Chapter 44: Progress (2/2)

The last interesting thing was path progression.

Black Witch 1/5

She had reached that milestone after learning her fiftieth glyph or so. It did not feel that significant, and perhaps it was not, but she imagined that a proper witch would have some flexibility in her casting.

According to Varska and Solfis, the third step on the path was where a lot of people were stuck for a long time. It required an advanced mastery of one’s chosen field to move on, and that was also why most folks branched out once afterward. Varska was considered a promising genius for reaching the fourth step at such a young age.

Viv closed her eyes and refocused on the world outside. The compass she had created still hung in the air by her side. She felt a dim connection to it, one she could keep alive with minimal effort.

Viv willed the orb to disappear and stood up. It was time to go to a more practical part of the training.

Then Arthur landed by her side and rubbed her own forehead.

Arthur kept growing up and the amount of meat required to feed her meant regular hunts at the edge of the forest. She could now reach Viv’s navel when sitting on her hind legs. Surprisingly, she was still light enough for Viv to carry easily. Her wings were huge too.

One notable difference was that her horns were growing. Dragons had one set of horns curving back from above their head to protect their neck, but they also had horns above their eyes that only came out later. As to why, Viv wasn’t sure. For now, only two black spines poked out

They were apparently very itchy.

“There, there.”

Viv massaged the scaly skin around the nubs, gently at first, then deeper as Arthur relaxed.

“Squee,” Arthur signaled, bringing Viv’s ministrations to an end.

“Alright then.”

Varska had some knowledge on dragons from her youth in Helock. There was, in fact, extensive documentation on the massive creatures. Unfortunately, most of them were historical recountings of conflicts and strategy books. There was not a single book about dragon-rearing in the entire Param continent. Of this, the smooth mage was sure.

“Guess it’s up to me, then,” Viv muttered to herself. But writing would come later. Now, it was time to empty her channels by casting powerful spells. Solfis addressed her from the edge of the clearing.

//The target is set up, Your Grace.

Viv looked down towards Kazar to see a standing target made of a stone held up by several logs. Marruk stood nearby, hands on her waist and wheezing quite loudly. Viv whistled, and the stout Kark gave a sign and moved away.

Viv was almost entirely confident in her aim, but it still irked her to shoot a spell with friendly people downrange. That was just wrong.

Viv poured power into a sphere, then drew the runes for projection, distance, and power on it, then she infused it with the meaning of destruction.

The sphere was perfectly silent as it formed, like most of Viv’s spells. Sweat grew on her brow as her mind stretched to the limit. The task was as complicated as juggling several equations at the same time. It would have been impossible for her only three months ago but now it was just a strenuous exercise.

Black mana was as eager and willing as ever. Getting better at manipulating did not change it, or make it grow. It changed her. It made her understand and coax the flow better. Nyil, the world, offered the power, Nous, God of Magic, offered the path to use it through the interface. It was up to Viv to make use of the opportunity.

“Arty.”

The sphere veered like a comet, arching beautifully throughout the air on a tail of pure darkness.

And Viv finally saw a kid running up the path behind it.

Viv’s focus wavered. The spell lost cohesion in that very moment. Viv gritted her teeth and, through a supreme effort of will, breathed back life in frayed connections. The baleful projectile went through the target without stopping and crashed heavily in the grass beyond, taking a chunk of wood on the way. The running boy stopped dead in his tracks although the spell never even came close to him. Marruk had moved towards him just in case, but in truth there had been no real danger.

Not that Viv was going to admit it.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” she bellowed. Everyone knew that she used this place to train. She had no official right to do so but she was on public land, and no one in their right mind could watch someone shear off a rock with the power of their mind and bitch about it to their face. Even the guards gave her a wide berth. So what was the little twerp doing here?

To her surprise, not only did the boy not run away, he actually tried to reach her. Marruk gently stopped him with a hand. He started babbling. Viv closed the distance.

As she looked on more, she could tell that the boy was young, probably around ten or something. She was not very good with kids’ age. He wore the typical undyed loose pants and shirt combo of the Kazaran children. His sleeve was torn off and he was bleeding a little bit. He was also completely out of breath.

“Yes? What’s going on?” Viv asked.

The boy stepped back, dark eyes bloodshot and red from crying. He frantically recovered a dusty pouch from his one pocket and shook the thing in front of Viv’s nose.

“You are for hire, right? The temple hired you and so did the Baranese, right? That’s what my Ma said.”

“Hm. Yes?”

“I want to hire you! I’m serious! I got…”

He opened the grubby pouch and spilled the contents in the palm of his hand. It was a meager prize.

“... six iron bits, a real nice pink stone and half of a real core, I swear!”

It was a piece of quartz. Viv was sure.

“And what task did you have in mind?”

“My friend and his sis. They were with me. We got ambushed by beastlings!”

He spat on the side of the road.

“We got split up. I think they could still be alive. Please, help me find them. Please!”

“The guards won’t help?” Viv asked, surprised.

The boy tried to spit again but he had run out of saliva and just sort of did a ‘pblblb’ sound.

“Those good-for-nothings won’t help unless it’s a real threat to Kazar. Please… it’s already been ten minutes.”

Viv could not find a reason not to try.

She could not let a kid die.

She knew that helping now meant that she would be helping again but, come on. A kid.

“Alright. Lead the way, quickly.”

Viv expected Marruk to complain but the tall Kark woman was already running to get Solfis. It was, apparently, time to hunt.

But Viv knew why the guards would not have helped.

Beastlings did not take prisoners.