Children weren’t built for travel.

That was apparent. In fact, Eliza was sure humans, in general, weren’t built for it. Her entire body ached from three days of sitting and two nights of sleeping on the hard ground, separated from it by a thin mattress and the cold wind piercing right through her thick blanket to send chills down her spine.

Add onto it the horror of waking up with a spider near your bed, mosquito bites that created three red spots on her arms, one below her left eye and you described Eliza’s description of a nightmarish trip.

Trips sucked.

This felt like the first and only impression she'd made in her life.

“We’re finally here,” said Evelyn, her eyes bright and an open-mouthed grin on her face, “The Tower of Oracia… It’s where I learned magic.”

They stood before a lofty tower in the middle of a thick forest. It was built from white marbles and seemed to stretch up forevermore. There was not a single window and its design looked to be a lance sticking out of the ground, the base as thick as the mansion that she grew up in, and the tip nothing short of a sharp edge.

“Wait, I’m supposed to spend months here?” asked Eliza, dumbfounded, “Without a servant?”

No, she couldn’t act like… her mother.

That was the first impression of her mother and the only impression she had of her until the last two days.

“Two years if you’re a prodigy. That’s the record for now,” said Evelyn, and Eliza’s heart sunk.

There was no Iris to take care of her.

“How long did it take you?” asked Eliza, her heart filled with equal measure fear and adventure.

“Four,” said her mother and placed both hands on her shoulders, letting her hands linger, “It took less time than my etiquette lessons if that helps you.”

“You took them for that long?” asked Eliza and her jaw dropped.

Was she supposed to keep on learning from Miss Corbin for several years?

No, no, no.

That was simply ridiculous.

“Typically, etiquette education lasts five years between the ages of four to nine,” said Evelyn and gave her a smile, “I used to hate it as well.”

“Did Iris tell you?” mumbled Eliza.

“I used Linked Vision,” said Evelyn and let a giggle out, “Did you truly think that I went months without seeing my own child’s progress?”

Since when?

Eliza’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

She hadn’t done anything to feel embarrassed about, but she felt the emotion nonetheless.

“When did you put it there?” mumbled Eliza, an exaggerated scowl on her face.

That expression was intentionally exaggerated, though.

Evelyn finally felt like a mother and yet… she was being separated from her so soon.

“When you were in my womb,” she said and Evelyn’s jaw dropped.

Her mother could see through her eyes from the moment she was born?

How long did its effect last? More than 7 years?

That was absurd!

“If you’re ever Appraised when you’re alone, look through my eyes. We can communicate with letters that way,” said Evelyn and stood aside after giving her a small wink, “Just a little something I learned when I was in Slareine.”

Letters and Linked Vision?

That was a genius idea.

Eliza glanced back and stared at the carriage and several horseback mercenaries that had escorted them there.

The threat of bandits, as well as mindless beasts, made it suicide to travel without at least five others. It assured safety for not many bandits were brave to approach a group of combatants and even beasts dulled at the presence of more than a couple of humans. Then there was Wendy, her mother’s attendant, at whom she stared with jealousy.

No more servants…

What of her laundry? Food? Warm baths?

It felt like a chore already.

Eliza gulped.

“You didn’t let me pack up anything,” said Eliza, staring at her mother’s general direction.

“You’ll be provided all you need within,” said her mother.

This would be horrible, she just knew it. Rough fabric for clothes and no more than a few changes of clothes and shoes.

“Fine,” grunted Eliza and stomped off to the tower.

There was no door in sight, making her assume it was on the other side but the moment she stepped into a one-meter radius of the tower, an all-too-familiar notification appeared.

Worldly Contract Notification

Condition: By accepting this Worldly Contract, you are giving the System permission to treat you as “inanimate” until your request to enter the Tower of Oracia is reviewed, during which you will be kept in stasis. Upon approval, you will be allowed entrance and upon rejection, you will be teleported to the closest town.

[Accept]

[Decline]

Another contract that wanted her to be considered inanimate.

Eliza glanced at her mother and got an encouraging nod from her.

So she was supposed to accept that.

The more elaborate language didn’t escape her notice. All the other Contracts and Missions she’d seen had simpler vocabulary and structure. Even the Worldly Contract offered by the stone table in the Prophet’s ritual room wasn’t as descriptive as this.

Reading past the first three chapters of the Compendium was a necessity.

The moment Eliza accepted the Contract, a bright, blue light covered her and when it faded, she found herself standing somewhere else.

