The First Archmage

(Gavin)

"Oh, and before we reenter the training room," Kade stops outside the door. "I should just let you know that isn't just because you've fair hair, blue eyes, and the Cuteness Skill that she finds you adorable. She loves children in general, and your looks and Skill only amplify it for you."

"How did ya know I have Cuteness?"

"Please," he snorts. "You're too cute to not have it, as I doubt your CHA is high enough right now to make you that cute."

I stare at him.

"Plus," he says. "I've seen the Skill in use before."

"That's what I thought."

He opens the door, and we enter the training room. Natalie is blasting the target again, and I really can't discern anything different betwee when I saw her the first time and now.

"Welcome back," she greets us with a smile. "That outfit really does you justice, Gavin."

"Thank you, milady."

"Come in," she gestures, and we enter, Kade closing the door behind us. "Take a seat, you two."

We sit down in front of her.

"Now," she says. "Kade already knows all of this, but he'll listen in anyway, since I'm sure he burned all of that silver I gave for food buying you sweets so you could try them for the first time."

My face heats up when she says that, and Kade's definitely turned red.

"We'll start with learning basic magics," she walks over to a table against one wall, grabbing a stack of papers and a couple of quills, then setting them down in front of us.

"Do you know what you need to use magic?" Natalie asks me.

"Runes," I answer. "And for more advanced ones, magic circles."

"Indeed," she nods. "I hear you have one of Tristan Lightblade's Grimoires, so I'm assuming that's how you know this?"

"Assumption made from the tome, milady," I nod.

"Smart," she smiles. "That will help you. There are two basic spells taught to all magicians, regardless of what type of magic they do. Do you know what they are?"

"Magic Missile and Fireball?" I ask.

"No," she frowns. "Is that what the Grimoire says?"

"They're the first two spells in it," I shrug. "I didn't really read the magics too much, but those were the only easy ones I saw, the rest had high Mana and INT requirements."

"Ah," she says. "The two basic spells taught to all magicians are Magic Bolt and Magic Missile. To cast a spell, you must bring their runes to mind in the proper order, will the spell into being, and incant the name. For more powerful spells, you'll need a chant, first, but most Tier I spells don't need those. Magic Bolt."

A violet bolt of energy forms above her hand, and after a few moments, it fades away.

"When you use magic," she says. "You must use it immediately, or it dissipates, and you'll have wasted the Mana. When you use it, don't throw your arm, like many try to do when they first use a launched spell. Instead, simply focus on the target, and will your bolt to hit it, and it will go toward the aimed spot. If that spot moves as it flies, it won't redirect, not until you've gained a fair bit of skill with it. From what I've heard of Adventurers who continue to use their spells instead of switching entirely to regular Skills, it's around Level 5 that it'll begin to follow your target, though even those dedicated to attempting for Wizard when they unlock their second slot rare manage to get a spell past Level 7 before. Mastering a Skill is not easy, and does not happen often, so even with your bonuses, don't expect things to be easy when it comes to leveling. You'll likely still spend years before you can, with your bonuses."

"Understood," I plan on challenging that theory.

"What I want you to do," she continues. "Is to practice the runes for Magic Bolt on these papers, until you have them memorized. Once you do, we'll work on actually hitting a target. Once you run out of Mana, we'll work on the runes for Magic Missile. They're slightly different. Judging by your Mana Pool, you'll be able to cast fifteen Magic Bolts."

"How can you tell?" I ask. "I can't sense anyone's Mana Pools."

"Mana Sense," she answers. "Is the official name for the Skill. Once you master Magic Sense, you'll gain Mana Sense as a Skill. For magicians, Magic Sense is easily mastered, even without the System."

"Ah," I say.

She teaches me the runes for Magic Bolt, and has me practice them on the parchments. It only takes me three attempts – all on the same sheet – to get it perfect, along with a new Skill.

Skill Gained!

Dekami Runic Language 1/10: You have understanding of the universal language of magic, which can be learned by all Species.

+1 Human Experience!

Learning that gave me Species Experience? Seriously?

+0 INT!

Screw off!

-0 INT!

This thing is as cheeky as I am, isn't it?

+0 INT!

I'll shut up now.

+0 INT!

"I got a Skill for the language," I look at Natalie, and find her raising an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"Your face," she says. "It just went through a series of frustrated and irritated expressions, then you sighed and spoke. Want to share?"

"The System is abusing its ability to grant or remove none of a stat to be a cheeky little shit."

+0 INT!

"I'm guessing it just did that again," she says.

"I'm not using my Acting Skill right now, apparently," I say. "Since I learned the language, do you think I can try it, now? It's only at Level 1, but I'm sure it means that the runes for a simple spell, such as Magic Bolt, will work."

"What happened to your accent?" She asks.

"Dammit."

"You were faking it?"

"The System screwed me up in it."

"You're cute when you're pouting," she says, then indicates a target. "Try to hit the center of that with your Magic Bolts until you're out of Mana."

"Yes, milady."

Calling forth the runes, I raise a hand.

"Magic Bolt," I say, and a violet bolt forms. I visualize it attacking the target, and it does. "Seems basic magics might come to me quickly, with my boosts. I'm guessing I really do have a twenty-percent boost, instead of ten-percent, with them stacking."

"Possibly," she says as I examine the message in my vision. "Go ahead and fire off your others."

Skill Gained!

