According to Eve, the most basic type of spells were spells that were cast with just mana, and without an element.
"Elements are just an embellishment added onto a spell to give it more impact. Humans stop polishing their non-elemental spells as soon as they're able to achieve an elemental one, but we lower-ranking demons make good use of non-elemental spells." Eve explained, "For example, while humans start off by learning barrier and mana missile as their first spells, they end up forgetting about them and end up using spells like Fireball and Earth Shield instead."
"But that isn't always the right thing to do. For example, what would you do if your opponent was a water-element specialist? They could block your Fireballs with Water Shield and pierce your Earth Shield with Ice Spear." Eve seemed more like a teacher tutoring her student at this point.
"For situations like that, you need to have more specialized non-elemental spells. For example, despite its lack of power, Mana Spear is more than enough to injure someone, but it's not particularly weak to any element. Of course, a strong enough shield would block it, but that means that the opposite is true as well. If you have enough power behind your non-elemental spell, you'd end up doing damage anyway!"
"Also, non-elemental spells cost less mana and can be cast faster since they don't require that complex of a mental image or magic circle!" Eve finished, "You'll find that many of us lower-ranking demons are quite good at non-elemental spells!"
"For example…" Eve held up one hand to shoot out a Mana Spear, while in her other hand, she formed a blade of Mana that cloaked her hand. "Something like this would be enough for me to contend with at least student-level knights and mages."
Alphonse suddenly realized that he should rethink his entire battle strategy. He was able to realize something with the assistance of Eve's explanation.
First of all, it was easier for humans to use elemental magic because it was something they interacted with daily. Humans would come into contact with wind, fire, earth, water, and even electricity, darkness, and light.
However, for humans, it was difficult to visualize ambient mana, and therefore, it was difficult to use non-elemental spells, despite non-elemental spells being easier to cast due to the lack of elements and a smaller dependency on having a large mana pool.
"Hey, Eve, succubi can see ambient mana, right?"
"Hm? Of course! That's how we locate our prey!"
"..."
"..."
"Is it possible for a human to see it as well?" Alphonse asked, ignoring her comment regarding the treatment of humans as prey.
"Yes, you just need to meditate until you can see it!"
"...?" Alphonse looked at her until she continued.
"I don't know for sure, but there's a myth that the strongest human mages have the ability to see the ambient mana in the air. I heard it while eavesdropping a couple of years back." Eve tried her best to recall, "For example, Nelson Ray and Clara Kassadin, the two Royal Mages that have achieved the rank of General, are both rumored to be capable of perceiving the flow of Mana. That's why even Demon Lords have a hard time facing them in combat."
"Hmmm… Could you describe what it looks like?" Alphonse requested of her.
"I guess you could say that ambient mana looks like a bunch of stars in the sky, and ambient mana that has been consensed looks more similar to smoke?" Eve pondered aloud.
Alphonse sat down and attempted to meditate, but was interrupted by Eve.
"Another method is to form a Bond with a lifeform that can see mana. Then you'd be able to borrow a single ability from your bond, depending on the type of bond. You can bond with anything from a Mana Beast to Elves, and even us demons!"
"Is that so? Are you suggesting that I form a bond with you?" Alphonse asked directly.
"E-eh? No, of course not! Your bond would have to follow you around! If you brought me into school, even if your classmates couldn't see me, your professors would definitely try to exterminate me!" Even was clearly panicked at the suggestion. "But if you don't mind protecting me… then…"
"Nah, no thanks. I'm sure there are common household pets that should be able to see mana. I came across the term 'mana beast' earlier while browsing my textbooks. They seem cuter, anyway." Alphonse shrugged off her suggestion. He wasn't ready to deal with the problems that publicly harboring a demon might cause.
"A-ahh…" Eve accepted his decision, but looked disheartened, nonetheless.
For now, Alphonse was able to solve a couple of problems.
First, the best way to disarm an anti-magic artifact was through the use of many non-elemental weak spells. In this case, landing multiple hits was the key, so firing off Mana Bullets like a shotgun would do the trick.
Second, to deal with his weapon issue, he had already created a suitable rapier with Mana Cores engraved with Magic Circles for a Barrier as well as increased Thrusting and Slashing power.
Third, he was able to increase the strength of his kicks through the same method that he used on his sword to increase linear movement. He had added mana cores to the heels of his boots that could propel his legs forwards and upwards. He could use that type of boost to both accelerate his kicks as well as his dashing speed.
In a way, this type of set-up reminded him of a certain character from a popular movie franchise of his previous world. The character would wear technologically advanced armor that was capable of flight through the use of a bunch of jet thrusters.
