Brat Nr. 2 (Shinji's) POV:
"Today's magic history lesson will be on 'Mad Max's Theory on human magic cores. Yes, brat number 2?"
"Who is Mad Max? I've never seen him in any of the magic history books." I asked
"Oh! Is that so? How sad. This is what happens when you cut the schools' funding. To think the students of Shiro academy doesn't know about the man who discovered the most accurate description of a person's magical aptitude." He said as he pretended to wipe a tear from his eyes
"Well, to answer your question brat number 2. Whilliam Maximillian or 'Mad Max' as he came to be called, was a magician and physician who studied the corpses of mages to better his understanding of a human's elemental aptitude. And his greatest discovery: A bunch of fingernail-sized magic stones he found inside the bodies of dead mages. This would be the discovery he based his theory on." The mad professor said as he pulled out a chart of the human body and started drawing circles on it.
"For you see. He theorized that the human body had a number of small magic cores of different elements scattered around the body. And just like how magic beasts channel their neutral magical energy called mana, through their magic core to convert it to elemental energy. We subconsciously channel our mana, through these cores to produce the elemental energy we use in our spells. Yes, brat number 2?" The mad professor said as I raised my hand in defiance.
"How exactly does this relate to the 'Heaven to Earth to Man creation' theory used today?" I asked.
The mad professor then pulled up a textbook with the words 'Basic magic theory for dummies' written on the cover.
"Oh! So, it's basically just the elemental creation theory you're talking about. While it's not necessarily wrong, it's not nearly as close to the truth as the 'Mad Max theory'." He said while adjusting his monocle.
"You seem rather well-read brat number 2. So, why don't you give the class a rundown of the most popular theory used today." He said as he gestured for me to stand at the front as I explained.
"The Heaven to Earth to Man creation theory, is a theory that details the creation of the world as well as the body of man. They say after the heavens were created the gods created the world. And as mankind was the favorite creation of primordial gods we were given bodies made from all the elements between heaven and earth. As a result, our flesh and blood are naturally imbued with the essence of the elements. Allowing us to transform our innate mana, a stable, non-elemental energy, into elemental energy. The exact amount of elemental essence we are imbued with differ as generations pass, resulting in highs and lows of the different elements making up our bodies." I said, as I recited what I remembered from the school text books on magic theory.
This was rather basic stuff, so it's nothing special. That said, I have had a lot of time on my hands while living in the academy, so I started reading the library books as a hobby. Hence, I am likely the most well-read person in this class. I'd even be willing to bet I know a thing or two more than this quack professor, in terms of theory that is.
*clap**clap**clap*
"That was a decent summery of that bogus theory spread by those religious quacks." The mad professor said as he applauded my presentation.
"If you have a better explanation then let's hear it." I challenged him.
"I'll let that one slide since I gave you the floor. Now go back to your seat while I continue the lesson." He said as he gestured for me to sit back down.
"Okay, so back to the Mad Max theory. The reason why he never was mentioned in your history books was because of two reasons.
Reason number 1: His theory was slightly off, while having only some circumstantial evidence that backed his theory at best. Hence, his theory was ignored by the masses.
Reason number 2: He lived in a very tense ideological period, where people weren't that open to a different opinion than their own. Hence, he was branded a quack and a heretic. Most of his notes were burned down with his house, and he was chased out into the woods by an angry mob, where he later went insane. Hence, his nickname 'Mad Max'." The mad professor said before he gestured for me to speak.
"If the evidence behind the theory was so weak, then why are you saying it's the correct one?"
"I never said he was correct. I just said he came the closest to finding the truth, before me that is."
"So, the crazy professor has a quack theory of his own. Maybe we should call you 'Mad Sun' from now on. HahahAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Kenji started laughing, as he soon came to feel the black rod on his head once more.
"It seems brat number 3 has a terrible memory. I told you to raise your hand and wait for permission to speak." The Mad Sun said, as he looked disappointedly at Kenji, screaming while clutching his head.
"Now, let's talk about my modified version of 'Mad Max's theory on human magic cores'." He said as he pulled out another anatomy chart and started making dots all over it.
"The reason why Mad Max found so little evidence to prove his theory was because he was using the wrong scale as a basis. He believed the average size of the magic stones in our body to be around that of a fingernail, but that was wrong. In truth, the average size of a magic stone inside the human body is closer to that of a grain of sand or smaller. Yes, brat number 1?"
"If they're so small then how come he found big ones?"
"Well, much like how underground pockets of elemental energy can form and grow into magic stones of different grades and sizes. The magic stones in our bodies can grow in size over prolonged exposure to the elements, like the fingernail sized ones you can sometimes find inside the arms of an elderly mage. A number of the bodies he inspected were likely elderly mages who lived to a ripe old age while submerging themselves in elemental energies. He made the mistake of using those overgrown clusters he found as a reference when making his theory, hence why he had so few examples to back up his claims. Finding a pebble the size of a fingernail is hard enough, but to find a grain of sand buried in flesh and blood is almost impossible without some pretty advanced equipment. Yes, brat number 2?"
"So, what evidence do you have? Or is this just a hunch?" I asked, while doubting this lunatic more and more.
"Evidence? And here I was beginning to think you were the smart one brat number 2. All the evidence you'll need is sitting right next to you." He said as he pointed at Kenji.
"Ugh? What are you pointing at me for?"
"Brat number 3. As a former golden core cultivator yourself. Can you please describe to the whole class the process of cultivation from qi refinement to golden core."
