She annoys me so much. All this time, she behaved quite calmly with everyone; I thought she treated all the students as equals, but that was a mistake. She simply didn't want anyone to talk to her, hence her lack of emotions towards anyone. Obviously, she came from a prominent family, but I thought she was different from those arrogant kids who revolved around Alfred. And I was a fool, deceiving myself in vain.
Now, I'd like to do something mean to her, something small but memorable. Though I doubt there's much I can do, maybe there are a couple of books in the library with harmful curses. Let her get scared during the class; I wonder how others will react.
I sneaked into the library while Levris was away somewhere. I saw books there, more dangerous than the usual magic textbooks; perhaps with my modest skills, I can conjure something. The shelves held a variety of books, but mostly useless ones. Apparently, what I was looking for was forbidden even here.
"Hmm, it seems I won't find it here," the anger that flared up during the conversation with the sorceress was gradually subsiding. "Maybe I should forget about it; nothing will change even if I do something to her."
Scanning the shelves with my eyes, I again stopped at a book with a gilded cover. "The Most Powerful" - what pompous title, and who came up with it, I wonder. Still, I couldn't resist trying to reach it. The book was placed quite high, and I had to stand on tiptoes. But as it turned out, the book wasn't just gilded; its cover was actually made of gold, and I couldn't hold its weight in my hands. With a terrible crash, the book, along with its neighbors on the shelf, fell on my head.
And what am I doing? I'm hardly going to achieve anything like this. It seems I won't become a great mage either... Without the right pedigree, I won't be able to change anything.
On the other hand, I found myself in a quite useful environment. In the Academy, there are enough nobles whose parents hold important positions, and who will occupy them in the future. If I play this situation right, I can use them to my advantage.
Even if Katrina is an uncommonly unpleasant girl, it doesn't mean I should give up on her immediately.
"Hey, Krito, are you alright?" The familiar librarian-teacher leaned over me.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," I vigorously scratched the bump I got from the unequal battle with the book. "I wonder if it was worth suffering for something."
With some trepidation, I opened the book, and inside... there was nothing.
"That's it?" I flipped through the whole enormous volume, but all the pages were blank. "What a joker decided to put this here."
"Ha-ha, if you stayed a bit longer, you would have known that touching this book is not advisable," Levris made an effort to lift the golden tome. "It's a magical book, but it only opens at specific moments. Most of the time, its pages are blank."
"Who created it?"
"Well, they say it holds the memories of summoner lords, so most likely it was created by the first summoner. But without their power, it loses its abilities."
"Hmm, apparently, it's valuable, but why keep it like this?"
"Well, you know, it's been stolen several times already, and the rector decided to hide it in the least conspicuous place, among other books," Levris managed to collect all the fallen books and with some difficulty put them back in place. "So, why did you come here?"
"Oh, yes," I can't tell her the real reason I came... but maybe: "I wanted to search for some specific information. I wanted to learn how to control magic or find out if there were cases when a mage couldn't control their power, even if they had an abundance of it."
"Hmm, yes, such cases happen. Children with magical talent often lose control and set everything around them on fire."
"No, but what if it's not children, but much older mages who seemingly shouldn't have any issues?"
"Everything is possible. Some are too powerful, making it difficult for them to restrain their magic, while others may exhibit bursts of power. It's quite common among direct descendants of contractors, summoners, or natural mages. Their powers are closely tied to emotions, and any outbursts of anger or fear lead to unpleasant consequences."
It's unlikely that was my case, but such a display of lightning might have intrigued an arrogant sorceress.
"But I thought summoners were exceptional mages and shouldn't have problems."
"Well, after they make a contract with one of the spirit rulers, they can control all of their power. But before that moment, they usually possess immense power they can't channel properly. Sometimes their power simply destroys everything around them, which is why they were mostly hermits."
"And they never tried to restrain their power?"
"Oh, they tried everything, and for some, it worked, for others, it didn't. With natural mages, things were much worse."
"And who are those?"
"Well, it's said they are the reincarnated souls of great mages, but since no one can confirm that, they are considered extremely powerful mages. They literally embody their elements, which often leads to fires, storms, floods, and other calamities. If such mages are caught, they are bound with magical restraints that absorb magic, but it doesn't help control their power."
