Prototyes: Ezra, Golemagineer (C1 - C3) (Patreon)

Author Note : Another of those other stories. Skip if you don't like it. I've been contemplating doing spinoffs, for many reasons, so here's

Author Note : Another of those other stories. Skip if you don't like it. I've been contemplating doing spinoffs, for many reasons, so here's one on a magic school. The timeline of this story starts around Year 215 or so, set in the Northern areas of the Central Continent. :)

It's a SoL-magic school with relatively low stakes :)

Chapter 1

Fifteen year old Ezra Winks was in his room playing with his wooden puppets when the man on the mail-beetle came by their home. The mailman didn’t stay long, he spoke briefly to his mother in front, and handed her a letter. It was a letter bearing the seals of the Wuldern Magic Research Institute, one of the many centrally funded research houses on their continent.

“Ezra, you’ll have to open it.” Mother didn’t really need to shout like she usually did. He heard the mailman coming, was downstairs pretty much immediately, and reached for the letter.

The letter was made of a form of stretched reed, the color of the paper was unusually dark brown and thick, instead of the pale yellow, thin papers commonly seen in use. The seal had a bit of magic on it, a security seal. When he touched the seal, it briefly flashed, and it disintegrated before his very eyes.

The contents were unnecessarily verbose, as was common with all institutes of their nature, so Ezra’s eyes looked for the sentence he wanted.

And he found it.

He screamed. “I got in!”

Mother hugged him immediately. “Your dad will be so proud.”

The mere mention of his father caused Ezra to pause. He looked into his mother’s green eyes, a hint of his worries leaking through. “You think so?”

“Yes.” Mother answered.

Father came home from work later that evening, and they broke the news together. Ezra was nervous, not sure whether his father would acknowledge his success. But he didn’t need to. The smile on his father’s face answered all that was needed. Father gave him a big hug.

“A mage. In our family. To think that’s even possible.” Father said. “When do you need to leave? What do you need to prepare?”

Ezra panicked at the question. “-I- I don’t know.”

“Does it say on the letter?”

Ezra immediately looked at the paper again. The brownish stretched reed was tough, and tear from being snatched around, clearly designed to withstand some abuse. “-I need to be in Soldern by the first day of the North’s Summer.”

“That’s two months. Great. We have time. I’ll shut the store for about two weeks and we’ll go with you to Soldern.”

“Do you need to?”

“We must.” Father said, and Ezra felt a weight off his shoulders.

***

Soldern was a port city located on the northern shore of the Central Continent, and one of the staging points of a crusade many decades ago. It took a week to get them here, and each night they stopped and slept at inns set up along the rest stops.

“We’re here.” Mother was the first to step down from their means of transport. Ezra walked out, and looked around.

The first thing he noticed was that Soldern was old. A lot older than Norwen Village. He spent his entire life growing up in Norwen Village, and this was the first time he ever visited a place like Soldern.

“It’s the first time you’ve ever been this far.” Father said. “How do you feel?”

“-wow.” Ezra said as he too followed his parents into the inn for the week. “Is the Wuldern Institute here?”

Thankfully, the innkeeper was more than happy to correct them. “Wuldern’s located up in the mountains to the West, along the Soria mountain ranges. Are you one of the new students?”

Father beamed with pride. “Yes. My son’s admitted as a fresh student.”

“What level are you?” The Innkeeper smiled at Ezra, and Ezra smiled back.

“Level 14, Magic Acolyte.” Ezra answered.

The innkeeper nodded. “That’s alright. Level 12 is usually the bar they expect from fifteen year olds for Wuldern, lower if you have a special class. Well, Wuldern Institute has an office located right next to the Magistrate’s office, so that’s where you should be tomorrow. They’ll tell you what to do. Also, don't share your class so freely. Mages keep secrets to have an advantage."

Ezra blushed. The innkeeper just tested him.“Oh no!"

"Hah, I'll keep a secret  but something for you to remember, young mage."

"Oh. Great. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” The innkeeper shrugged. “We get Wuldern students a lot, and the city’s proud of them.”

***

Wuldern’s office seemed rather basic, there were only three people at the counter.

“So you’ve been selected to join Wuldern. Congratulations.” The lady at the counter sounded absolutely bored, but Ezra hung on her every word. “There will be carriages to take newly admitted students to the campus up on the Soria Mountains in two days. The carriages will be next to the central stables, and look for the Wuldern’s counter. Parents or guardians will not be permitted to join, so please say your goodbyes then. The semester lasts for five months, with a month off after that, and five months again. This is the expected timetable. You will collect all your identification details on campus along with the other sponsored candidates.”

Mother looked at father, and asked. “What’s a sponsored candidate?”

The woman paused, before she recited her clearly practised answer. “Candidates where their lodging, living costs and cost of studies are covered by the Central Magical Research Sponsorship Fund. There are also other noble sponsors, but for our purposes we consider them independent sponsors.”

“Oh. Does everyone get sponsored?” Mother asked.

“About half of Wuldern’s student population is covered by Central, and most of the other half by the various sponsors, but there will be additional duties that sponsored candidates have to do as recompense.”

“What’s that-”

“Cleaning. Research. Combat practice.” The lady answered. “It is up to the Fund’s Leaders, and can change at their discretion. You will be further briefed once on campus.”

