World of Laws and Magic

Nick got a meal of fried chicken, rice, gravy and vegetables and left the cafeteria. The cafeteria was on the eighth floor so he took the elevator back to the fourth floor; the dorm had 9 floors in all including the ground floor. On the way to his room he ran into Don Bartholomew as he was leaving his own room.

"What a good evening, isn't it Nick? Good enough to go out to taste some delicacies, am I right?"

Nick really didn't like how Don just said that, after all, he new he was probably going to meetup with those girls from before.

"I'm not going to bother asking how it is that you know my name since apparently you rich people have the free time to run background checks on students. Let me ask this though, didn't you say that girl you were with the other night was your maid, why is she now a student?"

Don chuckled.

"Ha, you're talking about Marcia. Well...not that it's any of your business but she is still my family's maid but since I had such a good time with her the other night, I had my people call in some favors to get her last minute admittance to the academy. Why else do you think that she would let me do what I did to her, because I'm so nice? Anyway, it looks like you ran into her. My best advice bro, keep away from girls like that unless you have some 'protection'. Who knows what they'll do for a favor. See you later...or not."

Nick shrugged his shoulders.

"Ha, Ha..."

Don let out a laugh and walked past Nick, going into the elevator.

"What a weird guy."

When Nick got into his room, he took about fifteen minutes to eat is dinner and then he took out his laptop to read one of his math textbooks.

(Although a laws and magic academy isn't like university in regards to what they teach, I still believe that mathematics could be useful in terms of laws and magic because, as they say, math is the language of God. Scientists use math to understand physical laws and from what I've read, since laws and magic is the altering of those laws, it might be useful if I can understand physical laws too.)

Nick spent the next four hours reading about the theory of numbers and a little about probabilities and statistics. Despite the tedium, Nick thought that his life was a little better and more interesting than before. Nick stopped reading at about 12:30 am and went to bed. 

RIIIIIINNNGGGG!!

Just like that, it was 3 am when Nick's phone alarm sounded. In the past Nick promised himself that no matter what, he would always get an early start in the day unless he was sick, so he ended up getting only a little over two hours of sleep.

"To be the best, you got to work over time. Ha..."

Nick said that and chuckled. Nick got up, drank some water and did his usual reps of push ups. He likes the feeling of exercise but kept it to minimum so that it would not get in the way of his studying or force him to increase his food intake and budget. 

"I wonder if I'll ever be ripped like those guys in the movies...ha, ha."

Nick looked at his slim but slightly muscular and toned arms and chuckled. He took a shower and then proceeded to eat some snacks that he had in his bag.

(I should probably buy more of these for late night and early morning study sessions.)

Putting that thought to the back of his mind, Nick turned on his laptop and started studying some math concepts. He liked geometry the most because to him it was the most intuitive math discipline. He didn't know what good derivatives or functions could do for him but anyone could understand the importance of lines, points and object dimensions. Anyway, Nick didn't mind studying these things, having only a slim hope that they would be useful. For him it was all about increasing his future prospects and to do that, a wealth of knowledge about something useful couldn't hurt, right?

Nick had already done about three hours worth of studying by the time 8 am came around and so he turned off his laptop and headed out to the academy's library. Nick walked past the two weird looking statues at the door and entered the library to see the librarian at his desk reading a book.

(A typical librarian, huh...)

Nick took out the book on laws and magic from is back pack and walked over to the librarian's desk and said:

"Good morning Sir. I'm returning the book that I last borrowed."

Nick placed the book on the desk and the librarian took a few seconds to look it over and nodded his head.

"Assuming that you actually read the book, you took only two days. When most first years borrow a book, they keep it for a couple months before returning it, saying that they couldn't finish it because it was boring. Although a lot of students here come from well to do families, a lot of them are lazy and only end up becoming Magicians because of their family's help and resources. You seem to be different...keep up the good work. Now, are you interested in another book?"

Nick was pleased at hearing some words of encouragement, they were rare for him.

"Could you please give me the best book you have on the Valteese language? Also, why did you guess that I already read the book, I could just be returning it because I found it boring and want another book?"

"Kid, most people don't get it but when a man finishes reading a book, that's an accomplishment that may forever change his life and even if subconsciously, there is a little more pride in his step as he walks forward from then on. The way you're walking changed a little, that's how I could tell."

Nick didn't know any of that. He had a feeling that he should take that information with a pinch of salt though.

"The Valteese language? Kid, do you know how very few students try to study it on their own? It took you such a short amount of time to take the initiative to try to learn it. Decisiveness is a good thing for a Magician in training."

The librarian waved his hand and a slightly thick book appeared out of thin air. It had a leather cover and smelt burnt but clearly it wasn't.

"This is an introductory book on the Valteese language and it has around 1500 pages. You better be serious about reading it or you won't get very far."

Nick nodded his head.

"Thank you sir, I'll try my best."

With that Nick left the library with the 'new' book in his backpack. Nick could feel the librarian's support of his actions with the fact that he brought out only one book instead of just piling multiple on the table and telling him to pick one like the last time. Of course it could be that this is the only book on Valteese that they have, but Nick thinks that is probably very unlikely.

Nick made his way to his dorm's cafeteria to get some breakfast, making sure not to bump into someone else again. After getting two egg sandwiches and an orange juice, Nick went back to his room. He got excited and took out his next book and started reading it and did not stop until about 6:30 pm when he went to the cafeteria again for some food. When he came back, he turned on his laptop to read one of the math texts. After reading for a few hours, at around 11 pm, he decided to go to sleep so that he could wake up early tomorrow to start his grind all over again.

Nick then spent the next few days following a routine of doing push ups, eating, showering and reading books. That is literally all that he did for almost an entire week. He didn't even bother trying to speak with the other students because he thought that that would be a waste of his time.

Just like that, it was the Monday morning when classes would officially begin. Nick woke up at 3 am like usual, did his push ups, read his book on Valteese for about two hours and then he showered and got ready for class. He came to the academy with very little so all he had to wear was a couple of jeans and a few polo shirts. Others might say that he was poor, and they would be right, but Nick had hope that the future would be better than it was now. By the time Nick got to Main building for first year classes, it was already 8:30 am. He took out his phone to look up his schedule. He had chosen his courses two nights before; he had classes every day but they would be only a few hours and he had to decide how he would spend the rest of his time.

(I can't help thinking that that is the right set up. if student's days were really filled with formal classes, when would they have time to actually learn how to control magic. I think I read once that the purpose of knowledge was not information, it was action. We should spend most of our time actually practicing writing laws and trying to control our magic.)

(And I do mean 'our' magic. From what I've read from my book on Valteese, when you carve laws into your mindscape the magic energy that they posses are so imbued with characteristics that are related to whatever laws that you have, that the energy basically becomes available only for your use. For example, if someone created a spell that could steal your magic energy, that energy would be useless to them unless they figured out how to convert your magic energy into their own which apparently is very difficult and generally can only be done by World Class Magicians.)

"Laws and magic is so cool."

Nick got the directions for his introductory class from his academic schedule and reached his class after a few minutes. When he opened to door he saw a room full of people, varying in age, some seem to be about his age while some seem to be middle aged. The room is like a university lecture theater and there is about 30 plus people already inside. Nick looked around and took a seat at the end of the third row from the front where the teacher would be.

At 9 am, a tall, black, middle aged man in an all white suite walked in and shouted:

"Let's begin!"