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2024-10-29 19:42:56Several days had gone by since their encounter with the bandits, and despite his earlier words, Master Zhao had still not begun teaching Arran magic.
Each time he asked Master Zhao when they would begin training, the answer was the same: "Soon."
After a week, Arran was beginning to lose hope.
Then, one morning, as Arran was starting his morning practice with the sword, Master Zhao unexpectedly stopped him.
"Not today," the man said. "Today, you set your first step on the path to becoming a mage"
Arran immediately felt an eager grin appear on his face. "When do we start?" he asked, barely able to contain his excitement.
"Right now," Master Zhao answered. He produced two scrolls from his robe, which he handed them over to Arran. "First, study these."
Arran sat down, then picked one of the scrolls and unrolled it.
Immediately, his face went sour. The scroll was filled with writing, but it used peculiar symbols he had never seen before.
"I don't know how to read this," he said. He half expected Master Zhao to announce that before Arran could learn magic, he would first have to learn the scrolls' strange language.
Arran's heart sank at the thought. If he had to learn to read a new language, it would be months if not years before he could start to learn magic.
"It's magic, not literature," Master Zhao said with a grin. "Whether you understand the symbols does not matter. As long as you focus your attention, you will draw out the magic contained within the scrolls."
Arran sighed in relief.
He stretched out, then set to work. Folding out the scroll in front of him, he began to focus on the strange symbols.
Almost immediately, he could feel a strange tingle in his mind, like an itch in the back of his head. It was as if with each symbol he inspected, some small change occurred within him, though he could not say what that change was.
It took him some hours to work his way through the first scroll. When he finished studying the final symbol on the scroll, the tingling feeling in his mind disappeared and the scroll crumbled in his hands.
Arran looked at Master Zhao in alarm. He still remembered what had happened when he was tested at the Academy. Seeing the scroll crumble, he feared that something had gone wrong once more.
Master Zhao merely gazed at him, a calm look on his face. "Very good," he said. "You've finished the first. Take some rest, then move on to the second."
Arran did what Master Zhao said. After grabbing some food from the cart, he sat down again. As he ate, he tried to sense whether something had changed within him.
He was disappointed to find nothing out of the ordinary. If reading the scroll had done anything, he was unable to sense it.
He was a bit disheartened, but he set all thoughts of failure aside as he moved on to the second scroll.
Once more, he started studying. The symbols in this scroll were different, but whether there was any different meaning in them, Arran could not say.
Again, he felt a strange sensation in his mind as he meticulously worked his way through the scroll, and again, the scroll crumbled when he reached its end.
After finishing with the second scroll, Arran once more tried to sense if something had changed within him.
He closed his eyes, then focused his attention inward, trying his hardest to sense something magical within him.
Nothing happened.
"Trying to see if it worked?" Master Zhao asked, laughing.
"Something should have happened, right?" Arran asked uncertainly.
"Something did happen," Master Zhao said in response. "You've just acquired two new Realms, Fire and Shadow."
Arran was confounded. "But I don't feel anything," he said.
Master Zhao nodded. "That's quite normal. Usually, it takes students years if not decades of study and meditation before they can sense and access their Realms."
Arran's face twisted. Years, or even decades? At that rate, he would be an old man before he became a real mage.
"But we don't have that much time," Master Zhao said. "In your case, I will use a shortcut."
"You have a quicker way?" Arran asked hopefully.
"Of course." Master Zhao took something from his robe, then held it up. It was a jet-black pill the size of a marble.
"What's that?" Arran asked, some hesitation in his voice. While he liked the idea of skipping years of training, there was something vaguely unnatural about the pill's appearance, as if it did not belong in this world.
"This is a Realm Opening Pill," Master Zhao answered.
"A Realm Opening Pill?" Arran knitted his brows. "Didn't I just open two Realms?"
"You acquired two Realms," Master Zhao said. "What the scrolls did was create tiny connections between you and those Realms. This pill will tear open those connections, strengthening them and allowing you to draw Essence through them."
Arran frowned. The word 'tear' did little to reassure him. "Is it dangerous?" he asked.
"You'll feel some slight discomfort as the pill does its work," Master Zhao replied. "Other than that, it's perfectly safe."
Reluctantly, Arran put the pill in his mouth, then forced himself to swallow it.
A few moments passed without Arran noticing anything. Then, slowly, he began to feel a warmth spread through his body.
"This isn't so—" As he began to speak, suddenly the heat within his body increased, as if the blood in his veins had been replaced with boiling water.
Screaming loudly, he turned toward Master Zhao, face warped in pain as he tried to tell the man that something was horribly wrong. Yet the pain overwhelmed him, causing his muscles to cramp and spasm to the point where he found himself unable to form words.
Trying to beg for help, he extended a shaking arm toward Master Zhao.
Master Zhao did not respond. Instead, he just looked at Arran quietly, observing him with a look of interest.
The pain was unlike anything Arran had ever experienced before, and it kept growing more intense with each passing moment. Every time he thought it could not possibly get any worse, he quickly discovered that he was wrong
It wasn't long before Arran found himself completely unable to move, his muscles locked up with anguish. All he could do was lie on the ground and endure the torture.
At first, he feared that he was dying. Soon, as the pain grew stronger and then stronger still, he wished that he would die — anything to stop the agony.
How long it lasted, he did not know. It could have been hours, or days, or even weeks — to Arran, the pain seemed neverending.
Finally, his mind was unable to endure any longer. The world turned dark, and his consciousness slipped away.
———
Arran awoke with a start, seeing the stars above him in the night sky. His body was trembling, and for a few moments, his mind was entirely blank.
Then, he remembered.
"You lying bastard!", he shouted in rage, looking around to see where Master Zhao was. When he found the man, he growled with fury.
