The Next Morning,

Liu Feng yawned. He was exhausted. He spent a majority of the night disassembling the gun and trying to scrape off all the built grease and rust. He did succeed somewhat but he definitely needed more time to get it to work again. He rose and went to eat breakfast at the table when he was greeted with the sight of his father speaking with a middle-aged man. They were talking indistinctly but Liu Feng could hear his name being mentioned.

“Yes Your Majesty, I will make sure that the job will be done. By one month he will be a different person entirely. I will do whatever I can, Your Majesty.”

“Good Samiel. Look, your new student has arrived. He is your responsibility now.”

Liu Man stood up, gave Liu Feng a smile and nod, and left, leaving Liu Feng and Samiel alone.

“Hello Young Lord, I am Samiel, the Court Mage. I will be responsible for teaching you how to use magic to defend yourself, help you everyday, and even attack others. You must remember though, that magic is a very rare and noble power, and must be used with caution and never unless required.”

“Yes of course. I am looking forward to this.”, Liu Feng shouted. He was pumped. He waited five years for this. Since he heard that this world had magic he was waiting to learn it.

Samiel took Liu Feng to a classroom and asked him to sit.

“First, before we start with learning how to cast spells, we must first learn how magic works, and how to channel that energy to make it yours. Generally most people are not capable of magic, but you were baptized when young so you will definitely have the talent required to perform even intermediate spells.”

“Now before we begin, I will have to warn you that His majesty has given me complete permission to ‘discipline’ you if the need shall arise. So all the work given will be completed the following day. Is that understood?”

“Yes Sir!”

“Very good, then I shall start with the class.

     Magic is the fundamental force in the universe, and God has selected a few to give the ability to use it. But even then, a mage must follow a few rules. To communicate with the spirits of magic, which are the building blocks of magic, we must use and understand their language. This is the language of the spirits, Khair. The following week will be about familiarizing yourself with Khair, and learning how to speak it.”

For any normal person, learning a new language would have been very difficult. In fact, the learning curve on Khair is so steep that normally, children take about three to four years just familiarizing themselves with the syntax. But Liu Feng was a genius.  He fit the very definition of the word. After Samiel assigned a timetable to Liu Feng, Liu Feng took out all the time remaining to practise Khair instead of relaxing. For him, it was a better use of his time. 

But there were some parts of his schedule that he hated. He despised the history and cultural classes that he had to take because he was a prince. The swordsmanship class was difficult for Liu Feng, but he knew that it was essential for his safety in the future.