Gent had no other choice than to comply with the trio, he wasn't willing to get himself beat down by these Fang antagonists right in front of everyone's eyes.
With Jinto on the lead, Melissa on his left, and Paul at his back, they went towards a semi-secluded spot away from the eyes of others, the back of the academy building.
They walked slowly, slower than the normal pace of the rest of the students, until they gathered behind the building.
Wasting no time, seeing that they were secluded enough, Paul suddenly grabbed at Gent's collar and pushed him to the wall of the building.
"Bastard, I know what you've done. You think you wouldn't get unscathed?"
Gent laughed: "Haha, I've done many things, what's the use of doing this now?"
Paul's face contorted, wrinkles on his glabella growing as he said, "Don't play dumb, just because Jinto bested you, now you think it's alright to go that far? What right do you possess for you to do that!" He still remembered the fear Kyina and Lisa exuded as they talked about the incident, he spoke with the intent to bring justice to the culprit at this very moment!
Gent raised an eyebrow: "Listen here you muscle monkey, I don't know what you are talking about, just because you all have gathered misfortune doesn't mean I incurred it. I've done nothing this whole time, but haha, it seems I didn't need to!"
Paul couldn't hold it anymore, he wanted to pummel the smog out of Gent, with his other hand he pulled back his arm, ready to pull a punch.
"Paul, don't." Jinto intervened.
Paul didn't proceed with his punch, dropping his arm, but he still maintained a grip on Gent, not letting go.
"Good, good, that's Jinto for you, isn't it? I would've cleaved your arm into two if you proceeded with that attack." Gent ridiculed him.
Melissa's expression tightened.
Paul tightened his fist once more, but he controlled it.
"Say Gent, do you truly know nothing? Or are you lying to us?" Jinto deeply stared at Gent.
Gent shook his head: "Aren't we all good buddies? I would have rubbed it in your sorry faces on whatever I had done. I'm completely innocent in this regard. But hey, that doesn't stop me from rooting for the real culprit." He truly didn't know what had happened for the trio to interrogate him like this, but that didn't stop him from mocking them in regards to their misfortune.
"Ugh, you truly are unsightly." Melissa felt disgusted.
Gent didn't pay mind to her insult, instead: "And you truly are a fairy, even when you bad mouth me, haha. Why don't we go on–."
Paul interrupted him with a hoarse tone: "Shut up."
"Woah there, you brain mushed monkey, did I steal your banana or something?"
Jinto looked deeply at Gent before saying, "Paul, don't listen to him, it seems he truly doesn't know anything, let him go."
What guided his decision was based on Gent's character, the ever so vindictive and petty fellow. Would go above and beyond to remind them of the poisoning if he had done it. But it looked like he truly wasn't on it, but it didn't retract all his suspicion. Perhaps, the higher ups of the Joto's orchestrated the plan and didn't include Gent due to his unreliability.
Hearing Jinto's command, Paul tossed Gent to the ground, making him extend his arms in order to catch his fall; by his knees, his green robe was slightly damaged due to the friction the fall had caused.
Putting his left hand on his leg he got up.
The trio watched as Gent walked back from the path they had come.
He walked a few steps, but he suddenly stopped, facing away from the trio he spoke, "Humiliating me and handling me down like this, you think I would take it lightly? You seem to think that I'm the same person of the past, no no no, things have changed."
Melissa's eyes squinted.
Gent then suddenly turned around.
Swoosh!
A gust of wind approached the trio.
Jinto and Paul were slow to react in time, only trying to escape the range by reflex, but the approaching Wind Blade was faster!
Whooo
Before it could reach its target, the Wind Blade disintegrated, as it hit something illusionary.
Wind Wall!
Melissa had been channeling her mana, preparing to defend against any attack Gent threw at them. She felt it was too irregular for Gent not to conduct any sort of attack, knowing that she prepared beforehand.
Clap clap
"That's Melissa for you, you know me so well, don't you? Preparing that neat little spell thinking I would do something eh?"
"Knowing you is my displeasure." Melissa replied, with a foul look.
Gent ignored her. "I say, compared to her, you guys put on a pathetic performance I say, I might even shed a tear from the awful performance of you two." Gent didn't stop at his mockery.
"Coward! Daring to sneak attack us?" Paul furiously growled.
Gent grew a smile and clarified: "Sneak? Come on, I did it right in front of you! It's not my fault you didn't see it coming, don't blame me for your own incompetence."
Although Jinto was agitated, he eased his brows, coming to clarity: "Let's save grievances until the sparring, there we can fight with all our strength."
