《Heoltor》 Prologue From within the tower a light shone, and passersby could hear the distinct mumbling of a mage. Vividren Woodscales, Magister of the mage tower and most powerful plant mage in all of Cretoria, was standing in his study, chanting incantations to activate his unique magic formation. He had come upon an old text mentioning that every 2376 years, his world and another would come incredibly close, allowing mages to interact with the other world. At the time, he thought nothing of it, as he was ordered to come up with a plan to find more potential mages, and had no time to waste on other matters, no matter how intriguing. But then a brilliant idea flashed through his mind! If there is no potential to be found in Cretoria, look elsewhere! Elsewhere of course being the other world, as recruitment outside of his region was not a choice. Making enemies of another mage tower would be incredibly stupid and downright suicidal. As he was none of these things, Vividren scoured the library for more relevant information and started to throw together a formation. While simply summoning people would be easy and not a particular drain on his resources ¨C if the records were to be believed ¨C kidnapping people with high potential from their world with no definite method of bringing them back, was not only morally apprehensible but also a surefire way to earn resentment. Being the smart drake he was, he found an optimal, if somewhat costly solution to his problem. He would summon the souls of recently deceased potential mages, and guide the souls into the inner part of the formation. Those souls will be shoved into the prepared biological materials, and will then start to form their bodies with the guidance of the formation. The inner formation is based upon a special resurrection spell with a near perfect success rate, but was only usable on non-mages. Even for him, reworking such a complex spell into a formation was difficult, doubly so as it was a formation tied to another formation. Nonetheless, he succeeded at creating the entire spell formation. Of course, the records he found could have been wrong or inaccurate, so he forwent making the formation more complicated to summon people with higher potential and instead decided to summon only three people with any potential at all. Waiting for someone with a high potential to die so he could summon them would have upped the cost of maintaining the formation exponentially. And investing too many resources into something that might not necessarily work would not impress his employer terribly.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. However, to avoid summoning some lunatic or mindless monster, he added summoning conditions; the summoned had to be naturally curious and willing to learn, open-minded and moderately kind, young and also sufficiently intelligent. The last part of the formation was tricky, but of utmost importance! As the people of the other world undoubtedly spoke another language, he wove a knowledge imparting spell into the formation, which would impart all the words of the common language which the language of the summoned has an equivalent for onto them, and thus give them a good grasp on the language. Simply imparting the language completely could after all either be completely unhelpful or damage the summoned persons soul. Which would be rather unhelpful. After a week of research, gathering resources, setting up the formation and initiating the ritual to start the summoning, it was finally time. Reality twisted and a small round gate formed. He could feel the dimensional tunnel building up, trying to connect to the other world. A sudden shift, and the tunnel opened on the other side. Unlike a gate spell within the world, this happened with practically no resistance. It was just like the records said, but still odd. He put it out of his mind however, as the most crucial part of summoning was about to commence. For a few nerve-wracking moments, nothing happened and Vividren feared it was all for naught. Thankfully, he could feel the formation attracting souls, which promptly barreled through the open gate. After three souls passed, the gate snapped shut and he sighed in relief. The most expensive aspect of the formation was over, and still within estimated bounds. As if to spite his relief, a complication he never expected arose; the souls were merging! Already, two of the souls became one, with the last having come into contact with the fusion. Aside from the total loss of identity on both sides of the fusion, a recently fused soul was also very fragile. A third soul would cause the fusion to collapse and make all his efforts void! And most likely kill him in a spectacular soul explosion, but that would not be his problem to deal with. He pulled the last soul away from the fusion and pushed into the inner formation, where it was guided into the biological materials, with the fused soul following suit. The materials writhed and twisted, slowly taking on color and form. The fused soul took the shape of a quadruped with wings, while the other soul formed a bipedal humanoid shape. It was quickly apparent that the biped was a human of large and stocky build, while the fused soul not even remotely looked like