Chapter 15 Apprentice.

Knowledge is knowledge.

And power is power.

It’s the application of knowledge that might bring power.

But application of knowledge also brings the envious and the greedy.

Tukado, the creator.

{26} Mayan (December) the 14th

“Wulf?” I observe my father’s study, this place hasn’t changed much at least. Same red curtains on the windows of the eastern walls, the same painting of my grand grandfather on the opposite wall. The same red old carpet covers the floor. The same heavy mahogany table takes the middle of the small room, and even now there are piles of scrolls and parchments on it.

This desk is now occupied by Wulf. He raises his head, a tired look in his gray eyes.

“I’ve brought you some sandwiches with strawberry jam…” I place the delicacy on the table. He used to love strawberry jam, and steal it from the kitchen often.

“I’m not fourteen sister.” He ignores my offering and goes back to his papers.

“You don’t have to be fourteen to enjoy something sweet.” I sit on his table since there are no other chairs here.

He sighs and takes a begrudging bite. I smile uncontrollably when that bite leads to another, and another. “What are you actually here for?”

“Spending time with you. I’ve been waiting, but you’ve been ignoring me for the past day. You’re busy, I know. But I don’t have a lot of time here, I’d rather spend as much as I can with my family.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” I confirm. “I missed you. And Ariena… any word on her by the way?”

He shakes his head with a grimace. “No, nothing.”

Way to ruin the mood… “She should be nineteen now… I’d give almost anything to see her…”

“Yeah. You never gave me the impression that you cared that much for us.”

“You were a pair of brats always getting in my way while I was trying to keep this hold running. But you’re still my brother and sister, of course I care!”

He winces. “Yeah… I was awful. Only now I’m beginning to learn what you were dealing with that whole time. This is a nightmare…”

I glance at the scrolls on the table. “You’re taking too much, delegate some. Kenirth will be happy to do something with his spare time, and I’m sure Helga… Wait, is Helga still around?” The head maid was quite talented, she was also secretly my spymaster.

He shakes his head. “Missing, or dead. Most likely dead. She wasn’t much of a beauty, I doubt they kept her alive.”

Another person dead… people I care about tend to die way too much… I hate this… “Whoever is the new head maid, give her some more authority. Especially over things like craftsmen for work in the town itself. You’re only one man, if you don’t learn how to delegate, you’ll work yourself to death.”

“I’m doing fine.” He says with his nose still buried in a scroll.

“You’re doing fine, but you couldn’t even come and say hello yesterday? You haven’t seen me for seven years!”

“I was…” He goes quiet and scribbles something down on one of his parchments.

“You were what?”

He scratches a line of ink on the parchment and his eyes snap in my direction. “What do you want Marisha? I mean what do you actually want?”

“I already told you, to spend some time with my brother. I’ll be gone in a week or two, and I won’t see you again for who knows how long. If I won’t spend as much time as I can with you, I’ll regret it!”

He sighs. “You only ever gave me attention when you wanted me to do something…”

“Because you were ditching your lessons and I promised father that you wouldn't. Kenrith kept coming to me and demanding that you attend your sword lessons and…”

His eyes wander and settle on my missing finger. “So I have Kenrith to blame for all those traps by the maids?”

I covered my right hand with the other. “Kenrith and your mother… this is one of the few things we actually cooperated on. It did save your life a few days ago didn't it?”

He leans back in my father’s chair, moving his hand up on his forehead and hair. “I... That's true. My mother… I could never understand why you couldn’t get along with her.”

“She hated me. I was a constant reminder that father had been with another woman before her. With an elf…”

“What does it matter if he had been with another woman? He was with her for years.”

Really? “Wulf... you still haven’t been with a girl have you? You’re what? Twenty-one?”

“I…”

“I’m sure plenty of women in town tried hitting on you, and the maids... You’re the most eligible bachelor around here. The young unmarried lord, heir to the holding. What are you waiting for? Children don’t grow on trees, you need an heir.”

“I… I don’t know how to please a girl,” his face is covered in red. “It’s been too awkward to ask anyone…”

I nod, it makes sense. He was thirteen when our father went to war, too young to teach such things. And when my father came back, he was too neglecting to educate Wulf on anything. No one else took over, people assumed Wulf just knew, and he was happy to keep up that illusion.

How do I…? Way too awkward… “Wulf, hmmm… go to the temple of Koshavi and hire the girl you like. When you go to the private room with her, ask her to teach you. Just be direct and state that you need education on the subject. I’m sure the lucky girl will be delighted.”

“I can’t.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“Gods! Marisha!”

