Breakfast was much the same as the day before, delicious and tense. Jack’s three companions were still constantly at odd ends with each other and he had no idea why. Each of them seemed to have multiple loyalties that overlapped one another and none of them was willing to explain.

It didn’t help that each of them was around at someone’s orders. At least Aster was pleasant to be around. She tried her best to help set up and clear the dishes but was too small to do much.

The bell rang and they headed to class. Professor Fabian was waiting for them when they sat down and got ready. When the bell rang he immediately sprang into full on lecture.

“Can anybody tell me what a spell is, Anybody.” No one answered him this time, but he seemed to expect this and powered on. “A spell is the act of manipulating the power of a sigil through runes to create an effect. It remains true from the simplest effect of moving a pebble to moving a mountain. All spells are the same.”

He placed a cup of water on the lecture, then he went over the chalkboard and wrote the sigil for water with three simple runes that connected to it. “This is Evaporation. It is a simple Water spell that makes water go from liquid to gaseous state. Seems simple enough right?” Many people nodded as they wrote down the spell. His hand glowed blue and Jack could make out hazy shapes before the water turned into Mist.

Fabian crossed his arms in the sign of negation. “Wrong! This is not the spell Evaporation. It is a spell that has an evaporative effect.” Then he drew a similar spell on the board with an Air sigil. “This spell is also called Evaporation. What does this tell you?”

A student raised a hand and was selected. “That mist is both Air and Water by nature?”

“Yes, that is true. This is why I started with the two-component Sigils first, but can anybody think of another way to evaporate the water in the cup.” He waited for a minute but no one responded. A few people had their faces scrunched up in thought. Fabian noticed this and called on a boy in the middle. “Do you know how to evaporate the water in this cup?”

The boy was petrified to be put on the spot. “Ugh, you could get it hot with that Heat sigil you showed us… Professor.”

“Yes, excellent! Any form of fire or heat can be used to evaporate water.” he wrote down a slightly more complicated spell with the Heat sigil. “Since you have given me such fine examples I will put down another. This is Vaporize. It is a Light spell that utilizes focused sunlight to vaporize water.” He wrote down a significantly more complicated spell. It had a structure that Jack had yet to see. At least a dozen interlocking runes were used.

“Does anybody see the pattern yet?” No one answered, loudly. Fabian pressed on. “Everything is connected. Most Magi believe that certain sigils are more powerful than others due to their inherent traits, but see all the different ways one can do a task most believe to be a simple Water cantrip. With enough know-how and ingenuity, one can do anything with any individual sigil. You can turn sand into glass with light, or illuminate a room with Lightning. Anything is possible, do not limit yourself on things like spell forms. As you progress as a Magi, simple spells will become more instinctive and will no longer require runes to focus. Now let's continue where we left off yesterday.”

For the rest of the class, they covered five more sigils. They were Light, Shadow, Sound, Acid, and Force.

The following classes were far less interesting. During basic runes, they skipped the lecture and went straight into Q&A about last night's homework. Apparently, not everyone was thoughtful enough to go to the library, so they came back here to borrow the text. Professor Ferrum was very vocal about how short-sighted that was and wrote out a map to the library on the board.

They covered twenty more basic runes during that class and a pattern was starting to form in Jack’s mind. Each rune had a mix of traits depending on what they actually did. For example, runes that sent a spell In a straight line had a ray built into it and that wasn’t the only pattern he saw. There was some kind of underlying syntax that this class was basically ignoring. It was nothing but rote memorization and premade formulas.

The bell rang and professor Ferrum assigned the homework. Jack had asked Aster about her homework and she told him that Arthur of all people had assisted her. It was still hard to like the little half-pint, but he was happy that Aster had someone to support her.

They bade each other farewell and split off to the next class. Jack and his perpetual shadow headed to his novice Fire class. Everything was set up the same as the day before. One group lined up and blasted at the target while the other waited.

The biggest difference were the results. Almost everyone was able to create a small flame for a couple of seconds, and one person even was able to shoot the target. Okay, shoot was hyperbole. They singed it, barely.

When it was Jack’s turn, he dutifully created a small candle flame for a couple of seconds before extinguishing it. Professor Rhys tried her best to cajole him into ‘performing’ but he held firm on his plan. The lecture was short and uninteresting. No one seemed to really understand what they were doing, so they asked the same questions over and over again. So he just sat back and mentally ran through all the runes he knew so far and tried to make out patterns, Fire amulet in hand.

Next period was a hearty lunch. Everyone enjoyed the meal and even forgot to glare at one another. Jack considered this to be progress.

Novice enchanting class was in the crafting wing. It was a large stone affair that stood apart from any of the other buildings. The rumor was that it blew up, a lot. It opened in the center and had a wing going in each of the cardinal directions. Enchanting was the western wing, so they headed that way till they hit the right classroom.

