Bab 21: Entrance Ceremony

Jerod thought for a moment about the pros and cons of sharing the Frost Lance spell. He was surprised to hear that it was a new spell for the school. After discussing with Lindsay a bit about possible downsides he decided to share the spell. At the end of the day he was here to learn everything that might help him with his fight against the sorcerer in the future. If he could access more of the library by earning merit points then it would be a great help.

"Getting to gain access to more of the library is very enticing as well as the tutoring sessions and resources so I don't mind sharing. How many merit points will the spell earn?"

"How many? Well.. It is an offensive spell and from what I could feel from the magicles it was likely a tier 1 spell... normally this would grant you 1000 merit points. However, this is a type of spell we haven't seen before increasing the amount by 5 times and as a bonus since this is a spell created prior to you receiving lessons I will double it bringing the amount to 10000 merits. Sound good?"

Jerod looked at Madam Zell who nodded that the amount was quite satisfactory for a Tier 1 spell.

Jerod put on a coy smile and said, "Deal! Now, I hope you won't go back on your word once you learn the secret of the spell. It is actually quite simple. The Frost Lance spell is actually a copy of the Water Shot spell. When I was experimenting I wasn't ever able to create a unique spell when adjusting the magicles into different patterns. So I had an idea, when water is cold it freezes. What is cold? Cold is just the absence of heat. So, I gathered water magicles together and focused on gathering fire magicles out of the water magicles to reduce the temperature. The result of these enhanced magicles is the new spell. Essencially, I imagine, this can be done on any water spells. However I only know Water Shot so I haven't gotten to experiment further."

The department heads, headmaster, and Madam Zell all pondered on what Jerod had said. What is cold? Cold is cold, what did he mean by absence of heat? Wasn't it the same thing? This line of thinking was outside of the box for them and they ruminated on the idea for some time. Seeing this Jerod just stayed silent until finally the Headmaster motioned for Jerod to stand to the side.

Jerod could see Headmaster Brian gathering the water magicles together into the Water Shot spell.

"Headmaster, a moment please. Before you form the magicles into the spell you want to gather them together and pull the fire element out at that time. This makes it much easier and faster to change the water magicles."

Headmaster Brian turned and looked at Jerod quizzically. "How did you know I formed the Water Shot spell first?"

Madam Zell piped in at this time with a bombshell, "Headmaster Brian, Jerod can see magicles of every element."

Quickly turning to look at Madam Zell, Headmaster Brian was lost for words. "He can see all of them? There has never been a prodigy of this caliber! Are there any other surprises we should expect you fox?"

Madam Zell just smiled at this question. She had had her fun aside from her own shock at Jerod's improvement. Had she known he could cast healing spells she may have taken more time to show him spells. Being able to replicate a spell after seeing the magicle patterns once was too big of a shock.

"One last surprise that I know about. Aside from the Frost Lance spell Jerod is sharing with you, I showed him all of the other spells he completed for you in this examination. Remember though he is not my disciple... I only showed him each spell once and he was able to replicate it on his own."

The headmaster just sighed... This kid was too amazing to continue to get worked up over his abilities. He just turned around and did as Jerod had instructed and gathered the water magicles. He focused on gathering the fire magicles out of the water magicles and felt the change. He then formulated the new magicles into the Water Shot formation and released the spell. A Frost Lance then shot across the testing ground.

"Jerod, I was wrong... The merits this revelation generates is beyond imagination. This essentially creates a whole new subset of spells in the water element. Noticing how reverent you were speaking about the library I will grant you full access. The 5-9th floors are reserved for teachers normally but I will provide a pass to grant access to those floors as well. In the future depending on where you are with your magical studies I will escort you to the top floor that is my personal library.

As for resources and tutoring sessions I believe we can arrange for your care without the need of merits within reason. So long as you aren't wasting or selling resources we will do our best to ensure you have what you need when you are learning your specializations. If you need additional help from a teacher just say the word and tutoring sessions will be set up for you."

Jerod was taken aback by the generous compensation he had received just from providing some insight. He didn't feel that it was all that revolutionary as it was still categorized as water spells. He decided to just go with the atmosphere and bowed lightly to the headmaster.

"Thank you Headmaster! I will work hard to uphold the expectations you have for me."

"Now, since you are an official student here and, have earned special privileges to boot, allow me to introduce the other examiners.

Starting from left to right we have Journeyman Keik, head of the Enchanting department, Journeyman Wills, head of the Battle Magic Department, Journeman Hilda, head of the Healing department, and Journeyman Taric, Head of the Disciplinary department. There are other departments and you will meet them in time."

Jerod turned and bowed to each showing his respect for these esteemed teachers.

"Very good. Now, why don't you go explore the grounds, we will have the entrance ceremony in a few hours so you can site see. I will send you to the inner courtyard. Here is a student badge, I have already granted it permissions for the library and made notations to make resources available after the start of classes. Hold it and cycle your mana through it like you would for a healing spell and it will be bound to you.

This is normally a process gone through with new students after orientation but due to the special privileges bestowed on the card you should do it now. Alright, off you go."

With a wave of his hand Jerod was teleported to the courtyard. Turning back to the department heads and Madam Zell, Headmaster Brian proceeded to fervently exclaim about Jerod's potential. After much deliberation they decided that they would avoid trying to guide Jerod down any particular paths. With his ingenuity and talent they didn't want to limit him to their preconceived magical limits. Who would have thought about pulling an element out of another element? If Jerod was able to create a sub section of the water element could he do so for the others as well? With these thoughts in mind they decided that they would teach basics and ideas to Jerod allowing him to explore and potentially enhance what is known about magic to this date.

Jerod just found himself walking around the courtyard identifying the different buildings. Of course he found the most important building quickly knowing it should be 10 stories high. He found the infirmary, what looked like a blacksmithing area, the cafeteria, and a few unknown areas.

Finally, it was time for the entrance ceremony to begin. Jerod was once again teleported and found himself in a spacious hall surrounded by children of various ages ranging from 6 to 12. These were all students beginning their magic journey this year. Jerod was surprised to see older children as he had thought that 6 was the entrance age.

All of the children were chatting with those around them, exclaiming about being teleported without a teleportation formation. It was quite noisy until an elderly man appeared on a dais at the front of the room. As the students noticed him standing there a hush made its way through the crowd.

"Young men and women, good afternoon to you all. I am Headmaster Brian and I welcome each of you to my Hilas Magic Academy. Each and every one of you have passed your entrance exam with varying results. We informed you during your exams that we would grade you based on the strength and number of gathered magicles for each of the elements you are proficient in. The purpose of this test was not only to see if you were worthy of entering this esteemed academy but also indicated to us what level you are at. Be that fledgling magicians that have potential to elevate yourselves to official magic apprentices or already at the apprentice stage or higher. Each of you will go through an orientation in which you will receive a student ID. Once you complete the orientation you will bind that ID and it will display your mage rank.

Mage apprentices and higher will be allowed to study at this academy for the next 6 years. You have until your 13th year of age to move from a fledgling to an apprentice. If you are unable to do so you will be removed from the academy at that time. Understand that the quicker you promote from fledgling to apprentice the more you will learn in this academy. As a fledgling you will learn the basic information of magic as well as some guidance on casting an actual spell. Until you are able to graduate to an official mage you will be restricted on any other information that will be available to you.

For those of you that have graduated to an official mage already you will be allowed to pick specializations to learn that you will learn about in your orientation. I wish each of you luck and expect that you will strive to learn everything you can in the next 6 years."