None hurried to sit down and pretend as though they hadn't been egging each other on to see who could blast out their Kardia the farthest, or take the time before the lesson to gossip about hot topics.

  No.

  The new Professor inspired nothing but shock instead of that degree of respect.

  The calm steps of the individual who couldn't have been more than half a head taller than Ginger, crisply rang out until they stood in front of the class and smiled.

  "Greetings, dear students."

  The voice that came from the new Professor was very odd. It sounded neither exclusively male nor female, complimenting a face with similarly indistinguishable properties.

  The Professor had tar black skin that clashed terribly with the short, blue Professorial coat they wore. Large, yellow eyes with tiny dots for pupils decorated their face, with jelled and slicked-back dull grey hair above them.

  A pair of dark, webbed wings were folded behind this individual's back, and a long tail with a triangular end whipped about, its origin all too clear.

  "Please take your seats," the Professor said.

  Slowly, the students of First Blue acquiesced, but their odd looks didn't change.

  A toothy smile formed on the dark-skinned individual's face.

  A few girls who sat at the front shuddered, partly because the smile turned the Professor's face hideous.

  "Thank you for cooperating," the Professor said. "It's good to finally begin with this course. Ah. My name is Professor Elmir Hennigar. Before you start forming odd ideas, allow me to clarify. I am a Djuka, one of the few left in Ravi. Ah, and please address me as male."

  The majority of the class was deeply unsettled still. In fact, they grew more restless for different reasons as Professor Hennigar spoke.

  Ginger was especially shocked.

  His instincts against anything that didn't look human – or at least mostly human – were yet to change. Unlike the others who were simply startled by seeing a non-Cinder-Born Professor, he was doubly anxious.

  Reiss on the other hand, looked more captivated than startled. He likely would have exposited to Ginger on what a Djuka was if Professor Hennigar didn't continue to speak.

  "Some of you may already be questioning why I am the one to teach you. Understandable. This institute doesn't exactly advertise who teaches the Mana Essence Mechanisms and Manipulation course. However, Djukas like me have always been among the best at manipulating Mana Essence," Professor Hennigar said, maintaining his uncalming smile. "Dragons never managed to adopt an especially profound level of control over Mana Essence because of their reliance on Kardia – not to a detriment, of course – but that did leave some of us with objects for bargain with dragons in earlier Tallies."

  He then raised a finger in the air and the whole class felt an odd pull towards him that barely lasted a moment.

  In the next instant, a bright glow began to show on the tip of Professor Hennigar's finger. Perhaps bright was too shallow of a description. It was blinding, strikingly golden in color.

  Most of the class looked away or squinted hard.

  Ginger didn't.

  The dragonlings on either side couldn't stare into the glaring light, but he could.

  Beside him, Caron noticed this when she turned to avoid the jarring light.

  Professor Hennigar's smile grew larger at the students' reaction.

  The blinding flash on his finger dissipated moments later.

  "What you have just seen is the first goal you have to strive towards in this class. Mana Essence is unlike Kardia. It has no types that make certain aspects of it easier for some and harder for others. It is learned in one way. If that isn't enough of an advantage, it is much easier to perceive, unlike Kardia, which – as I have come to know – requires a set of specialized organs to handle and control," he said.

  The students recovered enough to face the Professor. Some were still boggled by his identity but most were already taken by the demonstration.

  Caron blinked a couple of times and looked at Ginger.

  She pulled on his sleeve.

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  "You weren't affected by the light?" she asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

  "No," he replied, looking as though he had been dazed. "Were you?"

  "Of course we were!" Reiss barked while shielding his mouth.

  Professor Hennigar continued.

  "Allow me to prove my point," he said before clapping his hands together.

  A gush of wind blew through the class, knocking down books from tables and whipping back the students' hair.

  It did not stop.

  At first, it seemed like a light breeze, but soon, a few students started to notice the truth.

  Ginger was among the first to do so.

  The contrast between Fetid and Mana Essence he had felt on that day when he first came to Ravi, became especially crucial.

  "The mana in the air... It's moving around with the wind..." he muttered to himself with a small smile.

  Caron and Reiss looked at him and began trying to see through this odd phenomenon.

  Indeed.

  It wasn't wind.

  While the windows to the class were open, air normally didn't feel like this.

  "Mana Essence is abundant," Professor Hennigar said. "It is inexhaustible. To be able to wield it is to be able to – theoretically – be active with it indefinitely. The only limit is your body – how long it can continue to control Mana Essence. However, for a body to be able to control Mana Essence, Mana Essence has to acknowledge it, which is the greatest determinant as to whether or not you can ever wield it in your lifetime. It sounds ominous, doesn't it? Well, it is, at least for those who aren't Cinder-Born."

