Chapter 8: Everybody hates Tests

  Elyza was walking through the forest she grew up in, the trees were covered with fresh moss, giving out an ethereal and unnatural green glow under the few rays of sunlight that got through the blanket of leaves above. She relished the crunch of the leaves under her with each step, the smell of the hanging dew in the air, her muscles rejuvenating with every step she took. As she continued to wander in between the towering bark, the breath she had been holding onto for so long finally escaped, and she felt peace.

  Then the ground started to shake, shuddering beneath her feet, if only for a moment. The forest was prone to receive the odd tremor or two in a year, her mother had told her it was because the roots for fighting with each other, yet her accustomation to the occasional event allowed her to notice something off about it. The shaking returned ferociously, unnaturally stronger this time, but it only grew with every moment, refusing to end. Yet, as the ground started to splinter, as if the very foundation of the planet was unravelling, the flora that surrounded her remained perfectly still. Her body seized up, refusing to listen to her pleas as the cracks grew, the once familiar terrain transformed into a chaotic maw, consuming her whole.

  The darkness left her as her eyes shot open, waking up in Alex’s guest room, her sweat soaked into the bed, which seemed to be gently swaying side to side. But her still slumbering mind thought that the dream was coming true, so she burst out into the hallway, trying to get out of the house before it became her coffin. As she rushed toward the door, she entered the combined kitchen and living room to find Alex calmly seated, sipping from a cup. The sight of him, calm in such a situation, sent enough of a shock to her system for her mind to wake up. The wood under her feet was solid, unmoving, the earth was not quaking.

  Alex had spent the better part of the night visiting all the friends and acquaintances he knew, ‘borrowing’ an assortment of items essential for Elyza’s training. All the furniture had been pushed to the periphery of the room, an array of spears, axes, and intricate mechanisms scattered haphazardly, scratching the wooden walls as they leant against them. The dining table was stacked with columns of books, some from the house’s own library, some from his own personal collection, some stolen from various institutions. As he completed his preparations, with the first light of dawn beginning to paint the sky in shades of blue, he’d instructed the house to wake up its guest. The cumulative effect of multiple trips and frequent teleportation may have left him drained, yet he forced himself to wear a giant grin in preparation of his tutelage’s arrival, keeping his hands busy with brewing some tea to relax himself in the meantime.

  Just as he had sat down with a cup, Elyza ran into the room, panic evident on her face. They both looked at each other and after a moment, her demeanour shifted back to normal, realising where she was. He could’ve told her the reality of what she had experience, Alex chose to not acknowledge it till she’d be ready to fully comprehend the reason, gesturing with his cup as he began, “You’re finally awake, but before we begin, you want some tea to wake you up?”

  Elyza cleared her throat, a fruitless attempt to maintain her image, trying to get the early morning gruff out of her voice before replying, “Yes, I would like that, tea sounds amicable.”

  Motioning with the cup towards her room, he continued as he brought the cup back to his lips, “I’ll prepare another cup, why don’t you change into fresher clothes while I get everything sorted.?”

  There was barely a flash of embarrassment across her face, but he still caught it, his new companion replying, “I do not own any other apparel, since I did not think I would need them after that day.”

  Sighing in response, Alex grinned as his mind failed to think of a simple way to elaborate the solution, resigning to cryptically remark, “Just check inside the cupboard once.”

  Elyza followed his words into her room, kicking her old bag aside from in front of the cupboard facing the foot of the bed. As she opened its doors, she was met with rows of clothes, ranging from vibrant multicoloured cloaks to more subdued grey-scale undergarments. However, a peculiar stack in the corner caught her attention, his eyes drifting from the rainbow fabrics to the outfit, which seemed to be comprised of the clothes she was currently wearing. She tossed most of the clothes onto the bed, uncertain about which ones would fit.

  As she tried them on, the cloth perfectly accommodated her body, more comfortable than anything she’d ever even touched, every piece hugging loosely against her skin. The feeling of uneasiness could not help but bubble in her mind, the ideas her mind came up with how everything fit perfectly worrying her even more. So she avoided the issue entirely, deciding to choose the stack from the corner, which were just as uncomfortable as what she had been wearing, and returned to the living room.

  As soon as she entered, Alex appeared from somewhere behind, handing her a mug of steaming liquid before he pushed her into the centre of the room. It gave her time to take notice of the chaos within the room, marvelling at the mass of weapons and books strewn about. As she took a sip of the jasmine-scented tea, the murky liquid hitting her with the taste of clove, vanilla, and orange, along with the tea, the buzzing in her mind quieting enough for her to finally ask, “What is all this?”

  “Those books over there,” Alex pointed towards the table, adding as she glanced at what he was referring to, “Are your study materials for the next six months.”

