The first thing he noticed after waking up was that he might have been in a learning institution, just like his old university, but this room looked nothing like his old dorm room. For one thing, it didn’t look like he was sharing it with anybody. The entire thing looked like a grown-out bachelor pad, with a lot of open space. And another thing?

It was pretty dope! His bed was on an elevated platform, jutting out from a wall and ‘floating’ above the rest of his abode. Going down a set of steps which looked to have been made out of a really lustrous wood, themselves jutting out from the wall, he saw that the entire thing was richly furnished. There wasn’t anything like a TV or any modern appliances (go figure), but the floor was polished stone, the walls were adorned with different paintings, an entire wall was composed of huge windows and there was an all-around comfy temperature and nice fragrance in the air.

Must have done something good to deserve this.

…

Or is it because the chief elf wants me?

Shuddering a bit at his choice of words, Michael went around exploring. He found the bathroom soon enough, a little door becoming apparent only once he was near enough to its place on the wall. Inside, he noticed that he lacked a shower, but did own a bathtub. The bathroom itself was normal enough, mirror, cabinet and so on. Still, he had to do a sniff test in order to differentiate the shampoo from the soap. He might not have gotten that right, but at the very least he was clean now.

And more importantly, he also found something like a dressing room, directly beneath his floating ‘bedroom’. Inside were something that looked like a cross between shirts and tunics, simple woolen pants, simple leather shoes, robes, privates and a few other items. It seems that Gnosis allowed him to have a kick-ass room, but didn’t wish to set him apart from his fellow students too much.

Or does everyone get a room like this?

He distinctively remembered Micah muttering about he how he hoped he wouldn’t receive too shabby of a room, so… maybe?

“First Class will start in thirty minutes. Class: Basic Magical Theory. Report to first floor, room Alpha 04.”

The voice had sounded from everywhere. It ended as abruptly as it started.

“Uhm, hello? Could you please tell me where that room is?”

No answer came.

“Do I need to bring anything?”

…

“Can I get lunch first?”

With no answer coming, Michael started to look for a way out of his abode. The door out was the same as the door to his bathroom, hidden until he came close enough to it. Exiting, he found himself standing in a hallway, other students leaving or entering doors very much like his own, in that they disappeared once they moved away from them.

Hoping the disappearing act was also a kind of a lock, before remembering that he didn’t exactly have any valuables inside anyway, Michael stared hard at his surroundings. After a few seconds of doing that, he was fairly certain he could remember where his room was. If not, well… he could always wander about.

He found out soon enough that his room was on the third floor, by asking everyone in sight just where he was. It had been a little soothing to also find out that quite a number of students were as clueless as he was. Gnosis seemed to have a very hands-off attitude towards their students. Still, he made it to the classroom soon enough and Gnosis being a small… -ish world, that was also where he found Micah.

“Dude, you wouldn’t believe what happened yesterday!”

“Dude…?”

“It’s a… word I used back home. It means something like man or guy.”

“Oh. Dude. Sounds funny. Anyway, I’m guessing old Regitris gave you the good speech?”

“Yeah, you could say that. Though, not before he attacked me with Spells!”

“What?!”

Michael told him the story of what happened a night before, though he had to cut it short since their professor had arrived while he had been reaching the end of it.

“So, what, did you accept?”

“Not yet. We’ll talk more later, I want to pay attention to this.”

Micah himself looked unimpressed with the course, but Michael as all up for it. The way he saw it, Magical Theory was the groundwork of what he needed to learn in order to make a killing here at the academy and the basics of it was the first step he needed to take.

The professor was clearly not human. She was a half snake, half human woman. He would have called her a gorgon, but there were no snakes in her hair or scales on her skin and her eyes were perfectly normal. If one didn’t look at her lower half, one would have seen just a normal woman in her late twenties, early thirties, if a scantily dressed one. That scarf she got on her could hardly be called a bra, after all. Still, Michael had seen enough magical species around that the shock factor passed quickly enough. It wasn’t her looks or her species he was interested in.

It was her knowledge.

“Magic is everything.” She started. “Some of you may scoff at the thought, especially those of you who see magic as mainly artifacts and enchantments. Yet those are but the most material and bound forms of magic. Magic, as we know it, permeates everything, from the physical, to the mental, to the spiritual. It can replace Skills, improve Classes and elevate an individual above the limitations of their species.”

So saying, she slithered forward and her hair turned into snakes, hissing and slithering. The rest of her remained human.

Ok, so maybe she is a gorgon.

“You all have magic inside yourselves, as does almost everyone. You, however, are simply special, able to better control what you have or possessing larger quantities of it. …or you simply have more coin for the admission fees.” She sardonically smiled. “Whatever may be the case, the lesson you will learn in my class applies to all. You will learn what magic is, at least enough that your own magic will not catch you unaware. You will learn to feel magic, both inside and outside yourselves. Who knows, you may even gain a Skill. And you will take the first steps in learning how to control it.

Her hair turned back to normal, long, straight and black, with just a hint of dark green.

“My name is Sinestra. Welcome to your first course of Magical Theory.”

