I sat there, completely flabbergasted. My throat felt dry, so I raised my hand to call over the server, when she came over I ordered a pitcher of ale. As I waited for my drink, I thought of ways to answer Aurel's question.

“Is my question such a difficult one to answer?” Aurel asked as he leaned back in his seat, his eyes losing some of the intensity they had earlier. “I can see you scheming in your head. Do not bother answering if you're going to just lie.”

“No, it’s not that it’s difficult to answer, I just don’t know where to begin. A lot has happened these past few days,” I said, finally finding my voice again.

“Does the little demon know?” he asked; by little demon, he meant my sister.

“Yes, I told her earlier today. You know that sound you heard when you joined us for training?” I asked just as my ale arrived.

“What about it?” Aurel asked, he looked really confused, no doubt wondering how that was related to what it was we were talking about.

I poured myself a drink and gulped it down in one go, but I still felt parched so I poured myself another; only after my second cup was my thirst quenched.

“I tried channeling mana into a mana crystal, but I had a lot more mana than I used to and failed to properly control it; as I was unaware of it, I ended up shattering the mana crystal,” I finally answered once my throat was properly wet again.

Aurel was staring at me wide-eyed, his jaw slack and a little bit of drool dripping from the side of his mouth. His face looked comical and I was really struggling to suppress my laughter.

“So, after that, it was impossible to hide the changes I'd been experiencing from her and told her everything,” I said.

“So, it wasn’t only your physical ability that changed, even your magic too?!” he asked, his voice rising to a fevered pitch.

“Calm down Aurel,” I said to him, nervously looking around to see if any of the other patrons were listening to us, thankfully no one was paying any attention to us.

Aurel picked up his drink and took a big swig, slammed his cup on the table then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, “When was the first time you noticed these changes?” he asked, calmer this time.

I narrated my experiences to him and he listened faithfully, careful not to miss anything. When I was done talking, Aurel simply sat quietly, arms folded and head down. Just then my sister walked into the pub.

“What's wrong with him?” she asked as she sat with us.

“I traumatized him during our spar today,” I said to my sister.

Just then Aurel looked up, displeasure plastered very blatantly on his face, “It wasn’t a fair fight!” he said.

“Aurel, I just told you everything that's been going on, how wasn’t it a fair fight?” I asked, amazed by Aurel's stubbornness.

“How was that a fair fight? For whatever reason your physical abilities have drastically improved, the only way it’ll be a fair fight is if someone cast buffing magic on me,” he replied.

“No matter, you lost,” I said dismissively.

Aurel went quiet at that, only grumbling to himself. He looked away from me to my sister, “Have you learned anything about what is happening to him?” he asked her.

“I consulted with the gods but heard nothing back. We have no choice but to seek the oracle's wisdom,” my sister said.

“Any ideas on how to get me permission to leave the settlement from father?” I asked my sister.

“I thought up one. You could call it a training exercise, and go on an excursion with the recruits, after all, there is no better way to train warriors than to make them experience battle first hand,” she said.

She called over the server and ordered drinks and meat for herself. I also took the opportunity to order some more ale and meat for myself, Aurel simply ordered more ale for himself.

“Will the lord really grant permission based on what is an obvious excuse to travel?” Aurel asked.

“Father has tact. It's not a matter of whether or not he'll believe it, it's a matter of whether or not he'll allow Silas travel using this excuse,” my sister answered.

Aurel looked confused so I added, “He'll know it's an excuse to travel, so Minerva is hoping he'll also know this trip is of the utmost importance and allow it.” Aurel simply nodded his head and turned his attention back to his drink.

“So, what was that earlier at the library?” I asked my sister. I was really curious now about the breakthrough they'd made.

“Ah! Bor was discussing with father and came to know of the problem father was facing, so he recommended a grimoire he recently restored. It was a grimoire written by some mage called Edmund,” my sister started to narrate. “In that book runes were deconstructed and stripped down to their basic functions. Did you know runes are a type of language?” she asked me.

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“No, I didn’t know that,” I answered, really curious about the book and the mage who wrote it.

“Father didn’t either, none of us knew, but apparently runes are like letters of an alphabet arranged to make a word that instructs mana to act a certain way,” she said, her excitement as she spoke burning hot, she paused to drink the ale that was brought to her by the server and then continued. “Father had been studying the book for days and thought he'd found an arrangement of runes that would allow him to stack multiple spells on each other.”

“And did it work?” I asked, curious about the result of father's efforts.

“The distribution of mana amongst the runes was affected, causing the first spell in the stack to be the only one that worked well, the other spells were so weak they were practically useless,” my sister answered.

I sat quietly and thought about the problem, but I really couldn’t grasp the full picture until I saw the runes myself, so I stopped thinking about it. I'll have to study that book later I thought to myself.

