Heroes, Magic and Monsters

Dining hall was actually several huge rooms, that were big enough for six hundred students to eat inside them. This time there were only first year students, since lessons for the rest of the students started only tomorrow. We found one off the tables covered with food, from which we could choose and fill our plates. Food was simple, but there was plenty of it. It consisted of bread, soup, drinking water and meat dishes.

We occupied one of the tables, surrounded by chatting girls and quieter boys. After lunch we went to look for our classrooms. Classrooms had numbers on their doors witch made them easier to find. Me, Cleo and Shayla entered classroom sixty, while Myne went to a different one.

Counting us there were only seven students in the classroom, when one of the professors came inside. It was Doranius, the same professor that registered me for the academy.

- Look likes everyone is already here. My name is Doranius, I will be the main teacher for Wisdom skill. Since you will need to attend also basic lessons, you will have also other professors, but most of the lessons you will receive from me. These are books, that you will need to take out of the library, - he passed all of us paper sheets with names of seven books on them: - Rest of the students are already informed about this, but since you are first years you have this orientation lesson. Just to remind you. You can do monster hunting in your free time, but until the end of the semester, you are forbidden from using leveling crystals. Also, make sure you follow all academy rules that you are informed of. Breaking them could be grounds for expulsion.

In case if you were told to choose Wisdom skill, but don't know what can it actually do for you. Most of the spells are divided by five levels. Almost everyone is capable of learning level one spells, but with every level spell circles become more and more complicated. It takes someone with extraordinary memory to learn level two and level three spells, but using them is incredibly difficult. Wisdom skill improves your memory and helps you to remember and manifest magic circles inside your mind.

Now let's talk about skills and how you actually get them. When someone kills a living creature or undead, that possesses mana, we acquire part of that creatures life force. But our bodies can keep only part of the life force. The rest of it in time evaporates from our bodies. Leveling crystal help us to change that excess life force into skills or stats. If you never killed someone with mana, then you will get a skill in exchange for your own life force. That will affect your health and shorten your life span. You can replenish lost life force later, by killing another creature and stealing his life force. Sometimes of course you get a new skill even without leveling up. That usually happens in nature when you work hard to obtain a skill or get a lot of life force in short amount of time. Such skills are marked with word "New" during your use of leveling crystal. Long ago sages that could use Appraisal skill spend years researching new skill phenomena natural appearance. Later they came to these conclusion and created first leveling crystals. Later research also led to more advance leveling crystal that also could change excess mana into stats, that can increase your health points, mana, strength, defense and spell power.

All skill orbs are actually artificial means of doing the same thing that nature and gods intended for our bodies to do naturally. Increasing strength stats, is actually weaker variation on evolving into stronger being, a feature that monster and other races than humans possess naturally.

Like I mentioned before, hard work can help you to obtain a skill naturally, but such training can led to acquiring skill that may be similar, but not exactly what you want. In Magic academy, just like in other academies, teachers use knowledge that was accumulated over thousands of years by researchers to develop lessons, that will help you acquire the exact skill that you want to receive.

That's why it is important to attend your every lesson and learn hard, or you won't get expected results.

In order to learn a Wisdom skill you will learn knowledge about magic spells and spell circles. Their history and structure. You will need to train your memory and do a lot of memory exercises. Every lesson is important and perfected by countless generations. Previous experiences and knowledge passed down to us by our previous generations is what makes academies such special places for learning skills.

Those of you who have only level one, will have to visit the dungeon under a supervision from senior students and kill some monsters before you get a wisdom skill. That will conclude your lesson for today. Make sure you visit the library and pick up your books. You will need to bring them with you to your lessons, but also feel free to read them yourself.

That concluded my first lesson in the academy and we went to library to pick up our books. First lesson turned out to be more interesting and informative than I expected, and my expectations rose up quite a bit.

We entered the library, and it immediately felt like a different world. There was a mild light and cool air. In front of us was a huge reading room. In the middle of the room were many tables with chairs near them. Further away we saw many bookcases filled with books.

The tables had many small book piles on them. As soon as we entered, old, grumpy looking librarian moved towards us.

