Markus headed to the magician’s office next door and knocked. A voice coming from behind the door allowed him entry, so Markus got inside the room.

Inside was a large desk, with writing utensils and empty papers strewn over the surface. The opposite side of the room had a large open cabinet, containing book, flasks, small boxes and several items Markus could not identify. A large chest that would not look out of place in a pirate cave was in one corner of the room and a bed in the other.

Sitting at the desk was a white-haired man with a full-beard. His hair was in disorder and most of his body was covered by a large cape draped around his shoulders. Currently the man was studying the contents of a tome that was resting on top of the desk.

He fit the image of ‘the magician’ Markus had in his mind perfectly. At the same time he somehow reminded him of his old physics teacher back at school.

[Alvin

Level 33

HP 100%]

“Hello, I am Markus. The lieutenant said it was fine for me to visit you.”

“Can’t you see I’m busy right now? Get lost” The man said this with an annoyed voice, then looked up to Markus. “You aren’t one of the soldiers. Why are you here?”

“As I said, my name is Markus. I have an agreement with Lieutenant Clement, I thought he had already spoken to you about it. I want to learn about magicians.”

“Hmm… I think there was something like that, but the lieutenant talks a lot sometimes. Well, magicians use magic. Currently I am familiarizing with a spell. At least I was, until someone turned up and broke my concentration.”

“’Familiarizing’? Would you mind explaining what that means?”

“Now that you have already interrupted me, I could just do so, that’s right.” The man’s annoyed expression softened a bit. “I am Alvin, Senior Invoker of the Soba Federal Armed Forces” he then pointed at the tome in front of him “Even a villager should have seem something similar to this here at some point. A simple version is used to test children for magic talent.”

Markus stepped closer and looked at the pages. On closer inspection, the ‘tome’ turned out to be just two plates joined together. On the left side there was a long text written in the usual runes he had first seen in the destroyed village’s ledger, although what was written didn’t form any words and there were strange marks on some letters. It looked like something that comes out if a person just randomly rolls his face over a computer keyboard, with a lot less vowels than one would expect.

The right side resembled the scrolls or identification table he had seen before. There was a magic circle in the middle and strange runes around it.

“I’m afraid I have not seen this before, could you explain?” Markus said so, pretending to know wouldn’t help in the long run.

“Oh, that’s surprising... The magic association pays the nobles for bringing suitable people, so they tend to send every oaf they can find. Can you read?”

Markus nodded. Then the man stood up and started looking through the contents of the cabinet. “The amount of people who can naturally cast spells is about 1 in 5 among humans. Of those, many don’t have enough magic power to cast any spells above a very basic level or fail to sufficiently familiarize with invocations. Ahh, there it is…” He pulled out a book that was a little larger than his palm then gave it to Markus. After pulling a spare chair next to his own, he took a seat and ushered Markus to sit down as well.

“Let’s see if you belong to the ‘1 in 5’ group. First, take a look at the chanting tome.” Markus opened the small ‘book’. It was basically a smaller version of what was sitting on the magician’s desk, two plates joined by a leather cover. The writing on the left side was a lot shorter and the magic circle and runes on the right plate was simpler as well.

“The actual chant is written on the left. A ‘chant’ is a method that uses your voice in order to form a spell, made from the magic energy within your body. All intelligent races use the same basic system of chanting. That said, even a perfect chant will result in nothing if your body is lacking a magic circuit that can form a spell.”

“A magic circuit?” Markus was not sure what that was supposed to be.

“It is a theory we took over from the elves. They say that beings who can form spells by chants have a ‘magic circuit’ inside their body. Elves are seen as the magic authority among the races, nearly all of them can chant and use magic very well. If an elf tells you something about magic, just treat it as a fact, no one could ever prove them wrong so far.

Anyway, the tome you have in front of you also has a specialized amplifier on the right, that’s the drawing there.” He pointed at the magic circle.

“When you form a spell, that circle supports the forming magic and forces it to materialize. It does not work on its own, but even an imperfectly chanted spell is formed after it reaches a critical mass. It also takes its toll on the power though. Forcing the magic through that circle makes it lose a lot of its potential. You get half the effect at the best of times, often much less. But forming the magic at all is important to learn a spell by heart, so it serves a purpose. Understood so far?”

