37 I'm a what?

The town gate got closer as Eri and I walked towards it; she then turned to me and spoke.

"After you get to town, you should go to the magic school and learn a bit of magic. Once you get a good base, head to the school in the capital. They can teach you more. I recommend going to the capital as soon as possible, however. I heard from a little bird that something would be happening there shortly. I will be around, so feel free to message me, and I'll be there."

We walked past the gate and into the town center before Eri stopped me.

"We will part ways for a bit here. If you need me, you can send me a message. Take care now."

With that, Eri turned and left me, leaving a few surprised players gaping at her as they had recognized her. I decided to quickly leave in case they had ideas of trying to ask me questions as they most likely saw me walk into town with her.

I quickly made my way to the magic school once I was confident I had avoided the would-be nuisances. Standing outside the school, I gave it a look and found it was relatively impressive as it had three floors. I opened the doors, stepped inside, and saw the first floor was similar to what you would see in a library. The were various shelves with books and the occasional person sitting down at a table reading books.

I saw who I thought would be the 'Librarian' type of person and approached them.

"Hello and welcome to the Darkwood School of Magic. Are you here for lessons or to view our library?"

"I am here to learn magic…so I guess lessons?"

"Certainly, it will be 5 gold for the basic lessons. Let me check if we have any available instructors available right now."

I gave the clerk 5 gold and waited as he walked up the stairs, which I assumed was where the classes were. A few moments later, he walked back down and stood behind his desk.

"So, there is one instructor available right now who can take you. Her name is Leena, and she is on the second-floor room 209."

I thank the man and walk up the same stairs by his desk to the second floor. It didn't take me long to reach room 209, and as I opened the door, I saw a short blond woman with elf ears. She was standing in what looked like a classroom, except in one corner, there were a bunch of pillows next to what I could only assume was her desk.

"Hello. You are my student for the day, I am guessing?" She had asked while placing her finger on her chin.

"Yes, I believe so. Are you Leena? I am Gwyn."

"Yup! That's me! Now then, before you can learn any spells, we must get you accustomed to your mana. Everyone has it, but few actually try to use it…though it would be great if everyone could use it. I keep pushing the capital to make it mandatory to learn just a bit of magic. Can you imagine if simple folks like farmers or even village militias were able to use even a modicum of magic? They could heal minor injuries themselves or even assist in growing their crops…and I am rambling again."

Leena sheepishly scratched the back of her head as she blushed from embarrassment.

"Sorry about that. I get a bit passionate when it comes to magic. Anywho, I will guide you in discovering your mana. Afterward, we will dive into some brief history and theories, then move on to practical applications of magic. Any questions?"

"No, I am good for now," I said as I shook my head.

"Okie Dokie then! So, we will start by having you sit down in our meditation corner…OF DOOM! Heh heh, sorry, I couldn't resist. It's really not that bad, but it can get a bit boring."

She was quite the energetic girl, but I followed her over to a corner of the room that had pillows large enough to sit on. I sat down, and she guided me through finding my mana. It involved me getting a feel for what mana was. She did this by having me hold her hands so I could feel her mana, so I knew what I was looking for when I tried.

I then closed my eyes and focused on that same feeling. My breathing slowed down; all around me was quiet and nothingness. I tried to find that same calm feeling I felt with Leena's mana.

I'm not sure how long I was focusing, but I eventually got a slight hit from it. I concentrate on it some more, gradually getting more and more of that feeling. As I did so, I could see the blackness around me start to light up like the night sky. It gave me the impression of floating through space until I eventually could make out distant galaxies and nebulae.

I came out of my trance and saw the small elf girl in front of me giving me a curious look.

"Did you actually connect with your mana?" She asked as she seemed to be inspecting me.

"Yeah, it took me a while, but I managed it."

"No, no! If it took you a while, then the rest of us that do this look like idiots. You were in meditation for a whole twenty seconds!" She said as she puffed her cheeks out and glared at me.

"But…it felt so much longer than that. I thought I was meditating for at least an hour, if not longer."

"Yeah, I don't know either, but your time was insane. Makes me wonder if you are just magically adept. Actually, hold that thought. Ima gonna test sumtin."

She runs off to her desk and starts rummaging through it for a bit before loudly yelling, 'Eureka.' She jogs back over to me with what looks like a crystal ball of some sort.

