《Kalar's Continent》


 Chapter 1: Kalars Continent

    Far northwest, at the edge of Kalar''s Continent, lay Ritark, a small trading village barely larger than a common outpost. Here, the local farmers, fishermen, and craftsmen could exchange their merchandise for more sought-after goods, such as cloth, tools, or accessories from the south.


    Of course, they could also trade for more monetary currencies, but they were rarely taken home, since copper coins hardly keep you warm throughout the harsh winter, when the next marketplace is a several days journey away, like for many farmers.


    It was as far from a bustling place as it gets, but it was the lifeline of the local community nonetheless. The major businesses of the region including ores and metalworks from the northern mine, fresh and salted fish caught in the North Sea, as well as literally selling cabbages to the neighboring cities.


    It may not seem like much, but it was home to the young Teo.


    This rustic village was everything he ever knew, where he grew up and where he played around with the other kids from the neighborhood.


    Of course, this included the outskirts of the great Thorn Forest, which stretched from Ritark all the way north, even reaching past the mines on the slopes of Mount Kroll, the rocky cliffs and beaches around the North Sea and the tilled fields, just south of the village; but still, his knowledge about the rest of the world was rather limited.


    He spent most of his time playing, exploring the surrounding landscape, or helping his parents with easy tasks in the household; and naturally getting scolded for playing in Thorn Forest.


    It was not really dangerous as far as he knew, at least not until past Mount Kroll, but obviously, it was still considered a forbidden area for children; which did not seem to have much of an effect on the local troublemakers.


    Of course, the sporadic poisonous plants and wild animals could be quite dangerous to children if not left alone, he had to admit, but they were only ever playing near the very edges of the forest!


    Since adults frequented the woods around the village to collect wild berries and hunt for game, it was actually quite peaceful. Teo had only ever heard stories about large boars or even rogue bears being seen so close to the village, probably only told by old people to frighten na?ve children, so his parents must certainly be overreacting!


    This leisurely lifestyle was going to change soon though since tomorrow was his 6th birthday. For many privileged children from wealthy households, this age marked their admittance into a school, where they would learn how to read, write, calculate and other things Teo did not have a clear grasp over.


    But with his family being common craftspeople, this fate was not for him.


    Parents who couldn''t afford to send their children into the neighboring town''s school could only impart them their own knowledge, as limited as it was and prepare them for what was to follow: Apprenticeship.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    With his father being a blacksmith and his mother sewing clothes, he already had better options than most boy''s in the village could even dream of; except maybe the local merchant''s son, who was sent to study in Sigella, the nearest harbor town to the south.


    Tomorrow his mother would take him to the regional Magician''s Office to test his Elemental Affinity and depending on his results he would either start training to become a qualified blacksmith under the firm guidance of his father, or...


    He was not so sure about the alternative roads, his fate could lead him on, but he knew it was very likely, that he would succeed his father''s craft, as all his friends did so far.


    Magic in itself was not considered very rare or special even since roughly one in ten children showed measurable talent in one of the four major elements, but even minuscule amounts of talent brought great joy to their parents.


    His friend Markus, who was tested last year, showed a slight affinity for the fire element, just like his grandfather, but he is still going to step into his father''s footprints and become a hunter. Teo could recall this day very well because Markus'' father continued to brag about it for weeks on end until Teo''s father threatened to bash his head in with a forge hammer if he wouldn''t shut up about it.


    Of course, everybody could understand his reaction, as the Fire Element was a very useful Talent for a hunter, but it still didn''t stop anyone from being annoyed by the constant bragging and exaggerations.


    Usually hunters would only use the fire element for small tricks, like making arrows searing hot, to better slay large prey or lighting campfires made from wet wood with their bare hands, but it still gave them an edge over their competition; something very valuable with three hunter families in the village, constantly quarreling over the safe hunting grounds in Thorn Forest.


    The extent of the effects they could summon would depend on their personal talent, training and experience, but even the most basic ability to keep oneself warm for a few hours, was very useful this far in the north, with its unpredictable weather and long winters.


    Teo was very excited by the idea of having a talent for Magic himself, especially Fire Magic, like Markus. It would be the most useful for a blacksmith, as far as he could imagine, the increased resistance to heat being a major contributing factor.


    But maybe it was just his personal preference, developed from watching his father working the blistering hot forge every day.


    Of course, if there was a Magician working in the Magician''s Office, it should be possible, to become a Magician himself, which did not seem to be too bad of an occupational choice.


    At the very least, Teo never saw the local Magician working much on anything, even though the adults seemed to respect him a lot. He spent a lot of time in his fancy house near the forest, rarely accepting requests from anyone, aside from the regular affinity checks for the local children.


    But whatever the criteria to become a Magician were, they must be extremely hard to meet, since he had never heard about anyone from the village succeeding; not even from the elders!


    Anyways, Teo had no absurd ambitions and knew better than to chase pipe dreams like that, he was quite content to learn blacksmithing from his father, a Magic Talent would only be the cherry on top.


    From the snippets of conversations, he picked up so far, he knew that the chance to get a specific element and the degree of Affinity for it were mostly hereditary; with the occasional pinch of randomness mixed in.


    So obviously Teo had been pestering his parents with questions about his ancestry for weeks, with mixed results.


    His mother told him, that a distant cousin of hers had a considerable gift for the Air Element, so that was probably her family''s main attribute, but his father always dodged any questions regarding this topic.


    Maybe he was from an exceptionally untalented family and he did not want to get his hopes up? Whatever the case, Teo could barely wait for tomorrow to finally uncover his destiny, even when he knew, that he should not expect too much.


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 Chapter 2: A New Day

    Teo woke up late this day. The combination of the tickling ray of sunshine, that somehow always found its way through the cracks of the window shutters, and his mother''s energetic voice, calling him for breakfast, finally managed to rouse him from his way too short period of rest.


    Wafting from the small kitchen, their house was equipped with, he could already smell his favorite food in the whole world:


    Blueberry Pancakes!


    "It''s morning already! Today is my birthday!" Teo called out after rubbing his tired eyes.


    He was so excited, that he could not fall asleep for what felt like ages, and now he was so tired, that he almost overslept on the most important day of his life; even though he was determined to get up early and prepare himself properly.


    Like a tiny, groggy whirlwind he put on his best clothes and rushed into the kitchen.


    "Good morning Buttercup!"


    his mother, Elisa, gave him a brilliant smile and brushed a strand of chestnut-brown hair from his face.


    "Go wash up quickly, before the food gets all cold," she said.


    "Good morning, mom. Is it pancakes today?" he excitedly asked the obvious, just to make sure.


    "No Sweetie, today is your birthday¡­ But yes, I made pancakes; your favorite," she threw him a joking gaze, as he hurriedly disappeared behind a corner, to get ready for breakfast.


    After barely a moment he returned with much of his fatigue washed away and sat at the table with renewed vigor.


    "It¡äs finally your big day, I hope you¡äre not too nervous," his mother teased while heaping a steaming-hot pancake onto his plate. Teo didn¡ät want to admit, that he failed to fall asleep last night for exactly that reason, but the dark circles under his eyes probably gave it away long ago.


    The breakfast continued as usual, with some light conversation and the occasional remark about how cool Fire Magic is until Teo was completely and utterly stuffed.


    His father usually started work at sunrise or at least the preparations for it. He would not actually start forging anything until later in the morning, so as not to disturb the neighbors with the constant hammering.


    Getting the forge up to just the right temperature, sorting out the errands for the day and checking the quality of raw material deliveries were just as important as time-consuming, so he always took the preparations very seriously.


    The workshop was situated on one of the major streets just outside the village center, with the living area and a sizeable garden, where his mother tended to a small collection of herbs and vegetables, in the back.


    Teo had wanted to enjoy breakfast with both his parents today, but his tired body had ruined that already.


    He could only pay a visit to the workshop and deliver one of mom''s special pancakes, before hurrying over to the Magician¡äs Office.


    Teo¡äs mother always forced his father to eat something, before heading out, so he was probably not hungry, but nothing tasted like mom¡äs pancakes fresh from the stove; and Teo was not cruel enough to deprive him of that.


    After a short visit, he finally joined his mother on their way to the very edge of the village, just outside the Great Thorn Forest, where the local Magician¡äs Office was situated.


    The warm late-summer breeze was rather strong this day, signaling the nearing transition to fall. Summer was a rather short pleasure this far in the north, making every part of it only more precious.


    The village was quite lively at this time of the year. People could be seen shuffling along the streets, carrying freshly plucked berries or early mushrooms, neatly packed in flaxen baskets, hunters went to check on their primed traps in hopes of easy prey; everyone wanted to be optimally prepared for the upcoming harvest season and the long winter, that was sure to follow.


    After a short fifteen-minute walk they could already see a grey single-story building in the twilight of the adjacent forest, right beside a small trail that lead farther north.


    It was not exactly a magnificent building, but unlike most of the Ritark, it was made from solid stone instead of wood, while simultaneously being larger than their own house, even including the workshop of his father; thus, it made quite the impression on the young Teo.


    The huge, dark-oaken door, adorned with tiny runes, seemingly wiggling about like small worms, also gave him a slightly creepy feeling.


    Before he could sort out his emotions and find his courage, that just slipped away from his grasp, his mother had already knocked on the towering door, "Mr. Atkins, we are here for Teo¡äs Affinity Test!"


    The atmosphere did not seem to discourage her, as Elisa¡äs clear voice rang through the air; Teo however, had already taken shelter behind his mother''s back.


    "Come in!" a crisp, low voice boomed from the other side of the door, which simultaneously started to open before anyone could even touch it. Teo clasped his mothers'' hand, with as much strength, as his little hands could muster, and followed her into the hazily lit building.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Elisa! It¡äs been a while, how have you been?" a thin-lipped, middle-aged man, wearing a dark blue robe, said.


    "We are doing quite well for ourselves lately. Thank you again, for your help two years ago, Mr. Atkins," his mother chirped in response with a slight bow.


    "You know each other?!" Teo observed, shocked by the revelation.


    "Mr. Atkins helped to treat your grandfather two years ago when he caught the flu," his mother explained while turning her head to look at him.


    "Unfortunately, I am not a specialized healer and was not of much help¡­


    I¡äm sorry, I wish I could have done more. As you know, low-rank healing potions can only treat the symptoms and not the underlying disease," the man interrupted with an apologetic look.


    Teo¡äs maternal grandfather died two years ago in the second half of winter. He could not remember much about him, except that he was a good-natured man and a loving grandfather.


    "It¡äs fine. You did everything you could," his mother gave the man an understanding smile while trying to suppress the sadness on her face.


    "Well, we should get down to business then," the robed man said, trying to clear the awkwardness in the air.


    "My name is Edward Atkins and I am the Senior Rank Apprentice Magician in charge of this area, as well as the supervisor for your affinity check today."


    Teo gave him a slight nod while wearing a puzzled look. Did he just call himself an Apprentice Magician? The man before him looked well over thirty years old; if he was only an Apprentice, how old must a real Magician be? Mr. Atkins smiled at him, but chose to ignore his questioning look, after a short pause he continued,


    "You don''t need to be so nervous, young man, the test will be over quickly and doesn''t hurt one bit, also I don''t bite."


    Teo couldn''t suppress a small grin.


    "But first, let me explain to you, what we will be doing here today,"


    his slender hand sunk into one of the abyssal pockets of his loose robe and pulled out a fist-sized, opaque crystal ball, that looked like it was made from smoked glass.


    "This is a very useful Artifact, graciously provided by the Mage Association, that makes measuring the elemental affinity a person carries into an easy and fast procedure. Not only can it detect the element one is most attuned to and react to it by changing its color, it even gives us an indicator of how strong the affinity is, depending on the brightness of the light it emits."


    Teo stared at the crystal ball in the Magician''s hand with round eyes, fascinated, by what complex machinery must be hidden in that small orb of glass.


    "Using it is also very simple: You just have to touch it for a few moments and try to guide the energy from your body to your hand and into the Artifact. You don''t need any special technique, as it is very sensitive and the ambient Mana in your body, unconsciously following your thoughts, will be enough," explained the middle-aged Magician with his raspy voice while he carefully put the smoky orb into a special wooden mount, already prepared on the spacious table at the right side of the room.


    As the name ''Magician¡äs Office'' implied, they were standing in a dimly lit chamber, containing little more than an old rug, a few bookshelf''s and an aged table, made from dark hardwood, with a few disorderly documents lying on top. The living quarters seemed to be hidden from sight, behind another door to the left.


    After looking around for a second, Teo focused his attention on the Apprentice Magician in front of him again, who appeared to have waited for this.


    "If you are wondering, what a successful result looks like, it would be something similar to this," he said while leaving only his long index finger on the surface of the crystal ball.


    Suddenly the small sphere turned dark blue, like the deepest reaches of the ocean and erupted in a flash of soothing blue light, that slowly faded, a few seconds after he retracted his finger. Teo couldn''t take his eyes off the small contraption, eager to try it himself.


    "What you just saw was the Artifact¡äs reaction to a strong water element affinity. Of course, it¡äs unheard of for an untrained child to come close to a proper practitioner of magic, so you should not expect any blinding flashes of light," he threw Teo a lecturing gaze.


    "The basic attunement to an element is signaled by the Artifact simply changing color, a dim glow signifies the potential to influence the Elements in one''s surroundings.


    This would be the minimum level of affinity required to summon perceivable effects, except having a slightly increased resistance to one¡äs Element of course. The brightness of the glow just represents the extent to which one can influence said Element in one''s surroundings."


    He paused and spread a paper diagram on the table, depicting what looked like a colorful hexagon, while beckoning for Teo to come closer. Teo looked towards his mother and seeing her smile at him, strode towards the table.


    "This is the basic Constellation of Elements, that depicts all six Elements and their relation to each other. Red, dark blue, light blue and brown represent the four major elements of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, that roughly one in ten has an Affinity for.


    The complementary colors of white and black represent the Elements of Light and Darkness, which are also known as the rare Elements since they are not very common in nature and only one in a hundred people possesses an Affinity for them," he traced his finger along the lines of the diagram.


    "Luckily the Affinities for the rare Elements tend to be quite strong, when they do appear in someone, balancing out the number of Magicians majoring in any of the six Elements," he added, as he continued to run his finger in a full circle around the diagram.


    "Well, apart from a few oddities this is about it. We¡äll just have to see for ourselves, what kind of Affinity you possess¡­ if your lucky enough to have any at all, that is," he finished his speech and retracted his bony arms, which he expertly folded behind his robed back.


    Edgar was always expectant of someone from his district achieving extraordinary results against all odds, but he knew better than to get attached, from his long years of experience:


    The results were most often sobering.


    Teo struggled to take up all the new information when he met Mr. Atkins''s expectant gaze as if beckoning him to stride forth and grasp his destiny.


    After a short step, he was already in reach of the Crystal Device and looked at the Senior Apprentice Magician while slowly extending his right arm. The slight nod from Mr. Atkins was all the confirmation he needed for his curiosity to take over.


    From up close Teo could swear, that the hazy clouds of smoke inside the crystal ball were continuously moving around while staying motionless near whatever point he tried to focus his vision on.


    This small Artifact in front of him exuded a similar feeling of endless depth he had only ever felt from staring into the vast North Sea or the darkness, lurking between distant shrubs in Thorn Forest.


    Taking a deep breath Teo finally put his small hand on the Artifact¡­ with little to no effect. It was cool and very smooth, but nothing else happened.


    Then he remembered how Mr. Atkins had explained, that he needed to channel his energy together with his thoughts through his hand and into the orb on the table.


    After trying exactly that, Teo quickly noticed how hard it was to focus his thoughts on a task so ephemeral, but before he could even ask if he was doing it right, the orb already showed a reaction.


    The clouds hovering behind the glassy surface began to swirl around, visibly forming a vortex, before rapidly turning completely translucent.


    A single blue rune, that slightly resembled a deformed question mark, was silently left floating in the middle of the crystal ball, emitting a cold blue radiance.

 Chapter 3: Revelations

    The Magician¡äs Office was enveloped by an ice-cold, blue glow for a few seconds before it slowly faded away and the room reverted to its usual dim-lit state as if nothing happened. Teo instinctively took a step back and looked at his right hand, which naturally had not changed much since he last checked.


    What just happened, most definitely differed from the explanation Mr. Atkins had given him a moment ago. He had hoped for a warm, red glow, that would allow him to shoot Fireballs from his hands in a few weeks, but what was this reaction supposed to mean?


    Whatever the reason, any reaction was better than no reaction in Teo¡äs eyes; and he couldn''t be so unlucky, that he had some super rare negative condition, right?


    While he was still in deep thought, Mr. Atkins took a few steps towards him and said with an excited gleam in his eyes, "Not bad! You are quite lucky, young man. I never expected to find an Arcane in this remote village!"


    A short look to his mother showed that she was just as puzzled by these words, as he was. "Excuse me, Mr. Atkins, but what do you mean with Arcane?" his mother, Elisa, asked in a worried voice.


    "Oh, of course, these technical terms don''t carry any meaning for you. Let me phrase it differently: An Arcane is someone naturally blessed by Magic, who has an intimate connection to mana itself, the very foundation of all magical phenomena! This is only possible if the body and soul are in perfect balance with all six Elements, which is very rare. Less than one in thousand people on the continent have a similar condition and since it mostly runs through special bloodlines, I had yet to see one being tested myself," Mr. Atkins swung around his arms like a wobbly windmill, while he explained, visibly shaken.


    ''Blessed by magic itself? A connection to the foundation of all magic? Doesn''t that sound really powerful?'' Teo wondered before he turned to the lean man beside him and asked, "Does that mean, I can become a real Magician?!" he blurted out, completely ignoring his mother''s shocked expression. The Apprentice Magician momentarily furrowed his brows with a slight frown at the word ''real'' but decided not to let a child''s banter upset him.


    After a brief intermission, his thin lips began to wriggle as he said, "Well, that is not exactly what I meant. It''s not impossible though.


    If you had High Rank, or even Pinnacle Level Talent, I could help you apply for a stipend at a Magic School and Magic Academy immediately! I would even get a bonus for that... But unfortunately, your Ability should solidify somewhere around Intermediate Level as you grow up, meaning you would have to stem the tuition fees yourself, which I fear would be beyond your family''s capabilities."


    Deeply disappointed by this elaboration, the small Teo deflated like a leaky balloon, it would indeed have been too good to be true. With a weak voice he tried to clear his doubts, "So, what Element do I have an Affinity for? It should be Water, right? The ball turned blue after all." Water was by far not his favorite Element, but at least it was better than Earth. "No, not exactly. You should have already noticed the difference between the reaction you manifested and mine. The colors displayed are more like an aesthetic choice from the creators of the Artifact, used to represent the different Elements. Raw Magic itself is shape- and colorless, and thus inscrutable to the naked eye...


    Anyways, every association between a color and an Element is simply illusional and should be seen as a mere metaphor." Teo had a hard time, following the conversation, even his mother did not seem to understand the topic completely. "Arcane Magic, which is how every form of Magic, that utilizes pure Mana, is known, is not associated with any Element; or all of them at the same time, depending on the viewpoint." The topic continued to be impervious to Teo¡äs understanding.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    So, he did not have any Elemental Affinity after all? How could that even be called Magic? What good was the ability to control some foundation of Magic he could neither hear, see or smell?


    "One of the greatest advantages of Arcane Magic is the ability to imbue any material with Mana, independent of its elemental properties. This is extremely important, as it is the only known way to create neutral Magic Circles, that can be used by all Mages equally, no matter what Element they use," Mr. Atkins continued to share his common knowledge. The last part even managed to blow some spirit into Teo again; it did sound somewhat impressive.


    "So, you have no need to be crestfallen, you are still extremely lucky! You have everything you need to become a  successful Magic Assistant, helping out in Magic Laboratories, or an Enchanter, capable of creating powerful Artifacts, like this one; just to name a few examples," the man smiled and caressed the smooth crystal ball, he picked up from the table.


    The descriptions of his future possibilities did not match well with the image of powerful Magicians, Teo had in his head. Had he ever heard stories about Assistants and Crafters? Of course not! Every figure in the legends was domineering and powerful, shaking the continent to its very core with every step they took.


    "Is it perhaps a very powerful kind of Magic?" he asked hopefully, eager for an answer.


    "Arcane Magic is one of the weakest types of Magic in a direct confrontation since it lacks all of the advantageous properties the various Elements provide, but it is much sought after in many Magic Occupations," Teo sagged into himself again, hearing that it was the weakest Magic of all.


    "It may not be as pompous a talent as the heroes from the old legends possess, but it can provide for a comfortable life and is all-round in its nature," he continued and looked harshly at the unappreciative Teo, seeing right through his thoughts.


    The cunning man paused for a moment, to let the answer sink in, then he continued, "However, it does have its strong points. Arcane Magic may not be as suited to shield and nurture, like Earth Magic, burn and disintegrate, like Fire Magic or cut and flow, like Air Magic, but instead, it encompasses all of the properties and abilities of all the Elements in an unrefined form. It is by far the strongest variety of Magic when it comes to reconciling offense and defense in a single caster," he said, finally giving an answer that satisfied the cheeky boy.


    Edgar was quite displeased by the ignorance, the child before him displayed, even when he knew, it was only natural. ''At least his mother seems to be satisfied,'' he thought while reflecting on his own life. He envied this country bumpkin quite a bit for his gift. He would rather have become a mediocre Magic Craftsmen than to pursue a failed career as a Magician. The blue-eyed boy before him was simply too young to understand the vicissitudes of life and appreciate his own fortune.


    He himself had been the most promising talent in Water Magic his town had seen in decades, the rising star of his family. He grew up treasured and pampered, passing the graduation exams of the best regional Magic School with flying colors. Yet the growth of his Water Affinity stagnated when he was around thirteen years old. Not long afterward he began falling farther and farther behind his colleagues in the Academy...


    When even his younger brother, whom he had always mocked for being born with subpar talent, finally surpassed his own accomplishments and became the new favorite of his parents, something in him broke. Now, after failing all attempts to take the last step and become a proper Water Magician, he was stuck in this rat hole at the edge of the civilized world for what meager wage the Association paid... Yes, talent and power were not everything.


    After answering a few more questions from Teo''s mother and explaining the ins and outs of Arcane Magic, he offered to introduce Teo to some Magic Craftsmen in the larger city''s to the south, if he so decided to enter Apprenticeship.


    Eventually, Mr. Atkins escorted both of them to the door. He had already done his job here, but still chose to flash Teo a forced smile and say,


    "Do visit me anytime you have questions regarding Magic,"


    as he had much to gain from getting into Teo''s good books, while he was still dependent on him.

 Chapter 4: The Past

    The burning late-summer sun already hang high over Ritark, proudly declaring its presence. A pair of mother and son could be seen trudging along the dusty main road, appearing as if in deep thought.


    The alleys were significantly less populated than this morning, but a small group of kids was already expecting them. Naturally, they were a petite assemble of friends and the usual nosy neighbor''s children, whom the short boy expertly pacified and persuaded to talk later, before returning to his mother''s side.


    Much had happened today, for what few hours had already passed, and Teo was not exactly in the mood to talk right now; he needed to think.


    He did have a gift for Magic, but just a mediocre one and only for the weakest type of it. He could strive to become a Magician but was likely to fail and could not afford the education anyway. He had an Affinity, just not for any Element but Mana itself, which he, weirdly enough, had never heard of before.


    Teo could not wrap his head around it.


    It seemed to be something good, just that he had no idea, what he was supposed to do now.


    Magic was very fascinating, but what about his father''s forge? He could not simply desert his family to seek his fortune; adventuring and hoping to find some great inheritance, like the heroes from the books his mother read to him.


    What was he thinking about anyway? He just turned six today; what was a child going to achieve alone on the streets, pretending to be a hero? Also, he would miss his parents.


    No, this plan was full of holes.


    He would just need to trust in his parents, they would know what to do, as always. Teo pushed the complicated thoughts to the back of his mind, firmly grabbed his mother''s hand and picked up his pace towards the workshop, greedy to indulge in this morning''s leftover pancakes. Meanwhile, Elisa thought about a similar topic, just from a very different perspective.


    Except for the warm summer wind brushing through their hair, nothing noteworthy happened on the short way back and they soon approached the large, wooden structure they called home.


    Unexpectedly, the workshop with its massive forge was empty and it turned out, that his father was already waiting for them in the living area. After a warm welcome and a firm hug from his father, both his parents withdrew to discuss the happenings of this eventful morning.


    Teo did not really mind, as he was glad to get some breathing space after talking about complicated topics for so long. After quickly gobbling up another pancake he went outside to look for his friends.


    He did not take long to find them, as they were playing catch near the shore, close to the small and rocky beach with its large, strewn-around boulders.


    After a short question-and-answer session he was free to join them without much further ado.


    Obviously, his friends did not boast the greatest understanding about Magic, much less could they comprehend the gibberish, Teo managed to recite, so they soon lost interest in the details. Disregarding the occasional envious glance, his friends seemed to be happy for him.


    Afternoon came sooner than expected and Teo made his way back home, exhausted.


    He could hear his mother''s voice, even before pushing the front door open,


    "Do you really think it''s best for him, darling?" His parents were seated around the gnarly, old kitchen table, long past its best years, still discussing. They hurriedly turned their heads around, hearing the door being opened, and looked at the ruggedly breathing Teo.


    His father, Rainert, was a well-built man in his late twenties with a healthy complexion and decently developed chest muscles, easily visible through his thin linen shirt. Most rememberable about him were his square face as well as his short and spiky, chestnut-colored hair, that almost resembled a hedgehog lodging on his head.


    His hair color was actually one of the only things he managed to pass on to Teo, whose hair still ended up being smoother and more wavy than his, quite like the stream of liquid golden strands, his mother called her own.


    "Son, sit down. We need to talk," he said in a noticeably conflicted intonation. Teo did as he was bid, already suspecting where this was going.


    "I had wanted to have this conversation with you, when you are old enough to understand its implications, but it can''t be helped, given the circumstances," he said, heaving a sigh and continued, "I really did not expect, that you would awaken my families talent of all things, but it is not necessarily a bad thing."If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    His father fiddled around with his hands on the table and gave Elisa a quick look, seeing her nod in approval.


    "You have probably already wondered, why you have never heard anything about your grandparents from my side of the family...


    and I have to admit, that we have not been completely honest with you." Teo was shocked, hadn''t he had enough revelations for today? And here he was, expecting this to be about Magic. Teo expectantly looked at his father and waited for him to proceed.


    "In fact, I am not from Ritark originally, like your mother is. I grew up further to the south, in Sigella, to be exact," his father added, wearing a solemn look on his face.


    "Born into the side-family of the Grassdown lineage of Merchants and Low-Rank Enchanters, I received all the benefits of our wealthy standing from a young age..."


    "We have a family name?!" Teo shouted out, what he was most concerned about, full of surprise. It was quite uncommon to have a family name in this area, for he knew that only important people could afford one, though he was not clear on the details.


    "Yes. As a matter of fact, your full name is Teodor Grassdown, but let me continue first," he confirmed Teo''s observation, giving him a slight nod while folding his solid arms in front of his chest.


    "As I was saying, even though I was only part of the side-family, all the gates of the world had been open to me. Sure, I had no talent for Magic, but I could have stepped into your grandfather''s footsteps and become a merchant, overseeing the family''s naval business. Yet I have not always been the man, you know as your father today..." he stopped, thinking of how to best package what he was about to say.


    Teo was a tad disappointed, that his father was not, secretly a legendary Archmage. He was finally getting a feeling for this whole Magic-Adventure kind of thing and quickly developed the necessary ambition for it. However, he did not let anything show on the outside.


    Rainert wore a hard to read, squarish expression on his face as well, but seeing Teo still so attentive, while listening to his backstory, he continued,


    "To tell the truth... I was probably one of the ungrateful, profligate youths, everyone hates the most, while also being quite rowdy and lazy," the burly man admitted, blushing until beet-red, making him look like a hedgehog resting on top of a giant tomato, which was quite funny in itself.


