The class was silent as James finished the test. Most student were paying attention, but Lucas and his cronies weren’t. All it took was a dark glare from James to make them stop.

James finally spoke, “ok now that is done we can move on” he stopped and his face brightened “that’s right, I forgot to mention that in the fifth week and tenth you will be entering the Dungeon to test yourself, the first time will be supervised, the next won’t”. This news made Jason jerk with surprise. As the grandson of a Dungeon diver, he knew all too well the dangers involved.

Apparently, no-one else did because they didn’t seem too concerned. “ok now onto the spell, which hopefully one of you can do by the end of the lesson” James continued to talk but Jason was too deep in thought to hear.

What do they expect us to learn in five weeks to keep them alive in the Dungeon? Jason was no expert, but surly tossing scarcely trained teenagers into what amounted to a death trap was not a good idea.

James’ voice brought him back. Jason found himself being stared at by everyone, “are you listing, Jason?” James asked with a hint of anger in hit tone. He nodded, “just say that again please” James sighed, “I asked you to go first, the spell of light, the chant is one word, lux”.

James frowned, “just lux?” the chant he knew was different. “yes, just one word, use channel your mana throw it, if you can?”. The questioning like he couldn’t made Jason angry, he had just spent hours, casting the spell. Well maybe the same spell.

He opened his centre and bathed in the rush of mana, raising his hand the words nearly spilled out, but he caught himself, not want to show what he knew. “lux”, the room basked in the light. His light. After James calling for a stop, he made the light fade away, but kept his hand up.

James nodded his head at the hand. “can you shorten chants?”, he was curious to why he knew the long version. James rubbered his cheeks. “normally I wouldn’t get into this but yes. Saying the full spell simply helps control the mana, the more you cast a spell the more familiar you get, and throw long days of training the chant can be shortened, then at higher levels, you might not have to say the words”. James demonstrated, by having a soft light leak out of his hands.

“enough, start practicing, maybe someone else can cast it before the end of the lesson”. There was only ten minutes left. Soon all that could be heard was voice saying “lux” over and over. James made his way over to Jason desk to instruct him.

He bit his nail before talking loudly to be heard over the voices. “since you can already cast the spell, you should try and improve” Jason nodded. “you should try and make the light appear not from your hand, just in the air”. He surprised at this “you can do that?” James nodded as a soft ball of light popped into the air between them.

“to do this you need to channel mana outside your body, which is harder then doing in your body” James had one last word before he returned to the main desk. “you know, I see why he told me to keep an eye on you”. Jason had a firm idea who ‘he’ was. The Arch Mage. Jason was unsure if his attention was a good thing. He tried but was unable to make the light appear in a ball. The only people to get even a hint was Alex, Lucas, and the girl with the Nature element. Jason told Alex he would help him cast the spell after the lessons where done. The only work they got was to practise.

There next lesson was Basic magic. It was taught by an old looking woman who had a long wooden staff resting next to her when they came in. She was called Rose Goodwin and made it clear that there would be no nonsense in her classroom.

All she did was make them read some of the first chapter of a book called ‘History of Colourless Spells’ which told of great Mages making spells of everyday use. They were instructed to finish reading the first chapter. She then showed them several different spells of minimal use.

Magical Theory was better but not by much. They were told about how chants influenced the flow of mana. The only interesting part was when the professor talked about theoretical spell, such as great rituals that could change the weather.

The professor also talked about how a mage could increase their mana, which it turned out was possible, He told them that their mana was like a muscle, and constant use would increase the amount of mana they had.

Lunch was a quiet affair, most students subdued by the overload of information. But after that there was a lesson Jason was looking for, Enchanting. He had heard stories from his father of swords that could cut throw steel like a hot knife into butter and rings which would rend the wearer invisible.

The professor teaching Basic Enchanting was called Nathal Morning. He had begun speaking just as they made it to their seats. “Enchanting is an art, is requires great skill and patience. People think it is simple, just scribble some symbol on the sword and it’s done, but it’s not” he slammed his fist into his desk, “it requires constant calculation, and careful planning”.

He proceeded to, with a flourish, draw seven runes onto the black board. “these are runes of the elements, they are the bread and butter of enchanting, and they are what you will be copying today”. He gave them paper and special pens.

“while using different materials like blood or paint for use on paper. Engraving is the most common way to Enchant something. But for practicing a good pen is essential” The class spent the rest of the lesson copying the runes, but although he had been taught to read and write his penmanship was far off. They were all given a page with the correct rune on it and told to practice. Unfortunately, Jason’s dreams of making a flaming sword was cut short as his runes so far, left lots to be desired.

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Their final lesson of the day Elemental magic was held outdoors in a training area. It consisted of several training dummies set up in rows and a stone slab with a circle cut into it. The instructor was a man who looked better suited in a forge. He loomed over all of them, even Alex was dwarfed by him.

“afternoon all, today you will be learning your first elemental spell” his gruff voice sounded like he spent a long time yelling a day. The only part of his name they got was Quint. “what I’m going to teach you is the most basic spell in your element”

He then took them one by one and relayed their spells. Alex went first and got his chant. He was beaming at the sound of it. “form from an ember into something more, candle” at which, when casted properly would make a flame form in the palm of the caster.

