I made my way downstairs, still somber from my nightmare. I was trying not to let it affect me too much, but it was difficult considering my past experiences with them. Luckily, it didn’t seem like anyone else was up yet to see me in this state. For once, it looked like I had been the first person to wake up in this house. Making my way into the silent kitchen, I opened the curtains to the small window set in the far wall to let in some morning light. I sat down at the kitchen table afterward, at a bit of a loss.

I might have woken up slightly early, but I was still hungry. Problem was, I didn’t exactly know how to cook around here. I could cook back home though, I’d had to. But I was used to modern meals, with modern appliances. I decided to get up and take a look around the kitchen and see what was available. Making my way over to the large wooden cabinet and opening the left door, I was surprised to find a large amount of perishable goods inside it, just lying there. Vegetables, meats, grains, and even what looked like fruit of a kind that I didn’t recognize. Hell, there were even more steaks that Vandimar had given us yesterday, laying open carelessly on a middle shelf.

I gazed at the contents of the cabinet in confusion. Nothing in there looked spoiled at all. In fact, all of it looked exceedingly fresh, as if it had either just been slaughtered or picked today. A moment later, I felt dumb. Of course, it was magic keeping everything fresh, you idiot. Looking around the inside of the cabinet again, I found what I expected. On the inside of the door I had opened, I found another one of those small discs with a symbol inscribed on it. Didn’t recognize this one, though.

“Oi.” I heard from behind me. I jumped in startlement, banging my head loudly on the top of the cabinet. Clutching my head and hissing in pain, I drew back and turned around. I found Azarus staring at me bemusedly from the doorway of the kitchen.

I stared back at him, awkwardly clutching the top of my head. “Uh, hey,” I said to him. “Morning.”

“Mornin’.” He said back to me, amusedly.

I stopped rubbing my head, the pain fading. I moved away from the cabinet to lean against the table awkwardly. “So, uh. What’s the plan for today?”

Azarus moved out of the doorway and over to the cabinet I had just banged my head on. “Hmm, well. We got three days before we’re heading to Rhoscara, so I figure we’ll just do a bit of practice today. We’ll leave trying to get ya another Profession till tomorrow. We, uh, didn’t get the chance to try and test your racials with everything that happened yesterday.” He turned back around to face me, holding a loaf of bread in my direction. “Ya want some toast?”

“Sure, I’ll take some toast.” I nodded at him. I sat down at the table.

Azarus nodded back before moving over to one of the preparation tables. Setting the loaf down on it, he started to slice it up. Once he’d finished, he moved over to the large cast iron oven, starting it by putting a finger on one of those small enchantment discs. Moving back over to the prep table, he opened a drawer on it and pulled out some kind of wire contraption. Opening it up, I saw him start to put pieces of sliced bread inside of it, before closing it back up. He picked it back up, and moved back over to the oven. He opened the secondary door on the front of it above the fuel door, and shoved the wire rack full of bread inside.

I just watched all of this curiously. I guess this was how people made something as mundane as toast in magic fantasy land. Some of the steps weren’t unusual to me, as I’d watched Azarus cook the steaks from last night, but it was interesting nonetheless. The way that magic was used to mirror some conveniences and appliances from back home was fascinating to me. Honestly, I’d thought that living on this planet would be rife with discomfort, considering the level of comfort I’d been born into on modern-day Earth. But it hadn’t been bad so far. Sure, it didn’t measure up, but ironically my standard of living on Vereden had risen dramatically since I’d been ‘sold’ to Azarus.

Azarus finished up and turned back around. He paused when he saw me watching him. “What?” He asked me.

I shook my head, somewhat embarrassed. “Ah, it’s nothing.”

He shrugged and moved back over to the cabinet. Opening it, he pulled out a jar of something and a few blunt knives before heading over to the table and setting them down. He sat down at the table as well.

We sat in silence for a moment before I broke it.

“Should we wake up Grey?” I asked Azarus.

He shook his head. “Nah, old man needs his sleep.” He paused before leaning over the table. I copied him curiously. “Don’t let him know I said this, but the brand is rougher on him than it is on others. His level is so much higher that it’s suppressing more, and that means he overestimates himself. All that work yesterday tired him out.” He leaned back out. “I’ll wake him in a few hours. Sides, it’s not like I didn’t make some for him. I’ll just put it in the cabinet for when he wakes up.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I nodded to show I understood. “So.” I began, curiously. “Speaking of the cabinet, what kind of enchantment does it have?”

“Hmm? Oh, it just has a standard stasis disc in it. Makes it so nothing ever spoils in there.” Azarus answered me distractedly. I followed his gaze and saw that he was watching the oven. What, could he see through it to the toast or something? Who knows, maybe he could.

“Is that common?” I asked him. “You know, for most people to have one of those?”

