A new task

Jay felt a bit left behind from the somehow motherly Yrel as he sat there alone in the only sparsely lit chamber.

His inner clock and the light shining in from the narrow window told him it was already his normal time for waking up, even though he felt like he could have used some more rest. The last night had been quite draining to say the least.

As he rose from the bed and was about to search for his clothes, he found them neatly folded on the desk, together with a small piece of parchment. Not really caring much for his clothes, he took the note Yrel had left behind and went to the colorful window for better readability.

- - - - -

I had to take my leave early this morning. Please tell Mia what you learned last night and relay her my best regards. She will know how to proceed with finding out about your very special traits. But please make sure to not reveal them to anyone else, at least if you are not sure you can trust them.

If you one day end up visiting our Capital, please bring the letter I placed with your clothes to my daughter. As far as I know she still leads the spirit shrine there but I trust you to be able to find her anyway. Eve though I hope we meet again before that time, the chances are high it will be on a battlefield where I have no time to think about such things.

Stay healthy and grow

Exarch Yrel

- - - - -

Once he had donned his clothes after reading her note, Jay found the sealed letter with some runes written on it in his pants pocket. But it wasn't that letter that had surprised him, nor learning that Yrel had a daughter and was asking him to pay her a visit, but the fact that she sounded sure they would meet on a battlefield next time.

Deciding to try and find out more about her and possibly where she had left to, Jay exited the room. The hallway was completely deserted, so he made his way back to the dining hall and from there into the center of the Cathedral.

While there was no trace of Yrel, he at least met the priest that had sat besides him during the last meal.

After carefully inquiring from him about her, Jay learned that Exarch Yrel had left towards the north where a new outbreak had occurred, but of what exactly the man didn't tell.

All Jay learned was that new fights had broken out there and the Church of holy light was defending humanity together with their allies.

Without hope to learn anything else there in the Cathedral, Jay took his leave and once outside, summoned his horse to ride I the direction of the Academy. The setup for his new test should have been prepared, so he wanted to get his re-evaluation done.

He took the route through the Trade District, fetched himself some breakfast from a stall on the way and rested once again under the giant oak.

Using the quiet time he once again checked his gains from the last night and couldn't help but cough at the super powerful traits and high skills, though he knew Yrel's true power lay bounds beyond what he got shared.

Thanks to him always waking up early, Jay arrived at the mages tower pretty fast. The streets had still been mostly deserted and so he entered the Academy's grounds at about the time for the lessons to begin.

Like this he had no problem to make his way up to Mac'Nadir's office and was once again welcomed by the headmasters Secretary.

This time Jay didn't have to wait and even the old man directly welcomed him. Instead of asking him to take a seat though, the two of them directly left the office again and ascended to the next floor together. During their short walk Mazen Mac'Nadir explained to Jay that the principal had prepared everything in her office and he only hoped for her to have already woken up.

Like the headmaster had feared, Jaina did of course not open the door after they knocked. Instead they heard a bit rustling followed by fast steps.

A loud crashing sound of something heavy falling onto the ground had the two men look at each other in wonder while they heard the principal's curses.

When she opened the door and leaned to the side, Jaina played as if nothing had happened...

But once she recognized who was standing before her and for what reason she stepped to the side. As the female principal had them enter, she grinned sheepishly and tried to divert their attention with a conversation how she hadn't expected a youth to be up for a test this early.

That didn't help her in the slightest to divert the men's attention from the fallen over giant globe, the shriveled blanket on the sofa and complete mess her office had been in.

The fact that she was only wearing a dressing gown didn't help in the slightest as well…

Their attention still got pulled elsewhere soon when Jaina guided them to her desk and showed Jay the orb that had been placed there. It was bigger than the last one and not only more glossy but it also had some kind of luster beyond the surface.

As he got asked to repeat exactly what he had done last time, Jay grabbed the orb on both sides and then poured his mana in.

