[Magic affinity:]

Waking up way before the first bell, Tom hardly felt sleepy at all. With a strange and long-forgotten feeling brewing in his chest, Tom had a hard time figuring out what was going on with his body, but eventually, he realized what was happening.

(I'm excited?... Sure, it has been a while since I've looked forward to anything like this.)

Although prior experience with Lizzy told him not to get his hopes up, something told Tom that today was the day.

(I've learned everything she asked of me thus far, even [strengthening] which she believed was impossible for me to learn I can afford to be a little hopeful for what comes next, right?)

Quickly getting dressed and washing his face with hopeful expectation, Tom headed to the training field at first light. Even though he arrived way earlier than they had planned, Tom nevertheless ran into Lizzy which seemingly had been expecting him to arrive around this time.

"Good morning instructor Lizzy."

"Morning kiddo, I have a present for you. Here, catch."

Tossing Tom a dull blue [catalyst] which was half covered in string, Lizzy showed a cheeky smile as she congratulated her prized pupil.

"Congratulations kiddo, you have now become a [mage], although only in the vaguest sense possible. Let's get you using some magic today kiddo."

Feeling a need to pinch his own cheek, Tom did a double, then a triple take to make sure that Lizzy actually had tossed him a [catalyst].

"Sure… But how?"

Thinking back to the education he had received so far, Tom knew a bit about how to use magic, but not near enough to actually try it, especially after his earlier accident.

"... Didn't you use magic before?"

"Eh? Did I?"

With her prized pupil genuinely confused at her question, Lizzy took a few seconds to take a deep breath while she contemplated how to deal with her clueless student.

"Weren't you involved in some kind of accident while training just before you met me kiddo? That accident was caused by your mana running amok while you created some kind of spell, although the spell failed as the weak [catalyst] you were using broke mid-way."

"Is that really what happened? The instructor told me-"

"Of course he did, he doesn't know any better and we'll never know any better."

Once again, Tom felt like there were numerous things Lizzy wasn't telling him. At the same time, Tom felt like Lizzy knew far too much for just being an instructor at a mage academy, something which made it even stranger that she was this willing to teach Tom without anything to gain.

"... Why help me like this? Why teach me all these secret things, I'm just a bastard."

"Because I find you interesting."

Dropping her happy and relaxed attitude for a second, Lizzy made Tom freeze up with the look in her eyes as Lizzy's eyes radiating thinly-veiled bloodlust. This bloodlust only lasted a few seconds, however, as Lizzy's fox-like smile soon returned to her face, along with her overall relaxed and happy mood.

"Now enough about all this boring stuff kiddo, let's get you to casting magic shall we?"

How many years had it been since Tom gave up on using magic and becoming a mage like his mother? How long had it been since he had stopped dreaming about forming his own adventurer party and exploring the unknown, climbing the ranks and becoming an S tier adventurer just like his mom had been in her heyday?

At this moment Tom really couldn't answer those questions his mind bombarded him with, but that didn't really matter either, for he was finally taking his first step in becoming a mage. Whatever reasons Lizzy had for teaching Tom seemed secondary at this point.

(Whatever, I can deal with whatever I owe Lizzy after becoming a mage… At least I hope so.)

"Let's get to it! I'm counting on you, instructor Lizzy."

"That's what I want to hear kiddo~ Start off with depleting some of your mana, even with a better [catalyst] this time around we still don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

Seeing Lizzy was going with a safety-first approach (for once), Tom immediately set to work softening up the mass of mana within his chest, circulating it around his body at an ever-increasing speed. Eventually, the mana moving around within Tom's body started leaking out of his body, as it did Lizzy started to lecture him.

"Now, even though it sort of downplayed it, casting magic is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing so I'll tell you how it's done. Needless to say, a [catalyst] is needed, but the most important thing to successfully casting magic demands a calm and clear head with a clear mental image of what you want your mana to do. For safety, we'll keep the first spell as simple as possible, stretch out your hand holding onto the [catalyst] and imagine a cone spreading out from it, then let your mana pour at a steady phase into the [catalyst] and it should do the rest."

Having depleted about half of his mana, Tom did like Lizzy asked and struck out his hand clenching his [catalyst] while paying special attention to the mana which moved throughout his body. Forming a clear image of the effect he wanted to create, Tom breathed a deep sigh as he closed his eyes to focus, as he did Tom felt a gentle hand placed on his shoulder encouraging him to continue.

