Jaux Ballad has always wanted to enter the realm of magic, but could not do so by regular means. In his desperation to become a magician he finds himself with more power, and more trouble, than he could ever have imagined.

*=+=*=+=*=+=*

Jaux’s second class for the day was on the concentration genre of magic. She was still daydreaming a bit, so she didn’t learn as much as she should have from the lesson.

Jaux did get the gist of the idea though. Concentration magic focused on the quality and quantity of the target. You could make things more durable by using positive amounts of concentration, and you can make things more lightweight by using negative amounts of concentration. On the extreme ends, positive concentration magic could be used to make air as hard as steel, while negative concentration magic could make steel so diluted that it passes through things with the consistency of air.

Targeting light with concentration magic is what allows illusions to be created. White light tends to contain all sorts of colors mixed within, and manipulating the colors allows a mage to form mirages.

Weight and durability were tied to the quantity style of concentration magic, while illusions were more focused on the quality of manipulation.

There was a lot of technical details that Jaux missed, such as where to store the extra colors from illusions and how difficult it was to magically affect the mass of a target.

For the practical half of the class, Jaux had to use concentration magic on a vial on air. She had to make the air thick enough in consistency that it made a marble fall roughly half as fast as it would in regular air. The spell sounded easy when the teacher instructed her, but it was actually very difficult to pull off. If Jaux didn’t cast the magic fast enough, a lot of the air she targeted would diffuse out of the vial.

Eventually the brilliant plan of covering the top of the vial with a book solved this problem. When all of the air was sealed inside the vial, Jaux was able to take her time with casting her magic. Once the air was weighed down by magical manipulation, it stayed inside the vial like water in a glass. It wasn’t consistent enough to obstruct the marble as much as she intended, but it was progress all the same.

Concentration magic regarding light was supposed to be over a hundred times more difficult than concentration magic regarding air, so now Tricks seemed a lot more powerful than Jaux previously imagined. Besides knowing that Frey was an ace class magician, Jaux had no idea how powerful her other two roommates were. She’d have to ask them later today.

=+=+=

“I can’t believe you guys left me all alone again today.” Jaux complained when she met up with Frey.

“Sorry Suhara, but it was really important.” Frey responded.

“Really? What happened?” Asked Jaux.

“I’ll tell you when we’re back in the dorm, okay?”

“Fine.”

Sellwall had rushed over to Jaux and Frey as soon as the class started. It almost seemed like he was expecting to hear something amazing such as Jaux learning all the spells out of her massive textbook.

“So, how far did you get, Suhara?” Sellwall questioned.

“Uh, three standard spells and one advanced, sir.” Jaux replied.

“Ah, good. That means… hm. Five more days at that pace and you should be cleared for everything except a master level spell. That will probably eat up a whole day. A week and a half before you’re ready for some special instruction.” Calculated Sellwall.

“Actually, Suhara had to stop practicing yesterday because of magic fatigue. If I boost her magic reserves midway through practice tomorrow with a blessing, she should be able to accomplish a little more than four spells.” Added Frey.

“Oh! Outstanding! Just as I would expect from our ace.” Praised Sellwall. “Well then, if you could shave it down to a week, then I should start researching some curse magic practitioners right away.”

“Suhara’s a quick study, we’ll be ready before a week. Promise.” Frey bragged.

“Aw, Frey. I don’t want to disappoint...” Jaux started to whine.

“Oh yes, Suhara’s right, you never know what might end up surprising you.” Sellwall hinted ominously.

Sellwell then emphasized his point by pulling off the hat he was wearing, and extracting a glowing white cube from its depths. He slammed the cube down in front of Frey, his chin lifted in pride.

“Behold the Gear of Miju. Inside this box holds the rumored spell pattern for a blessing of unstoppable force. I haven’t been able to get it open, so you’ll have to figure that out for yourself.” Sellwall explained.

“Oh wow, two artifacts within a week, that’s a record Sellwall.” Said Frey as she happily examined the cube. “Hm, magic puzzle. I can work on solving it while Suhara is practicing her curses.”

“It’s the most complicated one I’ve ever encountered, but the door it was hiding behind had a pretty tough lock as well.” Sellwall noted. “I wish you luck in solving its secrets.”

=+=+=

Jaux and Frey were the first ones back in to dorm. Frey had been fiddling with the cube while they were walking, but had made no discernible progress. Jaux spend the whole time failing to forget about her interaction with Rales.

Jaux kind of wanted to ask Frey about how to deal with the whole situation of a sudden kiss. She wasn’t sure what the right question was though, since it was hard to put all the feelings into words. After all, she had been a boy for all her life. The idea of being a girl kissed by a boy was not a common thing to think about. She was pretty sure she still liked girls too.

Then Jaux’s eyes wandered over to Frey’s body. She looked at the silky, wavy and auburn hair, wanting to run her hands through the strands. Saw the breasts that pushed firmly out against the robe. Frey’s bare legs seemed so stretched out due to her dominant height, but it all seemed to match perfectly with the rest of her body.

The two were sitting on their pillows as usual. At this point Frey had suspended the cube in the air, letting it hang in front of her. Her bright emerald eyes were incredibly focused on the cube, studying its every feature as it slowly rotated. Her hands were in front of her, each slender finger tightly interlaced. She was even biting a corner of her lower lip while she focused. Frey was such a beautiful woman...

