Chapter 15 – The Mana Training

  One week had passed since training began.

  A week of aching muscles, bruised egos, and sleepless nights. Wendel-sensei’s approach was merciless—no shortcuts, magic, or skills—only relentless physical training. Strengthen the body, prepare the mind. Most of the css had adapted. Some even thrived.

  But Shouta Izumi… he struggled.

  He walked slowly down the long, stone corridor that led to the training ground, footsteps quiet under the morning sun pouring through high, arching windows. His uniform felt heavier today, or maybe that was just the weight in his chest. The others were already ahead—he could hear their excited chatter echoing from the open courtyard.

  He paused for a moment at the entrance, just out of sight.

  Today’s the start of real training, he reminded himself. Magic. Skills. Our true potential.

  But he couldn’t shake the hollow ache in his chest.

  Out in the field, Haruka Nakano stood like a beacon. Her pale hair shimmered in the sunlight, her posture graceful, almost ethereal. She ughed softly at something one of the boys said, hands csped neatly in front of her. There was a calmness about her, something pure and radiant. Everyone noticed it. Admired it.

  Even Shouta.

  She had a quiet magnetism, drawing people in—not by force, but by kindness. During training, she always helped the ones who stumbled. Encouraged the ones who fell. She had even patched up Shouta’s bruised hand once, offering him a warm smile he still remembered too clearly.

  But it only made the distance between them feel greater.

  She was everything he wasn’t.

  The perfect saint. The natural centre of the group.

  And me? I’m the one who couldn’t finish a basic spar without getting disarmed.

  Shouta’s gaze fell to his wrapped hands. He flexed his fingers slowly.

  A memory flickered to life—three days ago. Late evening. Mirei had found him behind the dorms, nursing a swollen knee and a bruised ego.

  “You’re not weak,” she had said, kneeling beside him. “You just haven’t found your rhythm yet. But I see how hard you’re trying, Shouta. That matters.”

  It had been the first real kindness he'd received since they arrived. No judgment. No pity. Just believe.

  He carried those words with him now, like a fragile ember cupped in his hands.

  He looked toward the training ground. Today was different. The physical phase was over. No one had awakened yet—not even Haruka. In this moment, they were all at the same starting line.

  Maybe… this was his chance.

  To catch up. To prove something. Not to them, but to himself.

  Shouta squared his shoulders, drew a slow breath, and stepped forward into the light.

  Today, he wouldn’t look away.

  The open ground was silent. The wind held its breath.

  Thirty students stood in formation, arranged in concentric arcs around a circur, pale white stone ptform etched with glowing runes. The ptform pulsed faintly with power, as though it had been waiting a long time for this moment. Light from the morning sun filtered through drifting clouds, catching the edges of the old engravings.

  Shouta Izumi stood near the back of the formation, his heart thudding in his ears. He tried not to let it show, but his palms were already slick with nervous sweat. Everyone else stood quietly, but the tension was thick—nobody wanted to be the one who failed.

  At the centre of the formation stood Wendel-sensei, bck cloak fluttering softly, his eyes sharp and serious.

  “You’ve endured a week of physical training,” he said, voice steady and calm, “not to make you stronger, but to prepare your bodies to carry power.”

  He turned to a rge, bckened chest pced at the edge of the ptform and lifted its lid. Inside were dozens of crystals—oval-shaped, semi-translucent, and faintly glowing from within. Some pulsed like slow heartbeats, others shimmered like distant stars. They were beautiful. And intimidating.

  “These,” Wendel said, raising one into view, “are mana crystals—vessels of pure, stabilised mana.”

  He looked around the group, letting the weight of his words sink in.

  “Each of you will take one. Sit in lotus position on the ptform, hold the crystal to your heart… and listen. Mana is not a thing you command. It is something you invite. Like water, it flows best when unforced.”

  The students began to move, more solemn now than before.

  Shouta followed quietly, lining up with the others. When it was his turn, he reached into the chest. The crystal he touched felt cool, almost alive, and hummed faintly in his palm. It wasn’t bright like Haruka’s had been, but it wasn’t dull either. It glimmered faintly, like a forgotten ember.

