Learning from a fire mage

Nathan had to search a little, since the remaining traveller had left the inn. Though he was easy to spot once Nathan was close. The red robe that was screaming fire mage, was a dead giveaway.

Nathan: Hey! Excuse me, can I ask you some questions?

Traveller: Is there a problem?

The boy in the robe frowned and looked a little startled.

Nathan: Ah, no, yes... maybe... not in the way you mean.

Traveller: Now the boy was really frowning down hard.

Nathan: I just got the nature mage class and I need advice on magic, but there is nobody in this village with any knowledge on the subject. I overheard you talking about fire magic earlier and you seem quite knowledgeable. I was hoping you would be willing to share some information, so that I can figure out how to develop my class.

Traveller: Ah... should I say congratulations? Or should I not? I'm not sure.

Nathan: Thank you! I'm quite happy with it.

System: { *looks smugly* }

Nathan completely missed the deeper meaning behind the fire mage's words. The fire mage knew that nature mage is not considered a good class and was uncertain whether congratulating Nathan would be a good thing. This didn't really register with Nathan, who was primarily concerned with figuring out how to develop his class. If he would have been more aware of the implications it might have harmed his motivation and reduced his development rate. Nathan never even considered the possibility of "bad" classes. He was optimistic and curious to learn how to grow. Good on him.

Nathan: My class gives me additional intelligence and mana, but I got only one skill "nature sense". I believe fire mages should have something similar?

Traveller: Ah, yes, "fire sense". There are some variants such as heat sense, ash sense, ember sense and explosion sense, most of which are not that common and some of which only occur in rare specializations of the fire mage class.

Nathan felt himself getting really excited talking to the fire mage! This didn't sound like someone that just heard some stuff or was practicing unmotivatedly. This fire mage was motivated and knowledgeable. The fire mage had a very academic feeling to him, which was a good thing for a mage! He blessed his luck for this serendipitous meeting!

Nathan: I have read before that mages gain XP by casting spells and that slaying monsters with these spells is the most effective way, but I can't slay monsters with nature sense. How to I learn spells?

Traveller: The first spell should unlock at level 5. The most common approach for non-nobles is to keep practicing feeling their affinity until one hits level 5. It will take a while to get there, because just using your sense skill will not provide much XP. You will have to get a little bit more creative for that. However, it is actually possible to learn or discover spells before that. In fact, even non-mages can learn magic. In most cases they would learn daily life magic, such as cooling or heating things. Although it's definitely harder with low intelligence and without a class that solidifies your affinity. In your case, provided that you have enough mana and high enough intelligence, both approaches should work easily enough.

Nathan: What's the difference between learning and discovering spells?

At this point the young fire mage had long lost his reserved attitude.

Traveller: Let's start with discovery. Discovery is when you literally "discover" a spell without getting direct assistance from others. Discovery of advanced spells is greatly dependent on visualization. It requires one to create a mental image of how one's mana is to alter the very nature of reality. There are various theories on why mage classes get a hard to use "sense" skill first instead of a spell and the currently most commonly accepted theories depend on the four step model. There is a four step process one has to go through to "discover" spells. Understanding the reality of the affinity, visualizing the desired state, deriving the change and molding the mana. The first step is the basis of everything. If one cannot understand what is, then one cannot imagine how the desired state is different, resulting in an inability to mold the mana. Your nature sense skill is key in all of this. If your understanding of the current natural state is accurate enough, then you will be able to start developing a model, of how to modify that state. Of course, spells requiring complicated mana molding will be out of reach for you any time soon. For the fire element, there are spells that can be cast with a simple infusion of mana and thus require comparitively little molding. Although most mages will level through their "sense" skill before "discovering" any spells, "learning" spells is more common, especially in the academies. Some of the simpler spells are known to be "discoverable" and "teachable" even at level 0. There should be nature counter parts to these spells and they should allow you to "discover" a spell even at your current level. Another common route for mages to take, is to focus on mana itself. The mage would focus either on sensing or molding mana. There are many mana related skills one can "discover" in doing so. Focusing on the mana itself first, will fill the mage's lacking skill in the middle section of the four steps, enabling said mage to "discover" more complicated spells.

