As far as Ray knew, Intent was used on magic circles, eastern talismans, his own dominion magic, certain unique affinities, and the use of dragon bloodline abilities, like Dragon Breaths.
And yet, what he had seen the teacher do was something that he had never seen or thought possible.
"What you just saw me do was infuse my Intent onto my laser pointer. My Intent was for it to change its course and land on the right key, and so it followed."
He silently went to pick up the fallen pointer before continuing.
"As you might suspect, something like making an object change trajectory mid-flight is an advanced application of Intent."
Once again, he covered the pointer in Intent, letting it once again gain that white outline.
"In most cases, Intent is used to change the way an already existing function works," he breathed in and out before continuing. "For example, as of now, I'm using my Intent to alter the range of this pointer's laser."
In order to demonstrate that, he turned on the pointer, showing that its laser could no longer go further than a few meters away from the pointer, not even reaching the wall.
"Something like this is pretty basic and overall useless, but if it is used on a sword or armor, what do you think can happen?"
Saying this, he stretched his arm out, as if reaching into the air, a bright blue ripple appeared in the air, and from it a sword appeared. It didn't seem to be anything special.
He then picked it up, and the ripple-like portal disappeared. He then imbued the sword with his intent.
"A weapon with intent gains a new meaning. I can make a sword sharper or even make it duller. The point is that this sword will no longer be limited by its original use for as long as I keep changing it with my intent. If I want, I can even make it better for a projectile than an arrow."
Ray watched, fairly interested. Although he had said to himself to focus on aura and his body, there was a certain urge to go and learn and master intent.
After all, as someone who was once a Monster, he was naturally aligned with Intent, and he was pretty well informed on it thanks to his third affinity, dominion.
"To manipulate your intent to add new functions is a way more advanced utilization."
He once again used the laser pointer as an example.
"One needs a level of experience and mastery over their own intent to be able to accomplish something like that. For example, this pointer has no function that allows it to change the color of the laser, however, with my mastery over Intent, I can make it change colors."
In order to demonstrate that, he began to change the colors of the laser that the pointer produced.
From green to blue to red to yellow to even pink with hints of purple.
For a few moments, the professor merely played with the colors.
"Naturally, this has great uses that transcend mere color changing. Things like making a sword capable of cutting mana, or making armor lighter, or even augmenting a magical effect from a magic item. There are various uses."
Ray couldn't help but become more and more interested in using Intent this way.
With a simple click of a button, the professor switched to the next slide of the presentation.
"Unlike other power systems, Intent has been greatly explored and is believed to have reached its limit. Most of its discoveries have been made in the last two centuries."
He started pacing back and forth, looking into the eyes of each student.
"The path of mental energy can be divided into several levels. Intent, Energy, Aura and lastly Domain. These words can be used in tandem with the way an object is used to refine their mental energy, for example, Sword Intent, Spear Energy, Hammer Aura and Bow Domain."
He paused for a moment, letting that information settle in everyone's minds.
"Naturally, reaching this level of link between Intent and an object requires a vast understanding of said object and its usage. That is why someone that can use Sword Energy can be considered the better swordsman in a contest with someone that can only use Sword Intent. For example, in order to reach this level of Intent with this laser pointer, I had to study its inner workings for a few days and amass a total of sixty-nine hours of experience using it."
He pocketed the laser pointer that gradually lost the white outline surrounding it.
"And so, when you have Combat Classes you will have not only to train your understanding of a weapon but also learn how to match your Intent with said understanding."
It seemed that there was a lot of focus on Intent.
"You might have already noticed the amount of focus I and the course have put on Intent. This is because Intent can be used in whatever style of combat anyone can imagine. Intent is already unconsciously used in magecraft, so training to use it consciously can only be beneficial."
He once again advanced to the next slide of the presentation. On it was projected the several uses of Intent.
"Intent-Object Link, Magecraft, Motion Control, and Energy Control. Those are the four main uses of Intent. We already talked about the first two, although we didn't dive deep into any of them, especially on the magecraft aspect."
He checked his watch and let out a sigh.
"It seems that we are running out of time. As it is required of me, you will have to take a diagnostic test to exactly evaluate where your abilities are. Next class we will dive deeper into each stage of Intent-Object links."
As he finished, he walked towards his table and picked up a thin stack of papers, the diagnostic tests they were about to take. Soon, each of them was enveloped by the white outline of Intent.
The professor then threw them in the air and placed his hands behind his back. Instead of falling to the ground like any piece of paper would, the sheets accelerated and started to go in the direction of the students.
Soon, Ray had one of these sheets in front of him.
'It seems that most of the questions of this test cover around the same things as the theory test of the Entrance Exam, although there are some questions that seem completely outside that radius.'
Ray was not that concerned, without hesitation, he picked up a pen and started reading the first question.
And so Ray and the others started solving the diagnostic test that was given to them.
Thankfully, there were no weird questions that seemed to involve weird rumors about him. He couldn't bear to see those again, otherwise he might actually suffer from some kind of mental disorder.
"The time is up. Stand up and orderly leave the classroom. Please leave your tests on my table as you walk out."
The students complied. Standing up, some, like Tiana, were still writing an answer and walked towards the professor's table, placing their test there and then walking out.
As Ray was passing by the professor, they ended up crossing eyes. They held each other's gaze for a while, until the teacher looked away after "unnoticeably" frowning.
As he walked out, he heard a deep sigh.
"I really don't like theory tests. You always have to write such complete answers instead of just saying the answers, and there were no multiple-option questions either, this sucks!"
Obviously, it was Tiana.
"Complete answers are necessary, if one day you have to report something, what if a detail you left behind cost the life of someone?"
Cù Sith walked behind her while lecturing her.
"I know, but I can't help but dislike it!"
"Please don't act like a child."
Ray watched them bicker amusedly, they were truly an interesting duo.
"Anyway, this class was really cool! I mean, I had heard of Intent from my mother before, but she never told me its inner workings, so I never got invested in looking into it. Damn, I should've asked her to teach me when I could, it would be so cool to imbue my blood forgery with Intent to make it more deadly."
"I will have to agree. I was also aware of Intent, more on how to sense it than actually using it as a weapon, it actually was quite the learning experience. What do you think, Ray?"
"I was also aware of Intent, but its uses be-, I mean they are oddly useful and convenient. There is a lot that can be done with it."
Ray silently added Intent to the list of things he wanted to learn.
For now, though, he should prepare for General Studies, which was their next class for the day.