    Mistaking Teo''s suppressed laughter for a sign of disbelief, he proceeded with his speech, "I know, it is hard to believe, but it is the truth. As you can imagine, I did not have the best relationship with my parents from a fair age, given the constant disappointment I was... After a major disagreement with my father, I ran away from home at 19 years old, in order to live my own life, free of their tyrannical reign, as what I saw his concerns."


    Teo had to admit, he did not expect such behavior from his father, whom he knew only as an honest and hardworking man, respected by many in the village. He was still wondering, what it had to do with his Affinity Test tough.


    "Long story short, I made my way to this village by chance, with nothing more than I could carry, was eventually taken in as an apprentice by your mother''s father and, young as I was, fell in love with his beautiful daughter," his father finally concluded, while his mother was still blushing from past memories. ''That was quite the story. Does everyone in the village know about that?'' Teo thought. He still wondered, if his father, once again, had forgotten to mention the important parts, as there was no point in telling him now of all times if it was just about the family-drama.


    "So what happened after that, and does it have anything to do with the result of my Affinity Test?" Teo voiced his doubts, making his father pale in realization of his mistake.


    "Rhm, yes, I was just about to come to that part," his father cleared his throat and tried to improvise.


    "A few years later, my father finally realized, that I was not coming back on my own, after failing somewhere else. He had no hard time finding me, as he had superficially kept track of my travels, not that I had made it far anyway. He came to our door one day, offering to take me back home. I would get another chance, as long as I did my part in the family." He saved a short interval for a dramatic pause, before concluding,


    "He was probably expecting me to fall on my knees and beg him for another chance, but I simply invited him into the house and showed him what I had achieved for myself." He looked at Elisa and then Teo again, with a peaceful smile plastered of his face.


    "A wonderful wife, more stunning than I a had ever hoped for, an occupation that rewarded the hard efforts I put in, and a beautiful, newborn son, the most precious thing in my life."


    Teo could barely stand the corny exaggerations, but his mother was already wrestling to hold back her tears; she grew up close to the water after all.


    "Your grandfather was so shocked, he simply did not know what to say. Then he told me, that he was proud of me, for the first time in my life, and never spoke about me leaving Ritark again. We still exchange letters from time to time." He was happy, being finally able to share his life''s story with someone, but Teo''s still-confused look quickly brought him back on point.


    "The reason, this had anything to do with your Affinity Test is, that having a gift for Arcane Magic is the most surefire way to become a successful Enchanter. We cannot afford, to give you the education and the support you deserve, but your grandparents can. They would be more than happy to accept you into the family, since any talent for Magic is very rare, even in the main family. You could even study under your granduncle, the current head of the family, and learn the craft from a real Enchanter."


    This was more like what Teo expected, it seemed like his fate had not abandoned him after all. He was visibly vibrating from excitement, joyfully believing, that the road ahead had already been paved for him.


    Rainert on the other hand, interpreted it as a sign of worry, about the sudden departure that awaited him and that would rip their family apart. He had no idea that the young boy had yet to realize such consequences. Reassuringly he placed a strong hand on Teo''s shoulder and said, "Don''t worry son, we will always support you as best we can. Though I am afraid, we cannot accept a no for an answer this time. You are too young to understand the implications, and it is best for you to stay in Sigella with your grandparents for a while and study properly! I will write a letter first thing tomorrow and if everything goes well we should receive an answer within a week."

 Chapter 5: The Present: Preparation (1)

    Teo sat silently on a boulder near the elevated cliff, that was overlooking the pebbled beach in the southwest of Ritark, staring at the wide, open North Sea.


    Yesterday had been quite something. Teo had never before experienced such an odyssey of emotions, throwing him up and down with a series of revelations that still baffled him.


    Who could have expected, that he possessed the talent necessary, to learn ''real'' Magic?


    That he had mysterious relatives, conveniently living in a prosperous, nearby city, just waiting to welcome him?


    No, this had to be fate, what else could explain these fortunate circumstances?


    He had originally planned to succeed his father''s craft as a blacksmith, living a sheltered life in this peaceful borderland-village...


    But now he had the chance to become something else entirely and his insides slowly began burning with desire to grab this chance by its horsetail, jump onto it and ride into the sunset.


    Sure, he would miss his parents, but how bad could it be? Also, his father had already made himself clear, that he could not say no to his parents'' decision anyway, so now he only had to wait patiently for his destiny to come knocking.


    The only problem was...


    The wait was killing him!


    His father had just finished the letter to Teo''s paternal grandparents and handed it to Mr. Freebender, the only merchant in Ritark, who also happened to set out towards Sigella tomorrow anyway.


    Paper used to be something quite valuable, that not anyone could effortlessly afford, especially books were a limited commodity, almost considered luxury goods. Writing a mere letter, or even knowing how to write, an impossible dream for most common people.


    Teo only knew this from his father''s stories though, since he was too young to notice any ongoing historical changes himself.


    Much had changed after the Magic Association was assembled over 100 years ago, one of the most notable effects being the massive promotion of paper, books, and knowledge.


    Through the Association''s efforts in mass-production, paper and books became something that even common farmers could afford, depending on their topics, even if they were still far from being cheap.


    This was something, Teo deeply appreciated, since he loved to make his mother read the stories about Magic and Adventures to him, that the Association propagated.


    Sitting there at the shore thinking about various topics, Teo was deeply aware, that he needed something to put his mind on until it was time for his departure; and he had just the right idea.


    He could not simply waste his time, playing around with the other kids, he was not a child anymore!


    No, instead it would be much more interesting to try and learn the basics about Magic from Mr. Atkins, who had kindly offered to answer his questions and seemed to be free anyway.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The decision already made, Teo quickly waddled over to the overbearing building that was the Apprentice Magician''s home, as well as the Magic Association''s official branch in Ritark, the Magician''s Office.


    Half-sunken into the shadows of the neighboring forest it was as gloomy as ever when Teo slowly approached the rune-adorned door.


    It was still impressive, but his recent experience took much of the fear from him, no longer outweighing his courage.


    Obviously, this place had not been built for children, as he had to invest a considerable amount of effort to lift the heavy, black iron door-knocker, that he could barely reach, and let it crash against the massive door.


    "BAMM!"


    It produced a muffled, but clearly audible, blunt sound.


    ''Whoever is in there, must have heard that!'' thought Teo, satisfied with his own work.


    After a short moment, the door swung open by itself again and the unmistakable, rough voice of Mr. Atkins echoed,


    "Come in, boy!"


    Teo wondered, what had given him away, clearly, Mr. Atkins knew who had come to visit.


    After stepping through the gate, he saw a scrawny, but rather tall, middle-aged man, seated behind an old, document-ridden desk, wearing a thick pair of reading glasses.


    Spare for the glasses, neither the room nor Mr. Atkins had changed much since yesterday and were as unwelcoming as ever.


    "To what do I owe the honor of welcoming you again today, Teo?" hissed the robed figure in a snake-like voice, visibly unpleased for being disrupted during his work, whatever that was exactly.


    "I want to learn Magic... real Magic!" stammered Teo intimidated and then quickly added,


    "You said I can ask you about Magic anytime... Sir."


    "Indeed," the man nodded, "I did."


    "But isn''t there a difference between answering questions and teaching? I am a busy man, you know?" the man said with a slight grin.


    "Please Mr. Atkins! I don''t need much of your time, just give me a few hints, in what direction I should work too!" Teo begged, providing for a heart-wrenching scene, with his little body curled into a deep bow.


    He had quickly reached the end of his rope, as he did not know what else he could do to convince the Magician in front of him.


    Meanwhile, the calculative Senior Apprentice, Mr. Edgar Atkins, was very satisfied with his small ploy, as the dialog with the raw gem in front of him was progressing quickly along the pre-chosen path.


    ''He may be a nameless nobody now, but when introduced to the right people, this could quickly change,'' he thought to himself.


    "Maybe I can spare some of my precious time, to teach you the basics, but do remember, that you owe me a favor for that. Everything has its price, in the realm of Magic," he offered in a glutinous voice.


    Teo was surprised, it seemed like he had a chance after all. He really did need someone to teach him, the offer sounded strangely formulated to him though.


    "What price do you mean exactly? I am only a boy and I have no money; also I will probably leave in a few days to live with my grandparents in the city," Teo replied cautiously.


    "Oh, don''t be silly, why would I want your money? I have not fallen so low, that I needed to mug a kid for a few copper coins. No, what I want is a favor¡­" Edgar licked his lips in an unsettling manner, following the typical evil villain trope, while Teo still did not get the implication.


    "Let me put it in simpler words: I will teach you as much as I can before you leave this village and all I want in return, is a favor; redeemed when it¡äs ripe. Maybe a precious Potion from an Alchemist, a Magic Artifact from an Enchanter, a priceless Grimoire from an Archmage, even a few gold coins, if that is your limit."


    "See it as an investment, if you fail, like most other boys with ambitions, I will have lost nothing, but if you succeed in whatever path you take, a simple favor from you could equal a lot of benefits," the Magician explained, with surprising honesty.


    Indeed, even from Teo¡äs side, he had everything to gain and nothing to lose.


    "That¡äs it? No hook?" Teo asked, skeptically.


    "What hook? Do I look like a demon to you? Where would be the honor in that? I simply proposed a fair deal, that would benefit us both," Edgar hissed, he was actually quite hurt by the untactful remark.


    He didn¡ät want to trick the boy, he just didn¡ät want to work for free! Why did people always misunderstand him?

 Chapter 6: The Present: Awakening (2)

    Teo heaved a deep sigh, after leaving Mr. Atkins'' cottage.


    He did need someone to teach him and he was thankful for the haggard man''s offer, but somehow he found dealing with him quite tiring; a feeling the other party probably reciprocated.


    ''I know, I should not judge a book by its cover, but his mannerisms are just too creepy,'' Teo thought while blushing a little, embarrassed for his inappropriate paranoia.


    After accepting the deal with the middle-aged Apprentice Magician, and thus finding himself a new mentor, Teo had finally received his first-ever mission on his long road towards magical supremacy:


    "Just sit down somewhere and meditate, try to feel the mana around you or something,"


    was the exact phrasing that was thrown at him by his supposed teacher...


    Even a complete stranger to Magic, like Teo, could tell, that this was definitely not some secret technique, passed on, from generation to generation. This sounded more like something Granny Goya, who was famous around Ritark for her impressive morning calisthenics, would say.


    Still, Teo could not exactly ask for second opinions about this. The only one coming to mind was his friend Markus, who possessed a Fire Element Affinity. Apparently, he could already light small sparks in the air, a few months after his test, but he was training out in the woods with his father right now and was thus unavailable.


    Teo would just have to pull through on his own; how hard could it be?


    First, he needed a quiet place to concentrate and he already had one in mind. The green hillside, right next to the shallow cliffs at the shore, fit the bill perfectly.


    It was quiet, peaceful and most important of all, free from pestering adults!


    He carefully selected a comfortable-looking, flat rock beside a gnarly pear tree, already carrying green fruits, and sat down.


    The wide, blue-black ocean in front of him and the smooth sea of wide-bladed grass surrounding him, painted a rather majestic scenery as if taken right from a priceless canvas.


    Teo, however, had a hard time calming down, with his outright energetic personality.


    He decided, to close his eyes and concentrate only on his breathing; at least, that was what Granny Goya always preached about inner peace, to anyone willing (or unwilling) to listen.


    Teo could feel the warm rays of sunshine, penetrating the sparse clouds and caressing his skin. He could hear the thunderous waves of the moody North Sea periodically breaking against the jagged rocks of the precipice, exploding into fine droplets, before slowly converging and flowing back, starting the cycle anew.


    There where bugs and bees, silently buzzing around the rocky patch of grass, feasting on its wildflowers.


    Flowers! Yes, Teo could smell them; not strong, but still perceptible. Their sweet odor mixed with the passing summer breeze, which carried to him the aroma of fresh, green grass and resin from the distant forest, he could almost taste it.


    How had he missed these details before sitting down?


    Teo fully concentrated on his non-visual senses and the world around him, that he could perceive with them in surprising clarity.


    It was actually a very refreshing experience for Teo, who usually only knew to appreciate nature superficially and preferred to play "Magicians and evil Sorcerers" with his friends.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    But something... he could not put his finger on it, but something felt wrong.


    He had often visited the easily accessible places around Ritark, such as this, so he already knew all of their features; literally, like his backyard.


    Sure, now he did experience it more in-depth than usual, noticing many tiny details...


    But did it feel any more magical than any other time he looked around?


    Was Magic really like a tiny detail, you could notice, if only you paid enough attention?


    He had already been sitting here for one or two hours and did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Maybe he was just looking at it from the wrong perspective.


    The idea, to focus on what he could not see, rather than what he could, was already pretty good, he felt...


    But were his other senses any more reliable, than his sight? Teo felt deeply conflicted, by this age-old topic of philosophical thought, way surpassing what his young mind could properly comprehend.


    Still, epiphany eventually struck him. Mana, or raw Magic, or whatever it was called, could not be seen, touched, smelled or heard (also, probably not tasted), or he would have noticed it long ago!


    So there was no point in focusing on his other senses! They were just as useless as his eyes, to perceive the natural Magic in the outside world!


    With his newfound understanding of the nature of Magic, he closed his eyes and tried again.


    This time, Teo tried, not to rely on his senses. He shut his eyes, held his ears and took in deep mouthfuls of air, not through his nose, obviously. He tried to relax and focus only on his own breathing, completely shutting out all sensory information about his surroundings.


    Of course, he did not stop trying to ''feel'' the area around him, just that he could not perceive anything noteworthy but the empty space that surrounded him.


    Teo simply sat there, mentally ''feeling'' through the empty blackness around him, like a blind man, wandering through a desert of nothingness.


    He was already nearing his limit, after half an hour of highly tuned perception, utilizing all of his concentration; a feat, still very commendable for a child his age.


    Slowly, with time, Teo began to ''see'' vague outlines, ethereally floating along with the wind, almost imperceptible. Believing his eyes to be deceiving him, from the piled up exhaustion, he observed them closer.


    As if his eyes were gradually adjusting to the dark, after stepping out of a bright room, Teo slowly began to adapt to the emptiness, which surrounded him and the outlines became clearer every second.


    There where streams and rivers; loosely bound strands of glowing beauty, flowing through every inch of space around him, first very vague, then almost clearly visible. They wound around some places, rested or sped up at others, racing in every imaginable direction.


    By now he could vaguely ''see'' the outlines of his surroundings, gently glowing blades of grass and solid boulders, resting atop the flat ground, all of them hungrily absorbing the glowing strands, that dimmed or disappeared in their midst. He could even see tiny specks of light, erratically moving around like fireflies.


    With his mind, he followed along a strikingly larger torrent of light, fusing with other streams over his head and hurriedly diving downwards, forming large tendrils, that held onto small globules of light and finally converged into a massive column of brilliance, as bright as the moon, lurking right behind him.


    Shocked, Teo jumped to his feet, turned around and burst open his eyes, expecting to find a horror worse than he could imagine, ready to grab him with its tentacles.


    Only to find himself alone, staring at the old, fruit-laden pear tree, that silently stood behind him this entire time.


    "It... absorbs the light... no, the Mana, from the air around it?!" Teo stammered stupefied.


    Teo closed his eyes again, trying to focus on the feeling he had previously experienced. He managed to slip into the unique state of mind much more easily than before, barely taking a few moments of concentration, and began observing the column of light before him.


    It was very bright, compared to the surroundings, and closer inspection revealed it to be a bundle, made from thousands of smaller strands of glowing Mana, barely as thick as a hair.


    Teo extended his hand, trying to touch it.


    "What the... I am... glowing too?" once again the lone boy screamed at a tree for no obvious reason, probably appearing rather funny to outside spectators.


    He held his right Hand in front of his face, periodically closing and opening it again. It was solely woven from compressed and tightly wound, spiraling strands of Mana, way brighter than anything he had seen today.


    Contrary to the old tree in front of him, he did not seem to simply absorb the strands, he ''breathed'' them. They scrimmaged and accumulated inside him, penetrating from his lungs and every pore of his skin, but they also flowed back, resuming their natural course, disappearing in the distance.


    ''No wonder, there is the old proverb:


    "Everything breathes."


    I feel like I understand it now,'' thought Teo impressed by the complexity of nature and the beauty of Magic. He clenched his fists and finally said full of awe and excitement,


    "So this, is Magic!"

 Chapter 7: The Present: Refinement (3)

    Teo was still shocked, by his discovery earlier today. From repeated experiments, he could now enter the special state of mind, where he could ''see'' the surrounding mana (he was still working on a better name for it) easily within a few seconds of closing his eyes.


    It was an amazing experience, every single time, and Teo ran excitedly around Ritark, randomly ''observing'' all the little things he could find, with great interest.


    He discovered that Mana was always present in the form of extremely thin lines, reminding him of the threads, his mother used for sewing. The amount, ''density'' and the traveling speed of the Mana Threads also would change depending on the area he went to and seemed to be influenced by the surrounding objects.


    Especially living things, like animals and plants, seemed to strongly attract the threads; weirdly enough, increasing the Mana Density in their surroundings, even though, he could watch them passively weaken and consume them.


    Teo noticed, that the effect seemed to be dependent on size, as big trees or humans attracted more attention from the strings than bugs or blades of grass. He did not find anything, or anyone, that seemed to interact with them as much as he did though.


    Also, his theory seemed to be flawed somehow, as even dead things, like rocks, wooden planks, the earth itself, yes, even his shoes slowly absorbed the surrounding Mana; though in almost negligible quantities.


    Overall, Teo was very satisfied with his newly gained ability, even if he still had no particular idea, what it could be used for. He reckoned it would be quite helpful when he had to handle his ''business'' in the middle of the night, but apart from that...?


    Being able to see around two meters ahead in absolute darkness, was a rather nice gimmick,  but there had to be something more to it, he guessed.


    Resuming his experimentation session in a quiet area, he decided, to try something else: to move the threads himself; or at least otherwise influence them, if the first option did not work out.


    The idea behind it was very simple actually: Mana was raw Magic itself. A Magician could use Magic. In other words, he could refine the Mana into a usable form. Leading to the conclusion:


    A Magician could use the natural Mana for his own purpose!


    That sounded, like a very reasonable theory, thus Teo got straight to work and tried to do it himself.


    He sat down, concentrated, entered the Mana-Detection-state (name still in revision) and reached out with his hand, trying to grab one of the golden strands closest to him.


    Obviously, this did not yield the desired result, the very notion of the idea, probably bringing every proper Magician south of the Black Mountain Range close to tears of laughter. (Even that, only because Magicians north of it don''t have tears at all.)


    Well, Teo had not expected his first try to succeed, but no effect at all was still disheartening. His hand seemed to pass right through most threads, while others straight out dodged him with a small, barely noticeable twist. He tried a few more times, striking very embarrassing poses even and dancing like a cockroach on a hot stove, but without any success whatsoever.


    ''It seems I am still too dependent on common sense, to properly get the hang of this'' he thought and let a soft sigh escape from his lungs.


    Just like the first step, where he had to stop seeing, in order to actually see and stop feeling, in order to properly feel, there had to be a trick in order to achieve this new goal of his as well; he was sure of it.


    Mana was nothing like the objects lying around him, not even of the same category... he would have to stop, to treat them in the same way!


    He thought back on the words of his teacher (it still felt wrong to call him that) to try and see if there were some hidden tips he could utilize somewhere. And actually, there were.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Mr. Atkins did babble a lot about really complex Magical Theories, but one very simple concept had helped Teo directly without even questioning it.


    ''Move your thoughts and the Mana will follow'' it was something like that, he remembered. Back then he had to imagine the energy flowing around his body, through his palm, and into the small Artifact, resulting in it measuring his Elemental Affinity...


    Could that have been Mana, flowing from his body into the crystal ball? Wasn''t that the manipulation of Mana he was bitterly failing at right now? He had already accomplished it without even noticing?


    Excited by his own genius he hurriedly sat down again and tried to concentrate. First, he would try, what he had already done once:


    Expelling Mana from his hands!


    He imagined it to be quite something, lightning-blue balls of pure, condensed energy rapidly discharging from his palms, disintegrating, whatever stood in his way! So he was very eager to try it out and finally do some real magic himself.


    He extended his right hand, with his palm facing straight away from him, targeting a mid-sized rock, lying a few meters away.


    Teo began furiously concentrating on his energy flow and tried to control the strings that made up his body, moving them according to his will. Using Mana-Detection-Sight simultaneously, he could already see some loops in his arms beginning to stir.


    Slowly part of the Mana in his body began flowing towards his right hand like thick goo, significantly increasing the Mana Density there. It was very hard to actually move the threads, as he could feel them working against him, it was like sucking honey through a straw!


    Using his full concentration for another ten minutes, he managed to pack a decent bundle of tightly bound mana into his hands, ready to burst forth. He corrected his aim on the rock once again, took a deep breath and then willed the flood to break loose.


    "Fire!" he actually yelled out in his excited state, not caring if anybody could hear him, willing the Mana in his hand to shoot out and pulverize the poor rock in front of him.


    A loose bundle of golden threads was squeezed out of his pores and sailed through the air like a slop of spaghetti, not even making it towards the relieved stone and dissolving in the wind after barely one and a half meters.


    Teo simply stood there, unable to close his gaping mouth at the unbelievable scene in front of him, his face quickly changing to a bright crimson color.


    He had never been so embarrassed in his whole life! If there had been a hole close by, he would have loved to dive straight in and hide from the rest of the world forever. His only consolation was, that no one had seen his striking performance, probably...


    But what did he do wrong?


    He did manage to control the Mana flowing inside him, a partial success, but why was it so slow and sloppy, instantly dissolving barely a second after it managed to leave his body?


    He would just have to take it as food for future thought, as he was too embarrassed to continue what he was doing. He would rather try point two on his agenda, drawing Mana from the air into his body! Surely it must also be able to go the other way when it already works in one direction, right?


    He tried not to think much about his past failures and focused on the task ahead. Getting back again into his optimal mental condition.


    With his eyes closed, he could see the Mana around him, feeling it float along beside him, prickling on his skin. He just had to reach out with his mind and grab ahold of one of these juicy threads.


    Having decided on a rather small specimen drifting close by, Teo willed it to come closer to him. He could not describe how, but he did feel some kind of connection to it, he could tell it was struggling to escape his control.


    Extending his hand again, bringing it close to the thread, he imagined a strong pull, sucking the thread into the center of his hand, like a black hole. And it even seemed to work.


    The floating string was getting closer and closer to his hand, slowly forming an arc in the middle, where he concentrated the pull on. Without much resistance, it was slowly being pulled into his body, dangling inside his palm like a loose rope.


    He kept pulling for a few minutes, but there was no end in sight. Both ends of the hair-thin string seemed to stretch into infinity.


    Elated by this easily accomplished success, Teo wanted to finish this up and call it a day, as waves of fatigue, washed over him. But as soon as he stopped exerting the pull, the thread began to stream out of his body again. He had to concentrate on pulling it taut, to make it stop, which he could not afford to do the whole day.


    It seemed, like this string of Mana was a literal ''loose thread'', coming undone, as soon as one did not pay attention to it. Teo felt disheartened again, as he could do nothing, but watch all his work coming undone and drifting away with the clouds. He could slow it down, yes, even reel it back in, but he could not stop it entirely, making the whole process little more than pointless.


    Well, he still had some successes to celebrate today, he would just have to visit his teacher to report about it and try again tomorrow.


    Tired, mentally exhausted and slightly frustrated, Teo weakly tottered towards the secluded House of Horror''s, the Magician''s Office.


    Surprisingly the door was already open as if waiting for him and as he got close, a domineering voice reverberated around him,


    "What took you so long? Don''t tell me, you took almost six hours, just to awaken your Mana Vision?!"

 Chapter 8: The Present: Crystallization (4)

    The second chair, that mysteriously appeared in the cramped office, was surprisingly comfortable as Teo let himself sink deep into the century-old cushions.


    Teo felt quite proud of himself, after achieving so many epiphanies in barely a day...


    At least, until the ever-benevolent Mr. Atkins admonished him for his incompetence.


    Apparently, awakening Elemental Vision (what it seemed to be called) was nothing special, as it was the most basic of all Magic Abilities, the bare minimum to qualify as any sort of caster. Mr. Atkins even bragged, that he managed to do it in a single hour, with barely any help, when he was younger.


    The stabbing stares did not grow softer, until explaining, that he only took around two or three hours and spent the rest of the time experimenting. Still, the only compliment he got, was a sneaky, "So, you are not void of talent after all."


    Though he was a bit dejected; from a short time since he got to know his teacher, he already knew to appreciate his rare compliments as they came. It was pointless to wait for anything better, as he seemed fundamentally incapable of uttering any positive words, without a hurtful punchline.


    "Go home and rest now, I will personally teach you a few tricks tomorrow and need you in mint condition." Teo''s line of thought was suddenly interrupted by the Magician''s surprising offer and he hurriedly disappeared through the door, before the old man changed his mind again.


    His parents did worry a bit, why he instantly fell asleep after wolfing down his dinner but didn''t bother Teo too much about it. After a good, long night of sleep, he was as fit as ever and stood before the towering, black door of the Magician''s Office as early as sunrise.


    Mr. Atkins looked the same as always, because he did not seem to change his dark-blue robe whatsoever (or all his clothes simply looked the same, which Teo did not want to rashly exclude), and subjected Teo to a strict training regime.


    He began with the basics that Teo already knew, like his Elemental Vision, and explained to him, that it was only making the Elements one could control, perceivable.


    In Teo''s case he could observe the flow of pure Mana but no Elements, resulting in Mr. Atkins appearing quite dim lit in Teo''s Mana Vision, even glowing less than any ordinary villager. Mr. Atkins had mastered Water Vision instead (he had to admit, the naming scheme was better than his own) and could perceive the Water Elements around him, meaning, in his eyes, he glowed like a blowtorch, whereas Teo was barely perceptible.


    It seemed to work the same way for all Elements and apparently it was also possible to comprehend and see more than one Element, though Teo had no idea how that worked.


    In the case of the Mana threads, he was actually right on track, as they were really called like that and even behaved as he expected. Of course, he had not expected there to be other Elemental Threads, neither that they were not entirely ''consumed'' by everything around him, but converted into threads of the Element corresponding to the object.


    The idea was rather fascinating and quite logical, areas rich in stones and earth would also be rich in Earth Element threads because every stone and even the ground itself would absorb the ambient Mana and convert it into the Earth Element, which consequently accumulated in the surroundings. They would also use small amounts of Earth Elements to ''enrich'' themselves, but tended to produce more than they consumed.


    According to Mr. Atkins, this also applied to plants and animals, which would experience increased prosperity while living near areas rich in their corresponding Element and enjoyed a slightly increased lifespan as a result of the ''enrichment'' as he called it.


    Teo spent several days learning about basic magical concepts and absorbed all the new knowledge like a sponge. After the highly theoretical crash-course, his comprehension of Magic was incomparable to his previous na?ve self. He could even activate Mana Vision without closing his eyes now, only needing to spare part of his attention to keep it active.


    He also learned from his previous mistake while trying to absorb external Mana and managed to successfully do it after a few tries. Teo''s original idea was quite good and ''free'' Elements could indeed be used to replenish one''s own, after expending them; he just didn''t have the right technique.


    The trick lay in weaving the Mana into dense spirals or bundles after absorbing it, to better store it in one''s body, and to ''cut'' of the loose ends after absorbing enough. If left untended, the unabsorbed part of the Mana string would really work as a loose thread, slowly unraveling the previous efforts.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Expelling Mana properly from one''s body, or actually knitting it into Spells, was still out of his reach, at least when trying to learn it alone in his free time.


    But today, was when Mr. Atkins finally decided, to teach Teo how to use Magic.


    "Alright, you have already built a decent foundation in the last days and it is time for some practical training." Teo stood straight as a pole, not daring to move even a millimeter, the sweet words like music to his ears.


