It is the morning of Nifily Golbog's first day as Veyne's apprentice. Being far too excited to sleep, Nifily spends the night practicing drawing the runes on her wand onto the ground. Matching each stroke as closely as possible.
At the first crack of light that comes over the horizon, Nifily runs off to wake Veyne and get started with her first lesson.
"Rise and shine mister Veyne sir!"
Startled, Veyne jolts up.
"Ah! Jeez you need to stop popping up out of nowhere."
"Sorry about that. If my affinity wasn't mud magic, it would probably have something to do with stealth. Anyway, I brought you some breakfast from my village so we can get started as soon as possible."
"Keen one aren't you? It's nice to see someone as excited by magic as I was at your age."
As they sit around a fire, Veyne eating the bread and Nifily watching quietly.
"Before I teach you anything Nifily, I wanted to ask. Do you think that you'd be able to introduce me to that monk in your village?"
"Humm, it would be difficult to say for sure. The villagers of Mudbree are pretty wary of outsiders. But maybe the old man will see you if he's in the right mood."
"I see, well maybe I'll introduce myself later once I can better hide my arm."
Veyne massages his right shoulder as he is still unable to move his arm.
"Um, speaking of which. I was writing out the runes on my wand and I remember you saying that they were different to the ones on your arm. Why is that?"
"Good question. I suppose beginning with runes is not a terrible way to start. Listen closely."
Nifily sits at attention while Veyne grabs the dire wolf fang and walks over to a nearby tree. While carving away into the tree, he puts on his best educator voice and says.
"Runes are symbols of an ancient language. Each rune has a different meaning and understanding those meanings is what makes an average mage better than a novice."
"Average? You mean higher powered mages and Realmforgers don't use runes?"
"Yes, most move on from the slow underpowered nature of runes, to the much faster and powerful tool of casting spells."
"Oh, but I'm guessing you're about to tell me that they're important and there are still cool applications for runes, right?"
"You catch on quick. Yes, what many neglect is their power to enhance non magical things. Things like weapons, doors or even one's own skeleton."
A shiver moves down his spine, remembering his past life and how trapped he was in the council chamber.
"However, those sorts of high level applications of runes are far out of your or my own reach. Let's just start with the basics."
Continuing his carvings in the tree, he illustrates four unique symbols. He proceeded to say.
"You should be familiar with these four runes. The two on my arm represent absorb and control. I used these to absorb the magic essence from the elder tree into my arm. Once I'm able to use my own magic, control will help me move the arm using said magic."
"I see, so since you have no magic of your own, you need to get it from somewhere else. And in order to help control it you have that secondary rune. Makes sense to me."
"Very good. Tell me, what do your instincts tell you about the runes on your wand?"
Spinning and holding the wand close to her eye, she concedes that they would be most useful if they helped with the flow of magic and perhaps the power of the magic used with it.
"As usual you're almost spot on. That first rune represents focus. It should help you to concentrate your magic through the wand much easier. Next is the rune for amplify. As simple as it is, this rune will slightly increase the magic that is pushed through it."
Some time passes as they continue to go over the applications of those four runes. As well as Nifily practicing the correct way to write out each rune on the ground.
"Now Nifily, you may be asking yourself why you can't just add more runes to your wand to make it even more effective. It all has to do with overloading the thing you are inscribing on. Everything has a limit. Regular items can hold only two runes before they break. The higher the quality item the more runes you can place upon it."
"Ah I see, I was wondering. Figured it was something like that."
Just as day turns to dusk. Veyne looks at his new diligent student. Happy with the level of effort she's willing to put in and hopeful that given the right amount of time, she could perhaps be a respected Realmforger one day.
"Hey Nif, before you head back to Mudbree, I'd like to see you use some magic."
"Really?! You think I'm ready! Of course I'll show you. Just need to find some mud."
After not long of a search they find a small muddy puddle. Veyne gestures to Nifily to give it a go. With great enthusiasm she gets in a serious ready stance and prepares her wand.
"Here goes nothing! Hyaa!"
Flicking the wand towards the puddle, she looks as though she's about to pop a blood vessel in her head while trying to move the mud.
"Wow wow wow. You really are doing it all wrong. You're only thinking in the physical sense. You need to feel the flow of magic within and guide it to do what you need."
"Huh? Well how do I do that?"
"First understand that the wand isn't creating the magic, you are. Then like a wellspring, you need to let the mana build up until there is enough to work with. Finally release that mana and have it flow through your body and into the wand."
"Ok I think I understand, let me give it a try."
She switches her stance to a more relaxed posture. With slight frustration Veyne thinks to himself, if only he could properly sense magic right now he'd be able to help more effectively. His frustration quickly turns to shock and amazement. In only a few minutes Nifily has understood the basic principles of using magic as she makes the mud beneath them ripple.
"Look I'm doing it! I'm actually moving the mud."
"Excellent work Nifily! Now let's try casting a spell, it should help with your focus and give you a better result. Something simple like a mud whip should be easy enough."
Without a wasted second, she starts to raise the mud up and into a winding rope. Higher and higher it rises until it drops back down suddenly. Veyne turns his attention from the magic back to Nifily. She has passed out cold.
Trying to pick her up with his one arm and failing, Veyne gets extremely flustered. Being so weak as to not even being able to pick up his own apprentice makes him lose it.
"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it all!"
He takes a second then vents his frustration.
"I seem to understand her more every second. Being weak sucks. If only I killed all those fucks back at the council. I could pick her up no problem."
Wait no…A different feeling comes over Veyne.
"If that were true, I wouldn't be here at all."
He looks on at Nifily, confused emotions flying around his mind…
But as usual, Veyne's luck runs out. He no longer has any time to stand and sort out his emotions as he hears the sound of rustling further up in the woods. The rustling is accompanied by little voices, speaking a language unfamiliar to him.
"Shit. Not right now. Sounds like it could be goblins. What should I do? Stay and fight? No I left my spear back at camp, besides they'd easily kill me like I am now. Do I hide? No, the same thing will happen if they find us."
Then a realisation hit and it was as if his old self was standing behind him, trying to influence himself.
"Leave her, you can escape back to the camp and survive. It's what you do."
"I know but if we do that she'll surely die."
"Better her than you. You know you want to do it. Leave and focus on your own training."
Sweat starts pooling along his brow. His breath quickens as the sounds get closer. Veyne takes a hesitant step backwards. But when he does he steps on a twig, breaking it. A new idea forms.
"No you're wrong. Analysing the situation and adapting. That's what I do best."
The visage of himself fades away and he looks about for a solution. Getting to his knees, he grabs Nifily's wand and shoves it in between the Radius and Ulna bone in his right arm. Securing it in place with the bandage.
"It's now or never. Jeez, I've had to say that a lot recently."
Veyne, determined to move her, focuses. Concentrating harder than he ever had, he moves one finger. Then the next. After only a few seconds he is able to move his whole arm.
"Finally!"
He quietly shouts as he immediately picks up Nifily and runs back toward the lab. Once back, he lays her to rest before passing out of mana depletion himself.