“You been out of the Common District yet?” We left the house together, emerging onto the coppery snake-like streets of Sylum.

I shook my head. Since my ill-fated adventure, I’d taken a few brief walks just to get to know the area better, but I hadn’t yet walked far enough to venture into a different district.

“Well then, I suppose today will be a first for you.”

We walked on for a while, with various passersby waving to Suds or calling out greetings. Whether that was because he was a public figure, or because he was just well known by his neighbors, I wasn’t sure.

As we kept on, I found myself wondering just how long it would take us to complete our journey. The roads were too narrow for cars, and I’d yet to see anything remotely resembling them. While I knew Suds had some sort of gryphon, it didn’t appear as though we’d be making use of it, either.

My musings soon came to a close as we reached a conspicuous set of stairs lying out in the open. They descended into the ground, and I could see a small number of people coming up and down them.

“Heading down there. Bet you’ve never seen one of these before, huh?” Suds puffed his chest out as we went down and walked through a short white-stone tunnel. At its end was another tunnel, though considerably larger and running perpendicular to us. A small number of people stood to our sides, similarly waiting.

This isn’t… there’s absolutely no way they have a functioning subway system here, is there? I’d yet to see anything that would suggest this world had that kind of technology built yet.

A mana-light blinked on above our heads, and for a second, I expected to see a train of some sort appear. Instead, everyone started walking forward at once, stepping onto what I’d normally consider the tracks. There wasn’t any sort of railway on the floor, either: The ground was plain earth, the only part of the tunnel not lined with stone.

What the hell? If this actually was some sort of transit system, wouldn’t they get run over? Suds walked with the crowd, beckoning me to follow. Trusting that he probably wasn’t trying to get me killed, I complied.

He eyed me with a particularly shit-eating grin, the exact kind of expression that you’d expect someone over 100 years of age to have grown out of by now.

It was while he was wearing that exact grin that I let out a startled yelp, prompting him to break out into full blown laughter, drawing a large number of stares from the surrounding passengers.

And I indeed mean passengers, because the ground I was standing on had started to move. Slowly at first, then faster and faster until we were racing down the tunnel. Some air magic must have been involved, as even as we reached breakneck speeds, there was no wind whipping against my face.

“Welcome to the loop! It’s the Chamber of Magic’s favorite thing to bring up at chamber meetings to remind us that they’re actually useful from time to time. Got a couple of ‘em running in concentric circles around the city, plus a few smaller ones running perpendicular to ‘em.”

They really, actually have a transit system. For some reason, it had been deeply unexpected for me, but I mentally slapped myself for the oversight. They have literal magic. Probably dug these tunnels with some earth-shaping class. Perhaps tech here wasn’t as advanced as it was on Earth, but for good reason. The most developed cities were probably more advanced than anywhere on Earth considering what they had access to.

“Why not go with teleportation?” It’s not like it wasn’t possible — I’d already experienced teleportation a handful of times. It seemed like it would be a lot faster and require less work than hollowing out tunnels too.

“Bah, no appreciation for some good earth magic. Teleportation is costly. Letting you visit your little settlement now and then will probably cost more mana than this entire track uses in a day to transport thousands. Just how advanced magic classes are — a lot harder to warp the fabric of space than it is to make some ground move in a circle.”

All right, probably should have expected that. After all, my main experience with teleportation had required a settlement ability with an entire month’s cooldown.

Belatedly, I realized that there were other facets of the loop that I’d missed: I spotted a child locked in place, with boots of earth wrapped around her feet — some sort of enchantment to prevent her from falling over. As the ride slowed down and came to a halt, her mother gently kicked a spot on the ground next to her, and the boots fell away.

Instead of getting off, we stayed on for another few stops. Considering the speed we moved at, the amount of time we spent on the loop really put into perspective just how massive the city must have been. Eventually, though, our subterranean journey ended, with Suds gesturing for us to leave.

“Knowledge District.” He pointed to an icon engraved on the tunnel walls, which I promptly memorized.

When we at last left the loop and ascended, I was immediately struck with how different the Knowledge District looked. While a few buildings here and there were still formed from animated earth, the vast majority were stone brick instead. They were also many times larger, with a handful of buildings spanning entire blocks.

