Even though Glim didn't fall asleep right away he got out of his bed as soon as he woke up. He feared that if he fell back asleep Roth wouldn't start teaching him magic right away.
Glim was soon presentable. When he left his room he saw that Roth was making some breakfast. He wanted to ask right away, but he knew that it would only make Roth grumpy.
Glim just silently went and waited at the table. He watched as Roth made breakfast. When the food was ready Roth served himself and Glim a bowl.
They both ate their breakfast in silence. Glim didn't want to come off to pushy and aggravate Roth, but he almost couldn't hold it on any longer. He withheld though.
"Alright. From your stares I'm assuming you're ready to start learning magic?"
"Yes!"
Glim answered right away.
"Here you go then. Enjoy."
Roth then pulled a slightly aged book and handed it to Glim. This wasn't what he expected.
"What did you think? That I was going to teach you how to cast spells and the secrets of the universe on the first day?"
"...kind of?"
"Well I'm not. Magic can be very dangerous and waste a lot of time if you don't know what you are doing. This book will cover a lot of the basics. When I come back this evening I'll see how much you have retained."
Roth then gathered his things and headed off to town for the day. Glim was left all by himself with the old and stained book.
'Well, lets get to it then. Didn't really imagine studying in this world like I did in college though.
Roth put away his dishes, grabbed the book and headed outside to read. He enjoyed the cool morning breeze and the sun was still low in the sky. It was a beautiful morning.
Glim found a spot on the log bench next to the house facing the sun and got started.
****
Hello readers.
This book covers the basics of magic as told by me, the great mage Anthony. I have accomplished many great things with my magic and so can you.
I myself have a high earth affinity, which I might add is the best affinity, but I can still use all other affinities.
Before we get into all the details of affinities, spells, and the wonders of being a mage i have a question for you. Why do you want to be a mage?
Do you want power? Do you want money? Women? Men? Is it adventure you seek? Or the thrilling battles of whit, skill and power between mages? To leave your mark on history as a famous magus?
People are born all the time. People die all the time. There have been an uncountable number of great mages before you and there will be just as many after you.
What separates a good mage from an average mage is a combination of knowledge, talent, and whit's. What separates a great mages from a good mage is drive and a goal.
You are the one in charge of your life. Do with it what you will. Follow your dreams. I certainly have.
****
Well this got Glim thinking. Why did he really want to learn magic?
Glim only wanted to be a mage in the beginning because Roth was. The power of magic would help him in life greatly and he could make plenty of money being a mage as well.
Besides that he didn't really have a reason besides that it was cool. I mean who wouldn't want to be able to throws fireballs or bolts of lightning into the faces of their enemies?
Glim though about this for a moment before he pushed it off. He didn't have to decide his life goal right now. He still had plenty of time. He still had to come to grips whit what he really was after all.
After the introduction the book started to expand on affinities.
****
Affinities are separated into six basic affinities. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Light, and Dark.
These are the basic elements that make up magic. Every mage is predisposed towards one more than the others.
Take me for an example my affinity is earth. My spells have the power to shape the earth. I can mold, harden, soften, or do anything else I want to it as long as I have the mana.
I can also use the other elements to a lesser degree.
Now there are different levels of affinities though. Those with a higher affinity in an element have an easier time controlling that element. This means that their time spent working on this element can be several times more efficient than training with another.
At the early stages it might not make much of a difference, but later it can mean a great deal.
When someone has an affinity in just one of these elements we call that a basic affinity. When the rare individual come along that has two affinities we call that a dual affinity.
There are the even rarer ones that have three or more basic affinities as well, but they are not common.
Then there are divergent affinities. These are people that have a basic affinity, but more specific. For example if someone had an ice Divergent affinity they still have a basic water affinity. Their affinity is just more focused on a single aspect of the affinity though.
An ice affinity grants the mage an easier time in using ice than plain water. These affinities are as rare as dual affinities.
Then we have the complex affinities. These affinities are even more rare and not much is know about them specifically. Someone who has a complex affinity has two or more basic affinities.
Unlike a normal dual basic mage though thy have a different effect. While a the mage with the dual basic affinities has an easy time in training in both his affinities the complex affinity has another advantage.
They can mix their elements much easier and produce a much more powerful effect. For the same input as a dual mage a greater output is given.
There have been very few mages with complex affinities. Those that have them either live to be some of the greatest magus's the world has ever seen or die before they know what hit them.
****
Glim found this book quite informative. Just from the first section he was learning more about magic than he had picked up from Roth in the last fifteen years.
The next section of the book talked all about what each element did. The most simple was fire element. It burned. With it you could cause explosion or cause other forms of destruction.
Apparently fire mages were almost always good combat mages. It made sense. They sounded very good at killing and destruction.
After that there was water. Water is very flexible and can be used for many things. It has the ability to easily change it shape. On the downside it was never very solid though.
Next it talked about Wind. With it you could move faster and even make long range attacks in the form of wind blades. Some wind mages even could cast spells that would let them fly!
Earth was the longest section. The author expressed many times how earth was the best element. He kept raving about how it was the strongest element.
