Chapter Twenty - A Limpet’s Point of View

Fenfang Fang’s Observation Log | Day Three

As previously noted, I’ve started to take notes to keep track of things around me and my experiences with magic. This is under the suggestion of my Master, Harold.

Note to self: Find out if Master has a title. Just calling him ‘Harold’ feels really underwhelming.

Like really, all the cool sects have masters with long, complicated titles, and they’re usually a bit much, but at least the senior disciples get to say stuff like “I’m the Disciple of the Lord of Serpents!” Instead of just... “I’m Harold’s Test Subject.”

I’m not sad about it or anything, it’s just. Well.

It’s a bit embarrassing.

Note end!

Today has been a very interesting day! Master praised my progress with the Prestidigitation spell, and has begun to teach me a First Tier spell called Detect Magic. Learning that the powerful attack magic Chill Touch, is a Zeroth Tier (Master called it a Cantrip? I need to look that up) spell is a bit heady. It’s a really versatile attack already.

Master really is strong. And I’m going to be strong too one day!

One thing at a time, I guess.

Prestidigitation is a really neat spell. It’s meant to teach people how to manipulate magic, or so I’ve gathered from the notes Master gave me to study. He doesn’t seem to want to instruct me on this spell himself, which is a little strange.

Is it some sort of test?

I think that’s likely. Master seems to like testing me. First with the whole lake teleportation thing, then with the fight with the skeleton and then the--

Anyway.

Prestidigitation has a lot of uses. It’s such a wide and versatile spell that I’m actually a little daunted by it. The notes master gave me lists dozens of things you can do with it, and they’re all really broad. Like ‘create a small illusion.’

So far I’ve only managed to make little lights, and some shapes, but already that’s a lot. I don’t think most sects would give any new disciple something this strong, not for a long time.

At the same time, I noticed that when I tried to recreate Chill Touch using Prestidigitation, it was far, far weaker, and a lot more taxing. Also, it imploded.

I think that Prestidigitation allows a caster to do just about anything, but really, really poorly.

Maybe that’s the point?

I’ll have to keep studying it. Master seemed impressed that I could do two things with the spell at once, so next I’m going to practice three things with it at the same time. Even if I fall flat on my face from exhaustion it’ll be worth it!

Oh, I’m sooo lucky!

Note to self: Get master a gift for being the best.

He’s a skeleton so... actually I don’t know what to get for a skeleton. He seems to like books, but he keeps pulling out these tomes and skill books from his pockets. And gold. Lots of gold. I bet it’ll be hard to find something he likes.

Maybe a bookmark? He tends to earmark his pages, which is a sin.

Note end.

The other spell Master has been teaching me, this one with actual instructions, is called Detect Magic.

It’s awesome.

The spell is really hard to cast. Really, really hard. I kept having big headaches whenever I didn’t get it just right, and my nose bled a lot until Alex (who’s a real sweetheart) gave me little nose plugs.

Master hinted that it was a good spell to help someone learn more magic later. I guess this is the flip side of the coin to Prestidigitation.

The one allows the caster to try all sorts of new spells, the other allows them to see how those spells work. Master’s real clever. And really generous.

Like, this isn’t just teaching a disciple the starting motions of a new martial art, this is teaching the disciple the fundamentals of how to create their own art!

At least, I think that’s what’s going on.

Detect Magic is still hard to cast, but I can manage it. Master made sure I knew how, then he gave me my first ever mission. (Not counting that one time the Ashen Forest sect gave me a mission to ‘walk really really far away from here and never come back’)

The objective was to observe and report on the golems stationed around the city, and some of those within. I spent a long time trying to think of ulterior motivations for the mission, but in the end I think the entire goal was to have me practice Detect Magic and maybe learn a little bit about golems.

If Master really needs to observe some golems, I’m sure he could do it himself and learn a lot about them all on his own, probably a whole lot more than what I could learn about them.

So what he was actually testing was my ability to both use this new spell, and observe things.

That’s why I went all-out today. Visiting as many golems as I could, and casting Detect Magic until I felt dizzy and a nice stall salesman gave me a free drink because he thought I was going to faint.

I even got to meet one of the junior disciples from the Jade Golem sect who was tinkering on a smaller golem as I asked him some questions.

From what I discovered, the disciples use a sort of... connected tether magic to control their golems. There’s a sort of complex core in their middle, made of all sorts of precious metals and gems that helps them manipulate the golem.

See: Red Notebook Two: Observations of the Jade Golem Sect Mechanized Warriors

I hope that my notes are detailed enough to at least impress Master a little. I really need him to teach me more.

