Alice kept trying with Lily despite her protests. While the woman had given up on a sword and suggested using a dagger, Lily had still refused. After all, she was committed to magic. Unless she used magic to temporarily enhance her body, like Arakil had once mentioned, she'd never be able to do even half the things Alice could.

Lily was usually extremely grateful to receive help, but Alice's pushiness was starting to get to her. There was also still the awkwardness about her knowing her birth parents, two people Lily had absolutely zero interaction with, and it made her quite uncomfortable.

Alice eventually gave up, but she still promised to get the starcharts and some chalk, which were precisely what Lily wanted. Lily thanked her and then departed as quickly as possible, wanting to chat with her friends before they all separated for the next class.

While walking down the halls, she began whispering to Arakil.

"You don't think I'm being too harsh on her, do you?"

[It's evident she wishes to help you, although clearly she wishes to in ways that she is an expert in. While I usually would encourage a diverse approach to anything, I don't think teaching you swordplay would benefit your magical studies or future dungeon exploration.]

"It just feels so awkward to me. She looks up to someone I don't even know, and then it's as if she feels guilty about it, which is why she feels compelled to help me. Unless I'm overreacting and reading too much into her…"

[Yes and no. I do think you are right that she wants to make some form of reparations due to your biological parents, although I don't feel like it's due to guilt. Perhaps it could even be pride as a fellow Lagia? I don't know how your kind is treated in society, but it could be she sees you as a hopeful future?]

Lily frowned. "I don't think Lagia are mistreated if that's what you're insinuating. I mean, look how many people keep saying that Nina and Andreas were famous adventurers."

[But what about the fact that you have no magical bloodlines?]

"We aren't the only ones… and some are supposedly so rare they might not even exist. We're definitely not mistreated," she reiterated.

They continued to chat about it, although it was mostly just Lily venting a little, which did make her feel a bit better. She hoped that either she'd get over it, or Alice would loosen up about her "help". Of course, if Alice offered to help her in the dungeon, then even Lily would quickly change her attitude.

Lily met up with her friends at lunch, where they all eagerly talked about their plans for the class. It seemed that everyone except her had successfully arranged some form of tutoring from one of the staff. Another option was to have an older student, which could be encouraged by giving the senior some extra credit; however, this approach also couldn't apply to Lily.

She wasn't upset, though, as she had the best teacher imaginable—Archmage Arakil. The only reason she would continue trying to find some help from the school would be to find information for him or resources they could potentially use. The starcharts had already proven that there were ways the school could aid her growth without teaching her spells.

After lunch, Lily went back to her room and began preparing herself for an extra-long session of studying. She had no obligations and no distractions, so it was the perfect environment to make some good headway into her new spell!

Under Arakil's guidance, they continued to go through the annunciation, the corresponding gestures, the visual interpretation, and of course, the theoretical applications of the spell. Lily still had a very clear image of "rolling dice" in her head thanks to Theo, and so the mental image soon became rolling extra and picking the best result. Thankfully, it was enough to cause a small resonance, and when she actually successfully cast the spell, she could work to paint a clearer picture.

During their break, Lily began asking Arakil some questions, starting with how knowing what celestial entities were nearby would help her magic.

"Is it so I can get a better mental image for my spells?" Lily asked before Arakil answered. It was her best guess and what seemed the most reasonable in her mind.

[Not quite… I'll answer, but I must stress that this is something we will only explore at a much later stage. You don't have the Mana capacity to handle these yet, not to mention the level of control required. Understand?]

Lily nodded. She didn't mind waiting for something down the line, but she wanted her curiosity sated.

[Very well, some of the more advanced Astral spells require communing with specific celestial bodies. You might call upon the actual moon, not just visualizing it. Another looser application would be to request a boon from specific constellations, although I'm unsure if that is still applicable in these times.]

"Why's that?" Lily asked.

[It's Astral magic's version of pseudo divinity, and thus it relies on people's superstitions, folklores, and beliefs regarding the constellations. A constellation representing a bull, for example, could create an Astral spell that grants strength, or conversely, a spell to charge and knock down foes.]

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"That sounds… complicated," Lily admitted.

[Hence why I mentioned it being something we won't touch for now. Some of the most powerful and dangerous spells in Astral magic require a corresponding celestial object to draw on.]

"Well, it's something to look forward to," Lily replied happily. "Thanks for the explanation. I guess we'll need to look into any folklore about the stars."

[Hopefully, the resources Alice has promised to secure will help; otherwise, we will have to search the library.]

Lily somewhat regretted not being interested in that type of stuff when she was back in the orphanage. She knew some of the kids who were into that stuff before she met Arakil, but it had always seemed so weird to her at the time. Never could she have imagined that one day she'd be casting magic and those silly star shapes would actually mean something.

They resumed their lesson shortly after, with Lily having renewed vigor and enthusiasm. Near the end, she even managed to partially manifest a glowing silvery moon in the palm of her hands for the briefest of moments.