While again magic fluctuations got tangible in the whole room, the orb didn't break this time around. All that happened was that it glowed in a nearly blinding white light that soon receded.

Jay looked around and first found the headmaster sitting opposite to him on one of the visitor chairs with his mouth and eyes wide open. As that expression didn't change, Jay looked over his shoulder where he found Jaina standing slightly to the side with her arms crossed.

She looked alternating at Jay and the orb that had nearly lost all glow until she stepped forward.

"Okay, now stop fooling around and put your full force into it!" PJ.

Looking back to Mazen who seemed to not have comprehended what the principal just said, Jay scratched the back of his head. He then put them both down onto the orb again and did just what he had gotten asked to.

On his last attempt he had tried to adjust his output to the level he had managed to pour into the previous orb until it shattered.

As he had once again gotten stronger since then, Jay had decided to take a careful approach, but the perceptive Jaina had noticed it.

At first, the orb started to lighten up until it was at the same level from before. His output being at about seventy percent to that time, Jay rose it carefully to his maximum. The moment he nearly reached it, the blinding light started to quickly dim until the orb went completely pitch black.

Whatever tiny amount more Jay poured in, that no longer changed it.

"You're in. In a few weeks I will take you with me to Geffenia!" PJ.

Not really getting what just had happened, Jay got completely baffled as Jaina ordered Mac'Nadir to grant Jay full access to the whole campus.

As the old headmaster nodded, the principal added a "NOW!" to what he rose from his chair and excused himself. Once Mazen had left the room, the blonde woman had aready begun to search through a shelve in the back of her office.

Jay had wanted to ask her what had happened but didn't even have the chance to formulate those words as Jaina stated that she wanted to check something else and came back with a wooden box.

Back at the table she opened it and gave Jay a fist sized yellowish crystal. It was dull and had a rough surface, but upon touching it started to dimly glow in a yellow light.

After she took it back, Jaina reached Jay another one that looked very similar. That one started to fiercely glow in a red light so the principal swiftly took it back, seemingly fearing Jay would break it.

Once she had it stored in the box again, she took out yet another crystal. This one though already glowed blue as she reached it over to him.

While it kept glowing in his hands, the shine was a portion less than when she had held it. Jay gave the fist sized object back to her and she gave him one more of those crystals, stating this was the last.

It was also already glowing in her hands, but less than the blue one.

And like with all of them before, that last stone glowed as well in Jay's hand. Contrary to the last one though, it had gotten brighter than in Jaina's hands.

While shaking her head, she put the crystals back in the box and closed it.

"Can you tell me what that was for?" J.

"This was all the more reason you should rather study under me than here with those simpletons and old men…" PJ.

"Study with you? I'll gladly comply to the "under" part as well!" J.

"We'll see about that…" PJ.

While Jaina carried the wooden box back to the shelve, Jay could only stand there completely dumbfounded to her last comment. He watched the slightly tall beauty stretching herself to reach the highest place there until she turned around and came back.

While she reached him a simple looking paper over the table, Jaina stated that she was going to explain everything she had done today at a later time, but she had to do one last test with him.

Jay looked down onto the blank paper and was sure his face openly told how clueless he was. Following a light chuckle, the principal began to explain.

The paper was nothing common and the moment he would pour some mana in, it would show the first layer of runes. Only if one managed to adjust the output correspondingly would a second and then later even a third circle of runes follow and possibly show the spell it formed.

As he received the sheet, Jay did like he got asked and poured a little mana in until really some runes appeared. He then got asked to proceed, so he poured in more of his magical energy and for a split second a layer of intricate circles got visible.

But as fast ass it appeared, it similarly fast incinerated and burned the whole paper.

Jaina got visibly astonished to this and Jay was just about to brag how talented he was when he saw her shake her head in disbelief.

"You're like an ogre with a legendary weapon! Nearly endless power but no clue how to properly use it…" J.

Getting what she was complaining about, Jay only shrugged his shoulders and stated he never learned anything about magic.

