“You know, most people would have considered direct instruction from an Incarnate as their true reward.”
“Mm.” Alarion nodded absently without looking toward Valentina. His eyes were focused on his newly open scroll, perusing its elegant script and the system window that hovered overtop.
> Thesis of the Unbound Magi – Part II [Rare]
>
> Description: Written in 182 A.T.S. this scroll contains part two of a scholarly thesis on the nature of unbound fields and their practical use as a primary form of magic. The work is overly technical and contains numerous cross-references to missing parts of the thesis, as well as additional contemporary works. Despite this, it is a wealth of information that should not be overlooked.
>
> Requirements: Awakened (Any one class level)
>
> Type: Imbuement. Set.
>
> Effects: Instantly gain the skill [Unbound Spellcraft]. If the user already possesses this skill, instead add one level to this skill. Additionally, this scroll can be studied up to five times for additional rewards. The requirements for further study, if any, will be listed before any further attempts.
“You’re very rude. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Mm.” Alarion’s second response was as distant as the first. Then color flushed to his cheeks a moment later, after some part of his hind brain had actually processed her words. “I am sorry.”
“Are you?” Valentina asked, pointedly meeting his eyes as he tried to shy away from her gaze. “Then why do you keep behaving that way?”
It was a hard question, one for which he did not have a ready answer. Alarion frowned and looked away, studying the nearby crackling fireplace his mind raced for justification or excuse.
“I am just not very good with people.” He eventually admitted, though the words rang somewhat empty even to his own ears.
“You’re self-centered. Most children are-”
“I’m not a child!”
Valentina flicked the tip of Alarion’s nose with her middle finger, hard enough to sting but not enough for the System to even qualify it as an attack. Alarion flinched away, his stance closed, ready for combat while the older woman simply scowled at him.
“There is nothing wrong with being a child. Every adult has a moment, or a thousand moments, where they wish they could go back to being where you are. Petulant. Arrogant. Yet somehow still full of wonder.”
Alarion opened his mouth to speak, but at a snap of Valentina’s fingers, the boy found he could not.
“No. I will talk and you will listen.” Valentina said, her tone full of amusement despite the harshness of the words themselves. “I was not a school-teacher, but you are not the first troublesome child I’ve instructed. You don’t listen nearly as well as you should to those with wisdom to impart and you don’t think ahead. You’ve a single-minded flaw, true, but I worry that you are treating it not as a weakness but as an excuse.”
She gestured to the nearby doors as she continued. “Your first challenge dungeon, while you are in a hurry, and you choose the most difficult room on offer? The one you cannot retreat from? The one you’re clearly ill equipped to deal with, if your muttering about puzzles was any indication. Why? Because the rewards are higher? You aren’t stupid, that much is clear, so the rewards weren’t the issue. You told me your instructor thought this was… what was it again?”
Given the chance to speak, Alarion tried to rebuke her and failed. He tried to plead his case, and he failed that too. He could breathe normally, but his voice had been stolen from him, save for the words she wanted to hear. “He said it would be a waste.”
“And you ignored this advice.” Valentina noted. “Yes he is clearly fallible, given that he thought you could not learn to sense mana, but I suspect he is a damn sight smarter than you are. But you ignored his wisdom. Why?”
Alarion stared back, defiant.
“I think you want to fail.” She leaned close, carefully studying his expression as she spoke. “I think that your instructors saw your aptitude and heaped expectations on you. Consciously, you want to succeed and you’ll do your best against any challenge, but inwardly? Inwardly you are so afraid of those expectations that you would do anything to make them go away. To go back to when things were simple. Even if they were worse.”
It took a moment for that outer shell to crack, but it did. Alarion blinked, then twice, a shimmer in his eyes before he looked away entirely.
“There is nothing wrong with being self-centered.” Her voice was softer now as she snapped her fingers, releasing the binding on his voice. “Especially in a world that does not hold your own interests at heart. But stop ignoring good advice when it is given. Stop keeping others at an arm's distance. Give thanks where it is deserved. Take it from me, child, as much as you might think it, you do not want to be alone forever. Even your instructors are preferable.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Alarion took a long hard look at Valentina, then sighed. “Thank you. For all your help in the challenge. And for your… advice.”
“You are welcome. You can expect more of the latter, if little of the former.” The woman gestured to a door off to the side of the room, near to the fireplace. It hadn’t been there the last time that Alarion had looked, which left an uneasy feeling at the pit of his gut. Reality was not meant to be warped in such a casual fashion. “Speaking of, some simple advice. You smell foul. Fix that. I’ve prepared you a bath and a meal. When you are finished, we can continue.”
