A girl two seats over from Gio fell over, hitting her head hard on the seat in front of her. Looking around the coliseum-sized auditorium, several students out of the hundreds of new first-years seemed to have not waited for the second line of text.

To be fair, she did say “Accept if you dare” after a particularly inspiring speech. I can’t fault them.

“There’s always a couple. The inquisitors will ensure our eager friends don’t spend the night in the cold. For the rest of you, I recommend you visit your assigned cafeteria if you have not eaten, then tuck in for an early night. The sleep you’ll get from a class advancement is some of the best you’ll ever get. If one of you learns how to bottle it, or even make something that comes close- I’ll make you the richest mage alive.” Headmaster Vespertine stated as the power from her system invocation faded from her eyes.

She flicked out a green speck of light onto the ground. An emerald pulse of magic issued forth, skittering along the floor like a verdant alcohol fire, rapidly expanding outwards to the edge of the gargantuan room. Everywhere the mock fire touched was turned into a perfectly mirrored surface. The headmaster touched her necklace; a large, oblong aquamarine gemstone faceted with thin panels that looked like a crystalline sun. As she touched her necklace, the mirrored surface of the raised platform shifted to that of an ornate study, filled with strange mechanical curiosities and dark blue tapestries. Stepping down into the image, the headmaster was gone, and the vision of the room beyond faded back to a mirrored sheen.

Gio touched his badge, and the floor underneath him opened up. He fell straight onto his bed, face-planting into the pillows.

My landing could use work… I love magic. Time to get ready for bed, and to finally get a Class!

Vibrating with excitement, Gio hastily prepared himself… for sleep. Odd to be quickly suiting up to settle down. If not for the guaranteed unconsciousness, I don’t think I’d be able to calm myself right now. Brushing his teeth, washing and moisturizing his face, and getting changed into loose-fitting pajamas, Gio slipped under the sateen sheets and stared directly at the ceiling. Summoning the interface, Gio steeled himself.

Mentally manipulating the interface to select his choice, Gio plunged into darkness, going limp.

_____

Falling through infinite space, alight with motes of mana of all different sources, the figure unwound, as if made of a loosely wound cord. Identity, memory, ego, and meaning all seemed to drift apart. The endless expanse seemed to contract inwards and expand outwards, as the mana flowed through the spaces in between the parts of the figure, now reduced to the barest outline of the impulses of id, translucent and empty. Resplendent. Visions of elements and arcana trickled through the figure as if bone-white sand carried by stormwater through a river delta. Spirits and elementals danced upon the formless, flowing currents, with their unknowable agendas just out of reach. The figure looked up at the surface of the river delta, basking in the warm image of water. The figure breathed in and dissolved into sand.

_____

Gio awoke, face stuck to the soft pillow, and hair matted completely to the side. The strange visions of his dream had long since faded into obscurity. The sleep was even better than advertised. The first glimpses of sunrise could be seen peeking through the curtainless window. Turning over to his back, Gio instantly felt wide awake.

Name: Giorgio deGloria

Race: Human

Class- [Apprentice True Mage] - Unevolved

Occupation: [Full-time student at Crystal Ring Academy]

General Skills:

-Multitask

-Mana Shaper

-Quick Study

Class Skills:

-Beginner Inferior True Magic

-Beginner Mana Sense

Mana Affinities:

-Lesser Arcane

Spellbook:

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-Hairline Fracture

-Detect Magic

-Prismatic Shape

-Reflect

Finally. True Magic. I’ve come a long way, but this feels like the real start of my journey. “Your time here is what you make of it”, right? If that’s the case, I want to start making the most of it right away.

_____

The Owl's Respite's landing area had a mirror-lined booth designed for access to and from the Manse, and the environment was much more cozy than the other areas of the crystalline infrastructure that Gio had visited thus far, aside from his room. While expensive-looking stonework, towering enchanted crystal, and just… so much precious metal was all well and good, something about unsoiled, mundane wood paneling set Gio at ease.

Turning the corner from the entrance, Gio was greeted by a towering statue of a wooden owl, carved in immaculate detail, down to the individual barbs on each feather. The Owl’s eyes opened, revealing pupilless orbs of white light.

“Uuuh, hello, Librarian? Is it acceptable for me to call you Librarian?” Gio asked, unsteadily, having expected a person, and not an elemental.

A small brown-feathered owl appeared in a puff of smoke. “If you prefer, I can also take this form to converse more casually. Please note that some information may be limited based on availability or clearance requirements.” The small bird spoke, in a bassy voice unsuited for its meager frame.

“Oh, perfect! I'd much prefer this form than a system dialogue box for every question. Okay, to start with, where are the other students? Am I the only student here?” Gio asked. “The Owl’s Respite is a private study area, so you will not encounter others unless you enter this area together with the intent to form a study group,” The Librarian replied, grooming his wing with his beak.

