…
“You mind telling me what that was?”
“Kekekekek” He breaks out into a cackle again. “My boy, this right here is to test a persons aptitude. For example a person with an aptitude for fire and talent of a novice, a small flame will appear in the centre of the orb. The larger the reaction, the larger the talent. It goes without saying whatever occurs, this will be your aptitude.”
“So.. what is mine”
“Kekek, well, I have no clue!” he throws his hands up in defeat.
‘Eh? He seems knowledgeable, why doesn’t he know?’ After both of us think for a while the awkward silence hits me, thus I decide to ask a question. “Could you perhaps go into more detail about magic?”
“Ahh where to start? Firstly you should understand there is 2 types of magic. White orthodox magic and black unorthodox magic. White magic is elemental magic approved by the gods, you can have many aptitudes at once as well. Michael Solomon, the best white magic mage to ever exist had 4 aptitude. Fire, water, metal, and the legendary lightning aptitude. Fire, water, earth, and air are the most common aptitudes among magi.”
He takes a breath and thinks. “Although there are others, those 4 are the most common. If you have a unique aptitude you’d need a special orb to test it. The problem is, only nobles and people with money have access to those, further more having the money to train under a teacher or have books for them.. You’d need mountains of gold if you had every unique aptitude recorded. Roughly magi are found every 1 in 1000. Unique aptitude magi are found 1 in 100,000. And a lightning aptitude magi is usually found once every 5 thousand years, but those things are just some little random facts. It's not really useful information. As for your aptitude I have no idea. The orb had a reaction, so it’s basically telling us its not a unique aptitude.. If you were to ignore the fact this has never happened before. On top of this I can’t even judge your potential. This doesn’t mean you’re strong right now, but given time, training and mediation.. There’s no doubt you can become an archma- no let me correct myself, an ascendant rank mage.”
I take a moment to process the information. ‘Could it be because I'm not from this dimension?’
“So what about black magic?”
He takes a serious tone. “Black magic is not something sane people would admit to practicing. It’s looked down on by the church and by the gods. However, the reason being is it’s potential. You can practice if you have any aptitude since it doesn’t require one, all you need is mana or a sacrifice with mana. The strongest black magic mage known is believed to be a man that was called Kiran Solomon, said to be the brother of Michael Solomon as well as the man who killed Michael Solomon using himself as a sacrifice for the spell.”
“You say you don't need an aptitude for black magic? What does it do? And can anyone use it even if they don’t have any aptitude?”
“To answer your first question, its commonly known that it’s specialised in killing people. Such as cursing, summoning’s, and unnatural spells. However a few people have found out this is not the case. Myself, being one of the few. You saw the healing talisman Ryan used on Jack after you slit his throat, yes? Well that’s an example. Even though it required a sacrifice, theoretically you can do it with your own mana. I just don’t have enough to do so.” Saying the last part he shakes his head, evidently he’s dissatisfied with himself. “To answer if regular people can do it, it’s possible if they acquire a mana stone or large sacrifice, and the right knowledge. However possessing an aptitude for an element means you have a higher amount of mana naturally.”
He said he'd teach me.. Nothing is free in the world, I doubt he'd do it for nothing in return.
“You asked if I wanted to learn black magic? What exactly can you teach me? On top of that, what’s the downside?”
“So many questions young man. Fine I’ll answer, firstly yes. I can teach you. Everything I know, including personal research like how to engrave sigil's into one’s self or creating talisman. And you speak of a downside, you probably mean what I want in return right? Nothing. I want my research to live on without going to waste. What is my life worth is I have no successors? It would all be for nothing! However there is something you should be aware of, the stronger you get in black magic the easier it is to tell for others. On top of this the gods will hate you, they might even send the church after you.” He says the last part as if he’s worried but it’s not too convincing. If he is worried, he’s probably only worried about his only potential successor to die, leading to his research to be for nothing.
‘If possible I'd like to practice white magic, if these so called gods exist, it doesn’t sound good to be hated by them. However he doesn’t seem to specialise in that. Furthermore, if I decline I’m pretty sure he'd kill me.’
After a minute of pondering I come to a conclusion. “… Okay fine. As long as I'm not here for that long and you show me where I can get to the so called kingdom.”
“Sure, as long as you learn everything I have to teach personally, you can leave and take along some of the books I've made covering black magic. However don’t think of leaving till then. That said, it’s getting late. I will personally guide you to an empty house and allow you to rest. Tomorrow I’ll send someone to get you.”
“Sounds good to me but.. This arrow, it's been in my arm for a while now and I’m starting to think waiting any longer will lead to amputation.” Besides asking for my arm to be fixed up a bit, I just politely accept his generosity, there’s no way I’d sleep here or where ever he lives.
“Kekekek, come here, I only have 8 healing talismans stored away but since you’re my apprentice I’ll fish into my stash of treasures just this once!”
…
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Yawning, I stretch and get out of bed. “Wait a few minutes, I'll be getting ready!” I don’t know who’s at the door but there’s no reason to be polite.
After getting ready by putting my shirt and robe back on I decide to leave the book I found in the ruins called “apprentice guide to mana.” The notebook I found can stay with me since it doesn’t take up much space at all.
Opening the door I’m greeted by a familiar face. “Oh, so it’s you!”
The woman with the scarred eye from yesterday. I thought she would've thought I was probably thought I was dead, but seeing g her lack of surprise she must’ve been filled in on some details. “Come, you can’t be late. The chief wants to see you.” She obviously has distasted for me, since she speaks in a bitter voice. Not that I blame her.
After heading back to the building where I was kept in, I hear a loud inhuman cry before a crunch muffled by the walls of the building. The word rang in my mind. ‘Sacrifice’ huh? I know normal people would be disgusted, however I really can’t bring myself to empathise.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Let yourselves in!” Edwards muffled shouts can just about be heard from outside. Hearing this we let ourselves in.
When I see him he is standing over the alter with a weird looking dagger, a dead animal can be seen in the middle of the stone alter. Inspecting it more closely, I’ve never seen this type of animal before. It looks like a pig but more with bigger and more defined muscles, I can also feel heat emanating from it even though it is more than half the room away.
“Thanks to you my boy I have to use a prized sacrifice to make two more healing talismans. Kekekekek.” The old man looks rather grim since he’s covered in blood from the shoulders down, holding a weird dagger obviously used to kill the sacrifice.
‘He may be insane, however he seems to be honest with his intentions. I suppose he won’t be to bad of a teacher.’
Thinking this I smile to myself, I mostly find people insufferable, so finding someone I can bare with is a pleasant change.
“Rebecca, you can leave now.”
“Yes, village chief.” Rebecca respectfully bows and leaves the room.
After we can no longer hear her footsteps, Edward turns to me. “Now boy, the first thing I shall teach you is how to detect and control your flow of mana!”
