Another year passed by quickly for Alan. He kept contact with Catherine through occasional visits, which usually involved getting the updates on the diplomatic mission from her father as well.

Catherine was doing somewhat better, in Alan’s opinion, though she rarely declined his suggested hugs, when he guessed she needed them.

The general tension in the capital was increasing, however, something Alan noticed both through the souring moods and increasing demand from the customers at the smithy, but also while moving through the city. There were more guards out, people stuck together in groups rather than go alone, and the entrances to the city were reinforced according to his father. The city was also increasing its imports of grain and general supplies, according to Catherine, in order to fill the storages and silos.

The city was preparing for war, which was a good strategy in any event, as far as Alan was concerned.

Alan’s fourteenth birthday was approaching, and with it, the aptitude tests for the mage academy. Aquillus had not shown a drop of concern when Alan had asked about his chances on the test.

“You’re far above anything that could possibly be tested in an aptitude test, son. If anything, I’d be surprised if the examiner would even be your equal.” Aquillus had an almost fatherly smile as he answered. They had grown somewhat closer after their normal practice sessions had ended, and their relationship had become closer to an independent student and his guidance counselor.

It probably helped that Alan had shown significant improvements while practicing on his own. His aura now extended a solid 5 meters in all directions, and his mana pool and regeneration was large enough that he could easily keep up a candle sized flame indefinitely.

The birthday party was the usual small dinner in the Moltus residence. Marissa was invited, as she had been every year, though she hadn’t showed the previous year, and wouldn’t this year either, Alan was pretty certain. He didn’t understand why he had apparently also been categorized as a bad influence by the Church, but he had no idea how to do anything about that.

“We’re so proud of you, Alan,” Naida said, as they sat around the table ready to eat.

“We really are,” Alexar echoed. “You’ve worked very hard these last few years, and now you reap the benefits.” His broad smile on clear display, as he continued. “I am convinced you’ll be accepted into the mage academy tomorrow, and that you’ll grow up to become one of the greatest mages this family has ever known.”

“Thank you both, you’ve been very supportive in this.” Alan answered, not sure about what else to say.

The rest of the dinner was a relatively quiet affair, as was often the case for the Moltus family.

The following day, Alan and Alexar stepped onto the mage academy grounds together, heading towards the main administrator building. They had both taken leave from the jobs, Alan to take the test, and Alexar to vouch for his age as his legal guardian, as was required.

Alan had spent a lot of time on the academy grounds, as Aquillus’ lab was situated in the area, if somewhat far away from the main administrative building. There were also several other buildings around it, a few clearly serving as dormitories, other as lecturing halls, practice halls, or other purposes. After they entered their destination, they quickly found their way to one of the academy administrator desks.

A man looking to be in his late 50s, in a traditional red suite adorned with the mage academy emblem on the left side of his chest, looked up from his paperwork and received them. “Yes, what can I help you with?”

“We’re here for the aptitude test,” Alan answered, eagerness seeping into his voice.

“Ah, I see. State your birthdate, given name and family name, please.” The examiner said, as he took out a form and started filling it in. Alan complied, and soon the details were all recorded.

“Please sign here, Alexander, and here for you, Alexar. Thank you. Please wait here while I fetch an examiner.”

Alan was feeling more excited than he had in years, feeling the figurative butterflies wreaking havoc in his stomach. His father must have noticed, as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You’ll do fine, son, don’t you worry about it.”

The administrator soon returned with a younger man in tow, Alan guessed him to be somewhere in his twenties.

“Alexar Moltus, Alexander, this is examiner Clarkson. He’ll take you to an examination chamber, where the examination will be performed.” The administrator managed the impressive feat of sounding completely apathetic to the entire ordeal, simply following his job description to the letter. Even his wish for good luck before they left felt completely devoid of emotion. Not that Alan cared much, as his destiny was about to be decided by a single test, if a relatively simple one.

The examination room was relatively large, about 5 by 5 meters, especially considering it was completely empty, with mats covering the floor.

“Alright. Alexar, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to ask you to wait outside while we perform the examination.” Clarkson said in a steady yet polite voice. Alexar obeyed immediately.

“Ok, Alexander. I’m not sure what you know about the exam, but I’ll take you through the rules anyways. We’re gonna do a simple aura test, in which I will perform something called a mana bombardment, and you have to successfully resist for at least one minute. After that, you must choose to complete one task from a list of tests, which all deal with differing elements but are designed to test your mana capacity. The tests have been customized to be equally draining on your mana, so none of them are easier or harder to accomplish based on mana requirements alone, so choose the one dealing with the element you are most familiar with manipulating.”

“I understand.” Alan answered simply.

“Good, then we will get started on the mana bombardment test right away. Are you ready?” Examiner Clarkson looked to Alan for confirmation, and took out a small hourglass. A minuteglass, I suppose, Alan mused.

“I’m ready.”

Clarkson began his mana bombardment, and Alan was surprised when his aura barely extended halfway as far out as his own. The bombardment wasn’t anything to write home about either, barely even noticeable in comparison with Aquillus’.