He looked over at me. “Eh, sorta.” He answered me, wiggling one huge hand back and forth. “Discs are a relatively new thing, yeah? They’ve made enchanted items much cheaper than they used to be. Before that, ya had to get everything custom enchanted, and that could be mighty pricy. They’re still not cheap, but I just got a bunch of them 'cause I’m, uh…”

Because he was a noble, got it.

I nodded to show I understood and Azarus nodded back at me, somewhat embarrassed. He looked back over at the oven.

“Toasts done,” Azarus grunted. He got up from the table and moved back over to the oven. Opening up the door he’d put the bread in, he pulled the wire toast maker out and closed it afterward. With his free hand, he put his thumb on the second enchantment disc on the oven. I remembered from last night that this one doused the fire inside. Shuffling back over to the table, he opened the rack, revealing the toast. “Dig in.” He said. Opening the glass jar he’d gotten from the cabinet; he revealed it to be some kind of jam. He slathered a piece of toast using one of the knives.

I copied him, and we ate in silence. The jam turned out to be made from some kind of berry that I couldn’t place.

When we finished, Azarus stood up from the table, uncaring of the crumbs we’d left on the table. He closed the rack of toast back up and put it in the cabinet. Turning back around to face me, he said. “All right, time to get to work. Meet me in the backyard, I’ll fetch the trainin’ weapons.”

I stood up as well. “Right now?” I asked in surprise. “Shouldn’t we let the food settle first?”

Azarus looked at me weirdly for a moment realization flashed across his face. “Ah, right. You’re not an Unawoken anymore, that’s not an issue. Ya ain’t gonna blow chunks if ya work hard after eating now.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Good to know, I guess.

With a final nod to me, Azarus exited the kitchen via the back door.

Looking around the kitchen and how dirty it was, I sighed. Guess it was up to me again.

I got to work.

……………………………………...

I cleaned up in the kitchen only a little, just enough so that it wasn’t disgusting. When I finished, I exited the same door that Azarus had. I found him waiting impatiently in the yard with two spears in hand.

“Finally.” He grunted at me. “What took ya so long?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Don’t worry about it. We gonna do this or not?”

He answered me by tossing one of the spears at me haft first. Surprisingly, I caught it just fine without even blinking. I guess those new stats were good for something after all. I set the butt of the spear in the dirt.

“All right then,” Azarus said, nodding. “We’ll start with testing your Racials. Sounded like ya had two active ones, yeah?”

“Yeah.” I nodded back at him. “Hidden Amidst the Spheres, and The Scintillant Blade.”

“Yeah, those. Now, Racials shouldn’t be too hard to activate. That’s not the point of them. We just got to figure out what they do. Why don’t ya try the second one you mentioned first? Sounds more suited to combat than the other.”

“Okay,” I said, nonplussed. “Do I just try and activate it like a Skill? Like Observe?”

“Yup,” Azarus answered simply.

I nodded at him, and then concentrated.

Surprisingly, it came to me even easier than Observe did.

The Scintillant Blade.

The blade of my spear erupted with ethereal, rainbow-colored fire. I jumped, holding my spear away from me in alarm. After a moment, I calmed down. The fire wasn’t giving off any actual heat when I brought my hand closer to it. I hesitated for a moment, before actually touching it. I watched in fascination as the rainbow fire curled around my hand like water. It was warm, but not the warmth of a fire. If anything, it reminded me of the sensation of gentle sunlight on my skin. It was…comforting.

“Neat.” I heard Azarus say. Jerking back to reality, I felt my cheeks grow warm. Looking back at him, I could see that he was watching me with patient amusement. He spoke up again. “Now, let’s see what it can do.” Having said that, he motioned for me to attack him.

For some reason, I felt uneasy. I well-remembered yesterday’s training, and how I wasn’t able to even pierce Azarus’s clothes with my spear. I didn’t expect the few levels I’d gotten to have made much of a difference, so why did I feel reluctant to attack him with this ability? I voiced my concerns.

“I dunno man, I don’t know if I should,” I told him uneasily.

Azarus sighed noisily. “Look, Nate. Ya ain’t gonna hurt me. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I’m over a hundred levels above ya. It’d take a damn miracle for ya to do actual damage to me. I appreciate it, but we’re just trying to see what effects that stuff has. Now, come on. Get in your stance.”

I didn’t feel reassured, but I did what he told me. Getting into the spear stance he’d taught me yesterday, I nodded at Azarus to show I was about to attack him. He just raised an eyebrow at me. With a shout, I charged at him and thrust, scintillant spear point first.

The spear blade slid into Azarus’s flesh with no problem, stopping only when the blade disappeared. I stared at the point of entry, around where a liver would be on a human, horrified. Azarus slowly looked down at the spear lodged in his stomach with a blank look on his face. He looked back up at me.

“Well, damn.” He said faintly.