***

His parents hugged him for one more time. Normally, he would feel embarrassed, but they were not the only ones. There were many other parents hugging their kids. Kids that would be his fellow students. They were all waiting for the man in the strange uniform. Soon, they will blow the whistle and they’d have to all ride the horse-drawn carriages.

There were easily a hundred children here. Maybe more. Fellow classmates. Competitors. Ezra didn’t know that. It didn’t matter, not yet.

"Eh- isn't that Uncle Kaleb?" Mother said and both Ezra and his father's eyes darted to another part. Uncle Kaleb, his father's cousin, and senior by many years. Ezra's eyes immediately locked on the girl that was her age. Siena.

Just as their eyes locked on them, so did Uncle Kaleb's eyes turn to look at them. He beamed into a smile, and immediately walked over.

"Ah! Cousin! Is this my nephew, then?"

"Hey, Kaleb. Been a while."

"Yes it has!" Uncle Kaleb hugged his father. "So, your son is a mage-in-training?"

"Yes."

"Fantastic. Siena, say hello to your second-cousin."

"Hi." She answered awkwardly, and then turned to look elsewhere.

Ezra nodded as he looked back at his father. "Hello. I don't remember whether we've met."

Father shook his head. "No. Oh, this is my son, Ezra."

Uncle Kaleb smiled. “Great! Happy to see another one in the family join a magic school! Take care of each other, will ya?”

Ezra nodded. “Sure.”

Siena just ignored him, and the man in the uniform blew the whistle. “Times up! Boarding time!”

***

Wuldern was located on the Soria mountains, and the path to Wuldern took them up to the hills, along the coasts. Cold winds blew from the north, seasonally, and if Ezra squinted, there seemed to be island-chains in the distance.

Ships.

The path was heavily forested, covered in trees and vegetation, some marked with signs. Ezra looked at his carriage, and there were easily twenty other fellow students in there. All in all there were about seven carriages. Some of the other students talked, and seemed to know each other.

Ezra wasn’t in the same carriage as his distant cousin. In some ways, that was a relief. He kept his eyes mostly at the view outside. He had never seen the Northern Ocean.

Then he felt someone talk. Ezra turned to notice a human girl smiling at him. She had made the first move. “Hi. I’m Alix. Alix Westgreen.”

“Oh. I’m Ezra Winks.”

“Are you a sponsored student?” Alix asked.

Ezra nodded.

“Me too.” She answered, as the two then shared an awkward silence. It was clear that the two wanted to get to be friendly and make friends.

“I heard on my way here that almost everyone was sponsored.” Ezra recalled a snippet from the inn, and so repeated.

“Yeah! Who’s your sponsor?”

“The Central Fund.”

“Same.” Alix nodded, at that point, she pulled the girl next to her before the awkward silence set it again. “This is Rei Moonshield, she’s special. She’s sponsored by the Northern Noble Houses.” Ezra quickly noticed Rei’s slightly unique skin complexion, and suspected she wasn't a pure human. Their carriage didn’t have the most exotic races, the northern areas where it was slightly colder weren't popular with the lizardfolks, or the centaurs.

Ezra didn’t know who the Northern Noble Houses were. So, all he did was nod. “That’s great?”

Rei frowned. “It means once I finish my training I’m joining the Northern Noble’s Militia as a junior mage. But it does mean slightly higher school benefits than whatever the Central gives.”

“Darn. Militia work doesn’t sound like fun.”

Rei didn’t reply to that. Awkwardly, Alix asked a question. “So, how’d you apply? Through junior magic school?”

Ezra shook his head. “My town’s magic tutor applied for me. Or more like, her assistant submitted my applications.”

“Is she from the Order?” Alix asked.

“Yes.”

“That explains why you got through the Central Fund. Tutors that are not from the Order usually find it harder to get Central Fund approval for their students.” Alix explained. “That happened to a few of my friends who wanted to get sponsored, but couldn’t. I got lucky, somehow.”

Rei immediately asked. “What level are you, Ezra?”

Ezra almost wanted to answer, but he paused once he noticed Alix glaring. “I- I shouldn’t say that, right?”

Alix nodded. “It’s not necessary to disclose your levels other than to the High Mages. In school settings where it is a competition, keep some of your cards to yourself. That’s why my tutor told me.”

The trees outside began to change, as the chill got more intense. Higher up, the cold winds from the Northern Islands still retained most of their chill. Alix noticed Ezra’s staring, and added. “My mom says there are times when it snows. Hailstorms are not unusual, either.”

“Really?” Ezra said. “Where I’m from, it never snowed.”

“You must come from further south, then.” Rei, clearly eavesdropping. Her hearing seemed better, since she was still seated quite far away.

“Yeah. Norwen Village. Heard of it?”

“Nope. But if you’re closer to the south, is it a reconstructed village?” Rei asked.

Ezra actually didn’t know. “I don’t know, actually.” Even though he lived in Norwen since birth, he didn’t actually recall ever hearing about reconstruction- that said, there wasn’t anything in his village that was old like Soldern’s old stone buildings.

“-actually-” Ezra looked at his two new found friends. “-what do we do in Wuldern? More classes?”

“Your tutor didn’t tell you?”

“She did. But I’m not sure whether she actually knows what she’s talking about. She wasn’t a Wuldern graduate. Pretty sure she was just reading it off a document she got from Central.” Ezra said.

