Valar and Elizabeth repeated their study sessions on both days of the weekend, although the young woman needed to leave sooner on sixth day. She had some family business to deal with…

  Everyone else always has ‘family business’. Am I lucky or unlucky to have none?

  Regardless of Elizabeth’s business, 1st day promised to be an interesting one. First of all, he was supposed to visit Felicia’s place in the business district for a session of therapy. He had a surprising amount of thoughts bouncing around in his mind, begging to be released into the world at large. He hoped that the woman’s services would help him unload some of that baggage.

  Secondly, he was supposed to meet his tutor for the first time. The only things he knew about the mysterious teacher were that they were another bronze ranker, and that Elaine had chosen them personally. That’s how every tutor was chosen, after all.

  Different academies had different styles, some focusing on learning from books while others opted for large lectures. Even a small academy like the one in Lyndale—an institution Valar hadn’t known even existed previously—could teach bronze rankers their runes and spells. As for the royal academy, the teaching style for bronze rankers revolved around voluntary tutors.

  Basically any other academy within Leoria would’ve been hard pressed to find willing bronze rankers to teach the younger generation, but the royal academy was different. Having used this model for almost a century, the mages who had been tutored by others had learned that they could benefit as well if they took on the job themselves. Teaching a newer student about their area of expertise often helped them get over roadblocks on their own path to power, so more often than not, willing participants for the program were plentiful indeed.

  Late that evening, Valar found himself looking out of the window and up into the sky. The stars glimmered far above him, shining in the cloudless sky. Once again, he found himself making a wish.

  I wish upon a star… Please let my tutor be a nice person.

  Valar’s dream that night was a relatively calm one. That didn’t mean that it was pleasant…

  In the dream, he saw a forest. It was beautiful in its vibrancy, provoking a sense of awe from the boy. But in its very center, in a tiny crevice created by a small beast, a flame had begun to grow. He was not able to see whether that flame ever consumed the forest, but one thing was abundantly clear: He could not stop it, no matter how much he wanted to.

  …

  Valar woke up to a darkened room. It was too early to wake up, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t go back to sleep. Eventually, he gave up on it.

  Still, he didn’t like the idea of getting up just yet. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, casting his room in darkness. Still, he was sure that it was not the middle of the night.

  “Winter is coming, isn’t it?” he muttered to himself, burrowing deeper into the soft covers. The blanket had been changed to a thicker one when he was off adventuring, a luxury that he wasn’t used to just yet. It didn’t feel as foreign as when he had come to the academy for the first time, but it was still weird.

  At times, Valar found himself thinking about saving money for food and clothes. Then, he remembered how much money was in his bank account…

  Over ten gold. I’m fairly sure that I could buy an apartment in Lyndale right now, but as an adventurer, the sum doesn’t seem so huge anymore. I mean, a single high quality healing potion can cost upwards to a gold! Sure, it can save a life, but that’s half a regular worker’s yearly salary!

  If I remember correctly, the healing I received at the Lyndale infirmary after my awakening cost around 11 gold. I could pay that now, although I wouldn’t be left with much… Money is weird.

  Boredom eventually won over his desire for comfort. Valar got up from the bed, tossing his covers to the side and striding to his mage’s robe on the floor. The extremely expensive garment was laying in a heap at the foot of his bed, but there were no wrinkles on it when he put it on. The benefits of luxury…

  Valar wandered over to the window. He sat on the windowsill, looking down at the capital with a small smile on his face. The city was waking up before the sun—a clear reminder of the shortening days.

  Smoke billowed out from the chimneys of bakeries, workers roamed the streets and a few caravans trundled down the stone roads. The affluent districts were lit by street lamps, while some parts of the artist’s district remained entirely dark. Valar could not see the poorest district of the city, the underground, as it was on the other side of the city, but he could guess that it was similarly dark. There, every single lamp on the street would have been looted ages ago.

  I should get a move on, shouldn’t I? Even though my tutoring starts at noon, that doesn’t mean that I should waste my time before it… Let’s go see if there’s some breakfast available.

  Fortunately, the staff of the academy started their work early. Even though the full breakfast wasn’t ready just yet, Valar received a hearty meal when he asked for it nicely. This time, he opted to sit in the general dining hall instead of the private one.

