Sebastian practically shot out of bed the next day, after dressing in a rush, he bolted down the stairs to the kitchen. He had decided to make breakfast, figuring if he had to live with and learn from Owdel he should probably do his best to stay on the old man’s good side. After digging through everything in the kitchen, he settled on bacon, eggs, and toast. He was just finishing everything when Owdel came in, acknowledging Sebastian’s presence with a grunt, then he sat down and started eating without a word.

They ate in silence, Owdel not bothering to say anything until he finished his meal, while Sebastian was sticking to his ‘don’t tick off the man about to teach you magic’ plan. Owdel finished his food with a belch, then collected a cup of tea, taking a sip before speaking. “Well at least you will be good for something around here. When you are finished we will go to the library and get you started. Fair warning boy, magic is hard work and often painful, dangerous, or both.”

Sebastian immediately started to stand up, eager to get started, but Owdel stopped him. “Sit boy, and finish your food. Using mana burns energy, particularly when you’re still young and your body is unaccustomed to channeling it. Food helps to replace what the magic will take from you. That and you are still growing, a boy your age needs to keep himself fed.”

Taken slightly aback by Owdel’s statement, mostly because if he wasn’t mistaken it sounded almost like Owdel was interested in his well-being. Which pretty much went against everything he had learned about the mage so far. Asking why the old mage would care though would take time he could be spending learning about magic, so instead he wolfed down what was left of his meal as fast as he could. Once he was done he jumped up and started putting the plates in the sink.

Owdel stood, “Alright, come along boy, let’s get you started. Oh, bring that.” He said, pointing at the teapot. Without waiting for a response, he strolled out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Sebastian caught up to him at the second-floor landing, in front of a massive iron bound oak door that looked like it would shrug off blows from a battering ram. Owdel unceremoniously pushed the door open, revealing a space that occupied practically the entire second floor.

Sebastian was looking around in slack jawed amazement at the spectacle. There are hundreds of books in here! Maybe thousands! Where did they all come from? Sebastian had never seen more than a couple books in any one place, and that was only when he had been going through the basic schooling everyone had to do.

Owdel just pointed to a table next to the door, “Leave the tea there.” He said gruffly. “Anything that might damage my books is not to make it past that table. My books are also never to go near that table. Should I find you damaging a book either deliberately or through carelessness there won’t be enough of you left for your family to bury.” He waited for Sebastian to set the teapot on the table before continuing. “Now come over here and sit.”

Sebastian sat at the only other table in the room, noting that it was clearly intended as a place to sit and read. Owdel plunked a book in front of him, launching into an explanation of how to use magic without preamble, “Magic is both simple and complex, boy. You need to have mana and the ability to channel it. Willpower, focus, and intent guide the magic in bending the world around you to suit your desires. Most important of all though, magic requires knowledge. A novice that doesn’t understand fire beyond it being hot can create fire with magic,” a small flame flickered to life over his palm. “but a mage that has studied every aspect of fire, mastering every intricate detail, can create something an order of magnitude more powerful, using the same amount of energy the novice needed for his little flame.” The small flame flared a brilliant blue, and Sebastian felt the heat from it wash across his face before Owdel released the spell with a casual wave of his hand.

“What this means for you is that you must learn. You have the ability to channel mana, albeit abysmally slowly, so all that remains to be found out is whether you have the mental faculties to use that ability. Begin with that book, it has all the information you need to learn how to cast minor light spells. Once you succeed in creating a light spell that remains active for more than four hours, it will be your job to keep the library well lit.” Owdel started to leave, grabbing the teapot, then pausing in the doorway, “No magic in here from you either boy. I know what I’m doing and how not to burn all these books to cinders, but you don’t. The only magic you will cast in here for the foreseeable future is small spells to provide light, and that will only happen once you have demonstrated that you can cast them reliably. The fourth floor is a workshop, practice there instead of here.”

Sebastian watched as Owdel just grabbed the tea and walked out, clearly uninterested in any questions Sebastian might have had. Okay, sink or swim time I guess. Time to start reading. Sebastian opened the book almost reverently. By the time he was finished with it he was convinced that the author had been a lunatic. Interspersed with what seemed to be legitimate information that could be useful were theories about demons and monsters living in the light, and how important it was to create wards against them in any spells involving light.

