Yuki opened his eyes and saw the white ceiling of his school room. Though he was reading for hours in that library, his mind felt completely refreshed. He got up, yawning and stretching, and went to the kitchen to eat his usual cereal.

 

As he sat there munching on his breakfast, Yuki thought over the contents of the book he had read that night. It explained the way magic worked in Ethros but the writer was quite long-winded and often went on tangents. But Yuki managed to mow through the entire manuscript and could summarize it.

 

According to the book, magic was divided into elemental magic and just plain magic. Both of these magics are used in similar ways. By using mana, a user can will something to happen. The type of spells and the strength of these spells were determined by the user’s mana capacity, control, and imagination.

 

‘In order for a spell to take effect, the user must have an understanding of what it is they want to do,’ Yuki thought. ‘It’s like using the elements.’

 

Elemental magic was limited by the affinities of a person and their imaginations while normal magic was only limited by the latter. However, elemental magic was considerably stronger in combat as it could directly change nature and was normally faster to cast. Normal magic had more practical applications.

 

In the book, Yuki also saw a multitude of circles that were inscribed with characters that Yuki could somehow read. These drawings were called spells by the author. According to the author, these spells are the written form of a magician’s imagination. Instead of imagining what it is one wanted and pouring mana in hopes that it works, one could remember the spell and pour mana into it. This can be done verbally with a chant or through the use of a magic circle.

 

There was a book on how these spells worked, but Yuki didn’t have time to read it.

 

‘I’ll try to do it tonight,’ Yuki decided. ‘I wonder if it could teach how to create spells. That would be very helpful.’

 

Yuki finished his meal and went to shower. After he finished that, he changed his clothing and headed out for his homeroom.

 

As he walked toward the Main Hall, Yuki looked at the schedule that was sent to him the night before. It seemed that today was going to be the first real day of class. It went from homeroom to General Magic then Combat Training and finally Support Magic. Homeroom was thirty minutes. All three of the other classes took two hours and seemed to encompass a large variety of topic. There was a lunch break of one hour after Combat Training.

 

‘Support magic seems to be my class specific course,’ Yuki thought. ‘I kind of just want to read today.’

 

He arrived at the Main Hall and sat down at his seat in the corner of the room. Most of the students that were there had their spirit beasts with them. Seconds after Yuki’s arrival, Nataru entered and the class began.

 

“Welcome to your second day at the Academy,” Nataru started. He put a tablet on top of his desk and tapped on it. A holographic screen appeared above it with some lines of text on it. “Today’s plan is quite easy. We will be bonding those of you that found a spirit beast with your partners. The process is quite simple and shouldn’t take too long of time. Thirty minutes is ample time to do everyone.”

 

Nataru gestured to a dwarven boy that near him to come up. The boy walked up with what looked to be a normal squirrel except for the small horn that jutted out of its forehead.

 

“I will demonstrate to you the process and try my best to explain what happens during it,” Nataru said. “What’s your name, child?”

 

“Ethan,” the boy whispered nervously.

 

“Alright, Ethan. Hand me your spirit beast, first.”

 

Ethan gave Nataru the squirrel with shaky hands.

 

“Next, touch your spirit beast. Anywhere is fine,” Nataru instructed.

 

The boy held out his hand lightly touched the head of the squirrel.

 

“Good. Now I will recite to you the bonding spell,” Nataru said. “When I tell you, you will repeat the spell but with mana. Do you understand?”

 

Ethan nodded.

 

“Okay!” Nataru said happily, “Then let’s get started.”

 

He opened his mouth and began to recite the spell.

 

I call upon the mana of this world to bond me to this spirit beast with a magical bond where I will have my feelings shared and receive feelings from this spirit beast that I will bear responsibility for this spirit beast and protect it and if I ever break my promise then this bond will be broken and the spirit beast will be set free.

 

‘That’s the spell?’ Yuki thought to himself. ‘Why is it so long and redundant? And why does it sound so bad? I wouldn’t want to recite that.’

 

Yuki glanced around to observe the reactions of the other students and was met with impressed looks and wide-open eyes.

