James froze a moment, suddenly glad he was sitting behind everyone else. At least they weren't all staring at him, just the teacher.

"Uh, it's putting… magic… in an object, I think?"

The room was utterly silent for a moment, and James' heart sank. But then Enchanter Melinda nodded.

"That's a good answer—straight to the point," she said. She turned and began drawing on the blackboard with a piece of chalk and James breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Ricardo dutifully wrote what James had said in his notes, once the teacher had confirmed it was correct.

Melinda drew a square on the blackboard, and an X shape next to it. Then, an arrow pointing from the X into the square, and then she drew a new square with an X inside it.

"At the most fundamental level, what James said is correct: we Enchanters put magic into objects. Now, Isabella." She turned and faced the young girl. "What is magic?"

At first, Isabella was confident, head held high, shoulders thrown back. "Magic is…! Uh, magic, is…" she started to curl in on herself as her confidence flagged. "Uh, magic…"

Melinda cut her off. "Students, if you don't know an answer to a question, and can't venture a guess, quickly admit your ignorance so that we don't waste time."

She turned to the red haired boy at the end of the row. "Ewan, what is magic?"

He jerked upright at suddenly being called upon. "Er, isn't it like magic spells and things?"

"We don't define a term with that same term, but partially correct as an example. Spells are a kind of magic."

She turned to the other side of the room now. "Ricardo, name two methods of casting spells. Three if you can think of more than two."

Ricardo furrowed his brow. Three ways? "Spells are cast with skills, no?"

"That is one way, what's another?"

"I'm afraid I don't know."

"Very good."

Melinda set the chalk down, apparently done drawing for now. She gazed down at the seated students before her.

"Spells can be cast via prepared catalysts; such is the domain of wizards. The use of skills empowered by mana is also considered a kind of spell. Divine rituals performed by priests are spells, and are in practice the same as ritual magic practiced by Mages working in tandem. Finally, I personally consider Baking Magic to be capable of casting spells, but I'm in the minority in that debate."

"Baking Magic?" Ewan asked incredulously.

Melinda nodded gravely. "I once witnessed a baker tear the very fabric of reality when she baked a portal through time. It was terrifying."

James blinked.

Baking magic?

"Now, Raven, are enchantments spells?"

Raven thought a moment, then shook her head.

"No, I don't think so."

"Correct, can you guess why not?"

"No."

"Enchantments linger," Melinda answered her own question. "Though the effect of an enchantment—once activated—may end, either because the magic has taken effect or the magic power has run out, the enchantment itself remains. Spells are magic that have a defined beginning and end, while enchantments are, as James said, magic put into an object. The object itself, once enchanted, thus has more of a weight on reality. Did all of you notice this weight, or presence, when you came to the Guild today?"

Everyone nodded except for Isabella, who, after looking at everyone else, raised her hand.

"Yes, Isabella?"

"Uhm, I don't know what you're talking about... madame."

Melinda's eyelids flickered a moment. "Ah, that's right, you've yet to take your Classes. When is your Choosing day?"

James was shocked, but he didn't see anyone else react, so he contained himself.

"It's in twelve days."

"Oh, excellent." Melinda smiled. "I'm sure you've already begun to train your mana control, but you should work on your magic sensitivity, as well. See me after class today and I'll give you some exercises to work on outside of class."

Isabella bit her lip, but nodded.

"Now, besides mana converted into magic power by the human body, there are other forms of energy relevant for enchanting: essence, spirit, the energy of life itself, and… souls may also empower enchantments."

She frowned at them severely, and her intent pressed down on them harder than it had so far. James felt like he could hardly breathe.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"I tell you that souls can be used to empower enchantments out of completeness, but you are forbidden from ever doing such a thing. Do not ever create such enchantments, nor use them. They are anathema, taboo, and least of all, illegal. If you come across magic empowered by souls, you are to destroy it. If you come across a mage involved in such business, you are to capture them if you are able to do so safely; otherwise, kill them without hesitation."

James swallowed thickly.

"It is best to capture such villains so that they may be interrogated and their evil thoroughly purged, but it is a hazardous endeavor, lest your own soul be captured. None will think less of you if you simply kill them when discovered."

And suddenly, the weight was lifted.

"With that out of the way— yes, Raven?"

James wiped a sheen of sweat from his brow and looked at the pale, trembling brunette. "D-don't the Priests do soul magic?"

"An excellent question. No, what priests do is different, and is powered by divine power, also known as Divinium."

She paused a moment before continuing. "There is, in fact, an outstanding question whether or not Divinium can be used to empower enchantments. So far no one has managed it."

James then raised his hand and spoke when called upon. "Is that like Holy magic?"

"Another excellent question. No, Holy is an aspect, a derivative of Light, as is Sacred. Curse and Profane are also aspects, though they are derivatives of Dark."

Melinda turned to the board and drew three lines intersecting at a center-point, then drew the runes for the six basic elements in a hexagonal shape. Light and Dark, Water and Fire, Air and Earth; each across from the other.