"Mmm, restraints aren't the best solution."
"Unfortunately, ordinary staffs and amulets can't contain their magic, so they use magical metals to bind them, which can absorb much more power than a simple staff."
"Hmm, so magical metals can restrain magic..."
"Well, theoretically yes, but they are expensive and rare, and they don't work well for casting spells because it's much harder to extract the stored power from them."
"I think that's enough for me. By the way, can I take a couple of books about these natural mages of yours and summoners? But not something historical, rather something more specific about their abilities."
"Sigh, I guess I can find a couple of books, but don't show them to anyone. Unofficially, they're not for the public, the church confiscates them. And about the second topic... well, we might find something, but specific details about their abilities are doubtful."
Armed with the necessary literature, I set out on self-study.
The classes were sometimes quite interesting, but I skipped what I considered less significant. While my classmates were being taught etiquette or dancing, I delved into fascinating literature.
It seems Katrina belonged to those natural mages; usually, she would be locked in an enchanted cell to prevent her from harming others. But apparently, her parents were of the highest rank, as they managed to arrange her admission to the Academy with such abilities.
This could be useful... If I could earn her trust, I might help her with a small problem. However, I don't want to put restraints on her, and I know nothing about crafting magical items. From the diaries of one such mage, I understood that he managed to subdue his power by creating a network of magical amulets all over his body, which absorbed his power and prevented it from bursting freely. Essentially, they were the same restraints, but made to look like ornaments. However, the book didn't provide any information about their composition or the spells he used on them.
As far as I remember, enchanted items are actively produced only by the red dragons from the south; a couple of times, ships with their goods visited our land. Weapons enchanted with various unusual effects were in high demand in Nordrune. Though they were merely distinguished by symbols engraved on the blade, symbols I had encountered somewhere before, they could actually invoke spells even in the hands of a non-mage. Well, ordering such amulets from them would be costly, so I'll postpone the idea of tricking the sorceress for now.
Books about summoners, as I suspected, were mostly focused on history and were written in a peculiar literary style, with little reliability. Only one book provided more detailed descriptions of the life of the first summoner. Although I wouldn't call it a book; it had no solid cover, and it was filled with errors, and some parts were even smudged. But whoever wrote it was clearly familiar with the summoner personally.
There was little written about the summoner's life before gaining power, and the main description focused on his battle with the dragon army. Detailed accounts of his combat techniques, fighting style, and ways of using spells were provided. It seemed he developed his fighting style to combat opponents who surpassed him in power. In battles with the dragons in their true form, he relied on powerful magic, but when they took human form, defeating them became much more challenging. He used two uniquely shaped swords, which were sketched on one of the pages. Dragons relied on their immense strength, but their control over their bodies was quite weak, and the summoner actively exploited this weakness. The book depicted basic techniques for combating various adversaries. Hopefully, I'll never need this information, considering that dragons now coexist with humans—or at least, that's what I hope. I even started to think that the summoner himself wrote this book, but something felt off; most likely, it was written by someone close to him, perhaps a teacher or a close comrade.
It also described how he used spells. It seemed that only subsequent summoners didn't encounter problems after making contracts with spirits, but the first summoner simultaneously possessed the power of all the spirit rulers. For him, switching not only between elements but also between different sources of magic was problematic. It appeared he had a certain artifact, created from the souls of dimensional rulers, the Crown of Elements... although it might not have been a crown, as its description in the book was rather vague. He used his swords instead of staffs and gathered magic in them before casting spells. This way, he could use various elements simultaneously. Apparently, he even performed this trick with ordinary steel swords, although they were ill-suited for spellcasting. He compensated for their weak magical potential with raw strength and by infusing more magic, allowing him to perform complex spells. In the end, there was also a description of the weapons he used after his death—blades made of meteorite iron, forged from the scales of a black god-dragon. It seemed they were buried with him.
Hmm, so it's possible to use something other than staffs. This could be useful for me. If this book is to be believed, the first summoner was not some wise wizard versed in the secrets of magic but rather an experienced warrior who used magic only when necessary.