Elder Huga didn’t look like she’d just performed a miracle. . . not that I could talk. She looked somewhat drained and tired but otherwise it was just another day at the office.
I had expected shock or awe from the onlookers, Harry and Lucille, but they instead had a look of calm relief. Afterall, whatever the healer woman had done had clearly healed Caleb back to near perfect health.
Caleb was the only one with an appropriate reaction, a mix of confusion, wonder, and a hint of fear, to seeing the light show.
I ran through my memory of the phenomenon. Elder Huga had spread out the mass of poultice, raised her arms, and then I felt a twist and a shift in the air, before something in the herbs reacted and went to work on Caleb’s wounds. I reached out and found the same something all around us, floating and flowing throughout the house. Maybe even beyond the house?
I couldn’t explain what the hell had just happened, but I knew someone who could.
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A new Quest* has been generated!
Quest: Magic in the Air
Description: What was that light?! Find out more!
Reward: 5 XP
*Quests are optional but can result in great rewards.
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There, now I had Missions which I could use for really important stuff, and Quests for smaller things that could make him stronger, or at least better off.
The prompt snapped Caleb out of his daze and he began to look around at the people surrounding him.
“Is something wrong, Caleb?” Lucille said as she sat on his bed looking him over. A mother will worry. Caleb looked like he wanted to ask something as his eyes flicked between his mother and the blue box, worry and more confusion swirled through his soul.
Was he. . . going to ask about me? A quiet dread fell over me at the thought. In some stories, other people knowing the protagonist had a System wasn’t always a bad thing, hard to explain, but not bad. But what about in the real world? This world?
Magic was real, who knows what else could exist out in the far reaches of this land. Maybe there was a sacred order that hunted down System-bearers or worse! It could just be me being paranoid, but I wasn’t willing to take that chance when I’d yet to get my footing in my new existence. I need to make that clear.
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Attention!
Only the Host can see System messages!
The existence of the System should be kept secret and not divulged to anyone!
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Caleb’s eyes widened at the new bright red warning. Maybe he had been thinking about it, maybe he hadn’t, but that didn’t matter now.
“Caleb, sweetie, are you all right?” Lucille asked, a little more worry in her voice because he still hadn’t responded. He looked back at her.
“Er, um, yeah, mom. I just. . . I’ve never seen something like that before.” he said, giving a weak smile to his mother, who didn’t look wholly convinced.
Elder Huga chuckled lightly in the corner as she cleaned and put away the tools she had been using earlier.
“I guess it’s true that I’ve never had the pleasure of treating you until today, young man. One’s first encounter with magic is often quite bewildering. Hearing fantastical tales is one thing, seeing the fantastical with your own eyes is another.”
She put the last of her equipment and ingredients away on the shelves before turning back to the family. She strode over and kneeled beside Caleb, holding out her hand with a single leaf resting on her palm.
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“How much do you know about magic, Caleb?” she asked. I’ll admit, I was curious too.
He shrugged.
“Not much. I’ve heard tales where powerful sorcerers summon great storms or fight dragons, but I don’t know much else.” She smiled at this.
“That’s you and probably every other child in the village. Let me ask, have you ever heard of mana?”
Caleb tilted his head and mulled over it for a minute. I suspected the stirring in his soul was him trying to find memories of mana in this world. Finally, he looked back to Elder Huga who was waiting patiently.
“I think some of the stories mentioned it but they never really explain it.” he said. I saw Lucille shoot an accusing look at Harry, who was making a concerted effort to avoid her gaze.
“Well, mana is a type of energy that pervades our world and that sorcerers use to perform great feats of magic. Everything from seeing great distances to changing the weather is possible with the right spell and enough mana.” she stated.
She said all that with such confidence, but questions still began to itch at the back of my mind. If “sorcerers” like her could wield such power, what was she doing in this remote village? Maybe she was some kind of criminal? On the run from some kind of inquisition or group of hedge witches seeking revenge?!
I was falling into a downward spiral of paranoia and conspiracies when Caleb spoke up again.
“Wow! So, you can do all that? Can you teach me how? Please?” He was eagerly sitting up in the bed, his hands clasped, practically begging at this point. I don’t think he was even thinking about the quest anymore, just the thought of such powerful abilities. Even without me he would become akin to a force of nature if what Elder Huga said was anywhere close to the truth.
However, at hearing his incessant pleading, the elder’s face fell and a look filled with regret and pity replaced her previously jovial expression.
“I’m sorry, Caleb. But I can’t teach you.” she said. “You see, sorcerers are able to perform acts of magic thanks to what are ‘mana veins’, which allow them to sense and control mana. Everyone is born with a set of mana veins, you, me, your parents, but the vast majority of people are born with their mana veins dormant. And even though I have active mana veins, they are weak and only let me do the bare minimum when it comes to magic. That’s why I turned to alchemy.”