Paul nodded at his words.
Gent tilted his head: "You sure? You have the advantage now."
Jinto quipped: "I don't want to waste time on a worthless thing like you, after all, taking trash out still requires energy."
Gent's facial expression soured at once. He no longer wanted to partake in 'friendly' chatter with the trio.
"Good, good." Gent narrowed his eyes.
Not saying anything else, he turned around and walked away from the trio, as he stepped on the ground he added, "I won't 'sneak attack' this time, haha or will I?"
The trio grew tense at his threat, they watched Gent leave vigilantly, not daring to overlook abrupt movements. They secretly channeled their mana, ready to respond in a counterattack.
Seeing the eyesore make its complete leave, being a small figure in the horizon, Paul clenched his fists: "Next time I see that cocky bastard I'll put him down with my two fists, let's see then who is the one to smile."
"Every time I wonder, how can a mother and father love such a person…" Melissa sarcastically added.
Jinto shrugged: "Who knows…"
He continued. "Well, at least it's somewhat believable based on what he said."
Melissa put her own input: "After all, it might not be directly his doing, but the doing of the higher-ups of the Joto's. After hearing from uncle and father, the person in charge must've been someone who had spent time studying the maids and the produce they buy, it doesn't seem like something he would be up to."
Jinto agreed: "He wouldn't do something that required so much time, he isn't the type to scheme so deeply, he'd much rather take action himself."
"And provoke us right in our faces." Paul added.
Jinto sighed: "He has a Diamond fissure, but as long as we diligently work hard, he may not have a chance at surpassing us entirely, that is for now…" His tone grew uncertain at the trail end of the sentence.
Jinto knew of his and his cousins' limitations, two Silver fissures and a gold one. Melissa and Paul would be stuck at 2nd-circle for the rest of their lives, whilst Jinto, having a little bit more mana than them, would nonetheless be in the same circle as them.
Meanwhile, given enough time, Gent had the chance to advance to 3rd-circle, becoming an asset to the clan. Knowing a bit of how the clan operates, Jinto thought the clan wouldn't care if a 3rd-circle magician bullied some unimportant 2nd-circle magicians, he thought that they would simply pretend not to see.
He could only hope that the future wasn't as bleak as he predicted.
From an outside perspective, it would be wise not to meddle with such a person who had tremendous potential, but their enmity was already set in stone, it could be said that since birth, where their families held grudges, it was inescapable, the cycle was already set in motion. Sooner or later, it would be the Fang's or Joto's to come out on top.
It just so happened that the heavens have blessed the Joto's, leaving the Fangs with a bleak road ahead of them.
Jinto took a look at Paul and Melissa, before looking up at the sky solemnly. "I can only hope for an obstacle to appear in Gent's path, obscuring him of the potential hidden inside of him, but hope is nothing but hope in the end. One must not only have hope, but also be proactive in measures—only then will favorable results be achieved."
He sighed as he looked at the sky, although he kept a calm demeanor, the ticking time bomb that Gent had brought him a subtle fear that was slowly developing in his heart. Unfortunately due to their familial background, their feud was already recorded in the Winds of Time.
…
After the interaction with Gent, the trio decided to head towards the Fang household, and from their mana circles.
Once done, they would go to the training grounds and practice their new heart spell, and the other spells that Master Hector had given.
Jinto and company entered the house, reached the main door of the Fang household, filled with intricate wood carvings.
Upon opening the door and arriving, the air still lingered with a solemn atmosphere, but it had been somewhat purified.
Today, there wasn't any pressure for the maids to do much, they had gone through such an unfortunate event, the Fang's wouldn't let them work when they would be emotionally overloaded.
The Matron and Sarina slept in their respective quarters, Kylina and Lisa could be found chatting in the domestic hall alongside Lily, once in a while, they would check up on the Matron and Sarina.
Once their presence was known in the house, the maids and the little one greeted company, after a short chatter, the trio gathered into Paul's room.
He was someone who didn't value material things too much, therefore he had the biggest room out of the three.
They sat on the spacious floor, cross-legged.
They had reviewed Master Hector's explanation regarding the formation of the circle.
All it took now was to put it into practice.
Jinto inhaled and exhaled, entering a state of meditation, it had taken him about seven minutes, he cleared all his negative thoughts and emotions, the unsightly Gent, the poisoning incident, his worries for the future, his own lament at having a Gold fissure, all of it was washed away, as he entered a meditative state.
