"Come in, come in, don't be shy! Shyness is not the best quality for a wizard! The main thing is his knowledge and experience, everything else is trivia! I personally like a talented sloven much more than a plodding mediocrity! Well, if there is a talent and diligence - then just great!"
Master Saag-Kof seemed to radiate the most cordiality with no moralizing or scolding of latecomers, so Tim liked him immediately.
"He is a first-class tutor, such schoolmasters should be more!" Ri-Bo expressed the general opinion after the class.
The Master's lecture was like a circus performance, where the teacher alternately played the roles of a ringmaster and a prestidigitator.
"So you've come here to learn the mysteries of Elemental magic? That's great! And I firmly believe that you will succeed! Now, who can tell me how many Elements there are and what they are? Four? That's right! Fire, Air, Stone and Water. And even though Fire is the only one that burns blindingly red, just the red color became the symbol of Elemental magic! And it wasn't occasionally because all the other was born of a flame! And if it were not for its warming breath, our world would have turned into a lifeless ice desert! Look, isn't it beautiful, especially when embodied in a graceful form? Ahkdinz lujamo tinh kurrim!"
With wave of his wand myriad sparks of fire lighted up above the audience (the drowes and yusmes had to shield their eyes and hide under their desks); they merged to form an enormous bird with bright orange plumage.
"It's a phoenix! Isn't it beautiful? It consists of pure flame and, when it dies, it turns into ash, from which a new phoenix will emerge after a while."
Eh, a pity I didn't take my cell phone with me, thought Tim, what pictures I could make now! Who else would believe when he returned to Earth that he had seen a real firebird? From the other hand, even if he'd had his wits about him, the phone wouldn't have served long, there's nowhere to charge it.
"But here is too cold and uncomfortable for it. So it's better to let it back!" and with another wave of the wand the firebird was gone.
"The phoenix is the sacred bird of our people," Naar-Tam whispered. "It sits on the shoulder of our greatest deity, the Fire Lord. I've been to the main capital's temple a few times with my parents and have seen it there. They live in places so hot that even we, peirots can't get into."
Selkise, sitting not far from their company, was furtively wiping away her sweat, as Tim had noticed. Yes, the teacher had to be careful with some of the spells, because they weren't the only peirots in the school, after all. But Master Saag-Kof seemed unconcerned with such trivialities.
"Fire is a wonderful thing, but there are other elements, too! And it wouldn't be fair not to pay a little attention to them! Air, for example. A mage skilled in it could always make a cool breeze when he's feeling a little warm. You'll see!"
Tim was quick to seize the grimoire and hold it tightly against him. Most of his classmates were less successful: reigning in the lecture-room hurricane threw to the floor their grimoirs and wands and they had to retrieve them from under the desks.
"Besides it, Air Masters were highly valued in the old days, especially by captains of long-distance voyages," the teacher went on as if nothing had happened. "The presence of such a Master on board ensured that the ship would never be caught in a storm or flat calm, always in a fair wind! But what if the ship suddenly begins to leak? Then you will be helped by knowledge of water magic!"
If only he wouldn't create pouring rain as during the festive dinner, Tim thought with anxiety. Luckily, this time Master Saag-Kof limited himself with small short-run snowfall, so no one had time to freeze. And at the same time he promised to teach Water Breathing and Water Walking. The only question is how to use them in practice if there is no water pond nearby.
Once he was done with Water, the Master moved on to the fourth element, Stone. Tim mentally prepared to flee the classroom if he thought of using Earthquake. But instead of it an awkward humanoid figure as though cobbled together from a number of stones appeared on the rostrum.
"Let me introduce Datun, the Stone elemental. Sure, it's not exactly a model of beauty, nor is it as agile as the Fire or Air elementals, but few can stay on feet after hitting of its fist! And also it is able to carry things a lot heavier its own weight! See how useful a companion you could get if you mastered the magic of Stone!"
It's unlikely you could summon such a golem and place it at your service without being a Master, Tim thought. But what spells of Stone magic can be simpler? In the computer games which Tim used to play this type of sorcery almost wasn't presented. Usually it was limited to such spells as Earthquake or Stone Fall. Or again, summoning a golem.
