Classroom || Variable nineteen

"This is the first thing you'll learn from me," Cacao said gently but decisively. "If you pay attention in my class, you’ll be rewarded, but if you don’t follow my instructions, expect to lose points."

Upon failing to cheat the system, the majority of students, including Yew and Spruce, looked like they just swallowed a snail.

Cacao faced the other way, then spoke out, "so let me answer the two questions on the board." He once again turned toward the students. "Even though these are two separate questions, they both have the same answer: magic is a talent, a gift from God, so to say."

He was slowly pacing back and forth in front of the blackboard, as he spoke in a low voice, which resembled the humming of a bear.

"It is a well-known fact that magic, just like any other talent, is passed from parents to children. Some people are more magic-talented, some are less magic-talented, and some have no magical talent at all. However, even a magicless person can learn one or two spells, though it would take him a lot of time and effort."

He took a deep breath before he continued.

"But who in their right mind would want to endeavor for decades just to learn one spell? Of course no one, which is why there has never been a magicless person striving to become a magus. However, even magicless people can become wizards."

He snapped his fingers, and the text on the blackboard changed once again. This time two words were listed, one under the other.

«Magus?»
«Wizard?»

"And now, for those of you, who currently have a negative number of points, let me give you a chance. Please, raise your hand, if you wish to speak. I’ll give one point to whomever can tell me what a magus is."

A forest of hands appeared in the classroom, and Cacao chose a student from the first row.

The student stood up, then said, "it’s a person who is talented in magic."

But Cacao shook his head. "Do you have another answer?" he asked. He gave the student another chance, but since the boy looked like he didn’t understand what was wrong with his answer, Cacao told him to sit down.

"Would anyone else like to try?" he faced the students in the classroom.

This time the number of hands drastically decreased to three.

He pointed at Aspen, who stood up and answered, "a magus is a human, who has mastered magical skills."

"Almost," the teacher responded, "but I’ll give you that one point."

Aspen nodded in gratitude and sat down.

Cacao drew a U shape with his finger in the air. In response to his actions, Aspen's namehood appeared right above his head for a short moment.

"Aspen," Cacao read his first name, "your answer was good, but slightly insufficient."

Then he explained to everyone, "a magus is a profession, just like a painter. There are many people who are talented in art, but not all of them are painters. And there are many people who are talented in magic, but not all of them are magi. Thus to become a magus, one requires not only a mastery of the subject, but also a conscious choice to pursue this career."

He moved his hand in a horizontal motion near the blackboard, and a definition of a magus appeared next to the word.

«Magus - a profession of someone gifted with a magical talent, who consciously seeks to attain the mastery of all magical skills.»

"Now, let’s move on to the next question: what is a wizard?" Cacao looked at the class. "Anyone?" he inquired.

Eight students raised their hands, among them Yew. Spruce was surprised that his deskmate knew the answer, but to Yew it wasn’t about the answer. His negative score wouldn't disappear on its own. And he had nothing to lose, if his answer was wrong, so he decided to take the risk.

The teacher pointed at him, because he looked more determined than other boys.

Yew stood up and blurted out, "it’s a profession, where a person uses magical items to do magic."

The teacher laughed a bit. "Clever, but unfortunately I don’t give points for trying, and you’re wrong. Anyone else?"

Yew sat back in his chair, but nobody raised a hand this time.

"Let me rephrase the definition, which you just heard. If I told you that a painter is a profession, where a human uses color pencils to draw, would that sound correct to you? By that definition, a lot of toddlers could work as painters."

Some of the students began to grasp the logical error.

"There are many people in the world who use magical items, but the difference between users and wizards is that wizards understand why and how magical items work. Wizards are masters of magic comprehension, and their in-depth knowledge of magic allows them to turn regular objects into magical items as they wish."

The teacher swiped again his hand horizontally by the blackboard, and the definition of the second word appeared.

«Wizard - a profession of someone, who consciously seeks to attain the entire knowledge and total comprehension of magic.»