(Okay, let's do this…)

Slowing down the speed of his mana circulation a tiny bit, Tom focused on the [catalyst] in his hand. Moving mana from his hand into his [catalyst], Tom felt the strange sensation of mana leaving his body, excited to see the results Tom opened his eyes to see the effect of his very first spell, only to be sorely disappointed at the results.

Nothing was happening.

"Am I doing something wrong, Lizzy?"

"... Nope, you're doing what you should be doing. Even if nothing is happening I can clearly sense that strange aptitude pouring out of you in a cone… Let's try something else."

Getting a straw target, Lizzy positioned Tom right in front of it before giving out a set of different instructions.

"Okay, try to not limit your mana as much this time, and for the image I want you to create, think of a spear or a lance forming right at your [catalyst] before extending, going straight through the target."

"... A lance? Got it…

With a new set of instructions Tom took extra care to make sure he had the right image in his head before calming down and taking a large breath of fresh air, then he poured a significant amount of mana into his [catalyst]. This time the result was instant, with the sound of wood snapping, a 20-centimetre hole appeared in the centre of the straw target.

"Well, would you look at that…"

Examining the damage done to the target, Lizzy wore a different kind of smile to the one she had usually plastered on her face. Even if Tom didn't realize it, this was proof that his [magic aptitude] was useful, not Lizzy just needed to find out to what extent.

"How much mana do you have left kiddo?"

"About a third."

"Great, let's try that same lance again, but from a greater distance. Then after finding the maximum rage we can start-"

Not taking time to celebrate the fact that Tom was actually using magic, Lizzy made sure to thoroughly test out her student's abilities to find their weak and strong points. Firstly, whatever spell Tom created was not visible to the naked eye, secondly, while it had little effect on steel armour it still did damage to anything behind that armour and most importantly it was fast, landing almost instantly on target within the 10 metres Lizzy decided to test it up to.

-

As the evening rays of sunlight drew long shadows across the mage academy, Lizzy lit a cigarette as she sat down on the corner of the headmaster's sturdy wooden desk. Having just given her scheduled report to the headmaster, Lizzy breathed out a large puff of smoke filled with ice crystals before adding her own personal opinion at the end.

"This kid is going to become a monster."

"... Agreed. With that amount of mana and insane growth in addition to the instantly hitting, invisible nature of his strange aptitude I can see that kid becoming at least an S class adventurer in no time. That's not even mentioning the fact that he learned [strengthening] and [fine motor control] in only a few weeks… You did good finding this kind of student Lizzy."

While the headmaster would usually be annoyed by Lizzy's continued insistence to smoke in his office at this point, he tolerated it only due to the insanely good news she had just delivered.

"Well, I aim to please as long as you pay me. Even if I'm no longer on active duty, I will still continue to support the kingdom in any way I can."

"... Am I supposed to say 'your kingdom thanks you for your service' now? Cut the shit, I know why you're doing this Lizzy. But don't worry, I have no problems either way."

Leaning back in his leather-clad chair, the headmaster glanced up at the ceiling for a short moment before continuing.

"You can set aside your normal job, for the time being, focus on training up that kid for now."

"Roger, anything else?"

Getting back on her feet, Lizzy's serious expression changed back to her usual fox-like smile.

"Yeah, you're free to take that kid on tours outside the academy, just make sure he comes back in one piece… You know what, take Anne with you when you go on tour with the kid, she'll be able to guarantee the kiddo's health better than you ever could."

"Roger~"

Offering a lazy wave as she turned to leave the headmaster's office, it seemed Lizzy had already expected the headmaster's responses, it seemed like the only reason she had bothered to report in person was so she could see the headmaster admit he had been wrong first hand.

"I swear that woman's instincts are too sharp for her own good if only she didn't have that attitude."

Leaning back in his chair with a slight smile on his face, the headmaster started stroking his white beard as he started thinking about the future.

The day after Tom's first 'real' time using magic he woke up pretty early and headed to the practice field where he would normally meet Lizzy at first light Tom was slightly surprised to not find Lizzy already there and even more so when she still hadn't arrived when normal classes were supposed to start.