Magic Bolt 1/10: A single bolt formed of magic.

"Alright," I fire off the other fifteen Magic Bolts. "You were just slightly off – it's 3 Mana per Magic Bolt, and I have 48 Mana."

"Alright," she says, and Kade looks at me funny. "What is it, Kade?"

"Is forty-eight your cap?" He asks.

"Ya."

"Didn't you use twenty back at the Guild?" He asks. "I've heard Heated Steel uses up ten each, for most with starting stats."

"Ya, why?"

"You already restored to full?" He asks.

"That's not normal?"

"No," he shakes his head. "Not even for Adventurers. That much Mana probably should have taken you all day to restore. You have a good regeneration."

"Very good," Natalie nods. "I really shouldn't be surprised by that, seeing as you have the Wizard Class."

She teaches me the runes for Magic Missile, and the first time I try them, I learn them, able to do them perfectly the second time. Because of that, she teaches me a variety of other magics' runes, including a couple I know from the Grimoire.

Once I reach ten Mana again, I attempt Magic Missile.

The difference between Magic Bolt and Magic Missile is not just their size – bolt is more slim and like a crossbow bolt in size and shape, and missile is thicker, more like an oval – but also the distance they go. Missile, as a spell, is for long-distance attacking, while bolt is for short-range.

On my first attempt, I succeed, firing the missile at a distant target, and it flies true.

Skill Gained!

Magic Missile 1/10: A single missile formed of magic, capable of much further distances than its stronger sibling, Magic Bolt.

"Very good," Natalie says. "I'd say it takes you around three hours to restore to full Mana, currently. Unless your regeneration increases a fair bit, you'll probably have to wait longer and longer as your Mana Pool increases, just to warn you. The best way to improve that is to cast magic when you can, completely emptying your Mana Pool. It won't improve it much, and will take months for you to see a noticeable difference in your regeneration, but it will still gain Mana for you. Normally, doing this for ten hours a day can increase your Mana Pool by one a day, but with you already a little bit higher, I'm sure you could gain five a day, if you do this. However, it requires you to burn off your Mana when you can, which is why many magicians who acquire Access to the System have high levels of Magic Bolt – especially if they've been practicing for decades."

I can see why it's said that magicians tend to have naturally high Mana Pools when they gain access to the System – they grind the hell out of it.

For the rest of the day, I grind Magic Bolt. It takes me approximately four minutes to recover a single point of Mana.

By the time Natalie says I've trained enough, I've gained five points of Mana and a point of INT, and Magic Bolt is Level 4 (though I didn't mention that last one) to them.

Kade takes me down a few floors to where our quarters are, showing me my room. King-sized bed, wardrobe, a couple of bookshelves, a room branching off of it filled with whatever magic the rooms are filled with, thick carpeting on the floor, and a room with a sort of massive bowl in the ground, filled with water with a couple of weird things fixed to it.

"That's your bath," Kade says. "Never seen one before?"

"No."

"It's for soaking in," he explains. "And for washing up in. You can adjust the heat level of the water added to it with the knob on the right, and maintain the heat level with the one on the left. It'll refill itself whenever the water level drops. You can also drain it by pushing on the indentation between the two knobs, then spinning it all the way around, so the arrows line back up. That's to avoid most accidental triggering of it draining on you, since it will drain all the way. It all works through magic."

"What are in the vials and jars?" I ask.

"Soaps and shampoos," he answers. "They're labeled which they are. Personally, I like soaking in hot water after a long day of – what the chaos?"

"What?" I ask.

"I just got access to the System," he frowns. "And it's giving me a single Class option - 'Novice'. Let's see… yeah, that does pull up its description. It's a magic-based class. That's… weird."

"Yeah, it is," I frown. "Pick it?"

"Did," he says.

"Say 'status share' while focusing on me," I say.

"Status share."

Name: Kade

Age: 12 years

Titles: None

Species: Human Level 1

Classes: Magician 1

INT: 14, AGI: 6, CHA: 8, STR: 5, CON: 9, PER: 10, LIF: 13

Health: 17/17

Mana: 68/68

I wonder…

Let's see if it's possible to pull up available Classes.

Available Classes:

Novice (Level 1)(Common)

Actor (Level 1)(Uncommon)

Archer (Level 1)(Common)

Thief (Level 1)(Uncommon)

Squire (Level 1)(Common)

Blacksmith (Level 1)(Common)

Tailor (Level 1)(Common)

Mixer (Level 1)(Common)

Woodcarver (Level 1)(Common)

Cook (Level 1)(Common)

Class: Novice.

Novice (Level 1): Those who have begun to harness the power of magic, this Class is for those who have begun the path to learning magic. +1 INT, MNA every fifth Level, +5% to learning new magic.

"I thought magic Classes didn't exist?" I say.

"They didn't," he frowns.

Class: Wizard. And give me all the damn information about it.

Wizard (Level 1): An elite form of magician, the Wizard has survived passage through a natural Rift. Their arrival into a realm will spark a permanently-increased amount of people gaining access to the System. If this is the second arrival, it will allow people to take on magic-based jobs as well. +1 to all Stats each Level, +10% to learning and leveling all Skills, +10% to learning and leveling all magical Skills.

In other words… because I gained Wizard, more people will be gaining access to the System. But I don't know what it means by a Natural Rift. What's that? What's a Rift?

And how are the nations going to react to the increase in Adventurers?