“Lotta specialized schools here. You can find some primary schools in pretty much every district, and a lot of trade schools are in one of the two Labor districts, but anything higher level than that is here. Music, dance, mathematics, mundane science. Pretty much everything but full-on magic. Lots’a government buildings too, plus a fair share of cafes where all sorts of the brainiac-types like to congregate. Right now we’re in a pretty mathy part, but if you go a few more stops, you get into a much artsier scene if you’re inclined that way.”

Probably have one of the city’s best tour guides with me, don’t I? The guy was, after all, old enough to have raised Barb. He probably knew every inch of the city by now. I idly wondered if he was older than the loop, but it probably wasn’t polite to ask.

In no time at all, we navigated through the remainder of the district, eventually coming to the towering wall that marked the cutoff between the inner and outer city. Behind it lay our end goal — the Magic District.

While the gate leading inside was guarded, we walked through unimpeded. The difference between the two districts was immediately apparent.

The streets, for one, were suddenly paved with what looked like solid, polished copper, with sunlight gleaming off of them. The buildings underwent an equally drastic change, with a much greater variety of colors. Many of them seemed to be cut from crystal, and whereas the buildings we’d just seen were often wide, their counterparts here were tall. Not quite skyscraper-esque, but I spotted a number of towers that practically screamed “a wizard lives here!”

My handy-dandy tour guide rattled off some new info. “Magic District. Pretty self explanatory. Full of mages, mage apprentices, mage researchers. Anyone who goes cuckoo for magic but doesn’t market it well enough to be an artisan.”

I spotted a few of said mages, happy to find that they wore flowy robes as any self-respecting mage ought to. As best I could tell, their robes were color coordinated with the elements they used, and based off what I was getting from God’s Eye, it seemed like the higher leveled mages often wore different patterns on their robes. Whether it was some sort of rank signifier or was just supposed to correspond to their level, I wasn’t sure.

Suds pointed to the highest tower visible, high enough that I was almost shocked I hadn’t seen it all the way from the Common District. “That one.” Its dramatic height wasn’t even the most eye-catching feature of it: It was constructed from a wide variety of different crystal bricks, making its entire exterior shine brilliantly in different colors.

“Um. Who exactly are you trying to get to teach me?” I berated myself for not asking more questions on the way, although in my defense, I’d been too busy taking in the novel sights. I doubted I needed anyone fancy to teach me though: My magical knowledge was probably on par with a pre-schooler’s.

“Eh? I didn’t tell you? Got us an audience with the archmage. Archmage Callis, that is. Probably would be the chamber head for Magic if he had even a lick of interest in politics. A little old and crotchety, but he’s the real deal.”

“What? Why? I’m not even level ten with any of my spells or magic skills!” It sounded like the archmage would be able to magically bench me with the amount of magic he had in his pinky finger.

Suds shrugged. “You think I’d skimp on my beloved grandaughter’s education? Would make me look bad. On the flip side, would make both of us look great if we can land you this.”

Ugh. Politics. Then again, not like I was against learning from the best. “Why would the best bother with me, though?” I mean, I was a Protagonist, admittedly, but we were keeping that on the lowdown. Barring that, all I had was being Suds’ fake granddaughter.

He fixed me with another shit-eating grin, relishing my confusion. “Because you’re weird! We tell him that you’re Yekkish and from the dead zone, he’s bound to be interested. Plus, don’t sell yourself short, kid. You’ve already passed the first threshold in Intelligence, Wisdom, and Perception. Great mage stats.”

I resented that. I wasn’t that weird. Just… kind of weird. Probably not the most important thing to be focusing on, though.

Pretty sure the important thing is for me to be focusing on my nerves right now. Meeting a random mage was all well and good. Meeting some fancy archmage, on the other hand, tended to make one a little nervous.

We passed the rest of the trip largely in silence, with Suds occasionally pointing to this or that building with a few muttered words of explanation. The towers, I learned, were also color coded to the elements of the chief mage who resided within them, with their height corresponding to their mastery level over magic. It was apparently a big affair whenever a mage advanced and their tower had to be heightened.

