It had been a while since Dallion had visited the novice administration building in the Learning Hall corridor. The staff seemed rather amused by his new appearance, Dealing Dallion with no choice but to smile and endure being treated as an infant.

“Here you are,” the assistant patted him on the head as she brought a sheet of paper. “Just fill that in. Cheska should be able to help you, but if there’s anything you can’t answer, let me know.”

Dallion found the attitude humiliating. Forcing a smile, he went to a far corner of the room and attempted to fill out the sheet.

His name had already been filled out, along with his current trait and skill levels and a large section stating that he was a fully accepted novice rank three. If nothing else, mages liked to be efficient. Underneath were several spellcraft disciplines. The problem was, other than the very first, Dallion had only a vague idea of what the fields entailed.

“Problems?” Cheska asked. Her tone was confident, but Dallion failed to sense any glee emanating from her.

“Spelling?” he asked, giving her a weird glance.

“Yeah, I know.” She stifled a chuckle. “I thought it was an Academy joke, at first.”

“Okay. I’ll be learning spelling…” Dallion wrote down that he wanted to attend that lesson.

An interesting detail was that most of the fields were led by the same mage. Even more peculiar was that often he did so at the same time. From what Cheska had said, the man was an Academy mage and a quite important one at that.

“What’s Echo Training?” Dallion continued with the next discipline on the list.

“One of the boring ones. I just go there to be informed. It’s the science of using magic to help your echoes learn skills that you don’t know. It sounds quite good until you learn that you’re wasting all that magic for nothing.”

“Do I lose magic levels when I train them?”

“No.” Cheska looked at him, as if he’d just stepped in crap. “But you still have to gather it. There are so much better things you can use it for than a one off. You don’t train all your echoes, just one of them.”

That sounded like a catch, though if it could work for echoes, there was a chance it could work for familiars as well, or maybe even linked guardians.

To end the suspense, you won’t be able to use them on guardians, Nil said. But when it comes to familiars that take the role of guardians, that’s another matter.

Quickly, Dallion jotted his agreement and kept on reading.

The following field—potions—also got an automatic yes. He was already familiar with that without asking. The one after, though, was confusing, to say the least.

“Time split dilation?” he asked. It was also notable that it was one of the fields that was led by a Grand mage.

“It’s all about the flow of time in various realms. I don’t see the importance, but it’s interesting to listen. You might like it, since you spend a lot of time in realms.”

“If you say so.” Dallion downplayed the importance. He was quite thrilled by this field. To be honest, he was thrilled by every field so far to the point he was worried that he might not be able to keep up even with his high mind trait.

The next two disciplines were “Improvement Trees” and “Magical Fauna.” Both seemed somewhat clear, so Dallion chose to pretend he knew what they were about and indicated he wanted to follow the course, anyway.

“You can’t choose that.” Chesta pointed at the one called “Vortex exploration” or anything afterwards.

“Why not?”

“They are marked specialized. It means that you need to get approval from a mage to prove you can handle them.”

And I suppose you got one, Dallion grumbled to himself. And to think that the really good ones were there as well: Aggression Casting, Healer Magic, Artifact Research, Matlin Creation, Realm Travel…

Realm Travel? That seemed innocent at first glance, but considering that any awakened could enter realms, he felt there was a lot more to it, especially since it was considered as one of the advanced courses.

Nil, that’s travel between worlds, isn’t it?

Some of the disciplines have changed since I was here last. There’s no need to jump to conclusions.

Nil…

Yes, the echo admitted. It probably is theoretical research relating to traveling between worlds. Very dangerous, very rule bending. I know you’ll ignore my advice, but I’d stay away from that. You’re not ready for it. And there are many more worlds than the ones you know, worlds not controlled by the Moons. It’s believed that a lot of the monsters in the wilderness came from there.

Does that include the uncivilized races?

What do you mean?

Minotaurs, colossuses, ogres…

It’s possible. Nil hesitated. There are a few races that might never have existed, just fairy tales made up by people living in difficult times.

But some of them might have arrived from another world?

It’s a definite possibility, but as I said, it’s highly theoretical. To be honest, I’m astonished that there are so many theoretical fields taught to novices. Most of this should be apprentice stuff. Academia is for those who know what they are doing and can dedicate their lives to going through decades of boring literature and repetitive experiments. Realm Modification is something that would suit novices a lot more. I can’t fathom why that has been removed from the list.

Nil kept on rambling, but Dallion was no longer listening. He’d already filled out everything he could fill. It was a lot, considering that for several months he had been learning just to draw and memorize symbols. Yet, it was nothing compared to Cheska’s schedule, as she made sure to remind him several times.

Balancing his expression between a smile and a frown, Dallion went to an apprentice at one of the counters and handed the filled out sheet of paper.

“You’re studying all that simultaneously?” she asked, mildly impressed.

“Just trying to keep up with Cheska,” Dallion replied, a still smile on his face.

“Skilled and prodigies always stick together.” The woman laughed. “Just a moment, so I prepare your seal.”

