Luxon met Claudia a month ago. She taught him how to fill the needle and cloth with magic. Without magic, her body could not be repaired. Yesterday, they finally sewed up all the holes.

Today, like yesterday, he went out to plough the field. Luxon had already pulled out all the weeds and sprinkled ashes on the ground. All he had to do was plough and plant the grain for sowing.

However, his bag contained more than just a rake, shovel and hoe. An old rusty sword, tied up in rags, was safely hidden among the tools.

He had hardly any energy or time to spare, but still he decided to change his fate. Finished with his work, he walked towards the forest. His stomach rumbled and his legs and arms ached. However, the pace of the child's steps only quickened.

Luxon went out to the old hut and bowed towards the barn.

"Teacher!"

The barn door opened ajar, and an ugly village scarecrow stepped out of the darkness. Each step of the straw scarecrow was abrupt and unnatural. Dried straw occasionally fell from beneath the cloth.

"I told you to call me, Claudia."

The scarecrow sounded like a young girl, there was an impatience in her voice.

Luxon nodded and opened his bag. He went over to it and began to pull out the old straw and remove the insects that had settled there.

"Kill them..."

After listening to the teacher's daily complaints, he quickly removed all the vermin. Luxon had already understood her hatred of insects.

"Wonderful! At least you're of some use!"

Luxon pulled out all the remaining straw. Claudia had lost all her strength and could only speak.

"This year's straw?"

"Yes."

"Yay! ..... By the way, does anyone in the village know about me?"

The boy shuddered and shook his head. Claudia had promised to kill him if he blabbed about her presence. She had easily saved him from the wolves. With just one cut, Claudia had chopped down so many trees...

"No, I stole the straw from Great's neighbour."

"How did you do that?"

[invisibility]

Luxon snapped his fingers, the magic trick Claudia had shown him yesterday worked. His body was illusory, almost transparent.

Claudia was tired of wondering, the boy learned magic quickly, all too quickly...

"Taken advantage of illusions? Which is to be expected from my apprentice."

Luxon did not know whether to be ashamed or happy about the praise. He tried to stuff the scarecrow with new straw as quickly as possible.

"Okay."

Claudia moved her body and nodded contentedly. Her movements were smooth and natural, as if she were a living person.

"Get the sword."

Luxon took the sword out of his bag and showed it to his teacher. This sword was rusty and worn. He had stolen it today from the village headman's barn.

"Shit of a cheap forge."

[transmutation]

Claudia touched her sword and straightened her wooden fingers. Glowing particles formed around her hand. The rusty sword disappeared, and in its place a shiny rapier appeared.

"A simple transmutation will suffice. I've added carbon to the steel, alloyed the natural energy to create the magical metal and reshaped it. It doesn't compare to the work of a good blacksmith, but it'll be enough for you."

Claudia handed Luxon the rapier.

"Do you like it?"

He nodded and felt surprised at the new shape of the sword. Luxon saw the possibilities of magic again.

"Raise your sword."

Claudia was going to help the child learn some tricks. Communication gave her back some of her humanity.

Luxon was motivated to follow the teacher's instructions.

Their training only lasted a few hours. However, he could already feel the lack of hunger and the pain in his muscles.

"You've managed to master your breathing... How are you feeling?"

"I don't feel like eating..."

"It's all about mana absorption. Magic is the manipulation of mana outside the body. Knight techniques, manipulate mana through the body."

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[magic arrow]

A magic circle appeared on her wooden fingers and the spell worked instantly. The trunk of the tree shattered into splinters.

"This is external manipulation. Now..."

*cut *

Claudia's hand glowed, and Luxon didn't notice as she swung and cut through another tree. The movements were like teleportation.

"It is an inner manipulation and the reason for the strength of the knights. A sword is just a piece of cheap metal. A simple plate that concentrates kinetic energy into a small area. It can't kill a mage."

The child immediately raised his hand.

