Dean Artjom steepled his fingers. “Normally I try and give students advice when the choice isn’t clear. I understand you have already made your choice.”

Hugo nodded, “I want to be a formations mage.”

“And why is that, exactly? I doubt you would be in my office today if you didn’t have a reason why.”

“Couple of reasons, I guess. I have always wanted to be a formations master, and create something wonderful. Plus, it’s what my father wanted for me before he died. This is his dying wish,” Hugo said. He figured the bit about his father would convince the dean to let him make that choice. His real father had been a barrier harvester, but the truth would hurt his argument right now so he went with the lie.

“I see. I can certainly understand the importance of family. I might be tempted to choose an ill fitting domain if it meant that I would be honoring my father,” the dean leaned back, “But I imagine your father loved you and only wanted what is best for you, right?”

“Well, yes,” Hugo said.

“Then it is a matter of choosing what is best for you, instead of just blindly choosing a domain that is bad for your development.”

Hugo wanted to skip ahead in the conversation, “If you are talking about the strength stat, I don’t see what the problem is. I know that formation mana is calculated off of strength, but I figure if I just put all of my stat points into strength from the beginning, I will be able to equal my dexterity stat by rank six. That isn’t long. And formation mages do need plenty of dexterity to balance out their strength, so I would have put points into dexterity anyway.”

Dean Artjom shook his head, “There are a few reasons that isn’t a good idea. First off, your mana pool is determined by the accompanying stat. Your twenty dexterity will start you off with a mana pool of fourty instead of twenty-two. That extra mana will help you practice more and be a better student. In addition, you will find that you are more effective with natural points instead of points added through rank ups. Then there are the evolutions to consider.”

“What evolution?”

“Your rank thirty-two evolution. The choices you get at rank thirty-two are based on your stats. Most barrier students just get to unlock another section of the wheel at rank thirty-two. But if you are over sixty-four points in dexterity by the time you hit rank thirty-two, then you will have the chance at a unique evolution.”

“An evolution? What is that?

"The Acamarian system gives extra options to those with high stats in one area. These extra options are called evolutions. They are rare, and the knowledge of them is a closely guarded secret. There are a wide variety of possible evolutions, but they are all more powerful than the base domain. Have you ever read a two copper novel about the Delmar Six or The Red Demon?”

Hugo nodded his head.

“Those books were written about people that earned a domain evolution. Those novels are fiction, of course, but based on truth. The truth is, you have the potential for greatness. But you would be giving up that potential if you chose any other domain besides barrier.”

Hugo sat back and thought about this. It would change all his plans to go with barrier instead of formation. He would have to learn the domain from scratch instead of having a year of extra training. But if what the dean was saying was true, it would be better for him in the long run to go with a dexterity based domain instead. Still, it was strange that this was the first he was hearing of this.

“How come more people don’t shoot for evolutions then? Even if you start with a base ten in a given stat, if you put most of your stats into your domain’s stat, everyone could hit sixty-four by the time they hit rank thirty-two. Two points per rank up is enough for everyone to get an evolution, no matter where you start, right?” Hugo said.

The dean shook his head and said, "It's all about balance. Most people don’t attempt it because they lack the points to achieve balance. Strength heavy students that don’t put any points into dexterity end up ripping themselves apart. Life students need to add resilience points otherwise they kill themselves when they try to heal too fast. If you put too much into intelligence without wisdom and dexterity, you end up going insane. The same is true for you, if you put everything into dexterity without adding strength and intelligence, you will hurt yourself by moving before you are aware of it. The difference is that you have the points to create that balance and still get your evolution.”

“What does an evolution mean, anyway? I know you said more power, but how, specifically?”

“Most people see a minor increase in power after they hit rank thirty-two. But if you have sixty-four points in your chosen domain by then, you will have the chance to pick a specialization. Some mages get several choices, some only one. Either way, you narrow your focus, and greatly increase your power. I know of a barrier mage who got his evolution, and they said he could form a dome across the entire city.”

That stunned Hugo for a moment. Even if that was a gross exaggeration, that kind of power was life changing. He didn’t even know what to say. He wanted more information, something concrete instead of grand stories. He asked, “Did you get your own evolution?”