Alan noticed Clarkson clenched his teeth together, and thought he might have felt a slight increase in pressure on his aura, but it was barely perceptible. He’d been pushing his boundary more or less constantly for years, so the effort of fighting back the attack didn’t even phase him.

As the time finally ran out, examiner Clarkson stopped the attack, and breathed heavily for a while, until he got a hold of himself.

“Well, that’s what I call passing with flying colors,” Clarkson commented eventually. “Here’s the list of exercises, choose one.”

Clarkson took a breather while Alan looked through the list. He quickly found what he was looking for. “I’ll go with the candle test.”

“Very well. The rules are these: use your mana to create a candle sized flame, and keep it going for at least one minute under constant mana bombardment. No tools or aids of any kind are allowed.” Clarkson said, getting ready to go again.

“Oh, and one more thing. Create the flame between the two of us, as close to my aura as you can, please.”

“I can do that,” Alan confirmed.

Clarkson began his mana bombardment anew, and nodded for Alan to begin. Alan quickly created a small flame about halfway between them, and Clarkson turned the hourglass.

About 30 seconds in, sweat pearls began forming on Clarksons forehead. He didn’t say anything, however, and kept the bombardment up for the allotted time. When the time was up, he quickly stopped the bombardment, and heaved for breath.

“Good job, huff, young Moltus, huff. You pass.” He managed to squeeze out.

After the examiner had managed to catch his breath, they both left the examination room, and headed back to the entrance hall with the administrator desks. Alexar was obviously very curious, but refrained from asking until they got to the desk.

“He chose the flame test, passed both tests flawlessly,” Clarkson stated to the administrator, who wrote down the results on the form. Alexar almost broke out in jubilation on the spot, at least it looked like that to Alan, but he managed to rein it in eventually.

“Huff, I’m gonna have to get back into shape, or this kid is gonna take my job soon.” Clarkson jested. Alan refrained from stating that he was aiming significantly higher than an examiner position.

“Very well, the results have been registered.” The administrator stated, then turned to Alan. “Alexander Moltus, you are hereby accepted into the Royal Mage Academy. Before you actually enroll, you will have to sign several papers, which will arrive by mail within a week. After all the paperwork is in order, you will be assigned a room in one of our dormitories, and can come and go as you want. You can set up a study and lecture schedule in cooperation with one of our guidance counsellors, when you feel like you’re ready. The next semester officially begins in august, but you are allowed to jump into any of the basic lectures going now, while advanced lectures and combat courses will mostly be off limits until the beginning of the next semester. If you have any further questions, you can come to me, or any of my colleagues, and we will do our utmost to help you. Have a wonderful day, and we look forward to seeing you here for the next semester, if not earlier.”

After having delivered his emotionless speech, the administrator sat down again, and got back to his work.

Alan and his father quietly exited the building, but once they were outside, Alexar picked Alan up with a mighty roar, laughing happily all the while.

“You did it! You’ll be a mage now! Our legacy is secured! We have to celebrate!”

After having delivered his piece, Alexar put Alan back to the ground, somewhat embarrassed by his own emotional display, especially when a few nearby students snickered in response.

Alan informed Brandon Almer at the smithy the next day about his enrollment, and that he would be quitting the smithy, focusing on his education. The blacksmith seemed genuinely saddened by the fact that he was losing “his most promising assistant yet”, but Alan had always been honest about his ambition, so he could at least not claim to be completely blindsided by the event.

Alan had finished a number of his own projects while working there, mostly variations on his prototype railgun, but they hadn’t really brought much improvement to the design. At least Alan had gotten most of the small design flaws worked out, like imperfections in the metal surfaces, or twists and bends in the rails.

He had also saved up about a hundred silver coins, which equalled a single gold coin, or 10 000 copper coins. Not a fortune by noble standards, but a respectable amount to have earned by himself at his age. He had to spend a few of his silvers on proper writing supplies and a few blank notebooks, but considered it well worth the investment.

The necessary paperwork soon arrived at the Moltus residence, and the whole family sat down around the dinner table the same evening, to discuss the terms of enrollment and be sure they had all the information they needed before Alan signed anything.

“Oh, they actually give me a salary from day one!” Alan exclaimed. “Though I suppose it’s part of the general accommodations, and if I’ll have to buy my own food and supplies, it probably won’t cover much else.” Still, that was better than most american universities, Alan thought.

“This will officially affiliate you with the military forces, and thus you could be ordered to war.” Naida said warily, not happy with the situation.

“We already knew that,” Alexar answered, “all mages serve, one way or another.”

“No, I mean before that. Technically, enrolling at the academy is also a form of enlisting, even though you don’t officially enlist until you graduate as a mage. There is a clause here that states: This means that Alan could theoretically be conscripted immediately after enrollment, should war break out.”

“Hmm.. I’ve not heard about that happening in a while, but I suppose it makes sense.” Alexar said thoughtfully. “But I believe they’ll use this clause within reason, only conscripting those that can actually contribute meaningfully.”

