The old man at the desk looked at Meriel with wide eyes, his mouth open agape. He finally seemed to shake himself after a few silent moments, and began walking towards Meriel. “Son, by the Taker, what was that? Just how much mana did you gather?”

  "Not much? I suppose that the gem must have been faulty in some way?" Meriel offered, suddenly feeling sheepish at what he'd done. It still felt good, however, to wipe that smirk off the man's face.

  "Yes, yes, it was just a trinket I have lying around. Something of not-so-high quality. Still, I haven't seen someone gather so much mana so quickly EVER, and we are taking the Archmages into account there."

  Meriel fought the smirk off, and only shook his head. “I just did what my masters taught me.”

  The old man scoffed, but chose to not say anything else. "Okay, let me..." He started looking at the papers in front of him but quickly shook his head, realizing that they were also wet. "Let me go grab some entrance papers for you." He looked at Mary, who hadn't even begun with her own gathering of mana, and then back to Meriel. "You know what? I'll just get up and stay put." He ordered and quickly stood up from his soft chair and waddled off from the room into a side room, which Meriel couldn't see.

  "Wow, Mr. Meriel, you are really..."

  "Stop with the Mister part, please. It will just set anyone off while we are pretending to be brother and sister. And the name is Mev, remember?"

  "Yeah," she nodded and started talking again. "It was really amazing how it started glowing. How the water appeared. I've never seen anyone do something like that."

  "Have you seen magic often?"

  "Not really, but still, you must be really powerful, right? The department head seemed really excited about you too." She said, looking at the last remaining chunk of the gemstone which lay in Meriel's open hand.

  "He is either excited or threatened, but I still have to enroll. See what the magic of this world has become."

  "Well, now I really want to be like you," she said, putting a proud smile on her face, and then looked at the gemstone in her own hand. Her face changed into focused and her eyes closed, fluttering open and then closed again as she tried to imagine the ladle scooping mana into it.

  Meriel quickly realized this as he saw the mana fluctuating around her visibly reacting. No training, she knew she had magic for barely a day, and she already could grasp mana. She’d be powerful. Scarily so.

  He grabbed her shoulder, bringing her out of focus. "Don't imagine a ladle, like the man told you to. That's a bad technique, and I don't know why they even attempt stuff like that. It will set you back later, and it’s simpler to imagine...

  Mary looked at him expectantly. "Mister Meriel?"

  He shook his head, knocking on it, trying to remember his own attempts at controlling mana when he was slightly older than she was. But it usually came naturally to him. He didn't even have to imagine a technique, but he simply ordered the mana to listen to his commands.

  It boggled most of his instructors and classmates, however, so it was fair to assume that it wouldn't be the case for Mary as well. Truth be told, he didn’t quite understand it much himself, but now he tried to really think of what he did when gathering mana, it seemed fairly easy to explain.

  "Imagine a whirlpool—you, or your heart at the center—spiralling and sucking the mana in."

  "I don't know what a whirlpool is," she said, confusion rising in her voice. "Maybe I can't control mana after all."

  "I am sure you can. I already saw you do so. Can you see the mana around us?"

  "I don't know what mana is, still."

  "It's something that is all around us, Mary. Do you see?" He looked around the room and found what he was looking for. A blue line flowing up and down in the corner. "Just think of yourself sucking that little blue line into yourself, into your heart."

  Mary looked around the room as if everything was as it should, but finally recognition dawned on her face. "You mean that the others don't see that blue line there?"

  "No. Most people don't. Only mages and people who can actually use mana can see it. It's called having the third eye, Mary."

  Mary repeated the instructions to herself in a whisper, taking in a deep breath and then she closed her eyes and focused. Meriel could feel the mana reacting, moving slowly in Mary's command. He really should have left more for her to use, but it was too late for regrets now. And he would let her attempt it later anyway.

  The mana finally swept into Mary completely, and she lit up, almost as if she just woke up and had a cold shower. "Whoah. This feels amazing," she muttered, looking at her palms. “It’s like… something is underneath my skin, something smooth and creamy. It feels… nice.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  "It does make you feel more alive, right?" Meriel agreed.

  "Yes," she said, barely bringing her focus away from the mana coalescing into her. "Can I cast spells now?" She finally looked away from her hands, and the mana became stable.

  "It isn't that simple, Mary. At first, let's wait for the department head to tell us what we need to do so we can enroll."

  Almost as if on call, the man suddenly swept into the room again, holding two small stacks of papers in each hand. "Okay, okay, so! I've got it. These are the papers for enrollment." His eyes finally looked at Mary and he stopped in his tracks just a step away from his chair. "Oh would you look at that? So both of you are capable of magic. Magnificent—though her ability to grasp it is a bit lacking. Where are you storing it, by the way? I don’t see your swords. I can see some great promise in it."

