The conversation continued for nearly an hour, with Salazar and Snow taking turns asking questions about the nature of the dungeon or business. Most of them were simple questions with simple answers, things about how Zack worked or legalese regarding businesses. Zack was surprised and relieved to discover that not only did Alex have the proper permits to operate a business, he was paying taxes on the Dungeon Incorporate name, too.
"The last thing we want is to get booked for felony tax evasion," Alex assured them. "I registered the name, opened a business account with my bank, and have been moving money into it with regularity."
Zack had to assume that this was where his cut of the money was going, the profits off which Alex would be paying taxes come the end of the fiscal year. This answer seemed to satisfy Salazar, who leaned back in his seat and pocketed his phone. He gestured with one hand for Snow to take over, and steepled his fingers together to listen patiently.
"You've done a remarkable job sating my curiosity, so I have very few questions left regarding your nature, spirit," Snow declared, flexing his hands on the head of his cane. "Are there others of your ilk?"
Zack considered the question carefully for a long moment, unsure of exactly how much he wanted to reveal to this dangerous man. On the one hand, Snow had so far not threatened him or even hinted that he might wish to do Zack harm. On the other, if Snow wanted to hurt him, Zack wasn't sure there was anything he could do to stop him.
He settled for a half-truth. "I'm the only one of my kind awake and operational, to my knowledge," he explained. "There were supposed to be lots of us, but something went wrong and I'm the only one awake. I don't know if the others are dead or if they're simply dormant."
That got a quirked eyebrow from Snow, a sign of genuine curiosity. In their short time together, Zack had learned that the older man had a very skilled poker face. He gave away so little with his facial expressions that this subtle tick gave him more information than he likely intended.
"Pardon my asking, but why do you want to know about other dungeons?" Archie asked, doing an excellent job masking the concern he undoubtedly felt.
"Master Zack has proposed that his raison d'etre is to serve as a training ground for magic wielders of all stripes. It seems a waste for him to serve as nothing more than a base of operation for a business such as this."
Alex's eyes narrowed at the jab, but he said nothing.
"I like the work I do here," Zack said defensively. "I'm helping people who would otherwise never have a chance to learn magic. I'm giving them access to tools and training they might never get without me."
"But that's exactly the problem. You're uplifting the common rabble, the people who have no business studying the mystic arts or fighting monsters," Snow continued. "Instead, you could be focusing on training those who already display talent and skill. You could be accelerating the true heroes to new heights, giving us powerful frontline defenders for when stronger monsters arise."
"Dean Snow?" Salazar's tone was as befuddled by the old man's statements as Zack felt.
Snow raised a finger for the adventurer to quiet, and Salazar promptly obeyed. The elf's lips pressed together in a thin line, but his hard stare didn't leave the older man's face.
"If there were others like you readily available, Master Zack, I believe this would not be an issue. However, by your own admission, you do not know whether you are alone or when others like you might arise. Therefore, you must understand the responsibility thrust upon you." Snow's grip on his cane tightened again, his face becoming deathly serious. "Monsters spawn with regularity, and the more powerful among them typically take entire teams of adventurers to defeat. The purpose of aetherology is not to defeat monsters, but to study magic and advance humanity's understanding of it. However, aetherology cannot be separate from adventuring simply because of the fact that adventurers need magic in order to combat the monster threat."
The room grew quiet as Snow finished speaking, allowing his words to linger in the air. Zack was the first one to speak again, the words uncomfortable to even think about.
"You're saying I have a responsibility to train the next generation of heroes for monster threats," he mumbled.
Snow relaxed into his chair and nodded. "You are a dungeon. Right now, you are the only dungeon. You have power to create the training ground of our dreams. Abandon this silly notion of playing at a business and come with me to Waterloo. There, you will have everything you need to create the perfect training ground for adventurers and aetherologists alike. I can give you a building perfectly sized to your needs, access to all the aether you could ever desire, and make sure you remain supplied with patterns and materials for everything you can imagine."
It was like a pin dropped. Alex was on his feet, sputtering as he vainly tried to form a coherent sentence. Archie was staring with cold eyes at the old man, as though trying to decide whether or not he could assassinate him. Even Salazar seemed taken aback by the offer, demanding the dean where he got off making such an offer.
The only one who wasn't surprised by Snow's offer was Zack. From the moment he learned of Snow's identity, Zack had assumed such a thing was coming. Someone that powerful didn't just wander into a location of power like Zack's dungeon without good reason. Frankly, Zack was surprised that Snow wasn't trying to take him outright.
"Zack, you can't seriously be considering this," Alex said quickly, staring nervously up at the wisp. "You told me you wanted to train everyone, not just the people who could afford it! If you go with him, you'll—"
"Alex, please be quiet," Zack said as gently as he could. He needed to think.
