Chapter 1

"JOHN RADCLIFF!!!! WAKE UP!!!".

Whoa, where am I? Oh, I'm in my room at home. I must have slept hard. Today is my 17th birthday and it's the day that my new life starts. The last year has been hard work. The king requires that all 15-year old's get tested for job aptitude. All families must present their boys and girls. Some get normal job roles and get apprenticed. The job I got is an enchanter. This requires one year of mage training so that you can form a mage core to use mana and learn some basic spells. Enchanters are rare. So rare that there is no one for me to apprentice to within a two months journey by horse. The local baron bestowed to me my beginner level enchanter supplies. This includes all that is needed to level up to a novice enchanter. The package included an engraving wand, a book entitled Enchanter Basics, a book entitled Basic Spells, and a land grant that is 15 miles from the village. The land is an abnormal thing to give out with a beginner package, but it was mentioned that they wanted me far away from the village so that when I blow up items it wouldn't be at the cost of the village.

"I'M COMING MOM.": John

Waking up from a deep sleep makes it difficult to get going in the morning. I could sleep in because today is my birthday and the last day that I'd be living under my parents' roof. All the last-minute packing was done yesterday evening and there was a long day in front of me. Splashing water on my face and throwing on day-old clothes gets me downstairs where I am greeted by my lovely family. We weren't a poor family, but we also didn't have excess. My father is an adventurer for the guild and my mother works the loom for the village tailor. My five brothers and sisters were all sitting around the table waiting on me to come down to eat breakfast. (it's my birthday) The food was simple with a good homemade cake before it was time for me to set out on the dirt path.

The trip to my new land should take me about 3 hours of walking non-stop. There is a nice traveler stop about one hour from the land so I'll stop there for a quick break. My plan being finalized, and my packhorse loaded down with all the essential items needed to start a small homestead to support myself until I'm allowed to legally start selling my enchanted items. The trip to my land gives me ample time to reflect on what I learned from my year of mage training.

The first step to becoming a mage, if one has the talent, is to form their mage core. This is the most important part of a mage's body other than their mage channels. The more solid the mage forms the outside shell of the mage core the more mana can be stuffed in per layer of the core. This is what determines the amount of mana that a mage can store, and the mana channels formed by their body naturally are what determines how much mana can be used for a spell. Enchanters must be able to store a massive amount of mana in their cores, but their mana channels are small. This allows for long sessions of enchantment, but only very basic spells can be cast by them. I was inspired by a dream on the night before the day that I was to officially form my core. I saw a triangle interlocked with another and the roots of a tree. My core looks like a circle built with triangles and roots interlocking from one triangle to the other. This caused a shock to the instructor because he discovered my core can be packed with ten times the amount of mana that any other first-level core. The downside to being an Enchanter and not a mage was soon discovered by me because it took 10 times the amount of time to cast a basic spell. There are ways to increase the size of my mana channels with daily exercise and rare herbs, but this will require many years to become proficient enough so that spells don't take so much longer. The last part of basic mage training was to get my mana moving threw my mana channels and start to form the for most basic spells. The basic four are fire, water, dirt, and air. Like you would probably expect the fire spell creates a small flame, the water spell creates a bit of water, the dirt spell makes a lump of dirt, and the air spell creates a burst of air. It sounds rather unimpressive, but these spells are the most basic and important for young mages to learn as they are the building blocks for more advanced magic or that's what the instructor said anyway. After that, I made sure that I could make the engraving wand fill will my mana. My Enchanter Basics book would cover the rest of the information that I needed to know to become a journeyman Enchanter which is when I'm legally allowed to auction and sell my enchantments. I need to reach the journeyman status as soon as possible because I only have 2 years to become a stable man if I want the best wife. A stable man is a term used in the village for someone who has a steady income, a house, and is no older than 28 years old. Every year the village has a matchmaking festival for all the stable men and eligible women to attend. It is important to become a stable man as soon as possible so that all the best women will want to marry you. The older you become the less marriable you look, and the villagers start to think something is wrong with you. In some cases, the parents of two of these types will arrange a marriage to force a family to grow.

These thoughts have brought me to the edge of my land, and it is a grateful sight. My immediate plans are to do a quick survey of the land and see what is on it. The biggest feature that is the most noticeable is the mountain that rises from the back of the land and the luscious forest that is surrounding a small clearing. There is also a river running on the land that will help me get water to drink and wash. The easiest place to set a base would be a cave. The result of me looking for several hours is to find a modestly sized cave that currently hosted a slumbering bear. Luck was on my side because it was both asleep and I saw it before it saw me. I cast the water spell large enough to cover the bear's nose and mouth and after five minutes the spell finally formed, I was hidden as best a possible up a tree. All that was required after that was continuing to feed my mana to the spell and the bear died from lack of air. The bear couldn't fight the spell because its paws would go through the water bubble.

With my new home and food for the next week acquired it was time to unload the packhorse and dress the bear before eating some tack bread for supper before bed. Tomorrow was a big day. It was time to plan for the future and finally start to read the Enchanter Basics book.