The Empire of Reimia (3)

Marey was unpleasantly surprised to find that, in addition to himself, there were three other students from his class alone: he was used to considering his gift a more unique phenomenon. Perhaps he had, after all, ended up in something like an experimental class: villagers, sorcerers, and the curator was none other than the emperor's own brother.
"They've gathered too many gifted individuals. Excessively gifted, damn it," he added with annoyance. The white-haired student consistently irritated him: his constant sneezing, the habit of licking his lips, and his completely brazen way of staring at the female students – all of this was extremely repulsive, and it was all the more difficult for Marey to admit that this degenerate was significantly more capable and talented than him. Meanwhile, the question of choosing a specialization remained open. Healing was immediately ruled out. The crude power of the elements, which had once attracted him, now seemed too simplistic. Illusions were unsettling due to their excessive abstractness, summoning was too narrow in scope, and alteration was too vague. After struggling with these questions until evening, he fell asleep late that day, and in his dreams, he envisioned himself creating illusory copies of the exotic creatures he summoned.
Barely getting up and dressed, he sat down with his books and did not leave the room until dinner, when a gnawing in his stomach reminded him of the need to eat. Marey hoped to find concrete examples of the possibilities of advanced levels of magic: if he had a good understanding of the possibilities of the elements, then the other schools were much more mysterious, especially alteration spells.