-- Quenten Thirsk --

  Quenten had just walked out of the underground station from Deep Sea Land. He was shocked by the detail in the stonework. It really did look like someone had built it using individual blocks. The black material of the road he was on looked identical to tarmac, it even had little dips he could put his finger into.

  The crowd were all being directed to head into the city and towards the city's administration hub on top of the cliffs, and as that was where his main quest directed him to go, he followed that instruction.

  He’d paused for a moment to admire a bridge over the river. Huge arches allowed for traffic to pass underneath. He couldn’t help but wonder what someone would review it for…

  There was a loud rumble from ahead, his eyes moved from the stonework on the bridge up to the cliffs ahead. There was a colossal statue of a woman in a floating cross-legged position, carved into the side of the cliff. It was shaking… no, the cliff around it was shaking. Translucent hands separated from the stone hands and moved down into the lap of the statue. From the position he stood in Quenten was able to see them creating two loops with the thumbs to middle fingers. A pulse seemed to run down the left arm, circle the fingers and then shoot up the other arm. He watched it do that three more times, each faster than the last, before the arms moved back up to merge with the stone ones.

  As the spectral arms seemed to disappear, the rumble grew louder. From the statue's open mouth there was a small trickle of water, which seemingly grew in strength. This was followed by a blast of stones, mud and other debris and the trickle burst out into a torrent of water. The new waterfall fell between her crossed legs and down into the city below.

  “Wow,” said someone beside him.

  The spray of water from the waterfall was creating a glowing halo around the statue, giving her an almost luminescent glow.

  -- Aenara --

  When the rumbling started, I scrambled to get off of the hand as quickly as I could. I could have saved myself the panic as they didn’t move an inch.

  “Oh my!” The mage from the shooting range said as he came over to observe. He was stood on the cliff edge looking over at the statue. “Incredible.” I pulled myself together and joined him as the third pulse cycled the statues spectral arms.

  I heard a whoosh noise and something appeared on the edge of my vision.

  “Professor!” the newly arrived greying mage called out. “What caused this?”

  “Archmagus!” the man who had been overseeing the Spell Forge said, suddenly standing up straighter. “It seems the instructions on the Arcanus Magistia are correct! Two mages meditating in unison!”

  “That was one of the first things we tried. We've also had students meditating on the hands nearly constantly since yesterday.”

  “These used the Flow technique, Sir.”

  Two more mages came running up.

  “Archmagus?” the tall female mage asked. “We felt the disturbance…” The man turned to the woman and her stout male companion and nodded in greeting.

  “It seems some of our new students accidentally discovered how to awaken the Arcanus Colossus.”

  “How?” the stouter mage asked.

  “Simultaneous Flow meditation.”

  “I…” he turned to the female mage. “Did we never try that?”

  “I tried flow once… but not with someone else doing it on the other hand…

  “I’ll leave you two to discover the full benefits of the Colossus,” he said to the new arrivals

  “Yes, Archmagus,” the pair responded.

  “Professor,” the Archmagus asked the man still staring at the statue.

  “Sir?” he responded.

  “Which students are responsible?”

  “The two in Explorator gear, Sir. They came to help their party and had just finished training at the forge.” He said, his hand indicating the five of us.

  “Ahh, Seekers of Knowledge. How appropriate.” he turns back to the Mage. “Thank you for your assistance.”

  He turned back to the five of us, focused on each of us, and then snapped his fingers.

  I found myself standing in an office. The walls were covered in fully stacked dark wooden bookcases. Rugs covered the floor completely. One corner had a large armchair next to a small table full of books. A large desk sat below a large window, which filled the room with bright light from the sun.

  “You have made a great contribution to our city today. Are you aware of what the purpose of that Colossus is?”

  I shook my head.

  “It creates a boost to the mana regeneration of the city and given time, should also be a source of clean drinking water.” He walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair. “While it seems you did this by accident, did it you still did, and that deserves a reward. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Archmagus Dalacor and I am the head of this institute.” He then indicated each of us in turn to introduce ourselves. “Now what would be a suitable reward? Ahh, I know. New mages want new spells! What would be appropriate… no, you are both too weak to make use of a spell matching the achievement…” his eyes darted to the other three in the room. “I know. A reward spread between your group, makes you all stronger, which should in turn help you grow faster. You.” he said pointing at Daisy. “Healer, so you have Heal and Restoring wave?”

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  “And Ice Bolt.” she said proudly.

  “For you, I think Infliction, it will deal damage over time to your target. It is one of the few damage spells which isn’t practically crippled by your healing titles. For you Warden, I think an aura skill, Courage.” His eyes moved to Kelsey, “What spells do you have?”

  “Frost Weapon, Sir.” she replied.

  “Does it work for you? Yes? Then Fire Weapon would make the most sense in your case, give you options in combat.. An Explorator Dragoon, and you have the stink of that old crone about you… but you are still using magic. Fire Blade?”

  “Frozen Blade.” Sam responded to the Archmagus.

  “Show me.” Sam drew his rapier and then cast the spell on it. The blade went cold and vapour could be seen falling from it. He focused on the blade briefly and the vapour changed shape to show a curved slicing weapon made of ice around the rapier.

  “Ahh, one of the variants of Ice Blade. More versatile, but requiring an already existing weapon?” Sam nodded. “Cat’s Grace will help you to make use of those combat skills you already have.” He turned to me. “And now for the one in Explorator Mage armour. You know more than one spell don’t you?”

  I nodded. “Spark, Shocking Grasp, Ball Lightning, Fire Bolt, Fireball, and Ice Blade.”

  “Two rank three spells?” He turned and pulled some sheets from a pile. “Not been seen by the heads of those schools yet…” he confirmed after quickly reviewing the sheets.

