Thinking back, and checking every possible record that I can, the only stand out behavior exhibited by the boy before the second monster attack was a strong work ethic when it came to his daily farm chores and an oddly sharp and curious intellect. I recall him stopping by the church on occasion to peruse our collection of books but stopped coming by after a time. I can’t help but wonder now if instead of losing interest, he simply ran out of books.
Yet again, I must berate myself. Had I the foresight of what was to come, I could have sent for new tomes to fill his mind, or at the very least, provided writing and crafting materials! I’d often see him practicing letters and numbers beneath the Aelder tree, dirtying his hands with charcoal and leaving a small pile of nubs. The poor lad must have written so much that he couldn’t afford ink. He could also be seen assisting the crafters and asking about their profession, offering a helping hand in exchange for a simple meal or chance to make something himself.
To quote High Priestess Ophelia, “My heart is filled with a deep agony, my arrogance has made me blind to the potential that now lies dead at my feet, for I have failed to nurture this starving sapling.”
---
“Mr. Tree! I’m ready to learn magic now!” shouted Travis loudly enough for a few of the parents and children to turn their heads.
Why did I think that a child could keep a secret? It didn’t even take him long last night to start blabbing during supper about how he was going to become a mage and go hunt monsters. Granted, I think his parents were a bit more concerned with the fact that their son invited over the town’s marriage counselor.
They did take some time to talk with Father Viburnum and have decided to see him once a week for the foreseeable future. Honestly, I was a bit shocked at the outcome, they seemed genuinely invested in what the priest was setting up. Although maybe they were just saying that due to the embarrassment of having an intervention dropped onto them by their son.
“Not so loud, if everyone else hears that your learning magic from me, they’ll want too as well. Which means that I won’t have as much time to teach you.”
Travis calmed down and decided to sit with his back up against my tree, “Sorry, I’ll be quiet.”
“Alright, let's start with something simple. I want you to try seeing the mana that I’m going to send out in front of you. The air should start to change color once you learn to see mana.” I gathered all of the Water Mana that I could and moved it in front of Travis’ face. I started to compress it, but not tightly enough for it to change mana type or create a [Water Orb], I didn’t want to maintain a spell that anyone walking by could see.
After spending five minutes staring straight ahead, which must have felt like an eternity for the kid, Travis finally broke the silence. “It feels wet and damp now, plus I see some fog, is that mana?”
“Do you see any glowing blue lights? Wait a sec… I can only see mana, so… I can’t compare colors with you…” The kid looked up and gave me a confused expression, unaware that the sky on this planet might not match the blue from mine. “Oh, I know… What color does an iron ingot turn when it starts to heat up in the forge?”
“Umm, red?”
That’ll do for now, we’ll have to figure out what color everything else is later. I swapped out the Water Mana with Fire Mana and collected it into three blobs in front of Travis.
“Ok, I now have Fire Mana collecting in front of you. Try to look for the red lights and tell me how many patches that you see.”
We spent the next hour going through different mana types, trying with his eyes closed, and at one point I even smothered his eyes a bit with Water Mana. However, Travis failed to see a single glowing light.
I decided to have him spend the day walking around instead, telling me what color everything was. I was able to confirm after collecting enough data that the sky was blue, the grass was green, and that the barn was a classic red. So, nothing too foreign palette-wise.
---
A whole week, 8 days on this planet, goes by and despite spending almost two hours every day, no progress was made. I’m honestly shocked that he hasn’t given up yet, I don’t think I was ever this motivated as a child.
“Let’s take a break, don’t you have some homework that’s due in a couple of days?”
Though he does grumble a bit, Travis grabbed his bag to take out his homework. I asked him write with charcoal instead of ink since the residual fire mana glows in contrast to the wood mana in the paper, allowing me to check his work. However, his strokes are too wild and inconsistent to figure out what he’s writing.
“Not so fast, take some time to neatly draw each letter and number, I can’t help if I can’t read what you’re writing.” Travis gave me a pouty look, “Don’t give me that look, mages have excellent handwriting since they need to spend a lot of time writing and reading from books in order to study magic.”
