The classroom was quieter than usual.
Not because the students were focused, far from it.
They shuffled in with stiff shoulders and aching limbs, the aftermath of the morning’s hand-to-hand combat session still written across their bodies.
Bandaged knuckles, bruised jaws, and limps filled the rows of polished desks.
Even the Monster Trio sat less pristine than normal. Valek’s lip was cut, Adrian’s usually flawless hair was disheveled, and Selene rubbed her wrist where a sparring dummy had nearly broken it.
And then, there was Kairo.
He sat in the back, his uniform clinging to his sweat-damp skin, every movement betraying fatigue. His body was screaming at him, his stomach hollow, yet his eyes were sharp.
’This... this is the grind’.
’I’ve been doing it all my life, and I’ll keep doing it’.
’I’ll keep doing it till I get what I want’.
The air stilled when Professor Haldren Voss entered.
The tall man didn’t walk so much as glide. His white robe edged with silver didn’t crease, his silver beard was perfectly trimmed, and his calm expression seemed immune to the collective misery in the room.
He raised his hand, and without preamble, a rune flared on the board behind him. One word appeared in glowing blue script.
[Resonance.]
"Mana is not just energy," Professor Voss began, his voice calm but resonant, commanding the room effortlessly.
"It is will. The world’s will, and your will".
"Resonance," he tapped the word with his pointer, "is the harmony between the two."
He snapped his fingers and a spark of flame hovered in his palm, small and weak. Then, with a subtle twist of mana, the flame roared into a sphere of fire that filled half the classroom, heat prickling against their skin.
"Unresonated mana. Resonated mana." He said.
The fire winked out, leaving silence.
"When you synchronize your mana with body and with your environment, the world, allying both, your power multiplies. It is resonance that separates raw Awakened from Heroes."
Murmurs rippled through the class as even the most arrogant noble sat straighter; it was no news that Mana Theory was one of the most critical courses of the Academy.
Professor Voss’s eyes swept across the room, sharp and unreadable. "Let’s talk about special abilities".
"Abilities are not arbitrary. They are reflections of your soul, your past, and your deepest instincts."
He raised his hand again, projecting illusions into the air.
Students saw figures made of mana, one holding a sword wreathed in lightning, another covered in bark and roots, a third cloaked in shifting shadows.
"Innate abilities like elemental control, beast affinity," he said. "They’re born of bloodlines or hidden genetics."
The illusion shifted, showing a starving child devouring scraps, a man screaming as lightning tore through him, and a woman clutching her dying child.
"Soul-rooted abilities though," his tone dipped, "they are forged in trauma, obsession, dreams, and desire".
"The will to never starve may awaken gluttony, the thirst for speed may awaken lightning. The obsession with survival..." His gaze lingered briefly, just briefly, in Kairo’s direction.
Kairo’s fists tightened. ’Muscle Genesis... is that me? Hunger, survival, pain...’
"And then..." Professor Voss’s voice lifted, the projection twisting into a radiant figure cloaked in celestial fire. "God grade anomalies... these are abilities that defy logic, shaping history".
"Some of you," his eyes flicked, almost lazily, toward Adrian Cross, "bear such gifts."
The class turned, whispers immediately sparking. Adrian didn’t try to hide from the attention; he rather basked in it, chin tilted ever so slightly, while Valek sneered, his fingers tapping his desk hard enough to crack it.
Professor Voss clapped his hands, breaking the murmurs.
"Abilities are innate, but skills are learned. Do not confuse the two."
He projected another scene, a man channeling flames without form, burning himself as much as his enemy. Then the same man, wielding a fire-forged spear, cutting through an army.
"An ability without skill is raw ore. With skill, it becomes a blade."
He looked at them, one by one. "Do you want to remain unrefined stone... or do you want to cut mountains?"
The students didn’t verbally answer, but the answer was written in the deep desire burning deep behind their eyes.
Kairo sat back, jaw clenched. ’If abilities reflect the soul... then Muscle Genesis reflects me? Just raw flesh, hungry, stubborn... is that all I am?’
"Don’t overthink it meathead," Mira whispered beside him the next moment almost as if she could read his thoughts, her grin infuriatingly casual. "Even broken things can be sharp".
Kairo gritted his teeth, wanting to curse and glare at her for how easily she managed to read his thoughts.
’This is an invasion of privacy!’
But in the end, he just blinked at her, then chuckled softly. The tension in his shoulders eased, just a little.
Mira chuckled and slammed him on the back of the head. "That’s more like it".
Kairo glared at her.
Professor Haldren Voss wasn’t finished though.
He raised a volunteer, a nervous boy from Class 1A, and asked him to channel his flame ability without focus. The fire sputtered and drained the boy’s mana almost instantly, leaving him pale.
Then Professor Voss guided him through controlled breathing, aligning pulse and flame. When the boy tried again, the fire roared stronger, stronger than ever before and his mana didn’t drain as quickly.
"Resonance is efficiency," he said as he calmly looked at his students. "Without it, you will bleed yourself dry."
The class leaned forward, enthralled in the weight of his words.
Professor Voss turned, robes whispering. "Some of you will rise to greatness, some will die forgotten".
"The difference will not only be power, it will be resonance; resonance with yourself, with your allies, and with the battlefield."
He tapped the glowing word on the board one final time.
"Remember this when your mana bleeds and your body screams. Abilities are not what save you."
He smiled faintly, a razor’s edge hidden in calm.
"Resonance does".
The rune faded and silence settled.
Kairo exhaled slowly, his hand pressing against his chest. ’Resonance... if that’s the key, then I’ll find mine’.