《Worldborn》


 Chapter 1 Prologue

    AN: I am always thankfull when someone points out mistakes in my grammar, but please note that i write in british english before you point out mistakes.


    ANN: rewrote some parts and fixed some punctuation errors


    Chapter 1 Prologue


    It was a sunny morning and the people of the village Orsten were just about to begin their everyday work, when not far from the villages border in a lush forest a young boy began to awake. He is of an average build and looks as average as any boy from the not so far village. He has brown short hair and a face that doesn''t look very memorable, even slightly plain, but he isn''t ugly either. He slowly awoke from his slumber.


    As he opened his eyes he steered in fright. Something had scared him. If someone had the ability to look in his mind he would notice his panic that arose from the sheer lack of anything in his memories. His mind was literally a blank slate. Slowly his thoughts gained structure. They formed words. The chaos calmed and with it his mind.


    He recognised his surroundings as a forest. What was indescribable before now took form in words. He shifted away from the tree at which he had leaned while sleeping. He slowly arose to his feet at first he was unsteady, but quickly he became more steady. Unbeknownst to him he stumbled deeper into the forest, away from the safe village. He lacked direction and goal. He simply desired to move.


    After two hours of walking and multiple encounters with his own tracks he sat down to sleep. But he couldn''t get comfortable. Something seemed to constantly poke him in the back. As he turned around he couldn''t find the perpetrator and so he tried to reach to his back. There he finds a small satchel. To his delight it was filled with food, a canteen of water, and a small transparent blue stone.


    After he ate till his stomach couldn''t take any more he rested his back against the tree and begun to play with the curious stone.


    As he inspected the stone closer his gaze seemed to be sucked inside of it and his mind drifted away.


    As he awoke again he was disoriented. He found himself in a greenish translucent tube filled with smoke. The really strange thing about this ''smoke'' was the fact that it didn''t hinder his sight at all and that it was coloured in every shade one could imagine. Theses colours intermixed and flowed freely in the tube although a general direction of flow was distinguishable. Suddenly his mind was filled with memories, which weren''t not own, and things begun to get in motion. It was like watching a movie from the view of the protagonist.


    This memories originate from a man called Oliver. As he awoke he too was utterly confused. As he wanted to see more of his surroundings he tried to shift his gaze. He learned a lot more than just some details about what surrounds him though. He noticed that he couldn''t shift his gaze as he used to do and the cause of this change. It was the lack of a normal human body. It took him quit some time to regain his composure after this shocking revelation. He came up with a lot of possible reasons for his state, but they got absurder as he went on.


    After he had calmed down he examined his new body. He saw or rather felt that he too is a coloured cloud of mist or smoke. And like the others he moved towards one end of the tube. That is if this tube has an end at all.


    This sense of sight was unlike anything he ever felt before. He didn''t have any organelles which provided this function, or at least he couldn''t find them when he examined himself. Which he could thanks to the fact that his ''sight'' was detached from his actual body. It truly is incomprehensible. His playing around with the ''sight'' was rudely interrupted by a new feeling.


    This feeling was comparable to pain, but it existed at a much more existential layer. He felt himself slowly dissolving as he was pressed against the other souls. They crushed down each other. Also the speed of the stream slowly increased the farther he flowed with it. He desperately tried to move his mist body against the stream to get into the calmer area again. Yet he noticed that he wasn''t strong enough and his strength also began to fade as he got smaller and smaller. Desperately he tried to cling to the parts he already lost and as he did he absorbed them. He felt his strength replenish and as such reached for as much soul mist as he could. He slowly grew bigger and finally he came to a halt.


    After he fed some more on the soul mist he was able to get back to the calmer areas. Now that he was out of danger he thought about what happened. He came to the conclusion that the clouds around him could be souls. The existential danger he felt before further had deepened this believe. He further thought in this direction and thus identified his surroundings as a sort of afterlife. Strangely he couldn''t remember that he had died. The last thing Oliver remembered was that he was on his way home.


    He tried to communicate with the other souls, but he never got any form of response from the souls he touched. He only robbed them of some of their soul mist. It seemed like the other souls weren''t conscious. They just drifted into their inevitable doom. As such he quickly gave up this endeavour. He once again inspected himself to find whether anything about him was different. Indeed, there was one difference. Something he hadn''t noticed before. Inside of him there exists something like a compass and it pointed against the stream. Since he deemed this direction save he followed the only clue he had found.


    It took aeons to reach his destination. At least it felt like that to him. Now he was in front of a small opening in the wall of this seemingly endless tube. Strangely the other souls didn''t interact with it at all. There was even a soul that travelled along the flow while clinging to the wall of the tube, which glided right about the hole as if it wasn''t actually there. Slowly Oliver moved towards this never before seen curios entity. All he could see, when he looked into the hole was a pitch black corridor and at its end a light that seemed to call him. Without hesitation he followed this call. As he entered this new corridor, he felt like a fish on a hook. He was pulled through this space and quickly neared the blinding light, as he entered it his conscious faded.


    In a forest in a faraway place, near the village Orsten, a young man awoke from his trance. The memories he had seen were strange. Even the parts of memories about Oliver''s life were strange to him. There were thoughts about cars, electricity, and other things that did not seem like things from this world. For example the clothes the young man currently wore could only be described as medieval if he compared them to the ones Oliver knew.


    The boy wondered if he could use the things he had learned of. He tried to imitate the feeling of the soul sense Oliver had witnessed. And he succeeded . A wonderful feeling filled his mind as he took in his surroundings in this new way. The forest felt so alive. He could feel the ants beneath him, the birds above him, and even the plants all around him. As he expanded his sense to feel even more in sync with nature the pleasurable feeling quickly subsided and fear took over. He had found something. Something that scared him. He only had touched it with his soul sense for a short time, but he had felt a lot of murderous intent from it. It had felt like a wild beast that had only been born to murder everything it encountered.


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    In fear he fled away from it. After two hours of brisk walking he finally left the forest and found himself in a meadow that bordered to a field. In the distance he saw some people working the field. He continued his march and walked towards them.


    As he walked through the meadow he enjoyed the warm sun light and the gentle breeze. It was a beautiful day and only a handful of clouds could be seen in the distance. The air was filled with the scent of flowers and the sound of busy insects. Half in trance he continued his way until he was awoken from it through the shouts of people that apparently noticed his approach.


    ¡°Hey! Where are you coming from? Who are you?¡± he heard the oldest looking person in the group shout. It was a woman with grey hair, a wrinkled face, and a hunched back, who had shouted. She too, like everyone at the field, wore old fashioned clothes. The colours of her simple cut dress was of a light brown and even the embroideries at the borders of the textile lacked bright or eye catching colours.


    At this sudden questions the boy was rather dumbfounded. He understood the questions, but how should he answer them? ¡°I come from there.¡± he said while pointing towards the forest.


    ¡°And I guess you don''t have a name.¡± The old woman said in a kinder tone than before. ¡°It has been ages since the last worldborn has appeared near our village.¡± ¡°Worldborn?¡± the boy asked. ¡°Yes. That''s how we name those that appear randomly in this world. They have become increasingly rare. But they still exist even today. And like the word implies they seemingly are born from this very world. They just jump into existence in uncivilised regions. They always appear with a bit of equipment and without any memories except the ones needed to survive.¡± She explained while she and everyone else resume their work. With a nod towards a heap of tools she signaled the boy to partake in it. As he worked next to her and overturned the earth with a primitive hoe, she continued to speak. ¡°As far as we know this world was first colonized by the worldborn. In fact everyone living here has ancestors that were worldborn. Sadly a lot of people, especially in the cities, have forgotten their roots and look with disdain upon the ''foreigners''¡± As we finished with our rows she said ¡°If you want you can stay with us in Orsten for now. We certainly could need more young people! Most of ours flee to the cities as soon as they are allowed to decide for themselves. I am sure someone will take you in and show you the ropes.¡±


    ¡°I will gladly accept this. Oh before I forget it how are you called?¡± the boy said. ¡°Oh! Forgetful old me! I am Ema¡± she said rather amused about her small blunder. ¡°We should also consider a name for you.¡± As they continued to work he was introduced to the other villagers and together they discussed several names for him.


    When the sun began to set they finished their work and came to a conclusion. Henceforth he will be called Marcel. After they gathered their tools they walked towards the village, which Marcel only saw as a group of buildings in the distance until now. It gave off a rustic vibe and its buildings were build from wood and clay and with roofs made of reed. The village is located in a valley next to a lake, which it encompasses to one third. The houses aren''t huddled together like those Marcel saw in Oliver''s memories, instead they are surrounded by gardens and some are rather far away from the next building.


    As they entered the village they were greeted by playing kids, which accompany them in their playful half jumping motions, which only children are capable of. Most of them inquired about the stranger, which came back with the adults. But Ema just told them that they will learn about him at the dinner table from their parents.


    The group walks towards the centre of the village. As they reached the plaza they were greeted by what seemed to be all adults of the village. Ema climbed atop the podium in the middle and begun to speak to the villagers. Marcel learned, that Ema is the spokeswoman of this village and that this meeting is a daily practice. Everyone is free to go on top of the podium and speak about the occurrences in the village. Today''s topic is of course Marcel.


    The fact that he would join the community was quickly accepted, but since he doesn''t look older than 12 and most probably doesn''t know any profession it took almost an hour until it was decided who would take him in.


    His new foster father is a man named Tom. He is in his fifties and lost his wife and his first child 5 years ago. Neither of the two survived the birth. He is a tool smith, a profession one can only start to learn once one is a bit older, hence Marcel won''t be too far behind the other children his age in his apprenticeship.


    Tired he followed Tom to his new home. ¡°The next days I will truly learn to know my new father and not only hear the hushed summaries from some random guy in the audience.¡± he thought. Tom didn''t talk much while they walked, only when they were in front of his house did he talk. ¡°Welcome to your new home Marcel.¡± He said, while standing with open arms in front of his house. This house was different from all the other houses Marcel had seen in the village. It was built from stone and had a shingle roof. Also it had a big chimney and a waterwheel on its backside.


    Marcel followed Tom through the small garden to the front door and saw yet another difference. The door had a lock. Tom took out the key from within his pouch and opened it. They enter the house and Marcel looked around the small dim entry room. Meanwhile Tom had entered an adjacent room and when he returned he held a lit oil lamp. Together they prepared a room for Marcel and ate a meal. Only a few words were exchanged in this time, as both seemed to prefer the silence.


    In the solitude of his room Marcel took out the crystal and began to study it and its contents. Slowly he sunk his mind into it, treading on a fine line between consciousness and unconsciousness. As he did, he noticed that there are gaps in the memories. A lot of details are missing or unclear, although the important informations seemed to still exist. They seemed to have redundant copies.


    Carefully he examined the memories in the crystal. He witnessed how Oliver awoke in his old body, which was in a coma, how he struggled through the rehab and how he started a new life. Oliver had experienced a lot of different things and all his knowledge was saved in this crystal. Forging, tailoring, leather- and woodworking, he had worked in all these crafts. But he also had learned more refined things. Physics, mathematics, medicine, whenever something caught his interest he sought to thoroughly understand it. And his stronger soul helped him in all his endeavours, he had discovered how to manipulate his own body and even the world around him, although he was harshly limited in the amount of energy he could control.


    But many parts seemed to be missing. At one point the records about his daily stopped and only the knowledge about techniques, science, and crafting remained. Mentally exhausted he stored away the crystal and went to bed.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    Marcel was awoken by the sun shining through his window and the song of birds. All there was in his room were some rustic furniture, a bed, a closet, and a stool. He arose from his bed and took some clothes from the closet, which were once worn by Tom and a bit too wide for Marcel. He picked a linen shirt, a pair of leather pants and a leather vest. None of these clothes were dyed in any way. From Oliver''s memories Marcel learnt that it is rather complicated and expensive to get good dyes in a medieval world. They weren''t meant to be wasted on work clothes, so he wasn''t bothered by it.


    When he entered the kitchen he was greeted by Tom, who already had prepared a breakfast. Ravenous silence encompassed the breakfast. As they finished Tom spoke ¡°One of the ploughs shares from the community plough broke yesterday. I would like you to help me make a new one. We have to determine if you have any compatibility with my craft early on, so that we can decide on your future path.¡±


    After they did the dishes Marcel followed Tom towards a section of the house he hadn''t seen yet. The room Marcel saw now seemed kind of out of place with all its gears and simple machines. There were the backside of the waterwheel and its bearing, some automated bellows and a hammer powered by the waterwheel. Tom showed him how the machines had to be handled and together they kindled the forge. When the fire was hot enough Tom shoved a big piece of metal into the flames. While it heated up he told Marcel about the material they would use and what colours it would take when workable.


    Almost all of the information were identical with what Marcel learned in Oliver''s memories, even the instructions he got to get the metal in the right form. But he quickly learned, that the pure knowledge isn''t enough, not even close. His arms weren''t strong enough nor precise enough. He tried his best but he couldn''t handle more than a rough form. When Tom noticed that, he took over and shortly after he had finished the forming process. Then he explained about the most important part. The tempering. This moment could destroy the work of three hours! If the intern strain is too high the plough share will shatter. But without tempering it won''t be resilient enough.


    But they succeeded.