One use of the trigger-word later and he’s already taking the time to make each letter as perfect as he can make them. Granted, I might be exaggerating a bit, the symbols that make up the 64 letters and 12 numbers can be written in any direction or even mirrored and still not be mistaken for another. That does make me wonder if the Common everyone is speaking is a manufactured language…
Errant thoughts pushed aside; I tried to brainstorm what the issue might be. I paused occasionally to check his work and think back on my journey on how I learned to use magic.
Seeing mana came naturally to me, granted it took me decades to get to where I’m at, but I probably handicapped myself by trying to see too much. I likely added too much complexity going from a human’s field of view to my full 360-degree view and telescopic floating focus.
Learning to manipulate mana then took 7 years. Granted I didn’t allot myself much time to practice since my main focus was learning the language. My breakthrough came at random while I was analyzing the sound waves created from my body being pelted by windblown branches. The chime that my edge gave off provided the initial feel for how to manipulate the mana in my sword body.
Speaking of sword body, I’ve been going with the assumption that Travis could learn the same way that I did. Maybe humans need to learn differently?
I brought back up the memories of the group that visited all of those years ago. Out of the four, only Orc looked normal, basically looking like a more solid guard. The other three had their mana concentrated in different areas.
Hmm, if I was to treat the group like a classic adventuring party: Muscles would be the melee dps/tank, Brains would be the spellcaster, Eyes would be the scout, and Orc would be… umm, the diversity hire?
I know Muscles could manipulate mana, I saw his mana pulse faster when he healed Travis’ father, but could he actually see mana? He had to touch everything that he casted a spell on. I never saw Eyes cast a spell, but I’m positive that he could see mana.
I took a second to zoom in on Eyes’ eyes and compared them to Travis’. Aside from the huge disparity in density, the main difference was that Travis’ mana in his eyes pulsed at a much slower rate. Is that the trick? Just make the mana in your eyes pulse faster, and you’ll be able to see mana?
Great, either we got a chicken and egg situation here, or I’m having Travis learn everything backwards. I need him to learn how to activate the mana in his body first, and then have him learn to trigger only the mana in his eyes. Now how do I do that?
Remembering that Orc had a similar mana composition to the guards, I sent my focus to over where the youngest guard Lancel is conveniently training and observe him while he practiced his spear thrusts. Some of his mana was pulsing faster than others, but I noticed that one of his thrusts during a sequence caused more to begin to pulse.
That’s it! Activating mana must be similar to using a muscle that you don’t normally use. Kind of like how everyone has the muscles and tendons for it, but only a small percentage of people can wiggle their ears on command.
I waited for Travis to finish his homework, chastising myself for making him write so slowly. After watching him blaze through his math problems, he started getting cranky when he got to his Common lesson, “Why do I have to do so much homework?”
“Well look at you Mr. I only go to school for 3 hours a day and can’t tough it out. I thought you wanted to be a mage? I can guarantee that all of those rich kids in the capital have tutors instructing them in reading, writing, arithmetic, science, art, and history for hours on end. I myself had to spend 8 hours nearly every day of the week from when I was 5 until I was 23 at either a school or academy.”
Travis’ eyes lit up at the realization, “Whoa, you’re like super smart then?”
“Of course I am. Becoming a master of the arcane arts requires a quick and creative mind. The only way you gain that is by learning everything and anything that you can. You don’t even need to learn from just books. Observing nature, performing experiments, or having someone teach you a new skill are all things that can help you expand your knowledge of the world.”
Travis paused a moment to take in my awesome motivational speech. He then stared at his homework for a bit before resuming in a renewed zeal. He finally finished, but before he put everything away, he suddenly asked out of the blue, “What does arcane mean?”
“Oh, right. That’s a word from a different language. It’s a word used to describe something that is only known by a few, often used when describing something mysterious or magical.”
“So, like you?”
“Huh, I guess that does describe me… hmm… you know, I was supposed to come up with a name for myself a week ago. How does Arc sound to you? It’ll be short for arcane.”
“It’s kind of lame”
“No one asked for your opinion.”
“But…”
“No buts, I want to try something different. Instead of trying to see mana, we’re going to see if you can activate it in your body first. We only got another hour before supper, but I think that’ll be long enough. I need you to head over into the barn and grab a pitchfork, there’s no one there right now.”
Travis dropped the argument and packed his things. After a quick stop to the house to drop off his bag, he made his way into the barn and grabbed a pitchfork. I had him start by adjusting the position of his arms and legs to emulate Lancel’s and we practiced a few slow thrusts to try and mimic his successful spear thrusts.