  It was a novel experience, sitting in a room where he would’ve been swarmed just a few short months ago. The hall didn’t seem so daunting when it wasn’t full of curious students, making him consider if he should start dining there regularly.

  I’m pretty sure the dust has already fallen from my episode at the entrance hall, but would a new cloud just be kicked up from my quick ascension? Probably.

  People would ask questions. He would have to come up with answers… The alchemical fire excuse works for my initial awakening, especially with strangers. I don’t think I need to reinvent anything there. But what about my quick ascension?

  He could say that the expedition acted as a catalyst for his growth. It was true in a sense, considering that he had progressed extremely quickly even before slaying Edwin, but it couldn’t explain everything.

  Am I just overcomplicating things again? Valar chuckled ruefully and continued eating his scrambled eggs and bacon. Do I really need to come up with excuses for every single person who asks? I’ll just say that I killed and healed a lot during the expedition. People only know that it was a bloody one, not the reason for it. Making up a lie would just make everything harder in this case.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Despite the new realization, he decided to continue avoiding the dining hall and other public spaces, at least for a while. Not worth the hassle.

  After breakfast, Valar headed for the library. Livira was at her desk like always, greeting him when he came in. “Good morning, Valar. Woke up early, did you?”

  “I should be asking you the same question,” Valar joked. “I’m pretty sure you would be wide awake at your desk even if I came here in the middle of the night!”

  The pair chatted for a short while, but he excused himself after a few minutes. The rest of his morning was spent studying his bronze rank keystone.

  This time, Valar didn’t attempt to blaze ahead at full speed. There was no reason to do so anyway, since he would be meeting his tutor in only a few short hours. Instead, he spent his time preparing for the eventual meeting, attempting to memorize the broad details. That way, he hoped that the time spent with his tutor would be as efficient as possible.

  After around three hours of studying, Valar got up from the comfortable sofa and returned the book to Livira. At the questioning look of the woman, he explained his reasoning for the early departure. “I’ve got a meeting with my tutor at the water tower in only half an hour or so.”

  “Tutor, eh?” Livira smiled. “So my services won’t be necessary for your progress anymore?”

  “I wouldn’t say that just yet,” he scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Let me go see and talk to them first. I hope the tutor will be a nice person…”

  “Just go,” the old woman waved her hand towards the door. “Shoo, you shy life mage! Go meet a new person for once!”

  Practically kicked out by the old librarian, Valar started wandering towards the water tower. His tutoring session would be held on the 8th floor of the tower, so he could walk a bit slower than normally. The room was only one skybridge away, after all.

  He spent his time peoplewatching from the skybridge. It reminded him of his ‘early’ days at the academy. Listen to me, reminiscing on something that happened a few months ago… I sound like an old codger.

  When his time finally ran out, Valar strided to the room in question. Standing in front of it, he hesitated for a short moment, then steeled himself. One shy knock later, the door clicked open.

  I wonder what they will-. Huh?

  “Valar?”

  “Felicia?”

  I’ll need to have a discussion with Elaine later…

  …

  The office space within the 8th floor of the water tower was somewhat similar to Elaine’s room, although it was much more bare. It had the sofa, the chairs and the wooden desk, but it lacked the countless books, smell of tea and everything else that made the room uniquely hers. That was to be expected, however, as the room was meant to be reserved for tutors and students instead of being a single staff member’s office.

  Waving for Valar to enter the room, Felicia sighed. “I suspected that something was awry when Elaine came to me asking if I wanted to tutor a student, but this… She’s really stressed herself out trying to ascend, hasn’t she?”

  “How did you figure that out?” Valar asked confusedly. “Not to say that you’re wrong or anything, but she hasn’t been public about it to my knowledge.”

  “She wouldn’t have gone for such a stupid choice if she were in top shape,” she chuckled. “I’m not a bad tutor by any means, but you’re my client. Even worse, she set the time of our tutoring session just before our therapy… How lazy of her.”

  Valar had been shocked to see a familiar face waiting for him at the door, but thinking further, he kind of liked Elaine’s choice. Ignoring the obvious problem of him being Felicia’s client, the woman had been a lovely person when he had met her. He had been afraid that he would have to bear with some stuck up noble, but it seemed that Elaine had handled that problem for him.