    ¡°Good work! With training you will definitely become an accomplished smith.¡± Tom said, ¡°But for today it is enough work for you. Your body simply can''t handle more right now. So go outside and play with the other children. I bet that they are eager to meet you.¡±


    Marcel first washed off the sweat and the grime and then he walked towards the village centre. As he heard the sounds of playing children he changed his direction and followed them. He found the children playing at the riverside. When they noticed him they swarmed towards and surrounded him. There were twenty children in total, but only 5 seemed to be around Marcel''s age and the others were way younger. They asked him loads of questions, most of which he couldn''t answer. Then they introduced themselves. Together they played tag, hide and seek, or climbed trees.


    Exhausted Marcel returned home. It was a fun day, but the extra attention he had gotten had been very taxing. Tom awaited him while sitting on a bench in the garden and chatting with their neighbours, a baker and a potter. All the fire hazardous industries had been placed together at the border of the village, which had given birth to such a constellation of neighbours. Marcel greeted them and listened a bit to their conversation, but he quickly grew bored. Luckily, after ten minutes, Tom decided that it was time for their dinner. While eating they talked about the upcoming work and some craft related things and lastly about school. Two days of the week are designated to it and all children have to attend. Tomorrow will be Marcel''s first school day. The day came to an end and the next followed.


    Early in the morning Marcel was on the way to the school building. He wasn''t eager to go to school, as he knew a lot of what probably would be taught already, but he still wanted to go, to learn about the world he was in, not that he had this choice either way.


    The school building was just a house like any other in the village, but it didn''t have any interior walls and only one big room, in which were a lot of benches and a chalkboard. The room was already filled with children, which were around 12 years old. Marcel knew some of them already from yesterday.


    Shortly after a middle aged man entered the room and the children rose and greeted him. Marcel had mimicked them. ¡°Ahh you must be Marcel. My name is Richard and I will be your teacher in the coming year.¡± said the man, ¡°Up till now I mostly taught reading, writing and simple mathematics, so I would like to test you in these. I need to find out if you need additional lesson. I never taught a worldborn before, so I don''t know what you already know.¡±


    With these words half an hour of questioning and testing began. Luckily for Marcel the language here and the one in Oliver''s memories were identical. Through that he easily passed the test.


    ¡°Very well. I am pleasantly surprised.¡± The teacher said, ¡°Today we will start with what is considered common sense in the world. Some things you may already know, but I ask you to listen to it nonetheless. It might save you one day. First of all, let us talk about the class categories. Does anybody here know what those are?¡±


    A blonde girl in front of Marcel raised her hand and answered.¡±There are two categories. The lesser and the supreme classes. But I don''t know what separates them.¡± ¡°That is correct. They are separated by the use of secret or supreme techniques, that are managed and controlled by our king. Without these techniques it is impossible to manipulate big amounts of mana. The only way to acquire them is to serve the kingdom in any way. Be it soldiers, mages, adventurers or whatnot. Only those bound through pledges are allowed to wield this power. Our king for example, would actually be of a lesser class, since he deduced that he has no talent in magic and decided to use his time more wisely. His wise decision closed the social gap that once existed between the the two classes. But I digress¡± the teacher said. Marcel raised his hand and asked. ¡°How binding are those pledges?¡± ¡°They are considered unbreakable, as they are rooted in your very soul. To break them means to end ones own existence.¡± Richard answered. The class continued for almost all day. They learned about the money system, the dangerous creatures and their known habitats around the village and how to read simple maps. Richard was a good teacher, that knew how to teach the kids without boring them.


    The next school day started with an announcement that excited everyone, today they would learn how to cast lesser magic and if they had any potential with it. Many kids dreamed about being a mage or an adventurer and today could mark the day that their glorious career begins. In the morning they had continued their common sense class, but finally after lunch the magic lessons began.


    Some people might think that it is irresponsible to teach a kid to wield magic, but in this case it really isn''t, lesser magic is very limited, without extensive studies the most one could manage was to create a small light or throw a rock as hard as one could with ones own hands. Even flames were hard to create, although it was rather easy to boil water.


    The teacher began this lesson with instructions on how to achieve a state of mind that allowed one to use magic and to sense it. Marcel quickly noticed that those were almost identical to the techniques Oliver developed. He came to the conclusion that magic is the same as the manipulation of the world Oliver had practised. As such he easily entered this state of mind and looked at the world with his soul. To his surprise he saw that the teacher used his soul to write a sentence in the air. ¡°Who sees this please raise a part of your soul out of your body.¡± Marcel did as he was asked to and the teacher gave him an acknowledging nod and move towards him. ¡°You are the first one.¡± he said. ¡°I will now show you the structure needed to create a small light, it is one of the easiest spells and all I am allowed to teach you.¡± Marcel quickly memorized the shown three dimensional structure woven from soul tendrils and begun to copy it as the teacher returned to the chalkboard.


    After three minutes he finished it and began to activate it. He absorbed the warmth of the room moved the energies through his soul and converted it into light. He knew, from Oliver''s memories, that this process is way more complicated in its fundamental physical energy conversations. But he didn''t care about that in the moment, first of all it works either way! If you know how it works or not it doesn''t matter! And secondly he did MAGIC! He was excited like everyone else, probably even more so. A small spherical light appeared in front of him, but he couldn''t keep it up for long. A searing pain filled his soul, it wasn''t capable of manipulating and guiding energy for an extensive period of time yet. To ease his pain he begun to slowly absorb the soul mist that naturally existed around him like Oliver had done when he lived and researched his soul.


    Richard was impressed with this little worldborn. Not only did he quickly grasp how to see with the soul and how to create a light, but he also seemingly instinctively begun to strengthen his soul. ¡°Sadly he probably won''t ever be a mage, only few have the possibility to learn at the magic academies and most of the lucky ones have a big family backing them.¡± he thought. At the end of the lesson Marcel was the only one that could cast the light, but two thirds of the class had managed to at least see with their soul.


    Five days working together with Tom in the morning and playing with the other children in the afternoon and two days of school, like that forty weeks passed. In this time Marcel trained a lot, lately he has even begun to restructure his muscles, like he had learned in Oliver''s memories, and integrated a better protein in his cells. It allowed them to exert more force once contracted. Through that it was easier for him to smith together with his father, which he enjoyed a lot. Working together and talking about their work brought them very close together. They both shared the same passion for their craft.


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    From time to time he experimented with spells and he got really good with that he could create more complex spells and channel more energy, but it was still far from what someone with a supreme technique could use. But his latest discovery far outstripped his other achievements. He discovered that it is possible to form the soul mist that is bound to a material into spells, effectively allowing him to enchant items, something he never even had heard about.


    He had discovered that when he tried to cast a spell underwater. It was as easy as when he was surrounded by air. When this had succeeded he tried weather he could cast a spell when his soul is stuck into metal. To his surprise it left behind an imprint in the soul mist of the material.


    He used this knowledge to improve the tools in the village secretly. He inscribed shovels, hoes, axes, knives, and every other type of cutting tools in a way that increased the hardness and form of the cutting edge, even giving them the ability to reform and repair themselves as long as the intern structures of the enchantment weren''t broken. The enchantments were so effective that one had to be careful about where one leans ones tools against! When questioned about the leap in quality Tom , who was involved in his sons research long ago, only said that they found a new tempering and sharpening method.


    The rather monotonous village life was interrupted when one evening a group of adventurers that had taken on a task to search for rare alchemical ingredients in the nearby forest arrived at the village. That is a rather common task in the area and as such the local inn was well prepared to host them. Many adults casually drank in the bar room when they entered. Many heads turned towards them and whispers travelled through the room. But it wasn''t the first time adventurers had arrived in Orsten, so the room quickly calmed down.


    The four adventurers walked to the bar to get their rooms. All except a red haired woman then went to pack away their luggage. Mumbling something about idiots and having to stand them for another week she ordered a beer. ¡°Hey Sarah I double checked there aren''t any spiders up there.¡± One of the adventurers, a black haired male, shouted over the whole room. She had enough. With one swift move she grabbed a knife behind the bar and threw it towards her companion. This knife was a gift for the big birthday of the innkeeper and it had been enchanted to the limit, it is so sharp and stable that a special cutting board is required to use it without cutting through the table beneath. The edge is monomolecular and harder than diamond.


    Among those in the supreme classes there are some classes that can enhance their body and although the thrower was able to she didn''t enhance her body to retaliate for some teasing words. Nonetheless the knife was embedded in the wall. If it hadn''t been for the handle it probably would have gone right through the wall. Impressed Sarah walked towards the knife and the cowering man next to it. She gently tried to pull the knife out and to her astonishing it slid down a bit and easily left a clean cut in the wooden wall. She enhanced the defence of her arm with an aura created through mana and tested the knife. Sure enough she drew blood, it wasn''t as easy as cutting the wall, but still better than any weapon without the infusion of mana from the owner should be capable of. She turned around to the now silent bar room, while holding up the bloody knife, and asked one question: ¡°Who made this?¡±


    The next morning, the news about the adventurers hadn''t reached them yet, Marcel heard knocking from their door. He put away the piece he was working on just now and went to open the door, as he had done the last months, to let Tom continue his work unimpeded. To his surprise there were people that he never had seen before at their door. And one woman among them was holding a knife that he knew very well. ¡°Hello travellers, what brings you to our smithy and why do you have this?¡± he greets them. ¡°We would like to speak with your father, the smith of this knife here.¡± Sarah responded. ¡°Actually he didn''t work on this, I did, but I should get him anyway.¡± Marcel said while turning around to bring his father the news.


    ¡°He created this?¡± Sarah though while waiting for his return, ¡°So young and yet he created something of this degree...¡± As she was reliant on her equipment she knew much more about metallurgy than most of the villagers. She understood the impossibility of this knife. Steel simply shouldn''t be able to support such an edge. The edge should have been broken from the simple cutting motion when it was first used, but it didn''t. Even after it had been thrown against a wooden wall it didn''t have the slightest imperfection.


    ¡°So how can we help you?¡± Tom asked as the two smiths returned. ¡°Can you create a weapon with the same properties as this knife? And if you can what would it cost me?¡± she asked. ¡°50 gold, so the doubled prize of a standard steel weapon. And yes we can make you one. But it would be best if you come inside to discuss the details.¡± he answered. ¡°50 gold for something that has properties like a weapon forged from a magical alloy, that can''t be bought with money. I don''t think he understands what he is selling. But I sure as hell won''t tell him.¡± Sarah thought.


    In the kitchen they discussed the detail of Sarah''s order. She wants a two handed sword. Tom took a quick measurement from here and calculated the optimal length. Since Sarah would only stay here for five days and then her group would move back they decided to immediately get to work. But when Sarah was about to leave, she suddenly heard Marcel ask her something and turned around. ¡°You are an adventurer right? So I have to ask you whether you infuse your sword with a spell when you use it.¡± ¡°Yes I do.¡± she answered rather confused by this question. The boy gave her a small knife and asked her to try infusing it. At first nothing happened, which was rather strange since there should appear an aura like film on the metal and then it exploded in a cloud of tiny metal fragments!


    ¡°As I though. The current refining stands in conflict with spells. But don''t worry we will find a way.¡± Marcel says to the perplexed woman. He returns to the forge, leaving behind a confused woman with a knife''s hilt in her right hand.


    The problem with the current enchantment is that it takes in any ambient energy to power the spells. So if someone were to give it additional energy the spells overclock and instead of holding the atoms in place to form a nearly indestructible edge the system oversteers and the atoms begin to swing in a harmonic way leading to a resonance catastrophe shattering the enchanted object. Marcel quickly came up with a fix for that problem. He just had to change the source of the energy to be the wielder, close the system from any outer influences, like the aura and add a buffer to the sword. The best buffers are mono-crystals. Coincidently one of Marcel''s training regimes had consisted of the creation of small diamonds, which are pretty much worthless in this world.


    Four days later Sarah returns to the forge, after she and her companions had finished their rather boring quest. They didn''t encounter any beasts and had to search all day for the herbs they had come for. As such she still hadn''t vented her annoyance. In fact it had even grown as she had to be near those idiots all day. They were funny, but idiots nonetheless. Filled with expectations she knocked at the door and shortly after Marcel opened it, greeted her, and signalled her to follow him. On a table in the forging area lay the ordered weapon. It looked ¡­. completely normal. Sarah though that it was kind of anticlimactic.


    ¡°So, do you want to give it a try? But please not in here.¡± Marcel said, while sheathing the two handed sword and giving it to her. ¡°The weight of the weapons is just right.¡± she thought. In the backyard she unsheathed her new weapon and when she held it she felt a tiny pull at her soul. The sword was taking energy from her! Not much, but a steady tiny stream was escaping her body. ¡°What exactly did the boy do with this sword?¡± She thought.


    Then she started the real test. She pushed her soul into the weapon and formed the arrays for the reinforcement in it and then send out her energy. It flowed so easily. She noticed that there actually existed channels in the soul structure of the sword, which now were flooded with energy. This flow could compare to magic alloys. ¡°How did they do this?¡± She once again thought.


    She paid the 50 gold and as she left, she said that if they ever would want to open shop in one of the cities they should send her a message and she would make them popular in one night.