“Ok, let’s try a couple of real thrusts.”
“Your feet are sliding; you need to keep a solid footing.”
“Ok, better. Try focusing on your hips, it should be one complete motion from the ground to the tip of the fork, each body part pushing off the other to provide momentum.”
After more corrections and a dozen thrusts later, the mana finally pulses in Travis’ body.
“Stop, close your eyes, and focus on the last thrust that you just did. How your body pushed off the ground, the burning you feel in your muscles, the throbbing in your veins from your blood being pumped, and the air leaving your body as you grunt.”
I watch Travis move into a meditative state while still holding the pitchfork. His mana continues to pulse at the faster rate, and even speeds up a bit during one of his exhales.
I wait for him to inhale, and then shout the command, “Now thrust!”
His mana activates again, Travis letting out a loud grunt, sweat pouring down his face, his skin flushed from the increased blood flow, and muscles straining to remain in position.
“Thrust!” Another success.
“Thrust!” That one fails.
“Focus, breathe in…, Thrust!” His whole body lights up from the increased pulsing, ambient mana even begins to move towards him, attracted by the energetic mana.
He’s doing it!
“Keep going! Breathe in…”
“What are you doing?”
I was rudely interrupted by Travis’ father Eagan and the poor kid, after being shocked, lost his grip on the pitchfork and stumbled forward.
“Sorry Dad,” Travis gasped for air in a vain attempt to regain control of his breathing. I watched as Air Mana was drawn into his lungs, attracted by the more energetic mana in his body. “I was just practicing.”
Eagan raised an eyebrow at his son, “Practicing what?”
“Magic!” Travis started standing proudly, “I think I felt it on that last thrust!”
His father, still raising his eyebrow, looked at the sweaty and dirty boy from head to toe. “Ok…, well, your mother will have supper ready in just a few minutes. You should probably wash up before she sees you.” Eagan then took his leave shaking his head as he stepped out of the barn.
Travis walked over to a nearby bucket of water and started splashing water on himself, not really putting any effort into cleaning himself.
“Don’t you have a washroom?”
“I took a bath yesterday.”
“And now you’re covered in filth.”
Travis grunted out a frown, “You’re not my mom!”
“No, but I am your instructor. You can quit at any time, but continuing means following the training regimen that I give you. From now on, you will bathe every night before supper with your family. You made great progress today and we’ll go over your new routine in detail tomorrow. Now go wash up, I’ll explain the importance of personal grooming during one of my science lessons.”
His expression didn’t change, but his ear did perk up at the mention of science lessons. He made his way to the washroom and after giving himself a firm scrubbing, put on a fresh pair of clothes. The clean child finally walked in for supper and after receiving a fresh ladle into his bowl, his mother gave him a kiss on the head that caused Travis to recoil in disgust.
“Ah, but you smell so nice dear, and what’s with that grumpy face?”
“I have to take a bath every day now…” muttered Travis just barely loud enough for his parents to hear.
His Mother looked to his Father, who gave a confused shrug in reply, and the three begin to eat as usual. The only difference being that Travis asked for a second bowl after finding himself extra hungry that night.
---
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Travis
Windsday
“Time to wake up”
I groaned at the sound of Mr. Bossy’s, or I guess Arc’s, voice. Seriously why did he pick such a lame name?
I got up and changed out of my pajamas, tossed them on the floor with my bedsheets and was about to leave my room, but Arc decided to start bossing me around yet again.
“Hold up, first things first, you need to make your bed.”
Seriously! Why is he being so mean all of a sudden? I picked up my sheets and started to tuck in my blankets since he’s just going to keep yelling if I didn’t. Why does he keep picking on me? It’s like he wants me to quit… Wait…
It’s just like Old Guy’s story of how he became the town blacksmith! He said that he and a half dozen people all came to the same Master Smith to become an apprentice, but while they were there, they weren’t allowed to touch a hammer until he accepted them as students. They had to work for months, only working the bellows, and cleaning the shop. Old Guy said that he even wanted to quit after a while, but he really wanted to learn from the Master. Eventually though, all of the other apprentices quit, except for That Old Guy.
