A large camp was formed at the edge of the woods. Blocked off from the outside by the trees fell by the settlers, and arranged in piles - ready to use in the next few days.
In the middle of one of the circles formed by the tents, fireplaces stood. Which in turn, were surrounded by people grilling their dinner above the embers.
"So, mister Fenfallal, why were you sent on this mission? I thought a royal Swordmaster would be more needed... in a place with more royals." Adam started the conversation, after sitting beside the fire quietly for a while. All around people talked and laughed, only their fireplace remained stoic.
The man looked away from his skewer, towards the mages sitting at his right side, especially at the one in blue.
"The king decided that I am more needed as your guard than in our homeland - and it's a good thing." He explained briefly, but seeing Adam's still puzzled look, he continued. "My absence will make it easier for Klemens to establish his power, he will need his authority to be unquestionable in the future, especially when this city is completed and we will march south." He signed at the space around them. "And my fame and prestige would make the job much harder for him - people tend to cling to old, reliable methods instead of venturing into uncharted territories, even if they seem promising."
"I disagree, I would much rather go to an uncharted territory, of course, after I gained enough power to defend myself," Adam said, with all conviction in the world.
"An exception proves the rule." Stated Fenfallal, looking back into the fire.
Adam wanted to continue, but Stellmo - the Royal Swordmaster's second in command, and also a master warrior, spoke to him before he managed to go on.
"Leave him, he is getting sentimental by the campfires - I bet he won't notice us talking to him if we don't use his name," Stellmo said, pointing at the golden warrior with his chin.
Stellmo was a middle-aged man, much like his superior. His eyes glowed red in the fire, much more than others as his, were red even without the ember's hue. He was tall, and he had short, black hair. Next to him, a medium-sized shield and a bastard sword were resting on a small stump.
"You, I see, don't have such problems?" Adam inquired.
"No, I am fully against such silence, unfortunately, the rest of the team likes to imitate the leader." The warrior complained. "But enough about us, we don't know each other well, and will spend long moths together - tell us about yourself" As the second in command asked, the rest of the warriors, and Algier, turned their heads towards the young boy.
"Well, I am a mage, but I didn't expect to become one until the new year. I ascended just two weeks ago, to the second realm." Adam said with some reservation, he wasn't sure what to say, to be honest.
"What about your element? I heard you mages set it in stone during your first ascension, unlike us." The warrior questioned. nearly all of them were curious about that, but after he didn't tell Algier about it during the official breakfast, the news spread that he wanted it to remain a secret. Apparently, Stellmo didn't care about what he heard or figured that Adam would tell them, considering they would spend the next few months together.
And he was right to do so.
"Arcane - I figured that was the best choice." Adam, against most of their bets, revealed his attunement.
Next, as the warriors and Algier looked at him in anticipation, waiting for a follow-up, Adam raised his head from Parcas's head and created a rune mid-air.
A simple, translucent symbol, blue in colour has appeared. After Adam poured some more mana into it, a piece of ice manifested above the rune.
After its creation, the young mage manipulated the piece of ice to float around, effortlessly. The rune dissipated after its objective was completed.
"How does that work?" Algier asked in fascination. "The mana is clearly darkish blue, not light blue as it would if it was of ice element." He said, to help those not familiar with magic in understanding the situation.
"Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? Pure mana used with runes seems to work as the element the spell is made for as if it recognised the pattern." Adam stared with amazement at his own creation.
"Is it more powerful than in the first realm?" Algier questioned with curiosity, his jaw hung low.
"Yes, it is - about the same as if an ice mage in the second realm created it - I asked some seniors about it already." Adam proudly stated, but then felt a need to clarify something. "But it comes with a drawback, for it to be as powerful as a normal ice mage's spell would be, I need to use runes - most mages wouldn't be able to do that. If I used normal spells, or manipulated mana in the environment freely, it wouldn't be different than when I was in the first realm." That fact made the young mage slightly disappointed, but he wasn't the type to keep thinking about something he couldn't change.