She closed her fist around the leaf in her hand, squeezing it as a soft light leaked through her fingers. After her explanation of magic and how it was done, I paid extra attention to her when she did this.
The something in the air that I’d felt earlier, which must be the ‘mana’ she was talking about, moved and flowed toward her hand. Thanks to my special senses, I examined the interior of her body, comparing it to Caleb and his parents. I quickly found my quarry, an organ that ran through their bodies alongside their arteries and nerves, lacing itself between their tissues. The organ in Elder Huga, her mana veins, was not only much more developed but also seemed to faintly glow and pulse as she worked her - literal - magic.
Emerald liquid dripped from her hand to the ground as the light dimmed and the magic finished its job. All that was left in her hand was a dry leaf, devoid of all vitality and life.
“Alchemy”, she explained, “is the practice of harnessing the properties and essences of materials and ingredients to produce spectacular effects. Though it is considered a low pursuit because one does not even really need active mana veins to be an alchemist. Nonetheless, the greatest of elixirs and pills are kept as treasures of kings and empires, while the poultices I can create help keep illness and suffering far from my people.”
It almost sounded like she was trying to justify her occupation to a child with the way she was rambling on, but Caleb seemed immersed in her words. . .very immersed.
What did I want for Caleb in this life? Obviously he would follow whatever path he wanted and I wasn’t planning to interfere as long as it didn’t put him in danger. Hell, as long as he’d live a long and fulfilling life, I’d help him anyway I could.
So, listening to Elder Huga’s explanations and seeing Caleb’s interest . . .
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You’ve completed the Quest: Magic in the Air!
You’ve been rewarded 5 XP
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A new Quest has been generated!
Quest: Little Alchemist
Description: Alchemy is a mysterious practice with many uses. Learning it could be useful.
Reward: 10 XP
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Nobody was really paying attention to Caleb’s reaction when he saw the Quest notification. Elder Huga was focused on what was slowly becoming a lecture about the many applications of “False Gold Fungus” and “Brute Berries” and Caleb’s parents had checked out five minutes into her spiel. Caleb waited for her to take a breath before interjecting.
“So, if you can’t teach me magic, could you teach me to be an alchemist, like you?”
The older woman was shocked to say the least and had a look of pure disbelief on her face. Her reaction confused me. After all, despite alchemy not being as flashy or powerful as sorcery, it seemed to have earned her a place of high regard in the village. The village guard could’ve taken the unconscious Caleb anywhere in the village, but he brought him here. That and Harry and Lucille had been nothing but respectful since they’d gotten here. Though all that could be from her skill as a healer rather than an alchemist, it still seemed odd that she would react that way to someone asking to be her apprentice.
In fact, looking around, I’m surprised that she didn’t have an apprentice already considering the above. You’d think parents would be crawling over each other to try and get their kid apprenticed to a respected alchemist and healer. There certainly wouldn’t be any chance of them going hungry with all the work they’d be doing in a village this size.
Elder Huga shared a look with Caleb’s parents, who shared a look in turn with each other and shrugged. She then turned back to the hopeful looking boy who had been unconscious not 20 minutes earlier.
“Well, I mean, I could. But, doesn’t it bother you? . . .The smell?”
Wait, that’s what that was all about? Because alchemy could get a little smelly?
Then it hit me. I couldn’t smell anything. I was aware of the particulates and other things floating and dispersing through the air, but I couldn’t smell any of it. It also struck me that, yes, people would absolutely think less of a profession because it smelled bad. My nonexistent heart goes out to the garbage collectors and all the other people working smelly jobs throughout my old world.
“It’s not great, I’ll be honest.” Caleb said, “But it sounds really interesting and I really want to learn more about it? So will you teach me?”
Either Caleb had a lot of experience making puppy eyes or he had a great talent for it, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone pull it off better. And apparently neither had Elder Huga because she caved immediately.
“Alright, alright. I give. I’ll teach you what I know.” she relented, “but don’t think that it’ll be easy. There’s more to being a great alchemist than throwing some leaves in a pot. And don’t even consider trying to back out, remember you asked for this!”
Caleb had jumped out of the bed and was now standing at attention in front of the Elder’s declaration. When she finishes, the family bids their goodbyes and Elder Huga tells Caleb that she’ll start teaching him in a few days when he’s fully rested and recovered. Despite all his energy earlier, Caleb had had a long day and his eyes began to droop as they walked through the quiet village, only for his dad to scoop him up and carry him in his arms the rest of the way home.
As far as first days go, I’ve had worse. And I couldn’t wait for the next one.