The uniform consisted of a blue undershirt, a gray and green plaid vest, and a nondescript knee-length skirt.

In other words, it was far from the fanciest thing Lola had ever worn, but it was the Weatherton uniform for girls and was therefore the coolest thing she owned, aside from Codex of course.

She spun in it a few times, wishing that it poofed out more. Looking at Codex, she asked, "What do you think?" He blinked and she giggled. "Thank you!" Slinging a leather book carrier over her shoulder, she placed the grimoire inside and tapped him. "Are you ready?" He blinked again.

Running downstairs, she only paused to grab a donut and a napkin from the kitchen before heading out the front door. Gregor shouted after her, "Good luck, miss!" A chorus of agreement followed it from the various staff working around the house, and she waved happily as she left.

Her father was waiting next to a twenty-five-foot long turtle with a curious construction on its back. The turtle itself had eight fins rather than the usual four and was a sky blue color. The object, although it might be more accurate to say the small room, consisted of a solidly built foundation molded to its carrier's shell, and was shaped rather aerodynamically. It was strapped on quite effectively, with an ornate set of stairs extending from the side.

Lola paused at the strange sight, confused, and Isaac smiled. "It's an Airrage. I ordered it this morning, as we can't exactly teleport to the school."

Excited, she ran over to the turtle's head and gently placed her hands on its cheeks, staring into its slow, wise eyes. "I'm going to name you after uncle Francis!"

Isaac coughed gently. "It's actually a girl, dear."

Her eyes widened and she smiled hugely. "Then I'm going to name you Camille!"

Camille's eyes creased, almost as if it was smiling in return, and grunted deeply. The sound rumbled through the ground and made the gravel on their driveway dance.

Isaac smiled at the sight. The turtles were normally taciturn and rarely responded to anything that wasn't a direct order, but it seemed to like Lola quite a bit. Opening the door set into the side, he gestured to it and said, "Lola? We should probably get going if we're going to be on time."

Her eyes wide, she promptly went up the stairs to the lush interior, where she found a pair of benches (though it might be more accurate to say couches) facing each other, with wrought-iron racks for storing luggage above. It was remarkably roomy, considering its relatively small dimensions.

Sitting down, she waited for Isaac to get in, practically bouncing in her seat. As soon as he sat down, he pulled a small window in the front aside and said to Camille, "To Weatherton, please."

The airrage shook as the turtle moved forward, slowly lifting off into the air, its fins waving in the rhythmic repetition of movement. Lola squealed, looking through the windows at the rapidly distancing ground, and looked at her father, excited. "How is it flying?"

Isaac smiled gently. "The turtle uses wind magic to fly, and wraps it around the airrage to keep it more stable."

Lola looked at him, practically glowing. "Does it have a grimoire too?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "No, magical creatures don't need grimoires to do magic, they can do it all on their own."

She frowned, tilting her cherubic face. "Then why do we need grimoires to do it?"

Isaac couldn't really answer that question. It had been up for debate for an incredibly long time, to the point that the Mana Society had banned discussion on the topic. It was as simple as the fact that monsters could and humans couldn't. Even races already imbued with power, such as the elves and dwarves, couldn't do magic without some form of assistance, though it differed between species. For example, the dwarves would channel power from singing while crafting, and more often than not, the songs were unintelligible to others and would erase themselves from memory. The elves, on the other hand, would make contracts with nature spirits and draw power from them. It was just a fact of the strange world they lived in that some could and some could not do magic without assistance. Of course, there were other variables that came into play, such as the size of one's mana pool or the knowledge they had of the spell they were performing.

He snapped back to reality, a smile crossing his face. Leave it to his daughter to ask a question that had been plaguing humanity for centuries. "I don't quite know, dear. That's just the way it is."

Lola seemed to accept this as a perfectly reasonable explanation and continued looking outside the windows at the city far beneath them, people and carriages mere specks below. Isaac's gaze fell on the grimoire in her satchel and his forehead creased. The book remained a mystery to him, as the odds behind their method of discovering it were frankly incomparable. What were the chances that a Living Book would appear in the library, much less that his daughter would select it? He'd witnessed her training sessions with Francis and had seen the unbelievable size of her pool. There was a longstanding theory that pools could be exponentially improved in the early lifespan of a human, and Isaac had contributed quite a decent amount of information towards this theory because of what he'd seen Lola do.. It wasn't exactly common for an eight-year-old to practice her magic to overuse, and it was even more unusual that said child would be taught by the former Royal Champion. The odds were just... too small. 

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He realized the book was looking at him, rather curiously, and he started guiltily. Then he wondered why, as the book couldn't read his mind and wouldn't be able to tell Lola about it either way.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lola stepped out of the airrage, her eyes widening as she took in the enormous building before her.

Weatherton was massive, no doubt about it. It was a sprawling construction spanning over half a mile wide, and she couldn't tell how long it was. Built out of an imposing gray limestone, it featured a wall of windows across the front and a huge clock built into the central tower. Various turrets and spires decorated the upper levels, and a glass dome was visible from the front, likely a greenhouse or laboratory of some kind. The stairs leading up to the entrance had many names carved into them, the valedictorians of every class in the history of the school immortalized in stone. The railings alongside the staircase were made of bronze and excellently carved. 