“Hah. So you want off-the-book scoops!” Alix smirked.

“Yup!”

Alix shook her head, and then with a cheerful, straight face, answered. “I got none. I know nothing about Wuldern except what’s in that same book.”

“I can’t help but feel you’re lying to me.” Ezra said, his lips curved into a slight grin.

“I’m not!” Alix feigned innocence.

Rei laughed. “Wuldern’s like many of the other centrally sanctioned Magical Research institutes. They get a lot of their funds from Central through the Sponsored students program, in exchange for new research outputs, production quotas and weapons manufacturing. You know, demon-hunting-stuff.”

“I heard it’s old.” Alix answered. Ezra nodded.

“It was dying. It probably died somewhere in its history.” Rei chuckled. “Until it was revived a few decades ago.”

Honestly, Ezra ended up with Wuldern simply because of convenience. It was one of the closest ones to home, and one where he could pass the cutoff. Since the presence of the Central Fund a few decades earlier, most magical academies and research institutes experienced an explosion in student intake, and the revival of multiple magical institutions. The Central authorities also enforced standardization amongst the differing schools, such that most schools were not that far off from each other. Well, except for a few really elite institutions closer to the heart of the continent. Those super selective institutions were not open for application, and their students were usually directly scouted.

Then, they saw the three towering spires, covered in vines and plant crawlers. It was beautiful in a quaint way, with all the flowers throughout the spire’s walls. Around it, there were multiple large stone buildings that would be their home for the next ten years. Magical apprenticeship and education was a long, continuous process. Training mages often relied on setting up the environment for sparks of brilliance to light up. For moments when students could get that ‘aha’ moment.

Ezra had to admit, he felt genuine awe as he stepped into the stone halls. Looking around, some of them had no reaction, as if they were not impressed. Alix immediately ribbed him.

“Don’t stare so much, everyone could tell you’re a bumpkin!”

Ezra immediately tried to compose himself and act normal. Instead, he tried to look at those around him. Indeed, many others were just blown away by the sheer spectacle of the main hall.

Magic lined the walls. There were statues that moved. Banners that changed colors. The stained glass panels at the top that could change its colors and made itself into the word, ‘welcome’.

The ushers led them to the seats, and everyone obediently sat down. The teachers entered soon after.

“Welcome, new students of Wuldern.”

An old lady stood in front. The headmistress and principal of Wuldern, the [Magus] Wildred Sanders, and next to her were the five other mages. There was an odd one draped in a dark dirty green robe. He stood distant and bored, and he followed distantly behind.

There was no seating arrangement, so Ezra, Alix and Rei sat in a group. There was a fairly brief introduction to Wuldern, and it was soon clear that there were actually two parts to the school in Wuldern itself, even if they shared instructors and assistants. There was the Junior School, for those who are still teens and not yet adults, and the Young Adult School of magic, which was more practical and focused on various combat classes.

Ezra’s eyes surveyed the hall, and it seemed most of the students were humans. There were quite a bit of elves, dwarves and humans. A handful of lizardfolk in the corner, and just three centaurs. He briefly wondered how the centaurs got themselves into the carriage. He’d ask them the next time.

There was a centaur in Norwen Village, Uncle Riggs, and he loved farming. It helped that he was stronger than actual bulls and could do some of the tough work himself. Ezra swore uncle Riggs was probably a warrior in the past.

He wondered whether there were any of the tree people, or the beastmen. Beastmens were rare, as were minotaurs and harpies. They tended to stick to themselves in their own secluded enclaves.

Humans. The north, where it was colder, tended to be popular with humans, dwarves and the snow elves. Lizardfolk found the cold weather irritating and uncomfortable, though they were not beyond constructing underground homes to make themselves feel comfortable.

Elves, especially the light gold-skinned wood elves, usually liked more temperate or tropical weather. There were variants to elves, some fairly, more cooler elves were called Snow Elves, but they were hardly considered a separate species. Just like humans with different skin colors.

No matter. Ezra directed his attention back to the Principal as she gave a speech.

Ezra, young and impressionable, listened as Principal Sanders spoke of their philosophy. Wuldern’s philosophy was excellence in magical crafts, enchantments and lightning magic. These three fields were their main areas of focus, and young acolytes were expected to have a good grasp of these three fields.

Every magic school was designed with a simple goal. Combat. Magic was used to protect themselves from demons, from monsters. Magus Wildred flashed a motherly smile, but Ezra couldn’t help but feel that there was something sinister in the way she looked.

“-as first year students of the Wuldern, you join thousands of new fellow magical students across the continent. In the spirit of competition and leading magic to greater heights, each of the Magical Research Institutes sends candidates to the First Year Magical Tournament. This year it’ll be held in Tigashfall.”

There was ooh-ing and aahing across the hall.

“Of course, not all will head there directly. The Regional Qualifiers will be held in Port Mezzan, hosted by our competitors, the Mezzan School of Magic. Twenty of the Northern Region schools will participate.”

Ezra looked at Alix. “Are you planning to participate?”

Alix shrugged. “If they pick me, sure. We should ask the mages for the details.”

The young boy nodded. Ezra briefly imagined himself winning prizes, and in those dreams of glory, he decided his goal for the year.

He wanted to qualify for the regional tournament.