  “I kind of like the choice,” he voiced his thoughts. “You’re not some stuck-up noble, and I know that you’re a nice person.”

  “First of all, thank you,” Felicia smiled. “Secondly, I don’t think Elaine’s choice to pair us up in this way was bad, per say, but it was unprofessional of her. I have a contract with you promising confidentiality, remember?”

  Valar grabbed his chin in thought. “But is that a problem? The lessons and therapy are entirely separate anyway.”

  “It’s more so a question of what you think of as confidential information. Although…” a grin spread on Felicia’s face. “I won’t have to submit any reports about this to Elaine, since that would technically go against our contract. I think I like this arrangement as well!”

  The pair sat down, Felicia on the chair behind the desk and Valar in front of it. Felicia grabbed a book on life magic from her bag and slammed it down on the table. “Now, let’s get started. I came here to tutor, not gossip about our shared professor. I’m assuming you’ve already started, trying to get out of school as fast as possible once again?”

  Valar blushed. “Yeah… How did you guess?”

  “It was pretty obvious based on our earlier talk. How far have you gotten?”

  “With Livira’s help-.”

  “Wait, that old lady has actually been helping you?” Felicia raised her eyebrows in surprise. “She never helped me during my bronze rank studies…”

  Without even thinking about it, Valar tried to inspect Felicia to see her emotions. He had gotten used to doing so during their previous discussion, but this time, something was different.

  Expecting an open book, he was surprised to encounter an impenetrable wall in its place. He could sense absolutely nothing about the woman, save for her rank. Even her progress through bronze rank was impossible to see, even though he had clearly evaluated her as being over halfway towards silver rank during their previous meeting.

  “What… is this?” he breathed out, his eyes as wide as saucers. “I can’t see anything!”

  “Did you think that my aura is always an open book?” Felicia asked, raising one delicate eyebrow. “That confidentiality of yours would be difficult to uphold if people could read my emotions at a glance, wouldn’t it?”

  Valar nodded hesitantly, not really knowing what to say. “Yeah… What were we talking about?”

  “Livira.”

  “Oh, right!” He grabbed the chance to switch topics, and explained his relationship with the woman in a few short sentences. Essentially, it boiled down to going to meet her every day and studying hard. “As for how far we got, Livira helped me get started with drawing the rune with pen and paper, but she said that I should get a tutor as fast as possible.”

  “A reasonable woman,” Felicia nodded. “Even higher ranked people have problems tutoring others when they don’t have the same affinity, as seeing issues in other people’s runes would be way too difficult.”

  “But you can see the issues easily?”

  “Pretty much,” she nodded. “Want to show me where you’re at?”

  “Let’s do that.”

  He wasn’t very far…

  …

  “Look at the tip of the line there,” Felicia pointed at the edge of one of the leaves. “It’s completely wrong.”

  “What? I don’t see anything wrong with it!” Valar growled, practically burning a hole in the paper below with his gaze.

  “Its flow towards the branch should be much, much smoother. If you were to draw the rune now, it would mean something along the lines of dangerous wilderness, if it even worked at all.”

  Valar breathed out a slow breath, pulling out another piece of paper. “Alright. Smoother edge for the third leaf. Do you have any other details I should fix right away?”

  “Not right now,” the platinum-haired woman shook her head. “Giving you too much to fix in one iteration would just hinder you. Remember, learning your keystone will take some time, and it will be a process of trial and error. Use that ‘untiring’ attitude of yours, and don’t start wallowing in despair just yet.”

  “I just don’t get the jump in complexity,” he whined. “The iron rank rune feels so easy compared to this one!”

  “That’s because it is,” Felicia chuckled. “Magic is hard, Valar; get used to it. Now, our lesson is almost over. I think you progressed quite well, considering this was our first tutoring session. Do you want to grab something to eat while we walk to my office?”

  “You don’t want to have the therapy session here?”

  “Oh, gods no,” the healer snorted. “I don’t trust the privacy enchantments on these rooms one bit. From now on, you should come to my office for both tutoring and therapy… I promise I won’t charge you for the tutoring part!”

  “How generous…”