"... Guess I'll just head to class then."

No longer afraid of the classmates who had made a habit out of beating him up, Tom was relatively nonchalant when he walked into class.

"Hey maggot, I believe I told you this isn't a place for you."

Needless to say, Tom's relaxed attitude immediately irritated the part of the class that had been used to stepping on him, so as Tom entered the classroom he was quickly surrounded.

"Can we just not do this today?"

Dropping his relaxed attitude a little, Tom started swinging the [catalyst] he had gotten from Lizzy the day before around in the same fashion that his teacher usually did.

"H-hey, isn't that?"

"Yeah, it is a [catalyst] with no output restrictions… That's the kind which only the army uses."

The reason the stereotype of a bearded mage with a large staff tipped with a [catalyst] existed was because of the runic formations usually engraved in the mage's staff. These runes usually helped the user of the staff cast predetermined spells, but more importantly, held numerous safeguards which protected the user from their own magic. These safeguards were all well and good, but for a particular part of the Kingdom, such safeguards and rigid rune structures were only a bother. Adding runes to a [catalyst] means adding a staff, which in turn adds needless weight and complexity. The most elite mages of the Kingdom usually didn't use staff's, preferring to just have a [catalyst] tied up by a string, much like the one Tom was swinging around with little care in the world.

"As if that maggot could use such a thing!? He's a failure, remember!?"

But as it often was with such groups, the stupidest often spoke the loudest, so the leader of the bullies quickly managed to reign in his troops which quickly fell back into formation.

"Do you really want to find out if I can use this?"

Even in the face of what would have been insurmountable odds a few months ago, Tom remained calm and confident as he pushed his fellow classmates' supposed bluff.

"Tha!-"

"Please think a bit before you answer that question."

Cutting in and interrupting the leader of the bullies, Tom tried to imitate Lizzy's blood-chilling smile as he started moving rapidly around inside his body, keeping his circulations just below the level where mana would start to leak out. While the act of circulating mana inside his body did little to consciously presvade the beginner mana users in front of him, Tom did foster a certain kind of unconscious fear within the bullies that made them surprisingly docile.

"W-whatever, it is simply a wasted effort to try and educate the maggot."

Avoiding a confrontation (much to his own surprise), Tom took a seat and quietly waited for the class he understood so little of to start. As Tom sat and waited, a certain acquaintance walked up to him.

"It's been a while, Tom."

With her naturally bright and innocent smile, Elizabeth Warren appeared like the morning sun to Tom as she offered him a light bow along with her greeting.

"It sure has, Miss Warren, but sadly, my answer is still the same. I have no interest in marriage at this age, and unlike you, I'm just a bastard."

Immediately shutting down Elizabeth as she arrived, Tom was surprised when Elizabeth's smile only widened at his harsh words.

"I'm already well aware of that Tom, I've already dropped all ideas of marrying you."

Still wearing a smile on her face Tom couldn't quite read, Elizabeth prompted Tom to engage in conversation with her.

"Then why talk with me? Even with the small amount of etiquette education I've received, I am aware that I'm being rude to you."

"Eh?- T-that's…"

Hitting the metaphorical nail squarely on the head, Elizabeth's near-perfect facade seemed to crack as she started blushing and fidgeting around, seemingly not able to immediately muster up the courage needed to answer Tom's question.

"I…- I have recently been thinking about how I hardly know anything about lower society and I really want to know more about you, Tom… Is that a bother?"

Hiding her blushing face behind locks of her golden hair, Tom felt his brain shutting down as looking at the strange and (seemingly) innocent creature standing in front of his desk. Even with a barely non-existent desire for romance and any and all things physical, Tom still found himself awestruck.

(... She instigated my classmates to bully me? Who cares, I can be friends with her, right?)

"Ah, there you are kiddo, I've been looking for you all morning."

But right before Tom was about to commit a mistake, Lizzy arrived, followed closely by Anne who was hauling a large backpack. The pair of instructors being a pretty rare sight in a classroom with the two of them being together even more so, Lizzy and Anne quickly drew the attention of the entire class who had still been waiting for their teacher to arrive. Lizzy however, cared little for the attention she was receiving, choosing to outright ignore that attention she walked right up to Tom's desk.

"Come on, we're going on an excursion."

"... A what?"