The knock echoed past the door, it settled into the surrounding stones. However, nothing happened for a few moments. He strained his hearing, wondering if he would hear footsteps on the other side. Suddenly, one side of the double doors silently opened. It wasn't a gust of wind or the door actually opening on its own. It was very clearly some sort of magical or mechanical device that had opened the door. He could see the metal arm that recessed into the adjacent stone.

Kevin peered into the hallway on the other side and hesitantly called, "Hello?" There was no answer. The tower was situated right at the edge of the city, in the same general direction as the mines. Now that he knew, Kevin better understood why so many people knew where it was located. But because of its location, it stood tall by itself, surrounded by a pretty garden and chest-high walls of stone.

He hesitantly looked behind him at the path he'd walked to get to the front door and then glanced down the hallway again. Nobody seemed to be actually welcoming him inside, not even a mat. There were no people walking on the road that he could see either. He was the only person currently outside the tower within sight. Finally, he shrugged and took his first step through the threshold. He exhaled as he did so, and a few steps later, the door behind him gently closed. He turned, initially startled, but then shrugged. In for a penny, in for a pound, he thought.

Kevin walked down the hallway and realized as he did so that the inside of the tower was larger than the outside would suggest. He didn't know if it was a trick of architecture or magical in nature. The hallway ended at a relatively large room that was barely small enough to still be considered cozy. A fire crackled in the room. The air was full of aromatic smells, soothing and making Kevin feel like he was back in a candle shop on Earth.

A woman sat behind a table, sipping something out of a steaming mug and peering at him curiously over the rim. She was tall with shocking white hair and striking blue eyes. She slowly and elegantly put the mug down before gesturing to a chair on the other side of the table. "Thank you for accepting my invitation. Would you like to come join me?"

Kevin nodded and headed for the chair. He suddenly felt strange, awkward. But luckily, his [Elvish Acuity] saved him. He didn't trip over his own feet or embarrass himself and, with minimal fuss, made his way to the offered char and sat.

The mysterious woman poured him a cup of tea in a mug that he didn't remember seeing on the table earlier. Then she smiled at him and said, "My name is Alariel. I do know a little bit about you, so I have you at a disadvantage. It's not a good feeling sometimes when other people know about you and you don't about them. So allow me to tell you a little bit about myself.

“I am much older than I look. Humans have longer lifespans than goblins and orks but we are still considered some of the shortest lived people in the world. However, as you may know, since you are one of the most celebrated new Magi Guild members in this city, humans with sufficiently strong magic can live longer. I definitely fall in this category." She took a sip of her tea.

Kevin experimentally lifted his mug and took a sip as well. He was normally not this trusting. However, the entire feeling of this meeting was very peaceful and safe. He trusted his instincts. Not only that, he had several inherent poison resistance powers now and was fairly confident that it would take a very lethal dose to harm him. Whether [Poison Resistance, Minor] would actually save him from a lethal dose of poisoning, he didn't know. But it was still comforting to think about.

The tea was excellent, with a taste unlike any he’d had before. “This is really good,” he said.

“Thank you. I make it myself. Some of the herbs and other ingredients come from the garden outside.”

"Is it true that you are the one who shields the mines here in the city?"

Alariel nodded. "That is true, although I think it bears explaining that it is not only Clearmine that pays me for this duty. In fact, the entire continent benefits from the mining that takes place here. As a result, I am directly sponsored by every major power on this continent and either remunerated in resources or favors to continue protecting this place every year."

Kevin took another sip of his tea and said, "Well, in that case, I heard you were an Alchemist, but you must also definitely be a powerful mage, right?"

"It is immodest of me to say so, but yes." She smiled gently at Kevin and tapped her cup as she spoke. "I have lived a long life; at this point, I am not entirely sure which of my hobbies would be preeminent, or that I would consider myself an official master of. Although many consider me to be one of the ten most powerful mortal mages in the world, probably near the bottom, honesty compels me to admit that I am something of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. By some estimations, that moves me further up the list, I suppose."

When Kevin just nodded and took another sip of his tea, Alariel smiled widely enough that crinkles formed at the corner of her eyes. "What an interesting fellow you are."

"What do you mean?"