When Jason’s turn came up, he asked Quint what would happen if someone tried to cast another elemental spell that was not their own. “mmm, if their lucky they waste lots of mana and nothing happens” he squinted hard at Jason. “if their unlucky, they could lose a limb, or maybe die” Jason was then definitely not going to try. Not that he was, it just reinforces the idea.

But thankful the squinting eyes of Quint opened back up. This time Quint had a question, “what’s your element kid?” Jason was a bit off put by the kid comment and quickly replied “Lightning and darkness” hoping his answer would shock Quint. It didn’t.

“I’ll give you the one for lightning only, since trying to learn two spells would just confuse you” Jason was disappointed that he didn’t impress him but was still eager to learn.

Quint just snorted, “I don’t think you know the trouble of having duel elements, but you will learn” he hunted throw some papers, then gave one to him. Jason took it and went back to Alex.

Who was struggling to cast his spell. Jason sniggered “having a bit of trouble?”, Alex shot him a dirty look, “you’re not doing any better” he raised his eyebrow, “I haven’t tried yet”. Alex waved his hands in an invitation. “by all means go ahead, oh great one show us how”

Jason knew from his earlier attempt that he couldn’t just yell out the chant and hop for it to work. He looked at the paper, reading the chant. He then sat down and went into his core, blocking out the sounds around him. He let the addicting feel of mana overcome his body. He sat there just basking in the flow.

He sensed pain building in his head. He ignored it for now. From what the professor said you had to change the mana into the element. He pulled the mana from his body into a ball. He thought of lightning, his memories of storms filled his mind.

He woke his body up and stood up. Alex had also sat down and was still just saying the words over and over, like it would make a difference. Alex looked up as Jason approached.

Seeing his grinning face Alex stopped chanting, “so you did it?” Jason’s only responds was to pause and say, “shock my foes, sparks”. A small brilliant golden streak of lightning zipped its way across Jason’s open palm. As he continued to channel the spell, other small arks rippled around his hand. Then stopped. Channelling was giving Jason a massive headache, but Alex’s reaction was worth it.

Alex’s jaw dropped. “how, how did you do that” he smacked his hand, “I’ve been saying mine for the entire time, and nothing happened”.

Jason jumped back to the ground. He then spoke with a nasally tone, “Just saying the words won’t do anything” Alex glared at him.

“so, what does the all high and mighty lord suggest?”. Jason just smiled “I said I’ll help you right, sit down”. Alex was tired of nothing happening, so he was open to hints.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, first I needed to find my centre” Alex had his eyes closed. He still had the spunk to snort.

“find your mana, then let the words pour out” Alex scrunched his face in concentration.

“no amount of yelling will make the spell work”. He got up and left Alex. He walked over to Quint, who was reading a thick tome. Quint didn’t look up as he approached. Jason cleared his throat. Still nothing.

“um, master Quint?”. This finally got a reaction, “an’t no master, boy, names Quint”. Did that mean he wasn’t mage, Jason didn’t know. “what do we have to do to leave?”

Quint finally looked up at Jason. “when you can cast the spell” He was about to continue reading, when Jason nodded “ok”

Jason stretched his hand out and cast. Nothing happened. Quint looked at him again. Jason focused himself and with more force said, “shock my foes, sparks”. This time the spell worked. Quints beared was lit up with a yellow hue. Quint grunted, “you can go”. Jason glanced back at Alex, who was still unable to feel his mana. And he didn’t think it would happen anytime soon. He left.

The rest of the week was much the same, practising the two spells he knew over and over. By the end of the week he found himself siting in the common room between his and Alex’s rooms drawing the seven runes for what was the hundredth time. He had been improving slowly. His scratching had finally become ‘barely acceptable’ and Nathal had let him set some paper on fire with runes. Jason was unsure the fire was intentional or not, but he took it.

Alex’s loud steps brought him out of his daydream. He had been getting ready to go out with a couple of their classmates. It was sixth day, their first day off. Jason ignored him and started drawing the flowing water rune on paper.

“are you still doing that?” Alex had looked over his shoulder. “yes” Jason was up to the most difficult part of the rune. Irritation crept into his voice.

“O come on, come take a break, it’s our first day off, and all you want to do is practise”. Jason didn’t think that required an answer.

“Come on you need a break, there will be other people, food and drink”. Jason sighed as he messed up, the flowing curve of the rune, broken by a jiggered line.

He looked out the window, maybe Alex was right. He had hardly been outside the whole week.

He caved in. “fine” he stood up and gathered his purse. He checked he had enough money. Twenty silver should be plenty.

Alex grinned, “there should be some girls there too, if you're interested”. Jason smacked him over the head when he ducked out of the room. While weapons weren’t prohibited, carrying a sword would be not the best move, he also left his knife. After all, it was a city, what was the worst thing that could happen, he reasoned.

Jason and Alex stood waiting just outside the gates of the school. It had been five minutes and Jason was glad he had agreed.

“who else is coming?”. Alex looked around at the ground hard. “Alex?”. Alex scratched his head.

“oh, you know, only a few”. He sighed; he wasn’t the most social person in the world. “any Nobles?” Jason would not stand to have them coming too. Alex shook his head. “no, definitely not, look here come the first person” Alex distracted Jason.

As it turned out Alex had invited only girls, three of them. The first one a wind element, with short blond hair called Eloise, A water girl called Sophie and the part Elf girl, whos name turned out to be Kyler. They all introduced themselves and set off. All unaware of the coming danger.