  “On my list to do next.” I said helpfully. He nodded at me with a snort.

  “I’m loath to give you another spell… You need to master what you have, and giving new students too many spells is known to split their attention. It is truly much better to master a small number of spells which you can apply in flexible ways, than many but be more rigid in their application.”

  “What about knowledge?” I asked. “I’m trying to learn the ancient language and the language of Arcana…”

  “Where did you learn of such things?”

  “Mage McCoy…” I started and he raised his hand.

  “No need to say any more, if you have ran into that one, it explains much. I think I have something which might help you.” He got up and pulled a book down from a high shelf, looked at the cover, gave it a bit of a brush and nodded. “This is Mage McCoy’s book on Arcana. Please return it when you are able to gain nothing more from it.”

  “Thank you.” I replied and took the book in my hands. ‘Introduction to Spellcasting by Wendy McCoy’ said the cover. Digital books are convenient and don't take up much space, but there is something really special about an actual book. The feel, the touch, the smell…I opened the book and saw the foreword. ‘Congratulations on passing your Basic Spellcasting. I hope this book will help you master the advanced concepts. Wendy.’

  “You should go see the leaders of the spell schools before losing yourself in that,” the old man said with a knowing smile.

  “Well… that was unexpected.” Daisy said once we were out and in the hall.

  “But very rewarding. This aura skill gives everyone in my party a buff. It should make you feel more confident, and therefore more likely to crit…” Voice said, looking at his interface for it. “Not a bad bonus for being along for the ride.”

  “I thought mine was a dexterity buff spell, but it also enhances speed and accuracy…” Sam confirmed.

  “We should probably go down and try these spells out at the Spell Forge.” Voice suggested.

  I took my eyes away from the opening chapter talking about how spells are put together and carefully closed the book. “I should go speak to the heads of the schools.”

  “Split up and meet up again after lunch?” Kelsey asked.

  “One o’clock outside the challenge arena?" Sam suggested, we all agreed to meet up then.

  The Archmagus’ office turned out to be on the third floor of the School of Magic’s building.

  As Kelsey and Daisy both had a spell from the Arctic School, we headed for room 211. There were a few other players coming and going from the rooms along here. The door to 211 had a blue shimmer to it, and as someone stepped into the room they seemed to disappear. Looks like these chambers were being instanced. The three of us made sure the right titles were equipped then stepped in. Despite being in a group neither of my group mates were with me when I stepped across.

  The room was laid out like a typical horseshoe shaped lecture theatre. It would probably sit about sixty people at a push. The room was decorated with a variety of blues, with snowflake motifs and other ice themed symbology. The blue flickering flames of the torches giving off a bluer hew than I was used to, and had vapour falling from them giving the room a slight chilly feeling. There was a woman in a blue off the shoulder robe, working at the desk at the front, her white hair cut in a sharp edged commanding bob.

  “Greetings. Did you pass the test for the Arctic school?” she asked, her tone curt, her eyes seemingly never leaving the papers in front of her. I nodded, made my way over to her and offered her the slip from the Spell Forge.

  She eyed me up and down. “Sufficient. The next stage will be to prove your combat potential. To the west of here there is the school's challenge arena. Return once you have earnt the Certificate of combat proficiency.”

  “I already have one of those.” I said, and pulled it out of my [Inventory].

  She put her pen down with calculated precision and turned to give me her full attention with her piercing blue eyes.

  “Prepared. Good. Which ice spell do you know?”

  “Ice Blade.”

  “Demonstrate,” she said coolly.

  I pulled out my Arctic Staff and cast the spell. A two foot blade of ice extended from the end of the staff.

  She tapped a staccato with her fingers on her desk a few times. “Acceptable casting speed. Questionable form. Do you have much experience using a lance or scythe?” I shook my head. “In that case your task is to go into the city and find a martial trainer who can teach you how to use those melee weapons. Until then you will be more of a danger to your allies with that spell than a benefit. Once you have that, cast and use the spell 100 times in combat. Return once you have completed that task. Dismissed.”

  In a slight daze I left the room. Not used to being treated like that. I walked down the corridor and found room 206. Switched my title to [Inferno Mage] and then stepped through the barrier into the room. The room had the same layout as the Arctic classroom, but where the other made me feel cold, this one was the opposite. There were several open flames around the room and several balls of fire rotating about each other in the air in the center of the room. The woman behind the desk was wearing a bright red robe which was undone revealing a red bikini top. Her hair was coloured like a flickering flames, and pulled up into spikey updo creating a halo of hair resembling a flame behind her head. She had leaned back in her chair, legs up on the desk, and her fingers were wiggling towards the rotating balls of fire, like she was playing with them.

  “Yo!” she called out. “Are you one of my new students?” Giving me a warm infectious smile. She practically jumped out of her chair and met me half way to her desk, the floating orbs fading from view, the movement causing her hair to flicker around like ripples of a flame. I offered her the slip, and she quickly looked it over. “Excellent. Now the next step is to…” I offered her the Certificate of Combat Proficiency.

  “Well someone is prepared!” She hopped up onto the table in the middle of the room. “Ok, so what spell do you know?”

  “Fire Bolt and Fireball,” I said with a smile at her enthusiastic energy.

  “A rank three spell! Nice.” She waved her arm in the direction of the other side of the room and a dummy made of fire appeared. “Show me,” she commanded with a huge grin of anticipation.

  I pulled my Inferno Staff out and she put a hand up to stop me. “Without the aid. I want to see what you can do, not what you can do with a crutch.” I nodded and dropped it back into my [Inventory]. I then turned towards her fire dummy, raised a hand and fired out a [Fireball]. The small pellet streaked from my outstretched hand, hit the dummy and then there was an almighty Kaboom.