The next day, the Master told him to pick up a hammer and began to teach him. The Master then invited a new group of people that wanted to be apprentices to work the bellows. Old Guy said that the Master did that to all new apprentices since he only wanted to train the most dedicated.
He-he-he… I’m on to you now Arc. First you tried to make me quit by making me sit around and do nothing for a week, and now you want to make sure that I’ll do everything you say, because you want the most dedicated student.
“There we go, now let’s head outside. We’ll go easy to start and only do one lap around the town before breakfast.”
“Ok” I rush outside, nearly bumping into Mom on her way back from picking the eggs from the coop.
“Travis! Aren’t you hungry?”
“Not yet Mom, I gotta train first!”
I start sprinting, but Arc tells me to slow down and follow the rhythm that he stars chanting to. Ok, left, left, left-right-left, left…
I keep running, but when I make it to the gate, Lancel makes me stop and even grabs me by the shoulder, “What are you up to?”
Ugh, I’m not even halfway done yet, “I’m training to become a mage! Now can I go? I only have to do one lap around town before I get to eat breakfast.” I try to wiggle out of his grip, but it’s even stronger than Dad’s!
“And I’m supposed to believe that you’re not about to chase around Connor’s pigs? He had to fix his fence the last time you visited them.” He glares at me; despite that it’s been like three weeks since I did that. I decide to glare back at him since he’s being mean to me, but Arc decides to butt in, “Ask him to run with you if he doesn’t believe you.”
Good idea! “Fine, you can just join me then, unless you’re too slow to keep up!”
Lancel smirks at my taunt and then lets me go. We both start to make our run around the town, but it gets really hard for me after the halfway point. Lancel, right beside me, extends an arm out and begins to push on my back to help me speed back up.
We eventually make it back to my house, and I almost collapse when my legs give out, but Lancel catches me and holds me up while I catch my breath. “Tell him ‘Thank You.’”
Gasping hard I eventually say “Thanks” once I’m able to stand on my own. I stare up at him and see that he’s not even winded! But we were running so fast!
“So, you want to become a town guard when you get older?” What! Did he even listen to me?
“No, I want to become a mage!” Honestly, who wants to be a town guard? All they do is stand around and do nothing.
“Then why did you run a lap around the town?” he asks while he does that same eyebrow thing that Dad did last night.
I pause, since I don’t know why Arc wants me to run. “Mages live in tall towers, so they need to be in shape so they can walk all of the way up and down the stairs.”
I smile and repeat Arc word for word. Of course. It makes so much sense! He really must know everything about magic and mages.
Lancel starts laughing and was about to leave before Arc made me ask him something, “Can I come by later and ask you about what you do every year during the spring flood?”
He looks at me strangely again, but eventually replies, “Sure…, I’ll even let you look at a few of the monsters in my field guide if you promise that I won’t hear any more complaints from the town about you.”
“Sturdy! Thanks Lancel. I need to go eat breakfast, see you later!”
Lancel watched as the boy ran into the house, moving past his mother who had stepped out to view their interaction, “Morning Margret. What’s this business about Travis wanting to be a mage?”
Margret shrugged her shoulders, “Honestly, I have no idea. He just up and decided last week that he wanted to become a mage.” Her shoulders then began to slump, “I don’t think I have the heart to tell him that he can’t.”
“Well, if it keeps him out of trouble,” Lancel dropped his smile and gave her a hard I’m-sick-of-dealing-with-your-kid glare. “I’m willing to humor him.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded her head. “I’ll make sure that he understands that.”
---
Arc
Voltsday
Ok, yesterday was a huge improvement! Travis’ mana would occasionally pulse faster in different parts of his body. After spending the whole day observing him, I have created the hypothesis that mana inside a person will only react when their body becomes stressed. Meaning that, similar to lifting a weight with perfect form, a person needs to carefully challenge themselves or else they’ll end up harming their body.
That explains why the town guards are denser than the towns-folk mana-wise. Daily training to keep their bodies and fighting skills in perfect form, also causes their mana to react. The four monster slayers likely all had different training regiments, resulting in their differences in mana concentrations.
It should be easy to train Travis’ body, I already have a plan for that, but I’ll have to brainstorm how to challenge his mind and perception, otherwise he’ll just end up as an unbalanced mess. Maybe having Travis learn from the other villagers will work?
