After waiting for the students to stop arriving, Master Iskitt wiped his forehead with a handkerchief (though it wasn't hot in the classroom) and asked quietly:

  "Can I begin?"

  It was so unexpected (where had you ever seen a teacher ask a student for permission!) that the students were a little confused. Finally, someone nodded.

  "Great. Then let's begin. Where do we start? Probably with illusions, they are the easiest to study. You probably already know what illusions are. No, no, we are not talking about unfulfilled dreams. Sometimes even the most sophisticated magic is unable to realize them. Isn't magic omnipotent, you might reasonably ask. Alas, my friends! Yes, there are spells that will help you achieve what you want, but at the same time they will create a lot of problems. For example, you decided to get a little rich by borrowing coins from the treasury or the chests of some rich man. In principle, this is not difficult to do, Invisibility plus Teleportation, and you're done. But what next? Once you start living beyond your means, the neighbors will immediately become suspicious. Tax collectors and law enforcement officers are also unlikely to remain on the sidelines. Or you met someone for whom you have fond feelings. But here's the problem: despite all your efforts, the object of adoration remains completely indifferent to you. You can make him fall in love with you with the appropriate spell, but it will be a false love, a zombie love, without sincerity and warmth. It is unlikely that such a result will please most of you."

  After a pause, Master Iskitt wiped his forehead again.

  "Excuse me, I seem to have gotten a little distracted... what were we just talking about? Oh yes, about illusions. Simply put, illusions are when you see something that is not there. Or, scientifically speaking, an optical illusion."

  "And those ghosts that fly back and forth around the school, are they also illusions?" one of the drow girls asked without even asking permission.

  "Not exactly. These are creatures from the astral worlds. Unlike phantoms, you cannot create them, only summon them. As, incidentally, any other creatures with consciousness. Oh, of course, in the old days (maybe even now, but secretly, at their own risk) dark druids experimented with the creation of homunculi and chimeras. The results of such experiments were usually disastrous - it is easier to create a golem than a chimera that would not fall apart and would not have an extremely bad character. But the teacher of druidism, Master Nimikel, can tell you about this better than me. And let's get back to... what was discussed before? About illusions? Illusion magic is also called Pink, although the main color of the magic of the Mind is yellow. Have you already been told about the coloring of different types of magic? If you look through a special biconvex glass, you will notice that the spell cast leaves clouds of fog in the air, the color of which depends on what area of magic it pertains to. But the shade in the case of Mind magic can vary widely - from pale yellow to dark orange. Orange in this case is not a combination of yellow and red, but rather yellow and black. Such a spectrum is found in spells of the combat section of Mind magic, such as Madness or Amnesia (the audience became noticeably more animated). But you should probably have been warned: such spells cannot be used in relation to your comrades!"

  A couple of moralizing examples followed about how bad it is to be a bad guy and how it could all end. However, Tim listened to them inattentively thinking about a completely different thought. If beings with consciousness cannot be created through magic, then who are their clones? After all, it is not enough to simply put memory into the shell of the body, you also need a soul, otherwise the resulting creature will turn into a biorobot. Or will not be friends with the mind, having a good chance of becoming a permanent resident of a mental hospital. Somehow he really does not want to return home to find himself in a ward with bars on the windows and beds screwed to the floor. It is strange that no one else bothered about this - they whisper, discussing anything: an eccentric teacher who constantly loses the thread of the story; funny cases of the use of certain spells; life before the school, and, of course, attractive girls (if boys) or handsome boys (if girls). Do they not care about their own future?

  A minute later, this thought somehow went away, and Tim again listened attentively to Master Iskitt, who had finally managed to concentrate on the topic of the lesson.