***

Chapter 2

Each of the students were granted a shared room, and Ezra was no different. When he opened the door, he found his new roommates were already there.

“Room 412, right?” Ezra asked as he noticed a tall, slim man looking over some notes, and another boy was sleeping. They both looked a little older. The slim man seemed to be testing some magic out, as there were sparks of light in his hand every other moment.

The man turned, and nodded. “First year?”

“Yup. Ezra Winks.”

“William Seastorms. 3rd year.” William introduced himself. “That sleeping one is Hazem Northlights, also 3rd year.”

“Oh. Hello, seniors.” Ezra didn’t expect to share a room with seniors.

“Well, don’t worry, we won’t hurt you. You’re sponsored, right?” William said.

Ezra nodded.

“Central?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then we’ll leave you alone. We’re sponsored too.”

Ezra felt that conversation had meanings he didn’t understand. He would investigate that later. For now, he sat on his new bed, placed his things into his personal storage cabinet, and looked at the book. There was a book in his hand, mainly explaining the rules, the classes, and introducing the teachers for each of the subjects.

“Read that. It’s pretty good.” William said.

“Ah- sure. Yeah. Plan on doing that.” Ezra said, as he began to read. It was filled with legalese.

“Life pro tip.” William said as Ezra glanced at the older student. “Go get a copy of the Magical Notations Guidelines from the library. Learning the magical notations will help your studies immensely. If you have the funds for it, go buy a copy.”

Ezra nodded. At least he seemed helpful. The boy skimmed the book, as there was a lot of padded fluff. This went on for a while-

Then Hazem woke up screaming.

“-aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”

William immediately jumped and grabbed him. “Hazem. Hazem. Snap out of it.”

Hazem shivered. “-oh. Oh. I’m safe. I’m safe. Great.”

Ezra frowned, but said nothing. William’s eyes stared into Hazem. “Yes. You’re safe. You’re sleeping. They didn’t come for you.”

“Yeah. Okay. Okay. I’m safe.” Hazem repeated, and began looking around. He then noticed Ezra. “You- you’re?”

“Ezra Winks. I’m new. 1st year.”

“Ah. Hazem Northlights. Sorry about that- I have nightmares from what I fought-”

“Fought?” Ezra wondered. William sighed.

“Let’s not. Ezra, I’ll tell you the scoop later.” William said with certainty, as he looked back at Hazem. “Hazem. You’re safe. Take your calming tonics and breathe.”

“Yes. Breathe.” Hazem stood and downed a plain green fluid. He smiled radiantly. “Alright. I feel better. Yes.”

“Good.” William answered. “Ezra, if you don’t mind, want to go for a walk?”

Ezra nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”

***

“At the end of your second year, you will face one of the first Trials of Wuldern. The Mage’s Mirrors. It’s a room filled with powerful magic, and creatures of ancient horrors will be summoned to fight you.” William explained as they walked around the residential corridor. It was soon clear that the entire floor was home to Central sponsored students. “Those things can be really- well- horrifying.”

“Ah.” Ezra nodded. “Hazem-”

“Yeah. He found them. He won, but they still give him nightmares.”

“What happens if you fail?”

“You get six months to try again. If you fail, well- you don’t graduate. You’re expelled. The monsters are around Level 20 to 25, so- it’s doable if we have the right equipment.”

“That sounds dangerous.” Ezra said. The idea of fighting level 20 to 25 monsters seemed scary.

“We are never really at risk. There’s always a High Mage watching the battle. But I guess- accidents happen. But usually, it’s safe.”

“I see.” Ezra said. He had a bracelet on his hand, one that marked him as a Central sponsored candidate. “Actually, William-”

“Yes?”

“What’s with the sponsored candidates?”

“You mean, what’s with everyone else?”

“Huh?”

“Those who are not sponsored are nobles. Self-funded pricks with their family’s wealth. Us sponsored candidates stick together.”

“But nobles can get funded too?” Ezra asked, unsure if it would offend his senior.

“But the fact that a noble gets funded usually means they are part of the Central groups, or come from a martial or magical family. Noble candidates on the other hand, are flat out bullies.” Ezra decided not to mention Rei.

“I see.”

“So be careful when dealing with non-sponsored folks.”

“Got it. Does the school side with them?” Ezra asked, uncertain where the wind blows. Here in the north, Ezra thought Central’s influence should be fairly strong.

“There are two main groups. Those affiliated with Central, and those affiliated with the Northern Nobles. Principal Wildred is close to the Northern Nobles, while the Order Observer is the Central’s eye.”

“Damn.” Ezra began to realize that the magic school was a far more complicated place than he thought. “Is- is this conflict uh-”

“Not lethal. They won’t fight outright. But they get in each other’s way.” William said. “But we have to help ourselves, and help those who’s on our side to speak for us. I’ll tell you who’s who.”

***

Ezra felt his head spin. There were so many names to remember in a day, and he was fairly sure he got some of them mixed up. It was a good thing that classes didn’t start for a few days, as students were given time to get a sense of the school, know where the things were, meet their seniors and so forth.

“Ezra!” Alix smiled as she saw him walking through the corridors. “Going for lunch?”

“Ah- yes. Hi, Alix. How’s your room?” The girls were given their own corner, and those with special accommodation needs such as the centaurs, lizardfolks and beastmen had their own segment.