With a wave of his wand Master Saag-Kof released the elemental, and then continued his speech.
"You almost certainly have a question: how do the Elements interact with each other? Oh, there's a lot to talk about here, too! Each Element has its own character, and you should take it into account if you're experimenting with more than one of them at the same time! And because a true explorer never restricts his or her pursuit of knowledge, it's very helpful to learn a few simple rules. Fire is no friend of Water, which tends to extinguish it. Oh, of course, a drop of water will not cope with a conflagration, but when the forces are equal, Water will definitely win. But there is also a way to deal with Water - Air! A strong wind will dry out even a very big puddle! And if it will be blowing continuously for a very long time, it will dry the entire ocean! But it is impotent against Stone; even hurricane can do nothing those who are in reliable stone shelter! Do you understand now, why there is no wind under the ground? It is very uncomfortable for the Air inside the Stone. But it is not a hindrance for Fire: the intense heat makes rigid bodies crack or even melt, and then one can only hope for Water! What do we have as a result? Those who listened to me carefully have probably already guessed it! The result is a vicious circle where each Element is stronger than some other and weaker than the third one. Besides, there are preferences within the circle as well: Fire is friends with Air, and Stone with Water. Be sure to keep all this in mind when your opponent uses Elemental magic in a tournament! Put out his Wall of Fire with a Downpour, and put a Stone Shield in the way of Headwind!"
Tim barely had time to take notes - it would have taken a stenographer. Ri-Bo didn't bother again, not even touching the stylus.
"Surely it's all in the textbooks, why bother?"
"Maybe so, maybe not. Better write it down just in case."
"I wonder if there's a spell that transfers everything you say to paper without you having to do anything."
No one answered that question as Master Saag-Kof spoke again. Tim could, of course, talk about a device that converts speech sounds into a text file, which is then easy to print out on a printer. But it would have taken too long to explain how it worked. Besides, he himself was not very clear about the mechanism of such a device. And the tilfing would have thought it was just another kind of magic.
"So, what else did I want to talk about? Of course, about the spells that combine the properties of several elements! Even though Water and Fire aren't friends with each other, you can still combine them in spells such as Boiling or Hot Steam. By combining Fire and Air you get Desert Wind, Water and Stone - Sticky Mud. There are a lot of spells like that, and new ones are being invented all the time! With a little training, you can start constructing formulas, too - a very exciting thing to do!"
Naturally, the question of how to do it immediately followed.
"It's very simple. Where do you think all these formulas come from? That's right: someone made them up some time ago! But they didn't necessarily looked the same as in your tutorials. For example, in order to create a ring of fire around yourself, you have to say 'burstan fehtrago dezrisst'. The pioneer of the formula is thought to be the sorcerer Wazernig. However, the sorcery reproducing from his notes surrounds a magician only with a semicircle; from the back he stays defenseless. It seems Wazernig knew about this shortcoming because in comments he advised to have wall, fence or chasm behind 'in order to enemy couldn't have stab in the back'. Two centuries later the other magician, Voan-Sur, modified the formula changing 'desmit' on 'dezrist' that allowed to obtain full circle of fire. After another five centuries Daltaar discovered that if instead of 'fentragi' one pronounce 'fehtrago', diameter of the circle may be significantly increased. And there were other replacements such as 'dezrist' on 'dezrisst' or 'vurstan' on 'burstan' turned out to be useful. Now you see how long and difficult may be the way of development of formulas you are getting ready!"
Some of the elves doubted that students who had just begun to learn magic were capable of inventing anything worthwhile.
"Why not? Droplet of a talent and a lot of desire can work wonders! One of the students at our school, after only a year and a half of study, managed to invent the Electric Shield! The formulas for the Fire and Ice Shields were known a long time ago, but the Electric Shield couldn't get into the hands, although attempts had been made repeatedly."
Another question followed - to which Element Electricity is related to.
"Electricity? To the Air, of course! And you'll find spells like Electric Discharge or Lightning Storm in the appropriate section. Some wizards have suggested that Metal and Electricity should be considered as separate Elements, but this point of view has not been universally accepted. And why should it be? Four Elements are enough."
