The Royal Academy always had a unique scent to it; some fusion of chalk dust, ink, tobacco smoke, and ozone resulting from the four most common pastimes that occurred within its walls. 

Chopech took a deep calming breath of that air, the comforting scent of arcane and academic practice working the stress from his bones more surely than any wine might. He had to savor this moment of serenity, they’ve been rarer in recent days and had a habit of disappearing quickly.

The sound of chalk against slate and quill on paper rang through the common chamber, uninterrupted until a recognizable voice interrupted all of it; a voice Chopech had come to hate over the past several weeks.

“Ugh, this place smells like someone used a nursing home as an ashtray.”

Pushing down the urge to publicly strangle the [Hero], he responds the only way he can,“Yes, it does have a unique aroma to it doesn’t it?”

Silently Chopech considers what the consequences would be for killing Logan; he’d been shackled to the blonde idiot for some time now and every waking moment has been an exercise in patience.

“Yeah, why are we here though? Gerta at The Black Wyvern said she wanted me to ‘visit’ her during her lunch break if you catch my drift and it’s almost noon.”

“We’re here so you can learn about Mana and possibly start casting magic. You have two classes that should allow you to learn some magic and you won’t be capable of using them to their fullest unless you have a basic education on the subject.”

Halfway through that sentence, Chopech recognizes the light of attention fluttering away from Logan’s face and more confusingly sees a twitch of his lips as he silently mouths the word ‘skip’; a habit that not one other person has mentioned observing and one that took some time to comprehend.

One of the [Hero]'s long winded drunken explanations of the wonders of home had provided the necessary context, he was imagining pressing a button to move on with the conversation more quickly.

He did this often.

Moving Logan into position was like coaxing a cat, but the implication of using magic along with a display of prowess was enough to maintain his presence if not his full attention.

Now the pair sat at the back of a grand lecture hall, awaiting the esteemed and famously eccentric Professor Hieronymus Ig.

Thankfully the [Hero] was at least silent as he stared into the middle distance; that was as much as Chopech could hope for given his usual state of being.

Pushing the frustrations out of his mind, the beleaguered [Saint Hierophant] instead took a look around at the rest of those in attendance; they were ostensibly the brightest minds in Malcordis, but in practice they were merely the children of the wealthiest pockets or most noble lineages.

The Royal Academy, despite its name, was only tenuously related to the Royal Faction currently and was practically an independent institution since the reforms; it still however managed to be perhaps the most exclusive institution in several kingdoms.

Merchants, nobles, children of wealthy adventurers made up the bulk of the class, but a select few sponsored by The Church or The Adventurer’s Guild from the less privileged but exceptionally skilled were peppered in amongst them; all easily identifiable by the quality of their clothing.

His attention is brought to the front of the class as a voice as dry as sand speaks, one recognizable even through the light susurration of impatient students.

“Apologies, it seems I’d stepped into the wrong lecture hall. Good day to all of you class, I am Professor Hieronymus Ulfagalen Schtoraban Ig; for ease and speed, please refer to me as Professor Ig.”

A flick of his wrist sends a collection of chalk sticks whizzing through the air before they artfully scribe his name on the black slate; of course each time he gave his name the only constants were a first name of Hieronymus and a last name of Ig, every other portion of it was prone to change or exclusion at a whim.

The class was awed at his effortless use of magic without chant, focus, or preparation; Chopech smiled seeing the starry eyed first year students gawk and frowned as he noticed the lack of reaction from Logan.

“Today’s lesson is on the principle forms of Mana, their properties, and their uses as they are understood by modern scholars.”

“Allow me to ask an open question to all of you, can any of you identify the most basic forms of mana for me?”

Logan’s hand snaps up like a whip crack at the chance to speak; his desire to be the center of attention is enough to engage him in any subject it seems “Oooh, ooh, I know this one!”

“Ah yes, the enthusiastic older boy in the back, go on ahead.”

Chopech is unable to do much but shrink back in his seat and avert his gaze.

“Elemental mana, obviously; like fire, water, earth, wind, dark, and light right?”

With a face of smug superiority, Logan spat out a theory disproved close to 500 years ago; the bulk of the class reacted with either stifled laughter or disbelief, though thankfully Professor Ig maintained control of proceedings. Most amazingly, he did so without shaming Logan; at least not directly.

“Ah, while that is still a theory held by some, our school prescribes to the trinary base structural theory; the most indivisible forms of mana are...”

The flying chalk was quick to scribe as he spoke

“... Mana Vitae--The Mana of Life, Mana Spiritus--The Mana of Spirit, and Mana Animus--The Mana of Thought.”

“These three act in concert to allow the use of magic, and as some theorize, perhaps even the existence of of our world.”

“Now, as I can see perhaps some of us have not had the benefit of reading Olkan’s Primer over winter break, I will simply explain them directly rather than relying on open questions to the class.”

Professor Ig pointedly does not look in Logan's direction while saying this, but in doing so makes it obvious exactly who he is speaking of.

“Mana Vitae is the variety that many of you may be most aware of, as it is often used as a measure of how fertile a particular patch of land will be; or in some cases how dangerous a dungeon or wild patch of ground will be. It isn’t called ‘The Mana of Life’ without reason, it suffuses all living things and to a degree even once living things and is connected by some theories to the goodness in food.”

"It is in fact a noted principle of monster products that they degrade and fall to rot at a much slower rate; a cut of meat from a mountain dragon can persist in freshness for well over a month even in the absence of refrigeration or preservatives and hides from high level beasts have been noted not to sour for longer; a boon to adventurers collecting materials over a long period of time without the capability to treat or store them."

“It’s unclear exactly how Mana Vitae is produced, though it is found naturally in wild or undisturbed places in great amounts. Notable health benefits have been found for extended exposure and it has been connected to accelerated increases in strength, speed, intellect and in some unsubstantiated cases an accelerated increase in Skill, Title, and Ability acquisition.”

“I however wouldn’t go out looking to camp in a region of extreme concentration for long as the extended side effects are not well documented or well understood and more pressingly humans and humanoids are not the only ones to benefit from its presence; monsters in such regions tend to be extremely robust.”

“A great many classes use Mana Vitae as their primary resource, usually those with more physical capabilities such as [Fighters], [Soldiers], [Rangers], and [Rogues], though a number of casting classes known for aligning themselves with existing natural forces make great use of it as well - [Druids], [Channelers], and [Witches] being prime examples.”

The old professor takes a moment to pause and breathe, gesturing to a number of bulleted notes written out on the board in a clean hand.

“Now I will allow time for you to take notes before we move into open questions and practical examples of Vital Mana in use.”

Spoiler

Roxyreads

Okay so, this is sort of a special dealie, a reader interaction chapter!

Its kind of experimental, but the concept is simple! If you want to know something more or something specific about Mana Vitae, just post your question in the comments and I'll work it into the next part of this Supplementary Document series!

I'm expecting this to be four or five parts long depending on interest in the subject, but go ahead and ask any questions you have and the venerable Professor Hieronymus Ig will answer them to the best of his abilities!

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