Arakil praised her hard work, not expecting a partial manifestation of the spell so soon. He mentioned it might be due to her Astral-aligned core, or that Lily just had a natural predisposition to this kind of magic. Nevertheless, he still praised her, noting that even with luck and talent, success wouldn't be possible without an equal amount of hard work and effort.

When Lotte came to fetch Lily for dinner, the bunny was practically bouncing for joy.

***

The first class the next day was Spellcasting Fundamentals, and this time the subject was fire. To Lily and the gang's surprise, the teacher for the lesson this time was Aura!

"Your usual teacher is sick, so I was asked to be a substitute," she explained. "So yeah… I guess I'll be telling you all how useful fire is, how it can keep you warm, cook your food, and light the way."

"What about the magic items?" Hana asked quizzically.

"Oh right… those. I have them here in a bag," Aura replied and began searching for it. Once she found it, she halfheartedly tossed it onto an unoccupied table and began continuing where she left off.

Lily was tempted to sit on the lesson just to see if, like her cooking, it would soon go up in flames. But Lily was too tempted to see what magical items they had brought out this time, and rushed over and began listening to Arakil's explanations.

Unlike the previous lesson, the fire items seemed more basic, and some of the students couldn't help but theorize that the teacher didn't want to leave anything rare or special in the hands of the clumsy Aura. Lily knew that Aura wasn't actually clumsy, just struggling to control her magic for anything she wasn't passionate about, but didn't bother trying to correct them.

There were a few items in different shapes and sizes that boiled down to being firelighters. From a ring to a stick to even a throwable stone, all of them merely created a small flame when triggered. Arakil and the book were in alignment, and there were no hidden functions.

There were also a few torches that would light up, producing a low-heat yet bright flame perfect for illumination. Thanks to her work on so many alchemical glyphs, Lily knew this was a relatively simple function, although she'd often do the opposite—wanting hot flames that didn't glow too bright for potion brewing.

Basically, it's about maximizing size while minimizing heat. A big flame that's oddly not very warm. Perfect for carrying around and lighting up the darkness.

Possibly the rarest item was a singular ring that granted the wearer resistance to fire. To some of the students' horror, the instructions even mentioned wearing it and trying to touch one of the flames produced by the firestarter directly. Arthur bravely stepped forward and was the first to try it, shoving his entire fist directly into the flame.

"Hey, it works!" he cried out with joy.

After his demonstration, almost everyone wanted to experience it, and a small fight began over the next person to wear and test the ring.

Finally, there were a bunch of objects all related to warmth. Stones that heated up, gloves and boots that kept your extremities nice and toasty, and even a soft and velvety blanket that was simply divine. Many of the students fought over trying that one out and experiencing the bliss of being wrapped in its warm embrace.

Overall, it was pretty enjoyable for Lily, although both she and Arakil were starting to see little usage in these lessons. Seeing some magic items was fun, but Lily would gladly give up the time slot to use for PD or one of her electives.

At lunch, all the first years were buzzing with excitement as next up was the long-awaited follow-up lesson for Practical Magical Combat. The students who didn't get to show off last time were eager to do so this time.

The students who were still relatively new to magic, however, were evidently stressed, lamenting their lack of preparation time to properly learn a spell good enough for the class. Their friends would try to reassure them, but some were clearly feeling hopeless.

I'm sure Professor Elius will grade them accordingly. No way he's expecting everyone to be on the same level by the second class.

Lily was actually looking forward to this one as she'd get to display her Nebula Veil! While she'd made quite the spectacle during the offensive spell, her failed attempts at dodging had left her feeling downtrodden.

Stupid bees. Why couldn't I have at least gotten three…

However, her friend Lotte did not appear as enthusiastic as she.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked.

"My tutor didn't have any options for defensive spells… Well, correction, he didn't have any that would work to block something. His suggestion was to create a poisonous cloud that would work like a smokescreen."

"I guess you'll need to look into earth magic?" Lily suggested again.

"Or focus on dodging…"

"I really think you should give it a chance," Lily pressed.

Lotte sighed. "Depending on how badly this class goes… I'll think about it."

Lily nodded and was already planning how to go about it. She was considering transcribing a spell under Arakil's guidance and then claiming she "found it" in the book.

Thanks to Rose's blundering mouth, they'd told her Arakil's book had some ancient spells in it, and if she could use that excuse to help her friend and reinforce the alibi, then it was a win-win in her eyes.

"I'm probably going to use a wind spell," Thomas said, adding to the conversation. "The closest option for a defensive spell in lightning would be to create a thunderous boom that knocks things away, according to my tutor."

"Guess there will be at least three of us using the awesome power of wind!" Arthur boasted.

"Yeah, light magic doesn't have any shields," Hana sighed disappointingly. "If it's anything like those bees, then trying to blind them with a flash of light won't work."

"Can stars block?" Arthur asked. "Or will you be joining team wind shield?"

"She can't cast other spells, remember," Hana pointed out, punching him in the arm.

Lily grinned, "I've definitely got a surprise planned for the class."

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