Underneath her was a smooth floor with red and white tiles crisscrossed to make the pattern of a Chessboard, reminiscent of the ones back at the estate. The only difference was that it seemed larger as if meant for giants.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Blue torches hanging from the walls illuminated the room that was empty aside from a massive, glowing crystal that hovered behind her and a girl of a similar height to Eliza, evident from the fact that their eyes met. Her hair was an odd electric blue and trimmed to shoulder-length, making for an odd look.

However, for Eliza, her hair wasn’t of any importance.

She was practically dressed in rags!

It resembled the robe that the Prophet wore but the material seemed smoother, the sleeves short enough to serve as an overgarment. Despite that, it was worn on the other girl’s bare skin, perhaps due to being too oversized for her.

That was horrible.

Was she supposed to wear something like that as well?

Eliza could bear walking through a corridor barefoot for ritualistic purposes but wearing something uncomfortable to her wasn’t an option. Not at all.

Especially if it looked as horrible as this.

Only the pretty purple color made it acceptable but Eliza wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it.

“Who are you? I didn’t approve you,” growled the other girl and that sparked something inside Eliza.

It was irritation.

“How dare-” started Eliza but closed her eyes and bit her lips.

No, she couldn’t do that.

Her mother made it apparent that social status didn’t matter while she was studying. Using it the moment she came into the room wouldn’t be a good idea.

So she tweaked her line.

“How dare you belittle me?” she finished the sentence and placed her fingers on her chest, arching her hand as she was taught in one of the few etiquette lessons she attended, “I’m a prodigy, you know?”

“I’m reporting to master,” said the girl and turned on her heel, an exaggerated scowl on her face. She growled a sharp, “Wait there,” and walked out of the room, slamming the door after she did.

There was no apparent sound as the door closed, eliciting further inspection from Eliza. It didn’t seem to be special and it looked to be made of stone, making it unrealistic for it to slam shut without a sound unless it was magic.

“Enchantment, probably,” mumbled Eliza under her mouth, recalling the tidbits she read from Basics of Magic, which wasn’t much more than short descriptions of the branches of magic: Enchantment, Conjuration, Evocation, Transmutation, and Necromancy.

Eliza looked around the room and focused on the crystal that glowed a soft blue behind her. It showed the outside of the castle from a bird’s view perspective and spun around the tower to cover every angle, but she found something amiss.

No one that had escorted Eliza to the tower was there.

Was it the so-called stasis?

Eliza closed her eyes and searched for the fragment of her soul, and weirdly enough, she could feel it. The direction was to the south, roughly adjacent to the stone door. Eliza tugged on it and without any issue, her sight was replaced by her mother’s and through it, she saw that she was already back at the mansion.

That had to have taken at least two days so she’d been in stasis for a bit.

The door slammed open, this time making an obvious screeching noise which startled Eliza into opening her eyes, only to be assaulted by the sensory overload from sustaining two pairs of eyes at once.

The migraine stuck around even after she cut the connection and in the sourest mood, she regarded whoever had come in.

“Follow me,” said the girl from before and walked away after sharply turning around.

What was her business?

Eliza had no choice but to oblige so she trailed the girl, walking through a corridor that couldn’t possibly fit into the tower.

It was… bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

“What? You don’t even know about Spatial Compression?” asked the girl, her tone full of unbridled arrogance.

She meant it.

Eliza could feel it.

“I’ve heard of it before,” she said, blatantly lying.

“Then explain it,” said the girl, and Eliza could almost feel the smirk with her Empathy.

“I just said I’ve heard of it. I don’t know the theory,” mumbled Eliza.

“If you really did read Basics of Mana, you’d know it. It’s explained in the same sentence that it’s mentioned in,” countered the girl.

Eliza could feel her face burning.

She hated her.

That was her first impression.

She couldn’t help but use Appraisal on her. This wasn’t the time for modesty, and especially not for her.

Mia's Status Screen

Name

Mia

Level

2

Race

Human

Title

N/A

No last name?

How did that even work?

“Stop that. It’s annoying,” remarked the girl and sighed.

She wasn’t offended?

How did that work?

“You’re not angry?” asked Eliza, just to make sure.

“Obviously not,” she almost hissed back and hastened her pace, “Quickly now. The elders wish to see you.”

“How big is this place, even?” asked Eliza after she passed by over ten rooms, all of them massive if the distance between the doors was to be trusted.

“It’s five hundred times the volume of the tower, so do the math yourself,” said Mia and sighed, turned around, and stared right into Eliza’s eyes —that made her uncomfortable, “How… do you have so much Mana if you don’t know anything? You could’ve just seen that for yourself if you knew the first thing about magic.”

