"Well, no matter. Now you know how serious I was when I mentioned expenses yesterday. Enchanting as a field…"

  Lev lazily tapped a finger as he lent half an ear to the rambling. The reminder of monetary costs was something they all remembered pretty well, but Edward seemed to love repeating it.

  "Now, then. We took a first look at the most basic type of enchanting. Today, you will do the same for painting, which has a simple addition of using paint, and separate into groups in the second half."

  Nolan gave Lev a look saying 'I told you so', which did not escape Edward's notice.

  "The sample we will use today is from Warrior Trolls. Their cores are abysmally inefficient for any magical purposes, let alone enchanting. Your task is to observe how inefficiency works, and what effects it has on the materials used to enchant and the material being enchanted."

  He circled the room and gave everyone ten crude iron sheets and a bowl of grey-brown sludge that contained a decent amount of mana. It was tempting to try and absorb it in his pool but Lev knew how terrifying the consequences of that would be.

  Human bodies and souls were not meant to absorb external or ambient mana.

  Mana poisoning would be the least of his worries when his soul itself suffered. Humans only ever utilized mana produced by their soul unless they had a class allowing otherwise. The only other method of utilizing ambient mana at the top of his mind was using runes, which was something else entirely.

  Putting those thoughts to the back of his mind, Lev created a simple syringe and pulled in a bit of the paint. That done, he sharpened the tip for more precise paint release.

  "Why not follow the normal method and use a brush?" Edward questioned. Unlike his words, his tone was encouraging.

  Lev looked around to find the entire room observing his syringe. "I don't have a brush."

  Edward laughed. "Well, I don't see the downside if the syringe works like intended. Instead, I approve of this approach. Being able to create good tools anywhere will be a huge boon for a combat crafter."

  With that, Edward made his way back to the front. "Raise your hand if you remember the rune from yesterday."

  Everyone did so.

  "Good, now paint that on these sheets."

  Lev eagerly dove into the task. Mentally grabbing his shield, Lev picked up an iron sheet and started tracing the rune with the syringe's tip while pushing out a steady yet tiny stream of paint.

  The rune was too thick at first, so Lev reduced the output even more. Within ten seconds, he had drawn the simple rune as if it was traced with a pencil. Not only was the shape neat and uniform, but the paint also dried instantly.

  Mana entered the rune, and Lev realized the first flaw in his design. There was too little paint to channel even a small amount of mana so most of it was wasted.

  Grabbing another sheet, Lev increased the size of the syringe's output and tried again. The result was thicker without being ugly. The syringe and his mental precision worked together nicely, and he finished the rune in only a little more time.

  While the paint dried, Lev discovered another flaw. The paint inside the syringe was also drying. It was slow, only coating the syringe's interior, but it would dry eventually.

  The issue was simple to solve with an enchantment to make the barrel non-sticky but that was beyond him for now. Not like the loss was anything major.

  Mana flowed smoothly through the rune though much of it was still lost. Lev estimated it had a 50% efficiency due to the poor materials.

  Putting the sheet away, Lev created another five to test different rune sizes and paint amounts. The results varied more than he expected.

  To a small extent, Lev could 'waste' more paint to increase efficiency. If more paint was crammed into the same size, the rune could channel more mana and slightly less of it would be wasted overall.

  The size also mattered more than he first estimated. The larger the rune, the more mana it wasted. Turns out, the longer it took for mana to run through the entire rune, the worse it would be. Who would've thought?

  Edward was giving him exasperated glances. Lev was jumping ahead of schedule but with his relatively high attributes and insane boosts to Intelligence and Perception, the exercise was easy as heck.

  "Okay, stop drawing. Let's see what everyone has managed so far,"

  The lecturer slowly circled the room, giving advice and telling them the exact efficiency they had ended with. While he did that, Nolan observed all his runes while Lev took a look at his.

