The sound of the clock ticking away in the background filled his ears and headspace. Mindlessly ticking away as he continued to sit in his chair next to Akio.

First, five minutes passed. Then ten minutes. Then nearly twenty.

By now, Alphonse simply sat there, resting his bored head against his closed fist whilst his other one was twirling and spinning a pencil. With her laidback attitude as usual, Akio simply had her eyes closed and hummed herself a small tune, leaning back in her chair and her feet propped up onto the desk, her arms and hands behind her head. The black-haired teen next to the tall girl took a small glance at her. He couldn't help but wonder what she meant by an "eccentric" class of theirs.

Just as he was about to ask that question, the classroom door heard a sudden bang. Abruptly sliding open, a young man with black dress shoes and pants, accompanied with a half-sleeved white shirt with a loose red tie and a gold trimming at the seams, along with black-laced white gloves on his hands. His hair was long and black, tied into a low ponytail with a red hair tie, and had a rather messy fringe across his forehead. The expression of the young man, who looked to be in his mid to late twenties, was quite bored and tired, signifying that he probably didn't even want to be here. At all.

As the young Euclidus got ready to take notes and get his materials ready for class, he was oddly baffled at the fact the young teacher simply went to the desk and got out a nail and hammer. Taking the big book copy of the same textbook Alphonse had, he placed it on the chalkboard. Then, with the nail and hammer, placing the pointed bit onto the hard cover, he proceeds to hammer in the nail and stick the book to the chalkboard. And with a lazy wave of his hand, he goes on to dismiss the class.

"Okay, self-study session, I'm leaving it all to you guys," he says with a yawn.

Collectively, loud thuds were heard. Almost all of the students merely slam their heads onto their desks, pretty much in a comical manner. Alphonse only sweat dropped as he looked on confused, soon drawn to the sound of Akio's howling laughter, the black-haired girl having a great time of the scene that was occurring.

The lazy teacher soon sat down in his chair by his desk, resting his head boredly onto his fist as he looked to the side. Alphonse facepalms. Here he was, mentally and actually preparing himself to get his new school life started, notebook out and pen at the ready to jot down notes and all sorts of study material, only for the teacher to pretty much give up and just be lazy. With a slight groan to himself, he quizzically looks over at the coffee-eyed girl, who was having the time of her life is what it seemed, continuing to casually lean back in her chair with her eyes closed.

"Hey, Akio..."

"Hmm? What's up, Al?" She perked an eye open to look at him.

Raising a hand up in a discreet manner to cover his mouth, he spoke in a low whisper. "What's wrong with this teacher? Shouldn't he, you know, be doing his job?"

"Ah... That. Heh, don't worry about it," Akio mused. "We had an actual teacher since the beginning of the school year, but she ended up dipping out because of an assignment Master Biblia gave her. So a substitute teacher was assigned to her place."

"Uh-huh." Alphonse only deadpanned. "Well, has anyone actually tried doing anything about it?"

The coffee-eyed girl only laughed to herself and continued to just relax. Sighing as he wouldn't get any answers from her, Alphonse would open his textbook and begin his own self-study session. But of course, he should've known, because he didn't know anything about magic at all, he had no idea what the hell this book was talking about. And this was a supposedly "for dummies" book, especially established by the fact that it said "For Beginners" on the front. Ironic, considering his position.

With an irritated expression, he was about to push himself out of his seat to ask the teacher a question. But he stopped, having heard the overhearing conversations of the other idle students around.

"What's his problem?" A female student growled lowly. "Even after he lost to our magic duel a few weeks ago, he's been doing nothing but this. I can't believe he'd just abandon an agreement between Magus'."

His eyebrows quirked upward. Magus? Alphonse could assume that was the term to define magic users. He figured they would use the standard ones. Sorcerers, magicians, wizards, witches, all of the above.

Magus was a new vocabulary word he's heard. Something to note.