Michael clapped and was thankful to learn that he had not been the only one to do so, otherwise his action might have been slightly embarrassing. But he couldn’t help himself. The woman had a raw magnetism about herself and she looked like she could command respect. Her eyes were almost hypnotic and-

Oh shit, she is a gorgon. My reaction isn’t normal, it’s either Skill induced or altered by magic.

…still, hell of a speech though.

Reigning back his admiration for Sinestra, Michael listened to her speak. She told them of different forms of magic, both bound and unbound. She told them that mana was something like unprocessed magic, magic in its natural state. Only she also said that this explanation is also incorrect, yet useful enough for their current level of understanding. Towards the end of the lesson, she informed them that her course also had a practical section. One that was geared towards learning how to get a feel for magic.

When Michael mentioned that he had a Skill for that, her eyes lit up and she used him as an example for the rest of the Class, having him describe his Skill and how it made him sense mana, as well as how it all felt.

“You just had to get more popular.” Micah said, once they sat down in the one of the lesser halls, reserved for having a quick bite to eat between classes. “The student-body’s adulation wasn’t enough, you had start winning over professors too.”

“Oh, shut up.” Michael laughed. “I’m older than you, you ever think maybe that’s why she’s so easy going on me?”

“Oh, please, that one would eat you alive. Maybe literally.”

“I’ll look out for when she tries it. Still, I’m glad she was so happy to use me as a live example. You’d think no one ever gets my Skill by how she reacted.”

“She wasn’t happy you got the Skill. No offense, it’s good, but still lightweight. She was happy because you admitted to having it and demonstrated it yourself.”

“And… why is that a good thing?”

Micah looked at him, as if trying to see if Michael was making a joke.

“Because people don’t usually admit to having certain Skills. Not unless there’s an advantage to be made out of saying it. Since, you know, once the minotaur’s out of the maze…”

“Oh. So, I guess I shouldn’t have told you I got |Fire Bolt|.”

“Nah.” He laughed. “I’m as trustful as they come. Speaking of trust… you probably already know by now that I’m under Ravena’s wing.”

“I figured.”

Also, Regitris told me.

“Though I don’t exactly know what that means.”

“Uhm… I’m not allowed to share much, at least, Ravena told me not to share without getting something in return. Sorry.” He grimaced. “But I can tell you that every mage in her group is nature oriented. We’re one of the good groups.”

“Oh. I… think Regitris’s group is one of the good ones too.”

Micah looked torn, but elected to speak anyway, though he did it in hushed tones.

“Look, I’ll give you this for free. Ravena found out we were friends and she told me that there’s no harm in hanging out with you. And that ‘old pointy ears and his lackeys’ aren’t bad per se, but that they also don’t accept any other opinion other than their own. So… you know, in case you haven’t accepted yet, be careful.”

“I see. Thanks. Really. And one for free from me as well? I haven’t said yes yet. Though I’m thinking about it.”

Micah nodded and didn’t get a chance to say something else, since the voice spoke again.

“Second Class will start in thirty minutes. Class: Magical Combat Primer. Report to first floor, room Alpha 21.”

Micah snapped his fingers, eyes widening in surprise.

“Oh, I just remembered a thing! After Ravena told me all that, she also muttered that she’d be surprised if those ‘battle ready fanatics’ wouldn’t start chasing after you. That weird voice reminded me of that. Anyway, we should probably go, I have no idea where that room is. …What? Why’re you looking at me like that?”

“Because I just remembered Regitris saying something similar. And because we’re going to a course teaching combat, while a faction of ‘battle ready fanatics’ is currently looking to recruit me! Does that not sound like a coincidence to you?”

“I mean… we’re in a magical academy. I’m pretty sure they have Spells for making coincidences happen.”

Michael restrained himself from frowning too much, even though his new friend wore a shit-eating grin all the way to the new classroom. It appeared that he was pretty proud of his ‘argument’ and didn’t take into account at all that Michael was simply saving up on mental fortitude.

They reached it the same way Michael reached the first classroom, by asking everyone in sight. They found the stone arch that served as the door easy enough and were surprised to see that this wasn’t a normal classroom, but was built more like an amphitheater. It had the form of a semi-circle, with each row of seats standing higher than the one before it. At its center and at the lowest level stood a wide half-circle platform. The room also had windows on all sides, though that wasn’t physically possible. And more than that, their professor was already there.

“Go on, get in. Stop crowding the door!” he yelled at them.

Michael entered, followed closely by Micah and they sat down on a couple of seats in the second row. First rule of classrooms, never stand in the front row, not unless you want to be an unwilling partner in conversations.

Also applies to stand-up comedy.

While the other students were streaming in, Michael took a look at his new professor and his assistant. The centaur himself looked scarred. He was gruff, muscly and wearing only a leather vest. He couldn’t help himself from checking to see if his privates were exposed, but thankfully there was a kind of an illusion spell there which made everything impossible to notice.

Yes, very much childish, but Michael wasn’t yet at the age where stupid things stopped being funny.

Still, the look on the centaur’s face made him want to be serious. And alert. He held himself tight, coiled as a spring. His entire demeanor screamed Drill Sergeant. But while the centaur was all shouts and iron, his assistant…

Michael noticed three things about her, before he stopped noticing things altogether.

First, that she was an elf.

Second, that she was impossibly pretty.

Third, that she was grinning at him.