"My name is Ron Gordon and I will be lecturing in this introductory class on laws and magic. Do not interrupt me when I am speaking. When you have a question, silently raise your hand and I will get to you shortly."
Nick thought that this man seemed to be kind of stern but a little amusing, wearing an all white suit, almost looking like the guy who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Sanders.
"Alright, let's get down to brass tax. I will be lecturing under the assumption that you know very little about laws and magic for the benefit of those who were not born to affluent and/or influential families. Laws and magic are often spoken about together but they are two very different things. Magic is the energy that is all around us that is used to create supernatural phenomena while laws are in essence the instructions that are used to manipulate magic giving it characteristics and effects that suit the Magician's will...."
Ron Gordon went on to lecture on most of what Nick already knew from reading the introductory book from the library. That's the clear advantage of reading books, you are never ignorant while in the presence of professionals. The lecture was mostly focused on definitions and basic information that someone looking to be a Magician should know. The lecture went on for forty minutes before Ron said something that really caught Nick's attention.
"Most of you would have never used magic before and have not formed your mindscape for various reasons, one being that creating the mindscape too early and without sufficient information can lead to never being able to use magic due to 'accidents' that lead to the corruption and destruction of your mindscape. Now, the school provides a general guide for meditation that will help you to form your mindscape."
Ron waved his hand and a small book appeared in front of all the students, titled: General Meditation Technique.
"This meditation technique is pretty much all you need to form a basic mindscape and it would be very helpful if you knew what the Valteese involved in the meditation meant but that is not strictly required, however, please note that the mindscape is the foundation of a Magician and this meditation technique will only help you form a basic one, meaning that at least until your knowledge of laws and magic increases you will probably be average among your peers regarding your ability to process and use magic energy, after all, one size fits all is never the most efficient or effective concept. As for the laws that are required to activate the mindscape's ability to process magical energy, you can get those from your families or from the academy's magical archives office. Take another note, whatever laws you carve into your mindscape will affect your future development so choose carefully. Of course you do not have to use non-original laws and can develop your own set of laws but that is usually very difficult for persons of your age and skill level but it does happen. I know some of you will be eager to form and develop your mindscape because that is the most common of the few ways that you can start using magic to cast spells and do other 'magical' things but you have to be careful in terms of your own development and you should not rush into things without knowledge of the matter at hand. You have the benefit of being in an age of information and now that you are at the academy, that information is mostly unrestricted and plentiful."
Nick raised his arm to indicate that he wanted to ask a question and he waited a whole minute before Don temporarily stopped his lecture to allow Nick to speak.
"You mentioned that the meditation method you gave us only creates a basic mindscape. Do mindscapes have something like ranks and if so how do we increase the quality of the mindscape we form?"
Ron smiled.
"A very good question. Yes, mindscapes do have something akin to ranks, they can be graded as basic, divergent and special; the grade of mindscape you have directly determines the quality and power of the magic you can use, basic being the worst and special generally being the best. Basic mindscapes take the shape of a predictable template and most Magicians start out with this kind of mindscape because it is the easiest and least dangerous to form and after all, you can always increase the quality of your mindscape later on, it's just a little difficult. Divergent mindscapes aren't much different from basic ones in form but allows one to process significant more amounts of magic within a certain period of time and at better quality; the spells that someone with a divergent mindscape casts tend to be about 20% more effective than someone with a basic mindscape because of possible characteristics bestowed on their magic by their mindscape. Special mindscapes are different in form and power than the other two, these mindscapes take on a life of their own that resemble the will and character of the user. They also better accommodate the Magician in carving their original laws into them because they have a greater affinity to the Magician's own creations. In terms of power, now that is the interesting part, because special mindscpaes vary so much, it is hard to say whether they offer greater power than either of the other two, but one thing is for sure, special grade mindscapes give the Magician's magic power characteristics unique to the Magician and that are usually far more bizarre than characteristics bestowed by a divergent grade mindscape. These Magicians are very difficult to deal with in battle and other areas related to magic because they tend to be unpredictable. However, special grade mindscapes are relatively rare on Grand Earth...I think there are only about thirty three people with this grade of mindscape in England at this time...well, that are recorded anyhow."