  "Illusions are unreal visions that reproduce fragments of the surrounding world or images of living beings. They are incorporeal and, as a rule, cannot cause physical harm, the main purpose of their creation is to surprise, frighten or confuse. There are two fundamentally different classes of illusions. One of them is embodied directly with the help of Fantasy World spell, and the visions will look as the sorcerer wishes. The other is based on Deception of Sight formula, and the object of the spell will perceive reality in a distorted light - as the imagination tells, the activation of which is an integral part of the action of this spell. In the simplest case, these are pale, barely distinguishable shadows. It is with them that most neophytes begin their path, wishing to become Masters of the magic of the Mind. As your potential grows, their outlines will become clearer, filled with colors, and will remain stable longer. The Great Masters of the past could build entire palaces, which were completely impossible to distinguish from the real ones from afar! Only by coming close and trying to touch them. And those palaces stood for a very long time, sometimes outliving their creators. And only then did they slowly dissolve into thin air."

  "I have a question," the freckled boy who was lying in the grass next to Tim during the Nature Magic class rose from his seat. "Is there a way to detect if something is illusory without getting too close? Who wants to go into a raging fire to see if it's real!"

  "A very good question. Perhaps even deserving of a couple of points (the audience became lively again). Indeed, illusions created by an experienced sorcerer are very difficult to distinguish from reality. An illusory fire can crackle and sparkle in the same way, but it can't burn. However, it is indeed difficult to know about this from afar. And then True Sight will come to your aid. Under its influence, you will see reality as it really is. Or you can simply destroy the illusion with a dispelling spell. True, it will be more difficult for you to use it, you will need more mana. But in many cases partial success is enough: even if the illusion does not disappear, it will become translucent and thus reveal its essence."

  Master Iskitt refused to tell about the combat section of Mind magic.

  "You are not going to war! And your magical potential is too weak for this. Sometime later we will study methods of mental defense, and after that we'll talk about the simplest attack magic."

  Selkise dared to ask her question.

  "I beg your pardon, Master, I would like to ask about the spell Directed Thought. If I understand correctly, it can be used to communicate mentally."

  "Not exactly, but close in essence. Directed Thought acts only in one direction, with its help you can tell something to your comrade or ask him to do something. He will not be able to answer you, unless he also guesses to use this spell. Here, look how it works. Dallbemt fragsakk gobfirg!"

  A second later, the orc named Shugiz stood up, nodded his head and headed for the exit.

  "I asked him to leave the classroom," the teacher explained. "That's it, thank you, you can return to your seat."

  Shugiz looked at him in bewilderment, and then hurried back.

  "The ability to conduct a mental conversation is given by the spell Telepathy. Then there will be real two-way contact, but only if you are close to each other. The farther apart you are, the more magical power you must have to maintain such a conversation."

  In other words, Directed Thought can be compared to a pager, and Telepathy - to a mobile phone session, Tim thought with a smile. It would be great, of course, to learn to talk without opening your mouth. It would be very useful when you urgently need to discuss some delicate issue with your interlocutor, and there are a lot of strangers around. And even if there seems to be no one - where is the guarantee that there is no invisible person wandering around? And then it would be better to first use a spell to dispel invisibility. Phew, how complicated everything is in the world of magic!

  "If possible, Master, I have one more question."

  "Yes, yes, of course, ask!"

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "Am I right in assuming that the ability to maintain telepathic contact can be significantly enhanced if an empathic connection is established between the conversationalists."

  "Oh yes, such a connection really does give the opportunity to understand at a half-word, even without any magic! And with it, it is capable of working miracles - interlocutors hear each other at huge distances, sometimes even being on different continents! Unfortunately, empathic connection is not available to everyone, and one can only be happy for those who managed to achieve a high degree of mutual trust. "

  Master Iskitt did not go into details. But he awarded Selkise as many as five points - he probably liked her questions more than the others.

  After that, the classroom became really noisy – everyone was trying to ask something, even if it wasn’t related to the topic of the lesson. The teacher barely had time to answer, and only at the end he asked if anyone present had an innate gift for creating illusions.

  "I do!" Za-Zu immediately responded. "I can create an illusory copy of myself!"

  "Very interesting! Please come to the rostrum and show us what you can do!"

  The copy of Za-Zu was practically no different from the original, except that it couldn’t move or talk.

  "And I can create illusory images," Zhu-Fi boasted. And, smiling, she drew a flower in the air with her finger, vaguely resembling a lily.

  "Excellent!" Master Iskitt approved. "Tilfings have always had excellent abilities in Pink magic. Well, I think you deserve three points each."