Alexar paused for a short while, considering his next words. “To be honest, mages aren’t universally liked within the City Guard, and I assume this is more or less the same within the military branches. Sure, most mages are very useful, but often also full of themselves to the point that they can be very difficult to work with. In other words, I doubt the armies would demand the conscription of all mages in training, as they would be loath to deal with someone who’s not worth all the extra hassle that comes with dealing with nobility.”

“It’s something to consider,” Alan said neutrally, “but ultimately I’ve already accepted that I’ll be affiliated with the military after graduation, so it doesn’t change much.”

“I suppose not,” Naida sighed.

They took their time reading through the papers, but in the end, none of the clauses were horrifying or completely unreasonable, so Alan ended up signing the necessary documents, and brought them to the academy the next day.

He met the same administrator as last time sitting in the entrance hall, but if he recognized Alan, he showed no sign of it.

“Yes, what can I help you with?” The line was delivered in exactly the same way as their first meeting, which Alan found somewhat unsettling.

“I’m here to deliver the paperwork for my enrollment,” Alan said, holding up the documents.

“Ah, Alexander Moltus, was it?” The face of the administrator actually showed a hint of recognition as he accepted the papers, then he quickly searched through one of his drawers, and pulled out an iron key.

“This is the key to your room, you can see the room number in your introduction documents, here,” the administrator continued, pulling out another sheet from a seemingly random stack of papers, but it had Alan’s name on top, so he apparently had a system in place.

“Your roommate is Gordon Talbot, he enrolled earlier this spring. Here is a map of the campus grounds, with the dormitories here, and most lecture halls relevant for you will be here.“ The administrator gestured to a few buildings on a small map he handed Alan.

“You can find the guidance counsellors here, and they are usually available around noon during weekdays.” Another building, this one marked administration, similar to the building Alan was in at the moment.

“Finally, you’ll have access to a tailor here, from whom you can order the standard robes of the academy, to be fitted to your size.”

“As always, if you have any questions, you can come to me or any of my colleagues, and we will help you to the best of our ability. Welcome to the Royal Mage Academy, Acolyte Alexander.” The sentence was delivered with the same emotional void as all other statements, but Alan still felt himself vibrate with energy.

“Thank you very much, administrator…?” Alan finally remembered that he had never actually gotten the administrator’s name, but the administrator just waved him off and went back to work.

Alan first went to his dorm room, using the map to find the way, and located his room on the second floor, facing a small green area out on the backside of the building. Just before he used his key to open the door, he remembered that it was probably polite to knock first, considering someone else lived here as well.

When no one answered after the third time knocking, Alan unlocked the door and entered. What met him inside was a somewhat confusing sight. The room was about the size of a large bedroom, with two sides with mirroring furniture. A large window was situated in the middle, with a desk and chair on each side. On the left side however, and all the way to a perfect line down the exact middle of the room, a flurry of colors decorated all exposed surfaces. From a large carpet in various colors, to custom curtains in bright orange, embroidered scarves in gold and red, and clothes hanging from every available knob. There was also a rather large amount of jewellery lying in an open box on the left desk.

All in all, the sight reminded him of tales of rich princes making their accommodation more like home. Most of the clothes also had a name embroidered into them, Acolyte Gordon Talbot, which Alan took as an identifying tag, which he supposed was useful.

Alan went to the right side and unloaded his backpack, with its meager content. He had one spare set of clothes, mostly dull gray in color, but he was planning on buying a set of robes anyways. He put the clothes into a thin wardrobe next to the bed. He had three empty notebooks and two sets of writing supplies, which he placed in a drawer in the desk. He put away his latest model of the railgun in the wardrobe, partially covered behind the clothes.

That was it. That was almost everything he owned, apart from a few things left at the family home. A meagre collection of things, but at least he could carry it all around with him. He kept the money purse on his person, then went to get some counselling on his courses, as he was eager to get started on his academy education.

“Hmm… You’ve enrolled rather late in the semester, which means that most of the basic courses have already been through most of the curriculum.” The counsellor, a woman in her forties, studied a catalogue before her. She had introduced herself as Mage Ynes Wyllin, and appeared to genuinely enjoy her work, as she enthusiastically started looking for suitable courses. Alan had decided to simply introduce himself as Alan to everyone on campus, in order to make things simpler for himself.

“Can you ride?” Wyllin asked, looking questioningly at Alan.

“Eh.. ride what?” Alan asked, trying to keep his eyes to himself. The fact was that the woman in front of him had a rather alluring figure, and Alan was ever at war with his own instincts.

Ynes laughed, a beautiful and happy sound, which made Alan feel very lucky that he’d blundered about.

“A horse, dear. Can you ride a horse?” Ynes pinned him with a penetrating gaze.

“Ehh… no.” Alan answered slowly, struggling to concentrate.

“Okay, then I have the following suggestions,” the counsellor continued, seemingly unaware of his internal struggles. “You’ll take riding classes with Mister Rashford on Mondays and Wednesdays, aura training with Mage Gillian on Tuesdays and Fridays, and do self study of the Introduction to Magical Theory on Thursdays. You can borrow the book from our library for free, and since it’s rather massive, don’t worry too much about getting through until the next semester. Does that sound good to you, Alan?”