    "You know the basics about Magic in theory, as well as how to influence, guide and shape Mana according to your will. I suspect, you have already noticed, that it is extremely hard, to expel Magic from one''s body in order to use it in any meaningful way." Teo hurriedly nodded, instantly converting his trimmed, brown hair into a disheveled state. It was indeed quite hard, to expel his own Mana, much more so, to shape it into literally anything, no matter how simple the shape.


    Edgar authoritatively continued, "As it is impossible to quickly move Mana from your own body to the outside with your underdeveloped magical control abilities, you will need to resort to a different strategy."


    He stretched out his hand in front of him, palm facing towards the sky and less than a second later, Teo could already see blue veins gathering together, quickly forming a fist-sized icicle in the middle of his palm, that shot out and mowed down a nearby birch tree from the forest.


    "Wow!" Teo unintentionally exclaimed, flabbergasted by the display of destructive power. That was Magic! Wild and powerful! That was, what he wanted to learn!


    "That was one of the most basic uses of the Water Element, compressing it in a single spot near your body and shooting it out all at once. Of course, it is a rather crude way to utilize one''s strength, like throwing a rock during a sword fight, but it can be very effective in real combat." Teo was still extremely impressed by the technique demonstrated to him, unable to close his mouth for almost half a minute.


    He would probably have fainted, had he known that Edgar held himself back a lot to better demonstrate the process of condensing the elements. In a real fight, he could easily summon ten icicles to shoot at his opponent in less than a second, all while running at the same time.


    "The basis of most foundation-level spells is very simple, you just shape the Elements according to your needs and the corresponding effect will naturally follow. You can compress them into a single point, making a basic Magic Bolt, to throw at your enemy, into a fine net, to materialize an Elemental Shield, that protects you or into a spear, you can throw or wield yourself as a weapon. The possibilities are literally only limited by your imagination."


    During Edgar''s short introduction into practical Magic, or ''external Elemental Manipulation'', what he called it sometimes, Teo''s grin only grew wider and wider, thinking that it was way easier than he thought. Seeing him sitting there, smiling to himself like an idiot, his teacher added, "I recommend you to take this seriously. Manipulating the Elements outside your body is not as easy as it sounds." But Teo hardly let that dim his motivation.


    "I guess you will just have to learn yourself, what fickle lover the mistress of Magic can be. It is only a matter of practice anyway, so you will figure out the minor tricks and details yourself." Edgar concluded and left Teo to practice on his own, while he worked through the thick pile of paperwork left on his desk.


    Finally, Teo had the time and a proper direction for practicing Magic, making his success only a matter of time in his eyes.


    He decided, to stay at the green patch of grass near the forest ¡ªthat made an extraordinary peaceful impression, except for one badly mangled birch tree, its trunk but a collection of splinters¡ª and began to practice.


    The first thing he tried, was obviously the compression of Mana into a single point, forming a Mana Bolt, as this seemed a good point to start from for a beginner.


    He expertly began to focus his Mana into his right hand, slowly excreting it from his skin and into the surrounding air, only to have it blown away after a single lapse in concentration. He tried again and again, but as he tried to keep the threads of Mana outside his hand from floating away, he could not properly concentrate on pulling more Mana out of his body and vice versa.


    "What the heck?! This is so hard!" he exclaimed after almost an hour with barely any progress, venting his frustration, while stomping a small foot on the ground. It seemed like he had indeed underestimated the magnitude of the task at hand.


    After several hours of continued practice, he got a lot better in his general control of the Mana inside and in proximity to his body. Increasing the rate, at which Mana left his body as well as the time he could keep it close enough to his Hand to control and further compress it. He even managed to incorporate some passing, free Mana from the surroundings into the process.


    For the compression he used the same method, he learned for absorbing Mana into his body, packing and weaving it into solid bundles, forming a ball of Mana, that almost resembled a clew of yarn, silently hovering over his hand. It was as hard a task as lighting a match in a typhoon, but he never lost his spirit; training until mental exhaustion set in, absorbing Mana from the surroundings to relieve it and starting all over again.


    The first stable bundles of Mana he let loose, were little more, than small marbles of blue light gliding through the air with a silent whistle and leaving faint scorch marks on anything they hit.


    But after training the technique over and over again for the rest of the week, he finally managed to cause a tiny explosion, blowing away some tree bark, after compressing the Mana as much as he could.


    He was sweaty and exhausted, his whole body sore from overexertion, the effects of his ''attack'' minuscule, but Teo did not care at all. He did it!


    He cast real Magic for the first time in his life!

 Chapter 9: The Future

    It was a stormy afternoon, dark clouds covering the sky as lightning flashed and furious, howling winds whipped a lone carriage, scuttling along a poorly constructed country road. The huge, rain-filled potholes ¡ªwhich were expertly avoided¡ª and the streams of water, running down the edge of the roof, did not make the coachman''s job any easier.


    Inside the well-equipped vehicle, sat Teo, immersed in his own thoughts, as he traveled towards the harbor city of Sigella with his paternal grandfather. Teo''s relatives really did get in touch with him around a week after his father had sent the letter back then, they just had not expected to get a carriage as an answer, instead of a letter.


    His ''grandfather'' was a rather bulky, but tall and well-built man in his fifties, a few streaks of grey already visible between his chestnut-brown hair. He did not make a particularly bad impression, but he appeared well versed in using his blue hawk-eyes to glare at people for extended amounts of time, making one wonder, if his brows were simply stuck in this position, unable to be moved anymore.


    He did, however, show some real concern for Teo during their Journey, making him think, that he was not as unapproachable as he appeared.


    Sigella was actually not that far from Ritark, only distanced around three days of travel to the south ¡ªat least in a carriage or on horseback, traveling by foot was a completely different story. However, Teo was still unaccustomed to spend so much time on the road, giving him a strange feeling, even when his distant family did not spare any expenses while preparing his escort.


    Teo had taken a lot of time, to properly say goodbye to his friends and family back in Ritark. Half of the village had gathered, to see him off that day, even Mr. Atkins lay aside his work, to mingle with the villagers, which was a supremely rare sight to behold.


    He did not know, who told everyone about his departure, but he was glad he had the chance to say goodbye, as it would probably be a long time before he would see them all again.


    This was his second day in the carriage and Teo was very bored, with the bad weather ever since this morning, he could not even go outside for a short walk and just continued to stare holes into the air. At first, he had spent a lot of time, talking to his grandfather, mostly about what awaited him, but the man was not very talkative and Teo grew tired of asking.


    Apparently, he was currently the only one in the family with the "Ancestors'' Gift" ¡ªwhat they called the Affinity for Arcane Magic¡ª besides the current family head, his granduncle Thoralv Grassdown. Which obviously made him a very valuable pawn in the game of family politics.


    Luckily his grandfather, Troy Grassdown, had a high position within the clan, overseeing their whole naval business operations, and vowed to protect Teo as best he can; he was very protective of his close kin, after failing his eldest son, losing him semi-permanently. The most Teo had to endure would probably be the envious glares of other children and at most some pranks; the adults would treat him like a raw egg instead, afraid of breaking it accidentally, expectantly awaiting the day of his hatching, so he might bring prosperity to the family.


    From the anecdotes his grandfather told, it seemed like the bloodline of the Grassdown lineage was rather thin, because only every 2. or 3. Generation would see the rise of a new Arcane, most of the time barely even possessing a Low-Rank Mana Affinity.


    It seemed, like Teo''s Intermediate Rank Mana Affinity was not so simple after all and he would be accepted into the household with open arms for it.


    The Grassdown clan was neither very large, nor powerful, only possessing enough land and money, to be called considerably wealthy, but far from the true behemoths of the county, not even considering the large families residing near the capital.


    Though the fortune, they accumulated over the centuries, still allowed most of its members to lead relatively worry-free lives near the family domicile, a century-old villa, where the most important family members resided.


    Before Teo had even heard about its existence for the first time, he was already accepted into Saint Joujack''s Magic School, the only one of its kind in Sigella, where he would learn everything about the culture, history, calculus and hopefully Magic. He would also step into his granduncle''s footprints and learn the art of Enchantment from him...A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Everything was already decided before he even got to talk to anyone about it.


    Teo was not exactly sure, what he should think about this, but what he felt, was an unsettling strained feeling in his gut and a lot of pressure.


    He knew neither, if he could rise up to all the expectations saddled onto him, nor if he wanted to, but he would find out soon enough.


    ___________________________


    Edgar sat motionless in his favorite armchair and looked outside the large, uncurtained window of his living quarters, observing the torrential rainfalls, that accompanied today''s thunderstorm.


    In his hand he held an unusually exquisite porcelain cup, containing a black, steaming liquid, from which he periodically sipped.


    ''Coffee'', that was how the drink was called, was quite rare around here. It was only cultivated in the lushly overgrown jungles of Kalar''s south and he especially had to import it from almost the other side of the Continent for an astronomical price. But he quite enjoyed its deep, aromatic taste and started to prefer it over tea, after first trying it; saving his stash for the most precious moments to better savor it.


    ''A bitter drink, for a bitter man,'' he thought self-mockingly while staring at nothing in particular.


    He wanted to deny it, but he had gotten attached to the boy after all. His talent was mediocre, but his hard-working attitude and sharp mind were just the right tools for studying magic, allowing him to progress faster and farther than Edgar had speculated.


    He never spoke it out loud, but Teo could almost keep up with the prodigious expectations, he himself grew up with and came to demand from others as well. For a short time, he was able to teach him, he achieved far more than a mere child his age possessing mediocre talent should be able to.


    Teo did not remind him of his younger self or something moronic like that, he simply discovered, that he did not dislike, sharing his knowledge with the younger generations. At the very least, they did not judge him and were extremely grateful for every morsel of wisdom he threw at them.


    Maybe he should have accepted the offer from his old mentor, after all, to stay as a lab assistant or become a teacher for a Magic School after his graduation from the Academy. Yet he was far too ambitious and blinded by his own greed to realize his limitations and accept his fate, while he still had the chance.


    Who would have expected, that he would accept a "student" and would honestly teach him up to the limitations of his own competence, after all these years of being ostracized and living in isolation, banished by his academic brethren? Even going as far as tipping of the village chief about the boy''s approaching departure, so he could organize a proper farewell...


    He really did grow softer with age, completely shedding his old moniker: "Edward the Annihilator".


    "Well, who cares? At least the coffee is good," he said as he sunk deeper into the gentle embrace of his armchair and relaxed, taking another long sip from his cup while listening to the occasional crackling of the nearby fireplace.


    _________________________


    "Dang!"


    "Dang!"


    "Dang!"


    Hammering echoed through the catacombic cellars of the mansion, reverberating along the aged walls and pillars, where long shadows danced like demonic silhouettes.


    A dwarfish old man, whose polished scalp created a deep contrast to his impressively lush, grey beard, could be seen torturing a lone lump of red-hot iron upon a huge, black anvil.


    His exposed and muscular upper body glistened in the red glow of his forge with fresh sweat, while a pair of small, pointed goggles protected his eyes from the sparks, flying around like fireflies.


    Contrary to his brutish appearance, this was Sigella''s most accomplished Enchanter, famous for his magnificently detailed and exquisite works, Thoralv Grassdown.


    What he was doing right now, was not his work though, smithing was but a hobby of his. He liked to shape new things with his very own hands and deeply appreciated the balance between physical and mental strain, both his crafts provided aplenty.


    Thoralv especially loved to enchant tools, he had forged himself. Seeing a powerful Artifact, which he had formed from nothing more than a lump of metal and some gemstones was always something very special.


    He always went to his forge, when he needed to think, when he really needed to get his head clear, to concentrate. The hard physical labor would always get his mind back on track as the rhythmic smashing of the hammer in his hand would slowly loosen all the tangled thoughts that haunted him.


    This family lay in his hands for over thirty years now and he had done what he could, to slowly build it up and retake their bygone glory. One of his biggest worries had been the question about his successor though, as none of the youngest generations seemed talented enough ¡ªor talented at all, in any aspect, to be more exact.


    This suddenly changed, with the arrival of an unexpected letter around 5 days ago. It was from Rainert, Troy''s eldest, who he had already labeled as hopeless, many years ago.


    Without any prior indication, he was delivered, what he needed the most, exactly when he needed it most:


    A promising and talented youth, possessing the Ancestors'' Gift, whom he could entrust the following generations to.


    It felt almost like a practical joke or a cruel whim of fate, trying to give him hope, just to nip it in the bud, leaving him heartbroken and despaired. He would not be able to take the sudden shock with his advanced age; he would only believe it, the moment he laid eyes on the boy himself.


    Only an idiot would be unsuspecting, when delivered a refreshing drink in a desert, it was better to be careful.

 Chapter 10: Sigella

    "See you tomorrow, Jack!"


    Teo waved his hand, as he began to climb into a black carriage, that was waiting for him, just outside the school grounds.


    Jackson Jumpheart, one of the few boy''s he befriended in school, was an energetic boy with bright red hair, and could be seen running along the main street of Sigella right now.


    Teo had kept insisting on walking home by foot for the first few weeks ¡ªleaving the despairing coachman slowly driving behind him, for he could not return ''empty-carriaged''¡ª but eventually caved in under his grandfather''s pestering. It was quite the distance towards the family mansion and Teo could explore the bustling city anytime he wanted, so he might as well take the carriage home, it just needed some getting used to.


    "It''s hard to believe, that it''s already been a year," Teo said and sighed as he looked out of the small carriage-window.


    Indeed. A little bit more than one year had passed, since Teo left Ritark and came to live with his relatives in Sigella. The city was beautiful and his relatives mostly nice, but it didn''t quite feel like home and he still could not get entirely used to it.


    He spent most of his days in school, learning the very basics of common knowledge, that would soon come to be indispensable, but found little time to play with his friends or explore the woods near the mansion, much to his regret.


    His evenings would be spent with Uncle Thoralv, who was very strict, when it came to teaching him about Enchanting, but Teo still appreciated all the new things he could learn from him, so he actually enjoyed it a bit.


    He had quickly taken up all the basics he needed and found Enchanting rather suiting to his taste, as it was refreshing and not as complicated as he feared, at least in the early stages. The fundamental concept was easy enough to understand, but with each step up the power-ladder the procedures became exponentially more complex.


    Teo was now slowly approaching the manor after passing through the large iron gates, it was an ancient, grey stone building, that had already seen it''s best days long ago, but still looked impressive nonetheless.


    "Go see your uncle after lunch, he wants to speak with you."


    A middle aged women, appearing to be somewhere in her forties, approached him after he stepped through the main entrance, directly skipping all pleasantries.


    "Thank you Aunt Greta."


    Teo replied courteously with a light bow anyway, leaving the cold, dark-haired woman behind, as he made his way over to the dining hall. This was his aunt Greta, one of the more fearsome women in the household; she did not take well, that Teo was more talented than her own children and could hardly suppress her jealousy, but it was better, not to offend her unnecessarily.


    He was still not used to dining alone for the most part, but the food was good and he would occasionally joke around with the staff, that practically ran the household from the background. Supper however, was always taken together by the whole family, every evening at the same time, almost like some sort of ritual, and absence was severely frowned upon.


    Contrary to the size of the building, the number of staff was rather low, countable on one''s hands even. Apart from a butler, a cook, a gardener and a few maids, there was hardly anyone to mention. Teo especially liked the kind, old butler James as well as Milly the maid, a young women in her twenties, with a great sense of humor, that was only employed a few years ago.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    After quickly eating some cream of corn soup and a smoked pork chop, Teo tossed his school bag into his room and went looking for Uncle Thoralv, who spent most of his time in the spacious workshops, deep in the cellars of the manor.


    He ran through the long corridor and down one of the winding, old staircases, casting long shadows against the uneven walls, as he stepped down the torchlight brightened passages.


    Teo did not like the old cellars. He found them creepy and unsettling. Their narrow pathways, snaking through the bedrock, alternating with larger rooms and the occasional pillar-borne hall, all soaked in an unsettling twilight or complete darkness. The only noise audible, the rustling and scuttling of tiny insect legs and the unknown horrors, lurking just out of his sight. He did not like the cellars.


    Staying clear of the dark, less explored reaches of the old labyrinth, Teo took the torch-draped main passage, which was mostly straight and considered safe by him, until he could see the soft red glow of the forge, welcoming him, like the first rays of a beautiful sunrise.


    It was an enigma to him, why his granduncle did not just move the workshop somewhere else. There was plenty of space, right next to the mansion, or behind it, or literally anywhere else was also fine! How could he even concentrate on his work in these godforsaken catacombs?


    Well, he was young and no one asked for his opinion, nor paid it any mind, so he better get used to it one way or another.


    Teo stood right in front of the huge forge now and could already feel the heat, radiating from it, slowly draining the moisture from his skin. Uncle Thoralv stood up and approached him, he said in a rough voice, that made his thick mustache flutter,


    "Teo! Good, you''re here!"


    ''Don''t act all surprised, when you''re the one that asked for me'' thought Teo, but still maintained a polite smile and gave a quick bow, before answering,


    "Uncle, what did you want to see me for?"


    "Right, right, coming right to the point, just like a true craftsman. I like that," he said, while nodding to himself a few times. "You spent the last month''s learning the basics and made great progress. You are still quite a bit from completing your own Enchantments without my help, no need to talk about real Artifacts, but you know many techniques already and are especially skilled in Mana Infusion..."


    This was very unusual for Uncle Thoralv, as he was not the type, to work towards a climax like that. He literally had no sense of drama or suspension and would come straight to the point in most cases.


    He was a very direct person, but Teo did not dislike that about him, it made him quite easy to deal with. Talking to him was almost always ''hammer this'' and ''hammer that'' and ''hammer like you mean it and not like a little girl''. It needed some getting used to, but it was not that bad in retrospect, Teo had never expected to still learn his father''s craft in such a roundabout way, which was a further bonus in his eyes. Oh, right! His uncle seemed to be getting to the important part!


    "As I was saying, the Mana Infusion technique can be considered the very core of everything else in the craft of Enchanting and is of extreme importance. It is also directly correlated to what I want to show you today!"


    ''Probably it''s just to increase the Enchantment quality again. Couldn''t this wait till later?'' Teo thought, a bit annoyed at losing most of his free time for a speech about the greatness of Enchanting and the long tradition of the craft...


    Only when his uncle pulled out a grey cube, adorned with barely visible runes and slightly indented lines, that snaked over the whole surface of the object, was his attention captured again.


    "As you probably guessed already, this is an Artifact, and also the most precious family heirloom, passed along from one generation to the next." Thoralv slowly spun it around in his hands, while Teo was just staring at it without a word, trying to guess its function.


    "There is an old family ritual, every Enchanter from the clan has to undergoe, as soon as he masters Mana Infusion and is able to carve his own Mana Channels."


    Teo was a bit nervous now, afraid of some weird rite of initiation, but his curiosity far outweighed his natural fear of the unknown.


    "It is actually quite simple. Just use your Mana Infusion on this cube and if it shows any reaction, you can keep it; until it is your time to pass it on to the next generation. It doesn''t work for everyone though, the most recent one to succeed being my own teacher, a long time ago." He put the cube onto the massive stone table and waited for Teo to proceed.


    Teo was struck by a severe sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu instead, but decided, not to pay it any mind; he was far more interested in the weird cube laying in front of him.

 Chapter 11: Goliath

    "So, what does it do?" Teo asked, while excitedly examining the magic cube before him, still holding back on touching it though.


    "To be honest, I don''t know."


    Teo took a step back and looked surprised at the patriarch beside him. Not even he knew, what it was good for? Who else was supposed to know then?


    "It is said, that one can greatly boost his understanding of Enchantment through studying it, because the ancient techniques used to craft it have been long lost in the annals of history, but its function..." Thoralv paused for a moment, thinking about how to answer the question.


    "My teacher once told me, that if one managed to activate it, both speed and quality of one''s Enchantments would rise a little as long as it is close by. But I don''t know, if that is only a myth or if it actually works." He shrugged and ran his thick fingers through his even thicker beard.


    "However, considering the channel structure and the rune density, it''s real function should be far more complex, just that according to the records, no one managed to uncover it yet," he concluded, giving the limelight back to Teo, who could not stop fidgeting during his short monologue.


    Well, didn''t that sound mysterious and exciting? Teo was already afraid, that this was just another test of some sorts. ''Come here, son, and try to make this rock glow'' something like that again, he imagined; but now it seemed much more interesting.


    Eager he turned around to face the stone again and continued with his examination. The fist-sized cube did not look very impressive, not even old in fact, much less, like an ancient and powerful heritage from his ancestors. Instead, it reminded him of the toy wooden blocks, he used to play with, when he was younger, just with a weirder motif.


    He gave it a slight nudge and discovered, that it did not even move in the slightest, almost like glued to the table. Only with a firm push could he force some manner of motion into it. Teo did not know, what shocked him more, that this cube, barely larger than his childish fist, weighed at least twenty kilos, or that his uncle handled it like a mere toy, without showing any notion of effort.


    He decided on the material composition of the Artifact ¡ª everyone knew, that his uncle was more bear than man.


    Unable to hold himself back any longer, he started to get down to business. ''I can always examine it in more detail, after I get to keep it'' he thought, not even considering failure.


    Teo put one hand on top of the cube and began to channel his Mana into it. Mana Infusion already came as second nature for him and he could control his internal and external Mana flow in great detail.


    The cube was cold to the touch, like metal, and very smooth ¡ª besides the shallow grooves along its surface. It was just a feeling, but he could swear, there was some kind of pulse, periodically circulating around, deep inside the artifact.


    As he continued to infuse his Mana, Teo quickly noticed, that the cube was like a bottomless abyss, able to swallow up the Mana he guided into it, like a mere appetizer. Hurriedly he began to grasp the Mana threads from the air around him ¡ªusing the bit of attention, that he could spare¡ª and used it to supplement his own reserves.


    But it was not enough, Teo had already used up more than half of his internal Mana, as well as everything, the smithy could provide with its meager natural energies, yet there was no end in sight. The runes adorning the cube had also started glowing ever so softly, probably signifying his success.


    He tried to lower the rate of his Mana consumption, unwilling to overexert himself, but some kind of suction force only further increased the Mana outflow instead. Teo was already unable to let go of his own volition.


    He began to despair, not understanding what was happening to him and unable to endure the feeling of himself being sucked dry, like a preserved fruit. He wanted to cry out for help, but his body was frozen, stuck inside a prehistoric glacier, unmoving.


    Soon a splitting headache assaulted him together with waves of pure exhaustion, making him feel, like he aged ten years in a single second. He was critically low on Mana.


    Teo was left with barely a morsel of his internal Mana, a broken confidence and had lost all hope, he was just about to come to terms with the sudden end of the short adventure he called ''life'', when he saw a small light at the end of the tunnel.


    ...


    ''Wait, that''s not a tunnel!'' he exclaimed in his mind. The light, he had seen in front of his minds eye, was a small spark; tiny and weak, as if about to flicker out of existence at any moment now ¡ª but it did not. It slowly grew stronger, absorbing the abundant Mana around it, until it settled down; still tiny, but stable. It was a spark, born from Teo''s compressed Mana, deep inside the mysterious Artifact.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Suddenly the complex runes and lines on the surface of the cube increased their output by several magnitudes and bathed the room in a gentle blue, almost white light for several seconds, before quieting down.


    Teo was panting heavily, leaning onto the heavy stone table so as to support his shaking legs, while wrestling to get fresh air into his burning lungs. That was really scary! Teo had never felt so exhausted in his life, his Mana depleted till the last drop and his muscles barely adhering to his commands, the stabbing pain dulling his thoughts. His uncle had already lent him a strong ¡ªand thankfully clothed¡ª shoulder, which he gratefully accepted, sitting down on the nearby bench with his help.


    "What was that?!" Teo hissed, after catching his breath for a moment; he still felt, like something had chewed and digested him, after he was run over by a carriage.


    "I''m so sorry. I did not know, it would be this taxing, but you managed to succeed nonetheless!" Thoralv''s deep voice was tinged with nuances of worry, regret and pride, all at the same time.


    "I will bring you to your room, you need to rest, more than anything now! You have seriously overexert yourself today, but it is nothing that can''t be fixed with time."


    After a weak protest from Teo, who ¡ªeven in this situation¡ª refused to be carried princess-style, he got a free piggyback ride to his room and could finally rest. He touched the enigmatic rock-cube ¡ªthat his granduncle had put onto his nightstand¡ª one last time, noticing, that it was much, much lighter than before, but could not care less as he fell asleep in a matter of seconds.


    ...


    Teo only awoke a dozen hours later, the warm rays of afternoon sunshine, that had fallen through his large casement window, already replaced by the gentle light of the moon, while he continued to lie fully dressed on his bedsheets. He still felt groggy, but much better already. The thing, bothering him most, being the ravenous appetite he felt rising from his empty stomach.


    Luckily, someone had already thought of that and placed a large serving of cold, but fragrant chowder on his nightstand, along with a piece of white bread; right next to the strangely glowing rock, that was shaped like a cube.


    ''Wait a minute...''


    ''A strangely glowing cube?! Oh no! Not again!'' Teo was already panicking in his mind, still traumatized, from his earlier experience. The cube however, paid him no mind.


    It was already quite bright and was probably the very thing, that woke him up in the first place and... was it starting to vibrate now?! It continually became brighter and brighter, until there was not a shadow left in Teo''s room and he could only observe, while cowering behind his bed, unsure of what to do.


    Soon, a vortex of condensed Mana formed around the now hovering and spinning Artifact, as it pulled dozens of threads towards its center in a spiralling pattern and... the cube began to grow! Not only grow, but multiply even; starting to separate into dozens of smaller cubes ¡ªwith an identical appearance¡ª which gathered in a large heap.


    Unable to close his mouth and half expecting this to be a very realistic nightmare, Teo looked on with wide-open eyes, whilst the cubes slowly organized to form a vaguely humanoid shape, that stood around one meter tall.


    It was made from at least fifty cubes of varying sizes, that were loosely stacked on top of each other and held together by threads of blue energy, crackling between them. The smallest cubes where only as large as dice, while its head was made from a single block of impressive proportions. It exuded an intimidating and otherworldly air; the only differentiating features on its body being the numerous, dimly glowing runes, that covered it whole.


    Before Teo could even decide, if he should first call for help and then run away, or the other way around, he already heard a mechanical, but weirdly euphonious voice:


    "Golem 1216 activated. Awaiting orders."


    ''A Golem?'' Teo had obviously never seen one  before, but he had heard and read about them in stories. A mechanical being, an alchemical lifeform, a construct, built as a servant or protector, but... this was only a legend!


    It was not that hard to create a puppet, only expensive, but they were fairly limited in their uses, because they possessed no intelligence of their own, merely following very simple commands, that were programmed into them beforehand. Not even the best Magician''s on the Continent could create a real Golem!


    "You can come out now, little one. I can sense your Mana Signature as clear as day."


    Busted! Teo had wasted his only chance at escaping and could only deliver himself to his fate now, falling into the hands of this killing-machine! Why was he always waiting for some fortunate encounter, when he really should be running as fast as his legs could carry him?!


    "I don''t mean any harm, I have already been imprinted by you, when you activated me today," the construct added in what Teo interpreted, to be an irritated voice.


    He slowly stood up from behind his cover and approached the small Golem, still distrustful, but already out of cards to play.


    "What are you?" Teo demanded, after collecting all of his courage, while trying to appear authoritative.


    "I prefer ''who''. Also it is impolite to ask names, before even introducing oneself, but considering the situation, I will answer your question." The Golem made a movement, that probably was supposed to be a shrug, and ignored Teo''s collapsing fa?ade. The boy on the other hand, started to slowly turn red, embarrassed by his own charade.


    "I''m Golem 1216. At least that is my serial number. I don''t really have a name, but as my new master you are free to give me one."


    New master? Teo was exhilarated. This encounter turned out to be a fortunate one after all. But what should he call this construct of magic, standing before him? Teo was not good with names.


    "Well, how about... Rocky?" he tried cautiously.


