The next day, Ray woke up after a good night of sleep. After coming back from hunting and eating, both he and Cù went back to the dormitory and watched anime together until they judged that it was getting late and decided to go to sleep.
Sincerely, Ray never thought he was going to enjoy so much going with someone on a short outing like this. He was never one to socialize, as one could guess, he had met few people he was actually on talking terms with in his old life. So, being able to spend time with Cù and Tiana in that way felt really comforting.
Still, today was another day, and unlike yesterday, they were going to get their first real class, Introduction to the Hero Course, IHC, for short.
On their way to class, Ray took a peek at the program. IHC is meant to last only one semester. It was an introductory class meant to acclimate the new students to what it meant to enroll in the Hero Course and what duties were expected from a hero.
Of course it was also meant to explain certain parts of the rest of the classes of the course, adding onto the knowledge they imparted.
In a sense, it was a support class.
According to what Tiana had shared on the day before, the teacher was an ex-member of the Great Table.
The Great Table was apparently a sort of gentleman's club, famous for its founding right at the start of the modern era. They were also greatly known for once harboring the most blasphemous noble of the modern age, Gustav Pecado.
And this was relatively recent. Although the club was still in operation, a lot of members left, afraid of being linked to his nefarious deeds.
From slavery, drug trafficking, treason, murder, arson, bribery, attempted regicide, sexual abuse, human trafficking, the poisoning of the late Queen, and other crimes.
It was natural to not want to be associated with such a guy. Using their influence, many of the nobles that belonged to that club erased any evidence of their association.
Thinking about it, how was one supposed to believe such a rumor? If the teacher was indeed a former member of the Great Table, then why was word still going around his involvement with it?
Still, the class he was to teach would prove extremely valuable to properly understand the inner workings of the Hero Course and to understand exactly what a hero did in their day-to-day work.
What Ray knew was what the public was privy to. That being the fact that heroes were those that had the duty to protect the citizens of humanity from magical beasts and the remaining monsters from the past Age of Monsters.
Named after the great title of Gideon and others before him, the dream of all heroes was to one day be a Hero, if that made sense at all.
So Ray found it funny that the New Hero was indeed a future hero that was currently studying in this academy.
Finally reaching the classroom without arriving late, everyone sat on their seats patiently waiting for their new teacher.
Without any input, they all sat down at the seats they had previously chosen the day before.
And without a single second passing from the instant the clock reached the appointed hour, the doors to the class opened, and with that a young man entered the room.
Ray had to say it was rare to see a man so... beautiful?
With long, straight green hair that reached his knees, red eyes that translated no emotion, and robes that were clearly made of the finest silk.
"Good Morning, Special Class."
His voice was not loud, he did not scream or raise his voice after all, and yet, his voice seemed to carry towards the eight students.
None of them answered, some intimidated by the aura of absolute authority emanating from him, others just didn't care, cough cough, Jynn.
Seeing the lack of response from the students, the new teacher frowned slightly before returning to his stoic expression and moved on, seemingly not bothered at all.
He took some time taking some things from his bag, namely some physical materials as well as a computer that he connected to the magical projector of the classroom.
Not long after, an image with the emblem of the Uclaria Academy was projected onto the special board.
"I am Professor Caius, professional hero, graduate of this very academy, holder of the rank 357 of the Hero Association Global Ranking, and head of the Virtude Family."
He looked at every single one of the students, his eyes landing on Ray for an extra second before moving on.
"I will be your teacher for the class, Introduction to the Hero Course, as well as a few others in the future."
Crossing his arms behind his back, he addressed the students.
"I will only accept the utmost level of respect, dedication, and discipline that is expected from the Special Class. I will not admit that this class ignores these three principles. Am I understood?"
Silence fell for a moment, leading him to once again glare.
""Yes, Professor!""
Most students folded and answered.
"Good. In this class, I will be entrusted to introduce you to the duties you are required to have as heroes, as well as the things that you will have to learn and master before graduating. I don't have to remind you of how high the expectations for this class are, right?"
""No, Professor.""
Seemingly more pleased with their behavior, he sent a pulse of mana through his computer, and the image on the projection changed, revealing a large diagram that illustrated the various energies of the world.
"Being from the Special Class, some of you from high-class noble houses, you surely know of most of these powerful energies."
He pointed to the center of the diagram where natural energy, physical energy, mental energy, and soul power were identified.
"In this academy, these energies are some of the most focused of this diagram. Learning how to manipulate mana and aura—you already know how to do that, we aim to make improvements on a fundamental level that cannot be reached by simply training those energies and is achieved by the development of the energies that make them up."
Using a laser pointer, he highlighted the mental energy.
"Some of you might not even recognize mental energy as one of the fundamental energies of our world's system of supernatural power. However, by refining mental energy, we get . . ."
The laser pointer pointed at another energy that was depicted a little away from the center, Intent.
". . . Intent. Although some magical families are more familiar with this term, at your age the probability of you guys even having been educated on this power is very low. That is why Intent is one of the biggest focuses of Uclaria Academy, the only Academy in the world that teaches this power. Normally this is Second year material, but you are the Special Class, your program is different, and so, starting this week, you will already start learning about it, both in this class and in Combat Theory and Combat Practice."
With a simple click, he moved on to the next slide. It was a simple one with a bit of text and the huge title, "How does one refine Mental Energy?"
"The way to refine mental energy is thought. Every time you think of something, you're mobilizing and, at the same time, momentarily refining mental energy. When you consciously move a part of your body, you are unconsciously using intent in its primal state."
The next slide showed up, with an illustration of a magic circle.
"When creating magic circles in the air, one must use their Intent to stabilize their effort. When teaching magic, a lot of tutors and mentors do not mention Intent at all and instead make their students follow certain meditations or mental preparations in order to unconsciously bring out their intent into the mix."
He moved closer to everyone's seats.
"But what if you could control your Intent? What uses could you give it? That is what you are going to learn both here and in CT (Combat Theory) and CP (Combat Practice)."
He turned around, lifted his laser pointer, and . . .
'He is infusing his Intent on it? That is Possible?'
Among the class, only two people were able to pick up what the teacher had done, Ray and Cù Sith. Ray had once been a Monster, that is, a corrupted magical beast, and those were unbelievably sensitive to intent. While Cù, due to the Nature of his unique affinity, also possessed senses that could easily sense Intent.
The laser pointer was suddenly outlined by an ethereal white light that matched its contours perfectly. As if not noticing the change on the pointer, Professor Caius threw the pointer in the direction of the computer.
As it was about to hit the back of the monitor, it suddenly twisted its course and changed directions. It passed above the monitor and made a dive in the direction of one of the keys in the keypad.
Click
The Slide changed, this one with the title...
"The Uses of Intent"
**************
Author's Notes: One more Chapter. Introducing another power system to the world, hope you enjoyed the chapter and comprehend everything, leave any questions in the coments.
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