“Yea, I think. Put hand on right side, read left side, correct?”

The magician nodded. “For the test, that is enough. Now, I will perform the spell first, so you know how it is supposed to look.”

Alvin pulled out something that looked like a short rapier from underneath his cloak and held it in front of him. It had a slender, dark hilt and a long cylindrical ‘blade’ made of a bronze-coloured metal. The tip was made of the same material as the hilt. Between the hilt and blade was a tennis ball sized silver hand-guard, studded with several gems and runes in between the gems.

“This is a wand, it helps me conserve energy or pour more power into spells. Like the circle in the tome, it serves as an extension of my magic circuit, but it has a positive effect on the spells I form. Unlike the circle in the tome, it does not help the creation, in fact, it only works with spells I can form perfectly on my own.

Now, watch and foremost – listen.”

Alvin held the wand in front of him, then spoke some gibberish. Markus tried to remember it as well as possible.

“‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡”

A small glowing ball appeared at the tip of the wand. Then it floated above Alvin’s head. It was the same magic Markus already knew, the ‘Magic Torch’. After giving Markus some time to admire the ball, which was less impressive because he had already seen it, Alvin pointed the wand at the glowing sphere and made it disappear.

“Now it’s your turn. Put your hand on the circle, then read the letters on the left. It is the chant I just used.”

Markus was a bit worried about performing too well, so he hesitated. He already knew he could form spells using the menu, so it was likely he could succeed. Given his high stats, he expected the result to be good.

“Prrrf-gmuu-chakk-pfliu” He deliberately messed up a little, hoping the spell would come out weakened.

“Hahaha, how pathetic. Are you really able to read, boy?” Alvin wasn’t holding back his amusement. He quickly got serious though. Going through each individual part of the chant, he told Markus how to pronounce it. After going through the process a few times and having Markus repeat the parts until he somehow got close enough, he made him try it again.

“‡‡…‡‡-‡‡…‡‡‡” His pronunciation was far from perfect and he hesitated between the syllables, but he could feel the spell form, then a glowing sphere the size of a small marble formed in front of his right hand’s fingertips.

[Skill: Spell Chanting] gained.

[Skill: Illusion Magic] gained.

He even got two skills. Like when he had been using spells before, the spell still needed further input, so Markus released it after pouring the minimum amount of mana into it during the second phase, then the ball floated above his head.

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Stealing a glance at Alvin’s reaction, Markus found him to look neither amazed nor shocked, just satisfied.

“Very good. There is a lot of room for improvement, but I can see that you formed the spell using quite a bit of magic power. That is a good start, you might even have talent. I can write you a certificate that allows you entry into the Federal Magic Academy based on that.”

“You are not trying to force me to join the army?” Markus was a bit worried, so he just asked.

“Huh? No, magic training is not compulsory. Most people would jump at the chance though. But it doesn’t make sense to force people. Having people learn dangerous spells when they are unwilling only causes problems, who wants a weapon that could literally backfire and throw a large explosion into your own ranks?

That said, it is of course strictly forbidden to teach attack spells to someone outside the military. Even here, I am not allowed to keep anything too dangerous, if I want to learn an offensive spell, I have to go to the Academy myself.”

Hearing Alvin explain it so plainly, it made sense to Markus. If 20% of the population could potentially learn chanting, it was impossible to control every person, it was easier to control the distribution of spells.

There was still one problem “So there are no magicians who use attack magic outside the army?”

“Well, that’s not true as well. First, many spells not classified as attack magic are still dangerous. Magic that corrodes rocks can be used in mining, but also to destroy a castle wall. Or kinetic magic used normally in transportation, it can also be used to drop a rock onto someone. The Magic Association runs a university where they teach all of those and more to anyone willing to pay.”

“Then there are people who left the army regularly. Or came from outside the kingdom. Of course, there are also those people who somehow got taught magic they were not supposed to learn. But just being able to fight with magic is not illegal, using it for something illegal is what makes you a criminal.”

Markus felt somewhat relieved. Even if was caught using magic, it seemed to not be too much of a problem. And that university was somewhat tempting.

“In the end, magicians are good for the economy and for society. No one benefits from removing those who can do much good with their power. And those who abuse it can be dealt with, being a magician does not make you invincible, remember that. Getting surrounded by a group of soldiers is something most casters cannot handle.”

