2 CHAPTER 2

After leaving the first enchanter chambers, Abraham went down to the ground floor and after asking for directions a few times, he finally managed to find where the so-called Miss Janine usually stayed, a laboratory filled with plants, an untrained eye would mistake that place for a garden but those who lived in the castle knew the truth.

Janine had shaved hair and wore the common robes of the circle, if it wasn't for her hair, you'd probably lose her in any crowd, there was nothing really special about her appearance.

"Oh, you must be the newcomer, glad to make you an acquaintance." She shook Abraham's hand, her words fast and without pause, if he was a little slower he wouldn't be able to understand what she said. "Your new clothes are all stashed in the chest in front of your bed, as for where your bed is, it's in room number 17, here are the keys, I must also remind you that you have a girl as a roommate, remember to knock on the door before entering and if I learn you tried to do anything unethical to her, you'll be punished accordingly, I just want to remind you that the act of forcing someone to do the action of reproduction is punishable by death."

She patted his shoulder, gave him a quick encouraging smile, and turned her attention back to the flower she was messing with when he arrived.

Blinking his eyes, Abraham looked at the key on his hand, then at the old lady and sighed, he didn't even felt like complaining anymore, he was definitely certain that the people of this place had gone nuts.

Walking through the corridors he finally arrived at the place he was looking for, looking at the door with the number seventeen written on it, he knocked on the door thrice and waited for someone to open.

"Who is it?" A girly voice came from behind the door

"My name is Abraham, I was assigned to this room, I'm your new roommate."

"Oh, alright, give me a minute."

As he waited, Abraham couldn't help but raise an eyebrow hearing the fuss coming from inside the room, it felt like she was moving every single furniture to another location, he couldn't help but wonder what she was doing exactly.

"Ok, I'm opening the door!"

Abraham heard a click and an elven girl with long soft orange hair appeared from within, she had green eyes and freckles on her face, based on her appearance she was probably 14 years old, meaning she was seven years older than him.

"Oh, so they actually send a cute little boy this time!" She grinned with a beautiful and happy smile, almost like she had received a new toy to play with. "C'mon, get inside, don't worry, I won't bite you."

Shaking his head, Abraham entered the place, but he could swear that she muttered something along the lines of 'yet' when he went past her.

"This, my friend, is my humble abode, and my home is now your home." She spat in her hand and held it out to him. "I'm Pawen, it's nice to meet you, I hope we will grow to become really good friends."

Seeing the girl's positive attitude, Abraham couldn't help but think that she was rather funny, he never met someone like her in his previous life. With her behavior, he couldn't even think of her as a girl.

"Haha, if that's the case, then I can't deny your humble request, we will be good friends, I'm sure of that." He spat in his hand and shook hers.

...

Life in the circle was the most unusual experience one could have in life, it's like being a slave with benefits, servants took care of their clothes, the cleaning of the place and the preparation of the food, teachers taught them everything they need to know about pretty much every subject, from the more mundane things such as philosophy or geography to actual magical subjects.

Some subjects were more controlled than others and some kinds of magic were banned, making them unable to access that kind of knowledge.

In these two first years in the circle, however, he wasn't allowed to practice even the most basic of the spells.

"Patience, control, discipline, and focus." Those were the words that the enchanter Zathorn would repeat to them every day in the morning during their first lesson.

With that brainwashing, Abraham could swear that he even started to dream with those words, although dreaming wasn't the same as before.

As he soon came to learn, every mage in the world was a person connected to the Fade, some sort of otherworldly realm where demons and spirits live... Although the books of the chantry would insist that things like spirits did not exist and wanted as much as possible to make them think that there were only demons there, he as someone who had learned the truth after playing the games, always made sure to never force into a spirit the label of a demon.

Through studying he came to understand that Solas' words couldn't be more true, a spirit will only be a demon if you will it to be as such, or as he used to say. "Spirits are a purpose, a demon is what happens when that purpose is perverted."

While he was being taught the foundation of magic he didn't place it on his heart, after all, the dread wolf had already said many truths about the magic that he wanted to use as the true core of his use of magic.

For example, one of the things he had always remembered was how disappointed he was with the power of the spells that the inquisitor could wield, but then, there was once a time where Solas and Vivienne spoke briefly and their words made him realize something that could only be called the absolute truth.

"Your rigorous training lays a solid foundation, true. It also creates boundaries, limits, where none need to exist."

Such a thing might look like a joke, but when you stop to think of what it means to be a mage and how it is connected to the manipulation of the Fade, you realize that without those methods taught by the circle, your only limit is your imagination.

That's the reason the elves were once the most powerful magicians in the world, their magic wasn't limited by those simple views, magic was as much as part of them as they were a part of the Fade.