{ It's good to observe people's lives, this will enable me to make a better choice when "fire boy" reaches his XCAP. This guy is really educated, maybe I should consider giving him a scholar class next? }

It was odd for the young fire mage, he couldn't be older than 15, to hold such a sophisticated lecture. He must have a very high intelligence, Nathan thought.

By now, they had reached the inn and sat down at a table. The innkeeper smiled at Nathan having found another victim to drill for "stories". Nathan ordered some food for him and the fire mage as a thanks and the innkeeper got to work.

Traveller: That brings us to teaching. It is called teaching when one is guided towards skill development or spell discovery. There are various ways one can have a student "experience" a spell. The teacher demonstrates a spell and the student emulates.

Nathan: What do you mean with experience? The way the word "experience" was said, made Nathan frown a bit. Not in the least, since the person in front of him was talking about fire magic the whole time. Which is known to be especially destructive.

The fire mage sees his facial expression, smiles and says, it is indeed as you have surmised. At the Red Dragons we have healers on standby, while students "receive" spells. The seniors are quite fond of "practice". There are less "threatening" exercises as well...

These last words are lost on Nathan however. He is zoning out thinking about what practice at the Red Dragons must be like. He had heard about the place before, it was the most prestiguous mage academy in former Easteria (when Systemia was still a part of it).

He imagines a little girl being knocked into a wall by a fireball.

older student: Did you get it?

girl: Ah, I couldn't see it well, hit me again!

*BOOM* a human cannonball interrupts their conversation, as it flies inbetween them at an alarming speed.

Then one of the seniors says, wouldn't it be more efficient if we do make this a group exercise? They gather a bunch of 15 year old boys and girls in a half moon shape, their legs shaking and looking at their senior with fear permeating their faces.

older student: Ready? ... Fireball!

An impact hits the middle of their encirclement sending the kids flying through the air, crushing onto the ground and into trees and walls. The kids are screaming out in pain.

girl: Mommie!

boy: I wanna go home!

The girls start sobbing, the boys try hard to suppress their tears.

The healers, desensitized to seeing this every day, casually stoll up to the victims. One healer flips a boy with his foot.

boy: *cries* Help me!

Ah, your body is still burning. I will be with you in a bit, don't want to waste mana.

boy: *cries* Please!

Another healer goes up to a girl and feels himself being enveloped with the smell of burning flesh.

healer: That reminds me, he calls out. John's group said they would go out hunting. Maybe we will have venison today?

Micheal: Hopefully Fred isn't part of the hunting team, I am tired of eating charcoal.

older student: Micheal! Timmy was launched out of the compound again, can you fetch him? I feel like I am about to have a breakthrough in how far I can projectile the kids with my fireball.

Micheal: I think you need to work on more ground clearance for a bit. Henderson can already launch the children twice as high.

older student: Oh come on! You know that's not fair! His last record was made with Sofia. She's half his weight! His record was made before that day Sofia quit school. Remember? When she screamed together a nice gallery with all sorts of abusive words?

Micheal: Half is really pushing it, the difference is not that big I think...

older student: *looking at the children* Can you guys cast fireball yet? No? Well come back here then! Lets go for another round!

Nathan is getting more and more upset at the way they treat kids at the Red Dragons, but maybe he should worry about his own sanity instead. All of these events are taking place in his own head.

Not good, I am getting distracted, he thinks.

He grabs some bread and dips it into his soup. The fire mage is still in the middle of a long rant as Nathan tunes in ... still much debate on the most appropriate path to develop a mage. One school of magical education focuses on extensively building up an understanding of the current reality first, other scholars argue that it is more important to develop skills for mana manipulation.

Nathan: You sound like you've been at the Red Dragons for a long time, but you don't seem to be at the age where you could have. Isn't 15 the minimum age?

