12: Sofia

Julia was not very convinced when I told her that today I was going out with someone that I practically did not know, but Ragnar assured her that there was nothing to worry about, since he knew Sabrina well and that she had nothing to do with Vector.

I had already had lunch and was ready to go when Sabrina arrived at noon. She wears casual clothing, consisting of a simple black T-shirt, jean pants and black boots, while I wear the same as yesterday, since I don't know why she wants me to accompany her, so, it is better to be ready for anything.

I let her lead the way when we leave, and I follow her in silence for a while, but seeing that she does not explain the reason why she wants me to accompany her, I decide to ask her. "Erm, you still haven't told me why I'm accompanying you or where we're going"

"it's true!!!" she says, slapping his forehead with his hand while laughing "sorry, hmm, you see... Yesterday, when you had registered in the guild, I heard that you have an affinity with spirit magic and it happens that it is something very rare and... Sorry, I'm not explaining myself well. We go where my aunt lives, to the magic academy, she is the director. In the academy we experiment and practice a lot with magic as you can imagine, many times during these practices or experiments the students fall into what we call a magic coma, that is, in other words, using more mana than they have and falling unconscious for several days. When this happens, potions are useless, but there are devices that serve to store mana and transfer it to comatose students, thus recovering instantly. The problem is that, normally, the body of people only accepts mana that comes from the same body. However, mana from people with an affinity for spirit magic can be transferred without problems to other people."

"Aha, so... Do you want me to go to store mana at the academy? Is the academy going to pay me or something? Could I learn more ways to use magic as payment there? Ragnar only taught me how to set my sword on fire, but he forbade me to experiment for myself and refused to teach me more " I ask, hopefully.

"Yes, you could. But it would be a bad exchange for you, since you have no idea how rare people with your affinity are. My aunt is the only one in the whole academy with that affinity and she is always complaining about how tiring it is to recharge the artifacts, since, despite the fact that potions recharge mana, there is nothing that relieves the fatigue that occurs from emptying your mana reserve several times, except sleeping" Sabrina says smiling and jumping while walking "Also, if you want, I can teach you magic. Consider it as a compensation for helping me with the lion"

"You know you were never really in danger, right? I don't think you have to compensate me for anything, but I would love for you to teach me" I say, also smiling, because her happiness is contagious.

"Yes, I know... but what matters for me is the intention. Before yesterday we did not know each other at all, and yet you ran to help me even though it seemed impossible that you could do much. If you ask me, that is not something that everyone would do, and in my opinion, it deserves a reward" she says without stopping smiling "but let's stop talking so much and hurry to get there, I can't wait to see my aunt's face when she finds out that I found someone with an affinity in spirit magic"

So that's why she's so happy, I suppose she must love her aunt very much. I follow her as she begins to walk faster, almost running.

We arrived at the magic academy and entered through one of the gates in the wall. Inside there is a wide courtyard and four towers at each corner of the wall forming a square. In the playground, I see people eating, reading and enjoying the midday sun. As we head towards one of the towers I ask Sabrina "Are the walls really necessary, what is the academy being protected from?"

"They are not to protect the interior from the exterior, but vice versa... Magic is dangerous and if someone misses a spell it is better that it hits against the wall than against innocent people" she says as we enter and go up the tower's stairs.

Inside the tower she takes me through several corridors and stairs. After a while we come to a door and she opens it. Inside there are many instruments that I do not know, the walls are covered by shelves full of books and in the center of the room there is a desk, behind which a slender woman is sitting writing on some papers. She must be between 40 or 50 years old, and has the same eye color as Sabrina, the hair is white with lilac traces, and wears a long red tunic with silver embroidery.

"Hi Auntie, this is the boy I told you about, his name is Xelean." she says pushing me to approach the desk "Xelean, this is Sofia, my aunt and the director of the academy"

"Hi..." she rasped, circling the desk and lifting my face from the chin as if looking for something. "I think the guild has managed to fool my niece. From time to time the guild falsifies the data of the novice adventurers in front of their companions to facilitate them to form groups and thus reduce the risk of mortality. I suppose that since you are so young your friend decided that you would not get any group if they did not alter the information a little... But my niece believes in you and I can be wrong, that's why I asked her to bring you here. If I'm right my niece will have learned a lesson, and if I'm wrong we will have finally found someone who can help me fill up the academy's mana reserves, so I can get rid of these damn migraines. As you can see, I win in each way" she sits on the desk and extends his hand to me "show me the guild card… they may have said and written whatever they want, but the card is enchanted to show the real information"

I don't like her attitude but I guess it's normal since she thinks I'm cheating on her niece. I take the token out of the bag and hand it to her.

"According to Sabrina you have 130 health and mana... Let's see if it's true" she looks at the card and laughs exaggeratedly for several seconds, when she finishes laughing she says "Ahh, I haven't laughed like that for a looong time. It seems I was right, the Adventurers Guild changed the information" but when she sees the sad face that Sabrina directs me and my confused face, she rectifies "Sorry, dear, I did not explain myself well. He did not deceive you, it is just that in the guild they wrote less than in reality is, this boy has 180 mana and health, as ridiculous as it sounds he has more mana than you, and before you ask, yes, he also has the affinities you told me"

"I knew it!! I told you that they had not deceived me" she says jumping up "but... I have been studying and practicing magic for years, but just a few months ago I reached 168 mana. How can a 14 years old have so much mana?"

"I don't know, it's the first time I've seen something like that, but that's not the important thing now!!!" she says slapping her hands and turning to me "Sorry for mistrusting you, dear" she says softening the tone of her voice, giving me back the token and, taking me by the hand, she brings me closer to a chair so that I can sit down "but now let's talk business, could you tell me why are you changing your appearance with an enchantment? "

"I-I can't, it's personal, how do you know?" I answer with confusion and a bit of fear.

"When you get to a certain level of magical knowledge, seeing through simple illusions is not a big deal. Don't misunderstand me, it's not that it matters much, it just makes me doubt if I can trust you or not... But it was already proven a moment ago that maybe I think about things too much" she says as she sits behind the desk "let's see, I offer you... 9 gold coins every weekend that you come to recharge the artifacts with at least 6 times your mana capacity, the potions go from my account. Okay?"