    This evening Marcel extensively talked with his father about his future, he wanted to go to one of the magic academies to further his magical studies, but for that he would need a lot of money or influence, the fee for the entrance fee alone is 200 gold an amount that is equivalent to 5 years of living expenses of a villager in Orsten. It wasn''t an unreachable amount but still a very discouraging one.


    Marcel planned to go with Sarah towards the nearest city and set up shop there to earn the necessary money. Reluctantly Tom allowed it and Marcel darted of to inform Sarah.

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3


    Sarah was rather surprised when Marcel took up her offer so soon. She had guessed that those two grandmasters, as she came to see them, lived so secluded because they wanted to avoid attention. But now this boy stood in front of her and excitedly told her about his plans. She naturally accepted to let him travel with her and secretly decided to keep an eye on him while he lives in the city. The city in question will be Lansview as it is the group''s destination and their home base.


    The next day Marcel met with the adventurers in front of the inn, he was fully loaded with all the equipment he needed. Tom and some villagers came along to say him farewell. It was a quick but tearful goodbye. It hadn''t even been a full year, but Marcel was sure that he would miss these folks, especially Tom. Sarah too gave Tom some words of goodbye. Marcel didn''t hear them, but Tom looked much more reassured after he had heard them.


    They set out on foot, Marcel really wished they had horses. Strangely he had never seen any before. Cows and chickens and some wild animals like foxes and birds he had seen and they are also rather similar to Oliver''s memories. But there just didn''t seem to be any horses around. As such they walked in a rather harsh pace. Marcel still could easily manage it though, his enhanced muscles and organs could sustain this pace for many hours before he would need to rest.


    Sarah was rather embarrassed that her companions would try such a mean prank on the kid. They would normally walk casually, but today they picked a pace that wasn''t sustainable through muscle power alone. One needed mana to enhance oneself. Interestingly enough Marcel didn''t seem to mind it. And as time passed it wasn''t him that was exhausted, but one of the three pranksters. The constant strain on his mind from keeping up the reinforcement took its toll on the youngest member of this adventuring group. In the evening shortly before he probably would have had collapsed they reached their destination. What should have taken them 2 days of casual walking, was covered in one. Marcel still looked as fresh as he looked at the start of their journey.


    Marcel stayed this night at the groups home. There he learned a few informations about his travel companions. All four, Sarah and the three pranksters, were born in lesser noble families that own land around Lansview. They knew each other since they were children although they were some years apart. Sarah was the oldest of them, then came Peter, followed by John and Steven. They just started adventuring together, hence they choose easy tasks. Like picking herbs. Sarah and John already had a higher rank, but since they wanted to show their friends the ropes they lowered their standards for jobs.


    The next day Sarah helped Marcel to find a small house in the crafts district and even guaranteed for him while setting up the renting contract. The house had a shop front, a separate workshop and living quarters on the second floor. It already came with furniture and cost a whopping 40 gold per year. Marcel paid upfront with the money earned from crafting the sword for Sarah. His father had insisted that he takes this money. After he stashed his belongings, Marcel and Sarah set out to get some daily necessities and to get his business started. After they went to the market Sarah led him to a giant building. It was the adventurers guild and was similar in build style to his fathers house, just way bigger.


    ¡°The guild master here is an old acquaintance of my Ranenhold family, I may not be able to influence him but at least you and your wares will get an audience. If you can impress him, and I am rather certain you will, then he will recommend your shop to the adventurers.¡± Sarah said, while he followed her through multiple buildings of the guild. Marcel doubted that on his own he would have been able to enter any room after the foyer. Finally they stopped in front of a dark wooden door with a golden label ¡°Eric Lan Guild Master¡± on it. Sarah timidly knocked.


    ¡°Enter.¡± A sonorous voice could be heard through the door. And so they did as said and found themselves in a study room, in front of a desk behind which the guild leader sat. He was a wiry old man with silver hair and a sharp face. ¡°Ah, hello Sarah. I heard you had a small matter that you need help with.¡± ¡°Well I would say small might be an understatement. Please have a look at this sword.¡± Sarah said while giving him her sword. ¡°Hmm it seems to be a mundane steel sword. But I guess you already know that, so there must be something else. Hmm what is that? How can it be so sharp? It should break from a casual touch and yet I don''t doubt that it can easily withstand parrying. And what''s up with this absurd mana conductivity?¡± he muttered while inspecting the sword.


    ¡°You brought me something I can''t explain and this in itself is quite an accomplishment. So tell me where did you find such an artefact and what does this boy have to do with that?¡± He asked. ¡°I think he can explain that better than me.¡± Sarah says. ¡°I made that sword and we are here to ask for your support for my new shop. And should you doubt my words... take this!¡± Marcel said and placed a small metallic cube on the table. The cube wasn''t remarkable at all. It was just a cube of steel. But it emitted a constant light. As the guild master inspected it he couldn''t find anything extraordinary about it, he couldn''t even find any soul creating the light, there was only the mana that is bound to the matter of the cube. Yet another unexplainable thing had appeared. Suddenly Sarah gasped.


    ¡°So that is how it works! It isn''t a new way of refining the steel it is infusion of magic arrays into the material! That is why the knife shattered when I tried to strengthen it! But how?¡± She exclaimed. ¡°How indeed.¡± The old guild master said. He couldn''t find the array at all. Marcel already knew that they couldn''t and he could also guesse why. Their view of the world simply was full of errors, they called it mana while it was in fact mist made of souls, which is mouldable. They probably didn''t even knew what atoms are.


    ¡°It would be very complicated to explain that. Let us just say that I am worldborn and the knowledge awakened in me, which it kind of did.¡± Marcel said. ¡°I can live with that for now, although I dearly want an explanation at a later date. And I can see why you would need my support. Without it you probably would have a hard time setting up shop here.¡± Eric said. ¡° And indeed you shall have it.¡±


    With this assurance their business here was concluded and Marcel and Sarah left the guild building. Hours later the guild master was still looking at the cube that was left behind. When his assistant asked him what he sees in this thing he just answered ¡°A Chance at Hope¡±.


    The next day Marcel started his day alone in his new home. After a quick breakfast he began to set up his workshop. He brought along only a few pliers and hammers and a basin made of steel. This steel basin will be his forge, it is enchanted to convert anything that is placed into a small compartment of it into energy and store it into the diamonds on it, when needed the stored energy will be converted into heat. The wonderful thing about enchanted items is the fact that they don''t tire a soul when they work, their energy processing power is more limited though. They are slower than a mage but they don''t need a break. Next Marcel took out a diamond with an iron fitting, placed it on the ground and activated its enchantment. Slowly an anvil would begin to grow from it. It will take two hours to finish and consume a fully charged diamond, which needed almost a full month to charge through Marcel''s energy absorption. But it was still better than carrying an anvil around.


    He was just set up when he heard the bells from the store front, which still looked rather barren except for two cubes of metal at the counter, one floating ten centimetre over the wood and the other one dimly glowing. ¡°How can I help you?¡± he greeted his first costumer, a young man in new looking leather armour. ¡°Ahem, This shop was recommended to me by some guys at the guild, but I fear they played a prank on me. Or do you by any chance sell weapons here?¡± he asked nervously. ¡°Yes I do. And not just any sort of weapon. Mine have some original properties, like those cubes you see here.¡± Marcel answered. ¡°So if you want something you can order it from me preferably with specifications about what exactly you want.¡± He told the man whose eyes were glued at the floating cube. ¡°Hmm? Oh, yes! I want a spear, preferably long lasting and about 2 meters long. I also would like it to be easily throw-able.¡± he said. ¡°I guess you will want a metal shaft right? And if you add a ring to your order I could add some nifty enchants to the combo. My prices are fixed at 50 gold per weapon right now, but rest assured that you will receive a high quality weapon. So do you want to set up a contract?¡± Marcel asked. He agreed. And like that Marcel gained his first costumer.


    He started to work as soon as the anvil had finished to grow. The final form of the spear was quickly and easily achieved. The spear was forged from a single staff of steel. All he had to do was to form the spear tip and balance the weapon. The ring too was quickly fashioned. The hard part begun now. He worked for the rest of the day on it, luckily no one interrupted him in his work.


    The next day at the appointed time, his costumer returned. ¡°It is finished. But I will need a wide area to demonstrate it to you, do you have access to a training area?¡± Marcel asked him. ¡°Yes I have. All adventurers do. Let us go to the training field of the guild.¡± he answered and after a short walk they arrived at aforementioned place. Marcel walked to the shooting range, while carrying the spear and wearing the ring. The man followed him filled with doubt, he had never seen the master of the boy and he still thought that he had been fooled. This spear simply didn''t look like anything special.


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    Marcel raised the spear, its tip pointing towards the sky, and let go of it. But instead of falling down it just stood there, in the air. Yet this was just the beginning, to an invisible signal just a bit more than some tiny waves in the mana around them, the spear began to move. And with insane speed it shot towards the metal target and punched trough the 10 centimetre thick steel as if it was tofu. Marcel continued to demonstrate some flying manoeuvres of the spear, mostly because he really enjoyed to play around with his new invention. After 10 minutes the energy reservoir in the spear was almost empty and it returned to him. He quickly recharged it with a energy absorbing ring he had fashioned to combat his own low capacity and absorption rate. When he was done he turned around and saw a slack jawed young man in leather armour in front of him and simply pushed the ring and the spear into his hands and begun to explain how one could control it. He also gave him a small hastily written manual.


    But the young man gave Marcel a big shock when he simply threw the spear. With this throw it reached a speed that was above the upper limit of the enchantments. It seemed like the enchantments simply can''t compensate the use of supreme techniques. Yet the young man really liked the enchantments, with them he could increase his accuracy and even retrieve his spear. These things could save his live in the future and adventurers needed every safety measure they could get. He happily paid the price and even gave Marcel 5 gold as a bonus.


    The news about a young smith that could produce wondrous weapons quickly spread throughout the adventurers guild, but just as quickly they had been suppressed. A consensus was quickly formed among the adventurers to keep those weapons to themselves and to not share the news with the other organizations, like the military or the mages. The three organization kept each other in check, the adventurers fought the monsters that roam the land and collect resources, the military fights off other nations and upholds justice and peace in the kingdom and the mages furthered the knowledge. Those three are rivals that fight over the grace of his majesty. They want to be seen as the most useful and acquire more resources if possible. Yet if an open war would occur all three would work together immediately, there was no hate between them only rivalry and the kingdom would always be their priority.


    As such Marcel''s shop wasn''t flooded with customers the next day, it would have been too suspicious if a horde of adventurers tried to enter a shop, instead the adventuring guild had worked out a list of orders and secretly brought it to Marcel, who was rather dumbfounded when a customer entered from a window at the second floor and brought him a paper roll with the adventurer guild''s seal and a bag full of coins, which was his advance money. He was now filthy rich, at least for a commoner with a lesser class. Just when he was about to get to work, he heard someone entering the shop. Thinking that he would have to turn the new customer down, since he already had enough work for the rest of the month. He walked through the door behind the counter.


    The man in front of him didn''t look like an adventurer at all. With his beautifully dyed and embroidered clothes and his bulging belly he looked more like a merchant. ¡°How may I help you, dear sir?¡± Marcel courteously asked. ¡°Hmpf at least he knows his place, lowly worldborn.¡± The man mumbles almost inaudible and with scorn all over his face. ¡°I am here on behest of the crafter''s guild. It came to our attention that a new shop was opened without consulting us.¡± he said. ¡°I wasn''t aware that this is a necessity, nor was I made aware of that when I rented this store. I am also rather certain that there isn''t any law that states that one has to be in a guild to open a store.¡± Marcel defended himself. ¡°It is true. There are now laws stating as such. But I can guarantee you that you won''t get any costumers, if you don''t join. The conditions are simple: The guild gets 80% off your revenue up till now and 20% off your future revenue.¡± The merchant says confidently. ¡°Actually I don''t see a need for you or your guild. I have more than enough work right now.¡± Marcel responded. ¡°You will regret it. Our next offer won''t be as benevolent.¡± The man said in aggressive tone.


    ¡°BENEVOLENT MY ARSE!¡± A female voice is heard from the door. ¡°I KNEW YOU THIEVING PIGS WOULD COME HERE SOON. LEAVE! NOW!¡± Startled the merchant fled. Marcel finally recognised the person at the door, it was Sarah and she didn''t look pleased. ¡°Damn him and his guild. They push all the prices to make profit, not seeing that they cripple the populace in the process.¡± She angrily mumbles. ¡°You don''t have to worry about them the guild will guarantee your supplies.¡±


    ¡°I am more worried about his open hostility towards worldborn than about his threats. I hope it won''t be an issue when I attend the academy.¡± Marcus said. ¡°I would be lying when I say it won''t. Especially since you also will be one of the youngest people attending. Barely 13 and already a business man and master of his own art. Way ahead of your peers, aren''t you? The spear is impressive by the way. Normally it is very hard to remote control something. Mages have to create and tame spirits for that and those tend to desert.¡± She said. ¡°Wait are you saying me that it is easier for them to create a sentient being than to create a receiver for waves in the ambient soul mist?¡± Marcel asks. ¡°Soul mist? I don''t know about that. But yeah they need something to communicate with when they control spells from far away.¡± Sarah answers, curiosity is clearly visible on her face. ¡°Ups, I forgot you use the term mana. I named it soul mist because its composition is similar to ones soul and I learned of it before I heard of the term ''mana''.¡± Marcel replied. ¡°Interesting.¡± Sarah said. The look of curiosity in her eyes send shivers down his spine.