Algier on the other hand, showed signs of extreme shock. He had no idea something like that was possible.
Another person showing this interest was Fenfallal, who finally looked from above his skewer with curiosity.
"That's amazing... What about the elemental incompatibility?" The wind mage questioned once again.
"None, but also no compatibility." Hearing the words that came from his junior's mouth, Algier seemed to freeze on the spot, shocked to the core.
Elemental incompatibility was such a big pain in the arse, that he wasn't sure to what extremes he would be able to go, to get rid of it.
Basically, each element had its friends and foes, among the elemental family. When the mage created a core with said element, some would support it and be supported by it, and some would fight against each other.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
In Algier's case, his wind-aligned core made all elements relying on weight useless, as his mana had inherently lighter properties. But on the other hand, if changed into fire mana, or lightning mana, whose natural counterparts were practically weightless - the wind-aligned core would enhance the spells, making them faster, and more precise...
That made each earth spell Algier used - weaker, and each fire spell - more powerful.
"That's huge!" Algier exclaimed, breaking from his stupor.
"Congratulations." Even swordmaster Fenfallal acknowledged Adam's discovery.
In a flash of inspiration, a devious plan formed in Adam's head. If it succeded, he would learn more about magic, at the cost of learning more about the runes - which meant no downsides.
"Yeah, I am proud that I stumbled into something like that. I also plan to check if I can make runes viable for combat, and have them tied to my armour." Saying that he showed pockets and straps hanging from his torso.
"It is, but only for defensive or reactive spells - but there is no demand for them. Runes are mostly used in enchanting equipment - which I am not sure why you didn't." Agier responded, his mood shifted from amazement to a slight confusion.
"Huh? I could?" Adam questioned in puzzlement.
"Yes." Algier pushed the side of his loose green robe open, revealing multiple hard-leather plates with etched symbols into them - sewn into the fabric. "My robe absorbs shock, is lighter than it should be and keeps heat inside." He boasted.
"Whoaaa.." Adam was taken aback. "That's incredible."
"Senior Algier, how about this - I will teach you about the usage of runes - the one I discovered at least - and you will help me with wind magic. What do you say?" Adam asked immediately after.
The older mage stared at him stunned, he didn't expect such an offer, especially not just after Adam praised his robe.
"...Well, we certainly can, though we should talk some more about it later." He eventually agreed, after thinking for a moment.
"Of course, I will look forward to that moment," Adam replied with satisfaction, his plan worked nearly perfectly, even though the conversation went in a way completely unpredicted by him.
Stellmo probably felt left out, as he bent towards the talkers, and changed the topic of the conversation - so that he too, could voice his opinion.
"Do you plan to come with us to the forest?" He asked, towards Algier.
"Nah, I will stay with Adam, maybe help the builders a bit." The wind mage replied, with a relaxed tone. "I don't like killing beasts, it's quite pointless in itself."
The swordmaster nodded at the answer and continued to talk.
"True, it's quite sad, but if we don't do that the beasts will reap the settlers to shreds - that is, if there are any in the forest..." Stellmo rambled on and on, he was quite a talkative guy.
The fires burned, inside circles made of tents until dawn. The people who sat around them though, left long before that.
The guards had to scour the forest, in search of danger - which might even take them a few days, so in an attempt to shorten the time wasted, they decided to start as soon as possible.
The settlers also didn't have a promising morning. They were to start their work first thing in the morning - building infrastructure for future works on the city. Few barracks here and there, warehouses and workshops.
The only ones with relatively relaxed morning were Adam and Algier - they had nothing to do. Even then, Adam planned to wake up quite early and force his senior to experiment on runes with him. One question ate him up for a long time already:
Would someone with elemental core experience casting spells through floating runes the same as him?
On the side, he really needed to create a term for his method - floating runes was lame and boring, unlike the technique.