The topic was interesting, so Markus and Alvin spent some time discussing it. Markus was mostly asking questions, but Alvin seemed pleased to be able to talk about his experiences and magic in general.

What Markus learned was that while 20% of the population could potentially chant, or had a magic circuit, the vast majority did not become magicians. First, some simply had a low mana pool and ran out of magic power when casting just one spell. Many others could not master chanting without the help of a tome and could therefore not use magic in the field.

The tomes were made of copper mixed with precious metals, so they were relatively expensive and heavy. Carrying them into potentially dangerous situations was not appreciated, and because they could not be used with a wand, the efficiency was much lower than what a regular magician could achieve.

Failure to remember the complicated chants in the heat of the battle or over a longer period of not using them also rendered many people unable to become full-fledged magicians.

Alvin estimated that out of 100 humans, 80 could not chant at all, 10 would fail to chant anything without tomes, one would become a healer and only one or two would join the armed forces and be able to somehow fight using magic. The remaining people would only learn magic that was valuable for the economy or their communities, but not for the military.

The latter group would diversify greatly. Some would stop using magic due to circumstances, some would do a regular job that required magic use and some would adventure and try to get rich by various legal and illegal means. Those were the ones who were prone to seek knowledge of offensive spells, but also risked dying prematurely.

While Alvin himself was a magician specializing in strategic magic, knowing and practicing a large amount of spells, Lieutenant Clement was someone who had only perfected the use of a few spells, with his fireball spell being the most notable one. Markus was pretty sure that this was a detail he was not supposed to learn here, but he did not plan to exploit Alvin’s carelessness in giving out classified information.

Markus would have loved to learn some new spells, but Alvin had put away the tome on his desk before he could take another look at it. Alvin had also said that tomes for attack spells were not kept here at the base, so it probably wasn’t worth starting a fight over it.

It was a little tempting, but before openly robbing or stealing those tomes, he wanted to get his hands on some by less shady means.

Finally, when Alvin suggested it was soon time for lunch, Markus practically begged him to show him another tome, just one that was not prohibited to be taught to civilians.

“Sure, but don’t think that it will work that easily. Healing spells are generally considered to be free for all. Here, this is the one Hendrix practices with.” He gave Markus a book lying around in the open. “Hendrix is diligent, but just between us two, he is a third-rate magician. Barely enough magic energy to qualify for the army.”

That went easier than expected. Markus was a bit surprised, to say the least. He also regretted not asking for it earlier. He raised the [Chanting] skill all the way to level 10, then opened the book. The chant was twice as long as the magic torch one, but otherwise written in a similar manner. It was still gibberish, but Markus could perfectly read it out in his head.

Unfortunately, just reading it didn’t make the skill show up in his spells-list. He put his hand on the circle to the right, then prepared for casting. At the last moment, he reconsidered. Alvin has been helpful and didn’t seem to be interested in forcing him to join the Magic Academy, but he would certainly report it if Markus just started chanting spells on his first attempts after claiming that he had never seen a tome in his life before this morning.

Instead, Markus focused on remembering the chant. He then thought of the note function in the menu and copied the runes into a new note. Luckily, it could cope with the local language as well.

For the next few minutes, he made a show of getting the pronunciation just wrong enough to make the spell not activate. Alvin was nevertheless satisfied.

“You are doing much better than I thought. I really advise you to join the Academy. It would be a shame if you didn’t use your talent.” Alvin was praising him, but then ushered him out of the room so he could get something to eat before lunch time was over.

Markus followed him to the kitchen. Abigail was behind the counter handing out food, and she smiled at Markus when she saw him standing in the line. She quickly told him that his clothes were waiting for him in his room.

During lunch Markus thanked Alvin for the lesson in magic he had given him in the morning. He also tried to extend it, but Alvin’s response was rather blunt. “See, boy, I really enjoy talking about magic, but it is my job to stay prepared, so I have to study myself. I am not getting any younger, you know? I will be glad to meet you again after you have learned some magic from someone more qualified to teach.” It seemed like the lesson was over for good. As if trying to underscore the point that he was busy, he quickly went back to his office after finishing his lunch in a hurry, but not without wishing Markus good luck on his travels.