“Do you get that,” the wizard named Cronceet stated as he pointed towards a pane of black glass illuminated by letters and numbers.

“Gesture,” he said pointing to a part that was labelled ‘g’. “Plus Speech,” an ‘s’ was pointed at. “Plus Focus less spell tier.” He pointed at an ‘f’ before switching to a number 1. “If these amounts sum to a negative then the spell will be not be triggered successfully and the Magite Field will not react or in rare cases lead to spell backfire. Do note that some wizards still advocate for material to be added as part of the triggering process but for the most part most materials have been proven to be defunct for basic spells and so I will not be going into depth in this session. It is never practical or practicable to convert these into raw numbers but you should be able to quantify them mentally as you get more experience. Do you have any questions?” He finished his rambling to

“Tell me about Will please,” I said somewhat eagerly. While finding out the reason behind gestures was rather interesting Cronceet had specifically said that my problem was with Will.

“Ah yes your Will,” Cronceet said lazily rubbing his hand through his dark messy hair. “It used to be called Mana or Power or Spirit or a dozen different things. Have you ever cooked game meat kid? If so; you can then think of the Will as the wood which is transformed into the fire which we called Element, or Aether or Attribute depending on the region or date. The fire then is used to cook the meat which in this analogy is the spell. By the way the Magite field would be the oxygen required for combustion in this analogy.”

“So I don’t have enough wood?” I asked trying to sound out my problem. “If so what could I do to make my wood bigger?” While talking I envisioned a scene where I planted tree after tree before setting them alight. If I had to plant a forest then I would do so. I refused to be left behind.

“Let’s stop that analogy for now,” Cronceet said coughing suspiciously before he walked forward. “On the contrary your problem isn’t that you lack will but that you are amazingly awful at turning it into Element.” He reached into one of his sleeves and immediately pulled out a glove that looked to be made of metal wire. “Put this on,” he commanded giving me no option and I eagerly went along with it feeling the cool metal constrict around my appendage.

“What is it?” I asked looking at the metal tool that might very well just be a magical artefact. I shouldn’t be surprised that wizards owned them but I still genuinely hadn’t seen one before.

“A test,” Cronceet said. “Now cast Detect Magic,” he once more commanded.

“Okay,” I replied as I focused very hard on the glove as I cast that smell and I was forced to close my eyes as the glove that was a drab grey erupted into a rainbow of bright colours. Blinking I tried to get them accustomed to it but by the time I managed to get the white spots out of my eyes the glove’s colours had already faded.

“Truly terrible,” the middle-aged wizard said with a voice that sounded more amazed than disappointed. “You have a conversion rate of less than 0.05. I have never really seen a score that low. If a normal apprentice’s Will is equal to dry a pile wood then your Will is closer to a garden of greenery drenched in water and filled with sap. The fact that you can even cast spells says interesting things about you.” The wizard pierced me with his eyes before he yawned dispelling the effect.

“In other words I have high Will but I can’t convert it into Element easily,” I said frowning. I had heard of Mana the so-called source of spells but I had never learnt the technical explanation before besides the standard saying of fuel for spells. “Is this something that you learn in an academy?”

“Or from your master,” the wizard said. “Or if you were to join the army. Or if you’re a legacy at your father’s lap. It really depends on your situation. The process of turning intangible Will into semi-corporeal Element is something done as part of casting a spell and it wouldn’t prove a problem. Most children start at 0.3 and talented children may be as high as 0.6.”

“So why is it so high for me?” I asked seriously. “And what can I do about it?”

“Most likely it’s just inexperience,” Cronceet said giving me a calculating look. “Most apprentices are specifically trained to convert Will to Element as a prerequisite to casting while you’ve just been brute forcing it so far. As for what you can do. There are some exercises that can be done and I may have a trinket that can aid you. It depends entirely on what you can give to me.”

“What about potions,” I asked getting a strange look from the man.

“Well I guess there are potions that can help increase Will Control on a short term basis,” Cronceet said blithely. “For improving Will Control on a long term basis you have to deal with the consequences of perpetual potion toxicity.” With a casual movement he waved his hand in front of my face before he whistled. “You’ve recently ingested a potion that has a perpetual nature and I can still see the effects around your muscles. I would advise you to wait another few weeks before you drink your next perpetual potion.”

“Understood,” I said. My muscles had felt a bit stronger recently. Likely if I hadn’t ingested that potion then I would have been eaten while fleeing in the dungeon. If the effects of the potion were still ongoing then maybe I should do a few push-ups every night to take advantage of it. “What could I trade for the exercises?”

“Good choice,” Cronceet said as he reached into his sleeves again pulling out a few pages and a pen and proceeding to scribble down words at a speed that caused the writing implement to blur. “You’re not a good magic-user but you can use magic.” He looked like he was going to say more when an ominous howl disturbed the tranquillity of the camp.

The sound started high before it deepened broadening out into a disconcerting rumbling like the low roar of thunder that preceded a catastrophic storm. But this felt like no natural occurrence and there was a subtle thread of magic or something else that drove a spike of fear into my heart and wrapped chains of terror around my muscles. For a moment I was paralysed and then like most of the stuff in my life I shook it off. I had nearly died four times in the last few days not to mention making a deal with an actual demon and I wasn’t going to let some windbag slow me down.

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Cronceet had immediately taken off as soon as the noise started striding towards the exit of the tent with determination and I took off three seconds later exiting into the camp half a step behind him and into the chaos of the impromptu settlement.

I immediately had to step to hold my nose at the horrific smell. The smell of sweat, dirt and faeces of the previous camp was now supplemented with a bloody smell I was starting to become accustomed with. Throngs of people were moving away from one specific direction and I stepped backwards into the side of the tent only to find a hand on my shoulder as Cronceet pulled me forward.

