Chapter 201: What Is A Genius?

Cornelius Rotrusk sat at his crystalline table at the back of his ornate house in the Villa District. He picked up his beautiful ceramic teacup with an elegant grace befitting his family’s style and sipped the rare Royal Ebon Bloom tea, shipped all the way from his home, the Great City of Frost Rim.

Cornelius surveyed his lush garden, dozens of exquisite flowers curled around a small pond. Such flowers would never be seen outdoors in the frigid cold of Frost Rim. The flowers were just one more benefit of accepting this job in Hollow Shade.

Cornelius took a deep whiff of his outrageously expensive tea and sighed in comfort. This was the life, a quiet afternoon, a beautiful vista, and his delicious tea. This was the life worthy of a genius like himself.

“Oi! You in here, you dull dwarf?” The voice echoed through the house like a meteor shattering his peaceful afternoon into oblivion.

Cornelius pinched his eyes closed and took a quiet breath. Perhaps if he stayed very quiet the wretched intruder would simply leave?

The door to the deck slammed open and banged into the wall with a dismal familiarity.

“There you are, I thought as much. I could smell that foul tea from your front gate.”

Cornelius sighed, defeated, “What do you want, Stryg?”

“To train of course,” Stryg frowned. “Did you think I came here to drink tea with you or something?”

“...One can hope.”

“Alright, come on, the training courtyard is half an hour away. If we hurry we can squeeze in some extra time to practice flora spells.” Stryg walked away without waiting for a response.

Cornelius sighed with a grim expression. Is this what his lofty life had been reduced to? Being dragged around like some child? What sort of genius would allow himself to endure such hardships?

He placed his teacup down and picked up his handheld mirror, a favored item he never went anywhere without. He sighed once more, this time from the simple yet all-encompassing misery that Stryg had on his life.

Even now Cornelius’ complexion was beginning to lose some of its healthy glow. The curls of his well-oiled mustache were beginning to droop. There were even some indignant grey hairs in his goatee for gods’ sake!

It was certain now, there could be no doubt. The stress of this job was slowly eating away at his pristine self. What sort of genius could not handle the stress of such a challenge? This one. This unlucky damned dwarf.

