Hero of Lichfrost

by M E Robinson

  "Will I become more powerful if I learn from you?" Eric asked bluntly, looking Lucy in the eyes, his green ones meeting her steely gray ones.

  "One shouldn't approach magic with the goal to become more powerful. Unlocking the mysteries of the arcane and discovering the secrets that rule the world and can alter the very essence of life itself is a task both noble and rewarding. The study of magic is its own reward," Lucy snapped. Seeing the half-elf hesitating, she continued in a softer voice, "However, I can understand the desire for power. If you truly do thirst for power, that can be a powerful motivator, especially when it seems that everything is simply too complex to be understood. So to answer your question, yes, you will become more powerful if you study under me. However, this power will not be readily apparent. And you must have patience. I can teach you how to conjure powers you wouldn't dare dream of, to wrest control of the very fabrics of time and space themselves, and even how to challenge death itself on equal terms, provided of course that you're not as simple as the idiots I normally teach."

  Hearing this, Eric made his decision. While immediate power was needed for the quest, this seemed like a route that would allow him to grow exponentially stronger. Even if the gains were small at first, the sheer power of the spell Lucy had cast almost haphazardly earlier had been enormous. Small sacrifices now were worth it for long term gains, he thought, clenching his fist as he bowed towards Lucy.

  "Please take me as your student. I promise I will not disappoint you."

  Lucy smiled at this. "I hope you won't, boy."

  As Eric raised his head, Lucy's face hardened once more, the smile vanishing as if it had never appeared. "It takes most mages weeks if not months of training before they are allowed to cast spells beyond the basic level. Before I can teach you anything, you need to learn the basics."

  "The basics?" Eric asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. "I know the basics. That's all that Arthal had the time to teach us."

  "Those aren't the basics," Lucy snapped, "You really think the basics of magic are something that could be taught in an hour? Did you learn to walk in an hour? How to speak? Or read? I'd ask you if you'd learned to think, but clearly that is still far beyond your capabilities."

  Eric winced, he'd hoped that him becoming her student would lessen the venomous nature of Lucy's tongue, instead it seemed to have made it more potent.

  "Fine, if you think you know the basics, then answer some of my questions. What would happen if you combined a pair of elemental runes?

  Two elemental runes? Eric glanced at the walls, as if hoping for the answer to be written upon the runes that glowed from their surface. But to no avail.

  "I'm not sure..."

  "I'm not sure, Professor," Lucy corrected him, "Let's try again. Kystfyr, where would you look if I asked you to find me a silver bough?"

  Eric didn't have a clue what a silver bough was, thinking hard he stammered, "A birch tree perhaps?"

  "Wrong again. One last chance. What is the difference between infusing and enchanting?"

  "I don't know," said Eric with a defeated look. "Is this all standard stuff for mages?"

  Lucy's lips curled upwards at this, forming a sneer. "No. It's standard learning for children whether they become mages or not. For your information, combining a pair of elemental runes will create a split spell, infusing one element with the properties of another. A silver bough is the branch of a sacred apple tree and can be used as the material for wands that tend towards bardic magic, as well as granting passage to the underworld. And infusing is the act of infusing mana into an object to give it temporary magical qualities, while enchanting provides an item with a permanent magical effect."

  Seeing that Eric was nodding understandingly, Lucy grabbed his hand and threw him off the balcony, casting the same spell she had before to allow him to land softly on his back. Jumping down herself, she landed with a good amount of grace, landing almost catlike next to Eric's prone form.

  "If you want to learn magic, you'd best get up and follow me. Otherwise, I won't be held responsible for any of the manor’s defenses that you set off while trying to find your way out," she informed him. Ignoring the mute half-elf's reaction, she began to walk at a brisk pace, heading for the door to the tower. Scrambling to his feet, Eric made to follow his new teacher, wondering where they were headed as they descended the stone stairway.