“Okay, thank you. I’m not quite sure how this works, but I would like to acquire some sort of training guide for utilizing spells.” Gio stated flatly.

“... you do realize that according to your schedule, you’ll be meeting your guidance professor tomorrow, correct?” the bird replied. Gio detected more snark than he thought possible from an elemental. Do I just not know what knowledge elementals are like? The stone elementals that dad works with are barely verbal. Right, abandon your preconceived notions. “That’s correct. I wish to get a headstart. I found Headmaster Vespertine’s speech to be very inspiring, and I want to start learning now."

The small bird flew over to perch on the beak of its statue, looking upwards into the stained glass skylight for a moment. The bird glanced back at Gio periodically, as if deliberating upon something.

“This is abnormal, but your professor has authorized the receipt of your course material a day early.” The statue itself moved, a gargantuan wing swooping outwards and paused for a moment. A faint shimmer of mana later and the statue returned to its wooden likeness as if it had never moved. As the wing retreated, a small table with several volumes laid upon it had materialized. “I don’t suppose you know how to store your possessions with your student badge yet, so listen carefully. The Manse is intrinsically linked to you while you are within the subjugated floors of the academy. This link is accessed solely by using your badge as a conduit. Focus on your badge and imagine a place within your domicile where you would like to store these books, and it will be done. You may then retrieve them at your leisure. Once you have some amount of practice using the technique, you may find yourself able to use your dormitory as a spatial item of sorts, or even come and go without the use of a scrying plane. I would caution you, however, that such use of the Manse may inhibit your studies, should you wish to accomplish similar things without relying on the backbone infrastructure of the college.”

Gio nodded and began focusing on his memory of his desk, imagining how the window looked this early in the morning. He visualized the space behind the sheaf of blank paper and the inkwell. Nothing happened. “To be clear, if you accomplished that on your first try, I would be shocked. Additionally, this lesson is probably a large portion of your professor’s lesson plan for tomorrow. Do with that information what you will. You are free to find a comfortable space within this library to study, should you wish. Do note that the further you go into the stacks, the less influence I will have on the space. Tread carefully, Giorgio deGloria.” The small bird melted into the woodwork, leaving behind a puff of purple motes. I think… arcane and knowledge mana motes? Knowledge is a flavor that I don’t see too often. Interesting.

Turning back to the task at hand, Gio spent the better part of the morning focused on trying to store his books. It wasn’t until his stomach was knotted with hunger that he started getting frustrated.

Eggs benedict. Eggs florentine. Eggs royale. Croque madame. This isn’t helping, Gio! Think!

Circulating his mana as was second nature to him at this point, he took a measured breath inwards to calm himself. Focusing on the task at hand.

Wait, why am I not using mana? This is magic. I’m trying to do magic without using mana. Just because it wasn’t spelled out for me, and because nothing so far has required it, I forgot why I’ve spent thousands of hours doing mana-shaping exercises... I think perhaps the Librarian was right about relying too heavily on the academy’s features… this could be a slippery slope.

The shapes that [Multitask] and [Quick study] had woven into Gio’s being were churning his essence. Under the boiling intensity of his focus, he felt the first threads of connection form from his mana network towards the badge that he was now holding in his hand. Visualizing the books neatly stacked inside the desk, Gio’s eyes snapped open. The books were gone. “YES!” Gio shouted. “You are the only featherless bipedal creature here, but this is still a library,” the statue said.

_____

One Croque Madame (with a side of extra bechamel, and thick steak fries to dip in it) later, and Gio returned to the library. He was briefly interested in what the Green Expanse could offer but was certain that he would be able to visit later. He walked through the stacks, finding all sorts of peculiar tomes on lecterns, and display cases full of odd pieces of parchment. Many of them were in other languages that he did not recognize, and some of the books on the shelves looked to be nearly destroyed.

Every so often, Gio would spot a desk, or some other place designed for studying- but Gio had something specific in mind, and if the library was infinite, he supposed that he could be picky. Wanting to try something, he held an image in his mind, and walked forward, circulating his mana and trying to pick out the tiny sparks of purple knowledge mana floating through the air. Following his mana sense, he found what he was looking for. In an odd clearing between shelves, Gio found a puffy recliner with a side table and a lamp. Overhead, a circular window shone down on the space at an angle. Gio had been imagining his mother’s favorite chair in their living room. While the chair in front of him was far from a perfect match, it was certainly sufficient for his needs. Taking a long moment to summon the correct book from his badge, Gio sat down and prepared to dig into his copy of Mortimer’s Meticulous Primer for Understanding Spellforms.