Richard screamed as pain spread through him. His whole body seared with it. A vice was squeezing his head, a blinding light was boring into his eyes, his tongue was swollen and barely fit in his mouth. His muscles ached, and when he tried to move to escape the cause of his pain, they refused. His stomach was in knots, and he was having a hard time keeping what little food was left in there down. Richard spent a few more fleeting seconds fighting before he could no more. Falling to the floor Richard succumbed to his new life of pain, accepting that he would never again feel at peace.

"Oh come now! You act as though you have never spent a night drinking before." Yelxidore said, moving away from the curtains he had just thrown open. Richard mumbled something from the floor to the side of his bed so incoherent that even he wasn't sure what it was. "I see." Yelxidore replied as though he had understood it perfectly. "Well, if that's the case, then I guess we just won't practice casting today."

Richard was on his feet. Unsteady feet that had taken a couple of tries to reach. But he had made it. "Yes, I thought that might motivate you." Yelxidore shook his head and picked at Richard's shirt. He was still in his clothes from the night before, rumpled from a drunken sleep. "You will bathe and change into something more fitting a Mage in training." He looked at Richard in his bleary, red-eye, "This includes a pair of boots." Richard nodded once, uncertain he could operate his mouth and sense of balance at the same time. "Good. Meet me in the courtyard in an hour."

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Richard entered the courtyard clean and significantly steadier on his feet. Upon returning from his bath, he had found new clothes laid out on his bed. They consisted of a black set of robes made out from some kind of soft, lightweight material similar to cotton. Come to think of it, it could be cotton for all he knew. He had even received a pair of pointy wizard shoes. Much more comfortable for daily use than the walking boots he had upon arrival. He'd still rather be barefoot, but the thought of learning to cast a spell was motivating him.

Yelxidore was already there, standing in the middle of the courtyard in his own set of robes that were a deep red. He turned as Richard walked through the arches that surrounded the yard. "Perfect. Now, before we begin, I want to thank you for last night. It has been a long time since enjoyed company during the Night of the Fey."

Richard smiled. "Thank you for having me. I enjoyed it. I feel like I learned a lot too."

Yelxidore smiled back for a moment before returning to his normal stoic face. "Very well then! On to the task at hand. You have been studying magical theory for two weeks now. You should have a basic understanding of the subject. And so, we will start learning how to focus your mind on casting."

"Yeah, about that... I was wondering how I'm going to cast a spell when I can't even sense my mana just yet." Richard felt his shoulders fall a bit as he admitted this out loud.

"You will NOT be casting a spell today. You will begin learning HOW to cast a spell. There is a difference. I am well aware you have had no luck in sensing mana. That is a skill that will come with time and effort. You must be patient. You will continue your training in that this afternoon."

Richard nodded. That all made sense. "Alright, so what am I doing right now then?"

"The first, and most important, thing to learn in casting is how to clear your mind and focus on the spell you wish to cast. Distractions can have disastrous results." Yelxidore spoke as if he had given this instruction hundreds of times. He probably had. Richard had learned last night that Yelxidore was old. Not just old for an Elf, but old period. He might be the oldest being currently living. The knowledge and experience that his advanced age brought came with some considerable respect. That was how he had managed to convince the council to let him train Richard.

"Focus on a spell? That should be easy-peasy." Richard said smugly. "I can concentrate with the best of them when I have to."

The look Yelxidore gave him suggested that he doubted that. "Very well, if it is so easy, then sit in the circle." He gestured to a circle of runes in the center of the courtyard next to where he was currently standing. Richard complied, crossing his legs. "Very good. Now I want you to form the image of a bunt fruit in your mind. You are to hold that image in your minds eye until I have finished tending my garden." He lifted a small watering can in his hand.

Very confused at these odd instructions, Richard asked. "Imagine a bunt fruit?"

Yelxadore smiled. "I believe you know it well. It is a small green fruit, pink flesh, crunchy white seeds."