“That sounds great, thank you very much Mrs Wyllin.” Alan statet, getting up from his chair and accepting the schedule Wyllin had written down for him.

“It’s Miss Wyllin, actually,” the guidance counsellor leaned forward with a predatory smile, exposing a rather sizable cleavage Alan couldn’t help but notice. “Good luck with your riding lessons, Acolyte Alan.” Wylling winked at the last statement, a well practiced move if Alan had ever seen one.

Alan had no idea why he had assumed the mage to be married, but he could recognize dangerous territory when he saw it, so he made his escape as fast as he could, fearing more betrayals from his natural instincts. That woman is dangerous, Alan thought to himself as he escaped the premises.

Alan next went to the tailor, an older woman who Alan guessed was in her late 60s. She was slightly hunched over, but huddled about here and there with surprising speed as Alan entered her assigned quarters in the administration building.

“Hello, dear, are you here for some fitted robes? Oh, I’m Alinda by the way, very nice to meet you, acolyte..?”

“Alan, very nice to meet you too. And yes, I’d like to get some robes fitted.” Alan said, feeling welcome by the woman’s warm hospitality.

“Very well, let’s get started then.” She went about to get some simple tools, and started measuring Alan where he stood.

“Are naming tags a requirement?” Alan asked.

“Oh no, they’re rather rare, to be honest. But we do get a few here and there who want to flaunt their name and ancestry, if they can.” Alin answered bluntly, continuing her work.

“Oh.. good. I don’t want a name tag, please.” Alan said. It would be rather confusing if he introduced himself as Alan, but his name tag said Alexander.

“That’s fine, dear.” The tailor said neutrally, not stopping in her continuous movements.

“There, all done. You’ll get one robe for free, and if you want more, they are 1 silver a piece for acolytes. They are quite a bit more expensive for graduated mages, mind you, so if you have some coins I’d suggest buying a few before you graduate. You can always have them refitted here cheaply.” She added, ushering him towards the exit.

“You can come by and pick the robes up in about a week.” With that, Alan was firmly pushed out the door, leaving him confused at the entrance for a short while until he turned towards the library.

Lending the book was rather quick, as they had a rather large supply of that particular title, apparently, and Alan soon found himself back in his dorm room, sittin at his desk and reading through the first chapter of the Introduction to Magical Theory.

It was closing in on evening when Alan heard steps and voices outside his room. He had to admit to himself he was rather looking forward to meeting his roommate, and turned to the door expectantly.

A key turned about in the lock, then the door opened to reveal a teenage boy clad in the traditional red robes of the academy, with just a few added personal touches, considering of several rings with colorful stones, a gold and orange scarf hanging loosely about his neck, and a belt around his mid with a buckle seemingly made of gold. The boy was slightly shorter than Alan, but with a much leaner build, which Alan contributed to his guess that he probably hadn’t worked a few years in a smithy. He had long, smooth, brown hair, flowing down his back, and he held himself almost regally and with an expression like he knew everything there was to know, and that nothing could surprise him.

The image quickly fell apart when he quite literally jumped backwards with a high pitched squeal as he spotted Alan in his room, apparently not having noticed that the door was actually unlocked as he turned his key.

“An intruder! A thief! A..” His words died in his throat as he collected himself, and tried to rebuild a modicum of his previous regal posture.

“Hello, my name is Alan, and I’ve been assigned to this room, I assume you are my roommate, Gordon Talbot?” Alan introduced himself, his assumption immediately confirmed as he spotted the Acolyte Gordon Talbot name tag on the robe’s left chest.

“Ah.. .” Gordon took another moment to get a hold of himself, before entering and taking Alan’s extended hand, though not without eyeing it sceptically first.

“My reputation precedes me, I see. Very nice to meet you Alan. Very nice indeed.” Gordon’s handshake was only one step above shaking about a dead fish, but Alan refrained from commenting.

“And of what House are you, If I may be so bold?” Gordon asked, clearly expectant.

“Of house Moltus.” Alan answered, neutrally.

“Oh, I see. I can’t seem to remember ever having heard of House Moltus, is it perhaps a lesse… ehm, local House?”

“I suppose it is,” Alan answered, uncertainly. “We don’t really have a lot of achievements to our name, my father is in the city guard, and my mother is a merchant's daughter, so I guess you could call it a local House, sure.” Alan answered, not in the least bit worried about not being from a well known and reputable House.

Not that Alan had ever heard of House Talbot, though if he’d paid attention in Noble History classes that might have changed things. He’d just never know now.

“Oh… how.. Interesting.” Gordon answered, clearly working hard to hide his disappointment.

“I ehh.. I was about to go eat supper..” Gordon said, as he tried to discreetly close and put away his jewelry box. I’m not gonna steal your jewelry, princess, alan thought, but didn’t comment.

“Do you, ehh.. Know how to get there on your own?” Gordon asked carefully.