The thought of creating something like that had crossed Alphonse's mind, but he acknowledged the number of calculations and tests that would need to be run to get it to work would be astronomical.
Finally, he had an idea for how he was going to give his kicks more cutting power. He would use mana to temporarily form a blade the way that Eve had shown him earlier. Although he would first have to learn how to visualize mana to achieve the effect he wanted, it wasn't impossible for him.
"Is it possible to create some training targets in here?" He asked Eve. He wanted to test the results of his creations.
"No, unfortunately, you'd have to create them yourself." Eve shrugged, "I'm not very good at Earth magic, after all."
"Then, will you spar with me?" Alphonse suggested.
"E-Eh? Wha- Spar? Like right now?"
Alphonse responded by casting his Rapier Creation spell, which materialized the exquisite rapier that Alphonse had designed earlier.
"Hyee- Wait, hold on, I'm not ready!" Eve shrieked and panicked.
Alphonse simply smiled and launched himself forwards, his rapier aimed directly at Eve.
---
"Well, you sure look happy…" Sasha remarked. He had come by his dorm, as he wanted to walk to the first class with Alphonse.
"Yep!" Alphonse replied cheerfully, "I solved a big problem last night!"
"You sure did! Hopefully, the Halsteins leave you alone now." Sasha was also quite happy for him.
"Eh? Halsteins?" Alphonse was so caught up in how he had one-sidedly defeated Eve, a High-ranking Lower Demon that would ordinarily crush even second-year students, that he forgot that he had a duel against the Halstein twins the previous night. "Oh, uh, yeah. I hope they don't try anything like again that any time soon…"
Fortunately, it appeared that Sasha didn't notice his lapse of memory for what was supposed to be an important event.
The only thing on Alphonse's mind was Eve pouting while complaining about how overpowered a first-year student was and calling him a monster.
"Say, Sasha, might you know of any Mana Beasts that could be kept as a pet here?"
"Eh? Here? You want to bring a Mana Beast to school?" Sasha was surprised.
"I didn't see any rules in the student handbook that said that I couldn't keep a pet."
"Well, if you wanted one, you'd have to get one from the Pet Store in the city. We can go together tomorrow if you want?" Sasha was excited, "What kind of Mana Beast are you looking for? A Sage Wolf? Perhaps the Hallow's Owl? A lot of families keep a bird of some kind… How about the Illusion Cats? They're really cute!"
"I'd like something inconspicuous that I can leave in my dorm room, and not have to fuss over."
"Then you should go for a cat-type Mana Beast. Just like cats, they're extremely independent!"
"Hahah…" Alphonse could feel himself getting worn down by Sasha's extreme enthusiasm for this topic. "Alright, let's go together tomorrow, then."
"Alright! I can't wait!" Sasha exclaimed, "I'll meet you at noon then? I have a small thing I need to do in the morning for work…"
The headmaster had carefully planned the first week of school to take place three days before the weekend. The first day was for the Orientation, and the remaining two days were for an intro to the classes to ease the students into school. This meant that today was the last day of classes for the week, and tomorrow, he would be allowed to venture off-campus with the other students for the weekend.
Some students would use this time to make some money by running odd jobs and gigs at the Adventurer's Guilds that were in town. They could do basic menial jobs to earn an income to pay their tuition or to pay for food and equipment.
It seemed like Sasha was one of the students that would be working.
As Alphonse and Sasha arrived in Intro to Mana Theory class again, they were met by many stares from the students.
It appears that a couple of rumors had gone around regarding the duel that happened between Lars and Alphonse the previous day in their Combat Magic class.
Thankfully, the students didn't know about the second duel that happened after that.
The class proceeded normally. Professor Veronica lectured the students regarding the formation of a Mana Core, and how to compress the mana even further. For Alphonse, this was already information that he knew.
He was much more focused on trying to come up with new spells and dueling strategies as he doodled in his notebook.
However, he occasionally met eyes with Professor Veronica, who would cast him a piercing gaze. Alphonse would take these gazes as a warning to not doodle or doze off, but nevertheless, he would eventually end up going back to doodling and imagining solutions to his proposed combat problems.
Eventually, the bell rang to dismiss the first class of the day.
But before he could leave, Alphonse was stopped by Professor Veronica.
"Student Alphonse, you are summoned to the Principal's office. Please head there instead of your next class. Professor Ashe has already been alerted that you will be missing out on Arithmetic. Professor Katy has also been alerted that you will be missing out on History."
Suddenly, the whispers of his classmates exploded. Alphonse's heart nearly stopped.