 

‘They’re impressed? But the spell sounds horrible.’

 

A theory appeared in Yuki’s mind.

 

‘Wait, maybe they don’t understand what the spell says?’ Yuki thought. ‘Maybe it sounds impressive if you don’t understand it. But then why can I understand it?’

 

Yuki’s thoughts were interrupted by a flash of light. He looked up and saw that it came from the hand of the dwarven boy whose mouth was moving. It seemed like the boy and started the spell.

 

In front of the boy’s hand that was on the head of the squirrel, a glowing green circle was being etched into the air. As the boy recited more of the spell, runes began to be inscribed on the rings of the circle. These runes slowly grew lines between each other, connected them, and began to become brighter. As the spell was ending, two shining tendrils grew out of the circle and connected the boy and the squirrel in a bright flash. Then the circle dissipated and everything was normal again.

 

“Great job, Ethan,” Nataru praised. “You did it on your first try. Now your spirit beast is bonded to you. You can feel it, right?”

 

Ethan nodded, his hand rubbing his chest.

 

“I feel something connecting me,” he whispered. “I also felt like I was burning when I was doing the spell.”

 

“Where?” Nataru asked.

 

“My chest.”

 

“Don’t worry, that’s part of the process,” Nataru explained. “You now have a bond mark on your chest. The location differs from each person.”

 

The boy nodded, and Nataru sent him back to his seat. Then Nataru called up the next person to be bonded.

 

‘A bond mark,’ Yuki repeated. ‘Is it like the one between me and Akira?’

 

[You called?] Akira piped up out of the blue.

 

‘You’re awake?’

 

[That’s rude,] Akira pouted. [I don’t always sleep the whole day. That’s only sometimes.]

 

‘Okay. Is a spirit beast bond mark the same as the one between us?’ Yuki asked her.

 

[No. It’s similar but the one between us is stronger and more complete,] Akira answered, her tone becoming more businesslike. [Us talking like this is proof of that.]

 

‘If it’s similar, is that why I didn’t get a spirit beast?’

 

[Most likely. The beasts probably felt my presence connected to you and assumed correctly that you were already taken. But I’m not all to sure what exactly our bond mark is yet. I just know it’s stronger.]

 

‘I see,’ Yuki said. Then he switched topics. ‘How is your research going?’

 

[I’m getting somewhere but I still need some more time to get everything straightened out,] Akira replied. [Speaking of which, I should probably do that. You can focus on class and tell me everything tonight.]

 

‘Alright, see you later.’

 

With that, Akira disconnected and Yuki returned his attention to the classroom. As he looked back up, he noticed the gaze of the girl from two days ago on him. When he glanced back at her, she quickly turned away and returned her focus onto Nataru.

 

‘I wonder what that was,’ Yuki thought before doing what she did and refocusing on the teacher.

 

He watched as the same spell was casted over and over again by the various students. Some of them succeeded on their first attempts. Other had to do multiple takes for the bond to be created.

 

Then the last student of the class did the bonding spell. The circled flared into existence, the bond was created, and the magic disappeared. This time, the bond mark was visible. Yuki could see it on the back of the student’s hand. It was a simple black outline of the person’s spirit beast, this time a small blue sparrow.

 

‘It’s considerably less complicated than the one I have,’ Yuki remarked. ‘I see why they’re not the same.’

 

The teacher returned the student back to their desk and turned back to the class.

 

“That is going to be all for today,” Nataru announced to them. “Please know that your spirit beast is your responsibility. You must take care of it as if it was a precious member of your family. And you are responsible for any of its actions.”

 

He glanced at the watch on his wrist.

 

“We have a little a time so I would like to inform you all on something,’ Nataru said. “The schedule that you just received today will be your schedule for the first half of the year. We at the Academy expect every student to be punctual and to follow the schedule that we give. If you cannot attend for whatever reason you must inform us beforehand. Is that understood?”

 

The students nodded.

 

“Good,” Nataru said with satisfied grin on his face. He looked at his watch again. “And now class is ending. I hope you students enjoy your classes here.”

 

He looked up at them and the bell started to ring.

 

“Class is dismissed.”