Chapter 12 - Irregular Magi

After Arnest got a little revenge on his mentor, he went to his cabin. Tired from all the events of the day, he dived into his bed and laid there. He then started to activate his [Shadow Step], transforming himself into a shadow that hung above his bed.

Adjusting the mana, he first started to only let out a little. The shadow form wavered and became wavy and wobbly, unable to hold a firm form. Then he upped the volume of mana outputted and the shadow became rigid with jagged points. Arnest would go back and forth between these two modes every night until his mana was exhausted, leaving him unconscious.

Randomly, a thought occurred to him. “What if I direct the mana out of a certain point?”

Until now he had noticed that whenever he used mana, which poured out of his entire body. And if you were able to release mana from every point of your body, if you had enough control you probably could release it out of just a single point - like from your hand or even just your finger.

So Arnest started to intensely concentrate and directed all his man to his hands. He could feel the surge of energy rushing into his chest, through his arms and then out his hands. The shadow that had encompassed his entire body now only covered Arnest’s arms and hands.

“So it is possible! It’s just that I don’t have a lot of control yet.”

So with this new theory, Arnest practiced it until the suns disappeared into the horizon.

A week passed and the entire city seemed to be more lively than usual. This was due to the birthday of the city lord’s son soon approaching. Although not everyone was permitted to join the main party at the Zanas Mansion, there would be a festival that everyone could enjoy. And so everyone busily were setting up decorations and lights that would light up every corner of the Zanabo.

Talas had also been also preparing. He learned that Arnest was a magus with a small army who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Finding out which island one came from was usually difficult because there were so many but it didn’t really matter anyways. Only people who came from one of the great cities would have some sort of backing that could threaten one of the city lord’s sons. He also was gathering false witnesses who could testify to Talas disregarding and even condemning Arnest when they first met. With these fake testimonies, Talas could almost certainly be assured that even if Arnest failed, he himself could live on.

Arnest currently was walking on one of the main streets, Malaren Road. Zanabo was divided by four major streets that created a cross shape starting from the center. Malaren Road is the western street that is home to the centers of trade like the blacksmiths, grocers and butchers, and most importantly, the Merchant’s Guild. The road itself was named after the Malaren family who were the most prominent family within the guild. They usually were the leaders of the guild and if one of them wasn’t the guild leader, the guild leader was most likely married or somehow to a Malaren.

He walked all the way to the very end, where the coast was. A large towering building was situated there whose size contrasted with the tiny storefronts before it. In large capitalized golden letters, “MERCHANT’S GUILD”. The gaudy sign was a testament to the guild’s confidence and probably was meant to convince others of its strength. A squad of four guards stood at the front who wore mundane but serious faces.

Arnest went to the double doored entranceway and pushed open one of them. Inside, on this first floor, was a quiet and refined atmosphere. There was a sitting area with two lounging couches and a few single chairs and a desk area further towards the back where five clerks were sitting at. There were three men and two women clerks who were all dressed in the same color schemes and material.

There wasn’t really much difference of appearance between the five, however there were a few personal quirks each had. For instance, the man who was on the furthest right booth was fiddling with a stack of papers and seemed extremely busy. The man who sat next to him was just staring forward into dead space like a puppet without an puppeteer. A woman sat in the middle who was neatly dressed but also had the same dead pan face and stare as the man to her right. The man second from the left seemed fairly alert and had noticed Arnest entering the room while the second lady who sat furthest left was busy fiddling with her hair. He decided to walk towards the clerk who noticed him and the clerk smiled.

“How may I assist you?”

“I’m looking for Magus Whitebeard. Can you set up a meeting for me?” Arnest asked.

“I’m sorry, but Magus Whitebeard doesn’t usually see guests.” the clerk said still with a hospitable smile.

“Tell him a fellow magus would like to see him.” Arnest said as he activated [Shadow Step] and turned into a shadowy mist.

The clerk felt surprised, as many people would, at the appearance of this magus and the fact that he was so young. “I’ll send someone to find him right away, esteemed magus.” he hurriedly said and went into a back room to find a messenger.

The woman clerk who was playing with her hair finally took notice of Arnest and when she realized he was a magus, she was quick to try and curry some favor. “Come this way, Mr. Magus. I’ll show you a much more comfortable room you can wait in.” she said with a playful voice. Arnest then stopped the spell and assumed his normal appearance.