Lancel ended up being a small treasure-trove of knowledge, Travis and I were able to learn more in detail about what happens at the capital every early spring during the monster flood, and I even noticed Travis’ mana in his brain light up when listening and looking at the monster field guide.
Hmm, I think I got an idea know, but this might be tricky. Travis doesn’t exactly have the best reputation in town…
“Ok, let’s head to the barn. I’m going to give you a list of daily chores that you can do to help train.”
Travis, recovered from his run that was accompanied by Lancel again, finished his breakfast and even washed his dish without being prompted. The kid keeps surprising me, I expected him to complain all day yesterday and give up, but not a single peep.
“Ok, first: I need you lead the cows from their pen, tie them up in the parlor, and give their rumps and udders a nice gentle wash.”
“Is that so they don’t get sick?” Travis asked while leading the cows over.
“Yep, if too many germs enter an udder, it can cause the milk inside to curdle and rot”
“Ewww” Escaped from Travis while getting the first cow covered in suds. Eventually he finished, and I directed him to the pen with pitchfork in hand.
“Alright, just like we did the other day, I want each movement to be just like those ones you did right before your dad came in.”
Realization finally dawned on him as he looked at the dirty pen, then the pitchfork, and then the wheelbarrow. Ah, finally some resistance, I should press him a bit, “Oh, and don’t forget to dump the wheelbarrow into the money-wagon.”
My young apprentice slowly started to move, and I helped guide him, but he only got one good thrust in before the pen was clean. After he dumped the load into the manure spreader, I had him pitch in some fresh straw, and finally played my trump card… “Great job! You still have plenty of time to take a bath before school starts.”
And there’s that look of dread! He stammered for a bit and finally cracked, “But… I thought… only before supper…”
“You really want to go to school smelling like shit? I mean, if you want to quit, that’s fine. We can still talk to each other. Lucky for me, I don’t have a nose.”
---
Travis
Burnsday
Ok, already done with this week’s math homework, just my reading and writing assignments left.
I looked down at my small pile of charcoal sticks, wishing that they’d last longer. I hope mom doesn’t get mad at me for needing money for more. Feeling stiff again, I decided to stand back up and stretch for a bit underneath Arc. Why does everything feel so sore?
“Done with math already?” I nodded my head, “Sounds like a good time for a study break then. How about we head over to Issac’s and see if he can get you some more charcoal sticks?”
“Who’s Issac?”
“Mildred’s husband, the woodworker…”
“Is Mildred the one who runs the store?”
“Yes… do you not know the names of any of the adults in town?”
“I know all of the guards’ names.”
“Of course you do…”
Once I put my stuff into my bag, I walked over to Smokey’s workshop. He’s not working on anything, just staring into a fire, talking to himself, so I stepped up and tap him on his dark-skinned shoulder.
“Huh, Travis? What are you doing here?” He startled for a bit before looking around the shop and then stared at me with narrowed eyes. “To what do I owe the pleasure?
“I need more charcoal sticks and was told that you could get me some.”
He kept staring, though looking down at my hands for some reason, “And why do you need more charcoal sticks?”
Ugh, why is he asking so many questions? “Because they're easier to practice letters with” I started staring back, straight into his creepy large irised eyes.
He blinked first though, looking confused now, “To practice letters with?”
Again? More questions? I let out a groan before explaining, “I’m training to be a mage, and all mages have neat handwriting.”
He cracked a smile and started chuckling, “That they do.” He gestured for me to come closer, and lowered his voice, “And I should know, my father once trained to be a mage.”
I swear my heart stopped beating for a sec, even Arc was startled, “Whoa! That’s amazing! Ask him about him!”
I tried to speak, but before I could mutter a single word, Smokey was grabbing something off the shelf and handed it to me.
“Here you go, a set of compressed charcoal along with a cutting knife, eraser and resin. I’ll show you how to use them.” He then opened up the leather pouch and showed me how to cut the ends so that my lines can be narrower, and even better; teaches me a few tricks to make my lines straighter, how to keep my hand from cramping, and how to apply a resin coating to keep everything from smudging.
My stomach interrupted us though, causing him to start laughing, “Didn’t realize it was getting so late”
Not wanting to leave without asking, “Umm, can I ask you about your dad?”
