From Spring to Summer: Dragons in Decline

Spring had arrived in Silver Moon City, and the white city was already dotted with touches of green.

Hill had been having a fairly pleasant time lately.

Choosing to spend this troublesome Year 73 in Silver Moon City had indeed been an extremely wise decision.

By the time midsummer approached, Hill had not only systematically studied the theoretical knowledge of every school of spells, but had also learned quite a few new alchemical formulas.

In Hill's view, the greatest advantage of the university in Silver Moon City was that knowledge could be bought with money. The prices were high, but they still left people with a glimmer of hope.

There was a huge difference, for the inheritance of a profession, between "I can do it as long as I have money" and "I have no chance at all."

Hill's only small regret was that he had not made any new friends. The values of Faerûn's Mages were simply too different from his own.

Moreover, they were divided into factions and fought openly and secretly with great intensity.

Perhaps because those students from poor families came to the university for free studies only during breaks between planting and harvesting crops, there was a considerable divide between them and the wealthy full-time students.

And among those wealthy Mage students, there was another division between those from noble families and those from merchant families.

A small number of them did know how to find themselves some followers, but classmates bought with money would never follow them sincerely.

Bestowing favors in hopes of gaining returns was not very useful when applied to Mages, who generally had high intelligence.

After spending more time around them, Hill could actually understand a little why Lady Synn Heir was so much like a fighting rooster.

Although Silver Moon