“I have a map, I’m sure I’ll figure it out.” Alan answered, noncommittally.

“Great, brilliant. I guess I’ll see you in the evening then.” Gordon retreated with haste, turning to close and lock the door behind him, until he apparently remembered that was not necessary, then hurried away.

“Interesting indeed,” Alan muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. With some of his excitement snuffed out by the meeting with his roommate, Alan calmly exited his room, locked the door behind him, then made his own way towards the cantina.

Alan found a secluded spot in the cantina, and sat down to eat his dinner. It was rather bland, but he’d had a lot worse, and it was certainly filling.

He was back to one of his more dreaded situations, socialising and making friends in a completely new environment. In his previous life he’d usually stumbled or blundered into random situations, making friends through happenstance more than following a plan or strategy. He felt like he’d lost an important opportunity with his roommate being who he was, but reminded himself that he couldn’t write off a potential friendship with Gordon just yet. There usually was more to people than first impressions indicated.

Alan had, by circumstance more than anything, gotten a table at one of the far ends of the cantine, and sitting with his back against the wall, he had a good view of the other tables and students. He picked out Gordon rather quickly, from his colorful apparel, sitting with a mixed group of people. Gordon seemed to be in the middle of a grand retelling of some adventure, and the group of friends seemed to listen halfheartedly, as they consumed their food.

Looking around to see if he spotted anyone else he knew, or knew of, he found Catherine in the middle of what looked like a closely knit group of friends, all girls of about Catherine’s age, give or take a few years. Alan was glad at first, happy that Catherine had taken his advice to heart, and made an effort to socialize. But as he studied Catherine’s face, he found that her participation in the group conversation seemed somewhat strained and forced, and she mostly picked at her food with disinterest.

An angry glare from another girl in the group interrupted Alan's thoughts when he finally noticed it, and he quickly lowered his eyes and focused on his meal. He retreated quietly to his dorm after finishing his meal, not finding anyone else he knew from before in the crowds around him.

Alan got up early the next day, and noticed that Gordon’s bed was empty. He’d not come back the previous evening, at least not before Alan had fallen asleep, but he didn’t worry too much. He had no idea about Gordon’s habits, so he quickly put it out of his mind.

It was a Tuesday, so that meant aura training with Mage Gillian. The lectures usually started early, and lasted until noon, according to one of the information pamphlets. After noon, the locations for the lectures would usually remain open, so students could continue to work on their own or in groups, but the lecturer would be done for the day, focusing on other tasks.

Alan met up early at the assigned room, and found himself in a large indoor space, with soft mats covering the floor and stands on one side, somewhat similar to what highschool gym classes would be held in.

There were a few people milling about in small groups, but nothing organized yet. Alan took a seat at the stands, and took out his magical theory introduction book from his bag while waiting.

Acolytes kept coming as time went by, and when Mage Gillian entered, Alan guessed there were somewhere close to fifty acolytes present. Gillian was a tall woman dressed in a fiery red robe, close but not quite the same color as the traditional red garbs of the academy. Her hair perfectly matched the color of her robes, which Alan assumed to be on purpose.

“Allright acolytes, you know what to do. Form up in pairs, and begin practicing, and I’ll come around to guide you individually as needed.” Gillian spoke in a clear voice.

Alan left his seating on the stands, put his book away in his bag, and walked out onto the mats looking for another person not already paired up.

He found a boy looking about as lost and confused as Alan felt, and approached him.

“Hello, I’m Alan, and I’m new here. Would you like to pair up?” Alan asked directly.

“Oh, ehh, hey Alan, I’m Cal.” The boy was about Alan’s height, looking a few years older, with wild but short brown hair, with broad shoulders, a sturdy looking body and a tanned complexion, hinting of much work out in the sun. “I’m not sure we can pair up, though. We’ll have to ask Gillian for help.”

Alan didn’t really understand, but wasn’t expecting to either, so he just waited patiently for Gillian to notice Cal’s hand in the air trying to garner her attention.

“Hello, boys, what do you need help with?” Gillian showed up with a friendly smile. “Oh, you are new here, aren’t you? I’m Gillian, nice to meet you.” She extended a hand towards Alan, which he quickly shook.

“I’m Alan, and yes, I’m new. Just enrolled yesterday, in fact, so I’m kinda lost right now. Mage Wyllin advised me to join up with this class, so here I am.” Alan stated.

“Ah, how nice.” Gillian’s smile was warm and welcoming. “Well, we’re practicing something called mana bombardment, exactly the same as you had to endure during the aptitude test. Are you familiar with it?”

“Yes, intimately, though I’ve never managed to do it on my own.” Alan answered honestly.

“Yes, I guessed as much. It’s quite a common practice method among the houses, though there are naturally variations on this.” Gillian then turned to Cal. “Cal, you’re not yet proficient with the mana bombardment method yet, correct?”

“That’s correct,” Cal answered, with a tinge of embarrassment visible.

“Then I’ll take you both through it now, and hopefully one of you will manage it well enough that you can both practice.” Gillian continued, sitting down on the mats, and inviting both acolytes to do the same.