any intelligent species he knew of, which might have been due to being a fusion. The being had a strange mix of feathers and fur, two imposing wings and one tail with a dangerously sharp tip. Its fur and feathers had a slight violet sheen to them, but appeared mostly black. Everything appeared remarkably stable, but the moment the summoned opened their eyes, he realized he did not completely prevent them two from fusing. Two pairs of identical black eyes were boring holes into him with their hazel irises and Vividren knew that this was not the expected result¡­ Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Rodger Odastovic had many ideas what could have happened after death. Eternal Paradise, Hell, Reincarnation or simply nothing. In none of his musings was he naked in a pile of blood and gore, in a room full of glowing runes with a Dragonman staring at him in curiosity. Dying after getting hit by a truck and now this?! Rodger was at his wits end. Resigning yourself to your death, only to awaken a moment later in a fully intact body was not an experience he was in any way prepared for. He decided to calm himself down by taking in his entire surroundings, and promptly turned his head to the left. The strange cross between badger and raven was too much for him to take, shocking him so hard his emotions burst like a bubble, leaving him extremely drained. With a defeated look, Rodger addressed the only person in the room that did not seem ¡äconfused by the situation. ¡°What is going on?¡± The drake blinked a few times in surprise at being talked to, but promptly caught himself and threw out his chest slightly while standing a bit straighter. With a smirk, he began explaining. ¡°Using this formation, I drew your deceased souls from your world and had them reconstruct your body using the materials I prepared. Unfortunately, even I am not capable of predicting every possible complication, which resulted in a bit of a mix up¡­ your souls, that is. Two fused, and then very slightly mixed with your soul before I could stop it.¡± The badger-raven-cross, which might exactly be what that strange creature was, stared uncomprehending at the human beside it, intrigued by the strange connection he felt to it. Said human did not feel that connection, once again shocked by what was happening. He started inspecting his body, but after finding nothing unusual aside from hard and sharp finger and toe nails, and breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Whatever changes I went through, they do not seem all that drastic. And I mean, you saved me from death after all, so I can hardly get mad at you because I underwent a few changes.¡± While he had no way to be certain that he was telling the truth, there was also no gain to be distrustful towards him. ¡°But why did you do that? Resurrecting strangers from another world does not seem like an efficient use of resources.¡± As long as he was not expected to be some hero who saves the world from doom, or some kind of guinea pig, Rodger was prepared to do whatever was expected of him. Mostly. ¡°I understand your confusion. Being summoned and resurrected by a drake of my, Vividren Woodscales¡¯, stature despite having no relations to me is rather strange. But you may be a stranger to me, but not just any stranger! You have been summoned here because of your potential! The potential to become a mage! By succeeding in summoning you, I have proven that it is possible to summon potential, recently deceased mages to our world and can now start preparing for a summoning on a grander scale.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just have summoned living people with potential? I¡¯m grateful you didn¡¯t, but wouldn¡¯t doing so expand your pool of candidates?¡± ¡°That¡¯s obvious. Kidnapping people from their home is morally apprehensible, and would not incline them to cooperate with us. Additionally, it is guaranteed that their body is in a perfect state, as it will be reconstructed here.¡± Satisfied with the answer he got, Rodger was about the ask about magic, when he once again realized he was naked. ¡°Before we go on, please give me something to wear. It¡¯s getting rather chilly like this.¡± Vividren pointed at a small pile of cloth and moved a cloak over to Rodger with a flick of his finger. He moved to catch it, but a big furry paw intercepted it. The badger-raven took the cloak, and tied it around his waist. Both drake and human looked at the beast with stupefaction for several moments, before Rodger motioned for Vividren to throw him another one. The second cloak was not intercepted, and he gratefully put it on. ¡°Now that both of you are clothed, would you please follow me? I will determine what kind of potential you have.¡± Waiting only for a short moment for an answer, Vividren turned around as soon as Rodger started walking in his direction. The badger-raven followed after him. Vividren led them to a smaller room with a large orb on a pedestal, seemingly connected to a crystal screen by an array of runes. He whispered a few words Rodger didn¡¯t quite catch and the orb, runes and screen started glowing. ¡°Put your hand on the orb and wait for a moment something appears on the screen.