  Slowly, the css began ascending the ptform in a calm, ritual-like silence. They formed loose circles around Wendel, each student finding their space on the wide, circur stone.

  Shouta sat cross-legged and drew a deep breath, steadying his nerves. Around him, the others did the same. Even the usually loud boys from Css 3 were silent now, their faces unusually serious. No one wanted to mess this up.

  “Pce the mana crystal against your chest,” Wendel instructed, his voice lower now, almost reverent. “Breathe. Feel it. Let it in. Let the mana within the crystal flow into you… through your veins… your bones… your spirit. Guide it like a river. Slowly. Patiently. Until it pools in your heart.”

  Shouta did as told, pressing the smooth stone to the centre of his chest.

  At first, nothing happened.

  But then, a subtle warmth.

  A flicker, like a memory just out of reach.

  His breath slowed. He focused on that warmth—tried to follow it, as if it were a current just beneath his skin. A stream trickling through his limbs. It was faint, almost like a whisper, but it was there. He imagined it flowing through his arms, his legs, down his spine, rising through his chest… then concentrating right where the heart pulsed with life.

  The world felt distant. The wind faded. The sound of birds in the trees dulled. All that remained was that warmth, and the slow, tentative beat of mana flowing like a hidden river.

  Around him, other students were beginning to glow softly. Silver. Gold. Violet. Pale blue. Each colour unique, each resonance is personal.

  But Shouta didn’t open his eyes.

  He hadn’t lit up like the others—not yet.

  Still, the crystal felt alive in his hands, and for the first time, he felt something stir.

  Not strength. Not power.

  But the beginning of something.

  A connection.

  The flickers began to appear one by one.

  Faint, ethereal auras shimmered around each student, subtle as candlelight. The colours were varied—pale gold, azure blue, warm crimson, gentle pinks, cool violets, and soft greens—each one delicate, like a soul’s quiet breath made visible. They danced lightly across shoulders, wafted from fingertips, glowed gently around heads and torsos like halos born of will.

  It was not a blinding brilliance, not yet.

  Just a flicker.

  But it was enough.

  Shouta opened his eyes slowly. Around him, everyone was glowing faintly, their mana now bonded to their bodies. Even he could feel the thin warmth pressing against his skin, wrapping him like a veil. A soft silver shimmer clung to his arms, pulsing gently in time with his heartbeat. It was fragile. But real.

  Wendel’s voice cut through the silence again, even and steady.

  “Good. You’ve made contact.”

  He stepped forward, his boots echoing lightly against the white stone ptform.

  “Now… we go deeper.”

  The wind stirred again, brushing across the field like a whisper from another world.

  “Let your mana flow again,” Wendel said. “But this time… do not just receive it. Observe it. Know it. Guide it gently. From the very tip of your toes… let it rise through you. Through your legs. Your spine. Your chest. Let it reach the crown of your head.”

  He paused.

  “Then feel it pull inward. From the tips of your fingers, trace it back to the heart. Let your entire body become a vessel. A river. Do not force it. You are not bending mana to your will—you are learning how to listen.”

  The css inhaled in unison.

  And began again.

  Shouta closed his eyes once more. He could feel it this time, stronger than before. The mana that had entered his body from the crystal was still there, moving in slow, invisible currents just beneath his skin. With quiet concentration, he focused on his feet. A gentle pulse tickled the soles—so faint, yet so clear now.

  Like warm water trickling upward, he felt the flow begin.

  It crept up through his ankles, wrapping around muscle and bone, through his calves, his knees—each breath deepening the sensation. It passed through his thighs, gathering at his hips, sliding like a breeze across his lower back and up his spine.

  By the time it reached his chest, he felt it surround his lungs, his ribs, and his racing heart.

  Then, slowly, it continued upward—along the sides of his neck, over the scalp, tingling behind the ears and across his forehead. He imagined it like a river meeting the sky.

  Next, he focused on his arms.

  Mana flowed from his shoulders to his elbows, wrapping his skin in invisible threads, running down his forearms like streams branching into tributaries.