"Ok, so we will be doing two things at once here. One is teaching you how to manipulate your mana which is needed to cast spells afterward, you will then put a bit of that mana in this here ball, and I'll tell you what that means shortly."

Manipulating my mana was easy for me as it kind of reminded me of using my psionics. Once I got used to moving my mana around, Leena handed me the orb. Holding it in my hands, I then used my mana on it.

The orb glowed brightly for a bit before I started to see a myriad of colors swirl around. Leena grabbed the globe and looked at it excitedly for a bit.

"Interesting, it seems you do have a bloodline. You have the capabilities to be a sorceress, though from what I can see here, it looks like your bloodline specializes in all schools of magic."

I gave Leena a confused stare before answering her. "So, what does that mean? Am I different from normal magic users?"

"Well, this is a good time to go into that brief history. No, you are not that different. The arcane arts can be broken down into three different groups."

Leena pulled out a chalkboard and started to write it, going full teacher mode. She even had a pair of glasses on too. I would say she was missing the stereotypical teacher skirt, but her outfit already kind of had one. However, I suppose it looked more like something an adventurer would wear.

"The first group is what you would call a wizard. They learn spells through study and hard work. This usually pays off as they can potentially learn every spell they come across. On the downside, they also just can't cast any spell they know as they are recorded in a spell book. So, to cast a spell, a wizard must spend some time memorizing certain spells, and they are limited on how many they can memorize."

"The second group is what we call warlocks. They make bargains with otherworldly beings, the most common ones are demons or devils, but there are others. Now they don't need to memorize spells like a wizard, but they only get a few spells that their patron gives them. This means they can cast spells on the fly as they are needed. They also get a few bonuses like being able to see in the dark or whatever else their patron gives them."

As Leena finished her second explanation, she had drawn on the chalkboard that looked like a badger baking a pie while fighting off zombies with a machete. She also had random words with arrows drawn from one word to another. It looked like a conspiracy theorist's wet dream. No idea what it has to do with magic, though.

"Lastly, is a group called sorcerers. They are similar to warlocks, except they get their spells through a bloodline. They get access to many more spells than a warlock, but they still can't learn everything like a wizard can. Also, their bloodlines generally dictate what schools of magic they can use, and the spells they learn come to them instinctually. They don't get the extra goodies warlocks get with their patron. Still, because they have such an instinctual mastery over the spells they know, they can control them to a much better degree than the other two groups. For example, not needing to chant at all or even copying the spell they cast; at the cost of one spell."

After her explanation, her drawing now included a planet being with… a moon or giant asteroid and exploding while the badger was baking pies in space. I am beginning to think she just wanted to draw and didn't need the chalkboard.

"Ok, I understand the three groups now, but what does that mean for me?"

Leena quickly pushed away the chalkboard, which rolled to her desk, hitting the corner and falling over. She just pretended that didn't happen.

"So, what that means for you is that your bloodline, as I explained earlier, is that it seems you don't have a limitation on a school of magic. It seems your bloodline can grant you a spell from any school. Sorcerers can get a bloodline from many sources. Most get theirs from a dragon of some kind, and those people are mostly restricted to learning evocation magic. Still, they can dabble a bit in others but not by much. I don't know where your bloodline comes from. You would have to go to the capital to figure that one out. I also saw a hint of warlock in you. Did you, by chance, make a deal with some otherworldly existence? Like a demon or maybe an archfey?"

"No, I don't think so. I mean, I fought a demon and killed one while trying to save an angel."

Leena gave me a wide-eyed stare for several moments before she started to mumble to herself.

"Interesting. That could have something to do with it, but I am not certain. Was it an angel, or was it the demon? Maybe both?"

Leena broke her thoughts and looked up at me.

"All right, I've decided. I am going to take you as my apprentice. I find you interesting, and the scholar in me must know how you turn out. I will teach you everything I can, with the only payment being you must work for me, such as running errands and helping me with my studies. Other than that, you are free to go about as you like. How does that sound?"

New Quest: Apprentice of the Eccentric Scholar

Quest Type: Faction

Difficulty: E-S

Leena wants you to be her apprentice. Doing errands and helping her with her studies will raise her affinity with you and grant you boons.

Rewards:

Variable

15000 XP

"All right then. I accept. But since I am a sorceress, how can I learn spells since only wizards can do that?"

"Oh, that's easy. You can still go down the path of a wizard. Your bloodline will assist you since it will eliminate what you actually need to learn as a wizard."