Richard rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know what a bunt fruit is." He had developed quite a taste for them. They were juicy and tasted like a fresh bowl of Fruity Pebbles. "I'm just not sure I understand how that's supposed to help me learn to cast a spell."

"It will help you learn to focus on a single objective. The image you focus on itself is irrelevant. I have simply seen you eat enough bunt fruit that I was sure you would have no problem imagining them."

"Oh, ok then. I'll imagine a bunt fruit."

"Then your training starts..." Yelxidore clapped his hands the runes around the circle glowed and a dull, red light enveloped Richard. "Now." He turned and hummed as he began watering his flowers.

Richard closed his eyes and focused his mind on the bunt fruit. He thought of the slightly bumpy texture of its skin, the bright, almost neon green hue it had. Richard held this image in his mind while Yelxidore wandered his garden humming and watering his plants. He had held this image in his mind for a few minutes when a snippet of Yelxidores song caught his attention. 'Hey, that sort of sounded like...' Richard yelped as it felt like someone had shoved thousands of needles into his brain. The pain was gone almost as soon as it was there, but the memory remained.

"Just over four minutes." Yelxidore said as though Richard hadn't just yelled in pain.

"What the hell was that?!" Richard demanded, jumping out of the circle.

"That was an example of the things that can go wrong when you mess up your casting." Yelxidore still hadn't stopped watering.

"Why didn't you warn me that was going to happen?!" Richard was getting angry again.

"To give you a real test. This way, you see what can happen in a real-world scenario should you lose concentration, but without the risk of harming anyone else. Had you known what would happen then you would have concentrated more studiously than you would have, had you thought you could let your mind wander."

This explanation did nothing to assuage Richards temper, but it did make sense. "So, is this how you train everyone?" He asked sharply.

"Yes." Yelxidore finally turned back to Richard. His face was stony. "It is the way I was trained, and it is the way I have trained all of my apprentices. If you wish to be my apprentice, you will also train this way. Or, if you prefer, we can go back to the council and let them make a different decision."

This cooled Richards head. "No. I don't want to go back to the council. I'm sorry for snapping. I just... I'm sorry."

Yelxidores face softened as well. "It is an understandable reaction. Just remember; all I do, I do for the good of my apprentices. I would rather you grow to hate me from lessons than to make a mistake in practice and mortally injure yourself." Richard nodded silently. "Ok then. Back to the circle."

Richard hesitantly sat back in the circle as the red glow resumed around him. Forming the image of the bunt fruit again, he focused for as long as he could before yet another intrusive thought cause the pins to be shoved into his brain again. Richard did this over and over as Yelxidore tended his garden. He didn't manage to last more than about 5 minutes each time. Thankfully, Yelxidore only took about an hour to finish his task. Getting to his feet, Richard wiped away the tears that had fallen over the last few failures.

"I know, my boy. I know." Yelxidore was by his side, helping steady himself. "You did very well. Many do not last the full hour the first time. Come, let us get some lunch."

They headed to the dining room, where lunch was ready. As they ate, Yelxidore set a new schedule for Richard. From breakfast to an hour before lunch, he was to maintain his study of Magical Theory. Then, he would join Yelxidore in the courtyard to train his concentration. After lunch, Yelxidore would continue to help him learn Sense Mana.

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It had been a month since Yelxidore had started training him. Richard spent every day learning one aspect of magic or another. Magic Theory was finally starting to make more sense. Richard could go for ten or more minutes without getting distracted while in the concentration circle. But best of all was what he was looking at right now.

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New Skill Learned! Sense Mana. You have learned how to interact with the intangible world around you.

Advanced to Level 2! You have learned enough skills and/or gained enough experience to allow you to learn more advanced techniques! Along with that, you have learned to sense your bodys abilities more acutely, allowing you to grow in a way more to your liking. 5 stat points are available to spend. Stat menu is now available from the main window.

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He had heard that small ding again and felt that bubbling sensation in his chest. It was like when carbonation tickled your nose. This time, however, there had also been a pleasant warmth that spread throughout his body. 'The bubbling must be when I learn a new skill. And the warmth must be from leveling up.' Richard thought to himself. 'A whole month to get to level two and learn two skills. I seriously hope that it took so long because I'm mainly just sitting around studying and not because that's how long it takes to do stuff around here.'