    "Well, how about I call you Fleshy McBonesack?" the Golem threw back fiercely, visibly unpleased by the suggestion.


    Teo was flabbergasted, not expecting such a sharp retort from an Artifact. Was that sarcasm? Golems could do that?


    He continued to think for a while, until he was hit by a sudden flash of inspiration.


    "How would you like ''Goliath''?"

 Chapter 12: The forgotten Era

    Teo was hastily slurping up the thick chowder, that thankfully survived the stormy entrance of his new companion. Opposite him, on the other side of the large bed, sat the Golem, Goliath. Between eating the soup and eagerly biting into the small loaf of bread, Teo also managed to vocalize his thoughts somehow, most of which could even be understood.


    "So, let me get that straight, you are a Golem from the Royal Golem Series, crafted by the legendary High Magus Anathor Derilion?"


    "Yes, that is correct. I was originally tasked, to oversee his third grandson and tend to his daily needs," Goliath hummed in his melodic voice.


    "And there are others, like you?" asked Teo carefully, wanting to confirm his conjecture.


    "Of course! Hundreds!" Goliath stated that like common knowledge, but Teo almost spewed his soup onto the Golem''s brick-face, barely suppressing the urge and resolving it with a few coughs.


    After a few moments to catch his breath, Teo continued his round of questioning, "So, who is this Magus you were talking about? He must be very powerful, if he could create somethi... I mean, someone, like you."


    "High Magus Anathor Derilion! You don''t know him?" Goliath was audibly shocked by Teo''s ignorance, his voice taking on a tinny property; the boy could only shake his head in denial though.


    "He''s a High Magus! The God of Arcane! The Master of Mana! He went head to head with the gods themselves! Every peasant child knows about his accomplishments and heard the stories about him..." The intelligent construct slowly caught on to the sheer stupor on the boy''s face and began to settle down. His new master had literally not the slightest idea, what he was talking about. What was going on here?


    "Ehh, also... what is a peasant?" Teo sheepishly asked. He had to be excused for his lack of understanding, the Council had removed the very concept of nobility from the Continent, after the meteoric rise of the Magic Association around 150 years ago and history lessons rarely covered the dark side of the system.


    "Oh! Great God of Magic above, this is worse than I thought! What have I gotten myself into?!" If a Golem had any tears to cry, the room would have been flooded now. Instead, Goliath collapsed into a pile of glowing rubble, emitting vague sobbing and grinding noises.


    Not only had he been activated by a child, apparently he was even transported into another world! No one had heard of his creator and apparently the child in front of him lacked any shred of common knowledge...


    But, maybe... maybe he was just joking around! Or he was just plain stupid! Right. He must have been activated by a complete retard; that would explain a lot. Thinking about these possibilities instantly calmed down Goliath''s raging emotions, enough for him to control them again. He had to approach this matter logically.


    Giving the small Golem a bit of room for his self pity, Teo decided, to leave him alone for a few minutes. ''Wow, this Golem is really unstable, and not just in the architectural way,'' he thought and shook his head. This ancient, powerful Artifact, apparently created by a genius Magician, or god, had proven surprisingly useless so far.


    Meanwhile, the small hill of rocks on his bed had quieted down a lot and Teo asked in a low voice, "Are you all right, Goliath?"


    "Wooosh!"


    Causing a sudden whirl of air, the Golem restructured himself, after a second already standing at his full height ¡ª which was still not very impressive.


    "I''m fine. Sorry, I got carried away for a moment. Do you mind, if I talk to your parents for a second?" Goliath''s voice was melodic and charming again, not a sign left of the mess he was a few seconds ago.


    ''His parents? Was he playing the child-card now?! This son of a brick!'' Even though Teo was very well tempered normally, he was still pissed, everytime someone did not take him seriously because of his age ¡ª especially, if that someone was a grey-blue rock, supposed to be his servant. Everything else aside, he was even smaller than him!Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "I''m sorry, but you will have to deal with me for the time. My parents are not here anyway and you are supposed to be my golem, not theirs." There was an unusually sharp undertone in Teo''s voice as he took control of the situation.


    "I don''t know where you came from, but we have to deal with this situation now, so please pull yourself together!"


    Goliath sat down again in acceding silence. Maybe he really did cross a boundary there. His unstable and emotional personality ¡ªcoupled with a few rebellious remarks¡ª was, what finally got him fired and deactivated as a defective product in the first place; he would better learn from his past mistakes, asap.


    "Because I have never heard about anything you told me so far, I suspect, that wherever you come from is either very far away... or a long time ago." Teo waited for a moment to let his brilliant conjecture sink in and then continued. Goliath could hardly object, of course he had thought about that already, but he did not like the possibility very much.


    "I would tip on the latter, because my uncle told me, that you are our most important family heirloom, passed along for centuries... The world has probably changed somewhat, since you last saw it." The last part was almost whispered in a soft and understanding tone.


    Naturally he could understand part of the dilemma, that the small construct was facing. He had ''lived'' at least a hundred years ago and everything and everyone he knew was probably long gone, Teo did not even want to imagine himself in Goliath''s shoes ¡ª not that he wore any. A Golem probably had no family, but because he had emotions, he was bound to have some friends, he would mourn for, at the very least.


    "A hundred years may be much for a mortal, but don''t underestimate a sentient Artifact! I was active for over a hundred years already and another hundred years of slumber won''t make much of a difference for me. I should even be able to calculate the current year through the position of the stars! We will know more after that," Goliath responded with more vigor, than Teo expected.


    The unequal pair slowly got up from the comfortable feather bed, after discussing what to do, and walked over to the nearby casement window. They sat on the window sill in silence for a few minutes, just staring into the star-lit night sky, as Goliath''s calculations would take some time.


    While he was waiting, Teo simply enjoyed the cooling midnight breeze caressing his skin and observed the flashing runes, squares, circles and other geometric shapes constructed from blue light threads, that were hovering and changing in front of Goliath''s ''face''. From his Enchanting practices he knew, that this was, what highly compressed Mana looked like; for the function of the Magic Circles however, he could only guess.


    After around fifteen minutes the small Magic Circles dimmed and the floating Mana returned to the Golem''s body, shortly afterwards even the glow of the body itself seemed to grow weaker by quite a bit.


    "And? Are you done now, Goliath?"


    ...


    "Goliath? Are you okay?"


    ...


    Teo gave him a slight nudge, resulting in its head slowly gliding down from its body and falling into the soft earth of a flower bed in the backyard with a dampened: "Thud!"


    Teo''s left eye experienced a slight twitching, as he thought, ''Damn it! Did I just kill him?!'' He quickly trashed the notion though, as a Golem could not possibly be so fragile ¡ª especially one, that managed to resist the ravages of time, and was still in pristine condition after hundreds of years.


    "Goliath, what was the result of your calculations?" Teo asked in a low, unsteady and very careful voice, but got no answer.


    "Goliath!" he asked much louder this time, only holding back slightly, so as not to wake the rest of the house.


    "7523..." a very weak and disheartened voice finally answered his inquiry, it was barely audible.


    "What do you mean?" Teo looked at the large Rock, stuck between the purple irises growing in the flower bed, half a meter beneath his feet.


    "7523 years. I have been deactivated for 7523 years..." The voice was very different from a human''s, but Teo could clearly hear the mixture of regret, sadness and helplessness it carried.


    Teo was also taken aback. That was a very large number. He had not even known, that anything could be this old. The history lessons in school only covered some basics at the moment and they never talked about anything prior to 500 years ago; how could the golem possibly be so old?!


    "Maybe you got the calculations wrong?" Teo knew, that this was not very consoling, but he tried anyway for he had no better idea.


    "I checked it three times. I did not miscalculate. Exactly 7523 years, 3 moons and 20 days have passed. At least if the laws of nature did not change too much." Now, Goliath''s voice was steady again, but it sounded empty, unfeeling and inhumane ¡ªwhat a weird thing to say about a construct, but it was what Teo felt.


    It seemed, like his new ''friend'' came from a distant and long forgotten era and would need to come to terms with his fate eventually.


    Teo did not notice it yet, but this would be the beginning, of a highly unusual union.

 Chapter 13: The Secret

    Goliath had needed several minutes to digest the initial shock, but after some consolations he began to improve again. It did not really matter, if a thousand or ten thousand years had passed, after reaching a certain limit, it all felt the same. There were even positive sides to it.


    Apparently the relationship between Magus Derilion and Goliath had not been very good, even though the small Golem respected his creator dearly; in fact, almost like a father. He had lost everything he knew, but he had gained his own life back, so to speak.


    Sure, he was ''bound'' to Teo, but as there was no real contract, this bond was rather liberal. It was more, like an unspoken rule of golemhood, to serve whoever activated them ¡ª at least if they could not find their creator. But why would he care now, when he was the only Golem left on the Continent?


    Since Goliath was a rather small ¡ªand thus, energy efficient ¡ª Golem, he was almost self sustaining and what little Mana he needed, he could receive from many other humans, if he so desired to change masters. He had only needed Teo, to provide the initial energy for his activation.


    However, the both of them had continued to talk for a few hours and agreed on the point, that they should partner up for the time being.


    Teo had shown a lot of kindness so far, when talking to the Golem ¡ª a rare treat, for a ''mere construct'' ¡ª and Goliath needed someone to show him around in the new world, possibly even hide him.


    They had no proof yet, but it was pretty obvious, that an ancient Golem was worth a lot and would quickly end up as research material for someone, if he did not maintain a low profile. Especially, if he liked to boast about being made up of 90% Mithril and 10% Adamantium; his bare material worth was enough to drive men crazy!


    Teo on the other hand, was quite interested in the ancient knowledge and techniques, Goliath was sure to harness. He did not understand much about the runes on him, but studying them, was guaranteed to be beneficial.


    "We still have a problem though, how am I supposed to hide you from my family? You can''t stay in my room all the time." Teo voiced his doubts about their plan, that were still bothering him.


    "Easy," answered Goliath and transformed back into the small cube, he had started as, gently floating towards Teo''s hand; it was as light as a feather.


    "Well, that solves one problem. You should only talk, when I call you though, you''re not exactly quiet." Teo was happy, that he could carry his new companion around with little effort. He could not keep talking to his pockets though, but two pairs of ears were better than one.


    ''I have a solution for that too,'' echoed a familiar voice in Teo''s head, making him flustered. ''Can he even read my mind now?!'' thought Teo, not sure, if he really wanted that.


    ''Don''t worry, I can''t read your mind. You need to actively send me a message, it''s just a simple trick for silent communication.'' Goliath explained with unusual patience, accurately guessing his thoughts and visibly relieving Teo of his worries.


    ''You just need to grab a thick thread of Mana, imbue it with your thoughts and send it over to me. The Mana will take on the natural frequency of your thoughts when you concentrate on it and the recipient''s brain will inverse the process automatically.''


    Teo looked a bit confused for a second. From class he already knew, what a brain was and he was pretty sure, that Goliath had no such thing. Because he did not know, how the rest of the Golem functioned either, he quickly put it to the back of his mind though.


    With all the practice Teo had gotten, using Mana Manipulation in the last year, he quickly got used to the new trick and succeeded without much trouble after a few tries. He would be able to communicate with Goliath now, whenever he wanted!


    The only thing he was asking himself was, why didn''t everybody else do the same? The technique was very simple and both the energy and concentration required ¡ªeven for longer dialogues¡ª was negligible... why had he never heard of this before then?This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Unwilling to be taken by surprise again, Teo decided to just ask in advance, "Do you have any other abilities, you would like to share with me, Goliath?"


    "I do come with all the advantages of the Royal Golem 1000 series, so naturally I have some more, but nothing special. I guess, the dimensional storage compartment ¡ªwhere I keep my spare parts, while in my miniature form¡ª could be quite useful, as I can''t sense any spatial Artifacts on your body. It''s very small though, with only 10 cubic meters."


    ''10 cubic meters? Small?'' thought Teo speechless. He knew, that spatial Artifacts were extremely rare, hard to create and very precious. Even an Artifact with only one cubic meter of storage space could buy a small villa! 10 cubic meters was huge!


    Their chitchat finished, they decided to call it a day ¡ªor night, to be more exact¡ª and went to bed. At least Teo did, Goliath was silently lying on the night stand in his miniature form, not giving off a sign of life anymore, not even his usual glow.


    ...


    Teo awoke quite early today, just in time, to witness the rising sun, flooding his room with light through the large window. Lying there, comfortably in his soft bed, Teo wondered. Had it all been just a dream? He had been very exhausted yesterday, maybe he had just been hallucinating as a side-effect from the sudden lack of Mana?!


    He looked over to the night stand, where a certain rocky-metallic cube was lying silently, just like his uncle had left it there yesterday. Hesitating, he began to grab a Mana Thread from the air and imprint it with his mind. If it was not a dream, then he should receive an answer, right?


    Less then a second after sending over a quiet "Hello" he could already hear the familiar voice of the Golem, humming in his head,


    ''Good morning to you too. Why are you looking at me like that? Had a bad dream?''


    ''No, I''m good. We should hurry up and get ready for breakfast now."


    Teo was shocked and relieved at the same time. He had not been dreaming! He had actually managed to acquire an ancient, powerful and knowledgeable Golem, personally forged by a legendary Magician; not to forget, a companion and partner, for the time being.


    Teo hurriedly put on a long bathrobe, went to wash himself properly and brush his teeth, before finally changing into fresh and clean clothes. He did not have many chances to change yesterday; first he slept on top of the bedsheets, fully dressed and soaked in his own sweat, then he quickly stripped and slept in his underwear, after talking to Goliath for a few hours, simply too tired, to bother changing into his pajamas.


    Coming out of the bathroom, he felt refreshed and invigorated, almost reborn, apparently his body had recovered and his internal Mana regenerated sufficiently.


    Back in his room, he looked through one of his drawers until he found his old, soft-leather coin purse, decorated with the family logo, and carefully put Goliath inside, before hanging it around his neck. It may not be the most luxurious type of transport one could get, but it was very inconspicuous.


    Teo put on his grey felt-slippers and rushed through the long corridor, where his room was located, and into the dining hall. Breakfast was not obligatory or bound to a specific time of day, but most family members still chose to come at the same time, shortly after sunrise.


    So, when Teo entered the square hall ¡ª spanning at least 10 times 15 meters, with numerous brass candleholders and old oil paintings covering its walls, only leaving some empty space around the tall colored windows ¡ª a few familiar figures were already seated around the long oak table.


    The only unusual sight though, was his grandfather, Troy, sitting close to the twins, wrestling with a loaf of rye bread and a sausage. His grandfather was a busy man, often out at sea, to oversee the operation of the more important business trips, and when he got home, he would spend all day loitering around at the harbor or talking to merchants and politicians.


    "Grandfather!" Teo cried out and run up to the man, giving him a close hug. He had not seen him for almost a month now, as he had been on a business trip to Kaskada in order to negotiate a new trade agreement.


    Originally he had evaluated his grandfather as a cold and distanced man, but the more time he spent with him, the more he noticed, how wrong he had been about him. He may not always show his emotions openly and  was even quite annoying sometimes, when he put his nose into anything and everything, but Teo could feel, that he only acted in his best interest and tried to protect him. With time, both of them had significantly opened up to each other.


    "Teo! Have you gotten taller again? Wait till you see what I brought you this time," Troy said with a wide smile and pulled something large from the sea sack that he still carried with him.


    "This is an Abacus. It can be used for calculations, I thought you might like it."


    With Goliath by his side, Teo had literally no motive, to ever calculate anything by himself again, but the tool was quite decorative and he appreciated the thought a lot.


    Teo continued to talk to his grandfather for a few more minutes, ordered an omelette from the cook and then sat down beside his cousins Karl and Karolina. The twins had dark brown hair and green eyes, unlike most members in the family, heavily taking after their mother.


    Contrary to their mother, Greta, they were rather approachable though. Teo liked to play with them around the house sometimes, but he did not have much time left to talk now, he needed to get ready for school.

 Chapter 14: Saint Joujacks Magic School

    The first subject of the day was math. Teo however, was not very good in Mathenomics, even though it was considered one of the more important classes by his teachers.


    The subject mainly dealt with geometry, calculations and the unique ratios, that often came up in Magic Circles, such as the ratio of a circles circumference to its diameter, or the characteristic ratio of Rune density to Mana attraction.


    It had no real uses in foundation level Magic ¡ª making it pretty much useless for the students at the moment¡ª but it was a necessary prerequisite to understand higher subjects, such as Magic Circle construction, Spell Simulation and Magic Superposition, making it an invaluable asset for ones future studies in a Magic Academy.


    "Hey Teo! You''re early today!" Teo''s friend Jack approached him as soon as he entered the classroom.


    "Not as early as you, Jack," he replied and sat down at the desk between Jack and Angelika, the third member of their small group. Teo could get along with most of his classmates too, if he wanted, but he liked to stick close to these two, he knew since his first day of school.


    Angelika Finch; Teo could still vividly remember, how he had met the shy girl right behind the school gates ¡ªobviously lost and close to tears¡ª her long black hair fluttering in the wind. Somehow she had managed to forget, where the reception of new students took place and did not dare ask anyone for help.


    In case of Jack, it was more accurate to say, that he found Teo first. He literally came out of nowhere and directly asked with an extended hand, "Hey! I''m also new here, do you want to be friends?" Apparently he had seen, how Teo helped Angelika, while everyone else just walked by, ignoring her. He was an energetic and very direct boy, with a flamboyant personality and a burning sense of justice, so he was delighted, to find someone sensible between all the arrogant pricks.


    The unlikely trio spend the next months, getting closer to each other, making fun of their teachers and exploring the limits of the school rules. They also spent a lot of time learning together, or rather being tutored by Angelika, who liked to read and was very quick on the uptake. It was a win-win situation however, since the quiet girl enjoyed the unaccustomed company and liked to study in her free time anyway.


    Before Jack could finish the story, of how his father, the commander of the Sigella town guards, gloriously captured three whisp-smugglers yesterday, their teacher had already entered the classroom.


    Mr. Nikola Rander was a thinly, pale man in his forties, with shoulder-long, black hair, which always looked greasy and unkempt. One of his favorite pastimes, was torturing unsuspecting students with almost unsolvable math questions, which perfectly complemented his occupational choice.


    "Stop babbling already! Close your books and take out a pen, we will have a pop quiz now!"


    And there it was again. Pretty much every math test came as a surprise, the intervals between them and the topics tested being completely random; Teo even suspected, that he intentionally did what they expected the least, just to see them fail.


    When the sheets were handed out, many shocked gasps and depressed sighs filled the room. Basic algebra, partial volumetry of geometric bodies, fractional arithnomics, rule of proportions, the topics were definitely not easy. Teo had hardly any time to spare for learning and if he did, he would gladly study for another subject instead. Only Angelika seemed unimpressed by the piece of paper on her desk, while Jackson had a facial expression, that seemed to say, "Call the healers, I''m having a heart attack!"


    Just like Jack, Teo had no natural talent for numbers and would rather spend his time on something else, he might have been more tranquil on a physical level, but in his mind he was just as panicked. He had a knack for practical Magic, but what did the complex figures and equations on this white sheet of pure terror have to do with Mana or the Elements? Would it bring one closer to the secrets of the world, if one managed to understand them?


    After wasting almost half the time on two problems, he had a great idea. Quickly, but as inconspicuous as possible, he used his new secret technique and passed over a strand of Mana to Goliath, who was still resting in the leather purse around his neck.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ''Hey, Goliath! You''re good at calculations, right?''


    ''Obviously. I have been designed to be capable of complex tasks, like assisting in experiments and calculating remote coordinates. Why do you ask?'' a proud voice echoed in Teo''s had, with barely any delay.


    ''Please help me with my math test! I have barely started and am almost out of time already...'' He was really desperate, but having found a ray of hope, Teo could only cling onto it. He quickly imprinted his field of vision on a Mana Thread and sent it over.


    ''Tell me, when you find harder exercises, these can barely be considered an appetizer. Here you go,'' Goliaths melodic voice transmitted into his head after a barely a few seconds, together with a filled out sheet of math problems.


    ''Thank you so much!'' Teo replied hurriedly, as he tried to copy all the answers onto is sheet, while holding the new Mana thread in his mind for referencing, all with a smug grin on his face.


    Today Mr. Rander would be in for a surprise.


    ...


    After sitting through the very boring history class of Mrs. Leadford, it was finally time for Teo''s favorite subject: Elements. Usually Mr. Kasahara would talk about the basic properties of foundation Magic, Mana or the basic Elements, sometimes even with small practical presentations. Not only Teo took a liking to this subject, even Jack and many other boys in the class were eager to learn about the applications and basic theories behind Magic, as long as it did not get too complicated. Angelika on the other hand, enjoyed it especially, when it got complicated.


    "Hello everyone! The class will start now, so please be quiet and sit down," a young looking man with blond hair and green eyes, approximately in his early thirties, proclaimed after entering the cramped classroom. "For anyone wondering, today''s topic will be the Air Element. So please pay attention, while I explain the more advanced principles of how it functions and what properties it is associated with, in detail."


    In their first year of school, they had only learned about, what Elements there are, how they usually manifest in nature and what to be careful of. The basics of the basics, so to speak. They had also learned a few small tricks to improve their control over the element they possessed. Now however, the lecture seemed to go more into the depth of how and why each Element had its specific properties. It was just too bad, that none of the three could use the Air Element.


    "As you all know, Air is one of the three immaterial Elements and is most often represented by movement of air in form of wind, storms, breezes and so forth. However, what many fail to see is, that the Air Element is in fact neither bound to the air we breathe, nor to any material object we can observe."


    This point had always puzzled Teo, when he thought about it previously. Fire, Air and Darkness were classified as ''immaterial'' Elements, meaning, that they are not bound or transmitted by a specific type of material, but embodied a certain concept itself. Yet he wondered, how was air not a specific material? It did not have a defined shape, but if he held his hand against the wind, he sure felt something pushing against it, almost like a stream of water. So, if the Water Element was material, how was Air, which was so similar in many aspects, not?


    "The fundamental concept behind the Air Element is nothing else, but macroscopic movement itself. As we have previously learned, Elements imbue objects and areas where they linger with their attributes, just as areas and objects, that align with the attributes of an Element, attract it. This directly leads to the fallacy, that is most often associated with the Air Element." Mr. Kasahara swept his eyes through the classroom full of students to see, if everybody could follow the explanation, before he continued.


    "Air, wind, storms, breezes, they are the definition of freedom, motion, flexibility and change, perfectly aligning them to the Air Element, which gets naturally attracted to them as a result. Meaning, that air is rich in the Air Element, not because it is air, but because it is always in motion."


    This explanation may not seem like much, but for half of the class it finally opened their eyes to the real nature of this hard to grasp Element. Even though Teo could not use this specific Element, his new understanding of the laws of nature was sure to benefit both his Arcane Magic and his Enchanting practices.


    "There are three famous experiments, that can be used as evidence for this hypotheses. First, by confining air in a closed container, we can restrict its motion enough, to visibly see the leaking of Air Element threads from it. Secondly, rapidly moving water, like in whirlpools and waterfalls, is also naturally rich in the Air Element, even though it is not made up of air. And finally, Electricity, which is a different and more concentrated representation of the Air Element, is completely independent of the surrounding air and properly functions even at the bottom of the ocean. Thus it is commonly believed, that the Air Element is tied to the motion of materials and energies, instead of the air itself. Now let me show you an experiment!"


    It seemed, like this school year had still many more surprises in stock for Teo and his friends, positive and negative ones.

 Chapter 15: The Festival

    School had been fun today. Probably it would be like this most of the time now, especially with his new little helper. Goliath had really been a great help, if not for him, that math test would have ended in a disaster again.


    It was too bad, that he was only a service Golem, meant to be a housekeeper, babysitter or assistant and had almost no built in ancient knowledge. No extensive libraries, no blueprints or recipes, no powerful secret techniques, all he had was the bare minimum of common knowledge, that any lowly Magician would have had.


    When Goliath told him about that point, he had been very embarrassed, almost remorseful, that he was not one of the powerful War Golems, but Teo instead was happy with the silver lining.


    Goliath may not have a huge arsenal of highly specific knowledge, but wasn''t the common sense of a long forgotten era of Magic just as valuable? Even the ''casual remarks'' he had gotten so far proofed to be incredibly useful! Teo was already eager to see, if he also had some tricks to improve his Enchanting skills.


    "Hey, Teo. Do you have any plans after school?  Today is ''Kalar''s Unity Day'' and they always arrange a huge festival in town," Jack blurted out of nowhere, while they were all walking out of the school grounds.


    ''Kalar''s Unity Day'' was heavily promoted by the Association and the official holiday, to commemorate the unification of the Continent around 150 years ago.


    According to Mrs. Leadford''s history classes, there used to be dozens of small Kingdoms on the Continent, all perpetually at war with each other. The Continent was drowned in civil war, famines and plagues were a daily occurrence and the citizens were being suppressed by so called ''nobles''. One day however, the strongest Archmages of the Continent signed a pact, took over all the kingdoms one after the other, abolished the feudal system and brought peace back to the land.


    Thus the High Council of Archmages and the Magic Association, which they oversee were born and a new era of Magic and prosperity began. And the day, on which they officially declared the unification of the Continent, was exactly today, some 150ish years ago.


    Last year, Teo had regrettably missed it, as he was new in town and incredibly busy, he had wanted to see it with his own eyes, since he first heard about the festival though.


    "Of course I have time! I can''t miss the festival again this year!" Teo replied very enthusiastically, deciding to postpone his usual Enchantment practice with his uncle to... sometime else.


    "Of course, you will have to join us too, Angelika. Who else would look out for us?" speaking way too loud for normal standards, Jack had already thrown himself at his second target and was circling around the black-haired girl, like a firehawk around its prey.


    "I... I don''t know. I will have to ask my mom first, I don''t want her to worry," said Angelika softly, while blushing a little bit. She was still not used to Jack''s assertive personality and unsure, if she ever would be.


    "Well, its decided then. We meet in front of the city hall in around one hour," decided Jack, neither accepting a no, nor a maybe for an answer, and flashed her a dazzling grin.


    After parting ways for the time being, Teo and Jack went to the black carriage, already waiting for him at the usual place ¡ªhe would still need to get a message to his family, or they would probably start a search party and forage through the whole town in search of him again.


    "Please tell my uncle, that I''m going to the festival! I''ll buy you a pretzel next time!" Teo shouted, still a good dozen meters from the carriage.


    "No, wait! Please come back, young master!" Phillip, the driver in question, shouted back, after realizing what was played here and hurriedly tried to get out of the driver''s seat, but the two boys were already nowhere to be seen. "Damn it! It better be a damn good pretzel, if I get a pay cut for this again!"


    Both rascals had taken to their heels, as soon as old Phillip showed a reaction, seemingly with much practiced routine; and were already on their way, to squander their pocket money, like some proper profligate youths. One only lived once and Teo still had the rest of his life, to rot in the mansions catacombic cellars.


    ...


    They ran through the business district, with its neatly placed, white stone plates ¡ª that got insanely slippery when it rained¡ª and hurried towards the harbor. The streets were already decorated and hung with garlands and lanterns, still waiting to be lit, since it was barely afternoon yet and it would only get dark enough to see then shine in a few hours.


    Everything was packed with people, shuffling and bustling about, even though, the official festivities had yet to begin. To continue on ahead, they had to crawl their way through the masses, unable to see anything, besides fancily dressed butts and backs, as they were still not very tall yet.


    "Where do we go now?" asked Teo a bit worried, he had no idea, where they were now exactly, as he could not orientate himself properly in this sea of people.


    "Just a bit further ahead. They opened some stalls down near the harbor already!" Jack replied, seemingly knowing the city like the back of his hand, he was able to run through the streets blindfolded, without bumping into anyone.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    After they made it through the nearby shopping district, the amount of people continuously decreased. Jack still seemed to be fit as a fiddle, Teo however needed to catch his breath for a second and leaned onto a close by wall. He did not work out enough, it seemed.


