220 Prostate Before the Master (1/2)
Kozak is hesitant to response, and he takes a short moment to think to himself before finally speaking up, not to answer my question, however. No. It is to ask a question of his own.
”Is Sapphire Solare not one of your direct pupils, Master Maxwell?”
Hearing that, I narrow my eyes at him. While I do not need Kozak to explain himself as I already know what the real reason is, I still like to hear it from him personally. Knowing it myself is one thing, and to hear it from another person is another thing.
A better thing, at least in my opinion.
And I am not in the mood to humor him. I do have plenty of things to do, like continuing to look deep into my past lives to gain new knowledge. While that is not really urgent, I actually enjoy it. Me, as an angel is similar to me from the before I have gone through everything.
I do miss the old me, whimsical and nonchalantly. I guess I have changed so much. Did not even notice, but I suppose it cannot be helped. Tsk.
”Archmage Kozak.”
I address the man with a smile. The title is just how people of any standing address each other on this world, more so in the Arcane Academy, at least from what I can understand. As that is the case, I keep the same mannerism for impression.
There is no need to change what is not broken. Same reason why I did not bother to straight up annex Azula and force people to accept my point of view, economically and socially. That would be like telling them to discard thousands upon thousands of years of their history and conflict.
Sure, I could have Legion muscles everyone into it, but what is the point of that? What does Azula has to offer me other than knowledge? With the state of things, humanity actually has a motive to explore the boundary of magic.
Being the weakest species on the planet after all, not counting monsters.
”Whether Sapphire Solare is or is not my direct student is not the question, so if you decide to stall for whatever reason, you should know… well, you will learn of the consequences then.”
I state calmly. Almost cheerfully. Have I ever tortured a mage to insanity before? Nope, and I do hope that Kozak will not be the first. From the look of it, he will not be.
My words are enough to make Kozak tenses the fuck up.
Sweating profusely too.
No need to actually state what I am going to do to him if he displeasures me for any reason, as his wild imagination is enough.
People do have some incredible imagination, and since Kozak has been through basically hell and back again, he should be aware of some of the most terrifying things possible.
Hell is called Hell due to that reason. What I have done so far feel pretty tamed in comparison to what the demons and devils do to each other on a regular basis. Much worst for the angels, obviously.
Compared to Hell itself, Heaven is a paradise. That is for comparison only, as Heaven might as well be called Hell when compare to being utterly rich on the mortal plane in a modern era. Those depictions of heaven in all religious book are just that. Depictions.
The truth is much stranger, and honestly, it is just a matter of perspective. Being an Archangel up there is like being a rich and power Chairman of a multi-billion dollars corporation.
Yup. Matter of perspective.
”My deepest apology, Master Maxwell. Student Sapphire Solare has great potential as a mage herself, and while I do wish to take her under my tutelage as one of my formal students, she had not come by to ask for it personally. Therefore, I am unable to provide for her.”
Kozak finally answers my question. Skillfully too, I might add.
The reason to why he did not take Sapphire as his direction student or even a normal student is quite simple. She did not come and ask him for it herself personally, and he is not about to go and fetch her to become his student.
Doing so would be losing face in a world where face value is extremely highly regarded, and while she has great potential to be a powerful mage in the future, so are many students here at the academy.
Sapphire is not an exception, but unlike most students here, she has gone through a rather extremely traumatic experience.
Getting raped to death by monsters have strengthen her resolve, and from the look of it, she is at the peak of first-circle of magic, readying to advance into the second-circle. She just needs a bit of help. It is difficult without anyone helping her.
Despite having studied here for the whole year, Sapphire has not asked any of the Archmage for direct tutelage. This is because I am already her master, and having multiple masters is highly frowned upon here at the Arcane Academy. At any Arcane Academy, really.
This is due to the divided loyalty within the student, not to mention the conflict of interest within the teachers themselves. Everyone has a different way of interpreting magic, just like there are numerous solutions to the same problem.
And having a common student will cause some of their specialty and secret spells to leak to the others.
That said, Sapphire cannot progress further in her study or advance to higher rank within the academic system here while she has no publicly announced teacher. The teacher must also be part of the Arcane Academy, or why would she be studying here in the first place
Sapphire must accept a master to advance and finally reach Archmage level one day. One of the rules of the academy in regard to Apprentice Mages. Those of the zeroth or first circle of magic.
They would be considered as actual mages when they reach the second circle of magic. Third circle of magic would be regarded as Archmage. Kozak for example.
Above Kozak is Grand Archmage, or those within the fourth-circle of magic. There is actually no official Grand Archmage in this Kingdom, but there are Grand Archmage, including those two spies that Legion has detected.
There seems to be no reason for those two spies to be here, considering that this Kingdom is very low-ranked amongst the human Kingdoms and Queendoms.
Not even considering Empires on other continents. A much bigger continent. This place is kind of small.
While it does sound quite simple going from first-circle to second-circle of magic, it is actually not.
Mages have spent years after years to get to the second-circle, becoming recognized as actual mages, gaining privileges and benefits as well. Decades to reach third circles normally.
More so to reach that fourth-circle of magic, thus becoming a true powerhouse on this continent.
I do not need to mention fifth-circle as fourth-circle already feels like a dream to many, for most mages died of old age before they could even touch upon fourth-circle of magic.
And mages do live well into the 200s and 300s, all thanks to their magical power. Magic provides them with perfect health and so on, not to mention vast number of potions and concoctions. Artefacts too, if they are in possession of any.
It is not all that surprising really, as technology could do the same. Most members of Hydra are actually immortal thanks to all the cybernetic and biological enhancement they are receiving.
Yup. Not that surprising. Actually, nothing really surprises me anymore. I might be shocked to learn it, but not really surprise.
”Is that so?”
I response and wonder whether I should just command Kozak to go and accept Sapphire as one of his direct students regardless of whatever she wants or not. She will not resist if Kozak produced a letter of request from me.
As for commanding Kozak, it would not take much effort at all, considering my Commandment ability.
I have not actually tested that ability on any Azulian yet, as there is no reason to, really. Also, there is a big different between forcing others to do what I want under the mind-control of the ability and one of their own freewill.
Obviously, I prefer the later, as it feels more natural. Just a feeling, but it is a good feeling. I just really hate everything fake. That is why I never like spending way too long in a simulator. Only spend enough time to study and learn things when I was living in the 31st century.
Just fake. Just really, really fake.
After a moment of contemplation, I decide to state it as it is. There is no need to beat around the bush, as doing so will just be a waste of time for both me and Kozak.
I can afford to waste time with the power to control time at my command, but not so much for Kozak.
Kozak is quite a busy person, from his private study to teaching at the academy. The latter not so much as most students are left to study and fend for themselves. It helps build up their independent as well as confident.