A mighty spellcaster used his gift to steal all the active mana in the area. But Smirt Giy realized that the spellcaster had no control over passive mana, and used his rapid movement passive skill to run away as fast as he could, and he survived.

  After his time with Lard Lump, he'd returned to the classroom he'd chosen for his temporary residence and spent hours poring over Book. He closed Book, and opened it again.

  Beeg Dumi summoned a mighty army to destroy a high-level spellcaster. The spellcaster and his allies buried Beeg Dumi and his army in molten lava where they all died horribly. And Beeg Dumi was miserable.

  Jeremy closed Book and glared at it while absently wiggling his second loose eyetooth. Asking Book questions was like working with a faulty online search engine. A simple question would elicit a multitude of garbage responses. “Come on, Book, how do I kill a high-level spellcaster?”

  Book was still for several seconds, then vibrated with boundless enthusiasm which Jeremy had learned was its signal to open it up again.

  Smirt Giy recruited another high-level spellcaster, and the two of them killed the first high-level spellcaster together.

  Jeremy closed Book again and took a deep breath. “How can a lone rogue kill a high-level spellcaster?”

  Again, the wait.

  Beeg Dumi crept up on a sleeping high-level spellcaster with a large club. He was caught in the spellcaster's trap where he slowly burned alive and was miserable. The spellcaster awoke from a restful sleep and used a simple cleaning spell to remove the very miserable Beeg Dumi's ashes from his trap before continuing his journey.

  Book used Beeg Dumi and Smirt Giy to illustrate the right and wrong ways for an adventurer to behave. Smirt Giy served as a good example. The one who did everything right. Beeg Dumi, however, could not catch a break. He'd been eaten alive, burnt alive, died of hunger, died of thirst, had his soul devoured over a million years by a godlike eldritch horror, and as a consequence, he was always miserable.

  “I believe what Book is trying to say,” Flint said. “Is that there is no way for a lone rogue to kill a high-level spellcaster. From your memories, Mezirma has a magical shield that will protect him from anything you might use to kill him.”

  “There's got to be a weakness,” Jeremy said, rubbing his chest absently. “Some weapon that will penetrate the shield. Book, how can a rogue of my level get past a high-level spellcaster's magical shield?”

  Book sat there, and sat there... then it went limp as a wet washcloth. A small tear came out of one of Book's corners.

  “Crud.”

  Jeremy glared at Book, where it sat crying in the middle of the dungeon school classroom in response to his question. There had to be a way for him to kill a high-level Spellcaster. But how?

  Flint let out an exasperated sigh. “Mezirma is not our concern, Jeremy, as he's certainly left the dungeon by now, an example we would do well to emulate.” Flint produced another whiteboard. “Now this strength graph is a little more complicated than the ones I've shown you previously, but I want you to pay attention as it pertains to you.”

  The graph had three lines, labeled Fighter, Spellcaster, and Rogue. The X axis was labeled “Level of Adventurer,” and the Y axis was labeled “Comparative Strength.” The line labeled Fighter began higher than the other two, first going up, then dipping downward in relation to the Spellcaster. The line labeled Spellcaster began the lowest of the three characters, but curved upward and was soon the highest line on the graph. The Rogue's line began in the middle of the other two, but remained flat as the lines for both the Fighter and Spellcaster rose far above the Rogue.

  “Now, if you examine this graph, you will notice the Fighter begins as the strongest character, but, as the characters level up, the Spellcaster overtakes both the Fighter and Rogue. The Rogue starts a little stronger than the Spellcaster, but as the three classes level up, the Rogue soon becomes—and remains—the weakest of the three character classes, good for situations requiring stealth and little else. Are you following me, Jeremy?”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Jeremy studied the graph. “Why do Fighters start the strongest? I'd think at low levels they'd be closer to the Rogue.”

  “Rogues start with Sneak. Fighters start with Mana-Enhanced Attack/Defense, which allows them to deliver a lot of damage to their opponents in a short time, dominating the dungeon up to the twentieth level or so, at which time they give way to the Spellcaster's Mana Channeling skill and their more advanced, powerful magics. As a Rogue, you will start weak and remain weak. Though I know you have thoughts of vengeance, the sad truth is you are wasting your time. You should be focusing on getting less weak, and following your sacred birthright of getting me—I mean us—out of this dungeon.”

