Chapter 2: Noble pursuit
It was only a couple days ago when I was inducted into the instruction of Piercarlo, the sage of the stars. Of course, it was weird being taught by a java sparrow, but I was finally taking my first steps into the supernatural. On the teachers request, we were doing magic training in an abandoned area in his homeworld.
Near us was pieces of broken buildings, and nature seemingly surrounded us as if the marching of time was still in those moments, the progress of man being stunted in this age. Sasaki was with me, as was Myne as she wanted to needle her way into learning magic after an interaction she had with Benno regarding contracts.
"Your parents allowed this?" I asked her. "Of course, as long as I don't shirk my job I can do something as long as you keep watch" she said as she struck a pose that seemed to indicate victory.
"Did you tell them what you were doing?" I asked her as she seemed to be suddenly nervous. "Myne" I said with a smile, but Myne could easily tell that I was not smiling in joy or gratitude. "Myne, if your going to do dangerous things like this, atleast tell your parents some of the details like what your doing" I said to her.
I didn't want to get in trouble with her parents if she suddenly got injured. I did not need a screaming mother and an angry father coming down on me, even if their assault would be meaningless in the end.
"Hey now, lets get started" said Peeps as he was sitting on Sasaki's shoulder. "The first thing you need to know about magic is mana, which is the fuel you need for magic" said Peeps as he rose slightly above Sasaki and flew over to us. "So first we need to see if you have any" said Peeps.
Peeps then landed on Mynes shoulder and his eyes began to faintly glow. "Your mana levels are extremely high for someone of your age, even those older than you" he said as he flew up and then landed on my shoulder and began the process again.
The process began to take a long time, and I felt my hopes of being a mage crashing down. I then hear a sigh from Peeps and my hopes plummeted. "I don't know what is happening. I cannot sense mana in you" said Peeps and I almost felt like I was about to cry.
"However, thats the strange part" continued Peeps, and I felt a faint ignition start in my heart. "I can feel you can perform magic, and this may be conjecture, but you might just have so much mana that I am not able to percieve it" he said and my veins ignited with hope.
"Of course, there still is a way to determine this" I heard Peeps say as he told me an incantation. "Perform it, and we will be able to confirm for sure" said Peeps as he landed back on Sasaki's shoulder.
Before I performed the spell, I positioned myself away from the group. I then began to follow the instructions given to me by Peeps. My lips began to move in a steady motion as I uttered the words to the mystical incantation.
As the incantation left my lips, I felt something stirring within me. As the incantation was completed, the something moved within my body to my fingers and what eminated was something amazing. Erupting from my hand was a pillar of fire that seemingly reached for the sky. It was quite magnificent I thought, though the screams behind me indicated differently.
"Alright now, cut off the connection" said Peeps as I stymied the flow of 'mana' within me as the spell died down and was eventually destroyed. "Okay, so you are able to perform magic, congratulations!" said Peeps as I saw Myne with widened eyes.
"So cool, real magic!" she shouted as the excitement of throwing fireballs was evident on her face. "Hold on now, we must be safe about this, considering your age and such" said Peeps as the training session seemed to be in full swing from that front. To start of Mynes training, water magic was the route Peeps went with, considering its somewhat safer nature.
I was practicing some other types of magic like barriers and other elements like thunder and wind. As I was practicing, a question seemed to well up within me. 'What is it?' I wondered as I wondered what the 'mana' was. I only named it mana as it was the only term in my head at the time, what else could I call it.
'Lets leave the question for now' I thought as I continued my magic practice, trying to see if I can mold the conjured base elements into new shapes. Spells from peeps world apparently used incantations to mold mana, but incantationless magic is possible if you are proficient in imagination and mana manipulation.
Right now, I was focused on trying to mold the fire into a sphere, multiple of them actually. As I was in the process of completing the project, I heard a screech and I looked over in concern, only to see a happy Myne jumping up and down, her hands conjuring water from her palms.
"I did it, I did it!" she shouted as the water was still being produced from her palms, and peeps tried to get her to shut it down. "Come on Myne!" said Peeps trying to get her attention, which she finally snapped out of her excited trance.
"Ah right" she said as she cut off the supply of mana to the spell. "That was impressive" said Peeps as Sasaki was clapping from the side. "You seem to have an affinity to the natural elements, plus some others" said Peeps as he landed on her shoulder and gave her a congratulatory nudge. "Yay!" said Myne, the high from successfully casting her first spell still there.