I probably shouldn’t confess it here, but I’m a little bit desperate. I travelled almost the entire empire looking for someone to teach me, for some sect to take me in so that I could learn and become strong.

Half of them refused me because I’m a girl, and the other half for their own reasons. Because I asked too many questions, or because I was too weak. Master is the first to really give me a chance. I can’t mess this up.

That bastard Zhu Jiao is still out there, and I can’t imagine him getting weaker in the last year or so. I need to get strong, so much stronger.

I’ve seen Master fight, at least, a little. I don’t know if I can actually call it a fight when he just casually stopped time and eliminated a few dozen strong sect fighters with just two words. That’s how strong I need to be.

I don’t know where Master intends to move to next, but I’ll follow him all the way there, and I’ll learn all I can. Even if it means not having time to sleep or care for myself.

When I learned that Master was a skeleton, I was a bit worried. The undead are taboo, in all the worst ways. There are no fines for raising the dead. It’s an immediate capital punishment. But then, Master does it all the time. So he has to be strong enough that even that doesn’t bother him.

He’s a very mysterious man, and very knowledgeable, but at the same time there are a bunch of things that he just doesn’t know about that are common sense.

I guess that might be my chance to make myself useful for him! I can be the one filling those gaps for him. And in exchange, I’ll get to learn all sorts of magic. Actual magic! And with that magic I’ll grow strong enough to avenge my family.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, and I think my notes are turning a little rambly.

I suppose I should catalogue everything I’ve done today, if only for future reference.

Once I was done studying what I could from the golems, I visited the market to buy a few little things. I found a nice shawl to replace my old one. It’s black and orange, in a checkered pattern. I couldn’t find anything made of the material that Master uses for his strange suit.

He called it ‘tweed’ once. It must be a very precious and expensive material if Master uses it. It’s no wonder that I couldn’t find anything made of it at a market. But I was hoping to find a way to match Master at least a little.

All the other apprentices I’ve ever seen tend to match their masters a bit, and I always thought that was cool. But I can’t exactly be a skeleton like Master, so I’ll have to find something else.

Note: Ask Alex for fashion advice.

Unfortunately, I cut off my shopping early because there was a disturbance in the shopping district, and I don’t think I’m strong enough to be in a real fight yet. Not for a while.

I suspect that the art that Master is teaching me isn’t the best for someone who gets caught in close range. The chants are very long, and you need to focus a lot. Maybe there’s a way to alleviate some of that?

Note: Ask Master how a caster should fight.

My quest to find a neat gift for Master will have to wait.

I ended my day by returning to our rooms at the Come Inn and practicing with Prestidigitation some more. I think I’m nearing a breakthrough again, I can feel it. Master seems to be able to tell when that’s happening, so I’ll have to ask him when he returns.

I ate a good, hearty meal, provided by the nice inn-keep who was kind enough not to charge for it (which I suspect comes from Master overpaying him by an order of magnitude for the room).

Getting fat won’t be a problem if we keep moving about so much, though I do worry about not learning any kind of martial art to compliment my casting. Master might be able to stop time and cast powerful spells with a few words, but I’m not there yet.

Tomorrow I’ll ask Master to teach me even more spells. Maybe some that can help with that.

That reminds me:

Note: Remind Master that my name is Fenfang, not ‘Limpet.’

And....

Note: Ask Master what a ‘Limpet’ is.

I think it’s going to be bedtime soon. I’ll try not to get caught up reading until the sun comes up again. Falling asleep leaning up against Master was mortifying! Having Alex fuss away at the drool on Master’s arm, even if Master didn’t seem to mind or care, made me want to crawl way into some hole.

I still need some sleep though, at least until I learn a spell to help with that. I bet it exists!

I suppose I’ll make some final notes and reminders here, just in case I forget what to do tomorrow. Master seems to really like things that are neat and organized, so I’ll do my best to be both of those things.

For tomorrow:

Practice Prestidigitation more. Master three simultaneous forms. Learn another use for the spell Master Detect Magic enough to impress Master Walk Fang Fang

If given time:

Go shopping for more essentials. Master doesn’t need things, but I do, and I don’t want to inconvenience him Learn some more martial arts Learn some more offensive spells if Master thinks I’m ready.

And my long term goal:

Find Zhu Jiao Kill him.

I think that should do for now. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after. I’ve never been this excited before!

Sometimes, when I have a few minutes, I just stand and smile a bunch. I never imagined that I’d be this lucky. I’m never leaving Master’s side, not until I’ve learned every last thing he has to teach me!

Fenfang Fang’s Observation Log | Day Three - End

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