    ¡°Actually I came here to ask you something everyone else has missed to ask. Would you take on an apprentice? I know that you plan to go to the academy, as such you will have to swear the pledge and share your knowledge when you want to graduate. Also you probably won''t have the time to continue your work.¡± She argues. Marcel doesn''t have a reason to refuse actually, he will draw a lot of attention towards himself sooner or later anyway and his prior dislike about such attention was his reason to keep it a secret to begin with. As this reason isn''t valid anymore and he is more or less used to this attention now, he agrees. But he wants the guilds help in finding an apprentice, since he won''t have the time to. His requirements are rather easy, it must be someone who is proficient in spells and science. It has to be noted that it mustn''t necessarily be a mage, since a lot of people are also proficient in casting spells. A mage in this world is a person who have pledged their lives towards the research of magic.


    After Sarah left, Marcel got back to work. He had to work on the orders and also work out a teaching schedule. He won''t have much free time in the coming months. Also the academy recruitment would begin in two months. He would need to clear most his responsibilities till then and study some more.


    The next morning Sarah brought twenty people to Marcel, 8 women and 12 men. The store quickly felt rather stuffed and so Marcel asked if he could use a guild room for now. After he had collected, what they would need for the lecture, they set off. The first lesson was a strange experience, for everyone involved. A 13 year old kid asked seasoned adventurers what they knew about the world and how it worked and nearly collapsed in frustration. Everyone in that room was stronger than Marcel in terms of magic, yet it was impossible for them to replicate a lot of his spells. They didn''t even understand the implications when he showed them his craziest and most unstable creation, a spell that created a miniature sun. For them it was just a very hot fireball and something they couldn''t do. They never even heard about a way to increase the heat of a fire to such a degree.


    They only understood that this flaming ball was a replica of the sun and produced absurd amounts of energy that easily could fuel some very big spells after he pointed it out and explained it for hours. Resigned Marcel had to change his lectures and added an advanced physics course to it. He would have to buy some weapons and enchant them instead of making them from scratch. Which meant that he would lose out on the actual enjoyable part of his craft.


    Another problem was the way his apprentices used magic up till now. They are trained in a maximizing way, the more power the better. Yet enchanting needs a very fine control of the soul and energy. It was like one tried to solder a motherboard with a flamethrower. And led to some rather dangerous failures. Marcel almost never left his cover under his desk when they practice, since he couldn''t protect himself like his apprentices could. He inwardly thanked the architect who wisely made everything in the practice rooms out of flame-proof and sturdy materials.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4


    After two weeks of training they finally begun to understand what Marcel tried to teach them. They could sense the atomic makeup of the world around them, but they needed a lot of concentration to maintain this state. It was like telling a man to thread a needle after years of work with a jack-hammer. To train them in the needed finesse Marcel created a game where the participants needed to move a sphere of metal through a tight course without touching the obstacles. He had needed to fix the obstacle multiple times a day at the beginning. Marcel decided to have some serious conversations with the instructors at the academy, who seemed to just create huge ass magic canons out of their students.


    While Marcel observed and taught his apprentices he began to see the differences the supreme techniques created compared to normal techniques. Their souls weren''t bigger, in fact his own appeared to be bigger than theirs, but their energy conductivity was just absurdly high. There seemed to exist channels in their souls, but Marcel could only begin to guess how they were created and maintained their form. He had created similar channels before, but only in barely changing metal objects. A soul is different it flows and changes constantly. What technique could change such a fundamental thing without completely altering the person? Or did it alter them?


    Now that he thought about it he had never heard about a criminal or deserter that used supreme techniques. Was the oath they took just so powerful that nobody had ever succeeded or did such thoughts just not appear in them? Luckily he still had years to think about this since the students would only have access to the secret techniques in their last year and only then would they have to swear an oath.


    Three days before the academy recruitment began Marcel had finished the last order on the list and received the full payment. With 2000 gold he was now as wealthy as one of the lowest landless nobles. During these weeks he had studied a lot and barely slept, but had instead used one of Oliver''s training methods, which gave him the rest he needed, while simultaneously train his soul. He could now create ridiculous huge spells and compensated the low energy conductivity of his soul with sheer size of the conductors. It was a crude solution, but he could manipulate amounts of energy that were almost equal to that of a supreme technique user. Yet his endurance in doing so lagged far behind and he needs a lot of time to recuperate from such arduous tasks.


    His apprentices could now finally create enchantments, although they wasted a lot of space and still made many errors. Still he couldn''t teach them anything new anymore, all that was left for them was practice. Which they could do on their own. They didn''t need Marcel for this and he was glad that he could now concentrate on his academy life. Yet in the past weeks he asked himself repetitively the same question: ¡°What drove and still drives me to enter the academy?¡± But he couldn''t find an answer. Illogical as it is he still couldn''t shake of this desire, he felt from his very core that he was meant to do it. Was it the inner drive he had read about when he studied the worldborn in the past weeks?


    It seemed like he wasn''t the sole master of his mind, but who is it anyway? One more manipulator won''t change much. So Marcel decided to just go with the flow.


    During his studies he had learned a lot about this countries history. What had surprised him the most was how young it was and that it was subordinate to a gargantuan empire. At first it seemed strange that he had never heard of it before, but as he thought about it it became clear that since the normal populace were never involved with it. In fact they didn''t have to care about it at all. The immediate sovereign was way more important to them than any alliances ever could be. He also learned that the oath he would have to take to learn the supreme techniques was towards the empire with the king of this country as an intermediary.


    Finally the day of recruitment arrived. Marcel started his day very early and was among the first to arrive at the academy''s gate. He paid the participation fee and waited together with the other early birds. If he had known how long they had to wait he probably wouldn''t have hurried as much. The tests only began after noon! He should have investigated this more thoroughly. While he waited all of the youths that entered the waiting area were nobles, which were discernible through the emblems they proudly wore on their clothes, which represented their family.


    Marcel''s plain commoner clothes stuck out like a sore thumb. Luckily nobody decided to stoop to bullying him in front of all the other nobles. There wasn''t anything to gain through that except a bad image as a bully. Mostly ignored Marcel sat in his corner and observed his surroundings. For the first time he felt how lonely he really was. Even in the village he didn''t make any real friends. Sure the children there had accepted and played with him. But the only person he was close with there was his adoptive father Tom. When he saw the groups of young people standing together and chatting he decided that he had to change this.


    Finally a door opened and two men and a woman entered. Marcel already knew two of them. The one that walked towards the podium was the headmaster of this academy. And the men that remained at the door was Eric Lan. But the woman next to him was an enigma. Yet Marcel couldn''t stop looking in her direction. She exuded such an oppressive air of power! When she noticed his staring a playful smile crept on her face and just for a moment she showed him her soul. How could he ever thought about almost being equal to an user of a supreme technique! She was a complete monster! All the adventurers he had met appeared like kittens when compared to her.


    His thoughts were interrupted when the headmaster began his speech. ¡°Welcome dear applicants! Welcome to our 139th recruitment tests! As most of you may already know I am Alex Korum headmaster of this academy. Please give a warm welcome to our guests Eric Lan, guild master of the adventurers guild. And the lovely women next to him is the empire''s representative Ariana Kal. She is here to scout for talents, she might be able to get you a good job in the future, so give her a good show.¡± A short round of applause erupted but quickly died down.


    ¡°Our test will be held in three different categories which I won''t disclose right now since the supervisors are better suited for that. For efficiencies sake you will be split into three groups. So please have a look at this board and find your group. As you may have noticed at the side of this room there are three doors which are numbered. Please go through the respective door and take your tests.¡± The headmaster explained.


    Marcel quickly found his name on the list. It was the only one without a family name. He was sorted into group three and went through the respective door. He entered a waiting area and sat down on a couch. Steadily other applicants entered the room. Was it coincidence that most of them looked either weaker and/or poorer than their peers? Marcel couldn''t shake off the feeling that whoever made these groups was rather superficial. But it shouldn''t really matter as long as he could get a good evaluation.


    As far as he knew one had to either pass two of the three tests or excel in one. But the last decision about whether one was accepted at the academy is made by the three guilds. At least one of them must be willing to accept the students as a recruit. Since in the end the guilds would be their employer Marcel thought that this was fair. Although he couldn''t shake of the thought that influence could win over actual talent with this system.


    Finally the door opposite to the one they had entered opened. ¡°Would you look at that! Franziskus Everan is at it again! I always tell him to just draw lots, but he always sorts by riches and age of the family! Nonetheless I am pleased to meet you! I am Raim Salem. I will be your supervisor for today and if you pass your torturer. Or as some call me trainer for physical education.¡± A brawny, bald, middle aged man introduced himself with his loud voice.


    ¡°For your first test we will have a small sparring. Two of your possible future professions are directly combat related, so it is only natural that we have to test whether you have any experience and talent in that field. Follow me lads.¡± He said and left through the door through which he had entered beforehand.


    Around 100 youths followed Raim through a maze of windowless corridors. Suddenly they found themselves on an outdoor trainings field. There was a round plaza in its middle and around it was a track. When everyone entered ten men came over and stood next to Raim, like him they were brawny bald guys, although they were younger and their faces lacked the sharp corners.


    ¡°This are my assistents. Please create ten equally numbered groups and stand behind any of us.¡± Raim said. After a short tangle everyone was grouped. ¡°Now we can get started! First we will test your bodily fitness, so please follow the directives of your group leaders and absolve the tasks to the best of your capability.¡± He said.


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    After a regiment of sweaty exercises Marcel was rated as extremely fit, although he lost some points in the department for flexibility. But it also showed him his limits. He may have been tireless when he marched to the town, but to use strength explosively multiple times in a row was a completely different matter. The next test would be a combat test and in the break between the tests they had to pick a weapon. Memories of Oliver''s training matches were the only combat related experiences Marcel had. So he did pick a weapon with which he was rather acquainted. A one-handed hammer! It had a longer handle than he was used to, but after a few practice swings he felt comfortable with it.


    He was the first that got to fight against the assistant, that supervised their group. When he walked into the fighting area that was marked on the plaza the assistant joked. ¡°What do we have here? Weren''t the swords to your liking? Or are you a smith?¡± Indeed the most common weapons among those for choice were swords in different sizes. Only a single hammer had lain atop the table. ¡°I am.¡± Was all Marcel replied to him. Which made him stupefied. ¡°That is the first time this joke didn''t work. Usually the unconfident pick the heaviest looking weapon they can find and drag this hammer behind them. But if you are indeed fine with your choice then let us begin!¡± He said while readying his stance.


    It wasn''t expected that new recruits could fight against a trained fighter. All they should do was attack and try to overcome the defence of the supervisor. So Marcel begun to attack him with wide swing and worked him like he would a glowing piece of metal. But his adversary was able to easily deflect his attacks, although he didn''t dare to block. His weapon, a one-handed sword, would break if he did, since he wasn''t allowed to infuse it with a spell.


    ¡°That is enough. You sure enough know how to handle your hammer, but I ain''t a piece of metal! As far as I can see you don''t have any fighting training. Hence your fighting ability will be judged as ordinary.¡± The assistant dismissed Marcel. Marcel left the stage and returned his hammer. In the following half an hour he watched the others. He quickly learned of the difference between his mindless onslaught of heavy hits and actual fighting. Most noble children had received a basic weapon training. As such the fights he saw were rather advanced.


    They alternated in their approaches, tactics, and stances. They used feints, locks and other techniques. It was a completely different caliber. This reminded him that none of the others had terrible grades in the fitness department. Even if they looked weak they weren''t! Marcel deducted that most children here could easily defeat him in a melee.


    When all tests in this compartment were finished they once again followed Saim through the maze of corridors. The next room they entered was lined with chairs and tables. On every table laid a written test and some writing tools. ¡°I don'' think this test needs much explaining. Just sit down and answer the questions. Of course you should leave your name on the answering sheet.¡± Saim explained.


    The test started off with easy questions and got increasingly difficult. The questions encompassed history, mathematics, geometry, physics and biology. Marcel could answer most questions easily, but he lacked knowledge about the biology of monsters. It had never occurred to him that he would need to know it. And since he never had encountered one either his curiosity in this field had been non-existent.


    After two hours Saim rung a bell and collected the tests. Only tomorrow in the acceptance ceremony would they learn of their evaluation in this test. Once again they follow Saim through the corridors. Was the building really so huge? Or did they take a detour to not cross paths with another group? That were questions Marcel definitely wanted to see answered in the near future! After a time that seemed way too long to move from one end of the building to the other they entered a big waiting area. ¡°You better get comfy and relax. This last test is the magic exam and you will need all your mental capabilities for it. When your name is called you will follow the examiners and take the test.¡± Saim explained.


