Saturation Limit.

  Ginger had barely given as much focus to the exercise as he should have. He had justifications for himself, however. He was constantly distracted by the vile rumors that were spreading this Stride. They took up a lot of space in his head, especially when coupled with Caron’s short-lived dissociation from him and Reiss.

  According to Professor Cain, while Poolers clearly had an advantage where Saturation was concerned, it was important for all types of Kardia users to know how much they could Saturate with their Kardia.

  Ginger could testify that since the day before last, he had not practiced Saturation Limit at all. The incident with his second soul had all but guaranteed that he wouldn’t even give it a second thought, even if one or two of his brain cells tried to remind him.

  The plump dragonling grumbled.

  Of course, Fillys had all the time in the world to practice. She had no worries – no socially debilitating facts, no flawed status issues. She was free to explore the great powers afforded to her by her violet Cast with many looking on with admiring eyes. It was even happening now as she proudly sauntered over to Professor Hennigar with a big grin.

  Ginger could have sworn she gave him a mocking glance just to reestablish that she was no friend of his despite barely jabbing at him over the last few days.

  He sighed.

  Professor Hennigar gave Fillys and Nikolas a bright smile. Well, it must not have appeared so because of how Nikolas recoiled. Fillys grimaced and half turned away. The Djuka didn’t mind.

  “As I explained before, dragons can be exceptional at wielding Mana Essence and by extension Sorcery, but the one thing that usually makes them fall just shy of the greatest heights of this art is the fact that Sorcery requires a Mana Axis – a profound nucleus for controlling Mana Essence,” he explained to the class. “But creating a Mana Axis requires no small effort. It takes a very long time and intense focus. Of course, dragons would rather trade all that time and focus on cultivating their own strength in Kardia and Pieyro. Additionally, having both a Mana Axis and a Stok coexist in a single dragon body is rather dangerous, but we shall touch on that in a future lesson.”

  He beckoned Fillys and Nikolas.

  “First, let’s see how you two generate your dragon flame,” said Professor Hennigar. “Why don’t you go first, Nikolas?”

  Nikolas beamed.

  He jogged in place as though preparing for a marathon and after that, he checked his breath with a palm and nodded. He garnered a few muffled laughs from the class.

  Mirroring what Professor Lyall had done when she demonstrated how to produce dragon flame, he sucked in his gut and tensed everything above his chest. At some point, his face started to turn red and his cheeks inflated.

  Slowly, his lips parted and he blew out a sharp strip of air. It turned to smoke in the next instant, and then into a bright red flame with slivers of yellow firing with jet-like grace a meter past his lips.

  Nikolas kept it up as his classmates marveled.

  Some of them lathered him with glaze.

  “Nikolas has always been first at many things, hasn’t he? I mean wasn’t he the first one to blow smoke out of his nose? Professor Edelman had to take him to the Golden Wing afterward.”

  “Yeah. He was also the first to produce light with Mana Essence during our first Mana Essence Mechanisms and Manipulation lesson too.”

  “Despite being a jokester, he is kind of talented.”

  Nikolas’ ears pricked. He heard all the comments and grinned as his flame died out.

  Professor Hennigar led the class in applauding him.

  “That’s impressive,” commented Reiss as he and Ginger also clapped for the fellow. “He’s already capable of producing a strong flame. It’s obviously not as strong as Professor Lyall’s, but you could fry a ham with that kind of fire in less than half an hour.”

  Ginger gave him a weird look.

  “That was… specific,” he said. Reiss grinned.

  “Very specific,” said Caron with a brow raised. She wasn’t clapping.

  “Now, Fillys. If you would,” Professor Hennigar said.

  The girl stretched her fingers and took a deep breath. She hardly looked as constipated as Nikolas as she too mirrored how Professor Lyall had demonstrated how this trick was supposed to be performed.

  To the surprise of many, she released her flame almost immediately.

  It was a pristine white serpent, delicate and elegant. It moved like a silken cloth in the breeze, perfectly controlled.

  It was a marvel how she was able to do it. Ginger, Reiss, and Caron had to admit, it looked impressive. That must have given Fillys an ungodly degree of satisfaction. She had wondered how the trio would react to her talent.

  “Astounding,” said Professor Hennigar as Fillys’ flame broke. “Such control over dragon flame to the level of maintaining its power and keeping the natural, erratic behavior of it in check is something most dragons aren’t capable of, even as adults.”

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  Fillys might have grown a longer, sharper nose.

  Indeed, it was true. Most dragons wouldn’t be able to control their flames so finely, but not because it was the most difficult thing in the world. It just so happened that most dragons didn’t care to restrict their most basic form of power, especially when taking into account how much effort it took to control it.

  Reiss knew this, but he figured he would tell his friends later. They would love to know that what Fillys had just done wasn’t all too special.

  Nikolas had withered. He had known he was matched with someone from a Carrier House, but he didn’t expect to be outclassed to this extent. He could still feel the sharp, controlled heat of Fillys’ white flame – something the others weren’t able to because of the distance. Even Professor Hennigar had made sure to steer clear.

  With another brighter smile, the Djuka clapped and took steps away from both Nikolas and Fillys.

  “Perfect. I’m glad that I had some competent subjects to demonstrate the dragon flame. Now, I should note some of the strengths of this fire that many of you – undoubtedly – are unaware of,” he said as he beckoned only Nikolas over to him. “There are two distinct differences I would like to explore where Sorcery flame and dragon flame are concerned. First, the flame produced by a dragon is usually under the complete control of said dragon’s conscious thought. Now, if you would please produce a flame once again, Nikolas.”

