I looked at Lauren for a few moments, considering what my first question should be, before I spoke.

“Is there a way to combine shaping and spellcasting? Ella mentioned that having the two work together was possible, but she didn’t know any details. What kind of possibilities would I be learning if I become your apprentice?”

Lauren gave me a curious look. “Well aren’t you a perceptive little one. It’s unusual for a kid your age to try so hard to learn about specific details. They tend to start thinking more about those in a decade or two. Most children are more excited to imagine all of the cool things they’ll be able to do in the future, and don’t worry much about the details.”

I tried not to glance at Anise the super witch, but for a brief moment, I definitely felt my eyes slide in her direction.

Lauren seemed to see my eyes twitch towards her for a moment. He chuckled, and gave Anise a fond smile. Even though she hadn’t spoken yet, it seemed that Lauren had some basic information on us already. And Anise had made her intention of becoming a super witch very clear, it was hard not to link his comment about typical children and Anise’s attitude.

“Anyway, the basics of combining shaping and spellcasting aren’t too difficult to learn. Normally, a spell used by a spellcaster is like math. If you use the same magic symbols and sub-symbols, put them in the same positions, and don’t make any mistakes, you’ll get the exact same result every single time. However, general shaping lets you reach into an alternate timeline. What if, after launching a fireball at something, you replaced five or six fire symbols in the third circle of the spell with force symbols?

“Normally, this would cause the fireball to completely lose stability, and if you try to cast the spell this way it will implode before exiting your body. Which has the small, unfortunate side effect of leaving you dead, or at least in seriously need of medical attention. However, if it happens right next to an opponent’s body, on the other hand…” Laurne grinned. “Well, in that case, it turns out to be exceptionally effective at getting rid of some denizens of the darkness which have softer bodies and better fire resistance. And you can do a lot of other things to your own spells, as well. You can cause your spells to change direction in midair, making them home in on enemies. You can suddenly overload a spell by tossing in a bunch of extra alteration essence, making it much stronger right before it hits an opponent. Really, you can do a lot of tricky and unusual things to your spells that give them far more utility, and which a normal spellcaster would never be able to do. Of course, learning to do this without hurting yourself is very difficult, and making every drop of essence from both of your mana pools count is very hard. It takes a lot of practice to build your shaping into a proper support for your spellcasting.”

I nodded thoughtfully. Lauren’s ability to adjust spells in midair wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I had heard of him using alteration essence and manifestation essence to synergize with each other. However, I could certainly see the appeal. That being said, it also sounded as if he was mostly using alteration essence as a support system for his manifestation spellcasting. Which wasn’t really what I wanted. I was hoping to use alteration as my primary method of fighting, since it was my extreme affinity.

Then, I had another thought.

“What happens if you use shaping to change the symbols in another spellcaster’s spell?” I asked.

Lauren’s grin widened. “It depends on how you use your shaping essence, really. If you mess up, you could detonate the spell in a way that was far more dangerous than whatever the spell was originally trying to do. However, if you know the spell well enough, and know how to alter the magic symbols… you can nearly outright negate some spells, or even turn them back on their casters! There are only a few magic sub-symbols in each spell that tell the spell what direction to go, for example. If you delete all of them and replace them with the right magic symbols, you can send them right back at the spellcaster! Of course, a more experienced spellcaster might leave extra, hidden sub-symbols in their spell, turning the art of counterspelling into a tricky and dangerous affair if you make a mistake, or don’t know what you’re doing. Which is part of the reason I consider it an advanced technique. However, it’s my specialty. And it’s much harder to teach regular shapers, since most of them don’t learn too much about regular spellcasting beyond the idea that more magic circles means stronger spell.”

I wondered if counterspelling was enough to tip the odds back in Lauren’s favor. Being able to swap around what an opponent’s spell did certainly sounded appealing, and I could see all sorts of interesting applications. As I thought, Lauren continued to speak.

“Of course, as I already said, counterspelling is a rather advanced technique, so I would require you to spend a long time under my mentorship before I taught it to you. If you mess up, you can really hurt yourself by accidentally strengthening an opponent’s spell instead of weakening or negating it. But I would say it’s one of the better techniques I have available.”

I could see Sallia and Felix thinking over Lauren’s words. I was definitely thinking about all of the possibilities actual counterspelling could open up for me, if I learned Lauren’s techniques well enough to use them in practical situations.

However, I was also thinking about what Ella had to offer. While she wouldn’t be able to teach me spellcasting, I wouldn’t need to be afraid of wholly wasting my potential as a spellcaster under her either.

Sallia beat me to the next question.

“What life experiences do you have?” asked Sallia. “I don’t know if we’ve mentioned this yet, but Miria, Felix and I were planning on eventually going into the wastes and adventuring for a while once we get older. A lot of the other teachers have hands-on experience venturing to the surface, and that means they can teach us a lot about what to be cautious of. Some of the other teachers have experience fighting creatures that live deeper underground and occasionally attack our caverns. Do you have any experience fighting or adventuring that we should be aware of?”

Lauren stroked his beard in thought, before giving the three of us a curious look.“There are many children who dream of being adventurers when they grow up. I can certainly see the appeal, although I do hope you make sure to train seriously if that’s what you want to do.” I supposed that him attempting to make us train harder was better than outright berating us for wanting to go to the surface.

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“I have two things I am proud of that I have accomplished with my life,” said Lauren, giving his beard another affectionate stroke. “First, in my younger days I helped conquer three new caverns from the denizens of the darkness, bringing them under control of our town. One of them is particularly rich in iron, and has greatly improved our city’s tool-making abilities. This is also where I got to practice many of my counterspelling abilities. Creatures of the darkness usually only know a few spells, and their spellcasting is more… instinctual than ours. But many of them still know a couple spells that they can use in a fight, and cast them much faster than a human spellcaster does. So I have a bit of experience fighting.

