The Witcher: Elder Blood

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***

I sat comfortably on the window sill in my room, reading the pages of the heavy book, only occasionally breaking the silence with the rustle of a page I had to turn to delve further into the history of magic.

What is magic? When did it originate? And also dozens of other questions that tend to arise during the comprehension of this art. The author of this book tried to answer all of them. It so happens that the author is one of our teachers - Jochen Brandt. He is also a specialist in the views of the post-conjuration era. To put it simply, he is a kind of historian, describing not so much events of the past, but events tied to magic.

Speaking about the emergence of the concept of magic itself, Jochen is not much different from most wizards, including representatives of the elven race. The main theory behind the emergence of magic is an event that divided the world into before and after. The name of this event is the Conjunction of the Spheres. The same magical cataclysm that brought together many worlds, allowing movement between them.

'The Conjunction of the Spheres was the turning point when the boundaries of the very essence of space and reality were erased' - this is how this cataclysm is described.

Magic itself is described as controlled manifestations of Chaos. It is the ability to use the energy of Chaos, direct it and manifest with its help spells, gives the right to be called a magician, sorcerer, witch or sorceress. The title already depends on the activity of the energy user.

Uncontrolled use of Chaos energy can harm not only those around him, but also the mage himself. The right decision was to go to the academy as early as possible.

Another page was turned. I had already finished reading the introductory information about everything related to magic, moving on to more detailed explanations. They dealt with the reflection of chaos energy, meaning they described the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air.

It is commonly believed that all spellcasters draw power from these four elements, and after that transform it into spells. Conducting energy through one's body is considered dangerous and is strictly forbidden to those who do not have the necessary skills. However, there are exceptions to this, and I am one of them - I am the Originals.

Origins has been burdened with certain magical abilities since birth. Roughly speaking, I am my own source of energy. I don't have to draw it from any element.

There was only a smattering of information about the Sources in the book. But the elements themselves were described in more detail.

Every spellcaster, mage, and so on, no matter what their name, interacts with the element he can more easily manage.

So, for example, water is the most malleable of the elements, the easiest to control. Next comes the earth, the most accessible, as it is always near, if you do not swim in the ocean, of course, which should not be done, the monsters there can be much more dangerous than land. The earth element is more difficult to master than water, but not as difficult as air, for example. With what, but not with it will have to deal with a magician, if he wants to use this element to obtain energy. But fire, that's what will gladly want to share energy with you, and so that will drink the wizard himself dry. Fire is the most dangerous of the elements. Only the best warlocks can master air and fire. But while the best of mages can master air, those who manage to master fire become the most powerful.

Knowing how to transform the energy of Chaos from the elements, or forming the energy yourself if you are the Source (or combining both options), you can transform it into formulas. It is the formulas of spells that I will be taught within the walls of the academy. The use of magic on bare control, although it is not quite right, I will have to learn on my own. This level can only be achieved by myself, no teacher can help me with it.

Not too much about formulas was described in the book, but it is still a kind of introduction, an enlightenment for those who have just embarked on this path. There are many directions in the use of formulas: curing oneself and not only; destroying the wanted and the unwanted; teleporting oneself or opening entire portals, as I have already seen; as well as creating various illusions and changing the forms of objects, including living ones. A wide range of uses, so to speak.

Not that I was required to study this book, but I decided to familiarise myself with it after a lecture from its author.

I've been at Ban Ard Academy for three days now, and I'm still just getting used to it. There is no systematic training of new students in groups, but they arrive here at different times. For example, Detmold and I are the only newcomers in the last two and a half months. The lessons are usually practical and the teachers bring the theoretical lessons to the students. At least that's how it is at the beginning of the training. As it was already explained to us, after passing the exams in two years from the moment of admission, we will have the opportunity to continue studying in one of the faculties, each of which is tied to a certain direction in magic.

In principle, no one will limit us to studying only one direction, but we should do it gradually, studying them one by one, instead of trying to cover everything at once. I was already starting to be attracted to a kind of 'Fifth Element' - mixed magic. Mixed magic was mentioned in the first lesson. It was the basis for witch sigils and spells such as telepathy, teleportation and magic portal, and many others.

Turning the last page, I set the book aside. It proved to be informative, allowing me to expand my knowledge of magic... But without Jochen's constant philosophising, sometimes spending more time on that than on proven knowledge, it would have taken me much less time to read his work.

I climbed down from the windowsill; it was time to stretch a little. The time was early, before finishing the book I received yesterday, I only had time to wash up and have a snack. By the way, we have to cook ourselves, but the food is free.

You can't practice much within the academy walls, unless you go outside the academy into the forest, which I don't have enough time for at the moment, and in the nearest one too. There's a lot to learn, memorise and master, and I'm not just talking about magic.

