Chapter Thirteen: A Whole Lot of Space to Breathe in
The rain on the roof of the cabin wasn’t letting up. If anything the heavy barrage of water droplets against the wooden walls was getting even stronger. Inside the cabin, the temperature had also taken a dive, despite the small fire in the fireplace happily crackling away without a care. Marc envied the fire right now. He felt exposed and trapped at the same time. Mary had mentioned to him that he should not tell anyone about the interface, but he had been found out in just a day. This did not bode well for his future in this world. The only things he had not confessed his abilities to since arriving were the blasted bunnies.
He looked into his cup of tea trying to think of a way to explain things, but he just didn’t understand enough to come up with a plan. He realized he lacked the common sense to even know what was normal and what was trouble. Just like his first day in junior high school, he thought to himself wryly, but instead of just hiding in the back of the room full of other hopeless kids, he was alone, under the interrogation of this suddenly terrifying woman, and there was nowhere he could hide.
“It’s OK. I’m not going to hurt you.” Rynan seemed to realize what her intense glare was doing to the boy and relaxed back into her chair. “Everyone is entitled to their own secrets. I should know.” Then she reached up to her chest and drew out a pendant from inside her dress that was hanging from her neck. It was a small silver medallion with an intricate design and large clear crystal inlaid on the front. She covered the crystal with a couple of fingers and Marc noticed a faint blue glow for a moment. Then she let the pendant fall back to hanging from her neck, this time not hidden inside her dress. “You used an appraisal skill earlier, right? Can you try it again?”
Marc was surprised by this request, but he didn’t see the harm, at least not anymore, in admitting he had used the interface earlier. He focused on her and opened up her status in a new window.
NAME: RYNAN RIVERWALL
AGE: 179 (LOCAL RELATIVE AGE)
BASE LEVEL: 267
RACE: HUMAN
AFFILIATIONS: THE GUILD, THE TOWER, THE PATH
STATUS: HEALTHY
LEVEL UP YOUR INTERFACE TO GAIN MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RYNAN RIVERWALL.
Marc was shocked by the information in front of him. 179 years old? Level… 267?! Grenn had only been in the 70s and he was a monster, and while he looked pretty good for a guy in his 40’s that was nothing compared to this woman. Marc remembered how Grenn kept referring to her as a witch, and a hag and now it made a bit more sense.
“There now, trust begets trust, but try not to stare. A lady doesn’t share her age lightly. Tell me, what did you see?” Rynan asked casually while refilling both of their cups.
“Umm, it says that your name is Rynan Riverfall. That you are 179 years old and level 267.“ Marc reported.
“I see…” Rynan looked thoughtful again. “Just so you know, Appraisal is a quite rare ability. Neither Grenn has it. It’s mostly Earth or Air mages who can do it. This can block the ability, however, in most situations at least.” She dangled the necklace between her fingers. “It’s one of the few magic tools that I keep around. I don’t particularly care for unexpected guests and it helps keep some pests away so I hope you won’t be offended if I reactivate it?” She asked, but quickly covered the crystal with her fingers and the pendant once again emitted a slight blue glow.
Marc checked and sure enough, her stats were now blocked again. He quickly dismissed the status window.
“I do want to continue this conversation, but before we do, may I ask you something?” Rynan asked as she slowly got up from the table and walked into the other room, keeping the door open between them.
“S… sure.” Marc wished he could stop stammering. He felt like he was in front of his middle school English teacher and he hadn’t finished his homework.
When she returned, Rynan brought a small box and placed it on the table. She hesitated as though she was not sure she wanted to do what she was about to do. Then she opened the box carefully. It contained a rather fancy stationery set with paper and pens. She placed the box to the side and placed both of her hands on the table, palms resting on the wooden surface, but fingers intertwined. Then she stared directly into Marc’s eyes.
“Would you be willing to become my student?” She asked with a serious expression. “Let me explain first. I am asking this for several reasons, and the first is to help protect your safety, even from myself. A teacher-student contract can differ in many ways, but one important requirement is that secrets between teachers and students must always be protected. Anything you tell me in confidence I must keep safe, and likewise anything you learn from me can only be passed to a third party with my consent. This is a mana-binding contract and while I won’t go as far as to say they are unbreakable, the consequences would be quite severe. I am asking you this because I think you may need help, but without knowing more about your situation, I’m afraid there would be a limit to what I can help you with. Of course, regardless of what you decide, you can stay here as long as you want, and I will continue to help you as far as I am able.”
Marc was able to resist immediately agreeing but it was an attractive proposal. He was at his wits end lacking even the most basic knowledge of this world, and here was someone offering to help him. But Marc was not an overly naive person either, having been tricked and pranked by other kids throughout his adolescence. He also had concerns about how this contract worked, and there was the fact that he still got serious scary/creepy vibes from this nearly two-hundred-year-old woman who looked like she could still be a woman in her prime.
