Sage Pennteller practically tripped over himself coming out of the room, spotting a nearby maid he requested to be brought to Zakath to discuss Alex affinities.
Elsewhere in the mansion
Lilly and Anna were both sitting in a huff as Mira and Ms Rightworth were attempting to teach them basic etiquette for noble ladies, to say the lesson wasn't going well was an understatement with both girls being stubborn and argumentative, things finally came to a head when Ms Righworth snapped at the girls threatening no dinner if they continued to misbehave. This did not go down well as both girls eyes seemed to almost glow and small growls could be heard coming from them, which would have been adorable if the look on their faces didn't promise imminent violence. Mira was shocked at the display and suggested Ms Rightworth have small break while she calmed down the girls.
After the door clicked shut upon Ms Righworth departure Mira turned to the two girls looking at them sternly, "What has gotten into you two?"
The two girls looked at each other then back to Mira and simultaneously, "We don't like being separated from Alex!" they exclaimed.
Mira frowned and realized that the 3 of them had never been away from each other be it sleeping eating or bathing the did everything together for the past 6 years. She mentally sighed to herself realizing the blunder they had made allowing the girls to spend their time with Alex. It didn't help that Alex was a natural born dragon tamer and the girls got a large amount of comfort just from his presence. Mira put on her serious face.
"Girls while Alex and the both of you have spent nearly all your time together growing up you can't always be together all the time." She explained patiently "As you get older you will have to start sleeping in separate rooms and you will both have different things that interest you".
The girls hung their heads, "Yes Aunty Mira" they chimed at the same time.
"Good girls" Mira patted them on the head "Make sure you apologize to Ms Righworth when she comes back in.
Elsewhere in Zakaths study
"No is no Hubert" exasperatedly barked out, "Alex is not going the mages academy"
Hubert Pennteller slumped a little at the denial, "You've seen the results of his affinity tests that boy has the potential to be the greatest mage to walk to planet, twin master affinities and a medium affinity for space magic I've never heard of something so absurd. The chance of something like this occurring is about the same as walking to a random spot on a beach shoving your hand into the sand and finding a diamond" he softly ranted.
Zakath sighed "I'm aware of that my friend but I remain adamant on this he will not go to the mages academy, the most I will allow you invite specialists in space, wind and fire magics to help teach.
"Can you at least tell me why old friend?" Hubert asked in a defeated tone.
Looking at his old friend Zakath nodded, "Very well but this information goes no further I trust you Hubert but not those around you this is not to be repeated to anyone"
Hubert nodded "I swear"
Zakath took a deep breath and slowly released it, "Alex is a natural born dragon tamer"
His words hit Hubert like a ton of bricks, "So the dragon race finally has a ray of hope" he muttered, "No wonder you won't allow him out of your sight".
Nodding his head solemnly Zakath explained how he came across Alex on that fateful day as well as his future plans for the lad.
A glimmer appeared in Hubert's eyes, "I promise to teach the lad to the best of my ability on my title as the Omni magus I will drill that boy in the intricacies of magic until it leaks out his ears".
Elsewhere in the mansion Alex looked up from the book as a shiver ran up his spine, he frowned shaking of the feeling then immersed himself back into the book.
Hubert headed back to where he left Alex, a spring in his step at the thought of teaching such a gifted student, Zakath had explained how Alex absorbed knowledge at a rapid rate telling him he was fully capable of reading writing and math by the time he was four. His meeting had taken up the better part of an hour. He opened the door to the room he had left Alex was still absorbed in the book he had given him before leaving.
*Cough*
Startled out of his reading by the noise Alex looked around to see Sage Pennteller had come back.
"Hello teacher" Alex greeted him with a grin
Nodding his head Hubert pulled what appeared to be a smooth perfectly round stone from somewhere in his robe, "Alright Alex lets get a measure of your mana, just place your hand on the orb in my hand and it will determine you mana purity and capacity", Hubert held out the black orb.
Alex placed his hand on top of the orb and suddenly 3 rings of pure white burst out around the orb. Hubert smiled while Alex stared in curiosity. Seeing the look on Alex face Hubert began to explain. "Mana capacity is divided into four sections with an upper and lower for each, the three rings you brought out indicate that your mana capacity sits at the lower moderate level, the color tells us how pure your mana is yours is pure white meaning your mana is naturally very pure".
Alex nodded as Hubert put the orb away in his robe.
"In simple terms Alex it means you don't have very large reserves of magical energy but the energy you do have is incredibly pure increasing its potency. This means vs any mage if you both cast the same spell with the same amount of mana in it your spell will be naturally stronger due to the purity of your mana. Your mana capacity can be both a blessing and a curse, a blessing because you don't have vast reserves to draw from it will force you to truly master spells and not just brute force things many mages tend to do with large reserves, and a curse in that until you master the proper usage of your mana you will be at a distinct disadvantage against any magical opponent who has a bigger capacity then yourself.
Seeing the troubled look on the young boys face Hubert chuckled, "Don't fret about your mana capacity it will grow as you do, based on past experience your mana capacity will be lower high tier once you finish growing.
Alex heaved a sigh of relief at Huberts words.
Chuckling at his reaction Hubert continued "one very important thing to keep in mind when it comes to magic is imagination and intent are the key to casting a spell"
A confused look crossed Alex face.
"You need to be able to shape your mana into the desired form this take imagination" a small ball of fire appeared on his hand, "and then you need intent to create the desired effect", he gently lobbed the fireball up into the air where it exploded with a small poof and the heat in the room jumped up. "Some of the greatest mages to ever live had small mana pools and middling purity but had amazing imaginations and intent allowing them to compete with mages with much higher capacities and purities".
Hubert stretched out a hand and tapped Alex on his forehead with his finger.
"First and foremost, the most important thing for a great mage is to have great brain. While you can learn spells by copying examples of past mages and using their incantations these spells will invariably be weaker than someone who has learned how to make the same spell themselves. On top of this if you have learnt a spell by creating it yourself rather than copying it you don't need an incantation as the information on how to create the spell is embedded in you it will be a chantless spell. The downside to this is that learning a spell in this way takes a lot longer than learning the copy".
Hubert was really enjoying teaching the basics to Alex it had been such a long time since he had such a promising student and he was letting his excitement get the better of him.
"Finally the biggest benefit from self-taught spells over copied spells is mastery, a copied fireball spell will always do the same thing with no variation sure you can make it more powerful by pumping more mana in it but that's where it stops, a self-taught spell can be manipulated in any way want allowing a single spell to be used for multiple situations".
Alex eyes were starting to glaze over as even his capacity to absorb information was starting to hit its limit, Hubert chuckled as he noticed this.
"Good to see this young lad has some limits", he thought to himself, patting Alex on the shoulder Hubert told him that they were finished for the day and they would pick up again tomorrow he ushered Alex out the door.
Once the door closed Hubert stood there an excited grin on his face and suddenly danced a little jig, finally a student he could invest everything into he had his almost undivided attention for the next two years until his combat instructor came according to Zakath even then 6 years in total he was determined to make sure Alex was firmly on the path to being a mage worthy of being the last disciple of the Omni Magus.