Finished with the flattening Vivo looked up from his work, his arms trembling from exhaustion, lost in


    his work he didn''t notice the time flying by. He gave the result to To Ralph. Looking displeased


    he turned towards Vivo.


    -Ralph: well i guess it''s ok for a first try although i will have to sell my final result from this at a lower


    price. You didn''t think blacksmithing would be this hard huh. It requires a large amount of strength


    and endurance to become a skillful blacksmith or even an adequate one at that. go rest take the day off


    you will become stronger in time. For now you''ll just have to work a couple of hours a day.


    -Vivo: Ok Ralph I''ll see you tomorrow after my lunch shift at the inn.


    Ralph just grunted in response as Vivo left the smithy. As he began walking in the direction of the inn


    an older man blocked his path. Dressed in a black garment consisting of a cloak, pants, shirt and vest. On a closer look


    he saw that the shirt was actually white, but mostly covered by the cloak and vest, while the vest was


    in a dark blue color. His hair was brown with small streaks of grey here and there. An amused smile


    was pasted all across his face as he started speaking.


    -Mordecia: Are you the new guy in town working at the inn going by the name of Vivo?


    -Vivo: What''s it to you?


    -Mordecia: I''d heard that we got an interesting addition and you sure look interesting.


    -Vivo: well i suppose there is no point in denying it. I go by the name of Vivo.


    -Mordecia: Great. My name is Mordecia. You see I have a couple of issues that i think you might be able to resolve.


    -Vivo: And in what way could a man like me be able to do for a man like you huh?


    -Mordecia: I am worried about my legacy or rather that my craft will be forgotten.


    His voice turned more grave as he continued.


    -Mordecia: I am a scholar of the arcane arts, some folks call my kind magicians or mages but that is not


    how we see ourselves, I and my fellow scholars devote ourselves to the understanding of the universe


    and the arcane arts as well as the divine, the demonic and some of us study life and death.


    It''s been many years since my last encounter with any of my fellow scholars and i fear our kind is dying


    out slowly, so over the years i have been trying to find someone to continue my research and to preserve


    all of our works for future generations, well I have an apprentice but unfortunately he is not that talented


    to be honest and he is more interested in gold than anything else. So what i was wondering is how would you


    like to learn the arcane arts ?


    If I take him up on the offer I might learn something either about this world or myself, in any case


    I will probably get something out of it, he thought to himself.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    -Vivo: To be honest i would like to take you up on it but at the moment i am working as a cook and I''m an apprentice


    under Ralph the blacksmith, Right now i have time during mornings and during the night free but soon i will


    take on longer shifts at the smithy.


    -Mordecia: Well that''ll be no problem my boy I myself work mostly during the night because of the noise, it is only


    when I experiment that i work during the day sometimes I even leave town for my experiments just to not disturb


    the townsfolk. So how about it?


    -Vivo: Well that changes things. I accept.


    -Mordecia: Great! Let me show you where i work.


    -Vivo: Sure I''m free at the moment.


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    After walking for about half an hour they ended up on the west side of town outside of a fairly good looking


    house. The house seemed to be a bit on the small side jammed in between to other buildings.


    -Mordecia: Do you think that you''ll find your way here ?


    -Vivo: yeah it''s not to far.


    -Mordecia: Well then come by any time you want remember i will not pay you anything although you may use what you learn


    to earn a living.


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    Back at the inn he sat down to think. Frustrated over that During the past week he had yet to remember anything


    from his past, hopeful over this new development with Mordecia, he might remember something or at-least


    learn something useful from Mordecia.


    he didn''t sleep at all that night restless because of his new found hope and his frustrations of his failure


    over the past week. He couldn''t spend the time completely idle tho so he thought about what he might have done


    wrong during his time in the smithy. But to no avail since he didn''t have enough information to go on.


    Ralph hadn''t explained the procedure in more detail so he was stuck.


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    When dawn came he headed down to the taproom to get some breakfast, greeted by a new waitress he hadn''t noticed


    before, dressed in a simple white blouse and a green and black skirt that barley covered half her thighs


    with black knee high socks. Her brown eyes went good with her brown single tail braided hair, that she


    had left over her right shoulder, and her enigmatic smile. She introduced herself as Melisa, she took his order all the while moving her arms drawing his attention to her body, she left with a satisfied smile on her lips.


    A quarter of an hour she came back with his order and sat down with him.