Renal really didn't see an issue with making staffs, he planned to be a mage and mages had a very different use than a mere staff-user. Besides the only difference between a staff he made and one another mage did would be effects like 'remote turning off', to prevent deserters using it or captured staffs against your armies, 'loaded missiles and charged missiles', in essence using stored mana to either fire a few extra spells or more powerful ones, and lastly  'blood bound', simply a means to make sure only one person can use it and it's a good extra safety. There were a few things the staffs he played with had that he didn't know how to replicate sadly, foremost was accuracy correction. Although a staff-mage was strong it had a very different role compared to a normal mage like he wanted to be, a real mage was versatile and adaptable wherever you sent him. No staff-user could create a bridge, scry the enemy, or even secure the retreat even near as effectively. That is IF he was even slightly interested in joining an army, but he wasn't. And how likely was it that the king would leak where he got these staffs from so his enemies could approach me? The only threat he faced was getting put in a house arrest by the king and even that was unlikely since a spell-staff wasn't really a novel concept, and he was he felt it was just a matter of time until he could break himself free.

And he was sure to do ask Nina for some salt to throw around after he thought that and followed a lot of other silly traditions both inverted as a kid and found in books.

"So Nina, I think you let something fairly interesting slip there. You said you stole that book?" He had assumed that investigating was the end of it but clearly that wasn't the case.

"The king needs to keep track of the level of mages that work under him, and copying the primer books is a good way to do that without angering them. Also, the fact that the Royals get a large library of tomes is a bonus." She shrugged, disinterested in the conversation and not even slightly ashamed that she stole it. "We steal low-rank books for the king who in turn pays the mages, it isn't a big deal. Of course, some mages raises hell for it but they are rare and unsuccessful. More likely he will be angry this time since I stole rather than copy, but if both we and Temple of Death visit him he should be humble for a while."

While talking he looked up had the next book, under the close scrutiny of Nina, and it was far better. Almost usable in his eyes, well it was earth so it wasn't as difficult to explain the basics of. Earth, air, and water are the easiest affinities to learn, and you always have one. It simply means if you're best at controlling solids, gases, or liquids. You're still able to do the others since the theory is pretty much the same at first, only when you start doing major or precision spells they start to differ. Or that if what books should say anyway, they seem to bring up very specialised knowledge on the third page into this one. He wasn't sure if this was just disguised as a beginner's tome or it meant to make the students feel a bit awed at magic.

"Would you get into trouble if you stole a high-rank book?" Maybe it was written and placed as a trap, Nina did say it like stealing low-level tomes was the norm. "Because I'm not sure about this book, it's a mess since it's a bit of both. Seems more like someone stitched two books together."

"In all honesty, I don't know, never thought about it. I'll keep it separate and hand it in secretly." She was confused since she did find all of these books while looking at the books aimed at the appreciates.

"It could be written like it is to make students more serious, and knock them down a few pegs when they start feeling powerful with magic." And then looked up at her. "Or if you are a bit paranoid it could be a trapped book meant to trick students into doing things they shouldn't. But I really doubt it since the book, in general, is rather decent, even the explained concepts that should be far above basic only could lead to some bad habits for beginners. Well, you can always feel reassured it isn't showing any real secret that any mage would hunt you down for like a mana circuit or formation, it is just affinity-based. Secrets to affinity aren't usually anything mages care about."

Although he had only read two books he felt he had a general idea of the level of magic in this world. Because reading more wouldn't be a good time waster he decided to help Erica read more and take her mind off the death of Boes. "Nina where did you put that journal you gave me to read? Want to have something easier than tomes for her to read aloud."

'Yup having a girl read aloud a dirty book in front of the subject sounds like a brilliant idea.' Renal looked at Nina with a beautiful smile that in no way gave away his darker thoughts.