Frankly, it seemed a little silly, but then again, I wasn’t a mage.

At last we reached our goal. At the base of the tower, a thick wooden door that looked as if it was built for a giant barred our way. Instead of attempting to push it open, Suds gave it a light knock, and a moment later, it swung open on its own volition.

Considering how tall the tower was, I expected to have a while to walk yet. Instead, however, the entrance behind the door shimmered and glowed in a similar fashion to a dungeon portal. Suds and I walked through and were immediately deposited in our destination. An open window confirmed what I’d suspected — we were now at the very top of the tower, the view almost vertigo-inducing.

So much for teleportation being unreasonably expensive.

Still, looking out the window was perhaps the least painful place to look in the entire room. The mana here was oppressive, almost so thick that it seemed viscous. While I largely just used the visual facet of Mana Sense, I was able to sense magic with all of my senses. It prickled my skin, filled my nose with a paradoxically sweet sort of ozone scent, and hummed so forcefully, I was worried I’d develop tinnitus.

“That her?” A gray-haired, wrinkly-faced man rose from a crystalline seat, his appearance belying his spry movements. He was dressed in the most ostentatious set of robes I’d ever seen, easily beating out even the royalty I’d met in Ftheran. Gems were inlaid to the entire outfit and hung loosely at the end of tassels, each likely worth a king’s ransom.

That wasn’t even the most arresting quality to the man. If the room itself was dense with mana, the man himself was packed with it. It was honestly painful to even look at him, and I could feel a headache starting to form as my eyes tried to cut past the dense cloud of mana surrounding him.

Perhaps it was the headache that resulted in my lack of decorum, but letting my curiosity get the best of me, I tried to Identify him. With Illuminated Sight, theoretically, he wouldn’t notice the intrusion.

Archmage Xander’Callis: Level ??*

This target’s level is Obfuscated.

Attempting to bypass Obfuscation with God’s Eye and Illuminated Sight.

Attempt failed!

This target’s level remains Obfuscated.

I blanched, instantly regretting my decision. It was the first time I’d seen the boon flat out fail. Whatever spell or enchantment the archmage was rocking, it was a cut above the rest. Thankfully, despite his level, it seemed like Illuminated Sight was doing its other job well: If he noticed my intrusion, he made no sign of it.

Still, he has to be OOLLLLD. If he was even higher level than Suds, presumably he had more Constitution too. To look that wrinkly meant that he was likely an order of magnitude older than even my elderly “grandfather.”

Seemingly not as affected as I was, Suds nodded. “Yes, Archmage Callis. This is the granddaughter I contacted you about.”

Is he speaking respectfully? Somehow that managed to drive home the archmage’s power more than anything else.

Xander’Callis grunted. “Looks like you threw some masterwork obfuscation gear on her. You said she’s level ten? If you’re lying trying to impress me, know that I have ways to find out.”

Suds nodded once again. “That’s correct, Archmagus. No lies. She has an obfuscation item that marks her as level 12, but her true level is lower.”

The archmage turned to me, his eyes pulsing with mana as he seemed to take in everything about me in a single glance. I found myself uneasily holding my breath.

In a moment, it was done.

He sighed and turned away.

“Not interested. Pass.”

Wait. Just like that? Seriously?

Having turned away, the archmage seemed to have already dismissed us from his mind. Suds simply shrugged, pulling me away. “Worth a shot.”

He didn’t appear to be too surprised or devastated by the refusal, and I knew I should have felt the same. Hell, I’d just been thinking about how I had so little to offer as an apprentice, and it was hardly like I’d been staying up at night hoping for this opportunity. I’d just found out about it less than an hour ago.

And yet.

It bristled.

“Do I at least get a reason? Or what?” That had to be some sort of common courtesy, no? Archmage or not, that didn’t exclude you from the rules of basic human decency.

Suds sucked in a breath and winced. While present circumstances prevented him from using his skill out of politeness, I had the sense that he would have silenced me if he could have, and the phantom taste of soap coated my tongue.

For the archmage’s part, he tilted his head back in our direction, raising a brow as if surprised we were still here. Seeming to weigh it over for a moment, he shrugged.

