Quest completed! 400 XP gained!
Path of the spellcaster. 4/5
Create five spells of any tier.
Reward: 800 XP.
Looking at the class quest prompt, Lee realized that he would be creating many more spells than he originally thought. Turning to Nitis and Atrus, Lee gave them a smile. “The ending effects of the spell were slightly unexpected, but the spell was a success.”
Artus, immediately and excitedly, blurted out while still writing in his notebook. “Magnificient! Would you be opposed to revealing the spell's description and name?” Lee looked towards Nitis, wondering if this was something that was the norm, or whether that type of question was personal in nature. Nitis, having caught the unasked question, merely shrugged and nodded once.
Having determined that there would be little harm, Lee repeated his new spells information.
Void Sphere: This spell harnesses the essence of emptiness and unleashes it in a concentrated form, creating a small sphere of absolute void within a 3-meter diameter. The sphere becomes a localized vacuum, devoid of matter, energy, and even light.
Cost: 25 Mana + 1 Per second.
Artus quickly thanked Lee and began to murmur to himself while writing extraordinarily fast in his notebook.
Nitis seemed to have questions of his own at the reveal of the spell's information as he looked thoughtful and began to speak. “Towards the end of the description, you mentioned, ‘The sphere becomes a localized vacuum, devoid of matter, energy, and even light.’ Do you know why this spell mentions these?”
Lee was slightly confused at this question, as he thought that the description explained itself fairly well. “Well, in a vacuum, any matter is not present, which means that literally, the space is empty. I may not be the best at explaining these things… Even in my world, these topics were very advanced.” Trailing off, Lee asked a question of his own. “What is it specifically that you are asking about? Maybe I can try to explain the smaller parts.”
Nitis seems interested in the topic and seems to be coming out of his foul mood. “Well, I have many questions, but let us go one by one. Perhaps you would like to continue this in my office?” Nitis swings his hand towards the exit of the training room.
Lee nodded happily. “Sure, we have much to talk about anyways.” Lee began to follow Nitis out of the room.
They arrived at Nitis's office after a small walk through the consortium. The office was unchanged since the last time Lee had last been in it, still full of scrolls, bookshelves, and an ink-stained desk. Nitis took his seat, placed his hands together, interlocking his fingers, and began to speak as Lee took his own seat. “I want to thank you for not pursuing the topic Artus brought up in a public setting.” Nitis shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with the topic of the Harrowing. “I hope we can save that topic for the end of our conversation.”
Lee, still unsure about what exactly this Harrowing entailed, simply nodded and agreed. “I’m not going to lie to you and pretend that I’m not interested in what the Harrowing is.” Nitis closed his eyes and took a deep breath at the mention of the Harrowing. “But, I can obviously tell that it is something that is troubling. Let’s talk about my Void Sphere spell first.”
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Nitis, unlinking his fingers, grabbed a small scroll from his desk drawer and began to speak as he prepared to write. “Well, let us begin with what you refer to as a vacuum. I understand you have an ability that lets you understand languages. I don’t know how your specific ability works, but do you hear El’sidri when we speak? Perhaps there is still a slight language barrier.”
Lee realized he never actually put too much thought into how his Language Comprehension ability worked. Quickly bringing up its description, he began to review its specifics.
Language Comprehension: The Language Comprehension ability allows the user to understand and speak any language that they encounter, whether it be spoken or written.
Looking back to Nitis, Lee explained what he experienced. “Well, before I arrived here, the only language I spoke was called English. When I hear you speak, I interpret your words as English, and when I speak, I think I speak in English. From what I’ve come to understand, everybody else seems to think I speak their language.”
Nitis smiles and writes on his scroll. Without looking up from the scroll, he begins to reply. “What a unique ability you have. Indeed, what I hear you speak is El’sidri, the language of elves. I see your lips move just as if you’re speaking El’sidri; when you say the word ‘Vacuum,’ I believe you say the word in your English language. It may be that we do not have that word in our vocabulary.”
Lee, now understanding that a language barrier still exists, nods and replies. “A vacuum has multiple meanings in English. The meaning used for the spell is an area devoid of all matter, which is basically a word for ‘stuff.’ It is an area in which there is nothing.” Lee began to wave his hand around, indicating the air around them. “This empty space you see is not actually empty; it has air and dust, among other things, in it. A void has no air, absolutely nothing.”
Nodding his head in understanding, Nitis asked another question. “Is there a reason why light would not exist? Is the light matter?” Lee paused to think for a moment and eventually responded. “I’m not absolutely sure, as this was never an area in which I studied, but I know that Light is indeed made up of photons, which is a thing; that is why it doesn't exist in a void. The reason we see is because light refracts or bounces off objects and enters our eyes. So in a void, you would be blind. The process in which our eyes work is very complicated, and I don’t believe I can explain it properly if half the words don’t exist in El’sidri.”
Nitis pauses in his writing for a moment to look at Lee. Seemingly looking at Lee in a whole new light. “You are very knowledgeable for someone your age. Were most people from your world as knowledgeable as yourself?”
Lee nodded slightly. “In my world, schooling was mandatory from around the age of six years old to the age of eighteen. You could then go and obtain specialized schooling in multiple areas of study. I did not finish that higher level of schooling, but when I was enrolled, I was studying business. I believe most of the Humans in my world would vaguely understand what we discussed so far.”
“I see.” Nitis sat up straighter as he pushed the scroll toward the side of the desk. “Was your world peaceful?”
Lee sighed as he slumped in his chair. “Yes and no. My life was fairly peaceful; I never had to fight or be afraid of monsters as there were none… but in the history of my world, it was not peaceful at all. War, slavery, and many heinous acts were done throughout history.” Looking at Nitis, Lee sees that he is listening very attentively. “It is fine to ask about my world. I understand that everybody I ever meet will have questions about it. I will let you know if I don’t want to answer a specific question.”
Almost instantly, Nitis asked. “There were no elves in your world. What races were there?”
Barking out a small laugh, Lee responded. “Humans. Only Humans. I see that Neia or Ruven told you of our conversations in the forest?”
Smiling softly, Nitis nodded. “Yes, Neia and I spoke at length of your journey. She said you spoke of knowing about Elves. The Wood Elves, in particular, from what she could put together. Did elves exist at one point in your history?”
Lee immediately shook his head. “No, Elves were in fantasy stories. Which is a specific genre of fantasy writing. I will say I was shocked to find that elves, dwarves, and beastkin exist. There were stories with all of you in some way shape or form.”
“Perhaps someone from your world visited long ago, or maybe we visited your world long ago,” Nitis said as he began to ask another question. “What do you think of us Dark Elves?” Before Lee could open his mouth to speak, Nitis spoke once more. “Be honest. Speak your mind, and do not fear to insult us.”
Seeing the serious and honest look from Nitis, Lee sat up straighter. “You’re wonderful. Two of your people, Neia and Ruven, saved me, a complete stranger, in the middle of the forest. They educated me about your world and protected me from the dangers of it. Since arriving in Neldam, I have been treated fairly and with respect. Given a place to stay and a job to do. Your city is a wondrous sight and appears to be prosperous.”
Nitis smiled softly and nodded. “I am glad to hear that…” The smile slowly faded and was replaced with a look of resignation. “Let us talk about the Harrowing.”
Lee gave Nitis his full attention. Ready to hear about the history of the Dark Elves.