"Ask questions."

"What is kinetic energy?"

His teacher shook his head. The boy even heard the scarecrow sigh.

"I should have started with the basics. Anyway. I'm sure you don't understand what magic is."

Thus passed the days of the village boy and the estranged living scarecrow.

Claudia wanted to leave as soon as her body was fixed, but decided to stay longer. In just a few months, Luxon gained the strength of a junior swordsman.

Claudia walked with Luxon; the mere mortals of the village did not notice the strangeness. The invisibility spell was too effective against mortals.

The student and the teacher lived in their own world of training. They were stealing food, using illusions all the time. Thus came their first winter.

Luxon was making firewood, the scarecrow returned from hunting to dry his straw.

*cut *

The boy used a rapier to chop firewood. The thin sword cut the wood into small pieces easily.

"Wrong."

Claudia threw a stone at Luxon. The boy did not dodge, the stone hit one of the muscles in his arm.

"Channel 15% more mana into your elbow muscle. Now the angle of your cut, why wasting so much mana?"

Luxon readjusted the mana flows in his body and quickly replied.

"Master, I have a rapier in my hand..."

Claudia grinned and thrust her sword into one of the logs, then arched her arm. The sword made a grinding noise, the steel snapped. A piece of the sword whizzed by and lodged in the barn.

"Is the sword broken? And now?"

[transmutation]

Claudia performed magical gestures, the shards of her sword reassembled into a blade.

"You feel sorry for your rapier, I made it from a piece of rusty soft iron. Have you seen the spell? With your talent, you will soon master it. Channel the mana into the rapier!"

Luxon reduced the mana around his sword and asked.

"Is that right?"

"Why don't you do with your sword what you do with your body?"

Claudia filled her sword with mana, the blade shuddered and cracked.

"Don't waste mana! You'll be exhausted after ten strokes. Mana must be infused into the sword itself. Push the metal to the limit."

*cut *

Claudia waved her sword again.

The snow around the hut was swept away in a whirlwind, a third of the logs turned to splinters. Claudia's sword was torn into fragments, and those fragments were scattered in a whirlwind of deadly shrapnel.

[transmutation]

Claudia performed the spell again, debris slowly flying towards her sword. Restoring the sword would now take many hours.

"A knight is neither a soldier, not a guard, nor a foot soldier. The sword must fulfil its purpose! Don't get attached to your sword, use it to its full potential."

Luxon was encouraged, having learnt all the remarks, he swung his sword again. The piece of wood was cut, the blade was slightly dull. Luxon evened his blade without gestures and took another swing.

*cut *

His rapier didn't get stuck in the thick pieces of wood.

His rapier didn't get stuck in the thick pieces of wood.

"I did it!"

Claudia looked tiredly at Luxon.

A skinny boy with short black hair, disheveled like a bird's nest. Luxon was an unassuming country boy, but there was something special about him. Dark circles under his eyes caused by severe sleep deprivation. Cheeks, neck, arms, all accentuate his thinness. There were several bruises on his forehead, neck and the back of his hands.

Luxon spent all his time practising his spells, his behaviour getting crazier and crazier.

"You mastered mana manipulation very quickly."

Claudia praised him sincerely for the first time. Luxon smiled; he was glad of the praise from the teacher. She noticed the child's emotion, it was a relief to her.

"Luxon...?"

Claudia's voice was filled with concern and warmth. She noticed the boy changing his behaviour.

"Yes teacher?"

"When we walk around the village, you use illusions all the time. I've noticed how you avoid the villagers. It's strange, the villages are usually more intimate."

Luxon wondered, he didn't understand where the teacher saw the strangeness.

"Well... I'm interested in communicating with you. I'm interested in learning magic, swordsmanship..."

Cludia didn't teach him magic, but Luxon said about teaching magic. She knows that he practices the spells shown on his own.

"Luxon. Don't avoid the subject."