    Everyone took a seat and waited for their turn. Slowly the room became empty. Those that took the test didn''t return to the waiting area. Probably to not give the remaining testees an unfair advantage. Finally it was Marcel''s turn. He followed an old crookbacked man with a long white beard into a seperate room. In it were only a desk, two chairs behind it and a woman, that looked as old as the man he followed. ¡°Dear this seems to be our last testee of the day.¡± The old man said. ¡°Ahh very well. Then let us begin Marcel. Please try to mimick the forms I create with my soul.¡±


    Marcel followed her lead and began to create increasingly complex forms with his soul. His accuracy apparently shocked the two, as disbelief began to build on their faces. After almnost half an hour the old women had to surrender. Her face was ashen and her breathing heavy. ¡°May I continue with this exercise? I am still not at my limit. Or should I show you the most complex spell I can do?¡± Marcel asked feeling rather bad that he drove such a friendly looking old woman to the brink of exhaustion.


    ¡°Yes, please show us your strongest spell. I will prepare a shield for you to test it.¡± The old man said and with a wave of his arm a translucent shield appeared in front of a part of the wall next to the door. Marcel began to prepare his spell. He wove thread after thread with his soul, made them into energy collectors, energy tubes, conversation centers and manipulators until he finally awoke the monstrosity he had created. At first it drained heat from the surroundings, then the spell collected humidity out of the air. The water was split apart and the oxygen removed. What remained was pure hydrogen. Then began the tricky part. He had to condense part of it as much as possible, while simultaneously speeding up the other. Then he intersected the two parts and it ignited.


    Beforehand he had created shields to stop radiation and heat leaks. They collected these energies and reused it to maintain the spell. The strain on his soul still remained, but it was way less than what he would need to tolerate if he wanted to reach comparable results through sheer force.


    The old man was rather confused by what he saw. He almost missed the fine threads Marcel used and he couldn''t imagine why they were needed. Such weak structures weren''t used in spells he knows. And the final product was only a sphere of flames? Why such a complicated way to create something this weak?


    Marcel turned towards the shield an quickly created a field of shields of his own, they were radiation and kinetic shields, and made the sun collapse in a controlled direction. A bright light flashed through the room.


    When the old man had regained his vision, he felt like something was amiss. First of all the strange shields the kid created were still in place. And secondly his shield and the wall behind it weren''t in place. The wall had a big smoldering hole in it. Then Marcel contracted his shields, he didn''t simply collapse them because he needed to collect and absorb the particles and radio active isotopes he had created.


    ¡°What exactly was that?¡± The old man finally asked. The woman was still in a state of confusion, probably because of her prior exhaustion. ¡°I collected atoms and forced them into fusion and then I made it collapse.¡± Marcel replied calmly. ¡°What? Could you further explain this please? What are atoms and what does it mean to fuse them?¡± he was asked. ¡°That would need a lot of time. In simpler terms I made a small sun and let it die.¡± he answered. ¡°I see that you will be very interesting and depressing for your future teachers. Lucky us that we are already in retirement and are only occasionally needed. I will take your explanation for now, although I see forward to the day when we can continue our conversation. Real mages have become rare these days... Anyways I think we both can give you outstanding grades for this test.¡± he said and signalled Marcel that he was dismissed.


    Just when he turned around Marcel saw a familiar face looking through the newly opened hole. ¡°I knew that if I search for the place with the most ruckus I would find you. But to actually dare to break down a wall impresses even me!¡± Sarah mocked him. ¡°I overdid it a bit I hope I won''t get in trouble.¡± Marcel responded in a shy voice, while acting along. ¡°Haha you rascal. It isn''t the first time you caused destruction you know? I won''t fall for that!¡± Sarah said while giving him a slap on the shoulder, which almost made him stumble.

 Chapter 5

    AN: Just noticed that the correction helper was switched off.... Anyway here is the corrected version


    AN:Just fixed the numeration error


    Chapter 5


    Sarah led him to a restaurant. When they entered Marcel saw that Eric already awaited them at a table for three in the corner of the restaurant. ¡°I should have guessed that you won''t invite me to dinner without a superior reason.¡± Marcel said in a joking voice to Sarah. ¡°Isn''t it more convenient this way? We can enjoy a meal and talk about business. We both know that neither of us enjoy small talk.¡± she replied. ¡°True enough. Greetings guild master.¡± he said while sitting down.


    ¡°No need to be formal. We aren''t in the guild building.¡± Eric replied. When everybody had a seat they quickly skimmed the menu and ordered. After the waiter left with their order they continued their talk. ¡°I heard you were rather eye-catching in the selection. Especially the old Cain couple was able to tell tell quit a tale about your achievements. As should have been expected.¡± The guild master said. ¡°Your informants sure work fast. It has been barely thirty minutes since I took the test. ¡° he replied.


    ¡°But pray tell what sort of business do you have to discuss with me?¡± Marcel asked. ¡°Quick to business like always. As you might know the empire is always at the brink of war with its neighbour. Although we are still in peace there are continuous skirmishes at the borders. The weapons I ordered from you were mainly sent to such a border area, which is at the border of our Lan Kingdom. My cousin, King Julius Lan, was extremely satisfied with the performance of your products. He wants you to create ten armours and weapons out of magic metals for his ten generals. The compensation will be 10000 gold per set. Of course he will provide the materials needed. He hopes that you can create some moving fortresses with your enchantments.¡± Eric said.


    Marcel had planned to thoroughly focus on his studies, but this offer was too good to pass it. The prize was great and in addition he would be able to work with magic metals. ¡°Would it be possible to arrange a workshop in the academy for my personal use? It would save me a lot of time if I wouldn''t have to leave it everyday.¡± Marcel asked. ¡°Your studies are definitely important too. So I can see your point. Sadly I don''t know of any workshop in the academy. Crafts aren''t a focus there. But I will see into what can be done.¡± Eric answered.


    After the deal was struck and the contract sealed they enjoyed the meal together. They talked about promising testees and the everyday business of the adventurer guild. Once again Marcel had found himself in an awkward conversation, he in person was very young. He existed for just over a year in this world, in a body of a thirteen year old and the experiences of a twenty year old Oliver. He felt completely out of place. Sure he was able to follow the conversation and it was rather interesting, but at the same time he wished for something more simple, more childish. Like when he played with the other village children. Once again he had to ask himself who am I?


    The next morning all participants were gathered in the hall where the opening of yesterdays tests had been held. Expectant whispers filled the room and the noble children excitedly chatted about their and other''s feats in the exams. Once again nobody really cared about Marcel. He was simply a nobody. His feats in enchanting were still kept secret and Marcel knew and accepted that. He didn''t want to get targeted by the neighbouring countries or even their entire alliance.


    When everyone had entered the room and had settled down the headmaster went to this podium and once again greeted everybody. Then he begun to call on ten participants to come up on stage. Then he proceeded and announced their feats. The three guild masters then made them their offers, which mostly consisted of a monthly income and future positions. Marcel was perplexed by this, when did this turn into a job auction? Nobody had told him about this! In hindsight this scene made sense though. Supreme technique users are in high demand, especially with war ever looming about the kingdom. And there were only three legal employees in each kingdom. All missions were issued by them or through them.


    As such it only made sense that the students were bound to their future employees as soon as possible. The actual career would be decided later on though. A guild didn''t run only from fighters! It needed trainers, managers and a lot of other staff! Many that work in the guilds are commoners but the higher positions demand that one learned supreme techniques, since in the end they were part of the kingdoms fighting force.


    6 of the first group were picked by the guilds, the other four would get another chance though. They were placed in the ''second seed group''. If they were able to increase their grades in the first year they will be picked. They weren''t bad, just too average. Group after group was called on stage. Most were accepted, whether unconditionally or with the condition of improvement. Only a few were rejected. But those that were usually caused an uproar.


    All of them were nobles and some even proclaimed it their hereditary right to join the academy and a guild. But they were quickly and easily rebuked by the headmaster. He was rather skilled in handling nobles, especially the arrogant ones. To Marcel it almost seemed like he enjoyed squashing them and their ego.


    When he already thought he would be forgotten Marcel''s name was finally called. He was part of the last group and was actually called as the last. Did the person that wrote the list hold a grudge against him?


    Nervous he walked on the stage and stood beside a boy with red hair, who arrogantly and proudly stood on stage. Once again he stood out because of his simple clothes. He felt like everybody, with their pompous and impractical clothes, stares at him. He really hoped that this academy used standardised uniforms, although he hadn''t seen any students wearing uniforms when he walked through town.


    One by one the headmaster announced their achievements in the tests. Up till now the highest evaluation was ''very good''. Until the red haired boy next to him was announced to have outstanding fighting talent and had very good grades in the other two tests. Finally it was Marcel''s turn.


    "And lastly Marcel, a worldborn. Average fighting capability, good knowledge and prodigious talent with magic." the headmaster announced. His words wiped the grin from the boy''s face next to Marcel, his limelight was cut short by an unknown worldborn! But the uproar didn''t end there! Whispers, then voices filled the hall. In the eyes of most a worldborn had a lower standing than a commoner, and yet he was evaluated better than them?


    "SILENCE!" The headmaster''s voice boomed, causing those that stood near him to flinch in pain. "The evaluation was done by our dear old Cains. If you have the audacity to doubt their judgement then step forward!" Nobody dared to. "It seems like I should get close to them they apparently have quite the good reputation. If it can keep away the trouble i will have to trouble the two of them again." Marcel thought and inwardly apologized to them for the trouble.


    Now the guild masters begun to make their offers in the same order as they had been announced before. The red haired boy happily joined the warriors guild and finally they turned their attention towards Marcel. To his surprise the offers Marcel received from the warriors and mages guild were very ordinary. Did they think that they could get him to join with such low incomes and prospects? If he simply worked like he had done in the past weeks he would be able to earn thrice as much!


    Eric Lan had patiently waited until the others had made their offer, of course he knew that their offers weren''t interesting for Marcel, but he understood their intentions in giving such offers. They wanted to lure him as cheaply as possible, they thought that nobody backed Marcel and as such they could make bad offers without consequences. "Sure he had talent but would he be able to change much with it? Probably not! If we get him good, if not who cares!" was probably what they thought.


    If they take in nobles they gain connections and new jobs and income. For that they needed good offers! But for a talent without any background? Not so much!


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The adventurers guild''s offer surprised everybody. A high income in combination with future leadership over a whole department which he could create and develop as he liked? Such an offer was ridiculous! He would basically be a second guild master!


    Marcel felt grateful and flattered by this offer, but at the same time he felt troubled. How should he avoid the attention of his classmates with that! This will stir up trouble! No, it already did. Once again the hall got louder and louder. All Marcel had wanted was an enjoyable school live, learning more about magic and hopefully get some friends, but suddenly this seemed infinitely out of reach.


    Of course he accepted the offer, if hadn''t he would have caused an even bigger uproar. He stayed close to Eric for the rest of the ceremony and the celebration afterwards, he wouldn''t have felt save in the crowd. Nonetheless some curios youths drew near and started a conversation with him. They wanted to learn more about him and his abilities and didn''t show any hostility.


    Reluctantly at first he talked with them. But since they all were rather passionate about magic they quickly drifted into a heated debate about their experiences and techniques. At first the six of them gained quite some curios and even hostile gazes, but their indifference and ignorance about that quickly dispersed this behaviour. No one would openly make a move, and there were more interesting and important things to do than staring at someone.


    The five that talked to Marcel were:


    Stanley Adam, the son of a family full of mages, he was short and slim, with black hair and brown eyes. He and his whole family were openly called nerds, and they didn''t mind that one bit. He constantly asked Marcel about his magic. Of course he had joined the mage''s guild.


    Laura Stone. A girl with red hair and a lot of freckles. She wasn''t really curios about Marcel, since she already knew more about him than most of the others. Marcel had already made her acquaintance, since she was the niece of one of his apprentices. She had joined the adventurers guild.


    Paul Leros. A brown haired tall and bulky boy from a newly ennobled family. He didn''t really care about standing. He was in the same testee group as Marcel and was impressed by his strength in the fighting test. He was rather silent, but followed the discussions about magic with interest. His family education had been rather lacking in this prospect and he desired to learn more. Following his father''s wishes he had joined the warriors guild.


    Julia Ebon. A girl with pale skin and dark black hair, which actually was a family trademark that gave them their name. Her family specialised in magic that manipulates light. Although it isn''t very offensive in itself it is perfect for stealth. Her family consists of scouts, rangers and even assassins. Since her family was deeply involved in the information trade she knew some things about Marcel''s deals. She wanted to learn more about what he had actually sold. She had joined the warriors guild like most of her family.


    And then there was Steve. Steve Morel. He was a blond averagely build boy who had joined the adventurers guild. But his main feature was his personality, he constantly tried to make jokes and get on Marcel''s good side. He openly said that he hoped to benefit from Marcel''s future prospects. Marcel couldn''t decide whether he liked or detested his open personality. Steve didn''t want to talk about his background. When Stanley had asked about his family his usually bright face had turned dark.


    Together they talked and laughed all evening. They were a minority though, most nobles started to play the game of power early on. They wouldn''t casually amuse themselves in front of strangers. They had built an image and had to maintain it. They forged alliances and plots all the time. For some this became their only kind of entertainment. Only a few families didn''t care much about such games. Even among the five around Marcel some had ulterior thoughts at first, but those had quickly faded away when the conversation had picked up in pace.


    When the celebration came to an end the group had already decided that they would definitely undertake something together at the end of the first school week, maybe even earlier. They didn''t know their timetables at the time, as such they couldn''t check which classes they would have together. They quickly decided to meet at a popular cafe at the weekend.


