Dying is odd. You can feel it happening, the body tearing itself apart. The failing. Everything. I got to know what it feels like to burn out the brain and what cooking insides feel like. So I probably died. But I got better.

Don't ask me how I did that. There is a lot that is still fuzzy and warped. Like I watched my semi-miraculous rebirth through a swampy pool. I do know that I missed a real opportunity; if Ramrar, God of the Dragons, Lord of Might (both physical and magical), Granter of Insights and a bunch of other silly titles for the god that generally does nothing but grant some poor fool too much power, had decided to explain what to do with his blessing of magical might, I would have had a real awe inspiring amount of power right now.

As it is, I have a warlock's bond that lets me feast on the magical residue of dying creature to empower the spellform on my chest. The thing is a Dragon's Eye symbol, a triangle with a line at each edge that meets in the middle, which grows in sophistication and power the more magic is added to the rune. Nuala tells me it is a rare spellform that can grow with the addition of more magic, as opposed to blowing up.

I also learned from Nuala that all warlock's eventually get a patron. A patron provides most of the strength for a warlock's spells, usually in return for something. Sometimes that is souls, sometimes it’s a body, and in the case of Ramrar, it was devotion. So now I am a devoted follower of a god only dragons and the truly mad worship.

On the bright side, I now have a better understanding of my abilities and statistics.

Edward Hunter

Level: 5

Age: 19

Job: Warlock/Hunter

Physical Power

5

Physical Skill

8

Magical Might

7

Magical Expertise

3

Even this exceptionally basic table of statistics is more than most ever see. Usually, to see something like this, you would need a powerful investigation spell or something similar. Anyway, according to Nuala, the average human has a 3 in Physical attributes and a 1 in magical attributes. And the average mage has a 4 or 5 in magical attributes, so an 8 in Skill and Might is considered exceptional.

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That’s me, exceptional. Except I have no ability to wield my magical power with any degree of fineness and I am weaker than a city guard. I feel a bit disappointed I didn’t turn into a demi-god like figure from myth, given my blessing, but I should improve far faster than a normal man. On the significant downside. Nuala says I am thoroughly cursed by, and this is her words “draconic bloodlust”. I don’t know how she knows or what that means, except it is not good. Add to that my already short temper, and I am surprised that Nuala hasn’t chained me to a wall like a rabid dog.

Finished with my personal inspection, I pull myself off the stone altar that serves as serves as Nuala’s ritual table. I feel like garbage, but that is nothing new. Shaking out and stretching my sore limbs I notice I am still covered in a sheen of sweat.

After a quick bath and a few bowls of horsemeat stew, I enter Nuala’s house to find her reading an impressively large book, bound in black leather.

“We need to discuss seriously training you, physically and magically so you can control that curse you were gifted by the dragon god. The blessed of Ramrar have a nasty habit of destroying towns or cities in fits of rage. Hell, the Placid Sea that sits between us and the cities of the East is said to be the result of one particularly spectacular temper tantrum of one of Ramrar’s chosen.”

It was too. According to legends, the Hero’s family was abducted by the Tyrant King of the Middle Kingdom. After subjugating the insect horde, a nest of demonic insects that carved a bloody swath through the entire southern region of the continent, the Hero returned to find his family was hostage to the Tyrant King as collateral. The king planned to force the Hero to lead his army to conquest of the Wilds of the West and the Eastern Holy Expanse, the kingdom that held all the territories now called the Free Lands, of which Kingsvalle is a part.

Seeing that he could not defeat the Tyrant King and save his family, the Hero lost all control of his blessing and left a smoking crater hundreds of miles long, deep and wide, where once the Middle Kingdom stood. This separated the continent into two, with only a long and treacherous land bridge connecting the once grand continent. The historians decided to scrub history of the names of the King and Hero to punish them for this, but the story of the danger of those bearing the dragon god’s mark still remains.

“I can see the need for training magic, but why should I train my strength or skill? That has nothing to do with spell casting.”

Nuala shakes her head and looks at me like I am a particularly dull child. “All your abilities grow together. Without a powerful body, you cannot handle powerful magics, and with a sharp mind, you cannot effectively use a sharp body. You need both. I am going to train you like you are truly my apprentice, and not an errand boy. So prepare yourself for the unpleasantness of being my apprentice in the weeks, months, and hopefully years to come.”

I shake a little at that. Nuala was a harsh taskmistress before, I can only imagine what the change in attitude will mean for our future together. Maybe if I seduce her, I can convince her to go easy on me.

“And you are going to have to stop giving me those lustful looks if you plan on staying my apprentice. I don’t sleep with the boys I am training.” She continues.

So much for that plan I think. Wait, she noticed me checking her out!