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“The contract can be very basic, ensuring that our secrets remain protected so we can speak freely, and we don’t need to put any other conditions in, but the reason I suggested a teaching contract rather than a privacy contract is that I believe you might require some instruction on how to use your abilities. While it was a long time ago, I was once a professor, so I have some confidence in my abilities. If you would like, we can use a more standard teaching contract that will outline our relationship. As my student, you would need only to study diligently, act responsibly with the information learned, protect my secrets, and acknowledge my authority. As your teacher, I will act in your best interests, provide you with a place to study and the resources needed, and teach you what I can. Either party can dissolve this contract unilaterally, however, it must be done in the presence of the other party. There are no other penalties, but as a mana-bound contract, breaking the terms of the contract will restrict your ability to freely channel mana. In other words, you would lose the ability to use magic for a time. The same goes for me.” After her explication, Rynan paused a bit to let it settle in.
Marc however warmed greatly after hearing more about this offer. In many ways, it was exactly what he needed most right now. He had no way to know if this was a trick or a scam, or how the contracts worked, but that lack of understanding was the biggest problem he had. He didn’t see any other way to get a proper start in this world, and this proposal would solve most of his current concerns, but of course, it required a huge leap of faith. If she was telling the truth, then she was nothing short of his savior; if she was lying, then he was pretty much toast anyway. After circling the rug a few times in his head, he finally made the decision and stared back at the women, tensed his jaw, and in a very decisive way slowly nodded his head once.
Immediately several pop-up boxes appeared to block out his vision.
【TUTORIAL: MAGIC: FIND A MAGIC TEACHER 】
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE FOUND A TEACHER TO MENTOR YOU THROUGH THE BASICS OF MAGIC. YOUR HARD WORK AND OBVIOUS TALENT HAVE GRANTED YOU THE ATTENTION OF A GREAT TEACHER WHO IS CERTAINLY NOT DOING THIS OUT OF PITY.
【SKILL ADDED: MANA MANIPULATION】
【BASIC MANA SKILLS HAVE BEEN ADDED】
SKILL ADDED: BASIC FIRE MAGIC
SKILL ADDED: BASIC WATER MAGIC
SKILL ADDED: BASIC EARTH MAGIC
SKILL ADDED: BASIC AIR MAGIC
SKILL ADDED: BASIC SPACE MAGIC
SKILL ADDED: BASIC PRIMAL MAGIC
As Marc quickly dismissed the pop-ups that were blocking his view, Rynan had been quickly drawing up the contract. In short order, she had placed a piece of paper in front of him and asked him to take a look at it. To his surprise, he could easily read and understand it. He was puzzled for a moment. Was his language skill translating the words and adjusting how they appeared so it looked as though it was written in English? Or had his brain been re-written and he just automatically understood whatever script they used in this world? He looked closely and it did indeed appear as though it was written in English. He could make out the individual letters, he wondered how it would appear to others if he wrote things down in English.
He read it quickly and indeed it was written out exactly as she had described it to him, so he again nodded his head. Rynan took the paper back, then took out a thin black object, approximately the same size as the paper, but about half an inch thick. She placed a blank piece of paper on the table, and then the black object directly on top of the paper. Finally, she placed the contract on top of the object creating an odd sandwich. Rynan placed her left palm on top of the contract and the whole pile let out a light blue glow similar to the one the pendant had emitted earlier. She then laid out both pieces of paper and placed the black object back into the box. Marc saw that both papers now had identical writing on them. Rynan placed one of the documents in front of Marc, then the other she laid out in front of herself. She placed her thumbs from both of her hands so the tips touched the two lower corners of the paper in front of her and a light blue glow again coated the paper, but instead of quickly fading away, this time the glow jumped over the table the surrounded the paper in front of Marc before finally disappearing. “Now you try it,” she said smiling, eyes pointing to his paper.
Marc copied her action, placing his thumbs at the corners of his copy, but nothing happened.
“You’ll need to use some of your mana and mentally agree to the contract,” she added. Marc had no idea what that meant.
After a few seconds of trying, Marc was about to ask her how to do it when he felt a pulling from the document through his fingers. A strange compulsion to push his hands forward into the paper, but he realized it was different. He projected the thought “I agree” while letting that feeling of movement cascade down his arms. He looked down and a dull glow appeared on his paper, then passed to the other one across the table. The light was not blue like before however. This light seemed just like a white halo around the paper. Then another pop-up appeared.
YOU HAVE ENTERED INTO A CONTRACT WITH RYNAN RIVERFALL.
Another pop-up contained the entire text from the paper but had Rynan and his names at the bottom.
A new pop-up announced a new skill.
【SKILL ACQUIRED: CONTRACTS】
BASIC PROFICIENCY ALLOWS YOU TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THE EFFECTS, RESTRICTIONS, AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACTS AS WELL AS DRAFTING SIMPLE MANA-BOUND CONTRACTS.
LEVEL UP YOUR INTERFACE TO IMPROVE YOUR ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND, CREATE AND MODIFY EXISTING CONTRACTS.
Excited to learn a new skill, Marc closed the windows and realized that Rynan was again staring at him with her eyebrows furrowed.
“I suppose I should stop being surprised by everything you do. I was prepared that your affinity might be unusual, but it was still a shock to see it. Now that we have the contract signed, I hope you can forgive me for asking you a few more questions. It may be difficult to answer them, but I assure you that this is of critical importance to not just your safety, but now mine as well. Because of that, I didn’t want to ask them until we were both protected by the contract.
Marc didn’t like the sound of that but nodded his agreement.
“Marc, have you ever heard of a Dimensional Traveller?”