"There are not many that would feel comfortable in my presence, especially after knowing who I really am, and especially a goblin. Apologies for saying telling you this way, but not only are you not intimidated by me as we sit and drink tea, but I have been watching you almost from the moment you first came to the city. There was also an incident yesterday where one of the dragons nearby let her aura suppression slip for a while, or maybe she intentionally revealed herself. Either way, I noticed it. And now that you are so close to me, I can definitely sense the auras of other dragons; they have washed over you to such a degree that it permeates your entire spirit. The dragon I just mentioned is among these."

Kevin didn't respond; he just raised his eyebrows. The great mage laughed with genuine humor. "It is not often I get such an interesting and delightful tea companion."

"Well, thanks, I think," said Kevin.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Alariel calmed again and said, "And here I thought my interest could not grow any higher after I discovered you would be working with Potion Master Addison."

Kevin noticed the way she gave a slight smile as she said 'Master.' "I don't know if I'm going to be working there again tomorrow," he admitted.

"Oh really, why?"

"Because Addison is a petty ass, that's why. He seems to have a problem with goblins. If not, he has a problem with me in particular. Or perhaps he has a problem with everyone. And, when I was making potions for him today, I improved one of them, and I understand why he didn't take me seriously, but at the same time, he admitted that he'd heard about my reputation in the Magi Guild. If I was some random person without any credentials, then his attitude would be more understandable, but considering he hired me specifically because of my reputation..." He stopped speaking as he realized his volume had been rising. He muttered, "It’s probably because everybody else knows this guy that they won’t work with him."

Then Kevin resumed speaking normally, saying, "And I also managed to learn how to make the potion he wants mass-produced after one quick instruction, but he didn't hear me out. He talks to me like I’m a stupid animal despite learning how to make this potion of his in five minutes."

"Was your pride wounded?" asked Elariel.

"Damn right, my pride was wounded," admitted Kevin. "I would have understood if he’d even just explained why he didn't care about my revisions to the potion recipe. But it took me hours to make that first batch. I would think that a potion ‘master’ would know that the potion would still work and at least be curious as to whether I was telling the truth or not. It’s one thing to be grumpy, it’s another to be grumpy and incompetent."

"Do you have any of these potions with you?" asked Elariel. “The ones that you made?”

"As a matter of fact, I do." Kevin fished one of the potions out of his backpack where he'd set it next to the chair. Elariel accepted it from him with great respect, almost reverence. He noticed the odd mannerism she used and figured it must be some sort of ritual.

Alariel examined the potion much like Addison had Kevin’s other potions, but after she tasted it, she also took another drop and put it on the palm of her hand. Suddenly, green light glowed from her fingers, and the drop levitated. She stared at it intently before nodding and flicking the liquid away.

"It was a relatively simple hair growth formula," she said, "a recipe that I taught Addison when he worked at the mine. He did not finish learning from me and definitely didn't end his relationship with me with anything close to a completed apprenticeship. However, I must admit I still have a soft place in my heart for him. I am sorry that he treated you badly, but Addison has lived a very troubled life. If anybody deserves a bit of grace, he would be one of them."

She restoppered the potion bottle that Kevin had handed her and gave it back with less ceremony than she'd accepted it. "You are correct that what you did made the potion slightly more potent. How much did you add? And what?"

Kevin grumbled. "Addison didn't label any of the ingredients, so I don't know what it was.”

Then he explained the steps that he learned, and which step it was that he added the powder, and told her how much.

She nodded slowly. "What made you decide to do this?"

"It just felt right," he partially lied.

Alariel pursed her lips. "That's very interesting. You seem to have a gift. I find this highly noteworthy since, as far as I know now, you have never worked at crafting potions before.”

“That’s right. I haven’t.”

“Are you interested in crafting potions? Like I’ve told you, I have kept track of your meteoric rise in the Magi Guild. You are not exactly lacking for funds right now, I don’t think. If you found Addison so distasteful today, why not leave?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Can you explain?”

Kevin impulsively decided to be more honest than he otherwise might. “I need to learn Alchemy. I need a skill, a trade. And it’s a lot more likely than what I really want to learn.”

“Which is?”

He frowned before just throwing caution to the wind and answering from the heart. "I want to be a mage. The reality is, I've been trying to find magic that I can learn or use basically my entire life. In fact, you sensed that I've talked to dragons. One of the things I've talked to them about at length is my search for a magic I can learn."