Although, before he could even ask his own question, another female student had gotten up from her desk and walked to the front. Her textbook hugged tightly to her chest, she stopped in front of the teacher's desk and spoke to him in a shy tone.

"E-Excuse me?" She asked.

He doesn't bat an eye toward her. "What is it?"

She raises the book to cover her mouth slightly, "U-Um... There's something I don't understand on the subject of translating runic..."

"Hmm... Ah... You're that one girl who specializes in the Wrath Thema a part of the Ira Archive..." Lorenz murmured.

Although, upon hearing it, Alphonse merely raised his eyebrow. 'Thema? Archive? What's that?'

"Sorry, I don't specialize in that category. You're going to have to ask someone else." Lorenz waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

The female student, looking rather dejected, hung her head low. But another person spoke up, a girl with pale purple hair, an ahoge at the top of her head and a hair band that had cat ears on it. Her attitude toward the teacher was a rather disapproving one, frowning greatly at his laziness before she looked to her fellow classmate.

"You shouldn't be asking that man. He doesn't understand a thing about the greatness or value of magic," she sneered at the man, soon smiling at her classmate.

"B-But..."

"It's alright." Putting her hands on her shoulders, she began to usher her back to her desk. "I'll teach you."

Though it seemed that the comment of the girl saying that he didn't understand the greatness or the value of magic seemed to have irked him. Scoffing to himself slightly, opening his eyes slowly, he grinned in a rather pessimistic way.

"Is magic really that great or valuable?"

This caused all of them to stop and look at him. Whilst the teacher kept his disinterested expression on his face, his eyes did display a deep curiosity. A curiosity as to why these students of his seemed to hold magic in that great high of a value. However, it was that question that perked the pale purple-haired girl to look at the teacher with an irritated smile.

"I wondered what you might say. Magic is the study of this world's principles," she elaborated.

"Hoh?" He let out a sound of mock interest.

"The origin and structure of this world, the rules that govern this world... Magic reveals those to us and answers the eternal question of why we and this world exists," she further says. "It's the means by which we, Magus', can discover the path to a greater plane of existence. That's why magic is great and valuable."

"What use is it?"

She then looked perplexed. "Huh?"

"Exactly what use is studying the principles of this world?" Lorenz questioned.

"L-Like I said, it brings us closer to a higher plane of—"

"And what's on that higher plane of existence? Gods? Creators? Really the answers to all our questions? If you ask me, magic is nothing but a pain in the ass. It can all be forgotten for all I care."

She mutters, "Then why are you even taking this position as a teacher...?"

"What kind of benefit does magic provide humanity, anyway?" Lorenz proposed, standing up and looking the girl in the eye. "Aside from us being little soldiers to the big governments funding these schools to get rid of Breakdown Phenomena, what kind of benefit does magic provide humanity?"

"Well..."

The teacher began to pace around the classroom, eyeing all the students. A majority of them merely scowled or either looked away in confusion, probably unsure of what to even come up with an answer to his question. Alphonse merely furrowed his brow, shifting in his chair nervously as he watched as the teacher's eyes slowly hovered over to him.

For a little, it didn't seem like they didn't even seem to acknowledge him at all. However, in just that small second of eye contact, Alphonse was quick to notice the slight intrigue in Lorenz's eyes, but the teacher didn't seem to press onto it any further. A slight gloss of a glance before the black-haired teacher began to eventually go back to looking at all the students.

Continuing his little spiel, "Just look at the medical field. Humans have already created far more advanced technology and equipment, which is far better off than using magic. It's been saving people from sickness and all sorts of things. I could continue on, considering that there are many fields that humanity benefits from. Agricultural sciences, architectural engineering, and among others. But is it my own imagination, or does magic provide no benefit at all?" He paces around for a little bit more. "So, I'll ask you lot again. What kind of benefit does magic provide for humanity?"