- New students, are you? - she asked us.

- Yes, - I nodded: - We were told to come here and pick up books, that we will need for our lessons.

- What skill are you planning to learn?

- Wisdom skill. All of us.

- I see. I have books prepared for you. Please state your names and names of your benefactors.

After writing down our names, she showed us the book piles, that were prepared for us. All together there were seven books, in different topics. The biggest book was called Magic circles in all magic schools. Others were books like: Magic history, Basics in spell learning and spell casting, Geometry, Mathematics, Races and their natural affinities for magic and Magic use for beginners.

We thanked the librarian and returned to our room. I did not expect to learn math in the academy, and was not looking forward to it. Never liked math, even in my previous life. I spend my time looking through the books and reading passages that seemed interesting.

* * *

Next day I woke up with the first bell. I asked Myne to help me with my haircut, so I could conceal my elf ears under them. I did not know what prejudice may humans have towards the elves, and had no interest in dealing with it.

After the breakfast, that consisted of bouillon with bread, our lessons in Magic academy finally began.

Once a day we had a lessons about spell circles. It was taught by Doranius. First part of the lesson consisted of learning different spell circles, parts of them, that was used in different magic schools. Second part of the lesson we practiced drawing them. I was one of the worst in it. Most of the students were second years and had much more practice in it than me, not to mention that they used quills for writing and drawing from their childhood. I also had to learn algebra and geometry, and had to relearn formulas from the beginning, since I successfully forgotten them after my early school years. Surprisingly their use and understanding in these topics was quite good. Geometry had uses in building castles and churches, as well as war machines such as ballista and catapults.

We also studied history of magic, which was boring, and consisted of mages their discoveries, and years when it happened. Other lessons were about other races and their natural abilities for the use of magic. That was useful and interesting information. The same time I could learn about other races that lived in this world and also about their strengths and abilities in using magic.

Most students were younger than me and I had as little interaction with other students as I could. I mostly spend my time with Cleo and Shayla. Ninety percent of the students were nobles and they felt superior towards us. Things became easier for me, after I started wearing my adventurers badge over my shirt, were everyone could see it. It was not like adventurers were respected, but many younger kids admired them, especially legendary A rank adventurers Some of them were national heroes, and even received land and noble titles in Ashgrin. It was a way for kingdom to keep the adventurers in kingdom's borders, to strengthen it capabilities of fighting monsters and keep dungeons in check. For that reason, kings of Ashgrin spend time making adventurers job a desirable one and granted special benefits to noble families whose sons or daughters reached high ranks as adventurers.

Some young kids even approached me, asking me stories about my adventures. For Myne things were similar, but Cleo and Shayla had to deal with some discrimination from older students, who resented them, and thought of them as servants, who did not belonged in academy. But fear of most professors and their disapproval of such behavior kept their insults at tolerable level.

During our free days we met with Luara and Trevor and hunted in nearby dungeon. To make our hunting more efficient, we usually departed in the evening after our lessons and spend the night close to the dungeon, so we could spend at least day and a half inside it.

There were three dungeons around capitol. Mid ranking dungeon called Golden goose, was the only one that we visited. It was similar to Grimsburg dungeon, except that corridors in it looked like manmade insides of a building, made of huge rectangular stones. But they led to similar caverns where monsters sometimes attacked us, and gave us much needed magic stones and experience, along with their life force.

Other dungeons were too dangerous for us, so we avoided them. Second, called Dead man's chest, was similar to Golden goose, but had higher ranking monsters in it. Only C rank parties were allowed to go inside it.