    From here it was not far to the harbor anymore and Teo could already smell the salty breeze, wafting from the ocean. People could be seen working and carrying supplies, all over the place, apparently the preparations for the festival were already in full swing and a series of small stands had been erected on both sides of the road.


    Some had even opened business already, not wasting a second, when there was a chance to add even a single additional copper coin to their profits. Jack and Teo kept their eyes peeled for a decent food stall as they sauntered along the promenade, since they were already starving from the long day of school.


    The aroma of freshly cooked food, exotic spices and dishes, only available for special occasions, made Teo''s mouth water like crazy. He could not assign any specific smell to a single stall or dish, as it was his first real festival and he had probably never tasted any of them, but damn, did it smell good.


    He stopped at a stall, which exuded an especially alluring aroma and turned to his red-haired friend.


    "Hey, wait. What do they sell here?" Teo called out, causing Jack to stop in his tracks immediately, almost causing a mass collision with the people walking behind him.


    "Oh, so you like that kind of food, hmm?" Jack came over and flung his arm around Teo''s shoulder, a wide, teasing smirk propped up on his face.


    "Ehhh..." Teo was speechless, he really did not know, what this stall sold, the smell it gave off was simply sweet, spicy and smelled absolutely delicious. He had not the slightest idea, what Jack wanted to imply.


    "Don''t be so nervous, I am just messing with you," Jack said while laughing. "Those are Cinnamon Worms, a sweet pastry from the south. I heard, they are really popular with the girls. Well, they''re tasty, so that''s no big surprise."


    As they got closer to the stall, Teo could espy long strands of fried dough, wrapped around a thin wooden stick like a helix, brown, sugary sap leaking from between its coils. The smell this close up was amazing!


    "Hello, three Cinnamon Worms please, two to go and one packed for later," said Teo in a firm voice, after a bit of hesitation and waiting for his turn. He handed over six coppers and was on his way.


    It was love at first bite. This new spice from the south, ''Cinnamon'', tasted just as delicious as it smelled, making the edges of Teo''s mouth rise unintentionally.


    While they continued to walk along Sigella''s well maintained promenade and indulged in their sugary, sweet invertebrates, Jack said mockingly with his trademark smile,


    "The stall was not going to run off anytime soon. We could have just gotten a fresh one for Angelika later, you know the saying, the way to a cold pastry is plastered with good intentions." He laughed out loud to his own joke, apparently believing himself to be incredibly funny.


    Teo could not always appreciate Jack''s weird sense of humor, even if there was some truth to his words today.


    After finishing their treats, the two boys hurried over into the direction of the city hall, they had wasted a lot of time already and Angelika was sure to show up as punctual as always.


    Apparently her mother had approved her application, as they could see her from the other side of the plaza, wearing a beautiful, light-blue summer dress, with white flower patterns on it. To be honest, her mother was more than happy to oblige to her request. She had always worried about her little flower not finding any friends in school and would practically push her out of the house every time she asked for permission to play with her new friends.


    Her long, completely black hair set the perfect contrast to the light color of her dress and with the small flower-shaped hair ornament the small girl could instantly melt anyone''s heart with a single look. Even in the short few minutes she had been waiting for the boys, already more than five aunties had approached her and offered to help her find her parents again.


    "Oh, wow! Did you buy this for me?! Thank you!" she cried out and gave Teo a small hug, after he gave her the last Cinnamon Worm. She quickly let go though and even blushed a little, embarrassed by her sudden reaction, Jackson however could only stare at Teo with envy burning in his eyes.


    The trio walked over to the market again, where a huge parade was waltzing down the main streets of the city, passing right through the business district. There were common and exotic instruments, playing a cacophony of different sounds, dancers and acrobats in colorful costumes performing in the streets and on special horse-drawn carriages, even some jugglers and fire-breathers mingling between them.


    Fire-breathing was a special technique, utilizing the Fire Element, to breathe a column of searing flames from one''s lungs. Teo had once heard, that it was a speciality of the desert tribes, who developed it after the image of a fire dragon''s breath.


    Soon they went to the harbor again, where even the slower stalls had now become operational. They ran around on the bustling promenade, sometimes trying out the games, offered by some of the stalls, or stuffing themselves with seasonal specialties.


    Teo had never had so much fun in a single day, and probably neither had Angelika, the quit bookworm she was. In Jack''s case there was no need to worry though, as he always seemed to enjoy everything he did, always full of vigor and a seemingly infinite supply of energy.


    When the sun just fell beyond the horizon and they sat down at the ledge of the harbor basin, Angelika suddenly pulled something out of her pocket and turned to Teo.


    "H-here! I have something for you. Thank you again for the pastry!" she said nervously, her extended hand shaking ever so slightly.


    It was a small pouch, woven from a dark blue fabric, with the image of a white deer stitched onto it. Teo had already heard, that it was a custom around here, to keep the hair of a white deer as a lucky charm; she must have bought this at one of the stalls, when he was not paying attention. He doubted, that it contained authentic hair from a real white deer, as they were extremely rare, but it was awfully nice nonetheless.


    "Thank you!" said Teo, taking it and conjuring a small smile on Angelika''s face at the same time. He tried to ignore the murderous gaze of his friend, who looked like he could explode at any second now.


    "Of course I have one for you too!" she hurriedly turned to Jack and handed him an identical pouch, after coming out of her short trance.


    "Owww, thank you! That really wasn''t necessary, hehehe." Jack''s facial expression did a 180 degree turn in less than a second, now he only wore a dumbfounded smile.


    They continued to fool around for some time, until they heard a thunderous noise, exploding over their heads. As Teo looked up, he saw the dark sky, illuminated brightly by streaks of glowing colors. Before he could even ask, Jack had already answered his question,


    "Fireworks! Don''t worry, it''s just an alchemical product. They are only used for special occasions though, they are crazy expensive."


    As Teo sat there, observing the brilliant flashes of light, exploding in his field of vision, he slowly began to like this city more and more.

 Chapter 16: Misconceptions

    After an amazing day with his friends, Teo awoke in his comfortable feather bed, fresh and rested. The sun had already brightly illuminated his room, as he had intentionally slept late today, completely digesting the disturbing quantities of food he had consumed yesterday.


    Even though it was well past breakfast time, Teo showed no signs of hurry; instead he took his sweet time to stretch himself and roll around on the bed a few times. It was the first day of the weekend and the weather was gorgeous today.


    His schedule for the day had already been set and apart from the extra long Enchantment practice in the afternoon, he was mostly free. His personal plans however, left little room for dilly-dallying. It was time, to practice some Magic, maybe Goliath even had some tricks to help with that.


    Teo leisurely went to wash himself and got dressed in a loose fitting, white shirt and baggy, brown pants. He would need to concentrate and be able to move properly while practicing, so his usual tight and proper attire did not quite fit the bill.


    After locking the door, he made some space in the middle of the room, prepared his notebook and took out Goliath from the pouch, that was already hanging around his neck. It was time to start.


    "Morning, Goliath. I am about to practice Magic now, maybe you could give me a few tips. At the very least, you should know more about Magic, than I do," he said in an unusually energetic tone.


    "Good morning! Sure, I can take a look, but as you know, my magical knowledge is severely limited," replied Goliath, his voice as sonorous as always, as he materialized in a small tornado of energy.


    Teo had learned, to control his Mana properly by now and he could cast the Mana threads into all the basic geometric shapes as well as combinations of them, he could even build simple three dimensional structures.


    Not only did he showcase his control over Mana, to form simple patterns, he even showed an array of foundational Magic skills he had learned or thought of himself. Within a few minutes, a sturdy Mana Shield, a whip and even a Mana Bolt appeared in the room. Of course, the Mana Bolt was expertly intercepted by another shield he had cast, so as not to blow up his own room.


    Teo had made a lot of progress, when it came to weaving the Mana into a usable form.


    "That''s it?" a disappointed voice questioned, after he had finished his last trick.


    "What do you mean? Wasn''t that plenty already?" Teo retorted quite upset with the rude remark, while wiping the fresh sweat from his face.


    "Well, I have to admit, that your control over foundation Magic is not bad for your age. But what about practicing spells and Runes? And you surely have started to learn another Element, right?" Goliath voiced his doubts, not understanding why the boy had left out the most important parts.


    "What spells? Also, Runes are only taught in the 4th year of school, I only know the few I need for Enchantments." Teo looked at the small Golem, like if he had seen a ghost, not able to properly organize his thoughts. After a short pause, he continued his protest,This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "What Elements am I supposed to learn? I only have an intermediate grade Mana Affinity, I never heard of anyone having two!"


    Now it was Goliath''s turn, to look at Teo, speechless. He stood still for a few seconds, then began operating again.


    "Oooh, boy. It seems like they didn''t teach you anything so far. Maybe I can help you after all," the small Golem finally answered, after rotating his brick-head for a few turns, sounding both incredibly sceptical and slightly pleased with himself.


    Teo was not suspecting good news, from the way his companion had put it, but he still sat down on the chair near his desk and listened attentively. If there really was a problem with his Magic, it was better to clarify it as soon as possible, it could give him an edge over his classmates.


    "Okay, since we are not on the same page about this, how about we start with the basics?" said Goliath, only continuing, after Teo gave a short nod.


    "Affinity has absolutely nothing to do, with what Elements one is able to learn! At least not on a fundamental level. It only makes comprehending an Element easier, or harder, depending on the synergy between your Affinity and the Element you are studying," Goliath said very slowly, as if talking to a caveman, not sure if he would understand.


    "What?!" Teo exclaimed, jumping up from his chair; apparently he did not understand.


    "I''m saying, that one''s Affinity is only a shortcut to understand the Element closest to oneself. It is much harder, to grasp the other ones, but totally possible and not even rare. In fact, since you are lucky enough, to have an Affinity for Mana itself, you should be able to learn the basic control over the other Elements quite easily. This is common knowledge,  I can''t imagine any Magician not knowing about it."


    The impliciteness, Goliath had said it with, was hard to accept for Teo. Did every Magician know about this, or had it been lost in the vortex of time? At the very least, he had never heard anything about this! But, if it was true, then it was unlikely for it to go unnoticed through the last hundreds of years, some people are bound to have tried, right?


    "So, every real Magician can use all of the Elements he wants to?" Teo asked weakly.


    "Of course not! It''s hard work, to really understand an Element and it only gets harder with every additional one. Only real geniuses can master several Elements with equal proficiency. Normally everyone has a main Element to focus on and a few sub-Elements he has some basic control over," Goliath denied, in an agitated voice.


    This seemed a lot more reasonable to Teo and explained well the existence of the system he knew of, where Magicians were classified as ''Water Mages'', ''Fire Mages'' and so forth, according to their Element; so he nodded a few times. It wasn''t bad news at all, it seemed, like he had another shot at Fire Magic after all!


    "Don''t worry too much, you''re still young and have plenty time to learn. You should primarily focus on improving your Mana Affinity, it is still a bit low for spells and your spiritual power probably also doesn''t meet the bar yet," the small Golem said softly, trying to comfort Teo and give him a direction to work towards.


    Apparently Teo had already used up all of the shock he could express in one day, as not even the fact, that one''s natural Affinity could be improved, surprised him anymore.


    "Alright, I have no idea, what you are talking about, but what would I need to do, in order to become a Magician?" Teo decided, to just save himself the effort of suffering a mental breakdown after every second sentence and directly asked, what was most essential to him. His mind was young and flexible after all, so he had an easy time, accepting these revelations.


    "That is a hard question, but whatever. Since you have only awakened your Mana Sense and practiced your Mana Control so far, you will have to start all the way from the bottom," Goliath answered truthfully. He continued after a few seconds, when he saw the expectant look in Teo''s eyes. He did not want to crush the boy, telling him that he had barely scratched the surface of Magic yet, but Teo was obviously eager to learn.


    "I suggest, you start with accelerated Enrichment and pre-condensing your Mana Core as soon as possible."

 Chapter 17: Supercharged

    Teo looked at Goliath with large eyes. Just as expected, he could not make out the meaning of these words. Luckily, Goliath seemed to be prepared for exactly this scenario.


    "Imagine it like this, how powerful a Magician is, is determined, by how much Mana he can store in his body and how well he can use it," said Goliath, trying to approach the subject carefully, unwilling to load on more, than the boy could carry.


    "The first aspect is decided by your Affinity and your body itself, a Mana core is another way to trick the system in this regard and store more Mana than otherwise possible," he elaborated further.


    So far, Teo could follow without trouble, the concept was simple enough. He had already known, that one''s Affinity decided the rate of Mana (or Element) attraction, as well as the speed at which one''s body would turn ambient Mana into Elemental threads, but this was a completely new viewpoint.


    "Spiritual power however, refers to the mental capacity, required to manipulate and control Mana or any Element. It is the most important factor in actively using Magic and it becomes stronger naturally, as one''s Mana Capacity increases, as well as with continued practice and time. There are also special meditation techniques, that can improve your grasp over the natural laws slowly and increase your spiritual power this way."


    This part was completely new to Teo. Was this, what Goliath considered ''shallow and severely limited knowledge of Magic''? It sounded plenty deep and wise already! What kind of knowledge would get evaluated as non-trivial then?


    From reflex, Teo put his arm up at this point, just like when he wanted to ask a question in class. He quickly noticed his mistake though, retracted his hand and blushed a little. After a short while he finally spoke again,


    "If spiritual power is just a term to describe one''s mental capacity, wouldn''t that mean, that Magicians become smarter, as they get stronger?" Teo asked with a puzzled expression on his face, his brows furrowed slightly. Wasn''t that way too good?


    "Actually it does. With every step forward, a Magician takes, he will experience significant improvements. Not only will his logical thinking, memory and ability to calculate increase exponentially, even his reaction time and spatial awareness will be brought to a whole new level. This is also the reason, why it becomes easier to grasp multiple Elements, the stronger one is and why magical beasts possess almost human intelligence," Goliath confirmed with a nod, pleased by the excellent question.


    "I get, why I need to increase my Mana Capacity now, but how can I do that?" Teo asked, eager to power up and replace Angelika as the undisputed number one in class.


    "You should already know, how Enrichment works, right? Most things and especially lifeforms absorb the world''s Mana and Elements around them, to strengthen themselves. A hard rock becomes harder, a large tree becomes larger, a powerful beast becomes more powerful and so forth, it is a simple concept, really. Now think about, what it can do for you and how you could influence it," Goliath drew a wide arc around the topic and let Teo think about it himself, instead of simply answering his question.


    Teo pondered about it for a while, but could not come up with a convenient answer. He did know the concept from class, but only as a side note and had never thought about, how he could profit from it.


    The idea was, to absorb small quantities of energy from the world itself, not only storing the Mana inside one''s body, but really absorbing it into one''s very soul, taking it out of the cycle and making it a part of oneself. After a bit of pondering Teo finally had an idea.


    "How much energy one can absorb through Enrichment is probably tied to one''s Mana Capacity. It would make sense, I guess," he voiced his idea, not entirely sure yet.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Exactly, the higher the amount and density of energy in the body, the higher is the speed of absorption," Goliath acknowledged the idea and looked very pleased for someone without a face.


    "So, I will grow stronger and stronger, if I just continue to pull more Mana into my body?" Teo inquired, excited by the apparently easy solution for his problems.


    "Imagine yourself as a vase. You already know, how to fill it with water, which would equal the process of drawing Mana threads into your body. But, what would happen, if we continue to scoop more water into it after it is already full?" Apparently Goliath wanted to make this more suspenseful, or he was just trying to make it more educational for Teo.


    "It would overflow!" Teo instantly called out the obvious answer.


    "Well, sure. But what, if we force the water into it, stopping it from overflowing?" the Golem continued his interrogation and folded his arm-cubes in front of his chest-cube.


    "It... Eventually... it would break!" Teo realized, where this was going, after thinking about it for a while.


    "Yes, a tool put under more pressure, than it can bear is bound to break. But what about a living being?" asked Goliath.


    ...


    This time, there was no answer. How was Teo supposed to know? He just continued to stare at the Golem blankly.


    "Life is special, as it can change and adapt to its surroundings. If put under just the right amount of pressure, it will not break, but grow instead, just like muscles do from continuously straining them," his companion said, solving his own riddle.


    Finally realization struck him. How did he not think of this himself? The idea behind it was surprisingly simple and it sounded quite easy to do. In fact, he could start with it right now!


    "Normally it is a rather tricky and lengthy process, but you''re still young and your Affinity hasn''t settled yet. Your body should easily adapt to the slowly increasing pressure and your Mana Capacity should grow by the day," Goliath concluded his explanation and nodded in approval of the excited look on Teo''s face.


    They continued to talk about the details of the procedure and what Teo should pay attention to for some time, then they finally got to work.


    Teo had sat down cross-legged on the large carpet in the middle of his room, while Goliath tried to pull more Mana in from outside it, increasing the Mana Density in Teo''s surroundings. He could not help Teo in a direct way, for risk of accidentally injuring him, but he could render his support and make the process easier for Teo.


    With his eyes closed, Teo concentrated on the Mana around him and began to move it toward him. He absorbed it through every aperture and all the pores on his body, ignoring the slight feeling of satiation, that quickly established itself.


    As he drew more and more energy into his body, Teo could feel pure, primal power flowing through his veins. A wave of euphoria swept over him, as he felt invigorated and full of energy, but he did not loose his focus and continued to absorb the Mana in the small room like a black hole.


    Soon, the euphoria had ebbed and was replaced by an unpleasant feeling of fullness. Teo felt bloated, the pressure inside him rising constantly, threatening to blow him apart. This was not a matter of speech, it really felt, like his head, his lungs and his body overall was on the verge of explosion. This was enough pressure.


    While trying to maintain his focus on keeping his body from exploding, he went through Goliath''s instructions again. He would need to use this pressure, to maximize the Density of his internal Mana and weave it into a single concentrated core inside him, hitting two birds with one stone.


    Not only would this permanently increase the Density of his internal Mana, allowing him to store more Mana in the same amount of space, but also put pressure on his body, allowing it to adapt and his Mana Capacity to grow, at the same time.


    Slowly Teo grasped a thick strand of Mana near his stomach, with his mind, and began to knit it into a compact orb, carefully pulling taut every loop he finished.


    Teo had began the pre-condensation of his internal Mana Core. Even though it was made from threads, it was so compressed and the Mana threads used, so rich, that it only looked like a glowing orb hovering inside him, the individual loops barely visible. It was a good foundation to build upon.


    Completely exhausted, he stopped weaving after his new Core was around the size of a pea, however he tried to keep some of the pressure applied to his body, not dissipating all of the excess Mana.


    He felt horrible. His head was plagued by a stabbing pain and his whole body felt weak, but he had made some progress. Teo would need to do this as often as possible now and keep up the pressure on his body at all times, until he got used to it and could further increase it.


    As Goliath lacked a suitable word for this whole process and because it would allow him to continuously surpass his own limitations, Teo decided to call it ''supercharging'' and it would be part of his daily routine from now on.

 Chapter 18: Enchanting

    Teo had needed to rest for several hours, before he was back on his feet. His mind and body had been sucked dry by the exhausting practice session, he had with Goliath this morning and only a few hours of deep sleep could breath some spirit into him again.


    The pressure on his mind and body had not lessened since then, though. Since Goliath could prevent the excessive Mana leaking from his body, even when he slept, he could continuously temper his body for 24 hours a day. But he would still need some time to get used to it.


    The feeling was hard to describe, it felt a bit like walking around after staying up very late and being incredibly numb and tired while simultaneously having a light headache; in any case, it was very unpleasant.


    Teo had slept all the way till early afternoon and after quickly eating something for lunch, he would need to go to the cellars and practice his Enchanting skills with Uncle Thoralv. It was lucky, that he previously had told Goliath about it and he managed to wake him up, otherwise his uncle would probably be very angry again.


    As Teo ran down the steep stairs leading to the cellar, he went over everything he learned today again. Theoretically he should be able to use the same concept, he used to craft a Mana core for himself, for Enchantments and he was already eager to test his hypothesis.


    He slowly made his way through the badly illuminated path towards the forge, located in the inner reaches of underground area, until he could see the gentle red glow of burning coals. His granduncle was already waiting for him, standing right next to a slender, black sword.


    "Good, you''re finally here. We are going to work on a real Enchantment today, instead of just practice material, and I want you to help me with it," Thoralv said in his usual thick voice.


    From up close, the sword looked even more impressive. It was completely black, from tip to hilt, and had a smooth, shiny surface. Apparently it was not made from normal iron and its overall quality was likely to be on par with its appearance.


    "It looks expensive," said Teo slowly, trying to remind his uncle of the possible consequences of his help.


    "Hahaha, it''s made from blacksteel. I only finished it yesterday, while you were out playing," answered Thoralv, laughing heartily and holding his large belly with both hands. Obviously he noticed the intention behind Teo''s words, but that would not change his mind. He had wanted to give the boy some real practice for weeks now.


    Enchanting was a complex and difficult craft, created by and for real Magicians, even though talented individuals like themselves could use most techniques too and had made it something of their own.


    After his talk with Goliath this morning, Teo already began to suspect that it was originally developed by normal elemental Magicians, that had also gained a basic control over Mana, and was only picked up by common people with a natural Mana Affinity much later, for its profitable nature, yet he had no proof so far.


    The two main parts of Enchanting were the Magic Circles, giving the item all the desired properties and effects, and the Energy channels, forming smooth grooves throughout the entire workpiece through which the Energy of the user or from the surroundings could flow and power the built in Magic Circles. Together they functioned as the heart and circulatory system of every Enchanted Item.


    The Energy channels were laid out very complex and were impossible to erase, one wrong groove in the delivery, or Magic Circle part could cause an energy shortcut, ruining the whole item permanently. Worst case scenario, a messed up Magic Circle could even explode, making it somewhat dangerous for unpracticed hands.


    However, thanks to his uncle''s unrelenting nature, Teo could only do his best and try not to scrap his uncle''s masterpiece. He would just need to assist anyway, his uncle would still do the hardest parts himself.


    The first part of every Enchantment was understanding the layout of Energy channels, Magic Circles and their intended functions, which Thoralv explained meticulously in great detail. A basic overview would be enough for assisting his uncle, but if Teo wanted to be able to do something similar alone in the future, he would need to understand every line and smudge in the blueprint and learn from it.


    The Enchantment planned for the blacksteel sword was actually rather simple, only utilizing the basic sharpness and lightweight Magic Circles. The ingenious move however, was the filigree structure of Energy channels, running very close along both edges of the sword, granting it amazing durability and hardness while in use, owing to the natural diffusion of Mana into the surrounding material ¡ªstrengthening the weapon exactly where it would be strained the most.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Combining the hair-splitting sharpness of a scalpel with its unusually high durability and low weight, it would make for a fearsome weapon, guaranteed to make short work of common iron weaponry. It was no wonder, that his uncle was known for his exquisite and highly detailed works, even when half of what he forged had the visible details of a brick; it were the inner values that counted.


    His uncle instructed him on the parts, that he should work on first and then it was time for action.


    His first task was carving a wide Energy channel in the center of the sword, functioning as the backbone of the Energy circulatory system, from which smaller branches would occassionally split off.


    These branches would be the second part of his job, carving the fine capillary channels all the way up to the edge of the sword, that made this layout so brilliant. Much to Teo''s dismay, his uncle would only tackle the more complex Magic Circles, located along the huge artery, that ran through the center of the sword, leaving him to shape the highly complicated network of channels himself.


    Luckily Teo already had an idea how he could speed up the process of creating the main channel quite a bit.


    Teo slowly absorbed some of the Mana in the room, bringing the pressure inside him up to a level he could work with, and began to braid a few especially thick Mana threads inside him into a thin rope, further compressing the Mana as much as he could in the short amount of time.


    Teo was not too worried, that his uncle would notice the changes he went through. He had always glowed like a torch under Mana Vision and the details inside one''s body where only tangible for oneself. Also it was considered normal, that the Mana Density of a young boy would grow together with his body, Teo''s only grew a few paces faster.


    After weaving a rope as thick as a spaghetti and as long as the whole sword, he slowly began to insert it into the weapon, starting from the hilt, while slowly rotating it around its own axis. Slowly, but steadily, it sunk into the tool and worked its way forward like a drill.


    Carving Energy channels could not be taken literal in this context, as the material was not damaged and both its surface and innards would stay intact, without any visible grooves, but it was hard work nonetheless.


    Teo would need to change the inner structure of the material, in order to make it a better conductor for Energy, which can be accomplished by repeatedly flushing Mana or any other Element through a small and highly specific path over and over again.


    With time and a sufficient exposure to compressed and rapidly flowing Mana, the chosen path would become an increasingly stronger conductor for Magic and would thus become able to deliver the user''s Energy all over the tool, powering all of its Magic Circles. It was just like flowing water, slowly carving a canyon through a mountain.


    The process required exquisite control over Mana, a high sensitivity to the material properties and lots of patience. It required strict concentration during the whole process and large quantities of willpower.


    In the nature of Energy channels also lay the reason, why it was very beneficial, to be an Arcane, in order to become an Enchanter. Every Element could be used to carve a channel, but all of them would only conduct Elemental threads of the same kind, or its closest neighbours, making the Artifact useless for anyone practicing the wrong Element. Only pure Mana itself could create Channels, capable of conducting all Elements equally.


    Teo''s hard work and ingenuity paid of though, as he managed to finish the main channel in barely half the time he would have taken, using standard techniques, making quite the impression on his uncle.


    The first step accomplished, Teo downgraded to a smaller thread and began to work on the narrower branches winding through the whole item. Quickly he noticed, that his control over the Mana he guided along had improved significantly from a few days ago. His sensitivity to the flow of it was heightened and he could not only move it faster, but also with much higher precision. Teo wondered, if this was a side effect of his newly formed Mana Core, but had no real information to work with.


    He finished the intermediate channels quickly and without much trouble. Barely an hour had passed, since he started his work on the sword and he was making rapid progress. His uncle was now almost finished with the Magic Circles, only polishing some rough edges, and would pay increasingly more attention on how Teo was doing, as he was approaching the hardest part now.


    Slowly he began to work on the much shorter and narrower channels, stretching throughout the sword like a filigran network of hairs. This task required absolute concentration because even pulling a thread through a wrong path once, would lower the quality of that specific channel and possibly the whole item.


    From time to time Teo would mess up on one of the narrower channels, but managed to keep the situation in check, minimizing the damage. Luckily he had not hit one of the larger channels and caused an unwanted shortcut or the collision of opposite flows, so no real harm was done. He was using his full concentration, to carve hair-thin channels through perfectly calculated paths with no room for errors, it was taxing on his mind and body alike.


    He was at it now for over 2, maybe 3 hours and his focus was beginning to decline, his forehead was covered in fresh sweat and he would not be able to continue for long. To his great relief however, he was almost done.


    A few minutes later he finally finished his work on the first real tool he had ever worked with. Not a metal rod, but a real sword! Of exceptional quality even.


    Tired he sat on the ground exactly where he stood, unwilling to move another step. He had done it. He managed to finish his first usable Enchantment with his uncle''s help and apart from a few minor hiccups he had not let him down.

 Chapter 19: Improvements

    *Clang*


    Finally, dinner was served. In front of Teo stood a full plate of mashed potatoes, wild deer cutlets and an assortment of local vegetables, all seasoned with various regional herbs, from the nearby forest. Even though the whole clan had gathered for the occasion and proper etiquette was expected, he dug in ravenously without a care for anything else. Apparently he was very hungry.


    Most family members present, even his grandfather Troy, could not help but wonder, why the boy was shoveling food into his mouth like a starved beast, but Thoralv only smiled slightly. He knew exactly how taxing the task he had demanded earlier had been.


    The Enchantment went without a hitch though and they managed to complete the magically enhanced sword free of major defects. However, it was no ordinary Enchantment, it had been the first real, marketable product, Teo had worked on so far. It may not seem like much, but it was quite the achievement and marked Teo''s admittance as a certified Enchanting Assistant, an impressive feat for his age.


    Following the traditions of the craft, Teo even had the honor of naming the sword. Naturally he had only done so after a lengthy break, as he had been completely drained of energy. He had not been in a very good condition even before he started and obviously the further exertion did do no good for alleviating his exhaustion.


    After a long thought process Teo finally had decided to christen the sword ''Eclipse'', named after its smooth, black surface, seemingly able to swallow up all light.


    His plate freed of all organic matter, Teo decided to retire to his room and plan out his routine for the next weeks. He was very busy and had to squeeze his new training sessions into his daily schedule somehow, but according to Goliath, the results would certainly be worth it.


    ***


    The next few weeks were rather peaceful and apart from the increasingly harsher training sessions he continued to force on himself nothing noteworthy happened.


    During the first week Teo''s Mana Core had already grown from a small pea, to a slightly larger pea, but even a whole moon later, its size was still slightly inferior to a chickpea. Progress seemed to slow down a lot for every millimeter he managed to expand it.


    Only after putting in several moons of daily efforts, spending dozens of hours on knitting thread after thread into the ever-growing ball of energy ¡ªand tolerating the excruciating pressure he would have to endure during the task¡ª did Teo manage to increase its size to grape-like proportions.


    Meanwhile his natural Mana Capacity was slowly but steadily increasing too, as his inner world expanded. The combined pressure of actively supercharging his system for a limited time while working on his core, as well as having Goliath retain part of that excess Mana in his body permanently, to passively stretch his limits, was beginning to show its effect.


    His body was getting used to the large quantities of arcane power he sought to contain in it, allowing him to increase the pressure more and more. Not only had his Mana Capacity risen by what would have taken him over two years of traditional exercise, the effect that normal practice would have on it (its growth rate so to speak) had even risen a bit, hinting at a slight advancement of his Mana Affinity.


    Overall, Teo was very happy with the tangible changes he was going through and the only thing bugging him, was that he lacked suitable opportunities to show off his newfound prowess. Goliath''s striking indifference to all of his ongoing advancements was just as stinging to him as a hundred paper cuts on a single finger and by now Teo was already longing for some external validation ¡ªeven though he was unwilling to share his secret with anyone.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    His control over Mana and foundational Magic had continuously grown more profound over the last moons and he was already able to fell a small tree with a well placed Mana Bolt, a sharp contrast to his initial results. In fact, he could probably best many of the more talented fourth years with his skills.


    His Enchanting skills also received a huge boost, thanks to his finer control and enhanced perception of Mana, making his uncle incredibly proud of the young genius he had managed to cultivate. Much of his success stemmed from the fact, that Goliath''s techniques gave him a huge advantage over other youths his age, but he was not without remarkable talent himself.


    Teo had also found the time to practice another Element, even though he had not made much progress with it yet. It went without saying, that his first choice had fallen on the Fire Element, as it had always held a certain charm for him.


    In alignment to Goliath''s suggestions Teo had started by working on his ability to sense the Fire Elemental Threads in his surroundings, just like when he first started to awaken his Mana Sense. He had spent weeks without noticeable changes though. At first he could not even tell if a candle was lit or not with his eyes closed; only when close enough to feel its warmth ¡ªor burn his fingers.


    After around two moons he managed to advance to the next level and became able to instinctively sense the presence of burning or hot objects in his surroundings. Now, after almost half a year of trying, Teo felt that he was very close to awakening his Fire Vision.


    For the second half of the year even the curriculum of his school would experience slight changes and starting from next week, optional courses about practical uses of foundational Magic would be offered, at least for the students talented in Magic.


    Normally practical courses would only start from the third year of Magic School and even those would be quite fundamental, however, the Council had recently decided to accelerate the exposure of children to basic Magic by a year, leading to this awkward transition year and playing right into Teo''s cards.


    Naturally every member of his small group had already awakened their Elemental Vision and at least mastered the basics of foundational Magic, but so far, this was only encouraged for self study and not systematically taught in class. Teo had actually tutored Angelika and Jack in these aspects sometimes during the last year, he did have quite the head start thanks to Mr. Atkins special lessons after all.


    Also it wasn''t entirely without remuneration. Both of them shared their insights regarding their Elements with Teo and explained to him, what they felt, their nature and properties were, complementing the theoretical knowledge from class. They were not sure, why Teo was so interested in the topic, but they were happy to share their experiences with their friends.


    Jack took right after his father and possessed an intermediate grade Fire Affinity, rather fitting for his hot-headed personality. Angelika however had a shocking high rank Darkness Affinity, earning her a stipend for the Saint Joujack''s Magic School in Sigella and probably for wherever she decided to go after that.


    Apparently she came from a lineage of simple cabbage farmers and was the first in her family to awaken a noteworthy Affinity for anything. Some fifty years back she would not even have been able to enter a school at all, since her family was unable to pay for the hefty tuition fees, but the stipend of the Association paid not only for this, it even covered her whole family''s relocation to Sigella and their daily expenses. The Association had been very supportive of its talented young blood these years.


    Angelika was not very gifted in practical Magic and was not even enticed by its allure of power that much, but she still poured in all of the effort she could muster and studied in every free minute she had, fearing that the Association would cut her family''s support if she was found lacking. An unfounded fear, as the stipend was unconditional, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.


    Teo was looking forward to the fresh wind, the new courses would bring to his school life, even if they would mostly deal with repetitions of knowledge he already possessed. If it meant, that he could show off his skills a little bit and earn some good grades for that, it was already better than the boring theoretical subjects he had to deal with on a daily basis.

 Chapter 20: Defense is the best Defense

    Teo and his friends were standing on the paved field behind school, used for sports classes and the breaks between lessons, waiting for their new instructor to arrive while rubbing their hands together in a futile attempt to warm themselves up.


    From the 26 children in their class only 14 had applied for the new practical Magic course, the others were either afraid of embarrassing themselves or simply untalented in Magic altogether.


    Since the second semester of school had already began and it had only been a week since New Year''s, it was naturally freezing cold and the city was covered in a dense layer of last night''s heavy snowfall. Even now a slight fizzle of white tufts could be seen raining down around them, yet the small plaza remained free of ice and snow.


    Actually a few teachers had spent their morning splashing seawater at the field before drying it up with Fire Magic. They did not exactly know how it worked, but the method provided a long lasting and better result compared to simply melting all the snow using Fire Magic directly.


    After waiting for almost 15 minutes, a familiar face came rushing over from the main building. It was their Elements teacher, Dexton Kasahara, easily recognizable by his wavy, blond hair and his green eyes, clearly identifying him as someone from central Kalar.


    "Sorry for being late," he said and hurriedly fixed his scarf, that had slipped a bit while running and revealed a speck of snow white skin beneath it. He scanned through the crowd quickly and said,


    "It seems that everyone is already here, good. Any questions so far?"


    A corpulent boy wearing suspenders raised his hand. He was quite pale and it seemed, that not even his fleshy body could protect him from the biting cold. After a nod from Mr. Kasahara he began to stammer his question,


    "I, I thought we were s-supposed to get a new te-teacher for this class?"


    "You were. However, we could not find a decent teacher for the second years on such short notice, so I will pitch in as your instructor for the second semester."


    It was no real surprise that the school had problems to fulfill the unexpected new regulations of the Magic Association. Magician''s were rare on the Continent and so far from the bustling cities located in the center of the Continent,  even Apprentice Magicians were a luxury good every school only had a limited amount of. For most classes this was not really a problem, as math, history, culture, music, sports and so on did not require any Magic skills or knowledge to teach, but a practical course about applied Magic techniques was a different story, for obvious reasons.


    Mr. Kasahara was an intermediate rank Apprentice Magician who also taught them the basic principles governing the Elements, so it was comprehensible to install him as temporary instructor ¡ª the ''magical'' teachers working at the school could be counted on one hand after all.


    "If there are no more questions then we will start now," Mr. Kasahara said.


    A low whispering went through the crowd of students, but they soon fell silent with the gaze of their teacher weighting on them.


    "Most of you should have awakened their Elemental vision by now and have already somewhat practiced their foundational Magic, right? If anyone still has problems with these points, please stand aside for now and come to me after I finished explaining the main task for today," the tall teacher began his explanation, the left corner of his mouth twitching a little, when he saw a full 6 students stand aside and wait after hearing what he said. Usually the younger generation was very eager to explore their new abilities, so he did not expect this many to still be stuck on level zero, he quickly recovered though and continued with his instructions.


    "The most important skill you can learn and that will help you in every situation, is to defend yourself in the face of danger, so we will start with that. Every idiot is capable of throwing his Element around, injuring not only others but even himself; we however, will learn how to protect ourselves from these idiots."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The whole class chuckled at these words, but quickly turned silent again to follow the lesson further. Obviously no one felt addressed personally, even though most of them were on exactly that level.


    "Defense is a rather complex topic, best learned through practice. Pair up in groups of two and try to defend yourself from your partners practice attacks in turns. Remember, I said practice attacks. Wait until your partner is ready and don''t throw anything at them, that they can''t handle, also try to help each other. I will be making my rounds trying to help anyone with difficulties and if I see anyone overdoing it I will gladly spar with him myself," Mr. Kasahara said in a clear and loud voice, causing everyone to straighten their backs and listen. The last words were followed by a particularly creepy smile, sending shivers down the students backs.


    They quickly began to gather in groups of two and spread out across the field, while Mr. Kasahara gave detailed instructions about Elemental Vision to the group of slower students.


    Teo had left the honor of forming a group with Angelika to Jack this time, after getting sufficiently puppy-eyed by the latter, and searched for another partner by himself. He ended up in a group with Darrell, the plump boy who had previously raised the first question and had an Affinity for the Earth Element.


    It was an extremely unfair matchup, as the Earth Element enjoyed a huge natural advantage in terms of defensive capabilities, but Teo actually looked forward to the challenge.


    At first everyone practiced his skills for a few minutes, warming up and getting ready for the task, then the first groups began to spar hesitatingly. Meanwhile Darrell had buried himself in a thick layer of rocks and earth, that he had slowly build up in this time, concentrating the Earth Elemental Threads in the outer layer as much as possible, in order to make it even harder and durable.


    When Teo slowly began to get bored of watching other groups, he heard a muffled voice coming from beside him.


    "You ... star... now."


    Teo could barely make out a complete word, but he still got the message, he was ready a long time ago.


    He had planned to start with something small, but seeing the human chestnut in front of him, he decided to get somewhat serious. The Earth Element really was unfair if it came to pure defensive ability, because even a weakling like Darrell could turn into a fortress if given enough time. A wall of earth would not require any further energy or concentration once it was built after all.


    Yet all Teo could see was a perfect venue for target practice.


    Having all the time in the world, (obviously Darrell wasn''t going anywhere) he began to collect the Mana from the air around him and formed a small ball of energy in front of his chest. He would first test the waters with a basic Mana Bolt using less than half his power.


    With a flick of his hand he let go and a bright blue glow flashed into the direction of the small hill that had formed on the practice field.


    *Bam*


    The effect was a bit underwhelming and the huge explosion of rubble, Teo had pictured in his mind, did not occur. A blunt impact sound, a few cracks here and there, a few small pieces of rubble flying a few meters away and a sizable cloud of dust was all he had managed to conjure. It was a hard nut indeed.


    Seeing the small cracks slowly mending themselves as time passed, he got fired up a little and readied his next attack.


    First he would try two consecutive Bolts of similar strength to his first one, maybe he would already be able to blow apart the weakened shell after cracking it with the first impact. Casting several weak Mana bolts simultaneously was already a trivial task for Teo and he attacked again after less than a minute, only leaving this much time for Darrell to prepare himself again.


    *Bam*


    *Ba-Crack*


    His idea was quite good, as he really did manage to crack the thick shell apart this time, breaking off a piece large enough to see a shocked boy hurriedly repairing his shelter.


    Three bolts would definitely be able to get the job done, but Teo had little interest in needlessly bullying his classmates. He just wanted to see what he could do with his skills.


    After waiting for the opulent tortoise to retreat back into its shell, he began to prepare his third and final attack. He would attack using almost his full strength now, but still without using any special technique of course, the pure impact of the raw energy bundle would be more than enough. Additionally he aimed at the very edge of the mountain in order not to hurt his poor teammate accidentally.


    This time Teo spent a few more seconds weaving his Mana Bolt compared to before, but was done very quickly anyway. The fist-sized Orb of energy hovering in front of him was exuding a natural aura of power, even though he did not even compress it that much. After carefully aiming on the intended spot he fired, and the raw energy charged forth like water from a broken dam.


    *Swooosh*


    This time the flash moved a lot faster, glowed much brighter and was accompanied by an audible whistling sound.


    *BANG*


    This was more to his taste. The right wall of the earthen shell was completely blown apart and small pieces of rock sprayed out, even hitting a few people who stood close by. Luckily no one was hurt, just shocked and a bit afraid.


    Inside his crumbling shelter sat a deathly pale and trembling Darrell with his mouth wide open. He still had a ringing in his ears from the heavy impact and was gasping for air.


    Obviously this had also attracted the attention of Mr. Kasahara, and he was not pleased.

 Chapter 21: I think its my turn now

    Teo stood on the hard ground of the practice area, the other students gathered in a wide circle around him. Opposite him, on the other side of the circle, stood Mr. Kasahara.


    Maybe he had gone too far.


    Indistinct whispering could be heard coming from the students, energetically discussing the recent events with their neighbors.


    "He just had to go and do it, didn''t he?" Jack said, letting out a long sigh and propping his hand onto Angelika''s shoulder.


    "Do you think he will be fine?" Angelika asked worried.


    "Sure. What can Mr. K possibly do to him? He isn''t going to kill him for messing around in class... I think," Jack answered, sounding a bit vague at the end, but flashed a wide smile after a second anyway.


    "You think?!" called out Angelika with audible shock, after a moment she added in a low voice, "What if he gets hurt?"


    "Relax, Mr. K is not the type of teacher who would hurt his own students. However, I doubt he will get off too lightly either," Jack remarked easygoing, he had a lot more experience getting into trouble with teachers compared to her and obviously knew what he was talking about, but did not want to spoil anything.


    "Psssst!" a thin boy in the front hushed them. It was going to start now.


    "Ready when you are, partner! Why don''t you take the attacking side first, you seem to be quite confident," Mr. Kasahara called out to Teo mockingly, whose facial color reminded one of a ripening tomato already.


    He had not intended to go overboard at any time. He just wanted to practice and maybe, maybe he had gotten a little excited and had forgotten to reign in his strength for a second.


    Darrell''s defense held up so well, that Teo got carried away a little bit, showing off more than he intended and garnering more attention than he could appreciate.


    ''Now you''ve done it. Well played, genius!'' a sonorous voice echoed in Teo''s head.


    Goliath was as helpful as a rock most of the time and would only make his presence known, when he was asked something directly ¡ª or when he wanted to add insult to injury in the shape of a sarcastic comment. He had a rather mean sense of humor sometimes.


    ''I would rather have your help right now, instead of your commentary,'' Teo replied silently, feeling quite helpless.


    ''Man up! You brought this on yourself, boy. Now you should live with the consequences.''


    Goliath''s harsh words were the truth, he really did bring it on himself. In this situation however, his words seemed cold and heartless to Teo, who had already started to consider the small Golem as his friend.


    Goliath in turn felt more like a parent at the moment, or more fitting, a teacher, trying to hammer in a lesson that was worth remembering.


    Unable to delay the matter any longer, Teo prepared to attack. Of course he would not use his full power nor his strongest techniques for fear of further infringing on his secret, but he could not continue to hide the power he had used against Darrell just now.


    He hurriedly prepared a decent Mana Bolt to test the waters again, that was quickly finished. Not even three seconds after he had started forming it, he had already finished the main structure and shot it towards his teacher. Somehow it still felt wrong to shoot something at his teacher, but he did not really have a choice, given the situation; he had already tried apologizing twice, without much effect.


    The ball of Mana was not remarkably fast nor otherwise impressive as it sailed through the air, more like a rock than a Magic Attack, showcasing the hesitation its caster must have experienced. His teacher just seemed to stand there, spacing out, but when the small orb had almost travelled for the full distance between the two duelists, just two meters short of crashing right into his face, he suddenly flicked a single finger into its direction, barely even moving the rest of his arm.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    From directly beneath the Bolt a round blob of Water began to rise from the ground itself and shot straight up into it. When the two spheres were just about to collide, the water ball suddenly split apart and engulfed the weak Mana Bolt instantly. It dropped to the ground again with a short splashing sound and was gone.


    Teo already knew that Mr. Kasahara had quite a hand for Water Magic, but this move was new. He did not have the time to perform little tricks for them during class after all; he was a teacher and not a performer.


    Teo was shocked to see his attack curbed so effortlessly. Sure, as a material Element, Water Magic was quite useful for defensive purposes, only second to Earth in fact. But could it simply absorb his Mana Bolt like that? It looked just like a pebble falling into a pond, swallowed by the depths, barely making a ripple.


    Teo did not loose his fighting spirit however, the confrontation with a worthy opponent just got him fired up instead. He would just have to pay attention on how much of his real strength he could show.


    A new cluster of energy began to collect in front of Teo, this time much larger and denser. This was around as strong as he could get a Mana Bolt within a few seconds right now. He could further compress it when supercharging, or increase its destructive might by giving it a more useful shape, but Teo did not want to go too far overboard again.


    He let go of his hold over the dense mass of Mana and it zoomed across the field with an awe-inspiring whistle. This time the blond man moved his whole hand, condensing the moisture in the air around him, which gathered as a fist-sized ball of water, floating above his palm. He casually flicked it towards the fast approaching Mana Bolt and hit it perfectly, causing both orbs to explode magnificently into a large cloud of mist, that froze in midair and came down as a shower of microscopic crystals, glittering beautifully in the early rays of the still rising sun.


    Several students in the crowd began to clap, impressed by the breathtaking performance they had just witnessed, before they remembered where they were and quieted down again.


    Teo was just as impressed. Obviously he would not stand a chance against a teacher at his school, but the way in which he lost the two rounds still felt very frustrating. They were supposed to be sparring and yet it seemed like his teacher was performing for a Magic Show.


    Teo decided to give it a more serious shot, showing part of his true skill. He began to gather Mana in a cone shape this time and made sure to spin it faster and faster around it''s own axis while he was at it. Maybe he would be able to penetrate one of the annoying bubbles with this improvised drill.


    He took a lot longer to prepare his attack this time around, spending almost half a minute on perfecting his creation, only saving a bit of effort on the compression of it, as he still needed to hold back at least somewhat.


    Meanwhile his teacher was eyeing his actions with interest.


    ''Damn! Is that still a second year over there? He is scarier than most fourth years already and he packs quite the punch,'' Dexton thought while observing the boy in front of him forming what looked to be some kind of drill. He had already looked at the notes in the class book and was shocked to find that he supposedly only held an intermediate grade Mana Affinity.


    ''This guy is a genius! How is he able to gather this much energy with his low talent level? I must be sure to properly recommend him to a good Academy when I get the chance,'' he thought, but then needed to concentrate on more pressing matters.


    Dexton collected the thin layer of molten snow that covered most of the area with a swipe of his hand and readied himself for action. It was quite interesting to see what he would try to throw at him next.


    *SHROOOOAAARRRM*


    The drill was unleashed and ripped through the air as it traveled straight towards him. It was very fast, but his trained eyes could follow it without difficulty. He quickly found a weak spot he could exploit, a loose thread; he would just have to hit the right spot at the right time, a feat heavily impeded by its fast rotational speed.


    The students stood in silence, observing the impressive, fist sized drill bore through the surrounding air and come closer and closer to Mr. Kasahara. Some girls had already closed their eyes unable to watch on. Many were already picturing how their teacher would be tunneled straight through the chest by this shocking skill of destruction.


    Contrary to the vivid pictures in their mind, Mr. Kasahara did not break a sweat and swiped his arm vertically in a fast motion, calm and confident.


    A sickle-shaped arc of ice shot out from his swing and shot straight towards the incoming projectile. It was very thin, yet extremely fast and glistened conspicuously as it reflected the rays of early sunlight. When both projectiles met in midair near the center of the plaza, something most puzzling occurred.


    The crescent arc of ice cut right through the spinning drill, like a hot knife through butter, severing it in an instant. Its core destroyed by the sudden intrusion of hostile Magic, both halves crumbled and dissipated very quickly, only leaving two small breezes of air as proof of their existence before vanishing altogether. "I think it''s my turn now," proclaimed the tall man and put on his most villainous smile.

 Chapter 22: A harsh Lesson

    Teo was already in deep waters and the worst part had yet to begin. How was he supposed to defend himself from his teachers attacks? Would he go easy on him? But what was the point of all this then? He would just have to grit his teeth and pull through somehow, it''s not like this was a life and death battle, so he would be fine... probably.


    "Are you ready?" his teacher asked, which he answered with a firm nod. He did not feel ready, but that wasn''t going to change anytime soon. At least he had already prepared a dense mat of woven Mana he could use for an impromptu shield.


    The students on the other hand were very excited. They did not have a grudge against Teo or anything of that sort, but the performance so far had made their hearts pump like crazy and they were giddy from anticipation. They had already forgotten about the punishment that was supposed to befall the one who stepped out of line in class and were just enjoying the show now.


    Even Jackson watched in amazement, barely able to contain his excitement. ''Man, I really need him to teach me that move!'' he thought with glistening eyes as he went through the last scene of battle in his head over and over again. That was probably the coolest thing he had ever seen. Sure, his father was probably doing all sorts of cool stuff at work, but he just wouldn''t take him along for a mission, however much he begged him. He could barely wait for the second half to begin, it was sure to be quite interesting as well.


    Contrary to the majority of spectators, Angelika was not excited at all ¡ª she was terrified. One of her only friends was suddenly strapped to a cutting board and she could do naught but watch. She had been easily pacified by Jack''s words, that Mr. Kasahara would go easy on Teo, that he was in no danger and would be done no harm... But after seeing how quickly the sparring session had escalated, she was starting to doubt it.


    If Mr. Kasahara just decided to throw back what he had defended from and nothing more, then Teo would already be in a very unfavorable position. If only she could help him somehow.


    ''Please just be alright, Teo!'' she silently prayed while clenching her delicate fists.


    After dramatically stretching his arms and legs, presumably for the sole purpose of building up suspense, Mr. Kasahara stood up straight and warned again,


    "I''ll be so free to start then."


    He began to gather up liquid water from his surroundings, drawing small streams from the air and the ground to himself. He used most of it to form a ring of water, silently hovering around him, and pulled out a small bubble which he hovered over his outstretched hand.


    Rapidly the Water Elements in the surroundings began to rush towards his palm and gathered in the small blob of water. It soon began to change, presumably according to the will of the Magician. It elongated and slowly began to freeze, forming a sharp icicle, as long as a dagger.


    After meeting Teo''s gaze for a short time, he shot it towards his student, carefully aiming slightly to the left, so as to miss his body by a small margin should the boy fail to block his move in time.


    Teo was already mentally prepared for the challenge, but decided against using his shield to protect himself against such a fast and sharp icicle. Instead he turned the Mana that he had gathered over his hand, as soon as the Magician opposite him had began casting, into a normal Magic Bolt and imbued it with as much Mana as he could fit into it.


    He shot it out, just as he saw the icicle being fired and tried to emulate the tactic, his teacher had previously demonstrated. Despite his preaching about defensive Magic, he seemed to like using offensive maneuvers as a form of defense himself.


    Trying to hit a fast moving projectile in midair was no easy feat, but Mr. Kasahara had shot it especially slow and did neither try to incorporate unexpected movements nor to dodge Teo''s counterspell, he tried to make it as predictable as possible, leading to a perfect hit.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Seeing the mighty attack of his teacher being disintegrated into dust, Teo''s self-confidence began to rise again. Of course he did not expect that to be a part of his teachers plan as well and thought that he had simply outsmarted him.


    "Not bad! But what about this?" taunted Mr. Kasahara, trying to combine praise and threat in a single statement and did not leave Teo much time to think, before he began casting again.


    This time a larger bubble of water separated from the water-ring around him, containing at least a third of the whole volume, that he had previously taken in. It quickly began separating into multiple smaller and smaller bubbles.


    Two, four, eight, sixteen, thirtytwo, sixtyfour... soon the number of droplets was too large to count, presumably in the thousands.


    They all simultaneously went through the same changes the icicle previously did and began to solidify. Thousands of small, razor-sharp needles were aimed at Teo and he felt his scalp tingling with nervousness. Someone particularly afraid of needles would probably have fallen unconscious already, but even without such fears it was still plenty uncomfortable.


    He hurriedly unfurled the prepared blanket of Mana in front of his body and began to fortify it with more Mana, compressing everything further as he went.


    Soon a barely visible wall with a crystalline appearance, reminiscent of glass, was erected in front of him and just as he finished constructing it, the needle storm broke loose.


    They swooshed through the air like a swarm of angry wasps, eager to sink their stingers into any soft piece of flesh they could find and were fast approaching Teo''s makeshift barrier.


    They fell onto the shield like hail, constantly pattering and crackling for several seconds, until the frequency of impacts lessened and finally ceased completely. It sure looked impressive, but the offensive might of this skill seemed to be quite lacking, as the small needles were simply too light to cause much of an impact.


    Unable to relish his short-term victory Teo moved his concentration back to his teacher, who had already began preparing his third assault. Judging by the pattern so far, this would be the last assault he would have to weather, after that he would be done with it once and for all.


    Yet despite his rather impressive success so far, he had a very bad feeling about it. Mr. Kasahara was a crafty devil and the chances, that he did not have a surprise up his sleeve were slim. The question was just, what could it be? Would he sneak attack from several sides? Waiting and waiting for something horrible to happen without prior notice was almost as terrible as the moment when it actually happened ¡ª and even more tiring.


    Unable to relax, Teo readied himself and tried to reinforce his barrier some more, it was his best bet against whatever would be thrown at him. Meanwhile Mr. Kasahara was already done with his preparation some time ago and was just waiting for Teo to finish his part, before he would usher in the grand finale.


    He collected all of the leftover water from the floating ring around his waste with a sweep of his hands, forming a large ball that slowly became elliptical and elongated. He did not pull out any new tricks for his last attack, instead he relied fully on the very basics of Water Magic to strike home a lesson.


    A large icicle had formed in front of the tall man and hovered there menacingly. Teo''s eyes almost popped out, it was huge! Around a meter long and at the very least a dozen kilos heavy it was a real behemoth. However, before he could think much about it, the frozen spear was already charging towards him.


    Teo tried to do something about it, but it was fast approaching and he was running out of time. He gathered his Mana Shield in front of him and concentrated as much as possible on the single point where it would impact soon enough. And that was all he managed to do in time.


    It crashed into the barrier with an incredible shock, pushing him several steps back and just as Teo thought he had managed to block it somehow, his barrier shattered like glass in face of a rock.


    A sharp edged, spiky ice-lance was now barely one and a half meters from his face and fast approaching. In this time of need he noticed a sudden stream of Mana racing around his body, almost like an emergency protocol, but before Goliath could manifest the life-saving emergency shield, the icicle in front of them vanished, or rather it dissolved, melting with incredible speed ¡ª visible to the naked eye but over after a blink.


    It completely turned liquid again and splashed all over Teo''s face, leaving him thoroughly drenched and knocking him down on his butt.


    Perplexed he sat on the frozen ground, his eyes wide open and blinking frequently, as if to ascertain that he was not dreaming.


    "Thank you for helping me demonstrate the excercise, but you better go see Mr. Quackenstein now and get yourself dried, we can''t have you catching a cold," said Mr. Kasahara in a seemingly worried voice while smiling at Teo.


    Only now, that the adrenaline was receding from his system, did Teo notice the biting cold assaulting him to the bones ¡ª he was literally sitting on his bum, soaking wet in deep winter.


    Hurriedly he ran to the main building, publicly shamed and embarrassed. It was everything else but a nice memory, but the message was received. Teo would probably take special care to be considerate of his classmates from now on, instead of hurtling deadly projectiles at them.

