I had been born in a small village in the far northern country of Kilmarn in the village known as Angmarr's folly founded by a man named Angmarr who founded the village thinking he would make money running a tavern and in the end the tavern barely made anything but it did give rise to a village of its own. Angmarr's Folly sits in a valley about six kilometers long and three wide at the widest point and houses a population of fifty eight of the most stubborn rugged people you are likely ever to encounter. I was raised in this village of hardcase's and I grew up with a desire to explore so much so that I would be commonly found exploring the abandoned towers and the ruins nearby. The tale of the towers is that they had either been wizards towers or trade caravan protection towers in either case no one dared explore them as on one side wizards tend to leave nasty traps on the other hand if it's the guard then it's illegal to enter them and they also tend to have traps and anything you might find inside would be marked and simply trying to sell of possessing anything without express permission would see you losing a hand for theft. I honestly was either way too brave or idiotic as I was always looking at one of the towers either the gilded eastern tower with its spiky shape or the silver western tower with its more rounded shape.
On my fifteenth birthday I decided to explore the western tower and by shear luck and or possibly laziness the tower wasn't trapped in every possible way. I lucked out in not dying tampering with a wizards tower which it was infact but I did find a few strange things apparently it was a wizard who was of the peaceful variety a rare enough breed of wizard to be noteworthy. I found a few interesting books a crystal ball and a staff of gnarled wood and out of curiosity I touched the crystal ball which in hindsight I shouldn't have touched but I did and the thing lit up with a flash of blue energy before I removed my hand like I'd been biten by a snake. It was at that moment I realized that either I had magic or the ball was enchanted in either case learning magic might be my ticket to adventure and I decided that I'd spend all of my free time in the tower learning magic. After my first adventure in the wizards tower I visited the western wizards tower daily and read the books thankfully I never did encounter a trap and after three years I had actually learned a few cantrips though I never told anyone in the village.
One might think becoming a wizard was easy but honestly I'd compare it to trying to light a fire with only two sticks of wet wood near impossible but once you know the trick of it the process is slightly less difficult infact it took me two years to learn my first cantrip a simple light orb the most basic of cantrips with not a single dangerous part about it and it was very clearly spelled out in the first book I'd chosen to read I'd read that book so many times that I could nearly write it out again anew word for word and only then could I reliably cast the cantrip whi h isn't even a proper spell and supposedly was something anyone with the spark of magic could do. Once I'd mastered the light orb cantrip I learned three more cantrips the second was mages hand useful but still a relatively safe cantrip to learn and only slightly more difficult than the light orb the third cantrip I learned was a very simple shield which did exactly as advertised it created a shield of mana not the strongest of protections but it was about the size of a buckler when I first managed to cast it but after a few months I'd managed to get it to the size of a round shield about two and a half times bigger than it was and technically larger than it should have been but if I had read the book correctly it was actually not surprising as I apparently had the arcane mana aspect and it being an arcane cantrip that would effect the size and quality of my arcane spells though I was still learning. The last cantrip I learned was magic bolt a basic cantrip that was considered weak offensive magic and only just useful for chasing off peasants though it did mention that in the right hands arcane bolt could be quite deadly. I should mention that each cantrip I'd learned was in its own entire book and each book was very detailed about the inner workings and details of the spell to the point of basically spoon feeding the reader on how to use it and I had mastered the four cantrips I did in three years only because of the quality of the books I had sadly when I looked at anything that was classed as a proper spell I found them entirely indecipherable and by far more difficult. My eighteenth birthday arrived and I was told that from then on I was on my own the standard age when parents sent their kid's off into the world though they did give me some coins to start my new life and even offered to arrange a marriage but I declined and set off for the western wizards tower with what funds I had and all of the food I could pack.
I arrived at the wizards tower and started my training in earnest delving into the books and reading everything I could find and honestly I spent the next two years burried in books learning everything I could and then I finally learned my first proper spell which strangely enough was arcane blade which basically just created a sword in my hand for 5 minutes made of pure mana and as sharp as a butter knife all of it could be improved by meticulous study and diligent efforts. Learning arcane blade was my proudest moment and upon casting it the first time I was utterly disappointed if I'm honest but I kept at it until I had it down well enough to cast it on command and honestly by that point I'd refined the spell enough that it wasn't just a glorified giant butter knife but it had actually become a proper sword albeit still kind of dull.
I studied hard and finally mastered arcane blade turning it into a proper weapon though for a wizard it was a poor weapon still it was my first official spell and I almost rushed down to show it off to my parents but knowing the townsfolk despised magic quickly stopped that thought. I had a proper spell at nineteen and I was now officially classed as a novice mage and interestingly enough I was also technically a hedge wizard as I'd not joined one of the mages colleagues to learn magic.