The young man’s jaw clicked slightly as he ground his teeth, but Alarion had the good sense to say thank you before he disappeared off into the chamber she had made for him. It was smaller than his quarters at the manor, but considerably more cozy, with a slight haze of steam filling the air from the nearby brass tub.
Alarion took his time, lingering in the soapy water and picking at the plates of fresh fruits and vegetables laid out next to the tub. Once he’d had his fill, he tried to simply lounge in the water, but found he was unable to sit idle. Instead he summoned his newest item, triggered the item’s base effect, and began to read.
> Unbound Spellcraft [Uncommon](Rank I)
>
> Description: At the core of almost every spellcasting class, Spellcraft skills allow for storage, preparation and modification of known spell formulas. This skill is narrowly tailored toward spells that utilize only unbound fields.
>
> Requirements: None
>
> Type: Passive/Active
>
> Effects: The user of this skill is able to store the formula of a number of spells (Rank x 10) within a specially designated and prepared implement. Once per day the user of this skill is able to prepare for use a number of spells (Rank x 4) that they will be able to cast at will through their designated implement. Spells stored within the implement may be modified along the tri-axis of Power/Speed/Cost. Spells known may be replaced over time. Spells gained from classes may or may not count against the known/prepared limits, depending on the class in question. Prepared spells are unavailable if the user is too far away from their implement (currently 1 foot/level of this skill).
The skill was a godsend, somewhat literally. It was at once the solution to Alarion’s problem and the goal that ZEKE had been pushing him toward. Almost any spellcasting class Alarion obtained would have come with some version of Spellcraft, which would make it possible for the boy to ‘learn’ spells that weren’t internal in nature. But paradoxically he more or less needed a Spellcraft skill to gain such a class in any reasonable timeframe.
The solution, as it turned out, was more or less to cheat. He wasn’t sure if ZEKE would be delighted, or infuriated.
Either way the advantages were immense. The skill imparted considerable knowledge in addition to its description. He knew now, for example, how to properly prepare an ‘implement’ to store his spells, though he would have to carefully consider what to use. The most common implement by far was a spellbook. Easy to carry, easy to edit, easy to replace if lost or damaged, not to mention the strong sympathetic connection between knowledge and magic. Others used staves or wands for similar reasons, while some were more esoteric in nature. ZEKE had told him about mages who kept enchanted familiars, or wore their source inside a wedding band.
Alarion knew what he wanted to use, but he’d need advice first.
It was a pity that a second reading of the Thesis proved less than enlightening.
> Thesis of the Unbound Magi – Part II [Rare]
>
> Description: Written in 182 A.T.S. this scroll contains part two of a scholarly thesis on the nature of unbound fields and their practical use as a primary form of magic. The work is overly technical and contains numerous cross-references to missing parts of the thesis, as well as additional contemporary works. Despite this, it is a wealth of information that should not be overlooked.
>
> Requirements: Awakened (Any one class level). 2500 INT. Nine years of study.
>
> Alternate Requirements: Awakened (any one class level). Possession of at least one additional item within the “Thesis of the Unbound Magi” set.
>
> Type: Imbuement. Set.
>
> Effects: Increase the rank and rarity of [Unbound Spellcraft]. This scroll can be studied up to five times for additional rewards. Currently 0/5. The requirements for further study, if any, will be listed before any further attempts.
As far as Alarion was concerned, the base requirements of the item were functionally impossible. Nine years felt like a lifetime to him. It almost literally was, given his age, though he wondered how the requirement interacted with the odd time dilation of the challenge dungeon. Even if it worked in his favor, the attribute requirements did not.
The text itself was fundamentally unreadable. Not because the script was poorly written or magically altered, but because it made no earthly sense. A few thousand words in length, the document was a convoluted mess of contradictions and esoteric theory that Alarion could not hope to untangle.
Not even in the relaxation of a good bath.
With a full belly and nothing else to consume his attention, Alarion reluctantly exited the bath. He felt reinvigorated, ready to take on the world as he reemerged into the main chamber to find Valentina waiting for him with a fresh smile on her face.
“I was worried you’d drowned.”
Alarion snorted, then looked to his right, at the two doors that awaited him.
One was familiar, marked with the same crossed swords behind a skull and two red jewels beneath it. A combat room, one where he could not retreat and where he could fail. The other had a new symbol, a person pressed beneath an enormous weight. It didn’t look as though he were lifting it, only that he was struggling not to be crushed. A single ruby was set beneath it, marking it as the easier of the two.
“An endurance challenge.” She answer in response to his unspoken question.
Alarion eyed the two doors. Then, taking Valentina’s words to heart, he reached for the one on the right.
It was the easier of the two, and if there was one thing Alarion was good at, it was enduring hardship.
“Am I making the right choice this time?” He asked.
“That I cannot say.” Valentina replied honestly. “But you seem to be making it for the right reasons, at least.”