“Hey Frey?” Jaux called out.

Frey’s eyes still stared at the cube, but she turned her head slightly towards Jaux in recognition.

“Yeah?”

Jaux tipped her body forward, pecking Frey’s lips just by a tiny fraction of a second. She had almost missed, barely catching the lips by a centimeter.

The cube suddenly dropped down to the floor as all of Frey’s attention became focused on Jaux.

Why did Jaux do that? She didn’t even know. It was an impulse. An impulse she couldn’t help but blame Rales for.

Jaux’s skin flushed into a deep scarlet, embarrassed to no end for making such a bold and stupid decision. Her eyes drop down to the floor, unwilling and incapable of looking back at Frey. She started fidgeting with her fingers, rubbing and twisting them together while she waited for the world to end.

Then Frey’s hand moved past Jaux’s face, before pushing Jaux’s cheek until the two locked eyes again.

Frey’s face wore a miniscule smile, the edges lifted by only the slightest of distances. She wasn’t mad. Her face turned sideways, and then she slowly closed in while her emerald eyes were shut away.

Jaux closed her eyes too, keeping still and unmoving in disbelief.

Then the sensitive skins of their lips brushed together, giving them both a tiny and lingering tickle. It was just a touch, sharing meaningful tingling between their nerves. Frey pulled away after a few seconds, opening her eyes again to stare into Jaux’s face.

Jaux looked back with nervous yet excited eyes, returning with a teeny smile of her own.

Frey’s mouth split into a wide grin, then she drifted back into Jaux’s face for another tickling caress.

Jaux’s… Suhara’s lips parted just a tiny amount, and Frey took the invitation to swipe her tongue between the gap. The tongue moistened Suhara’s lips with a flimsy film of saliva, which only further aided in the idling emotional touches.

Frey drew her head back for another quick moment, inhaling a deep breathe of air. She then pushed Suhara down to the floor and mounted herself on top. Her mouth met again with Suhara’s, and they fondled each other just by the very tips of their tongue. Frey’s hands were wandering now, one brushed against the side of Suhara’s face while the other found and groped Suhara’s delicate breasts.

Then the loud click and an open lock ruined the moment.

Suhara and Frey pulled away from each other as the gate into the dorm opened itself up. Tricks paraded in with an armful of boxed sweets, looking incredibly pleased with herself.

“Hey Frey, one of the girls we saved was the daughter of the sweets shop guy, I got all of these for free!” Tricks exclaimed.

Suhara and Frey just glared at Tricks with contempt and pursed lips.

“... What? Did I do something wrong?”

=+=+=

Suhara enjoyed her roommate’s story about pirates and underwater fighting, although she was a bit disappointed that she missed such an exciting morning. They told her that she was too inexperienced to be fighting dangerous foes, and that when they left she was still knocked out from magical fatigue. There were just lame excuses as far as she was concerned, and she maintained a stance of crossing her arms and pouting.

“Hey look, when you’ve been promoted to a basic class mage, you’ll be able to go out with us.” Frey told Suhara.

“Yeah, then we’ll hunt vampires and werepeople as much as we want!” Tricks added in.

“Mmhm, our outings together are always the best. It’ll be way more fun than watching Frey punch in pirate faces.” Assured Desyi.

“Fine. But at least wake me up and tell me if you’re gonna leave me alone.” Suhara demanded.

“Okay, we will, we will.” Frey promised.

“By the way, what class mage are you two?” Asked Suhara. “I only know Frey’s an ace.”

“Oh, I’m just barely under master class.” Tricks explained. “I still need to get some decent experience in genres outside of concentration before I am promoted up.”

“I’m also expert class, bordering master.” Replied Desyi. “I tend to avoid duels, so my combat rating is keeping me out of advancement.”

“Which makes no sense, by the way.” Said Tricks. “You specialize completely in the temperature genre, and almost all of your spells are meant for battle. Why exactly are you a pacifist?”

“We’ve been over this Tricks, I like strength, but I don’t like using strength pointlessly.” Desyi answered.

“Hey, practicing how to fight against people is useful! Training is always useful!” Tricks argued.

“There are ways to improve yourself that don’t involve hurting a fellow student.” Reasoned Desyi.

“You know, I always wondered who would win in a fight between you two.” Frey pondered aloud.

“Yeah! That’s a great idea! Come on Desyi, let’s duel, you and me!” Said Tricks.

“Nope. No go.” Disagreed Desyi.

“Aw come on! It’ll be fun! Suhara wasn’t to see it, right Suhara?” Questioned Tricks.

“Uh... I am a bit curious…” Suhara admitted. “But I wouldn’t want you guys to hurt each other.”

“Hey come on, go for it.” Frey urged. “It’ll be really interesting.”

The banter went back and forth for a while, but eventually Desyi agreed under the combined peer pressure. They would go to a teacher to schedule a duel for one of the next few days.

While the girls were finishing up with discussing the details of the eventual duel, there was a knocking upon their dorm’s entrance gate. Since it was past curfew, the girls all wondered who was outside their door.

Desyi went to open the gate up, and to Suhara’s great distress... it was Rales.

“Oh hey again,” Frey greeted. “What brings you here Rales?”

“Ah hello girls, I was actually coming here to have a quick word with Suhara.” Answered Rales.

Suhara could feel the weight of everyone’s eyes shifting to her. She didn’t know what to do.