Chapter 14: Magic Academy, Part 2
Money was not an immediate concern, that's why Gerald exchanged the Elemental Codex for knowledge instead.
From headmaster Orin, he received a special guest badge that allowed him to freely move in the academy. A normal person would first probably wander around the premises, however, Gerald went directly to the library without caring about anything else.
The library was guarded by two armed guards that were standing at the sides of the massive iron-fortified wooden door. They tried to stop him at first, however, when they saw the guest badge on his chest, they slightly bowed in respect and even opened the door for him.
Behind the door was a giant room filled with high walls and only a few windows, high off the ground. On the walls were shelves full of all kinds of books. Some of them were brand new, made of paper and some of them looked like they were centuries old and were made of leather and animal hide.
There were even some scrolls, that were already falling apart due to the long years of exposure to air and light. Upon closer expectation, Gerald noticed that the same books had multiple copies and it looked like they had to be copied every few decades, to counteract the degradation of the material.
A few people were reading in the library, and most of them were much older than Gerald. They only looked at him momentarily and then focused back on their books.
For the first hour, Gerald only looked at the books, trying to get a general idea of what would be the best material to read first. He wasn't planning to spend months here, reading thousands of books. Especially since there were many books that were just records of different noble families' history or lineage.
He started reading at the very beginning. With the old myths and legends.
The Dark Ages, the time after the Great War, really didn't have much of anything interesting. The world was in a panic after the magic collapsed, and the era of the High Elven Empire ended just like that.
Because of the lack of Mana, they went from an average of a 500-year lifespan, down to 150 years. Combined with the extremely slow reproduction rate and weaker physical body they had no choice but to give way to human takeover.
At first, the High Elves tried to resist the slow advance of the human race, however after a few millennia they were so extremely outnumbered, and without magic, they were basically just delaying the inevitable.
The only advantage they had was their height. However, being more than a head taller than an average human just made them a bigger target. In the end, they gave up and mostly retreated to the west side of the continent. They now inhabited dense forests and swamps, far away from human civilization.
Dwarves, on the other hand, didn't really try to cause any conflicts. Being smaller and stronger than humans, with tough bodies, they were machines made for combat.
However, differently unlike elven pride or human greed, they were extremely down to earth. Instead of seeking conflict, they tried to avoid it, and when the once peaceful land started showing signs of war, they quietly retreated into the mountains, cutting off all contact with the outside world.
It has been centuries if not millennia since Dwarves last had contact with humans. Now nobody even knew if they were still alive.
As Gerald was reading about the history of the races when he noticed something unusual. In the records, there were mentioned, human-elf hybrid tribes. They were first mentioned 5.000 years after the Great War. The Dark Elves.
After many millennia of decline, some High Elves threw away their pride and interbred with humans. The creature was a weird mix between a human and an elf.
Differently, from the High Elves' snow-white skin, the Dark Elves had, as the name implies, much darker skin. Their long pointy ears also became shorter and so did their height. However, they still kept beautiful silver hair and very slim and delicate bodies. Both males and females were considered to have the most beautiful and attractive proportions on the continent.
On the other hand, by mixing with humans, they lost all respect from pure-blooded Elves and were not even considered their kin anymore.
Still, they actually kept good parts of both races and even though they had visually weak bodies, the actual muscle strength was actually much higher than those of pure-blooded Elves.
At the same time, they kept their long life span, living almost twice as long as a human. What was possibly the most amazing, was that the Dark Elves inherited the amazing ability to control magic, and they were considered the best mages in the human kingdoms.
Though they were still a minority in the population.
"Wow, these Dark Elves really hit the genetic jackpot. Good looks, a strong body with a long lifespan, and even great magic abilities? That's just unfair," Gerald complained. He put away the history books and looked for something that could teach him more about the magic structure.
As a novice, he only understood the basics. For a simple spell, a person needed to have a good idea of what he was trying to do, as well as sufficient energy to execute the action. It sounded simple enough, but from what Sera told him, it was actually extremely hard to do for some people. He already used three Basic Elements to make spells, and it didn't seem that hard for him.
It, in fact, felt effortless to do so, almost natural. Of course, that could be because he had a vast knowledge of the natural laws of the world. Either way, it could bring him great benefits to be able to cast spells as he wished. The only problem was that after a few spells we would exhaust all his Mana.
When he fought against the bandits he only used magic three or four times and he was already drained. Although the Mana eventually restored itself, the process took half a day. That was not a good thing if he needed to fight for more than a few minutes at a time.
People from the past came to the same conclusion. The books mentioned different accessories that could help expand the capacity for Mana.
It was jewelry of all shapes and sizes. Rings, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces had different types of Etherium Crystals embedded in them, to satisfy different Element requirements. If someone had Twin Elements, he needed to get accessories for both Elements.
Some warriors didn't use much magic in their fights, but if they really needed to, they would usually get a sword or some other weapon with an embedded gem, instead of jewelry. Also for maximizing the Mana capacity for spellcasting, mages used staves, wands, and even clothes with different Etherium Crystals embedded in them.
All these items and weapons, of course, became really expensive. Especially if it was a rare Element like Fire. For that reason alone, there weren't many spellcasters around, and everyone focused on melee combat or archery. Only the rich nobles and royal families could afford massive amounts of high-quality gear, which would then help them increase their power and influence even further.
"Sure enough, money rules the world no matter where you go," Gerald sighed and shook his head.
"Looks like just talent and knowledge won't be enough to guarantee success. Guess I'll have to find a decent source of income first."
As he was reading for a long time, he started to get a bit tired. He stored all the books back on the shelves and sat back down. He took out the book that he got from the headmaster Orin.
"Let's see what secrets you hold," he murmured to himself and opened the book.
Just as he expected, he was able to read the Ancient Elven language just fine. It was all thanks to the first spell he used back on Earth. Although it was painful, it did bring him massive benefits. Being able to understand every language there was a divine ability that every scholar would be jealous of.
The Blood Codex was the name of the book. It contained many drawings of wondrous plants, their names, and descriptions. It was a treasure for every alchemist in the world, unfortunately, no one could understand it. As for Gerald, he didn't yet know the value of the book. He just quickly skipped through the pages, not paying much attention to the contents.
After dozens of pages of plants came animal parts with different medical, anesthetic, and poisonous effects. They did spike his interest for a while, however, he quickly lost it again and kept flipping through the book.
Finally, near the end of the book came the good stuff. Potions, potions, and more potions. Poisons, antidotes for those poisons, medicines for rare diseases as well as Health and Mana Recovery Potions.
There were so many long-lost recipes, even the Elixir of Life was not the best option there was. The longer lifespan was just a side effect of the potion and not its main effect.
One grade above it was the true Immortality Potion. According to the book, it could extend your life for dozens of years. That could explain the insanely long lifespan Elves had before the Dark Ages.
Of course, one had to drink Divine Complexion, a potion for eternal youth at least once every year to keep the eternal youth. If not, the life span would stay long, but you would look like a mummy after a century. Staying alive in that state would be absolute torture for anyone.
"Woah, there is actually a way to be immortal! Are you kidding me?! How awesome is that! " Gerald was so excited when he read that. Potions that could almost bring you back from the dead, potions that can make you live forever, potions that can keep you young forever. What kind of crazy world was this?
As he continued reading, he found even potions that can slow down aging, elixirs that can strengthen muscles and bones, all kinds of crazy marvels could be found here.
"What?!" Gerald almost jumped from his seat when he turned the page of the book.
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