The printing press was such a wonderful invention. It made the once illustrious libraries from something that only the wealthy could ever have access to, into a place easily accessible for any commoner in a large enough town. While he was from a small village, even he had access to a few books of his own. The once precious commodity was now something even he could get access to.

  So he found every book in the library even vaguely related to runes and enchanting, and he tried to read them all, cover to cover.

                                                   Magical Properties of the Mundane   by: Kneel Strongarm

  "Amongst the core principals of magic itself, is that all things be they living or dead. Animate or inanimate. Have a rate at which magic gathers and decays. A strange property of such is known as the threshold. As the mana gathers inside an object so too does the rate at which it gathers. Upon crossing the threshold; where the rate of gathering surpasses the rate of decay, said entity acquires new, magical properties. Depending on the essences gathered into the material, the properties for the same material can vary wildly. It is theorized, that such a method is how the republic of Lotharn produces massive battleships from steel and iron.

  Beyond this, is a promising idea. The second stage..."

                                    Glyphs and Enchanting; From a Foreign Place and A Foreign Age  by: LeBrawn of James

    "It is well known that glyphs merely describe the patterns that magic should take, and that enchanted items are truly just trinkets with a core capable of holding such concentrations of one's mana that even the Commonfolk could use it; should they spend enough time siphoning what little they have into it's core. Yet other continents, places well traveled or hardly trodden have a different method, and it's these methods that fellow "Intellectuals" ignore. Foolish I say! Have you not seen nor heard of the bone cast of the Qian Xi or witnessed the Prime Orchestra's of the Zala, if you might consider yourself an intellectual like myself, and ignore such splendid methods, then I say 'Cast off his eyes, his hands, his ears! For they are better used elsewhere.' To ignore such wonders, would be the pinnacle of hubris, and the inevitable downfall of our country."  

  Namar read, he found himself in a world of wonder. His questions grew and grew with each and every book read.  Only when the light grew dim, did he look up to see the setting sun. Were he to stay any longer he would surely get no sleep. He checked out the most important books he had left, and took his leave for the night.

*****

  Getting her shoulder relocated was a fairly quick affair. A drop of some alchemical mix beforehand and then another afterwards and her arm was completely fine. Vaeris however looked to be in a lot more trouble than she was, his skin bled and fractured where the spears made contact but it seemed the aide had him well in hand. She walked past, careful not to acknowledge his current state, stepped outside, found her friends and walked with them. She noticed the others were missing though.

"Hey, where'd the other two go?"

  Amanda replied maybe a little too quickly. "Namar's over at the library, said he wanted to study before the next class. Don't know where the other one went though."

  "The other one got a practice room arranged. You know, personally I think those two are little disrespectful and a a bit too over eager.

  "Are you still upset about that? He said two words and those words were 'thank you'.

  "I can tell when someone's being snide Amanda. Look all I'm saying is that those two should learn their place and that we aren't helping by hanging out with them."

  "Really, that's what this about?"

  "Yes absolutely. Could you imagine what'd happen if I spoke to grandfather that way?  Imagine what'd happen if they spoke like that with some of the nobles out there? They'd probably get hung! "

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Amanda rolled her eyes and did a poor imitation of his voice. "Look at me I'm Gamris and I don't think we should spent time with filthy, disgusting, commoners. No we're much too important to be doing that. Hurr Hurr Hurr." 

 "Oh come on it's not like that."

  "But it totally is! 

  "No, no you're not listening-"

  "Yes, yes that's exactly what it's like.

 They argued during the entire walk. Most of it was just the two failing to listen to each other, and they kinda ruined the scenic route they were taking on the way to the lunch room. At this point it was pretty obvious that Gamris most likely wouldn't get along with the other two and spending time with them frequently would probably ruin the group dynamic. It wasn't much of a loss but still, everyone who showed up here was; in some way, naturally above average and she would have preferred to make as many allies here as possible. For that reason she was far more interested in lunch than practice. Also, admittedly she was a little excited to make a few more genuine friends and besides, practice and study was just so boring.

