A bit of magic in the air

Fleeing the tavern in the harbor district, Jay summoned his horse the moment he left the door and rode towards the trade district.

He dismissed the thought of looking up the last store on his list, not needing any more strange experiences for that day.

Glad it was still early, Jay only calmed down as he was about to enter the workers- from the warehouse-district. Thinking about it, he would have been faster going through seaside, even if the streets there would have been more occupied.

On his trip he thought about what he just experienced and wondered how the woman could be this forward even in the morning. The couple seemed strange to him, but it wasn't the first strange one he encountered in the capital.

Caught up in his thoughts, Jay reached the bridge to the trade district before he could check up further on his new skills, what he initially had planned.

From here on, the traffic had gotten pretty heavy so he couldn't let himself get distracted. Jay even had to dismount his horse reaching the great plaza.

Shortly thereafter he passed the inn where he planned to stay the next night.

At least once on this trip he needed a good rest.

Crossing the next bridge over the canals, Jay finally reached the mages district.

This time he passed the high tower in the middle of the park like area the whole district was built around.

Riding along the winding path through the park, Jay arrived at the gates to the Academy of Arcane Arts.

Strictly speaking, the whole park along with the mages Tower were part of the academy, but the real campus lay behind a high fence.

Looking through the gate, Jay had to reevaluate the size of the whole district. From what he could see, the academy's grounds stretched far until the mountain that was the border of the city.

He guessed the district to be at least the same size as the trade district.

The closest building seemed to be the main building, so Jay walked over to there after he showed his insignia, adventurers ID and the letter of introduction he had been given to the gatekeeper. The guards had informed him of the reception being located in the main building.

On his way there, Jay saw dozens of students. Their ages varied from teens up to mid twenties, spending their time on studies or small-talk.

In the distance he could even see some students shooting spells onto dummies, practicing in real casting.

Close to the pillar seamed entrance to the old main building, Jay came across a group of three female students.

One of them was dark skinned, what Jay hadn't encountered until then, and wore a different robe than the other two.

Those othet two wore the typical light blue robe, Jay had seen on most of the students here, contrary to the dark girls golden and orange one.

While one of the girls with her wavy brown hair seemed younger than the other two, the last one looked somehow familiar to Jay.

As he was looking over to them, they did the same.

The first two smiled to his handsome appearance, but the dirty blonde one suddenly started to blush fiercely...

And then it clicked in to Jay.

He had already seen that girl.

It was the student that got "orced" as he was visiting the equally named company the day before.

Waving the girls and giving the blonde a wink, Jay strode up the stairs and entered the hall with the reception.

It was a wide and high hall but only about ten yards to the wall with the counter. Walking over, Jay was greeted by a robed receptionist.

"I'm sorry, but the applications are closed and we already started the ranking tests. Please come back next year...." came a little snobbish from the young man.

"I'm sorry, but this seems to be a misunderstanding. Those scrolls here have to get checked on their origin and I have been ordered to pass something on to Mazen Mac'Nadir." J.

"What the... if you want your lowly duties fulfilled, then do it yourself! Master Mac'Nadir can't be disturbed this morning, so I advise you to register at the headmasters office for the afternoon. ...Tsk, not even a mage..."

"Can you at least tell me the directions?" J.

"Look at the signs... you can at least read, right?"

The unfriendly receptionist had gone back to whatever work he had been doing before, not any longer sparing Jay even a glance.

Taking this chance, Jay analyzed the young mage, revealing him as Collin Mauren, a Level 25 Sorcerer.

"Then what about the scrolls?" J.

"Still here, huh... take them to library. There you might find someone to help you. Now leave, I have my own business to do..." C.

Doing as the receptionist said, Jay looked around in the building and saw the signs stating the directions to the headmasters office.

Following the sign and passing the reception to the right, Jay walked down a long hallway. At the end of said hallway he ascended a stairway and on the next floor he reached the headmasters office.

