Jasper passed through a thin membrane of solidified mana as he reached the top of the tower. He decided to land on the stonework around it to ensure he didn't fall back in.

Looking around, he saw that he was standing in a fairly large round room with multiple doors on all sides. Each door had a small metal plate with a name and title on it. Thanks to his Knowledge Domain, Jasper knew that these were the professors with tenure and the administrators.

A young man looked up from a book he had been reading through and smiled, though his eyes lingered on Jasper's cape that had been wings moments ago.

"Good morning, sir. Can I direct you to anyone?" He said, very enthusiastic to show that he was ready to help and hadn't been slacking on the job.

Jasper smiled back and appreciated the welcome. "The headmaster, or principal, or whatever you call your leader. I need to speak with them." The god said, not trying to be intimidating, but his frustration was building, and he had difficulty keeping it out of his voice.

For once, the god's abysmal charisma didn't seem to be a problem, and the young man nodded and pointed to a door that had been firmly locked with various magical sigils.

"Thank you," Jasper said curtly before making his way over to the door.

Jasper looked at the sigils and protections on the door. He could bust it down, but if he did that, he might as well have skipped the detour around the secretary. As such, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

There was a moment of complete silence, and then the door swung open, letting Jasper step inside. For a moment, he was unsure if his command over magic had forced the door open with a single knock, but he concluded that he hadn't spent any Energy, and as such, he must be welcome.

The inside of the office was empty of most conventional furniture. However, it was filled to the brim with strange devices and ongoing experiments that seemed to be running simultaneously. A quick glance across them told the god of knowledge that most of them were simply for show, not really performing any tasks, and the lack of notes around the devices showed the same.

The room's furniture consisted of a desk and a trio of comfy chairs. Behind the desk, an elf was sitting. His eyes looked ancient, though they had lost any spark of knowledge. He had long silver hair, though plenty of curls gave it quite a bit of volume. He looked much older than an elf was supposed to be. His skin was slightly baggy, and his posture made him look almost feeble.

Jasper wondered if elves could even age, and simply by looking at the man, Jasper's Domains knew why the man looked the way that he did.

"Principal Dranos, a pleasure," Jasper said, knowing that what he was looking at was a living legend.

This was Ewen's own son, one of the grandmasters that the god of magic appointed himself, and the aged look was actually due to the grand ritual that had elevated Ewen to a god.

Jasper had to assume that this man had experience with Ur-magic and probably knew a couple of spells himself since he had survived a cataclysmic explosion.

"I don't believe I have anyone on my schedule this early in the morning." The old elf said. His long, wrinkly ears had begun to sag ever so slightly, though they still gave a twitch of annoyance from being disturbed. "Please tell me why I should not throw you out."

Jasper was confused. Did Dranos not know who was standing before him? Jasper had assumed that he was on a level equal to that of The Scribe, and the thought of the old man brought a pang of regret to Jasper's heart.

He turned his attention back to the elf and cleared his throat. "I am a friend of your father's, and I have come to make an agreement," Jasper said, hoping that talking things out would work.

Dranos scoffed. The golden chains symbolizing his office as headmaster of the college, making quite a rattle as he moved. "So another priest from dear old dad, thinking they can get information from me." He said, having obviously been bombarded with question upon question, seeing as he had been the closest person to Ewen. It was no wonder that Ewen's clerics wanted to talk with him.

Jasper shook his head. "I am not a priest. I am one of the divine. I granted your father the knowledge of magic." Jasper said, realizing that he should make things clear before a misunderstanding could escalate the tension in the room.

To prove his point, he adjusted his glasses with one hand and let fiery serpents appear around his arm. They moved in an impossible pattern, finally converging into an infinity symbol, which Jasper knew was something that Ewen had taken for himself.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The old elf simply scoffed again, not even pretending to be impressed. Jasper sighed, doing his best to try and avoid a conflict, but the more he saw of the old elf, the more disappointed he was.

Dranos had no intention of promoting magic or exploring its boundaries. Instead, he focused on keeping the world stale and magic at a level that didn't exceed his own.

For a moment, Jasper considered removing the headmaster out of pure disgust. However, that was based on him being the god of knowledge and not on what was best for the game. From a developer's point of view, Dranos was doing what was best for the game. Stagnating magical growth in the human lands ensured that the other nations would be better at magic, or at least the elven civilization.

