Magus Supremacy

"Only the strongest of mages can use magic creation efficiently. Most of you will fail today. And if you lack imagination, you will fail harder. But it doesn't mean that you are weaker than those that can use it, it means you have to work harder so you won't be left behind by those that can use it. So let's see what you all are capable of!" Von said.

"Uhm sir! How do we begin?" Arthur asked.

"Alright! We will start by knowing each other's affinities. What's mine?" Von asked.

"Fire." Arthur replied.

"Good! Any other fire mage here?" Von asked and Scarlet raised her hand. Grey was about to raise his but he managed to hold himself back.

'Just one? Tch! Pathetic.' Von thought.

"When you want to use your magic, how does it work?" Von asked Scarlet.

"I just take the mana inside me, push it out and ignite it into a flame." She replied.

"Is that right for you all too? Does the same thing happen whenever you want to use your magic to cast a spell?" Von asked and the whole class nodded. "But have you considered what happens when you stop pushing?" He asked and the whole class looked confused wondering what he meant.

"I noticed that anytime I stop pushing, the fire disappears." Scarlet replied.

"Have you considered why though?" Von asked and she shook her head. "That is because you are not sustaining it! Basic spells exist as long as your will commands it. But creation magic is different!"

"And why is it different?" Vince asked.

"Because you are not just shaping energy, you are making it self sustaining. That means instead of just pushing mana out, you have to weave, contain it, and guide it into a stable form." Von replied.

After Von's explanation, the whole class still looked confused except Grey as he was somewhat understanding what was being said.

'This creation magic, it sounds almost similar to whenever I usually created an Earth arrow to unleash a devastating attack.' he thought as he nodded along.

"I can see that most of you are confused so let's do this." Von said as he came down from where he stood and walked forward. "For those of you that has elemental affinities, create either a small flame, lightning, wind or earth in your palm. Keep it there, don't let it flicker or disappear. Hold it steady, the closer you can keep it steady, the closer you are to real control."

And it didn't take long for them all to execute the order as Greg created a small ball of lightning in his palm, Scarlet created a small flame and Grey created a small tornado in his hand. Raze had touched Greg earlier when he bumped into him so he copied his own lightning magic and created a small ball above his hand. One of Greg's friends created a ball of water above his hand too.

'Woah! Who is that brown haired student? He can create a small tornado already?!' Von thought as he looked at Grey who smiled at his tornado.

"Wait sir! What about us that don't have elemental affinities?" Vanica asked.

"Some you wield special magic like barrier magic, gravity or healing magic but this does not mean that creation magic doesn't apply to you. Since creation is all about shaping and sustaining not just about controlling fire or lightning." Von said then he turned towards the elemental users.

"Keep that element steady for one minute without it flickering one bit." He said then he walked towards those the remaining five students that couldn't use elemental magic.

"Okay for you guys! I want you to gather pure mana and contain it in a stable form." He said and without complaints, the students all did that. But they were struggling as they mistakenly unleashed spells instead of real mana. "You shouldn't push it out like a spell!

Clear your mind, focus inward, feel the mana inside you, don't just push it out like a spell, instead let it flow, like gathering water into a cup. Now, shape it into a sphere and hold it steady." He instructed and following the instructions, they found it easier to execute as the students all had a sphere of raw white mana dancing above their hands. "Excellent!"

'I… I did it?! I could create a ball of mana?' Vince thought as he stared at his hands in shock when he turned towards the elemental users of the class. 'Well compared to those monsters, this is nothing.'

"Impressive you all!" Von said aloud towards the elemental users as he walked towards them with some of them sweating slightly after holding and sustaining their magic for too long all except Grey who stood there as if it didn't affect him one bit.

'I guess they are not as weak as I thought before. But we haven't started the hard part yet so I shouldn't celebrate so soon.' Von thought.

"Dispel the gathered energy!" He ordered and the students all did as told. "Now create the small ball of energies again!" He said and without complaining, they all created it in a flash. Von kept repeating this process again and again until he smiled.

"Bravo! Now that we all managed to build our foundation nicely, let's move onto the next step. Which is Visualization or imagination! I want you to know that imagination is not all thinking of a shape, it is believing in that shape. You have to see it clearly in your mind, feel its weight, texture, shape and movements. You have to see every detail." Von explained.

"I really don't understand that part." Greg said.

"As expected from a dense dude." Grey remarked with a smirk and the whole class erupted into laughter while Greg had his hands clenched with lightning crackling and dancing around his hands.