"Sure, but isn't cultivation and magic incompatible? How would explaining it help?"
"Just humor me!" The professor said as he sat at his desk, with a smile on his face.
"Okay so, I wasn't all that great at studying theory back when I was being taught, so is it okay if I just talk about the prosses instead of explaining the theory behind it?" Kenji asked timidly after being put on the spot.
"Yeah, that's fine." The professor waved at him to go ahead
"So, qi refinement is the name of the second stage at the beginning of a cultivator's journey. After they have strengthened their bodies in the previous stage, a cultivator will pick an element to define their lifeforce that will be transformed into qi, while expelling impurities from their body to prevent their qi from being corrupted in the process. Then the cultivator will gather all the qi and lifeforce in their body to condense their lifeforce into a single point and form a cultivation core that pumps qi through the meridians to the rest of the body to strengthen and refine it, pushing out even more impurities in the process." Kenji said.
I struggled a bit to follow what he was saying. Since I'm not a cultivator there were some words and concepts I didn't quite recognize. Like what even is 'Lifeforce', I barely understand the difference between qi and normal elemental energy so, most of this just felt so foreign to me.
"When researching magic or anything else for that matter, it's important to not just focus on just a single subject of interest. It's a common mistake made by both cultivators and mages everywhere who lock themselves away as to not be distracted by worldly matters. Inspiration can come from anywhere. All these different paths and concepts are connected. The world is a giant jigsaw puzzle, while magic is just a piece of it. If you only focus on one piece while ignoring the others, then you'll never see the full picture. That's why when you've hit a bottleneck it's important to look for the answers somewhere else. Now here is a question. What do you guy's think the 'Lifeforce', 'Qi' and 'Impurities' brat number 3 spoke of is in terms of magic? And finally, what do you think a 'Cultivation Core' is made from?" The mad professor said, as he gestured for us to speak.
"…?"
"Come on now! There are no bad answers, so speak your mind! I'll even give you the once-in-a-lifetime offer of getting to speak your mind without raising your hands. So, speak now or forever keep your silence as I pronounce you dumb and stupid." He said as his pirate outfit suddenly got swapped with a priest robe, while his hat and monocled eyepatch remained.
"I think your just trying to confuse us to the point where we just give up on trying to prove your quack theory wrong." I said, since he was probably just making fun of us like the rest of the school.
*sigh*
Seeing no one would answer his dumb questions he started explaining.
"Fine then! If you dumb brats are really that stupid, then I'll answer my own questions. The 'Lifeforce' he mentioned is most likely referring to what we mages call mana. It is a non-elemental energy force that is a lot more stable and less harmful to the body than the more volatile elemental energies we can convert it to. The 'Qi' he was referring to is a general term for magic stones pertaining to the cultivators' preferred element existing within the body. While the 'Impurities' are the remaining magic stones of the other elements that might interfere with the qi flow by contaminating the liquidized magic stones with elemental energies, witch in worst case scenario will cause the flow of condensed and super volatile elemental energy to go haywire in what they call 'Qi Deviation'. Now before I reveal the secret behind the cultivation core. Does anyone have any questions so far?"
I took a look around the room to get a look at the others. Kenji was staring off into space in a daze, while Aiko was playing tic tac toe in her notebook with her little golem. From his explanation there was a mistake I noticed, but it doesn't seem like the other two are going to mention it.
"Oh! So, we have a question on our hands? Now stupid brat number 2, what do you want to know?"
"You said that the magic stones were liquidized, but that should be impossible. Attempting to melt a magic stone would only cause it to crumble and evaporate into magic energy, due to it being too unstable. That's why the qi flow of a cultivator can't be made from liquid magic stones. Also, even if it was possible, you would eventually run out of qi with no way of replenishing it, since there is a finite number of magic stones in your body."
"Oh! Is that what you think? Well, you're wrong and here is why. You see all material has multiple states they can exist in, some of which are not relevant so I'm going to skip them. The three that are relevant are called solids, liquids and gases. The magic stones you are used to is a solid, and when heated up in attempt to melt it down it will jump right past the liquid state and evaporate due to its unstable structure and turn into its gas state which is the elemental energy we use for magic spells. However, if you can contain and condense that elemental energy while preventing it from solidifying by keeping it in near constant motion, then you can create a liquid state of magic stones. Which is exactly what a cultivator does. They capture the magical energy in their body, compress it into a denser substance while circulating it around the body."
"You still haven't explained how a cultivator replenishes their qi after they run out."
"Well, why don't you just ask Mr. Brat number 3?"
"Huh. What?" Kenji, who just snapped out of his daze, was confused as he was once more thrown into the limelight.
"Go on then, ask him!" The quack said, as he gestured for me to ask Kenji.
"How do cultivators replenish their qi?"
"Oh! Uh… We usually just absorb the elemental energy from the environment while meditating or we absorb the energy from a magic stone." This idiot said proving my argument obsolete.
"Why didn't you speak up sooner?"
"I don't know. You guys were talking too fast, while using too many big words. I am not a mage, plus I already told you guys I'm not that good at studying!"
*Ring*
"And that's the bell. Your homework for the next magic theory lesson will be to figure out what the cultivation core is and what it's made from. Yes, brat number 1?"
"Professor, wasn't this supposed to be magic history not theory?"
"Yep, which is why you only have until the class later today or face the stick." He said as he threw us out of the classroom."