Third dungeon was called Cemetery dungeon. Thousands of years ago it used to be the town of the dead. People who lived during those times buried their dead inside it. They probably knew how to prevent them from turning undead or did not have such problems back then. But more than thousand years ago, cemetery transformed into a dungeon. It did not have underground floors, instead the giant cemetery with thousands of mausoleums became the dungeon. In the beginning it was low ranking dungeon with some of the weakest monsters. But after centuries and thousands of newbie adventurers who died killed by undead, monsters evolved and those of them who survived became stronger and stronger. These days it was considered a very dangerous dungeon, and only B rank adventurers of higher were allowed to go there. Few years ago C rank adventurers also were allowed to go there, but after several C rank adventurer parties disappeared there, Adventurers guild decided to let only B rank adventurers go there, to prevent the undead from becoming stronger. The artifacts that could be found in there were all used by undead monsters. But since probability of monster stampede from Cemetery dungeon was very low, guild never posted the dungeon clearing quests for it. Because of it, Cemetery dungeon was the least popular and almost never visited by adventurers.

Since we could afford to stay inside the dungeon only day and a half, we did not earn as much as we used to in Grimsburg, during our dungeon visits. But we could take it slow and take no risks. Even so we earned enough for Myne to save enough money to pay for next semesters in Magic academy. Trevor and Luara had to pay only forty gold coins for every semester in Adventurers academy, so they needed less money than Myne.

Several month passed by quickly. I read a lot of books in academy's library, that we had free access to, but there were still hundreds of books, that I wanted to read. But I did not have a lot of free time, that I could devote to my library visits.

We also were getting use to our lives in capitol, and Myne started to talk about staying in capitol longer than two years.

- I want to learn a skill Increased maximum mana points, - she told me during lunch, that we always had together: - It takes a whole year to learn it, but I still have one skill, that I can learn, and it would be very useful, especially for casting high ranking spells.

- I was also thinking that we could stay longer in the capitol. I thought myself a lot about it, and was really interested in learning Weapons master skill after Magic academy. But I don't think that Luara will like that idea. She complained a lot about staying in the capitol. Don't think she likes big towns.

- I heard that all beastpeople badly tolerate staying in such big towns for long periods of time. Something has to do with their sensitive noses.

- Can't argue with that, - I sighed: - That one time that we went close to poor part of the town was horrible for my nose too. I think some people in there have a habit of dumping their night buckets on the street below their homes, instead of using gutters. The drainage systems in Grimsburg were much better in less wealthy parts of town, than they are in the capitol.

- Well I hope she will agree to stay longer.

We finished our lunch and went to our classrooms. In front of us appeared four girls. They were different ages, but all pretty. Their school uniforms were probably special ordered, with sewed decorations on them. They were the current year queens of the academy. All from high ranking, rich and powerful noble families, their treated school like their private domain, dictating who is popular and who is not. Their leader was Mortana. Twelve year old girl, with waist long blonde hair. She was the daughter of archduke Kurgan. Kurgan ruled over territory that covered almost five percent of Ashgrin. But regardless of Kurgan's power and bribes, his oldest son was not accepted in Magic academy, and joined the Knight academy. Unlike her brother Mortana had Mage apprentice job. She told everyone, that her father decided that she will be the mage in her family, while her brother will represent warriors strength. No one was brave enough to tell the truth to her eyes, but rumors anyway spread around the school.

We stepped aside and let them go past us. Teenage girls could be very cruel and we did not want to get on their bad side.

I walked Myne to her classroom and then went to mine. It was time for my lesson in benefits of the birth given jobs and their differences. Professor Luakvilly in his lessons always used examples from real life, which made his lessons more interesting and easy to understand.

I took my place in the front and prepared several papers and my quill. In academy we were provided with school uniforms, dorm rooms, food and books, but supplies like paper, ink, quill and anything else that we needed for our daily necessities, we needed to buy ourselves. For that reason some of quills that students used were different sizes and made from all kind of materials, including monster feathers. Rich students used it as opportunity to show off and impress their classmates. Since even princess and princesses attended magic academy, no noble was beneath it and children of most powerful noble families of Ashgrin attended Magic academy. And such little things as quills were the only way to show their importance.

- Today we will talk about stats, that you see when you use leveling crystals. There are also other ways to find out about person stats, but today we will talk about their importance and what exactly they do for us. You already know, that stat growth until level ten is influenced by your job. Jobs like mage will have high mana points and spell power, but as high ranking job it also influence your strength and defense stats. While if you have only commoner job you stats growth will be minimal and spell power usually stay at zero, until you reach level ten.