Traveller: We accept students from age 10. Commoners generally join after getting the fire mage class, nobles usually join with the intent of gaining a fire mage class.

Nathan: How does that work?

Traveller: For all of the common mage classes, there appears to be a hard requirement of 5 intelligence. Although there are known cases of mages that break this requirement, they are thought to be exceptions. Intelligence gain can be somewhat influenced through studying and meditation. Secondly, affinity with the school of magic appears to be the other determining factor. So swimming is good for getting a water mage class, "burning" would be the way to get a fire mage class.

It made sense. Nathan had spent a lot of time in a rural area, working on fields of crops. This would explain why he had enough affinity to gain the nature mage class. Wait! Wait a second! What did I just hear!?!

Nathan: You are torching 10 year old children and healing them again?

Traveller: Well, yes and no. The Red Dragons certainly don't require anyone to hurt themselves, but there is a lot of pressure on nobles... you know how it is... they might feel the need to do more. The Red Dragons also aren't going to stop noble children from harming themselves in attempt to get a fire mage class. As long as the children are not at risk of permanent damage, the institution won't intervene. There is a compounding factor as well. As you are most likely aware, class assignments are irregular. Just because you have cleared the requirements, doesn't mean you will get the class. Sometimes it seems like class assignments happen at the ... erm ... whims of the system. Some hold the belief that more exposure to fire is always better. The evidence for that, I would consider inadequate, but that isn't going to constrain others in their convictions.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Nathan: Then, how do you raise their fire affinity without incinerating the children?

Traveller: At the most benign level, on the compound we have pyres burning all day long. One could try simply being close and feeling the heat. Although admittedly, most will burn themselves at least a couple of times on the pyres. Then we have hand torches one can light on the pyres and carry around. Most of the time you will see, mostly boys, chasing each other with torches in their hands or girls spinning them around and throwing them in the air. We also have liquids that can be used for fire breathing exercises, it's great fun!

Something about this picture is bugging Nathan, but he can't put his finger on it. Why are the torches and the breathing fire bugging me so much?

Traveller: There are times where we walk over the ashes and embers, though I am unsure whether or not this passes your "child incineration" criterion.

Yes! That's it! Nathan thinks. He couldn't help but be reminded about the circus act he'd once seen. Do they have talents they are not aware of? Or is it intentional? Is the leader of this organization looking out of his tower snickering at the idiots that are unknowingly performing a circus act? Or maybe the dean is another one of those cases that got the wrong class and is subconsciously trying to fullfill his needs, sucking these poor kids into his escapism? Do they lock them up in burning cages as well? Tempting to ask, but maybe I shouldn't. Ah, I'm losing focus. I have important stuff to worry about, let's get this conversation back on track on how to become a better nature mage.

Traveller: ... so we were jumping through burning hoops and

Nathan: Hold on!

That certainly drew his attention back to what the fire mage was talking about.

Nathan: You jump through burning hoops? *thinking* Are they trying to become lions? Is there a circus animal class? Is the owner doing a system experiment trying to unlock a new class?

Traveller: *beaming* Yes! We do all sorts of things!

Nathan: *thinking* Did I miss any unusual exercises, while I was distracted by my own thoughts?

Nathan: Is there a man with a whip? The words came out before he could keep himself in check.

As Nathan is getting more and more weirded out by the conversation, his conversation partner feels that they are becoming closer and closer. It's fun to talk to someone that really understands his passion.

Traveller: Yes! We have figured out how to create burning whips as well

Nathan: *thinking* do they have men with whips as the kids jump the rings, or is this a completely separate event? Ah, I want to ask, but maybe it's not a good idea for him to find out I have been wondering for the past few minutes, if he has unwittingly been trained as a circus act. It's even worse, since Nathan is completely serious in his considerations. Also, I really don't know this person that well, so frustrating.

Nathan: *ahem* So how should one choose between learning and discovering?

