21 Read? (2/2)

”Hmph! I held back due to feeling mercy for the fairer gender earlier. If you are really a boy, you better watch yourself. I am leaving, eating with you guys would just make me lost my appetite. Brother, I'll tell mother and father later that you bullied me!” With that, Arwen gave his food back and stomped out. Roland sighed feeling helpless.

”Sorry, guys. I swear when he was younger, he was a really sweet kid. He was just raised wrongly so he doesn't have good self-awareness. He's become so narrow-minded and arrogant. I just don't know how to fix it anymore. My older brother and third younger sister also spoil him like our parents and they always back him up no matter the bad things he does. The only ones who don't are my fourth younger sister and I. We try to fix his attitude all the time.”

Looking at this distraught brother, Greyson couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Arwen was definitely family and Greyson could tell that Roland loved his brother which is all the more reason that he wished to fix his personality. He inwardly sighed almost feeling grateful he was not connected by blood to some arrogant idiot like Roland. Maybe being an orphan is not that bad?

”It's okay. I don't think much of him. I used to get bullied a lot for being an orphan and being poor. His threats and insults don't really affect me much anymore.”

”Hahaha well those people were obviously short-sighted. Look at where you are and think of your probable future! They soon regret treating you with disdain. They all be slapped in the face later when you succeed, isn't that right?” Roland laughed and encouraged Greyson. Greyson felt warmth from his words and smiled at him.

”Roland's right! We can do anything those nobles can do! We will show them.” Lyle added. His normally expressionless face was filled with determination. The three boys continued talking and getting to know each other. Roland was surprisingly fire and water. Opposite elements like fire and water or light and dark were rare in one person and harder to combine. However, once they were, it was more powerful than combining other elements. He was at the intermediate level stage 4 and was 15 years old. Greyson and Lyle continued listening to his stories about academy life while talking about themselves every now and then. The boys really hit it off while the younger two felt they had met an older brother figure. Both of them were missing this sort of figure in their lives and felt really happy to have met a reliable and kind older student. They finished their meals slowly and, when they were finally done, the younger boys felt reluctant to part. Roland seem to notice this and he chuckled and ruffled both their hair.

”I feel like I've met two cute and well-behaved younger brothers. Later on when you see me just call me Big Brother! I've got to get back to meditate before sleeping. I'll definitely see you two little ones around!” Greyson and Lyle blushed realizing how childish they must have looked. They nodded before separating with him as they walked up to the fourth floor. Roland was on the third floor with other older boys.

They both walked into the dorms before looking at each other and smiling.

”Roland seems like a really nice older brother.”

”Yeah.”

They felt happy at making another friend in the Academy.

...

The next day, Greyson woke up and went down with Lyle to eat breakfast. Roland wasn't there this time to their disappointment. They did see Arwen, but just ignored him and picked an empty table. This time, Lyle wasn't distracted by anyone so he realized that Greyson was not lying about his appetite. His jaw dropped looking at the rate the younger boy was eating. Greyson smirked feeling smug for proving Lyle wrong.

They spent the morning nicely and chatted while walking over to the Water Department Hall. They separated again as Lyle went to his class and Greyson walked up to the fourth floor. As if repeating the day before, he found himself sitting across from Teacher Elendil once again on the couches.

”I have spoke with the other teachers and they agree that with your talent that there is not much we can do. Usually it is hard for younger children to understand the spells as they are old and sometimes wordy and understanding spell circle structure is hard. You probably are not aware, but each spell has a circle pattern that the user must memorize and comprehend. He will imagine this pattern while saying a chant and the spell will occur. Your amazing talent allow you to skip all these difficult steps, so I guess the first step to improving yourself is to read the spell books we have available. Once you read these spell books for your elements, you can understand all the ways to apply your elements.”

”Read?”

”Yes, everyday from now on you will report to our Magic Library and you have access to the entire level one. Usually you need to do tasks and be rewarded with a spell book, however, in order to give you the best learning environment we decided to let you read as many spell books as you want. You are to learn one spell for every element and at the end of the week the seven Head Teachers will test you. If you are able to copy the spell successfully and we approve, you can move on to different spells. This is to allow your imagination to expand and to use your elements in a well-thought out fashion.”

Greyson felt shocked by the favorable treatment he was receiving, so he could only nod in shock while listening to his responsibilities.

”Alright, that is all I have to say. You will have until the end of this week to try to learn seven spells. You many head to the Library now and try to pick out a spell. Think very carefully about what you want each spell for and what they will help you with.”

Greyson nodded and walked out. But once he set foot outside the hall, he realized he did not know how to get to the library. He was still surprised earlier that he forgot to ask. Feeling helpless, he decided to walk back to his dorm room to look at the map once again and find his way to the library.