Name – Saphira

Race – Mana Beast, Soul Familiar

Level - 4

Power – 5

Agility – 6

Constitution – 3

Mana Manipulation – 5

HP – 60/60

Mana – 80/80

Saphira explained that her stats were different than mine at their base. Most races typically had better overall health pools and mana wells than most mana beasts. She wasn’t sure how she would change specifically when it came to that, but she did know that most familiars became much more powerful as they leveled with their wizard counterpart.

She already had the spell Mend and Wave of Restoration, the latter of which was an AOE heal of 20 health in a 30-foot radius. Mend cured most status effects related to combat, as seen with my previous injury. She had a total of three skill points to add, as well as one new spell to select from three. Saphira explained she doesn’t get as many spell options as I do over the levels, but can provide better physical support than I could give myself. We went with offense to complement her support spells.

Lightning Bolt

Description – Manifest a bolt of lightning and launch it at your opponent

Cost – 30 mana

Effect – 25 lightning damage upon hit. 10 percent chance to stun.

Cast time – 1 second

Cooldown – 1 minute

I was just a little jealous of Lightning Bolt, but Saphira explained it was not a base spell, so the mana costs were higher for the damage dealt. With leveling, the cost to damage ratio would improve, and her overall mana pool would grow.

We put all three of her points into constitution, bringing her HP to 75/75. She suggested I put a point in at a time until she adjusted to the changes, so it impacted her less as her body adapted. I gave my head a mental smack in this “duh” moment.

Speaking of stats, it was time to see the fruits of my labors experienced while sleeping.

Name - Vince (Level 4)

HP – 140/140

Race - Human (Earth)

Mana – 240/240

Power - 3

Agility - 7

Bloodline – Ancient Magic

Buffs - None

Constitution - 7

Mana Manipulation - 12

Class – Sorcerer (Wizard on inspection)

Debuffs - None

Exp: 50/300

Traits - None

Skill points – (3)

Sorcery Points – (0)

My overall mana pool was higher than it should have been when I looked at my stats. I discussed this with Saphira, and she explained when a statistic hits ten, there is a breakthrough of sorts. This mini power-up occurs every ten skill points, but they vary in effect. At ten, I received a boost to my overall mana, while at 20, I might increase my spell damage.

I wanted to put my three skill points into constitution for a little more survivability, but decided to wait. Maybe there was some synergy I was missing out on, so hanging on to the points for now wouldn’t hurt.

I also noticed that although my class was Sorcerer, it would be inspected by others as a wizard. I would have to figure out the meaning behind that.

As Saphira and I gathered our thoughts, we heard a knock on our door and a familiar voice. “It’s Murdock!”

I explained to Saphira with a quick mental conversation who Murdock was to me and told him he could come in. Since my true class was hidden, I would just seem like a regular wizard, so there was no need to be secretive about my spells or abilities, I just needed to make sure I didn’t do anything to give away the fact I was a sorcerer… at least for now.

“I knew it! When you didn’t come first thing in the morning, I figured you were looking over spells or your familiar!” He laughed as he talked. “And you got a panther as your mana beast! She’s a beauty!” He walked over and began to pet her affectionately. “Does she have a name?”

“Saphira.” I said proudly.

“Powerful name indeed!” He gave her one last pat. “You will protect my protégé, yes?” he spoke directly to the panther with his question.

She bowed her head in response.

“You’ll be pleased to hear that Amanda is also a wizard!” he said, crossing his arms in triumph.

“No way! That’s awesome.” I sincerely meant it. “Will she be going to the same academy as me?”

“There’s only one for us Humans, so all the wizards from each state gather there every few weeks. The Transports you saw are just from Brokis. There are four more schools besides us, one for each state. This is necessary due to the sheer amount of transports we receive, but, wizards don’t suffer from this issue due to their numbers being small.” I nodded throughout, the information confirming what I had learned already.

“When do we leave?” I asked, cutting to the chase. “Oh, if I might inquire, what class did Carter get?”

“I saw him with the big group dedicated to soldiers, so I’m not sure specifically, but a warrior class of some type.”

“Any chance I could say bye to him before we left?”

He shook his head in response. “Classes have already sectioned off, and most, if not all the wizards have been sent off already. You have been up here for some time.” He jerked his head over toward the door.