  Morningstar led him to a small room just off to the side of the entrance to the manor. A large window allowed the sunlight to stream in which illuminated several tables and benches facing the front of the room. Near the back of the room stood a pair of bookshelves with books bearing titles such as, ‘An Introduction to Arcane Magic’, ‘Elemental Spells: The Basics’, ‘Mana Constructs’, and ‘An Archmage’s Knowledge of Basic Magical Theory’. A pair of comfortable looking chairs sat beneath the window, perpendicular to the tables and benches. Seeing the layout of the room, Eric quickly came to the conclusion that this must be a classroom, a guess that was supported by Lucy’s statement a moment later.

  “This is where I teach the villagers of Tonbura village how to use magic. I won’t bother teaching you personally. For now, read the books on the shelves. They’re all specially picked to teach beginner mages how to properly wield the arcane. Read them, and you may ask me questions for up to half an hour a day as part of your tuition. If you want to ask more questions after that, you’ll need to pay the tuition fee again,” said Lucy.

  “You’re not even going to teach me yourself?” Eric asked, imagining his silver growing wings and disappearing into the blue sky.

  “It would be a waste of my time to teach you the basics of magic personally. For now, you need to learn how to properly control your mana and the correct way to create mana constructs. Once you’ve learned those, we can move on to learning elemental magic and the manipulation of spell structures.”

  “What’s wrong with the way I control mana?” Eric protested.

  Lucy snorted. “For starters you do it in the crudest way possible. The way you circulate your mana from extremity to extremity is how the earliest mages supposedly did it. It’s a technique that hasn’t been used in centuries.”

  “There’s a technique to circulating mana? I thought it was just something that made it easier to infuse mana into a spell formation,” said Eric.

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “And if you were able to make that infusion even faster and easier, maybe lose less mana, or infuse more mana in a smaller amount of time. The end result would be…” she trailed off, giving Eric a look that clearly meant he had better get the right answer or else.

  “That we could cast spells faster and use less mana?”

  “Exactly. That’s what a proper mana technique will do for you. There are several basic techniques recorded inside the books in this room. Feel free to train in whichever one you’d like. It’s not like there’s any penalties to switching your mana technique. Just try to find one you like and stick to it, familiarity breeds competence in this case.”

  “I have to leave in,” Eric quickly checked the time, “just over half an hour. Can I come back to read at another time?”

  “You can come in here to read whenever you want, but you’re not permitted to take the books outside. And I wouldn’t advise attempting to go further inside the lab when I’m not around. Got that?” Lucy stated in a matter-of-fact manner, clearly not caring whether he got it or not. Nodding meekly, Eric watched as his new teacher grabbed a book from the shelf, tossed it towards him, and left before the book could arrive.

  Catching the book, Eric took a peek at the cover, ‘Mana: A Mage’s Guide’. Double-checking the time, Eric realized there was just enough time to start reading before Mark and Griffin were set to arrive. Curling up in one of the chairs, he opened up the book.

  Most of what the book covered was fairly basic. It started off by explaining what mana was, and then launched into various examples of the applications mana had in society. Far more than just a tool for combat, mana co
uld apparently be used almost akin to electricity in the real world, with many specialized spells and magical tools that made life more convenient for the residents of Nasvencia. According to the book, mana was similar to the embodiment of energy. When a mage cast a spell, they were converting the energy in their body to mana, and then giving that energy a shape using runes. Originally, all energy was naturally arcane, but after a spell had been cast, that mana could be converted into a different form of energy through the use of elemental runes. Simply casting an elemental rune on its own without an accompanying rune would allow the mage to convert their arcane mana into another element, which could be drawn freely from the body as long as the mage had mana.

  Most inhabitants of Nasvencia didn’t bother with arcane magic, instead choosing to simply use their mana to create water to drink, or fire to keep themselves warm. More advanced magic, such as the magic required to service magical tools like the magical gems that provided light, was taught to tradesmen who performed roles similar to plumbers and electricians on Earth. Despite the advanced level of the magic that they were tinkering with, because they had never learned about magic itself instead just learning what they needed for their jobs, they were not considered mages, but rather craftsmen.

