The inside of this Elysium wasn’t as impressive as the one in the Library. It was a huge room, like a gymnasium of sorts, with several tables, and a few bookshelves running between them, illuminated by orbs of warm light floating high close to the ceiling. It was like another library, or a study lodge of sorts. Besides us, there are only two others in this room: a hooded Black Cloak standing near the entrance who gave us a little nod as we pass him by, and a young girl sitting on a table on the far end of the Elysium, surrounded by piles of paper and books.

“Uhm, should we go say hi…?” I wonder out loud. “I don’t know the Elysium etiquette.”

“Absolutely not.” Mustafá waved a nagging finger. “Do not interrupt the work of others. If she wishes to speak, she will come to us and say so. Now, go to a table and we shall begin your lecture.”

I can’t hide my excitement at that. I jog to another table, far from the entrance but not too close to the studying lady, and sit down, setting down Gato’s Guide and my own notepad. I didn’t bring Humiko’s book, mostly because I am afraid of someone coming and trying to grab it from me or something! I have no idea if knowledge thieves are a thing in the magical world, but I want to be sure. Just in case.

My teacher walks over to me, clapping her hands twice and, with a whisper, summons a white board that remains floating right beside her. She begins scribbling, drawing a fairly good diagram of the human body as she speaks.

“Tell me the First Law of Magic.”

Damn it, I know this one. I already read it! Still, the memories jumble in my brain, so I quickly check Gato’s guide for an answer.

“A-Ah, right! Law of Contagion. Magic spreads from user to sleeper like a sickness: when there’s contact with magic, people wake up to its presence and become magical users no matter if they want to or not!” My eyes go from the book to Mustafá. “R-Right?”

“Correct.” She nods softly. “Magic spreads like an infection. Hence the name ‘Arcane Infection’ that some people use in academic circles. But that’s not the only Law of magic, there’s a second one. Explain it to me.”

Gulp. I haven’t read that far into the book! I start checking it again, passing the pages and reading through passages until I finally find it.

“Ah hah! Second Law, hmmm… Law of Corrosion?” I blink a few times, then it clicks in my mind. “Ah! Like with my shinai! Magic breaks the objects it is inscribed into, right?”

“Correct. Magic applied raw in any material will damage it. This is why we only inscribe runes in either disposable mediums or surfaces that can take a beating. You don’t wanna end up breaking the floor you’re standing on or anything.” Mustafá nods again. “But I ask you. What if you use magic without inscribing the runes?”

I wanted to ask that question! But I guess she’s not super into being asked things? With a frown, I try to think. I never noticed anything special using the Ignition rune without writing it, so…

“... I have no idea.” Finally, I give up.

“When you don’t inscribe the rune, you imagine it, creating it in the Third Layer and then summoning its effects to the First.” At least she explains to me without calling attention to my little failure. “This makes the spell slower, easier to counter, and generates more Paradox. Also, even if the corrosion doesn’t eat up living tissue that rapidly, it still hurts. So don’t try it.”

“But I didn’t feel anything. Was it really that simple a spell?” I tilt my head to the side, as if that would help things make more sense.

“It was very simple. Single Runes tend to only eat up the dead skin off your body, unless you create a bigger effect.” The crone nods again. “You only made smoke and turned things on and off. Your biggest feat was turning my brain off, which again, doesn’t require more energy than what you need to heat up a cuppa.”

“I felt proud of that one…” My eyes go down as I mumble. “Also. Paradox? Third Layer? How many Layers are there!?”

“Four. Technically Five if you get theoretical.” She answers. “We will study them in due time. Also, Paradox is the Universe’s answer to our meddling. It usually manifests in the form of explosions, implosions and other magical mishaps.”

“The hells!? But you have literally teleported and I have never seen anything of the sort!” I could have exploded? Now that makes me angry.

“My spells are highly optimized to reduce and destroy Paradox. Yours aren’t. I will teach you about the proper Glyphs for it later.” At least that promise from her gets me to relax. “Now, there are two exceptions to this Second Law: Materials coming from living beings, such as certain types of wood, flesh and fluids, and Miracles.”

“Wait. My shinai broke, and the guy who sold it to me said it was legit Cipangian cherry wood!”

Mustafá and I just look at each other for a solid ten seconds. Then it hits me. Saints damn it.

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“Maan…” I sigh, shaking my head softly.

“Anyways. Miracles are artifacts who have been woven with magic to a fundamental, almost molecular level. These are made by a special kind of mage called a ‘Weaver’.” She writes a few words on the whiteboard. “Weavers are rare these days, only a few families still maintain the tradition of creating magical artifacts, now that technology is reaching high levels of convenience.”

Huh. Mort is a weaver, if I remember correctly. Maybe I should ask him a few questions about his business later… Suddenly, I feel a gaze on my back. Turning around, I catch the studious lady looking our way. She immediately goes back to her books when I see her.

“Hmmmn…” Now that makes me a bit uncomfortable. I hate being looked at.

“Focus.” Mustafá taps her marker on the board. “We will learn more about Miracles, Catalysts and Magical Objects later. Right now, I am just doing a summary before you start exercising your runes.”

“Fine, fine.”

