MTL NOVEL Chapter 13: Growth
More than a month had passed since the new magicians arrived at the Liev Tower. Winter had already started, but the magicians had not noticed it. As the snow accumulated outside, the interior of the tower seemed to be disconnected from the rest of the world. The progress of the youth was good. Although there were no talents on the scale of the great masters, the quality was far above the average of recent years. Finally, the doors of the bedrooms would remain open, and students would be free to roam.
'Congratulations to everyone. Now you can get out of your bedrooms and walk freely through the first floor of the tower. The library is at your disposal. If you want to look at the manuals of another element other than yours, you can do it, that is, if you have enough energy. There are also books on the history of magic; there are several very interesting volumes on branches of certain elements, such as ice magic, among others. Take this opportunity,' said Delfin at the start of the day's class. Behind him stood the other masters of the tower. They had come to evaluate the development of the students.
'During today's class, we shall do only practice, no theory. You have been in Liev's Tower for more than a month, so I hope that each of you will be able to perform the basic invocation of your respective elements and maintain it for at least five minutes. That being said, fire magicians will be required to cast a fire ball, water mages, ice spears, wind magicians, wind blasts, earth mages, stone walls, shadow magicians, illusion; but only on the face, make yourself look like me. Those who fail to meet the goals will have a leech stone put in their room. It won't sound like a great punishment, but you'll learn that it's not pleasant. Good luck to everyone.
The young mages began to concentrate on their respective spells, some with more difficulty than others, but in the end all managed to call the physical representation of each of their elements: fire balls that reduced in size with every second that passed; small rock walls emerged from the ground slowly collapsing; wind currents circulated around the wind magicians, moving their clothes and hair with less and less force; the water magicians held pieces of ice that melted despite their efforts. Calling the physical manifestation of the elements was not hard; the problem was to keep them stable for the time requested. The young magicians sweated profusely. The exercise was difficult even for geniuses such as Astrid, Clinton, or Glover van Fuara, who, after his blunder in mentioning Van Vatnik, had strived to the extreme and managed to establish himself as one of the brilliant magicians of this generation.
Dorsia de Palet was the first to lose control of her magic. Her stone wall collapsed in front of her eyes as the dizziness caused her to vomit. A few seconds later, Pirpi de Revlian lost control, and his fireball went out.
Just a few seconds later, the test was over. Aleum was at his limit when the time ran out. After the second class, in which Master Delfin tried to discourage them from leaving the tower, Aleum decided to change his strategy. He focused solely and exclusively on transformation magic, leaving aside illusion magic. That made this test harder for him; his magic requirement to maintain illusions was much higher than expected. Nevertheless, he managed to withstand and overcome the test.
'Well, only two failed in the first test; this is indeed a very promising group,' admired Master Robalt.
'Excellent development, Delfin,' congratulated teacher Amelia van Fursthe, winking at him. Master Amelia was flirty with everybody, and, despite being something common, none of the teachers got used to it and ended up blushing.
A few minutes later, the masters left the theater, leaving Delfin alone with his students.
'Excellent performance, young magicians,' congratulated Delfin. 'Miss Dorsia, Mr. Pirpi. One of these will be placed in your rooms,' warned Delfin, opening a box that was on the master's table.
The young mages were exhausted by the test. The magic stone revealed by Delfin began to absorb all the magic within the theater. In just a few seconds, Pirpi and Dorsia almost lost consciousness, while Aleum began to vomit, as did some other magicians in the class. They were already exhausted; the leech stone was the final blow. Delfin closed the box and used his fire magic to remove the vomiting from his students.
'The reason you have failed your test is that you did not practice enough, you read your lessons, and you did nothing else. This is a magical stone that we call leech stone, and it will force you to use your magical energy. Of course, the one we will put in your rooms will be weaker, but it will still be unpleasant. As you have experienced, its function is to absorb magical energy, and from now on, to be able to study your lessons, you will have to force yourself and fine tune your energy output,' explained Delfin.
The young mages still felt the discomfort produced by the leech stone and the test. But Master Delfin's class still showed no signs of ending. Despite the fatigue, curiosity invaded them when a knight entered the theater and whispered something in the master's ear.
'Excellent, bring them in,' said Delphin to the knight.