¡± Rodger rushed towards the orb and placed his hand on it in anticipation. The orb flashed for a moment, but nothing else happened. Even after several seconds, nothing more happened. Vividren looked thoughtful for a moment, before his eyes lit up in recognition. ¡°Take your hand of the orb for now. I think I know what¡¯s wrong, but I still have to test something.¡± He looked at the badger-raven. ¡°You there. Place your paw on the orb in his stead.¡± He pointed at the orb to make clear what he was saying, and the beast seemed to get what he was trying to tell it and put it into action. The orb flashed exactly as it did before, and both human and beast looked at the Mage in askance.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Just place your hand above its paw.¡± Rodger did just that, and this time the orb flashed brilliantly and numbers and symbols started appearing on the screen. A black nine appeared on the bottom left of the screen, and a white one on the top left. After leaving a Colum empty, a flame, a lightning bolt and a rock appeared, followed by another empty column and an ice crystal. The last part of the screen remained empty. Beneath all symbol appeared two numbers each, except for the rock. Only one number appeared there, almost in the middle of the screen. The numbers in the row of the black nine were all higher than the numbers in the row of the white one, and upon closer inspection, Rodger realized that the bigger numbers were exactly the double of the numbers above them. Those numbers were 4,38 for the flame, 2,57 for the lightning bolt, 3,72 for the rock and 3,25 for the ice crystal. Spoiler: Spoiler https://imgur.com/3uesefb The Screen would look somewhat like this. ¡°I might have a hunch on what this all means, but please explain what the screen is showing us. And why it only worked when we both touched the orb at the same time.¡± ¡°When your souls touched during the summoning, you established a basic soul link between each other. This united your affinity and connection to the elemental planes. But I¡¯ll explain what that entails later, as this is far more interesting.¡± He gestured at the screen. ¡°First: the big nine and one. This shows your negative harmonic connection to the Planes of Energy. This means that you have powerful connection to the Negative Plane and a slight connection to the Positive Plane; and as result additionally a connection to the so called ¡°Neutral Plane¡±, which is the place where the two Planes intersect.¡± ¡°The symbols show which Elemental Affinities you possess, which would be fire, lightning, earth and ice. Your Elemental Affinities are independent from your connection to the Planes of Energy, but certainly Influenced by them. With connection to two Planes of Energy, you will be able to use two elements per Affinity. Since your connection between the Planes has such huge disparity in strength, the positive elements will only ever be half of your positive elements.¡± ¡°Your fire affinity results in fire and soul, lightning affinity in lightning and destruction, and ice affinity in water and ice. Earth affinity is always a dual element, and thus both earth and metal possess the same strength and are not distinguished. Your affinities for all elements are high, but the fire affinity of over 4 is incredible. Everything above 4 is rare for a starting affinity, which makes you quite a lucky catch.¡± Vividren paused to let Rodger digest the information for a moment, so that he could ask questions. Without the screen, he might not have understood everything he was told, but that screen gave him enough help. Which would probably be the reason this screen displays the information so simple. It¡¯s better to keep it easy for newbies after all. ¡°What does it mean exactly to have a high affinity? A strong connection to the Planes of Energy? How does it translate into reality exactly? And what does it mean for us to be soul linked?¡± He gestured to the badger-raven who had been strangely attentive for an animal. ¡°That¡¯s simple. The higher elemental affinity you have, the stronger the power and the control over your spells of that element is. And the strength of the connection to the Planes of Energy equals the speed at which you can increase your affinity and intake elemental mana.¡± He stood a little taller and cleared his voice. ¡°Now to your Soul Link. It simply means you count as a single entity, mage wise. When your affinity increases, his affinity increases and reverse. The same goes for the magic you accumulate. But that advantage is canceled by the fact that you have to work twice as hard to increase your affinity, and have to accumulate twice as much magic. Does that answer all your questions?¡± ¡°No question about magic, at the moment. But what¡¯s going to happen to us now?¡± He was fairly certain that he would be taught magic, as he was brought here for his potential, but not in which capacity. ¡°I¡¯ll be recording the results of the summoning ceremony, and report the results to the master of the mage tower. And you two will remain at the tower, and receive personal tutoring from me. I originally planned to send you to the General classes at the lower floors of the tower, but the chance to study something as rare as a soul link does not come often. Wouldn¡¯t want other mages to steal you away, you see. You will also have to meet the master, but that can wait. I¡¯ll lead you two to your provisional chambers, where you will rest for the night. Let¡¯s go! Every second I have not made my report is a second less I can sleep!¡± Now that Vividren mentioned it, Rodger realized how exhausted he looked. Sunken shoulders, droopy eyes and a slightly hunched pose were not how someone looked when he was full of energy. That might be why it was always so obvious when Vividren stood straighter. The drake hurried through the floor and down the stairs, leading them past many doors, some of which had light shining through. Occasionally, they walked past opened doors, and Rodger saw three different races of people: drakes, humans and smaller statured people with rugged greyish skin and thick beards. He decided to dub these people dwarves, for obvious reasons. ¡°Here it is. There should be a variety of clothes inside the drawers, so choose what fits. Remain here during the night, and don¡¯t wander off too far when you wake up. That¡¯ll be all. Goodnight.¡± Before Rodger could say anything, Vividren stormed off with surprising speed, leaving him alone with the badger-raven. ¡°Normally I¡¯d refrain from sharing the room with an animal that could maim me in my sleep, but I somehow have the feeling you would not do that. You do seem remarkably non-animalistic and we have that soul link thingy. Now that I¡¯m concentrating on you, I have this weird feeling I know what you are thinking, to a degree. It¡¯s the same for you, right?¡± The badger-raven nodded. ¡°To make things easier for you, let¡¯s give you a name. And let¡¯s give your species a name, seeing as you are the first of its kind.¡± The beast nodded again, this time with more vigor. ¡°Your most obvious feature are your entirely black fur and feathers, in addition to the black eyes. So from today on, you are a Heoltor. That means darkness, I think. Dunno what language.¡± Seeing as the beast shrugged, Rodger took it as a confirmation. ¡°As for a name¡­ Let¡¯s go with Arche. Means ¡°origin¡± in Greek, and you are the first of your kind.¡± The heoltor nodded and nuzzled his head against Rodgers. ¡°My name is Rodger Odastovic. I look forward to working with you, Arche.¡± Chapter 2 Chapter 2 The two of them had no trouble finding clothes to fit them, as they came in a variety of colors and sizes. They even had holes for wings, courtesy of drake physique. The wingspan did not matter as much as if the part of the wings that connected to the back had the same width. Folding Arches massive wings to pull the shirt over them was still challenging, and in Rodgers opinion, largely pointless. How someone with thick fur and feathers had the opinion that you had to cover as much of your body with clothes as possible, was beyond his understanding. Just cover your private parts and go to sleep! ¡­But it was endearing that Arche wanted them to wear matching outfits, so he did not complain. And the reddish purple the Heoltor picked suited his darker complexion, which might have played a larger role. Before going to sleep, Rodger insisted that they also prepared outfits for the next day. The clothes were for the most part light and airy, suggesting a warmer climate. Or a collective immunity to cold. It would be incredible if that were the case, but definitely disadvantageous for Arche and him. Contemplating the possible cultural reasons for his clothing, Rodger slowly fell asleep. ??? A powerful gong reverberated through the building and Rodger fell out of his bed in surprise, hitting his head on the ground. While he was writhing in pain on the floor, Arche got busy flattening his fur and feathers, returning them to normal. ¡°Morning.¡± In a slightly bad mood after hitting his head, Rodger only gave a curt greeting. Arche nodded back. He had no vocabulary to base the language on, so the spell hardly worked on him. He still seemed to get the gist of what he was told, but that could be due to accurately reading peoples gestures and body language, or simply the soul link between them providing him with impressions. Before they could put on their clothes completely, the door burst open. Two drakes were standing in the hallway. The older, brown drake was someone Rodger already knew. Or, more accurately, the only person he knew besides Arche: Vividren. Behind him was a younger looking drake with vibrant red scales, tapping his foot very lightly. ¡°I see the morning gong is still as effective as ever.¡± Vividren commented. ¡°Unfortunately, I will be preoccupied for the next few weeks. As such, young Reywas here will teach you the basics. He is one of the many assistant researchers of this mage tower, and certainly capable. And the only one with no obligations or duties keeping him from helping me out, it seems.¡± Reywas crossed his arms and stilled his foot at being addressed. ¡°Nice to meet you, newbies. As it is a good place as any, I¡¯ll teach you in your room. No need to waste time walking.¡± ¡°Likewise, it¡¯s nice to meet you. This is Arche, and I¡¯m Rodger. Thanks for taking time to teach us.¡± Vividrens eyes lit up in realization, but Rodger couldn¡¯t figure out why. Vividren left after he introduced them, leaving them alone with Reywas. ¡°I¡¯m assuming you guys know nothing about magic, besides elemental affinities and planes of energy. Is that correct?¡± Rodger nodded in affirmation, and Arche imitated him a moment later. ¡°In this world there exists a type of energy called mana. It¡¯s found almost everywhere, pervading both the land and the people. Mages are beings who assimilate the natural mana into their bodies, cultivating an inner magical core, refining it further and further. And that¡¯s where affinities come into play; it is only possible to absorb mana of an element you have affinity in. You might say that you could simply absorb neutral mana if you have no affinities, but that¡¯s not feasible. Mana in nature is never neutral. Mana in nature always consists of a combination of the eleven types of natural mana: The big three, Earth, Light and Darkness; The four positive elements Fire, Lightning, Life and Water; And the four negative elements Soul, Destruction, Wind and Ice.¡± ¡°Why are they called the big three?¡± Rodger asked. Light and Darkness were par for the course, but earth seemed unusual. To him at least. ¡°There are three main reasons: One, those three types of mana are the most common, and two, they are different from the other elemental affinities; they are dependent on the connection to the Planes of Energy. Having a Pure connection to either Plane results in either Light or Darkness affinity, and a Harmonic Connection, regardless if it is Negative, Positive or Neutral, results in the Dual elemental Affinity of Earth and Metal. And thirdly, those elements are not weak to any of the other eight elements, but how the elements interact with each other is a topic for another time.¡± Easy to train in, comparatively rarer, and superior to the other elements. And there might be even more reasons, with those being only the main three. ¡°How would I go about absorbing mana? Or better yet, simply sense it? I can¡¯t really absorb something I can¡¯t feel, after all.¡± Even air was something you could feel to a lesser degree.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Non-mages can¡¯t feel mana. Even a Mage like me has trouble feeling and controlling natural mana to absorb it directly. Several decades ago, the goblin Arcanist Eriyen the Perceptive discovered certain phrases that could manipulate and guide mana. Not only did her discovery revolutionize spellcraft, it also had the side effect of allowing aspiring mages to tunnel minor quantities mana though their bodies to work weak spells, passively absorbing the leftover mana. She later went on to become the first Magi, a feat only nine other people have managed to achieve since then.¡± Reywas spoke with fervent adoration, with an intensity that reminded Rodger of his Sumo teacher. He felt listless then, thinking about a home he might never would return to, and asked Reywas another question to distract himself. ¡°You keep talking about titles like, Magus, Arcanist and Magi. I have no idea how they relate to each other and what they represent.¡± An implied question, but a question nonetheless. ¡°Those are the formal titles mages receive once they reach a certain stage in cultivating their inner mana core. Those of the first stage, the Mana Gathering stage, are called Mages, like me. Like the name implies, mages only gather mana inside their mana core during this stage. Upon reaching the second stage, mages condense the gathered mana to establish a foundation. Those mages are then called Magus.¡± Due to the remarkable similarities to cultivation of Chinese wuxia novels, Rodger felt somewhat at ease. ¡°Afterwards comes Tower Creation, in which mages construct something called an ¡°Inner Tower¡±, and this ¡°Inner Tower¡± influences and empowers their magic. Those of this stage are called Magisters. Magister Vividren is one of the 17 Magister of our Mage Tower, for your knowledge. The last relevant stage is called the Archsoul stage. During this stage, you empower your soul body with magic to such a degree that it can exist in the physical realm, independently of your physical body. We only have one such mage in here: The Master of the Mage Tower, Archmage Gamsun Lakesplitter.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t there at least two more stages? You know, like Arcanist and Magi.¡± Rodger reminded Reywas. ¡°Right, you wanted to know because of Magi Eriyen. I usually leave them out because I do not know anything further than their names and the respective titles, but I guess it is appropriate to tell you. The last three stages are called Magic Ascension, Crystallization and Absolution. Arcanist Archon and Magi. Most people fail to cross the threshold between Archmage and Arcanist, and due to that rarity, I have never met a single one.¡± His eyes narrowed as said so, and a hint of venom crept in his voice, but he quickly returned to his usual fierce and affable expression. ¡°But all that is not important for you at the moment. You want to take the first step towards becoming a Mage, and there is no need to drag this out any longer. I will now speak the simple Keyphrase for the spell [Earth Sense] and you will repeat after me.¡± Reywas then opened his mouth, but whatever he said was unintelligible and seemed to disappear from his memory afterwards. ¡°Could you repeat that? I didn¡¯t quite catch that.¡± The drake frowned and looked at him quizzically. Again, he repeated what he said. But it was the same as before, and Rodger had a feeling something was wrong. Reywas distorted expression of undisguised disbelief and pity affirmed this further. Reywas sighed deeply. ¡°The Keyphrases Magi Eriyen has created are built on her understanding of magic gained during her times as an Arcanist, and unfortunately, not every soul is capable of understanding those phrases. Usually, all potential mages have the ability to understand those phrases, due to a subconscious understanding of the laws governing the elements gained to exposure to mana during their growth to adolescence. But among those who grew up in an environment with very thin mana density, their subconsciousness never developed sufficient understanding of the laws.¡± ¡°Since the modern method is not an option for you, you will have to fall back on the methods of the old mages. But therein lies another problem: due to your soul link, you possess a kind of shared soul, which has multiple advantages, but such a soul is difficult for others to pinpoint and influence. Normally a boon, this becomes a curse in your current situation. Directly transferring mana into you is impossible for most mages. Even the Archmage might be unable to help you in this case, but I don¡¯t know. And it probably doesn¡¯t matter, as he can¡¯t afford to spend time on such a task.¡± ¡°The only other method available to you is consuming crystallized mana, but that is expensive and very inefficient. Becoming a mage is not possible for you under the current circumstances. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Seeing his distraught look, Reywas left to give Rodger time to digest everything. Arche put his arm around him in concern, and a hint of¡­ confusion? ¡°Did you understand anything he said? Anything at all?¡± Rodger had been far too engrossed in Reywas lesson to consider Arches situation. When Arche nodded his head in shame, Rodger burst out laughing. ¡°You just stood there, for several minutes, and only ever understood the few things I said vaguely?¡± Another nod, and Rodger laughed even harder. ¡°And instead of nudging me for a moment so I could tell you, you thought the best course of action was to stand there and act like you know what¡¯s going on.¡± Slowly, with visible apprehension, Arche nodded again. Rodger doubled over laughing and for a while, simply lay there wheezing, while Arche crossed his arms and pouted. After a few minutes, Rodger told the now pouting Heoltor what exactly Reywas was telling them. ¡°No need to look at me like that. We might not be able to learn magic right now, but who cares? We have other things to worry about, like your little language problem.¡± Arche seemed to accept that, most likely only concerned about the whole thing because Rodger looked so distraught at first. ¡°And he didn¡¯t say it was impossible. Making enough money to fund both of us would probably be huge undertaking, but who says we have to? If the current methods are unfeasible, I just have to create my own method. Replicating a feat of a literal legend with far more power and experience than me is most definitely a fool¡¯s errand. But who am I to say it¡¯s impossible? Maybe all that¡¯s needed for a new discovery is a different completely different, from someone who lived in a different world? And ultimately, it would be a nice hobby and distraction, and give me a goal to work forward to. Nothing motivates more than a definite goal, don¡¯t you think?¡± Arche shrugged, and a loud rumble brought another matter to Rodgers attention: ¡°We had no breakfast yet, did we?¡± Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Had Rodger bothered to look out o the window in his room, he would have realized the proportions of the Tower. Not that it really mattered, but he might have been prepared more prepared for his situation. After he left the room with Arche, he found Reywas waiting for him. Just like the two of them, he also had not eaten anything for breakfast yet, and already intended to go eat breakfast with them. He told them that the mess hall was in the lower floors, and that they were in the middle of the tower. What he did not tell them, likely due to thinking it was obvious, was that he still had to take the stairs through twenty-something floors. Rodger always thought of himself as athletic to an extent, but Sumo did not prepare him for that. Walking down the stairs was well and good, but keeping up with the two others was difficult. He could simply walk at his own pace, but his pride wouldn¡¯t let him. His inner child would not allow him to lose a race he started, even if the other participants did not know they were a part of a race. Barely keeping himself from panting in exhaustion, Rodger silently relished in his victory when they arrived in the mess hall. Arche appeared confused by the emotions that he felt over the soul link, but ignored them and followed the two of them through the halls. As he walked through the halls, Rodger observed the crowds around him. Most tables were mixed groups of drakes, dwarves, and humans, but drakes sat amongst themselves far more often than not. He only saw one table where humans sat in a group alone, and dwarves never sat in a homogenous group. Just as he was observing them, many people in the mess hall sent over curious glances, and the hall got subtly quieter the farther they went in. This was mostly due to Arches presence, standing out in a hall full of the three other races. But a not so small group of people also scrutinized Rodger, for reasons unknown to him. A human like him should be only worth a single glance here; he had the same brown skin as all the other humans after all. Was it his clothing then? That couldn¡¯t be it. Most humans wore similar clothing, and the colors were all other the place. Unable to find any obvious difference, Rodger noted the clothing of the other two races. Drakes predominantly wore light clothing, showing of their lustrous scales. Amongst the drake only groups, some had tattoos on display, and those drakes usually sat at the center of their group. Their groups even had this very marking on their clothes, and unlike the other drakes, shared a single color for their clothing. Drakes in mixed groups mostly wore clothes matching the color of their scales, a trend both Reywas and Vividren shared. But amongst the drakes not showing off their scales, Reywas seemed to be an exception, being the only young drake to do so. The dwarves shared the human penchant for colorful clothing. That was to be expected, as like the brown skin of the humans, their skin color was also neutral, and thus matched with almost all other colors. Smirking a little, Rodger thought there might be more than fifty shades of grey among the dwarves. ¡°Reywas, over here! Just like you asked, we left three spots open!¡± A gravelly voice called from their left. When Roger turned his head, he saw a dwarf waving at them. He was joined at the table by a drake with striking white scales, and two humans. Compared to the other tables, this one was sparsely occupied. There were more than three free chairs open, but no one made an attempt to sit with them. Reywas sat next to the dwarf, in front of the other drake, who was sandwiched between the two humans. Rodger sat next to Reywas and Arche next to him. Everyone looked between them and Reywas, waiting for him to introduce them. ¡°These two here are Rodger and Arche. They are Magister Vividrens guests, and he forbade me from asking about their origin, which naturally extends to you. He told me it should remain secret for now, and should anybody go against his wishes or even spy on them, they will be expelled from this tower, on the authority of the Tower Master.¡± The tables around them ¨C having listened in ¨C started to whisper in hushed voices, which quickly spread across the hall. But just as quickly as the silence arrived, it disappeared again, with the people trying not to glance at them too much. At their table, however, only the white drake appeared nervous. The other three seemed like they were desperately keeping their curiosity in check. ¡°This is Diro.¡± He patted the dwarfs head, who swat his hand away. She gave them an enthusiastic nod. ¡°This girl is Nilssi.¡± He gestured at the other drake, and she flashed her sharp teeth for what appeared to be a smile. The mouth was the biggest difference between drakes and humans, so Rodger could not quite place the expression. ¡°And those two are Akoni and Keona. They¡¯re ¨C¡° ¡°Why do you to have the same eyes? Are you siblings?¡± The guy ¨C Akoni ¨C asked, interrupting Reywas, who did not seem perturbed by it. Rodger blinked, surprised by the question. What did he mean by that? Did Arche and he have the same eyes? It wasn¡¯t like he had a mirror to check, but Rodger knew Akoni had to be telling the truth. It would be an odd thing to lie about, after all.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Because of the soul link, probably. I don¡¯t really know myself, it¡¯s a recent development. And I can¡¯t tell you anymore, because it¡¯s related to my origin. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re keeping it a secret, personally, but I suppose there¡¯s a reason for it.¡± Arche nodded along sagely, pretending he knew what was going on. Akoni nodded satisfied and leaned back into his chair. ¡°So, are you also a generalist like us?¡± Dori asked, pushing Reywas out of the way to talk to them. ¡°I don¡¯t know? Tell me what a generalist is first.¡± ¡°A generalist is a mage training in at least three elemental affinities. Given that many people only have one or two affinities, and that the majority of mages see no value in dividing up your focus, generalists are rare. Besides us, there are a few Magus and one Magister, but we¡¯re the only Mages.¡± Nilssi answered, before Dori could. ¡°So, are you?¡± ¡°I have enough affinities to be one, in theory. But I can¡¯t understand Keyphrases and my soul link prevents other mages from transferring mana to me. Even if I become a mage one day, it¡¯ll be a long time till then.¡± Aside from Reywas, the others looked uncomfortable having asked me something that appeared to be a touchy subject. ¡°All my life, I believed I would never become a mage. Waiting a few more years won¡¯t make much of a difference.¡± Considering magic did not exist in his world, the mere possibility to become a mage was already a large improvement. ¡°Let¡¯s just get breakfast. That¡¯s why we came down here in the first place, after all.¡± ¡°Right! We waited for you guys, but now that you¡¯re here, we can finally get something to eat! Up we go!¡± Dori stood up in haste and started walking away, but halted. ¡°Someone has to watch our table! I won¡¯t! Any volunteers?¡± She looked around the table and rested her gaze on Arche. ¡°Arche! You¡¯re so big and intimidating, if you stay here, no one will approach our table! Would you watch it while we get food for everyone?¡± Unsure what to do, Arche just nodded. Dori took this as confirmation and smiled, urging everyone to hurry up. Rodger could have explained the fact that the Heoltor did not understand anyone but him, but then decided to simply let the situation play out. He wondered how long it would take them to figure it out, and smirked. ¡°Thanks for watching the table for us, buddy.¡± He said, and patted Arches back. He nodded again, this time understanding what was expected of him. Following after Dori, they arrived at the buffet. Before she went to pick up her breakfast, she turned around and asked him what kinda food Arche ate. If he was right about the Heoltor being some kind of badger-raven fusion, meat would be a safe bet. ¡°He can probably eat anything, but some kind of meat would be best.¡± ¡°That¡¯s kinda vague, but that just means I have to get him a bit of every kind, right?¡± Without waiting for a confirmation, Dori plastered the plate with different slices of meat and dried bugs. The buffet was rather diverse, most likely due to accosting three different races, and potentially more. To ¡®safe him from wasting time deciding on his food¡¯, the two drakes and Akoni put stuff on his plate. The drakes favored food that was well spiced, especially meat, and Akoni placed carrot and potato lookalikes and some kind of bread on his plate to balance everything. In the end, Rodger left it all to them. They returned with the food, and saw a red drake leave the table. ¡°See you around, big guy!¡± She said and waved at Arche, who just nodded in mild confusion. ¡°Already making friends I see! You say nothing when you¡¯re with us, but a beautiful drake approaches you, you¡¯re suddenly open. Is our Nilssi not enough for you?¡± Dori asked in a slight mocking tone, and promptly got hit on the head by an irritated white drake. ¡°He¡¯s just shy. Give him some time, and he¡¯ll come out of his shell.¡± He lied in glee. Happy how easily everyone seemed to accept Arche only gesturing, Rodger smiled widely. The way things started to develop, everything would most likely result in many funny misunderstandings. ¡°Who was that girl, anyway?¡± ¡°I think her name was Ssas. She¡¯s one of the more recent members of this tower.¡± Reywas answered. ¡°She approaches everyone who she thinks seems interesting to talk to them. That¡¯s how I got to know her.¡± ¡°No other drake has scales with such a strong red here, so it makes sense that you would stand out, even if you can¡¯t see as much as with other drakes.¡± Keona chimed in. Dori pulled out the chair loudly to get everyone¡¯s attention and sat down. The rest followed suit, not wasting anymore time and got to eating. ¡°Excuse if it¡¯s rude to ask, but what are you? I¡¯ve never seen a race quite like yours.¡± Keona asked Arche. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, he¡¯s also the first of his kind I ever met. He¡¯s a Heoltor, if you must know. Can¡¯t tell you much about them either, but he¡¯ll tell you once he opens up to you. And once we get permission to speak about our origin, of course. If I¡¯m right about the reason we¡¯re not allowed to talk about it, then it¡¯s only matter of time.¡± He and Arche were a test run, according to Vividren. And once more have been summoned, someone will let the secret slip. Or they will just get permission in the first place, if Vividren anticipates them not keeping quiet. The secret was mostly only being kept so that no one else gets wind of what they¡¯re doing, and tries to interfere with or imitate them. After they finished their breakfast, they made small talk, leaving Rodger and Arche mostly on the sidelines. As the mess hall slowly emptied itself, Vividren appeared in the doorway and walked up to them. ¡°Rodger, Arche, the Tower Master would like to speak with you.¡± He told them, but frowned for a moment when he looked at the two. But he then shrugged. ¡°Mage Reywas, I thank you for taking your time to help them.¡± ¡°Not at all, Magister.¡± He turned to Rodger and Arche. ¡°What are you waiting for? Don¡¯t keep the Magister waiting!¡± Rodger and Arche quickly stood up, following Vividren through the entrance. Not a Chapter Due to spending a lot of time playing Dark Souls, and the rest of the time thinking about playing Dark Souls, I did not write a lot. Not enough. This is just so you know, but don''t worry, the story will continue.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Filler since I don''t have enough words: Due to spending a lot of time playing Dark Souls, and the rest of the time thinking about playing Dark Souls, I did not write a lot. Not enough. This is just so you know, but don''t worry, the story will continue.