Lar leaned over to watch the game of dice between two of his friends and fellow guards. Currently Kaeso the corporal of their unit was winning by almost double the score, but his opponent Gallus was not one to give in. With it being Gallus’s turn he took all six of the six sided dice and placed them in the cup before covering it with his hand. Just before he was about to place the cup on the table he said a short little prayer and slammed it on the table. Upon lifting the cup all sis of the dice landed on the sixth side.
The table and all those watching erupted in shock and surprise, Corporal Kaeso always won when he faced his men. They weren't exactly sure how he did it, but it always happened no matter who it was. Gallus on the other hand was laughing and happily collecting the money both he and his corporal had bet with. “Ha ha ha, praise be Solarius and his ever watchful flame!”
Gallus praised Solarius the god he worshipped and whom he gave his prayer to. But the rest of his unit was quick to refute him. “Solarius did not help you win.” “If I recall gambling is not something Solarius particularly likes.” “Didn’t the circle of fire explicitly share their disdain for gambling?”
“Oh you guys have no faith. Why wouldn’t Solarius help his followers?” Gallus shouted out to his unit, but they didn’t seem to mind. As it was most likely the alcohol that was doing the talking rather than himself.
The unit had recently gotten a few days off for their impeccable performance and they all decided to spend the first one together in one of their favorite bars and in their most frequented spot. As such Lar wat seated right next to a window giving him a clear view to the outside.
Every so often when the unit was getting into stupid arguments over things like if Solarius cared for gambling he would look outside at the people passing until they would finish. As a result he noticed Arthur passing by and immediately recalled his promise to his nephew.
So as everyone was distracted by their argument he quickly slipped away and out of the tavern to speak with Arthur. “Sir Arthur!” Lar called out, waving his arm in a drunk and sloppy manner.
Arthur stopped and turned to look at Lar who he immediately recognized from the day of the attack on the southern district. “Hello again Lar, do you need something?”
“I wanted to ask you something but I didn’t have the chance last time we met. You are a mage right?” Lar attempted to keep himself from slurring his speech too much and was moderately successful.
“Yes I am, do you need help from a mage?” Arthur was a little confused by that question. ‘I assumed most would be able to tell or know by now, but it simply be because he is drunk.’
“Yes actually. My nephew knows a little bit of magic, nothing too dangerous but he can do some cool tricks with water. I wanted to ask if you would be willing to teach him a little bit. I tried to see if the mages guild would teach him, but they said to return when he was sixteen.”
Arthur paused, teaching? This was a first, while he had been taught by others he hadn’t ever actually tried to teach anyone else or had anyone ask him. After thinking about it for a good half minute with Lar anxiously waiting for his response, he finally said “Sure, I don’t see why not.”
Lar smiled and had to restrain himself from jumping from joy at Arthur's answer. Finally his nephew would have a proper magic teacher. “But I do need to warn you, most of what I will probably end up teaching him will be how to practice on his own. At low levels of proficiency it is best to simply practice control over power.” Arthur was sure to give a disclaimer before Lar got too excited, but Lar did not show any difference in his expression.
“Of course, I trust you sir Arthur. When are you available to teach him? I can make certain that he has time for you.”
“How about for the last two days of the week? I usually take a bit of time off on those days for myself and my friends so I don't have anything important going on. Does that work for you and your nephew?”
“Most certainly, thank you. I'll go tell him now.”
***********
Four days later on the second to last day of the week Arthur arrived at the residence of Lar’s brother for his nephew's basic magic training. The house was of a decent size for a family of commoners and a little bigger than his own.
Arthur walked right up to the front door catching the attention of a few of neighbors who spoke amongst themselves about the new visitor. With three loud knocks Arthur heard a voice on the other side shout out “Just a minute!”
Just a few seconds later a woman in her late twenties opened the door and smiled upon seeing his attire. “You must be Arthur. Please come inside, I’ll go get Marcus.”
The woman, presumably Marcus’s mother, rushed outside through the back door and soon returned with a young boy that looked to be about eight years old. Upon seeing Arthur Marcus’s eyes lit up like a candle. “H- hi sir Arthur! My uncle Lar told me you were coming today.”
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Marcus’s mother flinched a bit at the word sir but kept her composure. “Please take a seat sir Arthur, would you like some tea?”
“I am alright for now, and you can just call me Arthur. I have no knightly title and I don’t believe I am ready for one.” Arthur gave a soft smile as he attempted to hide his dislike of being called sir.
‘Why does Lar always refer to me as a sir, it always souls like I am a knight.’
With all the pleasantries out of the way Arthur turned to Marcus who was seated on the other side of the table. “Your uncle said you knew a bit of magic, could you show me?”