  Nikolas was as puzzled as the rest of the class, but he did as he was bid.

  Another raging red and yellow flame spilled from his lips.

  “Good. Now, in the same manner as you would command your Kardia, command this flame to do something fire wouldn’t normally do on its own.”

  As he sweated with the strain, Nikolas raised a brow at the Professor before looking ponderous. Then, with what might have been a shrug, he tried to do as the Djuka instructed.

  His red flame mixed with hints of yellow started to swirl about like a ribbon in the hands of a rhythmic gymnast. It lost most of its red hue as it did, but its new, relaxed movement looked pretty all the same.

  The class gaped. Even Nikolas himself was in awe. He hadn’t thought he’d manage. His eyes went wide and he kept the fire swinging in arcs and swirls that grew wider and wider until he could no longer keep the act up.

  “Well done!” exclaimed Professor Hennigar with a series of claps. The class followed suit with many murmurings and whispers. Nikolas beamed and punched the air.

  Professor Djuka turned to Fillys who had donned a frown. Her spotlight had been stolen and she wasn’t happy about that, he knew. “I didn’t have you demonstrate this because I thought you’d be incapable, young lady. I was only wary of the strength of your flame. Unlike you all, I am not resistant to intense heat, after all.”

  It wasn’t his bright smile that made Fillys’ frown go away. Her ego had been rebooted by his words.

  Ginger, Reiss, and Caron found themselves looking at each other with exasperated looks wondering why Professor Hennigar had to go out of his way to brighten Fillys’ mood again.

  “Now, on the subject of differences between the flames, indeed, dragon flame is subject to the whim of the caster. Unfortunately, that is not necessarily the case with Sorcery Flame – Sorcery in general, in fact. The intent behind any spell cast through Sorcery lies within its Preparation. Anyone without a Mana Axis is incapable of using high-level Preparation, but that is not a problem. Standard spells up to a point can be activated using Incantations and Weavings – lesser forms of Preparation. I will demonstrate.”

  There is ample space in the Huddling Fury, was the first thing Professor Hennigar had said to the dragonlings during the first lesson of the Stride. Ever since the students had been rather excited about what else the Djuka would be teaching them other than the bias of theory from the last Stride.

  Thus, it was no surprise that the dragonlings paid close attention when Professor Hennigar gave himself some space to work.

  Ginger was paying particular attention to Djuka’s hands.

  “Weavings are a supplementary form of Preparation that direct Mana Essence or entice it into taking on a particular form. They are usually performed using the hands,” the Professor said. “Incantations are another type of Preparation. They are strict commands given to Mana Essence. One thing you should understand early on is that it is easier to make Mana Essence change its form than to command it to use itself as a conduit or fuel for an abstract purpose. In any case, using both Weavings and Incantations makes manipulating Mana Essence easier. What I will show you is a Standard fire spell called Small of the Back.”

  While the students frowned, thinking that the name of the spell was rather… strange, Professor Hennigar made three gestures with his hands. He clasped the fingers from both hands together, then he grasped the thumb of his left hand with his right and clasped both hands together again.

  As he did this, he chanted:

  “Littlest of fires,

  born for the small,

  condense from the stream,

  and strike where I aim.”

  Almost immediately, Mana Essence was sucked towards Professor Hennigar from the surroundings. It rapidly spun and ignited, forming a small ball of red flame the size of a fist, but then it condensed; it diminished to the size of a fingertip. Professor Hennigar then pointed to the free wall to his right, and the little flame shuttled there, smacking it with a tsssa!

  The students were as impressed as they were confounded. A black dot was left on the wall, smoking.

  Professor Hennigar donned a bright smile.

  “I know it looks a little underwhelming in its final form, not to mention when coupled with its odd name,” he said. “This spell isn’t an official one recognized by the curriculum. I and a few friends of mine developed it in our school days. It was a trick for messing with people whom we had petty grudges against. Because we decided it was funniest when used to attack the small of people’s backs, we decided to name the spell as such.”

  The students laughed.

  Reiss merely let out a snort livid with whatever scraps of mirth he could spare.

  “Should he be teaching such a spell to us? I mean, he’s giving bullies the perfect weapon to use,” he said.

  “Well, we have learned to defend ourselves with Custos Zoe,” countered Ginger. Reiss shrugged. He thought that was reasonable.

  Strangely, Caron didn’t say anything. Ginger didn’t miss it. She seemed particularly focused on the mark left on the wall by Professor Hennigar’s spell.

  “As I said, the Preparations for the spell – Weavings and Incantations in this case – direct its effects, not my whims and wants. The only thing I can control at this point is where the Small of the Back will hit, not its output, not its shape, not its size. This is true for all kinds of Sorcery flame,” the Djuka explained.

  “This inflexibility – as the clever majority of you can guess – comes down to the fact that Mana Essence is siphoned from the atmosphere while Kardia is generated in your bodies. There is a deeper relationship between a dragon and their Kardia, than between any Sorcerer and Mana Essence. As such, you could say in a battle of basic attacks, a dragon has an advantage. Or is that really the case? How about we find out? We shall practice Small of the Back individually and see how it stacks up against a basic dragon flame, not just in terms of power, but in a mock battle.”

  Anticipation bred excitement within the Huddling Fury. Such a simple, funny spell was going to be fun to learn, the dragonlings thought.

  But someone decided to put a temporary pause to the thrilling prospect.

  Scowling, Fillys turned to Professor Hennigar.

  “Excuse me, Professor,” she said before pointing accusingly at Ginger. “If Standard spells like this one need both Incantations and Weavings, then how did Ginger manage to cast that gold lightning without an Incantation during our first lesson?”