I listened carefully, writing down anything that seemed interesting to me, so I could later read it and remember it better for the future. Unlike my previous school, Magic academy did not use tests or exams. Everybody paid for their lessons and it was up to students, to learn or not. Only students who sign up for three year lesson, which included eighteen months of basic studies, had to prove their knowledge after first three semesters. That was a way for academy to get rid of those who showed no interest in lessons and were too lazy or disinterested in using magic. Those who failed the exams were immediately expelled from Magic academy. Hundred years ago even royal prince was expelled from academy, so everybody who wanted to learn magic skills, took their lessons seriously, remembering examples from the past.

- Like you already know, after reaching level ten, if your job doesn't change, your stats will increase by one after every level up, - continued professor Luakvilly: - Some of you probably think that some of the stats are more important than others, and that some of them will be useless to you, but that's where you are wrong. Every one of them is important, and this lesson will help you understand why.

Like you should already remember, there is Health, Mana, Strength, Defense, Spell power, Luck, Speed and Morale.

Mana, after you reach level ten will increase by ten after every leveling. It could be different if you have high ranking magic job such as sage, but for the rest of you it will be ten mana. It is constant increase and the amount of mana determines how many spells you can cast. It also can influence effectiveness of you spells. For example if your spell power is zero, you can still heal more serious injuries by using more mana. Some people think that it influences your spell power, but it is wrong assumption. Using more mana has the same effect as using the cure spell several times. There is no difference between spending fifty mana or casting Cure spell five time, each time using ten mana.

Now let's talk about luck. It influences the causality. The more Luck points you have the greater will be possibility that in battle your enemies attack will miss you, or at least miss your vital organs, and that your attack will reach your opponent. That goes both for physical and magic attacks. Most people, except undead, who cannot receive luck points and are unaffected by morale or feelings, have basic luck of one. If your luck is one it simple means that you have it, and won't have any effect. High enough luck could be you ultimate weapon, since with luck of one hundred fighting opponent who has basic luck, you would never lose. Most of your opponents attacks would miss, while yours would always reach him. But it is impossible to increase your luck, during leveling. Only magic artifacts or real skills can increase your luck. Most powerful amulet known to mankind, can only increase your luck by three, which isn't very much.

Next, speed. Speed influences your ability to move faster. There are races like some beastmen tribes or high level monsters, that can move or, so you better understand, run faster than humans. Even slowest human child with commoner job at age six shows speed stat of three. Some beastmen have speed six, which means that they can move faster than humans, but these benefits will show themselves at their peak only after you reach at least level two. Only then the speed stat will help you move faster. If your speed is twelve, you will be able to move twice as fast as a grown up human male, even without any benefits of training, that can naturally increase your movement speed farther. It is also impossible to increase your speed during leveling. But it can change after you receive a more high ranking job or evolve, in case of monsters and non human races. Speed stats can also be increased using artifacts, but most powerful artifacts, known to mankind, can only increase your Speed by two. Which is still quit significant change.

Morale determines your mood and ability to fight. Usually your morale is always neutral, but there are spells that can change it to negative, in which case you will lose your will to fight, and in worse case won't even try to protect yourself during an enemy attack. High morale will keep you at peak of your abilities and influence the mood of your party members or soldiers, that are under your command. If your morale is high, your soldiers will never retreat, betray you or run away from battlefield, and spells that create fear won't affect them. Undead have no morale stat, since they are incapable of human emotions. Moral also cannot be changed during level up, but it can be changed using artifacts. Your morale will always show itself as neutral, negative, high or very high.

Next Health, Strength, Defense and Spell power. After you reach level ten one of these stats will increase by one after every leveling. First Health then Strength, then Defenseand then Spell power. And again from the beginning.