Delfin had anticipated the exhaustion of his students. It wasn't an easy test. Although the performance of the young men was good, they did not have the strength to do anything that would require spending magical energy. Delfin decided to give them a lesson on subjugation missions, giving them a sample of the monsters and risks they would face.
'Leech stones seem to be annoying, but they are very useful in certain situations. Many monsters can detect magic energy, which attracts them. In a desperate situation where you can't rely on the power of your magic, the most effective thing is to be invisible. Suppressing your magic energy can be exhausting, and if you lose concentration and release it, a horde of monsters might catch you. A small leech stone can help you keep your magic levels undetectable and save you the effort of being focused on suppressing it all the time. This strategy has an obvious fail: you can't use magic.'
A few minutes later, a group of knights entered the theater again. Liev's tower knights were considered elite. Their physical strength and agility were twice or three times that of the average person because of their enchanted armor, even if it was not fully active. A group of knights pushed an iron cage into the theater. The cage was divided into three compartments; in the middle, in the smallest cell, there was a black sphere the size of a fist, suspended in thin air. A dark gas surrounded the sphere.
'A miasma nucleus,' said Astrid, astonished.
It was not difficult to realize that there was a miasma nucleus. The two monsters around it were more than proof of that. The other students had their eyes fixed on them. A skeleton occupied the cell on the left, while the one on the right was inhabited by a creature that resembled a small mass of gray moss, which was constantly shapeshifting.
'These are the two most basic forms of monsters you will encounter on a subjugation mission. In the center of the cage, you can observe an artificial recreation of a miasma nucleus. It's not really a miasma nucleus; it's nothing more than a stone with a certain ability to hold magical energy that several shadow magicians have altered with transformation magic over many years. Only magicians with a high affinity for shadows can make such specific and lasting changes. In addition, it is combined with other elements that allow it to retain a minimal amount of miasma, capable of keeping these creatures stable for a while' Delfin explained; looking at Aleum and Xavier, they didn't have the magical afinity to create something like that.
The master did not want to give them new illusions; the magic of transformation had its limitations. It had taken years of work and rare and expensive materials, in addition to a group of elite shadow magicians, to create this artificial core. As he walked toward the cages, the teacher remembered why he was not a titled magician. His affinity for shadows was the highest in the kingdom; however, his element was useless, and they would never give him a title for his shadow magic. Although his fire affinity was high, he was nothing compared to Master Emeral. Only his knowledge and ability to manipulate magic and his teaching talent allowed him to be a master in the tower. For years, several masters had invented multiple artifacts, such as the floating flames of the tower. The magicians of the royal court created the enchanted armors; the whole tower was filled with artifacts that facilitated its operation and were responsible for controlling the environment of the student rooms, isolation from the external environment, etc. Delfin had been the main contributor to the invention of the artificial miasma nucleus that they now used, but none of that was important; he would never be a tittled master because of his shadow magic background. Delfin got close to the cell; the skeleton stretched out its arm, trying to reach the master.
'Skeletons pursue two things: vibrations and magical energy.' Delfin suppressed his presence and magic energy to the maximum extent he could. He remained static without making any movements. The skeleton lowered his hand, despite Delfin being right in front of it.
Delfin moved one leg very slowly, but the skeleton remained inactive. Then Delfin moved his foot quickly and abruptly, and the skeleton reacted immediately, turning his skull towards the foot. As there was no new movement, it returned to its original position. Then Delfin stopped suppressing his magic energy, and the skeleton went crazy, hitting the cell trying to reach him.
'This is a mugrirer.' Delfin approached the gray moss. 'They detect movements just like skeletons and also detect your breathing at a certain distance. Even if they don't look like it, they can be very dangerous. If you are in an environment with miasma, stay away from the trees. These creatures are basically degenerations of the moss of the trees caused by the effects of miasma.' Delfin got closer to the moss, and four tentacles came out of the monster. Delfin cut one of the tentacles with a short sword, and the amputated appendix fell to the ground, releasing a white slime that corroded the floor marble.
'The tentacles have an acidic liquid that, in addition to burning and penetrating the skin, is toxic to the body and causes its victims to lose mobility. Although the range of the mugrirer is very limited and its motility is low, once its attack is successful, you will fall to the ground, and within seconds, hundreds of them will cover your body and melt you to the bones. The mugrirers always move in groups; don't underestimate them,' warned Delfin.
'How do we kill them?' asked Xavier, raising his hand and receiving the master's permission.