“You’re coming,” he said and with a subtle motion of his hands the crowds parted. “I’m not going to bother asking. You already started running forward at that howl. Come on let’s go save these people Mr. Deathwish.”

“I don’t have a death wish,” I said watching as a woman clutching her small son was knocked over and almost trampled by the crowd. I started moving forward only for Cronceet’s grip to tighten and the next second I watched in admiration as the woman and her son were both lifted up and set off to the side with a gesture as if she was a doll placed in an inconvenient place.

“You have great Will,” Cronceet said as we moved forward. “But as we’ve just established Will without the means to use it amounts to little in the end.” He dragged me forward and I noticed that there were more than a few instances where he herded the crowd with a casual influence saving lives with incredible ease. The crowd broke off after about twenty seconds of travel and I gulped as I saw the cause of the disturbance.

Standing an arrowshot away was a creature that was the size of a carthorse and looked like a cross between a wolf and a deer. Its body was a dirty white coat with comparatively massive paws that bulged with muscle. Large barbed antlers adorned its deer like head which fixed the pair of use with empty white eyes. What was the most disturbing however was the corpse that hung limply from the deer jaws. It gave me chills to see such a normally benign creature turn into a man-eating monster.

“Chimeras,” Cronceet said as he stepped forward. “While humans have Will; beasts have Vigor. By combining two beasts together they double the Vigor in the body allowing it to reach the threshold of being considered a monster. This is bargain basement Biomancy, the absolute nadir of the profession and yet the results speak for themselves.”

Cronceet stepped forward at the same time that the creature went from standing still to lunging forward at blinding speeds and I instinctively stepped forward throwing a Hydraulic Push that the creature dodged. It refocused on me and my muscles tensed before in the next second dozens of ethereal hands of purple energy gripped the creature restraining it. With a sickening crunch all four of the creature’s legs were broken and the thing was forced down onto the ground. The next moment the light in the monsters eyes faded.

“Let’s go pick up my apprentice and then we can go see how the rest of the camp are doing,” Cronceet said as ropes appeared around the incapacitated beast.

“What spells were that?” I asked with some interest as the way more experienced wizard muttered a few words beneath his breath and then started jogging off in a direction at a pace which I was hard pressed to match.

“A modified and upgraded version of Mage Hand, a bog standard Sleep and Conjure Ropes,” he said before a look of worry crossed his face. “I hope that June has managed to hunker down when this happened. She’s very good at the magic aspect but pretty poor at the fighting aspect. She takes after me in that aspect.”

“She takes after…” I started looking at my companion with wide eyes even as I tried to get my breathing under control and stop the burning in my lungs. He had taken down that monster in a second while it likely would have killed me. In addition he didn’t even look like he was taking any strain while I was struggling desperately to even keep up.

“Yeah, I’m a teacher,” Cronceet said.

“At Elasarin,” I said my interest suddenly peaking at the thought of being so close to my goal.

“Dynston Academy of the Higher Arts,” he said with some pride in his voice. “The largest academy in this kingdom. I will admit we tend to fall behind Elasarin, but there’s a massive difference in the civilisation between Solarin and Ettram in the first place.”

“Really,” I said. Thinking about what question to ask before I froze as we finally arrived at the outskirts of the camp and I saw just what the rest of the camp guards were doing. A small hill of beast corpses lay in front of me and green figures in a full body hooded robe and ornate facemask dragged more bodies onto the pile. Sitting on top of the pile casually was another green figure that looked down towards Cronceet as soon as he entered.

“Now that’s a wizard that’s bred for war,”Cronceet said as if that explained everything. “Have you seen my apprentice Myrrha?”

“One of me escorted her to the command tent,” the wizard named Myrrha said; her voice surprisingly feminine from beneath the mask. “Who’s the little mouse?”

“A diamond in the rough with more potential than ability,” Cronceet said, his mixed appraisal still managing to stir some warm feelings. “I’m thinking of getting him to practice with June for a bit.”

“No matter how much fire you conjure some trees won’t scorch,” Myrrha said before she snapped her fingers and disappeared. “If you keep trying to set a spark she might just explode instead,” another green figure continued the conversation seamlessly. Were these clones? Some form of illusion? This casual use of new magic made me burn with curiosity.

“She has made strides,” Cronceet said with a tired voice. “Regardless of the situation she will be graduating soon and from then onwards I will have less ability to correct her.”

“This is why I don’t take apprentices,” Myrrha said. “If I hadn’t already signed that contract with Aardhilt I would be off by now.”

“Unfortunately,” Cronceet said, his words directed to me in addition to his colleague. “Of the eight wizards in the city of Answerh only I and Mirror Master over there managed to survive against the dragon.”

“How was it?” I asked and then immediately winced at my careless remark. Their friends had died. Did I really have a right to bring it up?

“Not a picnic kid,” Myrrha said casually. “Magic bounces off dragon’s scales and their breath just erases you. Any human that can defeat a dragon could have a good case that they were not a human made for them.”

“If Ettram rallied they should be able to drive it off,” Cronceet said before he walked up to the pile of monsters and started examining them closely as if something had just caught his eye.

“Why wouldn’t they rally?” I asked curiously only to get an expression of disgust from Myrrha.

“Politics,” she spat out the word. “The former king somehow slipped the mortal coil unexpectedly and you know how it goes.”

“I don’t,” I said honestly. My blunt delivery got a shocked expression from Myrrha before she burst into laughter.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” she said. “Hey Cronky why don’t we go have a drink and then we can get this little brat up to speed on the implications of inheritance politics.”

“I think we have a more immediate problem,” the teacher wizard said as he pulled out a thorny squirming vine from beneath the flesh of one of the Chimeras. “So would you like to tell Aardhilt or should I that he has a Class Four monster on the loose.”