The Weight of One Life (Part 2)

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I wanted to be the first to tell Dad before someone stole my thunder again." Erak glared at his sister, Eylen, with anger born out of sibling rivalry.

There were no great or lesser academies in the Blood Desert.

Everyone learned magic from a tender age along with reading, writing, and arithmetic. The lessons would stop only once one's core couldn't keep up with the increasingly difficult exercises and the child couldn't master chore magic further.

Only after someone reached twelve years of age could they be examined by the local Feather and deemed worthy of learning the real tiers of magic.

If the attitude, discipline, and mana core's growth rate of a youth were deemed satisfactory, the Feather would accept them as their apprentices and teach them magic personally.