Chapter 26 - Perks of an Apprentice… and Detriments

It’s difficult to tell what happened toward the end of the 4th century AD, but the [Demon Lord’s] actions grew more aggressive than we had any historical precedent for.

From that point on, he was often seen on the battlefield, where before, he seemed content to relegate the assault to others.

We can only guess that some unknown plan was finally complete… or that the [Demon Lord] himself, known to make certain underhanded dealings with the nations, finally lost the last of his rationality.

* Excerpt from History of Wars, Volume 5 – The Great Demon Invasion

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Despite taking the hand up off the floor, my guest didn’t seem terribly excited about the opportunity I’d given him.

“W-what exactly does becoming your apprentice entail?” my hesitant soon-to-be apprentice, named Will-en according to [Appraise], asked.

“It’s quite simple. I tell you what to do, and you do it,” I replied. “In return, I’ll make you the greatest [Wizard] Placeholder has ever seen.”

“A-And if I refuse?” Will-en asked, nervously glancing over my shoulder at the Upgrade Sword boss that was still hovering there menacingly.

It finally clicked why he thought this was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

It’s a dungeon boss room. He can’t leave without defeating the boss. I glanced back at the boss, that was only hovering around. But why hasn’t it attacked yet? Is it because I swore an oath not to hurt the merfolk, and it has to obey that as well?

The Upgrade Sword started glowing white.

I frowned.

Or is it because the Upgrade Sword just sits there and… upgrades itself if it’s not attacked? I thought. Huh. Could be a combination of the two.

I shook my head.

“If you don’t want to be my apprentice, I could always find someone else,” I said aloud. “I have thousands of people who would jump at the chance. So, if you’re truly against the idea, you’re welcome to try your luck against the boss.” I gestured back at the sword that he had let power up for who knows how long.

He looked back and forth between us, and I could tell he was trying to find his way out of the mess he found himself in.

Which led to the question of why I wanted him as an apprentice in the first place. It was true that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of cultists who would literally kill to be my apprentice and learn magic from me. However, there was one problem with every single one of them.

They couldn’t breathe underwater.

Underwater breathing was necessary for fighting leviathans, and fighting leviathans was the only reproducible way to hit level 25. And the dang “contribution” update that happened ages ago made it so I couldn’t just go and solo it. The person I was power-leveling would need to be present and do something in the fight.

Maybe I can go to their capital and find someone who’s willing? I thought as I watched the extremely nervous merfolk. Surely there’s to got to be someone in… Atlantis… huh. I honestly forgot about them naming their city Atlantis until now. My train of thought derailed completely. Would that mean that the guy in front of me is an Atlantean and not a merfolk? Is that a way around the oaths or-

While I was going off on that tangent, Will-En made his move. He dove for one of the mithril channels-

And I [Blinked] in front of him.

“I have lied about a lot of things in my life,” I stated as I pinned his arms to the ground. “So I understand that you don’t trust me. However, know this.” I leaned in. “If you disrupt the ongoing enchantment here, there is a high likelihood that all of Atlantis and everyone you know dies.” I upped the pressure on the pin. “Do not do that again. Are we clear?”

The fight left him. “I understand,” he stated weakly.

I hauled him roughly to his feet and then marched him over to a side of the room, away from anything that could cause accidental genocide.

I tried to think of him solely as an Atlantean, not a merfolk and then raised my fist to punch him.

He cringed away as my fist approached… and it stopped a few inches from his face.

I grumbled internally. Yeah, knew that would be too easy.

“So, why are you so deadset against becoming my apprentice?” I asked, finally trying a different tactic. “I thought that you wanted to learn?”

“I-I do,” he replied. “B-but you are the calamitous one, the one whom all the nations of Placeholder rally against! The one who has done countless acts of evil!”

“And also the one who made your homeland,” I pointed out. “In fact, I would say that all my dealings with the merfolk have been downright cordial.”

Excluding the fact that I accidentally created them by blowing up a prison island, of course. I thought.

“T-that just means that you are plotting something nefarious longer-term!” he replied.

Dang it, he’s actually kinda right…

“I won’t become your apprentice if it simply means doing everything you say!” he continued. “I-I w-w-would…” he choked up a bit. “I would rather die.”

A part of me was tempted to cut my losses, but another part liked the kid.

Anyone who had the gumption to stand up to me without class levels was either courageous or an idiot, and he didn’t strike me as an idiot.

And if his only concern is doing everything that I say…

“Alright then, Will,” I stated, clapping him on the shoulder. “Can I call you Will? Eh, I’m calling you Will.” He looked bewildered, but I continued. “Let’s discuss terms. Since you don’t want to do everything I command, what about if I put in some restrictions-“

------

The end goal of our discussion was a pair of oaths. One oath from Will swearing to join me and do what I tell him, and another from me swearing that I wouldn’t command him to do anything objectionable.

It took quite a while to determine what “objectionable” meant, though. He wanted it to include every order he didn’t want to do, but I argued that that would make it useless. It would basically reduce it to offering sternly worded suggestions that I couldn’t enforce, and I didn’t want to train someone if they could just ignore what I told them to do.