Jasper sighed, adjusting his glasses once more despite having just done so. He nodded slowly. He would have to find a way around this without killing Dranos.

"Look, believe that I am a god or not. It doesn't matter. I am not going to force you into anything." Jasper ignored the sound that came from Dranos and continued, "But I need to think in the long term here. I need to ensure that moving forward, people can join the Forgotten Academy." He said, raising a hand. "Without having to pay some insane amount of wealth... yes, wealth, I know that if I say Revals, you will have people pay with something else."

Dranos scoffed again, looking down his nose at Jasper before shaking his head. "You believe yourself some mighty mage or god. I can see as much, but you have no idea what it takes to keep a place like this running."

Jasper sighed and took a deep breath. He could see that Dranos wanted to see himself as superior, though maybe there was an opportunity here. Dranos didn't appear to be a good leader, scorned by his peers and standing in his father's shadow. It would take very little to push him towards evil. He was, without a doubt, the best candidate for the 'archmage that takes over the world'-plotline that seemed to be in every fantasy game.

"Fine, I will pay the tuition for every future scholar then, though not with money, since I have none, but with knowledge," Jasper said. With his Knowledge Domain, he poured four points of energy into obtaining forbidden lore on where to find three specific Ur-mage spells.

The swirl of divine power made Dranos' eyebrow shoot up, though he didn't say anything, simply allowing Jasper to perform whatever magic he wanted. Jasper could see the arrogance on his face. He thought himself under the protection of Ewen, which was probably right, but Jasper knew something that the Headmaster didn't. Jasper knew that Ewen would not protect someone from making a mistake when they should have known better.

"I will present you with the location of three spells. Three Ur-spells. These spells will have you rival any power, and while your father failed in casting and claiming the throne as a divine, you can become the greatest mortal that ever lived." Jasper said.

The god grabbed some of the papers that Dranos had on his desk, along with a quill. Jasper noted down the three locations, though to make it a challenge, he wrote it in verse before using a cypher and included a couple of lines about being pure of heart and finding true friendship. He didn't really need to do that, but he considered that it was expected from a quest given by a divine. If he told Dranos just straight where to find the spells, Jasper was sure that the headmaster would be much more suspicious.

Dranos looked at the incoherent jumbled words and then back at the god. "If these are true locations to Ur-magic, then I am willing to take that bargain. However, why should I believe that these are instructions?" the Headmaster asked, looking at Jasper with suspicion.

The god of magic smiled and nodded. "That is fair. Let me ensure that you believe that there is no trickery then. I swear on my soul that these three pieces of paper present the location of three different Ur-spells. Be advised that I do not claim these spells are unguarded or easy to get to, even if you have the right knowledge and wits to decipher them. However, I will hand these over to you, Dranos, in exchange for free membership to the Forgotten Academy for all future adventurers, no matter their background or deeds." Jasper said, and he felt a strange pull in his chest as he offered a soul oath.

Dranos seemed surprised. He had not expected a soul oath, but Jasper's eyes caught the slight twitch of his lip as he nodded. "On my soul, as the current administrator of Forgotten Academy, I swear that this school will never charge or discriminate against anyone who wishes to attend."

Almost instantly, a pop-up appeared in front of Jasper, though he had honestly expected as much.

Soul Oath [https://i.postimg.cc/3xxMbbgn/image.png]

Jasper didn't need to think about which option he wanted. He had 7 Worship left to use, and he was more than happy to commit one of them to ensure that this oath was upheld.

"As the embodiment of knowledge in this world, I accept this agreement and bind you and I to this." He said. Jasper felt himself not only being forced to hand over the papers but also being compelled to restore them if they were ever broken. Apparently, pouring Worship into an agreement meant that he would be following the spirit of the agreement rather than the letter of the agreement. Jasper didn't mind. Quickly, he committed one Impact, the points that would allow his character to perform actions while he wasn't logged into the game, to maintain the knowledge.

Without a second thought, he also created a small tapestry depicting Dranos making a deal with a hooded figure and exchanging the three pieces of paper for a pair of broken shackles. He thought it looked good, and he was more than happy to leave it as the monument to remind Dranos, and anyone who inherited the position as Headmaster, of the oath.

"I look forward to seeing your progress," Jasper said, walking out without another word. He couldn't help but smile as the three locations that he had handed out would lead Dranos to the three Ur-spells that would create a lich. Jasper was looking forward to seeing how easily Celeste would be able to take the elf down whenever he messed up.