“You are right, I can not make that decision for you, and the opposite is also. If you want to learn magic, it will not be through me. You will have to find somebody else to teach you.”

Now Magnus knew how he should feel, angry! That is why without giving it a second thought, he gave into that emotion and opened his big mouth. “Just because you got hurt by magic does not mean it is true for everybody else. So what, you had a bad run-in with it then tripped and fell, that does not mean you should simply give up and quit right then and there! It would be an injustice not only to yourself but for everybody else that is counting on you, and that depends on you! And know this, you are taking the cowardly path, it is that plain and simple!”

Immediately Magnus knew he made a blunder. What he had seemed to have forgotten was that he was not speaking to any old lady, but a woman who grasped magic. To make matters even worse was that when he had her break that spell, he had awoken old forgotten muscles that haven't been used in years.

Now with that feeling fresh in her memory, those old forgotten muscles flexed themselves unknowingly and unconsciously. The outcome was plain and simple. Magic billowed off of the Matron in waves that even with only his inadequate mortal senses, Magnus could perceive the power radiating off the Matron.

Indeed he had awoken a sleeping dragon!

As the very air shook and the ground creaked and groaned, the Matron spoke up with wrath clear on her old wrinkled face. “You are truly a self-entitled, pompous little brat! Do you think that you can come here, insult ME, and expect me to do whatever YOU wish?”

At that rhetorical question, the Matron’s eyes bore into Magnus with relentless aggression, “Do not think for a single second you can waltz in here and do as you please, boy! I was not a senior witch of the Coven of the Crystal Flower just to be taken lightly by a snotty little brat like you that has not even grown a single hair on his chin. I am not somebody to be trifled with and especially not by the like you that is filled with so much hubristic and blustering self-importance.”

As the Matron relentless chewed into him, Magnus stood rigidly and straight. He did not let her words affect him, nor did he cower underneath her power. He did not know if it was because of idiocy or just as the Matron said, arrogance, that he did not step down because he had the gall to speak back to the very cross witch.

A part of him was expecting the Matron to throw a hex or curse at him, but thanks to his audacity, he plowed right ahead.

“Yes, you may be right about me, Matron and all that you have said might be true, but I still speak the truth, and I stand behind it, firmly. Magic is a tool, plain and simple! It does not bring pain or suffering, nor does it bring joy or happiness; it is only through human hands that all that can be done, not by magic.”

The Matron shook her head as she seemed to calm down a bit and said. “Truly, the words of the ignorant who know nothing!” Then the Matron chuckled as she laughed at some inside joke, then she faced Magnus head-on, “mark my words boy and remember them for all eternity, magic is a cruel mistress!”

“Please, Matron, let me make that choice!” Magnus said in a sincere voice.

The Matron vigorously shook her head and said, “No, I… I ca- can not do that.”

“Matron,” Magus said as the plea was clear in his tone. “I want the same thing you want to help this orphanage. I do not want to learn magic just for the sake of it, but to save the orphanage and all the kids it provides for.”

The Matron was silent for a long time, contemplating her decision over and over again. It was clear to Magnus that this was his final chance to change her mind, but it was clear that the past wounds cut too deep.

That is why Magnus decided to go for the middle ground, “Matron, I am not asking you to teach me how to cast spells or how to make magical items. I just want you to teach me the very basic so that I could get an idea of magic, and we can go from there.”

The Matron looked at Magnus as if she was prying off all his secrets. Then she said one word that slip a smile across his face. “Fine!”

Magnus wanted to jump up for joy, scream in excitement, and do a small dance. However, he made sure to keep his elation bottled up; he could do whatever he wanted to do inside his room.

Right now, he must show the Matron she made the right choice in accepting him as a student.

So Magnus bowed his head slightly and said, “Thank you!” to show his appreciation. Then he asked in a tentative voice, “when will my lessons begin?”

“Tomorrow,” the simply Matron replied. Magnus could see how much it bugged to be teaching him something she must have sworn off long ago, and for that, Magnus’s appreciation towards her soared all the much higher. It takes a true individual to do something that they hate solely to help others.

Once more, Magnus stated his gratitude then turned around and walked out of the room, however, the voice of the Matron made him give pause as he stood at the door with his hands at the handle of the doorknob.

“Are you forgetting something?”