  Meriel had to agree—he didn't expect her to catch on so quick, especially not on her first time, and she would probably be able to outperform most of the mages Meriel had seen in his life.

  "Well, you are just on time. The new semester starts in five days, just after the entrance exams, so you can get yourself prepared. Will you require some living arrangement as well? Some of the people that come from other cities do," the wizened old man said, laying his hands on the table.

  Meriel would have none of that. He really wanted to catch up on the sleep he was missing out on in these past decades, and the quarters in the city would definitely provide him with some.

  But he wouldn't be able to leave Ziggy just alone to care for himself. The house seemed completely abandoned, so he had a place to stay at any rate. "That will not be required, but thank you," he replied, and took his own stack of papers.

  It appeared that even changes of the legends, history, politics and society as a whole wouldn’t change legal documents being utterly boring. Meriel had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

  Mary seemed to not be able to read judging by the face she was making as she looked at the paper she received herself. Great. Just one more thing to do. Hopefully the Spellswords wouldn't mind some slow readers.

  "Thank you, Department Head." Meriel pocketed his own papers into his satchel. "Where do we bring this after we fill it out?"

  "Anytime before the first day is fine. Bring it here, but leave it with my secretaries in the other room, please. Now, for the entrance day. 8 o'clock after the bell rings, be in the main hallway at the end of the university—that's where all the newcomers will be. You know the rules of the Academy?" He said, raising one of his eyebrows, mostly looking at Mary now.

  "Afraid not," Meriel said, trying to commit all being said to his memory.

  "Well then, you'll be learning for as long as you can progress. Do well, manipulate mana well enough into your sword and you'll be given a new one. The higher you progress, the longer you can stay and the more you can learn. After your fourth year—if you get into the fifth—you'll probably get some really good and well-paying offers from the army. They are always looking for more great Spellswords." The headmaster said and scratched his forehead. "Well, if you have more questions, you're free to ask but I think you'll learn most of it as you go."

  This man was awfully unspecific with his ways of teaching. But Meriel still clung to the hope that it wasn't the case for most of the Academy. Meriel thanked him softly, tugged on Mary's clothes, and began walking out.

  "Oh, and one last thing—I forgot my manners. Name's Burrus," he said, not bothering to stand up from his chair. "Actually—I'll be teaching some of your classes. So see you around."

  "Thank you, Department head Burrus," Mary said this time, and then she hurried and walked out of the door with Meriel soon following suit.

  The man that Meriel saw in the room when he walked in now sat on the ground, leaning on the wall, watching Mary and Meriel. His eyes told Meriel all he needed to know. There was some bad feeling between this person and the Department head. His third eye told him that he was quite a capable mage though, at least judging by the mana flowing to his heart.

  He seemed to be taking in mana almost instinctively, which most of the students in the former academy didn't do much. Meriel doubted that improved in this new academy. He'd not seen anyone with his capabilities thus far. Hopefully his resentful glare was aimed at the Department Head and not Meriel himself.

  Looking away, he walked forward. The halls were the same, making it easy to navigate. Mary quickly walked forward, taking the lead as if she grew up here, so much so that she even almost took Meriel in the wrong way.

  Finally they walked out and began walking towards their de facto home, with a quick stop in the market to buy some meat and vegetables, Meriel didn't cook much and couldn't remember much of the recipes he knew. Even having the choice made him giddy to learn as much as he could.

  This was a productive day, he thought. He didn't find what happened to his former teammates or Elsa, but if his prediction was correct, his classmates in the academy would know. Hopefully he could get close to some of them, even if he would probably be one of the oldest there.

  "What are you going to make for dinner today, Mr. Meriel?" Mary said, already back to her old naming habit.

  Meriel sighed as he grabbed the door handle and thought of the answer. Truth be told, he didn't really have a recipe in mind. He just wanted to cook some meat and vegetables, a simple meal for his now simple tastebuds.

  Thankfully, most people didn't care about him paying with gold nuggets. Far from the fact, actually they seemed to prefer it. Apparently, gold was once again a very sought-after item, though it was diminishing in price back when he was a delver himself. Too many mages who learned how to create it artificially.

  "I don't know what I'll cook; just something tasty, hopefully."

  The door swung open with a creak, and he stepped inside to find another kid standing there. This kid had the look of a forest elf, or at least Meriel thought that's how one must look.

  There’s no use trying to tell his true age, then. Immediately alarmed, he took mana into his heart, preparing to cast a spell.

  "Who are you?" he asked, his voice full of suspicion.

  The elf kid turned to him and though Meriel had never seen this face, he immediately recognized the eyes.

  "Hey Meriel, it's me, Ziggy! Finally you're not going to be leaving me here all alone!