It took me three years to learn my next spell which was the precursor of fire ball every young man's first thought of when they say wizard I learn fire bolt much like arcane bolt it was considered a weak offensive spell and unsurprisingly it was actually harder to master due to my own magical aspect but it wasn't crazily difficult just harder due to it being fire aspected. I had learned 4 cantrips and two spells in under 10 years not bad considering that I had no mentor and was forced to learn from books and if I had been in a wizards college it would put me in the top of the class granted I was only learning cantrips and tier one spells and those my age might be learning their first tier two spells by my age.
-----------Spells and cantrips known--------
Cantrips-
Mage hand - proficient
Arcane bolt - Mastered
Arcane shield- Mastered
Light orb - Mastered
Spells-
Arcane blade - Mastered
Fire bolt - proficient
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Titles - Hedge Wizard
Ranking - novice wizard
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I was nose deep in a book learning a third spell when my privacy was invaded a young girl had come to explore the western wizards tower and honestly at first I was upset but I cooled my feelings when I saw her innocent face staring at the wizards tower in wonder I let her be and silently observed her from a distance. The young girl maybe nine if I had to guess stayed for about an hour before leaving and during that time she did little more than observe the tower and mumble to herself about something I honestly let her be and mearly watched to ensure her safety.
After the girl had left I returned to my studies and at the age of twenty five I learned a new spell invisibility a useful if limited spell and having just learned it I could barely cast it but it was enough render me invisible if I stood perfectly still with mastering it I could possibly move around without the spell failing with it learned though I had more options to use if I needed it. After I learned invisibility I worked hard to master it and was rewarded a year later when I Mastered tge spell and a single casting of the spell would last an hour and I could move as much as I'd like during it though still couldn't cast a spell while it was active nor could I try to unsheathe a weapon but as far as utility it was quite useful.
With three tier one spells under my belt I started reading into my next spell this one was a monre exciting spell known as lightning bolt and that was when I learned what failing a combat spell was like. Failing to cast lightning bolt was an experience that left me stunned and slightly singed but otherwise fine and with a newfound respect for master wizards who risk death to learn fourth tier spells. After my setback I studied the spell looking for where I had gone wrong and quickly spotted my mistakes and then attempted it again and this time I succeeded in casting lightning bolt and only then did I realize that lightning bolt was considered the hardest of tier one spells to learn. After bringing my count of spells and cantrips to four each I had myself a little bit of a part and realized that I needed to round out my spells a bit further so I looked through the remaining spell books I had and I found arcane barricade basically spell that creates a wall of arcane magic three meters long and two high that would be impervious to any spells of tier one or lower and would prevent anyone from from crossing through it for 5 minutes so I began learning it as it would synergize with my arcane mana aspect. Learning arcane barricade proved to be easier than most others and while I was learning it I practiced lightning bolt daily until I mastered it and then I tried my first casting of arcane barricade and well oops is the only thing I can say. My first casting of arcane barricade caused an explosion as the barricade sprang upwards under some furniture and shelves tossing them into the air and ripping the shelves off of the wall. After the chaos settled I realized my mistake and started returning books to shelves though apparently the spell had been quite loud in its moments of explosive glory as I heard a startled cry and saw the young girl running away from the tower in a panic.
I had known that I'd be found out eventually luckily she hadn't seen the lightning bolts I'd been tossing around or she truly would have been terrified. The inevitable fallout from the little girl (now 11 if I had to guess) finding out that a spell caster was in one of the towers came soon after the entire village came to the tower either to kill the wizard inside or to find out what had happened there I wasn't certain but I was taking no chances so I used my newly acquired spell arcane barricade and sealed the tower. I had used a trick I had picked up from the various books I'd read that allowed me to extend a spells duration many times its normal duration at the cost of additional mana and adding some complexity to the spell but I managed it easily though I used up the majority of my mana and made the spell last for 12 hours I also modified the shape of the barricade to fit inside the doorway of the tower which unbeknownst to me also increased it's duration by reducing its area from six square meters to two I had inadvertently sealed the towers front door for three times longer than I'd intended instead of the twelve hours I'd thought it would last the spell lasted for forty two hours or nearly two entire days and I was not expecting to be stuck in the tower for so long. The villagers arrived and found the tower sealed and not knowing what was tried to enter and failed so once I realized that I was secure I took a nap. The villagers never did get inside the tower and never did find out the identity of the spell caster though I did end up having to stay in the tower longer than I wanted to.
----spells-----
Cantrips-
Arcane bolt- Mastered
Arcane shield- Mastered
Mage hand- proficient
Light orb- Mastered
Spells tier 1-
Lightning bolt- Mastered
Arcane barricade- Mastered
Fire bolt- proficient
Invisibility- Mastered
Arcane blade- Mastered