When the class was dismissed for the lunch, all of them except Phoenix looked exhausted. They reached the dining hall and found it was almost empty. They had arrived early. Or rather, they were sent to have their lunch early as, Xavier knew they would be tired and needed food to have some energy for the second half of the day.
Everyone this time filled their plates upto the brim and even took second round of food after finishing the first one.
After food, they felt like the energy in their body returning slowly. They sat their amd chatted for a few minutes before going back to the classes. By this time even thought their body felt sore, they felt energized.
Once inside the arena, they found Xavier sitting on a meditation mat in a lotus position and gestured everyone else to sit on the mats infront of him.
"Exercising your mind is also as important as you train your body. A strong body without a strong mind is a half baked cookie. Always remember to meditate for atleast an hour every day. This will calm you mind and give your body time to relax.
Before starting the meditation, let me tell you a few thing about the level of a person's power.
If you are not a magic user or atleast if not yet, you generally will be considered as Level 1. There are rare Level 2 and rarest of people in Level 3 without any magical capabilities. Those who are at Level 2 & Level 3 generally choose either to be a soldier or an adventurer. Rare few would also becomes bandits and a rare few sell Swords."
Victor raised his hand and received a nod from Master Xavier to ask his question. " Master Xavier, are you aware of anyone who had reached Level 4 or higher without any magical abilities? If we were unable to awake our magical abilities, is there a possibility for us to reach beyond level 3?" The concern was clearly visible on his face.
"Victor is it? I know from where you are getting these doubts. Let me tell you something, even if there is no magical abilities in your entire family, those who are and stays an Elite group of students here will have the maximum number of chances to have their magical abilities awakened.
And a rare few who even being an Elite student if were unable to awaken their magical abilities, will become a person with atleast a Level 3 capabilities. And as for the question you asked. Yes, we had a few Level 4 ability students who had passed out of our academy.
As I told earlier, belief and consistency is the key. You guys still have a almost couple of years to get your magical abilities awakened. Till that time put all your efforts in preparing yourself."
"Now let us meditate for an hour before we start our basic sword practice." Everyone nodded and closed their eyes and started to breath deeply and evenly.
As, many of them thought, meditating after a tiring day and with a full belly was not easy. Soon one by one started nodding their heads dozing off. Xavier smiled when he saw this, but he didn't reprimanded them. After an hour he clapped hard three time and six pairs of eyes jolted open coming out of their sleep. Phoenix on the other hand opened his eyes and breathed out slowly.
When they saw Xavier's smiling face, everyone felt embarrassed. " Hope everyone understands how difficult it is to meditate. No dozzing off from now on. Lets do a set of stretchs before starting sword practice."
All of the seven students had a solid basic foundation when it coame to combat skills and Xavier had to just correct footwork, Stan's and speed of their movement. After an hour of practice he dismissed his class, however he saw everyone approaching him changing into their normal cloths.
"Master Xavier, can you tell us the Levels of those who had awakened their magical abilities?" Niki asked.
" Whether you are at Level 2, 3 or even 4 without magical abilities, you will start from Level 1 once your magical abilities awakens. It is like taking a few step back before taking a running leap."
"You mean we will loose all our abilities and strength initially?" Kate asked.
Even though Phoenix wanted to answer, he refrained himself as it was not his place or time to answer.
" Yes and No. Yes, because once your magical ability awakens, it will initially consume your internal or you might say your own energy reserves untill the core is stable. The stability of the core depends on the person, his preparation and the effort he puts towards stabilizing his core."
"At this stage, even though you can use magic, you will consume more energy than the ones with a stable core. This process of stabilizing the core might take upto three months. Once the core is stable, you will start gathering energy into your core which will take another three to six months depending of the size of your manapool and your abilities."
"Master Xavier, when will the process of magical abilities awakening starts and can we be able to identify it ?" Fred asked.
"Usually, students starts awakening their magical abilities at the mid of the second year of the academy. A rare few might do it during the beginning of the second year of the academy. And similarly a rare few might have their magical ability awakened during the end of their final year. So don't take it to heart when you see a fellow student is faster in awakening their magical abilities compared to you. Hope and hard work are the key elements to success."
"Now off you go. Tomorrow we will meet here after breakfast and will have the training for the first half. Prof. Halls will be taking classes after the lunch. This pattern will continue for the next three months. This is a very crucial period as, this will set the foundation for your future."
"Make sure you run for atleast an hour every day in the early morning and meditate before you go to bed."
After coming out of the arena, even though they were bone tired, everyone felt exited. They all chatted for a few minutes and decided to have tea together before calling it a day and go back to their living quarters. They all knew that they have to have a good relationship with each other as they will be studying together for the next three years if nothing goes wrong.
And without social status affecting their communication, it felt quite natural that everyone felt comfortable with one another creating the bond of friendship.