She knocked rapidly, hoping to get her answers quickly and get out, but there was no reply.

She knocked again.

No reply.

“Maybe he's gone for lunch ?” Thalva suggested hopefully. She had done nothing but complain so any further noise coming from her only served to aggravate Vella even more.

She knocked some more, much harsher this time.

“I'm busy at the moment!” came a muffled shout, “Come back later.”

Thalva's relief could be heard through her sigh, “See? He's busy. Let's forget about this and go pick some other-”

“Archmage Donic? I would like to ask you a few questions regarding your field of interest,” Vella called through the door.

There was a pause as nothing could be heard from the other side of the door until it abruptly opened. A young man stood at the doorway studying his two visitors with an arched eyebrow.

“And who might you two be?” he asked.

“I'm Vella Sharp, an Institution initiate,” Vella introduced, Thalva doing the same albeit much less enthusiastically, “I saw your profile as a mentor in the entrance hall and would like to ask a few questions.”

“...Huh,” was Donic's intelligent reply, “What would you like to know? This is about the mentor selection, yes?”

“Actually I would like to know a little bit more about your field of study,” Vella explained.

“You have an interest in free form magic?”

“In a sense. I don't know too much about magic, being an initiate, so I'd like to know the differences between what you research and the formula magic other mages seem to prefer so much,” said Vella.

“Ah. Well, I guess I can't turn down a chance to educate,” mused Donic. He opened the door a little more, allowing the two students into his study.

Inside were half-closed cabinets filled to the brim with scrolls. Some sort of partially-completed experiment with various glowing metals and crystals were arranged on a slightly messy manner on a table. In the centre, where the two had been lead to, was a relatively clean and heavy desk decorated with numerous instruments fit for a wealthy scribe.

Chairs had to be sought out and dusted before all three could properly sit around the desk.

“My apologies. I don't get many visitors. I'm usually the one who does the visiting,” Donic said as he sat down. A kettle floated off the window sill behind him and approached their table, cups in tow. “Tea?”

“I wouldn't mind-” started Vella before Thalva stood back up abruptly.

“H-how? Do you have some sort of sophisticated enchantments on your tea-set? I didn't even see you activate them! Unless...” Thavla trailed off, looking from the archmage to the tea cups, then back again.

“Isn't this a spell he cast?” Vella ventured.

“But he hadn't even said a thing! No gestures, nothing!” Thalva exclaimed.

“Please, calm yourself,” said Donic, “Take a seat, Thalva was it?”

Thavla nodded as she sat down, cheeks flushed from equal parts excitement and embarrassment. The tea pored itself and Thalva quickly took it in.

“Right, where to begin?” Donic composed himself in his simple chair, “How much do either of you know about free form magic?”

Vella hadn't the slightest idea. Her life was spent outside the cities and she hardly get to travel far from home. Thalva, on the other hand, was more of a city girl.

“Well it's not popular for a reason,” Thalva started while placing down her tea, “It's basically a jumbled mess that people need to figure out before even beginning to cast anything useful.”

Vella noticed Donic smile, but he let Thalva continue.

“Even if you figure out something, it will eat up all your mana just to cast it once.”

“Well, Miss Thalva here isn't wrong,” Donic nodded, his smile still present, “Free form magic is certainly a hassle and a half, if you seek to create spells.”

The kettle floated up off the table again.

“But as you can see, that's not what free form magic is about. It's not meant to be looked at from a formula creation angle. There is no chant, there are no gestures.”

Donic paused and his expression became calculative.

“What about the other way around? What do you know about formula magic?” he asked.

Again, Thalva was the one to answer, “Well, formula magic, or common magic, we memorise the chant and the hand signs we need for it. We channel our mana the way it's supposed to move while chanting and gesturing, then the spell will succeed.”

“Right again, Miss Thalva,” Donic nodded, “Although, doesn't that seem ridiculous?”

While Thalva creased her face in disagreement, Vella nodded along with Donic. High fantasy was just that, fantasy. Chanting and calling out attack names shouldn't have any purpose in a living breathing world.

“No one knows why or how magic operates well while constricted to a formula. Many had studied how rigid it is and how much more flexible it can become. Most don't question it. It worked and it helped them out of their situation. And we here at the institution try to uncover as many of these formulae as possible from Ancient ruins,” he explained, “And some of the more famous individuals here had even twisted formulae into something else. A masterful feat to be sure and a rare one.

