"Hhmmm... a second ring... I just moved the mana around Mr. Alen"
"I also had no problems moving the mana around"
I kinda expected both Fran and Cecil to have no problems with it.
"I still have yet to reach a mana reserve that allows me to try to create a third ring" Cecil added as he kept eyeing me up and down, clearly interested in fighting against me.
"That doesn't help me..." I thought that learning from the strongest was a good idea, but I guess I'm wrong.
Unlike me, they never had my same problems.
"Can't you help our friend my leige?"
"He's not my friend Cecil, he's your friend" added the prince of the third prince of the Raychmen kingdom, Theo Der Botcam.
"You'll help Alen out, you coward prince" Fran said in a cold and threatening voice that made Theo flinch.
"I-I was going to help! you..." Theo tried to calm himself before words that would end up backfiring on him could escape his lips.
"But my liege had trouble reaching the second ring" Cecil laughed as he remembered his childhood next to Theo "I remember it too-"
"Cecil!" Theo shushed his bodyguard by covering Cecil's mouth with his hands.
"Then you can't help us. Alen needs help from those who know what they're doing" Fran crossed her arms and proudfully smirked, feeling superior to Theo.
"No, actually... I think Theo's experience could help me the most right now"
While they're all thinking I want to advance to the third ring, I need to advance to the second one. And Theo's experience is perfect for me.
Fran slammed her hands on the table and looked at me with a shocked expression.
"Theo, please help me!" I started approaching the third prince "Right now, you're the only one that can help me!"
Theo blushed and froze for a bit, equally surprised as Fran "I..." after a couple of seconds, Theo adopted a cocky pose by crossing his arms and looking up "I'm glad that at least someone here knows how important I am"
"Hahaha, that's really interesting Mr. Alen"
Theo in-game is just fine, nothing stands out, you only want him because Cecil comes with him on a two for one recruit.
So he has the same struggles in magic as any normal person, just like me.
"I suffered a lot when getting my second ring, I had to train a lot I lacked the required mana"
The same thing that's happening to me.
"They say mana pools are genetic, but even the lowest, bottom of society individuals can have large mana reserves"
"And even the highest of nobles can have low mana capacity" Cecil added to Theo's explanation.
"And while meditation and magical training is thought to help with mana reserves, reality is that... maybe it's all something no one has control over" Fran added with a hurt expression, because she wanted to be the one that helped me the most.
"Weirdly enough, my liege seemed to do better when he had almost no mana"
"Yea... I felt like the less mana I had, the easier it was for me to form a circle. But even if I got better at understanding my own circle, I'd still fail thanks to my lack of mana"
"And what? Did you wake up one day and you suddenly had the right amount of mana?" Fran asked with a forced polite tone.
"That was basically it princess, my liege suddenly had enough mana"
"I personally think that I just was lucky"
Luck... I guess even he is no good.
"Everything was perfect, te weather was nice... and I even had this feeling... you know when you just wake up and you know that it'll be a shifty day?"
Almost any day of my life.
"That day I felt the opposite..."
"I knew asking the crybaby prince was of no use... we just wasted our time" Fran just sighed as she began to think about how to help me.
"I wouldn't say that just yet, you cavewoman" there was no reason for Theo to add that "While I may call it luck, and it may seem like that to everyone. In the end, it was the reward, the outcome of my countless hours training and learning"
All three of us looked at Theo with a surprised expression on our face.
"I don't know how hard your situation is..." he also thinks I want to enter the third circle "Alen, all you've learned, and all you've trained, those are things that pay off in the end"
"I couldn't have said it better my liege" Cecil softly clapped and chuckled with pride.
All the tools are in front of me...
"Thanks Theo... I appreciate your help" I bow my head to him with respect.
"Y-you don't have to be so formal with me... I don't even think I was that much help" Theo reddened and looked to the side.
"Haha, Mr. Alen! It seems you've now earned my liege's friendship for real this time"
"N-no! I'm just being... not friendly, just... selfless... yea... that. I just saw that a friend of my friend needed help, that's all"
"You know I started rooting for you way before that crybaby, right Alen?" Fran asked me as she tugged on my sleeve with her fingers.