  He gestured to the row of weapons on the ground, the grin on his face growing as he saw the concern on her face, “These weapons down here are what you’ll be using to spar with me, and finally, the items behind you are designed to help you discover your limits.”

  He had gestured behind her, towards a pile of machines, artefacts, and slabs stacked against the wall, letting her take in his level of preparation before he remarked, “What you’re currently standing in the midst of is a circle designed to measure your affinities. So, gulp down that mug and let’s get to work.”

  Chugging down the tea, wiping the tiny drop of it that had fallen on her chin as she handed the mug back to her new teacher, voicing the doubts his last comment had elicited within her, “I have already told you what I can wield, is all of this really that necessary?”

  “No, no,” he clarified, holding up his free hand, “You’ve told me only what you are good at. I want to know all of what you are able to do. So, chop-chop, sit down and pour some in.”

  “Pour what in?”

  Remembering the sheltered should he was talking to, he decided to explain further, “Sit down, cross-legged, try to focus and circulate mana around your body. The circle will sap away some of it, like droplets compared to a river, and depending on its properties, the corners of the pentagon within it will glow. Their brightness will indicate your proficiency in the… five base affinities that most academics have agreed upon; Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind, because everything needs to be simplified for those bozos.”

  She had already tuned out Alex’s explanation once he had given her the instructions, which reminded her of a similar practice she had with her mother during her childhood. Closing her eyes, she focused on relaxing, till the sensation of her own blood coursing through her body overtook the sound of her own breaths. Delving deeper, pressure started to build up near her heart as mana began to manifest more potently, her command allowing it to do so. Slowly shifting the orb in her chest around, as per Alex’s instructions, she expected to feel something stealing her power, but when nothing came, frustration rose as her mind began to wonder if it was doing something wrong.

  “That’s enough,” Alex’s voice seemed to corroborate her train of thought. Yet, even through her shut eyelids, she could figure out that something bright had appeared in the room. Her eyes were blinded as soon as they opened. It took her a moment to adjust to the glow, but by the time she could see her own results, her teacher was already announcing them.

  “We both knew that Wind would be the brightest. Fire, Lightning, Water; unfortunately you have minimal affinity in all of them. But the big surprise is that you should be quite average in Earth magic.” he remarked, holding a book in hand, cross-referencing the glow levels with the circle’s instructions.

  Elyza wasn’t sure she heard him properly, “Earth? That can’t be right; my mother only told me I could use wind.”

  “You’ve done this before? When?”

  “When I was six.”

  Cracking his knuckles, his eyes unfocused, he began, his mind connecting the dots, “Mana, in its great uncertainty, develops with time. Sometimes you can gain affinity, sometimes you can lose some, that’s why it’s standard to measure it at least once every five years. By standard, I mean recommended by stuck-up pricks. Truth is, you’re probably not going to suddenly be able to use a whole new type unless you actively practise to do so, and if it isn’t a great affinity, it's going to be demotivating to see no results even if you do.”

  “But I have never trained to ever use earth magic,” she declared.

  “A theory of mine is that druidic magic is more connected to earth than it previously was thought to be,” Alex lied, he knew there was no other explanation, but they had to get through a lot more, so he was forced to deflect the conversation, walking to the table and picking up some books to dissuade any further conversation.

  Hope filling her heart as more books joined what he carried, she asked, “Are those the ones I have to study.”

  “No, they’re the ones you don’t,” he remarked, dropping them on the ground. “I told you, you’re going to be studying every, single, book, on the table.”

  Elyza looked at the barely dented pile on the table, sighing at the mountain she had to conquer, “Fine, what do you want me to read first.”

  “Oh, no,” Alex stopped her, his grin reappearing without an ounce of mercy, adding, “I’m going to be testing your affinity for everything I can possibly think of. Because, as sadistic as I can be, even I couldn’t expect you to get through that pile in six months. So, hurry up and pick up some stone slabs from behind you. We have a tremendous amount of monotony to get through.”

  Preparing Elyza’s results as she lay exhausted on the sofa, he couldn’t stop himself from being impressed. He had anticipated this outcome; no one could be expected to do anything after completely depleting their reserves, yet her stubbornness to see the job through could rival his own. This time, she even managed to stay conscious, evident from the loud groans escaping her as her body worked to restore her mana. Fortunately, it wouldn’t take as long to do so, at least compared to if she was outside. In the confines of the house, for reasons he couldn’t explain, mana seemed to be much more concentrated than it should be, which meant that he didn’t have to wait to put her body through another test.