“But still, the question should be asked: Why? Who or what governs the rules of these formulae? Why must we do this specific gesture, or make this specific sound for magic to work? On top of that, we need to push our mana out in a specific pattern for the spell to activate properly. Why?”

Vella understood what he was getting at, “I guess maybe there's a powerful being or even an automated system of sorts that monitors all this and grants specific effects once certain conditions are met?”

Donic's eyes and smile sharpened, “You catch on quick. This is why I started my research on free form magic. Because it seems to me, formula magic originated from free form magic. And if I understand the root of magic, then I should be able to bend nature to my will in any shape or form.”

“Ridiculous!” Thalva blurted out.

“So I've often heard,” Donic smirked.

“I may not be as knowledgeable as Thalva here, but what makes you so certain of your theory?” asked Vella. Yes, they were talking to a mage of higher seniority, an archmage at that, but Vella wasn't quite convinced of free form magic's significance just yet.

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“'Not as knowledgeable?' That was common knowledge, at least to those educated...” Donic trailed off. Visible realisation dawned on the man's face a moment later.

“You're Miss Sharp, correct? The one with the Bloodline Quirk?” he asked, to which Vella nodded, “Right. You're the only one who we accepted that come from a rural residence. It's no wonder you don't know much of even the basics. Understandable. Regardless. I am confident in my assessment of magic at it's core because I understand free form magic and can use it at will. The problem is getting others to understand it. That gap in knowledge is too wide for this age.”

“This age?” Vella inquired.

“Never mind that. Just a mistaken turn of phrase,” the archmage shook his head, “I guess a more flashy demonstration is in order. Thalva, name a spell.”

“Huh? Oh, um, a fire spell?” Thalva suggested.

Donic nodded and stared forming hand signs. Vella noted that they looked suspiciously like the hand signs fantasy ninjas would use. Then Donic spoke.

“Five, nine, five, eight, two, nine,” intoned Donic. In English.

An orange flame sprang into existence above one of his hands. Vella could feel the slight warmth emanating from it. The feeling quickly faded as Donic moved to open a large window behind him and held the flame out towards the sky.

“Cone, cast,” he said, again in English, and then the flame in his hand blasted out.

As spectacular seeing magic being cast for the first time was, Vella couldn't help but be puzzled by the chant. Why was it a bunch of numbers in English? The ending made sense, 'cone', and 'cast', but the beginning sounded like... well, to borrow terms from IT database, it sounded like a primary key. A number that represented something. In this case, fire.

Donic may be on to something after all. Maybe, there was an omniscient system overwatching all actions by mere mortals.

“That was formula magic. Now,” Donic held up his hand again, but this time, without any more numbers in English, or ninja seals, a white-blue flame flared from his palm. This time Vella could feel genuine heat instead of the gentle warmth of the last spell.

Donic turned around again and fired the flame into the sky. Where as before, it was a moderately sized stream of fire throwing, this time, the area of effect was wider and covered easily twice more ground. Vella could feel the intensity of the blast, even if the spell was pointed the other way.

Vella had to blink away the spots the fire's light made in her vision and wipe away the sweat that formed on her head. To her side, Thalva looked dazed and out of breath, her cup of tea half-drunk and forgotten.

Donic turned back to them with the blue flame still in his palm, although no longer roaring through the air.

“Should you actually put my name down as a mentor, you'd most certainly guarantee my tutelage as no one would risk their education on the reputation of free form magic. That is the magic I teach and I've noted as such in my profile. If you have the freedom of mind and endurance to walk a path no other had walked before, then I will be your mentor.”

A wry smile found it's way to his face and his next words were more to himself than for the two students, “I hadn't taught in decades. Certainly brings back memories.”

Decades? As far as Vella knew, people hardly lived over thirty and Donic didn't look a day over twenty. Had he even mastered his age with magic?

With her questions answered and a free live demonstration to boot, Vella bid the top choice for her mentor farewell. She needed to know more about magic, and the archmage was the hidden gateway that others had missed.

It seemed Archmage Donic's light show had also impressed Thalva as she, too, wrote down Wintr Donic as her first choice for mentors.

When asked about it, Thalva explained, “I really like fire magic, and I've never seen a blue flame before! If I could be taught that powerful flame spell, I wouldn't mind trying out something like free form magic. Besides, it looked so easy. He didn't have to do any chanting or hand signs!”

