Reborn With a Magic System

Phil flew out to greet Damion as soon as he and Elicia stepped off the bus from Argentum. The Snow Hawk happily took up its usual perch on the Ice mage's shoulder as they went back to his dormitory.

Once inside his bedroom, Damion transferred the cores from the Ice affinity Demonic Beasts from his spatial artifact to the Magic System Inventory. The box allowed all the cores to be stored in a single inventory slot. Inside the box rested one C Rank core, eight D Rank, seven E Rank and six F Rank cores. The Magic System was tightlipped on what the exchange rate was, from cores to store credit, but he assumed the higher Rank of the core, the more it was worth.

The rest of Damion's midyear break was spent intensifying his training. Since Mage Teft was not about to let him go back into the labyrinth without supervision, he was left to his old methods of training, physical exertion and casting spells until he got tired.

With Elicia training alongside him, using the spells he now had access to because of his new affinities was next to impossible. During spell practice, Damion was able to cast Earth Shard and Earth Prison through the use of the artifact he had purchased. However, trying to pretend to use an artifact when actually casting spells was limited to his Earth Affinity. Pulling out his sword so he could pretend to cast Fire magic would have been awkward and he was not hurt, so making using his light artifact to disguise casting Holy magic would be even stranger.

There were a few spells Damion could practice without Elicia noticing. During his meditations, while pretending to be condensing his mana to increase his magic power, Damion would cast Telekinesis on objects around him, slowly moving them around without Elicia noticing. But his options for this sort of training was limited.

By the time midyear break was coming to a close, Damion was growing frustrated with his daily practice. Despite casting a variety of spells, he did not receive any notifications from the Magic System that he increased a spell in mastery. And since he also did not have access to new spells, he was stuck in place on experience and credits for the Magic System.

Elicia did her best to minimize his growing frustration. And while their relationship had not grown beyond cuddles and kisses, they were both growing closer with each other and were happy with how things were. Unfortunately, time continues on, and change is inevitable. The weekend before classes were to begin again, Mage Teft met with Damion to discuss his classes for the next term.

"Here is your list of classes. Despite my efforts and the fact that you already have an Adventurer License, Headmaster Sorin has required you participate in the Wilderness Survival course."

Damion looked from Mage Teft to the list of classes she just transferred to his tablet. Several of his classes he expected; Beastology 2, which this term would study Demonic Beasts. Artificing, which was an extension of Magical Materials and Their Uses. The class after Magical Plants and Their Effects was Alchemy. Aside from Wilderness Survival course, there were two other classes Damion had, one made him want to laugh, while the other he did not know anything about.

"Magical Law and Ethics," Damion said as he read his list of classes. "Should this school really be teaching me about law and ethics?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"While there are undoubtably some less than savory actions on the part of the school and the noble families, the class will focus on the letter of the law and how certain magic practices are illegal and why."

"So, everyone just ignores the hypocrisy of a class on ethics when the school and nobles routinely resort to blackmail to entrap commoner mages?"

"In a word, yes," Mage Teft confirmed. "Most nobles tend to classify commoner students as one of three things, knights, low talent and exceptional talent. The students lacking magic talent they call knights. To nobles, they aren't worth recruiting. Low talents, are ones that they will recruit, if possible, but otherwise are content to take a contribution from them to diversify the noble family's bloodline."

"And exceptional talents are ones they want to recruit no matter what," Damion finished. "Like me. Which one were you?"

Mage Teft looked at Damion calmly, considering her words, for a few long seconds before answering.

"I did not quite fall on their scales evenly. I have midrange magic talent, but an A Rank affinity. Through dedication and training, my progress was faster than many elite noble students, which made them want to recruit me."

"And when you refused?"

"When I refused, they made things difficult for my family. Let's return to your class schedule shall we. Your final class, Theurgy, will be the study of where magic comes from, how it interacts with the world and the creation of enchantments, artifacts and magic seals."

"Didn't I already study magic seals in the Nashto class?"

"You had an assignment, which everyone almost always fails, to make a magic seal. Theurgy will study the proper methodology of creating magic seals as well as other magically powered things."

"Elicia told me there would be a career day?"

"Yes. During the third week of the term. Once all the students are locked into being either elite students or standard students."

"Does the status of being an elite student affect what careers I can choose from?"

"No, but it does signify a certain status and the representatives coming to the school from various guilds, Orders and institutions look at that status, as well as your school record, when they decide if they want to try and recruit someone."

"Should I be expecting another round of entrapment to get me to join their cause?"

"No. The representatives that will try to recruit you for one career or another, want your full and willing devotion to your new job. If you can't give your best, why keep you around."

"Will Headmaster Sorin try to obstruct them from recruiting me? After all, he is still hoping I'm going to join his family, isn't he?"

"After you sent Annabelle away, he has been trying to find a… different approach. Possibly even trying to bring Elicia back into the Sorin family."

"I suppose I should warn her," Damion said. He wanted to believe Elicia would not go back to a family that had thrown her away, but the allure of family was hard to resist.

"She is probably already aware of the possibility. Her grandfather is a persistent man, though, not always patient. If he had tried a more subtle approach on recruiting you then…"

"You think I would have fallen into his trap?"

"Roads not traveled are best not dwelled upon," Mage Teft said, as she glanced into the distance.

"What career did you choose?" Damion asked suddenly.

"I'm a teacher, I choose to try to impart my knowledge to future generations and to try to look after the ones that come through here with no family backing."

"I meant right after you graduated. You couldn't become a teacher right away, right? Did you go to another school to, um, learn to be a teacher?"

"You, like the Headmaster, lack subtlety. You shouldn't be worrying about things that happened long before you were born. Go get your new books from the commissary and start reading ahead for your new classes."

Seeing how he was dismissed, Damion left Mage Teft's office and did as he was told. Once he was back in his dormitory, despite what Mage Teft had said, he still gave Elicia a warning that the Headmaster would likely be trying to recruit her.