[His smile grows even weaker, because yes, he wants to help his village and that's genuine, but... Varian also knows it's not entirely altruistic. He also really wants to make people (especially his father) proud, and show them what he's capable of. Of course, he's just met Piper. There's no need to get into all of his insecurities, so he focuses on the bit about books instead.]

Myths and legends, huh? I mean, that stuff's cool, too!

[Honestly, his favorite works have always been non-fiction - and The Tales of Flynnigan Rider, which he long thought were in that category as well - and having his reservations about magic means he sees myth and legends and not having much truth to them. That said, he's read up on some of these, and they're still interesting to him, in their own way.]

Self-taught? Yeah, I guess so! It's - heh - a lot of trial and error. But it's not boring! [He rushes to add this.] It's anything but boring.