****** 

  The practice room was fairly small, rectangular room, lit by an engraved disc on the ceiling; with a statue at the far end of the room carved in the likeness of a knight in full plate armor. He threw wave after wave of beams at the knight, trying to figure out how properly use his shaping skills. The way some of the high born manipulated their spells was beyond him, and by the looks of things probably the rest of the class. The most he could manage was a sphere and a beam, and even that was slightly less than what the others could manage. It was deeply unsatisfying.

  He tried again and again to better use the basic techniques taught to him but it just wasn't working. He couldn't help but be a little jealous of his friends, Namar had an education that went a lot further than basic reading writing and math, the most he could do was tend to the crops and milk the cows. Amyra had a real formal education whatever that might involve and some form of backing. It was a little disappointing to find his little spark of ambition already wavering but he was committed to it. Whatever it takes, he'll be more than a glorified farmer. 

  Wavering. That technique. He did the opposite inside his own body instead of trying to apply it outwards. What if he did the same just with that technique? He tried it. The difference wasn't really obvious, if it was there at all but it was something. He wondered about the purpose of technique, over pure raw manipulation. He tried to grasp the concept in all of its little subtleties.

  He thought about the little ways he felt the mana move when he didn't even push it and how much it changed when he did.  All the little changes when he even thought about moving or applying it somehow. He looked inwards and found that the waver felt lower somehow, slower. Almost like a ripple in a clear lake. Clear lakes, that brought up disturbing images. He thought back to how the wizard's spell changed during the fight with that bird.

  His thoughts followed in the same vein for a few more minutes until he felt a tapping on his shoulder. It was Allenbury.

  "Alright it's about time to go. Come on." He gestured towards the door.

  "What? Why? It's only been a few minutes."

  "Let me guess you were doing inner manipulation?"

  Is that what they call it? It probably is. "Yeah why?"

  "That stuff can mess with your sense of time a little, since you passed so much time in what feels like five minutes I'm going to guess you did the opposite of what you did during class."

  "How'd you figure that out?"

  "I put two and two together, be careful with that stuff it gets easy to lose yourself completely if you aren't aware at all times." 

 Wait. What?  Allenbury must've seen the look of concern on his face. 

  "Now now its nothing that serious, at most you'll get lost in your thoughts or distracted until someone snaps you out of it. Worst case scenario you'll come to with a splitting headache and a need to readjust to regular time. It can be useful in some cases but usually it's hard to control and while you might be able to think more clearly and more thoroughly you also think slower, and the rest of the world speeds up because of it. You can usually make more progress with regular practice, in your case I suppose it was helpful. In most cases though it isn't really the most practical."

  Well great, the two things he could do weren't at all practical. Allenbury spoke again. 

  "Now now cheer up, tell you what, if you master both skills and achieve them both at once you can get the best of both worlds. Your mind thinks more quickly and more clearly. Top that off with a world that goes slower and a body that moves faster and more naturally and you get, at the very least a neat intermediate trick that if mastered becomes an insanely formidable skill."

  His eyes lit up at the prospect. 

  "Will you teach me?"

  "Nope."

  "Why not?"

  "Technically it's an intermediate to advanced skill, so I can't teach it yet, but there's nothing wrong with me telling you it exists and then you somehow figuring it out on your own."

 "Alright fine, thanks for watching over me while I sat down for about an hour." 

  "You're welcome kid, besides it was a good chance for me to get some work done before I started procrastinating. I'd recommend you get some lunch and think about what you've learned so far, I think you'll find it enlightening."

  "Right, bye then Mr. Allenbury."

  "See you tomorrow kid." 

  He left feeling a little more uplifted and optimistic about his situation, if he could get a least partial control over a skill like that he'd be at a major advantage. Not only that but he felt like he had a little more control now too, he made a sphere in his hand. It's ripples were more like waves crashing against each other as though a boulder were dropped into a lake. So it probably needed a little more fine tuning but it was a start, not only was he finally able to get started but he had a few goals in mind too; achieve a greater control over magic, and acquire greater inner manipulation.

  He couldn't be any more excited to start his day tomorrow, so he grabbed some food and when he got to his room, practiced every basic technique he was taught and when the sun set, he went straight to sleep.