    The new students tiredly walked towards the dorms, where they were awaited by staff that quickly guided them to their respective rooms. All students had to stay at the dorms, even if they had an apartment in the city. This was done in order to quickly react to any problems that could occur through the teachings in advanced magic.


    Since he wasn''t too tired Marcel inspected his new home right away. It has two rooms: a study and a bedroom. Both were rather spacious and fully furnished, which was made out of a heavy dark wood. On top of his desk he found a letter and some keys. The letter was from the headmaster and briefly informed him about a room he could use as his workshop and the rules that were attached to it and the dormitory.


    The rules were mainly safety and insurance related thought. Except one that stated that it was forbidden to throw with butter while naked. Marcel felt rather curious about that rule. Was there a story behind it? And if that was the case: Why would anybody do that? Maybe he should try... "No! Something is weird here! Why did he even think about it?! That is simply stupid!" he reprimanded himself.


    Tired of his own thoughts he went to bed and sank into the soft mattress. His dreams were weird that night. They were filled with his new friends and thoughts about the project he would have to start with soon, but also of a weird naked boy throwing butter at him.


    A bell awoke him in the morning and purged his thoughts of that weird dream. He quickly got clothed in the new uniform he found in his closet and went, following the signs in the hallway, towards the cafeteria. There he found his new friends standing at the buffet. Together they got themselves something to eat and sat down at a table in one of corners of the room.


    "Did you too dream about a boy throwing butter?" Steve asked the others. All nod to this, apparently not willing to further speak about it. "I thought as much. It is something like a curse that was left behind by a student that snapped in his final year''s exam period. It only plagues people that sleep here for the first time. The mages still don''t know how he created this and the student wasn''t in any condition to tell them. Since that incident there is this ridiculous rule in this academy." He further explained.


    "That is highly interesting, yet disturbing at the same time." Marcel said, "Does anyone here know where we can get our timetables?" "There will be a group of teachers at the exit of this room. They will arrange us in groups and guide us through our first week. After which the school year will officially start for everyone. Maybe you haven''t noticed but there aren''t any seniors here." Julia explained.


    "Will we get grouped by our guilds?" Marcel asked. "No. Everybody''s schedule in the same class or group is almost the same, we all share the basic classes only the advanced ones are guild specific." Laura joined the conversation while nibbling on a bun. "I hope we start with magic classes right away, or else I will die from boredom in the first week!" Adam exclaimed.


    Like that their breakfast continued until it was time to get their timetables. It turned out that they lucked out and were in the same class of 50. Or maybe someone pulled some strings? They would never knew, but if they ever found out they would give that person a heartfelt ''Thank you!''.

 Chapter 6

    AN: The actual sixth chapter


    Chapter 6


    Adam''s wish came true instantly, their first lesson was ''Basic Magic Studies''. Together they entered the room mentioned on their timetable. It was a big auditorium. Adam almost ran to the first row and took a seat in the middle of it. The others followed him in a more relaxed pace. "Don''t you already know what they will be teaching?" Marcel asked Stanley. "No. All my parents taught me were some basics and some exercises for my soul. They told me that it won''t make a difference if they taught me more and they too aren''t allowed to teach any stronger spells." he answered.


    "I am the real oddball, ain''t I?" Marcel thought. Using the knowledge Oliver had left behind he could use and create highly advanced spells. Those that knew that were very few and wouldn''t expose him, yet Marcel began to ponder whether it had been wise that he had exposed his abilities during the test. Luckily only teaching to an audience deemed too young was illegal, not the actual possession of such knowledge while too young. Since there wasn''t a teacher involved, except for his basics for which multiple witnesses existed, there wasn''t anybody to judge guilty.


    While he had pondered over this their teacher had entered the room. He was a man that looked like he was in his mid thirties, with light brown hair and a cleanly shaved face. He was clothed in a red robe. This rather uncommon piece of cloth was a status symbol only grand mages are allowed to wear. To become a grand mage one has to create a thesis and a greater spell based on it, which is deemed useful by the committee of the mage''s guild. Marcel didn''t know of these rankings and their requirements or else he would have been shocked. He had created a new magic system and numerous spells what would his rank be?


    ¡°Welcome students! I am Reynold Mercer. For the next five years I will be your headteacher and teacher for magic and most things that comes along with it. As you can see I am wearing a red robe. As most of you should know it shows my rank as grand magus, yet I am part of the warriors guild. Rather strange isn''t it? At least for those that think that the guilds are formed by professions and differently talented people. But the only thing that sets apart the guilds is their purpose. As such I expect that everybody, even those that think themselves a warrior, give their best in all classes, including mine.¡± Reynold said.


    ¡°Now that this is out of the way we should get started with the actual class. All of you already know some basic spells and how to manipulate your soul. We will begin our lessons with learning about those spells and how they actually work. Bit by bit I will teach you the segments of the spells and how they can be rearranged to form new spells.¡± he explained.


    With this he begun to decompose the basic light spell. It was beyond boring for Marcel. He knew all that already, he even could further disassemble some of the segments Reynold had shown them! This spell consists of a heat absorption segment a spherical form modifier and a segment to create light. This last segment wasn''t as simple as the teacher explained thought!


    It didn''t just create light, there was a process behind that! Electrons had to be elevated into a higher energetic orbital or other position and then it had to return to its original orbital. If that is done with certain elements it will create visible light. And that elements had to be collected! A part that the teacher had completely overlooked. Marcel had to ask himself whether this knowledge was simply lost or wasn''t considered as being worthy of mention.


    Slowly traces of boredom and frustration crept onto Marcel''s face and before long Reynold noticed it. But he continued his lesson like he hadn''t, only after he dismissed the class he took Marcel aside.


    ¡°It looked like you were rather bored in my class. What problems do you have with my lecture?¡± He asked calmly. ¡°As you might have heard from the Cain couple I know some rather advanced spells and not only do I know them. I made them. As such this basic lesson doesn''t contain anything new to me. In fact I could add to some of your explanations.¡± Marcel responded. ¡°I have heard that some worldborn are exceptional knowledgeable, but I didn''t expect that one would try to tutor me about the basics. Very well I will arrange a test for you if you can pass it and teach me something new then you will immediately pass this years magic class. If not I expect you to attentively participate in my class.¡± Reynold said. ¡°The test will be ready this weekend, just come to my residence here on the campus then.¡±


    With that words they parted and Marcel followed his friends to their next lesson. He met them in a classroom that was filled with bookcases, even the tables were turned into shelves. The subject of this class was the history and geography of this country and the empire. Their teacher was an old man in a wide grey robe. He introduced himself as Professor Maxwell. He had committed his whole live to the research of the past and freely shared his knowledge. He strongly believed that knowledge not shared is lost knowledge.


    They began with the history and rough geography of the kingdom of Lan. The kingdom spans an area of around 400000 square kilometre. The two southern borders borders were adjacent to the southern ocean, only in the north did it connect with the area of the empire and the realms of the alliance. This border was further shortened through the mountainous terrain in the north of Lan.


    The short border with the alliance was under constant friction, although it wasn''t as bad as in some other countries. The coast regions of Lan were mostly steep cliffs, only at a few places had it been possible to create and maintain harbours. The region was overall rather isolated. Which is why it only recently became a kingdom. With its 150 years of history it was the youngest kingdom in the continent of Pangria.


    Lan had a long history of colonisation, as the passes had been found a 1000 years ago. Neither the empire nor the alliance had actively tried to colonize this land, as it required an overextension of forces that neither of them had been willing to put up with. It had been commoners from both sides that had colonized this lands and they had paid a hefty price for it. Many died in those years.


    They only succeeded when they received help from a small settlement of worldborn.


    It took 700 hundred years until the settlements had stabilized and were able to create completely self sustaining communities. Before that point they always had been dependant of trading caravans as they couldn''t produce some of the advanced daily necessities themselves. It took another 100 years until a local government over all settlements had been formed.


    But then a civil war broke out. The tribes that once had helped the settlers and had been created by the worldborn came into conflict with the newly established nobles. Not only had they been overlooked when the government had been created, the nobles even demanded them to be submissive and settle down as their subjects.


    Although their case was just they had been the first to draw blood. They had eradicated a complete family clan. It was a prolonged war, as the tribes were specialised at guerilla warfare. After 50 years of bloody battles the tribes had collapsed and the few survivors had scattered and hid in the populace.


    Now Marcel finally understood the open hostility he had occasionally encountered. At some point the worldborn had become the idols for the tribes and some nobles still believed them to be the leaders of their old enemies. Some of them even grew up hearing stories about the bloody battles their parents or grandparents had fought in and the figureheads of the enemies in those stories had been worldborn.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    After the civil war the two opposing forces, the alliance and the empire gave the newly formed kingdom an ultimatum to join a side. A majority vote among the populace decided that they would side with the empire. Although most people didn''t really cared about this. They had been and still were mostly isolated.


    As they had caught up to the current date the lesson was ended, the next topic would be a rough history of the two neighbouring kingdoms. But now it was time for their lunch break and after that they would have their first guild specific classes.


    The six friends walked to the cafeteria while talking about their first lessons. Especially Stanley couldn''t stop talking about their first magic lessons and all the possibilities he could see in the future. Thankfully eating still took priority over talking and Marcel could enjoy a bit of silence. The history class had been interesting for him, but the magic lesson? Pure boredom! He wanted to ace the test this weekend and get some more time for his work on the armours and weapons. He was full of anticipation for the new materials that would arrive soon.


    They quickly settled down at the same table as at breakfast and ate in silence. The meal was so delicious that this was a rather common scene. Suddenly Marcel turned around, he had felt that something had quickly closed in on his head. He almost always used his soul to sense the world around him. It had long since become a habit. Marcel quickly used his soul to negate the objects movements and finally he saw what exactly it was. It was a ball of brown sauce.


    He quickly scanned his surroundings to find the perpetrator, but he couldn''t find the prankster in the mass of people around him. Seems like his presence finally led to some actions from the nobles around him. Since he couldn''t find his adversary he evaporated all liquid in the ball and tossed the remaining powder into an empty bowl on the table.


    He would be more careful in the future, as to prevent any more serious ''pranks'' from happening. His friends weren''t as calm as him, they heatedly discussed about revenge and trying to find the culprit. Only Stanley had another theme. He wanted to know what magic Marcel had used. To this question Marcel gave him a quick demonstration of his spell and begun to levitate some unused cutlery around them. This drew way more attention than Marcel had anticipated thought. It was already surprising that he had been able to stop the sauce ball, which had been a spell only a few of the first year students were capable of. Now he also levitated multiple objects at the same time.


    Some of the young nobles showed envy, others rage and only depressingly few astonishment on their faces.


    ¡°You will definitely get a good ranking in the tournament at the end of the year!¡± Paul said. ¡°Tournament?¡± Marcel and the others asked. ¡°Oh yeah you didn''t know about that, did you? I only know because my father is part of the committee that arranges it. It isn''t exactly a school tournament as it isn''t part of the curriculum, but only students are allowed to participate. The prices are also oriented towards students. One can win guild points, weapons, spell tomes and so on.¡± Paul explained.


    ¡°That sounds rather interesting. Especially the guild points are a good reward for me. They can be used to gain influence, wealth, positions and even nobility.¡± Marcel thought. Many families had gained nobility through the guilds. First they served as commoners and when they gained the privilege to send their children to the academy they had began to accumulate guild points until finally they had been bestowed nobility. This practice had become increasingly rare thought, as such Marcel was the only one with a commoner''s background.


    After they had finished their meal Marcel was finally able to flee the obnoxious attention and together with Laura and Steve he was on his way to their first guild specific lesson. The class room for this lesson looked like an exhibit for the local fauna, although Marcel had never seen creatures like that before. Bulky humanoid child sized creatures with a mouth full of needle teeth and a greenish skin colour, overgrown wolves, which looked like they could easily bite off ones skull and some strange reptiles could be seen as life sized preparations.


    It looked like this lesson would be around commonly found creatures and dangerous pest, at least the words on the signboard stated that. The three friends quickly sat down near the front. Three minutes later the professor entered the room. Unlike the other two they had seen until now this professor wore armour, to be precise leather armour. And she was the first female professor they had seen.


    But the most prominent feature about her was the big red bird that rode on her shoulder. It was a majestic creature that had a wing span of one meter. It had stripes of different colours and overall looked rather similar to a parrot, only its beak and claws looked more like that of an eagle.


    ¡°Welcome dear students, I am Fera Leraugh. Yes, as some of you might have recognised by my name my grandparents were from the tribes, although ours didn''t side with the rebels. It actually still exists and is settled in the northern mountain range. We fight the monsters there on a daily basis. Which is exactly what I am going to teach you in the coming years. Additionally I will teach you geology and herbalism. An adventurer mostly hunts monsters or searches for resources.¡± She introduced herself and her lesson.


    In the first class they spoke mostly about the definition of what a monster is and what sets it apart from magic creatures. Magic creatures are all creatures that have a certain degree of sentience and are capable of using magic. Most of them are as intelligent as a child and are mostly peaceful. Although some are rather territorial and don''t tolerate humans in their vicinity. The red bird for example was of a magical species that had been domesticated by the tribes in the mountains and were used to deliver messages and to scout.


