After hastily eating a few bites of breakfast, I quickly left home for school.
"Hurry up, don't be late. Don't leave a bad impression on the teacher. Study magic hard. Be careful on the way. Come home as soon as school is over..." (300 words omitted here)
Mom is really something. She says these words every day; I can recite them by heart. But her concern still warms my heart.
My name is Elian Rayner, and I'm 7 years old. I live in a small village on the outskirts of Senke City, the second largest city in the inland of Aisha Kingdom. Since my family is quite well-off, and my parents have high hopes for me, they sent me to Senke Primary Magic Academy in the city. I'm now in the third grade. I've been interested in magic since I was a child, but I'm naturally lazy. After more than two years, I've only learned some simple primary magic and basic magic theories.
Today, we have to tell the teacher our chosen primary and secondary magics for class division. (Every mage has their own primary and secondary magics. Generally, one specializes in one type of magic, and minors in no more than three types.) What should I choose? Sigh, I quite like fire magic, but I think it's too dangerous, which conflicts with my cherished philosophy of 'Safety First.' What to learn? What magic is the safest?
Thinking...
Ah! Right! Light magic seems to be quite safe. I heard the teacher say that before learning advanced magic, light magic basically has no offensive spells. It's mostly pure defense or healing. There shouldn't be many chances to fight with others, right? Hehe, I'll choose it. (Since Aisha Kingdom highly values magic, students in every academy often compete to gain practical experience and confirm their magic level. However, because my magic level is still very low, no one has come to challenge us lower grades yet. Usually, competitions start in the fifth grade or intermediate magic academies.)
I'm so smart! What about the secondary magic? Wind magic is good. Then I can learn more Wind Dash (a primary wind magic) and so on. That way, it will be easier to escape. Hehe, no, wait. No matter how fast wind magic is, it can't be faster than Teleportation, right? I heard mom say that there was once an archmage who used spatial magic to teleport 10 kilometers in an instant (but he was an archmage!). Spatial magic is better. I'll choose spatial magic.
Finally made up my mind. I let out a long sigh of relief.
Elian Rayner, the future Light Magister known as the Son of Light and the Grand Duke of Wittner, finally succumbed to fate and chose the light magic that would let him dominate the entire continent. (And the spatial magic he often used to escape.)
I wandered leisurely towards the city, fantasizing about my future safe and beautiful life, and couldn't help drooling happily. Hehe.
"Elian!"
"Annoying, Od, you scared me!"
My best friend, neighbor, and classmate—Od, the village chief's son—hopped over to me.
"Have you figured out what magic you're going to choose?"
"Yep. Primary magic is light magic, secondary is spatial magic."
"Just like your style, hehe."
"You know me so well. You don't even need me to say why I chose these two types."
I looked at Od in surprise.
"Of course. You're all about 'Safety First,' aren't you?"
"Annoying! By the way, what type did you choose?"
"I'm specializing in water magic and minoring in spatial magic." Od puffed out his chest proudly.
"I know why you chose spatial magic (same as me), but why water magic?"
"You wouldn't understand." Od looked at me like a little adult.
"Hurry up and tell me!"
"There are a lot of girls in the water magic class. There are basically no boys. I can bully them and steal their snacks. Hehe."
"You're so bad at such a young age! I'm going to tell your dad."
I raised my head high. Actually, I was also tempted. But then I thought, although there are many girls in the water magic class, if I bully girls after entering the intermediate magic academy, the consequences will be terrible. Brother Naro from the village was badly beaten because he bullied the school beauty of their academy. Hehe, Od, you're in for it later. Thinking about it, I couldn't help looking at Od sinisterly.
"Come learn water magic with me too."
To stop me from exposing him, he even tried to persuade me.
"No. But if you share some of the snacks you get with me, I won't tell your dad. Deal?"
"Deal! Who are we if not good brothers?"
"We're at school! Run, we're going to be late!"
Senke Primary Magic Academy is the largest magic academy in Senke City. It covers an area of over 20,000 square meters, with many training grounds and teaching buildings for each department. Both Od and I are students of Class 3-4.
"Luckily we're not late, otherwise the old witch would make us stand as punishment again." Od muttered to me.
"Shut up, the old witch is coming." (The old witch is of course our homeroom teacher, Teacher Lin, a 50-something advanced fire mage. She's very strict and not very attractive, so a few of us close friends gave her this nickname.)
"Good morning, students!"
"Good morning, teacher!"
As soon as the old witch walked in, the class immediately fell silent. No one wanted to make the volcano erupt.
"Have you all decided on the magic you want to learn?"
"Yes!"
"Good. Come to me one by one to register."
When it was my turn to register, the old witch looked at me in surprise. "You're specializing in light magic?"
"Yes, teacher."
"Do you know that apart from monks who specialize in healing, very few people in the entire kingdom specialize in light magic now?"
"Huh?! Why? I didn't know that!"
It turns out that 200 years ago, during the Holy War between the Eastern and Western Continents, many humans learned light magic because it is the nemesis of demons' dark magic. Humans learning light magic accounted for more than 30% of all mages. Even the most basic primary healing spell in light magic would cause certain damage to demons. Light magic and dark magic have a mutual double bonus effect. But today, 200 years later, due to 200 years of peace, people have lived comfortable lives. Light magic has almost no use, and it's not as useful as the four elemental magics of water, fire, earth, and wind. Moreover, light magic is almost all defensive and healing in the primary and intermediate stages. So people who advocate offense mostly choose to specialize in the four elemental magics of water, fire, earth, and wind. And in terms of healing, although water magic is slightly inferior to light magic, because water magic has a balance of offensive and healing spells, even girls who want to learn healing have given up light magic. Only monks who advocate peace specialize in light magic.
Of course, as a 7-year-old child, I didn't know any of this. After the teacher explained, for the sake of my 'Safety First' principle, I still firmly chose light magic.
"Alright, all students have chosen the magic they want to learn. School ends early today. Tomorrow, you will be divided into classes according to the type of magic you chose. Class dismissed!"
Yes! Class dismissed!
The Son of Light's journey of learning light magic is about to begin. What will tomorrow bring? Let's wait and see.