind that blows the hair of everyone in class. All without an incantation again. All the students are impressed as they applaud his maneuver. Hands of everyone are in the air asking him various questions; it seems Instructor Cricket has energized his students to no end.
Sophie leans back as she takes notes and listens to Cricket answer various questions from the rest of the class. She had spent the previous night both excited and worried for this class. She was curious if he would truly be a good teacher for them all like Julien had suggested to her after the duel, and now seeing him truly take to his job as an instructor, she can confirm he is. However, in her head he's still a rude, childish, and lazy sloth. But he's at least knowledgeable and somewhat respectable, and that's enough for her at the moment.