I nodded in resignation, but told myself there must be a way to reach out to him once I was there. I would be sure to find where he wound up and send him a message.

“Before I forget” he said while tapping his bracelet. He held out his hand and two rings appeared in his palm. One was gold, the other, silver. They were simple, plain rings, with no ornate drawings or carvings. They seemed a bit lackluster. “Congratulations on your first-place finish.” He smiled, putting the rings in my hand.

I toggled analyze.

Simple Ring of Mana Manipulation

Effects - + 1 to Mana Manipulation

Rarity – Common

Simple Ring of Constitution

Effects - +1 to Constitution

Rarity – Common

I suppressed my disappointment at the lackluster statistics. Apparently, I didn’t do a good job, because Mr. Murdock laughed.

“Disappointed, are we?”

I shrugged in response and let out a chuckle. “Just figured a first-place finish would net me some epic gear or something.”

“Ah, but you see, you get this gear for free, and even better, before your training at the Academy. There are not many ways to earn money while at wizard school. You go on a few beginner dungeon runs, sure, but having those rings at your current stage provides you an advantage that most of the other students won’t have, except for other tournament winners.”

His point made sense. Right now, those rings provided a decent benefit given my current stats, and offered another point over my other classmates. Since we were being graded, I’m sure there would be another tournament. I’d take every advantage I could get.

I bowed my head slightly. “Thank you for the rewards, teacher.” I raised my head and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “It is curious though, that you already had these picked out without knowing for sure if I was a wizard… and even curiouser that both of your students whom you handpicked for special instruction both became magic users.”

He hummed slightly. “Yes, that is curious don’t you think?” He gave his signature grin and nodded for us to move along.

We made our way up the spiral stone staircase to the very top, the stairs ending abruptly, revealing a wide-open room with what I would describe as portals scattered throughout. It was easily the size of a small warehouse, creating space for dozens of portals.

The portals were oval-shaped, roughly 10-12 feet tall, with a blue liquid rippling in the opening of the structure. The sides were decorated with the visage of different gods, goddesses, and ancient beasts such as dragons, giants, and various powerful mana beasts. The metal composition of the portals was unknown to me. It shone brilliant blue, with silver lines creating a network within the metal. I ran my hand along the alloy. It was smooth to the touch, but felt as dense as any metal I had ever felt.

“The work of the gods,” he gestured to the portals with arms stretched wide, “cannot be replicated by any man or woman. We have been able to replicate short distance portal jumps, but the cost and time to produce is extraordinary, and only saves about one day’s worth of travel.”

Saphira began to paw at her nose, and faint sneezing sounds escaped her mouth as if she were trying to clear her sinuses of an unpleasant odor.

When I looked at her, she said, “The mana in this room is dense and powerful. The air is thick with magic.” She shook her head. “I will be fine, I just need a second to adapt.”

We followed Mr. Murdock to a portal with the carvings of Penelope etched into the metal, along with various representations of the six elements. “Here we are.” He said as he patted the side of the gate.

“Ready?” He asked.

“Not like I have much choice.”

“Of course you have a choice. You could not go.”

Words caught in my throat for a second. “Seriously?”

“Yes! Your class would change to Traitor, and you would not be accepted into any major city across all five regions that make up the Human territories. You would also lose Saphira, and any other magical abilities you have gained thus far, and be sent back to level one.” He concluded. His words were serious, but his tone exuded sarcasm.

“Right. Magic school it is.” I said. “Do you know any instructors there I could seek out to help me?”

“Of course, Vince. I have reached out to one of the best. He will keep an eye on you like I did here, a private tutor of sorts, in addition to the rest of the faculty. I have known him my whole life, and he is the best wizard I have ever seen.”

“Wow, thank you!” I said in earnest. I really owed Mr. Murdock for taking care of me the way he did. I saw plenty of students never getting one on one time like Amanda and me.

As we said our goodbyes, Mr. Murdock said the faculty member to whom he reached out should be right on the other side of the portal waiting for me. I looked at Saphira, and she gave me a nod. With that, we walked through the portal.

I realized I had closed my eyes, waiting to feel some vertigo or gut-wrenching feeling of being teleported across hundreds of miles. Instead, I walked several feet and all I could tell was the floor felt slightly different. When I opened my eyes, the faculty member was there to greet me.

“Welcome to the Wizard’s Academy, Vince!” said Mr. Murdock cheerfully.