He was met with silence once more, the purple-haired girl standing a few feet away from him was almost nearly unraveling with anger. Nearly looking like she was just about ready to unleash all of the anger and denial she was hearing from his mouth. But even then, no one was speaking up, unable to give him the answers to his questions he had asked. Why did they find magic so sacred? Revering it so highly when it has mostly caused nothing but pain and suffering?

Lorenz simply sighed, "Gosh, you all are so dumb. A bunch of idiots."

"Huh!?" The class collectively slammed their hands on their desks. Well, minus Akio and Alphonse, the former having quite the amused expression whilst the latter looked on with intriguement.

"If there's anything I've noticed in the past few weeks of watching over you damn brats is that you all get sensitive so easily about things you can't see," he said, "but for whatever reason, you all neglect what's in front of you. That's simply proven to me how much you all consider magic is more sacred than it actually is."

He continued to pace around a bit before he gave them all a side glance, "Well, if there's one thing that is definite about you all... You don't understand a single thing about magic."

And soon, a loud eruption of comments began to bicker from the students. A glasses wearing student simply gave a sneering smile as he rested his cheek on his hand.

"I don't want to hear that from a third-rate mage who can't even one-line a chant as simple as Shock Bolt."

Lorenz pouted a little. "Well, frankly, you're making my ears burn with that one. I don't have any sense for mana manipulation and chant reduction. But as simple as 'Shock Bolt,' you say? You really are idiots," he said to them with a taunting grin.

"Wha—!?"

"So today's lesson, I'm going to teach you all about the simple spell of Shock Bolt." Lorenz then extended an open hand out, "The basic chant is: 'Thunder sprites, pay heed, and strike with your electric shock.'"

Once he had recited the spell chant, a purple magic circle had spawned from his hand. With a loud roar and crackling noise of electricity, a purple bolt of lightning magic sprouts out and zaps the open air.

Even though he's literally exploded things with his hands, which happens at random, the fact that a magical spell that had been activated by a simple sentence of words still entranced him greatly. Such a thing existed in ordinary life, and yet, this is essentially the first time he's encountered it if he didn't count his incidents.

However, even though he was the most fascinated by such things, he looked to everyone in the class. While Akio still kept her amused grin and continued to lean back in her chair, the others were simply bored and disinterested. They thought very highly of themselves when it came to these techniques.

"Figures he's using a three-line chant," one girl sighed.

"We already mastered Shock Bolt a long time ago," another followed, pointing her noise high into the air.

"As you all know, for those with an excellent sense for mana manipulation, you can shorten it to 'Thunder sprites, shock.' But here's your question." He soon grabbed a piece of chalk and began to write on the blackboard. "'Thunder sprites, pay heed, and strike with your electric shock.' What happens if you make this three-line chant into four lines?"

A majority of them soon fell silent and looked perplexed. The glasses wearing student a moment ago soon spoke up, a bored tone in his voice.

"That chant wouldn't function properly. It'll fail somehow or other."

"I know that, idiot. I'm asking you what shape that failure will take."

A girl stood up, "Obviously, that's just random!"

"Random? Didn't you say you've mastered this?" Lorenz chuckled quite arrogantly.

Although, the girl only scowled and grunted in frustration as she stared at the teacher. However, others merely looked at each other and shrugged, unsure of what to take of his comments while others were simply angry. Was this teacher mocking them? Thinking he was simply better than them when he's considered a third-rate mage? They all remembered how he easily lost against the student that had challenged him, not even able to utter a single chant or spell to win. What was he to say to think he could look down on them and call them idiots?

Lorenz looks to the students once more and notices their faces of conflict, agitated by his question or simply confused as to what answer to give. He simply sighed in disappointment.

"What? You're all done? Fine, then. The answer is..." He grinned. "It'll curve right."

Standing a bit away from the blackboard, Lorenz faces it and extends his hand out and repeats the chant, this time saying it with four lines instead of the usual three.

"Thunder sprites, pay heed, and strike, with your electric shock."

