Leon, my father, is coming up the stairs. After closing the door, he approaches my bed and sits down. After a minute minutes of silence, he begins to talk.

„Are you really undecided? Or have you already made your choice?“ He asks, stroking his beard in the process. He looks like a thinking bear doing so.

„Magic. Every time I look out of the window, I can’t not see the big tower. But Magic is also so much cooler than knights.“ I answer, Having a fanatic look in my eyes. A real emotion, not a faked one as I usually do. Faking emotions is an essential skill in the modern earth. Face is so important over there that not being friendly might cost your job or get you killed. Too much competition.

„Haha! Yes, that’s right, but a lot more people can become knights rather than wizards. Nearly everyone can succeed in besting knighthood, but for magicians, they need talent. What do you think? Do you have the talent?“ he asks. Still looking sceptical. Can’t really fault him for that. From the small amount of information I managed to gather in the short while pointed me to a similar conclusion

I play along. With sparkling eyes, I answer.

„Yes, I can feel it. I’m sure. Please let me take the test.“ I say. Continuing my fanatic façade. I have already got back the grip on my emotions, but becoming calm all of a sudden wouldn’t look good or logical on a teenager.

„Hoho, alright, we can still afford it. But if it is not for you, then I can still find a good job for, don’t you worry and don’t forget that. Being a wizard is expensive, even if you pass the test you have to work hard for resources.“ he says.

„I understand, don’t worry I will work hard.“ I say, out of conviction. When have I not worked hard? You don’t get selected as one of the few talents like me back there.

„Alright, let’s go get some dinner. If you pass the test, I will give you something that should help with your journey. I but first dinner, go, young man.“ he says. Lamenting a bit, he continues “It had been unused for too long.” Says he more to himself than to me.

„Thanks, dad.“ I hug him while saying it. One reason is to keep this facade, the other is that I am still a bit off with my expressions.

Following my father downstairs, I can smell a nice aroma in the air. In the kitchen a Swedish looking pot awaited us. Inside is beef stew. At least it smells like beef stew. I am still unsure about the animals.

At the dinner table, everyone gets some stew with a piece of meat. No one speaks while eating. A complete opposite to breakfast. It looks like they just want to enjoy the food. A sentiment I can wholly agree with.

The dinner is consumed in a rather solemn tone, then having eaten my fill, I go upstairs and close the door.

Another point Is that I need to investigate the cooking practices, spices and animals in this world. Food is important. Even without the time to do it, I can still teach people some recipes.

Back to the introductory book. This time I only take out the book, leaving the rest in the small secret stash.

Let’s continue reading. ‘Affinity. Affinity describes your ability to bend magic to your will. It is necessary to have at least one magical affinity, or it would be impossible to manipulate Mana at all. For example. A person with a strong fire affinity is able to manipulate Mana in a way to simulate other elements, like wind. But it is impossible to manipulate water magic. This limits the ability of learning spells of other schools. The special affinities are another matter entirely, however. These affinities often allow their wielder to have strange and very rare forms of magic. Examples are doom, soul, arcana, dimension or space affinity. Soul and arcana affinity are the most special. Soul is especially good at manipulating Mana and souls; thus, the wielder gets a big boost for studying formations and rituals. Meaning casting magic gets easier in general. Arcana is one of the rarest and most neglected affinity’s. Very few people do have it and even fever know how to use it. Arcana is special in the way that it can emulate all other elements, though to a lesser degree. It is also the supreme element for formation and array masters. ‘

That’s interesting, at least I believe that I have some form of soul affinity. If I can trust my experience from the meditation session. For the rest, I need to test my potential in the black tower.

Next page. ‘In the first apprentice stage of the path of souls is the manipulation realm. In this realm, the practitioner must gain initial control of his soul. In rare instances, this stage can be skipped. The next three stages deal with the strengthening of the soul. The second is about the main vessels. The third with the strengthening of branch vessels. The last is about strengthening all the connections with the physical body. This stage has two parts. First the finding of the connections. Second is reinforcing them, until @$/(%§@ can flow without any obstacles. After completing the second realm of the fourth stage, the practitioner officially becomes a @“§/$)“@.‘

Good to know. The next page explains exercises for the manipulation realm. I seem to have a head start here. The methods listed are quite interesting, though sometimes too vague for my liking. They are about sensing the soul. That I have already accomplished at least. After that, they describe exercises to achieve better control over it. Most of them seem easy, but I still think that I need to exercise, directly skipping them seems to be a bad idea. Whatever the book wrote about it.

Having memorized the exercises, I put the book on to the bottom of the chest and sit onto my bed in a meditational posture. Having again entered a serene mind, I notice that the second soul seems to have recovered a little. Mainly the main vessel, as described in the book, has healed somewhat. Not to the extent that I have to be vary, but, in my opinion, it is not a good development.

Next, I begin to stretch my soul. At first it feels strange, but after half an hour of practice, it feels a lot more natural. This seems to be rather easy. I try to slow down and speed up the flow of the substance flowing in those vessels. It seems to be rather difficult, but I am still able to make it flow two or three per cent faster or slower. This should be the extent of it. The last exercise is about manipulating other souls. Typically, it is recommended to use a small animal for this. The larger and stronger the animal the more tenacious the soul would be. The book also mentions some additional information about souls. On a normal human, getting a deep cut on the arm would pose no threat to the soul. In comparison on a rabbit, stabbing it would leave a scar on the soul.

Lucky for me, I don’t need an animal. That would be very strange and dangerous in a place like this. I have my very own test subject in me. Let’s call you subject#001.

First, I try to link a cut branch vessel together. It’s not a success, far from it. The moment the two touch the whole soul shudders, as if it is in a state of extreme pain. Which I think is possible. Next try, I begin putting the edges of the scar together. And it seems to work, until I get to the vessel. The moment I try to reconnect it, the soul shudders even more violently then the first time and the scar widens a bit.

Hmm, in my opinion, one last attempt should still be possible. This time, I do the same thing, but connect the soul tissue on both sides of the scar simultaneously.

The first few tries were not very successful, but that doesn’t prove the method unfeasible, just that the process requires some multitasking and practice. It only proves that I hadn’t tried it oft enough. Multitasking was never a problem for me.

Slowly in the span of two hours, I try again and again. Just when I am about to succeed, I feel something in my soul about to breakthrough. The feeling doesn’t give me anything urgent or strange, so I ignore it. Continuing with my experiment, I finish the operation.

The moment I finish, I feel my soul shudder slightly. Not in the same way as subject#001, more in a joyful manner and not in horrifying pain. I feel like my manipulation improved. The first stage should be completed. If the book is trustworthy

After the breakthrough, I feel sleepy. My exhaustion from fumbling around with another soul has erupted. Before I blackout, I hastily take out the book from the chest and put it back into the stash.

Then I lie on the bed and blackout again. At least this time not on the floor.