"What does this show? Ricardo."

"The six basic elements, each paired with their opposite," he answered.

Melinda nodded. "And does every element have an opposite?"

"Ahh… I don't know," he admitted.

"Good," Melinda praised and then continued on like a rushing river. "The answer is no, and the mistaken idea that all elements have an opposite is called the 'symmetrical fallacy.' It is an attractive idea, but one easily proven wrong.

She drew a new rune, further from the center point but somewhat between the Earth and Light runes. Her gaze swept the students and saw that none of them recognized it, so she continued without asking.

"This is the rune for the Poison aspect. Most often it is considered a derivative aspect of Earth—" she drew a line between the two runes, "—but it is also a derivative of Light." She drew another line between Poison and Light. "The symmetrical fallacy would posit that there is an aspect opposing Poison, but this is not true: the opposite of the Poison aspect is Poison."

She paused to let that sink in. "Suffice it to say, as the Apothecaries do, that 'the dose makes the poison.' To go further would be beyond the scope of the basic course. Simply be aware that if you make any enchantment using the Poison rune, that you must be particularly careful of magic power regulation."

The Smith made a connection, then, as to why the bat monsters had been on the first floor of the Dungeon, and had contained purple magic stones half the time.

She drew two more runes on the board, and drew lines between them. From Light to Holy, and from Holy to Sacred. Then she drew a circle around everything except the Sacred rune.

"Although there are Basic level enchantments for any given aspect, for this course, we will restrict ourselves to the basic and primary derivative aspects. Secondary derivative aspects and beyond can be set aside for now."

Melinda moved to another part of the blackboard and began drawing an enchantment pattern James was quite familiar with: the Basic Air Enchantment: Rapid Blow. She looked over her shoulder and asked, "Who knows what enchantment this is?"

James and Ricardo raised their hands.

"Ricardo."

"It's Rapid Blow, using the Air rune."

"Correct. Is anybody confused about what this enchantment does? No? Then let us dissect the pattern and learn what each part does."

James leaned forward.

This was it.

Until now, he had just been blindly copying patterns without understanding what they did. As if he had been illiterate, and tried to copy a book by drawing the shapes on the page without understanding the letters and words. His very soul quivered in anticipation.

And then Ewan raised his hand.

"Uh, Enchanter Melinda? Are we going to learn any Skills in this class?"

She paused. She had been drawing enlarged portions of the enchantment pattern, the better to explore, but she put the chalk down and turned to face the red-haired boy.

She very slightly narrowed her eyes at him. "To answer your question, yes. I now ask you a question in turn: why are we not starting with learning Skills?"

Ewan tilted his head a moment, then answered, "Because Isabella doesn't have her Classes yet?"

Isabella gasped in outrage, and Raven slapped her palm into her forehead.

James, though, considered. Why hadn't they started with Skills? Thinking back, Meridox had said his apprentices practiced drawing the patterns when they started, and they hadn't done that yet, and the sun was falling closer to the horizon already.

Melinda shook her head. "No, Ewan, that is not the reason. Are you aware that it is not only Enchanters who can perform enchantments?"

"Huh? Really?" he asked, astonished.

"Yes. Anyone with mana can perform an enchantment. Mages can learn the Basic Elemental Enchanting Skill, and even perform enchantments of their affinity without the need for a catalyst, provided they have or can create their own Aqua Magia." She gazed at him intently. "So, then, what is the point of Enchanters? Why do we have our own profession, our own Guild? Why do we have this course? If all one needs is to create an enchantment, one could just blindly follow the pattern, with prepared catalysts, and press the magic into the object by force. Crude, but effective."

James had been disappointed by Ewan's distracting question, but now his focus was locked in.

"What we Enchanters do is create enchantments," Melinda said with emphasis. "Each enchantment must be tailored exactly to the object being enchanted. To do any less is to vastly reduce the magical effect produced by the enchantment. Take, for instance, this pattern." She tapped her chalk on the Rapid Blow pattern drawn on the chalkboard. "This pattern is arranged for application onto a sword, or any other long, flat, thin object. If you were to apply it to something short, round, and thick—like a hammer head, for example—you would drastically reduce the enchantment's effect. The reason we are starting with the basics, and not with learning Skills, is precisely to avoid making such foolish mistakes."

The Legendary Smith cringed in embarrassment.

Editor's note 1: The information on Enchanting contained in this chapter has been adjusted so that no known inaccuracies are contained within. For primary sources on the material taught in the Enchanter's Guild of Cordova during the Smith's time, the University of Cordova has an excellent archive. It should be noted that Poison can also be a derivative aspect of other elements, but limiting the explanation to two has pedagogical value in this instance.

Editor's note 2: Yes, the instructor for the course the Smith took did actually use the application of [Rapid Blow] to a hammer as an example of what not to do. This was not something Andrew of Longthorn added to the text.

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