3 months later
The lecture hall was unusually quiet. Not from boredom, but from focus.
Today was the first official combat application session—a test of mana control, reaction timing, and spell execution.
Alaric stood at the back, arms folded loosely, watching the first pair of acolytes take position in the sparring circle. Both had their hands raised, glowing staves prepared. Sparks danced at their fingertips.
The instructor, a narrow-faced mage named Orlen, called out: "You may begin."
The spells flew fast. Basic projectiles, Mana Darts mostly. One student managed a deflection with a barrier glyph. The other retaliated with a burst of magical light—a blinding flash. One whose focus was solely on summoning magic had even summoned a fire elemental during one match.
Alaric squinted, but only slightly. He was already analyzing the exchange, breaking down mana flow patterns in his mind. He could see where the caster hesitated, where energy was wasted, where the glyphs lacked compression.
The Vault pulsed faintly, responding to the observations in his mind. A symbol flickered inside his awareness: three interlocking rings. Potential. Efficiency. Flow.
Then Orlen's voice rang again. "Acolyte Vane, you're next."
Alaric didn't flinch. He simply stepped forward.
His opponent was a girl named Risha—quick, focused, and clearly experienced. One of the few who managed to summon an elemental in their first summoning lecture that had nearly earned her top marks.
They bowed. Custom, as magician were respected people and expected such respect to be given at all times. They raised their hands.
"Begin."
Risha didn't hesitate. A searing line of fire magic leapt from her palm. Alaric twisted to the side, not blocking it but allowing it to skim past. In the same motion, his hand rose—no words spoken, just intent.
The magical energy spun inside him. A thin thread of force extended outward, not as a projectile but a push transformed into kinetic energy—targeted directly at her legs.
She stumbled. He followed it with a glyph-pulse, a spell he had modeled himself after dissecting a lecture on kinetic feedback loops. A short, sharp shock meant to interrupt an enemy.
Her barrier caught it, but barely. She retaliated with a stone the size of a watermelon.
Alaric narrowed his eyes. Fire. Too common, but undeniably effective, he mused.
He ducked and sent out a wave of pressured air, generated from circular rotation instead of linear projection—meant to work as an explode upon contact spell. She fell backward; wind knocked out of her lungs.
"Stop!" Orlen called. Weaving his hand with magical energy to makes sure Risha didn't get a concussion by flying against a wall.
Alaric lowered his hand.
Murmurs ran through the onlookers. The match had taken fifteen seconds.
Orlen nodded slowly. "Well done aolytes. Acolyte Vane, you may return. Acolyte Soran, you are still in good form after your match, go tell healer Raspen to send an assistant to heal acolyte Risha."
That was enough to test Alaric's progress so far. He felt good – the months of studying weren't wasted.
That night, Alaric sat beneath the arched window of his room. The lights of Cael Varn shimmered like stars over the desert sky below. A whisper of wind curled through the open stone frame.
He was analyzing and comparing his personally acquired knowledge with books and scrolls from the library he had borrowed. He still remembered the big eyes the librarian made when he saw him with the many books on far too advanced materials for his grade for the first time.
Telepathy and how to start.
Defense and Offense of the mind.
The different spirits of nature and their origin.
How to craft new spells.
A started guide to alchemy.
Usual mistakes of new alchemists.
How to differentiate materials and their uses.
Origins and attributes of materials.
Enough books for a week.
As Alaric flipped the book on the defense of the mind, he remembered the first time he saw the inside of the library – which is incredibly difficult to enter for first year acolytes. Their books usually being given to them by the teachers.
He had to bother instructor Olen for nearly 2 weeks before he even got a chance. Having to explain his understanding on the basics of magic to him over a 2 hours lecture. Pretty much it was just the content of the 1st year book "Magic and how to start" that was meant to last the acolytes as enough materials for the whole first year.
That was pretty much what all acolytes had to do in order to get access to the library in the first year – Risha having done the same.
The instructors knew that it wasn't good for young acolytes to earn access to knowledge that was to advanced for them, as it could take their focus from studying the basics which they would need to learn for any of the different mage disciplines anyway.
That's why the general consensus among instructors was to test the mental fortitude and their progress of the basics of magic, before giving them access to the library. After all without the right desire for knowledge and the corresponding grades they would never allow it.
And when he entered, Alaric felt like the doors to all knowledge in the world opened to him.
A library with 5 levels, the higher the more advanced the knowledge. Books, Scrolls and stone tablets of ancient origin on all matters of interest. Embedded in beautiful bookshelves made of sandalwood. The books were covered by beautiful covers made of the fanciest leather in the world, be it dragon, hydra hide or whatnot. Then they were inlaid with all sorts of gems. A true symbol that knowledge was power.
Summoning, Strengthening, Weaking, Cursing, Offensive, Defensive, Mental, Physical, General Knowledge, Secrets, Covenants, World maps, History, Smithing, Alchemy, Potion Brewing, how to locate rare resources, and on it went.
There was a book virtually for everything a mage living in a world stuck in the medieval times could ever think about.
Granted some knowledge was only barely there, some was missing parts, other things were wrong and some things were simply basic conjectures.
None the less, most categories had at least the means to start Alaric's own research in that direction.
And then there were the treasure djinns.
Unlike djinns in most universes that could grant wishes and whatnot, a djinn here was a spirit of nature with a higher level of awareness that got inserted into a nonnatural shape, an oil lamp. There it could recharge itself and reappear when it wanted or needed to interact with the outside world.
As they were spirits of nature, they were immortal and were as such guardians of the libraries and guardians of immense knowledge. A perk that came with being able to interact with all manner of mages during their time in libraries.
They were the guardians of the library and you wouldn't even be able to leave with books from it. In order to borrow a book, you had to either read it in the library or bring it to a djinn, that would make a magical copy of it. That copy would dissolve itself after a week or if it left the perimeter of the flying city – preventing the potential loss or robbing of these valuable books.