  At his fingertips, it paused.

  Then it reversed.

  Like threads being pulled tight, he felt the mana draw back—spiralling inward, coiling into his chest like breath returning home.

  Around him, others were glowing more steadily now.

  Haruka’s aura had deepened to a serene gold, like sunlight resting on snow. The css president glowed a precise, dignified violet, calm and unshaking. Even some of the rowdier boys, like Hiro from Css 2, had a fierce red aura that fred with youthful excitement.

  Yet no one spoke.

  No one dared to.

  For the first time since being summoned to this world, all thirty students sat still in unified silence.

  Not out of fear.

  But reverence.

  Each of them was awakening to something long asleep inside them—their flow, their current. Their magic. Their power.

  And Shouta, sitting in the middle of it all, felt a small, hesitant joy stir in his chest.

  He was glowing too.

  As silence reigned over the open training field, Wendel Sensei’s voice rose once more—low, but clear, reaching every student without strain.

  “Good… now that you’ve become familiar with the mana inside you,” he said, his sharp gaze sweeping across the glowing group, “it’s time to realise something greater—that mana does not only flow within. It flows through everything.”

  The breeze seemed to hush at his words.

  “Open your senses. Don't just look inward—look outward. Feel the world around you. Mana is in the air, in the earth, in the light that shines on your skin. It surrounds you.”

  Shouta’s eyes fluttered open, blinking slowly as he let Wendel’s words sink in.

  He felt… something.

  The faint buzz in the wind. The quiet hum beneath the white stone ptform. The pulse in the earth, subtle but vast—like the heartbeat of a living pnet. It was there, just outside his fingertips, beyond the veil of what he thought was his limit.

  “Observe it,” Wendel said softly. “Don’t reach. Just see.”

  One by one, the students began to shift, their eyes gzing over in focus, expressions softening into stillness. Their faint auras pulsed, then slowed, as if syncing with something much older, much deeper.

  “Now…” Wendel’s voice lowered further, reverent. “Gently... draw it in.”

  It began quietly.

  A small inhale of magic.

  A faint pull of energy, like mist sliding across the grass.

  Then something changed.

  The mana in the air stirred.

  Then surged.

  Suddenly, as though a dam had cracked, the students’ bodies began to draw in mana from the world around them—not in small, subtle trickles, but in great, rushing currents.

  It looked as if a storm of light had broken over the field.

  Mana poured into their bodies from every direction, sucked in by invisible force. The very air shimmered around them. Leaves rustled and floated skyward without wind. The grass bent in spiralling patterns. Light warped around the students’ seated forms.

  It wasn’t violent—just overwhelming.

  A vacuum-like pull from thirty awakened hearts.

  Shouta gasped as warmth flooded his chest, more powerful than before. The mana rushed into him, igniting a rush behind his ribs, spiralling into a single, radiant point in the centre of his heart. His breath hitched. It wasn’t just flowing now—it was changing.

  Becoming.

  Inside him, something clicked. A centre. A core.

  A Mana Heart.

  It throbbed with quiet power, as though it had always been there, waiting for this moment.

  Wendel stood on the edge of the ptform, arms crossed. His long cloak rippled behind him from the force of the magic swirling around the students. He didn’t speak. Didn’t interrupt.

  He simply watched.

  And smiled.

  “Not bad…” he murmured under his breath, eyes narrowing with satisfaction. “You’ve all taken your first step.”

  Around him, thirty students were no longer simple teenagers from another world.

  They were now mana users.

  Awakened.

  The mana storm settled.

  What once surged like a wild tide now shimmered like a quiet fme in every student's chest. Their bodies glowed faintly—auras flickering like candlelight in a breeze. And in that stillness, Wendel Sensei stepped forward.

  His boots echoed softly on the white stone ptform.

  "You've awakened," he said simply. "You now possess mana in its living form. Your hearts are open. Your bodies have become vessels."

  The students looked at one another—some stunned, others awed, all changed.

  "But that," Wendel continued, "is only the beginning."