-----------------------------
Early in the morning, the warriors ventured to the forest, quickly disappearing between the trees.
Adam walked them out with his eyes, then turned around and went towards a spot in the middle of the camp.
There, in quite a spacious plot of land, surrounded from all sides by tents, horses rested. These were both the draft horses meant for wagons with equipment and the animals belonging to envoys and their guards, fast and agile.
In the crowd of creatures, only one gained Adam's attention.
The young mage went to a brown horse and looked him in the eyes while petting his snout. Los - Adam's horse, looked back curiously between his owner and a cat sitting inside the pocket of his coat.
"Beautiful animals aren't they?" Someone approached from the side.
"Yes, I guess you are right, sometimes they are... mesmerising," Adam replied without looking back.
"Adam Axigna I presume?" The man asked, nearing the young mage's side.
"Yes, how do you know?" Adam replied with a hint of fear. He looked at the newcomer, who turned out to be one of the settlers. A man in his twenties, in durable work clothes.
"Despite what one might think, in a camp filled with men the gossips spread far and wide. And if they weren't about reverend mages, it would mean that the world has gone to dogs." The man answered, more poetically than Adam expected.
"Oh... right... But who am I speaking with?" Adam asked his interlocutor.
"Don't concern yourself about such things, young master. There is no reason for you to remember the name of someone like me - we will probably never meet again, maybe aside for the next few days." The man rejected Adam's request, though quite politely.
The settler looked at Adam's horse, Los, with eyes filled with curiosity.
"A young one huh? If I may ask, what is his ancestry? Any famous predecessors?" He questioned.
"I am not sure - I got him just a few days before departure. And quite frankly, I am no expert in regard to horses. It may sound macabre, but I would do a better job at skinning one, than taking care of it." Adam admitted, with regret buried deep in his voice.
"No shame in that, I am not an expert myself, though I think I would fare better at caring, rather than skinning." The man brushed off Adam's grim comment.
"What do you think I should do? I heard that horses need some maintenance, like brushing their hair or something, and came here to figure that out." Adam asked his companion, unsure about what to do.
"I don't really know... But we can ask Barney - he takes care of animals here. I'm sure he will be of help to you." While talking, the settler's eyes gradually looked down, catching movement below. "Whoa, what a cutie, what is its name?" He asked with a raised voice, pointing at the cat sitting in Adam's pocket.
"He is Parcas, my cat," Adam answered proudly while petting his pupil's head. Seeing that, Los put his snout forward - also expecting pats.
"So you do have an animal... But I guess cats take care of themselves." The builder commented, staring at Parcas's appealing expression.
"Can you lead me to that Barney of yours?" Adam asked, after giving Los a treat in the form of an apple. During his stay in the citadel, the young mage managed to get a grasp of nature magic, he had not created any spells with it yet, but it proved to be useful even if used only to freshen fruits and vegetables.
"Certainly, come with me." The man happily obliged.
As they were walking in the direction of the nearest tent, a huge commotion erupted at the edge of the woods.
Screams for help reached their ears, alongside whines of pain and wolf's howls of anger.
Immediately, Adam and his companion changed course. The man took some axe which was lying on the side and Adam prepared a few icicles, as the runes danced around him.
Running at their full speed, they reached the site in a few moments, a few moments too late.
There, a bloodied man lay on the ground, clutching his arm to his torso - he cried out for help constantly, unaware that the attacking wolves left him alone.
Left him alone, but not out of their own volition, rather than that, they were all dead.
In place of vicious beasts, there were a few piles of scattered bones, surrounded by large pools of blood and torn organs.
It was as if someone unleashed a storm inside them, tearing them apart - exploding them from within.
The one responsible for such brutality was obviously Algier, the wind mage, as the guards - the primary defensive force of the camp - left just under an hour ago.
Also, the fact that he was standing in the air, looking down at the mangled corpses with a mad, satisfied expression didn't help his anonymousness.