 Chapter 23: Aftermath

    Hot steam gently rising from his body, Teo sat in an old, lab-supply ridden office in silence. He was seated on one of two artless wooden chairs around a small tea table, a hot cup of herbal essences diffusing its aroma in front of him and an aged teacher with a sizable, white beard and fluffy eyebrows sitting to his right.


    Naturally, the antique lecturer beside him was Mr. Quackenstein, the only Alchemy teacher of the school and he was almost done drying off Teo with his skilled usage of Fire Magic.


    After he removed the last traces of moisture from Teo''s garment he broke the silence with his high-pitched, hoarse yet gentle voice.


    "Now, would you mind telling me, what upset Mr. Kasahara today?" he said, sounding more interested in the drama and gossip part, instead of being surprised. Probably he was already used to similar occurrences.


    Teo looked at the ground while clenching his fists, but answered the question nonetheless.


    "I got carried away in defense practice and almost hurt a classmate," he confessed with an abashed expression.


    "Hoohohoo, that''s youth for you. Always rash and hot-headed." The teacher laughed heartily, somehow reminding Teo of a huge owl.


    "Then you should consider yourself lucky, just getting a bit wet. If this went through the official channels, you would get suspended for at least a month, if not worse," the old man added in a serious voice.


    Teo already knew that, but could still not swallow down his anger just yet.


    For the last years, the school had always enacted a zero-tolerance policy to violence on school grounds and tended to hand out over-the-top punishments, sometimes even resorting to expulsion.


    He had only heard rumors about it, but apparently, there was an accident in class over a decade ago with dire consequences. Supposedly a true genius possessing the Darkness Element had lost control of his powers during practice and sapped the life force of a classmate dry, killing him directly.


    The school was almost torn down by a hurricane of enraged parents and even the student who triggered it all was eaten from the inside by guilt until he finally killed himself. It took years of effort by the Association to restore the status quo that Teo enjoyed right now.


    He talked to Mr. Quackenstein for a while longer, unintentionally deepening his Alchemy knowledge, until he bid him farewell and left the cramped office, that looked more like a warehouse for various minerals, herbs and disfigured apparatuses.


    ''I have to hand it to your teacher, that was a good show. He almost got me too for a moment,'' transmitted Goliath, thinking back on the last part of the practical class.


    ''Hey, Goliath! Why didn''t you help me at the end?'' asked Teo, his thought sounding a bit annoyed, while he walked through the corridors of the old school building.


    ''Don''t think I didn''t notice the last minute shield you canceled there,'' he added after a short pause, specifying what he was referring to.


    ''Why should I interfere? You''re fine aren''t you?'' replied the Golem, also sounding a bit upset.


    ''I''m not fine! I got wet... and it was pretty embarrassing,'' retorted Teo, his emotions visible on his face.


    ''Well, if that isn''t egotistical. You know exactly how much Mana I consume, just to stay conscious. That barrier would have taken me out of business for days and you seriously want to use it as a glorified umbrella?!'' Goliath snapped back, oozing with sarcasm; he was really angry now.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Teo had forgotten about that point as he had only considered his own problems and could not think clearheaded right now. Apparently, the ambient Mana in Sigella was much thinner than Goliath remembered it, possibly explaining, why so many generations of Grassdowns had failed to activate him. Even Teo could not provide sufficient nutrition for the Golem without sucking himself dry, putting Goliath into energy-saving mode for most of the time.


    Actually, the ability to cast their own spells was one of the major differences that set Golems apart from puppets, but without a sufficient energy source, this was a highly unsustainable act.


    Every spell could take out Goliath for days or weeks until he managed to recharge his energy, a strong one could even deactivate him completely. Of course, that would not kill him, but in order not to damage his internal Magic Circles it was necessary to wait for at least a month between reactivation attempts.


    ''I''m sorry Goliath, I''m not thinking straight today,'' Teo admitted, sounding a bit remorseful even. Goliath''s argument was hard to deny and he knew that his demands were unfounded. He should not let his broken pride get the better of him. What could he possibly gain from lashing out at his friends?


    ***


    "Man, that was awesome!" called out Jack and repeatedly patted hard on Teo''s shoulder as they sneaked out of the school grounds, almost making the boy fall over.


    "Can you stop hitting me please?!" Teo complained to his attacker.


    "Oh, right. Sorry," said Jack sheepishly but didn''t let it affect his mood.


    "So, can you teach me that move now? You know, the one with the drill! It was amazing!" he hollered on, not letting the matter rest.


    "I don''t know if I can teach you that. Maybe you should work on your normal Fire Bolt first..." replied Teo carefully, not sure of how to break the news to his friend, that he was not exactly known for the precise control he held over his skills.


    "Come on, man! I would do anything, please teach me, senior!" Jack said insistently while resuming his violent back-patting.


    "Alright, fine. You get lessons from your father in swordsmanship, right? Maybe you can teach me some tricks in return," said Teo finally, slightly annoyed but not without profiting from the proposal. He would need a long bath later to get his shoulders uncramped though.


    "I knew I could count on you! Your humble student awaits your orders, master!" Jack called out excited, falling to his knees out on the open streets and making a total idiot of himself for that joke. Sometimes Teo wondered if Jack even had any sense of shame at all.


    After hurriedly scraping him off the floor among dozens of curious gazes and pulling him around the next corner, the youths continued their conversation.


    "You''re coming too, right Angelika?" Jack turned around and asked the petite girl that followed after them from a safe distance. Apparently, he had moved on to the second point of his agenda.


    "I''m not sure I want to learn that, it looked pretty dangerous..." she replied; her hesitation obvious.


    "We wouldn''t only practice that technique... Maybe we could all take turns, teaching what we''re best at," Teo butted in and voiced a suggestion.


    "Exactly!" yelled Jack, thankful for his wingman''s assistance.


    "I guess I could help you in Magic Theory and Alchemy if you want," said Angelika, slowly being convinced to participate.


    "Then it''s decided! We can meet near the forest or at Teo''s place from tomorrow on," said Jack, completely roping her in. A wide grin on his face clearly displayed his satisfaction as he mentally checked two points of his otherwise empty agenda.


    Teo chose to ignore the sudden infringement on the sanctity of his home and continued to loiter around town with his friends, smiling.


    ***


    "Damn it, where is that brat again?" complained Phillip as he spat a thick phlegm on the ground.


    The professional carriage driver was already waiting in front of the Saint Joujack''s school building for two whole hours without even seeing his freight once.


    "He probably sneaked off again with his little friends, not sparing a thought for poor old Phillip," the coach driver lamented to himself.


    He had been working for the Grassdowns for at last five years now and it had started out pretty good. They were mostly nice people and the pay was pretty decent for the short working hours. After years of doing his own thing and his questionable ''wheels for hire'' business in town, he finally could put decent meals on his family''s table regularly.


    At least until he was assigned to babysit the lost son that miraculously returned to the family out of nowhere.


    He liked the bright boy, but so far he had brought him nothing but headaches...


    And pay cuts, headaches and pay cuts. Both ranked high on the list of things he did not want to have, especially in combination with each other.


    Why was it his fault, that the child didn''t want to listen and would rather run off to play with his friends than to get forced into physical labor by his loving granduncle?


    Every time he would be left standing here like an idiot, waiting in complete boredom. Even getting empty excuses or promises was better than nothing, he thought.


    "I still didn''t get that pretzel though," he murmured quietly and flimsily kicked against a cartwheel.

 Chapter 24: New Waters

    *Clang!*


    A wooden sword fell to the ground with a crisp sound, besides it a young boy, rubbing his hurting wrist.


    "You can''t drop your defense like that! Your attacks are riddled with flaws, keep to the footwork I taught you!" Troy said sternly, admonishing his careless grandson.


    "One more time!" Teo begged his grandfather.


    "You look more like you could use some rest. Go freshen up a bit, we can continue in half an hour, I still have some time today to teach you," Troy responded with a gentle smile.


    Teo had started to get lessons in swordsmanship shortly after his 8th birthday because he had continued to pester his uncle with the topic for months until he finally agreed, and it had been a full year since. Usually, his grandfather Troy would teach him, as he had taken up one or two skills during his long journeys at sea, but he had a professional instructor too, for the times his grandfather was not available.


    Teo had practiced with Jack in his free time as well, but it was not the same as having a real instructor with actual practical experience, capable of drilling in the basics.


    He did, however, learn a few very neat tricks from Jack, who was personally tutored by his father in the matter of the sword. Even indirect lessons from Commander Jumpheart, the famous ''Burning Sword Saint'' of Sigella, were not to be underestimated and he learned a lot from the experience.


    In return, Jack''s and Angelika''s Magic skills improved by leaps and bounds, while Angelika helped both of them to keep their grades in an acceptable range. Overall the three friends complemented each other perfectly.


    Of course, Teo did not let his Enchantment practice slide either, he had made huge progress and was capable of successfully carving some basic Magic Circles by now.


    It would not be long until he could finish some simple Enchantments completely by himself.


    Goliath had used the time efficiently as well. He had spent most of it collecting data, scanning books and categorizing the differences between ancient Enchantment techniques and their modern equivalents. Apparently, he was just a tiny scrap of data away from a breakthrough.


    With Teo''s rapidly growing Mana capacity he could supply the little Golem with an increasing amount of energy each day, enabling Goliath to be more active and even enabling him to use simple analyzing spells from time to time, increasing his helpfulness exponentially.


    According to Goliath, Teo''s Mana Affinity had already reached the lower mark of a high-grade Affinity and with his Mana Core almost the size of a plum, what he could do had increased by a lot.


    The biggest change over the last year though was probably his progress in regard to the Fire Element. After literal years of practice, he had finally awakened his Fire Vision and could already manipulate small quantities of Fire Elemental threads. However, not as much as he wanted to.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Apparently, spiritual power could be considered as the muscle that does all the heavy-lifting in Magic, but Affinity acted as a kind of leverage to control the Elements with greater ease ¡ªone without the other was basically useless.


    Just as Goliath had said, it was possible to manipulate more than one Element, but the advantages one''s natural Affinity provided were immense. Teo''s body was naturally attuned to Mana, so it was always attracted to him without the need to do anything, and when he wanted to manipulate it, the Mana threads would not offer much resistance.


    The Fire Element was completely different though. Teo had no natural Fire Affinity at all and could only increase it step by step from zero through repeated practice. Even a single strand seemed to weigh as much as a boulder when he tried to move it, any progress on this front was extremely slow.


    After thoroughly discussing the matter with Goliath they had discovered a way to quicken the process considerably though.


    His body was like a sieve to the Fire Elemental threads, unable to contain them for long, but his Mana Core was a different story altogether. It was a dense mass of energy, tightly woven together and it seemed to be possible to permanently incorporate any Elemental threads into it.


    This was easier said than done, as his almost negligible ability to manipulate the Fire Element made it almost impossible to weave it into anything, but the results were clear to see. Barely a week after he succeeded for the first time, his Fire Affinity had already risen by a noticeable margin, allowing him to retain more of the Elemental Energy in his body and to manipulate it with greater ease. He could even warm himself up or start a fire using Elemental threads by now, but he would need more practice to incorporate the new Element into his normal skillset.


    Teo had even started to get in touch with the Darkness Element with Angelika''s help since he knew how incredibly long it had taken him to get a feel for one of the easiest to comprehend Elements, Fire. It never hurt to get a head start, regardless of what he might focus on in the future.


    Also, he did not have to invest large amounts of time into practicing new Elements. If it was just developing a sense for and getting accustomed to an Element, then regular exposure to the Elemental threads over a long period of time would already do the trick ¡ª which was Angelika''s role in the matter. Elemental Vision was a bit different though, but also not exactly time-consuming.


    Understanding and accepting the nature of an Element played a major role in the awakening process, it was just as important as the compatibility with one''s character. It was more a matter of enlightenment and insight than of time.


    Yet time was always the critical part for everything else. Magic-, Sword- and Enchantment-practice took up most of Teo''s day, not to mention going to and learning for school. He barely had the time to spend an hour supercharging before going to bed every night.


    Luckily, the training sessions with his uncle had been significantly reduced, honoring his lighting fast progress in the craft and his excellent morale. Instead, he had unrestricted access to the workshop now, free to experiment however he liked. Apparently, his uncle trusted him to only bite off what he could chew and not blow up the whole mansion.


    Since Goliath was also the fastest and most efficient rock on the continent when it came to cramming and tutoring, Teo had quite some additional time to spend on his personal agenda.


    Time was relative in this context though, because he tended to utilize any remaining second for more Magic Practice or to spend time with his friends, but at least he could plan out his schedule more freely now.


    Teo was a real 4th-year student starting from next week and the world lay to his feet. He did not know what awaited him after his last year of school, but becoming a successful Enchanter and secretly training to become a Magician didn''t seem too bad. He wondered what path his friends would end up walking down though.


    "What are you spacing out for? The break is over! You better show me some proper footwork now!" Troy called out to the boy who was leisurely sitting against a tree in the backyard.


    "Coming!" Teo yelled back as he got on his feet and started running.

 Chapter 25: Enchanting Enchantment

    ''So, do you still need more data or can we finally get started?'' asked Teo while going through a thick grimoire about common Magic Circles used in Enchantments.


    ''There is always more data to be had, but it should be time we gave it another try,'' said Goliath cheerfully.


    He had already scanned all the relevant books in the family library and saved them in his database.


    Carefully going through all the material and categorizing it while simultaneously compiling it into concentrated portions regarding a certain topic, was hard work, but definitely worth it.


    Through the runes and Magic Circles on his own body as well as the snippets of information he had picked up in ancient times, Goliath had considerable access to long lost Enchanting techniques, which he was trying to combine with the modern approach to the subject for months now.


    Both ancient and modern practices followed the same fundamental concept, but many other points seemed irreconcilable. Especially the weird layout of Energy Channels as well as the structure of the Magic Circles and the frequent occurrence of Runes, outside of Magic Circles, were considered quite queer by modern standards.


    Through his tireless efforts in combining the best parts of both systems into a single, more advanced one, he had managed to see some success though.


    Usually, Teo would only practice on simple metal rods or common iron tools, because it would be too wasteful to use real weapons in order to practice his skills, but he had recently bought a few steel daggers with his pocket money to use for his serious attempts at enchanting them.


    He had already scrapped 3 of them during experiments with Goliath, one of which even completely disintegrated into metal dust, but he did not give up and was about to try again.


    Teo paced through the long corridors and made his way down the coiling spiral staircase, hewn from solid basalt blocks, into the dark underworld of the mansion.


    With time he had become used to every part of the building, even the dark nooks and crannies he dared not enter before. The cellars were still far from his favorite place, but entering them no longer felt like being swallowed up into the intestines of a humongous beast.


    It was dark and humid down here, as his uncle was not working right now and the huge forge near the workshop was left unused. Teo had to help himself to one of the fresh torches, stored beside the end of the staircase, and ignited it with a snap of his fingers. He smiled at the hungrily growing flame for a second, seemingly very proud of his small trick, then chased after the retreating darkness that filled the straight path all the way to the workshop.


    Teo lit up a few torches in the small room but had no intention to fire up the nearby forge.


    Through his passion for smithing and enchanting his own works, his granduncle had discovered, that the Mana Conductivity and the formability of Energy Channels in an item varied at different temperatures and started to use this property to his advantage. It was a small effect, but with a huge enough difference in temperature, it was very obvious nonetheless.


    Metals tended to experience a drastic decline in their conductivity when heated high enough to forge them into a new shape, making the Enchanting process much more difficult and tiring. Yet the material was also more plastic on a microscopic level, greatly increasing the quality of the formed Energy Channels and making the extra effort worth it.


    His uncle had perfected this into an art form, completely combining the smithing and enchanting processes to form something new. He would gradually soak the metal in his Mana from the moment he started smithing it, carve the complex Energy Channel structure while tempering the item, and finally quench it, freezing the channels in their perfect state while simultaneously hardening the metal to its limits.


    However, Teo was nowhere near such a level of mastery yet and preferred to do it the traditional way. He could not utilize five decades of practical experience like his granduncle could and his superior Mana Affinity could not make up for the difference in expertise either. These advanced techniques, brilliant as they were, would only make a task he was struggling to accomplish as it was, even harder.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Teo fixed the dagger where he wanted it to be and fished out the blueprints he and Goliath had come up with for today''s attempt, going through them step by step.


    He did not necessarily need to do the Enchantment here, but the workshop was the perfect working environment, allowing him to proceed with the process undisturbed and warding of foreign energy fluctuations with its location deep underground ¡ªmaking it well worth the trip.


    The structure that the blueprint showed was not very complicated, only incorporating a single Magic Circle, but it already encompassed some of the changes to the Energy Channel network, that Goliath had proposed.


    One of the major differences to a traditional layout was a single Acceleration Rune near the tip of the blade, that directed the Mana flowing through the circular main channel back towards the hilt, theoretically increasing the circulation rate of Mana and thus the output of the connected Magic Circle.


    It was an experimental change as well as the reason for the most recent failure that had disintegrated the whole weapon, but Goliath was sure that his new corrections would remove that effect entirely.


    After making sure that he knew the layout like the back of his hand, Teo began to carve out the winding main channel with a thick string of concentrated Mana.


    Just like they had practiced, he concentrated his efforts on supplying the necessary quantities of Energy and directing the general flow of Mana, whereas Goliath would make small corrections on the general structure wherever necessary while keeping the formed channels stable.


    Because Goliath was a life form based on pure Mana and had been feeding on Teo''s excess energy for years now, he lacked a "spiritual fingerprint" of his own and could guide Teo''s Mana directly ¡ªas long as his master did not try to resist. This unique feature of their symbiotic relationship made them the perfect partners for any kind of magical collaboration and allowed Teo to rapidly advance his Enchanting skills.


    Owing to their brilliant display of teamwork, they managed to finish up the main channels without a hitch and began to focus on the wider channels of the sub-network. Everything went well so far and they were making rapid progress, the next steps were the real challenge though.


    Before extending the final parts of the thin and delicate web of connections, they had to carve and stabilize the major rune located near the tip of the blade as well as carefully shape the complex Magic Circle forming the heart of the Enchantment.


    Teo spent a lot of time to imprint the mesmerizing Rune one stroke after the other, Goliath assisting him and correcting any deviations from the intended path throughout the process. He had practiced this step at least a dozen times in the last days and was very familiar with it ¡ªwhich still did not prevent him from sweating bullets for the entire duration.


    Just as expected, they managed to complete it without much trouble and started to work on the most complex part of the whole blueprint.


    They had chosen a basic ''sharpness'' Magic Circle for their first Enchantment, as it was relatively simple compared to ''lightweight'', ''self-repair'' and many other common effects, while still being extremely useful. The complexity of its design should not be underestimated though.


    It resembled a large triangle, with the edges fixed to the rim of a circle, but that was where the simple geometrical analogies ended. Additionally, it contained 3 major Runes near the edges of the triangle, which were further augmented by two dozen minor Runes and hundreds of smaller lines and geometric shapes throughout the whole structure.


    It was mind-boggling enough to just look at it, but every line had to be drawn with extreme caution and could not be misplaced by more than a tenth of a millimeter, making it extremely hard to carve successfully.


    Luckily, Goliath had no trouble completely memorizing it in full detail and could assist Teo on numerous occasions, taking ample weight off Teo''s shoulders.


    This step took up more than an hour and Teo had to rest for a few minutes every time he completed a major part of the structure. Now, it finally was fully formed and seemed to be stable.


    It was not powered up yet, but it was a good sign nonetheless. They did not even make it this far last time; before they could finish the overloading protections, they had accidentally triggered it with their own Mana and fried the whole weapon in the process.


    The last step, connecting all of their previous work, was done quickly and did not pose much of a challenge anymore, they were almost done now.


    Soon a complete weapon with its own dendritic network of Energy Channels and a stable Magic Circle lay before them. If it did not explode on activation and displayed the intended effect, it would be a successful Enchantment.


    Teo hesitated; he was afraid of failure, understandably so, if it could potentially cost him a hand.


    ''Come on, try it out!'' Goliath encouraged him, assured of their success.


    Teo could barely hear him over his violent heartbeat, battering his ears, but tightly grabbed the dagger in his hand nonetheless.


    As he gently infused his Mana into the intended pathways, he felt something inside it stir. It began to power up, its presence growing with every second. Soon it settled down and emitted a barely audible, high-pitched hum.


    It was a success.

 Chapter 26: Angels Whisper (1)

    It was a completely normal day as the late-summer sun cast its warming rays on the winding streets and branching alleys of Sigella, causing bright reflections on the slippery, white stone tiles that plastered the business district. A small group of children could be seen running around in their school uniforms, inspecting the goods of various stalls while goofing around.


    Teo did not have to fear punishment for being late today. Ever since he finished crafting his first real Enchantment without any help, his granduncle had been very nice and understanding of his wishes. If he did not slack off too much and kept the results coming, his uncle would not interfere, so he was free to play around with his friends whenever he wanted now.


    Most days after school they would loiter around town, stroll at the beach, study for upcoming tests or train at the woods near Teo''s house. Of course, this was in addition to Teo''s normal training regime, that he had only lightened a little bit.


    "Can we stop at this caf¨¦ for a while? I just love the waffles they make here!" said Angelika with a sweet smile. She had become much more extroverted since moving to Sigella and meeting the boys, no longer afraid of openly showing her emotions.


    As no one seemed to have any objections they scuttled through the busy street and into the shop.


    *Dring!*


    A small, bronze bell was fastened to the door and rang out as the new customers stepped in. It was not particularly full, but far from empty. Angelika''s taste was quite exquisite for a former farmer''s girl and the caf¨¦ she had taken a liking to was one of the more popular, expensive ones. In fact, their hard-to-afford pricing was the sole reason why it was not constantly packed to the brim with hungry customers.


    "Welcome! A table for three?" an attentive waitress asked while doing a slight curtsy, perfectly showing off the white, long legs peeking from under her black skirt; a sight wasted on the three kids.


    They took their seats somewhat in the back because all the window places were taken and quickly ordered their food. Angelika obviously preferred sweets and ordered the waffles with hot cherry sauce just as she had previously announced.


    Apparently, she was getting used to city-life and her new-found wealth brought by the Associations stipend at last and finally allowed herself to spend some money for fun, instead of saving every cent for her parents and siblings. She was not becoming egoistical though, with their current finances her whole family could indulge in luxuries, they had only dreamed about previously. She was the only exception for months and years, struggling to get used to it.


    Teo and Jack were not as keen on sweets for lunch and ordered the daily menu instead, fried Arancini with Jasmine tea.


    They always wondered how Angelika managed to get sufficient nourishment from her sweets-based diet while simultaneously keeping her beanpole-like proportions, but had decided to focus on more pressing matters after a few pointless experiments.


    After a short wait, they were delivered a small pile of steaming-hot, golden rice-balls that exuded a spicy, exotic aroma. They quickly dug in and gulped down the small treasure boxes stuffed with various fillings, such as sparkling pieces of meat, fresh vegetables, pulped tomato, and cheese. They were so eager, that Teo even burned his tongue on a thick blob of delicious, molten cheese, despite his increased fire resistance.


    After the meal they continued to stroll along the streets for a bit until Jack decided to head over to Teo''s place for afternoon practice, old Phillip couldn''t have gotten far yet anyway.


    ¡­


    "How is your family doing lately?" asked Jack, trying to initiate some small-talk with Angelika.


    "Good. My mother finally found some work in a small bakery," she said, looking out of the coach window while fiddling with her long hair.


    "She seems to enjoy the freedom of the city, working and shopping by herself when and where she likes, I have never seen her this happy," Angelika added thoughtfully after a short pause. She was probably the only family member that questioned their new lifestyle and what conditions it was built upon.


    "Well, that''s great! We should definitely go visit her sometime!" responded Jack, way too enthusiastically.


    Angelika smiled sweetly and pushed the complicated thoughts to the back of her mind, then said,


    "Sure, but maybe we should give her some time to settle in!"


    After a short trip along the winding, rocky path, which had long been worn out and solidified by regular usage, they passed by a swathe of green-yellow fields on the outskirts of town. Here grew a plethora of different food crops steadily approaching ripeness, that doused the area in a myriad of colors. Soon they could see the tall iron gates of the Grassdown estate and the looming forest in the distance.


    "Thanks, you can take the rest of the day off, Phillip," Teo said and handed the man a silver coin. Apparently, his social conscience was bothering him enough for always taking advantage of his driver, to make him give up a sizeable portion of his pocket money in retribution.


    "Thank you so much, young master! I will pick you up tomorrow like usual then," the middle-aged man said, smiling from ear to ear as he turned around the carriage; it would be steak-night today.


    They headed over to the backyard and continued all the way to the edge of Thorn Forest.


    Yes, the ominous forest bordering the small village of Ritark reached all the way here and even farther. From Geography-class Teo knew that it was one of the largest forests on the Continent and stretched throughout the whole north, from the stormy coasts inwards to the heart of the land and up to the towering Black Mountain Range, it was enormous.


    They settled at the usual spot and soon began to practice Magic and sword techniques. At least the boys did, Angelika was not very proud of her physical prowess and preferred to just study magic or cheer on the two ruffians from the sidelines.


    "I want a rematch! I have finally perfected my ultimate move; you better prepare to eat dust!" Jack exclaimed with fire in his eyes as he challenged Teo to another Magic duel. So far, he had never won one, but that only seemed to spur him on further.


    "Sigh¡­ We already sparred two times this week, Jack. Can''t you let it rest already?" Teo replied with a bored look while rolling his eyes. This was getting old.


    When it came to swordplay only, Teo was no match at all for his muscular competitor, but if Magic was involved, the scales would turn quickly, leading to another one-sided encounter. Jack did not seem to know the meaning behind the term ''giving up'' though.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there."I shall not rest until all evil is vanquished!" Jack hollered in response without specifying what evil exactly needed vanquishing.


    "Alright then, but try to make it short, yes?" Teo slowly shook his head and gave in. He knew better than to try and avoid it.


    "Then I better not make you wait!" shouted Jack and readied himself for a charge.


    "Try not to hurt him too much, Teo!" Angelika interjected in a caring voice, not considering other possible outcomes. The remark almost made Jack cry a silent tear, but he quickly pulled himself together and concentrated on the battle.


    "Here I come!" he bellowed and charged towards Teo, his wooden sword suddenly engulfed in a scalding blaze.


    Teo smirked and took on a defensive stance. He would not gain anything by wiping the floor with his friend directly; if he was so insistent on challenging him, he could just serve as a training dummy for Teo''s sword-practice as well.


    The moment both swords collided, a swarm of sparks diffused into the surroundings and a shock wave swept over the nearby grass. Teo''s feet were slightly pushed into the soft ground, but he continued to stand firm.


    He was facing an onslaught of blistering hot air and heat rays but did not seem bothered at all. His body and sword were wrapped in a thin, dimly-glowing layer of Mana that kept the rampaging Fire Elements out and protected his fragile wooden sword from charring or breaking.


    "Didn''t you say you had a new trick up your sleeve?" Teo taunted with a slightly contemptuous smile, agitating the red-haired boy even further.


    "Oh, you¡äll see!" Jackson hollered as he hammered swing after swing onto Teo''s tight defense.


    They brawled like that for minutes, making full use of the footwork and Elemental control they had mastered so far. It looked like a balanced fight for any watching outsider, but Teo was already severely limiting his magical Skillset to preserve the status quo.


    "Alright, you have proven yourself worthy, vile spawn of darkness! If you can remain standing after facing my ultimate technique, I will admit defeat!" roared Jack, completely absorbed in his heroic delusions. He was developing in a weird direction lately.


    Teo could not suppress a chuckle after hearing his best friend spout one stereotypical line after the other.


    "Ultimate Technique: Death Inferno Drill Firestorm!" recited the spiky-haired boy and struck an embarrassing pose while roaring like a madman. Let''s just hope he will grow out of that phase.


    Like a flood, the surrounding Fire Elemental Threads surged towards his outstretched hands and gathered in a large vortex. From afar it almost looked like a glowing red umbrella he was holding.


