Plan

Lionel had been studying all day and was tired. The runic characters began to blend together. "Argh.. I wish this was easier" He sighed while rubbing his eyes. So far all Lionel had been able to do was string together a page or two of text. He felt Drindle would give him a hard time if he didn't get more done.

As if thinking of the geezer summoned him, the old man walked into their room. Lionel had been sprawled out on the floor taking a break rubbing his neck. "I swear you are the laziest apprentice I've ever had." Drindle was looking down his nose at Lionel's poor state.

"I was only taking a break!" Lionel quickly sat up trying to reassure the old man he was taking his translations seriously.

"Uh huh," Drindle's derisive tone let the boy know he wasn't buying it. "I bet you were" The darkly dressed Drindle made his way to his bed and sat down. there was a more serious expression on his face when he looked at Lionel. "We need to talk about something"

*

*

*

The two sat talking until dinner arrived in their room. The same young girl that had brought Lionel's food the day prior shyly placed their meals on the respective nightstands. She then turned to leave.

Drindle coldly watched the girl leave the room before he started speaking again. "So you will participate in the Mage's Tournament"

Lionel still didn't understand what competing in the tournament would do. "But why? I don't get how that will help the Queen negotiating with Galorian"

Drindle had already told Lionel the plan the Queen came up with. The tournament, known as the Mages Cup, was held once yearly. It was designed to allow untrained and trained Mages the opportunity to enroll in Wastrial's royal magic academy. The competition had another role as well, which was filling the ranks of Wastial's army with minor mages.

The event would place Royal Mages, already attending the academy, against any mage who wanted to compete. Rewards were granted to commoners who placed well during the competition. If a challenger could beat all the classes of Mages, they would have an opportunity to request a specific title or position from the Queen and Archmage. In the hundred or so years the Tournament had been held, there had yet to be a challenger beat every class.

The Queen believed if Lionel placed well then Galorian would be forced to recognize Drindle's choice in apprentice. Thusly, the Queen thought, The Archmage would be more open to negotiation. Drindle couldn't help but think it was a long shot. He had known Galorian for a long time and knew that the tall, thin, wizened mage would only listen to power. His only hope for the Queen's plan to succeed was Lionel's peculiarity to using magic.

"Ank, must I repeat myself?" The old man sighed while looking at Lionel. "If you place high enough in the Tournament, you will get to meet with Galorian and the Queen to receive a reward." Drindle's face shone with irritation as he continued. "We have about a month to get you ready for the Mage's Cup, in the meantime the Queen will continue to try speaking with Galorian."

Lionel felt excited. For the first time Drindle was going to put his attention towards fully developing Lionel's magic. As the boy sat thinking of the current predicament an anxious feeling began to blossom. He didn't want to let the old geezer down, the old man had basically taken him in and cared for him. Lionel steeled himself as he looked Drindle in the eye. "I will do my best"

A small gleam appeared in the old man's stare and Lionel could swear he saw a small smile at the corner of his mouth. "I'm counting on you boy." Drindle nodded once before continuing on. "We are going to shift your training to magic spells." The ancient man reached into the folds of his robe to produce a few scrolls of parchment.

Not for the first time Lionel wondered how much the old man's robe really held. He eyed the scrolls intently when a question popped into his mind "So what is different from the magic I have been performing versus a spell?"

"You still haven't finished reading the Mage's Guide?" Drindle didn't appear to be disappointed rather the old man tapped his finger a few times on the scroll he still grasped. He looked to be thinking. "You are currently only using elemental magic, which is to say raw energy, in the most basic of sense." Drindle still seemed to be thinking as he continued on. "Spells are a translation or transformation of that basic energy." He grew quite again as a contemplative expression shone on his face. "Hmmm.. We have a lot of material to get through" The old man chewed his bottom lip while the silence continued on.