    A monster on the other hand was always hostile towards any organism other than its own kind. They were known to destroy everything in their vicinity. Whole forests had been eradicated by them. They craved flesh and mana. The areas they lived in were mostly barren and had a decreased mana density as an effect.


    They were mostly without rulers, but they weren''t dumb. Sometimes their common hate against all living made them band together and flood towards the nearest settlements. Luckily their dislike towards any fabricated goods was bigger than their destructiveness, as such they very rarely used weapons or tools. But even without such aides they were a threat since their bodies were way stronger than that of average humans.


    To prevent large casualties the adventurers constantly hunted monsters and tried to completely eradicate them from the lands. Sadly they weren''t very successful in this endeavour. Sometimes in regions that had been peaceful for decades monsters suddenly appeared again. No one had ever found the cause or the source.


    With that introduction to monsters the lecture ended. Since he now had some free time Marcel left towards his new workshop area.

 Announcement

Studies have been exhausting as of late. As such i will reduce the rate chapters are comming. The next chapter will come out at wednesday.

 Chapter 7

    AN: I noticed that i messed up with the name of the test administrator, at some points i used Saim while it should have been Raim.


    Chapter 7


    The directions, he had gotten from the letter that had held the key, led him to a building at the border area of the academy grounds. This building looked older than the other buildings and was surrounded by trees. As such Marcel had never noticed it before. Its brick walls had long since lost their bright red colour and had turned into a greyish red one. Thick curtains blocked the view inside the building. The overall impression was a rather eerie one and a cold chill ran down Marcel''s spine as he pushed open the door.


    Marcel entered a big gloomy reception hall, a robed man greeted him, although he couldn''t see his face Marcel was rather certain that this voice belonged to a man. ¡°Ah you must be Marcel. The headmaster informed me that you will come here sooner or later. This old academy building is currently used by many mages, who need a place to do their experiments. Like them you too are welcome here and I will show you your future workshop. But before that we will have to go over some safety rules.¡± The robed man spoke without revealing his face.


    ¡°First of all. Most of our clients like to keep their privacy. You will have to accept that or I can''t guarantee your safety. Secondly, we don''t judge the morality behind the experiments, as long as all parties involved in the experiment have approved of it even experiments on sentient beings are allowed. What we don''t judge, you too shouldn''t judge. Although we are rather open with our policies, I have to warn you that those that we have established are strictly enforced. You will receive a complete list of them shortly. And the last important rule. Never, absolutely never enter someone else''s room alone! There are quite some malevolent beings in these halls that can emulate a humans voice and or appearance. They will beg for help and then slit your throat. Even if it really looks or sounds like an accident has happened you should come to the reception and inform us.¡± He said while he led Marcel through a dark corridor.


    ¡°Here we are. This is your door. We took the liberty to transfer your equipment from your old workshop to your new one. As you may know we are rather discrete with the secrets of our clients, as such I hope you won''t hold this intrusion in your private matters against us.¡± The man said and left. Leaving behind Marcel, who was deep in thought about the question, whether it was wise that he got involved with people that randomly moved someone else''s possession around. The only conclusions he reached were the facts that this move did spare him the time to move his equipment and that nobody could learn a thing from his equipment they didn''t already know.


    Hesitantly he took out the key and opened the door. Whoever transferred his equipment had been rather finicky about imitating his old workshop. If it hadn''t been for the different measurements of the room and the darker gloomy atmosphere he might have been fooled into believing that this was in fact his old workshop. The only unfamiliar arranged things were a huge box and a table in one of the room''s corners.


    The box was made out of steel and had been sealed. The seal was unbroken and showed the insignia of the royal family. A stylised eagle holding two swords in his claws. Marcel walked towards the box and broke the seal. He slowly opened the box and was stunned by the sheer beauty of the magic metal within. To the mere eye it looked like a slightly golden black steel, but to Marcel''s soul it was like a harmony of soul and material.


    The soul particles were perfectly fused with the material and they moved together with the smallest parts of it. It seemed to sing to Marcel, resonate with his very being, begging to be formed. Marcel abruptly closed the box. If he had succumbed now he knew that he wouldn''t leave this room for the next two months. This wasn''t the time, he hadn''t even read through the essays about his clients yet! He wouldn''t even know what to form.


    Hesitantly he turned away from the box, he could still feel the metal call him. He had read descriptions about this material, but never had there been any mentions about resonance with a persons soul. It had been described as a material that was easily mouldable through magic until it was given a sign from the person that had moulded it. As if sentient it would deny any attempts to change its form after that signal.


    Objects made from magic metal can repair themselves, even when they have been completely evaporated they would reform, although it might be troublesome to find them again. They are destroyable but not for long.


    Despite all this, objects made from this metal were rare. Not only because the material was rare, but the people that could give the signal to the material were even rarer! In fact most smiths were only able to stabilise one object in their entire lifetime. It doesn''t cost anything to stabilise, but the material is picky.


    Strangely Marcel had felt that all the ore chunks in the box seemed to beg him to be formed.


    Marcel picked up the essays that lay on a table next to the box. They were about the generals and their preferred fighting style and equipment. That was mostly public knowledge, since it wasn''t possible to be in constant conflict and still conceal ones cards. The generals had fought in many battles, their styles were known by enemies and alleys alike.


    As he read through them Marcel began to take notes for possible equipment styles and their enchantments. He decided to make some prototypes first, out of ordinary materials of course, and send them to his clients. That would take some months, but he wasn''t pressed for time and it was best if he got some feedback on his plans.


    It was late in the night when Marcel returned to his dorm room. His head still buzzed with ideas and concepts for weaponry. Exhausted he fell into his bed and instantly fell into a deep slumber.


    The next morning, Marcel and his friends once again sat at their table and ate together. Yesterday everyone had used the afternoon to their own liking, but today they wanted to hang out together. They were wildly discussing what they should undertake, when they noticed a commotion at the other end of the hall.


    Two students were in a loud argument and it apparently got worse with every passing second. There were no seniors around to break up this conflict, as their school year would only start at the end of this week. Luckily, before the situation had degenerated into a brawl, a teacher entered the hall. It was Raim Salem, Marcel''s test instructor.


    They didn''t hear what was said at the other side of the hall, but Marcel and his friends heard the word that travelled through the room like a wave. DUEL. It was whispered, discussed and even shouted through the room. Everyone had noticed it and everyone followed Raim and the two competitors outside.


    While they walked Julia asked around in order to learn who would duel and why. It quickly came to light that the two youths involved had known and disliked each other for a long time, but what sparked this conflict was a common female friend which they wanted to woo in the future. This conflict wasn''t about who she liked more thought, it was about not wanting to share!


    As they reached the arena, the mass was split into two groups, the competitors and their closest alleys and the spectators. Marcel and his friends sat down in the front row, like most of the others. This arena was rather big and the first years were only a fraction of the usual spectators.


    ¡°We are really lucky that we don''t have lessons in the first period today.¡± said Steve, ¡°I wonder which rule set they will use. First hit? First blood? I doubt that they would allow death matches thought.¡±


    They didn''t have to wait for long for the answer to that question. Raim spoke once again. ¡°As always we will use blunt weapons, first ''deadly'' hit counts. For realism of other hits the contestants are allowed to use the lesser pain aura spell to enhance their weapons. As you are both nobles I guess that you both know that spell. Am I correct?¡± They both nod. He continued. ¡°Every other spells are prohibited as neither of you have taken the exam for Basic Magic Studies. Excessive violence or cruelty will be sanctioned. After this duel is concluded I expect both parties to cease hostile actions for at least one month. Now feel free to bargain your own conditions.¡± Raim stepped aside and listened while the two competitors set the stakes. When they had finished he walked towards the border of the stage. Marcel could faintly recognise a impish smile on his face.


    Without any further ceremonial, since it was a personal and not a familial feud, the duel began. Unlike the comics and mangas Marcel knew from Oliver''s memories the two hadn''t directly charged at each other. Instead they took their respective stances and slowly moved towards each other. As they lurked and searched for openings they circled and distant themselves from each other. Then abruptly one of them made a step into the others range while pushing away his opponents sword. While binding his enemies sword he threw a punch to his enemy''s face.


    After a quick clash of fists and weapons, in which neither could overpower the other, they separated again. Once again they resumed their bizarre dance. They seemed equally matched in strength and skill. But after 10 minutes extensive fighting one of them faltered, his endurance was inferior. Not one to let this chance slip his opponent immediately charged at him.


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    Raim immediately ended the fight. Both of them were exhausted to their utmost limit, they had pulled all their stops in this fight, but surprisingly their ordeals hadn''t ended yet. A completely furious girl ran into the arena and began to shout as if mad. Almost immediately the faces of the two drained completely of all the left colour and the smirk on Raim''s face grew even wider.


    Marcel couldn''t understand everything that she said, as he was too far away, but the overall meaning was something along the lines of ¡°How dare you decide without me who I like! Did even one of you two arrogant dipshits stop for a second to think about my feelings? No? Why ain''t I surprised by that? Maybe because this wasn''t the first time something like this happened! At first I had been flattered by your wooing attempts but now I have had enough! I don''t want to see either of you ever again!¡± And with that she left the scene as quick as she had entered it.


    When she had left Raim couldn''t contain his laughter any longer. ¡°Ah women the bane of every young man''s sanity. Not that the old ones are save from it. They are just a tad bit more used to it.¡± He said while wiping away his tears of laughter. Just in that moment a honey sweet voice came from the entrance next to him. ¡°Honey? Didn''t you say you wanted to help me with the preparations?¡±


    All Marcel saw from the woman that had spoken was a arm that reached out and pulled the bulky Raim away by his ear. In almost an instant he was gone. ¡°Scary!¡± was all that went through Marcel''s mind.


    It was almost time for their first period. As such Marcel and his friends checked their timetable. Luckily they already were where they needed to be. In the arena. Unluckily the name of their teacher left a rather unpleasant feeling in all of them. They quickly went to the changing area. There they found a table full of clothes and leather armours. Some servants quickly and efficiently took their measurements and gave them some suitable clothes and armours, which were adjustable.


    After they had changed they once again met up in the arena areal, but this time near the stage, not in the much more comfortable observer area. Nervously they awaited their teacher''s arrival.


    Finally she arrived. She looked rather frail and was merely a head bigger than Marcel. Like the students she was dressed in leather armour and if she hadn''t entered from an entirely different door than the others someone could have mixed her up with a student.


    ¡°Welcome my dear students I am Alexandra Salem. Most of you probably already know my husband.¡± She introduced herself. ¡°I will be your warrior instructor for the coming years, we don''t really give a damn about those whole lessons system as such we will always refer to this as warrior training. Get used to it. In this first year we will focus on teaching you the basics about weapons, auras and body training.¡±


    ¡°Pfft as if she could teach me something new. I heard we will be her first class and then she is a woman too. I have trained with weapons since I was five!¡± A guy behind Marcel said silently. When Marcel heard that he turned around and saw that the people around the speaker desperately tried to signal him to stop.


    Silence had encroached the group of students. In but a moment Alexandra had moved in front of the unfortunate student that had dared to badmouth her in earshot range. Her right hand was firmly planted on the students left shoulder. So firm in fact that Marcel believed to hear the sound of cracking bones. The pain filled expression of the dumb fellow further solidified that belief.


    ¡°I think you should see for yourself whether I can teach you or not and not just blurt your superstitious crap all over the place. Don''t you think so too?¡± She said while slowly increasing the pressure on the boy''s shoulder. ¡°Yes mam.¡± He answered quickly. She released him and turned around. ¡°Then let us get started! First of all we should get you warmed up! What are you waiting for? Start running!¡±


    With these words she had started two hours of a strict and arduous training regime. ¡°Good that is it for the physical training for today! Round up Ladies and Gents we will now begin the training for the magic part of the warrior training. Everyone is here? Good! Then I will begin the explanation.¡± Alexandra said. ¡°The aura is a manifestation of mana around your body. Let your soul seep out from your body a bit and then draw in mana. Take note to not separate the film of soul around you from your body. You need this connection to form the mana into something like second set of muscles.¡± She explained.


    ¡°Uhm Mam? Why don''t we use the mana internally?¡± Marcel asked. ¡°Well if you wanna become a living torch you are free to try that.¡± She said to the paling Marcel. ¡°There isn''t any place in your body that can safely store mana. It is possible to convert it into mass and vice versa thought. That is slow but the only way to store mana. As such if you flood your body with rampaging mana you will most likely die in flames.¡±


    Marcel came to the conclusion that he actually should have already known that! Even his enchantments couldn''t easily store energy. They needed special reservoirs which would constantly use energy to keep themselves stable while filled. Gems were perfect for those as they had a stable and very orderly internal structure.


    ¡°Now please try what I have explained. If you notice that you heat up in any place immediately stop! This is a sign that you are drawing mana too deep.¡± Alexandra ended her explanation.


    All over the arena the students tried to use aura, but there were only small successes. A small fortification here and there, but not for the complete body and the results were highly unstable and collapsed after a few seconds.


    As Marcel watched them he came to the conclusion that most students were really bad in fusing their souls with their bodies. They lost contact all the time. He himself was already used to this fusion. He had enhanced his bodies muscles through a technique that requires very precise work in his body, it would be immensely strange if he couldn''t fuse his body and soul!


