Twenty minutes were to short for Nathan. After the air shuttle raced across the grassland for a few minutes, Nathan's fascination towards magic overcame his emotions, and he started to observe the mana circuits responsible for the levitation. Even though common objects didn't block the ability to see mana, the distance between Nathan and the circuits was a bit too large. He could only discern the rough outline and some, larger patterns. The intricate ones stayed hidden from his sight. Gradually, his body bent forward, his face closer and closer to the ground. Until Terran pushed him slightly.

"You're doing it again Nathan."

Startled, Nathan raised his upper body. He smiled awkwardly.

"I can't help it, don't you want to know how this stuff works?"

"Yeah, sure. But I still don't get why you're trying to see something from so far away. Everyone knows that's impossible."

Nathan shrugged. He didn't plan to tell Terran about his weird ability anytime soon. The episode with the storekeeper in the magic store taught him that the hard way. Terran seemed to be a good friend, but ultimately they knew each other only for a few hours.

"You never know if you don't try."

"Ok, ok, but please look less like a weirdo when you do so," Terran smirked. "You never know when you might have to rely on others. A first impression is important."

"Is this, what they teach the offsprings of nobility?"

Terran laughed loudly. "Pretty much most of it, yes."

While Terran shared a story about his social etiquette teacher, Nathan concentrated on the circuits again instead of listening. Even if he couldn't see the details, maybe it could serve him as a reference somewhere in the future.

When the air shuttle arrived, Nathan was still absorbed in his observations. The sudden jolt nearly threw him off his bench. Terran watched it from the side and sneered at him.

"That's what you get for not listening to me."

A loud voice thundered from the outside, "We have arrived students. Come out and marvel at our wonderful school buildings."

Nathan whispered to Terran, "Are all the teachers here so narcissistic?"

One after the other, they left the airshuttle. Magister Kennen didn't exaggerate, though, the view was indeed marvelous. The air shuttle stopped in front of a small town, surrounded by grasslands to the west and a dense forest in the east. Buildings were scattered across a flat hill, A few, larger ones, had only one story, but most of them had two. Their first floor was surrounded by pillars, which carried a protruding second floor and an elegantly curved gable roof, made from grey tiles. The walls were decorated with carvings of all kinds of symbols related to magic, turning them into a fantastical artwork. Between the buildings were wide and clean roads, that lay in the shadows of big oak trees, that were planted beside them. Behind the town, an enormous castle was dominating the landscape. The huge towers and broad halls were a showcase of the architecture from the past ten centuries. It was obvious, that every generation added new buildings to it, shaping it into a humongous monument to the country's history.

"Dear students, welcome to the Gilsbeck Magic School."

Reveling in the silence of the stunned students, Magister Kennen waited a bit before continuing.

"This little town here is your new home for the next two years. We call it the Apprentice Village. Each of the houses has a meeting room and some basic facilities like showers, bathrooms, a kitchen, etc. on the first floor, as well as ten equally sized residences on the second floor. The buildings without a second level are training and educational facilities, like gyms and libraries."

He made a short pause to make sure, that everyone was following his words.

"Many of the residences will already be occupied by your fellow students, please don't disturb them. Every free residence has a blue label on the door. Make sure to remove those after you chose your new home. The welcoming ceremony will be in three days. Any questions?"

After waiting for a split second, he immediately turned around and entered the air shuttle. When the first student managed to react, it already hovered over the ground and started to gain speed.

The teenagers were dumbfounded.

Terran looked at Nathan. "Guess we'll be searching for a residence then."

"Yeah, let's do that. He said, that some of the smaller buildings are libraries, we should try to get a room close to them."

Terran objected. "Nah, not near the libraries. Let's first take a look at all the facilities, maybe there are some fun ones."

Neither denying nor agreeing, Nathan walked towards the closest building with Terran in tow. Most of the other students were following their example and soon everyone scattered through the town.

"It's really quiet here," Terran remarked, "as if its an extinct ancient city."

"Well, the other people here are all students. They're probably learning or working on something. "Nathan's reply was met him with short laughter from Terran.

"Not everyone is as obsessed as you Nathan" He shook his head. "But maybe they're all at the castle. I wonder what it looks like in there."

"We'll probably see it in three days. I bet there are loads of secret rooms and hallways."

"Maybe. And magical traps and contraptions." Terran agreed.

They arrived at the first facility building and walked through the pillars until they found the entry. A young man was sitting on a bench directly beside it, reading a book.

"Oh, it seems like you found one of your libraries right off the bat."

The young man raised his eyes from the lecture and smiled at the newcomers.

"You're mistaken, this is the aquatorium. A place to train magic related to water control."

"An indoor swimming pool?" Terran asked excitedly.

"Well, some use it like that as well, right."

Terran turned towards Nathan.

"That's it! Let's look for a house near here!"

"You don't even know what other kinds of facilities exist, don't be in such a hurry."

The man interjected. "Maybe I can help you with that. I'm bored anyway."

Nathan and Terran looked at him.

"And you are?" Nathan asked.

"I'm Reginald, one of the research students. We have the doubtful pleasure to supervise these facilities one week each month."

"Hello then, I'm Nathan. What's a research student?"

"Basically a student who stays longer than two years, to do research. Quite a lot of students chose to do so."

Nathan understood. Two years were probably far from enough to become a great magician. Having students stay longer while they do work for the school, was probably a profitable deal for both parties.

