Wizardry continued to grow all the way until the Flood. Spellforms were discovered a few decades before the Flood when a wizard Isla Hancock from the Midlian empire learned of the art of runes in the years preceding the Flood. She became obsessed with applying them to wizardry but failed, though in doing so found that she could store spell constructs in ink.

-Tallen Elmheart, On Mages

—

The signs lead Kole into a series of stalls set out on the green, and as with the testing line, the setup was well organized and it all moved quickly. After only a few minutes of halted steps, Kole found himself in front of an elderly woman with thick spectacles and long gray hair tied up in a bun.

“Let me see what you have there dearie,” she said, reaching for his paperwork.

Kole handed it to her and she looked it over quickly, squinting and staring down her nose.

“Tsk. Magic paper and they still make the writing so small,” she muttered to herself and then looked Kole over.

She gestured to a glass sphere four inches in diameter and said, “Place your hand here on this truth orb.”

Kole obliged, resting his right palm on the object as he tried to still his mind. Truth orbs were a type of alchemically treated glass that darkened when imbued with Will with deceptive intent. A steady trickle of Will caused them to become foggy, and the fog turned orange when infused with deception.

He was familiar with the objects. They were expensive but not unheard of. They weren’t foolproof, but they were close enough for most things, especially a task such as vetting an adolescent's test results.

“Answer everything with a simple yes or no. Do you understand?”

Kole nodded.

“Clearly you didn’t dearie, use your words.”

Embarrassed, Kole answered, “Yes.”

The orb turned foggy and the questions began. The bursar asked Kole a series of questions about his tests about whether or not he’d cheated and about everything else that’d happened over the last hour. Through it all, Kole fed a trickle of Will into the orb, which maintained a milky fog color throughout.

“So let me get this straight. You are a primal and a sorcerer, and you want to be a wizard.”

“Yes,” Kole answered, exasperated at this point.

The woman hadn’t believed him when he’d said he could cast first-tier magic, despite the orb.

“And you’ve never been diagnosed with any mental disorders that might alter your perception of reality?” she asked for not the first time.

“Yes—I mean no, I haven’t.”

She stared at him for a moment but stopped herself from continuing along that line of questioning. She proceeded to ask him about his financial situation, which also seemed to beggar her belief.

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“So let me get this straight,” she said, again not for the first time. “Your parents are legally declared dead, but you don’t believe they are. You have no wealth, save for what is on your person. All your family's possessions were taken to pay off the debts you accrued in the absence of your parents, and you are not wanted for any crimes financial or otherwise. And, you have no income and no marketable skills that you can use to support yourself.”

“Yes,” Kole said, not liking her tone one bit. “But, my scribing and drafting is probably a marketable skill.”

“Alright, One last part. Do you wish this school, its faculty, or any of its students harm?”

“No.”

“Are you, or have you ever been, a member of a dragon cult?”

“No.”

“Do you worship Faust, Erebog, Bilieth, or any of the demigods aligned with them?”

“No.”

“Great! That’s that. Your test results and legal orphan status qualify you for free tuition, but you do not qualify for free campus housing due to a lack of academic prospects. If you go south of campus, you can find rooms for reasonable rates of around six silver a month.”

Kole elation at the news of free tuition was crushed by the cost of a room. He could afford that if he stretched his savings, but not for more than ten months, and he’d be unable to purchase any spellform materials in that time—or food.

He had roughly six gold worth of coins in a mix of gold, silver, and copper. He’s estimated he could live off of four silver worth of food a month. Together with the room rate he’d just learned, that was a gold coin a month to eat and sleep.

“Are there any cheaper options?”

“Well, if you aren’t too picky, you can rent a bed in one of the hostels. Those go for about five copper a week.”

Kole mentally did the math, which was eight silver a month to exist, which would last him just over seven months. Kole asked for directions to the place in question and then headed out to the tree where he was supposed to meet Amara where he sat to wait.

It took another hour before the strange quarter-elf primal girl found him.

“How did it go?” Kole asked, already knowing the answer from the smile plastered on the generally reserved girl’s face.

“I got an apprenticeship with Nabid Donglefore!”

“Who?”

Amara paused her excitement to study Kole’s face.

“Is that a joke?” she asked, legitimately unable to tell. “He’s the head of the college of crafting! He’s one of the premiere alchemists and rune smiths outside the Torack, and he is on the cutting edge of research in combining the two arts to produce more stable runes.”

“Oh. That Nabid Donglefore,” Kole said, knowing Amara wouldn’t pick up on the terrible attempt to brush off his ignorance. He didn’t care so much that he didn’t know the name, but he sensed the girl would be a little hurt if he truly hadn’t heard of a person she so clearly admired.

“That's great news!” he added,

She outlined her experience, told Kole how she’d passed the written curriculum, and then been pulled aside by Nabid to demonstrate her skills.

“He was fascinated by my use of the ants to carve runes. Already he’s asked me to help him with a number of projects he’s been stuck on!”

She must have realized she’d been talking nonstop for nearly twenty minutes, for she stopped abruptly and asked, “How did your admissions go?”

“I had a similar experience, though with different results.”

Kole explained his encounter with Grand Master Lonin, and his interest in his abilities but refusal to take him as an apprentice.

“I’m sorry,” Amara said when he’d finished the recounting. “But, at least you have free tuition, right? I’m sure you’ll find a mentor when you figure out your spell problem.”

For anyone else, he would have thought the words empty encouragement, but he knew Amara lacked the social awareness or guile to pull that off.

“I have to go meet one of Professor Donglefore’s senior apprentices for a tour. Can I meet you at the commencement ceremony tomorrow morning?”

“Sure, Kole agreed. “I’m going to go see if they’ll let me into the library yet.”

“Great! See you tomorrow!”

Left alone, Kole lay in the grass, eating the last of the food Meech had provided him as he thought through his next steps. First, he’d go to the library, but after that, he’d need to find lodging.

Sleeping in the sewer hadn’t been that bad. He considered but then discounted the idea.

He’d walked past one of the city’s sewer grates already and the sewers of Edgewater were very much in use if the odor was any indication.

Faced with troubling problems he’d rather not deal with at the moment, Kole did what he always did: he went to the library to find a distraction.