    His first attempt wasn''t a success thought. The energy he pumped into his aura simply didn''t spread right. He collected it at his back and from there it begun to spread, but his hands and feet were still not enhanced. And they wouldn''t be if he didn''t change the technique. The energy could only be distributed equally like that if he reach complete saturation of his soul. That would be strenuous and extremely wasteful!


    He immediately begun to change the aura technique and created energy channels in the aura. Like one way blood vessels they were spread throughout his new aura. When he flooded those channels with energy he observed and adjusted the energy leakage of the channels to adjust the energy distribution.


    Finally when he was pleased with his result he opened his eyes and soul sense, which he had closed while he had concentrated on the adjustments.


    ¡°Oh damn! Half of my preparations are for naught now. Who could have expected we had a damn genius in the group? What should I teach you from now on?¡± Alexandra said while sternly looking at Marcel. ¡°Uhmm I am still lacking any training in weapon handling. Maybe that could be a good start?¡± Marcel said. ¡°Oh! Then we will get started right away while the others are still trying to grasp the technique!¡± She said. ¡°Before that I have a question. Why haven''t you said anything about the need for energy channels?¡± Marcel asked. ¡°What good would that do them? They are already troubled with the fusion of body and soul and the collection of mana. At the scale they are working on right now it doesn''t matter whether there are channels or not! In fact it would make it even harder for them.¡± She answered. ¡°I guess you are right.¡± Marcel said while watching the pitiful attempts of his classmates.


    ¡°Pray tell, isn''t it strenuous to still maintain the aura? And which weapon would you like to learn first?¡± She asked. ¡°I could maintain this level for three hours. It only increases my physical abilities by 30% thought. The max output could be around 80%.¡± He answered truthfully.¡±For weapons I would prefer a one and a half handed sword.¡±


    ¡°Not bad for a novice. Bastard or full?¡± She asked. ¡°Huh? No, I am worldborn.¡± ¡°The length of the blade not your heritage.¡± ¡°Oh sorry. What are the pros and cons for each?¡± He said embarrassed ¡°A longer blade will give you more reach and a faster tip speed. Also the weapon is heavier, alas slower in moving the whole weapon or changing stances. If the blade is shorter your tip strength is higher and it can be used in narrower spaces. It is easier to change the stances and the overall attack sequence is faster. If you think about it like it is a lever you should understand the rest on your own.¡± She explained. ¡°A lever huh? I imagine that the weight of the weapon quickly loses meaning when one uses aura. And a too long blade can quickly become a hindrance in certain environments... I will choose the Bastard sword.¡± ¡°Very well I will get the practice weapons and then we will start.¡± She said and dashed off.


    At the end of this lesson Marcel was black and blue all over. Luckily he was able to control his regeneration...

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8


    The rest of the week had passed rather uneventful, although it was packed with lessons and practices. And the bit of free time Marcel had was used on making the test armours and weapons. Finally the weekend had arrived and with it two important events, first of all Marcel could take the test for the ''Basic Magic Studies'' and secondly the older students arrived at the academy. Suddenly the academy seemed to be cramped with people.


    After he had studied a bit in preparation, Marcel was on his way to his teacher''s house to take the test. The corridors he walked through were full of young people, who were leisurely chatting away. Most of them ignored the first years, which looked rather bewildered by the sudden floods of people. All of a sudden it seemed clear to them, why they had started a week prior to everyone else! Learning to navigate in this big complex, while it was filled to the brim with people, would have been near impossible! Heck, most of the first years were a head smaller than the older students! All they saw while walking in the mass would be the upper bodies of the older students!


    It had taken Marcel ten minutes longer than normally but he had finally arrived at his destination. Without hesitation he knocked firmly on the door and soon after he was beckoned inside.


    ¡°You are just a bit early. I still have some papers to look through, so why don''t you take a seat and enjoy a cup of tea in the meanwhile.¡± Reynold said. Marcel did as he was told. The tea wasn''t too hot and had a rich fragrance, but Marcel wasn''t knowledgeable in this field and couldn''t identify what sort of tea it was.


    Just as he had emptied his cup Reynold finished his work. ¡°Now we can get started. I will show you a spell and you have to tell me what it will do and what the components of it do.¡± He explained.


    For two hours he was tested, although Marcel guessed that the test normally wasn''t that long and Reynold had just wanted to sate his curiosity in regards to spells.


    ¡°Your knowledge is really incredible. I guess our ancestors didn''t describe the worldborn as wells of knowledge for nothing. It is to the point that you could probably teach the students up to the fourth grade yourself! Such knowledge should normally only come from a life of research. I am kind of envious now, you know?¡± Reynold exclaimed. Marcel''s knowledge really came from a life dedicated to research, just not Marcel''s life.


    ¡°But there are still a lot things you can learn here. Not a lot of magic related knowledge, that I admit, but I hope you will be diligent in your other studies. And in the fifth year there will be something new for you. No worldborn ever knew about the supreme techniques without learning it in this world!¡± He continued. ¡°Now all that is left for your test is a practical exam. I need to check whether your casting ability is up to par with the second years. Please follow my lead.¡±


    Then he began some ''stretching practices for the soul and Marcel followed him through all of them easily. This sort of practice was child''s play for him. He could create way more filigree and more detailed figures than Reynold. This flexibility and detail was the backbone of his craft after all.


    ¡°Very good. Now we have to test the power you can channel at the moment. Marcel, please create a simple collection rune and channel the mana in the runes I will create.¡± He said and promptly created the rune.


    Marcel followed the instructions and connected his rune and soul to Reynold''s. He felt a rather strange sensation when he touched Reynolds soul, but he couldn''t put his finger on what was strange. Maybe it was normal? It was the first time he tried something like that after all. He completely focused at his single rune and began to channel. Normally he would just use multiple runes when he needed more power. But somehow he felt that this rune was exceptional, it felt different.


    As he probed it he found small deviations from his usual setup, strangely they weren''t errors like he believed at first. In fact they made the whole thing work smoother and with less strain on his soul. Was the form he knew not the perfect one? Was there still something to optimize? Those thoughts filled his mind as he begun to pull more and more energy into the rune. Unnoticed frost begun to cover the windows and everything that drew water to itself.


    Reynold was distracted by something else entirely. He desperately tried to maintain his bearings as he witnessed a power level he thought impossible to achieve without supreme techniques. It still was far from the supreme techniques but it was almost as far from a normal students power level.


    ¡°You can stop now. You surprised me once again. You definitely have the qualifications to skip my exam this year and maybe even next years.¡± He said and Marcel relaxed instantly, he had become rather anxious because of the prolonged silence while taking the test.


    Reynold spoke:


    ¡°I am sure you already heard about the tribes and that their rebellion.¡± Marcel nods. ¡±Then you have probably heard that what sparked all this was their exclusion from the new governments, but there is one thing that is almost never mentioned. The reason. They were excluded because they didn''t want to learn the supreme techniques. They claimed that they were flawed and that they would lead us into a standstill. This wouldn''t have been a problem in itself, but you see, the vows are only unbreakable with the supreme technique, which cant exist without the vows. The empire only entrusts those under the vows with the task to lead and every infringement in this matter will be persecuted. Nonetheless now that I have seen your performance I can''t stop thinking whether they knew something we don''t. Maybe our ways are indeed flawed.¡±


    Sadness now was apparent on his face, it looked like he felt the loss of something he only now learned about. ¡°Please follow your own path and please let me take part in it, I can''t walk it myself, but the curiosity is killing me.¡± He said. ¡°You really should have become a member of the mages guild. I will keep you up to date and now I will take my leave, there are still some things I need to do. Good bye.¡± Marcel said and left. Reynolds remained at his table for a long time. Not working, but just thinking about what could have been, fantasizing about limitless potential and what sort of world it could have created.


    Meanwhile Marcel didn''t just dream about it, but instead he continued to picture the rune from before in his head. It had just felt right, those deviations were just right. But why? Marcel didn''t knew a single rule that indicated why they were needed, most of them had just filled with energy and didn''t even channel it, as they were dead ends. So why did they improve the performance?


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    Hastily Marcel had rushed to his workshop and locked himself in it. Immediately he began to meditate and recreate the enhanced rune. For hours he observed and changed it. Every minuscule change create a different output, some increasing some decreasing it. Finally he had found a way to further improve his magic abilities!


    All he needed to do was meditate over the runes! Slowly his understanding would improve and with it his output. And the best part of this strategy was that there didn''t seemed to be a limit. Marcel came to this conclusion when he tried to add even smaller additions to his enhanced rune and received even greater benefits, although the required concentration was extremely high.


    The sky had long since turned dark when he finally stopped his experiments. Dead tired and hungry he dragged himself to the cafeteria, which served food 24 hours a day since most mage guild members tended to be night owls. He quickly ate and then continued on towards his bed. As soon as he had lain down he had been asleep.


    The next morning, even before he ate breakfast, Marcel reflected upon his discoveries of the prior night. The more he had changed the runes in the right direction, the more willingly the energy had flown through them. He hadn''t had to force it through the paths as much as normally, which reduced the stress on his soul considerably.


    Only his grumbling stomach had stopped him from continuing his meditation from yesterday. Just as he had opened his door to go to the cafeteria he was greeted by his friends, which had come over to check on him. Belatedly Marcel realized how late it was. It was already noon! No wonder he had been so hungry.


    The six of them went to the cafeteria and ate their meal. ¡°So how did it go yesterday? Did you pass? Everybody is speculating that you didn''t, but nobody knows the truth.¡± Paul asked. ¡°I passed. I won''t say more and no I won''t give anybody hints regarding the exam. Now that I think about it I can''t even if I wanted to.¡± Marcel replied between his chews. ¡°Congratulations.¡± His friends replied, although there was a hint of disappointment on Paul''s face. ¡°But I can help you in a different way Paul, I know that you have problems with magic because of your warrior centred upbringing. So let us make a deal, you spare with me from time to time and teach me some basics of swordplay and I teach you magic.¡± Marcel said. ¡°Deal!¡± Paul, who earnestly wanted to learn magic, happily replied.


    All of a sudden the others too wanted in on this deal and as such the friends trained and learned together for the rest of the day. Only in the evening did Marcel find the time to further play around and enhance his runes. But he didn''t stay awake for too long since the new week would bring new lessons and he didn''t plan to sleep through them.


    Only when the lesson started and Marcel was still absent when their teacher had begun the lesson did Marcel''s co-students learn of his successful exam. It started as a whisper, but quickly almost everybody in the room was talking about the matter. Only after Reynold or Mr Mercer had confirmed it and demanded silence among his students did the conversations die down.


    Meanwhile Marcel had been working on the prototypes for the generals, although the time of one lesson wasn''t nearly long enough to form metal it was enough to make some enchantments on already formed pieces. Marcel arrived shortly before the second lesson started at their class room and was greeted by quite a number of hostile stares. Confused he walked towards his two friends that shared this lesson with him and sat down.


    ¡°What is up with them?¡± He asked. ¡°I would guess they are jealous. You weren''t there, but in the lesson someone asked if he too could take an early exam. And he was played as a fool by Mr Mercer. He had been tasked to identify the function of a spell Mr Mercer had created. Obviously he had widely guessed and interpreted what it could be, but it hadn''t been a spell to begin with. It had been a random assortment of soul structures. Sadly most of the folks had believed in their fellow noble and had cheered for him. Only we had noticed the fluke, thanks to your teachings by the way. Their faces had turned rather ugly after Mr Mercer had called out their error.¡± Steve explained.


    ¡°He had tried that one on me too.¡± Marcel said while chuckling. Their conversation came to an halt when their guild teacher entered and begun the lesson.


    ¡°Today we will talk about humanoid monsters in a general term. Because of some of their traits they are mostly handled as borderline monsters. They aren''t as versatile as other monsters, but their above average intelligence and adaptability enables them to flourish almost everywhere. They are also more prone to using tools and weapons. The rule of fist in this case is that the smaller and weaker they are the more they will rely on tools. That''s is also the reason why every new adventurer is advised to not hunt goblins for their first mission. Although they are the physical weakest among the humanoid monsters they heavily rely on ambushes and tools. There are even some tribes that use poisoned darts and blowguns. Additionally they don''t destroy their surroundings like most other monsters, instead they use it for cover and guerilla warfare . Like most other monsters they are notorious man eaters.¡± She explained. And continued with:


    ¡°Next up are the orcs. Although they rarely use ranged weapons, except in sieges of course, they are at least equally dangerous as goblins. They are physically stronger and equally intelligent, but their biggest advantage over the goblins is their ability and willingness to work iron. They are organized in clans, which sometimes reach a size of thousands of orcs. They are known to fall into a blood rage while fighting, as such they are very serious opponents. The empire tried to, and still does, eradicate them wherever they are found. But since there are still many places that are uninhabited on this continent we never succeeded. Like the goblins they can reach a height equal to humans, but they are much broader, while the goblins are really skinny lanky creatures. Both of the races skin colours reach from yellow to a dark green.¡±


    ¡°Finally there is the merfolk. They are the closest to the other monsters. Although mostly humanoid their features can vary a lot. For every sort of fish in the sea there seems to be a merfolk with similar characteristics. Let me just give you one word of advice regarding them. They are among the deadliest hunters among the creatures in the sea, so never enter their domain in order to fight them. Even if they appear deadly wounded don''t follow them into the water. That''s all for today.¡±