Baron Werston was a fairly unremarkable man. He was neither a great mage nor a great politician. Perhaps the only times he caused others to pay attention to him was when he married his wife and when his son’s talent affinity grade was revealed. Although he was busy training all day and overseeing the occasional battles across the fiefdom, he still made sure to take some time out of his busy schedule for his son.
As his only son, Baron Werston made sure to spoil and pamper his son…although a bit too much. A few people did share their concerns to him, as too much pampering might turn his son into a useless who only knew how to bully the weak. Fortunately, such a situation never came to be. Silver Werston had grown with virtues of kindness and morals instilled in him. He never treated wrong those below him and was nice to everybody! How could anyone not like such a lovable boy? Especially when the said boy in question was also House Werston’s greatest source of pride!
Silver Werston had his arcane talent inspected at age 8, as this was the age where young started to develop and show their affinity with the arcane. Baron Werston specially invited a specialised mage for this process. Such a service was generally only affordable for those with status and money like nobles. Commoners had to wait till they reached 12 years of age before they could go to the Mage Academy and have their talent inspected. When Silver was revealed to have a talent grade A affinity for the Arcane, the entire family was exuberant! Such a talent grade was rare throughout the kingdom. Even if Silver lazed around and barely did any training, he was destined to become a great mage in the future. Maybe the heydays of the House Werston had finally come after its many generations of fading into the background!
Although the proper training for a mage only starts when they reach the age 12 when they are able to choose their Paths, Baron Werston believed that every little training was a way to get ahead of the competition. He took it upon himself to start Silver’s mage training. He bought many different books on the basics of Arcane Training for Silver to get started.
And Silver proved to be an excellent learner! Silver was extremely passionate about his training and was just as curious about the arcane as every mage should be, which was a huge relief for the Baron as he had no idea what he would do if his son suddenly told him one day that he didn’t want to become a mage. After studying day and night, in just three months Silver managed to get a rudimentary perception of the arcanite particles inside him. After another three months, he was able to closely feel the movement of the particles inside his spirit. It took Silver a year to finally gain some control of the arcanite particles inside him.
Arthur Werston smiled with pride as he watched his son training in the distance. Silver stood in the empty field with his eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration. His arms were raised up high in the sky and his palms were folded, as if he was holding a ball between them. Arthur had repeatedly reminded him that there was no need for such theatrics, but Silver had still retained this habit, saying that it felt ‘cool’ to do so. Arthur could only sigh and shake his head. “Kids these days…”
Silver abruptly opened his eyes and brought his arms down and his palms in front of his chest. Nothing happened. Another useless gesture. He only needed to hold out his palm and focus on drawing out the arcanite particles inside his spirit and gather them in the space above his palm. Such useless and time-taking theatrics might end up costing his life in a battle! But since he was still learning and yet to participate in a battle, Arthur let him be as he would sooner or later realize this lesson.
Silver kept repeating this gesture. Closing his eyes and raising his arms high up in the sky. Opening his eyes and rapidly bringing his arms down in front of his chest. Nothing seemed to be happening, even as sweat started pouring down Silver’s face. But Arthur’s keen perception picked up the gathering arcanite particles in Silver’s palms every time he brought them in front of his chest. Although they were still too far spread apart to be able to produce any reaction and quickly returned to their positions when Silver released his force on them, they seemed to be getting increasingly closer to each other with each attempt.
At the eleventh attempt, a change happened. As Silver brought his palms in front of his chest, a small spark lit up in the air. Although it dissipated immediately after, it still brought a wide smile on the face of Arthur. He heartily guffawed and clapped his hands.
“At just the eleventh attempt! You’re getting better and better. It won’t be long before you can finally-”
Arthur stopped mid-sentence and watched with wide eyes as Silver didn’t seem to be intending on stopping. He started his next attempt! Usually after Silver managed to create a reaction between the arcanite particles, he immediately dropped down on the ground, filled with exhaustion. After all, repeatedly drawing out the arcane particles from your spirit was a very exhausting process! But this time he seemed to be intending to continue with the training. Although Arthur was a bit concerned, he didn’t stop Silver as he could see that he still had the energy to continue on.
Just like that, two more hours passed. Silver had already created a small spark three more times but he didn’t seem intent on stopping. Just when Arthur felt like this was enough and was about to stop Silver, a new change occurred. A spark appeared between Silver’s palms. But it was different from its other three previous versions. It was much bigger and still seemed to be getting stronger and stronger as Silver applied more pressure on it.
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Slowly, a transformation took place. The spark of fire in Silver’s hands morphed into a brilliant fireball! Arthur was shocked and looked closely to confirm whether he saw right. Silver’s shoulders shook, giddy with excitement. He turned towards Arthur, and cried out, “Father, look I did it!”
As soon as he said this, the fireball in his palms flickered out. Silver’s smile dropped. Arthur looked at his cute reaction and laughed boisterously. He walked over to Silver and picked him up, putting him on his shoulder. “Yes, my son is the smartest and most talented mage ever!” Silver giggled along with Arthur.