“If you can’t do it on your own, and you don’t want to go with me I can go there myself and arrange it for you. Then again, these girls talk. Imagine how it’d look to have your sister arranging something like that for you… You’d be the talk of the town.” This is so much fun! I love watching him squirm…

“Fine! I’ll go! Just let the matter go damn it!” He munches on the last strawberry sandwich angrily.

“Good!”

“Gods… we haven’t seen each other for years and the first thing you tell me is to go to the temple of the harlot!”

“No, the first thing I’ve told you is that I miss you and want to spend some time with you. Then I asked about Ariena, and then…”

“Ok ok! I know you’ve got that crazy memory of yours, no need to show off!” He looks at the empty plate, puzzled at the disappearance of the sandwiches. “Let’s get something to eat.”

“Let’s…”

{26} Mayan (December) the 26th

I spend as much time as I can at home, spending a long while with my brother and savoring every moment. I don't know if I'll ever get to see him again after all. We spend time reminiscing, he’s very different from what I remember. Life had hardened him, but also matured him. Yet, something of him stayed the same.

After a week's journey, Kolag, Lezere and I meet Purson and Janara at the small village they stayed in, and together, we make our way back to the small snowy hut - the magical passage back to the tower. I wish I could stay and look for my sister and mother... I wish I could take these four with me... away from this stupid tower...

I'll get stronger in the tower, and once I'm a mage, I'll come back home!

We pass through the doorway and find ourselves in the small lit blue room we've left through.

Master Rushmia claps her hands, and the sarcasm in her claps is obvious.

“Congratulation dear children! You've made it through your third session of weeding, rejoice~ You are officially accepted by the sapphire tower~” The red witch declares when she finishes clapping.

Of course… the tower doesn’t need to pay us to clean a small goblin infestation… this is all a test! If anything, they use their influence to make sure the local nobility won’t take care of those problems…

“Oh? Is one of you missing? My condolences dear children~ but such is the world's way~” She seems delighted to mention Sina’s death.

“Choke on your fangs, twisted shaman!” Lezere growls at her.

The red-robed woman waves her hand dismissingly. “On the account of your grief, I'll let it go. But mark my words half-blood brute… if you bare your fangs against me again, I won't be so merciful~” her sing-songy voice is cheerful, but Kolag's armor is a painful reminder of what this woman is capable of.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She looks at us with a wide grin. “Your new life begins children. Evoker neophytes! From this day onward you are accepted as apprentices~ congratulation~ While you brutes…” Rushmia glance at Lezere with disdain in her red eyes. “You are accepted as squires. Welcome to your new life~”

She stops, waiting for a response, but we’re all too dumbfounded to think of anything to say. “Before we begin. I’ll say that you are forbidden from telling a neophyte what the third session of weeding is. Should any of you tell a neophyte that they have to accept an adventuring job to become an apprentice or a squire, you’ll be punished by a hundred lashes. Then, you’ll have to kill the said neophyte with your own hands. Am I making myself clear?”

“Crystal.” Kolag’s echoing voice is filled with defiance.

“Good~” Rushmia makes a gesture, and a small army of slaves crowd the hall. Each of us gets flanked by six slaves wearing gray, they lead us out of the lit hall, into a long blue hallway. Janara and I are separated from the rest. Janara is too distracted, she calls out to Purson, shouting that she loves him, he’s doing the same thing on the other side, and then we lose sight of the other three.

The red robed mage follows us from behind. I wonder who supervises the others, but with the monster herself being here, I have bigger things to worry about. The slaves lead us to a small blue room packed with strange human-sized devices. They back off and bow low when master Rushmia strides in.

“Apprentices! You are a select few who have a chance at becoming truly powerful one day, do not squander this chance. You're already familiar with life here in the tower, life and half of the rules stay the same. From now on however; you are free to roam the Sapphire tower as you wish. You'll be able to purchase access to public lessons given by mages themselves and you'll have access to more facilities, more work opportunity, and other fields of study.”

Rushmia clears her throat. “Most importantly, your lives are no longer in danger~ murdering another apprentice or even a neophyte is strictly forbidden! In short, committing any of the vile acts the neophytes are allowed to do for their weeding, will result in an immediate death sentence. Am I making myself clear?”

I nod, it’s a relief to hear that I won't have to look over my shoulder anymore.

“As apprentices, you get the right to attach yourself to a mage master. The right to choose belongs to the mage in question of course, but whoever they pick, will depend on how impressed they are with you. Your master will become your legal parent and acting guardian, and he or she will dictate your future. So attract the right eyes children~ Once a mage has picked you as their apprentice you have to dedicate one hour per day to your master. A mage and an apprentice will form a unique magical contract that will let them know each other's whereabouts. This is a very intimate connection, and as such, a mage is only allowed to have one apprentice at a time. Any questions~?”