Despite Zack's attempt, Alex's face still tightened with anger. He lowered his face and stormed out of the room, rounding a corner and breaking into a jog out of the manor room. Zack didn't need his awareness to follow his friend. As long as Alex was in the dungeon, Zack would always know where he was or what he was up to.
"That is the nature of the unpowered, unfortunately," Snow said, once Alex's stomping feet faded from earshot. "They crave the power they don't have. Alex clearly got a glimmer of power while working for you, and wishes to hold onto it with every fiber of his being. He doesn't understand the glorious purpose for which you have been created."
"Don't pretend you understand my purpose," Zack said, the words harsh as they came from his wisp. He considered trying to split his focus. He didn't want Alex to think he was genuinely considering Snow's offer.
It wasn't even that Snow wasn't giving him a tantalizing piece of bait. It was obvious that if Zack went with him, his every need and desire would be fulfilled. But it was also obvious that Zack would become a commodity. Snow didn't want to work with Zack the way Alex did—he wanted to use Zack to further his own agenda. He wanted to own the dungeon and use him as tool to help only the people he deemed worthy of its aid.
If Zack went with Snow, he wouldn't be a place for people to learn magic in a safe environment. He would be a training ground for the elite, the people who already had more than enough experience to get started on magic and didn't really need Zack's help.
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"Do you understand how people gain levels?" Zack asked, focusing his attention on Snow. This was something that had been bothering him for a while. Snow was level fifty-one, leaps and bounds above even the highest adventurers that Zack had ever met. The universities, Waterloo included, supposedly told everyone that the only way to learn magic was to slay monsters and level up. Zack knew this to be false, but had refrained from telling anyone outside his immediate circle for fear of how this information might affect their progression.
Snow's lips didn't curl up in a smile. "Naturally I do."
"Tell me."
Snow's eye swirled dangerously. "Salazar, leave the room."
"Sir?"
"Leave. The. Room."
Snow's words were snarp like knives, and Zack could see the threads of aether accenting every punctuation like a stab. Snow's aether was icey blue and frigid as the arctic. The implied threat was enough to send a shiver down Salazar's spine, and he quickly rose to his feet.
"I'll go make sure Alex doesn't do something stupid," Salazar said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. "The last thing we need is a serial offender going off and causing more problems."
Zack quietly watched the elf go, and contemplated whether or not he should ask Archie to follow him. Instead, once Salazar had left the manor wing, Snow rose from his seat and shut the door.
"What I am about to tell you cannot leave these walls, am I understood?" Snow hissed.
"Why is that?" Zack asked.
"I am about to reveal to you a closely guarded secret, one that the council of Archmages has deemed too dangerous to allow the public to learn. Ordinarily I would use a binding oath to prevent you from speaking these words to another, however it is quite clear that you are a power beyond such simple measures. As such, I must ask your word that this secret shall remain between us."
Zack and Archie shared a look with one another. "Fine. You have my word."
"Swear on your magic that this knowledge shall remain within this room."
"I… swear on my magic?" Zack said, curiously.
As soon as the words left his wisp, he felt his mana begin to tighten. It was so sudden that he almost didn't have a chance to isolate the strange development within his core, separating it from the bulk of his power. He quickly studied the strange lump of mana.
[Binding Oath: Mana]
[You have sworn a binding oath upon your magic. If you break this oath, the mana invested in the oath will be lost to you.]
[Mana invested: 1]
Zack mentally frowned at the description. Snow had claimed he wouldn't attempt a binding oath, and yet clearly he had all the same. Zack had never even heard of such a thing before, and was glad he was such a master of controlling his own mana. He had successfully isolated the oath from the bulk of his power before it managed to grab more than a single thread. Expertly, he expelled the ball of mana from his core, and almost immediately the gap it left begin to refill.
Snow seemed satisfied by Zack's words, and nodded appreciatively. He adjusted his grip on his cane, until he was holding it in his ungloved right hand by the shaft instead of the crystal. "The progression methods we Archmages have revealed to the masses is a lie. We told them that progression is predicated upon gaining experience by slaying monsters. It was not a hard lie to sell, as such a mechanic was firmly engrained within the public consciousness by video games and media for decades."
Zack said nothing. He knew this already, as did Archie by virtue of being his mob.
"In reality, it is not levelling up that teaches magic, but rather the act of learning magic that levels a person up. Even the notion of levels is an inaccurate description we use to help placate the masses. It is a term that helps sell the lie."
Again, Zack already knew this. He didn't bother correcting Snow about levels, though. He didn't think the old man needed to know that levels were actually how well connected a person was to the Akashic System, rather than their exact level of power.