Cornelius sighed. He had once been a genius. A true genius. The kind that left even the most skilled magi speechless and in shock. Those were the days. He thought he was a true genius. Oh, how naive he had been.

~~~

3 months ago…

Cornelius sauntered into the waiting room like a lion eyeing his prey, yet choosing not to attack just yet, knowing full well the prey could not escape his grasp. Today was his day, everyone would witness his greatness, and no one would be able to look away.

Lily glanced up from her desk, “Good morning, do you have an appointment?”

“Appointment?” Cornelius chuckled, “I have more than that. I have a direct invitation from the legendary Lord Elzri Noir himself. I am Cornelius of the Great House of Rotrusk of Frost Rim! I’m sure Lord Noir will be ecstatic to see me. Now, be a good girl and go fetch him.”

Lily's lips curled into a smile, but there was no warmth in her scarlet eyes. “I’ll see if my lord has a moment to spare.”

“Yes, yes, hurry up. I don’t have all day,” Cornelius shooed her away.

Lily nodded stiffly. She stood up and strolled down the hall to Elzri’s office.

Cornelius watched as she walked in her high heels, his eyes drinking in the sight of her beautiful figure. A well-chosen secretary, he thought. Elzri Noir’s tastes did not disappoint, how could they? Elzri was a genius like him.

Cornelius busied himself with inspecting the furniture in the room. Just as he thought, the furniture was of the highest grade, not only in expense but of talent as well. Elzri truly was a man worthy of admiration.

“Cornelius, I hope the trip from Frost Rim wasn’t too harrowing?”

Cornelis turned, Elzri stood at the doorway with a stoic expression, his steel-grey eyes betraying nothing of what lay in such a powerful mind. The vampire secretary stood behind him, her face matching her boss’ expression.

Cornelius smiled wide, “Lord Noir, it is an honor to meet you once again. And the trip was harrowing for certain, when is traveling on the Dire River not? But it was nothing a high-mage such as myself could not handle.”

“Wonderful, I take it you have found our arrangement satisfying?” Elzri asked.

“Quite, yes. The amount of gold you mentioned in our letters was very generous, even for a genius such as myself. Not that I’m complaining.”

“Hm, your talents in chromatic green and brown magic are desired for this job. But the main reason I chose you was because of your discretion. I hear the only thing a Rotrusk values more than their magic is their dignity.”

Cornelius straightened his back with pride, “Of course, my family is the most honorable in all of Frost Rim. When we give our word, we keep it at all costs. You did well in searching for me.”

“Perfect, so you will accept being subjected to mind spells every three days, yes?”

“Uh, pardon?” Cornelius wrinkled his brow.

“Not to worry, we will not be probing into your brain. We will simply use the mind spells to make certain you are telling us the truth. A safety measure to ensure the confidential nature of your job here stays confidential. You understand, yes?”

Cornelius shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably, “I think I now understand why you’re paying me so much... Alright, I accept your conditions.”

“Good. Follow me,” Elzri walked out of the room.

Cornelius glanced at Lily, she had already sat back down at her desk. He turned around and hurried to keep up with Elzri. The drow arch-mage did not wait for the dwarf, instead, he kept walking at his usual pace.

Cornelius found the drow’s disregard for etiquette vexing, but he hid it from his face. “Where are we going?”

“To meet your one and only student,” said Elzri.

“Wait, like now? Already? But I’ve only just arrived in Hollow Shade this morning. I haven’t had time to prepare a proper lesson and more importantly, I haven’t had any time to rest!”

“You said you’re a genius, yes? I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Cornelius puffed his chest. Elzri was right. He was a genius. This would be easy. He would impress and overwhelm the student with his magical knowledge and have them scrambling to keep up. He’d be back in his rooms at the nearby tavern before dinner.

Cornelius cleared his throat, “You know, your letters regarding my job here were quite bare, I must say.”

“In what way? You were told that you would be instructing a single youth in chromatic green and brown spells.”

“Yes, but which youth? What’s their name? What is their temperament? What is their mage rank? Are they talented, rich, or simply lucky? Why am I teaching them?”

“Your curiosity will be satisfied soon enough,” Elzri said.

Cornelius reluctantly stayed quiet and waited to meet this so-called new student of his.

After a few minutes, they reached a private training courtyard at the edge of campus, away from the classrooms and dormitories. Elzri fished out his orichalcum nameplate and opened the gate.

Cornelius inspected the enchantments placed all around the gate and walls. He had to admit, they were quite impressive. Not even a high-master would easily be able to get in here.

As they walked in, Cornelius spotted a youth meditating at the center of the courtyard. Cornelius furrowed his brow. The boy’s appearance was a bit odd. His skin had a blue shade similar to that of the drow in the Northern Lands and Frost Rim. His hair was a pale silver, similar enough to the dark grey or pale white hair of the drow. But that was where all similarities ended.

The boy’s ears were a tad longer than any drow he had seen, and they drooped somewhat downwards instead of pointing up. What was truly odd was when the boy opened his eyes at the sound of their entrance. Thin slit pupils encased in lilac irises met them with a curious gaze.

Stryg cocked his head to the side, “Master Noir, who is this?”

Elzri gestured to Cornelius, “Stryg, I want you to meet your newest teacher. This is Cornelius Rotrusk from Frost Rim. His family is one of the most talented Mage Houses in our sister Great City. Cornelius himself is a bi-manifold high-master mage, proficient in chromatic brown and green magic. Your first lesson with him shall begin right away.”

Stryg nodded and stood up with lithe grace. “Understood.”