And so he prepared himself, the two years spent without practicing magic was refocused towards his body, he didn't know what would make someone capable of wielding more mana, but he could only guess that the body played a role in this matter since you act more like a bridge than anything else when casting magic.

And so he trained, day and night, always making sure to put his body in the best possible physical condition. He was even lucky to have caught the attention of the Knight-Commander who trained him from time to time when she was free, although he was sure that she was doing that just because she thought it was funny.

As he came back to his room from a training session, completely covered in sweat, he couldn't help but notice how the door was left open. Sighing he went inside and locked the door behind him.

Pawen was reading a book while laying on her bed. Noticing that someone closed the door, her eyes left the book and trailed towards the 9 years old boy whose muscles were already starting to stand out.

"Hey, Abraham, back already? I thought you had forgotten about your first day of practical lessons. Professor Zathorn was here a few minutes ago, he asked me to tell you that your lesson will start at 10 am."

"Thanks." Abraham nodded and took out his shirt as he went to the bathroom on the left side of the room. After taking a quick bath he went back to the room and took some clothes from the chest, including his robe. Without even bothering with the girl's presence who kept looking at him, he changed in his magi robe.

"You're growing really well, with this raven hair of yours, those blue eyes, and everything else I might fall in love with you granted that you don't die before becoming eighteen years old." She laughed as she commented but her eyes went back to her book.

"Tsk, who would fall in love with you, if you weren't such a perverted girl I wouldn't have even bothered to change my clothes here in the open, but you always find a way to peek at me!"

"Pfft. You can't blame me, you have this weird aura around you that makes me think you aren't a kid, I just can't help myself." She laughed, "Besides, I like to know how my possible partners for some fun in the future might look like in a few years."

"Does that means you keep barging into the rooms of the other males to take a look at their 'features'?"

"Yup, but don't worry, they said they wouldn't tell Janine about my actions."

"Ah... who said I'm worried about that? What I'm worried about is living with a sexual predator like you, I hope you'll never cross some boundaries."

"What? You think I'm so cheap, I like to look but that doesn't mean I'm going to give myself that easily, this lady's precious first time will only be taken away by the strongest mage of this circle!" Pawen had stars in her eyes as she mentioned her sick dream of being made the bride of the strongest mage for the millionth time.

"Why don't you sneak into the first-enchanter chambers at night them? I'm pretty sure he is the strongest mage around." Abraham had a mocking smile on his face as he laughed.

"Yuck... Who would want to be made the bride of a bag of old bones!?" Her back shivered at the thought, for her that would actually be considered a nightmare.

Abraham shrugged. "Alright then, I'll see you later."

"Bye, bye!" She waved at him and went back to her book.

After walking through the corridor for some time, Abraham finally arrived at the big library that was on the other side of the castle, quite a few enchanters and apprentices were there already, some reading, some practicing spells, some even sleeping...

On the left, next to the table where he always sat with the enchanter Zathorn, a kid with silver-blue hair and red eyes looked at him with arrogance in his eyes.

"Oh, so you finally appeared Abraham, I thought you had given up on learning magic, I was about to suggest to professor Zathorn that you should be made into a tranquil, I know, you don't have to thank me, I'm one of the few who truly notice how untalented you are." The boy waved his hands at the air as he faked an air of concern around him.

"So funny Oliver, I wonder if your parents are clowns, you must have inherited this talent from them."

"You-"

Before Oliver could finish his words the voice of professor Zathorn reached their ears. "Silence, you fools! Can't you see you are wasting your energy with useless fights!?"

Zathorn reprimanded his students as he sat down on the table and gestured for both of them to do the same.

"I hope you two have read the tomes I told you to read last week because today I will assist you in the process to conjure your first spell." Zathorn gave them a piercing gaze, powerful enough to make them tremble.

"Don't worry professor Zathorn, I have read those tomes so much that I could even recite them if you asked," Oliver spoke, the aura of arrogance around him shining so much that it was enough to make a man blind.

"Oh my god! Your arrogance, it shines too much! I think I'll become blind if it keeps like this!" Abraham brought both of his hands to his face and pretend to be blind as he bumped into the bookshelf and the chairs while going towards the table.

"Pfft, hahaha!" Some of the other apprentices that heard everything started laughing, while the enchanters sighed and massaged their heads to reduce the headache.

"You bastard, when I finally finish learning my first spell, I'll make sure to hit you with it every day in the morning just to prove how superior I'm!"

"Oh no! It keeps getting brighter and brighter! At this rate, I'll be blinded permanently!!!" With that one last joke that managed to bring out the laugh of a few more apprentices, professor Zathorn hit him in the head with a book that only lost to the bible in terms of thickness.

"Enough! Seat down both of you!"

"Yes." The two said at the same time and sat down. It was finally time to learn some real magic.