′ For the skeleton, physical trauma will do, swords, axes. A knight, or normal guard, can easily destroy one. Breaking the bones of the arms, legs, and jaw will turn the skeleton into a harmless monster. All the monsters will "die" in a few hours after destroying the miasma nucleus,′ explained the master, taking a break.
'A magician can also destroy it; fire magicians need very high temperatures to incinerate a skeleton. It can be very tiring for a magician with an affinity of less than ten percent, especially if there are multiple skeletons. Wind magicians have even more difficulties, but they can use the wind to repel them. Water magicians can use ice spears to destroy bones. Finally, earth magicians are the most effective. You simply invoke two stone walls and crush the skeletons between them until their bones become dust. A high-speed rock throw works, but against a horde of skeletons, the stone wall is the most effective,' said Delfin, moving towards the mugrirer.
'This little bastard is even easier to kill.' Any fire spell or ice spear works, and wind magicians can strike them against trees or walls. The earth magicians can use the same attacks as against the skeleton, continued Delfin, moving away from the monsters and standing in front of the students.
'Today you will practice how to avoid or defend yourself against these monsters.' It was the perfect moment. With their magic energy so low from the test and the leech stone, it would be easy for the students to suppress it. They could use that experience as a guide to suppress their magic in the future.
'Your exercise will be simple. You will approach the skeleton, suppress your magical energy as much as possible, and when the skeleton stops reacting to you for at least two minutes, you complete the exercise. You have ten minutes per person; use this as an example and remember the feeling of the level of supresion you need to not trigger this creature. These monsters are not fully active, given the small amount of miasma in the artificial nucleus. Keep this in mind if you enter subjugation missions,' Delfin explained, leaving the youths free to go towards the monsters.
Of course, geniuses like Astrid or Glover managed to control their magic relatively quickly. After them, some more managed to pass the exercise.
'This is more difficult than I thought,' Xavier said to himself. He was always trying to keep his magic energy as high as possible; his only option in life was to find some way to use his scarce affinity for the element of fire in a useful way. He never thought of suppressing his energy.
While Xavier was trying to reduce his magical presence, others like Astrid, Glover, etc. were trying to control their movements and breathing with the mugrirer. None of them managed to pass the test, except Clinton. His movements were very slow and gentle, and his breathing was superficial. By the time his ten minutes of exercise had passed, Clinton's face was a few inches from the mugrirer. This was dangerous, but Master Delfin was alert at all times. Just a move of his hand and the flames would wrap the creature, turning it into dust.
'Enough, Mr. Clinton, step back very slowly,' ordered Delfin. 'I remind you that the mugrirer is a dangerous monster.' Clinton followed his teacher's instructions and retreated slowly. Most failed the test with the skeleton; the rest failed with the mugrirer. Suppressing their magic when they had been exercising it every day turned out to be more difficult than expected, even when their magic energy level was so low.
Classes ended on a high note; it was exciting. However, things became boring again in the dining room; the low quality food and the lack of variation irritated the nobles.
'This thing again, every day the same, hard bread, this ground meat like thing... only heavens might know what this is. I think even the quality of the water has been declining'. Astrid complained for the tenth time. Her face looked thinner.
Meanwhile, at the table at the bottom of the dining room, the two shadow magicians were enjoying their meals.
'Have you gained weight?' said Xavier to Aleum.
'Yes, the clothes are starting to squeeze me a little,' replied Aleum. ′ I'll have to go on a diet.′ The two burst into laughter.
The other magicians in the dining room seemed angry at their giggles, but the young shadow magicians ignored them. Since the day of Master Delfin's class on the uselessness of the shadow magicians, the other magicians ignored them or directly repudiated them; they became absolute pariahs.
At the end of the meal, all the young mages had the same idea: to explore the tower. One of the most visited places was the library. All the textbooks were at their disposal, and many students decided to take advantage of them to satisfy their curiosity. The library was huge. Shelf after shelf extended into a maze of volumes and pages. From magic books to literature or even classical tales and novels, the tables, chairs, and sofas were more comfortable than those available in their quarters, all in order to facilitate their study. A couple of knights in light armor were bookkeepers; their presence reminded everyone that this was an academy. The first few days, the library was full; it was one of the few forms of entertainment in the tower. It was open from morning until midnight. You could only extract one book at a time to take it to the bedrooms. Damage to manuals or books was an offense whose consequences no one wanted to face. After a few weeks, the novelty passed. After a month, only a few students remained in the library, among them Xavier, Astrid, Clinton, Maurius, and Glover.
