Chopech does his best to remain calm as Professor Ig pauses to allow the class to make notes; his expectations for Logan aren’t high, but he at least hopes he’ll avoid making a fool of himself twice in the same lecture.

When the [Hero] simply begins drawing on a sheet of scrap parchment rather than taking notes or asking a relevant question he finds himself both relieved and disappointed.

Something about that deeply bothers Chopech however, here in the most prestigious university in several kingdoms surrounded by children half his age or younger, Logan is doodling what appears to be an idealized version of himself; the image of him displaying prominent abdominal muscles and a collection of scantily clad women clinging to him as he holds a sword aloft.

Somehow this simpleton understood a great many concepts yet had massive holes in his knowledge that he made no effort to fill.

Before he could contemplate much more, Professor Ig resumes the class.

“Now, I believe that's enough time for notes, I will now answer any questions you might have.”

The class springs to life and the first hand raised is a noble’s child, Chopech is perhaps slightly negligent in his understanding of current high society power structures but even he can recognize the crest of House Ariel on the boy’s cuff link.

“Ah, Piers Ariel, go ahead.”

“What sort of abilities and skills use Mana Vitae?”

“This is where things get quite exciting; nearly every ability, spell, or skill relating to physical prowess theoretically draws on Mana Vitae in some form or another!

“Some good examples of abilities common to several classes that draw on Mana Vitae would be [Scarlet Slash], [Greater Endurance], [Second Wind], and [Rallying Cry].”

“Using cutting edge advances in thaumaturgic observational equipment and recording, we’ve been able to analyze and capture what happens to the mana flow inside and around individuals using these skills right here at the university.”

Professor Ig’s excitement rises as he claps twice, summoning a shimmering illusory mist that takes the shape of a knight in armour. It would almost be mistakable for the real thing if not for the fuzzy edges and the drifting wisps of insubstantial smoke that rise from it every now and then.

“This is a simulacrum of a [Royal Knight] who was kind enough to volunteer for our observations, I’m going to play back some recordings of each ability in use with and without an overlay displaying mana flow and I’d like you to take notes and make observations.”

“[Scarlet Slash]!” Cries out the phantasm as it draws it’s blade and swings, sending a crackling red line of energy towards the assembled students with frightening speed where contrary to expectations it dissipates into more of that violet dreamlike smoke.

It’s easy to separate out the children of martial families by seeing who doesn’t jump in shock; Logan for example does not manage to stay still in his seat. While amusing in the moment, the sight of the [Hero] leaping behind him does not fill Chopech with a great amount of confidence in his future prospects.

“Ah, apologies, please do remain calm everyone; as I stated before this is merely an illusory simulacrum. Lets watch that in slow motion while observing the flow of mana now… and perhaps with a lower volume.”

In a swirl of periwinkle smoke, the figure resets to its standing position and repeats the actions at a turtle’s pace; a swirling green energy rises from within it’s stomach, swirling down and bracing its legs before gathering up in the arms and hands.

Professor Ig pauses the construct as it winds up that same horizontal slash and steps in front to speak.

“Now this is very important, at this point the mana is gathering at the corporeal barrier, to pass this point safely at this concentration it requires a concrete Aspect; we will go over that in greater detail in another lecture but I thought it prudent to mention it now.”

As the illusion resumes, the wispy green material representing Mana Vitae changes in color and texture to a jagged black and red that floods the blade of the sword and then as the blade moves in an arc is drawn out into a line that sweeps forward.

“So, for those of you having trouble following along; the mana first reinforces and makes adjustments to the knight’s stance before gathering and then being aspected and emitted with the sword as a focus.”

“Specifically the ability [Scarlet Slash] acts as an organized pattern of motion for the mana to follow, one provided as template by The System allowing it to be repeated with ease.”

“Again however, I’m moving away from the primary subject at hand; Mana Vitae in this case acts to reinforce a proper technical strike and empower it to strike at range.”

The class comes alive with the sound of quills and charcoal scratching over parchment and vellum as the professor details a number of related concept, meanwhile Logan appears to have started applying light and shadow to his masterpiece.

“Lets move on to our next example, [Greater Endurance].”