“Allright, now both of you close your eyes and focus on your aura.”

Alan closed his eyes and did as instructed, focusing on using his aura to get a feel on what was around him. This was nothing new to Alan, so he quickly managed to orient himself, and noted the position of Cal well inside the limits of his aura, and Gillian at the very edge of it.

“Now I want you to try to differentiate where you have complete control of your own mana within your aura, and where you don’t. My own aura should just about reach the both of you, so try and see if you can identify the edge of it.” Gillian guided.

Alan decided to take things quite literally, by trying to create a small fire in the air, both to his left and to his right. As he expected, to his right, he managed to create it, while to his left, he found no purchase when he tried to convert the mana into fire.

“Good initiative Alan, though you don’t need to go that far.” Gillian said, voice warm and soothing. “Try to separate your process of creating fire into two processes, one which is taking control of the mana you need, and the second actually converting said mana into fire. You should feel that something is stopping you at the first stage, fighting you for control of the mana available.”

Alan tried to follow exactly what Gillian said, but didn’t manage to separate his process into the steps she described. After a short while of trying and failing, Alan had a realisation of a different kind.

He usually kept up a constant mana pressure at the border of his aura, as a way of continuously working on expanding its reach. His understanding now, however, told him that this method should not be feasible when his aura intersected another, as he should not be able to control the mana within the intersection.

He realised that he’d been doing the mana pressure for so long that it’d become more or less an unconscious exercise, and that he didn’t actually think much about it at all anymore. When he decided to focus on the task consciously, he noticed that he wasn’t actually putting pressure in the part of his aura that he knew intersected with Gillian, which matched well with the theory.

His next idea was to create an even mana pressure throughout his entire aura, which was actually some of the first exercises he had thought off to expand his aura, but that was long before he had the mana pool necessary for such an activity. Now, however, he could easily do it with lots to spare, so he did exactly that.

As Alan flooded his own aura with mana, he noticed large sections of it that wouldn’t fill, no matter how much he tried. He had found a viable way of detecting and discerning where his own aura intersected with others. Alan felt no small amount of pride well up inside himself at the notion.

“I think I’ve found it,” Alan stated, not completely managing to hide his satisfaction.

“Indeed you have, Alan, very good.” Gillian complimented him, which only served to fuel Alan’s feeling of pride further.

“Now, focus on the edge of my aura, and try to enforce control of your mana just inside the edge of my own aura.” Gillian guided on.

Alan went about the task with an enthusiastic grin. He continued to use his mana pressure method to figure out exactly where the border was, and then dropped the mana pressure everywhere else in favor of working on the border. He gathered mana into a dense formation, choosing to form it as a speartip, and then slowly pushed the mana into the barrier, working as best he could to keep control of it. To his delight, he felt the barrier give slightly from the pressure, and he gained ground.

“Well done, Alan!” Gillian exclaimed, with genuine happiness in her voice. “That was impressively fast!”

Alan, however, was left confused. “I was told that this kind of aura control is best described as instinctual, and that I had to trick my instincts into hating the person who’s aura I wanted to invade, in order for it to work.” Alan stated, confused by the fact that he’d managed it in a completely different way.

“Ah, yes, that’s a common misconception,” Gillian answered, quickly falling into lecturer mode. “The reason most experienced mages would tell you this, is because that is a much more effective way of doing mana bombardment, even if it isn’t the only way. This is because of the fact that if you manage to trick your instincts into believing your opponent is a mortal enemy, you will instinctively start bombarding them with mana, for as long as you can keep it up.” Gillian paused, to let the acolytes catch up.

“The reason this is considered so much more efficient, is because you can consciously control mana at the same time, thus working in tandem with your instincts to fight an opponent for control of the mana in the intersection.”

“Most accomplished mages have this instinct override so well under control that it doesn’t require much of them at all, and so they get a whole lot more out of the bombardment, and can focus on other things instead while keeping it up.” Gillian finished.

“So, now that you know how to do mana bombardment, Alan, you can pair up with Cal here and train to become better at it. And as you are well aware, it is an excellent training method for Cal as well. Hop, hop, get to it!” Gillian finally said, before walking away towards other acolytes needing help.

Alan turned to Cal, seeing this disappointment in his eyes.

“Hey, don’t worry, Cal, you’ll get there eventually.”

Alan focused on his newfound method for detecting auras intersecting with his own, and quickly found a thin sliver of an aura, barely extending 30 centimeters outside of Cal’s body. That explained quite a bit about how new Cal was to his magic, or at least that he’d lacked a proper teacher for a long time.

Cal didn’t answer, just looking at Alan focusing in preparation for the bombardment. Alan started by slowly probing his defenses, and found that it took very little effort to gain ground against his barrier, insignificant compared to Gillian's aura.

Alan formed his mana into a few globes here and there around Cal’s aura, and started pushing slowly against him, and probe his defences. Cal kept quiet and fought back to the best of his ability, Alan gauged.

