Alsante city was smallest of The Seven Great Cities of Southern empire. It was also one that was most to east, closest of them to mountain forests. It was place, where magic practitioners would sell whatever they harvested in their forest raids and traders would buy it for reasonable price and then sell it to other big cities. It was also only city in the east of our empire with magic school. Other great cities also had magic schools, but they were much worse than this one, especially when it came to area soul and spirit refining spells. Other big cities were so big because of their safety and prosperous only because of their land. Big part of magic practitioners would try to stay closer to mountains, since that was where they could get easier money from forest raids. However, ruling families in the west still employed some tier eight and tier nine practitioners, for safety measures against other ruling families.

But Alsante was nothing like those other big cities. It was city of trader and practitioner families, where land owning nobles were not seen too highly. I don't remember much about what I was thinking, when I saw the cobbled streets filled with merchants, trying to sell wine, olive oil, and many other things that did not grow well in these lands so close to the mountains, but were imported from western cities. Silver, gold and even iridium coins were everywhere, making wealth needed for me to study look like a child's pocket money. I already said I don't remember what I was thinking back then, but I remember what I felt like. I was struck with awe. Never before had I seen anything like this city. And therefore at that time I was fascinated with everything I was seeing.

Stone houses which we passed by looked much more beautiful than wooden village houses. I have seen my first stone bridge here and I felt like it was most magical thing to ever exist. Only many years later have I learned about poor areas of city, where houses looked even worse than in my village. Old man Keiran kept me a company, while uncle Jannon left. When I asked about it, old man told me that Jannon went to meet some old friends. That was however not true. Sad truth was that uncle Jannon was trying to sell jewelery he received from my parents and his own magical items. In order to pay tuition for six years, it was necessary to pay thirty nine gold, and even after everything, we only had about twenty six. Uncle managed to sell all items, and this sum raised to thirty four, but he was still five gold short. Five gold coins was certainly not a little of money. For our village it was great sum, and only due to necessity to do so was our village able to collect thirty nine gold once every few years to send children to magic school. Before little Keiran joined the school, it was almost twelve years since they last sent a child to school, as for whole period of eleven years, no child talented enough appeared in the village. Thanks to that, they had enough money to support two children, but after paying for Keiran, they were not willing to part with rest easily. Who knows, maybe, next year, there would be another talent like Keiran, and if they used this money on me, they would not be able to pay for him then. Five gold coins was much smaller sum in the city, however. That was what uncle Jannon counted on. He hoped that he could convince magic school headmaster to find some source of money to pay those remaining five gold. After all, six years old boy who was able to use tier six magic was something rare, that only handful of practitioner families would boast about, and even in these families, it was considered to be not that usual.

Since I had no family background, maybe some minor noble would be interested in supporting my potential, was what uncle was thinking. I would probably have to serve for few years as guard of this noble, but after that, I could return to my village with few gold for my service as well. Those were plans of my uncle. And they were not going to work.

Finally, we came to the end of the street and building of magic academy appeared in front of us. It was collosal building, and we have not even be able to see insanely large area of training grounds and dormitories behind main building from this angle. These lands were surrounded by three meters of stone wall, making magic school to be like another isolated city inside of the city. Of course, both uncle and old man Keiran knew about these areas, but I did not, yet I was already surprised by the size of main building. We entered after waiting for some time near the entrance and filling few papers.

We were forced to wait for good half an hour again before we were allowed to meet headmaster. Headmaster was aging man of golden blonde hair, approaching his later forties, who had reached tier thirteen practitioner rank. There were only few above his rank, tier fourteen and fifteen practitioners. There were also few extraordinary talents, who were between rank fifteen and twenty who were known as indisputable geniuses. And then there was a man named Alaric, called The Wizard of the South, tier twenty six magician, who seized top place among practitioners by a large margin.

While other empires also had their geniuses, the one who was second best after Alaric was The Wizard of the North, and he was only tier twenty three magician who belonged to the Northern Empire. While difference in number of tier seemed to be little, it technically meant that Alaric could probably take on at least ten of such magicians and fight them to draw. And that would only be truth if one did not also take in account that Alaric with forty four thousand soul power had half more soul power than Wizard of North.