"I know, you're my first friend after all" I smiled and Peter her white hair.
Fran pressed her head on my hand for a bit before pullimg away and blushing "Hmph, that's right! At least you know..." Fran crossed her arms and turned around to not face me.
"..." Theo looked at Fran's sudden tone shift with an frown, not understanding why she's only that way with me.
"I also want you, my friend, to succeed Mr. Alen" Cecil placed his hand on my shoulder and let out a single laugh.
"We'll have a nice match once I'm done with this" as soon as I said that, Cecil's face lit up with happiness.
"It seems my next class is about to start"
"That weird class you have? The one you're the only one there?" Fran clearly doesn't like me attending that class.
"That one! Bye guys" I began walking with a destination to arena 6 with newfound determination.
They all said me their goodbyes as I left.
___________
There they are.
"Student Alen! It's nice to see you here" Hellen Goldenlaw, the director that, for some reason, wants to train me specifically.
"You know what you have to do" Kafka Crowbell, the teacher that has to consider me worthy.
"Indeed... and I'll make it this time"
"I do hope that's the case student Alen" the blonde woman had a calm smile as she inspected me with her one eye.
"Then let's hope that you know what to do"
Standing there, in the middle of the arena and under both of their gazes, I close my eyes.
My first circle, the one that I can wear like a ring.
It has a simple pattern, nothing out of the ordinary. But that's only if I look at it from afar.
Once I look at it from up close, I can see how the ring tapers into a thinner, narrower head. It has a clean and smooth outer part, with a waving pattern that's barely noticeable.
But once I look at the inner part, there's an engraving.
"[CRESCENT MOON]"
...
...
...
"What happened student Alen?"
"You're... crying... is the-"
"N-nothing... I just... focused a bit too hard..."
...
I inhale, then I exhale, trying to calm myself.
Back into focusing on my mana.
Give those weird ideas a try...
The tools in front of me...
My family... Karla, Khyle, Magnus, Milly, Barret.
"Winds of olden times, that first spread when spirits roamed the land we walk on, bless my weapon with your own blood and body"
"[Wind Infusion]"
My perfect mana wasting spell.
"H-he's not thinking about..." The black haired teacher feared the worst, remembering the incident where I lost consciousness.
After casting that spell two more times, now the low amount of mana inside me should make t more maneuverable.
But... what if I do it different? A different design?
I have enough time to make some mistakes.
I started making a circle, but I could only create half of one. And the design is really simple.
Now the lack of mana...
While using outer mana sounds nice, I don't have the requires skills to control that.
But what if it was mine in the first place?
"Arid winds that have been whistling in the eternal scorching desert of the west ever since the beginning. Sing on this battlefield to blind all those who dare to cross you"
"[Sandstorm]"
That's different now.
All that mana that didn't belong to me is no longer surrounding me.
Now, just as I am inside, surrounded by my own mana, my outside is also surrounded by my own mana.
I saw it, the sandstorm comes out from my hand and infects the surrounding mana, a sandstorm this big doesn't come from me, rather the outer mana mixing with my own.
But now even the outer mana is just like mine.
I can now absorb all this mana outside of me.
"Wh-what's he doing?"
"I don't know, but let him do it Goldenlaw" Crowbell grabbed the director by the shoulder and kept her standing still, he knew that the blonde woman might do something.
"I-is the sandstorm... going inside him?"
I feel... overflowing with mana... a feeling I've never felt.
Is this what the characters meant when they advanced a tier.
The ring!
With the simple and smooth pattern in the middle, I made a square pattern around it, culminating on a head that sticks put to put a gem on it, even though I can't put a gem on it.
And now, for the most important part, the engraving.
If my first ring had my whole family... then this ring.
"[FRANCHESCA VON THEMYS]"
My first friend here, the one that believes in me first tight now, the villainess of a game I played, the girl I want to save from a cruel fate.
Her name fits perfectly on the inner part, leaving no space for a single letter more.
And once I finished it.
The ring shrunk to a wearable size!
With heavy, ragged breaths, I opened my eyes to see their faces.
They knew, that I got to a second circle.
________