"Oh. Yyyyeah. Thanks for the heads up."

Erik comes back in, holding a black binder.

"The bar can sell us the Lost Knowledge of the Ancients in exchange for Bella's infinite counterfeit money. Bella also wants to be a sorcerer, and the Lost Knowledge of the Ancients has something to make that not hurt. I'm going to fetch Cerebro so I can transcribe the stuff so it makes any sense at all once we leave," Charlotte explains, brushing past him.

"...The bar can what."

"Nothing's out of print for Bar."

"Well. Is it true that the other two branches of magic were the result of extremely advanced sorcery?"

My perspective is somewhat limited but that does seem to be the case.

"Oh, excellent. Well," he says, glancing at the girls. "At least one person here wants to become a sorcerer. What is there to make that not hurt horrifically unpleasant?"

A spell, says the bar, producing a copy.

"Beautiful," he breathes, looking it over. "No wonder no one has been able to figure this out--these concepts--" he shakes his head. "Amazing."

Bella peers at it.

It's--jargon. And a lot of diagrams that make no sense whatsoever.

"How long until this makes sense?"

"Well, the jargon needs to be taught, but the diagrams will make sense as soon as you're a sorcerer."

"Fun. Do I get a glossary?"

"I hadn't planned beyond casting the two spells I promised when I walked into this room, but making you a sorcerer and not educating you in any way would be only a little better than useless."

"I have infinite time, what about you?"

"Self-employed, and while I wouldn't describe my time as infinite I think indefinite would be accurate."

"Awesome. Magic lessons."

"...It's possible that it would be best to outline a reasonable curriculum and have you learn from what the Ancients knew. They possessed feats of magic unmatched in the modern world. And I've never taught before, and--my own teacher did not set a good example."

"How was all this information lost?"

"No one knows. People find ruins of the Ancients' civilization sometimes, and Artifacts, but very rarely any writing, and if anyone has translated any of it I haven't heard of it."

"So there was basically some kind of apocalypse?"

"That's sure what it seems like."

"Hhhhow worried should I be about causing apocalypses with magic."