“Awesome! I’m roommates with other sponsored candidates too.”

“That seems to be a deliberate choice.” Ezra said. Their building had their own canteen, and he suspected the other building also had their own canteen, because everyone wore the same central bracelet.

“Yeah. Rei’s in a different building.” Alix said, as she went to the canteen. The crew eyed their bracelet, and began to serve them food. “I think almost everyone here is sponsored.”

Alix nodded. “What’d you learn?”

“Nothing much, other than be careful of the other side.”

***

“Welcome to your first class, I’m instructor Elshern, and I will share on Magical Theories.” The instructor in front of them was a tall elven mage, Instructor Elshern, and if Ezra was not wrong, affiliated with Central. Elves, as a racial stereotype, were affiliated to Central, unlike the humans who had a rebellious streak. “Everyone of you here was selected to join one of many Magical Research Institutes throughout the continent, because of an aptitude for magic.”

Elshern looked.

“Aptitude. It means just a passing knack for the magical arts above the general populace, that qualifies you for further training. First question- how does one become a mage?”

One of the nobles immediately raised his hand. “We get the [mage] class.”

“Correct!” Elshern answered, and then followed it up with another question. “Now, how do you get that class?”

“We keep using magic, and from about level 20 to 25 we should have a minor class evolution to [mage].” The same noble answered.

“Mostly there.” Elshern repeated. “Did everyone get that?”

“Yes.”

“Next question. If all you need is to get to level 20 to 25 while using magic, why not just blast  monsters with magic until you get there?”

There was silence in the crowd. The crowd was mostly fifteen years old, a few might have killed some beasts of their own, but most folks in the continent have not participated in combat. Not since Central came around.

Elshern laughed. “It’s not a trick question. You can, actually. But it’s risky, especially those without combat training, and likely, a third of you will die in the process. What a waste of talent, don’t you think?”

The crowd reluctantly grunted.

“And- there’s a higher likelihood of your current [acolyte] or [initiate] class evolving into a [Battlemage] or [Warmage] variant, rather than a pure [Mage].”

Ezra didn’t think that was a big deal. An evolved class was an evolved class.

“This is a problem, of course, if you wanted to be an [archmage]. Based on centrally collected data, the likelihood of a battlemage or a warmage evolving into an archmage drops by almost 95%.”

“Oooooh.” That was when it clicked. Battlemages couldn’t evolve into an archmage. Archmages were viewed as the typical peak of magic. A level achieved by geniuses.

Archmage. That was likely the dream of most young children with magical talent. Ezra dreamed of being an archmage too. That should make his father beam with pride.

Elshern looked at the crowd. “Now, why do you think that matters? The objective of every institute, despite what everyone says, is to produce battle-ready mages. Because we are always at war with the demons. All that about magical research, magical excellence or proficiency leads to our single ultimate goal. Survival.”

Ezra couldn’t help but look around. Survival? It certainly did not feel like anyone here was struggling to survive. In fact, everyone looked quite well fed. Some even look like they had too much to eat.

“You may not see it now. But our world is always in an existential war.”

One of the noble-students then coughed. “That’s Central hogwash, Miss Elshern.”

Ezra froze, his heart skipped a beat, as he thought that punishment would be meted out. But Instructor Elshern didn’t flinch. “Such thoughts are normal. Our views are limited by what each of us can see. Those who have eyes but cannot see the Great Tree are plenty indeed.”

The noble-student didn’t reply loudly, instead sniggered in their little area.

“Let us start with the why. Why do we try to have [mages] instead of [battlemages]? The answer is simply because the advancement options and skill types obtained by [mages] are more useful overall, and the upgrade opportunities to various types of advanced magic classes meant the [mage] class remains way more flexible than [battlemages], even if battlemages will usually kick a mage’s butt in combat situations.”

Once again, it didn’t sound like a big deal to Ezra, but Alix, seated next to him nodded furiously like an eager student and wrote notes in her little notebook.

“What causes the [system] to upgrade a class to [mage] and [battlemage] is still unclear, but our accumulated experiences often point towards a balanced exposure to the various roles of a mage. Enchantment and formations, crafting, brewing and constructions, research and studies, and combat. Combat, from our experience, should not be more than half of how you’ve gained your levels. Some of you, who gained your levels through combat for the first ten to fifteen levels, should therefore dedicate more time in non-combat classes.”

“Miss Elshern- does that mean I have to gain all my remaining classes through non-combat?” A boy asked. Ezra looked at his fellow classmate twitch uncomfortably. It must have taken him a lot of courage to raise his hand.

“Most likely. Again, the system is unknown, but a balance of level sources should lead to a balanced class upgrade. Or you could get lucky. It is your call. As an institution, we try to facilitate the various means of gaining experience, by encouraging research, crafting, studying, teaching, and combat.”

Ezra sat for a moment, and thought about how he gained his experience. His first few levels were gained when he successfully used the [Rockform] spell, and that was when his tutor claimed he had a mild earth bias in his mana.

At that point, Miss Elshern held up an orb of light. “Anyone here doesn’t know how to create a magic orb?”

Ezra remembered his tutor’s classes. It was pretty much the first thing he learned. According to his tutor, most mage-acolytes start with one of the three basic spells. Magic Orb, Spark, or Light. Elves liked to start with magic orb, humans tended to start with either spark or light.

