Fadrim walked along the silent bookshelves carrying two heavy tomes. His sharp green eyes flitter up and down the tiers of bookshelves quickly reading the books and making split second decisions on whether they will be useful reads.

Ten hours pass and he’s found eighty six books within the second floor of the library.

Slowly transferring the books to his personal table, in the twenty second alcove on the second floor, he finally sits down in the cushioned chair within.

Flicking through the first few pages of each book, he quickly lowers the number of useful books to a mere sixteen.

Analyzing the remaining sixteen for a few hours, sorts them into either historical, theoretical or mythological books.

Placing the mythological and historical books to one side, he begins to read through the theoretical books.

…

..

.

He lets out a sad sigh after a few days since only one of the six theoretical books have information that he has not already discovered, albeit it does not pertain much information.

For over three days of reading he has only been rewarded with the further iteration of effects and reasons of using chants for spells.

He does not feel it is much of a time waster; however after seeing the negatives far outweigh the positives for him he will not be using it personally. Though to him, all forms of information are useful.

Rubbing his sore eyes, he begins the long process of placing the books back where he found them.

Like all users of the library he is responsible for the books he reads and like all users, he fears the consequences with vivid dread.

“GET OUT”

The shrill voice of Head Librarian penetrates through the silent air and Fadrim shivers with a nervous sweat running down his face.

The seventh time in three months.

It is only the seventh time he has heard that loud, seemingly magically amplified yet not voice that says but two simple words.

But if those words were to be uttered to him, his life as he knows it would be over. His dreams to wield magic would be naught.

So he dreads the voice with a passion as fervent as the other one hundred and eighty two residents of the one hundred and eighty eight alcoves on the second floor.

Though the voice seems to be coming from downstairs, so Fadrim’s fear abates somewhat.

However he is still a bit shaken by the sudden voice as always, so he decides to take a momentary break.

Spending a quick four hours to return all the books to the relevant place, he then walks down the stairs, scanning his silver card along the way to the first floor.

Luckily, it is night so his eyes, so used to seeing the words on a page in a well lit alcove, don’t get attacked by the light of the sun.

The night is cool, and it wakes him up somewhat.

He stands by the steps of the library looking down at the city, which is still quite lively even though the moon is high in the sky.

Thanks to the players, the town seems to be active almost all twenty four hours of the day, though he does not care much about that since he hasn’t been outside the library much.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air, the first one in two months, he starts to walk towards the small fountain which is between the library and Mage’s Spire.

Licking his lips, he sits down by the fountain-side and fills his canteen with some fresh fountain water.

Taking some light gulps, he lets the cool water flow down his parched throat.

While he is sitting down on the cold stone side taking sips of water, he takes out a small vellum of paper covered in neat scribbles.

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Types of elements:

· Fire

· Water

· Air

· Earth

· Light

· Dark

· Force- intangible substance

· Blood-tangible substance

· Life

· Death

· Nature

· Metals

· Divine

· Chaos

Level 15: first element

Level 100: second element

Level 200: third element

When get second element they become one of three types:

· Bound mage

· Destructive mage

· Unbound mage

Bound mages: second element that can be used in combination with the first (i.e. Fire & Earth) -> allows certain spells when used in combination.

Unbound mages: second element does not work well with first (i.e. Fire & Nature) -> allows unconventional spells when used in combination, however spells are mostly trial and error and situational

Destructive mages: second element is direct opposite of first, however both elements have to be non-primal (i.e. Chaos & Divine) -> when used in combination causes void magic which is a pure destructive force.

Primal elements: Fire, Earth, Air, Water

Non-primal elements are all others.

Mages are named after the elements they use. So a fire mage uses fire, whereas a nature and life using mage are called druids.

Mana is the lifeblood of mages and comes from the mana fountain or the ‘soul’ of a living being. It will naturally regenerate, however may do so slower in some and faster in others.

If someone runs out of mana due to using it then they will feel exhausted until a tenth of their mana has been restored. All living beings use their mana fountain in one way or another.

However mana comes in slightly changed forms: Some call it rage, others energy and some even call it Chi. They are not as pure as mana however and thus are not as powerful in terms of pure power.

Also, there are being that do not possess mana, however there is no mention what are such beings.

All beings have mana pores throughout their body and are in similar positions to where nerves are.

Casting a spell comes in three stages:

1. Moving your mana to outside your body through the mana pores

2. Shaping your mana and maintaining it outside using the bubble analogy

3. Releasing the spell in a controlled fashion, or it will release as its pure element.

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The bubble analogy:

Imagine a spell as a bubble blower, mana as the bubble and element as the breath.

One creates a bubble and blows air into it slowly to increase its size. If one blows too fast it will pop.

Breath may be of varying temperatures, depending on how one shapes their mouth.

How one shapes their mouth is what element one uses. So using a small o shaped mouth causes cold air while a wide mouth causes hot air, both producing different results.

Once it has reached the desired size, one slowly directs it and lets it loose. If one lets it go too fast, it will pop. If one doesn’t direct it properly it will pop. This is essentially how to cast a spell.

---

Spell analogy is a good analogy when related to a spell that requires the release of the element itself.

However more complicated spells will require further shaping and use of mana to layer the ‘bubble’ so that it can hold the element one ‘blows’ in, for example.

