Cæ was particularly invested in magic automation with even greater interest than he was in magiconomics, which he regarded as important for his goal. The fundamental form of automation was one that he had already seen before in one of his battles in the slums, where he almost died at the hands of a senior mage named the Hare of Lightning. If not for the protection of the leader of the senior magetant team, the Shield of Water, he would undoubtedly have been killed then and there by her autonomous rabbits.
"Like with the prior fundamental forms," Professor Leela continued, "you will undergo the training process for the memory model of eidos, where the fundamental form of automation will be associated with a shape. While manipulation is associated with a triangle, change is associated with a square, and conjuration is associated with a pentagon, automation will be associated with a hexagon. From this day forth, whenever you wish to conjure a spell that contains the fundamental form of automation, you need only add a hexagon as the appropriate layer in the magic circle. You will need to add the necessary tone inflections for the incantation as well if you use that mode of casting…"
She continued with a technical tone at a steady pace, which was in sharp contrast to the energetic, passionate, and enthusiastic manner of teaching as Professor Verlix. She preferred to stick to the technical facts that ensured that she remained on track and conveyed only the technically relevant information needed.
This certainly made her lectures more information-dense, but also much more boring and less appealing than Professor Verlix's style.
She spent the entirety of the different lecture simply going over the overview of automation as a magical form, ensuring that the theoretical basis of her students was entirely solid before they could move to the practical mastery.
"It should be noted that the Fundamental Form of Automation is not the same as industrial automation in the means of production in manufacturing processes," she highlighted a distinction. "Industrial automation is a field of magineering that allows for autonomous manufacturing and production. The Fundamental Form of Automation, on the other hand, is a fundamental category of eidos itself. It has to do with the very foundations of magic itself. In this class, we will cover the fundamentals of what the process of automation looks like."
Many of Cæ's first classes that day were not all that different. Although almost all the courses he had mandatorily or had chosen as electives had actual magic casting as a part of them to varying extents, all of them sought to establish a foundation of knowledge upon which all the magic would be built.
However, there was one class among all the classes he had had on his first day that began with practicals.
It was arguably the one course that Cæ was most eager for because of his affinity for it.
"Step forth."
In a large combat facility with nearly a hundred small combat arenas, a tall, muscular man with a rugged confidence about him beckoned the fearful students before him. Behind him were as many male and female combat instructors who stood in attention, as though they were in the military.
The air grew heavy despite the bright light of the afternoon Sun illuminating the combat facility as several students gulped with a terrified expression.
"Professor Mercile…?" a short girl, no more than eighteen years old, asked with a scared voice. "What is… this…?"
The middle-aged senior mage professor grinned with a hint of sadism. "Your other professors believe in hammering all of you with theory, but I beg to differ!"
BAM!
His fist slammed into his hand as his grin grew more excited.
"I prefer beating it into you."
The students shuddered.
The man was imposing physically, and given that he was the professor of the combat magic course, they knew that they stood no chance against him.
"You won't be needing your wands," he announced. "We will simply be practicing unarmed hand-to-hand combat to start with."
The students frowned at those words.
"But, professor," one boy insisted. "We came here to study advanced magical combat, not basic unarmed combat."
"Hah!" the professor grunted. "And what makes you pipsqueaks think that you're worthy of studying advanced magical combat? You will learn magical combat when I say you can!"
The force of his voice sent a wave of wincing across the crowd of students.
Cæ heaved a sigh.
He could tell that this man had undoubtedly served in the army, having inherited rough mannerisms that he had yet to unlearn for the more delicate elite talents of the Elendir Institute of Magic.
The professor, sensing the reluctance and confusion, decided to relent and supply an answer.
"Combat is like a conversation," the professor remarked. "Flow is more important than vocabulary. Being able to actually speak with a degree of fluidity is more important than knowing a lot of fancy words. The latter doesn't matter if you stumble, stutter, bite your tongue, and stammer. That is the point of acclimatizing you to more crude and rough combat. Being able to not be frozen with a fight or flight reaction is extremely important, far more so than learning fancy, advanced apprentice magic."
The students understood what he was saying in theory, but they were clearly still bummed out that they weren't going to be practicing magic from the get-go.
"Alright, step up!" he beckoned them once more, with a scary expression. "My instructors will spar with you and help you acclimate to combat over the next few months, and once all of you have reached a satisfactory level, we can get started with advanced combat magic."
"What if we reach that satisfactory level today, Professor?"
Cæ's tone was calm.
Mundane, even.
And yet, it brought a world grin on the professor's face.
"Well, if you're that confident in yourself, why don't you step up and let us all find out?" Professor Mercile spread his arms. "If you are that good, you can start advanced magic combat right away."
That was all Cæ wanted to hear.
"Deal."
His tone was relieved.
STEP
He walked into the combat arena where Professor Mercile was.
One at the very epicenter of the facility.
STEP
He arrived before Professor Mercile with a determined expression, cracking his knuckles. Professor Mercile couldn't help but grow enthused for the battle as his blood-red eyes blazed with power.
"I have heard a lot about you, young man," Professor Mercile remarked. "I'm friends with the magetants of our security teams, and they said you mopped up the low-level apprentices like a champ."