His comment seemed to have set the principal off for a second until she calmed herself down and stated that it was a wonder he even managed to not only show the first but even the second layer in this case, even if it only was for a split second.

She then explained that this test had been about magic control and he at least got some talent. But due to his abundant power, the sheet couldn't handle it as it was originally made for beginners.

That's been the reason it had burst into flames and ceased to exist.

It would take a while to teach him the basics, but she would personally see to this once they got to the university. As she stated this, Jaina threw Jay something over and demanded him to practice with it until they left.

The something was a magic lock for practice how he learned, but how to use it was to be figured out by Jay himself.

"I do have one question though?" J.

"That is?…" PJ.

"You always said you'd take me somewhere, but aren't you the principal of this Academy?" J.

"Oh that… Before I am the Academy of Arcane Art's Principal, I am foremost a professor at the Geffen University for Magic. The principal is not much more than a title I gained to tie Arathor closer to Geffen. I neither hold regular classes here and the business is run by Mac'Nadir so I'll look after you in Geffen.

Like this, even if you might be a bit young for going to the University, I'm sure you'll manage." PJ.

"Oh, okay… what do you mean by young?" J.

"The average first years there should be about early or mid twenty as they only enter once they clear their first schools. In rare cases of such exceptional talents, the University does abstain from those requirements though." PJ.

The principal then continued that if he wanted to, he could take courses in the academy but it shouldn't be necessary. For Jay, training with the lock to get a little more hold of his magic power output should come first.

And if he managed to effortlessly use the lock, at that point Jaina threw a thick book with an old leather cover onto her desk with a loud crashing sound, Jay should concentrate on the first two chapters.

It had been a spell book from her personal possessions that got passed down in her family.

She even mentioned he might learn a few spells from it, but he had to promise he'd only read it once he learned to use his lock.

After thanking his new teacher, Jay left her office with the thick book still under his arm and nearly crashed into Mazen Mac'Nadir. The old headmaster had been on his way to the office with his student mark.

As they met on the hallway he directly donned it to Jay and asked if he wanted to take some classes next.

With nothing better to do, Jay accepted the man's offer and continued together with Mac'Nadir down the hallway. Once they had marched through the main building back to the entrance hall, the headmaster guided Jay to a nearby building and there to big lecture hall.

The moment he entered behind Mac'Nadir, Jay spotted two utterly dumbfounded faces he already knew:

Elsharin, the beautiful but snobbish elf eyed him from head to toe but soon concentrated back to the other women surrounding her that still kept on chatting.

The other one was the idiot Collin Mauren that kept pointing towards Jay and giving silly comments judging by the laughter coming from the guys sitting next to him.

Ignoring the other stares from the audience, Jay found himself a seat in the second row while the Academy's headmaster prepared for his lesson. What followed was an immensely boring and pretty dry speech about magic history.

It wasn't even something Jay could learn a thing from, so he got hard pressed keeping his eyes open after the first one and a half hours. Luckily he wasn't the only one and another thirty minutes later the lesson was done.

Even though Jay tried to bend into the crowd upon leaving, the old man still spotted him and asked what lesson he was going to attend to next. Jay stated he wanted to look into something more practical next, so Mac'Nadir accompanied him for a bit until they met another teacher.

It was a skinny man with reddish brown hair caller Wizley that looked anything but amused when he heard the headmasters demand to take Jay with him.

As neither of them was too glad with the setting, Jay followed the teacher who led him without even a single word. They soon reached an area Jay had previously visited already, the spell-casting practice grounds that were already crowded by a group of students.

Once again Jay spotted a face he had already seen, and latter did so as well. The blonde female that Jay had not only seen on the campus but in a certain warehouse and not so decent pose before, blushed a bit and tried to hide in the group.

Just as Jay had tried to analyze her again to make sure it was her, Wizley called the class close to name the spell they were tasked to practice that day:

Arcane Dart.