He inhaled sharply and turned to stare into the fire for a bit, though maybe too hard, since he wiped his eyes before looking back, and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Tell you what, come by next Burnsday, and I’ll tell you all about him.”
---
Steelsday
“You want to chop the wood for the forge?” Big Arms asked while scratching the side of his head.
“Dad won’t let me chop anymore, says we already have too much or something.” I tried to explain to yet another adult. None of the others would let me and Pig-man even yelled at me to leave before I could ask.
“Aren’t you the one who made Ingrid come home crying because you spit on her a couple of weeks ago?”
I slumped my shoulders and sighed. I started to leave, waiting for Arc to tell me who to ask next, but I only made it a few steps before Big Arms stopped me.
“Hang on, I guess I can let you chop wood for a bit while I finish cleaning up in the shop for the night.”
“Thank you!” I eagerly rush over to grab his wood-chopping axe, but notice that it’s way heavier, So I start taking a couple of practice swings, with Arc butting in to adjust my swing. After Arc gives his approval, I try splitting the first log, focusing so I can hit as hard and fast as possible.
It cleaves in two easily, and I start to feel that strange prickling feeling on my skin again. “Good swing!”
“Damn, you’re stronger than you look kid!” I turn my head and see that Big Arms never even went into his shop. “You trying to get your arms as big as mine?” and he flexes one his arms that are nearly as round as my torso.
“No, I’m training to become a mage!” I shout back, preparing for my next swing, only to mess up when he starts laughing. I glare at him, and he only starts bellowing louder, almost making the ground shake.
Stuck standing there waiting for him to quit, he eventually catches his breath and points out the half-empty log rack close to the forge. “Well, if you ever want to do some more ‘mage training’, just stop by and fill up that rack.”
---
Arc
Rocksday
“Good news! Since it’s raining out, you don’t have to go for your morning run.”
Travis, already well trained, waited for the other shoe to drop… “Instead, I’m going to teach you how to lift weights. You’re a bit too young to do any heavy lifting, but we can still do some bodyweight and lightweight exercises. When you’re ready head over to the barn and we’ll get started.”
I have to admit, I’m impressed with Travis. I can already notice a small increase in his mana, and his recovery at night must be accelerated from him always grabbing second helpings of food. I’ve observed that some of the mana cloud that gathers and sticks to him from charging his mana seems to be partially absorbed, becoming a part of his own body.
My working hypothesis is that charged mana in a person causes the body’s cells to rapidly kick into overdrive, accelerating growth and fuel consumption. This could possibly explain how Muscles was able to seemingly heal Travis’ dad when he got injured by that monster, and also why he discharged his mana into my tree. He likely didn’t want to spend the time eating and resting, waiting for his mana to discharge naturally.
I continued to coach Travis, finally making use of my NASM-CPT certification, and he seemed to be enjoying it. The kid even started grinning when I played music from my gym playlist (Hopefully that won’t piss off any local deities). My future gym-junkie seemed to be having an easier time triggering his mana to pulse faster as well, which might be helping improve his mood even more. He didn’t even grumble when he went to take a bath before school.
---
Travis
Woodsday
Today is a “Rest Day”, according to Arc. So no training outside of my farm chores, no homework (didn’t matter since I already finished it for the week), and I was told to just do something relaxing that I enjoyed after church, but not to do anything that would get me in to trouble with Lancel.
My stomach started growling loudly during church though, since Mom and Dad decided that we would just have a light breakfast. I tried to complain, but they said that I could eat as much as I wanted at the potluck after service.
Dad heard my discomfort and gave me a quick apology while he rubbed my back. He then lowered the hymnal so that I could sing along with him. That helped distract me, but after a few verses, Arc scared me when he suddenly butted in. “Ok, I can literally see how off key you are, let me help.”
Luckily Dad didn’t seem to notice, but he did give me a big smile after I got used to Arc humming the right notes into my ear. I realized after the third song that Mom must be a terrible singer though, since none of her notes matched the ones Arc sang into my ear.
After service, I must have eaten as much as Big Arms, because my stomach started hurting again from eating too much. And then to make it even worse, Father Viburnum pulled me aside into a private room and started asking me about my “feelings”.
He kept asking questions, wanting to know how school was going, if I was getting along with the other kids, and if Mom and Dad were doing anything that upset me. I tried telling him that everything was fine, and that mom and Dad had barely even been talking to each other, but he just started frowning after I said that. Seriously, they stopped arguing, isn’t that the important part?
