“Now, the first thing you will need to know about the Academy Library is that books will actually need to be returned here.” Kaitlyn began.
“How long can I keep a book out for?” Jeb asked.
Kaitlyn let out a breath of air. “When you check a book out, you can keep it through the term. If no one else requests the copy of the book that you have during the term, you can continue to extend your hold more or less indefinitely.”
“Is there a limit to the number of books I can have checked out?”
She shrugged. “Not really. In theory, yes, you are only allowed a small number of loans for personal usage. However, given your situation,” she looked at him over her shaded lenses, “I cannot imagine that you will have difficulty claiming almost any item as relevant to your studies.”
“What do you mean?” Jeb asked.
“Given that you are enrolled in the Remedial College with a note that says your current path is Undecided, you have access to materials for any Magical Field, assuming that they are not otherwise restricted. Also, you have been given a special notice,” she took off her glasses and rolled her eyes, “from your former Librarian saying that topics relating to any Crafting Skill are a requisite part of your studies.”
“What does that mean?” Jeb asked, feeling like he was caught in a loop.
“It is not uncommon, especially for students who come from more rural areas, to have plans to go into a Magical Crafting Class. Many Alchemists, for instance, straddle the line between Crafter and Mage. Though, notes about Skills are generally saved until students are in at least the Fifth Tier.”
“On the topic of Levels,” Jeb said, hoping to get an answer, “why did I lose so much of my excess Experience when I increased my Level?”
The Librarian reached behind her and a small booklet came flying out of the shelves. “Read this.” she said.
Jeb quickly skimmed through the small booklet. Apparently each Experience point he earned was worth more at higher Tiers. Because the System made him stronger, it also meant that it took more to change him. As a result, Experience earned at lower Levels and Tiers needed to be condensed to be useful at higher Tiers. Jeb was glad to see that had been correct in his assumption about how much he would lose, at least.
“Thank you,” he said, handing the booklet back to Kaitlyn. She tossed it behind her back, and Jeb watched as it flew back towards the shelves.
“Now, do you have your course schedule yet?” she asked.
Jeb shook his head. “Dean Aquam did give me a list of Professors that I should try to schedule meetings with, though,” he said, handing the list to the Librarian.
She took the list and nodded. “I’ll start pulling some reference materials that you will need.”
“What do you mean?” Jeb asked.
Kaitlyn began running her finger down the list. “Professor Fredrick only teaches remedial Civics. Professor Lawrence requires that all of their students work through the same Method Book. Your circulation records are, of course, locked, but I see a lute on your shoulder. Should I take that to mean that you have been trained in playing the lute?”
Jeb nodded. “Is my Status not tied to my Library Card?”
She frowned. “Have you had your Status logged?” The nearest pages to them started rustling, as though the nearby books wanted to open. “Interesting,” she said after a moment. “Well, you will almost certainly need to learn at least two other instruments by the end of the term, if this list is anything to go by. When you get your course list, please come back to the Library,” she said, standing as though to leave. “Is there anything else that you need?”
Jeb shook his head. “Other than directions to these Professors,” he said, “I think that I’m good for now.”
“If you ask the Academy to take you to them, I am sure that you will not need to search for too long.” She returned to the stacks, and Jeb debated where to go next. The two best options seemed to be either practicing lute or meeting with the next person on the list. After a moment of consideration, he decided to leave it up to the Academy.
As he left the Library, he spoke to the Academy again. “I don’t know whether it would be better for me to go practice my lute or meet with,” he checked the note, “Professor Fredrick. Whichever is better for me, please lead me in that direction.” Hoping that the Academy would be able to choose for him, Jeb opened the door to a hallway filled with doors. Each door was labeled with “Empty” and “Occupied”, though only one word was lit on each door. Jeb stopped outside of one of the doors with “Empty” on it and tried the handle. When it turned, he stepped inside.
Looking around, Jeb saw a stand that looked designed to hold sheet music and what he assumed was a piano. It at least matched the descriptions of one that he had read about in the Lute Primer he had read. “It seems like I should practice.”
Jeb pulled out his lute and made sure that it was still in tune. After quickly warming up with a few scales, he began playing the notes for Lute Enforcement and sent a small stream of Mana into the instrument. It was interesting how much better the Song seemed to flow after getting his new Class. He hadn’t thought that it was difficult in the least before, but it was almost effortless now. His Mana just flowed into the Song almost without interference. After observing the flow for a few moments, Jeb wound the Song down. Now that he had a baseline for how much easier a Song was with his Wizard Class, he was curious if he would finally be able to play the Ephemeral Song that the Bard had taught him. Carefully, Jeb began to pluck the notes of the Song out on his lute. The practice he had in trying to perform the Song without his instrument gave him a baseline for how much he should be able to do. Without playing or his new Class, he could make a misshapen orb that vaguely resembled an apple. With both his Class and lute, he was able to effortlessly shape an apple.