The Wizard of the South used to be only tier sixteen magician, which was already considered being genius, but few years ago, something changed and he started to rapidly grow in both soul power and spirit capacity. It was believed by people that he discovered some sort of way to improve his magic powers during one of his raids to the mountains. He however kept these methods secret, and only took single apprentice, who was currently tier nineteen magician. Headmaster could not compare to beasts of that caliber, however, he was still considered powerful, talented and capable magician, in opinions of some people, too capable for such a petty function. While calling position of headmaster petty function, one needs to realize that practitioners who would go out into mountains would manage to earn much more money than those sitting in schools and teaching children, or even organize it, especially when one was skilled enough. Headmaster was however passionate about teaching children, and even though he was headmaster, he would often teach in classes for children of honorable magic practitioner families and nobles. He, as offspring of noble, was not much supportive of other branches of school, but he has acknowledged commoners branch existence to be necessary for proper function of villages near the mountains. Sometimes, weaker stray monster reached those villages, and therefore it was necessary for those villages to have some protection. But that did not mean he would not have these children pay their school fees. "I am sorry but I am not obliged to help you in any way.“ he said, after uncle Jannon asked for help to fund my school education. His school had policy to have children pay money ahead of time, for first six years of studying at least. After that, student could pay additional fees every year, but in order for school finances to stay in plus, he needed to receive full payment in advance from students every year. He would not make exception for a commoner, and there was never need to make exception for children of merchants, nobles, or honorable practitioner families.

"His spirit capacity is already over five hundred and he can even use tier six magic.“ my uncle tried to convince him.

This claim however sparked bit of interest from headmaster. He gave little six years old me look as to measure me, if it could be possibly true.

"Interesting. Boy, could you show me your tier six magic?“ he asked. I was silently listening until this moment, and when I was asked, I politely bowed. "Mister headmaster, I will do as you say. Do you wish to see Fireball or Air Step?“ I asked, trying to be polite. After seeing city and school I wanted to stay here. I did not realise, I would have to stay for many years, without seeing my family or uncle. "Fireball. That will let me get better grasp of your potential. Cast it directly against me, I will measure it myself.“ Face of my uncle went pale with those words. He knew that it would be revealed that my soul power is zero. I casted a fireball. I was bit scared that I would hurt headmaster and anger him but that was pointless fear. He froze the fireball in air with some spell I did not know, stood up and then inspected it closely. "It indeed is tier six [Fireball] but it is somewhat lacking. I would say that it was not properly learned, but after closer inspection, that does not seem to be case.“ he started talking to himself. Then he made the fireball I casted disappear. "What is your soul power, boy? Your uncle did not mention it.“ he asked then. "Mister headmaster, this is little bit of a problem. Actually boy's soul power is zero. For some reason, his soul power was zero when we first measured it two years ago, and stayed same even after we did our best to help him with soul sharpening methods from this wonderful school of yours.“ answered old man Keiran. Headmaster has shown face of disappointment of person who realises that cheap gold item he was offered is not actually made of gold but out of brass. Before he could give us his final decision, four knocks on door were heard. "Enter.“ called headmaster and turned back to me. But his eyes instantly traveled back to door and were frozen solid. After good few moments, he bowed towards black haired man in his thirties, who entered. "Good afternoon headmaster. Did I interrupt you in something important?“ asked the man. "Of... of course not! How could you, master Alaric, The Wizard of the South, ever interrupt me? Nothing I might be doing is as important as your presence here. What an honor for you to personally visit our school.“ said headmaster. He realized no one else in the room recognized who has arrived and therefore tried to point it out to us. With the mention of newcomer being The Wizard of the South, greatest living magician, uncle and old man Keiran both bowed down respectfully towards man. Everyone heard about the man called The Wizard of The South, but most did not know how he looked. Jannon and Keiran were not exception. Headmaster, on the other hand, used to be teacher of class where this extraordinary talent studied, and therefore knew what he looked like. I was not able to bow, because I was surprised. Uncle told me many stories about The Wizard of the South, so I always imagined how he could look like. In my imagination, he was supposed to be a bit muscular guy with fiery red hair like mine, and with many colorful fireballs flying around him in circles. Instead, a man in front of me was thin man with glasses, who looked rather weak. Rather than strongest magician, one would expect him to be ordinary librarian if he were to base his assumption on looks alone. My childish heart felt mix of excitement from meeting legendary hero and disappointment caused by him not looking like a hero at all. "Mister, are you truly The Wizard of the South? You don't look like The Wizard of the South at all.“ as these words escaped me, I wanted to slap myself. Even my childish mind understood what a terrible thing have I said, but it was too late to take it back. "You little...“ started headmaster, but he was interrupted by The Wizard of the South instead. "Headmaster, it's alright, it's just a child.“ he said. Then he looked at me. "And how is The Wizard of the South supposed to look like, little boy?“ he asked with pleasant voice completely lacking any malice or anger. "I... I imagined you to look stronger. Terrifying. With fireballs going in circles around you.“ I told truth, because I had no idea what lie to say to make it better. "Boy, imagine that Wizard of the South you described wanted to go to mountain to hunt some monsters. He would never even meet one, any monster would run away rather than approach him.“ man answered laughing.