Every mage must know six basic things to be able to cast any spell:

· Mana manipulation

· Mana understanding

· Mana gathering

· Element understanding

· Element manipulation

· Element gathering

Mana threading: Creating a mana thread that will act as a mana pore, allowing the spell to originate a distance from the mage, however it is a thread and can be easily disrupted if not strengthened in many different ways.

Mana manipulation: Mana manipulation is the re-shaping of the ‘bubble’ so that it may provide a different use that just the release of the chosen element.

Mana gathering: The ability to gather mana from the mana fountain or ‘rock’ as stated in the rock analogy.

Element understanding: It is the understanding of the element the mage is using. This is gained through use and study of the element. Some elements such as Fire are easier to understand than an element such as Chaos.

Element manipulation: It is the manipulation of the chosen element so that it does not simply release when the ‘bubble pops’. Examples would be for the element to remain or to go higher than normal, or to follow a direction.

Element gathering: The ability to gather the specific element from the mana fountain or ‘rock’ as stated in the rock analogy.

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The rock analogy:

Imagine the mana fountain is a rock. To get mana one has to break a chunk off the rock.

This ‘chunk’ is the gathered mana. The process of mentally cracking the rock and pulling the chunk shows the difficulty of gathering mana.

However there are such things to help loosen the chunks such as chants. In these ‘chunks’ of mana there are minerals, which are the element of the mage.

The ‘minerals’ need to be once again removed from the chunk with difficulty.

One who is experienced can directly take the minerals from the rock; however that is very difficult to do. However, the more pure the mineral, the better quality the component is. And thus the more effective the spell will be cast.

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Spells can be cast with lots of mana, however the less pure the spell the less effective it will be, as mana in itself is not harming. Only mana-less beings are affected by pure mana as it is the equivalent of holy light is to the undead. Only the

element will harm beings with mana.

There are two types of spells:

· Porical

· Non-porical

Porical spells: Spells that originate from the mana pore in the body. They allow easier manipulation, however may be limited in range.

Non-porical spells: Spells that originate a distance from the mage’s pores, conventionally through use of a mana thread. They are more difficult to manipulate, however allow a wider range of spells in further proximity.

Spells that do not originate from a pore in the body require mana threading, mana manipulation, Element understanding and Element manipulation to be learnt at a good level before one should try doing a non-porical spell.

Chants are used for most spells:

This is because chants will vibrate the voice box which causes slight tremors in the mana fountain, or ‘soul’. This loosens the mana making it easier to be taken and used.

Chanting has both positives and negatives. The positive is that if the mage is more distressed the vibrating is usually more violent and thus releases mana easier.

However the negatives are that if the mage cannot chant for some reason then they will not reliably be able to gather mana due to their reliance on chanting to aid the release.

Chants are not specific, however usually voicing the element that the mage is casting helps release that element, which is invaluable when a mage commands more than one element.

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After reciting his decently precise notes on all the magic theory he has learnt, he rolls the vellum and places it back in his inventory.

He has spent three months, or more specifically a bit over two thousand hours in that library.

Taking his memory back he goes through his past three months, quite uneventful but very useful.

After getting out his starting village, he and his party had gotten to Darton. He had split off and gone to the Mage’s Spire.

However, the first stage of becoming a mage is theory. The thing that he has spent the past two thousand plus hours on.

In all fairness, he knows that he could move to the second stage as the entry is an exam on the basic theory of magic. However like all one hundred and eighty one other players have not taken the exam, because even Fadrim who knows he is a fast reader has only read twenty three books and even those have limited information.

And out of those twenty three, he has only learnt basic knowledge and even less explanation of that knowledge.

One of the reasons why he has only come across basic theory is that he is only allowed to the second floor of the library, even though it has seven floors.

Shivering due to the cool winds, he decides to go back in and find a few more books, scour the library one last time.

One of the biggest problems in finding relevant books is the fact that there are one hundred and eighty one other players trying to find the same books. So even though there are tens of thousands of books in the second floor, it’s still difficult to find the right book.

With a sigh, he begins to head back towards the library.

Walking through the dark cobbled streets, he reaches the library, hearing a small sound off to the side of the library.

Curious, he stops and slowly walks back down the stairs, listening intently for the sound again.

It comes once more and he thinks it’s a sound of pain, faint as if dying.

His pace quickens and he turns round the corner to see someone sitting huddled at the edge of the building, shivering greatly.

“Wa…….te….r” the person croaks

Their face is concealed by a mass of wet hair and they only wear a short white shirt and loose brown trousers. A man, Fadrim believes.

“Are you ok there?” Fadrim asks with a tinge of nervousness

“Wa……te….r”

The man doesn’t seem to have registered Fadrim.

With a slight gulp, he inches towards the man.

“Here, have some if you need it”

Stopping in front of the huddled man, he takes out his canteen and fiddles with the cap which is a lot harder since his fingers are cold.

“Dammit. Give me a second”

For some reason, he is shaking uncontrollably.

“Wa……te…-”

He finally opens the cap, albeit catching his finger between the cap and the bottle, drawing a drop of blood.

“BLOOD”

The last thing Fadrim sees is a pair of blood red eyes.

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Authors Corner: Second Chapter for today cause I looove you all!! (plus i kind of wanted to get the magic outta my head.

SORRY for everyone who has mild brain-hurt after trying to figure out the basic f'd upness that is magic. (I am soo going to love my mage characters from now on, ohh my).

Anyways, thanks for reading and for commenting :D

-TRUE NORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD