Chapter 13 - Dear Student
After a night of deep sleep, exhausted after her training, Lilly was ready for her first lesson. She hadn’t bothered with the uniform today since it was a pain to put on, and had instead chosen a casual dress.
The morning sun streamed through the office window, casting a warm glow over the room as Lilly sat nervously, with Eolande at her side, waiting for Master Keldorn to arrive. She preferred to refer to him as such as long as he would be teaching her, choosing to separate the two identities in her mind.
“You feeling nervous?” Eolande asked, looking at her from the side.
Lilly nodded, feeling a drop of sweat slide down her back. She was just waiting for the doors to open now.
She had thought some more about yesterday's discussion. Her actions during the attack had been justified, that much she was sure of. But her argument against the clan and its function had been stifled.
‘One innocent life taken for the sake of saving a hundred innocent lives… In a perfect world, it would not be necessary, but that’s not the world we live in. But a life taken to avoid risk can’t be the right way to keep the peace…’
As she pondered, the doors opened, and in walked Master Keldorn, looking regal as ever. He was smiling brightly, wearing his disguise with practiced expertise. “Lilly, my dear student! Let’s have a nice and educational lesson, shall we?”
Lilly felt disturbed by his friendly demeanor, and it showed clearly on her face. “The room is soundproof, Teacher. You don’t have to pretend to be nice.”
“Oh, I’m not pretending! I am excited for this lesson, genuinely!”
Lilly looked over at Eolande, who looked back at her with a slight smile. “This is how he usually acts, actually,” she said, to Lilly’s surprise.
Lilly looked back at him, not quite sure what to think. “So your aggressive demeanor yesterday was just for show then? Forgive me if I don’t believe this is your true self.”
“Ah, I do get a bit irritable when my life ideology is questioned, I must admit. But surely you have come to see how the world is far from black and white.”
“... Only partly. I still don’t agree with your methods, but I admit your goals are admirable.”
The weight of Master Keldorn's gaze suddenly pressed down on her. His smile softened into a thoughtful expression as if the weight of centuries was momentarily visible on his face. “It’s challenging, indeed, to grasp the scope of my endeavors when you’ve only ever known the peace they've wrought,” he mused.
Lilly’s counterarguments were stifled by his presence, and she suddenly felt very small and insignificant. But a spark of rebelliousness remained within her, determined to fight on. But before she could, his presence softened, and he continued, “Anyways, we’re not here to argue. Do you have anything you’ve enchanted I could look at?”
Feeling exasperated by his shift change in presence, Lilly removed the protective necklace she was wearing and held it out for him to study. She took a deep breath before continuing, “This is a protective necklace I made a few weeks ago, and the last enchantment I did.”
“Ah, on the full moon, I imagine. A good decision.” He approached the desk and received the necklace, eager to inspect its craftsmanship. Almost as soon as he held it, a frown appeared on his face.
“Hmm, I see. Interesting…” He had an intrigued smile on his face. “Some sort of scale was used, I imagine. There was no transmutation used, which is a shame. Incredible power for the relatively simple materials used. Filled with joy and excitement. And a high purity, making the output potential very good.”
He put the necklace down on the desk and looked at Lilly. “It’s clearly amateurish work, but it has aspects of greatness. Even beyond the bonuses of the flame, I can sense a great talent within your work.”
Lilly felt conflicted by his comment. She was an amateur of course, but she still felt like her work would earn her a better assessment. The comment about her talent was nice though, and she was even more excited about his lesson now that she knew he was the real deal.
‘I don’t like that he could sense the emotions I had while enchanting it though, that could become a problem,’ she thought silently. “I appreciate it. That enchantment happened before my flame came under my control, so I don’t think my current level is that high.”
“Yes, I’ve been curious about that. When you say the flame came under your control, did someone else control it earlier?”
Lilly knew the question might come up, and kept her face neutral. “I’m not sure honestly. After I defended the city and fainted, the flame didn’t obey my orders like it used to. It used to be able to follow my thoughts like commands, but since then it has acted like hard to control mana.”
“Hmm, the flame truly is mystical. Was it sort of a teaching period then, letting you use it at will until you became somewhat used to them? Or did the attack on the ships overburden something in the flame?” He stroked his chin thoughtfully, absorbed in the enigma of the flame's behavior. “I guess it doesn’t matter too much. So these necklaces were made through those commands?”
‘Think all you want, old man. You’re not getting anything from me,’ Lilly thought, doing her best to keep her poker face intact. “Yes, I told the flame to enchant it by dragging the corresponding threads from the scale and infusing them into the necklace.”
“And you haven’t tried enchanting since then?”
“No, I’ve had so little control of the flame that I knew it wouldn’t work. But recently my control increased a lot, so I’m excited to try again. My partner has been making a lot of jewelry and weapons for me to enchant when I get back in shape.”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“Mmm, it takes a good blacksmith to keep up with your level of output. The jewel setting in this necklace is terrible, but the necklace itself makes me think they were done by different people.”
Lilly felt targeted by that, she had been the one to insert the crystal in the necklace. But at least he figured out that Mia didn’t do it. “It was a special case, we didn’t think about the crystals when the necklaces were made. I used my flame to melt the metal before inserting it. That was the first one, and also the worst one.”
He nodded appreciatively. “In that case, it was cleverly handled. The capacity is well utilized, so I’d say you chose the material and crystal wisely. Could you attempt an enchantment right now for me? I’d like to know what I’m working with.”
“... I don’t have the materials for it, only the base items. Do you have magical materials I can use?”
“Oh, plenty. Nothing particularly expensive, but all of them should be of a higher quality than you’re used to. Do you have any enchantments in mind?”
Lilly thought through the items she had gotten from Mia: four necklaces and a dagger in mithril, two swords and a gauntlet in orichalcum, and eight bracelets in different metals. She had been quite busy.
“Maybe just some flame protection? Or something to help my enchanting? Do you have any enchantments like that?”
“Of course, these glasses help me see mana and the systems in materials, this watch tells me the best time to perform enchantments, my carving tool is enchanted to increase dexterity and sharpness, and my glove increases control over my mana. None of them are essential in the enchanting process, but they do help.”
Lilly's curiosity piqued at the mention of the glove. “Those all sound useful, but the glove sounds the most interesting. Control of mana is probably my biggest weakness at the moment. Do you have materials for that?”
Master Keldorn nodded. “Yes, I brought materials for all the useful enchantments for our tools. However, perhaps we should start with something less complex? An illumination enchantment, maybe?"
A flicker of defiance crossed Lilly's face. “My very first enchantment was illumination, aren’t you underestimating me a bit?”
He met her gaze with an affirming smile. “Not at all. I think that with your talent, combined with the flame, you have the potential to become the greatest enchantress this nation has ever seen. I know of a few special powers like your flame, but its ability to purify materials is unique! Right now, though, you’re in uncharted territory, so something simple might be a good idea.”
Lilly felt giddy hearing his assessment of her potential, but she did her best not to show it. “... Right. Illumination it is then. Is an electrum bracelet fine?”
“Not if you intend to use as much power as with these protective necklaces. We could use a crystal though, I brought plenty. An orange one should be fine.”
With a graceful gesture, a bright flash illuminated his palm, revealing an orange crystal and a softly glowing stone. “You need to learn how to adjust your output as well, but we can focus on that later.”
Lilly remembered the princess also doing something like that during the ceremony, and had meant to ask. “How do you do that, bringing items out of thin air like that?”
“Oh, it’s a storage enchantment, very popular among people who can afford it. The capacity isn’t all that impressive, but it doesn’t put any strain on the user so it’s very useful for bringing items.”
“Can we make one?” Lilly asked, intrigued by the idea of bringing anything she wanted anywhere.
“I didn’t bring the material for it, sice it’s quite rare. But with your current financial prowess it might be possible to get one.” He put the materials on the desk, signaling Lilly to start the enchanting process.
She had retrieved the bracelet and carving tool and was ready to begin. First, she would have to insert the crystal, but that was simple due to the socket Mia had inserted.
“Do I just need the rune for ‘light’?” She asked, hoping she didn’t have to look up any other runes she had forgotten.
Master Keldorn nodded, paying close attention to her actions.
Lilly started carving the rune into the underside of the bracelet, making it harder to see while it was being worn. As usual, using her carving tool made it an easy task, taking her only a few seconds.
Master Keldorn looked at the carved rune with a neutral expression. Lilly felt anxious about her work, for the first time since her lessons with Eldrin. But since he didn’t make any comment, she continued to the next step, readying the material. Since she didn’t have the enchanting table here, she would have to be touching the items during the enchantment.
‘Okay, let’s do this then.’
She cast the spell, starting the process in the same way she had before the flame had taken over. The flames obeyed her manipulations with ease this time, feeling like a completely different power than during her previous attempts. She felt ecstatic, sensing her control of the flame having increased so much after yesterday’s training session.
The runes started pulling on the glowing rock, dragging the threads inside slowly towards the bracelet. The threads were a lot thicker than Lilly was used to, showing that the rock might be a lot higher in quality than she had expected. They weren't quite at the level of the threads in Selene’s bow, but still far above anything she had used before.
As the threads weaved their way through the air, casting a subtle red hue, Lilly attributed the glow to her unique flame. It didn’t seem to have any other effects on the surface.
After a few minutes, the enchantment was finished, and the bracelet started draining mana from the room. The drain was significant, making Lilly a bit nervous. If the bracelet explodes, it will cause a lot of damage to the office.
Master Keldorn covered his eyes when it approached the end, and Lilly considered doing the same. But just before she had time to consider it, the bracelet let out a blinding light, temporarily blinding her completely.
“Ah, damn, that’s bright!” Lilly cried out, instinctively guarding her eyes. The light was overpowering, penetrating her defenses and imprinting a dazzling afterimage on her vision.
She heard the rustle of Master Keldorn's movements, and as quickly as it had flared, the light receded. “It’s fine now, you can look again.”
Blinking away the spots in her vision, Lilly managed a blurry gaze at her surroundings. “A little warning next time would be appreciated!”
Master Keldorn's laughter filled the room, with a hint of mischief in his tone. “I thought it was obvious. Apologies, Lilly. I can take care of the bracelet if you want. I put it in my storage device for now.”
Still nursing her eyes, Lilly nodded. “Sure, take care of it. I don’t see any good uses for something like that anyway.”
“Good then. My assessment is that your abilities have increased since your last try, but also that you need to learn to limit the power of the enchantments. We’ll be working on that first, then we’ll go over to transmutation. You’re in a peculiar position since the usual goal of training enchantments is to increase the power, but transmutation can still help you. The bracelet and crystal were nearly overburdened, so your power has increased significantly since your last enchantment.”
Lilly thought that sounded like a good plan, still feeling the pain in her eyes. She wondered if this enchantment had been to teach her a lesson about the power of her enchantments, but she couldn’t argue with the results if that were the case.
The lesson continued for a while longer, with Master Keldorn explaining how to limit the power and Lilly listening intently. She still felt nervous being around him, but she enjoyed the lesson and the sense of improving once again.