The receptionist there was a stern looking woman that greeted him friendly.

After receiving his letter of introduction and glancing over it, she made an appointment for the moment Mazen Mac'Nadir got back from his lecture.

She even told Jay the shortest way towards the library where he should ask for Adair Gilroy, as he would have the deepest insight in scrolls and the likes.

Thanking her and saying his goodbyes, Jay left the office and after descending the stairs he did so with the building, taking one of the side exits.

Walking to the northern direction, he soon arrived at the library. It was a big, two storied building with lots of students going in and out.

Again entering towards a lobby, Jay walked over to the reception. The man behind the counter looked up as Jay arrived and gave him a small smile.

"Oh, a new face. Hello, I'm Dellis. How may I help you?" D.

"Hello, my name is Jay. I was asked to deliver some scrolls to a Adair Gilroy. May I know the directions please?" J.

"...for Master Gilroy? Of course, I'll guide you!" D.

With this, Jay got his own guide who had someone else take over his post.

Without many words, Dellis guided Jay to the second floor over the massive stairways in the lobby and then through the library itself.

The upper floor consisted mainly of a balcony surrounding the gigantic room that took up most of the building.

Down below, Jay saw hundreds of bookshelves holding countless books and scrolls. Even the outer wall of the balcony was full of bookshelves.

At the end of said balcony, Dellis knocked on a door and opened it as he got asked to enter. Following him, Jay saw him nod over to a slightly tanned, graying man over fifty years of age, and did the same.

"Master Gilroy, this is Jay. He came here to have some scrolls investigated." D.

"Hoo, and who are you, young fellow?" A.

"Greetings, Sir. As Dellis already stated, my name is Jay. I was tasked to find out about the origin of those scrolls by Commander Haggard and Field Marshal Whitmore." J.

To this statement, Jay took out the coin he had received, showing he was telling the truth. As the old man with his monocle still affixed nodded in agreement, Jay took out two scrolls.

He had put them in a bag that he was wearing beforehand, hiding his abilities as best as possible.

The first one he held out was one of the normal slave scrolls. Adair took it and after a quick glance furrowed his brows.

"That's a slave scroll... Where did you get it from?" A.

"As I said, I need to find out exactly that! I was tasked to because I found it myself in the hands of cultists. Forgive me but I can't disclose further information." J.

"A-A slave scroll? Ain't they forbidden?" D.

"Shh... calm down a bit, will you? ...I take it this is secret information. If what you said is true, we might face a serious problem. Those are made not too long ago, may be two or three weeks." A.

"That would mean it's impossible they got imported, right?" J.

"If you ask the royal guards and army, they'd always state it's impossible to have them smuggled in into the city. But yes, they should have been made here... let me test something..." A.

Letting fall some drops of a green liquid onto the parchment, The color of the ink changed from black to brown and the old Librarian nodded in agreement.

Scratching it up and taking it to some glass vials and tubes, looking like some construction for chemistry, Adair went to work on it.

After a dozens of minutes, testing and reading some books he had Dellis bring him from his personal bookshelves inside his office, Gilroy looked up and smiled.

"Yes, the ink is from here. I checked on the water component and it is the same quality like the one from our canals. You said something about scrolls, so I take it you have another one to check on?" A.

"I already leaked too much information..." J.

Stating this, Jay looked over to Dellis, who was storing back the books Gilroy had just used.

Following his gaze, the old man shook his head and answered Jay before he addressed his helper.

"You don't need to worry. Dellis is my right hand man and one of my best students. He won't leak any of the information from this room, ...right Dellis? But you still should go back on your post I think." A.

"O-Of course, Master. Call me if you need something else. See you, Jay." D.

"See you... and thanks for everything!" J.

With a last "You're welcome" the door shut and Jay was left alone with Adair.

Receiving back the first scroll, he gave the second to Gilroy.

That one was special, what he had learned from analyzing it.

