Financial woes or not, the following day had me excited – it was finally time to start my electives!

Sure, I’d taken Applied Mage Combat, but could that really be called an elective, since I didn’t elect to take it?

I practically skipped out of my room, and slammed into Jackson’s chest. He caught me around the waist and righted me, then grinned.

“Morning. I was about to knock.”

I looked up at him and tilted my head.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Letter came for you, it was at the door,” he said, then let go of my waist and held it up. It was crinkled, and I took it.

He stepped back, and I examined the writing. It was blocky, like it had come from a spell or printing press, rather than the hand written, and it had my name on it – my real name, Emrys, not my birth name.

I opened the letter and skimmed over it. It was from my conjuration professor, warning us that if we weren’t able to cast a shrinking spell on ourselves, we should visit ‘that one cabinent’, and ask for a shrinking hat before class. That felt… Strange, but I appreciated the heads up. I glanced up at Jackson.

“Thanks!”

He nodded, then headed off to his own obliteration class. Salem, who had been on the couch watching the exchange, raised a pierced eyebrow.

“Don’t you have class?” I asked.

“Aye. Can’t seem ta’ find it, though. That’s the frustrating thing. Divination class wants our first test to be finding the thrice-cursed place.”

“Good luck,” I said, wincing in sympathy, then headed off.

My first course was Rudimentary Transmutation, which was located in one of the basements beneath the brass towers, not too far from the entrance to the supposed caves. The classroom had long slate tables, with two people to a table. I glanced around upon entering, but didn’t spot anyone I knew, and all of the tables already were filled. Some had even crammed an extra person or two in. With nowhere to sit, I leaned against the wall and waited. Not too long later, the professor arrived.

The professor was a dwarf, about a foot shorter than me, and stout. Even for a dwarf, he was outrageously muscular, with a bicep that looked larger than a watermelon. He bore a sword on his back, held a staff in his hand, and wore thick leather workers' robes. He had a bright red bushy beard, and his university seal was quite strange – blue, but with violet accents. Able to cast up to seventh, but only comfortably handle fifth.

He surveyed us all, then slammed his staff on the ground.

“How many of you are here to learn to turn dirt into diamonds, lead into gold, wood into silver, or something similar? No shame – that’s why I started learning transmutation magic. Be honest.”

I blinked. I hadn’t even considered those as options. It seemed more than a little ridiculous. A spell like water to wine already took a massive amount of ether and skill. More than any other third circle spell I knew, and it wasn’t even close. And that used a sacrifice of metals for the transformation. Something like lead into gold would be absolutely absurd.

Despite my thoughts on the matter, more than three quarters of the class raised their hands.

“Quite understandable. You should all know, however, that the first spell that can let you do such a thing is seventh circle. With a week’s worth of preparation, I can do it. But it truly takes a lot, even for me. You won’t be able to do it unless you manage to become a postgraduate student. Even then, most of my assistants can’t do it.”

He sighed and stroked his beard.

“If you came here to get rich quick, I advise you to take alchemy. A good alchemist can make a lot of coin. A healing potion is a second chance to live, after all. You can drop this and change now, if you want. I won't judge you, and there will be no punishment. It happens all the time. But if you stay, know you won’t learn those skills. You’ll learn simple things, like making fireworks from matches.”

He started walking to the door.

“Class is three hours long. I’ll be back in ten minutes, so you don’t feel like I’m judging you.”

I watched him as he left, and I considered it. I didn’t especially care about not being able to turn lead into gold, that had never been my focus for picking the course. I’d been more interested in transformations, telekinesis, and the flexibility offered by the branch of magic.

Turning a flame to a firework was fun and all, but it wasn’t exactly what I’d been hoping to learn. Should I swap to runes or blood magic? Either of those might provide opportunities that this wouldn’t.

Abjuration was still a strong contender, especially since it looked like I wouldn’t actually be learning many, or any, new abjuration spells in Applied Mage Combat. Defensive skills were important, and paired with summoning powers,

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At the same time, I felt like there was more going on. The professor was clearly working to get people out of the class, those that were here for fast, cheap, and easy money or power. He didn’t come out hard selling what the power of transmutation could do, he came out downplaying it.

And it was working. Around me, the class was clearing out. Not everyone was leaving, but a lot of people had left. I stood up and headed out, then looked around. The professor was at the end of the hall, turned away from everyone, smoking a pipe. The smoke was drifting up around him, spinning and sucking into a tight little ball, rather than risk leaving soot stains on the ceiling.

I walked over to him, and he smiled at me.

“Ah, Emrys, right?”

“I’m surprised you knew,” I said. “The class is so full.”

“We get a dossier on the more unique cases,” the dwarf said. “I must admit, after reading into your situation, I couldn’t decide if I was surprised you took the class, or not surprised at all.”

“I… Yeah,” I said after a second. “I wanted to talk to you. I like the idea of being able to shape stones and water, to transform items into other items, make things stronger or weaker, and I really like the idea of learning telekinesis. But I need the power to protect myself. Between runes, abjuration, and this class, do you think I should take this course?”