With it you could literally shape the world. Earth mages made some of the best architects. In battle they could provide defenses, an escape route underground, or even surprise attacks below the enemies feet.
Glim could also tell this mage Anthony was a bit off his rocker when they praised the majesty of ants.
Glim had been told since he was young about magical beasts. Just like some humans can use magic so can other living things. He was told fearsome stories of magical beasts that lurked in the mountains.
The author talked about how ant magic beasts are the best earth mages. They lived in the earth after all. Apparently he had even named one of his spells "Doom Chomp" after their chomping mandibles.
After his raving of ants he went on to explain the basics of light and dark elements. Light was the element of life. With it one could heal wounds and restore life.
Dark was the opposite of it. The dark element was death. Spell of the dark element could do anything from paralyzing to rotting the flesh right off the victim.
Unlike fire that was all about power and heat, dark was cold and effective. Some of the most deadly mages had dark affinities. They would bring death and despair on their enemies.
Anthony went on to say that even though light and dark elements were technically a basic affinity they were still more rare than the other basic elements.
He explained that this was why light affinity healers were so sought after. All the other affinities could hurt other, but light could heal.
Glim realized that Roth might be more special than he realized. Here he was, a healer in this remote village. If he went to more populated places he could probably have a much better life.
The figure of Roth the simple village healer got a little more mysterious in Glim's mind now. He had to have a good reason for coming out to the middle of nowhere with his abilities.
Glim just put that with the multitude of questions he has gathered in the past two days.
Apparently affinities don't manifest right away. When someone gets the "spark", or unlock their mana, there is to little mana. Even if you tried to cast a spell there just isn't enough mana to do anything.
One has to wait until their mana grows to be able to learn their affinity. They didn't go into any specifics on how this mana would grow though and that miffed Glim a bit. Was it only waiting or could you train it? What was the point of telling him all this without telling him how to get better?
The book did mention an affinity testing stone. It was a device that let a young mage know their affinity. They took complicated spells and specific resources to craft though.
This made them expensive. Glim figured that it would be nice to use one, but he could still just try all the elements and see which one felt the best. It might not be the most effective, but it would have to do.
Glim spent most of the day reading the book. Roth had taught him to read from a young age so it wasn't a problem.
Glim took a break a few times for a small snack or to stretch his legs. It was quite a change of pace to be sitting around all day. He was usually out walking in the forest when he had free time.
He didn't really play with the kids from the village all to often though. Glim preferred to be alone most of the time. Since he had been a bit more mature for his age he never really liked playing hero with the other kids.
Soon the sun had passed over head and was heading down.
Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop.
With the sound of the horse came Roth. He had finished his work in town and was home for the day.
"Welcome back Roth"
"Mmm. Have you been reading like I told you?"
Roth knew Glim was usually more serious, but he also knew he could be quite lazy at time.
A few times when he had gone out to harvest herbs he had stopped somewhere and took a nap for most of the day! He came back with his sack almost empty!
Roth hoped he would carry his serious side into this instead of his lazy.
"Yeah. I learned a lot."
"I'll just have to see how much you learned then."
Roth then started to question about Affinities, the properties of all the elements and how they interact. After several rounds of questions and answers Roth seemed satisfied.
Glad that Glim hadn't slacked off today Roth went to start preparing dinner. Glim helped as well. He hadn't really done much today besides sitting around, so he was glad to be up and moving for a bit.
Once the food was all made and served they started to eat. As glim looked over at Roth's tired and wrinkly face his questions about Roth's past from before came back to his mind.
"Roth, why did you come here?"
"What?" This question caught Roth off guard. He had expected Glim to ask him when he was going to learn spells or something along those line. Not about his past.
"Well you are a healer. I learned from the book that you gave me that healers are very valuable. If you lived in a city you could charge much more for your services. Why did you come all the way out here just to heal some farmers?"
"Hhaaa...." Roth made a sigh. He knew that Glim would eventually ask about his past. Even more so now that he learned about magic.
"Let me respond with this. What do you think my affinity is?"
"You're a healer so it's light right?"
Glim only ever saw Roth use magic to heal or cause a small spark to cause a fire.
"Wrong."
Roth then waved his hand and a small ball of water floated above his hand. It was crystal clear and smooth as a ball of glass.
"Water? I've never seen you use it though."
"I have never used a real water spell in front of you because I never needed to. My Affinity is water though. I do have a minor affinity in light though."
"Minor affinity?"
The book hadn't mentioned anything about minor affinities.
"Yes. When a mage trains in their affinity they spend most of their time on it. They can use other elements, but it is harder and takes more mana. I spent a little time to practice light magic when I could and I got better at it over time. It is nothing close to the power of true healers, but I can heal light wounds and stop severe wounds from getting worse."
"While I don't really have an affinity in light I have used it enough that I am fairly proficient at it. Mages commonly call this a minor affinity for simplicity. Your natural affinity is often called your major affinity as well."
'This sounds similar to a major and minor in school. While you knew a lot about your major, you still knew a decent about your minor.'
This just made Glim more confused though. Why would a water mage decide to go to the sticks to be healer?