As it turned out, there were more than a few who raised their hands too.

“Ah. About half. That’s close to what I expected. Good. Those that know how to do it, create one in front of you right now.”

At that point, another elven man walked in. “This is my assistant, Elias, and he’ll help those who doesn’t know how to use [magic orb].”

“-but why? I already kno-” One of the students protested.

“Are you so incompetent that you can’t learn a new basic spell?” Elshern barked. Elias then guided the rest of the students in a separate room.

***

“[Magic Orb]. It is useful for us to visual the various ways how mana creates spell. The fundamental question is, what is a spell? Anyone wants to try to answer?”

One noble raised his hand. “It’s when we shape mana into the desired form.”

“Close. That is one understanding of it.” Miss Elshern answered. “Then what is the difference between a [spell] made into a [skill]?”

Ezra had never thought about it. A spell was a spell, a skill was a skill. He heard of them overlapping, but had never seen it.

“The [System] rules our world. It speaks to us through our levels, our skills, and our spells. We can learn spells. We can learn it from others. We can learn it through the system. We can learn it through books. A common understanding is that a spell is language that tells the [system] the desired effects, and the system, which somehow understands the language of chants and spells, grants it to us. A spell-skill, is essentially a system shorthand for the desired effect. An academy, such as this, wants to create strong mages by expanding the spell library each mage has at their disposal.”

There was silence. For young fifteen year olds, this was a higher level of education.

“So, we must first learn the language of the spells. How we shape mana, and how we imbue our will into them. First, back to our [Magic Orb]. Move it around.”

***

Ezra was tired by the first class. Even seated, the act of moving magic orbs, without moving his hand physically, took a lot more concentration than he expected.

He had a flashback midway through practicing, and remembered his tutor. His tutor once said that a mage extended mana beyond the body. Each class has a range of action, and the mage’s range of influence was one of the widest. A powerful mage could influence things miles away through spells. Any class that extended their mana outside of their body, was a mage, even if they didn’t have the [mage] class.

The moment their mana stops interacting with a spell, the spell’s form essentially is like a ball that rolls downhill. That is why it is so hard to change fireball directions midair, unless the command to change direction was inserted into the spell before it left the range of interaction.

“Dinner!” Alix dragged Ezra along, and he blushed. He wasn’t used to having a girl drag him around.

“You two seem close.” Rei said.

“Oh Rei! Didn’t see you around!” Alix beamed.

“I was in the class, but I was seated with the independent candidates.”

“Heh. That’s what they call themselves?” Alix said.

“It’s what they like to think.” Rei nodded back. “We can meet at the cafeteria downstairs.”

Alix glanced at Ezra, and Ezra shrugged. She nodded, agreeing for the both of them.

***

“Man, it’s full.” Alix looked around the cafeteria. Wuldern’s Junior academy was separated into five main buildings, and a few smaller buildings. Two main residential blocks, one of the Central sponsored candidates, and another for the self-funded or independent candidates. Two for the magical halls and practice areas, and one for the general facilities such as the common library, cafeteria and all the other rooms, buildings. Ezra briefly saw a few other buildings as well, but they seemed more discreet..

With each year having about a hundred to two hundred students, the Junior Academy was home to about a thousand students at a time. Most of the inter-year mingling occurred in the cafeteria.

Ezra immediately noticed that there wasn’t much separation between sponsored and independent students, and many intermingled.

There was a strong, fruity scent in the air. Fruit teas and fruit juices were a big part of the cafeteria’s selection of drinks, though coffee and coffee based drinks were increasing in popularity after the parasite incursions almost two decades ago.

Alix looked at the pricing menu, showing prices in coins and in points. “Man, this cafeteria’s expensive. It’ll eat up two points of our allocated funds!”

“That’s like 6 silver coins?” Ezra asked, trying to calculate the sum in his head. Each sponsored candidate received 100 points a month, but that was meant to cover everything, including study supplies.

“But look at it-” Alix pointed.

Rei smirked. “I’ll buy this round. I think I get the most allowance of us all.”

“You do?” Ezra looked curious.

“Yes- the Northern Nobles grant about 400 silver coins a month for aspiring mages.”

Alix whispered. “But she’s bonded for fifteen years unless she buys out her contract at a big fee.”

Rei coughed. “More reason for me to fully utilise it.”

Alix’s eyes brightened at the thought. “You know what- that’s exactly what you should do! Come. I want a Whitetree Juice!”

Ezra had no idea what was good, so he looked around and noticed most of them drinking some dark bluish juice. “I’ll have that blue juice that everyone’s having.”

Rei said. “That’s a mana-replenishment drink. It’ll cost more and tastes horrible, I heard.”

“OH?”

“It’s an acquired taste.” A senior student, waiting in front of them for her turn, turned to explain. “You younger ones will learn to like it.”

“Really?” Alix was horrified.

“We spend a lot of mana daily. You got to get it back somehow.” The senior laughed. “You’ll get it when you get there.”

The blue juice, aptly named the Bluefly Juice, was horrible to drink, but it did feel like the strain of mana overexertion throughout his body got lighter.

They couldn’t get their own table, and so eventually they settled with sharing the seat with a bunch of other seniors. “That Bluefly juice comes from a Blue Fly farm somewhere around Port Soldern. I heard it was owned by one of the local nobles.” The seniors were more than happy to share.