  Over the past year, Jeremy had had a lot of practice ignoring Flint. He took a deep breath, then another. Sometimes getting to the right answer is a matter of taking the correct approach to the problem. And sometimes the best way to find the correct approach to the problem was to start at the beginning. “I'm sorry Book. This is my fault for asking the wrong questions. Oh great, wise and all-knowing Book of the Dungeon. What can you tell me about magic?”

  Book stiffened up and vibrated, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. Jeremy opened it. This time, instead of words, a pamphlet rested between the pages. Titled “The Idiot's Guide to Magic.”

  “It would seem Book came through this time. That pamphlet is perfect for you,” Flint said.

  “Shut up,” Jeremy picked up the pamphlet and opened it, not sure what to expect...

  Oh Wow.

  The pamphlet vanished, and Jeremy's mind was overwhelmed with magic theory, facts, and trivia. It was a long time before he could do anything but lie on the floor, mentally sifting through the knowledge he'd been given.

  Magic is the utilization of the energy source known as mana to alter the reality of yourself and your surroundings. All beings in the dungeon universe are capable of magic to some degree. There are three forms of mana an adventurer needs to be concerned about: Active Mana, Passive Mana, and Life Mana.

  Active Mana lets you cast spells and change the reality around you. Passive Mana can be absorbed, strengthening and improving your body. Life Mana comes from beings you kill and allows you to raise your stats and gain levels. While anyone can make use of magic, spellcasters have a huge advantage. Their mana channeling skill allows them to use a staff or wand to cast spells faster with less mana, while gathering mana from their surroundings.

  All this and so much more flooded his mind. As a beginner's guide to magic, it didn't tell him how to get past a high-level Spellcasters' magic shield, but it was a start.

  ***

  He thought about changing his class to Spellcaster. Spellcaster would give him some huge advantages at higher levels. But it wasn't magic spells or fighting skills that had kept him alive in the dungeon. It was Sneak and his high Perception that had allowed him to discover the dungeon's secrets. Jeremy was a rogue. It was that simple.

  ***

  Jeremy sat with his back against a classroom wall, closed his eyes, and took slow, deep breaths. Once again, he pushed his mind into a meditative state, focusing the entirety of his being into one tiny point, with a simple request. “Light.”

  A long moment passed.

  He sighed. Nothing.

  There were two ways an adventurer could learn a spell. The first and easiest way is to receive the spell from a dungeon, god, or high-level Spellcaster. This spell is imbued in the adventurer's mind, allowing them to cast it as long as they have the mana. The second, and by far the hardest way, is to teach yourself. To do this, you have to sense Active Mana and force it to respond to your will. Though simple in theory, making this happen is far more difficult.

  “It's easy to use mana through my active skills,” Jeremy complained. “Why can't I use my mana on its own?”

  Flint sniffed. “The best analogy to help you understand this situation is the difference between a granted spell and a spell you learn on your own, is like the difference between buying a computer game from the store and programming your game from scratch. Even Spellcasters, with their mana channeling skill, have difficulty creating spells from nothing.”

  “Hmmph,” Jeremy said. With a sigh, he tried again.

  Unlike the thousand times previously, there was a blinding flash, and Jeremy's mana levels dropped to zero. Temporarily blinded, he squeezed his eyes shut and blinked until the blinding light faded from his retinas. Then he jumped up and down for joy. “I cast my first spell!”

  “You performed the crudest form of magic,” Flint said. “Let me point out that the difference between your mana-intensive, crude light spell and any of the spells given to you by the dungeon is the difference between knowing 1+1=2 and advanced quantum physics. Still, it's possible this greater understanding of magic will help you level up your active skills. You may be a little less weak now because of it. Good work, Jeremy.”

  Jeremy went back to his meditation, trying to duplicate his spell. It would be days before he was able to do so. After he did, the following appeared on his stat sheet.

  Crude Light Spell: An insult to the Art of Spellcasting. If the spell were any cruder, it would cease to be magic.

  Though no closer to his quest for revenge, he supposed it was a start.