In another part of the apprentice quarters. A slim man in his forties is standing in front of an imposing young man. The relationship between them seem to be muddled a bit. The older men is behaving slightly submissively, but it doesn’t look like he became one of Isaac’s men. The middle-aged men is called Illdrick. He is responsible for overseeing the mission about magic scroll creation. As this is one of the main sources of income from the tower, his power is also high.
Isaac was one of the leaders of the Apprentices, thus had a lot of free room and power, which normal Apprentices don’t possess. Though it might look that they were equal, that is certainly not the case. Illdrick got his power through a long accumulation of asskising and schemes. Isaac in comparison got his position because of his talent and prowess. Nonetheless, he is still in a position where he cannot be forced to do Isaacs bidding.
„Hello Sir Isaac, I am very interested in what you wish to get. And of course, what you have to offer for it.“ Ildrick flatters Isaac. He is polite, bordering on asskising territory.
„Have you heard of a guy named Osric? I met him yesterday.“ Isaac says.
„Yes, isn’t he the guy with the astonishing affinity for arcane? Arcane is known to be a strong element, but not in the apprentice stage. What about him?“ Ildrick inquires. He, as one with power, of course, knows of anyone with high potential. He is usually careful about them. Most with this high potential would choose to join a group or faction very fast. Lone wolves often have problems with a lot of stuff.
„He is too arrogant. I met him yesterday and he didn’t give way to his seniors. I think that his arrogance needs to be destroyed, before it can grow further. Only that way can he be an asset to the Order,“ Isaac says. What he omits is that he doesn’t really care about the whole situation. It was after all arranged by him. What he wanted is to obtain that talent. While not strong at the beginning, it can make some wondrous stuff happen later on the journey.
„Of course, of course, what do you suggest?“ Ildrick inquires. He doesn’t think much of it. Osric didn’t join a group or make any action in choosing one. A lone wolf might be strong, but he is still only one man.
„He has accepted the mission of making magic scrolls, you should give him ‚that‘. You know master Renald mentioned that the produced amount is unsatisfactory. I am sure you don’t want to be punished right? “ Isaac inquires.
„Yes, Yes, excellent idea. As expected of you Sir Isaac. If you excuse me I have some preparations to do,“ with that Ildrick left the room with a diabolic grin.
Unbeknownst to the two, their victim, Osric has made a breakthrough in the soul mediation method. According to the classification, he is now a intermediate-second stage Soul Apprentice. He received a boost to his soul strength, soul juice capacity and some incrisement in his cognitive functions.
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„Alright, no time to waste, let’s go make some scrolls,“ I say. Closing the door behind me. I made my way to the second floor, into the laboratory’s section. There I walk around a bit before I find someone not busy with walking around. He is chilling and leaning on a wall.
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„Excuse me, but can you point me to the magic scroll making section,“ I ask him.
„That way,“ he points. After thanking him, I make my way there. The laboratories is not that different from the rest of the building. Lavish, and sometimes over stylish. At least for me, I never cared about luxury, not that I had them available.
At the end of the hallways, filled left and right with rooms, sits a small guy behind a filled desk. He is probably the overseer.
„Good morning, I am here for an assignment,“ I tell him. Then he looks up from his work.
„Wonderful, my name is Ildrick. Come, I will show you what to do,“ he says. He seems to be a bit too enthusiastic for a newbie, or so I think. Most people would groan on the prospect of training a newbie. This looks a bit fishy.
„Alright listen. Making a magic scroll has three steps. First infuse magic energy into the ink. Second, take out the scroll and copy the spell model into the scroll, third, infuse it with magic. A first stage apprentices should be able to infuse two scrolls per hour. Our daily quota is three scrolls,“ he says. ”of course that doesn’t count the wasted ones and time to refill the mana and your concentration”
„Alright, For the first month, take this fireball spellbook, memorize it and make scrolls. For making scrolls, you don’t need to engrave the formula into your soul, you just have to copy the book methodically onto the paper. Next month come to me for another spell,“ he says while handing me a small booklet.
„Any questions? No? Great. Good luck and remember, you have to hand in 30 Scrolls at the end of the month. You are expected to succeed three out of five times, thus you get five scrolls a day plus ink. Have fun!“ he says and promptly leaves the small isle.
He is up to no good. I can smell his bullshit from here. Most likely he will give me a really hard assignment next month. But jokes on him, as a soul wizard, I have an easier time doing this. And he is even giving me money. I should be able to achieve a success rate of 80-90 per cent. Haha.
After my little rant, I inspect the scroll. It is similar to the meditation methods, but not completely. There are two ways of casting magic in this world. The first is where you engrave the magic into your soul, the other is to guide magic power into the form of the formula. The second one is really hard. It is easier for a soul wizard but at the apprentice level, the difference is not big. Circulating magic power inside the body is much easier than outside. So after engraving it, one has a generator always available, one only has to fuel it with fuel.
I begin memorizing the formula. It is hard, but since my memory improved tremendously, I find the task to be easier.
I take the five sheets and the ink I was given back to my room. I take out the ten sheets I purchased before and compare them.
„That bastard sold me inferior products. Whatever, they should be good enough for exercise proposes,“ I mumble to myself. Wasting some at the beginning is normal and it isn’t like I need good quality paper for this. For some time, I train with a normal, non-magical paper. After I became confident, I switched to magic scrolls
The first try is a catastrophe. The feel is very different. Because of the magical infused ink, the whole process feels like writing with the arms of an octopus. sticky. Five coppers down the drain. The next three are somewhat better. The last few of my own ones go by better, the last one even succeeds, but the quality of both, the parchment and the formula is subpar at best. The charging of the scroll took nearly all of my mana. I believe that the subpar quality resulted in a bad efficiency for charging. Then I make my way over to the provided goat scrolls.
I manage to make two scrolls of acceptable quality and destroy three because of subpar quality. I don’t need to give that guy, or anyone for that matter, ammunition targeting myself.
After finishing them, I grab something to eat in the cafeteria and move back to meditate. Because of my earlier breakthrough, I am pumped to continue meditation. Breakthroughs just feel too amazing.
My goal is to reach the third stage of soul cultivation and the second stage of mage apprentice. Then I will be able to accept bigger missions on my own.
Lastly, I have to figure out how to speed up my meditation. While doing that I continue to translate the introductory book.