And if you combine metal with electricity, you get electrical wiring, Tim thought mischievously. Local wizards would be strongly surprised if they knew that wires could conduct electricity! Though he could hardly find it here; on Earth wire was invented only when the need to transmit electricity over long distances arose. And to make it himself - he can't do without special equipment and appropriate skills.
Meanwhile, two more questions came from the front rows - about textbooks and which spells were the best to start with.
"Tutorials? Oh, there are so many, I can't even remember their titles! But in the library you'll undoubtedly be given an advice! The main thing is not to get too old books for the reason I mentioned earlier: they may not contain spells invented recently, and those invented long ago may not be represented by the most effective formulas. On the other hand, in ancient books you might come across some very interesting spells that were later, alas, rejected by the editors and not mentioned anywhere else. Although most often it was not because of their faulty ideas, they simply were not finished - some people lacked patience, and some got carried away by other developments. In the world of magic all sorts of things are happen! As to spells that require minimal amount of mana," Master Saag-Kof thought for a moment, "I suppose Spark of Flame, Breeze or Cold Touch would be will be the best for you, and further all what you want. For example, to do the same thing!"
A thick fog descended on the classroom, and it got very dark and damp. And then sunlight streamed in through the barred windows, followed by a rainbow.
"It's beautiful, isn't it? The magic of the elements can sometimes work wonders! But that's enough for today, the show's over! One point for everyone who liked it!"
Who in this situation would admit they didn't like it? And hardly those would be found after the demonstration of magic's true power. Under enthusiastic cries and applause Master Saag-Kof disappeared from the rostrum creating a final bolt of lightning that struck the floor where he'd just been.
Tim closed the grimoire with a sigh: he would have loved to have seen a few more tricks. Okay, a little bit of a good thing. Tidying top of the uniform he felt a weight in his left pocket. There was an oatmeal cookie in it; he'd managed to wake up early this morning and even visit the dining room. Creating plate with cookies he ate three of them, mechanically putting others in the pocket, and then went for the class. And only now he evaluated the significance of his discovery.
Unlike utensils, food doesn't go anywhere when you leave the dining room. That means you can stock up as much as you want! Or at least enough to go on a long expedition and not to die of hunger during it. It's more complicated with water - plastic bottles haven't been invented here yet. But together they'll probably figure something out!
His friends were already halfway to the exit; a little more and they would mingle with the crowd.
"Hey, wait!" Tim called out to them. "Hold on a minute!"
"What happened?" they turned around, looking in his direction with puzzled curiosity.
"There's one thing I want to show you!"
Even if some of his classmates looked around too, they probably lost interest now, deciding - lucky guy found a crystal, hardly a surprise to anyone. Surely most are already lucky enough to find at least one.
"Well, show me!" Ri-Bo was the first.
"What is it?" Naar-Tam looked at the cookies. "Where did you get these?"
"In the dining room, where else?"
"Is it food?" Mez'A'Shib asked semi-affirmatively.
"Yes, it is."
"Would you like to try it? Something tasty?"
"Why didn't you eat them all at once? You were saving it for last?"
"That's right. The food stays with you, otherwise you'd be hungry all the time. And you can order more than you need at any given time."
"And preferably something that won't go bad by evening," winked Mez'A'Shib, who had a pretty good idea what Tim was driving at.
"Or within a week," Naar-Tam followed with a hint.
"Hey! What are you stuck in there for?" being already in the doorway Tiis-Mir called out to them.
"We're just discussing whether to go straight to the woods or have lunch first," Ri-Bo reacted to the situation, and Tim hurried to put the cookies back in his pocket.
"What's there to think about, let's go to the dining room and then out into the fresh air! There's still plenty of time before Mind Magic class!"
"Then let's go!"
Tim had other plans that, for the time being, he didn't want to share with anyone, not even his friends. Wasn't his idea worth a little time alone? While his friends were busy putting it into practice, he should have time to find out something for himself. And so, as they made their way down to the ground tier and headed for the dining room, Tim excused himself under the pretext of the urgent need to visit 'a certain establishment'.
"Start without me for now, and I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Don't stay there too long!" Ri-Bo advised, to the amused laughter of the others.