'It is not this one either,' thought Clinton, putting another book in his place. He had reviewed all the shadow magic manuals and related books in the library, but he didn't get the manual he wanted. The second part of the arcane magic spell he was looking for should be somewhere in the tower. There were only two shadow magic books left to check. The two manuals in the hands of the shadow magicians, Xavier and Aleum.
Checking on Xavier's manual was easy; Clinton just sat next to him in the library and, after a few minutes, spoke to him: 'Xavier, can I borrow your book for a second? I don't want to go to the bottom of the library to look at just one page,' Clinton asked casually. The excuse was perfect. The shadow magic manuals were at the bottom of the shelf.
'Yes, of course,' said Xavier, passing the book to the inexpressive Clinton. He had already become accustomed to the human mask. Generally, Clinton only ignored him, not as incisive and straightforward as other nobles or as Astrid, who directly despised both shadow magicians. Although his benefactor's cold attitude was unpleasant to him, Xavier held no resentment; after all, it was thanks to him that he had obtained his actual clothes and made the decision to go assist the tower. Although they were not friends and would never be, he felt in debt to him. Maurius was a particular case; he was more pleasant and open; he treated the shadow magicians as people and not a pest, but still kept a certain distance.
It was easy for Clinton to discard the book. With a simple movement of his finger, he touched the inner part of the rear cover of the manual. Nothing. The book he was looking for would have a border on the inside because of the hidden paper sheet. Minutes later, Clinton gave the book back to Xavier. The book of Aleum would be a bit more difficult, but not impossible. Aleum was becoming more and more irresponsible; it was obvious that Master Delfin's strategy had worked. He showed very little interest in the classes and spent almost all day sleeping. Clinton just needed a chance to bait him, and he got it.
One day, after leaving classes, the hallway towards the shadow magicians quarters was empty. This was not so common; there used to be a lot of movement around in the first days after the door to the living rooms was opened, but things calmed down when the library ceased to be interesting and the young mages sought other ways to entertain themselves. The proximity and continuous interaction among the students led to the formation of couples. Unfortunately, the low fertility of the magicians prevented pregnancies, especially in the early years, when their magic was not entirely stable. Clinton had spent several days pretending to read his manual as he walked slowly through the hallways, traveling several times a day between the bedrooms and the library, waiting for the right moment. One day, Aleum came out of his room and walked down the hallway when Clinton approached him.
'Mr. Aleum, may I have a minute?'
'What does a great noble fire magician want of a humble servant?' replied Aleum almost in a mocking tone.
'A business offer,' offered Clinton without being affected at all by the provocation, and getting a silver coin out of his pocket. 'Are you interested?'
'It depends on the proposal,' replied Aleum, smiling.
'It turns out that I am studying the magic of illusion in detail, among other things, but the schedule of the library and the fact that I can only take a book out limit me. I'd like to rent your shadow magic book for a few days.
'You got yourself a deal' accepted Aleum without thinking about it, and, grabbing the coin, he turned around and returned to his room, bringing back the manual shortly thereafter.
'Don't damage it; I don't want to have to deal with the master's wrath,' warned Aleum.
'I will bring it back in perfect condition. You have my word. I just hope our transaction remains absolutely secret. I do not know if there is any kind of rule against it in the tower, and I don't want to find out; it is better to be discreet.' Clinton recommended.
"Of course, the secret remains between us. If you need anything else, let me know. I'll see what I can do to help. For a fair price, of course," Aleum explained.
'Of course,' answered Clinton, smiling and turning around.
Aleum was having a good day. A silver coin was several months' salary for a peasant like him. He could save that coin for when he came out of the tower in two years. He hadn't thought of it before, but maybe he could find a way to make money in Liev's Tower before leaving. Although the amount of coins inside the tower was limited and were all in the hands of true nobles and magicians, no one really had use for them. He could think of some business to provide his services to the nobles. Wash their clothes, for example, or do some similar chore. He went back to his room to think about his business options.
'This is my chance.' Aleum dreamed of getting out of Liev's Tower with a small fortune and congratulated himself on his brilliant idea of going to the academy while playing with his newly acquired silver coin.