The knight shifts and melts into a different position and a new cloud of illusory smoke gathers to form the shape of a fully loaded wagon.

“Now, our volunteer for the observations was quite the capable knight with a Might of 73 before buffs; the numbers that define our physical and mental capabilities are often hard to contextualize, so for this example we used a wagon loaded with close to 800 Kilograms of water in barrels bringing the total weight to approximately 1000 Kilograms.”

The awe in the eyes of the students is visible as the phantasmal knight bends over and with a display of extreme effort lifts the entire wagon over his head. This gets Logan’s attention who casually remembers his own Might being 110.

“Normally a feat of strength such as this could only last for a few moments, but our volunteer maintained this display for a full 35 minutes before relenting using the passive Skill [Greater Endurance] at level 4”.

“I will display the flow of mana over a time lapse, watch carefully now.”

The green energy shifts and flows throughout the knight’s body, concentrating itself around his lungs, heart, spine, and several muscle groups in the legs and arms; pulsing in time with his breathing and flashing every now and then as the knight adjusts his footing or grip.

“The exact processes of this Skill in action are not entirely understood, but what we believe is that the Mana Vitae is reinforcing his muscles and speeding some form of natural alchemy that occurs within the body to clear exhaustion while also regulating his breathing and the position of his hands and feet.”

“Effectively, it optimizes the body’s ability to perform feats of endurance and slows stamina consumption. This skill is notable for being one of the key combat skills trained into all [Royal Knights] in the standard regiment as well as a common one among [Farmers], [Day Laborers], [Sailors], and even in some cases [Tavern Maids].”

“A number of Skills like it provide an adjustment to the way the body moves or functions, less a template and more a series of subconscious actions or physiological process provided by The System that help convert effort into results.”

“For this next portion, our volunteer should be greatly commended for his dedication to the pursuit of knowledge.”

The wagon and straining knight disappear in a cloud of smoke, being replaced by the same knight bleeding from a wound on his arm; one severe enough to bring pallor to the faces of even children of martial families and those funded by the guild of adventurers.

Logan appears to go green around the gills and Chopech would take note of this and find humor were he not similarly made ill by the sight of the arm split open and pouring blood. The [Hero] is aghast as he considers the fact that the knights will be using real swords in next week’s training.

“Our volunteer willingly undertook this, though I do understand if you find the image gruesome. Here he has lost one quarter of his HP and has the status effect [Bleed II] causing it to drain continuously, but worry not!”

“[Second Wind!]”

The knight intones the name of the ability through grit teeth and the injury begins to scab over, the bleeding coming to a halt rapidly as he stands more firmly.

“There we are, much better! The bleeding has stopped, but it should be noted that the injury was not healed, merely mitigated. Our volunteer looks better and at the time reported most of the pain had subsided but this ability does not truly restore HP, but rather provides what we refer to as Temporary HP.”

“Once again, I find myself getting off topic, let us view the ability again while watching the flow of mana.”

The scene resets and plays out again, only this time the flow of green from the well in the knight’s stomach can be seen as it rushes up to the wound, forming around it and remaining visible rather than fading away.

“As you can see, the Mana Vitae moves to the injured portion of the body and gathers around it activating the early stages of natural healing by forcing the natural alchemy of the body to accelerate. From there it maintains a presence for three to four hours if not disturbed by more damage to the same location.”

“Lets move on to our next example, [Rallying Cry].”

This time, when the illusion reshapes itself it reforms into six knights standing in formation. One standing front and center before the other five draws his sword and shouts leading the others to join him in vigorous cry and rush forward before they freeze in place and Professor Ig continues speaking.

“Now, this Ability is more difficult to perceive without mana so you will have to take my word that all six of them have received at least a 35% boost to their Attributes, one of the highest on record amongst the [Royal Knights].”

“Lets take a moment and observe the flow of mana once more.”

The scene replays, though this time a complex webbing of strings seems to connect all six knights. As their leader inhales in preparation for his shout, the green mist representing Mana Vitae gathers in his chest before exploding outward with his vocalization as a yellow orange fire that trails along the threads linking them together and wreathing all six in the changed energy.

“Now, you may have noticed some differences this time. Similar to [Scarlet Slash] the mana was gathered, aspected, and emitted, but in this situation the knights voice acted as the focus and the direction of it was provided those threads you saw linking them together.”

