After watching the others recede from view, John turned back to Dawn before asking, “I don’t suppose you moved here?  I’d love to give up my position, but simply haven’t seen anyone worthy of it.”

Dawn chucked before replying, “No, I’m afraid not, I’m just passing through on the way to the capital, actually.  I was just looking around town before I can meet with the lord of the town to pass along a message from my village.”

“Ah, what a shame,” John remarked with a sigh before continuing, “I suppose that makes sense, though.  I’ve never seen anyone swat a spell aside like that, I must say.  That was quite amusing, and now that I know it is possible, I’ve absolutely got to try to figure it out!”

Dawn smiled at his enthusiasm as she stated, “I got lucky, actually, I can only do that with fire, Niphru and I both helped each other with our fire magic, and even had to use it in battle against a Black Tide that came for our village.  It is much harder than it looks, I’m afraid.”

Shaking his head and chuckling, John simply responded, “I’m no stranger to hard work, sad to say I lack talent at magic, I just try as hard as I can.  I’ll manage it someday, I am sure, though it may take a long while.  Unfortunately, that is more than can be said for the others here, they are too certain of their superiority just for being born with higher than average potential.  Bloody idiots don’t even try to improve, other than the two who are on vacation right now…”

After looking down for a moment, John continued, “Actually, on that note…  I don’t suppose you are going to the capital to become an apprentice there?”

Nodding her head, Dawn replied, “Yes, in fact my mother’s teacher visited us when we just encountered Niphru, and he was the one to verify he was Awakened.  Later on my mother had told him about my progress, and he invited me to learn under him!  It is still hard to believe, and tough to be out on my own, but at least I have Niphru with me!”

Finishing her statement, she then reached up and stroked Niphru’s head, smiling as she did so.  “I don’t know how things would have ended up if I hadn’t met with him, he has changed my life a ton.  I’m very glad to have been able to bond with him, though it is much harder with him hurt like this.  I’m hoping we can find a way to help him in the capital, our healer suggested it is a spiritual issue,” she stated.

“I see, that sounds amazing.  Maybe we can meet again in the future then, because the elders told me that once I find someone who can take my place here, I’m free to go there myself.  Who are you going to study under, if you don’t mind sharing?” John questioned.

“I don’t mind, his name is Morris, and he has an Awakened hawk with him named Kel.  I’m not sure how much I can learn from him, though, he specializes more in earth magic, while I’m good with fire and light.  But he is a lot older and more experienced, and if he thinks he can teach me, I trust that he knows what he is talking about,” answered Dawn.

John chuckled before responding, “I wouldn’t worry too much about that.  The previous head apprentice here was only talented at mind magic, but was still able to share lots of useful stuff with us, despite his affinity being utterly different.  Naturally, it would help to also find someone with similar affinity to yourself, but there is a lot of basic stuff everyone can use.  Absorbing ambient mana and charging mana stones are some very basic examples, though I wish I could get the people here to actually learn those…  Our entire bloody job, and they can’t do it…”

“Why do you say that is your job here?  Don’t you have other reasons to be here?” inquired Dawn.

“Sure, technically, there are many things we should do.  But the number one reason we are here is to keep the ambient mana density low.  There are enough people living here that if we don’t siphon off the mana, we will start having mutations occur.  And trust me, no one wants giant bloodthirsty rats, just normal ones are bad enough.  And giant cockroaches… Ugh…” John exclaimed with a groan.

After shaking his head, he then continued, “While the elders are here, they don’t interfere unless a true disaster breaks out, as we are supposed to be able to handle such simple matters ourselves.  Well, they also keep us safe, as you saw when you made Faram eat his own spell.”

“But I didn’t see anyone else when that happened?” muttered Dawn, her brow furled in confusion.

“Right, that is because they are resting up top.  While doing so, they monitor us until they switch with one of those up front, who then takes over while they rest.  That is one of the reasons that the guards are those who have improved their bodies as well, they can go without sleep for months normally, and just meditate to rest every few days,” explained John.

“Wow, that sounds really useful!  Maybe that is why so many people back at the village seemed to be up all the time.  I think I should try to do that too,” Dawn said, almost bouncing at the idea of being able to stay up longer.

Seeing how excited she was, John shook his head at her before arguing, “I don’t recommend it, it makes your ability to do magic weaker than if you just focus on that.  And the higher-ups don’t like it either, and treat you worse if you do.  Anyways, you might want to head off now before everyone comes back down, or else they will badger you to no end.  While it was hilarious watching you feed Faram his own spell, it wouldn’t be good for you to get frustrated enough to do something on your own.”

Nodding at his reasoning, Dawn decided she would have to consider it more carefully before making a choice.  At the mention of the others coming back, she thought for a moment before realizing she agreed with the idea she might get too irritated.  She nodded towards John, before replying, “Thank you for both of those warnings.  I think I will go ahead and leave, and thank you for the reminder, I hope you are right and we can meet again in the capital.”

“Of course,” John said with a smile, “it was a pleasure to meet you, and I’d love to see you again, hopefully there are more people like you there, and less like the people here.  I hope you have a good journey, Dawn.”