"Then can you tell us about the other facilities in this town?"

Terran added, "Especially if there are any close libraries for my friend here."

Reginald laughed.

"Yeah, we have a lot of libraries. The closest is just a few hundred meters farther west. Its focus is... let me think a sec... right, I think it was the one with all the magic theory stuff."

He scratched his chin.

"But that's probably a bit too advanced and boring for you guys."

Terran threw an odd glance at Nathan.

"No, I think it's perfect. Towards the west you said, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't tell you about the other facilities yet."

"Doesn't matter, thanks!" Terran turned around and walked westwards. Nathan chuckled when he heard this conversation, thanked Reginald and followed Terran.

The outer appearance of the library and the aquatorium were very similar. The research student, responsible for the library, was concentrating on a sheet of paper in front of him, writing something down from time to time. When Nathan and Terran arrived, he only lifted his head shortly, acknowledged them with a nod and continued whatever he was doing. Upon entering the building, they were greeted by rows after rows of bookshelves, with only small spaces in-between them. The left corner of the library had a small open area with chairs and tables, but the place was currently empty. Nathan went to the closest shelve, took a random book and read the title.

"Common Applications of the trapezoid link between mana patterns of type 3 and 4"

"Sounds annoying" Terran acted as if he was shivering, then he also got a book from the opposite shelve.

"An analysis of virtually superimposed patterns" he had a disgusted expression, "by the divines, that's even worse! Why would you want to have such a torture chamber near your home?"

Nathan smiled and flipped through his book, before reading a small section of its introduction.

"The shape of the trapezoid allows for an automatized modification of mana flow parameters. That holds true for spell casting applications as well as circuit carving. Not only can the speed of the flow be regulated, depending on the length ratio of opposing sides, non-isosceles trapezoids can also be used to shift patterns and provide a well-researched method for denser pattern packing."

Nathan was hooked. He might not be able to understand many of the more theoretical texts in the book, but he understood, that this book talked about linking different types of pattern together to create a compound effect. Like the ice-shard tornado.

He murmured, "Would be amazing if I could do it."

"Why bother reading the book? A Magister will teach us everything. Don't worry."

"Yes, and they'll probably answer our questions at least as well as Magister Kennen." Nathan said sarcastically.

"Uhh, you have a point there. Still, there's no real use in reading those books if we don't know the basics. You can agree at least to that, right?"

Nathan looked a few pages ahead.

"... with the flow parameters rho and sigma, we can then calculate the absolute impact density by applying a Kroner Integral to formula 14 ..." he stopped reading with an awkward expression on his face.

"See, see. Don't tell me you understand anything of that stuff."

"Guess you're right about that." Nathan put the book back. "But I bet, there are some books for beginners in here somewhere."

"Certainly. Now let's leave this tomb. We saw what we needed to see and need to get a residence. Before the best are taken."

"Magister Kennen said, that all residences are equal, so there shouldn't be any best ones."

"But there are some near a swimming pool and some that aren't!" Terran scolded him.

"Why are you so focused on the aquatorium?"

"Don't you get it? Would you go swimming in your current clothes?"

"Of course not. I swim in shorts."

"See? And now imagine what you'd wear if you were a girl!"

Nathan surrendered.

After scouting the area between both facilities for a while, they knew that there were five residential buildings between the library and the aquatorium. In three of them, no or just a single room was free. Of the other two one had three rooms left and the last one was empty. Nathan and Terran played with the thought of choosing the empty one but decided against it because they deemed it beneficial to have some senior students close to them. After choosing their homes for the next two years, they arranged a time to meet the following day and went to their respective residences. Nathan's room was on the outside wall, with a window showing the forest, which hid the setting sun. With 32 square meters, it was a lot larger than he was used to, but he certainly didn't mind it. The furnishing was rather basic, though. There was a bed, a wardrobe, two bookshelves and a desk with a chair. One corner of the room was covered in dull, black tiles, an area for the more harmless magic experiments. Nathan sat down on the chair and let his eyes wander through his new home. It was the first time in those past view days, where he could really relax. He wouldn't have to go anywhere, no one was after him. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence. Moments later, memories of the airship, his family and Lizzy emerged in his mind. He couldn't rest yet. There was too much to do. Standing up from the chair, he started to walk up and down in the room, muttering to himself.

"What do I know about the airship?"

"It was extremely large, considering the technology I saw at the harbor it should be something that was developed only recently. And it was probably extremely expensive."

"I still remember some parts of the circuits on the rods, maybe I can use that?"

"Right, I lost my consciousness. That shouldn't have happened. There must have been some kind of magic involved, maybe that will give me some clues!"

"Where do I start?"

After pondering for a while, he decided to look for the magical engineering library the next day, to see if he could find records which described an airship, or rods, similar to the one he encountered. Maybe he could get some information about who bought or built that airship. Having so many people from all over the continent gathered at this school, was also a good opportunity to ask, if anyone knew anything about villages that suddenly vanished. Revitalized, Nathan started unpacking his few belongings. He placed his magic tools on the table and the backpack with the rations into the wardrobe. Deciding to get a good night's rest first, he undressed. Looking at the small lump of clothes, he realized that those were all the clothes he owned.

"I shouldn't forget to get some daily necessities, probably."

With a big yawn, he lay down on the soft mattress and covered himself with the blanket. But sleep didn't come easy, only after an hour of tossing and turning, did Nathan finally fell asleep.