Magnus turned around to face the Matron with confusion written all over his face. When he saw where her hand was pointed at, recognition blossomed on his face. All the young thief could say was, “Oh,” as he blushed in shame. How in god’s name did he totally forget about the one thing he came here for, the priest’s holy book.

“Oh, indeed,” the Matron said in amusement as Magnus made his way back to her desk.

Magnus blushed even deeper at the Matron’s remark, but he kept his attention on what secrets the holy book held. The first thing that Magnus found out was that this holy book was a hallow thing, literally. When he looked inside, he saw that it was a hollow book that hid items inside.

The first thing that caught his eye was a small booklet. Immediately he knew what it was; there was only one thing that came in this format, a technique. With unconcealed excitement, Magnus took out the technique from the secret compartment and held it up in the light.

[Unique Exercise Technique: Mental Arithmetic]

This was a first for him; the only sort of techniques he ran into was basic, so he had no clue what a unique technique was. That is why he turned the booklet over to the Matron and asked her, “What is a unique technique?”

The Matron glanced at it with disinterest and said, “Well, didn’t I say there were more advanced and rarer techniques out there?”

Magnus nodded his head; he remembers very well when she dropped that soul-crushing news on to him that his basic techniques were the lowest of the low. It sapped all the excitement and glee out of him in one fell swoop and made him look at his techniques in a disparaging mood.

“Well, a unique technique is twice as rare as a basic technique,” the Matron said as she handed back Magnus the small booklet. Then added, “And if you must know the rarity ranking it is; Basic, Primitive, Unique, Rare, Legendary, Mystical, Divine, Ancient, Primordial, and Eternal.”

Magnus looked down at the unique technique in his hands. He did not know whether to cry out or scream as once more, the Matron destroyed his excitement in one fell swoop. The unique technique just looked bland when he heard about the more formidable and rarer technique out there. Plus, he did not even want to mention his basic techniques, they looked absolutely worthless with no value at all.

No wonder there is a saying-- ignorance is bliss, Magnus couldn’t agree with it any more than right now!

In his dumbfounded state, the Matron woke him up from it as she said, “Could you stop gazing around like an idiot, boy, and take out the next object inside the book.”

“Oh, yes,” Magnus said with a sigh of defeat, he couldn’t blame the Matron for imparting knowledge on him. Just the day before he was moaning about how little he knew about the world of practitioners, now he got his wish and learned a little bit more about the world of magic users.

Anyway, the next thing he took out was a tome that which was underneath the technique and written in bold letters in the front of it was;

[Cantrip Spell: Persuasion]

Magnus just couldn’t believe it. Every time he has a chat with the Matron, he is in for a surprise. No matter what, it is like he either has to have his mind blown away, or he needs to learn how small he is inside the big, wide world.

Right in his hands is the thing he wished for, and without further ado, he could go ahead and check off a box in his itinerary list just like that.

Magnus’s amazement was just too much, and he had to double-check it with somebody else that he wasn’t dreaming. That is why he asked the Matron, “Matron, i-...is this a spell?”

“Yes, that is a real actual spell tome,” the Matron said, and before Magnus could ask what the hell did that mean, the Matron added. “That means the tome has everything about that spell so that you can learn it.”

With her explanation, all of his worry and bafflement all disappear, but then the Matron went on and said, “Though I do not think you can learn it.”

“Why?” Magnus asked, confused, and a bit wound at her underestimating him.

“Here, let me show you,” the Matron said as she held out her hands, waiting for the book.

Magnus gave it to her, curious with her reasoning.

The Matron skimmed over the book clearly looking for something until she stopped at a page, she pointed at a line and showed it to Magnus. He read it, and it said, “Psychic Elemental Affinity Required!”

Magnus looked up from the tome and asked, “What does that mean?”

“That means you need the psychic element,” the Matron said as if she was explaining to an idiot.

Magnus rolled his eyes, “I can read Matron. What I meant was, what does it mean, mean? You know!”

“I do not know what mean, mean is, but if you want me to explain it in detail, I could.”

Magnus could tell she was playing with him, but he is the one asking, so he had to play along. “Fine, could you please explain it to me in detail, Matron.”

“Sure, what that means is that every spell except for neutral spells requires a certain element(s). If you do not have the required element, you can’t cast it.”

“Okay, I get that,” Magnus said, “but how do you know I do not have the required element?”