Arthur grinned. After months of boring and repetitive training, he decided that Silver was finally competent and ready to experience his first battle.
***
Two weeks later when Arthur accompanied Silver to his training ground, a few additional people were present. His wife, Sylvia Terran-Werston, was standing beside him. In contrast to Arthur, who looked like a muscle-headed brute, she was a woman whose entire presence demanded attention. With beautiful long-flowing platinum blonde hair and dazzling forest green eyes, she was a person who would attract second glances from everyone. Back then there had been quite a long list of suitors aiming to marry her, but as fate would’ve willed it, she fell in love with Arthur, even though his name probably came at the bottom of that list.
Sylvia looked at Silver, holding her hand beside her. She had concern etched on her face as she asked Arthur, “Will it be fine?”
Arthur had a relaxed expression as he waved his hand. “It’ll be absolutely safe. I’m not going to let him get close to it, just aim a fireball from a distance.”
She looked at Silver, who was holding her hand, with concern etched on her face. “Will he be fine?”
Arthur waved his hand. “It’ll be absolutely safe. I’m not going to let him use a weapon, just aim a fireball from a distance.”
Silver looked at them with naïve innocence and confusion. “Father, Mother, what are you two talking about?”
“You’ll find out soon, honey.” Sylvia said as she smiled at him lovingly. Arthur looked at the mother and son and sighed. Silver had inherited almost all of his features from Sylvia. Most people considered that to be good news, much to Arthur’s dismay. Even Silver’s name was so similar to Sylvia, Sylvia-Silver. Although Sylvia argued that the main reason for the name was that Silver’s hair appearing almost silver in color, Arthur still felt grumpy about it. All of these reasons made most people forget about Arthur when the mother and son were together, making him almost look like an outsider. Alas, he could do nothing about it.
Soon the trio saw two guards standing in the distance with a big cage sitting between them. Arthur nodded at them as they greeted the three of them. Arthur looked at the big cage in front, his eyes gleaming.
“Now Silver, we are going to commence with your first battle. You shall take your first blood.” Arthur framed his words such a way that they would excite any normal boy of Silver’s age. They didn’t seem to have the desired effect on Silver as he instead frowned at Arthur. “What are you talking about, Father?”
Arthur awkwardly coughed and gestured at the guards to open the cage. The two guards nodded and went towards the cage. After opening the cage, they immediately backed away a good distance away from it as if something fearsome was inside. After a few seconds, a creature slowly slithered out of the cage.
It looked like a creature that had stepped out straight out of a child’s nightmare. It was a long worm, reaching as tall as Silver. Although that wasn’t too big for Arthur, it would be another thing for Silver. The worm’s entire skin was coated with a slimy liquid, which it secreted on the ground as it crawled forward. As it came in contact with the new environment, it looked around in confused at first. But then it spotted the family of three in the front. It opened the small opening on its face, which was probably its mouth, and revealed a horrifying sight. Numerous sharp and terrifying teeth were embedded haphazardly between the flesh of its mouth. It gazed threateningly at them, as if challenging them.
Arthur inwardly gloated praised himself for his brilliant mind. This worm was named Ropos, one of the most common Dungeon Arcanite beasts. He knew that with Silver’s personality, he would certainly be unwilling to hurt anybody or anything. Thus, Arthur ordered his guards to capture this Ropos. Although a Ropos was an arcanite beast, it was still extremely weak and could be defeated by a small squad of mortal soldiers.
But its weakness was just one of the factors for Arthur to choose this beast as Silver’s first battle opponent. The main factor that made Arthur choose this beast was that it was too ugly! It was disgusting, gross, and slimy! Arthur was sure that Silver would have no qualms about hurting and killing such a disgusting looking beast. Arthur would thus be able achieve two goals through this training exercise: One, Silver would be able to obtain his first blood which would forge his future Path as a Battle Mage. Two, by defeating such a dreadful looking creature, Silver would learn to overcome his fears.
Sure enough, as soon as the Ropos opened it mouth, Silver gasped. Arthur put his hand on Silver’s shoulder and spoke in a righteous tone. “Son, defeat this evil abomination. Throw a fireball at it and vanquish it!”
“It’s also okay if you don’t want to do this, Silver. Just let us know and we’ll try this some other day.” Sylvia gently told Silver and touch his other shoulder. Though Arthur wanted to be firmer about this matter and force Silver to kill the creature even if he was afraid of it, Sylvia was too obstinate about this, thus Arthur had no choice but to concede.
Silence. There was no response. Arthur and Sylvia looked over and saw that Silver kept staring at the Ropos with a gaping expression, with his eyes widened and moth open. Arthur frowned in worry. Did the beast scare Silver so much that he instantly went into a shock?
However, the situation went entirely opposite of Arthur’s expectations as Silver opened his mouth.
“It’s…SO BEAUTIFUL!”
“Eh?”
Silver ran towards the disgusting monstrosity, eyes gleaming with brilliance.