"Remember kids, wizards are the children of knowledge, not wisdom."
Look at him trying to sound all wise, ha.
We were sat around Alwyn who was teaching us. He'd been teaching us various things the past few days, he was our teacher after all. He taught us more than just spells, but life as a wizard, history, and even geography. It was all related, supposedly.
"The greatest example of this is The Magic Tower. There are many magic towers, of course, but I'm talking about The Magic Tower."
"That's where you learned magic, right teacher?" Mari asked.
"Right. It's a... special place. The magics of the tower will swear up and down they're the most prestigious university in the world, but the lack of wisdom in that place is laughable. Though my alma mater, I can guarantee that here with me is the greatest education a young wizard or witch can get," he grinned.
"What's wisdom worth anyway?" Liora asked.
"Life and death!" Aliza yelled from where she was relaxing.
"...She's right. Magics have a problem, they seek knowledge over anything else, not caring for any repercussions. A wise wizard a long time ago deemed what was forbidden and allowed, and though I can't say I'm a fan of strict rules, there's certainly a reason certain spells are forbidden."
"Like homunculi?" I asked.
"Yes, exactly! Though, out here in the sticks, no one's here to tell you what you can or can't do... unlike in the tower. That's why so many people are removed from the tower. All the knowledge is there and taught, but wisdom... it's scarce. Then you get people like Aliza having their mana pool stripped."
It doesn't really sound like you're all that wise either...!
I looked at Aliza, laying over there reading some book. I'd looked at it before—it was a book about magical beasts and spells.
I wondered how much it must hurt her to read a book like that, and I realized the only way someone could continue to learn about something they had taken from them was if they were truly passionate about it.
I suppose it made it even sadder. I imagined what would happen if I woke up and couldn't use magic. I'd lose everything.
"I have a question!" Prince raised his hand.
"...Go on? This isn't a classroom," Alwyn laughed.
"What's the difference between magic schools like the tower and magic schools."
"Ahhh, did you read about that in some book from your royal library, young prince? It can certainly be confusing. You're talking about magic schools of thought.
Many mages dedicate themselves to certain 'types' of magic, whether it be fire or water magic, or something more abstract like gravity or creation. These are typically called 'elements' based off the spells the first magics used, which were limited to the basic elements of fire, water, earth, and air.
Of course, gravity isn't an element. Despite that, there is no difference between gravity magic and fire magic, not fundamentally at least. All magic is the same, and unique magic only comes from personal interest. Simply, someone thought it was cool."
"All magic is the same?"
"Well, that's not exactly what I meant. Anyone can cast any type of spell. I've told you this before, Lin, but I suppose you should all drill this into your heads as well. A common misconception about magic is that it's akin to the sciences.
I hate that! Magic is not the science of mana, no matter what famous scientists or sham-wizards say! Magic is an art! It is a creative ability, whatever you can imagine, you can create!
Of course, you need to learn how to paint or sculpt if you want to create a masterpiece, but would you call painting and sculpting 'sciences'? Of course not! Now, are sculpting and painting the same? No, they aren't. That is the relation between magic schools of thought."
"What magic school do you follow?" Marielle asked.
"I don't. To be honest, most magics don't follow single schools of thought, but instead may learn bits and pieces. Following a school of thought is usually exclusive to noble wizards, especially if their family is famous for a certain type of magic.
I never dedicated myself to one at all. Honestly, I find it quite pathetic to purposely place yourself into a box. It's much better to learn magic as a whole, and then you can create spells of your own rather than copying other people."
"Stop being humble, it doesn't suit you." Aliza said, now behind him. "Many famous wizards and witches consider Alwyn to have founded his own school of thought. He gets requests to teach all the time... which is why I was so surprised to learn he took you guys on as apprentices."
What happened to hating him? Now you're praising him? These two are too confusing...
"Wow, really!? So are you teaching us your magic?" Prince asked.
"Ehhh... those sorry wizards just try to flatter me. I'm certainly great, but I've yet to formally create my own magic. That's something I want to do when I'm ancient and wrinkly, and then I'll compile it into a big, beautiful tome."
"But what's so special about your magic?" I asked.
It's not like I've seen anything too special...?
"Well, what shocks most people is that I only use the original elements. Despite that, I'm the greatest. Cool, right? I'm awesome... but how do I do it? Well, what is an element?"
"I know! It's the condition of mana. Hot mana is fire, rigid mana is earth—"
"Wrong! It's not a science, remember? Essentially, elements are a sort of placebo effect, alright? There's nothing actually going on. Watch,"
Alwyn raised his hand at us and flames burst from it, enveloping the four of us. We raised our arms in defense, but nothing happened.
"See? It didn't burn. But that was certainly fire, wasn't it? That's just because I removed the heat from the fire. When you cast a fireball, you're not creating fire. You're manipulating the mana to replicate the properties of fire.
There's no such thing as 'hot mana,' only mana that you imagine to be hot. Even this could be an interesting tactic, imagine someone grabs your ice magic only to get burned. See? Anything is possible!
My supposed school of thought is just that: absolutely anything is possible with magic. Nearly every spell I use in a fight is created by me and I'll rarely use the same spell twice. It makes you unbeatable! And if you learn magic from me, you'll surely be unbeatable too!"
Wow... unbeatable. I'd like to be unbeatable...
"But I thought Aliza said you got beat up in the tower all the time?"
"That's because I ascended to this level in my final three years of the tower. See, my magic started off very weak. I didn't want to learn what the other students were learning. The Thaumaturge took me in as his first direct apprentice in nearly eighty years because he saw just how incredibly talented I am.
He taught me what I needed to know to perfect my own magic rather than his own magic. In that sense, he was a great teacher. In other ways... ehhh. Once I became proficient in my magic, though, I became the strongest apprentice in the entire tower within the span of a few months."
"Can we see the tower?" Prince asked.
"Maybe after we visit the capital. Though, I'd really prefer to bring you to my estate for a year or two before your minds are corrupted by those useless bastards."
"You have an estate!?" Liora asked, jolting up from her lazying.
"Of course I do! I'm a famous wizard! Did you think we'd be camping out every night for the coming years?"
Years... we're doing this for years.
Even after the months I'd spent traveling with Alwyn already, it hadn't fully sunk in that this was my life for the foreseeable future. Even Prince and Mari would eventually go back home. Liora and I, though...?
"What's it like? Is it a big mansion? Do you have servants?" she asked.
"Of course, of course. I'm practically a noble, I'll have you know. No, even greater!"
Right. Liora and I are nobles too, now. Strange, I don't feel like a noble. I guess Mari and Prince don't feel any different.
"Okay! I've taught you how to use fire magic already. You guys have already mastered fireball and know how to create flame whips, walls, tornadoes, all that cool stuff. Well, most of you..."
We looked at Prince. He'd only recently mastered fireball. Well, it wasn't bad progress according to Alwyn. The rest of us were just much better!
"Tonight we're going to start dueling. That's how I perfected my magic, remember? Getting beaten up! So you'll be beating each other up. Every night."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Prince asked. "What if Liora or Marielle accidentally turns me to ash...?"
What, I'm not a threat?
"Relax, I'll be observing. Since we have a nice even four, tonight you'll fight Lin, since you don't seem too scared. Liora and Marielle, you'll fight each other right after. Whoever wins gets a staff or wand first. Marielle... you'll get... something. I'll figure it out if you win."
She scoffed, like it was obvious she would. Prince seemed to agree, snickering at the absent-minded Liora. I wasn't so sure though...