But Aric didn't complain. He was more than happy to entertain so much money. He would deliver the items anyway. Aric didn't want to be a bad guest, and according to his home traditions, he went to the kitchen and bought some locally made biscuits and also some tea. He wasn't a fan of tea, and in this region, there was nothing like tea.
He asked Gopher to sit as he was genuinely interested in the magic wand and wanted to know more about the curriculum and the school.
"There is less than 2 years for me to join the school. What do I need to do?" Aric asked. Gopher, who had just been served tea, didn't like the smell of the tea at all and kept it aside after taking the first sip, probably because the people here were accustomed to sweeter things than spicy or tasteless.
"Save the money," Gopher said with the most serious face Aric had ever seen on him.
"Money? Why?" Aric asked, feeling confused.
"You don't think education is free, right?" Gopher asked. This was not the answer Aric was expecting. He did think of school, but due to the fact that his parents had always covered it, he had thought he didn't need any kind of money for education, for some stupid reason in his head. Seeing Aric's silence, Gopher continued, "Unless you are a son of the internal staff or the faculty, you will need money to get into the school. If you are talented enough, you will get scholarships from the banks or the school itself. If you are less talented, like I am, then it will be pretty hard for you, as being a mage isn't cheap. Not only will you need to pay the school fees, but also for your own self. If you take up a side profession like runesmith or alchemy, then you will burn through money more than you spend on fees."
Aric didn't know any of this and had just assumed that his entry to school would be smooth sailing.
"Can you tell me more about the talent and how much money I should accumulate for getting into a school?" Aric asked.
"If your talent is like mine, you will need 100 gold coins per year. And if you are talented, then you will get scholarships, and some even get into the school free of cost. But without money, it will still be useless, as you will need money to sustain yourself inside, as you will need resources. So money is a must," Gopher said.
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Aric didn't expect it to be this complicated. He had more questions now.
"How does the school evaluate talent?" Aric asked. This question made Gopher's eyes look a bit weird, as the question seemed quite stupid. He replied, "The schools each year come for recruitment. They show up in cities. The bigger the cities, the bigger the school. They will set up their camps and they have their own instruments to detect a person's talent and their affinity. I had a low magic talent for wind, and thus, I was accepted at the Flameleaf Academy. It is a low-grade school, and because I passed the threshold, I was able to enter the school. Tell you what, if you get to Flameleaf, they will give you a discount if you use my name," Gopher said, looking at Aric with a bit of expectation. That school majored in fire and wind magic and was a good school for someone who had low talent.
"Can you explain more about the talent?" Aric asked.
"You sure nag a lot for something so far from you," Gopher said, a bit irritated by now.
"I'm sorry. I don't have any knowledge of it. Just treat me as a newbie trying to understand the world," Aric said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Don't say those words in front of others. The more you show your ignorance, the more they will squeeze you out," Gopher said, thinking Aric was a bit naive. Little did he know that Aric thought the same about the people of this world.
"You have paid me enough to at least hope not to scam me," Aric said. This sincerity seemed to affect Gopher a bit, and he said, "The talents are categorized as supreme, high, medium, and low. Except for low talents, all the tiers are categorized into three more levels: upper, middle, and lower. If your talent is in the middle-medium or upper-medium, most of the lower-tiered schools will flock to you. But talent also comes with an affinity problem. Talent means you will break through levels faster, but that is not the only criteria a school looks at. Two more things that schools notice are spirituality and affinity.
"Spirituality doesn't have a category. Many schools don't even care about it, as it is mostly for runesmiths, beast tamers, or such other professions that care about spirituality. As far as I know, different schools have different ways to measure the spirituality of a person, and though most people downplay it, I have heard that it is very important when someone reaches higher levels. And then comes affinity. This is again categorized like the talents. Affinity will decide how fast you can conjure a magic spell and use them. The higher the affinity, the faster you will be able to do so. If you have high talent and almost zero affinity, you will break through levels fast, but people around will probably kill you faster than you can utter a scream," Gopher said.
Aric heard his clear words and was able to make a picture of the whole school 'problem' a bit better. Talent, spirituality, and affinity. Aric didn't want much. As long as he could get inside a school, he would be happy.
It was not Aric being humble, but from what he read in the books, children born in places with a higher density of mana are known to have higher talent and affinity.