'A simple girl at heart,' Vella thought, equal parts envious and pitying Thalva's youth.

“So, what do you want to do now?” Thalva asked.

Quite presumptuous for Thalva to assume Vella wanted her company for her next act of business.

“I've actually got something I need to do now,” explained Vella.

“Oh? What is it? Where are we going?” asked Thalva, clearly not taking the hint.

“Something personal. Outside the city.”

“Oooh! I don't get too many chances to explore outside the city. When I do, I never get to go far,” Thalva struggled to contain her excitement. So much so that she chatted all the way through Vella's shopping trip.

She needed some rations and at least a knife if she was to attempt getting her valuables back from Kezal forest. Getting any form of transport would be too much a strain on her coin pouch. The biggest buy was the wooden platform on wheels with a rope to tug it along.

“Identification?” asked the city gate guard.

“Vella Sharp.”

“Thalva Meldim.”

The guard scribbled their names down and asked for their age. Upon asking why, apparently the law states that those of age seven and below can travel outside the city with the company of anyone older than them.

“Thank goodness I'm older,” Thalva muttered as they exited the city, “Hey, doesn't that mean you should be listening to what I say?”

A dark look came over Vella's expression.

Thalva held up her hands defensively, “H-hey, I-I'm just joking! We're still friends right?”

Vella really wanted to ignore her, get away from the one topic she hated most, but, “Yes. We're friends. Just don't talk about things to do with age, or status.”

“Yeah, I can see you get particularly upset with that. But why?”

Vella considered the question for a moment. What could she say? Where would she start? From even before her rebirth here, the world always oppressed those who were simply born with lesser fortune. They hadn't even worked as hard for that wealth and power either.

Simply put, “I hate it.”

Vella walked on with a confused Thalva and the cheap trolley trailing behind.

The journey was long and Thalva sought to shorten it with idle chatter. Vella wasn't quite fond of talking, but Thalva did manage to get her to open up a little.

“It's so cute!” Thalva exclaimed, hugging Vella's Yunare tightly, “So this is the awesome power of a Bloodline Quirk!”

Vella huffed at the implied insult, although she knew Thalva didn't mean it that way. It reminded her that she'd need to grow her own personal power and not rely on something she just so happened to be born with.

But for the moment, “You fool. That isn't even my full power. Behold!”

Vella summoned her Dawli and had it alight on Thalva's shoulder. It caused her to squeak in joy. A rare smile threatened to mar Vella's face, but she held it in.

“Now, for my finishing move!”

Vella closed in on Thalva, placed her hand on the girl's arm and summoned her male Clem.

“Uuugh! It's so slimy!” Thalva complained. She shook her arm in an effort to dislodge it but only succeeded in flinging slim onto herself.

The sight was so light and comical that Vella only noticed her own smile when Thalva pointed at her face in mock horror.

“What's that on your face? Is it- could it be joy?” she teased, “I thought that was all but impossible!”

A weird cross between a huff and a choked snort was all Vella could manage before she turned back to face where she was going.

Thalva teased her for a while longer when the heightened senses of her summons set Vella on edge. She quickly gathered her summons to herself, her Yunare close to her, while the Dawli flew out to oversee the direction she thought she heard the disruption from. The Clem made it's way slowly along the ground towards her.

Thalva blanched when Vella whipped her knife out, “What are you doing?”

“Danger,” was all Vella said in reply.

“What? But Kezal forest doesn't have any-”

An all too familiar raspy cry rang from further within the forest.

“Do you know why I even needed to come out here to retrieve my belongings?” Vella asked, voice low.

“Um, no?”

“The farmer I had booked a ride on kicked me and my stuff off his wagon,” Vella explained, “I couldn't take my things with me, so I had to leave it behind. Then, long story short, a Monster attacked me.”

“Don't be ridiculous! There are no Monsters on this side of-”

“It gave me the scar on my face and one more on my back,” Vella said and lifted her shirt up for Thalva to see.

Thalva stayed silent and a moment later, a eerie cry that sounded all too human rang out.

“Come on, let's go back,” Vella said as she dragged the trolley behind her, “Last time, I encountered one I nearly died.”

“But- but didn't you hear that just now? There's someone out there!” Thalva exclaimed.

“And there's nothing we can do about it, now let's go!” Vella called back over her shoulder.

There was another stretch of silence that fuelled Vella's suspicions with every passing second.

Finally having enough of Thalva's childishness, she turned around only to find an empty road.