END Initiated...

*Gossip gossip*

Walking by the rowdy bunch, Kiel arrived at the place he was too longing to go. Although he was still feeling down because of the recent events, Kiel now had a deep urgency to grow stronger. Not only to achieve his dreams but also to protect the place that has now become his home in the new world.

Arriving at the Governmental Institution, Kiel saw a big building in such a vast expanse, that Kiel thought that he was back at Cambridge University, which he had previously been studying.

A huge gate opened up and came from inside was an old man with an all smiling and comforting face, to welcome them. The man seemed to be the very incarnation of a very average senior citizen, which could be found in every corner, but Kiel noticed that the man had a deep sentiment around him, which was rather odd. And as they all reached the gate, the man addressed everyone.

"Welcome! Welcome to you all for arriving at the Western Midnight Institute of Mana Research or WMIMR, in short as everyone knows. I assume that everyone had a safe journey. I am the Chief of the Western Wing here. And without wasting much of your time, I would like you all to form four queues here, to properly allow me to provide you all with a brief overview of what you all will find out this week."

(A/N: pronounce WMIMR as wimir)

The old man paused for a bit as the kids hurriedly assembled themselves into four rows.

" Good. I know most of you are from poor backwater families, without much knowledge of magic, and are very eager to learn how to cast a spell yourself. But we won't teach you about magic or how it works here. That's what those academies are for. However, in this one week course, we will introduce you all to mana and the basic elements for your forthcoming test. We will also acquaint you to the distinct spheres of professionals related to magic so that you all can have a better understanding of your future path. Well, that's all from me. Now you all can enter the main room in the Institute in rows to step into your next phase of life."

Listening to the old man speaking about the various games of magic, the kids were as excited as they ever could be. After all, it was their first time to learn about mana and magic stuff. Before this, they had seen all their families and kins performing magic spells and numerous other tricks, and all they could do was admire everything with curious eyes. They were not even permitted to touch or even interact with mana rich articles. But now they were going to take their first step into the new phase of their life.

Witnessing the excitement of all the little kids, Kiel felt a little amused. He felt that he has come back to his kindergartens. The excitement seething in the air,  the old stoic man in the front, the big classroom which appeared to be very dull, reminded him of the various schools of his previous life. But it was even more like those medical facilities we're children we're isolated for examining. 

While everyone was busy feeling the rush to start their new life while walking over to get their own seats, Kiel was more inclined to find out what really happened to him these days, and found himself a seat in a relatively rear spot. For the moment he left those unsettling thoughts behind and focused on something more productive. To help himself gather knowledge. 

Kiel had already been a regular to the library these past few days and hence had been gathering knowledge about this world and its various heritages and also asking his Aunt about various things in the city. He had managed to find out that this was not the only mana education centre as this town had two facilities supporting this endeavour, because of the large number of kids coming to the city to test their mana grades.  One was in the Central region and the other was in the Western regions of the province. Kiel appeared to have come to the central one as he was close to this one.

However, he didn't find that chatterbox Niyaas while coming here.

'Maybe he is in the western facility, as he was close to that one'

Kiel didn't sit quietly though, as he was observing everything around him. He saw kids with lower to mid status everywhere, with only one or two richer kids. However, children from wealthy and influential families seemed to be missing. The air around them, their manners and their clothes, Kiel observed everything, as they obviously gave them origins. Although Kiel didn't judge anyone by their looks; looks were basic to gather information about the other party.

'Maybe they have a different facility for those wealthy like in my world' 

Waking up Kiel from his reverie was a loud voice from the front, as he looked up to the man in front, and so did the other kids.

"Ahem ahem!! Have you all settled down??"

Watching a similar old man to the previous one come up, Kiel started observing him too. But this time finding that there was no depth to this man like the previous one, he soon lost his interest.

"Good,  now that you all have settled down, Let me introduce myself. I am Jacob Hearth, a professor in the mana research division. Nice to meet you all."

"So as the Director was talking about, I will introduce you to Mana. But before that let's get an idea about what you all think mana is! So anyone up?"

"Hmm. You!"

"Sir magic is actually the flashy thing my parents do which conjures objects out of thin air!!"

"Well… not quite the answer I wanted. Oh, that's another one. Let's see yes you can speak!"

"Sir magic is influencing the mana around us to meet our needs depending on our situations."

"Hmm. That was quite a good one. Anyone else?"