Alariel's eyebrows climbed into her hairline. "Oh my! A goblin whom the dragons entertained to the point of a request to find magic. You are truly an interesting tea guest." She smiled and tapped her cup. "I am not responsible for the way Addison spoke to you, but since it costs me nothing, I will do a reading for you."

"Excuse me, a what?"

"A reading. When you are done with your tea, please give me your cup, and I will do a tea reading. The results are not always conclusive, but the tea we've been drinking is laced with mana. It allows me to divine things that nobody could without special plants like the ones I use for my tea. If we are lucky and you have any talent, the leaves might tell me what sort of magic would be suitable for you."

Kevin stared at her for a few seconds until he was sure she was telling the truth, and then gulped the rest of his tea back in one shot. He put the mug on the counter much more gently than he’d picked it up. With his fingertips, he slowly pushed it over. "After everything I've been through, I'm not going to hold my breath, but I still appreciate you for trying."

Alariel nodded before peering into Kevin's cup. Almost immediately, she frowned and had a sharp intake of breath. Then she stared further for almost a full minute before putting the cup down. Her smile was unreadable before she spoke.

"Kevin, C-rank of the Magi Guild and a rare, fighting scholar; It is my pleasure to tell you that you do indeed seem to have talent for magic."

"Really!?"

"Yes." She nodded and looked in the cup again. "If I'm right, or rather if the tea leaves are right, your talent is very rare and obscure."

"How rare are we talking here?"

“I am not sure yet. Please indulge me.” With that, she stood and moved to another side of the room, retrieving a wooden box from a shelf. Then she pulled out something that sort of looked like a rubics cube made of metal and bone. “Cup this between your hands. Make sure it makes contact with both palms.”

He did, and when he opened his hands again, she picked up the device and started poking and prodding it. “Very interesting.” She tapped the cube again. “This is a device of my invention.” She traced a finger around one corner. “This tells me that you have a talent for soul magic and a minor talent for death magic."

Kevin was too excited to be skeptical. He perked up. "Really? Do you know soul magic? Can you teach me?"

Alariel shook her head. "No, and no. Soul magic is not anything I've learned, nor have the ability to learn, and I do not have time to take any direct students. I'm sorry."

Kevin controlled himself with an effort of will. "Is there anything you can do to help me learn soul magic?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes, but not personally. I actually have an acquaintance with a book that may help you. However, it will take some time to reach me, and the nature of the book means if you were to use it, it would no longer be usable by others. It's very precious, and I cannot just give it to a stranger, no matter how interesting of a goblin he may be."

Kevin grinned ruefully at that before thinking about what she’d said, and maybe what sort of hidden meanings it might have. As he did so, Alariel gracefully poured him another cup of tea, and he nodded his thanks at her. Finally, he said, "If I were to learn a new potion or significantly modify a powerful potion in a meaningful way and share it with you, would that be acceptable payment for the book?"

It was Alariel’s turn ot think. She paused a moment before saying, "Yes, I believe so. But it would truly need to be knowledge that is worth the book, and that would be difficult to achieve."

"I understand," said Kevin, but he was thinking about the ancient diary he had in his backpack. It was a gamble, but also possible that he could make something new from the notes in the diary. If worst came to worst, he could just mess around with other potions using [Perfect Seasoning], or maybe try to trade his book for the book that would help him learn magic. But there was a problem. "Actually, I might have to take it back."

"Why?"

"Because I don't think I can work with Addison anymore, and that's my only access to potion reagents or equipment."

Alariel smiled. "I believe I have a deal that would benefit multiple people."

"I'm listening."

"As you may have gathered, Addison has a special place in my heart, despite the fact we left each other's company many years ago on bad terms. If you would continue to work for Addison and help him, because I believe that this will directly impact his life in a positive way, I will let you use my alchemy equipment in my tower so long as you pay for the reagents that you consume, when asked."

Kevin's eyes widened as large as they could go, and he didn't even second-guess his answer. "I accept," he said, and then he stood up to shake. The great mage laughed again before she stood as well, towering over him, and accepted his hand. The fact she was laughing made Kevin feel a little silly, but he didn't care. If he could pull this off, maybe he could solve his problem with Lydia and finally satisfy his longstanding dream for magic of his own. It was about damn time to learn some.