Ezra nodded. It seemed like useless tidbits, but, no harm listening. He could regurgitate them as gossip later on.

“Did any of you participate in the Regional Qualifiers?” Alix asked bluntly, and Ezra was immediately interested.

“Yup. You just got to be in the top ten of your class in one of the competing topics. Some of them are super boring, just drawing formations and stuff.” The 2nd year dwarven senior, named Somon, happily talked. “I was 10th in potion brewing, and so I joined the group to Effendil. Think I made too much moonshine with my dad that I got a knack for it.”

“Wow. How do they grade such things?”

“Potency, speed of effect, quality, quantity. That’s for potions. Formations, the assessed criterias are cleanliness, quality, mana use and design. Combat’s the most competitive topic.”

“How many fields are there?”

“Depends on the host, actually.” Somon explained. “I heard sometimes there’s like druidic topics, and agricultural competitions.”

“That’s so unfair.” Alix commented.

“I know!” Somon laughed. “But the home-institute usually tries to rig it in its favor. Apparently they get extra funds from Central if they win.”

“Really?” Rei frowned. “That-”

Somon shrugged. At that point, Ezra decided to probe on the sponsored-independent rift. “Emm, what do you think about the sponsored and independent students?”

The senior scratched his beard for a bit. “It’s kinda there in plain sight if you look for it, but if you don’t, you kinda don’t notice? Most of us are pretty chill, but y’know, there’s folks on both sides that don’t like each other, for whatever stupid reason.”

“True.” Alix said.

“Just go about it normally, y’know. Everyone’s here to be a mage or something.” Somon shrugged. “We’d probably even work with each other, eventually. Even independent candidates or those with the noble houses get hired by Central, so- there’s really no need for all that bad blood. Not at our level.”

Ezra wasn’t sure who was right.

Maybe both were.

***

Chapter 3

***

“Do you want to aim for the Regional Qualifier, Ezra?” Alix asked as they walked to the potions class. He studied potions a fair bit under his old tutor, but his knowledge never got too deep. “I’m quite good at Enchantments or a bit of Crafting, so that’s where I’d like to be.”

Top five out of a hundred or so first years, in any one of the chosen disciplines. It wasn’t impossible, he just had to make the cut in any one. Most candidates only compete in one field, and if they qualified for more than one, they had to choose.

The reason for this was to increase each student’s exposure, since levels were linked to challenges, and it was just better for more students to have opportunities to challenge themselves against each other. In a way, it was gaming the [system], such that each student could have legitimate struggles, and doing so, earn their levels.

“I should. I’d like to, if I could.” Ezra nodded.

“Were your parents mages?” Alix asked, and Ezra couldn’t help but give her a funny look.

“No.”

“Don’t worry. Not judging. Most of Wuldern’s students don’t come from mage-ancestry. Most Central sponsored students originate from common folks, unlike the noble factions.”

Alix stopped, as she looked out the corridor’s windows. They were pretty high up, and the long vertical windows afforded gorgeous views of the ice cold northern oceans. Seas. Ezra’s father once spoke of a time when the power was very much concentrated in the nobility. Their resources meant they could train more, fight more, gain levels through fighting monsters and leading armies. Despite the [system]’s nature, ultimately, not everyone had the means to pursue strength. Without opportunity, power remains concentrated.

She didn’t say a word, her eyes just took in the view. Ezra tried to see what she was looking at, but found nothing but the misty horizon. “Are you looking at something?”

“The northern winds will get stronger soon.” Alix said, and she shook her head as if shaking something off her hair.

Enchantment class was next, and their ‘master’ for the class was apparently a noble-affiliated high mage. High mages were not a class, but more of a title to refer to those who act as Wuldern’s teachers.

Enchanter Wyshlin briefly introduced herself, and began her class with a recap of enchantments as a field of study.

Enchantment was the art and science of weaving spells or skills into an item. It is an extremely vast subject, and every class has their slightly different way of applying enchantment, or the effects they have access to.  A blacksmith’s enchantment works differently from that of a mage, and it was also different from that of a druid.

There are also enchantments that require a source of power, or enchantments that draw in energy passively, or enchantments that can create its own power, though the last category was rare. Each class taps into a different aspect of the system, and has to fulfill its own set of rules.

It is no surprise that there are abilities that can be used by those only with the correct [class], or there are abilities where those with incorrect classes could only bring out a portion of its power.

Most of this was common knowledge for any mage acolyte. One of the key steps as an initiate was to have a broad understanding of all the major fields of magic.

“Now, you may ask, if it’s so class dependent, how do we assess each enchantment? Simple. Though we may not be able to ‘recreate’ the same enchantments, we are still able to observe it in action and see its effects. We measure energy consumption, efficiency, space-use, and output.”

“Each enchantment carries a little bit of its creator, and through that, we can observe the flow of energy in each enchantment. Us [Enchanters], in particular, have some variant of the skill, [Restore Enchantment], which allows us to fix enchantments, if we have the right equipment, materials, and power.”

At that point, one of the students raised his hand. “Doesn’t that mean enchantment competitions are won by those with the highest level?”