Cæ shrugged lightly.
"I gained a lot of experience."
The professor smiled. "Then let's put it to the rest."
His gaze momentarily swept across the entire crowd.
"This will serve as a demonstration. After that, you will pick an instructor and get to work."
The students gulped as their gazes shifted back between the professor and Cæ.
They didn't think that Cæ truly stood a chance against a professor of the Elendir Institute of Magic.
However, they too had heard tales about his exploits in the slum talent acquisition program, how he fought the mafia alongside the professional magetants of the Institute despite having just graduated the Apprentice Program by that point.
They heard about his victory against the genius prodigy Silian Sylvester.
They couldn't help but grow eager to watch just how well he could hold up against Professor Mercile.
"Take your stances." The dedicated proctor instructed both the professor and student.
STEP
Cæ brought both arms before him, his fists balled for action, while his right foot was positioned backward to be stable enough while also ensuring he had mobility.
It was a simple stance.
Yet it was enough.
Professor Mercile grinned as he remained standing where he was, his wild spiky red hair complementing the fierce glint in his eyes.
It didn't appear that he intended to be gentle.
The tension in the air was palpable.
The air was electric with anticipation.
"Begin!"
WHOOSH
In the blink of an eye, before the spectating students could even hold their breath, he had already crossed several meters, arriving before Cæ with a powerful fist surging towards Cæ's jaw.
It threatened to knock him out then and there.
WHOOSH
Cæ wisely ducked to evade the charged blow before his upper body coiled to unleash a powerful uppercut towards Professor Mercile's jaw.
And yet, Professor Mercile's kick was just a beat faster.
BAM!
Cæ's expression grew severe as he just barely managed to guard against the powerful blow that blasted against a hasty guard, leaving a dull pain on his forearms from the sheer force with which the professor kicked him.
The professor was just getting started, however.
He charged towards Cæ, unleashing a swift and furious barrage of attacks against Cæ, battering him with a myriad of impacts.
And yet, Cæ remained calm, evading any attacks to the head while guarding and blocking against all blows to the body, and negating each impact of the latter by shuffling and turning to negate the impact of each blow as much as he could.
His dichromatic gray eyes were wide open the entire time.
He didn't so much flinch at the heavy and terrifying blows that the professor threw at him.
He didn't even look at them.
Instead, his gaze was focused on his opponent's center of gravity.
By reading his balance, Cæ could vaguely intuit his attacks, allowing him to react to them sooner than he would otherwise.
"Impressive," Professor Mercile grinned. "But I can tell that you haven't been trained. Your form is smooth and fluid, speaking to your experience, but it is imperfect."
BAM!
Cæ winced as a sharp flash of pain emerged on his torso as the professor's fist wound through an chink in his guard.
One that Cæ didn't even know existed.
It wasn't the only one.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!
A flurry of blows converged upon him, peppering him with light bruises across his entire body. Cæ's expression grew severe as he was forced into a turtled-up defensive position as the professor expertly built momentum and tempo with a barrage of attacks.
He had no intention of becoming a punching bag, however.
He dropped his guard as he loosened his jaw, welcoming an incoming attack to his head.
BAM!
Professor Mercile's attack blasted his head, leaving the right side of it in pain.
And yet, he remained conscious.
The art of learning to eat a blow without going down was one that he had learned after countless brawls in the slums as he grew up.
It allowed him to launch a heavy blow against the professor.
His first attack of the battle.
BANG!
His eyes widened as his bare fist just blasted the professor's abdomen unguarded.
Professor Mercile had barely budged.
"Hey, not bad!" the professor grinned. "That actually ached! You do know how to throw a punch with proper form. But I'm afraid…"
His grin grew more sadistic.
"I'm afraid it's not enough."
Cæ's eyes widened as he leaped back, just barely avoiding a smooth, straight kick to the jaw that would have broken some teeth.
Yet, by the time his feet even hit the ground, Professor Mercile had already reached him.
BAM!
Cæ grimaced as a devastatingly heavy blow ravaged his hasty, imperfect guard, leaving his arms quivering with pain.
WHOOSH
He barely managed to avoid a blow that felt like it would knock his head off.
BAM!
A powerful frontal kick just blatantly managed to overpower him, pushing him outside of the boundary of the arena.
THUD
Cæ's expression grew displeased as he fell out of the arena boundary, his sharp gray gaze returning to the professor with a hint of dissatisfaction.
"I'm going to be honest with you," Professor Mercile remarked. "I have heard of many kids sent to me, touted to be 'geniuses of combat,' and usually they don't even last half as long as you did. But you…"
He grinned.
"You exceeded my expectations. Very good indeed. Looks like we might truly be able to win this year's Magic Contest."
His gaze returned to the dumbfounded students who had been all but mesmerized by the fight.
"Now, it's all of your turns. Get to work!"
The students groaned as they made their way to the various arenas.
His attention, however, had already returned to Cæ, who dusted his combat suit.
"If you're up for it," the professor grinned. "We can go a few more rounds."
"With pleasure." Cæ's gray eyes sharpened with determination.