-Few days later-
In the pub, I was laying around waiting for customers to show up. My regulars were apparently busy today, so besides my servers which were Myne and Lutz, the bar was terribly empty.
"Man, where is the customers?" I asked no one in particular. It was quite odd for the bar to be this empty. "Man, I figured it would be constantly busy" said Lutz as he was sitting at one of the unused tables.
"I know, but what can you do?" I asked them as they shook their heads. Myne, seemingly antsy, asked me if they could work on their paper project. I told them sure and they left, promising to return by the evening to get some work in. Of course, Myne was prepared with defensive magic along with magical enhancement.
As I was left with nothing to do, I decided to take a look into my powers, my 'vault' and 'home'. 'How do I access the vault?' I thought to myself as I felt a connection forming, and a singular door appeared behind the shelves holding the booze and other things like snacks and the like.
The door was somewhat plain, the only decoration it has was the engravings trailing the edge of the door to give it a somewhat sophisticated look. It's presence was very faint, as if only I could percieve it, and I felt I could change that at any time I desired. The connection told me what it was, the entrance to the vault.
'Neat' I thought as I approached the door. I then twisted the knob and the door seemingly swung open. I could not percieve what was inside, yet I knew something was there. I then stepped in as the door then shut with an audible *click* and I then began to percieve the inside.
What was inside was an infinite amount of things. It seemingly stretched for miles as organized shelves, pedestals, and cases made of an unknown material, the connection telling me something about infinity, but I could not make heads or tails of it. Then there was the mountains I could percieve.
The mountains consisted of things like metals, coins, paper cash, and other materials that could have been used in many worlds. I could also sense items of variable levels of power, but some items gave me goosebumps. I felt like if I was struck by some of these items, the very molecules that I am made of would cease to exist.
'Wow' I thought as I looked at all this, finally taking in the extremity of the situation I was in. A vault that could contain anything that was ever made, and its potential of creation and its force of destruction. It was like looking at something miraculous. 'I need to look around' I thought as I moved over the various pedestals and shelves lined with goods.
Various weapons seemed to be on the pedestals, and some of them radiated an aura that I found particularly dangerous. I then stopped in front of a particular item that I found somewhat appealing. It was a sword that seemed to radiate energy from the metal and it was a katana.
As I touched the blade, information flowed into my mind. It was a sword composed of something called Hiihirokane, or crimson steel. The name was known as the Drago Blade. I however, felt a connection forming with the sword through the vault. I had a sudden urge from within manifest.
"Mugen" I said to the blade as I felt the name begin to switch as an unusually large amount of energy flowed out of me into the weapon and it seemingly underwent a fundamental change, becoming linked to me in the form of a soul bound weapon. I felt a somewhat elated feeling from the blade as I collapsed in the vault.
.
.
.
I awoke in a bed that I could instinctly feel was mine. The essence of the home was the source of the comfort I was able to feel and the connection of ownership. 'Why did I collapse?' I wondered as I then had a sudden revelation. 'By naming the blade, I caused it to evolve' I thought, wondering how that was possible for weapons, especially that one considering the knowledge given to me.
I got out of bed as I manifested the blade infront of me. It looked like the blade was covered in black, the blades eternally sharp and the aura it emitted was quite impressive. "I have a feeling I am liking this one" I said to myself as I shutted it away in the vault. I then stepped out of my room down the stairs into the pub.
I then saw my regulars as a smile made its way onto my face. "Hey guys" I said jovially as I went behind the counter and began to mix drinks and such with skills that had seemingly increased over night. They were fluid motions and I was impressed at my improving skill of slinging drinks.
"Hey Thomas" said Sasaki as he sat down as I slid him a bottle of sake. It was quite a calm atmosphere. "Albus" I said to the old man who sat down at the counter. "Hello Thomas" he said in his grandfatherly voice. Everybody seemed to flow in at this moment. It was quite funny.
'I feel at home here' I thought as the atmosphere became one of extreme joy and party. I joined in on some drinking as my friends and even my workers were somewhat partying up. As we were drinking, customers with light blue hair and dark blue came flowing in. "Yoh!" said Sylvester as he came in with an annoyed Ferdinand.
They made their way over to me as I got them drinks of various types for Sylvester, and some virgin drinks for Ferdinand. "How are you two?" I asked them as they answered nonchalantly drinking. "Hey Thomas" asked Sylvester. I leaned in close. "I have something I wish to talk about in private" he said as I nodded and we set a time for meeting somewhere called the temple in their world.
[A/N] sorry for the slow posting, I was tired some days. Anyhow, have fun reading!