Michael woke up the next morning feeling… good. Better than good. The night before Regitris welcomed him into a ‘private meeting’ that turned out to be a sort of welcome aboard gathering from the Ascentionalists. He got to meet a few other students, just one more from his year and a host of senior mages. Not all of them teachers or mentors. Some gave Michael the feeling that they were what he would have called ‘researchers’, though they called themselves by different titles.

His faction was a large one, but only a fraction of that attended the night’s gathering. All so they could meet and congratulate him. He wasn’t going to lie, that actually felt good. And the meeting itself was… lucrative. He found out that none of the first year’s teachers belonged to any faction. It was a compromise between different sides, to make sure students weren’t swayed ‘en masse’, not from the very beginning. The others laughed when Michael said he thought that Nahlil was a Martial. Apparently, the man thought like a Martial, but actually viewed belonging to any one faction as a weakness.

Which said a lot about the centaur’s character.

He also received a variety of other ‘gifts’. A lot of it was information. Where to find secluded libraries, hidden rooms. Where certain passageways opened and could be used as a shortcut. Which ways were to a certain upper or lower floor was considered safe. Which teachers or mentors could be cajoled and if so, what was their preference in gifts. Interesting tidbits.

Very interesting was the fact that a lot of mages accepted help for certain tasks and rewarded their helpers with either monetary or magical or informational payments. In a word, quests.

He also received a couple of physical gifts too. One was a glistening white robe, complete with a hidden hood and silver linings. It was enchanted to repel most forms of dirt, to never form creases and to basically, always look pristine. It was their signature look, from what he saw.

The second gift was a wand holster. It attached itself to his forearm and the only enchantment it had was that it could place his wand in his hand with just a mental and magical tug. It could take it back just as fast. So… yeah. Nice, but nothing groundbreaking. Though that did make toys with the new wand that durmo gave him. It was shorter and firmer and Michael managed to learn it didn’t have any sort of internal mana reservoir, but it did help with his aiming. It also tended to physically tug at the spot he was looking at. Which was still sort of weak, but also kind of cool.

He never experienced auto-aim before.

Of course, the last bit of information he received was about Gnosis itself. In that everything could be changed. Or was modular, though the mages themselves didn’t recognize the word. He had already learned a few things about customizing his room. For once, the door to his bathroom and the door to the hallways were now permanently visible. At least from the inside. The other was the food.

“I want breakfast. Eggs and Bacon. And cereal.”

A plate appeared, on a table next to him, filled with an egg omelette and a decent portion of crispy bacon. And also a corn cob. He found he had to be really specific with his instructions. Still, he ate it up, before getting dressed, what was left of his lunch discretely disappearing.

It was as he left his room that he remembered just who might have a problem with his new allegiance.

“Uh… Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” Erea said, standing up from her place on the floor.

“You know where my room is.” Michael stated.

“The disadvantage of being famous.” The elf said, stretching. “But no, I just kind of knew where it was, so I did a stake out.”

“Wait, how long have you been here for?”

“Eh, didn’t keep track.” She said, before looking at his robe. “So, you’re one of the fancy mages now.”

“Yeah.” He laughed. “Guess you could call me that. Are… are you mad about that?”

“Why would I be mad?” she asked, her expression turning stormy.

“No reason! Just- yeah, no reason. So, what did you want to talk about?”

“It’s Friday.”

“Right. It is.”

“…”

“…”

“Do you want to go adventuring with us?” she spoke, slowly, as if speaking to a dimwit.

“Shit! I completely forgot about it. Uhm, yeah! I’d love to.” He smiled.

That seemed to put a small grin back on the elf’s face.

They walked and talked and Erea slowly got her usual grin and daggers mood back. Michael seriously thought she was the weirdest elf he had ever met. Not that he met many besides her, but the others all seemed tranquil. Calm. Since he met her, Erea had been challenging, spiteful, easygoing, cold and now almost easygoing again.

Basically, the elf was as much a storm of emotions as she was a storm of magic when she fought. That actually made sense, Michael thought.

A stormy elf.

“And what are you grinning about?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just dozing off, while walking.” He joked.

“Right. Weirdo.”

But she was smiling as well. Which was good, since a smiling Erea was a less-likely-to-fire-you-up Erea.

“I heard you adopted my friend into your little group.”

“My little group can kick your ass, pretty boy. But yeah, the Gaindel? He’ll do alright with us. How’d you even heard that? It happened last night.”

“I’m well connected.” He shrugged. “And yes, Bob.”

“Bob.” She laughed. “I like that name.”

“Think he’ll make a fine Martial?”

“He’s certainly got the spirit for it. And the strength. Now we just have to get him the magic. But yes, I’ll think he’ll make for a fine Martial. Not as fine as me, but you know.”

“Of course. No one finer.” Michael laughed. “By the way, are we meeting… Erea?”

The elf stopped a few steps back and was once again looking at him strangely.

“…what?”

“Nothing.” she said and turned back to smiling in a second. “You were saying?”

I wonder if there’s a magical version of bipolar.

“Uhm, yeah. Will Bob be joining us today? By the way, where are we going? And who’s coming?”

“Well, Alex’s coming. You and me. Your friend Micah was busy with his own group. And… uh, Alex’s usually the one to handle the group assembling. So… I don’t know.”

“Very informative.”

“Thank you.”

“And the mission? Do you know that, at least?”

“Oh, yeah.” she said, eyes lighting up. “This mission’s going to be awesome! We’re doing an upper floor this time. Apparently there’s these mush monsters and-“

“Wait, hold up. ‘Mush’?”