"What are you doing here anyway, little boy? Isn't it week too early? I thought students were to be admitted in ten days or so and not now?“ asked man.

"My uncle and old man Keiran are asking headmaster to let me in.“ I answered honestly. "So where is the problem?“ man turned to headmaster. "They don't have enough money. They lack five gold.“ answered headmaster honestly as well. "Five gold is quite the sum. Why do you think headmaster should help you, little boy?“ turned man back to me. There was no evil intent in his question, rather, it felt like he was trying to encourage me to talk. "I can use tier six magic already and my spirit capacity is also more than five hundred mana.“ "What a genius! At his age, that is not usual even among wealthy practitioner families, much less commoners. Just a five gold to shelter such genius, if you won't help him, honored headmaster, I will help him myself.“ said man, a took out five golds. "Honored master Alaric, forgive me, but there is one more problem. You see, boy apparently has soul power of zero.“ Legendary magician looked at me again. In his eyes was look of surprise. But it was not look of disappointment mixed with surprise like one elders gave, but rather one of pure surprise and interest with no other emotions mixed. "Are you sure about that? Zero? Not five, or other small number?“ "I don't know, master Alaric. I have not tested him myself. However, they claim so.“ "In that case bring me soul power measuring crystal of best quality immediately. What are you waiting for? Go! Right now!“ ordered The Wizard of the South. Headmaster resisted only for second, before he reminded himself who is he dealing with. "Is it true, boy? Is your soul power truly zero?“ "Yes, mister, it is. I don't know why. I have been trying to increase it with soul sharpening methods I learned from my uncle for so long, but nothing helped. Will I be never able to become magician?“ I asked and some tears appeared in my eyes. "No, you will certainly become one. If you can use tier six magic already at your age, you would become powerful magician even with no help from now on, but I am certain this school will help you. Don't worry, I will pay this old evil man those five gold.“ he said and then he turned to my uncle. "Your village must be poor if it cannot afford magic school for this talented child. Take this.“ he said, and threw small pouch at them. Inside pouch, there were twelve golden and few silver coins. "We can't accept these money.“ said my uncle, returning pouch. "Keep it. I wish to sponsor this boy bit more than just five golds. I will not pay his whole education for him, but at least, I can do this.“ After headmaster returned with azure crystal of much more beautiful shape than one used in village, he presented it to me. I touched crystal lightly. This time, trying to somehow force more mana into it to fool it would be pointless, since it seemed Wizard of South was interested in this test precisely because my soul power was zero. And, so, once again zero did appear on crystal. "Unbelieveable. Not two, not one, not even half. Pure zero.“ said man with fascination in his expression. "Is there something special about that?“ asked uncle Jannon. "Of course there is something special about that! No human, not even newborn, should have soul force of zero. One? Improbable. Two? Unlikely. Less than five? Uncommon. But zero should be impossible. From my understanding of soul I thought it to be impossible. It means I have been wrong. I have been wrong all along.“ "Does that mean that much for you?“ asked headmaster skeptically. "Of course it does. If my theory of soul is incorrect, it is incomplete. If I understand how is this boy can have zero soul power, I might be able to understand more about soul than I do right now. With that new knowledge, I could make my growth even faster.“ he answered, voice filled with excitement. Then, his face started to show guilt, since he realised how much excited was he about my disability.

