Somnial had left me everything. His entire estate, his fortune, and most importantly, his library. He left me instructions to continue being cautious as I learned magic, repeating his warning not to overreach, but I knew that much. What I didn’t know was how to deal with everything else.

  Byron already managed much of the estate’s affairs and finances, as Somnial himself rarely did anything beyond study his magic, and when I asked if he would stay on the butler had simply said, “of course.” I left the continued management to him, aside from instructions to send a small amount of raab to my family each year, enough to hire help for sowing and harvest and to buy in a small amount of extra luxuries. I was worried about what an influx of riches would do to spoil them, and that it would lead them to bad behavior—such as my father drinking again—but I wanted to ensure they were taken care of. That was a delicate balancing act.

  Most of the staff stayed on, since they would continue getting paid. One or two left the manor’s service, as the honor of serving the Great Sage was over, but we still had more than enough staff to manage, especially now that it was just me living there.

  Rikton and Trisellia had made the trip in from Obdorn to be there for Somnial’s funeral, which I thanked them for. After paying their respects and checking in with me, Rikton told me that inheriting wealth and the status that comes with was not the same as accomplishing something in my own name, and I agreed. I wasn’t in a rush to formalize anything, anyway, even though I was increasingly leaning towards deciding to share my future with Felris, if she would have me. All the thinking I had done about family, while saying goodbye to Somnial, had affected my heart.

  I refocused on my education, returning to classes and picking up [Control Stone] to study at home. As the summer term came to an end, Somnius kept us inside for his final lecture to discuss the rest of our junior academy career.

  “Your final task as academy juniors is to show that you can learn a spell through self-study alone,” Somnius told the class. “To graduate as a junior and be accepted into senior classes, you must learn and successfully cast one of the following skills: [Create Lightning], [Create Earth], or [Create Iron]. Choose carefully, as each has different demands.

  “Lightning requires incredible focus of intent, otherwise the spell runs wild. It’s one of the best options if your focus is going to be combat, moving forward. Earth is a sizable spell, given the complexity of the make-up of soil, and is one of the hardest junior spells to memorize, but is a good spell to learn before [Control Earth], which is very useful for fortifications and infrastructure. Iron, while comparably simple, requires, frankly, a preposterous amount of mana and a very high Will. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are already approaching double-digit Will. There are some spells which simply demand more mana than many mages can ever control, but if you’re intending to pursue that path, this is a good place to start.”

  I already knew most of this, thanks to Felris, and it wasn’t exactly a guarded academy secret. She had decided to learn [Create Lightning] after what she faced in the dungeon, and I couldn’t blame her. I had the Will to pursue [Create Iron], which I thought would be impressive, but to be honest I fully intended to learn all three, long term.

  The discovery of the existence of [Create Iron] had led me to ask Somnial about the other creation spells, prior to his passing. I was shocked to discover that there were tons, including [Create Gold], but like iron, the cost became excessive. [Create Gold] was labeled a 30-Will spell, but even then the amount conjured was tiny. Most considered it a waste of mana, and it didn’t start to produce a truly worthwhile amount until a mage’s Will was pushing 60, by which point any mage could earn far more gold using their magic in more productive ways than conjuring it directly.

  At least, that was the case for humans with a single lifespan. In a few lives, I would have the potential to cast [Create Gold] like the [Sage], which, I had since come to learn, was part of how he afforded his withdrawn lifestyle, as it was technically considered an offensive spell like the other creation spells. It wasn’t practical to fire gold bullets worth the mana of hundreds of stone shards, but it was possible.

  Having the means to make gold could help me out of some serious binds in future lives, so I definitely planned to learn it, in due time. [Create Iron] would be a good starting point.

  “As third year students, you have academy library access to all grimoires 9-Will and below. You’re to pick one of these three, learn the spell, and display it before the end of winter term to move on to senior classes, at which point your time here will be shaped by your choices of self-study moving forward.”

  I raised my hand, as there was something I was curious about. Somnius was less difficult to deal with, now, and I wasn’t worried about drawing as much ire since the funeral. “Why do juniors not learn [Create Light]?”

  “It’s a useful utility spell, but the academy focuses on magic that’s useful to the kingdom. Feel free to learn it on your own time,” he said, before answering another student’s question.

  While I hadn’t intended on bypassing the final exam with my bonus spell, nor had I expected it since it wasn’t a high-Will spell, I had been curious why it wasn’t one of the junior spells. Couldn’t light become a weapon, in its own way, at a high enough level? I assumed it was also boosted by the blessing of the [Sage], though I had never asked directly, and got sad when I realized I’d never get to, now.