The fingers of both had hands moved about with the efficiency of a bureaucrat familiar with the ten finger typing method. Dozens of symbols appeared, forming two triple circles which then merged into one single spherical construct.

Seeing the fascination with which Dallion was observing the spell, the apprentice chuckled.

“It’s not as difficult as it looks,” she said, constantly adding new symbols to the mix. “You’ll be able to do it as well in no time.” She glanced at the sheet of paper, as if copying some invisible symbols present there. “Just give me your seal hand, please.”

Mesmerized, Dallion pulled up his sleeve and reached out. No sooner had he done so, than the woman grabbed the complete spell and pressed it against the back of his hand. There was a moment of sharp pain, as the new pattern of symbols merged with the one already on Dallion’s skin.

Reacting out of habit, Dallion split into three instances and pulled back his hand.

“It’s fine.” The apprentice kept smiling. “It’s over.”

Dallion looked at the seal.

“You’ll be able to see the classrooms in question now.”

“Illusion magic?” he asked, in hope.

“You could call it that.”

“How do I get to study that?”

“Oh, illusions are for apprentices. Focus on learning how to spell first. Once you pass your final test and remove your seal, you’ll be able to continue in any field you wish, including illusionology and paper magic.”

Part of Dallion wanted to shout that he wanted to learn illusions now. The more mature he, though, just nodded, smiled back, then turned around. It would be tough enough learning what was already on his plate.

Muttering a thanks, he left the building, accompanied by Cheska.

“Now what?” He glanced at her.

“Nothing. Classes are in the afternoon.”

Dallion was just about to ask what to do in that case when it suddenly hit him. His magic trait was ten, which meant that the library would have a lot of sections that had been invisible before.

Doubling his pace of walking, almost at the point of running, he made his way to the library. Upon entering, he froze, speechless. It was expected that a whole range of books would appear. Dallion was prepared to see a quarter of the books and scrolls to become legible. However, even he didn’t expect to notice entirely new sections in the room. Arching doorways were visible where there had been nothing but walls before. Looking at the signs above them, the new sections corresponded with the fields he had chosen to study.

“Cool, right?” Cheska whispered beside him. “It can’t compare to the practical demonstrations shown in class.”

Before Dallion could answer, a mage in a cyan robe walked up to the two. Cheska instantly looked down at the floor. Dallion made the mistake of looking up. A pair of merciless eyes look back from within a wrinkled, dried-up face.

“So, you’re him,” the mage said. His age was difficult to determine. His skin looked like that of an eighty-year-old. However, his hair was that of someone in his early twenties. “You look smaller in person. Where’s your shardfly? I expected to see you with him.”

“I left Ruby in my room, sir,” Dallion replied. “I prefer not to agitate him.”

While talking, he was desperately trying to figure out whether he knew the mage from somewhere. Instinctively, he wanted to say no, but something in the man’s behavior made him feel as if they’d known each other, or at the very least, the mage seemed to know Dallion.

“What do you think?” The man turned to Cheska. “Will he fit in?”

“I don’t think so, sir.” Faint fear emanated from the girl’s very being. Thanks to his music skills, Dallion could tell she feared the mage almost as much as she respected him. “He’s acquired a lot of habits from the outside.”

“You aren’t afraid that someone might take your spot, are you?”

The girl remained silent.

“It was a smart move to ask me for a seal pass,” the mage continued. “You got to experience the outside a bit, and do a bit of work here and there. I heard that you’ve been busy cleaning sewers.”

This was Palag’s mage. It had to be. Only he was aware of the special arrangement Dallion had made. Put on the spot, Dallion was uncertain whether to thank him, or be angry for not receiving actual payment.

“How is the reality chameleon, sir?” Dallion probed. “I was told that it was a delicate and temperamental creature.”

A sudden hardness emanated from the mage’s face, making it clear that wasn’t a topic to be discussed. Not in the open, in any event.

“I heard that you’ll be taking a few of my classes.” The mage’s eyes narrowed. “News travels fast in the Academy. You have many interests, almost as many as Cheska. Fail to keep up in any of my classes and you’ll be kicked out.” There was a long pause. “See you in class in two hours.” He cast a quick spell, fading before Dallion’s very eyes.

“Flashy,” Dallion said a few seconds after the man had gone. “Is he always like that?”

“Don’t talk about him,” Cheska whispered. “He doesn’t like it.”

“That bad?”

“Look, it was easy up till now. Spell casting is on a whole different level. It won’t be like with Palag. The mage expects perfection. Mess up—”

“And I get kicked out of class,” Dallion finished the sentence. “I get it.”

“No, you don’t. I’ve been visiting his lessons for a while and he hasn’t allowed me to attempt spellcasting once. All he does is tell me what books to read and how to practice.”

That sounded a lot like Nil. That meant that the training would be tough, but as long as people showed progress, the mage would open up to them. At least Dallion hoped that was the case. He had already seen the man’s merciless side during the capture of the chameleon. Having a repeat of the situation in class was the last thing anyone wanted.