So my Alpha mage story failed but I learned a lot from that failing! Like for this series, my oc needs more background in magic, more background in combat otherwise they are useless or more of a hindrance. Magic, without bloodline, would need more skill and education,...

So here is what I came up with.

Searching for fantasy books, Dante finds a book on magic and casts a spell that nearly kills him given his low power levels.

Intrigued by power and magic, but scared for his life, he uses his new sensitivity to magic ( obtained by being exposed to mana) to locate Hex and his mansion.

He begs Hex to teach him, the man agrees only to have a new servant as Charmcaster is gone. In canon, he has a whole library of books, so my character can circumvent his weak magical connection and get a higher mastery.

He spends two years with Hex, from 13 to 15, and develops a high mastery of magic but not the power of Charmcaster or Gwen since both are tied to magic in their own way.

He has runic tattoos, and enchanted objects to bolster his powers and skills.

He has some hand-to-hand combat, knowing from video games that mages are often glass canons.

Changes his name like Charmcaster and Hex as names have power...

I am aiming for a redmage type character...

I think this is good, and fun... any suggestions?