Traveller: Excellent question! Teaching is the faster way to gain new skills. If you want spells or skills fast, choose teaching. Much trial and error can be mitigated by simply observing a working solution, but the discovery method grants considerable more XP. So, if one can discover spells at the same rate as one can learn, discovery clearly has the preference. Even if you can't, discovery is still the fastest way to raise the level of your class. There is still no consensus on the question of the side effects of discovery on the future development of a mage. It is commonly argued that the evidence shows that "discovery" creates more competent mages and that teaching should be avoided. Opponents of this theory argue that the supposed after affects of teaching are merely a sampling bias. For one, less talented individuals will require teaching, since the discovery process is more challenging. Also more talented mages will likely discover spells, regardless of whether they are taught or not. We can't argue that teaching makes for worse mages if all of the talented mages by their nature, are polluting the discovery pool used in generating the statistics!

{ Hmm, since he is really good at explaining stuff, maybe I should give him a teacher class next instead? I wonder if there is a magic teacher class? }

Nathan could really feel that this fire mage is very knowledgeable, the knowledge about magic is seeping out of him. He must be quite capable. Even though there was risk in being taught, it was an academic risk. Given that he had the opportunity of being taught by this expert, he decided to take the leap.

Nathan: Can you show me some fire magic?

Traveller: No

Nathan: Why not?

Traveller: I am not a fire mage.

Nathan: I thought you studied for years to become one?

Traveller: I did and then I got the cook class.

Nathan: Why?

Traveller: Ask the damn system!

{ I'm not a bad system, just an economical one! }

The fire mage class is expensive. System chose cook instead, so he could save up some MM's.

Nathan: Ah, I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting to get nature mage either.

Traveller: My class even has the description: "you are around fire all day, you must really want to be a cook!". Or maybe, just maybe, maybe I want to become a fire mage!?! Maybe that's why I was putting my hand in the fire and getting it healed every day? What do you think about that? bloody system! Are you fragmented? He asks while looking at the sky.

{ Look at the bright side, you get to stare at your beloved flames every single day! }

Nathan: From what I've read, the cook class only has 25 levels and it doesn't have any tiers, so you might become a fire mage quicker than you think.

{ Nah, not gonna happen. }

The fire mage was moved by Nathan's words, for the first time since he got this awful cook class, he felt like he could believe in becoming a fire mage again.

Traveller: After all the effort you've put in, I'm sure the system will choose the fire mage class for you next.

{ Do you even know what the fire mage class costs, little boy? Talk to me when you have a couple of hundred megamana at your disposal, mister 42 MP. }

Thank you, the fire mage, who was apparently a cook, said. His voice breaking from the emotional release.

Nathan gives him some time to calm down and then asks, so what is a cook, that wants to be a fire mage, doing with a group of adventurers in Farsille?

Traveller: Well, as a cook you either have to work somewhere to prepare food or you tag along with adventurers to butcher animals. A cook's gotta do what a cook's gotta do, he says with some sadness. So I was at the adventurer's guild in Sybilla and out of nowhere the receptionist yells into the room: Got Beef? Some of the adventurers in the room stand up getting ready for a fight. Then one of the adventurers that stood up says, yeah, we're here... It's their party name... yeah I know, "Got Beef?" funny name for a group of adventurers. They're okay, a little rough, but then again, they're adventurers. Anyway, the situation de-escalates, the adventurers sit down again and I overhear them talking about a bear hunt in Farsille. Something about the bears getting too close to the village. They take the quest, but the receptionist tells them that there aren't any cooks in Farsille.

Nathan: Ah, the butchering bonus!

Traveller: Exactly, my skills will raise the quality of the meat, even if I am not doing the butchering. I just need to be present when it happens. Yet, that's not the only thing. I also have an ingredient box skill. I can store the meat and bring it too the capital. The meat won't spoil in my ingredient box either. Unfortunately, my level is too low, so I can't store the whole bear, but we should be able to profit off of bringing the most expensive cuts to the restaurants in the capital. Lastly, adventurers like having a cook on the road. They don't need to hunt, at least on the way here, due to the item box. Plus they get meals that are better than they would have been otherwise. It won't make me rich. They take most of the money, but it's enough.