  Elyza, on the other hand, was ruing the day she had agreed to train under him. After subjecting her to tests in countless types of magic, he had her fill up some peculiar crystals with mana until she collapsed. Even then, he had the audacity to wake her up an hour later and do it all again. Thankfully, she managed to force her mind to pierce through the exhaustion, though the downside was an overwhelming sensation of her entire body being wrung out from all her blood while hot coals circulated through her veins.

  As he finished penning down his own thoughts in his notebook, the results now formally finalised, Alex could finally stretch his arms, letting his grin flow through his words as he addressed the groaning log in the room, “Up and at them ya lazy bum! Finally finished calculating your results, and there’s not an ounce of excitement to be seen, aren’t you glad?”

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  “Fuck off,” she shot back, her voice muffled through the cushions.

  “So uncreative.” Alex joked before he started to declare his findings, dragging his chair so that he could sit closer to her as he began, “Unfortunately, other than your affinity with earth, there were no other surprises that stood. You can technically use strengthening magic, although I’m quite apprehensive if it would actually be useful.”

  She still didn’t want to hear what he had to say, knowing whatever he told her would just give the doubts more power, but she was unable to control her curiosity. Alex was waiting for a response, and all it took was her eye peeking out from the cushion to give him the go ahead. Taking a deep breath, he declared, “The amount of mana you can hold is quite high, especially since you don’t appear to have super-absorptive blood. However, the rate of mana regeneration is only slightly above average”

  Somehow he had stood to his feet, pacing as he read his notes, “Now, let’s move on to what classes of spells you’ll be able to fully utilise, probably the most important knowledge one will ever have. In regard to wind, you have the Innate ability to use it, meaning you can control it naturally, and most likely use Incantations, you know, spoken magic to craft and command spells. I’m ninety-nine percent sure attempting to learn runes for wind magic would be entirely too much work, so you’re skipping that, because I don’t want to. No need to worry about Earth magic; doesn’t seem to be worth it, low activity in all three. Finally, we have Druidcraft, which is always a mix of runic and spoken magic, so I didn’t actually need to test it.”

  “Wait,” Elyza interrupted, her ears barely keeping up with the flurry of words that had attempted a coherent explanation, which unfortunately meant she was now interested, sitting up as she remarked, “I understand why knowing my mana capacity and regeneration speed would be helpful in training. However, I fail to see the importance of testing the class of spells I can use.”

  A sigh slipped from his lips, recognizing that explaining a concept he loathed was inevitable, “Firstly, spoken magic, innate magic, and runic magic, as you may have gathered, are not distinct types of magic. Rather, the three refer to what type of medium is used to transform mana into spells. They classify spells under which medium yields the most effective or, more likely, powerful version of the spell. Innate involves using your body as a medium, spoken entails words or prayers, and runic encompasses spells where a physical structure or item, such as a magic circle, acts as the medium.”

  “Why call them ‘magic’ if the classifications are based on the medium of transmission?” She questioned, and pain flared up upon his teacher’s face.

  “Oh, I’d like to ask the old forgotten pricks who came up with this idiotic system the same question,” He drawled out, struggling to contain the urge to rant, taking in a deep breath to calm himself down, his voice wavering as he continued.

  “It is said that it was because they thought the public was too dumb to notice the difference. I mean, they are the same people who decided to replace the old system. A system, for your information, that classified spells under its magic family i.e. Fireballs would be put under Fire Magic, and not fucking Spoken magi–” He suddenly stopped, realising he had failed.

  Trying to regain composure, a hint of residual anger lingered in his words as he sat back down, inadvertently rolling his eyes as he spoke, “Forgive me, I almost lost myself. While this classification system is clearly unfavoured by the younger arcanists, I reluctantly have to admit, it has some merit. It allows anyone, once you understand what medium your mana prefers for a specific affinity, of course, to know what spells they can quickly learn, and more importantly, excel at. So, you can focus on learning spells that are much more likely to be of use to you.”

  He could see that Elyza was still unsure that her being tested for hundreds of affinities was truly necessary, so in a desperate attempt, he pointed towards the books, and his voice inadvertently sounded like he was talking to a kid, “Meaning, that pile over there got reduced by a quarter.”

  The look on her face told him she remained unconvinced, but she had another topic of conversation she wanted to get to, “Why were you so excited when you learned that I can use druidic magic?”

  With a knowing grin, Alex raised a finger, his other hand disappearing into the depths of his cloak’s shade. After a brief rummage, it emerged holding two leather-bound notebooks in the folds of his fingers, remarking, “Unlike other assassins, most of my time is spent doing research, whether it’s on people, the location where I have to go, or frankly because I’m bored. It's actually why I excel at the job, you see, I believe it’s always better to know something rather than nothing about whatever you’re trying to do. You’re also going to learn how to gather information as fast as you can, be it from libraries, or from people. It’ll include how to recognise structural weakness, possible infiltration points, how to eavesdrop without revealing yourself, and…”

  “Get to the point.” Elyza reminded him, stretching her arms to get the fatigue out of them.

  “Of course,” he replied, smacking his forehead with a hand, refocusing, “After I got my ass handed to me by a druidcraft-wielding barbarian, amazing story, I’ll tell you about it late. Anyways, I tried to learn more about a type of magic I had never seen before. Problem was, once I actually started to try to study it, every, single, book, that everyone lauded that it was the best source to tell me how it worked, contradicted each other in spectacular fashion. I thought, in my endless naivety, that if I started to look at historical documents, decaying magic scrolls, ancient tomes, and even paintings, I could be the one to figure it all out. Surely, that naive child thought, one of them would have some information, scrolls, maybe even some spells I can work backwards for, or at the very, very least, records of tribes or people who wielded it. However, the more I delved into the thousands of years’ worth of material at my disposal, the more it seemed that no one had tried to actually study how druidcraft functioned.”

  “Do you some misunderstanding on what ‘Get to the point’ means?” Genuine concern emanated from her voice.

  Ignoring her completely, his mind was buzzing with frustration, “I was absolutely livid at the fact that I had spent actual months trying to research something that had no existing legitimate records. So, in a rage-filled madness, I swore to Ath— I mean Minerva, that I would write the most comprehensive book documenting Druidcraft. Unfortunately for me, she heard me, and is now holding me to my word.”

  “What?” Elyza exclaimed, her concern multiplying.

  “As a result, I’ve spent years theorising what kind of spells come under Druidcraft, how they work, the magic’s origins, blah, blah, blah. In short, I’m pretty sure my knowledge of it is second only to those who have mastered the magic itself. However, I do have a substantial problem. My theories remain theories, because I can’t find anyone who can actually use Druidcraft.”

  “Hold on a moment,” she exclaimed, her disbelief escalating at a revelation more startling than Alex being threatened by an actual goddess. “In the, if I remember correctly, years you have spent researching, you have never met anyone who can wield druidcraft magic. Forgive me, but believing a jester might be easier than accepting that.”

  “Technically, I have met people who can wield it,” he explained, cracking his knuckles one at a time, “but most of them have tried to kill me. And the ones who don’t, tend to be not as skilled as those who do. Add the fact that most people aren’t privy to the differences between chlorokinesis and druidcraft, and it is almost unnaturally difficult trying to find someone capable of answering my questions. I even attempted to seek out Druids themselves in the hope that they could assist me, but, for some inexplicable reason, whenever I encounter one, they… run away.”

  “Run away,” Elyza reiterated.

  Alex threw his arms up, grinning without an ounce of frustration, “Your guess is as good as mine. One of them did say something about me carrying the stench of death? Honestly, I had given up any hope of actually proving any of my theories and began working purely on assumptions. Till I met you, that is.”

  His tutelage became silent, trying to absorb everything he had just said. Though outlandish, there was an earnestness in his narrative that hinted at sincerity, so she couldn’t help but feel satisfied with his explanation, posing another question, “Why do you consistently emphasise that Druidcraft and chlorokinesis are distinct? Are they not both fundamentally about controlling plants?”

  Leaning in, he began to elaborate, “They are, but the way they achieve that control differs; Chlorokinesis is the ability to control plants with your mind and mana, involving no transference of mana into formation of something, which technically means it’s not magic. Druidcraft magic, on the other hand, manipulates nature itself, and requires the use of both spoken and runic mediums for any spells to succeed. Since chlorokinesis is a psychic ability, its limit is set by the wielder’s willpower. In druidcraft, the limit is determined by the size of the magic circle your mana can sustain and the amount you possess. In simpler terms, think of chlorokinesis as a knife and Druidcraft as an axe. Both can perform the tasks the other is designed for with proper training, but the latter excels at controlling multiple types of plants simultaneously and on a much grander scale. I’m talking about turning an entire forest against your enemies.”

  “Interesting,” Elyza remarked, maintaining her concise manner. She had never imagined that she could wield such potentially powerful magic. The most she had seen it used for was to create temporary platforms or supports, or to accelerate their crops’ growth back at home.

  “Glad to see you’re as excited as always,” Alex remarked with a grin, strangely amused at her response to the hoard of information he had dumped on her.

  “I have a final question,” she stated, waited for a nod for her to continue, and she asked, pointing towards the mountain of books on the table behind him, “How much of that do I have to study?”

  “All of them.”

  “All of them?!” Elyza repeated, a trace of disbelief evident in her voice, “I thought you were going to remove a quarter off the table.”

  “I already have.”

  “That’s the reduced mountain.” she stated, not believing it for a second, the disbelief evident in her voice, “Alright, then, what all will I be studying?”