  Acknowledgment.

  Indeed, this was rather different from Kardia.

  "Now, there is Mana Essence circulating around the classroom right now. I have turned it docile. It won't be as stubborn as it normally is. Everyone, let's make an attempt to pull on the Mana Essence as I did before. Mana Essence is hard to see without years of sensing it. However, if you condense enough of it, you will see it take on a golden glow."

  The students were quite interested in the relaxed and convincing manner in which Professor Hennigar introduced Mana Essence.

  Of course, many of them hadn't been too invested because they already had Kardia, but the fact that Mana Essence was selective changed their minds a little.

  Most began to think that if they failed to get acknowledged by Mana Essence, they wouldn't be able to learn how to enjoy having an abundant, inexhaustible energy source at their beck and call.

  That wouldn't do.

  At the very least, they had to prevent themselves from becoming running gags that didn't manage to control Mana Essence, which was vital for Non-Affixers when wielding weapons.

  What a terrifying thought, however flawed it was.

  The task the students were given was to call on Mana Essence and condense it in a bright ball.

  Immediately, many of them began making earnest attempts.

  Professor Hennigar hadn't mentioned how to pull on the Mana Essence, which would have been pointed out by someone already, but most were afraid to ask, especially with Professor Hennigar donning his unintentionally creepy smile.

  Reiss imagined that the lack of explanation over the 'how' was done on purpose. This was their first lesson in Mana Essence Mechanisms and Manipulation, and most instructors typically wanted to see the talent they were working with before proceeding far.

  The dark-skinned Djuka wasn't an exception.

  Caron and the dwarfish dragon stole a look at Ginger.

  As the redhead had said, Ginger had better experience with something like this than them two, so they were expectant.

  The plump dragonling didn't do anything though. He simply looked at his hands while narrowing his eyes, something both Caron and Reiss deemed to not be the secret to manipulating Mana Essence.

  They didn't bother Ginger with questions for a while and tried to figure out how to do as their instructor instructed on their own for now.

  Surprisingly, there were those who soon showed exceptional talent only a minute after the exercise began.

  The first was a boy named Nikolas Onasis.

  Though wobbly and fluctuating in intensity, a soft golden glow was nestled within his cupped hands. He looked at it with surprise, while those close to him craned their necks to take a peek.

  "I didn't do much, alright?! What? You think I turned on a switch and this appeared?" he hissed at several of his peers who asked how he accomplished it.

  Unlike Professor Lyall, Professor Hennigar seemed satisfied with looking over results from his original spot. He looked at Nikolas and gave him a nod as well as a pleasant round of applause.

  Strangely, the boy felt a little proud of it.

  The second to accomplish the task – only several seconds after Nikolas – was none other than Fillys Doukas, who inflated like a saturated stok and wore a pompous smirk.

  A steady glow, only as bright as a candle flame at best, sat on her thumb.

  Fillys turned especially gloaty when those around her marveled at her accomplishment as though she was some kind of Mana Essence control prodigy.

  With Professor Hennigar's, "Ah. As I said, it is not at all hard to perceive and control Mana Essence once you've been acknowledged," her pride was almost doused, however.

  Still, she found the strength to swivel her head back at Caron and bob her eyebrows up and down while flaunting her blob of Mana Essence, which made Reiss and the redhead scowl.

  They both turned to Ginger hoping that he would show her up in a spectacular fashion. However, he didn't. He remained lost in... whatever he was doing.

  Seven other students managed to accomplish the task given, with the eighth becoming Reiss who made an O shape with his mouth when he successfully made manifest a tiny glow in his palm.

  Caron frowned slightly. She had been trying just as hard as Reiss, but she felt as though Mana Essence was eagerly rushing away from her instead of gathering at her command, which was odd when such a large amount of it was causing everything to rustle as it rode the wind.

  Five minutes later, only about a quarter of the class had managed to cause the Mana Essence to obey them when Professor Hennigar clapped his hands together and brought a halt to the light, windy tide.

  "Alright, I think that will do," he said, prompting the students to express disappointment and vain confidence in different portions.

  Some audibly called out, "I just needed a few more minutes!" while others chortled, "Maybe next year!"

  It was when everyone was getting settled, preparing to hear what was next when...

  "That's it. I got it!" Ginger said, unaware of how loud he was being.

  His desk mates as well as the rest of the class had just turned to him with surprised looks when something vicious happened to the lingering Mana Essence in the classroom.

  Something that was far removed from simply condensing it into a bright light.