The room reminded Jack of a wood shop class he took back before he dropped out. There were no chairs. Only a dozen or so sturdy, square tables with a variety of supplies and tools laid upon them. There wasn’t even a lectern, the professor was moving about the room and checking the tables when Jack and Virtus walked in.

“Everyone, pick a station so that we can begin.” Jack let Virtus lead him to a station near a window. The stern guardian reviewed all the tools and materials with disdain before he pulled out his spatial bag and withdrew several newer, cleaner, shinier tools and placed them on the table. Then he reached into his bag and pulled out a pineapple of all things. It had a scratch mark on it’s side that identified it as the great wedgie pineapple. So that’s where it came from.

“Use these for today. We will see about getting you a suitable set for yourself tonight when we head to the commercial district.”

It took a bit for Jack to figure out what he was talking about. Oh, he must be talking about meeting Felix. I guess he must live in the commercial district. He hadn’t bothered to ask where Felix lived due to the fact that he could just contact him directly through their soul scapes if need be, also that was what Casper was for.

The bell rang and the professor started to yell at everyone to settle down and pick a station. This took a bit due to some of the people being unable to see all the tables they could stand in front of.

“Welcome to basic enchantments, my name is Professor Esotericus. Today you are going to create your very first magical item.” There was a murmur and a few gasps in reaction to the news. Jack couldn't blame them. His name was horrible.

“During this semester we are going to cover runic enchantments. Though I guess some of you will be back tomorrow for my mana forging class as well… Anyways the goal for today is to create a personal hand warmer. Everyone grab a metal puck from the main supply table.”

Everyone filed over to a long table full of metal pucks about the size of a palm and some red mana crystals. Jack allowed Virtus to select a puck for him since the guardsman seemed to know a lot about metal. Once people were settled, the professor handed out a wooden plate with a rune cut out of it to everyone.

“Since none of you have ever made an enchantment before, I have provided something of a cheat sheet to assist you in today’s activity. I will only be doing this once. In the future I expect each of you to carve the runes free hand. Now the plate has two interconnected runes on it. These, when carved and infused into a piece of metal will create a slow warming effect. Very useful for staying warm in the winter and long lasting. I want each of you to carve this design into the center of your puck. Once everyone is finished, we can move over to the second phase.”

He demonstrated by carving out the runes on his own puck with a metal knife that glowed in contact with the puck. The demonstration finished, he bade everyone start carving. Jack looked at the tools he had on hand.

He had a few carving knives of various sizes. There was what looked like a more familiar rotating engraver. Since he didn’t want his hand to explode, he left it alone. The other tools were things like clamps and levels, which were not very useful in this situation.

Jack reached for a knife. The runic inscription was focused on the point of the blade, so he thought he could avoid affecting the enchantment if he kept only touching the wooden handle. It worked, sorta. He managed to not suck up the mana but it was like holding his breath the whole time. It took constant focus.

The actual carving was easy. The tracer was so exact that a child could do it. Five minutes later Jack was finished carving the runes. He placed down the knife wearily. Keeping his inner magic vacuum cleaner in check was taxing. Though he felt that he could last longer with practice.

Virtus placed a hand on the puck and closed his eyes. The lines he had just carved, evened out till it was impossible to tell that it had been carved by human hands. That explains why both he and his father seem to be obsessed with metal. It must be their foundation.

“By now you should all be done with the initial carving stage. Now, I want each of you to come up and grab five petty fire crystals. They have all been measured and have a capacity of five spell power. Which is the smallest available unit. This enchantment stays active for one hour per spell force. So to make it useful for a day, you will need all five crystals.”

“Aren’t those expensive or something? Should we really be just grabbing them?” Jack asked Virtus quietly.

Virus snorted in derision. “This class costs an octal to take for most people to take. That could buy the materials for everyone in this class for several years. The throne is paying for your education anyways, so do not worry yourself about these low-grade materials.”

Conscience soothed, Jack plucked up five crystals. They almost instantly fell out of his hand as he attempted to suppress his statement. He could feel the mana in the crystals. Or should they even be called crystals? They felt more like naturally forged mana. This bore further inspection, but he needed to get back to his station with his prize.

“I want everyone to take out the tool that looks like a magnifying glass and place it upon your puck. This is an empowerment lense, and it is the key to modern runic enchantments. In the old days, one was required to bind a compatible sigil in order to empower a magical item. With the lense, mana of any affinity can be added to an item by any Magi. Just push your mana into the handle of the lense until it is full.” He waited a moment for everybody to do this.

Jack just put the lense on the puck, so as not to attract attention, and scrunched his face.

The professor spoke up once all of the lenses were vibrating softly. “Now place a fire crystal on the lense, only one mind you. Then press the button on the base of the handle.” As people did just that, a wave of fire mana and taint swept over the room. To most, this would have felt like a mild heat wave with a little Fire mana mixed in. A light actress against their skin. Jack, on the other hand, pulled all the ambient power like a magnet. Before he could use his new ‘don’t eat everything technique’, he needed a new name, his senses were overwhelmed.