  "Tilfings are goats!" one of the anzimar girls loudly declared. Either because of her inherent dislike for horned creatures, or because her question was not rated at a single point.

  "You are the same!" Za-Zu snapped.

  "When will you beat each other?" the orcs (and not only them) rejoiced in anticipation of free entertainment.

  "What did you say, she-goat? I'll pull out all your hair!"

  "Aren't you afraid of getting horns in your belly? It actually hurts!"

  "Then you won't even live here!"

  The situation clearly required outside intervention, and Master Iskitt did not stand aside.

  "Oh-oh-oh, girls, how bad! You are setting a bad example! I'll have to use Pacification. Sullun terfik saur bhon!"

  And the audience immediately became quiet. The girls silently sat back down, looking shamefacedly at both the teacher and each other. However, Master Iskitt did not tell anything more, he only advised them to take a book from the library called 'How not to get lost in the world of illusions'.

  When the friends found themselves in the corridor, a whole crowd had already gathered there - for some reason, no one was in a hurry to go about their business. As it turned out, two elves, Faelinn and Namitil, argued about who wielded Green magic better. Naturally, there were many who wanted to watch the duel; after a short debate, the following conditions were adopted: in the same place, at the signal of a judge, each of the disputants plants one of the ultia seeds and pronounces the corresponding spell. Whose sprout grows higher - that one wins.

  Quite by chance, an elf girl named Yumial had a whole box of these seeds with her, and therefore it was decided to hold the duel immediately, in the same clearing where their druidism lesson took place.

  The whole crowd went down and rushed towards the exit. On the way to the place of the duel, the crowd stretched out, breaking up into several small groups. Tim, who found himself in the rearguard, noticed how Mez'A'Shib was talking about something with the freckled guy and girl, and they nodded their heads in agreement. Soon, however, he moved away from them and, having caught up with Tim, shared his doubts.

  "I hope it doesn't come to a fight."

  "But they won't throw fireballs! They'll just germinate seeds."

  "That's true, but for us, dark elves, such bets often end in a brawl, and adults grab daggers. And then everything is simple: whoever wins is right. I hope, of course, that it won't come to that here. But taking some precautions is never superfluous."

  The meaning of the last phrase became clear to Tim later, but for now he simply watched what was happening. He didn’t care who would win; he was simply interested in how quickly their plants would grow upward.

  Having chosen a suitable place, the elves took turns taking one seed from Yumial’s box, chosen by the judge of the competition, and at her signal, simultaneously stuck the seeds into the ground, saying 'olpikki dunt immier'. About a minute later, the sprouts appeared from the ground. The speed of their growth, naturally, was far from that of the teacher’s, but still enough to avoid being bored for hours while waiting. And soon it became noticeable that Namitil’s sprout was superior to Faelinn’s, and the gap between them was growing. And Namitil would have celebrated his victory, if not for the intervention of the orc girl Rumara.

  "Hey, you! You didn't play fair! I saw you secretly use a couple of crystals before the start of the competition!"

  "So you've been exposed," Eliavin laughed. "Now I understand why you needed to demand a prize of five crystals for the winner in a friendly duel."

  "You have to play fair! And if you've been exposed, you have to accept your defeat with dignity!" Gmuruk said instructively.

  "We don't need to listen to moralizing from the orcs!" Namitil got angry, taking his wand at the ready.

  "Light elves often play with marked cards," Shin'Ye'Het noted sarcastically.

  "And you, drowes, shut up! You are caricatures of elves, evil creatures of darkness!"

  "If we were in Merzeran now, for such words you would be kneeling before me, begging for forgiveness!"

  "Fortunately, I will never be in your vile town. And in general, it is high time to teach you, dirty drowes, a good lesson!"

  The elves grabbed their staffs - it seemed that in just a moment a bloody battle would begin. But at that moment a strange beast, similar to a spotted leopard, jumped out of the bushes on the right. Growled menacingly, it rushed straight towards the students. Some tried to put on a brave face, but after a giant black newt with red spots appeared from the bushes on the left, they too ran away after the others, saving themselves inside the mountain. And soon there was no one left in the clearing except Mez'A'Shib and Tim, who almost succumbed to the general panic. However, the drow grabbed Tim by the arm and held him in place.