The epic item was called 'eternal slave scroll', but more than that, Jay had no information about it.

"What in the world... Do you have any idea what this is? This is a eternal slave scroll!!!" A.

The old man got really loud to the end of his statement. With shivering hands he unfolded the scroll completely, while Jay played dumb.

"Eternal slave scroll?... never heard of that." J.

"Hmpf, that's only natural I guess... those scrolls should be extinct. We have to dismantle it to figure out how to recreate..." A.

"Hold your horses there, please. I doubt it's that easy to learn and the army has to approve of it first." J.

"You're right, forgive me. It's just... I never thought I'd see one myself, let alone hold it in my hands." A.

"Then, what's so special about it?" J.

"Oh, that I don't know. Rumors stated it would be able to enslave whatever creature, but that's surely an exaggeration. We might find out though if I were to..." J.

"Again, I'll relay your request, but I won't promise anything. ...I take it this one was not made in Arathor?" J.

"Pha... This wasn't even made in this Kingdom. And I doubt it was made by human hands. All I know from tales is that it requires slavery magic of level nine to create such a scroll. With slavery forbidden or strictly ruled, there is none in this Kingdom of this level." A.

"So it has to have gotten imported." J.

"Yes, but that should also be impossible. The city, like all capitals, has a detection magic active that rings alarm at any prohibited magic or action. That's also the reason guards can rush in the moment fights break out.

And every magic has it's own imprint depending on the complexity. There is no way such a magic could get smuggled in." A.

"Do you have any hint as to where it could come from?" J.

"No. But judging by it's old age and the requirements, it shouldn't come from any of the races." A.

"If you would take a wild guess...?" J.

"..Either a remnant from the far north or a completely different continent." A.

Taking back the scroll and storing it through the bag inside his inventory, Jay thanked Adair Gilroy and said his goodbye.

He never really thought about giving him the scroll or even allow him to examine it further.

The risk of it leaking was simply to great.

Taking his leave, Jay stopped by at the reception and again thanked Dellis.

After that he went back towards the main building. With the way back included he had been right on time for his appointment.

Entering the reception room and greeting the lady working there, Jay was asked to wait inside Mac'Nadir's office for the man himself.

The room was bigger than Adair's and held the same bookshelves on all walls, though the ones there were mostly filled with scrolls, less books and one held flasks of different sizes and colors.

It took nearly twenty minutes for Mazen Mac'Nadir to arrive at his office.

The nearly bald, silver haired man had received the letter of introduction from his secretary and placed it onto his desk as he sat down on his big armchair.

"So, I was told you have an appointment with me. May I know your name before we start the test?" MN.

"Greetings, Sir. My name is Jay. What kind of t...." J.

He couldn't even finish his sentence when the old geezer shot up and walked over to one of the shelves.

Picking up a orb, similar to the one Jay had seen in the Adventurers Guild but milky white and way bigger, Mac'Nadir came back to Jay. Placing the Orb before Jay, he went back to his seat.

"Go on, touch it! Or did you never get your magic tested until now?" MN.

"Ahem... no? I came here...." J.

"then simply put your hands on the orb and pour in as much mana as you can. Simple, right?" MN.

"Yeah, I was...." J.

"What are you waiting for? Talking is for later! The results will tell us your elemental affinities and overall potential..." MN.

Not seeing any chance to clear this obvious misunderstanding, Jay put his hands on the orb and circulated his mana through his hands.

It had been quite some time since he manually guided the magical energy through his body, so he closed his eyes and concentrated.

His eyes shot back open as he heard loud cracking noise and felt a massive amount of energy disperse, permeating his body.

At the same time he heard a yelp and saw the old man opposite to him stare with wide eyes.

Looking down to his hands, Jay saw the orb glowing bright with different colors circulating inside.

Along it's surface ran a deep crack, leaking even brighter light and beneath the orb, the table got charred.