It was extremely crowded in the hallways, as everyone was leaving the great hall at the same time. So it took me quite some time to reach the classroom I was assigned to. It was a small, fancy classroom, with only eight chairs and desks for students and one chair and desk in front of the classroom. I was the first one to arrive there, so I picked a seat and sat down. After a little while, all the others had arrived. Everybody sat down and a few minutes passed until the Professor showed up. He had dark grey, combed back hair, a dark grey mustache, and dark blue eyes. He wore black shoes and a grey suit with a dark blue shirt. As I was examining him, he went up to the desk in front of the classroom and introduced himself.

“Hello Students, I am your Instructor, Professor Mihell. You enjoy the great privilege of having an extra class just for noblemen.”

I suppose it really is quite beneficial to be of nobility. We get an unfair advantage in many things in life.

He continued: “In this first lesson, I will make you familiar with the basics of arcane technology. First, let me briefly explain the basics. We live in a 4-dimensional world. We have 3 space dimensions and the dimension of time. But there is a fifth dimension. The dimension of the arcane. We humans can’t reach it on our own, but with technology, we can. You see, there is an immeasurable amount of energy in this dimension. And using this energy to cast spells is what we call the arcane arts.”

“The most important tool to utilize this energy, which we call mana, is the Grimoire. A Grimoire is a device that draws mana out of this dimension and utilizes it to cast spells. It looks like this…”

He reached into his pocket and took out a small book. It was leather-bound and had beige pages. It was ornamented with gold, having gold corners and a gold bar on both sides and the back of the book. The gold bars were connected with a small lock. On the front of the book, there was a large polished crystal with a golden engraving. On the backside, there was the same engraving in the book cover.

The golden pen was connected to the back of the book with a small golden chain. The tip of the pen was made out of a black polished crystal.

He explained: “This is my Grimoire. Every Arcanist has his own Grimoire that is only usable by him. The exact look depends on the user but they all look similar. It is linked to the Arcanists brain and allows them to cast spells. But one cannot cast an infinite amount of spells. Every Arcanist has only a finite amount of mana. It works like stamina. It takes some time to regenerate and how fast it regenerates and how much one has depends on genetic factors and training. Also, depending on the scale and complexity of the spell, different amounts of mana are needed.”

This was even more interesting and exciting than I had predicted. I was awaiting the moment when I would be able to use a Grimoire. Just as I was thinking about that he concluded his lesson, saying that we would receive our own grimoires the next day.

After that, he said, that we should now head for the chambers we had been assigned. We would find further instructions for the evening there. The next lesson was to start the next day at 8 a.m.

He then left the classroom and shortly afterward everybody else left. So I too got up and left the room, heading towards my assigned chamber. While searching for my chamber I couldn’t stop thinking about the Grimoire. It took me some time, but I succeeded in finding my room. It was a special chamber for noblemen, big and fancy. On the desk, there was a letter explaining the house rules and containing information on the training and studying schedule. Everything was quite strictly scheduled but I did not mind. I always thought strict rules were important.

After unpacking all my belongings I made myself ready for dinner. There was a large dining hall for all students and a small special dining hall for noblemen. The food was quite well cooked. After dinner, I went to my chamber and read a bit before going to sleep at 10 p.m.