Of Arms and Arcane Chapter 89

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“So, what did we do wrong?” I asked my team. The initial looks I received in reply were surprise, confusion, annoyance, and anger.

“What do you an what we did wrong? We won did we not? Why are you asking questions like this?” Henry said with annoyance in his voice.

“Yeah, what is your problem? And who are you to ask questions like this, you are just from a Baron house, barely a noble!” Arabella said in anger with a haughty attitude.

To this, I just turned and gave the two noble mage brats a cold stare, the kind of stare only a person who has died and taken lives before could give, and they imdiately clamd up.

I focused on Arabella and said, “Who am i? Well, it is as you said, I am just the son of a relatively newly ennobled Baron, and I am also soone who can kick both of your asses combined, and everyone knows it.”, then I focused on Henry, “And you, you want to be the leader so badly, but besides shouting “Charge”, you did not do much leading at all, you were too busy having a magic dual, did you even notice our front line crumbling?” I asked as I pointed my thumb back at Dave and Sam.

“Wh-Well it did not happen so it's fine isn't it?” Henry rebutted with a flustered expression.

“It’s “Fine” because I am stronger than most, but that is not the point of this group exercise. Can you say the sa thing if I was not in your group? Dave and Sam were at a disadvantage when facing off against the last group and they are not going to get any better in the next few minutes, that should be where your leadership should co in and organize and assist the front line.” I chastised Henry, but in the sa vein, I also felt kind of bad for bringing Dave and Sam into the lecture, they were doing their job properly.

“Oh yeah? Since you are talking like you know it all, what would you have done?” Arabella snapped at .

I sighed and answered, “For starters, one of you mages should have assisted the front line with spells or more augntation for their armor while the other mage countered the opponent mages’ spells, even if it ant losing ground in the spell battle. And besides, why were both of you rooted in place while casting spells? If you had just walked around while casting, you could have dodged half the spells they threw at you.”

At this question, Henry and Arabella shouted at things like, “What do you know, you are not even from a mage family!” and “You say it like it is a simple thing, with the speed and quantity of spells we are casting, do you know how much concentration that takes, let alone move around while doing it? Can you even do it?”

To which I blurted out, “Yes I can… wait, can’t you?”

The two mages were about to shout sothing at again when they froze with their mouths open and looked at dumbstruck, and shook their heads in the negative.

Are they shitting right now? “What is the highest circle of magic can both of you cast now?” I asked.

They both looked at each other and replied “Third circle.”

“ntally, or with chants and gestures?” I asked to clarify, to which they answered with the latter.

Hearing this, I bury my face into my palms. My Advanced Spell Theory class has started the basics of third circle magic, and nowhere in the curriculum does Interdiate mana manipulation co up. With the ti it took to get the hang of Interdiate mana manipulation, it is most likely a class of its own.

But nonetheless, I expected the children of noble mage families to have at least started learning Interdiate mana manipulation by now, one of the exercises to train Interdiate mana manipulation was moving around and multitasking as the spell was constructed.

With my face still buried in my palms, I asked, “So neither of you even started on the interdiate stage of mana manipulation?”

“No, why would we do that when we have magic foci tools?” Henry said as he raised his cheap academy-issued practice wand, it was a basic thing that allowed the students to focus their magic slightly better, but I am sure they have much better personal magic foci that can hold runes to assist their casting. “Besides, do you know how long it takes to master it? We rather spend ti learning more spells, we will leave that for when we get older.”

Mum was right about these noble kids, they rather boast about how many powerful spells they have learned and supplent their shortcomings with magic foci tools instead of learning to manipulate mana better in order to use magic with a lot more versatility.

“Well, if you actually got your mana manipulation up to the interdiate stage, you would be able to cast first and second circle spells with little to no effort.” I said as I cast multiple second circle spells of different elents into the air at the sa ti with a simple hand wave.

After my display, the two mages were silently staring at , in fact, they were not the only ones who were silent, I looked around to see the mages of other teams also silently staring at . “Shit.”

Not wanting to be in such an awkward environnt, I dragged my team to a more secluded area in the stands, and once we were all seated, I carried on as if I did not just show off I was capable of interdiate mana manipulation.

“So… I can safely say the both of you are not able to cast while moving around?” I asked and the two mages nodded rather timidly all of a sudden, all their haughtiness evaporated into nothing.

I sighed and asked them to gather around and looked at Arabella, “You are going to be the leader next round, so let's get so planning done before we are called again.”

I dug around in my pocket, pulled out five silver and five copper coins, and placed them on the bench, “While we are waiting, we will run through so scenarios.”