  He raised a hand and closed his eyes. The wind blew past, gentle and cool, swaying his silver hair.

  “Mana is life,” he said. “And life is everywhere.”

  A pause.

  “Now… I want you to go further. I want you to feel the world. Not through sight, or thought, but through your awakened senses.”

  He opened his eyes. They gleamed.

  “Close your eyes. Breathe deep. Focus on the six senses that define you—not just the five you were born with.”

  The students, still seated in the lotus position, obeyed. Eyes closed. Breathing slowed.

  “Listen,” Wendel said softly.

  And they did.

  First, the rustling of the trees in the wind. Then… a rhythm beneath that.

  The flutter of wings.

  The delicate chirping of birds high above, hidden in the canopy.

  A buzz—closer. Insects crawl on bark, shifting on branches. Leaves are dancing across the stone.

  “Smell,” Wendel whispered.

  The world opened further.

  The earthy scent of soil warmed by the sun.

  The faint perfume of blooming wildflowers is hidden in the grass.

  The sharp scent of magic—subtle, but clear—still lingered in the air.

  “Feel.”

  Shouta’s heartbeat slowed. He could feel it all.

  The sun on his skin.

  The texture of the stone beneath him.

  The warm pulse of mana around his cssmates. Thirty gentle fmes burning in unison.

  A breeze passed through the clearing.

  And suddenly, Shouta knew where everyone was—even with his eyes closed. He could feel Haruka’s calm aura to his right. The restless pulse of Yuuto behind him. Mirei's delicate presence to his left, steady and warm.

  Even the birds—he could feel where they perched.

  It was overwhelming.

  And exhirating.

  It was like waking up from a life lived behind a veil.

  “This is what it means to be aware,” Wendel said, voice barely louder than the wind. “To walk in a world made of mana, you must first see it—not with eyes, but with soul.”

  The students remained still, each immersed in the quiet symphony of the world.

  Their senses had awakened.

  And with them, the path ahead had begun to unfold.

  Silence lingered like a sacred breath.

  The students remained seated, wrapped in the lingering glow of mana. The forest whispered. Their hearts pulsed with new awareness.

  Then, Wendel Sensei cpped his hands once.

  Stabilise your flow.”

  His voice rang clear, cutting through the stillness like the strike of a bell.

  “Let the mana settle. Let your heart rest.”

  One by one, the students exhaled.

  The shimmering auras faded, becoming fine veils barely visible. The intense current that once roared through their veins now flowed steadily, like a quiet river beneath calm ice.

  “Stand.”

  Thirty bodies rose in unison, some still trembling, some standing with new strength in their eyes. Shouta felt his legs wobble slightly, his heartbeat steady but excited. His chest was warm. His limbs felt… light.

  Then Wendel turned to face them all.

  Expression unreadable. Eyes sharp.

  “Now… we test.”

  A low murmur rippled through the group.

  Wendel didn’t smile.

  “You’ve all awakened mana. You’ve felt the world. But can you use it in combat?”

  The students straightened. Muscles tensed. Breath held.

  “Step forward,” he said, voice cold and clear. “Fight me.”

  No one moved.

  And then—

  boom.

  A shockwave.

  Before a single step was taken, Wendel vanished.

  In a blink, he was in the air, above the students, coat billowing like wings.

  And in the very next instant—

  He was directly in front of Mirei.

  A single fist pulled back.

  A silver blur.

  Mirei didn’t even have time to flinch.

  “—!”

  And then—

  End of Chapter 15

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  Author’s Note:

  Hello, everyone! First of all, thank you so much for sticking with me and reading up to this point. Your support means a lot!

  Secondly, I know I’m still making many mistakes, and I truly appreciate your understanding. I’ll do my best to keep improving, both in terms of writing and storytelling.

  Lastly, I’m thinking about how to expin the students' powers and how their magic works. Do you think I should expin it all at once, giving a detailed breakdown of how each character’s abilities work, or would it be better to introduce their powers gradually, integrating them into the story as it progresses?

  Your feedback would be very helpful, and I appreciate any suggestions!

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