  "That's it, you can go back!" he waved his hand, and the strange beasts obediently disappeared into the bushes from where they appeared.

  "I never thought that you could command beasts! I thought that light elves were into this."

  "We, the dark ones, can do a lot of things too," Mez'A'Shib grinned.

  What exactly he meant became clear when the same freckled boy and girl emerged from the bushes, smiling.

  "So that's what your 'precautionary measures' meant!" Tim guessed.

  "Yeah. Really, it wasn't a bad idea? The main thing is that it worked!"

  "It always works on those who aren't aware of our skin-changing abilities at first," the girl said. "Then, of course, they get used to it and stop being afraid."

  "There's just one thing I don’t understand: why did you need it?" the boy was perplexed. "Let the fight be, nobody forces you to participate in it. After blowing off steam they would almost certainly calm down."

  "I don't like such showdowns," Mez'A'Shib admitted. "And then they will punish everyone indiscriminately: both those who participated and those who were nearby. Do I need that? Besides, pay attention: there is no one left in the forest now except us. And it is unlikely that anyone will dare to stick their nose out of the school today. Which means that we can calmly wander around the area."

  "You came up with a great idea!" the boy happily agreed. "The crystals will be useful for us too. Yesterday, after the druidism class, it was too crowded here."

  And, turning to Tim,

  "At that class we were nearby but didn’t have time to get acquainted. My name is Yantau, and yours?"

  "Timothy."

  "And my name is Meikli," the girl introduced herself.

  "Very nice to meet you. By the way, in the folklore of my people there are stories about werewolves who can turn into a wolf or another animal. They could do this only on a full moon and before dawn should have back their original identity, otherwise they would remain animals forever. And after the reverse transformation, they did not remember where they were or what they did in the beast form."

  "Well, that's not about us," Yantau laughed. "We can turn independently of the location of the heavenly bodies, and we don't lose our memory. Another thing is that before turning it's advisable to take off your clothes, otherwise they will be torn to shreds. That's why at home we wear tunics or long dresses without fasteners, some of us limit themselves to loincloths. Therefore with the school uniform we have some problems: it had to take off its top and bottom separately. Well, we'll gradually get used to it."

  "So that's why you asked me not to bother showing you how the transformation happens! Although, to be honest, I wouldn't mind watching it."

  "Don't even think about peeking!" Meikli warned, showing her fist. "Keep in mind: in my second form, I don't always control myself, I can accidentally bite a little."

  She seemed to be saying it in all seriousness, but it came out a little comical, and everyone couldn't help but laugh.

  "Don't worry, I won't," Tim promised, smiling sheepishly.

  "Actually, there is another reason," Yantau took the floor again. "Transformations take a lot of energy, after them we feel tired. Therefore, turning twice in a row will be very difficult, and may not work at all. And it doesn't always happen painlessly."

  "But, probably, there are some advantages?"

  "Of course! In the form of a kangur, I can catch sounds that are completely inaudible under normal conditions. It seems that in druidism, a similar effect is achieved by the spell Sensitive Ear."

  "And I can climb plumb walls," Meikli boasted.

  "Cool! And can you climb up there?" Mez'A'Shib pointed to the spire of the mountain, where there was the structure resembling Stonehenge.

  "No! Too high, my head will spin, and I will fall. But I can probably manage on some small rocky ledge. By the way, not a bad idea, I should try it sometime."

  "Does anyone among you by any chance know how to fly?"

  "Alas. Ivliar can turn into an efliko (an animal resembling a panda, but with a different coloring), and Sitmis can turn into a zalsirb (something like an earthly porcupine, as far as Tim was able to understand). But in general, among our compatriots, there are those whose second "I" is a velhao, and they are able to soar in the air. Not like birds, of course, but still."

  "It's a pity. It would be very interesting to see what's there, beyond the mountains!"

  "Maybe, with time, other paths will be found," Yantau shrugged. "We haven't even really explored the forest yet. And I think now is the time to do it."

  "No problem. Your half of the forest is to the left of the fountain, ours is to the right."