The old dwarf seemed to calm down almost immediately and then scratched his head as he looked around the shop as if searching for something. Finally, his eyes settled on one spot and he got a grin on his face and Ryuji’s heart sank, he knew what was coming. The old geezer was going to ask him a ridiculous challenge that he had no chance of figuring out and would then shoo him out the door like an incompetent toddler. “Alright m’boy, iffin ya can tell me what enough of those rocks are for I’ll consider teachin’ ye! Take yer time, I’ll give ye half a candle to figure something out. I’ll be standin’ over here so just let me know iffin any of ‘em do anythin’ special. Well, get after it!”
Ryuji walked over to a large round table covered in bowls full of rocks, ores, metals, and crystals. There were a few different ores and minerals that were sitting on small cloth patches by themselves but not many. Any of them that were like that were in ones and twos while the ones in the bowls were far more numerous. Ryuji started to get nervous. How was he supposed to know what any given rock was used for in magic? The only time he had ever dealt with rocks was in the geology section of his earth sciences class. Oh well, since that was all he knew about rocks he figured he might as well use that! It was better than nothing after all and if he couldn’t impress the old geezer with his half-remembered geology lessons from earth sciences class then that was just fine. It would just mean that the old dwarf was right about him not having the required talent.
Ryuji looked over the rocks on the outside edge first but he didn’t immediately recognize any of them. He then began to rummage through the bowls picking up some of the rocks here and there. As he gave several a brief inspection and placed them back in their bowls the old man sighed. Ryuji knew he needed to say something quickly.
Suddenly, one bowl caught his eye. The contents were a bunch of bright yellow stones and he quickly grabbed one of them and sniffed to be sure. “Hey, this one is sulfur, this one burns with a blue flame but I think it has to be like ground-up first. I think it used to be called brimstone. Ooh, and I know what that one is too!”
Ryuji grabbed a piece of dark silver-gray coal from another container and sniffed it and it also had a slight sulfur smell and he knew he had the right stuff. “Yeah, this stuff also burns really well and it burns really hot for a long time! Now let me see what else I can find here!”
Ryuji didn’t care if the old guy wasn’t interested in what he had to say, he was starting to have fun. It was almost like a scavenger hunt and Ryuji was reminded of how much he had liked that particular course. Then he spotted something out of place. At first, it almost looked like a white rock with small holes in it but Ryuji knew better. “Hey, This isn’t a rock! This is coral, it’s a shell from in the sea! Oh well, I guess it is still a mineral. It has a lot of calcium like bones do so I guess that’s probably why it’s here.”
“This one is granite. Granite is like, really hard and it’s used to make countertops and hard surfaces that won’t get scratched. Oh hey, this black one here is obsidian. It’s really hard and when you break it just right the edge is razor-sharp! I cut myself on this stuff one time and I didn’t even know it until somebody told me I was bleeding!”
“I think the greenish one here is basalt. I think that you get that from underwater, don’t you? It looks like sandstone but it’s not red or tan and it doesn’t have the lines in it. Also, the rough part doesn’t just crumble off like it does with sandstone. Oh hey, this one is sandstone over here. I see that you have a few quartz crystals over here in this bowl. Really small ones can zap you with an electric charge if you hit them with a small metal hammer and they don’t break.”
“Oh, this gray one is slate. If it can be gotten in big enough sheets it can be used to make rooves with or you can write on it with this talc here. It pretty much always splits along the grain. I see you have flint. If you hit this with a piece of steel it will make sparks that you can start a fire with. And this one that kind of looks like it is shale, I think the only thing it’s used for is making brick though unless it has oil in it.”
Ryuji was having so much fun that he didn’t notice the dwarf’s expression until he went to move around the table so he could get a better look at the metals and crystals there. When he did look over the old dwarf was wringing his beard with a broad grin on his face. Ryuji just stopped and looked at him in confusion.
After a second the dwarf realized that Ryuji was looking at him and his grin got even bigger. “Well, Aint that somethin’! I don’t recognize the names you called any of the stones but ye sure did get the facts about ‘em right. Okay, m’boy! A deals a deal, Come back in the mornin’ an’ I’ll teach ye a thing er two about magic. I ain’t never seen no elf could name off a rock like that. I probly woulda’ taughtcha’ iffin you only knew that coal burned an’ granite was hard as dragon scales. But you, well, you just kept goin’ an’a-goin'. I was right impressed, ya got me good! Yessir, ya got me good!”