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Nick nodded his head and Ron continued his lecture.
"...Alright, if none of you were aware, the first two years of your life at Richter Order Academy will just involve getting your feet wet. When you get to your third year, that is when you will be pushed to do all sorts of magic related activities, missions and advanced research so for now, learn as much as you can and build your foundation for the days to come."
With that, the introductory class on laws and magic came to an end. Nick looked at his phone and saw that it was 12 pm; he had no more classes for the rest of the day so he decided to go to the magical archives office to find out what laws he could obtain.
Nick spent twenty minutes trying to find the magical archives office. When he arrived at its glass doors he was awe struck. The building is probably 30 storeys high but you can only see that clearly after getting within a few feet of it, its glass walls radiate some kind of weird yellow light and there is constantly swirling smoke going around the higher floors. Nick walked in and beyond the glass doors was a clean and beautiful reception hall. The walls were filled with antique paintings and there were statues made of various materials scattered throughout the area. There was a woman sitting behind a desk that was positioned in front of a tall wooden double-door; she smiled while looking at a set of documents on her desk. Nick walked up to her desk.
"Hello miss, I am a first year student and I would like to obtain a set of laws to carve into my mindscape."
The woman looked away from her documents to face Nick and replied:
"Oh well, if you're referring to foundation laws that are used to process magic energy, then those are easy to find. Please hand me your ID."
Nick handed her his student ID and she appeared to do some checks on her computer that was at the corner of her desk. She looked at its holographic screen for about a minute before facing Nick again.
"Since you are on scholarship, one of the sets of laws will be provided to you for free if you so desire. There are three varieties of laws but only one imbues your magic with a special characteristic. Please take a look."
A holographic screen appeared in front of Nick with the information on three sets of laws.
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Jacob's Laws:
This is a rudimentary set of laws created by one of the founders of Richter Order Academy. When carved into a person's mindscape, they will allow that person to process magic energy at 100 magical units per second until the mindscape is saturated.
Laws of Syracuse:
These are elementary laws found in a tomb in Syracuse thousands of years ago. Although they only generate magical units at 40 magical units per second, they are easily modifiable for someone who is fluent in Valteese. Modification may result in special characteristics being imbued into these laws.
Falcone Family Laws:
Members of the Falcone family were convicted of treason by the Supreme Court of England and had to relinquish their various laws. This is a set of laws taught to their Magicians in training to prepare them for their future. These laws generate magical units at 70 magical units per second. Magic processed by these laws have a chance of causing sudden internal bleeding when used for offensive spells that come into contact with a living target.
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Nick read the descriptions and gave a low shout:
"Hand me a set of the Laws of Syracuse!"
When Nick saw its description, he knew that he had to have it. Why?
(There is no way in hell I'm going to carve some dog shit laws within my mindscape if there is a chance to modify these laws into something special. I'm going to try for a special grade mindscape as well by developing my own meditation and create a special set of laws to match by modifying the Laws of Syracuse. Ron Gordon said that it is unlikely that someone at my skill level could create original laws but it does happen. Unlikely simply means that is difficult but I know that as long as I put in the work, it's entirely possible)
(What? You say that failure is likely. So what? For the first time in my life I'm surrounded by an endless amount of information on laws and magic, why would I settle for being average. From my perspective, the only failure is not trying to create something special, be something special.)
The woman smiled and went through the double doors behind her desk. When she came out, she had a booklet with her.
"Although this booklet seems fragile, it has some serious information in it. There are special laws imbued within it and if you purposefully share it with any other person, we will know and at the very least you will be expelled, at worst you will be executed. Even if you do not share the booklet, sharing the information contained within to people who are not apart of Richter Order academy carries the same punishment. As soon as you touch the booklet, these rules will apply."
She opened the booklet in front of Nick but he saw nothing, not one word. Nick took hold of the booklet and after a second the words appeared but they were all in Valteese. Nick started learning Valteese only a week ago so it was barely readable.
(Well...it's a start.)