“It is a slow day, so I will indulge you. You are level ten. When you get to be my age, you get to be fairly good at estimating other people’s physical stats. When I look at you, I see… hmmm. Let’s say, mid twenties in Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity? The muscle composition doesn’t look like it’s quite past the first threshold on any of them, but it’s close. Even with your obfuscation baubles, I can see your health, so I know you’re past the first Constitution threshold. And while I admit that I struggle sometimes with foreigners, I would place your Charisma at a tentative 20.”

He stopped speaking in what I initially assumed to be a pause. As the silence drew on longer and longer, though, I realized that was all he intended to say. I half expected Suds to physically pull me away, but it seemed that even he was a bit put off by the archmage’s strange and abruptly halted analysis.

“Um. Yes? Accurate on all counts. S… So?” I wasn’t really sure how any of that was bad. Did I somehow not have high enough stats for him? I didn’t see what any of those stats had to do with being a good apprentice.

The archmage made a brief “tsk” sound. “I would trust that a prospective apprentice and a granddaughter of a chamber head would be proficient in rudimentary mathematics, yes? If we place your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity at an average of 23, that would be 39 points spent on them. As a level ten, you should only naturally have 19 Constitution. If you’ve already reached the first threshold, that’s another six points there. With a Charisma of 20, that brings us to a full 55 points that you’ve assigned.

“Now. Let us assume that you are a rather gifted individual and have ended up with an Epic class. You have leveled up nine times. With an Epic class granting four extra stats per level, combined with your natural two free stats per level, that means you would have a grand total of 54 free stats. And as you can see, all of them seem to be vouched for, no? Even if you had a Legendary — no, even if you had a Mythic — class and consumed a mountain of rare consumable items, you could not possibly have enough Intelligence or Wisdom to be a good mage.

“If by some miracle you did, you’d be lacking in Perception. Not normally the end of the world, but I prefer for my apprentices to have Mana Sense instead of growing reliant on mana contacts. To put it lightly, you seem to be built like a brute, to the extent that I will admit to being slightly offended this meeting was called in the first place.”

Huh. I kind of wanted to be pissed off at the guy for making assumptions about me, but then again, they were normally pretty safe assumptions to make, weren’t they? If I were in his position, I’d probably be a little put off too — by most normal conventions in this world, there was no way for me to be an acceptable mage considering how many physical stats I had.

It actually helped me to put it into perspective how much of a leg up I had on everyone else. Sure, at level ten, I was still constantly finding myself outclassed, even by people around my own level who’d just had more time to get class points. In the long run, though, I imagined I’d be able to soar above them if I didn’t get myself killed off first.

I glanced up at Suds. Having seen my character sheet, he was well aware of the mistake that had been made, but correcting it might reveal a bit too much information to the archmage.

He shrugged. “Eh. Might as well. I’ll admit, I’d like to have the archmage not pissed off at me, and he’s as politically neutral as it gets. Plus, plenty of reasons for why you might be in the situation you’re in.” Despite whispering the words, all three of us knew that the archmage had heard them, and he quirked a brow upwards at the

Well, that’s a glowing recommendation. Whatever.

“Um. I actually have reached the first threshold in Intelligence, Wisdom, and Perception. They’re my highest three stats, actually.” Not by much, but currently I was ever so slightly more geared towards casting than I was physical combat. Not that that had ever panned out much for me — my spell repertoire was limited to cantrips still.

I blinked, and suddenly the archmage was standing right in front of me, forcing me to stifle a yell.

“Follow the mana with your eyes.” Not elaborating any further, he stood completely still while a mote of mana appeared in front of his face. It proceeded to twirl around, and I did my best to visually track it.

“Hmm. I don’t see any mana contacts, but it could be a visual skill. Here.” The mote of mana suddenly shot towards me before worming its way into my mouth. “Taste?”

I reflexively tried to spit it out before it hit me. “Oh. What? How does that taste kind of like… minty TV static?” I wasn’t actually aware that my brain could perceive the particular mixture of tastes I was getting right then.

“Mm. I confess to not being aware what a ‘TV’ is, but minty static is a good descriptor for bio-lightning. Very well. Let us tentatively assume you have a fully fleshed out perceptive skill.” A crystal suddenly appeared in my hand. “Channel mana as quickly as you can, until you are completely empty.”