Enchanter Wyshlin shrugged. “Usually, but not all the time. If the gap in levels is not more than ten levels, it’s mostly about creativity, materials, and whether any mistakes were made in the creation of each enchantment. Your peers and competitors in enchantment competitions, in the larger scheme of things, are still not full mages, so are usually no higher than level 25. Usually. Those above that should already graduate.”

The student nodded. Satisfied.

Alix whispered. “When are we starting?”

“The first class of all the fields usually begin with recaps.”

***

Thankfully the history lesson came to a stop as Enchanter Wyshlin’s assistants began distributing wooden planks to each of them.

“You have in front of you, a simple wooden plank. We generally rate these enchantment anchors in grades, from 1T1-C, which stands for One Tier One Spell, C class Durability, to the imaginary 9T9-S, Nine Tier Nine Spells S class Durability. These wooden planks are generally rated as 1T3-B.”

Ezra held the plank in his hand. It was a type of softwood, with a plain, light brown color resembling light birchwood.

"Most materials can be made to absorb one or two tier 3 spells, but for practice purposes, wood is one of our preferred training materials because it is easier to fix, easy to work with, and our resident wood mage can easily recycle them for the next batch of students."

They were each given a steel pen.

"You will now copy some basic runic patterns on the wood. Pay attention to the depth of the patterns, because they affect the flow of mana across the pattern. We will start with the [strengthen] pattern, in the manner familiar to enchanters."

Ezra glanced around and noticed some of them actually trying to copy.

“What matters are the proportions. Not absolute size, length or depth. Anything and everything you draw must be in this proportion. Deviations will affect how well the enchantments work.”

It was art. It was old school.

“It’s best for you to remember it by heart, and most enchanters gain some variant of [formation memory] or [runic memory] to help them remember these formations. If you want to walk the path of enchantments, do remember to keep practicing and gain that skill.”

“What if we want to be archmages instead of enchanters?” A rather ambitious noble student asked, much to her annoyance.

“Then you may want to work equally hard in your other fields.” Enchanter Wyshlin said with a sneer, and the student immediately sat back down.

Copying. The assistants walked around sharing a thin paper sheet, containing an exact print of the formation.

“You may want to use this guide. That piece of thin paper cannot carry a formation, and the ink used is a zero-flow ink, but it can help you draw the formation on your practice piece.”

Alix placed the paper next to her, and picked up a piece of charcoal pencil, which she then used to sketch an outline on the wood. It was so obvious that Ezra wondered why his tutor never taught him to use charcoal outlines. “-I should learn how to do that.”

“Eh. When working with steel or metals, we always draw outlines. It’s harder to repair wrong enchantment formations on metal objects.”

“You’ve practiced on metals?” Ezra wondered what kind of school Alix went to.

“A bit. Our school also serves as a weapons factory for the local militia- so we produce a bit of enchanted weapons. Low tier stuff, nothing dangerous.”

Most of them got it half-right in their first try. Enchanter Wyshlin and her assistants began walking from table to table to inspect each and every wooden plank.

Ezra knew his work wasn’t great halfway through it, and it was obvious to the enchanter as well. “C. Passable, but the depths are wrong here, this line is slightly incorrect, the angle here is a little off.”

Her face brightened as she inspected Alix’s work. “Oh. You’ve got experience, don’t you?”

Alix nodded. “Factory work, Madam Wyshlin.”

“I see. It certainly resembles work from a good militia factory. This is an A. No major or minor faults. Proportions are on point. Teach your neighbor. He could use some help”

Alix smiled. “Certainly.”

Ezra felt a competitive fire burn within him. How far was he behind his peers? He had tried using a relatively low tier 1 [Increased Durability] formations on his father’s rejected equipment, but that was all the enchantment he ever learned in his five years of semi-structured learning. If Alix already had a niche, then he was fairly certain almost everyone else had their own.

***

Ezra sat in his room. His two roommates were in class. His things, there were not many, were now in his cabinet. There was only one book on his bed, unlike his roommates’ beds, which had so many different books and notes on them.

They rarely slept, and at night, seemed to be constantly chewing some kind of leaf. They claimed it improved their concentration, but they refused to share it, when he asked for it.

Alone, he relooked at his skills once more.

[Level 14 - Magic Acolyte]

[Mana Regeneration], [Magic Orb Control]. [Shield], [Magic Puppetry] and lastly [Energy Missile (skill)].

Five abilities, and in terms of spells, he knew just a handful over the years.

[Magic Orb], [Spark], [Energy Missile], [Rockform] and [Enhance Strength]. Learning spells was a long process, especially new ones. Spellbooks, and instructions help the process, but even then, it took a while. For a person of average talent, learning spells could take up to a whole month, and it was not unknown for mages to take years to learn a higher level spell.

There was an understanding amongst mages that a spell is ‘internalized’ when a mage receives a skill. It was when a spell, with all the mental power needed to learn it, became second nature. It is when the [system] awards a shortcut. A spell-linked [skill].

He needed to find something of a niche. Something unique to him. Most mages do so by focusing on one of their skills, which they then formed into a skill build.

[Mana Regeneration], [Magic Orb], are both generic skills, so normally they do not serve as the basis for a ‘strategy’. [Shield], [Magic Puppetry], and [Energy Missile] could form the basis of something more interesting.

He’ll have to get some practice, and level them up. Once these skills became stronger, most people believed that it would influence the kind of class he got at level 20.