"You!" He extended his hand toward the man. "You told me—"
At that moment he went silent. A small flame had appeared in his palm.
Anger forgotten instantly, Arran stared dumbly at the fire that rose up from his hand.
"Is this…?"
"Congratulations," Master Zhao said. "You're using magic."
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Arran stared at his outstretched hand, amazed at what he saw. From his palm surged forth a small stream of fire.For a moment, he worried that his hand was burning, but he felt no pain, and his hand remained untouched by the fire. Oddly, it barely even felt warm.After some moments, the fire dimmed. Soon, it had disappeared entirely."How did I do that?" he asked. He knew he had produced the fire, but he did not understand how."You used Fire Essence to create fire," Master Zhao said."Why didn't it burn me?" The fire in Arran's palm had been real, yet it did not burn him like normal fire would have done."The fire was created from the Fire Essence in your body," Master Zhao replied patiently. "It's as much a part of you as your hand itself.""So I can control it?" Arran asked."Magic wouldn't be much use otherwise," Master Zhao said curtly."How?" Having tasted a small bit of power, Arran already longed for more."First, close your eyes and concentrate, then try to sense the Realms a
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Arran stifled a yawn. He had not slept at all the previous night, instead practicing his use of Fire Essence until the break of dawn.By now he could form a flame in his hand almost instantly, and each time he did, a big grin appeared on his face.To Arran's surprise, Master Zhao did not chastise him for his overeagerness. Instead, he merely looked on in approval."The more you practice your magic, the stronger you will get," Master Zhao had said, and Arran was only too happy to follow the man's advice.Halfway through the morning, Arran was once more waiting for his Fire Essence to replenish. As he walked beside the cart, he looked at their surroundings.It had been several days since he had last seen any sign of other people, and not a single farm or cottage could be seen amid the low hills that surrounded them.Arran did not know which part of the Empire they were in — nor, truth be told, did he know what parts the Empire even had — but it was clear that this region was more sparse
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Arran looked at the town ahead of them with some excitement. It had been months since they had last visited anything bigger than a village, and he missed the feeling of being around people other than Master Zhao."I almost forgot," Master Zhao said. He tapped two fingers against Arran's head, and the seal that covered Arran's forbidden Realm disappeared."Why did you remove it?" Arran asked anxiously. With the seal gone, he immediately worried about being discovered by the Academy."There should be no Academy mages nearby," Master Zhao said. "And we're about to visit someone who could help you hide."The words did little to reassure Arran, but he had no choice but to accept them.When they entered the town, Arran was reminded of Riverbend. It held a few thousand people at most, and the houses looked old and cozy, with smoke wafting from stone chimneys.They followed the main street for a time, passing by houses and stores, with the townsfolk
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The other initiates stared at Arran as if he had told them he had never seen the sun."You don't know what stages are?!"Arran could not see who spoke, but the voice sounded dumbfounded. From the looks on the initiates' faces, it could have been any of them.Adept Kadir turned toward the initiates. "All of you, get back to your training," he said in a firm tone that allowed no argument.Reluctantly, the initiates followed Adept Kadir's command, although several of them shot curious looks at Arran. It was obvious that his words had shocked them."Did I say something wrong?" Arran asked Adept Kadir, feeling uncomfortable.The man turned toward Arran. "Not wrong, exactly. Follow me, we should talk."Arran followed Adept Kadir to a small room at the side of the training hall. Inside were a desk and some chairs, but little else. The stone wall
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Arran narrowly dodged the sword slashing at his head, then countered with a quick thrust to his opponent's chest. His opponent parried effortlessly, in a single slash knocking Arran's sword aside and striking Arran's ribs.He staggered backward, rubbing the painful spot where he had just been struck."Demon's balls!" Arran cursed. "Brother Amar, how do you do that?""Just a bit of luck, Brother Wei An," Initiate Guha said. Grinning, he added, "Luck, and a slow opponent."It had been over a week since Adept Kadir had told Arran he would ask Grandmaster Windsong for a Wind Realm scroll, but the man had not broached the subject since then.Moreover, since that first day, there had been no sign whatsoever of either Master Zhao or Windsong, and Arran had been left with nothing to do but practice with the initiates.At first, Arran's initial display had brought him
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Arran looked at the scroll that lay in front of him. It looked much like the ones he had seen before, but this time, he would have to open the Realm it gave without the aid of Master Zhao.With a deep sigh, he picked up the scroll and began to study it.The characters were completely different from the ones on the scrolls that gave him his Fire and Shadow Realms. The strokes were thinner and sharper, almost as if they had been written by someone using his pen like a sword, slashing the paper with ink.As he read the scroll, he felt the familiar tingle of Essence. Now that he was more familiar with Essence, he could sense that the type held within the scroll was lively and turbulent, like a strong autumn breeze.He pondered it for a moment, understanding that the scroll must be infused with Wind Essence. Drawing the Wind Essence from the scroll into his body, he thought, somehow created a connection b
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"Grandmaster Windsong!" Adept Kadir banged his fist against the hardwood door for the third time, and still, no reaction came.He shook his head with an annoyed sigh, then opened the door and stepped inside. Arran quickly followed him.The first thing that caught Arran's eye once they entered were the bottles. There were dozens, most of them empty, scattered all across the room. It was as if half an army had spent the night drinking in the chamber.At the far end of the chamber stood two couches, with a small table in between. Grandmaster Windsong and Master Zhao each occupied one of the couches, and on the table, Arran saw a board of stones.As they entered, Windsong raised his head. "Adept Kadir? Why are you disturbing us?" He sounded irritated, and it was clear that he did not welcome the interruption."This could not wait," Adept Kadir said. "Master Fireheart's apprentice is
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