The professor was silent for a moment, taking a long draw on his pipe and stroking his beard.

“I think that you could get some use out of this course, certainly. What’s your other courses? Obliteration and battle magic? Weapons? Life enforcement?”

“Conjuration and Applied Mage Combat,” I said. The professor raised an eyebrow and scratched his beard.

“Aye, alright. I can see why you’d choose the latter, but the first… why?”

“I’ve seen the Dreki family wade through oceans of fire and lightning,” I said. “They’re stronger than some of the smaller giant breeds, faster than quicklings, and tougher than stone constructs. Firepower isn’t the solution to beating them. But if I can bog them down with summons, I can escape. Harass them from a distance. Wear them down. For all of the power of the family, not even the strongest can fuel their bloodline forever.”

“I see… And why did you take my class?”

“Utility. Animate objects, throw things at them from afar with levitation, turn the air into a barrier that can slow them down, turn into a bird and hide, and all that. Plus, I mean… You read about it. My bloodline might let me shift my human form some, but the allure of transformations is a lot. Then there’s things like my water to wine spell, which has been immensely useful for pushing my shaping skills.”

The professor took several more long puffs from his pipe, then nodded.

“Take Abjuration. Runes are useful, they essentially allow you to create items that have charges of specific spells, but there’s an abjuration rune spell that you’ll learn which is very similar. More limited, but still good. My class is good, I won’t lie, but it won’t really begin teaching you the skills you’re looking for until second, maybe even third year. If you can get the skill to challenge the first year exam for my class, it will let you take the second year course.”

He held out a sheet of paper from nowhere, presumably from an etherius locker.

“This is the syllabus. Actually, one moment.”

A quill appeared and began making marks on the paper while he spoke.

“I’m marking down the most common spells that are used to test your skill at shaping ether, which is increasingly important for high circle transmutation spells. I’m removing some of the spells I teach in class for fun, and putting some that will suit your style better. If you can learn all of them, you should be in a good spot to challenge the exam at the start of next year, when you’ll not need to take Fundamental Magecraft any longer, and you can join my class then.”

He smiled kindly at me, and the quill stopped writing. I took the paper from midair and thanked him.

“Oh, don’t thank me too much,” he said. “I’ve also marked down many books on the theory and application of transmutation that you’ll have to read as well. And do tell professor Caeruleum that I say hello, and explain the situation.”

“I can do that,” I agreed, nodding rapidly. “Thank you, professor…?”

“Ah, right, I forgot. Professor Gemheart.”

“Thank you, professor Gemheart,” I said, then stood up a little straighter. “I should probably go, but… Thank you again!”

“Aye, go lad. Go to room one-seventeen on the eastern tower, I believe that’s where Caeruleum keeps their class. Then change the registration after.”

I turned and started running, not engaging my bloodline, but not intentionally keeping it overly suppressed either. With enshroud around me, it wouldn’t be detected, and all the other students would see was that I was running faster than a normal human. It wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary unless I began fueling my power actively, especially not on a campus of mages. Speed spells were a dime a dozen, after all.

As I ran, I looked over the marked up syllabus that the professor had given to me. There was indeed a massive pile of books I needed to read, ranging from books on natural philosophy, to minerals, to understanding ether-enrichment, but I focused on the spells. Reading those books was interesting, sure, but I was here for the magic above all.

He’d listed a cantrip I needed to learn, animate writing implement, which was doubtless what he’d been using to mark up this syllabus with his quill. It was a bit odd that he had been using a quill, not a dip pen or even charcoal pencil, but I supposed everyone was entitled to their eccentricities.

He’d also included several first circle spells. There was a spell that would allow me to fire a coin like an arrow, one to copy or erase ink from books, and lifeberry. That was nice, at least, since it meant one less spell to master.

For the second circle spell list, he’d put a growth and shrink spell, a spell to release a telekinetic volley of debris, a spell called hidden hideaway which would do… something. The description of that one was long, so I skipped it for now. And finally, an erosion spell that could damage objects severely, but didn’t work on anything alive.

Third circle had a spell to construct a wall out of rubble and loose sediment or other materials, a ritual spell called rearrange organs which sounded vaguely horrifying, a spell to animate and command plant life in an area around me, and a spell marked down as greater mending, which could restore things far than a simple repair spell and even improve some of its internal magic.

Finally, he had the spell animal morph. It was fourth circle, and had an asterisk stating that I probably wouldn’t be able to do it, but I should aim high, as that was the first spell of the second year course.

I let out a slow breath. Between the books I needed to read, and these spells, I thought I might need to make a lot of library delves and trades this year.

I slowed as I arrived near the abjuration class and stepped inside. The class had only been going on for fifteen or twenty minutes, but the teacher was clearly already midway through the lesson. When I entered, people turned to stare at me, and the professor looked a touch annoyed.

“Well, take a seat,” they said. “I had just finished handing out the syllabus, and was about to start instructions on the umbrella cantrip…”