A couple of shaky arms rose into the air. Annie pointed at one at random.
"Yes, you, miss…?"
"Naria," the girl answered softly.
Annie nodded, encouraging. "Let's hear it."
"Mana is a supernatural force that coexists in our world," Naria recited, her voice steadier now. "It appears in the form of invisible particles that can be refined by a mana core into spells or attacks."
"Textbook answer," Annie said, tapping the chalk against the board with a sharp tock. "Not wrong, but not the whole picture either."
She leaned back against the desk, eyes sweeping the class. "Anyone care to expand on that? Mana isn't just fuel for flashy tricks—it's the very thread reality is stitched with."
A boy in the back was chosen to answer.
"M-mana could be seen as particles, but I see it as blocks. Building blocks, if you will. Since I'm an earth manipulator, my mana looks more like bricks."
Annie straightened up from her desk and began pacing slowly in front of the class.
"Good," she said, her tone brightening. "That's the idea. Everyone perceives mana differently. For some, motes of light. For others, bricks. What else?"
Her eyes swept across the room. "Mana perception isn't universal. It's personal. How you see it will shape how you wield it."
The silence stretched this time. For once, this group of individuals who used mana every day actually took the time to ask themselves: what is mana?
Oculor took this moment to express his expert opinion.
"Ah, what a bunch of nonsense. The answer is obvious."
Vael pressed his lips together, hiding the twitch of a smile.
Here we go…
"Mana," Oculor continued in that smug, professorial tone of his, "is the breath of existence itself. The current that threads reality together. Without it, this world would collapse like a sandcastle in the tide."
Vael rolled his eyes, whispering under his breath, "Sure, that'll go over well."
"I'm serious, Contractor," said Oculor, tone turning grave. "Your little teacher won't say this, but it's true. Mana isn't just some random force that appears in your world. Mana is a concept, an entity. Mana is the body of a God."
Vael's hand froze halfway to his desk. His heartbeat quickened.
The body of a God?
He glanced up, making sure no one had noticed the flicker of shock in his expression. Annie was still pacing the front of the classroom, waiting for another answer. The rest of the students shifted in their seats, hesitant, lost in thought.
Vael forced himself to look normal, but inside his mind was spinning.
Oculor rarely spoke with such certainty, let alone with that sharp, almost reverent tone.
"How can it be the body of a God? That doesn't make any sense."
"In due time, everything will be cleared up, contractor. For now, listen to your teacher. I'm curious about what she thinks."
No one dared voice their hypothesis anymore. At some point, Annie got tired of waiting, and gave in.
"All right, I'll tell you."
She reached the blackboard, chalk in hand, and began sketching a rough circle with branching lines, almost like a sun with rays.
"Mana," Annie said, tapping the center of the circle, "is energy. That's the simplest way to describe it. It flows through the world, unseen but ever-present. The core inside your chest refines it, stabilizes it, and converts it into something usable. Fire, water, stone, shadow—whatever your affinity allows."
The chalk squeaked as she added layers to the drawing, connecting the lines into web-like patterns.
"Think of mana as both fuel and language. Fuel, because it powers every technique you'll ever use. Language, because it has its own rules. Rules we don't break, only bend."
Some students leaned forward, captivated. Others looked lost already. Annie smirked.
"Now, the trick is this: mana doesn't just exist. It obeys laws. It follows patterns. Understanding those patterns is the first step toward mastering it, instead of letting it master you."
Vael sat back, her words clashing violently with Oculor's earlier declaration.
Energy. Patterns. Laws. Not a body. Not a God.
He tightened his grip on his desk, keeping his face neutral.
Inside, Oculor chuckled softly.
"See, Contractor? Even the clever ones prefer simple lies to difficult truths. Or, perhaps, she is simply ignorant."
Annie continued, her voice steady and assured.
"The class I teach is Mana Conversion. That means you'll be learning the science behind refining mana—its laws, its patterns. And, hopefully, by the end of the year, you'll be able to utilize it far more efficiently."
Time slipped by unnoticed. What felt like only minutes stretched into a full hour, the rhythm of her words pulling the class along.
Then—
BONG. BONG.
The bell shattered the quiet focus. Annie straightened with a smile.
"Good day, students. It was nice meeting you all."
Chairs scraped back, and the room filled with shuffling feet and hushed voices. Students poured toward the doorway all at once, eager to claim their brief freedom.
The ten-minute break between classes had begun.
Vael stretched in his seat, rolling the stiffness out of his shoulders. Oculor had gone silent, and he couldn't tell if that meant agreement or disapproval. Probably the latter.
Kiera leaned closer, lowering her voice so only he could hear.
"She's… interesting. She doesn't feel like an instructor, more like someone who lived through what she teaches."
Vael nodded, eyes following Annie as she erased the board with smooth, casual strokes.
"Yeah. She's definitely unique."
Kiera smirked faintly. "And she doesn't bore us to death either."
The classroom emptied quickly, voices spilling into the hallway. Vael stayed seated for a moment, watching the sunlight crawl across the floorboards. Annie's words lingered in his head, clashing with Oculor's.
Two truths. Energy… or the body of a God?
He pushed himself up at last. The next class wouldn't wait.