As he kept up the assault, Alan understood better why Aquillus would dismiss this as a viable solution on its own out of hand. When the two of them had practiced, the bombardment had been evenly distributed across Alan’s entire aura, and Aquillus mostly looked bored while he kept it up. What Alan was doing, however, demanded most of his attention, and he was only directing bombardments at a few separate points simultaneously. The difference between that and assaulting the entire aura was immense.

Alan assumed he’d become a lot more proficient over time, however, and there was one benefit to the method; concentrating a large amount of force in a small area. The instinctual method seemed to always distribute bombardment evenly, while this method allowed Alan to amass however much mana he wanted at as dense a formation as he could, concentrating it all in a single vector of attack. It didn’t really matter though, because that could still be achieved while using the instinctive method simultaneously, so it was still objectively a better method.

Alan quickly found out why they had mats on the floor, since what Cal lacked in experience, he was dead set on making up for with hard work. Thus, instead of calling for a break when he needed it, he suddenly fainted from the mana drain, much in the same way Alan had done in his first meeting with mana bombardment.

Gillian quickly ran over to the pair. “What happened, Alan?”

“I’m sorry, Gillian, I didn’t know when to stop,” Alan said, feeling somewhat guilty for his unconscious opponent. “I’m not sure Cal wanted me to stop though,” he added as an afterthought.

Gillian eyed him with a suspicious glare. “I thought you’d be kinder to him, but perhaps I misjudged you.”

The accusatory voice stung Alan. “I’m sorry, I never meant to make him faint.” Alan said, uncertainly. “But with all due respect, Mage Gillian, I don’t think kindness is the most efficient way to help him improve.”

Gillian relented in her glare, a sadness overcoming her instead. “I know, acolyte, I know. I just sometimes wish the best training method would not always equate to the most efficient training method in everyone’s mind.” She finished her sentence with a sigh, picking up Cal in a princess carry like he only weighed as much as a small child, which took Alan by surprise.

“I’ll take him to the infirmary. Try to be a bit more careful next time, Alan, please?” Gillian asked Alan pleadingly, before moving towards the exit when Alan nodded in agreement.

Alan watched Gillian leave, lost for words. He felt a lot worse about what he had done after Gillian had reprimanded him, but he held fast to the fact that it was a very efficient training method.

It seemed Gillian leaving signalled an end of the other practicing sessions, and the other acolytes started streaming out as well.

A few passed by a bit closer to Alan, and gave Alan some scathing remarks in passing. “Way to go, picking on the weakest guy.” “Good job, bully”.

Ashamed, Alan lowered his head and followed the other acolytes out of the gym.

Alan sat at his desk reading, when Gordon entered later the same day.

“Hello, Gordon,” Alan greeted him, then went back to his book.

“Good afternoon, Alan,” Gordon replied, hesitating about something, before apparently taking courage to himself and continuing. “I am loath to put stock in rumour, so I’d like to ask you directly. Did you bully someone today, in the basic aura training lecture?”

That spread quick, Alan thought to himself. “No, it was a misunderstanding. I was practicing with Cal, and he didn’t inform me that he wanted a break, so I assumed he relished the challenge, and I didn’t notice early enough that he was on the brink of losing consciousness.” Alan explained exactly the way he had experienced it.

“Ok…” Gordon said, eventually. “Ok, I believe you. Just be careful, okay? Campus is a small and tight knitted society, and rumours spread quickly.” Gordon added, and started changing out of his colorful apparel, into equally colorful clothes which Alan didn’t bother trying to tell apart.

“Got it, Gord.” Alan answered, half a mind in his book.

He heard Gordon stop for a moment, and reprimanded himself for the unnecessary familiarity he had displayed, as it could easily be misunderstood. Gordon didn’t make a scene about it, however, so Alan assumed it was okay.

When dinner time came about, Alan found himself at the same table as last time, feeling somewhat uncomfortable at the few unkind stares directed his way. It was obvious that the rumours had spread, and possibly been embellished along the way.

Alan stared at his food, not feeling hungry at all, but he knew that was just his feelings trying to take over and control him, so he forced himself to eat, albeit slowly.

“That’s him,” some girl said as a group entered in front of Alan, but he didn’t bother to look up.

“Hmm?”

“That’s the guy that stared at us yesterday.”

Alan did his best to ignore the chatter, as the group had paused seemingly to discuss him.

“They all stare, Lia.” Catherine’s voice sounded out, awaking Alan from his stupor. He looked up, and in front of him were the tight knit group of girls he’d spotted yesterday, with Catherine in the center, with a distant and disinterested look, similar to the day before.

“He’s staring again, let’s go.”

“Mhm..”

“I heard he’s a bully. That he beat up a kid in aura class just for looking at him. Even Gillian got angry, and she never gets angry.” Another girl said.

“Who did he be-” Catherine finally looked up and towards Alan, and her whole expression changed. “Alan!”

Catherine quickly broke free from the group of girls, much to their surprise, and hurried over to Alan’s table. “I’ve never seen her get excited before,” one of the girls muttered, “not even about that foreign royalty guy.” Catherine ignored their remarks completely.

