I hate cheat in games, but seriously why learn magic is so impossible in this game? I play games to do things that i can't do in real life. I an practice with a sword/spear in real life, i have a 175lb crossbow and can practice with bow/crossbow, but i can't trow fireballs in real life. This is why i play mostly as a mage in any RPG.

In Gothic 3, you can be a mage with lv 3. If you get some Ancient Knowledge from books and use the lightning spell from summoning magic, you can be a mage in early game. Of course, you will be out of mana very quickly but you can. In this game is different. You need to do DOZENS of boring quests to become a mage and after 31 quests done, i still without any magical skill...

Even the quest to get the crystal is done(i've used scrolls to pick the crystal) from dead body, but i still without any magical skills in game and i will be forced to use console commands.

I guess it's a matter of taste. I don't find the early parts boring. In fact, I'd say the later parts of the game are the worst.

In any case, the typical way to become a mage, assuming you want to see and do as much as possible, is to do all the quests in the bandit camp before entering the town. You're only committed to the bandit faction or the monastery faction once you complete a certain number of quests in the town for one side or the other. You can even do some of the quests for the bandit lord as long as you do more for the monastery.

Once you get the letter of recommendation, there are a bunch of quests in the monastery too. I found these quests to be the most fun part of the game.