One by one, several kids raised their hands to show their understanding of mana. Kiel, however, was sitting in one of the empty benches at the back, with his right hand supporting his chin observing everything around him. He was never one to get attention for himself, and although he had a lot of theories, he preferred to keep quiet, rather than have all eyes on him. So he just brought himself to amus.e.m.e.nt by the silly thoughts of kids, while searching for some potential contenders. 

"Well, that's enough. Now after taking in everyone's thought about it, I can tell most of you have little to no idea what magic actually is. So that means I have to start from the basics. "

"Hmm… you all know that we are living in a world named Styia, and our sun Sirius?"

Seeing the kids nodding, Jacob resumed. 

"Great. So, the world called Styia we live in is considered a medium-sized world. Our Magis have found out that, as a medium-sized world, Styia can tap into the excess cosmic energy, that would be often lost in the small-sized worlds. This cosmic energy is what we know now as mana."

Pausing for a bit, and looking at the blank face of most of the kids, Jacob sighed. 'What you expect from country bumpkins'. Knowing that most people want to become mages without even knowing the basics, Jacob felt a little depressed, as one of the magi, who spent their lives researching about the origins of magic.

"I know what I said didn't interest most of you, but you all should know about this stuff to have better control over your magic and spells in the future, as the kingdom's education minister included this in everyone's study.

Now continuing onwards, mana is the energy that Styria had tapped into from the cosmic entities, and what we do is use this energy to accommodate ourselves to influence the mana around us.

To better understand the concept of mana, let us think about lighting a fire from wood. What do we actually do? Pile some dry woods, light a match to ignite the woods, and there we go we have a fire. 

Think of mana in the same way. The woodpile is like the mana that you store in your body from the outside world. While the fire can be considered a spell. All we need to do is create a catalyst from our own internal mana to influence the external mana. That's what mana control is all about. Easy peasy right? 

But the most important thing is still your imagination acting as a catalyst. Like if you add some oil in the woodpile, the fire would be much larger, or if you add wood to an already burning pile. The catalyst depends on how you use your mana to influence the mana around you. And the way the flame actually enlarges is the acknowledgement of the world to you! Yes as I said before the magic is the recognition of the world towards you. So put it in a lot of work if you want to grow someone strong."

The lesson continued on as Kiel assimilated all the new stuff that he learnt today. A lot of things were new to him and it ignited the scientist in him to kindle out, as unknowingly his iris soon started glowing with a dim crimson

 Noticing the kids around, Kiel remembered those times of his school where most didn't understand the topic taught and had the same blank expression on their faces or pretending to understand without knowing what was happening. Kiel was having the same feeling now.

" Now that you all understand mana, Magic is nothing but a way to traverse this path of mana to unravel more of the world's mysteries.

Remember kids, there's a famous quote in the magical world. Everything is based on exchange and every exchange has a price. So never give up when you are stuck somewhere because you have not given up the right price of what you want."

This time Jacob saw a few kids responding to him, but still, most of them were awfully quiet. 'Sigh seems like teaching these illiterates is quite a hassle'

"After talking about so much, you all may be thinking, what is this world man talking about, I have not signed in here for this. I want to grow stronger. That's why I am here. Now did I read your little minds there? 

Hehe… so let me tell you about that too. After knowing what is magic, the main question that may come in your mind, we'll if you actually think, is how to use the vast energy around us right?

 Hmm… the answer to this question is pretty simple- elements. That's the right elements.

We can't use or take in the manna directly from around us, as it contains many other forms of energy that may even be harmful to us. So we only take in the form that we have an affinity to. And this affinity is what we get from elements. Elements separate the pure mana into a simple osmosed form which can be assimilated by us without harming our body. We don't use the mana from around us, we only absorb the purified mana from the elements around us. And this purified mana used by everyone even has a name in its own- prana. 

You all can think of it like this. Suppose you are thirsty, but there's only a muddy pond in front of you. The muddy water can be compared to mana and the water inside hence will be the prana.

You will definitely not drink water directly from it right? That explains why no one can take in the direct mana. Or you can if you want to. Then you have to take care of yourself.

But the water is still there inside. And we can consume it directly if we manage to extract it. Extraction of this water has to be done before consuming it. Elements are actually the tools you use to secure your prana. And how you use your tools is your imagination in using your mana.

However, we can still use this muddy water for external uses, right? This is influencing the external mana, for our own usage.

And we may not need the muddy water, but many animals find their food insides, while some may use the mud for other purposes. This is what it means by everyone has a different affinity with elements, creating a gentle system in itself if discovered properly"

As Jacob continued his lecture, his eyes became even more enthusiastic as he described his findings to the kids. But seeing the non-passionate looks of most of the kids, his passion soon died down.  But he still continued.