Since he had finished the book, and he was eager to start actually using magic, Sebastian carefully closed the book and returned it to the shelves. It only took him a minute to figure out the way they were organized and find its proper spot. Then he scurried out of the library, intending to go straight to the workshop to try and cast his first spell. In his hurry, he nearly crashed right into Owdel as he got to the stairs. Owdel promptly derailed his plans with a simple, “Dinner, boy.” Then he turned and went back down the stairs to the kitchen, not caring if Sebastian followed him.

Sebastian looked longingly up the stairs towards the workshop, but opted to follow Owdel down to eat when his stomach started to rumble. Owdel had made a stew at some point, and while somewhat plain, it was hearty and just what Sebastian needed after realizing he had read straight through lunch. Deciding that since Owdel was here, he should probably ask about some of the more ridiculous things in that book before tinkering with magic. “So, uh, that book… are there really demons or monsters in light spells? That seemed a little ridiculous.”

Owdel snorted, “Depends on your perspective, boy. I told you, intent helps guide your magic. So if you vehemently believe that there are demons in something when you create it, there is a solid chance your magic, if there are gaps in the spell that the magic uses your intent to fill, may very well create something reminiscent of a demon. What a mage does is bend the laws of nature to suit their desires, including your subconscious desires if you are not careful, or if you are an idiot like that author. It would still take far more power than is necessary for a basic light spell to cause it to have an effect that would attack indiscriminately like a demon would though, so for you that would probably be around a half hour of unwavering focus and concentration while channeling mana in an effort to cast a basic light spell.

“Which reminds me of something, before you start practicing any magic you must learn a new language. There are a few books in the library that can teach you the basics of different dead languages. Pick one, and make incantations for any spells you learn or invent throughout your life in that language. Before you ask, no it isn’t necessary to have an incantation to use magic. It is simply far easier to maintain your focus on the exact outcome you want a spell to have with an incantation that you have trained your mind to associate with that spell.

“Without that assistance, let’s say you are trying to cast a fireball at a monster that is attacking. Without the incantation helping to focus your mind your thoughts may wander, causing your spell to fire, instead of an explosive ball of deadly fire, maybe some burning sausages because you suddenly thought of breakfast. Or you set yourself on fire, because your concentration slipped and you thought about what the enemy might feel when they are engulfed in flames. Learning an incantation to associate with a spell at the same time as learning the spell mitigates these risks.

“Also, before you ask, the reason you need to pick a dead language is because you don’t want to train your mind to cast spells using words you may utter in a random conversation with someone. Probably less of a threat for you, since your ability to channel mana is slow enough that you should be able to interrupt the mana flow before the spell manifests. Interrupting a spell mid cast is rather unpleasant though, so I would still recommend learning a language to cast in.”

Sebastian was simultaneously glad that Owdel had told him all that, and disappointed that it meant he would have a lot more studying to do before he could do any actual magic. He figured he wouldn’t have to try too hard to understand an extra language though, since he was only going to be using words from it to help him cast spells. He wanted to ask about how to enchant things, but remembered the dislike Owdel had expressed towards it and refrained for now. He still had to learn to even cast a spell, so it wouldn’t hurt to avoid irritating the cranky old mage.

Owdel stood, “Come with me boy, we are going to try something rather unorthodox. I’ve never heard of a mage being able to improve their natural ability to channel mana, but I’ve also never personally encountered an aspiring mage with such a low channel rate. So, until you are able to start casting spells we are going to see if it’s possible to improve that by draining you every night using the testing sphere. I’m sure the Guild would be interested in any measurable success we achieve, or further confirmation of the current belief that it’s impossible.”

Great, so now I get to be a test subject. Sebastian thought wryly. He still followed Owdel to the test room anyways, figuring the worst that could happen is it didn’t change anything for him. A thought crossed his mind, and he asked before he could think better of it. “You said improving natural ability, does that mean there are ways to supplement your natural ability?”

Owdel gave him an appraising look, “Yes and no. You could, for instance, create a magical item that stores mana for later use. However, it doubles the difficulty of whatever spell you are casting, because you have to focus on drawing mana from the item to use in the spell. Most of the time when someone is making a magic item to help them with their spells they make it so the item casts the spell for them upon being fed mana, so they don’t have to focus nearly as hard to cast it.”

Sebastian spent the rest of the test thinking about that. When it was over, he considered going back up to the library to start reading again, but as he made his way up the stairs he realized how tired he was and decided to go to bed instead. He had the rest of his life to study and learn magic, after all.