“Time to try harder,” Jeb thought to himself. He carefully added the feeling of weight to the apple. As it rested on his thigh, he began to feel it push down. Watching the flow of Mana in the Song, Jeb was shocked. It still did not flow like a knot, which was a bit of a disappointment. But, it had begun to flow back into itself, almost like the higher Tier Glyphs that Jeb had learned in the past.
As he kept playing the Song, Jeb tried working on the flow of Mana, rather than focusing on any particular effect. With an effort of will, he forced it to start looping like the Bard’s Magic had. Unlike before, his Mana started to move as he wanted it to, and he made a small knot. As soon as the knot had formed, he found that the effort of holding two effects diminished significantly. “I wonder if I can add a third effect,” Jeb muttered, focusing now on the taste of a fresh summer’s apple.
As he tried to add the third effect to the Song, though, it slipped out of his grasp. The Mana stopped flowing out of him, and he felt the Mana Backlash flow back into the lute. With his new Class, he felt the Mana Backlash at what felt like an intellectual level, though it still did not hurt like it had before he had bound his lute. It was now like he was aware of how it wanted to harm the lute, for all that he could tell the lute was not damaged in the slightest. When his second, third, and fourth attempts all ended in the same failure, Jeb sighed and closed his case. He felt like he was making progress, but it seemed like the sort of problem that he was not going to solve today.
Leaving the practice room, he once more called out to the Academy. This time, the doors led him to a labeled office. Jeb knocked on the door.
“Come in,” a voice called. Jeb walked in. “And who would you be?”
“My name is Jeb,” Jeb replied. “I think that Dean Aquam said that I would be doing an independent study with you.”
“Oh good, I was worried that I had forgotten a student. It’s nice to meet you, Jeb. My name is Professor Fredrick. I used to be a Lecturer in Finance and Economics. These days, however, I primarily teach independent studies on Civics. I understand that your own Civics education has been somewhat lacking to date?” Though he framed it as a question, it was clear to both of them that it was anything but.
Jeb nodded. “I know a little bit of the tax code from back home, but as far as I can tell, the way that Farmers and adjacent Classes are taxed is nothing like the way that Mages are taxed.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The Professor waggled his hand in partial agreement. “Depending on what kind of Class a Magical Crafter has, they would be described as either a Mage or a Crafter. In either case, though, they will be taxed the same way. In general, though, you are correct. Of course, edge cases are where a majority of the laws and regulations of our Republic are focused.”
“Why?” Jeb asked.
“Hmm?” the Professor stroked his mustache. “Say that you have one hundred Eighth Tier Farmers.” He paused as though waiting for Jeb to speak.
“I have one hundred Eighth Tier Farmers,” Jeb parroted back.
The Professor beamed. “Now, imagine that each of them has a slightly different Class, as you would expect.”
Jeb decided not to ask why he would expect each of them to have a slightly different Class, and simply nodded.
“Most likely, all of the Farmers will then end up with almost everything about them belonging to the majority. But, say that there is a single Farmer whose emphasis is on growing sugarcane. It would be unfair to tax him as though his emphasis was producing wheat, would it not?”
Jeb nodded in understanding. “Since each of the Farmers would have slightly different circumstances, each of them would need to be treated differently under the law.”
The Professor’s smile grew even brighter. “I’m glad you see! Now, of course, the goal for the Republic’s laws are to be constructed in a way that applies fairly to all people while not being crafted to target any individual person. Of course, Classholders like you tend to make that problematic.”
Jeb frowned. “Like me?” he asked, hoping for confirmation.
Professor Fredrick nodded. “Assuming that you keep your Class into Higher Tiers, you will have what appears to be unfettered access to Magic. Every tax law pertaining to Mages presumes that they will specialize into a certain form of Magic. Some would argue that tax law actively pushes Mages to specialize, but that conversation is better saved for after you have left individual remediation.”
Jeb nodded in understanding. “Which means that they will either have to fit me into an existing box or make a new set of tax rules around me.”
The Professor shrugged. “Or, most likely, before you leave the Academy, someone will find an ancient Classholder with a similar enough Class to you and point to how they were taxed. Now, what did you actually come to my office for today?”
“Dean Aquam gave me a list of Professors he thought that I should meet before classes began,” Jeb said.
“Ah. Which Librarian did he assign you to?” Professor Fredrick took the list of paper from Jeb’s hand and nodded. “I’ll send Librarian Kaitlyn the list of materials I’d like you to work through now. If that’s all, I will see you at our first meeting.” With that, he stood up, turned around, and walked through the wall at the back of his office. Jeb wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Professor, but he shrugged and moved to the next person on his list.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Humdrum Human Age: 16 Class: Wizard Level: 3 Experience: 775/204
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Total Statistic Load: 623 Physical Load: 228 Strength: 52 Dexterity: 53 Endurance: 54 Vitality: 55 Presence: 14
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Mental Load: 395 Intelligence: 78 Willpower: 85 Magic Affinity: 84 Mana Depth: 74 Charisma: 74
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Mana: 1755
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Glyph Attunement: 31 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Water (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Meditation Spell Glyphing Gift of Gab Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Glassblowing Magic
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic Glyph Specializer
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)