His mind felt light, no longer filled with fog that everyday emotions and thoughts caused. He felt inner peace within himself, as if leaving the physical realm and entering the spiritual realm.
With this lightness, he inspected his fissure, there his mana sea lay.
He had a 51% mana sea capacity. It was a little short of 55% which was needed for a gold fissure such as him to advance to 3rd-circle.
He had little hope to advance, he felt short of the minimum margin by 3%. Although it was impossible for him to advance, he would try anyway. He wasn't content with just being an average 2nd-circle magician, he hoped to soar like a dragon, by any means!
His will perceived his mana sea, the sea itself presented a bronze luster, it was akin to bronze melted down into liquid. The fissure itself seemed indescribably vast, but also confined, it was a contradiction that was hard to put into words itself.
Jinto's avatar will looked around, to see that at the end of the bronze sea, a wall of thin white light maintained it contained within place. The walls looked indescribably tall yet unassuming to the eye. Its white light reflected onto the bronze sea, making his fissure have a beautiful sight.
Based on what he knew from his father and uncles, the light wall indicated a 1st-circle who was at beginner stage. Once a magician breaks the walls with their mana sea, they would advance and the walls of light will be transformed into a water wall, marking the beginning of a 1st-circle novice magician. Following that, once destroyed, the water wall will turn into a wood bark wall, the sign of an intermediate 1st-circle magician. On the heels of that, once the wood bark wall was destroyed and advanced to 1st-circle advanced, a golden wall will take its place. Finally, the last small stage, 1st-circle peak, was characterized by its sparkling diamond wall.
In total, there were four small stages contained within each big realm.
After seeing the state of his fissure, he reviewed the instructions from Master Hector.
"First is to have sufficient mana in order to imprint the spell within the circle, also my will is required, which can be summed up to my intent and visualization of the spell. The key to go about this is to think of casting the spell internally inside the fissure instead of outside."
"Now which spell should I choose to be my heart spell?"
Jinto looked into the spells he had available to him: Wind Wall, Breeze Steps, and Wind Blade.
He thought for a second and thought of the spell he was most familiar with, Wind Blade. He didn't choose the others because he wasn't proficient with them, but he didn't see himself as someone who would prioritize defense or speed. He was someone who partook in the offensive, and Wind Blade served that purpose.
With this in hand, he thought of the spell and tried to cast it within his fissure itself. The calm bronze sea that covered the entire fissure started to bubble and become turbulent, it formed waves that crashed within the thin light wall.
The stirred bronze sea continued, as Jinto's will was in the process of materializing the spell. Inside the fissure it took much longer for the spell to be realized, it was as if the casting process was trapped in quicksand, being pulled out of it ever so slowly by Jinto's will.
The spell finally materialized, a Wind Blade about the size of two meters was realized. Immediately after Jinto's will avatar had cast it, the Wind Blade exploded!
It shattered into various greenish specks of light, on the heels of that, the various specks turned into strange and indescribable symbols that gave Jinto a slight headache when looked at, some were squiggly, others held geometric shapes, others appeared as letters, some long and others short.
These strange greenish symbols then plummeted down towards the angered bronze sea. Once they made contact with the sea, the sea itself shone with resplendent light, Jinto instinctively tried to cover his eyes, despite the fact that he was a will avatar with no real sight.
After a few seconds, the light had stopped in its tracks, along with the turbulent sea, it was no longer active.
Jinto stared for a while for any new changes.
"Uhh, what now?" he thought as he looked at the calm sea before him, it was no longer full to 51% but instead it had diminished by 7% due to the successful casting.
He thought for a second before leaving his inner fissure sea, and checking the outside of it.
Jinto smiled: "Ha, there it is. I was worried for nothing, it was just as easy as Master Hector explained."
The fissure itself was like a small white dot in the abdomen of a magician, it was not perceptible by ordinary means, almost as if it didn't exist, yet it was real.
Now his fissure no longer looked like an ordinary white dot, but instead a white ring of light was forming at a rapid pace; if one looked closely, one could see the symbols the Wind Blade had exploded carved into the white ring.
With this, his first heart spell was acquired!
Jinto was eager to test out its immediate casting alongside the other spells he had learned.
He opened his eyes, the appearance of Melissa and Paul took his sight, they were still seated cross-legged, attempting to form their mana circle.
Jinto got up slowly, not wanting to disturb them, lest something went wrong, and they ended up suffering backlash.
Silently, he approached the desk in the room, he had learned from his mistakes previously. Before training the spells, he wanted to study them first. That way, his time wouldn't be utterly wasted like last time.