It should have been surprising that he had gone so long in this life without needing to light a fire more than a handful of times, but the Sanctum was full of enchantments that made life in a medieval hellhole much easier.

  The kitchen burners in the Voidwalker apartments, for example, only required a small amount of mana to ignite.

  Orion thought about using a laser to heat the cauldron. He definitely could now that he had better control over Light mana, but it would be overly showy, and he decided this was a good chance to learn something new.

  Since the class hadn't yet had their first Charm session, they hadn’t learned the basic Fire-Making spell, but Asteria didn’t even blink at the added difficulty, launching into a brief explanation about how easy it was to summon.

  It was a tier zero spell, on par with Torchlight, and although they lacked the advantage of abundant aspected mana around them, Light mana didn’t suppress fire as much as a Water or Earth mana-rich environment would.

  “Lady of Crescence, grant us your breath;

  Kindle in copper the hush of your depth,

  Warm us during the coldest nights,

  Illuminate our path with your light.”

  The chant was fairly long, but it allowed everyone, even the most uncertain, to ignite some sparks.

  Orion genuinely doubted that the spell was taught elsewhere using the same chant. More likely, this was the local version, adapted to reference the Moon Mother.

  But he didn’t begrudge the Sanctum this time. It clearly produced some good results, as the whole class only needed a few minutes to get steady fires going.

  Orion himself had watched them work through the spell silently. He suspected it wouldn’t take much to achieve the same effect if he used a simple formula, but he was curious to see if there was some insight to be gained.

  And he was proven correct shortly after, because [Verification Principle] noticed something very interesting.

  Not only was the spell producing slightly different results for everyone, which was expected, but it was also summoning the fire in different ways.

  Everyone recited the same chant, but some students already knew the spell and only needed to murmur it, more for looks than necessity. Their flames shot out a bright orange, with some showing hints of purple.

  Surprisingly, Tevor the Annoying, as Luna had dubbed him, was the best. He even shot a smug look toward Orion, as if daring him to do better than his well-aimed gout of bright orange flames.

  Having seen enough to understand what he needed to do not only to create fire, but to do so by summoning Fire mana, Orion turned to his cauldron and pointed a finger at it.

  Fire was the rapid oxidation of a fuel through the exothermic chemical process of combustion. Flames were the byproduct that happened when the fuel reached its ignition point.

  That was the basic understanding. When adding mana into the mix, there was no longer a need for fuel or even oxygen. It alone could replace both.

  But how did that translate into a formula that would capture Fire mana? For what would have taken weeks, if not months, of experiments, [Verification Principle] provided an immediate answer.

  I still need to test this thoroughly to refine it, but for now, it will work.

  To define fire as a whole, he could use a simple symbol F, but to give it the meaning he knew was necessary, he first needed to assign it weight.

  F(fire) was comprised of E(energy), f(fuel), and O? (oxidizer). It came to be because its ΔH_comb (the enthalpy of combustion) multiplied by η? (the energy conversion coefficient) was negative, resulting in the release of exothermic energy.

  Now that he had defined the formula, he could simplify it to a more compact form. F = -ΔH_comb would be more than enough for his needs.

  A golf-sized sphere of superheated flames formed at the tip of his finger, and Orion only needed to direct it with his Intent to ignite the area below his cauldron, which soon began bubbling happily.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Hearing the grinding of Tevor’s teeth shouldn’t have been that satisfying. Orion should have been more mature than that. Still, he couldn’t suppress the smug smile that overtook his features.

  “You need to be more careful with how you handle the leeches, Dorian, or you risk harming the overall effectiveness of the potion. You wouldn’t want to find out that your protection from vampiric venom has faded before its time when you actually need it, would you?” His mother’s familiar voice drifted in from behind, and Orion resisted the urge to turn around and comment on the choice of potion.

  Personally, he had little trouble brewing the Bloodsucker Bane, but everyone else didn't seem to share that ease.

  In fact, he’d go so far as to say they were struggling. That made sense, considering that they had gone from the Sapping Brew, a potion so simple he’d been able to replicate it as a toddler with little to no magical knowledge, to a tier-one potion meant to ward off vampires.

  He also didn’t need to look back to know his mother was grimacing. She didn't like having to push them so hard during what should have been a simple lesson before their Charm block, but the very fact that she was doing so suggested that an order had come from above.

  Given her rank, whoever it was had to either be the High Priestess herself—possible but debatable—or one of the Veil Priestesses.

  There were seven Veil Priestesses in the entire Sanctum, of whom two were known to him. One was Morliana, who managed matters of orthodoxy, and the other was their Jewelcraft teacher, Elder Candra, who was in charge of enchanting.

  The other five, Orion had yet to meet in person, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t figure out who had interfered with his mother’s lesson plans.