Spell power is very important for mages. Since if influences the effectiveness of your spells. Let's use the same example with Cure spell. If you need to spend ten mana for a single spell and need to cast Cure spell five times to cure a wound with spell power zero, then with spell power of five you will need only single Cure spell that uses ten mana. The same principle applies to battle spells. If you are using Magic arrow, and have high Spell power, it will be just as powerful as more high ranking Lightning spell if it is used by someone with Spell power zero. It also determines how long will last spells like Slow, or Haste, or protection spells. The higher Spell power stats you have, the better protection your spells will grant, and will last longer. Also there are skills and artifacts that grant magic resistance. You will need to use high ranking spells against such opponents. Some creatures or people with master level Magic resistance skill will be unaffected by even level four spells. But will be defenseless against level five spells. But if your spell power is fifty, then your level one spells will be as effective as level two, level two as level three and so on. Which means that even if you use level four spells against someone with master level Magic resistance skill it will be as effective as level five spells. But reaching level fifty spell power will be unreachable dream for almost all of you even using artifacts, so do not feel bad if your spell power stats are five or ten. It is still considered very high and helpful.

Next Health. For many it is most desirable stat. Everybody starts with health ranging from one to one hundred, depending on your race. Level one humans always have health measurement of one, while dragons have one hundred. Health point increase influences your abilities to heal be it from physical wound or disease. It also can increase your life span. Creatures, whose health is measured in hundreds, lifespan last for thousands of years. Of course there are creatures like high elves or arch devils who stop aging after reaching adulthood or evolving, but for humans the only way to increase their natural lifespan is by leveling up and increasing their Health points.

Health points also determine how much life force you will receive from a monster after you kill it. The more health points your opponent have the more life force you will receive, and faster reach next level, - professor chuckled: - Most girls consider these stats the most important of all. Since the high Health stats will improve their skin condition and make their hair look better.

That was important. My hair were much shorter than I wanted, and their grew so slow. Also washing them, was a torture for me. Maybe if my Health stats go high enough, my hair will stay silky and I will never have to worry about dandruff again.

- Strength stats determine your physical strength, - continued professor: - All humans are different from birth, some are physically stronger, some became stronger after training, but Strength stats can increase you physical abilities. Everyone have Strength stat of zero, once they are born. But it increases after you stat leveling up. Ordinary humans strength measured in stats would be six. Let's assume that as mages, who rarely care about their physical abilities can pick up something which weighs forty kilograms. If your strength stat is six, and assuming that ordinary human can lift something as heavy as forty kilograms, then by reaching strength stat of six you will be able to lift something as heavy as hundred kilograms. At Strength stat seven, one hundred and ten kilograms, and at strength stat eight, one hundred and twenty kilograms. And so on. For that reason, high ranking mages, who spend their times practicing magic and reading books, are physically stronger than most humans, even if those humans spend their time training to increase their strength naturally.

Most humans with warrior jobs have also high ranking strength stats, that they increase a lot until reaching level ten. They also put a lot of importance in strength stats, for obvious reasons.

Now last - Defense. Let's use dragons as an example. Ordinary human with a sword would be able to scratch a dragons scales. In terms of stats humans body have defense stat of one, while dragon's would be fifty. Defense stats mostly help to survive physical attacks, but at high enough level they also protect against battle magic spells. After all fire ball is only fire, created using magic and lightning in magically recreated less powerful lightning that appears in nature. The most famous example was when an S rank warrior adventurer was attack by level one commoner with a knife in a tavern. Commoner stabbed the adventurer, but his knife only slightly cut him, because of the adventurers high defense stats. Warrior type adventurers put a lot of importance in Defense stats, since if helps them survive enemies attacks.

I wrote down, most of the lesson and later spend time reading it to better remember. I did not even realize, that high defense stats protect from attack oriented spells, or that Health stats influenced someone's life span. I started to regret, than instead of committing to three year studies in Magic academy, I chose to prioritize skill acquirement. Myne's lessons were not so all encompassing. Her lessons were oriented on everything that had to do with Fire magic. She attended several lessons that I had. Such as spell circle lessons, when we learned about Fire school magic spell, or magic history lessons that were about mages who made most discoveries concerning Fire magic, of created Fire magic spells.

According to her they spend a lot of time learning about fire, its properties, had to learn how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together, and spend a lot of time simple staring at the bonfire. We started to get use to our new life and six month passed by, without us even noticing.