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  My peers worriedly made decisions about their junior finals, deciding quickly in order to get a copy of their desired grimoire from the library before the fall break, but I sat back, unconcerned. I had copies of all three from Somnial’s library.

  Instead of thinking about that, I was thinking about what the future of my magical education would look like. Without Somnial, I didn’t have a wizened mage to bounce ideas off of. I could probably talk to Somnius about some stuff, but anything too outside of the ordinary might still push his buttons, even after that peculiar heart-to-heart at the funeral.

  In my futile attempt to keep Somnial healthy, I had rapidly advanced my Will and gained some really useful magic. Once my curriculum was more open as a senior, I had the freedom to do that more. I promised not to overreach, but pushing up against my limits was necessary to spark more growth in the time I had in this life. Now that I had recovered from the built-up strain, I could cast a [Minor Healing] without bottoming out my mana entirely. I planned to keep casting it on myself every couple of days to get a better feel for healing magic.

  A little healing would mean I could also push my physical training a bit harder. I had always been cautious not to push too hard while my body was young, but I was growing fast, and if I could count on some magical recovery I could go a bit harder without as much worry. I’d still be tired out by the extra training and using up so much mana, but so long as I got lots of food and sleep, it would pay off.

  My attention was drawn back to my surroundings as class ended and the students got up to leave. I stood, stretched, and followed my peers out, thinking about which spell to learn next.

  * * *

  I immersed myself in study and training through fall, starting with the spell I would need to graduate. [Create Iron] wasn’t anything to write home about, more or less the same as [Create Stone] except for the quantity of material produced.

  The default mana draw produced a small pellet, basically a BB. With some more mana pumped through for power, it could do some damage, but it wasn’t all that practical. If I poured all my mana just into conjuration, the pellet grew enough to be comparable to something like a .22 LR, but then I didn’t have enough mana to fire it.

  Perhaps when I had a larger Will it would be impressive, but with the cast time, I would never become a magical artillery unit in this life. I set the thought aside for a future life.

  It occurred to me that ammunition wasn’t made of iron in my first world, but [Create Lead] was actually comparable to [Create Gold] rather than being a cheaper spell than [Create Iron]. I also wasn’t sure I wanted to litter the world with magically conjured lead.

  Conjured iron was rather interesting. I had asked around about whether it was used by smiths, but apparently it rusted faster than mined natural iron and so it wasn’t preferred, though it was technically usable if a mage could actually produce enough to be worthwhile. I figured the difference in the propensity for rust had to do with the mana circuit present in natural resources, versus the conjured material which lost its mana circuit when the caster released it. A form of non-organic mana decomposition, maybe.

  Still, once the conjured iron was worked and integrated into a tool or structure, it could develop a mana circuit which would make it last. At the rates mages could actually produce it, and given the value of a mage’s mana pool, mining was simply more profitable.

  It was an obstinate material, too. It was quite hard to take extended control over post-conjuration. I only just managed it in order to push it up to its second level.

  More subtly, I asked around about conjured gold, worried it might also decay. Apparently it didn’t, at least not noticeably within a human lifespan. I figured gold would then build up over a long period of time, until I discovered that there were some monsters which ate gold. There were probably monsters that ate iron, too. The world maintained balance. Perhaps that’s what the administrator actually did with his infinite time.

  After [Create Iron], and after a trip to Redding to visit my family over winter break, I picked up [Create Lightning]. The spell wasn’t much more complicated than [Create Fire], just more difficult and required a strict, precise intent. It was even more difficult to grab control with through extended intent, to the point where I just couldn’t, so I gave up for the moment and would come back to it when I was stronger. With that sorted, I started on [Create Earth]. I wasn’t expecting to get it done before the end of my junior academy career, but I’d add it to my repertoire sometime into spring, after which I could focus on [Control Earth].

  That’ll make Torra happy, at least, I thought with a chuckle.

  Over the half year, I also made progress in other ways. With my Body at 15, I was able to push my [Swordsmanship] up to the next level.

  Apparently this was quite the achievement at fourteen, a year or two ahead of the curve even for someone who specialized in combat, and Byron expressed a lot of pride about it.

  That was the advantage of starting as a literal child, with the focus of an adult. I didn’t consider it that impressive. It’s not like I had many distractions to compete for my time, unlike growing up in my first life, and I could now heal my muscles with magic, which was a supernatural bonus.

  When the junior graduation exam came, I was ready. I conjured my small orb of iron, which Somnius nodded at, and that was that. I took a look at my System to see how far I had come.

  After the spring break, I would be a senior. I wished Somnial could be around to see it, but he was gone. I hoped he was enjoying his new life, wherever he had wound up reincarnating to.