The woman clerk led Arnest up a half landing staircase, up a few flights of stairs, until reaching the sixth floor. There was a large corridor with a few rooms that is used as waiting rooms for those of a higher status. She opened up the second door on the left and they entered a quaint room. It had a small sitting area with more expensive furniture than what was on the ground floor. There was even ornately crafted plaster that crowned the ceiling, forming a pattern of an eagle flying through the sky. Although they wouldn’t be used to wait on people from elites of the Aster clan, it was still a well designed room.

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“This is the Eagle Room. I’ll find some maids to come and serve you while you wait for the magus.”

“No need. I’d rather wait here alone.” Arnest flatly refused.

“Of course, young magus. My name is Felitis, by the way.” she said as she left, closing the door on the way out.

There was a pitcher of water and a few glass cups on a table. Arnest poured himself a glass and sat on a red wooden, heavily padded upholstered chair. He sat there and waited. Minutes passed. Then a half hour. Then another hour. Arnest continued to wait patiently until finally he heard a knocking at the door.

“Valued customer, it’s the clerk from before, Eloy. I have brought Magus Whitebeard here for you.”

“Feel free to come inside.” Arnest said nonchalantly.

The clerk from before walked into the room with a white cloaked man behind him. “Pleasure meeting a fellow magus. And a talented young magus at that!” said the cloaked man. His face was shadowed by his hood so it was hard to make out his facial expressions but he appeared to be pleased.

“I am only a beginner, I hope to learn something from someone as experienced as yourself, Magus Whitebeard.” said Arnest respectfully.

“Talented and humble! I’m beginning to like you already.” Whitebeard said as he lowered his hood, revealing the face of a thirty something year old. He didn’t have a white beard nor did he look aged which one would probably assume from the name.

“I heard you turned into a shadow. Can you show me?” he asked.

Arnest activated [Shadow Step] once again. Whitebeard rubbed his chin and started analyzing the spell. “I’m a light magus, so I don’t know too much about what spell this is. But it looks similar to the [Light Walker] spell.” he said as he activated [Light Walker] and his body turned into a bright white light.

The two of them activating their spells seemed to counter each other, the light and darkness swirling around, and when they touched it repelled each other. However it seemed that Whitebeard’s spell was stronger than Arnest’s. Arnest’s right hand could be seen while only the tips of some of Whitebeard’s fingers could be seen.

“Powerful, powerful!” Whitebeard happily exclaimed.

“I know another spell as well.” Arnest said as he started chanting [Shadow Bow]’s spell.

The three-curved [Shadow Bow] appeared in his hand. But instead of just allowing it to form normally, Arnest changed the mana volumes so that way it kept changing forms. It switched from being a three-curved to five, then nine and it kept adding more curves. The size of the bow also changed from small to large to small again. It was like watching a fire be lit, flare up, die and then lit up again. This display of magic was dazzling for the clerk and also for Whitebeard.

“You’re an irregular!” Whitebeard shouted.

“An irregular?” Arnest stopped the mana flow and the bow disappeared.

“You don’t know what an irregular is? Who taught you magic?”

“My grandfather gave me a book but I don’t know much about magic other than spells.”

“Alright then, I’ll explain so listen carefully.” Whitebeard took a deep breath.

“Spells are usually chants that allow you to commune with the spirits. You have to give mana to the spirits to activate the spell. In particular you commune with the dark spirits and they make those shadow forms appear for you.”

“Typically the spirits will only react in one way and form the spell in a typical way. Your bow for example, would be a single curve and although the curvature may change, the basic shape would remain the same.”

“But an irregular mage is different. They can commune with the spirits in a more spiritual way and based on their will, they can change a spell. You can make your bow have more curves or make it more rigid like a sword. The possibilities are endless, only limited by your imagination.”

“This really must be fate. I, too, am an irregular magus.” Whitebeard chuckled and chanted a spell and a light sword appeared. The shape contorted into random shapes, one like a whip, another like a broadsword and many other transformations were displayed.

“Although we are of different elements, I can still teach you mana control so you can fully take advantage of your status as an irregular magus. I only wonder, are you willing to be my disciple?”

“I am willing.” Arnest said, but then paused.

“But I came here for another reason. I need some help with another matter, I wonder if you can help?”

“Of course. If I didn’t help my student, then what kind of master would I be? Just tell me what you need done.”

“Well…” Arnest leaned in, cupping his hands and whispered into Whitebeard’s ear.

Whitebeard scowled and said “That will be a little difficult. I’m afraid I don't know if I can actually help.”

“All I hope is that you will support me in this endeavor.” Arnest said, roguishly smiling.

Whitebeard didn’t respond for a while as he thought. Eventually he said, “As two fellow irregular magi, I will definitely support you.”