Marcus nodded and picked up a cup from the nearby counter top that was filled halfway with water. He placed the cup on the table so Arthur could see him dip his finger in and remove it with a marble's worth of water sticking to it. Marcus presented the small amount of water and with his little magic skill had it flow around his hand on its own, even having it stick to the underside defying normal gravity.
Arthur nodded as he took mental notes of Marcus’s skill, reminding him of himself when he first started practicing magic three months ago in Dom Badaher.
“You have made wonderful progress on your own. But your current training technique could use some work, so I will show you what I did when I first started learning magic.” Arthur took the cup of water in his hand and using his hydromancy made the water begin to flow in a clockwise circle, creating a whirlpool effect that he showed to Marcus who looked absolutely amazed by a simple trick.
“Now this is a lot simpler than it appears. What you need to do is take control of some of the water and have it move at a consistent speed around the cup. Since it is not in contact with your skin for the whole time this will help you practice controlling your mana from a distance, and as you progress you will be able to control more and more until you have the whole cups worth of water.”
“What about after that? How do I practice after that?” Marcus looked to Arthur like he was a god speaking in riddles.
“Well, that is a fair bit ahead of you, but I see no harm in telling you. After you master controlling the water in a cup you will want to practice making it levitate.”
“Levitate!? Is that really possible!?”
“Yes it is. But like controlling the water in the cup you want to start small and progressively use more. For now your progress will rely upon your dedication and how much you practice, and I will be back tomorrow to help you if you have any problems, ok?”
“Ok. I will practice as much as I can today Mr. Arthur. So I can be as powerful as you.” Marcus said with a large grin on his face, hoping to impress Arthur with his dedication.
“That's good to hear, but remember, sometimes taking breaks can help you process the information you’ve learned rather than just pushing through.”
***********
Arthur routinely tutored Marcus at his home on the last two days of every week, he would arrive and take a look at his progress before giving him a few pointers and leaving. While Marcus did remind Arthur of himself his progress was much slower than his own, the primary cause of this being his tiny mana pool of just one.
According to Marcus’s mother the only reason why he even earned a level was because for a short amount of time he was working with his father as a butcher and was tasked with killing a few animals, as well as killing some mice and rats. Needless to say Marcus was a little traumatized by that and put all the attribute points he received into his vitality and constitution. But since Marcus is still a child he hasn’t received the full benefits of those changes.
But Marcus still persevered in his training by taking frequent breaks whenever he remembered and stopping when he started to feel headaches from mana exhaustion.
This went on for another month with Marcus making great progress for a newcomer to magic, and Arthur improving his skill and knowledge in magic and alchemy, by practicing magic while consulting books, and receiving some training from some of the more skilled alchemists in the club.
/- - - - - -\
+ Pyromancy Level 14
+ Aeromancy Level 11
+ Alchemy Level 9
\- - - - - -/
With all the money he was receiving from selling his alchemy creations to the club, and by extension the guild, Arthur decided it was about time to look at some of the magic items that were sold by the guild, and since Calavia would always meet with him in the magic item hall he decided to invite her along.
“Wow, I can believe this is your first time buying something with magic properties. Are you excited?” Calava asked while walking next to Arthur.
“A little, last time I took a look around I only looked at that cloak for novices that would expand the wearer's mana capacity a bit.” Arthur said as the thought back to that day three months prior. He recalled some armor, weapons, and lots of staves, but nothing specific like what they each did.
“Well you are in luck you invited me, I can guarantee that with my help you will find something to your liking. But it would help if you gave me a few ideas before we got there, so is there anything you particularly would like?”
Arthur took a moment to think about what he wanted. ‘My current fighting style doesn’t really lack anything at the moment, so the only improvements to be made would be to improve what I currently have.’
“Well a set of enchanted armor or longsword would be nice, aside from that I don’t really have anything in mind.”
“Really? Well I don’t exactly have good news for the armor, typically you need to make a custom order for enchanted armor, the sword isn’t so bad though. But I would have expected you to consider a talisman to substitute a shield spell or something.” Calava gave a dramatic shrug as she looked at Arthur’s confused face. “You do know what a talisman is right?”
“Those things from children's stories? I assumed they were just made up.”
“What!? You can’t be serious! Just about every mage of apprentice rank or high at least has one talisman for emergencies. On top of their practicality they are also far cheaper than most enchanted equipment, and a lot easier to replace too.”
“Oh would you look at that, the hall is just up ahead.” Arthur started walking double time towards the magic item hall while Calavia was starting daggers into the back of his head for not knowing simple facts about magic.