Cornelius looked the boy up and down thoughtfully. There was a dark look in the boy’s eyes. Something was off about him. It didn’t matter though, he would soon be on his knees begging Cornelius to teach him.

“So, you’re a bi-manifold like me, huh? Lucky you,” Cornelius smiled pridefully.

Stryg glanced questioningly at Elzri, who stood at the corner of the courtyard.

“Stryg is a penta-manifold mage,” Elzri said. “He has been training these past two years in his first three colors, orange, black, and grey. Knowledge of his brown and green will stay secret between us.”

Cornelius blinked and shook his head, “Sorry, I’m just a little confused. The fact that you hired me to teach the boy led me to believe he has some degree of talent in green and brown magic. So why wait so long before teaching him the two colors?”

“Because the boy was training in his other colors,” Elzri said as if it was obvious.

Cornelius laughed, “That makes it sound as if the boy is talented in the other three colors too. Are you actually implying the boy is talented in all five of his chromatic colors?”

Elzri stared at him silently, but his cold eyes conveyed enough.

Cornelius cleared his throat, “Ahem, right, moving on.” He turned to the boy, “We’ll first begin with chromatic brown magic. Brown mana naturally bonds with two elemental mana types, fire and creation mana. The combination with fire mana creates the vigor spell-form, whereas the combination with creation mana creates the enchantment spell-form. Are you with me so far?”

Stryg nodded.

“Good,” Cornelius said. “For now, we will focus on the enchanting spell-form. Now, obviously, we have no proper equipment to enchant with. But! You are nowhere near ready to actually cast any enchantment spells. You must first learn the arcana language and believe me this will be no easy task. You will hav-”

“I already know it,” Stryg said.

“What? Boy, I do not have time to waste with your frivolous games.”

“Stryg speaks the truth,” Elzri said. “His primary master, my granddaughter, has done an excellent job in teaching the boy vast amounts of the known arcane sigils for his grey magic, curse spells.”

Cornelius nodded skeptically, “Yes, well, learning a sigil is not the same as mastering it. You must write your sigils perfectly otherwise they will not work properly. Unlike curse spells, where if you mess up you can simply start over, enchantments take hours, days, weeks, sometimes even years to finish. A single mistake can ruin the whole enchanted piece.” Cornelis narrowed his eyes, “W-what? What is he doing?”

“I believe he is writing the 100 basic arcane sigils,” Elzri said. “They are the sigils required for all chromatic brown, red, and grey novices to learn before graduating from the academy and attaining the rank of adept.”

Stryg used both his hands to write on the dirt floor, sketching exact replicas of the 100 arcane sigils.

Cornelius watched him work with mounting surprise. The boy is using both hands at once to write different sigils?! And they’re perfect! he thought.

Less than two minutes later Stryg had finished. He looked up at the dwarf mage with a calm yet distant demeanor, “Is that enough?”

Cornelius licked his lips, “Uh, yes, that’ll be all for now... Let’s focus on vigor spells next. Ahem, vigor spells are considered one of the three body enhancement spell-forms, along with the agility and durability spell-forms. Vigor spells allow the user to strengthen their own muscles to reach unnatural levels of strength. Such as th-”

“About that, I’ve been giving it some thought,” Stryg said. “I once tried casting a vigor spell and it failed. At the time I knew nothing about brown magic, since then I’ve read a few books on the nature of vigor spells.”

Cornelius rolled his eyes, “Good for you, now I’d appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt me while I’m speaki-”

“I think it would go something like this, no?” Stryg lifted his arm and flexed the muscles. A bronze sheen slowly appeared and covered his forearm and hand. He clenched his fist and opened his palm several times to ensure mobility.

“I think I figured it out,” Stryg said. “While all mana flows through the veins, agility spells focus especially on reinforcing the veins with orange mana that eventually seeps into the rest of the body. But vigor spells seem to focus on reinforcing the muscles and tendons. I ignored the latter when I first tried casting a vigor spell, that was my mistake.”

Cornelius frowned at the ease the boy had cast the spell. “You’ve had a previous teacher in brown spells?”

“No,” Stryg said bluntly.

“Stryg, have you tried this spell before?” Elzri asked.

“No. Master Loh told me not to practice brown spells until I was ready to learn with a proper teacher. This seemed like the right time to try.”

“...First time?” Cornelius felt his body grow cold at the implication of the boy’s feat.

Even he, a genius mage of House Rotrusk, could not properly cast a simple vigor spell until several days of practice. This shouldn’t be possible, it couldn’t be! Yet something in the dark look of the boy’s expression told him it was true.

Stryg walked up to Cornelius and stared him in the eyes, “I have little time and a goal that requires a level of dedication second to none. I have no time for these simple novice lessons. What I need is a mage who can teach me complex spell patterns and magic capable of eliminating anyone who steps into my path. I have plans, plans I intend to achieve at all costs. Cornelius of the Rotrusk tribe, can you help me or not?”

Elzri hid the proud smirk that formed on his lips.

Cornelius swallowed, “Um, where was I?”

~~~

Today…

“Come on, we’re losing daylight!” Stryg called out.

Cornelius stood up from his chair. He had once been a genius. A true genius. Oh, how naive he had been. Now he was wiser. Now he was simply a dwarf, caught in the tide of a being whose sheer talent and conviction Cornelius envied and yet stood in awe of. Here was a being whose genius was undeniable and whose thirst for power seemed implacable.

Back when he had first met Stryg he had so many questions, yet the dwarf was never given any answers. Now, there was only one question left that rattled in his mind.

Cornelius sighed, What sort of monster am I helping create?