"No bickering in my class and certainly no interruptions!" Von said and the whole class went silent with Greg cancelling his magic and glaring at Grey. "Now! For your words, if you want to create a wolf of lightning, don't just picture lightning shaped like a wolf. Think of its muscles moving, the way its claws dig into the ground, the way its eyes burn with hunger. The clearer your vision, the stronger your creation."

"Do you understand?"

"Clearly sir." Greg replied.

"Good! Now all elemental users, create a blade from your different affinities." Von said.

"Tch! Easy peasy." Grey said as a blade of wind swiftly appeared in his hand and Von glanced at him with a surprised expression as his mouth was wide agape.

"How… how…how did you create that so quick?" He asked stuttering in surprise.

"Huh?! This?" Grey asked as he lifted the wind blade and glanced at it. "I was always able to do this so it's not difficult I guess." He shrugged.

'Okay! I take my words back, there are some decent ones here.' Von thought and he looked at others.

Scarlet tried creating a fire blade first with the handle and after a few seconds, the whole thing appeared but Greg and Raze were much faster as a pure lightning blade appeared in their hands. While the water mage who was Greg's friend, struggled a bit and took a minute before he did his water blade.

"That's impressive! Now hold those blades for a minute again." Von said and then he walked towards the non-elementalists.

"Obviously you all can't do that. So I'm going to ask you to do what is unique to your powers. You! What's your magic?!" Von said pointing towards Vince.

"Me… metal magic sir!" He replied.

"Good! I want you to create a long sword of metal! You! What's your magic?"

"Barrier protection magic sir!" Arthur replied.

"Nice! Create a small shield using your barrrier energy! What about you?" Von pointed towards Vanica.

"Healing magic sir!" She replied.

"Healing magic huh." He mumbled. I want you to shape your mana into a floating wisp that can heal anything it touches."

"Roger that sir!" She said and she got to work trying to imagine what was asked of her.

"You?" Von asked Greg's other friend.

"Mist magic sir!" He replied.

"Create a misty bird that is almost impossible to see by others." Von ordered and then moved to the last student. "And you?"

"Poison magic sir!" He replied.

"Poison? How unique and helpful." He mumbled. "Okay! Create a toxic butterfly that can spread your poison to controlled areas or those it stings rather than randomly dispersing it."

"Roger that sir!" The guy said and then he got to work.

'Let's see how talented these students are compared to the elemental students.' Von said when…

"Uhm… is this supposed to look like this?" The mist mage asked as his bird came out with only a single wing and a single leg which caused the others to chuckle.

"That is actually impressive since it's your first try. So keep trying till you get better." Von said and the student got to work.

"Done!" Vince shouted as a long metal sword appeared in his hand but after, he began sweating slightly as it took everything in him to create it.

'I managed to create something so big? Even being the son of a squad captain and having a lot of mana, I have been unable to create something huge with my magic like dad but here… I… I just did?! How? Is it because?' Vince thought as he looked towards Grey who was causally swinging his wind blade around.

"Nice!" Von said.

"Completed." Vanica said a wisp appeared and floated towards Von and touched his bald head.

"That was good! I can feel the healing effects take place as my mana is being replenished at a good rate." Von said and Vanica cheered loudly as she jumped around.

"Keep it low peasant! You just created a wisp and you are happy? Behold my mist bird!" The mist mage said proudly as an invisible bird was heard flapping around.

"And I'm also done." The poison mage said as a butterfly was seen dancing around the room."

"Task completed!" Arthur exclaimed as a transparent looking shield appeared in his hand as he held it with one hand while admiring it.

'Woa! I never knew my magic could do something like this! I was only able to generate a barrier of some kind around me blocking any sort of attacks but I actually managed to create a shield?!' he exclaimed in his mind.

'These kids! All of them are actually more impressive than I thought but one person is clearly better.' Von thought as he looked around and sighted Grey holding onto his wind blade while the others had managed to dispell theirs in exhaustion as it took all their will power to contain.

"Now dispell your magic and recreate it again! The goal is to get faster at the casting so there won't be any delay." Von ordered and the students got to work as they dispelled and created over and over again for an hour before they all fell down in exhaustion as their mana had been completely depleted.

"I'm truly impressed! You all managed to get faster at creating little magic and that is nice." Von said when a loud ringing noise was heard. "Okay! That signals the end of today's class, tomorrow we focus on more complex creations."