From there it was restrictions on doing illegal actions, causing harm to others, and learning anything dangerous or forbidden.

For harm to others, I had to argue for several amendments. I wanted to ensure that monsters weren’t included and that I could also order him to defend my island. I didn’t want anyone else to stumble into my boss room or somehow make off with one of the giant magicite chunks I needed for my final plan. Other than that, I grudgingly gave him that provision. I couldn’t order him to attack any other sapient unless they were attacking my island.

… Which could have given me a lot of leeway. He likely assumed that no one except merfolk would make it to the island, and he could just warn them to leave instead. He didn’t realize that [Heroes] and angels had a habit of randomly appearing when I tried to do stuff, and he also didn’t know that I had a large showdown planned for the island.

Anyway, learning anything dangerous or forbidden was also something that I had to argue about. Technically, there were about 5 different base schools that tracked along that route. [Electricus], [Magnetismus], [Spatius], [Temporus], and [Mortae]. Not that [Mortae] was really dangerous in and of itself, but Tim did a good job of getting that branch of magic pretty much blacklisted for all of time. That would mean that agreeing to those terms would mean no teaching spells of those schools, which was completely unacceptable.

My compromise there was that I told him what I was going for. I wanted a [Wizard] who knew a spell of every school to see what kind of powerful perks they would get. The curiosity from that unknown took away a lot of his will to fight, but I also threw in that I would keep his casting of those schools to a minimum and also have him use spell points for those purchases where possible.

All of that wasn’t quite enough, so, with a grumble, I also added the clause that the oaths would only have effect so long as he was my apprentice, and that would terminate after I finished studying his perk.

That left the illegality portion, and I must admit that the son of a dave nearly got me there. While I wasn’t planning on doing much with him that counted as “illegal,” I almost forgot that most nations of Placeholder had “fraternizing with the [Demon Lord]” on the books.

In other words, as he suggested it, he could have pretty much ignored any order I gave him.

I tossed that term out completely. He tried to object, but a quick whistle to the still-upgrading Upgrade Sword reminded him that he wasn’t exactly in a position to complain.

That left the miscellaneous terms of the oaths, such as not intentionally going against the spirit of the oath or doing mental gymnastics to avoid portions of it.

Those had to be included because I was well accustomed with the flaws behind oaths. While I wasn’t sure that Will had even given a [System-Bound Oath] before, he seemed like the kind of crafty schemer who would figure something like that out on his own.

With that out of the way, we swore our mutual oaths.

And then, I had a new red-eyed follower.

-----

“Oh yeah,” I said as I pulled out my hand mirror. “You’re going to have to get used to this.”

“Get used to- Tides and surf! What have you done to me!” he shouted, grabbing the mirror to look closer at his newly colored eyes.

“Oh, I wouldn’t-“ I started.

He gasped and dropped the mirror to the floor as it burned him with a lick of flame.

“Yeah, it does continuous fire damage if you hold it. Doesn’t matter if you’re immune, but if you’re not…” I shrugged and then scooped up the undamaged hand mirror.

I was grateful that I’d added a durability enchantment onto the thing way back when.

Will was about to complain further when there was a grating sound, and the obelisk reappeared in the middle of the room.

The heavily upgraded Upgrade Sword also vanished.

I clapped Will on the shoulder. “Okay, you’re all joined. Now, go up to the obelisk and see if you have the option for [Wizard].”

He walked up the obelisk and then turned to me.

“And if I don’t?”

“Then we’re going to have to make a quick trip to Dryadal to have you join the mage’s guild,” I replied.

He blanched. “We have to travel that far?”

I waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll take a couple hours at most. I could have you home in time for dinner.”

He gaped for a moment before composing himself. “A-and could I perhaps learn that level of magic?” he asked.

“Hmm, I don’t know. I mean, it is forbidden magic, after all,” I replied as if I was seriously considering it. “I’m pretty sure I swore I would just command you to use the minimum of that.”

“It’s just magic for moving something from one place to another,” he murmured. “Why is that forbidden?”

Preaching to the choir, bud. I thought. Preaching to the choir.

With that out of the way, Will finally said the magic word. “Upgrade.”

He must have made the next choice mentally because he cocked his head and then frowned.

“I do have a [Wizard] option here,” he started, and I nodded in satisfaction. “But it claims that it is a dual-slot class, and it is actually [Cult Wizard].”

I nodded. “Go ahead and pick that, then.” He gave me a skeptical look. “What? Dual slot classes are powerful. Unless you are really attached to your subclass for some reason, I don’t see what the problem is.”

“I will not miss [Laborer],” he muttered. “But I would have preferred something less… evil.”

He picked it, and then I urged him to look at the perks it gave.

“It gave me [Magic Proficiency]. It increases the experience I gain for my highest-tier school of magic,” he said.

“The basic [Wizard] perk, then,” I replied. “Good sign. Anything else?”

“No, there does not appear to be.”

“Drat. Oh well, shouldn’t expect much from a tier 1 class,” I sighed. Then, without further ado, I opened my inventory, pulled out my wand, and tossed it to him. “Alright, let’s get started.”

He blinked in surprise. “R-right now? As in, this very second?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Yes? Why wouldn’t we?”

“W-well, I have my job, and the others will be expecting me back soon, and-“

“Your job as a [Laborer],” I replied dryly. “You’re so desperate to get back to it that you would give up magic instruction?”

“N-no, of course not, but how else will I afford necessities like food-“

“[Create Food],” I cast, and an apple plopped on the ground in front of me.

He blinked a few times but pressed on. “- and clothing.”

He looked almost hopeful like I would have a magical clothes beam or something. Instead, I just pulled out a 100-gold coin and tossed it to him.

“I expect- no, I order you only to use that on necessities,” I stated. “And if it’s nonessential, you’ll ask me first.”

He nodded but then cocked his head. “Unless you’re going shopping with me, how will I confirm that with you?”

“That brings us to our first lesson, [Message],” I replied. “Pay close attention and try to recreate the flow of mana.”

I cast it for him a few times and even used [Spell Tutor’s] [Suspended Spell] to let him look at the mana in stasis. Then, after a few dozen casts with him attempting to mirror it back, I left him alone for a moment and told him to keep practicing.

I was gone only for a few minutes, thanks to [Advanced Teleport]. Still, by the time I returned, he was wandering around the dungeon aimlessly, looking at, but not touching, the enchantments and arrays scattered everywhere.

“Out of mana already?” I asked, and Will nodded. “No, you’re not,” I replied. In response to his look of confusion, I pulled a giant magicite crystal out of my inventory and let it slam on the ground near us. Then, as he looked on in shock, I attached the mana extractor I’d enchanted.

“Touch this when you’re out of mana, and then keep practicing,” I grunted.

“What does this artifact- By the spires of Atlantis!” he shouted. “It gives me mana!?”

“Yes. Now, less yelling, more practicing,” I replied.

“I can see why the entire world couldn’t defeat you if you have something like this at your disposal,” he said, ignoring my words since they apparently weren’t an order. “All you would need to do is place this down, and you would be undefeatable.”

I snorted. “Yeah, sure.”

He looked at me quizzically.

“This isn’t exactly portable as easy as I make it look to cart it around. And what happens if someone breaks the crystal? Or the extractor?” I shook my head. “No, this isn’t useful in combat. It’s useful for rituals and for practice. That’s it.”

“You could make it smaller?” he asked hesitantly.

“And I would love to, but any portable size and you might as well just use mana potions. You’ll get more mana back, and you’ll also get it back faster.” I wagged a finger at him. “Now, no more distractions. I can tell when someone’s trying to get out of practicing, and you won’t fool me. Get back at it.”

“Yes, teacher,” he replied.

And I had to admit… there was a part of me that liked the sound of that.

-------

Teaching Will had its challenges. For one thing, merfolk were not designed to stay in landform 24-7. They usually had to spend the night back in the sea.

That resulted in a lot of back and forth for him between my dungeon and the water, which I quickly realized was a lot of wasted time.

Fortunately, it was still a dungeon despite the little time I spent on the initial design. That meant I could edit it and give Will his own sleeping quarters right there, an indoor pool if you will, that I also shoved a standard merfolk bed in… which was mostly just a slab of stone with room for their tail to freely go underneath it. It didn’t look comfortable at all, but I guess that’s the price of not being able to use any typical bedding material.

The first few days were awkward, especially when I kept my promise to Anger and the others by firing off a quick “ritual” that did nothing. Will freaked out about the notice from the System, but it turns out that making a fraction of a manipulation point and then just letting it fade doesn’t actually do anything noticeable. So, he was mostly just confused, which almost seemed to be his default state.

After that, though, he seemed to fall into a rhythm. I pushed him hard every day to learn spells, and he kept going until his brain was so fried that he barely seemed capable of speech.

A part of me couldn’t help but compare him to Erica and find him wanting. When I taught her, she picked up every single spell immediately, and if Will had that level of innate talent, then it would have taken less than a day for him to pioneer the new class.

However, that just means that he had a normal level of talent instead, and that was easily made up for by his work ethic and the fact that I was pumping egregious amounts of mana into him via the extractor. He picked up three of the bolt spells in just a few days each, and surprisingly, [Fire Bolt] took only a single day despite the merfolk’s unfamiliarity with the “light-heat-reaction” that their dialect of virian converted it to.

No, the problem child of the bolt spells was actually air of all things…

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“Why is this so hard for you?” I grumbled. “Air blast my foes, [Air Bolt].” I cast. The bolt of solidified air struck the far wall and dissipated harmlessly. “See! It’s just like that!”

“I know! You have shown me dozens of times now!” Will groaned. “But teacher, I simply do not understand. You stated that aeris is the school of air and instability, correct?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“And I understand that the air is all around when we are above the sea and can even move like the tides.” I nodded again as he continued. “But… that bolt of air that you shot is stable. Is it not? And the second spell-“

“[Air Cutter].” I supplied as he struggled to remember.

“Yes, that one! It is stable enough to form a blade. Why do these spells not contain elements of terris in addition to aeris? What keeps them stable and in formation?”

“Well, that’s simple,” I started. “It’s because… well… you know.” He raised an eyebrow as I floundered a bit. “Moving on! Buff spells, whose school name escapes me. We’ll start with [Strengthen].”

He saw my evasion of the question for what it was, but the fact of the matter was that I didn’t know either. Despite knowing and using [Hurricane], my [Aeris] skill was still one of the most lackluster on my list.

However, on one of Will’s rare days off, I resolved to fix that hole in my knowledge the only way I could think of… by donning an illusion and shamelessly asking for help from one of the mage teachers in Dryadal.

------

“Excuse me,” I asked after sitting through yet another boring lecture.

“Oh, I don’t recognize you,” the magic teacher stated. “Are you new?”

“Something like that,” I deflected with a small laugh. “I just had a quick question about air magic.”

The teacher gathered some of her notes into her inventory. “I suppose I have time, but you’ll have to make it quick.”

“I’ve heard that air magic is the magic of instability in addition to air,” I said, talking as quickly as possible. “But how could instability create a stable blade of air for an [Air Cutter]?”

Her eyes lit up with recognition. “Ahh, that’s a common question for the upper-level students. I’m assuming you wonder why it doesn’t use terris for stability?”

I nodded my head.

“Think about the forces being used for a moment. An [Earth Bolt] vs an [Air Bolt], what is the difference?”

“… One’s made of earth, and one’s made of air,” I stated in confusion.

“Yes, but what’s the natural state of both of those things?”

“Well, I guess a rock is just a rock… but air,” my eyebrows shot up. “Wait. Air is a gas, so it disperses to fill its container, which means the very act of compressing it is the instability.” She nodded and was about to speak, but I barrelled over her. “Holy frick! It’s pressure systems! Colliding high-pressure systems that cause it to keep its shape! Why didn’t anyone ever say that it was just weather magic all this frickin’ time!? Or that it was instability because without the magic to keep it together, it would all disperse?”

And then, realizing that I was being incredibly rude to the magic teacher who had been kind enough to give a hint to the disguised enemy of the world, I looked up to thank her…

And she was gone. Likely towards the beginning of my ranting and raving.

I… wonder if that type of thing happens a lot with mages in training. I asked myself.

Either way, I had what I needed. And when we spoke the next day, Will was much happier with my explanations.

-----

In the following months, I really put Will through the wringer, but he soaked up every scrap of magic training I shoved his way.

He started making good progress on all of the basic spells, and after my better explanation of what it was doing, he especially breezed through air spells.

… Okay, pun was intended.

From there, we had to go to the more esoteric ones. Healing. Death. Scrying. Fortunately, I was able to use [Spell Recollection] to cobble Tim’s [Death Bolt] back together; otherwise, that one would have been tough.

And then, for the ones that I didn’t have him cast (due to their downsides), we had [Zap], [Port], [Attract], and [Foresight].

However, there were still some spell schools missing. Specifically, the opposite of the “communication” school that contained things like [Message], and the debuff school that I was sure had things like [Weaken] or [Slow].

The good news was that it pays to have global-spanning secret organizations. I put out some orders to gather the info and set off my underlings to do the work.

The anti-communication info came up quickly in… you guessed it… Gram. It turns out that their espionage network had some spells related to that type of thing, though they weren’t used much. [Scramble Message], a spell that well… scrambled the next [Message] a target got, was all I needed for my purposes.

They also turned up the name of the spell school as Sermio, which I didn’t think I could ever remember without writing it down.

That left debuff spells as the only school remaining, and the lack of word was concerning.

However, the good news was that magic wasn’t the only area that I could grow Will in. After teaching him some of the higher tier spells, especially [Air Cutter], since he seemed to love aeris most of all, it was time to get him some levels.

Level 10 was easy. I just had to pay a quick bribe to a Syndicate contact, and that secured him a spot in the clearing of “Dave Paradise,” the zone above the currently-claimed-by-elves city of Jenkins.

Of course, I didn’t have him upgrade his class immediately, not with one spell missing. However, that didn’t stop me from preparing a health-stealing dagger, some potions of acid resistance, and then taking him on a quick trip to defeat a leviathan.

… He was not happy about being eaten or that he couldn’t receive his levels immediately after that terrible experience.

I told him to suck it up and wait to learn the final spell, and then we finally got word of it… 3 months after my initial ask.

And when I did, it wasn’t quite as simple as I thought. The report was basically, “You’re going to need to see this in person.”

That’s how I ended up visiting a remote adventurer’s guild in the east of Dryadal…

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I double-checked my illusory appearance as an elven wizard using [Link Sight] with a summoned heavenhound. Long robes? Check. Disguised Singularity as a staff? Check. Long white beard? … Probably a bit unnecessary. I shortened it the tiniest bit.

Then, with no further ado, I strode into the adventurer’s guild.

It wasn’t exactly what I expected. I was expecting a bunch of rowdy groups drinking and otherwise making a nuisance of themselves, but it seemed a bit… quiet.

I walked up to the receptionist who was seated at a desk, and couldn’t help but ask.

“Where is everyone? Shouldn’t a guild have more people?”

She chuckled. “We have over a hundred members, but that just means that most of them are already out on quests.” She stacked some papers and then looked up at me. “Now, how can I help you? Are you looking to put in a request, or perhaps you’re looking for a quest yourself?”

“Actually, I was looking for a specific party. I believe their name was… the Silver Wings?” I asked

“Ah, the Silver Wings. Were you wanting to put in a direct request with them?”

“Something of that nature. I just had a few questions for them, and I suppose I would be willing to pay them for their time,” I replied.

She nodded slowly. “Well, they’re currently out on a hunt, so I suppose I could take a message for them?”

I frowned. I really didn’t want to leave and come back.

“Could I just wait for them instead?” I asked.

“I… suppose that’s allowed,” she replied. “They might not show up until evening… if they show up at all today.”

“Don’t worry,” I replied. “I’m patient.”

I retreated into the Mindscape and began working on a new spell. Specifically, Will had been curious about a single-target spell like [Lightning Spear], designed for air instead. He wanted something that would do better against single big targets like bosses or leviathans… though I cautioned him against picking that second fight.

Either way, his ask turned out to be quite the conundrum.

Air just doesn’t want to compress that much. I thought as I mentally went over several designs. Maybe something like a cannon? Or maybe if the parts are spinning…

I wasn’t sure how long I spent on the problem, but my musings were eventually interrupted by a gentle nudge to the Mindscape.

I quickly returned to reality at my heavenhound’s nudging and saw a group of 6 adventurers, all elves and beastborn, walking in.

I couldn’t even be sure they were my target, except for a young female elf in the back was trilling a merry victory tune on a flute as she marched in behind the others.

I had to restrain myself from slapping my forehead.

Oh duh. [Bards]! It’s always a trope that their songs are good at buffing allies and debuffing enemies. I stood up and slowly walked toward the party. But I have to admit, I didn’t even know bardic magic was a thing in Placeholder.

I paused. Or maybe it’s all a coincidence. And I’m jumping to conclusions. I shrugged. Only one way to find out.

“Excuse me,” I said as I approached. “Would you happen to be the Silver Wings?”

“Depends,” the young elf, who was equipped with armor that had him pegged as a type of warrior, said. “Who’s asking?”

The flute player scoffed. “Cut it out, Qildor. Don’t be rude to your elders!”

Points for the disguise. I thought. But I’m even older than I look, so I guess it isn’t that much of a deception.

Qildor rolled his eyes. “Fine, you nag.” He turned to me. “What can the Silver Wings do for your esteemed elderlyship?”

I could have chosen to be offended, but I decided it would just be a waste of time.

“A little birdy told me that someone in your party is practicing an interesting type of magic,” I replied. “When I heard that, I just had to rush over and see for myself.”

“Pfft, you’re wasting your time, old coot,” the [Warrior] stated. “No one in our party is-”

“I would be willing to pay up to 250 gold for a simple demonstration. Up to 1000 if it truly is something new and exciting.”

That shut him up, and the party looked at each other.

“Excuse us for a moment, if you would please,” the [Bard] asked.

I nodded, and their group went over to a corner and started whispering.

I wouldn’t have heard a word... if I didn’t have my heavenhound there and didn’t cast a quick [Link Sound].

“- supposed to keep it a low profile,” one of the others whose name I would never learn stated. “What if the army finds out?”

“Then we just have to get some assurances! Some oaths!” the leader complained. “That’s a lot of money for a simple show and tell!”

“And it would all be hers because she’s the one taking the risk here,” another party member added. “So, it’s also up to her.”

“I... don’t know. I mean, it kinda sounds like word’s already getting around,” the [Bard] added, and I was suddenly treated to my summoned hounds rapid happy panting as she scratched him behind the ears. She sighed. “Let’s do it. We’ll run it as a quest through the guild to guarantee payment and have them also require some oaths.”

I quickly cut out the link to sound as they returned.

I... didn’t even need to spy there, did I? I asked. Oh well. What’s done is done.

Ultimately, I sponsored a quest for the “show and tell,” swore an oath that I wouldn’t tell anyone about her spells, and walked with the party into a storage room.

And then, without further ado, she started playing.

It was a jaunty tune, similar to the one she played when she entered the guild. And I was shocked to discover a hint of animae magic.

AOE healing? I asked internally. And then, because speculation wasn’t helpful, I just repeated the question aloud.

“Ummm, kinda,” the [Bard] replied. “This song makes people get their stamina back slightly faster.”

“Fascinating,” I muttered, and that wasn’t just my persona talking. No healing spell that I knew touched the stamina bar at all. “Do you know any others?”

She looked at the other members of her party.

I sighed and flipped her a 100-gold coin.

“100 gold for every unique effect you show me with your songs,” I stated.

She was on board after that. She showed me a true healing song that made me thankful for [Healing Negation], a song that increased physical strength (which I’m sure was what made her so popular with her party), and then after much coaxing, she played a funeral dirge.

I didn’t know what it did until I realized I was almost imperceptibly slower.

“Amazing,” I said when she finished. “Does it work on everyone who hears the song?”

“Yes and no,” the [Bard] replied. “I can affect everyone, allies, or enemies. For the last one, I... ummm... pretended you were an enemy.”

“Alright, one last test and another 100 gold for it,” I stated. “Play the dirge again and affect everyone.”

She looked to the party, who just shrugged.

“Umm, okay?”

She began playing, and I focused on the gathering mana. And then, once I got a feel for the song... I threw my own mana into the pot.

The slow intensified immediately.

The [Bard] sputtered, and the spell broke.

So if the song is interrupted, the effect is too, and people besides the player can also add to it. Interesting.

“Thank you for your time,” I said, giving the [Bard] a small bow. “It was most enlightening.”

“Ummm, yeah. Sure,” she replied.

She had no idea what she had just given away.

-----

The idea of song-infused magic gave me tons of wonderful and terrible ideas. However, of more immediate importance it gave me what I was looking for: a chance to reverse engineer debuff magic so that I could create my own and teach it to Will.

That was harder than I make it sound, but the good news was that my apprentice was also helpful there. With his help and a lot of mana wasted on testing, we eventually crafted the [Weaken] and [Slow] spells.

And while I could have also shared the bardic version of doing magic… I decided to keep that one to myself. Not only did I not have time to teach Will a musical instrument, I didn’t want to distract him from his main goals.

The good news for Will was that after learning [Weaken], he could finally upgrade his class. When he did so, he certainly received a new one. [Cult Omni-Wizard].

He immediately shot up to level 25 because of the stored experience from the leviathan, and I made sure to laugh as he faceplanted on his first step after that.

The perk was a bit lackluster, in my opinion. [Lesser Magic Potency], which gave a slight boost to all types of magic. However, I still insisted on looking at his class and that perk just in case I wanted it as a backup.

To make up for the inconvenience of [[View class]] and for laughing at his pratfall, I taught him the spell I had worked on specifically for him. [Air Drill].

He was immensely happy with it.

He… also tried to hit me with it, which is when I introduced him to [Disrupt].

I didn’t think it would kill me at that point, but it was sure as heck going to hurt.

However, my [Demon Lord] skill fascinated him, and he demanded to see it in action more often. So, I started using it on his spells during practice and even on him as he was trying to cast, which resulted in him struggling to maintain control of his spell.

And while it could just be a coincidence, it sure seemed like he picked up spells a lot faster after that.

And there were a lot of spells to teach. I wanted him to have at least 2 spells from each of the tier1 schools, and there were only so many spell points that he had available… almost all of which were devoted explicitly to spells that fell under the impermissus umbrella since casting those was dangerous.

Teaching all of that took more than a year, which was likely 50 times faster than anyone else could have done.

Having nearly unlimited mana for practice was really something else.

Throughout it all, a part of me kept nagging that I was wasting time. That if I really wanted spell levels I would have gone to war or even finagled a way to drag Will into armed conflict as well.

I mostly just told that part of me to shut up. I was still progressing toward my goals, even if I was doing it slowly, and also, I was… enjoying myself. It was good to have an eager student under my wing.

That’s what I thought until he learned his final tier2 spell, and the day of our upgrades finally arrived.

-----

“Well, today’s the day,” I muttered as I paced back and forth in the dungeon. “After he gets the new class and I copy over its perk, I won’t have any more use for him.”

I paused and frowned. That’s a really harsh way of putting things. Sure, I mean, he won’t be my apprentice anymore, but maybe he’ll stick around?

“I guess it’s all up to him,” I sighed.

“Teacher,” came a call and a knock at the entrance to the room. It didn’t have a door, but he made do by rapping on the wall.

“Yes, Will, come in,” I gestured. “Are you ready to finally upgrade your class?”

He nodded firmly. “Yes.”

There was an odd look in his eyes that I didn’t recognize, but I ignored it.

Maybe he’s nervous about being the first one to get this class? That could easily be it.

“Alright then, step up to the obelisk, upgrade your class, and let me know what options you get.”

He did so and then read off his new option.

“[Cult Archwizard],” he stated.

I slumped. “Dang it, that sounds like the normal progression. What went wrong?”

He turned to me with a smirk. “And [Supreme Cult Archmagus].”

I cackled like an idiot. “Yes, yes, yes!” I said, pounding him on the shoulder. “Take it! What perks does it get? They should be amazing!”

“Hold your dolphins! I’m looking!” he replied. He gave a face like he just bit into a lemon. “First up, the negatives. I have [Physical Frailty], which reduces my strength, carrying capacity, and stamina.”

I winced. “That’s bad, but not insurmountable.” I patted his shoulder. “Besides, at level 25, I’m sure you’re still stronger than most level 10 [Warriors] even now.”

“You’re… right, I suppose,” he replied. “I just don’t like my odds if an enemy gets up close and personal.”

I scoffed. “You’re a wizard! Just don’t let them! Now, what’s the next perk?”

“[Decreased Experience Gain – Non-magical],” he stated. I winced but nodded him to go on. “But on the good side, I have [Fast Mana Regeneration], which doubles my regeneration speed,” he stated.

I whistled. “Wow, most mages would kill to have that.”

“And that’s it.”

I deflated. “I guess [Fast Mana Regeneration] is pretty good. Not something worth copying over, but still pretty good.”

“Were you hoping for something else?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Something like increased magic skill gain, or increased magic potency or… something that would be useful for me too.”

“Something like… [Supreme Magic Proficiency]?”

I looked at him, and he gave me a cheeky grin.

“You bass turd!” I shouted as I held back from strangling him. “You could have just led with that one! what does it do?”

“It granted me a single skill level in every magic school, except the tier 3 ones like [Elementalis]-“

I whistled. “Dang, that’s good-“

“- and it removed the lower limit from all magic skills so that I do not have to spend skill points to get them past level 5.”

My jaw dropped. “No. You’re kidding me. This is another prank.”

He shook his head. “It is not.”

That was perfect. There was only a single problem…

“H-how many perk points does it cost?” I asked.

“I received it for free, but it claims to be a… wow…”

Don’t torture me like this, kid!

“25 perk points. That’s more than most people see in their life!”

I sighed in relief. I had 29 perk points left. That was just enough.

“Alright, let’s do this. I have a full crystal here, and it should be just two simple admin functions, and then we’re done,” I said.

He looked at me, and a hint of nervousness flashed through his eyes.

“By done you mean-“

“After this, you’ll be free from being my apprentice,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Free to do whatever you want, though I would appreciate it if you didn’t attack me or break any of my stuff.” I chuckled, and he nervously chuckled along.

“So, go ahead and take a seat next to the crystal, and we’ll get this started.”

I said it would be quick, but [[View Class]] was a doozy with how much was shoved into Will’s newly gained class. It took 5 uses of the function before I knew what I was looking at and another 5 before I was sure that I could reproduce the perk I wanted.

Will didn’t say a word during the entire thing, but he did fidget a bit.

“Alright,” I said when we were finally done. “Now, for the next function, this is the most likely point where someone randomly appears to stop me, so for your last order, do your best to delay anyone who tries to stop me from completing this function.”

He stiffened as I gave that order, and there was a look of panic in his eyes.

I softened a bit. “If an enemy shows up that’s too dangerous, you can run. All I want is for you to just buy some time. Just enough to distract them with Upgrade Sword. Don’t worry. The function won’t take long.”

He swallowed but then nodded slowly.

“Good, that’s my student!” I beamed. “And now, for the final upgrade to my class… [[Edit Class]]!”

Will took his job seriously, and I noticed he began coalescing his mana and muttering under his breath immediately.

He’s gonna hit the intruder with an [Overchanneled] [Air Drill], isn’t he? I thought and then chuckled a bit internally. Whoever gets pelted by that won’t have a clue what hit ‘em.

And then, it was back to my class edits. They were going well, and I was putting piece after piece together with only a few left… and then there was a catastrophe.

My crystal ran completely out of mana.

I quickly shoved all of the mana from Singularity into making manipulation points, but it wasn’t enough. I pushed all of my stamina into it, too, but that also wasn’t enough.

I quickly flipped open my inventory and started grabbing every emergency potion I had and chugging them.

Still not enough. There was one small piece left, and my control was slowly slipping. I had no clue what would happen if I left my class in that state, and I was in no hurry to find out.

“Will!” I shouted. “Give me your mana and stamina potions!”

He looked at me in panic but didn’t say a word, likely because he would mess up his spell’s chant.

“That’s an order! Now! It’s slipping!”

He rushed over and pushed potion after potion into my hand. I drained them without a second thought and then pushed…

And the perk locked in.

I gave a gasping laugh as I shakily stood to my feet at 0 mana and stamina.

“Moment of truth,” I said as I shuffled to the obelisk. “Upgrade.”

I went to perks and saw it after a second.

“Purchase [Supreme Magic Proficiency],” I stated.

And then time slowed down as everything broke for a few brief moments… just as expected.

System: Warning! Addition of perk “Supreme Magic Proficiency” causes a power level for the class outside of acceptable limits! Cannot add perk!

System: Error. Perk point expenditure unresolved.

System: Resolution. Skill level addition removed. Skill limit removal left unaffected. Perk renamed “Supreme Magic Proficiency - Adjusted”

System: Warning. Unbalanced System change made by candidate Titus. That is strike 2. At three strikes candidate privileges will be revoked

I laughed, long and hard. It turned into more of a cackle than anything.

I’d done it. It had been easy, all things considered. There wasn’t even a random archangel showing up to stop me.

Then, turning to the bewildered merman, I gave him a nod.

“With that, you’re free from being my apprentice. You no longer have to obey my orders,” I said. Then, looking at the wand that he had at the ready, I continued. “You can let go of the [Air Drill] now. If someone were going to interrupt, they would have already done it.”

He nodded firmly… and then turned the wand toward me.

“Will,” I said slowly. “What’s the meaning of this?”

The mana grew even more, and I was sure he had poured every last drop into the spell.

“Stop the spell, and we can talk about this!” I shouted. “What’s gotten into you?”