The spell was cast and the usual magenta colored magic circle appeared onto his open hand. The thunderbolt strikes out toward the board, but to prove how he was right, it did what he had just said. As soon as it made contact with the board, it curved to the right. Seeing this as it had proved them wrong, the two students that had claimed it would be random or failed simply shot up from their seats in complete shock.

"Impossible!"

"No way!"

Lorenz grabs the chalk and begins to write on the blackboard again, "By the way, if you make it five lines, like this, the firing range shortens. If you erase one part, then its output plummets."

He demonstrated the skill once again. With the five-line chant, it indeed had the firing range of the spell shortened. Erased one of the words in the chant, the output of the thunderbolt had plummeted and would only resort in a measly shock. With a taunting grin, he faces his students and balances the chalk onto his index finger.

"Well, if you're claiming you've mastered it, then you should be capable of this." Clearing his throat, "Listen, in short, magic is just an advanced form of autosuggestion. The runic language we use when chanting spells is the language most efficient for achieving that. Those who's Thema is Ruina should know this. But anyway, this concept is essentially what reforms the human subconscious so we can intervene upon the principles of this world. You guys might say that magic is about studying the principles of this world, but you're wrong." Lorenz then placed a fist to his chest. "Magic is about probing the heart of mankind. Heh, you all look like you refuse to believe that mere words could have such power."

Yawning a bit, he placed both of his hands back onto the teacher's podium, as he had walked back to it. Lorenz soon adopted a rather serious and stern expression on his face, something befitting of a teacher. But, every now and then, his lips would curl up into a smile.

"In any case, this time of magic has something similar to syntax and grammar, which helps it reform your subconscious in the way you want. Once you know that, for example..." Scratching the side of his head for a moment, he extended his hand out again. "Well, anyway, paralyze."

Like before, the magenta colored magic circle appeared and a weak, firing thunderbolt was propelled. This shocked the class greatly, usually having to say chants for magic like this requiring a bit more confidence and tone in order to cast it. But Lorenz was able to chant and cast the spell with something so half-hearted like "paralyze."

The black-haired teacher looked puzzled for a moment. "Huh? That was weaker than I expected. Well, then you'll be able to modify it like that."

"No way..." One murmured.

Another student was leaning forward in slight awe. "He can activate it with such a half-hearted chant...?"

"'Keywords to activate the spell embedded in your subconscious.' That's what a chant is," Lorenz explained. "In short, it's just an association game. Chants and spells work the same way. Well, for the most part, just this beginner level. Once you begin delving into your research of your respective Archive and Thema, then the spells can become more complicated and much different as to what you're learning now. But at the very least, once you know all these basics here, modifying chant spells like these isn't all that hard." He then grabbed the textbook that was assigned to this class, "But, skipping over those basics and writing down or translating chants because this dumb textbook just says to memorize them... That's the kind of 'for dummies' classes you've been taking thus far. Talk about dumb," he said with a chuckle, throwing the book away.

Looking down at his notebook, Alphonse examined the notes he had taken so far. But after hearing it from Lorenz's mouth, he seemed to have gotten a better understanding of how these chant spells work.

Just as Lorenz had said, chant spells were essentially an association game. Saying the keywords of the spell will thus activate it. But, if you know the basics and the correct grammar and syntax, you are able to shorten the spell to such a simple saying. He wondered if he could control those powers of his by just saying a simple word. Then again, he wasn't even sure of what keywords he knew that would cause him to know the power to explode things from just trying to hold him. For all he knew, it would just happen at random. He would have to look into this more.

"Right now, all of you are no more than magic users who can use spells. If you want to call yourselves Magus', then think hard about what you're lacking," the teacher says, continuing his spiel. He soon grinned. "Now, I'm going to teach you the most basics of basics. That's the reason why you're all in this class, right? Well, if you're not interested, then just sleep."

[0.4] | Learning The Basics