Gerald turned and saw an old man, dressed in a light blue robe, walking toward him.
"Headmaster Orin Gezor," the receptionist respectfully bowed and greeted the old man.
"Mn," Orin nodded to the receptionist and then turned to Gerald and said, "Young man, you want to visit our library?"
"Yes. I would like to study magic, however, I can't wait half a year to join the Academy." Gerald answered him. It was not that he just didn't wanna wait, he didn't have any income and he couldn't afford to waste time waiting for something that might or might not happen in the future.
Knowledge is power, and he needed all the knowledge he could get his hands on, as soon as possible. If he could visit the library and learn more about the general state of the world as well as magic, he could make a better plan for the future.
"A young man that can't wait to learn magic, haha," laughed Orin. "We don't get much of those. Come, let's go to my office and see if we can come to an agreement," Orin Gezor indicated Gerald to follow him.
The receptionist had an angry and unwilling expression on his face, but he didn't say anything to retort his superior. Orin Gezor was the headmaster of the Magic Academy and he was known for his free spirit and soft heart. He often made exceptions to the Academy's rules.
Walking in the long hallway, they came to Orin's office. It was totally different from what Gerald imagined it to be. It looked more like some sort of laboratory. There were different sizes and colors of gems and plants that he has never seen before.
On the table were an alcohol burner and different vials with all sorts of chemicals and fluids inside. Papers were all over the place and the walls had shelves full of books and notebooks and a hexagon drawn on the wall, each corner representing an Element.
Orin noticed the curiosity in Gerald's eyes and said, "I have been researching magic for twenty years now and I have only scratched the surface. Unfortunately, most of the knowledge of our ancestors was lost in the Dark Ages and we had to start from scratch," he explained.
"What are the Dark Ages?" Gerald asked curiously.
"Oh, it's the time after the war when all the Mana was gone from the world for five thousand years. During that time almost all relics and knowledge of the past were lost. There were some ruins that managed to preserve a few artifacts, however, anything that is written is extremely damaged, or we can't understand it," Orin answered him.
Gerald could see the regret in his eyes. Recovering anything from ten thousand years ago was of course almost impossible. Especially books, they would rot and decay quickly, if they weren't protected.
"Let's not linger on the past. You want to visit the library, " Orin took a seat.
"That's right," Gerald said.
"What's your name young man?" headmaster Orin asked.
"It's Gerald, sir."
"Gerald, let me be honest. I would love to let you go to the library. However, my other colleagues don't like outsiders walking around the Academy, especially not the library," headmaster Gezor explained.
"I see." Gerald was somewhat disappointed but he understood his difficulty.
"But, I could give you a part-time job here at the Academy. We are currently in need of more people. You could work as my assistant or maybe you could help keep order in the library. Some books need to be copied and reorganized. That way those old fools would leave you alone. What do you think?"
The offer wasn't bad, however, Gerald wasn't ready to make a decision just yet. He should at least try to see things from a few different angles and then decide on the best course of action.
"I appreciate your offer, however, I will have to think about it for a while," he said. Then he remembered something that was bugging him for a long time and said, "Let me show you something. I wonder if you could tell me something about this book?" He pulled out the Elemental Codex and showed it to Orin Gezor.
Orin Gezor looked at the book "Oh, this?" Suddenly his eyes opened wide "This? … This! Is this what I think it is?!" His voice and hands were trembling as he extended his hand to grab the book. "Yes, yes it must be, it has to!" He was looking through the book hastily but carefully like he was afraid to damage the biggest treasure in the world.
"You recognize it?" Gerald was somewhat surprised.
Gerald's words woke Orin up from his excitement and cleared his throat before speaking, "Hmm, well no. I have personally never seen this book before, however, I have read about it from ancient documents that were found in an old ruin," he said. "I am absolutely certain it's this book. The Elemental Codex. It matches the description perfectly."
"So is it important?" Gerald was curious.
"Important? It's priceless! It contains the basic instructions on the bases of magic. If we can manage to translate it, it will be a huge help in our understanding and practice of magic," Orin said with an excited expression. For the incomplete magic theory, ancient knowledge could help speed up and deepen the magic understanding, which could further help stabilize the Kingdom of Myrtana.
"Young man, how much do you want for this book? Tell me a price and I'm sure we can come to an agreement," Orin said.
Gerald didn't know much about the value of money in this world and he couldn't really estimate the value of the book. On the other hand, he didn't learn all the spells from the book yet. If he sold it now he would probably regret it later. "I'm sorry but I'm not planning on selling this book."
Orin was stunned, "Why wouldn't you sell me this book? It's written in the ancient Elven language. Even I can't read it. What good would it do to you? I can give you ten gold coins for it, what do you say?"
Herald shook his head, "It's not about the money. I really can't separate from this book," he said. Besides ten gold coins didn't seem like it was enough for a priceless artifact.
Headmaster Gezer was thinking hard about how to get his hands on the Codex when he suddenly got an idea. "If you can't sell me the book then just let me borrow it for a few days…. Actually no. Lend it to me for a week. I will make a copy and then you can have it back."
"Hmm… so you would like the book for free?" asked Gerald. He wasn't exactly pleased with this suggestion.
"No, no, I'll of course exchange it for something. How about I make you our Academy's distinguished guest. That way you can come and go as you please and you can use the library as much as you want," he tried to convince Gerald.
He quickly grabbed a book from the shelf, "Here let me give you this as a gift. It's a copy of the Blood Codex, a book about Alchemy, also written by the ancient High Elves. We managed to translate a small part of it."
Gerald placed his hand on his chin, thinking. "A book and access to the library? How about we add something?"
"For example? " Orin asked nervously.
"You will help me answer any questions I might have about magic and alchemy. How does that sound?"
The old man was stunned for a moment and then laughed, "Just that? Haha, of course, of course, not a problem at all. As long as I can help, I'll do it."
Gerald extended his right hand and said, "Deal! "
"Deal!" Orin Gezor shook his hand with a big smile.