"In reality, as a person learns more magic or masters the spells they already know, their power increases. Sometimes their attributes increase, sometimes they don't. We don't fully understand the factors that allow someone to grow stronger as they learn magic, but one thing is abundantly clear: learning new spells is the only path forward."
Zack hovered silently in the air as he considered Snow's words. The old man hadn't revealed anything Zack didn't already know, but the fact that the deans clearly knew this but chose not to reveal it was itching at him.
"What makes this too dangerous for the public to learn? It can't be more dangerous than going out and fighting monsters." The question, surprisingly, came from Archie. He rose from his seat and crossed his arms, tapping a large lapine foot as he stared dangerously at the older man.
Snow, for his part, ignored Archie. It was almost like the rabbit was so far beneath his notice that he wasn't even worth acknowledging. Zack repeated the question, earning a narrow-eyed stare from the dean.
"It is far more dangerous. Compared to fighting monsters, which is a controlled act that can be closely monitored and punished, could you imagine the chaos that unfettered magical experimentation might cause? We don't yet understand the full scope of what people can do with magic, and though our research is making headway daily, it is not a risk we are willing to take."
"So the reason you're stopping people from understanding how progression works… Is because you want to protect them?" Zack did his best not to sound taken aback by the notion.
"Precisely. I knew you would understand. You seemed to me a cautious and careful entity. You keep healers and healing potions stocked in order to protect the people plumbing your depths. You understand that you are responsible for their well-being." Snow breathed deep through his nose and out again. "You and I are alike in that regard. You wish to help people grow in their magical potential, but you want to keep them safe. That is what I do, Master Zack. I teach the next generation of aetherologists, so that they in turn might be better prepared for the threats waiting for them down the road.
"Magic is simply too new for us to be safe in any assumption," Snow continued. "We need to be prepared, but we also don't want to accidentally create a dark lord or evil sorcerer. It's imperative that only those with good intentions be allowed to deepen their understanding of magic."
"And who decides what those good intentions are?" Zack demanded. Even he was surprised that the words were spoken aloud, but it was something itching at his mind ever since Snow showed up. "Who decides whether someone is good enough to learn magic?"
Snow's expression flattened again. "In Waterloo university, it is up to myself and my teachers to determine who is worthy of learning from us. If someone does not meet my standards for a magical education, they are subsequently barred from every university which houses an Archmage."
"So you plan to keep magic barred from anyone who doesn't meet your lofty standards or can't afford to attend your school?" Zack asked. He probably laid on the indignation a bit thick, but he couldn't help it. His entire reason for existing as a dungeon core was to help people deepen their connection to the Akashic System, to help them learn magic. "You want me to abandon my current dungeon and throw in with you, to help only the people you deem worthy enough to practice."
Zack expected Snow to argue with him, to try another tactic to persuade him. Instead, his facial expression turned stony. "Precisely."
Zack wished he had teeth to ground. "No dice," he said, his voice low and hard. "I will not let you turn my purpose into another avenue to keep people away from their true potential. That's what this is, isn't it? You don't want my help training anyone, you just don't want any competition taking away from your school. You don't want people having the choice to learn magic when you told them no."
A smirk tugged at the corner of Snow's lips. "Heavens, that's quite the accusation. I can't imagine where you got that notion."
"Archie, get this man out of me," Zack commanded. "And Snow, in case it wasn't obvious: I reject your offer. You don't get to determine who learns magic. That is everyone's right. It's my responsibility to make sure they learn in a safe environment."
Snow didn't argue as Archie guided him out the door and down the hallway out the manor. Zack tried to calm himself down by taking breaths, only to remember that he was a disembodied awareness and had no lungs to fill. The frustration of not having a body with which to do calming exercises only served to redouble his anger towards Snow.
How could he knowingly work to keep magic out of peoples' hands? Such a notion not only felt alien to Zack, but antithetical to his entire being. He tried to force his mind away from that notion, and felt it when Snow rejoined with Salazar in the lobby.
Salazar and Alex were talking about the possibility of Alex applying for an adventurer license. He was quickly approaching the minimum level requirement for the exam, and Salazar's guild oversaw the process in this area. When Snow slid up beside the elf, Salazar stood up straighter and promised to remain in contact.
As the two men turned to leave the building, Zack's attention was snagged by the crystal-topped cane that Snow carried with him. For the first time, Zack realized that the crystal was a mixture of reds and blues.
Curiously, Zack prodded at the crystal. Maybe it was a core. "Hello? Anyone in there?"
For a moment, there was no answer. Then, just as Snow reached the edge of Zack's influence, a small voice brushed against his mind.
"Help… me…"