The walk to the headmaster's office was quite a distance. Dirin had to cross half of the campus of Falem to get to the building where the headmaster's office was, and even then, he had to climb several stairs just to get to the office, which was located at the top.
The wooden door was dark and had an inviting feel despite the stone walls that were surrounding him currently. He went up to the door and knocked a couple of times, and waited patiently. There was no immediate answer, and he had to check to see if he got the time wrong. After confirming he didn't, he knocked again, a little bit louder this time.
Despite having knocked twice, there was still no answer, which made Dirin even more curious about whether he was too early or perhaps even too late, but after knocking a third time, he heard footsteps coming from the stairs behind him and caught a glimpse of the headmaster's bald head before he saw the rest of him.
To Dirin, the headmaster had a very demanding presence feel to him despite looking like the friendliest old man he's ever seen. He had a blank stare in front of him as he walked and finally noticed Dirin, and the presence seemed to disappear entirely. Dirin suspected that he knew Dirin was here the whole time, but why he would do that other than respect eluded him.
"I see you've made it here before I did." The headmaster chuckled as he took out a key and unlocked the door and stepped in while he gestured for Dirin to follow. "I'm sure you understand to some point of why I asked you to meet with me. Correct?" Dirin nodded as he followed and sat down in the chair that the headmaster pointed towards.
The headmaster smiled as he got some glasses from a cupboard. "Do you drink?" Dirin shook his head no since he wasn't old enough yet. "That's probably for the best." He poured one for him anyways. It looked like a red wine. He put it down in front of Dirin and sat in the chair opposite him. "Once you reach a certain rank, alcohol and other things start having little effect on you. Unless you drink from a wine that someone who has abilities with wine made. Though those would probably make you walk around for a couple of days without even knowing your own name!" The headmaster laughed as he drank the wine and gestured for Dirin to sip as well.
Looking down at the wine in his cup, Dirin spun it a bit, making the surface ripple. He brought the cup to his lips and immediately spat it out. The headmaster barked loudly with laughter as he waved his hand, causing all of the wine that was in the air to freeze in place and float. Dirin wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve a couple of times and smacked his lips, hoping to get rid of the taste.
"Disgusting," Dirin muttered as he put the wine down in front of him. He assumed this was alright since the headmaster seemed to be having a fun time watching him sputter out the taste. "Why would you possibly drink this stuff?"
"Some people have their reasons. I, personally, use magic to make it sweeter. I didn't do that to you because I wanted to see how you would react. It was worth every drop." Dirin looked over at the wine and saw that the bubbles started to ripple with heat before evaporating. "Though we really should get down to business as to why I brought you here." He sat his wine down and pulled out a folder from his desk and handed it to him.
"Here is a list of the classes that you have attended and other words that we have heard from students about you. We figured that you plan on progressing in everything." Dirin nodded as he looked over at all of the classes. "Due to certain reasons that I won't delve into yet, we ask that you stop being so open about what you are doing and do it quietly. We already know that your friends know, and we will contact them to remain quiet as well."
Dirin looked at the headmaster with narrowed eyes. Why would he have to be silent about it? "Some people don't like the idea of someone like you existing, so for your safety, we simply won't let them know. Once you are out of Falem, though, you can do whatever you like once more. What I want to suggest to you, though, is a cooperation between us. We will make a list of things you need to do, as well as gather information you need to study and read, and you do it, and once you make it to Rank 1, we only ask that you list the abilities you have gained."
"I'm sure you have some sort of secret go-"
"Of course we do." The headmaster didn't hide his intentions. "If we know what your starting abilities are, we can figure out the best way to push you forward, and we benefit by getting someone with a path like that in our ranks."
"And if I refuse to be part of your numbers?" Dirin asked as he handed the file back. He didn't have any intention to refuse, but he wanted to know what the consequences were.
"You will still have our protection until Rank 2. We won't sell you out since we already tried to recruit you, but if you refuse, you won't get our help outside of normal classes and resources. It's not a bad deal since you get a lot of help from our side."
"What would being part of your ranks look like?" Dirin asked hesitantly as he leaned in.
The headmaster smiled a bit as he heard that. "You will get offered missions that you can deny, of course, for contribution points, which can be used for access to trials or other things. You won't have to worry about lodging in places in the galaxy as we-"
"Galaxy? Are you saying there is more than... here?" Dirin was taught his whole childhood that this was the only inhabitable planet with very few others like it out there. Everyone was.
"I guess that slipped my tongue." The headmaster looked up thoughtfully. "Some planets have certain policies in place that forbid people who aren't Rank 3 to know about other planets. I wasn't alive when it was put in place, so I can't exactly tell you why."
"How do people get to these other planets?" Dirin leaned forward even more as he hunched his back.
"There are special planes and spaceships that have been made that can transverse space easily. It doesn't take much effort to transport people from one place to the other, or you can simply go through the Spirit World instead of space, but that place isn't for normal people. At all."
"Spirit World? I guess that has something to do with people who can use their spirit to attack?" Dirin mumbled to himself as he looked at the headmaster.
"It is. An extension of it, if you would like to call it. People are often suppressed in it, though, rather than gaining power from it. Even if they train there and try to gain some sort of affinity to it, they still get suppressed. Truly an odd place in my opinion." The headmaster got up and brought a candle out and handed it to Dirin.
"Use this to study. It helps with eyesight and has been enchanted to increase the speed of reading and understanding." He also handed a lighter.
"What does the lighter do?" Dirin asked as he took the lighter from the headmaster.
"Nothing. It's just a lighter." The headmaster laughed again as he sat back down in his chair. "Just light it up tonight during your studies and you'll see the effects yourself. It truly is a wonderful thing how much enchanters are able to do. I remember my first contracted item. It was a staff that could amplify the flow of my magic tenfold. I think Mr. Vince borrowed it for that new student of his."
Dirin nodded as he heard all of this. There was a lot of new information that went against what he learned since he was in elementary. It wasn't completely impossible in his mind. Just surprising. The headmaster looked at him while waiting for his answer. "I'll do it. I'm about to finish training all the things I know currently anyway, so this seems like a way to skip all the classes and note-taking."
The headmaster nodded and wrote a letter before tossing it in a random direction, which then disappeared in a purple flash that caused Dirin to avert his eyes for a bit from the light. "I'm glad to be working with you, Dirin. If you have any questions, you know where my office is. Here are some of the things you need to learn tonight and things you need to train tomorrow. Look over them well, and if Keith or Markus ask, you can tell them the truth. We are also going to ask them to be silent on this matter as well."
With that, Dirin got up and left the room.