How… was she supposed to know that?

“Gosh, you can’t be that one,” said Mia and started to dash.

Running?

Human children weren’t…

No, that was just Eliza.

She wasn’t built for running.

After no more than a minute of running, Eliza found herself panting but that was the entire length to the door at the end of the corridor. Mia kicked the door in, much to Eliza’s surprise, and walked into a massive hall that was as large as the one where balls were held —the same room she had her dancing lessons in.

“She’s here!” Mia boldly declared and stood aside, then pointed at Eliza with her index finger, “The suspect.”

There stood three tall pedestals that were at least the height of a two-story building, one of them taller than the two, standing at a height roughly equal to that of a three-story building. There was a seat at the top, manned by one person each, obscured by a veil of darkness that the lack of lighting caused.

The room had completely no light but Eliza’s Night Vision allowed her to see through the darkness perfectly. It made her eyes glimmer ever so slightly but apart from that, there was no tell.

It revealed that the one in the middle was an elderly woman, clearly in her late sixties if not early seventies, far older than even Sir Fabian. She was adorned in a blue robe of a similar design to Mia’s. There were two elderly men of similar ages, sitting to her sides, wearing the same blue robe as her. The one to the left was significantly tall and the one to the right was of average height.

That was when Eliza noticed that there were a few others standing along the walls, simply lounging there and minding their business. Some had their arms crossed and leaned on the wall and some were standing straight.

There were exactly fifteen of them at the bottom and none of them were wearing the robe, so maybe there was some hope for her yet.

“Have you used your Mana Vision, Mia?” asked the taller elder, and that was answered by silence.

The awkward silence rested over the room and the atmosphere seemed to lighten, almost.

“You didn’t,” said the same elder and sighed. He rubbed his forehead, slumped onto his desk, and sat back up, “Regardless, the fact that she passed the qualifications does not change, with or without the recommendation letter.”

“Letter? From whom?” asked Mia, her voice seething with jealousy.

“It’s from the White Rose,” said one of the ladies below, obviously below thirty years of age, with raven black hair that extended to her lower back that was completely straight —which was considerably rare given the length of her hair.

Maybe magic?

“Granny’s favorite disciple, ain’t that right?” asked the woman and turned to the elder at the middle. She had a visible grin on her face, her teeth showing as if she was about to gobble up anything that came close.

“Silence,” ordered the so-called granny and a loud crack sounded.

Probably magic.

“You all know the rules. Who wishes to take the girl as an apprentice?” asked the granny slowly, as if thinking about every single word. Or maybe she simply spoke slowly, which wouldn’t be a first as Eliza had seen her fair share of servants struggling with Common Vanarian.

There was a tense silence in the room as the prior atmosphere returned.

“If there are no takers, the girl will be rejected at once,” said the granny, more a warning than anything else. After a few seconds, she asked once again, “Is there anyone?”

A minute of silence passed.

“Is there anyone that wishes to take her in as an apprentice?” she asked, but this time, her voice was loud —it made Eliza’s very bones shudder. It passed right through her and resonated through the corridor, reaching every corner of the tower… probably.

That’s when Eliza started to hear hurried footsteps from the corridor and inevitably, someone came out. It was someone that she recognized but couldn’t put her finger on. He seemed to be unremarkable, completely average in the looks department and that’s when Eliza remembered someone else that she noted as average.

It was Jonas, the Alchemist that prepared potions for her.

“Someone burned my timetable. I assure you it was someone else. One of them sabotaged me,” said Jonas at one corner of the room and slid his arm around the entire room until it had pointed at everyone but Eliza.

Unlike before, Jonas wore a black trench coat over his white shirt and the pouch was worn over the coat rather than inside it. His white shirt was visible as he hadn’t buttoned up his coat and the pants were the same one as before but the fabric near his left knee had been torn.

That’s when the back of his coat started to suspiciously move and out of the trench coat crawled out a lizard the size of a pigeon who then took a seat on Jonas’s shoulders. Anyone knowledgeable would know it to be a chameleon but Eliza wasn’t exactly knowledgeable.

It burped once and flames left its mouth as if it was a miniature dragon.

“Someone fed him a Dragon’s Gland,” corrected Jonas.

The granny sighed and once again, she repeated, “Is there anyone that wishes to take her in as an apprentice?”

Jonas turned to Eliza and gave her a quick wink, turned to the elder, and nodded his head.

“I’ll do it,” he offered.