She observes us both with her red gleaming eyes and continues when neither of us speak. “No? Good! Let’s begin!” she waves at the slaves who activate the machinery.

“What are you doing?!” Janara asks with a panicky voice.

“We need to make a written record of your magical potential, this requires some checkups, bear with it girls.”

Over the next hour, I have the unfortunate experience of testing all the weird devices in this small room. I can understand the purpose of some of them. Such as simple devices that are meant to measure weight or height. But others don’t make sense. What is the machine with all the inlaid gems does? Why do they need to draw my blood, tears, and my saliva? Some of these checkups are painful, while others are merely unpleasant.

The slaves are responsible for activating the weird mechanisms that require moving levers, while the red robed mage keeps touching the gems of each machine. A floating quill on the nearby desk jots down the results.

When it’s finally over, master Rushmia fiddles with the stacks of papers in her hands, her beautiful face bearing a deep frown. When she looks up to us her frowning face transforms into her usual grin. “You two are to be commended. You are the first from your batch of neophytes to succeed, congratulations and rewards are in order~ Janara!”

“Yes mistress!”

“Like you, I've begun my way with the sub-element of acid. And like you, I had… a certain entanglement. You've made me very nostalgic watching your progress, and also very proud! I'd like to accept you as my own personal apprentice. Since it's a reward, the choice of whether or not you become my apprentice is yours. You have a week to think about it. I will not repeat this offer.”

“Do I really have a choice?” Janara asks worriedly. It’s easy to understand what she’s concerned about. We never had a choice about anything before. We were considered as insignificant bugs anyone could squash as they please, all while fighting for our mere survival. It's odd to hear that we can make a genuine choice.

“Of course you do dear~ I'd much rather if you'd become my apprentice, you're not a neophyte anymore. Neophytes are considered children when it comes to decision-making. Apprentices are teenagers, they get to make some choices about their lives. While the mages are the adults. The choice is all yours. If you choose otherwise, I'll be disappointed, but I won't intervene. There's no wrong choice in the matter. Do for yourself what you think is best for you. Now, Marisha?”

I look at her, pondering what reward she intends to offer me.

“To you, I'll offer advice and some of the results from these checkups you've gone through. First, you should know that by blood you're only half-human, and a quarter of you is an elf...”

“A quarter? I'm a half-elf.” I interrupt her.

“You're a quarter elf, my dear. With your current biological age, if you were half-elf, you'd look like a human of thirteen blooms.” Her voice is filled with ridicule. “Yet your body is in its late juvenile stage, much closer to its biological maturity. When we take your years of starvation into account, I’d say your body is the equivalent of a human with seventeen or eighteen blooms behind her. Your brain however will take some more time to mature, you’d have to reach the age of thirty five or even forty. It’s hard to tell with an aberration like you.”

“An aberration? What do you mean? What's the other quarter of my blood?”

“This is what puzzles me. Normally quarter-bloods wouldn’t survive their puberty, not in such a good health. Yet here you stand, healthy as Rakisha’s bull. The last quarter of your blood is some sort of a fae bloodline… do not interrupt me again!” she adds when I am about to open my mouth again.

Janara frowns at me. I forgot that other than Kolag, none of my friends knew. The sharp tips of my ears are usually hidden beneath my long hair.

“Let me put it in simpler terms my dear. If you were a full-blooded human, you'd be talentless. Your human blood is utterly useless and it has an extremely low affinity to the basic elements. The only reason you're capable of using magic is your abnormal blood. The quarter of your elven blood gives you a mediocre affinity to wind and water magic, but that wouldn’t be enough to awaken your magic on its own. Your elven blood doesn’t have any connection with gravity magic. Which appears to be your main element. I can’t say for sure, but the only conclusion is that gravity comes from the last quarter of your blood. This… unknown fae blood… hmmm…”

She frowns at her paper, mumbling to herself for almost a minute, it sounds like odd calculations. “I still can't pinpoint what this bloodline is, or what kind of creature was your grandmother, save for the fact that she’s fae in origin. Fae are superior to mages when it comes to magic, but their abilities are more static, they’re less adaptable than us. This quarter of your blood alone is enough to alleviate your average talent, making your affinity to gravity extremely potent. Any questions?”

