Jeb returned the report about the Dragon and started his walk home. After a single step, the fear of what his family would say was already too much, and he knew he needed a distraction.

  Now is not a good time to start learning a Glyph, he thought, mentally discarding the Mud, Earth, and Water Primers. That really just leaves the Magic Primer.

  “Arthorns Primer to Beginning Magics: A Guide for the Edification of Young Commoner Students, Before They Can Find a Suitable Instructor” The title suggested that it would either be hopelessly pretentious or fifty years out of date. If Jeb had been forced to wager, he would have guessed both.

  The book had worked to distract Jeb from his crisis, at least. Had the author never met a single Farm Manager or Breeder or Brewer? All of those Classes required high Intelligences, if his family was to be trusted at least. Still, if the Librarian gave him the primer, it was likely to be useful. He looked back down.

  Again, Jeb felt like the author must have made a mistake. He checked his Class Description once more:

  Hmm, it doesn’t seem as though I have any increases in Magic Affinity or Charisma, he thought, though I am also getting more than four points for the Level. I wonder what that could be about. Jeb thought.

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  Well that wasn’t happening.

  Though the guide seemed to recommend against it, Jeb found himself leaning towards an Intelligence-based build. After all, if he wanted to become a Farmer Mage, ridiculous as the idea might be, he would clearly need to create his own Spell Glyphs. Then again, maybe he would be better served by working existing Spells into what he needed. After all, Least Move Earth did, in fact, serve to move the Earth when he was working it. He would need to find someone else to ask about it.

  Jeb was close enough to the farm now that he didn’t think he should start on the next section. Still, something in the book rubbed him the wrong way. Surely there had to be a benefit to the other combinations, or at least in not specializing so heavily. After all, on the farm, he knew that there were uses for any combination of Statistics, at least if he ignored Mana Depth and Magic Affinity.

  Speaking of the farm, Jeb noticed that his home was nearly in sight. Strangely, though, there was no one out working in the fields. All of the animals seemed to be gone as well. He was beginning to get nervous when he saw the house.

  It was dark. There was no sign that anyone was inside at all. What could have happened to his family in the few hours that he had been gone? His mind helpfully supplied the image of a Dragon descending down to kill everyone he loved. Heart heavy, he opened the door to his home.