“The clever among you have no doubt pieced together that the six of them were in a Party together. That ability, [Rallying Cry], provides support to the entire party of its user; raising morale to shake off mental debuffs, increasing Attributes temporarily, and similar to Second Wind, providing Temporary HP.”

“For those of you unaware of Party mechanics, it is a means by which a group of no more than six individuals bind themselves together to for faster communication, shared experience gain, and to allow buffs such as [Rallying Cry] to be shared.”

“While we were originally intending to display that final feature of the ability, the knight captain requested that we not apply injury to his charges again, so you will have to take my word for it once more. It is a shame as I was hoping to display to all of you every observable process.”

“No matter, for now I will continue; [Rallying Cry] also sometimes known as [Rallying Shout] is a requisite ability within the [Royal Knights] for any hoping to obtain a leadership position within the corps due to its extreme utility at almost any point in combat. The combination of a buff, a dismissal of mental debuffs, and temporary healing makes it a powerful ability indeed.”

“Now, I believe I’ve spent enough time on this question, lets move on to another.”

Several more hands shoot up together and Hieronymus seems pleased by the engagement; he scans the room before selecting one Iitur Faran, scion of one of the wealthiest merchant houses in Malcordis.

“Professor, could you tell us about the rarer uses for Mana Vitae? My father trades in [Skill Crystals] and [Ability Crystals] and he said the rarer ones were more valuable.”

“Of course! There are a number of exceeding rare Abilities and Skills that have been recorded as using Mana Vitae, some bordering on unique. Unfortunately not many of Very Rare or higher have been observed with the same detail as the previous four but using our current observations we can make a number of suppositions regarding them.”

"[Diamond Hide] for example is believed to work in a manner similar to [Body of Iron], reinforcing the user against injury; by the way young Faran, should your father come into possession of an [Ability Crystal] containing [Diamond Hide], please inform him that the university will pay handsomely to have it."

“It is known that a number of these abilities and skills are found exclusively in the arsenal of [Heroes]; [Relentless Endurance] for example is theorized to be a higher tier equivalent of [Greater Endurance]. According to records dating back five ages, this Skill gave the [Hero] Iksur Nal Malcordis the endurance necessary to do battle with the [Demon Emperor] for two weeks without rest.”

“This was the same [Demon Emperor] that emerged and claimed nearly half of the lands under Malcordian rule at the time, some of which still have yet to be reclaimed despite six crusades.”

“But listen to me prattle on, this is a lecture on the subject of magic, not history.”

“I believe we have time for one more question before we move on.”

Several more hands raise and Professor Ig seems to consider his choice carefully before selecting Novan, one of the sponsored children from the adventurer’s guild and a surprisingly studious rising star.

“Professor, is there a connection between Mana Vitae and health, or stamina? It seems odd that you’ve not mentioned those.”

“Ah, young Novan, ever ahead of the curve; a fantastic question!

“Now, I was planning to address this closer to the end of the lecture but when faced with such curiosity I can’t resist a short tangent.”

“Almost no skill, spell, or ability uses one variety of mana exclusively, rather they combine together to form the resources known as HP, MP, and ST-- Health, Mana, and Stamina. Mana Vitae is a component of both HP, and ST, representing physical vigor.”

“In truth, when a Skill or Ability uses Mana Vitae it is in fact using a bit of Mana Spiritus or Mana Animus as well, though more often the latter. We will go into further specifics at the end of the lecture. For the time being please take some time to share notes amongst one another while I recover my mana for the demonstrations in the next portion of the lecture in which we address Mana Animus.”

With that he casually walks casually over to his desk and lights up a pipe smoking a combination of herbs that stimulate mana production as the students begin moving about and comparing information but more often simply gushing over their excitement about being able to use some of the abilities.

A few students approach Chopech and Logan for a moment but turn away when they see the ‘artful’ depiction filling the [Hero]’s parchment in place of any meaningful notes.

Roxyreads

So, here's part two of the lecture coming at you with a lot more info to dump on your head!

Don't worry if this isn't really your thing, we'll have more action oriented fun in tomorrow's full chapter!