“That is actually a rude question. Some mages even refuse to tell you their domain, let alone their rank and evolution.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know,” Hugo said. He actually did know that, it was one of the things he had learned in history and etiquette class during his last life. But as far as the dean knew, Cristian was an innocent babe.

“It’s fine. The subject is a bit of a sore one for me. I wasn’t told of the possibility of an evolution in time, and I didn’t have the points to attempt it by the time I knew. I regret not being able to try. I hope you don’t choose formation today and regret it a few years from now.”

Hugo nodded, “I do want to live my life without regrets. I will think about it some more. Thank you for your advice.”

Dean Artjom smiled, “I hope it helps you. Have a pleasant day.”

Hugo left the office deep in thought. It seemed like the smart choice was to switch domains. But it would mean abandoning all his plans. Perhaps more importantly was that he didn’t know if changing domains would even work.

His soul was burnt into shape for the formation domain during his previous life. He didn’t know if that came with him when he started the year over. How would his soul react to a different domain? Would it fail to give him access to either domain of magic? How sad would that be, to reach for the stars only to fall into the sewer.

Most of the bad decisions in his previous go around could be attributed to poor planning. Too often, he had just gone with the flow. He hadn’t really negotiated his contract the first time he got into the academy. He hadn’t made any efforts to make friends, he had just stuck with his roommate. Even his girlfriend had been Oskar’s idea, not his. Getting kicked out of the academy was because of Oskar too, but also his own fault for not turning him in to faculty. The business with the fox gang could have been avoided if he had just refused the first visit.

He resolved to do better this time.

With that in mind, he headed off to the library. He wanted to learn more about the differences between the two domains, and about those evolutions Artjom had mentioned.

“Hello Rahne, I was wondering if you could help me out.”

She gave him a weird look, “Do I know you?”

“No, sorry. I am Hugo, one of the first years, just got here.” Whoops. She hadn’t introduced herself this time around. No wonder she was confused when he knew her name right away. “I am looking for a few books. I want to compare the formation and barrier domains. Just those two if possible. And I just heard about domain evolutions today, I would like to read a book about that.”

“Both of those are kind of specific, but I think I can help you,” Rahne said, “For the first one, go ahead to the front of the library, to the left of the doors. There are several introductory books on domains. As far as evolutions go, I am not really supposed to tell students that they exist. I guess you already know though since you are asking about them. There aren't any books written about evolutions anyway, but I think I can find a few references for you. Come back to me after you have read about the domains.”

“Thanks so much,” Hugo said and walked over to get the first book.

There were several introductions to domains books available, and Hugo flipped through a couple of them. He didn’t learn much new information, but it helped him organize his thoughts. The difference between formation and barrier domains really boiled down to speed vs permanency. Both domains used mana to create objects. The formation domain used a lot of mana to slowly create permanent objects. The barrier domain used a small amount of mana to quickly create temporary objects.

This meant that on culling days, the barrier domain was king. They could do more with less. And there was no doubt that the barrier mages had the most personal power. But Hugo wasn’t sure if he wanted personal power. He wanted economic power, enough that he could retire in luxury instead of having to constantly kill monsters.

So far he was thinking that his initial plan was best. Formation was the key to business. It just fit his personality better too. He was a creator, not a brawler. He still went to read the books Rahne had collected for him though. There were two books, each one having just a few pages written on the subject of evolutions.

It turns out, there are several documented cases of domain evolutions. In every case, the evolution made them more powerful, at the expense of narrowing down their focus within their domain. For example, a runist wouldn’t be able to create every rune anymore, but in exchange they would be able to make certain runes much more powerful.

That was all the books said though. The mages in question refused to give more details about their evolutions. They said it was personal, and refused to tell the researchers more. Both books did note that those that qualified for evolutions never regretted going through with the change.

Hugo threw down the book in frustration. The dean wanted him to give up on his plans for a formation driven economic empire, and go with the barrier domain based on vague promises of power. He had told himself that he was going to plan things out properly. Now he was put into a situation where he didn’t have enough information to make a proper plan.

Perhaps the scales would be tilted towards being a barrier mage if he didn’t have the worry about burning a new domain into his soul. Switching domains to a new one was a risk. It could pay off, but there was always the possibility that the burning of the new domain would fail. This wasn't the first time his soul would be in the tamoko after all. He just wasn’t sure if he was willing to put his whole life on the line for vague promises.