“You made it! Finally!” Catherine exclaimed, as she sat down opposite to Alan.

“You sure took your sweet time, though,” the girl said with a smug smile.

“Sure, Cat, I’m not quite done with my Age Faster spell, but I’ll be sure to tell you the moment it’s ready,” Alan answered sarcastically, but he couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on his face.

The rest of the girls in the group seemed to have decided to follow their centerpiece, after acquiring some food. One of them slid a plate in front of Catherine, and she absentmindedly thanked her as she started eating. The table quickly filled up after that, and Alan found himself sharing the center of attention with Catherine, much to his dismay, as most of the looks the other girls gave were not of the welcoming kind.

“So, what’s this I hear about you bullying people, hmm?” Catherine asked as she ate.

“It’s all a misunderstanding,” Alan stated, and repeated his explanation once again.

“Wait, so Cal decided to tire himself out completely, and now everyone is blaming you for bullying him? That’s hilarious, well done Alan.” Catherine remarked, accompanied by poorly hidden mirth at his situation.

“Yea, I know. Should have handled it better.” Alan admitted.

“Anyways, introductions are in order,” Catherine switched tracks. “Alan, this is Lia” Catherine hinted to the girl to her right, a girl looking a few years older than Catherine, with long, curly flaming red hair and an exceptionally alluring- Right, enough of that, Alan reprimanded himself, and quickly nodded towards Lia, who gave a barely perceptible nod back. “This is Hope,” Catherine continued, this time gesturing to the girl on her left, a blonde haired girl with a fair complexion and a seemingly more approachable attitude. “That is Rose,” a tall girl to Alan’s left, with brown hair and large spectacles. “And finally, that is Sophia”, the girl was another brunette, but to Alan’s horror, her face was almost the spitting image of his own daughter Emily, and so he immediately decided not to look at Sophia if he could avoid it. Alan had more than enough trouble handling his body’s natural instincts, he did not want to drag fatherly instincts into his internal war as well.

“And girls, this is Alan, a good friend of mine, who happens to owe me a lot of favors,” Catherine said with a shrewd smile, “so if you need help with anything, you know who to bother, ladies.”

A series of chuckles answered Catherine’s exclamation, while Alan sighed loudly in response.

“So, Alan,” Lia began, “how do you know Lady Storm?”

“I’ve never met this woman before.” Alan answered quickly.

“Are you calling her a liar?” Gasps were heard around the table.

“Perpetual.”

“That’s preposterous! Accusing a dignified lady like that, you should be ashamed!” Lia said, apparently quite serious.

Catherine worked hard on keeping up a mask of utter horror at Alan’s words, but her facade soon fell apart, and she cracked up with laughter at the exchange, to Lia’s confusion.

“Don’t worry, Lia, he might not be entirely off the mark with those accusations.” Catherine added.

“But.. what? Why would you… I don’t understand.” Lia looked back and forth between Alan and Catherine. “Are you two a…. Thing?” Lia eventually asked, still confused.

“What? No!” Catherine started, and Alan continued, unable to resist the opportunity; “Nonono, Catherine’s half wood elf, they don’t do things.”

The response earned him a hard glare from Catherine, but she couldn’t hold back the giggles completely.

“I give up, you two are hopeless!” Lia exclaimed, choosing to focus on her food instead.

Catherine and Alan spent the rest of the relatively short supper to exchange quipps and accusations towards each other, which improved Alan’s mood immensely, but soon Catherine excused herself and said she had projects waiting, and her entourage quickly followed suit.

Alan was still in a very good mood when he entered his room, and sat down to continue with his self studies.

Gordon soon entered in a hurry. “You’ve been holding out on me, good Sir. You didn’t tell me you were familiar with the Silent Storm!”.

“The what?” Alan began, but suddenly remembered Catherine had informed him of her acquired moniker. “Oh, right, Catherine. Sure, I know her. What about it?”

“What about it, he asks casually,” Gordon imitated, “She’s only the most sought after Lady in the entire academy.” Gordon moved as if in a play, continuing with a narrator voice. “Imagine conquering the Ice Queen herself, being the prince who finally manages to heat up her frozen heart, and make it beat once more.” He moved and gesticulated as if in a play written by Shakespear, but then suddenly stopped and turned back to Alan. “And now you’re telling me you’re already familiar with her, on good enough terms to make her laugh repeatedly at your jokes. You have some explanations to do, young man.”

“Ok Romeo, look,” Alan began, as he turned away from his book. “She doesn’t want to be conquered, alright? Just let it go.”

“Ah, but there is a falsehood of proportions, mister. All fair maidens want to be conquered, they just don’t know it yet.” Gordon retorted.

“Just, ugh, just trust me on this one, okay? She does not want your advances.”

“You’re just trying to keep her to yourself, you…., ah I can’t even come up with a proper noun describing your vile and unsportsmanlike behaviour.”

“Whatever..” Alan eventually said, and turned back to his book, his good mood only slightly spoiled by the conversation.