Even at 0 mana and stamina, I wasn’t worried. I had two options to deal with the incoming attack. One that would negate it… and one I dearly hoped not to use.

“[Air Drill]!” he shouted.

“[Disrupt]!” I snapped… but he’d played me like a fiddle. He hadn’t timed his release with the final words of the spell, and he had grown proficient at keeping his cast up even through a [Disrupt].

He unleashed his spell for real. There was a tremendous gust of air as the spinning drill sped toward me, and I… sighed.

There was a flash of red around me, and Will was the one who fell to the ground.

I never did show him [Reflect Attack].

“Why did you do it, Will?” I asked softly as I stooped over him. “Why betray me now?”

He gave a choking laugh. “Because I knew you ‘had no more use for me.’ How much longer was I going to live anyway?”

Understanding struck me like a thunderbolt. He had been outside my door. He had heard me.

And he had completely misunderstood the situation.

“You idiot!” I shouted as I began frantically scrolling through my inventory. There! I thought as I pulled out a cure wand. “[Cure]!” I cast on him… it wasn’t enough. I pulled out another. “[Cure]!”

“W-what are you doing?”

“Trying to save my foolish apprentice’s life,” I snarled. “I was never going to kill you, Will! I was going to stop using you! I’ve just been using you to learn about magic and perks and I was going to stop!”

He gave me a look of confusion, but that was followed by a cough… that resulted in red around his mouth.

Internal bleeding, major. The clinical part of me that had spent a season in a Dryadal hospital thought.

Meanwhile, the rest of me was in a panic. I needed to [Restore] him, but that required mana, and I was fresh out.

I eyed the mana arrays for the pocket dimension but quickly discarded that idea. They wouldn’t have enough mana to spare, and even if they did, I would likely be killing us all.

[Panic Button] would take me immediately to a near-full crystal… but only me. It was specifically designed that way. By the time I could teleport back, Will would be dead.

No time, just move! I ran to the crystal, almost snapped the mana extractor trying to get it off, shoved it into my inventory, and then practically threw Will onto my back in a piggyback carry.

Then, I took off running towards the nearest full crystal.

My desperate sprint lasted 4 whole steps before video game physics caught up to me.

I was out of stamina. I couldn’t run.

The only solution was to rest, but I wasn’t in the right state of mind to do that. I couldn’t convince myself that I was resting with my dying apprentice on my back.

Instead, I grunted as I made the best speed the System allowed with no stamina, even as I pleaded for his life.

Please, System. I begged. He doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve to die!

Will gave a wet cough, and a bit of blood trickled down from his mouth onto my chest.

“Just hang on, Will,” I said calmly, belying the panic overtaking me. “Everything will be okay. Just leave it to me, alright?”

He didn’t reply, and I continued begging.

You give [Heroes] last-minute powerups, Jake could overdraw stamina for [Sunder]. Just give me that for a single minute! I pleaded. Failing that, just give me my earth body for a few minutes! Even that out-of-shape lump could make it! I trudged forward step after step. Heck, send Mishael again! I’m wide open! Now would be the perfect time for him to strike! Just let him save Will first!

I continued trudging forward as the System gave no reply, and after what felt like an eternity but was surely less than a minute, I reached a crystal.

“It’s okay, Will,” I said. “We made it. Now just give me a moment and-“

“Teacher,” Will interrupted, with his voice faint.

“It’s going to be okay, Will,” I reassured. “I just need to-“

“No… teacher. I’m… sorry,” he said.

And then, the merman fell off my back and hit the ground with a thud. His legs shifted back to the tail of his normal form.

“Will, this isn’t a funny joke,” I said as I fell to my knees beside him.

“Please, Will. Talk to me,” I croaked.

But he couldn’t. Not even Tim could truly make the dead speak.

With a wordless cry of rage, I slammed my fist into the crystal.

A series of spiderweb cracks on a priceless piece of magacite was my reward. I didn’t care. I slammed it again and again until parts shattered.

“You couldn’t even give me this?” I asked quietly to the sky. “Not even an apprentice? I can’t have anyone?” My question ended in a shout.

Wrath form attempted to activate.

I didn’t even fight it.

I screamed my rage at the sky. I destroyed everything in a mile radius. And when I finally came back to myself an hour later, I was empty inside.

I collapsed to the ground in a heap.

“I thought it was just [Heroes], but I should have known,” I said, my voice eerily calm. “First, it was Megan. Then Varnak. Now Will. No matter who it is, the System will take them from me, one way or another.”

I clenched some dirt beneath me in my fist and let it slowly filter through.

“So, that just means they’re no longer people,” I stated softly. “Everyone left on this godforsaken planet is a means to an end. A tool. And I shed no tears if a sword breaks. I merely get a new one.”

I gave a brief, bitter laugh.

“Congratulations, System. You wanted a [Demon Lord], now you’ve finally got one. There’s nothing left in me that I could lose.”

And that meant it was time to stop procrastinating.

I stood up and slammed Singularity into the ground.

“[Message] Anger,” I cast. “Mobilize for war.”