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[_DivideByZero_]

Pull the Kahigan in the spell vial back to the edge of the vial, and then use my other Kahigan to touch the wooden block.

You emit another Kahigan to touch the wooden block, and notice the wood blackening and catching fire. You can gauge the position of the Kahigan based on the location of the 'pointer.'

Pull out the grass soul again and write it down; it shouldn't matter that I can't properly read it so long as I keep the shapes properly oriented relative to each other. Then put it back and do the same with the table, just to compare them.

You write down both, but there isn't really any indication of whether or not they're oriented properly aside from which way they came out. They both have a slight curl, so to write them down you need to uncurl them, noting the direction of rotation.
Somehow, the professor is able to see what you've done, and comments.
"Clever. You'll notice some similarities. For example, both of them have a block shared with most plants near the beginning. That's usually at the beginning, so when re-inserting the genetics you make sure those go first. Afterward, you'll see parts relating to the plant being woody, its height, its type of seeds, and so on. This class doesn't cover those, but if you turn out to be interested you could always talk to Nabul. He is the resident expert in those matters."

Let's pull it out, the hot thing, see if I can do that.

You yank it out, encountering some resistance, and notice a twinkling bead of energy emerging from the flower. At the same time, the flower wilts and dies in rapid fashion.
"That's the soul. Not the genetics, though. I guess you could keep it as a source of energy."

[AoshimaMichio]

"Tought it would be."

Find another flower and shove the soul in so it will have two. And pull out those presumable genetics beads from third one.

[HighEndNoob]

"Has there ever been any other example of a few hundred men causing a famine, or spreading a disease across a nation? Magic can be abused to levels well beyond the reach of other tools, while simultaneously being a source of much safety and well-being.

The gangs could've worked together to grow and protect Carazhan, but instead they squabbled and lead to town to ruin. For every magician doctor helping droves of sick people, there's a greedy counterfeit, a petty bandit,or ambitious gang members who misuse magic for nefarious purposes. They abandon their responsibilities as mages for personal gain."

[_DivideByZero_]

"Tought it would be."

Find another flower and shove the soul in so it will have two. And pull out those presumable genetics beads from third one.

The flower is not really in a position to refuse, so the extra soul gets accepted. It's much greener, whether by happenstance or due to the extra soul, but you didn't notice any sudden changes, merely gradual ones.

You've acquired Chrysanthemum Genetics. Removing them from the flower, you see a curling block of letters strung together. As you'd expect, it doesn't conform to the Vist language, so it looks like gibberish. Without something to compare it to, there isn't really much you can glean from it.
"The genetics of a flower denote essential characteristics. Leaves, buds, petals, all of it is in the Genetics. Isolating each individual aspect was tough, telling you this, but we made great strides in recent decades."

"Has there ever been any other example of a few hundred men causing a famine, or spreading a disease across a nation? Magic can be abused to levels well beyond the reach of other tools, while simultaneously being a source of much safety and well-being.

The gangs could've worked together to grow and protect Carazhan, but instead they squabbled and lead to town to ruin. For every magician doctor helping droves of sick people, there's a greedy counterfeit, a petty bandit,or ambitious gang members who misuse magic for nefarious purposes. They abandon their responsibilities as mages for personal gain."

"Hmm," the professor sees it apt to intervene, particularly regarding your comment about the hundred men.
"A well-trained regiment of royal guards stormed the city of Nothingham in 424 using gunpowder arms. They numbered only a hundred-forty, to my knowledge."

"Guns have changed the rules of small scale warfare, really. Come to think of it, isn't gunpowder produced by magicians?"
"By one site,"  answers the professor. "Here at the university, in fact. Gunpowder is produced through use of a special artifact that was transferred to us for research purposes by its original owner, under the condition that we produce and sell gunpowder freely on the market. The amount of gunpowder a magician is able to use has been increasing over the years, for some reason or another, allowing us to produce several barrels a day."

[IronyOwl]

Finish up my project and then see how the other students are faring.

[AoshimaMichio]

"Sounds very slow progress. Surely alterations can be made without relying only on Genetics?"

Removing and adding soul had visible effects. Does removing and adding Genetics have any immediately (0-5 min) effects? Teach me more!

[Wolfhunter107]

Withdraw both Kahigan from the block and the vial, and try to put out the fire, if possible.

[HighEndNoob]

"So the point still stands then. Mages being the current sole supply of gunpowder  is even more of a reason to make sure they are promoting the common good. Who knows what mess could happen if gunpowder got in the hands of unscrupulous individuals."

[_DivideByZero_]

(Sorry for that delay, I'm going to be busy on Wednesdays from now on)

Finish up my project and then see how the other students are faring.

You record and label both souls, and are then instructed to put the souls back. You put the grass soul back in but the table... well, it seems debatable whether that will change anything since the wood is dead.

You check on your teammates. You can actually see people's Kahigan quite clearly now as a green haze mixed in with the smoke.