“Your hair and eyes give you away,” the Matron said.

Magnus touched his curly azure-colored hair, which was a messy tangle and asked, “What does that have to do with anything?”

The Matron spread her hand out to the sides and said, “Everything, your highest affinity manifest in your eyes and hair. So your azure-colored hair shows that you have water affinity, and your violet-colored eyes show you have a lightning affinity. Though keep in mind, it does not give you the full picture.”

“What does that mean?” Magnus asked as he tried to rearrange his hair in a more orderly fashion since he developed a bit of fondness of it. Before he never liked it, thanks to years of negligence on the old host’s part, the thing was a mess, and he never liked it because it reminded him of his old straight, long, black hair which he got from his mother.

Nevertheless, now a great mystery of this world has been unlocked to him; he finally understood why there is a great rainbow of hair and eyes in each individual.

“That means that only your two highest affinities manifest, so you can not tell if you have other affinities unless you have tests done.”

“Where can I get this test done?” Magnus asked, clearly wanting to do it with whatever it entitled.

The Matron chuckled in amusement, “You will have to go to the Guilds to get that done.”

Magnus could see where the Matron found amusement in that. The Guilds don’t ever communicate with the commoners, they live in the Mountaintop detachment from those below. The same could be said of the commoners; they hardly ever go down to have a chat with the slaves in the Mountainbelly.

It was just hilarious to Magnus that all these folks share one mountain, and they somehow found a way yo isolate themselves into their own part.

However, there are exceptions to the rule like guild members and slave overseers, do to circumstances have to live in the mountain that they do not belong.

Still, though Magnus wanted to get those tests down so he asked, “Is there anybody else besides the Guilds that can do the tests?”

“Yes,” the Matron replied, which got Magnus’s hopes up until her next few words spilled out of her mouth. “But you will have to go to other lands and have those ruling powers do that for you.”

Magnus groaned, just traveling to other cities was a danger by itself thanks to whatever is lurking in those mountain valleys. Now to other lands? Ha! Magnus didn’t think anybody in their right mind would be offering passage to it.

Still, the food was right before him in hand’s right, and being told you could not eat did not sit well with Magnus, that is why asked. “What would happen if I take a risk and try to learn it?”

“If you turn out to have the affinity good for you, however, if you do not, then its spell backfire.”

“Is that bad?” Magnus asked, the name was more than informative, so he did need the Matron to explain it.

She smiled as her teeth showed, which were all there and white even with such an advanced age. “Is it bad, huh? Hehehe! The lightest you could get off with is a headache, but the worst ...BOOM!”

“What do you mean by Boom?” Magnus asked as he swallowed down on the lump building in his throat.

“Have you ever seen the sight of those watermelons from the Drifting Archipelago exploding?” The matron asked and not waiting for an answer; she added, “Well, replace that sight with your head. That would be the worst outcome.”

That image that the Matron placed in his mind kept replaying over and over. Now he could say for sure that he had no interest in the spell anymore. Passing it over to the Matron, he said, “I think it is best if you keep this, huh? I believe this should of adequate value for opening that fake holy book and the lessons you are going to give me in magic.”

Magnus did not want that temptation to remain with him at all. It would be best if the Matron burned it or if she could sell it as quickly as she could.

The Matron nodded her head as she took the spell tome from him and said, “That is very smart of you, boy, I think I could sell it for a pretty amount of gold. We could even use that money to get some kids an apprenticeship.”

That was more than acceptable to Magnus, and getting started with their plan right now was a good time. He had a steady stream of gold going, and he would be getting even more when they actually do some work.

Magnus was going to leave right then, but there was one thing bothering him, and it was about that priest he ran into. “Matron, why was that priest so weak? He has a spell at his arsenal and a-okay technique, which was way better than mine. So how come I was able to despatch him that easily?”

“Well, everybody does not have the luck of a Dragon, the destiny of a God, and the karma of an Angel like you do! Most folks do not get their hands on techniques as quickly and as numerous like you. They usually get one technique in their life if they are lucky, and pass it down generation by generation.”

Magnus wanted to snort at that remark, him lucky? As if! If he was like the Matron described, then he would not have been transmigrated into an orphan.

“It is only those part of the ruling class that get their hands on all five techniques. So that is why he was physically weak; he was only mentally strong.”