Eventually he invited me to tell him about anything that I wanted, and I started talking about how I was training to become a mage. He started smiling, and even allowed me to come read from his library as long as I didn’t take home or damage any of the books since they could take a long time to replace. After showing the study to me, he left me there while he went to go speak to Mom and Dad.
---
Rainsday
“You want more homework?” Judith my teacher asked with a confused face. Her hands started twitching, and her eyes were darting around as if there was a duck in the room.
After pausing for a long time, she finally spoke, “Sorry, I got left speechless for a moment.” “You’re not the only one!” “Why do you want more homework?”
“Because the math is too easy, and I already finished everything else you gave me on Burnsday.” I handed her my papers, to prove I finished. She looked over them for a bit before nodding.
“Well, I can’t do much to improve the difficulty for math without having you skip ahead, but if you want to work at your own pace instead, I can let you use one of the study rooms when I do the daily math lecture.” She walked me over to show me one of the side rooms that the older kids will use while they wait for their classes to start.
“As for the History and Writing assignments”, she pointed out a shelf in the room with some unused textbooks, “All of these cover topics that I don’t normally have time to include with the lesson plan.”
“Yes! More books for you to narrate to me!
I started smiling after hearing Arc’s reaction, and Judith turned to look at me with a sad face. “I’m sorry for not challenging you enough. Since we’re not in a large city, I don’t have aides or other teachers to help out. Please let me know if you need anything else, it’s not easy for me to keep track of every student.”
---
Arc
Snowsday
I watched as Travis worked on his new self-assigned homework, a book on Archeology about a clan of dwarves that supposedly lived on floating islands. He narrated for a while, then began to copy the illustrations from the book so that I could see as well.
While he worked on the drawing, I took stock of the changes that he had already made. Already his attitude has improved immensely, no longer scowling at adults or picking on the other kids. A few of the adults have even started gossiping around town, coming up with all kinds of crazy rumors about what he’s been up to. Surprisingly most of them seem positive, with a few people even calling out their neighbors for be just as much of a bully when they were his age.
After catching him rubbing his eyes repeatedly, I zoomed in to see if something was wrong, but noticed instead that his eyes were pulsing faster.
Well, that settles it, I guess it’s time to tell him the good news…
“Congratulations, you’ve passed your test.”
A startled Travis looked up from his drawing and began to smile, “I knew it! I just had to train hard and prove that I was dedicated.”
“Actually, the training wasn’t the test. I wanted to make sure that you could be trusted. Magic is both powerful and dangerous in the wrong hands. Which means that it is the responsibility of each mage to use it wisely and for the good of everyone.
The reason I had you go around town asking for help, was to teach you an important lesson. The people you interact with are influenced by the decisions you make. Last week, the guards were all keeping a tight watch on you whenever you left the house, but now Lancel joins you for your daily jog instead.
You’ve never pulled a prank on Issac, but he expected the worst when you came to visit, and even thought you were about to vandalize something with terrible art.
Franklin tried to pull a prank on you in revenge for making his daughter cry.
And your teacher had to be consoled by her husband after coming home because she realized that she wasn’t giving you the attention you needed in school to succeed.”
Travis, speechless and a bit shocked, took some time to process through what I just came up with on the spot to try and tie everything together.
Hah! Suck it Merlin! You needed a kind and gentle-hearted child to become your apprentice. Us real wizard mentors can make do with the schoolyard bully.
“How about we practice some magic?”
Travis snaps out of his contemplation, and starts vibrating with excitement, “What spell do I get to learn first?”
Well, time to test his dedication… “About that… now, don’t get mad…” Travis freezes up, “But, you don’t have the mana capacity to cast a spell. You only have a fraction of the mana that your dad has, and he has only a fraction of what the guards have.”
I watch as he visibly slumps, but then his head perks up, “Wait, then what are we going to practice?”
“We’re going to test if you can see mana now.” I summon a bunch of fire mana and float it above his drawing, matching it with the residual mana in his drawing. He reaches down to start packing his bag but starts staring at his drawing.
He tilts his head, and then blocks out the sun as much as he can, still staring at the drawing.
“Something wrong?”
“There’s a weird red sheen on my drawing...”