The Cloaked Figure has been brooding over his blade of grass for a while now. It looks like he is trying to write with a quill using his Kahigan. Whether he is writing down the genetics of plant matter, or just scribbling, is anyone's guess.

Honoka Asimathin has destroyed several pieces of grass. You notice that many of them are withered, butchered, or burnt into ash. She seems to have procured some fine white sand from an hourglass with a cap on it, and is pouring a little bit on the blades every time.

Aquarius of Altarium has set his pipe down on the table and is staring intently at the blade of grass. You don't see Kahigan coming out of his back.

Mirroken seems to be finished and is idling about, unscrewing his own thumb and putting it back on repeatedly.

Wait, what?

"Sounds very slow progress. Surely alterations can be made without relying only on Genetics?"

Removing and adding soul had visible effects. Does removing and adding Genetics have any immediately (0-5 min) effects? Teach me more!

Adding the second flower genetics causes a second flower to grow within minutes. You watch it as it grows, very slowly, and progresses into full bloom. It looks better than the original flower.

Removing the second genetics causes the new flower to lose its color and turn grey from white.

"Genetics are nature's way of telling the flower, 'this is what you are like,' and the lion, 'this is what you must hunt.' We can intervene in this process, but permanent alterations certainly aren't the only way to alter nature. You can make transient alterations that last for a while..." he sees what you've done. "Like what you did there. If you take away the extra Gene, the new flower won't wither away as fast as the whole plant would if you'd took both Genes."

Withdraw both Kahigan from the block and the vial, and try to put out the fire, if possible.

[-] Err, the fire goes out by itself. Seems like the wood is too wet to actually catch fire. Good foresight courtesy of the lab instructor?

Speaking of which, it seems a graduate is the instructor for this lab rather than the professor. The professor himself is standing by, answering questions asked of him directly, while the lab instructor goes around intervening. You seem to recognize him shouting at everyone, by his distinct appearance and voice...
"Alright you knuckle-draggin' half wits! If you want to do anything with your fire, you've got to learn to control it! Now, if you visualize a Kahigan going upwards, you'll use your Sha, which apparently half of you aren't getting. Then you tap the spell catalyst. Like this!"

You see and hear a great eruption of flame from the staff. It circles around him like a tornado, kicking up dust and howling like a banshee, but he yells over it, not the least bit terrified of his own doing. "This is what happens when you put your mind to it. Then you control it like this!"
He casts another spell, apparently, focusing the tornado of fire into a thin beam, which he uses to draw a some kind of decorated circle into the soil below.

"So the point still stands then. Mages being the current sole supply of gunpowder  is even more of a reason to make sure they are promoting the common good. Who knows what mess could happen if gunpowder got in the hands of unscrupulous individuals."

"It already is! The upper management is clear about honoring the will of the donor."
Another girl, the girl who raised her hand at the start of the class ((Page 18!)), mutters,
"It is rumored that the original owner died but was never buried, and his ghost would take vengeance on whomever violated his terms..."

[TheBiggerFish]

Add just a touch of...Uhh...Hm.  I've made coal...Is there water?  I forget.  Add the most fluid thing.

[_DivideByZero_]

Add just a touch of...Uhh...Hm.  I've made coal...Is there water?  I forget.  Add the most fluid thing.

Water is indeed an element. What a strange world it would be, if not.

Adding water to the coal does turn it into a black, tar-like mass. A crude form of oil, but there is one way to check: by lighting it aflame. And indeed it burns.

Steam is your final objective, and mixing fire + water settles that question immediately, filling the flask with a grey fog.


The professor speaks.
"Now, since this is the first class of your careers, in most cases, and your future professors are charged with teaching you the art of spellcasting, let us focus instead on a different aspect of our world, that is, what everyday objects are made out of. As many of you discovered, Life displays some properties of Earth, others of Water. Indeed, like is created by specific combinations of Earth and Water, plus an external animating force. Life also exhibits more properties than than its constituent elements combined, so that begs the question: are there more elements than just the seven? Could all the combinations, from Steam to Light to Oil to Steel, be considered elements in and of themselves?"

He (starts) drawing a visual aid with the help of an easel and some pastels.

"As you can see, Fire is quite reactive. It even reacts with mixtures of the other elements. But why aren't those mixtures also considered elements while Life is? What do you think? What separates an element from a non-element?"

[HighEndNoob]

"Wait, so even if the supliers seek the common good, couldn't it fall into the hands of unscrupulous individuals anyway?"
...
"Couldn't you, uh 'dispell the ghost somehow? so you can not leave it open for any maniac with wealth to obtain?'"

[IronyOwl]

Murble decides to approach Honoka.

"Oh? What are you up to?"

[AoshimaMichio]

"I see. And mixing genetics from different plants?"

Test it as we are talking. Locate and grab genetics from some distinctly different grass and add it into intact flower. Also compare difference in souls of flower and grass.

[TheBiggerFish]

"We can't separate things out of single elements?  I presume there is a way to un-mix things..."