  The brush bristles need more precision than everyone expected, Lev observed. Nolan's rune had plenty of stray marks from poor handling, which was understandable.

  Lev's runes on the other hand, only had a single streak of paint without pause. Nolan was rightfully unamused.

  "That's cheating," he muttered. "Drawing is hard, man. You just bypassed it entirely."

  "Would you rather choose barriers as your element or practice drawing?"

  His silence was answer enough. Lev's class, while strong, was challenging to utilize to its full potential, unlike classes with all active skills.

  Edward first checked Nolan's rune, giving him an encouraging smile at forming a 39% efficiency rune before he checked Lev's latest rune.

  "Hmm," Edward began, very obviously dragging out the tension. It didn't help that the entire room was waiting for his conclusion. "53%. Makes me wonder why you're even here."

  "To get the skills?" Lev drawled.

  "You can easily get them on your own."

  "To suffer from inexperience?" Lev snickered. "I would much rather take it slow and learn from someone knowledgeable."

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  "I see," Edward said. "You wouldn't have been held back as much as you think but it's still a good decision on your part."

  Done with the inspections, he clapped once to gather everyone's attention. "Now that you have seen yourself how the materials matter, it is time to work towards getting your general skills. You will learn more about the theoretical aspects but it is imperative to get the skills first. The more knowledge you gather at the first level of the skill, the better for future levels.

  "Those who want to work with Rune Painting, move to the first column," Edward pointed to the column of benches next to the door. "Rune Carving to the second column and Rune Etching to the third."

  Lev relocated to the last bench of the second column. It was already empty. Nolan moved to the first column, which cemented Lev's decision to share a few cores with him.

  "Now make groups of four."

  Out of the six others in his row, two joined him while the other four made their own group.

  Both the girls were fifteen by Lev's estimate as he waited for one of them to speak up. They hesitated, which Lev understood. His illusion armor could be daunting from up close.

  "Hey," one of them nervously started, "I'm Myra and she's my friend, Freya."

  "I'm Lev."

  Great interaction, Lev thought with a mental chuckle. He didn't understand why boys always felt nervous around girls. He could talk to them just fine.

  "What sub-field do you two want to advance in?" Lev started the conversation.

  "We want to forge powered armors," Freya declared proudly before remembering Lev was a stranger, "and also on weapons and firearms," she finished quietly.

  "Both of you?"

  They nodded in unison. "I see. You've no doubt heard of my choice several times due to the lecturer's attention," Lev noticed Edward shaking his head at him. The girls also looked embarrassed for whatever reason.

  "We heard," Myra said as she looked at the columns. "I didn't think there would be so many people in etching."

  There were only three, which was apparently a lot. "It's that difficult?"

  Freya nodded. "From what I've heard, headaches are a constant companion during training. Even getting the skills don't help much. The enchanting just progresses a step which requires just as much if not more mental effort."

  Huh. So it is a constantly increasing burden on your mind, noted. Carving for the win indeed.

  "What about you?" Freya looked at Lev.

  "I want to use arcane barriers for spellcasting. They will be weak but arcane classes give a lot of mana."

  "Intelligence bonuses too, most of the time," Myra muttered, considering the implications.

  "Will just that be enough for combat, though?" Freya interjected.

  "Nope," Lev shrugged. "I have skills to make use of enchanting and different mana types, of course."

  "Pay attention everyone," Edward's voice echoed throughout the room. "The first exercise will be forming a simple formation. You will use the heat rune and form a standard input formation with the runes I will provide. The task is naturally too much for etchers so they just need to form the heating rune to begin with."

  Carvers and painters got thirty of the same crude plates per group, while etchers were given five. Etching did nothing to the material, after all. The whole thing worked through incorporeal mana channels.

  "Your task is to connect the heating rune to a funnel for more precise channeling, attach an overload trigger for the amount of mana channeled, and a last cutoff rune to prevent the material from overheating. These are all basic triggers, and you will rarely use them beyond practice, so don't worry too much about the runes themselves. Focus on honing your muscle control and fluidity."