"For the boy, it is of course pity. According to what he said, it is impossible to improve. Right?“ he asked my uncle. "Yes, we helped him with soul sharpening for two years, with no results.“ answered Keiran in his stead, since uncle was taken aback how this man was so excited about this terrible problem that has already caused them lot of headache. "Well, boy, would you mind working with me for next few weeks, then? I would like to see this weird state of yours. As a compensation, I will be teaching you myself during those weeks. Headmaster, would you delay his entrance to class by about month? I would like to study his condition... and also teach him for next five weeks.“

I could not believe it. He said he will be teaching me? I will be taught by the strongest living magician? After everything he had done to help us, I had already completely forgotten about poor first impression caused by his looks and I could now barely contain my excitement.

For the first time, having no soul power felt like blessing, rather than curse. "That is not problem. But master Alaric, might I ask you why have you originally came to my magic school?“ asked headmaster, as he remembered, that Wizard of South came here before meeting this weird young boy, that is, me, and therefore he certainly had some other reason to be here. "Oh, I have almost forgotten. I wished to donate eight hundred iridium coins to your school. My disciple plans to take few students in future, and when that time comes, I would like him to be able to pick among best young magicians. Therefore, i wish to donate four hundred to branch of honors, two hundred to branch of generous and two hundred into branch of commons.“ "Our school is very grateful.“ answered headmaster. Since one iridium coin was worth ten gold coins, amount of money was comparable to payment of two hundred commoner students for whole six years, but without drawback of having to take care of food and book expenses of those students. It would certainly improve his school by a lot. This school had currently less than three thousand students, and more than half of them were commoners, yet most of money were received from noble and practitioner families donations, who would have their children in branch of honors, which was therefore most luxurious to appeal for more donations. Solid amount of money also came from branch of generous, where children of merchants and rich land owners of common heritage would study magic. "That solves the problem. Boy, you should give your goodbyes to your father and grandpa. Honored headmaster, after boy is done, send him to me... and before that, arrange room for me in house for guests. Now if you excuse me, I still have some things to do in city, I will be back before the night falls.“ man ordered headmaster before leaving, confusing uncle and old man Keiran for my father and grandfather. After that, I had to say my goodbyes to uncle Jannon and old man Keiran. Uncle told me to be careful, and to always do my best. I had at that time still not realised for how long would I have to stay in this school, yet I cried anyways because I was child. Then headmaster came for me to lead me to master Alaric.

I was lead to room in exquisite house of guests, that stood away from dormitories, room in which Wizard of South would teach me magic over next five weeks, and because of that I was really nervous. "Little brat,“ said headmaster who was one leading me here, before he opened door, "It would be wise of you to know your place. Reason master Alaric is willing to teach you is because your state is really weird. You are like weird animal he had never seen before that he wants to learn about. He is certainly not planning to make you your disciple, so lose all your high hopes.“ he discouraged me. But at that time, i couldn't care less about what this poison tongued old man was saying. When I entered room, The Wizard of the South was already waiting for me. Headmaster closed door behind me and left. "Welcome, boy. “ I did not answer as nervousness finally overcame me. "I had headmaster arrange next room for you. Tomorrow, you should wake up early, we will do some tests to see about your soul. And in afternoon, I could maybe teach you method to slightly speed up growth of your spirit capacity.“ "Also boy, I didn't ask your name before.“ "My name is Aiken, sir.“ I tried to be as polite as possible. "So, Aiken, you can call me teacher Alaric, alright? I seriously am fed up with all those sirs, masters, honored Wizard of the Souths and other fancy titles. It's annoying to have people constantly bow down and lick my shoes just because I became bit strong.“ man responded. "Now go to sleep. There is lot of work to do tomorrow, boy.“ "Yes, teacher Alaric.“ I answered.

Legend

Soul power is power of soul to naturally increase power of spell.

With 1000 soulpower, power of spell is doubled, with 2000 tripled, etc.

Spirit capacity is ability of spirit to hold and concentrate mana.

Tier of spell is the level of original power of spell.

For every tier of spell, power of spell doubles, but mana consumption is increased.

Tier of magician represents highest tier of spell magician can cast.

One can usually only use spells of tier that would require less than one eighth to tenth of his mana. When magician becomes close to next tier, speed of growth of his spirit capacity drastically decreases and after he manages to break through, his spirit capacity will increase by a leap.

1 iridium coin = 10 gold coins

1 gold coin = 20 silver coins

1 silver coin = 24 copper coins