Lionel could only guess what the old man was thinking. 'I wonder how much there really is to know about magic? I feel like I have only barely scratched the surface'

As the boy was finishing his thoughts, he noticed Drindle's eyes shone with a light of interest. "Right, So first we work on your elemental magic" As the old man spoke Lionel felt the magic begin to stir in the air. He saw a gnarled script begin to glow as if being written into the air. The script read "First, Elemental Magic" Drindle continued on "Second, we will begin minor spells." The same writing glowed a dull orange as it spelled out "Second, Minor spells"

Lionel was fascinated watching the words flowing from magic. the letters each glowed individually. the boy didn't understand how the magic worked, but nonetheless he was enraptured. He didn't even hear the old man speaking. There was a list forming in the air between himself and Drindle. There was nothing making the words take shape. It seemed as if someone standing just beyond the veil of reality, was writing onto the fabric of Lionel's world. The boy could only focus on the list that took shape in front of his eyes.

"First, Elemental Magic"

"Second, Minor Spells"

"Third, Imbuing"

"Fourth, Advanced Spells"

As the writing floated Lionel's attention slowly shifted back to the old man still talking. "...Should be about all we have time for, now where did I put that" Drindle shifted in place while patting his robe in different places. "Ah, There it is" His hand darted into his robe and pulled out a blank sheet of paper. "Here" Drindle stood and walked through the floating words as if they weren't even there and handed the paper to Lionel.

Lionel watched the words with keen interest as Drindle stepped through them. They only distorted slightly as the old body passed through them. The old man shook the piece of paper he held towards Lionel, willing him to take it. Drindle still seemed to be caught up in thought. The boy took it and flipped it over. It was completely blank. As soon as Lionel took the sheet Drindle immediately turned away and paced with his hands behind his back.

"Hmm.. I wonder which school of magic would be best?" The old man reached the far wall and turned around to walk back. "Well... We could do that, but then we wouldn't be able to go that route" Drindle continued to walk back and forth mumbling to himself. Lionel watch the list grow longer and longer as the man mentioned idea after idea.

Lionel looked at the paper the strange old man had given him. 'What's this for?' he thought to himself, he didn't want to interrupt Drindle's brainstorm. Lionel flipped the paper over in his hands. 'I wish this old man would give me more details, I feel lost' The boy was feeling overwhelmed as he realized magic had more facets than he had ever realized. 'what did he say about school of magic?' 'How many schools of magic are there anyways?'

As if to answer his question the paper shimmered lightly and a dark, black text began to cover it's surface. Lionel looked at it in utter awe. Written across the piece of paper was the answer to his question with even more detail.

"There are more than 100 schools of Magic. Each is unique in at least one way"

Lionel wanted to test if the sheet would give him more answers. he thought to himself again while staring at the sheet. 'Can a mage learn more than one school of magic?'

the sheet shimmered again before an answer appeared. "Yes, but mastery of any school takes many years so most mages tend to focus on only one or two schools"

Lionel's eyes were lit up with fascination. 'what are you?' he excitedly thought to himself

At that question there was no shimmer instead the answer from before simply faded and the sheet remained blank.

Drindle startled Lionel by speaking to him. "Fascinating, huh?" It appeared the old man had finished pacing as he was now watching Lionel with a keen interest. "That is a Knowledge Tablet" the old man's eyes twinkled. "It is the only one in the world"

"Really?!" Lionel could feel that his face was full of excitement. "How does it work? and Who made it?"

The old man chuckled as he spoke again. "Heh heh.. It works by using knowledge that I feed to a Velthum. That Velthum then fuels the enchantment."

Lionel was almost speechless as he asked more questions. "How does it know what I am thinking? Did you make this?!" an incredulous look was plastered to the boy's face.

"Of course I made it" The old man seemed proud to show off something he crafted. "I want you to use this instead of asking me questions all the time, Heh" The wisp of white hair on Drindle's head bobbed around as he lay back on the bed. "Let's eat dinner and get to sleep, tomorrow we will go to the castle grounds to train."