Section 21 Chapter 20 Life as an Apprentice

Through Pop's explanation, Jenkins understood that there were two ways for enchanters to improve themselves, one was to widen the upper limit of their stored spirit, and to upgrade when they reached a certain limit. Spirit is like a combination of blue bars and experience bars, and is consumed by using rituals, abilities and even the use of supernatural items, making it very difficult to upgrade. The second is learning a new ability, as now that Jenkins has become a scribe, as a rule he can go to the church and pick a white basic ability from the church's collection.

(TN: Blue bar as in mana bar.)

He can also get more if he is able to complete an important task, achieve some special honour or make a great contribution.

There are also many ways to accumulate spirits, even the twelve Churches of the Righteous God have different methods. What the [Knowledge and Books] churches use is to transcribe a strange text. This method was useful at least up to level 3. Papa Oliver didn't mention anything about higher levels. Jenkins naturally understood that he was not qualified to hear it now.

"Spirit is a word closer in meaning to the world consciousness as claimed by the churches that believe in [the spirit of all things]. To accumulate spirit is, in essence, to bring yourself close to the world, or to bring the world close to you. In very early times, the method of the enchanters was to contemplate all things in nature, or to walk around the world on their own. Though it was safer, this method was very inefficient. In the present age, the Orthodox Church offers the quickest method that believers can use, and it is not very dangerous if they follow the requirements."

"The easiest way to keep the world close to you is through the mysterious realm, so that mysterious objects cannot be formed. I have been informed about you from the Church side, so you should have noticed that you possess something extra when you left the mysterious realm."

Yes, there was an icy airflow in the back at that time, so it was the Spirit.

Papa Oliver nodded, then suddenly thought of something, "Remember, don't use methods of unknown origin to accumulate spirit, they may work, but they are also likely to be related to pseudo-gods, and pseudo-gods' methods are always flawed."

Having said that, he handed Jenkins a black and white photograph and a stack of white paper. The photograph appeared to be part of some crumbling stone tablet that had been photographed, and the tadpole-like writing on it made Jenkins' temples hurt as he read it.

"This is the writing, from now on you will copy it a hundred times a day at my place, no more, or it can have adverse effects on your body.. Neither the photograph nor the blank sheet of paper on which it is written may be taken away, or the Church has severe penalties."

Jenkins wouldn't even look at the photograph unless absolutely necessary. So he tried to rely on his memory to write down the tadpole texts and then mime them, but found that he immediately forgot them once he took his eyes off them.

"The so-called rightful gods can't be related to one of those unnameable outer gods from a previous life, can they?"

(TN : A Cthulhu reference again...at least I think so )

He guessed with trepidation.

"The enchanters of this age are very different from the past, and going about accumulating spirits and gaining abilities is not the right way to do it. Therefore, you will also need to spend a great deal of time learning lessons in grammar, arithmetic, fighting, etiquette, knowledge of the nobility and so on, all of which are, of course, arranged by the Church at no cost to you."

"But sir, I am here to work."

In truth Jenkins was afraid of going back to school again, while he was confident that he was good in arithmetic, the other courses made one's head spin at the sound of them.

"Oh."

Pops laughed out at Jenkins' distressed expression, "Relax, young man. You don'thave to go to university, if I have today in the words of that last priest, it's just to improve your general abilities. And with our faith in [Legacy sage], lifelong learning is an inevitable thing. Don't worry, these courses are a long way off, now that you've just joined, you still need to get used to life as a scribe, and it will be about two months before these begin."

Jenkins nodded bitterly, very worried about what the so-called grammar course and the nobleman's etiquette course would be.

"That's all for today."

He clapped his hands for Jenkins' attention.

"From now on, your daily schedule will be to arrive here by seven thirty each day and clean the place up. There won't usually be many customers in the morning, so you'll sit here and copy that text. Before lunch begins, I will select the necessary books for you to read, some on the Enchanters and some on antique identification. I will provide the lunch, and after the lunch break if there are no guests, I will instruct you personally about these antique items, and if there are guests, then you don't have to speak just watch and learn the tricks of the trade patiently, and you may leave at half past six in the evening. Is that all right?"

"Yes sir."

Jenkins nodded, it was really hectic.

"By the way, where do you live now?"

Pops asked again.

"Maiden Heaven Road, in the Sabine district."

"Oh?" Pops put down those papers in his hands, "Living with your parents?"

He asked because there was absolutely no way Jenkins, at his age, could afford to rent or buy property there on his own.

"Yes."

Jenkins was a little ashamed.

"And you're 20 years old, aren't you? Here's a tip for you, move out and find a cheap apartment nearby. Later on you'll find that even clerical scribes like us are faced with as many unexpected assignments, many of which are dangerous. If you don't want to get your family involved, and are willing to save yourself the daily trip across Nolan to my place, I will advise you to live on your own."

The question had crossed Jenkins' mind, and although he was reluctant to give up his identity, it was inevitable that spending time with family members would reveal some of his secrets. It seemed good to move out, and it was easy to connect with everyone in one city.

He considered the original owner's savings over the years, but was surprised to find that he seemed to have squandered all his pocket money. With the advance on his salary that he had been given yesterday, he would have no more than 10 gold pounds at his disposal . Although Pops did give him a pound a week as an apprentice's 'pocket money', it wasn't enough to improve Jenkins' financial situation.

"Is this enough for me to live on my own?"

He considered this for a moment and said to Pops, "That's a good point , but I may not have enough money and will have to talk to my family about it."

Pops nodded knowingly and did not continue the conversation.

In the time that followed, Pops opened the side door to his room and went to the back of the yard to do who knows what in the storage shed, while Jenkins took a rag and carefully scrubbed all the items in the shop.

In Pop's words, all that was put out was worthless junk, in other words, modern crafts, so Jenkins didn't have to be so careful.Although he looked at the pile of treasure with a glimmer of hope, he didn't see anything of worth.