  Eric yawned, stretching his arms upward as he arched his back in the sunlight. While this insight into the uses of magic outside of combat was certainly interesting, he was really hoping to find tips on how to become more powerful as a mage. Flipping the page, Eric finally saw what he’d been hoping to find, the title of the next chapter promising the information he sought: Mana Circulation. Nestling more deeply into the chair, he began to voraciously devour the knowledge on mana circulation.

  Just as Lucy had said, there was far more to mana circulation than simply moving the mana from his mana vessel to the mana construct in order to cast a spell. Mana circulation had been discovered by the earliest mages many centuries ago, and many techniques had been developed in the interlying years. Mana techniques, as they were called, were separated into a few broad categories: there were techniques which focused primarily on efficiency, attempting to exert total control over the amount of mana infused into the mana construct; techniques which focused on speed, ignoring mana wastage in exchange for reducing the cast time of a spell to its absolute minimum; balanced techniques which focused on a mix of both, falling somewhere in between the two extremes; and techniques which focused on a specific type of mana, enhancing the cast speed and mana efficiency of spells using that mana compared to regular mana techniques, but being worse than a regular technique when using other types of mana.

  Flipping the page, Eric spied the thing he’d been looking for: a half page diagram showed a basic mana technique, with various arrows creating a rough circuit through a human form. In the margins, little notations explained what the various symbols and signs throughout the diagram meant. Furrowing his brow, Eric bent over the book, attempting to make sense of the diagram. Checking the time, he saw that he still had just over ten minutes before he was due to meet Mark and Griffin in the square - which was hopefully just enough time for him to decipher the mana technique in front of him.

  Carefully observing the diagram, Eric began to circulate the mana in his body through the paths shown in the book. Feeling the mana as it attempted to escape from the path he set for it. Occasionally, he would consult the diagram, referencing the notes in the margins or tracing the lines along the figure before closing his eyes and resuming the circulation of mana. Over and over again, Eric forced the mana through the paths shown in the diagram. Feeling the mana rushing from his mana vessel through the paths. With a small exhale, he constructed an Arcane Strike rune, infusing his mana into the mana construct and feeling the spell take form.

  With an exultant expression, Eric allowed the spell formation to collapse, the rune fizzling and shattering into shards of violet light as he opened his eyes with a triumphant grin. While it hadn’t been by much, he had felt the increased speed with which his mana had been infused into the mana construct. He had spent slightly less mana to cast the Arcane Strike as well, not by much, but definitely less than the normal cost. Repeating the process, Eric attempted to cast Arcane Strike using both his original technique for infusing mana, and the mana circulation technique shown in the book. Sure enough, the technique in the book was superior in every way to his crude method.

  Sitting back down, Eric checked the time. Swearing briefly, he quickly closed the book and replaced it upon the shelf before dashing for the door, leaving Morningstar’s lab behind as he raced for the village square.

  As Eric dashed out the door, the air in the classroom shimmered, a section of air just over five feet in height seeming to separate from its surroundings and become distinct. A cat that had lain unnoticed atop one of the bookshelves yawned as it watched the shimmering air morph into its owner. Becoming corporeal again, Morningstar stared after the half-elf as he disappeared over the ridge of the path, fading from her view. Shaking her head, she looked up at the cat who met her eyes with a disinterested yawn.

  “Well, I can certainly see why Arthal was interested in him. He learns fast, even if he’s not the politest student I’ve ever met,” Lucy said to the cat. Meowing at her, the cat began to lick its front paw, clearly ignoring its owner.

  “It’s not like I asked for your opinion anyways,” Lucy told her pet with a peeved expression. Staring out the window one last time she whirled around, heading for her tower and leaving the cat alone once more to nap in the sun.