“Aren't elves considered to be fae?” People do use fairy as an insult for elves or half-elves…

“That is a common misconception deary. Elves are long lived mortals who have very close ties to the fae. They often breed with the fae as well as most of the other mortal races, and this is how your mother was born. I'm familiar with the types of fae elves tend to breed with, and your grandmother is not one of them.”

Master Rushmia counts on her hands as she looks at her paper, half mumbling to herself with a deep frown. “She's not a Sylph, her wind affinity would be at nine or ten with even a drop of Sylph blood… She's definitely not a dryad her affinity for wood is horrible. Not a Nymph or Undine, even though by her water affinity alone I'd say Nymph or Undine would've fit… Maybe some of that from her elven linage but it’s too far up the family tree to have a major influence… not even a Satyr although those are extremely rare occurrences amongst the elves…”

I risk cutting off her track of thoughts. “What am I supposed to do with this piece of information?” If you don't know the details how does it help me? Why did I go through this hour of stupid checkups for a stupid unknown?!

She grins. “Knowledge is power. First you have to find out what kind of blood is flowing through your veins, it has to be potent. Quarter blood individuals rarely reach your age without a potent bloodline. If I’m correct, knowing where your bloodline is coming from will help you determine what kind of path you should follow on your way to power. The fact that you're a quarter fae is to your advantage. You might manifest certain powers unique to your bloodline once you reach full adulthood and your brain fully develops. If you can manage to find out which type of fae your blood belongs to, and modify your blood accordingly, you'll become stronger by strengthening your bloodline.”

“Modify my blood? How do I do that?”

“That's for you to discover my dear~ here’s what I can share with you about the checkup.” She hands me a list of elements and numbers. “And here’s a payment for your adventuring job outside.” She adds a pouch of gems for each of us. “Now off you go!” she gestures at the slaves to lead us away.

“What's my affinity then?” Janara asks as we are being taken away.

“You have an increasingly high affinity for earth and wood dear~ all by your marvelous pure human blood. I'm done answering questions now~ The slaves will show you to your new quarters”

“Wait! What about Purson and the others?!” Janara panics.

“Don't worry deary they'll be moving to the squires' quarters, you'll be allowed to see them when you have some free time.”

I look at the paper I got from Master Rushmia. It doesn’t say much.

Name: Marisha nuk Vodit

Place of origin: Nulimer. The soundless island. Kingdom of Manse’la. Nurio city.

Race: A quarter blood*. Half human, quarter elf, quarter fae* of unknown bloodline.

Power rank: Apprentice, 1st stage.

Elemental pools affinity by Estuad ranking:

Crown knot: 10*

Neck bridge: 6

Abdomen storage: 5

Wind: 4

Fire: 2

Light: 3

Water: 6

Earth: 1

Wood: 2

Gravity: 9

Notes: Blood is irregular see page 3

Crown knot mana pool is abnormally large although dormant, see page 4

*Show results to the dweller of the deep, he might have an insight into her bloodline.

Priority level: green

She gave me one page out of a couple… which is pointless for figuring out anything… At least I can get a hint at which mana pools I should focus on next… These are 1-10 ranking, I should focus on the crown knot, wind, and water pools first… then work on forming the others… It also makes sense why it took me so long to only open my fire mana pool… my affinity for fire magic is terrible…

Looks like I’ll never become like Effrat huh…

The slaves lead us to an unfamiliar section of the tower. This time however, we pass by more apprentices wearing black, and mages wearing colorful robes.

Mages come in all types, colors, sizes, and shapes. Some mages appear like the normal mortal races, male and female, tall and short, fat and thin. But others, others are abnormal to say the least.

A man with a lion's head converses with a woman who seems to be made out of white mist. Another blue robed woman is made out of purple glittering gemstone, and a man in brown is walking on ten bug-like legs.

“YOU!!!” an old-looking man in sickly yellow robes and green gems perturbing out of his face stops us. He pushes the slaves away with wild gestures, and holds my arms, shaking me violently. “YOU!!! YOU!!!”

*~*~*

Power level: 1st stage apprentice.

Mana pools status:

Crown-knot: Affinity 10:

Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66

Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5:

Air: Affinity 4:

Fire: Affinity 2: open: 4 gems

Light: Affinity 3:

Water: Affinity 6:

Earth: Affinity 1:

Wood: Affinity 2:

Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 41 gems

Cantrip known:

Fire: Nuriss’ Flame.

Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light body. Alino’s Heavy body.

Focus capability: 8 patterns

Social status: An apprentice.

Wealth: 200 gems.

Items: 2 healing potions.

Companions:

Janara of Winemaker village

Injuries and scars: Missing two thirds of the right middle finger.