“Then, there is my second major life experience. I’ve taught, in total, thirty-one spellcasters, shapers, and caster-shapers over the course of my life. I have a great deal of experience as a teacher, and I have been teaching apprentices for seventy years now. I have never taken in four students at once before, but most of my students are relatively successful in the city at whatever profession they choose to pursue. A few have even gone to the surface and returned to tell the tale, and if you want to learn more about the dangers of the surface, I can call in some of my former students to give you a few lessons and stories. I’m on good terms with most of them, and plenty of them wouldn’t mind giving you training for a few months, if that’s what you desire.” Lauren said as he grinned.

Lauren had made another pretty good point. If he was really able to leverage a strong network of connections, he would have an easier time finding specialized teachers to help us learn specific skills. Ella clearly also had some connections, but based on Lauren’s words I expected his social network was probably larger.

Felix seemed to perk up. “So you can get specialists to help us learn anything? Including item crafting and manipulation?”

“I thought you said that the three of you were planning on adventuring to the surface?” Said Lauren, giving Sallia a curious look.

Felix answered instead of Sallia. “We’re still planning on going to the surface as a team. I want to see if there are any lost item creation techniques that we could draw upon from the surface. But I would still like to at least understand the basics first. Otherwise, I might not even understand item creation well enough to interpret whatever we find on the surface.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” said Lauren. “Good on you for working to build up your foundations before moving on to the more complicated things. Well, if you want to learn about making magic items, such as the wands we use for the spellcasting test, I can certainly arrange for lessons on that as well. I am on good terms with a few craftsmen who make wands, and while I admit that my knowledge on the subject is lacking, I can certainly make sure that you have a good grasp of the subject by the time you exit my tutelage, so long as you work hard.”

Anise took this moment to interject.

“Are you able to make me a super witch?” She asked enthusiastically.

Lauren’s smile grew much kindlier as he turned towards Anise and chuckled. “I can do that too. I know a sixth circle spell, and if you have enough mana to use it, I don’t mind teaching it to you. It’s a spell focused on protecting yourself from harm. It’s a good spell for any spellcaster to have access to, honestly. My sixth-circle spell can even block a cave in for a few hours, which should be long enough for you or someone else to fish yourself out of the mess. Combined with my knowledge of how to use shaping to support and improve your spellcasting, you can probably become one of the best spellcasters in the city, if you work hard and have a big enough essence pool.” Anise seemed positively radiant at the prospect of becoming an amazing witch, and I had to work hard to avoid grinning. Anise was a very excitable girl.

I still didn’t know quite how common or rare sixth circle spells were, but I was starting to get a rough idea. It seemed like fifth circle spells weren’t actually that common; instead, they were used by the elites of the city. Such as those qualified to teach the next generation of spellcasters. Sixth circle spells seemed to be quite rare, if even someone like Lauren only knew one. I didn’t know if the city had access to any seventh circle spells, but unless I was seriously mistaken, they were probably very rare and only known by a few spellcasters in the city. Lauren might know one, but if he did, it clearly wasn’t on the table for us if we became his apprentices. Perhaps we would need to perform some sort of meritorious action for the city or something if we wanted to see it?

I shrugged. Right now, I didn’t even know if a seventh circle spell existed in the city. I would have to look more into it later.

After that, the discussion between us started to focus on nailing down more specifics. I had a rough idea of what Lauren offered now; it was the ability to use shaping to command my own spells and mess with other spellcasters. Considering the fact that spellcasters were incredibly common in this world, that wasn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, if I were only thinking about this life, I probably would have taken Lauren up on his offer. Being able to counter the most common magic system in the world and actively sabotage it seemed amazing.

The problem was that I wasn’t thinking about just this life. I wanted to be prepared for the next life, and the ones after that. Which meant that rather than focusing on countering a specific kind of magic, I should focus on making myself as strong as possible, especially when it came to my alteration magic. I wanted to make it as likely as possible that I took an alteration keyword ability with me when I died. I might end up taking a manifestation essence ability as well, if I felt it was a good fit for me, but it definitely wasn’t my focus.

Using Alteration to enhance my manifestation magic was certainly an interesting skill, and one I wouldn’t mind picking up. But it didn’t fit my needs very well, either. Maybe I could still pick it up through Sallia and Felix later, but I wanted to learn more about attunements and general shaping before I messed with counterspelling. And given how weak the understanding of most present-day shapers was, I might actually end up moving further ahead if I followed my instincts. I got the feeling that Ella would have a more relaxed stance towards any experimentation I did with magic, which would make things much easier for me in the long run. And, of course, her attunement closely matched what I wanted to do in the future as well. Besides, I would be able to talk with Sallia and Felix about what they were learning for four hours every day. So I would still have people to talk to about spellcasting. The three of us would help each other and learn from each other, just like last life.

Knowing that I would miss the chance to be apprentices with my friends kind of stung. I would have loved to learn magic with them, and I had been looking forward to being apprentices under the same master with them. But I wasn’t going to abandon a good path to growing stronger just to spend a little more of this lifetime with them. After all, we still had a deadline we were racing against. If we weren’t strong enough to fight things in the Market, we would permanently die in four lives.

Even if it sucked, I would lose some time with my friends if it meant they wouldn’t die afterwards. I wanted them to be safe and happy more than anything else in the world, and even if it made me a little sad, I needed to work hard to keep them safe.

As the group walked out of the meeting with Lauren, I stopped for just a moment to speak with the witch who was in charge of running this meet and greet.

“Please let Ella know that I wish for her to teach me,” I said.

The witch gave me a curious look, but the smile never left her lips as she jotted down my name under Ella’s list of confirmed apprentices.