  Chapter 12

  Making his way to the village square where he’d first arrived after taking the portal from the tutorial island, Eric checked the time, swearing as he desperately increased his speed.

  “How could I lose track of time that badly while practicing the mana technique?” Eric groaned helplessly, pelting across the rough cobblestone roads of the village. Skidding into the square, he looked around quickly, seeing no one waiting for him, only a few surprised villagers and players walking by, he let out a small sigh of relief.

  “You owe me ten bucks,” said a voice from behind him.

  “Damnit. I didn’t think even Eric could manage to be late when his message said he would be waiting inside the village for us,” a second voice chimed in dryly.

  With a sigh, Eric turned around to confront the two speakers. “Hey Griffin, hey Mark, sor-”

  “Sorry you’re late. Yeah yeah we’ve heard it all before,” Griffin said with a laugh. “At least this time you earned me ten bucks.”

  “How did you manage to be five minutes late? Your message said that you would be waiting inside the village for us,” Mark added, wearing an amused grin as he jumped off the low stone wall he and Griffin had been seated upon. Mark had chosen to be an elf. Standing a bit shorter than Eric, he was wearing a long flowing blue robe that stopped just above the knee with a pair of cloth pants underneath, and a wand at his waist. A small mace was also visible behind his back, tucked into his belt like a Tanto sword.

  “I was having a lesson with my teacher. Nice dress by the way,” Eric replied.

  “Thanks. I got it as a quest reward. It upgrades my mana recovery.”

  “Nice. I should see if I can find one of those, although I do like my leathers.”

  “You have a teacher?” Griffin asked, hopping off the wall as well to join them.

  “As of about an hour ago, yeah.”

  “What do they teach?”

  “Magic.”

  “Oh nice. Do they teach healing spells? I’m still looking to learn some,” Mark interjected.

  “I don’t think so? Plus she’s really expensive. Five sricks a lesson and she’s not even teaching me personally right now,” said Eric, making a face.

  Griffin winced at this. “Five silver a lesson? That’s insane. Most of my gear isn’t even worth that much. Is she teaching you powerful spells?”

  Looking at Griffin’s gear, Eric let out a low whistle in appreciation. Standing more than six feet tall, Gri
ffin had chosen a burly half-orc as his character. Wearing a leather chestpiece with leather chaps similar to Eric’s own, a chain mail hauberk provided him with a strong defense against the slashing sabers of goblins. Small metal plates embedded in a pair of bracers on his wrists hinted at his status as a tank along with a shield that hung from his back. A shortsword at his waist completed the intimidating look that was drawing quite a few stares from the players and villagers nearby.

  “Nope. She refuses to teach me any new runes or spells until I learn the basics of magic,” Eric explained.

  “I think I’ll pass. I’d prefer to upgrade my gear.”

  “Fair enough, want me to introduce you to her, Mark?”

  Mark shook his head. “Nah, I really want to learn healing magic. Supposedly, you can learn it from clerics, but I didn’t have time to grind the reputation needed with the priest in the village we started in so I didn’t bother stopping by.”

  “Makes sense. I think the church in Tonbura is over by the Southern part of the village,” said Eric. “I can take you there later if you want.”

  “Sounds good. We can do that now actually - Rob messaged me to say that he and that tank he found won’t be arriving for a while. They got a pretty sweet quest that they want to complete back in their village,” Mark explained.

  Eric nodded. “Speaking of which. Why is there no whisper function? It’s a pain in the ass having to log out to use Strife every time. I was just together with two others in a party before you guys arrived. But we died and now I have no way of contacting them.”

  “You died?” Griffin asked with surprise.

  “Yeah, I’ll tell you about it later,” Eric said dismissively.

  Mark grinned. “Oh Jun’s going to love that.”

  Eric sighed, “Whatever, it was for what seems to be the main quest. And we were totally outmatched. Anyways, the whisper thing?”