The boy shrugged his shoulders. He tried not to think about his change.

"I don't really care about the village. They are just peasants. Why should I associate with them?"

"You're wondering for yourself. Think hard. Did your character change drastically? When did you start despising the villagers?"

Luxon recalled the strangeness of his memories. One day, he came up with a different name for himself. He quickly began to talk about that day. The boy was suddenly frightened, why hadn't he noticed the change?

Claudia finally found the answer to her question.

"These changes are very strong, but it's all good. You have the talent of a sorcerer. The emotions of disdain for the villagers are not yours. Your talent changes you, there's nothing wrong with that."

Claudia created a magic circle on her hand.

"Try creating such a magic scheme."

Luxon tilted his head. The boy did not understand his teacher. At that moment his blood heated, his pupils dilated, and new knowledge emerged in his memories.

[magic rocket]

Luxon stretched out his hand, a magical projectile flew out of it. He looked at his hands in shock. A small explosion was heard in the distance.

"Yes, it makes sense now. It's a sorcerer's talent."

Claudia touched Luxon, the knight's aura scanning the boy's body. The exhaustion was not related to his practice of magic. The sorcerer's talent infects Luxon with negative energy. The sorcerer's talent transmits ancestral characteristics to his descendants.

"Have you felt weak in your body lately?"

Luxon nodded and tried to remember.

"Well... a week ago, my joints hurt, and I feel sleepy. It's not because of the training?"

Weakness and contamination by negative energy are common to the undead.

"Your ancestor was a powerful undead. From this ancestor, you inherited a magical talent. When your talent was activated, negative energy began to weaken your body tissues. Negative energy weakens your emotions. The worst part is that you are slowly dying."

"Erm, teacher, what should I do?"

Luxon felt a chivalrous aura enter his body. Claudia loosened the negative energy slightly. Luxon immediately felt comfortable and invigorated.

"My aura will keep you from dying, but I can't remove the other negative effects. Only an archmage experienced in necromancy can help you."

Luxon nodded, but he was interested in something else.

"What is the talent for witchcraft?"

Claudia thought about it, but decided not to answer. The boy must not explore his talent. He can study magic, but he must not get close to the undead talent. Without a teacher, it could permanently affect the child's personality.

"You can learn magic faster... Would you like me to explain magic theory? As a knight, I don't know much, but you'll find it interesting."

"Teacher, thank you!"

Luxon looked at his teacher expectantly. The boy had long wanted to ask Claudia to learn magic, but she had always taught only swordsmanship.

"OK, I'm not a magician. The theory I'll tell you is only superficially familiar to me."

She remembered her childhood and her family's useless theory.

"Let's start with the first law of magic. The law of knowledge, the more you know, the stronger you are. The less mana you have to spend on external manipulation."

"It's like with muscles? We studied anatomy to do the right exercises and channel the mana without damaging the body."

Claudia felt proud, her pupil had got it right.

"Yes, knowledge of the laws of the material world helps to use spells more effectively. The second law of magic, knowledge of names. From this law come the verbal practices of spells. We know the magical effect, we understand how we can achieve it. To make the effect stronger, we give our spell a true name. Your spell with the name transmutation and mine are different. Our spells have the same true name, but they refer to different knowledge and cause different effects. There are no identical spells in the world, just that the effects may be similar."

A strange idea flashed through Luxon's mind. Claudia noticed the boy's eyes change colour to purple for a moment.

"Master. The law of names doesn't just apply to spells?"

Claudia was again surprised by the sorcerer's talent. The boy made the right assumption, the knowledge hidden in his blood gave him a clue.

"Yes, it is possible to master any phenomenon or power. The main thing is to know the true name and have the power to use the true name."

"What about the strength of a knight?"

Claudia panicked for a moment. Her pride as a knight said no, but the theory of magic said otherwise. She was silent for a few seconds, and then answered quietly.

"I admit it's possible."