Not wishing to further annoy the archmage, I did as requested, thankfully finding the task instinctual. The crystal was a mana hog, sucking in everything I gave it greedily and bottoming me out in short order. Before I could so much as extend my hands forward, the gem popped out of my hands and into the archmage’s.

“It looks like… power consistent with 27 Intelligence and… Hrmm. A bit lower than expected with the Wisdom. What’s your Mana Manipulation level?”

I shot the mage a sheepish smile. “Uh. Zero? Kind of haven’t managed to pick it up yet. Got some sort of error when I hit 25 Wisdom saying it would turn into Advanced Mana Manipulation whenever I get it though.”

His facial expression didn’t change, but somehow I could feel his mana disapproving of me. At the same time, though, there was a sort of… giddy undercurrent to it?

“Well, I suppose that tidbit about you being from the dead zone isn’t a lie then. Or at least you’ve lived under a rock. Feh. Fine. Fewer bad habits to unteach then.” He returned to his chair, stroking at his face a few times while staring out the window. Right when I was growing worried he’d forgotten about us entirely, he spoke once more. “I retract my grievances, nor — outside of confirming she’s level ten — will I pry into the unnatural abundance of stats. She’s strange enough that she could show promise. Or at the very least, her failure would provide an interesting data point as well.”

Another glowing recommendation.

“I will not accept her immediately — taking on a true apprentice is not a matter I take lightly. But perhaps a trial period would suffice, hmm? I’ll see her through for a month or two, and we’ll reevaluate.”

Wait, is that a yes? Because that’s sounding kind of like a yes.

“Uh, oh. Thank you?” I found myself bowing, just kind of feeling it was the right thing to do. “So… how does this all work? Or, when does it start?”

“Hmm? Ah, we’ll start now, of course. Thank you, Chamber Head Astorius. Your granddaughter will be in my care today.”

Suds started a bow of his own and opened his mouth. Before a single word could come out, however, the archmage waved his hand. Suds disappeared, leaving me all alone with the archmage.

He fixed me with a particularly intense stare. “So! First, basics. Tell me: What do you know about mana?”

And thus my apprenticeship began.

Character Sheet:

Name: Tess

Age: 26

Race: Human

Class: Arcane Arsenal

Level: 10

Prestige: 1222

Health: 300/300

Mana: 325/325

Stamina: 240/240

Constitution: 26

Strength: 24

Endurance: 24

Dexterity: 19 (+1)

Intelligence: 30

Wisdom: 26 (+2)

Perception: 28

Charisma: 20

Luck: 27

Skills:

Skills

Weapon & Armor

Archery: 10

Spears: 9

Medium Armor: 5

Small Blades: 4

Swords: 3

Hammers: 2

Staffs: 2

Unarmed Combat: 2

Axes: 2

Heavy Armor: 1

Movement

Dodge: 3

Magic

Life Magic: 6

Water Magic: 7

Fire Magic: 7

Light Magic: 6

Mental Magic: 1

Ritual Magic: 1

Demonic Summoning: 1

Spells

Conjure Water: 8

Minor Healing: 7

Flameploof: 8

Illumination: 7

Sense Minds: 1

Resistances

Trauma Suppression: 13

Mental Resistance: 7

Poison Resistance: 6

Bleed Resistance: 4

Heat Resistance: 2

Pain Resistance: 2

Detection

God's Eye: 7

Detect Trap: 6

Detect Secret: 4

Craft

Construction: 6

Woodworking: 7

Jewelry Making: 5

Alchemy: 1

Social

Conversation: 5

Etiquette: 4

Trade: 3

Flirt: 2

Deception: 1

General

Drinking: 4 (+5)

Gambling: 1

Reading: 1

Class Skills

Weaponmaster

Bind Weapon: 1/5

Arcane Armament: 2/5

Overload Weapon: 1/5

Armorist

Bind Armor: 1/5

Arcane Armory: 5/5

Resist Magic: 2/5

Augmenter

Mana Feet: 1/1

Arcane Vision: 1/1