“Now. Anvil Theory.” She draws an anvil inside the diagram’s head. “Have you read that part?”

“Yes, actually! I have!” I say with pride.

“Good. Explain it.” The crone crosses her arms.

“Well… an idea is the Hammer, the emotion behind the idea is the Arm swinging it, and the Anvil is our collective belief that reality is mundane and makes sense.” My smile curls a bit more as I speak. “The hammer goes down, PLONK! On the anvil! And sparks fly right out, the sparks being the magic we produce.”

“Correct.” She nods. “Those sparks take form using the Astral we produce and create the ripples in reality that we know as Magic. But what happens when you can’t muster the emotion to cast?”

“I, uh, I guess you can’t cast at all?” I blink a few times.

“Correct, but also false. Mages always find a way.” She suddenly pulls something from her sleeve. It looks like a medallion or a coin? Octagonal, made out of yellowish bone and covered in runes. I can see, for a moment, the octarine flowing through the thing. “This is a Thrill. It contains the raw, unfiltered emotion coming from someone’s memory. People mint these and use them either as fuel for spells, or for exchange.”

“So mages do have their own coin…” Catching my stare, Mustafá tosses the coin to me. I flimsily catch it and feel it in my hands. “Ah! It’s thinner than I thought.”

“Made from animal bone. It breaks upon use. Go to the girl over there and offer it to her in exchange for her runes.” She nodded at the spying lady not too far from us. Said lady, again, pretended not to see us. “She will probably ask for yours in return. Offer the thrill instead. If she takes it, she’s smart.”

Urgh, mandatory social activity, I despise this already. With a defeated sigh, I get up and walk over to the lady. She has been writing furiously for a while now, before she looks up and our eyes meet. I gasp, she gasps, this is so awkward already.

She’s smaller than me, chubby, with a face that tells me she’s not exactly sociable. Dark wohlian skin and black, curly hair tied in a single ponytail on the back, she’s wearing a pair of thin oval glasses that make her eyes look bigger and, honestly, a lot meaner.

“W-What do you need?” She immediately asks. “I’m busy.”

“Hey, so uh. Sorry to bother you, my instructor kinda forced me to do this…” I start by taking some of the blame off myself. “Would you mind an exchange?”

“I have no thrills to give you.” Saints above she’s dry.

“N-No, I actually want to offer you a thrill.” My awkward smile probably makes me look so suspicious. “In, uh, in exchange for a few of the runes you have learned?”

Oh boy, she looks outraged for a moment, ready to send me away! But then she reconsiders. The lady taps her chin for a moment, thinking it properly and then nodding.

“Three runes, that’s all I’m showing you for a thrill.” She says, crossing her arms. I feel like I’m being scammed again, but honestly, I have no way to convince her of more.

“Fine by me!”

She nods and pulls a piece of yellowish, thick paper. I assume it’s probably sphinx’s hair paper, if she has to grab it specially for this. Then she draws three symbols.

image [https://i.ibb.co/HTh9Yks/Screenshot-2.png]

“Rein.” The girl says when pointing to the one on the left, rolling her arr a lot. “Gol and Haei. One for protection, one for manipulation of fire, and one for manipulation of wind currents”

Gol. That one looks like the other rune I saw, Golthoi! They are definitely related, but how? Maybe a particle? Gol is fire, Golthoi is to ignite, so Thoi must mean to start, right? I look at her, offering the thrill while I try to take the paper from her… but not only does she take my Thrill, she also refuses to give the piece of paper.

“I am not giving it to you. Memorize them.” She says, severely.

So much for being nice. Then again, I guess that sort of paper is expensive? With a shrug, I stare at the paper until the shapes have been burnt in my retina, and I bow my head as thanks while turning away and jogging back to Mustafá. She looks at me intently and says:

“Show me what you learned.”

“I need some of them special paper!” I point out.

“Nay. Cast them.” She crossed her arms.

“One of them is for manipulation of fire!” Gulping, my eyes dart around the room.

“Then make a fire.” Her words were final.

With a sigh, I beg to the Saints that the information that lady gave me was correct and pick up my notepad, ripping three pages up and getting ready to write. Then I doubt, is this really a good idea? I look at Mustafá, and she nods once again. That doesn’t confirm if it is a good idea or not, it only tells me that she expects me to do it anyway! I still tremble.

Now she sighs.

“I will help you. What signs do you have.” Mustafá rolls her eyes.

“Rein, Gol and Haei.” I answer.

“Good. Basic stuff.” She conjures a tennis ball, throwing it up and down with her hand and then looking at me. “The first one, Rein, when used on its own it creates a hexagonal screen of solid mana in the spot you imagine it.”

“O-Okay, okay!” I take a wide stance and quickly scribble the rune on a piece of paper, then I raise both hands in front of me.

“Good, get ready. I will throw this at your face.”

“What!?” I lose all my poise there.

“Now.”

She doesn’t wait. She immediately throws the ball straight at me, so fast that I don’t even manage to articulate anything. Before I know it, I am hit and on the floor, with pain coursing through my face.

“You weren’t ready.” She says, and I hear her even if I can’t see her. I hate her so much.