"Alright, wands up!" barked Master Elira, her voice firm but calm.
Loren, a young goblin girl with big eyes and burnt sleeves, winced as her fire spell flickered out. Again. Beside her, Yuno the elf focused hard, her fingertips glowing faintly.
"It's not working…" Loren muttered, trying to force a flame.
"You're rushing," Yuno whispered back. "Remember what Elira said—magic is like breathing, not yelling."
Loren sighed and tried again. This time, a tiny spark danced on her palm.
"I did it!" she gasped.
A few other students turned to look. Some smiled, some rolled their eyes. Loren didn't care. She'd made fire.
"Focus, all of you!" Elira called from the front of the wooden hall that served as the village's first magic classroom. "Magic responds to patience. If you demand too much, it punishes you."
Most students were young goblins, elves, and even a few humans from nearby villages. The academy wasn't fancy. The walls were plain, with parchment scribbled with symbols pinned up with nails. But it was warm, and filled with people who wanted to learn.
In the back corner, a nervous dwarf boy named Rik studied a basic earth spell. Dirt floated, hovered, and then crashed into his lap.
"Gah!"
Everyone laughed, even Rik. He brushed himself off and tried again.
Another girl, Maren, was drawing runes on a sheet of paper. "I heard if you draw the fire rune just right, it makes a real flame. Want to try?"
"Not if it sets my desk on fire again," said Jilo, the baker's son. He now had his eyebrows back after last week's incident.
The door creaked open.
A silence swept over the class as Caelen entered. His eyes scanned the room, pausing on the little successes: a light spell hovering like a candle, a boy forming a shield of wind, the faint glow of a healing spell in one corner.
"Looks like you're all learning fast," he said with a small smile.
Elira nodded. "Some have talent. Some just need time."
"Keep encouraging them," Caelen said. "Soon we'll need more healers and enchanters. Especially if the monster activity keeps rising."
Yuno raised her hand shyly. "Um… Caelen?"
"Yeah?"
"Is it true you made a status ring for everyone?"
"Yup."
"Can… can we level up from magic too?"
"You already are," he replied. "The more you use it, the better it becomes. That's how this world works."
The students murmured, looking at their hands, then at each other.
Rik whispered, "So if I keep throwing dirt… I'll be Earth Mage Rik someday?"
"Maybe," Caelen said. "Depends on how stubborn you are."
They laughed. Even Elira chuckled.
Before leaving, Caelen placed a few enchanted books on the table. "These might help. I wrote notes on how I learned fire and wind magic. Test them out. Don't burn the school down."
As the door closed behind him, the students gathered around the table like birds to crumbs.
"He wrote these?" Loren asked, wide-eyed.
"Of course," said Yuno, flipping through the first one. "He's the one who built this whole place."
"Crazy," said Jilo. "I remember when this used to be a goat shed."
Maren lit a weak flame from her finger. "It's not a goat shed anymore."
That night, as students walked home under soft lamplight, they talked about spells, rings, and dreams.
"I want to be a healer," Yuno said. "Help the village."
"I want to fly," Loren whispered. "Just once."
Rik, now covered in mud, raised his hands. "I just want to make the ground shake."
They laughed again.
In the distance, the lights of the village glowed warmly. Shops were open, guild bells rang faintly, and smoke curled from chimneys. But inside each of them, something new stirred.
Magic.
Real magic.
And it was only the beginning.