Aurel, who was still incredibly displeased, was staring at the server as she moved about in the pub catering to the other patrons. The pub was especially lively today. While I couldn’t pick out specific words, the sounds of people chatting and laughing filled the place.

“Are you going to talk to her?” I asked my friend.

“She looks busy,” Aurel replied, not taking his eyes off her.

“Has that ever stopped you?” my sister asked, a coy smile on her face.

Aurel looked at her, a frown on his face; however, beneath his displeasure hid a hint of embarrassment. Evidently, he had enough self-awareness to look back at the way he'd been acting around the server and feel embarrassed.

“Want me to help you?” I asked, looking fondly at the two people sat at my table, a jovial smile on my face.

“Brother, you are the very last person I would ever ask for help wooing a girl,” Aurel replied to my question, the grin on his face mocking me. I felt offended. I looked to my sister for her input, hoping she would back me.

“There is a reason you've never even so much as kissed a girl Silas,” she said instead, her words felt even harsher than Aurel's.

“That's only because I've been very focused on training!” I said defensively, “Do you know how many ladies fancy me?” I asked, seeking to defend my honor.

Both Aurel and my sister started to laugh. It was hard for me to comprehend how two people who were almost never in agreement could so suddenly stand united in mocking me.

“Brother, you're not bad looking so obviously girls will fancy you, but how many of them persist?” my sister asked when her laughter subsided.

“At least I'm still better than Aurel,” I shot back.

My sister said derisively, “That isn’t a difficult feat to achieve.”

“What do you mean? At least I’m not a greenhorn,” Aurel said in defense of himself, looking at me with mock disgust.

Perhaps we're getting drunk I thought to myself as I wondered how our conversation devolved into this, even though I was the one that started us on this path. Seeking to change the subject I asked my sister, “So, what does father plan to do next?”

“Well, now the problem that needs to be solved is identifiable, we just need to find a way to construct the runes so that mana gets distributed evenly amongst the spells in the stack,” she said, looking far off into space, no doubt imagining a future where all the problems have been solved.

“Well, even though a new problem has risen it is true that progress has been made. Now, at the very least, runes are no longer a mystery that needs solving,” I said, thinking back on how just days ago father couldn’t even construct complex runes.

“I wonder who this Edmund is,” my sister said in a quiet voice, her words directed to no one in particular.

“Why?” I asked, curious about what it was she was thinking that prompted her to utter such words.

“It's the way he wrote about magic and the way he approached it, the logic behind many of the things he wrote sounds reasonable enough once explained, however, his approach completely eliminates the influence of the gods on magic,” she said, hand on her chin, elbow on the table and the same faraway look in her eyes.

“Is it even possible to practice magic without acknowledging the gods? Magic wouldn’t exist if not for the gods,” I said, feeling a little displeased.

Her words reminded me of the blasphemous words I'd read earlier in the library, the memory still evoked intense anger in me, though this time I did a better job of suppressing it.

“Exactly. It shouldn’t be possible, but this Edmund person wrote about magic as if it were completely a mechanical phenomenon that required no faith,” she replied to me.

“Magic doesn’t require faith, but mages who have faith are able to cast more powerful magic, is that not so?” Aurel, who knew little about magic compared to me and my sister said.

“No, it requires faith. Even if you channel mana properly, have the proper concentration and focus, and are able to form the proper mental image, doubt can undo everything. Mages do not doubt themselves because the gods have assured us and showed us what can be done,” my sister said to him.

“Oh, so you're saying our faith in the gods is what removes doubt from us when casting magic?” Aurel asked my sister.

“Put simply, yes,” she replied.

“Then someone who doesn’t believe in the gods wouldn’t be able to use magic,” Aurel said.

“In theory, they should be able to, but no one has ever managed to. Doubt isn’t something one overcomes with determination alone,” I replied to Aurel this time.

“That's why I found it odd the way this Edmund approached magic, instead of the gods, he placed his faith entirely on laws that he claimed were irrefutable,” my sister said, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms.

On the table before us were empty pitchers of ale, empty cups, and a bowl filled with Yaeger bones. Outside the sun had set and the pub was already growing quieter as the patrons began to leave.

I was already beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol in my system, my sister also looked a little tipsy. I turned to look at Aurel, and he still looked very lucid, his eyes sharp and alert, however, I had no doubts in my mind that he was drunk. Years of drinking himself to stupor daily made him develop this odd habit of maintaining his lucidity when drunk, however, when he walked back home his drunk stagger was impossible to miss.

I was really curious about these irrefutable laws my sister mentioned, but I decided I would go and read the book myself instead of asking her. I was feeling tipsy, the room was beginning to spin and I was slurring my words, and so was she. It was time to call it a night. We said our goodbyes, Aurel and I watched her stagger away into the night before we headed for our sleeping quarters. Once in my room, it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep, and as drowsiness made my eyelids heavy, I hoped I wouldn’t have another dream; they were becoming a bother and I wanted a good night’s sleep.