What Lola was more amazed at, though, were the sheer number of people. She'd never seen so many different people and species in one place. Every conceivable skin tone and race was well represented here, and she could have sworn she saw a dragonling fly to the back of the building. Despite the wealth displayed by quite a few of the arrivals, they seemed surprised to see the airrage.

Isaac exited behind her, smiling at her expression. "I felt the same way the first time I arrived. It's an incredible experience, isn't it?" Lola nodded, her mouth still hanging open. 

A sonorous bell rang from inside the school, and Isaac flicked out his watch, checking the time. "Oh, you might want to get going. You don't want to be late for the greeting!" Lola nodded and secured her satchel, running towards the school. Isaac felt a slight pang in his heart at the sight. It was a clear indication that his daughter was growing older, and Colette wasn't around anymore to teach his little girl. 

He recalled what Chris had been talking about, and sighed. Lola's chances of becoming Magelord weren't actually as slim as he'd made them out to be. A grimoire of any kind was a massive help to anyone, but a Living Book in the hands of a person with a pool the size of Lola's would likely have very few limitations if any. No one he knew personally hefted that kind of power, except for Francis, and with an education at Weatherton, Lola's power would likely grow to incredible proportions. Perhaps even Cosmic levels...

He shook the thought away. No one would ever achieve that monster's rank.

Meanwhile, Lola was gaping at the inside of the school's front room, which was decorated with the achievements of former students and was crowded with people pushing everyone else. She almost fell over and rammed into a person shorter than she was. Tripping, she landed squarely on the creature and they both landed in a heap. "Hey!"

The person seemed rather annoyed, and Lola got off of her, apologizing as she did. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..." She trailed off as she realized that it was a dwarf she was talking to.

As it stood up, brushing itself off, Lola took in more details. It had remarkable yellow eyes lit with a soft glow, though they were currently screwed up in annoyance. It was about a little over four feet tall. It was wearing armor over its green-blue carapace, a variety of mismatched materials making up the majority of it with tools shoved in its many pockets, although the winged shoes it was wearing looked anything except homemade. They actually looked incredibly valuable and were crafted with incredible precision and care. 

"Did you make those?" It was the first thing that popped into her head, and the dwarf looked up in surprise. "Did I make-" It followed her eyes to the shoes and it chuckled. "Definitely not. These are my dad's."

Lola looked up at her and smiled. "They're super good!"

The dwarf laughed again, a gritty sound. "They sure are. He's the best craftsman in Careolis!" 

Lola's brain moved rapidly as she went through all of the most famous dwarves in Careolis, before arriving at the one considered to be the best. Her jaw dropped. "Your dad is Bryn Breuhull?"

The dwarf grinned hugely. "You've heard of him?"

Lola nodded rapidly. "Of course I've heard of him! He built the Magelord's armor, he crafted the Poseidon's Trident, he invented rapid heat cooling - most of the technology in Careolis' underground was invented by him! I can't believe I ran into you!"

The dwarf's grin seemed to impossibly widen further, revealing a set of pointed teeth. "I'm Xephyx, his daughter. What are you doing here?" 

Flipping open her satchel, Lola held out Codex. "I'm here to learn about magic with Codex - he's a super-duper grimoire and he's alive!" X

ephyx laughed. "Sure he is."

Lola held him up, insisting, "No, really! Look!" Flipping him around and looking him in the eye, Lola asked him seriously, "Codex, say hi!"

The dwarf smiled, ready to brush away the joke, when a strand of white mana formed into a somewhat crooked 'hi'. Her face froze, her jaw slightly jerking as she processed the new information, and then she became dead serious in a fraction of a second, pulling Codex down and shoving him in Lola's bag. "Are you crazy? How did you get your hands on - never mind that, why would you hold onto a Zannet?" 

Lola carefully tucked Codex back into her satchel, reorienting the book. "What's a Zannet? Father just called him a living book."

Xephyx grunted a word in dwarvish that Lola didn't understand, and the phrase exited her memory with remarkable speed. "Yes, but they're called Zannets in dwarf lore, and they're incredibly dangerous. Why would you keep one?" 

The young girl smiled. "Because he's mine!"

The dwarf stared at her in incredulous disbelief before shaking her head. "Ger frieggan, you humans are all insane. But, if you're going to keep it, I'm going to write down everything it does."

Lola was excited. "Does that mean we're friends?"

Xephyx blinked hard. "Are we frie-" She cut the sentence off and shook her head again. "Sure. Why not. We're friends now." 

A loud voice came from the ceiling. "All new arrivals please go to the main auditorium."

Lola gaped in surprise, then grabbed Xephyx's hand. "We're going to be late!"

Seeing a sign proclaiming the location of her destination, she started sprinting towards it, only to be stopped by the unexpectedly considerable weight of her very first friend. The dwarf reached up and grabbed her by the shoulder, yanking the young girl close to her before whispering into her ear, "Don't tell anyone else about your Codex. Some creatures here would enjoy seeing it destroyed."