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The old dwarf came over and slapped him in the back but then grabbed his arm and pulled him down low so he could whisper in his ear. “Now listen here m’boy. I plan on keepin’ me promise but don’tchu’ make me regret it. I’ll be tellin’ ye now, it’s gonna be a lotta work! You’ll be lucky iffin I give ye a day in every eight to rest. But I guarantee that by the time ye’re done ye’ll be a wizard more’n capable of doin’ anythin’ ye want in the mages guild never ye mind the mercenary’s guild. Ye’ll have parties beggin’ ta have ye join ‘em.”
As the old dwarf let him go with a conspiratorial chuckle Ryuji just stood there stunned. He had done it; he had impressed the old dwarf with what he knew about rocks. He was going to be a wizard! The old wizard went on in a more relaxed tone. “I haven’t taught anybody in a long time so I gotta git ma shit together for that. So you just come back early in the mornin’ an’ we’ll start yer training then. I gotta find all the right books now so scram! Oh, and one more thing, good job!”
Ryuji was in a daze; he could barely believe it. Through his small amount of high school earth sciences class, he was able to convince the old wizard to teach him magic. It suddenly occurred to him that rocks must somehow be important to magic. If that were the case, he would have to learn a lot more about them probably.
As he pondered this idea, he made his way to the front door. He was just stepping through the door when he bumped into someone. As he looked down, he apologized with a simple pardon me. What he saw as he looked was an elf that was a little shorter than him by maybe half-a-head. He could tell that she was an elf and female before she ever looked up at him due to her long black hair and long pointed ears. When she looked up at him, he could tell that she was a dark tan color bordering on brown. Despite her dark complexion she still managed a blush before excusing herself into the store.
Ryuji had a blush for a different reason, as she looked up at him her face moved out of the way of an ample cleavage that he got a quick but clear view of. As she moved past him, he took notice of other features like her clothing, what there was of it! She had on a very small top that might be called a training bra if he were back home and it was bulging with her breasts.
As she passed him, he got a look at the rest of her and suddenly he got chills. She was wearing something of a mini skirt made of some kind of leather but that wasn’t what got his attention. Over her skirt, she had a wide belt and from that belt hung two gigantic meat cleavers. Each one was easily as long as his forearm in just blade length and they looked heavy enough that they could do serious damage if you got hit by one. Since he was polite, he was fairly sure she wouldn’t try to cleave his skull open but he was in no mood to stick around anyway. He had other things to take care of.
Just a moment before the door closed the dark elf girl turned her head to look at the handsome sun elf who just walked out of the magic shop. As she looked before letting the door close, she got a brief but enticing view of his butt in the tight leather pants he was wearing. Her heart started to throb and she blushed again before quickly turning around to attend to her own business.
The girl walked into the store that she had visited quite often. At this point, it was almost a custom of hers more than serving any practical purpose but she still held out hope that one day something would change and she would get her chance. With that hope in her heart, she walked to the back of the store where the old dwarf who owned the shop was busy searching the shelf for a book.
As she approached, she coughed into her hand so that she wouldn’t startle the old guy. When he turned around and his gaze fell upon his guest, he began to scowl deeply but then he did something new, he cracked a grin. The problem was that this wasn’t a friendly grin, this was the kind of grin that one sees on an executioner’s face at a beheading. The old dwarf made the reason for that grin apparent with his scathing words. “Hah, Miyako, no need to even ask, it ain’t a happenin’. I told ya before an I’ll tell ye now, I ain’t teachin’ ya no magic! Ya got no talent and I doubt that’s changed in the few days since ya last asked. Besides, I just found me an apprentice an’ thisin’s got talent let me tell ya. So just don’t bother askin’ from now on ya hear?”
Bewildered the girl, Miyako blurted out a rapid-fire series of questions in desperation. “What?! But when who, how? Why did you take an apprentice all of the sudden? I’ve been asking you for three years now, how could you do this? Who did you choose?”
The clever old dwarf looked at her with a big challenging grin before answering. “I’ll do as I please. I got my reasons an’ ya still don’t have no talent so there’s no reason for ya ta be makin’ a fuss. That elf that just left is my new apprentice so there’s no need for ya ta be comin’ round no more, got it? Now git ya gone, I got things ta be doin’!”
After saying what he had to say the grumpy old dwarf turned around and ignored the dark elf girl altogether. Miyako stood looking at the back of his head for another couple of seconds before it dawned on her that she should talk to the elf guy that just left. She rushed back out the door and from the slight vantage of the porch she looked all around for the guy. Despite her best efforts to spot him the guy was already gone. Miyako decided that she would look all over the city and find the guy every time she was in town instead of out on a quest. She told herself that if she found him that he might be able to tell her how to get an apprenticeship. It was a long shot but she had been trying to get an apprenticeship for three years so what was a little while longer?