“Eh, the report doesn’t really go into details. So, they could be slimes or a type of sand or water golems or a magical creation. Whatever. The thing is, they came down from an even upper floor. Which probably means it’s getting crowded up there, but that’s not our problem. No, our job is to clear them out.”

“And that’s awesome… why?”

She looked at him like he was making fun of her, before rolling her eyes.

“I forgot. Newbie. It’s awesome because whatever those things are, things like that only grow by ingesting magical material. And they take a long time to digest it too. Sometimes they don’t, they just hold on to the artifacts they swallowed like some kind of mana…”

“Battery?”

“Yeah! So, whatever they are, we can expect at least some loot.”

It was amusing to see her so excited about something. Her eyes lit up when she got like that, which made them even more violet, her hair-

Ok, knock it off. Whatever this effect is, it’s clearly magical.

Of course, Erea would be trouble in more ways than one.

That being said, they still talked about the mission. Well, talked meaning that Erea rambled on about different methods of blasting those things apart and Spells she wanted to use. Yet, all that lasted until they got accosted by a white robed mage.

“Forgive me for interrupting you. Mage Michael. The Ascentionalists require your presence.” The mage said.

He was human, looking to be around twenty-something, though he actually looked his age. His robe was a white as Michael’s. And the expression on his face was serene. Almost bored.

“Uhm, why?”

“I was not told.”

“Then you better find out, shouldn’t you?” Erea said and grabbed Michael by the hand, dragging him off.

“|Sticky Floor|”

Michael’s feet stuck to the floor, as well as Erea’s. In an instant, the elf let go of Michael’s wrist and pointed her arm at the mage.

“Please, I do not wish to fight. Merely to convey my message.”

“Then you shouldn’t have used a Spell.” She ground out.

“Erea, let him speak.” Michael said. “Can’t you go and ask why I’ve been summoned? I’m… in the middle of something.”

“…I see.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Erea snapped.

“Nothing.” The mage said, raising his hands in peace. “But, please understand, I was given the order to bring you by a senior mage. Almost as senior as Regitris himself. I cannot simply go back and ask for clarifications.”

“Pussi-“

“Be that as it may.” Michael hurried to say. “I really did promise to help Erea with today’s quest.”

It was a lie, but it was a white lie. That being said, Michael wasn’t sure he was taking the right course of action. He had just joined his faction. Was it right for him to already be seen as headstrong? Sure, he had no intention of appearing to be a push-over, but was his decision to go adventuring taken out of a sense of camaraderie or because of the elf’s eerie influence?

Both?

The mage just sighed and took a sealed Scroll out of his robes.

“They said that you might be difficult. They also said that if it took too long to give you this.” He said, handing Michael the scroll.

“What’s this?”

“A letter?” the mage tried, giving him a look signaling that he was way under Level to be given that sort of information.

Curious as to what the Ascentionalists might consider a good argument to sway him, he opened the Scroll. And noticed the writing was in no language he knew how to read.

“Michael!” Erea shouted.

But a flash of light was all he saw when he turned towards her. Indeed, even after the light cleared, he still didn’t see her. Or the white robed mage. And the walls didn’t look at all like the walls of the corridor he had just been standing in.

“Oho, you’ve arrived by yourself. A feisty one, aren’t you?”

Michael turned around and saw he was standing in a cast circular room, at the center of which was a raised dais, illuminated by a vast pillar of soft light. There were a few other mages sitting around the dais in a circle, but that was all he managed to see, as in seconds his view was obstructed by the one who had called out to him.

He gaped. He couldn’t help himself. Because he saw him, walking towards him. And he was the fattest centaur Michael had ever seen. He didn’t even know centaurs could get that fat. It wasn’t just the human half that was fat, no, the horse part was blubbery as well. He had nothing against fat, some of the most respect inspiring individuals he had seen were massive. But this centaur just looked like a mini-boss out of a really bad game.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mage Michael. My name is Narh. And welcome to the Ascentionalists. I confess I hadn’t had the chance of attending last night’s event.”

“Uhm, thank you. Where are Erea and the other mage?”

“Erea? Oh, the Martial mage. Yes, I know of her. Well, I gave that Scroll to…. I forget the name, but to the young mage in order for you two to make better time returning. If you returned alone, that must mean that you drove a hard bargain, didn’t you?” the mage laughed merrily.

Michael just plastered on a fake smile.

“I guess so. And my friend?”

“Oh, they were left behind. That was a Teleportation Scroll you just used. They’ll just have to go about their day.”

Knowing Erea, that other mage is probably getting his ass kicked right about now.

“May I ask why I’ve been summoned, sir?”

“Of course, my boy. Come.”

They walked forwards and Michael finally got to see what was levitating just above the raised dais, inside that pillar of light. It was a closed book. It looked old, the cover made of some kind of scaled leather and the trimmings and spine looking like impossibly detailed gold. And on the cover lay a gold medallion. There was no hum and no flashed coming from it, but Michael could feel the power radiating.

“Quite a sight, isn’t it?” Narh asked, from beside him.

“I confess I do not know what it is, sir.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to. You see, this is a very special tome, called a Primer. Now, Primers are very rare and almost impossible to create, but also extremely valuable, as they have the ability to confer a certain Class unto individuals. Sometimes more Classses, but I believe this one holds only the one.”

“I see.” Michael said, very much not seeing.

“And you are going to help us find out what that Class is.” the centaur happily smiled.

I’d rather be fighting slimes right about now.