"I’ll give you a minute to take notes," Cacao said, then stood aside.

All the students began writing down in their notebooks, except for Linden, who stared blankly at the blackboard and looked as if he was sleeping with his eyes open.

Afterward, the teacher brought up famous historical figures, and used them as samples in his further explanation of the difference between magi and wizards.

Near the end of the class, he sat down at his desk for the first time.

"And that will be all for today," he said. "Please take your books home, and read the first five pages of your textbooks. On the fifth page, you’ll find an assignment. Please do it in your notebooks. I'll score it tomorrow right at the beginning of our class."

Some of the students noted down the homework, while the majority opted to remember it.

"Also," Cacao continued, "today was the first day, so I cut you some slack, but starting tomorrow I want all of you to have proper manners. When you see me entering the classroom, please stand up and greet me with a clear «good morning, professor». Don’t murmur or babble it. Be clear when you say it."

He snapped his fingers, and all the text disappeared from the blackboard.

"And before any of you get the bad idea of leaving the classroom early, let me warn you. This class doesn’t end until I say goodbye to you. When I say «goodbye, students», you stand up and respond with «goodbye, professor». Only then you can leave. The only exception to this will be during the tests, when you can leave immediately after you hand over your paper."

He clapped together his hands, then stood up. While sounding stern, he spoke up. "Let’s try it. Goodbye, students."

The boys looked at each other, then slowly one by one, they stood up and responded out of sync, "goodbye, professor."

Cacao rubbed his hands. "Well, for a first time, it was acceptable. You can go."

Right after he said that, Linden grabbed his backpack and confidently walked out of the classroom. Other students packed up their books, and soon they also rushed outside.

Once Spruce, Yew and Aspen caught up with Linden, they heard him say, "that was so boring," and he yawned.

"That was scary," Spruce's voice was shaking with anxiety. "I already lost a point in my first class." He opened his notebook, where he had a minus-one written in red ink on the first page.

"Same here," Yew showed them the minus-one in his notebook.

"No such problem," Linden grinned and opened his notebook. There was only one line written in his notebook – the very first line, with a red zero written next to it. "I could tell that it was a trap."

"How could you tell?" Spruce asked, unable to believe him.

Yew immediately recalled what Linden told him before. "Both of his parents are teachers."

"Really?" Spruce looked at Yew, then at Linden, who nodded. "That sucks."

"Agree," Linden twisted his lips, then looked at Aspen. "And what about your score? Plus-one?"

Aspen took out his notebook, and showed them the plus-two written in red ink.

"That’s a lie," Spruce cried out. "Why did you raise your hand, if you already had a point from the beginning? That’s cheating!"

"I don’t think that’s cheating," Yew muttered, but he also thought that it was unfair.

Linden nonchalantly shrugged. He honestly didn’t care. Such trivial scores didn’t matter to him, and he had a bigger problem on his mind.

"Next class is with my ma." He sighed before he began walking toward the classroom B. "Welcome to Hell," he muttered loud enough for others to hear him.

The boys circled to the other side of the History building, while the students, who exited from the classroom B, were heading in the opposite direction toward the classroom A. They were all girls, and among them, Spruce recognized a girl, who also recognized him.

It was the same girl, who stood next to him during the orientation; the same girl, whom he met in the cafeteria ereyester.

She stopped and spoke to Spruce, "so your Process class is right after ours?" Some of her friendesses also stopped walking, and stood by her.

Upon realizing that she was talking in their direction, the boys stopped as well.

"Hey, I've also met you before," she said toward Yew, who stood next to Spruce.

Yew, who couldn't remember ever meeting her, looked like a deer in headlights.

"During the orientation," she tried to help him recall. "We're both magicless."

Yew vaguely recalled other magicless students from the orientation. He didn't pay them any attention, so he couldn't be sure, but there might have been a girl among them.

"I’m Wasabi Huacatay Dzmuchaviec Water," she introduced herself. "Right now, my next class is coming up, but let's talk another time." And without waiting for the boys to respond, she hastened away.