  Elder Alcmene was in charge of the Sanctum’s Inquisitors and Inspectors, and therefore responsible for security. Hers was the failure that allowed the ghoul invasion, and hers was the responsibility to ensure the wards stretched high enough to protect the flying lessons.

  It was no surprise that after two disastrous failures, she increased her level of control to prevent anything like that from happening again.

  Since vampire activity was confirmed in Silverpeak, it was clear she was pressuring the Magistrae to do their part and make sure the coven was ready in case someone tested their luck.

  Orion doubted she believed the vampires were planning something truly nefarious. If she had been worried about them spreading their thralls through the Sanctum, she wouldn’t have had Asteria teach a bunch of barely classed teenagers how to brew potions that only worked on the weakest vampiric attacks.

  More likely, this was a way to be seen doing something while also addressing the core of the issue away from the spotlight.

  Of course, this was all speculation, but Orion was fairly certain he wasn’t too far from the truth.

  “Do keep your eyes on the cauldron, Orion,” Asteria said as she passed him by, and he blinked, noticing that the bubbling liquid was rising dangerously. He hurried to lower the flame, simply adjusting the mana output of the formula he’d developed just that morning.

  The issue with making a formula too effective is that I can’t fully depend on atmospheric dispersal to manage excess concentration.

  Despite the near stumble, Orion managed to complete the potion correctly, earning another thousand exp for his effort.

  It wasn’t enough to advance him to the next level, not with how steep the requirements had become for his C-rank class, but he didn’t mind too much.

  Tier two might have been a bit farther than he’d expected, but if it meant earning a B-rank class when he got there, he was more than happy to take his time.

  “What do you think the teacher will be like?” Luna asked from his side, swinging her arms exaggeratedly.

  “I’ve heard Sir Jeremy is the man,” Dorian replied from the other side.

  They often did this, talking with him in the middle. They knew it annoyed him, but also knew it wasn’t worth getting mad over, so they kept pushing to find his limit.

  “It won’t be him,” Selene answered, interrupting their little game.

  “What do you mean? I asked Magistra Eire the other day, and she said it would be him. He’s been the Charms teacher for the first three years for nearly two decades," Dorian asked, surprised.

  Orion also lifted an eyebrow. It wasn’t often that a man was assigned an entire class to teach, so he knew it would be Sir Jeremy, a middle-aged wizard with a balding hairline and a mild smile, who would instruct them in the more practical side of magic.

  Selene remained firm, shaking her head. “They changed it.”

  As always, she could be very cryptic, but Orion had been through this song and dance enough to know she would probably be validated. Still, there was no need for mysteries. “We’re almost there, we’ll see with our own eyes.”

  The Charms classroom was situated on the opposite end of the fourth floor from the one used for Eire’s lessons. It received less natural light due to its proximity to the mountainside, but that also made it wider and the corridors less crowded.

  Perfect for rambunctious teenagers to experiment with controlling the fundamental forces of the universe.

  When they arrived, a crowd had started to form around the closed door. Since this was the most popular elective class, everyone in their grade had signed up for it. Even those with more martial classes, like Dorian, had decided to give it a go.

  Orion expected some students would drop out once they realized where their talents truly lie, but for now, the classroom would have to accommodate thirty-six students.

  Before long, the door creaked open by itself, and a moment of silence passed as the atmosphere grew unexpectedly tense.

  Orion began to worry he might have to defend himself again when a raspy voice called out, “Come inside, children.”

  I recognize that voice, Orion thought, a strange pit of dread forming in his stomach. It'd been years since he’d met the woman, but he'd never forget that day in Eire’s office.

  The students began to file in, and Orion eventually had to move or be trampled by the crowd.

  Inside, he found exactly what he’d feared he would. Instead of the mild-mannered man who should have been teaching them, a wizened old woman with silver hair and a stiff expression greeted them.

  Her deep plum robes shattered any hope he had of being wrong. Only one person could dress so poorly, after all.

  “My name is Elder Morliana, and I will be taking over your Charms class for the foreseeable future. Poor Jeremy had to hurry to his village due to a family emergency, you see. I am quite busy, so we had to make some adjustments to your overall schedule, but I’m sure you won’t mind this multiple-hour block. I will be teaching you the most wonderful magics, after all.”

  And there she was, the Veil Priestess in all her glory.

  Orion quietly sat next to Selene, who shot him a worried look. From what he could tell, she must have known for a while, based on her earlier comments, but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much.

  “First, let us dispel the most foolish notions you might have. No matter what complex spells you find in the library or what amusing charm your parents might teach you from their journey, magic is a gift from the Mother, and it must always be treated with the respect it deserves. There won’t be any silly cantrip testing in my class. Only rigorous dedication. I will tolerate nothing else.”