Nathan: If you want to level up the cook class quickly, then I can arrange for you to be cooking around the clock you know? We do have a serious lack of cooks in this village.

Traveller: You can? That's quite tempting actually, maybe I'll come back after I bring the bear meat to the capital. But just so you know, I didn't want to become a fire mage to be safe. I want to be an adventurer.

{ wasn't there an adventurer class? Let me check my notes... }

Nathan: I don't want to be spending all my time cooking and then unlocking the chef class or something.

{ It's a cheap class! Chef is too by the way, are you sure you don't want to be a chef? }

Nathan: Yeah, I can't really help you out with adventure work. The army is in the area to protect the border. We generally don't have much to do for adventurers. They just didn't think our bear problem was important enough...

Traveller: Must be the local commander. I hear Kargaroth cares about the people, unless that's just propaganda.

Nathan: Hmm, possibly... the commander didn't give the impression of being a very warm person. What steps are you planning to take in order to unlock a good secondary class? Are you still going for fire mage?

Traveller: I am not going to spend more effort into fire mage. I should have cleared the prerequisites by a large margin. I want to be out in the field, hopefully kill a few slimes or goblins if it's feasible, to unlock something suitable for adventuring.

{ I wouldn't necessarily be against assigning adventurer as a second class. }

Traveller: Given my class I would prefer to hunt some wild dogs, boars or horned rabbits, so I can convert them into food and earn more. Unfortunately, most of my stat points are in intelligence and I don't have adequate equipment for hunting animals / strong monsters. That's why I ended up waiting for my party to hunt the bear. Maybe I should focus on scouting and trap detection instead of engaging in combat, but no party will have me join with a cook class and solo scouting won't feed me.

Nathan: I really think you should take my offer to cook for us. You can rapidly level your cook class up to somewhere around level 15, grow your item box large enough to support small expeditions, earn the favor of the villagers to get some equipment cheaply, *wide grin* help me with my class and you'll be in a way better position to take on some goblins, boars or rabbits.

Traveller: Okay, if you put it like that, I'm convinced! Let's do it.

They both smile right when a group of adventurers clad in leather armor walks into the inn.

Adventurer: Naldo, yur ap! Where ta damp tha beaa?

Naldo: There's a butcher in town that has a shed big enough to skin the bear. He doesn't have the skills required to do the skinning. I haven't seen the bear yet, so I don't know if it's worth it to look for a hunter, to do the skinning.

Adventurer: Ya di'nt luk foa tha hantaa yeh? Wha've ya been dooin tha hool taime!?!

Nathan: I apologize, I have taken up most of his time. Let me see the bear. I can give you a rough estimate of what the price would be when skinned by the butcher or one of the various hunters that live in our village. Their skills, rates and even their interests differ. Depending on the bear, your hunter of choice may be different.

Naldo: You seem well connected?

Nathan: Ah... that's right, I never introduced myself. I was a little too excited. He stands up and hold out his hand. The name's Nathan, my dad is the village chief. I'll make sure you get a good deal :)

Naldo: *shakes hand* Naldo

Adventurer: fiens in hai paces, eh? Ya coun't baa'er ta du ya jab ay.

Nathan tries to smooth thing over as he has seen his dad do many times before: you'll get a good deal, he made the best possible choice!

Adventurer: Cam ta tha beaa, lessee aboot da dea of yers!

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id: 209,542,928

name: Naldo

age: 15

HP: 50

MP: 14

classes: cook - level 4

VIT: 5

STR: 3

END: 2

DEX: 9 (4+5)

INT: 14

class: cook

DEX +5 / +1 every 5 lvl

skill - ingredient box: can store 1KG/lvl of raw ingredients, they won't spoil

passive - butcher bonus: raises the quality rating of food butchered by or near user

passive - cooking bonus: prepared food tastes better, more effective at higher level (of class)

passive - trained cook: improved proficiency with all cooking equipment, prevents cooking accidents

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