Training as a spellcaster in this world is more like getting an undergraduate degree, where magic is your main speciality, and politics will be a secondary one. Most of the mages are involved in it, less in research, and only those not on the previous two lists are doing whatever they can on this continent. Well, let's not talk about them yet, but let's get back to the training itself. Here, as in Arethusa, they teach everything a basic wizard would need: writing, reading, Elder Speech, laws, and more. Including rules of social behaviour, and even dance instruction. To my delight, the latter will be rare, no more than one class a month, perhaps less.

The three days spent were not enough to be considered a 'plunged in' student, but it was enough to make sense of the discussions about the less rigorous training compared to Arethusa. We will be allowed to go out into the city, but we are not allowed to do so often, only with permission. That said, more time is allowed for independent study, but only after mastering the basics with teachers. Experimentation without proper supervision is strictly forbidden.

As my morning warm-up was nearing completion, the door to the room opened. Detmold walked in, having just finished his breakfast.

- I thought you were reading that book when I left,' he said, walking over to his bedside table, on which were a few scribbled pages. - Did you finish it?

- Yeah, it's not as big as it looks at first glance.

- Why don't you retell it, eh? - The boy started to collect items for the practical lesson, which was not more than an hour away.

- You can read it yourself, just skip the reasoning. There's too much unnecessary stuff written,' like my neighbour, I also began to prepare for the upcoming class. Pen, ink and parchment. Yes, it will be practical, but that doesn't mean you can't write anything down.

- I've been wondering since yesterday's test. You could have told me about your skills.

- No skills, just a little practice with the witch signs. I didn't realise I'd be so good at basic control training.

- A little practice? - Detmold exclaimed in surprise, turning towards me. - A little practice is not enough to have such control as the Source. We were told that in plain text at the time.

- It didn't matter, except for the witches' training, I hadn't had any interactions with magic,' my control had seemed far from normal, in a bad way. Except that I was comparing it to witches who couldn't use much energy at once. Vesemir had lived long enough to have honed his control over the Signs. It's easy for him.

If we look at the new entrants to the academy, I may seem more trained in control than they are, but that's not entirely true, because practising with the Signs is not the same as practising at the academy.

At first we'll be trained on all sorts of artefacts. Simple items that can teach students how to sense and control energy. Everyone can take different amounts of time to learn the basics. So there's no time limit on how long it takes to learn. The most important thing is to pass the exam after two years. There is one in Arethusa. The exam weeds out the incapable from the promising students, and allows the older generation to find personal students to take under their guidance.

Let's just say that normal training will only begin after passing the exam, but for now we will be given the basics, magical and political. The practice of the first spells will begin individually, and only when we can prove at least a basic ability to control the energy of Chaos from the easiest element - Water. I have already had the opportunity to control the energy from myself, thanks to my involvement in the Origins. So it wasn't difficult to do the same with the easiest element.

However, even the ability to control the energy of Chaos does not allow me to go straight to spells. There's still a lot of theory to be learnt, which I'm going to do soon.

- Shall I wait for you? - Detmold asked me, standing at the front door.

- Wait? I kind of got ready before you,' I fastened my bag belt and headed out as well. - What are we doing today?

- Oh, we're supposed to tell the history of the tenth century. More like another book to read, though.

- I see, I wouldn't be surprised if the book starts with a story about two wizards who started the creation of witches at that time.

- How do you know about them? - I looked at him with one eyebrow raised. - Exactly, the witches themselves told me. About the monsters they told you?

- Not really, just about the most common ones. Not that I'm interested in the subject.

Detmold was right about the book. They gave us one for two, so we took turns reading it. It was informative. It covered mostly wars: the siege of Lok Muine and the end of the Dagger War. It also justified my assumptions about the experiments on witches and their creation. It ended at the beginning of the eleventh century, when the Order of Witches collapsed and a major armed conflict between Temeria and Mahakam took place, dubbed the Hunger War.

The Hunger War began because of the mass slaughter of non-humans in Temeria. Mahakam was just a mountain range and isolated region inhabited by dwarves and redhumans. Why did I even mention this war in the first place. Just thought I'd point out that it wasn't just the elves that were at war in these parts.

Later, it was time for afternoon practice in magic. We had to stomp off to another building. Practice for beginners was always held in the same hall. Besides me and Detmold, there were a few other students there, they had entered earlier, but they hadn't learnt enough about control yet. I was better at it, so instead of feeling magic through artefacts, I went straight to working with water. I did it in the simplest way possible, controlling the water itself in a small saucer. I twisted it in different directions, tried to give it some shape, and had trouble with that.

I don't know how many more such trainings I'll have to go through to master at least the basics of magical arts. The main thing is not to relax, and then we'll see.

- What were you trying to do with that water? - After the practice, we went back to the room. Detmold was interested in my attempt to make a human figure out of water, which didn't work until the end of the class. I kept losing concentration, and you can't do that kind of thing in magic without it.

- A human figure. It didn't come out well.

- We were given a training artefact each, which we could charge and gradually get used to controlling the energy itself. I was given one too, I'll use it while I'm reading, to bring it to automaticity. I'd better work with water, considering I'm starting to try it out.