    Jack spent almost a minute charging his attack, time he would not have in any half-serious battle, but Teo just stood there waiting. A large drill had formed in front of the boy and exuded waves of parching heat, threatening to incinerate everything in the surroundings, yet Teo showed no signs of worry. In fact, he almost looked expectant.


    "Fire!" with a final shout it was released and zoomed straight towards Teo, igniting the air in its path.


    ''You know what to do?'' Teo asked the Golem resting on his chest with a silent transmission.


    ''Already working on it!'' Goliath replied cheerfully, he seemed to be in high spirits.


    Within a second a funnel-shaped wall of Mana appeared in front of Teo, rotating in the opposite direction relative to the advancing drill. It intercepted the attack with calculated precision and began its work at unwinding it, channeling the constant stream of concentrated Fire Elements it ground down towards Teo''s chest where he absorbed them into his body.


    ''How na?ve, using a modification of my own technique against me¡­'' Teo thought with a grin.


    After dissolving the burning drill in its entirety, he sat down cross-legged on the soft grass and closed his eyes. He needed to focus on assimilating the burning energy before it could damage his body too much.


    ''Wow, that''s a large haul! You would need at least a week to gather that much juice!'' Goliath exclaimed happily using voice transmission.


    This was the closest Teo could get to Fire-Supercharging right now. His Fire Affinity was still too low to do the same, but using his friend as a proxy, he had access to highly concentrated Fire Elements, which he could incorporate into his growing Mana Core.


    Of course, this shortcut could only be utilized with sufficiently high fire-resistance and Goliath helping in the process, or he would be burned to a crisp within seconds, but it was very effective nonetheless.


    Exhausted, but further upset by Teo ignoring him, Jackson stomped on the ground a few times, devastating the local flora. As soon as Teo opened his blue eyes again, Jack called out to him,


    "Alright, you win this time. But don''t get used to it!"


    They all started to laugh without a care in the world.


    "Well, I don''t know about you guys, but that got me hungry! How about some roast beef? I know a great shop near the harbor!" Jack suggested with a gentle smile, his previous fervor nowhere to be seen.


    "I''m sorry, I need to get home soon, or I will be late for dinner," said Angelika apologetically, avoiding Jack''s stabbing gaze.


    "I''ll join you! We can head over there after we bring Angelika home," Teo responded, saving Jack''s mood.


    It was not a long way back to the city, even on foot, and they made it there in less than an hour, taking in the scenery along the way. They quickly walked Angelika home just in time for dinner and continued their way to the harbor district, a dim shadow following behind them.


    The two boys leisurely talked about school and how to improve each other''s battle techniques further; they were an unequal but awkwardly fitting couple.


    As always, Jack could not keep in his excess energy and would sometimes outpace Teo by a few meters, dashing around the place and calling his friend a slowpoke. But when he ran into a dark alley and neither came back nor responded to his calls anymore, Teo became suspicious.


    "Jack? If this is a joke then it''s not funny! Come out now!" Teo was sure that his friend was just playing with him and would jump out, trying to scare him, at any second now.


    Instead, he felt a blunt impact on his neck as he ran after him into the alley and numbness spread throughout his body. He felt dizzy and his vision slowly turned black. The last thing he saw, was a dirty sack being pulled over his head, while Goliath''s panicked shouts vanished in the distance.

 Chapter 27: Angels Whisper (2)

    Zachery sauntered around his small and dirty apartment, used socks and half eaten portions of food lining his worm-eaten furniture. He was a meager, middle-aged man, looking malnourished and disheveled, his lifeless eyes sunken deep into his skull to resemble a dried-up corpse. On his head only a few streaks of long, scrubby bristles remained of his once luscious and full black hair his brother had always envied.


    "Almost two years! Two Years!" he repeated over and over again, sometimes screaming at the top of his lungs, sometimes barely whispering.


    Soon would be the anniversary. The day his older brother died, almost two years ago. How could he ever forget that damn, god-forsaken day that changed everything?! How he had lost him. How everything was taken from him.


    "I had it all! Women, power, money, booze! But that bastard¡­ that bastard!" he gibbered with a bone-chilling smile on his face, showing his pointed teeth more than seemed possible.


    Trying to calm himself down he hurried over to his shaky, rotten desk and pulled out one of its drawers, rummaging through it impatiently. After using a filthy stack of stained papers to further decorate the few empty blotches on his floor, he finally held a clear crystal vial in his shaking hands.


    Zachery cracked the thin, glassy neck sealing the vial, with a single well-practiced motion and dropped the translucent liquid into his ears, two drops each, completely emptying the small flask. Visibly pacified, he slouched over to the other side of the room and laid down on a mottled, old couch that remained relatively schlock-free, compared to the rest of the apartment.


    "Ahhhhh¡­" he moaned eerily, squeezing the remaining air out of his lungs.


    This was what he was left with. His only remaining pleasure.


    Zachery could not afford the expensive healing potions anymore, used to avoid the severe side effects, nor had he access to as many whisps as he wanted any longer, but he did not care. He did not care now. Not anymore.


    He closed his eyes and let himself sink down into the cushions. He felt like falling, slowly he began to lose his sense of direction and floated away.


    His ears were ringing, distorted and hushed sounds continuously caressed his mind and took him farther and farther away from reality. Soft echoes, faint voices, they became louder until they completely flooded his consciousness.


    It was not the uncomfortable kind of loudness though, it was a melodic, soft and omnipresent sound, that filled him to the brim and brought him great joy. Yes, it sounded almost like a whispering. An important message that someone tried to convene to him but was lost in translation, hushed by thick walls, suffocated in gauze.


    It was the whispering of distant angels reaching out to him in the earthly realm.


    Angel''s Whisper, or whisp for short. That was both, name and effect of this hallucinogenic and sedative drug, that had become increasingly popular in Sigella throughout the last decade.


    Whisps, yes. Boon and Bane of his existence.


    Zachery and his brother grew up in the slums of Sigella, at the edge of town, near the harbor. Where gangs ruled supreme and shady businesses lined the hazy streets. It was a slork eat slork world out there and they had no time for playing around. From a young age they had to resort to deception and thievery to help with the family finances.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.The brothers were lucky enough to get acquainted with the right people and made the right decisions, becoming bigger and bigger players in the local black-market economy.


    When they found a connection to a desperate, money-hungry Alchemist and coaxed him into providing them his goods, their business skyrocketed.


    The whisps, that brought the heavenly song of angels to the desperate scum of the slums, sold like hotcakes, and they quickly began to expand their distribution network. Bribing politicians, merchants and guards, setting up trade routes to the harbors of the south and into the deepest mines of the Black Mountain Range, they only saw success in their ventures for years.


    The highly addictive substance brought them loyal servants and beautiful maidens, willing to do anything they demanded for just another drop, more money than they could ever spend, and influence, they had never dreamed of, it was glorious.


    Yet pride goes before the fall, and they reaped what they sowed with their progressive carelessness. They left most important decisions to incompetent drug-addicts instead of carefully planning out their operations like they used to in their early days, bringing about an abrupt end to their life of luxury.


    None other than the newly appointed Commander of the Town Guard Brigade, the Burning Sword Saint, Allvar Jumpheart, had meticulously investigated their operation and raided their base before they even suspected anything. He personally directed the charge and arrested everyone he laid eyes on. Even Zachery''s own brother was no exception and was executed for major violations of the law shortly after.


    He had never forgotten that fateful day two years ago, not for a moment. When he returned dead-drunk from the brothel that evening again, he found the hideout surrounded and flooded by guards, he was forced to flee like a dog, lie low, be a nobody again. When he watched his brother hanging from the gallows a few days later¡­


    His guts were burning with anger for years. There was only one thing on his mind, one last goal left to accomplish: Revenge. It was stuck in his brain like a burning, red-hot nail.


    After hours of lying still like a skeleton, he stirred again and fell off the messy sofa with a groan. Shoveling aside the garbage on the floor he heaved himself back onto his knees, followed by his feet. He stumbled towards his shabby desk and dug through the pile of papers on it.


    Zachery had spared no effort in planning out his revenge. His last savings, the rest of their broken network, his compatriots who had suffered on that day like him, everything for his revenge. It was not easy, but he had finally gotten his hands onto some useful information ¡ª the weakness of his dreaded nemesis.


    He held a detailed drawing in his cramped hand, depicting a boy dressed in a school uniform, with thick brows and flaming-red hair.


    "Ha-haha Hahaha! HAHA HAHE HUAUHAHAHAHUEHEHEHA!"


    A couple of crows was startled by the manic laughter and kicked off from their perch on a decaying building, flying into the endless darkness of the moonless night.

 Chapter 28: Angels Whisper (3)

    "Oww..." Teo groaned in pain as he slowly woke from his slumber. His head hurt as if someone had knocked him out.


    No, someone did knock him out... he remembered now! The alley, the pain, Jack...


    "Jack!" he cried out panicked. He could not see anything. Though he could still feel the stinking sack covering his face.


    "Not so loud, I''m here!" a familiar voice beside him responded in a hushed voice.


    "Where are we? What is happening?!" Teo''s heart was racing, sweat pouring down his back, his throat was parched and dry like a desert, this was going too far for a practical joke.


    "Calm down! We can''t get more attention on us now than we already have! I think we were kidnapped," Jack responded in a voice that did not seem to reflect the gravitas of his words.


    "Kidnapped! Are you freaking kidding me?!" Teo cried out aghast.


    "Shhhh!" his friend tried to quiet him down again.


    "Kidnapped?! Who would want to kidnap us? This is crazy!" Teo articulated in a forced whisper.


    "Well, this is my first time as well, but my dad does have many enemies." Somehow Teo imagined his friend to be smiling right now from the way he said that.


    "Don''t worry, he will get us out of here in no time!" Jack said optimistically, definitely smiling right now.


    "Are you serious? You just want to wait here for somebody to come and save us?" Teo was apparently not a big fan of his companions ''plan''.


    "Well, do you have any better ideas?" Jack said, his words oozing with sarcasm.


    "Yes, I do. We need to get out of here!" Teo squeezed out through gritted teeth, forcing himself to keep the volume down as much as possible.


    "Wow, what a brilliant idea. Wish I had come up with that," ridiculed Jack, not taking the notion seriously.


    "There is no need to be sarcastic now... Just use your brain for once, we need to get rid of these sacks and shackles first!" said Teo a bit annoyed and rattled at the chain that bound his cuffed arms.


    He still could not see anything as the dark sacks seemed to inhibit even his Mana Vision, all he could feel was the cold, wet, stone floor and the heavy shackles binding his arms.


    "I already tried. They are totally fireproof. I can''t burn or melt them at all..." Jack said dejectedly.


    ''Goliath, we need your help. Can you hear me?!'' Only now did Teo think of the ancient Golem that he usually carried around with him and reached out to him with his thoughts.


    But he did not reply; even worse... he could not feel the familiar coin purse around his neck at all, now that he thought about it. The rest of his pockets seemed to be rather light as well, but this was not the time to worry about his lost allowance, this was bad!


    ''Great idea, putting your secret weapon into a coin purse... No one would think of stealing that...'' he thought while heaving a depressed sigh.


    It seemed that he would have to think of something by himself. At least, blindly waiting to be rescued was not a viable option for him. They often loitered around town or trained till the sun went down, did anyone even notice that they are missing yet? Even if they did, how was Jack''s dad supposed to find them, when they did not even know where they were themselves.


    Just like his friend had said, the tools that confined them did not seem to be made from common cloth or iron, they were incredibly tough. If Jack had failed already, Teo could forget about melting the shackles with his meager Fire Magic.


    Physical strength was also not an option, as even a grown man would have despaired in the face of the thick metal chains.


    Mana, however, was even less useful than Fire. It was not very destructive in its nature and even if he tried to burst his restraints apart in a large explosion, his body would be the first to give in.


    He tried to hack and saw at his chains with compressed Mana, but could not even leave a mark on its surface; it was a futile effort.


    Mana Bolts, drills, spears, even the occasional scythe; Magic of various shapes, properties, and velocities was hurtled against the joint, connecting the thick chains to the wall, without visible, or rather, tangible progress.


    Teo had to admit, this cell was really well built, impossible to break out of... much to his regret. He silently cursed the competent architect responsible for this under his breath.


    They needed to get out of here and alarm the town guards as fast as possible! Who knew what they were going to do to them here?! They had no time to lose!


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.Teo sat down beside his unusually calm friend, who sighed softly, seeing (hearing) that even Teo had given up.


    But instead of crying or wallowing in self-pity, Teo just sank into deep thought. Silently sitting on the ground and putting together all the pieces he remembered and all possible escape routes he could come up with.


    The metal used to forge their restraints was unusually hard, fireproof and even Mana-resistant, unable to be damaged in the slightest by the two boys. No doubt about it, this was some kind of alchemical alloy.


    Teo had seen dozens of unique alloys during his Enchanting practice with his uncle. They usually boasted unique strengths and weaknesses, that could improve the quality of equipment dramatically when used wisely in blacksmithing or Enchanting.


    If he knew one thing about them though, then that they were crazy expensive! The one he had encountered here was probably not a very high-quality product, but with this amount of metal, it must have cost a fortune anyway.


    Most probably the chains were the only real obstacle they had to overcome in order to get free. No one would expect them to manage even that part with how unbreakable they were, impervious to all attacks.


    There was a real chance, that their captor had not invested another fortune into an even stronger plan B.


    They just had to come up with a way to break those shackles and they would be a good deal closer to seeing the light of day again ¡ª or night, which it probably was by now.


    Luckily Teo had an idea, even if it was more of a guess than a real plan.


    If he could not destroy them from the outside, then how about destroying them from the inside?


    The alloy had reminded him of his gruesome Enchanting practice and the hundreds of failures he had to endure over the years ¡ª beautiful weapons and valuable alloys crumbling in his hands.


    Exactly! Just a while back he had messed up an Enchantment on a steel dagger and made it disintegrate into metal dust with barely a touch! Maybe, just maybe, he could use this experience to his advantage.


    Teo did not have Goliath with him at the moment, severely limiting his prowess in the craft, but carving a few Energy channels and having his Mana run amok in there should not pose much of a problem.


    His mind made up, he quickly focused his attention and got down to business. A thin string of compressed Mana soon entered the cuffs through his wrist and slowly tunneled through the thick chains.


    It was a Mana-resistant alloy and working on it felt a bit like taking a swim in a pool of pudding, but with his far above-average control over Mana and large Mana Capacity, he made significant progress in a short time.


    With swift motions, he carved thick channels through the material and let them gather around a small amplification Rune, before finishing the second half of the circle. Now the Mana would travel around and around the Network, becoming more violent with every circulation.


    It was quite dangerous, especially when the item in question was literally tied to your own hands, but what choice did he have?


    "Better take a step back, Jack. I''m going to try something," Teo said as he stood up from the ground.


    After a moment, he began to channel his Mana into the new ''Enchantment'' and carefully positioned his arms far away from his body.


    A rapid torrent of Mana rushed through the tight channels becoming faster and more compressed by the second.


    Soon the material could not bear the increasing strain anymore and small, hairlike cracks began to spread from the walls of the Mana channels.


    A crackling noise could be heard, like a fresh piece of meat in a pan of oil. Small arcs of energy discharged from the shackle and burned Teo''s skin, even through the protective layer of Mana he had wrapped himself in. After a few seconds, the sound stopped and the cell was covered in eerie silence once again.


    The shackle was still fastened around Teo''s slightly injured arms.


    In a final attempt to struggle free, Teo pulled back his arms with all his might... and it broke. The cuffs crumbled around his wrists like dried mud and fell to the ground, much like Teo, who landed on his butt with a thump due to the sudden absence of resistance.


    He had broken free at last.

 Chapter 29: Angels Whisper (4)

    It took a while to get rid of Jack''s shackles as well, but now they could finally breathe and move freely again.


    The most direct problem averted, Teo took in the surrounding room with greater focus and even Jack hurriedly jerked his head left and right, evaluating their new situation.


    It was a small room, or rather, a cell, barely 10 square meters in size. The floor was covered in moist stone tiles and was exceptionally dirty, the walls were monotonous and free of windows.


    There was not much here, apart from scraps of straw, rat feces and naked stone, Teo focused his attention on the other side of the chamber instead.


    A thick wooden door, lined with metal reinforcements and a small barred window, was covering the only exit.


    "Well, that''s one step further," said Jack optimistically.


    "It won''t help much if we can''t get out completely. We made a lot of noise and somebody could check on us at any time!" Teo was not in the mood for small talk right now, they would have to get through that door asap.


    "Maybe the door is weaker than it looks?" Jack suggested jokingly, not believing it himself.


    "It should be! It looks like a normal door at least, I doubt it can compare to an alchemical alloy," responded Teo while collecting and compressing Mana in the palm of his right hand.


    A sizzling, blue ball of energy rapidly grew in front of the boy and emitted an ominous glow.


    "Step back, I''ll take care of that!" he prompted and Jack was all too happy to oblige.


    *WOOOOMMMM*


    A loud explosion rang out as wood and metal pieces splintered and flew against the opposite wall. If they had not been heard yet, they had been now.


    They hurriedly dashed through the ruined passage into a small room connected to several similar cells, but before they could make it far, a door opened and two guards stepped in fully armored.


    ''Guards'' was a blatant overstatement though since they more closely resembled mercenaries or bandits, but they were obviously here to guard the cells nonetheless.


    They did not waste any time on words and directly charged at the duo, their rusty swords raised high. Teo was already prepared and intercepted them with a quick Mana Barrier, buying enough time to position themselves properly in the anteroom.


    There was a fat man with an unshaven beard and a tall one with a glaring scar on his neck, running from his left ear all the way to his shoulder; both were dressed in light leather armor.


    "Look wad'' wa got here, Jimmy. Where''d those m¨¢gots crawl out?" said the tall one with a nasty smile, speaking in a creepy dialect.


    "Karl, are you shure we should not shound the alarm?" said the thick one, heavily lisping.


    "Don''t ya be such ¨¢ killjoy, Jimmy. We can sound''em alarm when wa done havin som fun, na?" said ''Karl'', while slobbering his yellowed teeth with his tongue.


    Alright, those two were a creepy couple and the boys had no intention to get to know them up close and personal, they would, however, have to go through them to reach the door leading out of the room.


    "You get the fat one, I''ll take care of the creepy one," delegated Teo, already preparing to attack. He did not have the time to contemplate the moral consequences of a life and death battle yet, but if he would not attack first, they would.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon."They are both creepy though... alright, alright, leave it to me!" joked Jack, but quickly became serious again under Teo''s desperate gaze.


    However, before they could prepare any Magic attacks, the fatty was already charging at them. Apparently, he did not respond well to being called fat and creepy at the same time by some pretentious kids.


    It was not a particularly skillful attack, he came at Teo with a simple upward swing from the right side, but his superior combat experience allowed him to secure the first move for himself and thus the advantage in the encounter.


    Without any weapons, or even armor, Teo could not block the hit straight on, he would have been weaker than his assailant anyway, so he tried to take a step back and keep his opponent at bay with a quick-cast Mana Bolt.


    The room was not very long into this direction and after a large step, Teo almost had his back against the wall now. However, his improvised Mana Bolt hit the mark with only a slight deviation of its trajectory and struck the plump man on the right shoulder, throwing him off-balance and giving Teo more time to think.


    Before he could come up with any contingency plans though, Jack had already conjured a flaming sword in his hands and charged to defend against their attackers. Using the aftermath of Teo''s Mana Bolt to his advantage he managed to land a good hit on the leather wrist guard of the man.


    Unfortunately, Jack did not have access to a real sword and was only swinging around a compressed stick of Fire Elements, devoid of a physical core, so it passed right through the attacked arm and only left a few scorch marks. It would be difficult to strike down his opponent without being able to block his attacks or inflicting physical damage.


    By now Teo understood Jack''s intention to follow the initial plan and began the preparations to engage their second enemy as soon as he tried to interfere in Jack''s standoff.


    Just as Teo finished preparing a thick sheet of Mana, which he could activate as a fast barrier when necessary, the tall man charged too, rapidly approaching the brawling couple in the middle of the room while snickering.


    He swayed a bit to the left side and struck out with his sword, which would hit Jack in a matter of seconds as he was too occupied to dodge it.


    Already expecting this situation, Teo activated the Mana Barrier, which he had positioned between Jack and the slick man, with a smile ¡ª yet it remained untouched. It was a feint!


    The man spun around his own axis and used that velocity to continue his sprint towards Teo who was staring at him in despair.


    Jack was never his target in the first place, he just wanted Teo to waste his best shot to try and protect his friend so that he would be left defenseless himself, a cunning plot.


    Now the slender man was fast approaching Teo, his sword thirsting for fresh blood.


    The Mana Barrier had already been solidified and could not be moved in time, yet he would also need a few seconds to weave together a new spell. It was time to improvise.

 Angels Whisper (5)

    A rusty sword was fast approaching his neck and Teo only had a few seconds at most to avoid it. Dodging wouldn''t be enough though, he would need to stop his opponent from chaining a deadly follow-up attack if he wanted to survive the encounter.


    With no time for even a flimsy Mana bolt or improvised shield, he would need to fall back to one of his contingency plans.


    Teo pulled out two spinning orbs of Mana from his hands, rotating in opposite directions.


    They were tiny with no time to charge them up and would do little more to Karl than throwing two raw eggs at him, he smiled ferociously, certain of his victory.


    Yet Teo did not just throw them at him, he clapped his hands together, colliding the two spheres, while hurriedly dodging to the side and averting his eyes. A dazzling flash of light ensued and blinded Karl temporarily.


    This technique had been inspired by the basic principles of Light Magic, which they fortunately discussed in last year''s Elements class. The opposite flows of Mana would result in a rapid discharge of energy on collision, which was relatively harmless, but very bright.


    Thanks to this unexpected diversion, his attacker could not adjust the trajectory of his sword and had to follow through with a blind slice to Teo''s original position.


    However, Teo did not remain unaffected by it, even though his life was saved, he was grazed by the tip of the sword and received a glaring cut on his left shoulder.


    Hurriedly he began to direct the Fire Element in his body against his own skin, cauterizing and disinfecting the wound at the same time.


    The practical courses of the third year put a heavy focus on the defensive and first aid techniques, that most Elements were capable of. Petrifying, freezing or cauterizing fresh wounds was a great way to stop the bleeding and prevent infection, even if it hurt like hell, especially with Fire Magic.


    Teo knew that this was not the time for complaining though, so he tried to turn the tide and began to prepare a counterattack after putting a suitable distance between them.


    Teo needed to act quickly if he wanted to take advantage of his opponent''s dazed state and could only commit to a mediocre Mana Bolt, the heavy impact on the back seemed to have delivered some damage though.


    He also managed to reinforce the skin-tight Mana Barrier around his body, hopefully preventing wounds from light attacks in the future. With Karl''s vision returning, it was time for round two.


    Meanwhile, Jack seemed to be doing well in his standoff. His corpulent opponent lacked proper training in the way of the sword and could not take full advantage of Jack''s unarmedness. As burn marks accumulated on his fleshy body, Jack seemed to slowly get the upper hand.


    Teo would now be able to fight on equal ground, without worrying about his friend too much.


    Due to his lack of ranged attacks, Karl could only charge face on into a barrage of smaller Mana Bolts, trying to cross the distance.


    He needed to dodge every last one of them, as Teo had focused his assault on the sensitive parts of his opponent, the hands, face, knees, and crotch, trying to incapacitate him, it was no time to play fair after all.


    Just as he slid underneath an incoming bolt aimed for his face, he pulled out a small danger from inside his mantle and threw it in one smooth motion. Who said that he was lacking in ranged techniques?


    Teo was flustered by the sudden turn of events but managed to react in time. Empowered by the thin Mana Barrier, he intercepted the deadly projectile with his hand, flicking it to the side.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    This was the only way to guarantee it would hit the point he expected it too and the area around his hands was the easiest to reinforce for him anyway, he just lost a second he could have used to get in another attack.


    To best this opponent he would need to get just as crafty as him.


    The small gap between them was closing, but Teo was already expecting him.


    It became increasingly harder to control Mana as it got farther from his body, making it almost impossible for him to redirect launched attacks, but he had thought of a trick to catch his enemy off guard. Teo had already started to prepare the ingredients for it a while ago and now it was time to put it into practice.


    After the short interruption, he launched a big but seemingly normal, spinning Magic Bolt at Karl''s face, which he naturally dodged without paying much attention to it. Such an obvious attack would not hit him in a hundred years.


    But of course, there was a catch.


    Invisible to the unschooled eye it was connected to Teo''s hand through a thick thread of Mana, which acted as a sort of remote control, almost like a more advanced version of a morning star ¡ªand naturally, he pulled it back with all his might.


    The spherical accumulation of Magic power rushed back silently and knocked into the scoundrel''s nape, just as he was about to swing his sword again, completely catching him off guard.


    It was a decently sized projectile made from compressed Mana and the impact it generated on collision, sent a shock running through the scrawny man''s nervous system, rendering him unconscious instantly.


    One down one to go, but the hard part had already been accomplished.


    With the main character taken out of the picture, the boys teamed up and finished his obese henchmen with little effort. Now, he was unarmed and on his knees, begging for his life.


    "Ohh, pleashe don''t kill poor Jimmy! It washn''t my idea anyway. I jusht helped becaushe Karl''sh always sho shcary!" he protested dramatically, tears literally flowing in streams down his cheeks.


    At least the mystery of how he managed to survive so long with his mediocre skills was finally lifted and the reason certainly was not his high sense of pride.


    "What should we do with him?" asked Jack, unsure about the right course of action given such a situation.


    "How am I supposed to know?! Can''t you just knock him out or something?" replied Teo surprised, he did not expect to have to deal with such questions.


    And so they did. Jack had needed several tries to yield the desired effect though, he was still a child and lacking in power, while his target was at least five times more massive than him and crying the whole time...


    After freeing their former enemies of their weapons, the duo continued onwards on their journey to freedom.


    "Are you alright, Teo? That looks pretty bad," queried Jack while pointing at the burned incision under the ripped shirt on Teo''s upper arm, close to his shoulder.


    "I''m okay. It does hurt, but he just grazed me, I think." He covered the wound with his other hand and forced a smile. Damn! With the adrenaline slowly leaving his system, it really did hurt like hell now! But what could he do about it?


    "You better go see a healer after my dad saves us and brings us home," Jack said, full of conviction, still not doubting it.


    Teo gave him a sarcastic smile ¡ª a natural one, this time.


    "Then we better let him know where we are, don''t you think?" Teo retorted.


    "Good idea!" Jack was wearing his trademark dazzling smile now, the stress and fear from the previous battle nowhere to be seen.


    After they left the antechamber of their former cell, they stepped into a narrow hallway, stretching towards both sides, illuminated by sporadic torch-holders on the walls.


    They decided to head left, as the right side obviously ended in a dead-end, which could already be seen from a distance.


    Not even a minute had passed, when they stumbled upon a small window in the upper section of the wall, through which the light of a few lonely stars and the barely visible crescent moon shined on them.


    "Can you lift me up there? This just might be our chance!" said Teo excitedly.


    Standing on the shoulders of his friend, he could now reach it and see the paved road, it bordered on, as well as the clear night sky above it. However, the opening was way too small for them to fit through and he could merely stick his arm out.


    But possibly it allowed him to complete one of his goals already.


    Teo took over half a minute to prepare and launched a sizeable ball of Mana towards the night sky, that flew higher and higher into the darkness.


    When it reached far above the adjacent roofs and trees it exploded in a dazzling flash of blue light. It was a variation of the blinding technique he had used in the last battle, heavily influenced by the ''fireworks'' he had once seen.


    If they had not been noticed previously, they had been now, hopefully in a good way though.


    The City at night was silent and dark, such an obvious phenomenon was unlikely to go unnoticed, especially when their families we''re probably already searching for them.


    With nothing else to do, they continued down the hallway in silence.