  Just like before, the air shimmered before an illusion showing three runes solidified mid-air. Text above each of them explained what they did.

  "I will not guide you today. Knowing how to fail is an important part of success. Good luck."

  "… Ideas?" Myra asked.

  "The cutoff rune should go at the end to stop the channel at the last moment when necessary. That way, there will be a small window to waste the overloaded mana during the channel."

  "I agree," Freya nodded. "For the other two, let's start by putting them to the left and right and see how it goes."

  Myra and Lev had no issues with it either, so they started working for all of one second before they paused.

  "Who's gonna carve them?" Myra asked, looking between Freya and Lev.

  "We can take turns," Lev suggested.

  "Sure, you go first."

  Lev picked up a plate and did just that. Forming a stylus with a sharpness rune enchanting the tip, he started carving the heating rune. Following that, he took a long look at the cutoff rune and memorized it. He had kept the heating rune large enough to fit the cutoff rune inside with ease.

  The funnel, after a bit of thought, was put under the heating rune while the overload rune was added to the left of the funnel rune. The last rune was interesting in how it pretty much just stopped all mana from entering the funnel if the channel exceeded a certain amount per second.

  Not that it mattered much. Lev could feel how it would just fold from a large amount of mana from him.

  "Looks… fine?" Lev remarked.

  Freya and Myra nodded in unison. They both held their breath as Lev sent a small amount of mana through the funnel. It slipped in smoothly and was scanned by the overload rune properly before entering the heating rune.

  The plate gradually heated as the mana was consumed by the rune. It was only warm to the touch when the fuel ran out.

  "Did you both feel it?"

  "We did," Myra answered. The overload rune had done its job.

  "I did too," Edward's voice sounded from their left. "Not bad. Can you explain how you did it?"

  "We thought the overload rune should go to the funnel instead of the heating rune to stop any from entering the main rune in the first place in the case of an overload. The cut-off was placed at the end to stop the enchanted material from suffering any damage by sacrificing the overloaded rune instead."

  Edward nodded along. "Prioritizing the enchantment material over the carved runes. Your group did well."

  "What's the efficiency of the whole thing?" Freya questioned before the lecturer left.

  "78%."

  The girls blinked. That was much better than their own results and Lev had done that in less time too.

  "Why did you say 'we'?"

  Lev looked at Myra who was looking at him in confusion. "Why not? It's not like I care about some lecture credit. Besides, I doubt he wasn't aware already."

  Or am I supposed to care? Does it translate to something?

  His confusion must have been apparent despite the armors in the way. "You don't know?"

  "Know what?" Lev replied to Freya.

  "You can get even more personal lessons from Edward and some rewards if you perform exceptionally well. I've heard he gave a powered armor to a student once."

  Eh. Do I even want them?

  "I don't need more lectures," Lev slowly replied. "But I don't mind rewards."

  "Then you shouldn't undermine your efforts," Freya was serious as she replied.

  Lev accepted the advice gratefully even if he didn't care much for it regardless. He doubted Edward missed even the last conversation with how strong a Master's senses were. Knowing who worked on the plate and who didn't should be easy for him.

  "It's your turn now," Lev motioned to the remaining plates. "I'll try again after some time. You two should practice."

  "How did you carve them so cleanly, anyway?" Myra casually voiced as she grabbed a plate. Freya gave her a look but Lev didn't think there was any harm in answering.

  "I evolved once already and am a Mage with very high Perception."

  Myra paused for a second before she shrugged a shoulder and continued. "I forgot about that."

  Lev observed them carve out their plates one by one by using his design. Predictably, theirs was messier with a lower efficiency but that was fine. They didn't have Lev's Perception and Intelligence for fine control. Not like they used their mind to begin with.

  It was harder to control muscles than the mind, at least in Lev's experience.