"Well?" Yelxidore looked at him expectantly.

'Oh, right, he can't see the information.' Richard thought. "Uh, it says I've learned Sense mana and reached level two."

Yelxidore nodded. "I thought you were close to learning Sense Mana. I would occasionally see you turn to look at denser packs you were catching out of the corner of your eye."

Richard laughed. "Oh, is that what that was? And here I thought I was seeing things and starting to go mad from studying all the time."

Yelxidore shook his head. "No, my boy, you are just finally taking your first steps as a mage." A thoughtful look came over him. "I have been giving some consideration to your class. Read it off to me again, just to be sure."

Richard was pretty sure Yelxidor remembered every single thing ever said to him. But he pulled up his guild crystal again and read his class description out loud. "'Magi Knight. A primarily physically defensive class that uses magic to aid itself and allies.' I gotta say I still don't like the part where you explained that I'm just supposed to draw enemies attention and let them whale on me." Richard could almost feel the contusions forming just thinking about it.

"Yes. Well, truth be told, your class is a bit of a conundrum. Usually, a Knight can choose one of two paths. They can be defensive, as your description reads, or they can choose to focus on offense. Your path seems to have been chosen for you. On top of that, they don't normally get any magic. Same with Mages. Normally those who can learn magic choose a path that they want to follow. Elementalist, Support, Healer, there are many sub-classes available for Mages."

"Wait, now I'm confused. The information I've been studying seemed to say that anyone who can touch mana can learn to use any magic. But now you're saying they can't?" Scratching the back of his head, Richard sat back down at the library table.

"I know Magical Theory is not one of the easiest of subjects to learn. But no. A Mage cannot just use any magic they want. And at the same time, yes, they can." He summoned a flame in one hand. "Elemental magic, subclass fire. You've read that the more you use a spell, the stronger your spell becomes, yes?" Richard nodded, and Yelxidore flared the flame bringing it to a light level that made it hard for Richard to keep his eyes open. "So tell me. When I can cast a flame spell strong enough to turn a man to ashes in seconds, then why would I also train a spell to paralyze a man?"

"To be more rounded? To have options? Maybe you don't have enough mana to cast your flame spells, but you could paralyze the person and escape instead." Richard spitballed.

Yelxidore chuckled. "Yes, those are good options. But remember, most mages have a limited amount of mana to pull on. If I spend all of my mana learning to be offensive with fire, I don't have the mana left to practice support magic. And before you say it, yes, I could practice both to a lesser degree. But what would the point in that be when my peers could do the same thing, but better because they had focused on one subclass? On top of that, Mages tend to be frail. We strengthen the mind and our connections to the ethereal. This takes as much time to strengthen as it does to train the body."

Richard felt like he understood. "Yes, that does make sense."

"Good, then back to the topic at hand. Since you have managed to successfully learn Sense Mana you will no longer need to practice that. Sense Mana is one of the skills that does not get any better the more you use it. It just is. Therefore you have a surplus of time in the afternoons that we can fill. I will see to getting you a trainer for your more physical skillsets."

"Really? You're going to have someone teach to me fight? I kinda thought the next step would be actually learning to cast spells or something. Plus you just told me Mages don't study fighting."

"Soon." Yelxidore nodded to himself. "You still have some work to do on your concentration lessons. But I imagine you'll be ready to start learning to cast soon. And as far as your class is concerned, though you can learn magic, you are not a Mage. It would be wrong of me to treat you as such. You have taken your first steps towards learning magic, but you have skills that are going to waste right now, and I would have you learn the proper use of them."

Richard felt very deflated to learn it would be even longer until he would learn to cast any spells. This wasn't how he had imagined his new life would go. He had expected to spend his days slaying monsters, finding treasures, and his nights drinking, feasting, and bedding beautiful women of various races. He hoped he could get to the fun stuff soon.