Hugan and Maiz walked into the stone building with only a little hesitation. Maiz remembered when they’d walked into this place for the first time together. That seemed a very long time ago, but it had only been two weeks. Hugan seemed especially excited about their expedition, and he quickly took the lead, nodding to the woman sitting behind a desk near the front of the room.

“Hello there! We’re here to see Mr. Rin, if that’s all right.”

The woman didn’t look up from her writing, or acknowledge their presence in any way. Her Name, Karena-Journeyman Scholar, still floated above her head. After waiting for a full minute, Hugan took a hesitant forward, toward the curtained doorway across the room, and the Scholar finally looked up at them, eyes narrowed.

“Do not touch anything in here.” She seemed to stare especially hard at Hugan, who nodded furiously. “Go.”

Hugan gave her one of his brilliant smiles, and continued walking with an easy gait. Maiz thought he’d put a few points in Dexterity, or gained them through training. Certainly, he was still clumsy compared to Lila and even Maiz, but he was much more nimble than he’d been when they’d met.

It had taken Maiz a little bit of time to get used to the changes his increased attributes had wrought. He’d suddenly been more graceful than most untitled people could ever be, as well as faster, stronger, and more aware. It had been quite a lot, but Lila had told him the other day that it wouldn’t be as much of an issue in the later ranks. She had said it was because attribute gains in the higher ranks were worth less compared to the total points people already had. It was a little disappointing that every rank up wouldn’t radically increase his capabilities like that, but that didn’t deter his drive to push through to Apprentice as fast as possible. Of course, there were still obstacles in the way of that goal.

Passing through the curtain, they found the smaller room in much the same state it had been when they’d first entered--sparsely furnished with only a single wooden desk and chair interrupting the gray stone. That desk seemed much more cluttered than Karena’s had been, but the man sitting at it wasn’t writing. He seemed to be rifling through a few sheafs of paper bound with twine, a common practice for books of lower quality. When they entered, he looked up immediately, though Maiz thought he looked a bit wild around the eyes.

“Ah! Hello, I’m sorry, I was simply looking at some histories and lost track of time. Did you know that there have only been three Wardens recorded as being born in the kingdom’s history? Luckily, one of those is rather famous around here, so it isn’t as difficult to find information as I’d…” Rin looked intently at Hugan for a moment, then at Maiz. “Oh! What a coincidence! I was planning to speak with you soon!”

Hugan gave another smile, and opened his mouth, clearly intending to speak. But the excitable Scholar cut him off before a single word escaped. “In fact, I was just cross referencing some information regarding your title! He gestured at Maiz.”

Maiz blinked. “Really?” He supposed that Spellsword might not have been as rare of a title a he’d thought after all.

“Yes, yes. I was just saying, there was another Warden by the name of--”

“I’m the Warden,” Hugan interrupted him. “Sir.” He hastily added, face flushing a little.

Rin blinked. “Oops. Sorry about that. And no need to cal me sir. Well, either way, I found an account that this man, Roon, was actually born very close to here, and was trained by his house in the Dungeons that used to dominate this area. It seems a bit biased for my taste, but there was a mention of a deed which sounds like an Apprentice feat to me! I was just in the process of searching for another reference…”

The heavyset Scholar looked longingly down at the sheets littering his desk.

“That’s great! So what is it?” Hugan sounded excited.

“Ah, I suppose I could tell you, I don’t believe it would cause any harm. Or rather, not too much.” He chuckled absentmindedly before continuing. “The account notes that, as a Novice, Roon took a blow intended for one of his partners in a Dungeon. The blow was apparently quite severe, and required the services of a Cleric to heal--they weren’t so easy to find back then, you know. But it seems that he learned a new skill from the entire experience, which tells me that it was probably a feat.”

“Oh. So I just have to take a hit for someone else?” Hugan asked excitedly.

“Well, I doubt it is as simple as that.” Rin chuckled a bit condescendingly. Hugan’s brown skin turned a bit redder at that, smile wavering. “After all, considering the rarity of this title, the feat isn’t likely to be as simple as something like a Slasher’s. There are any number of other factors that may be at play. For example, it may have been the type of monster they were fighting, or the nature of the person that Roon was defending. My theory is that the blow must take above a certain percentage of health in order to count, perhaps 50 or 60.”

“Oh.” Hugan said, though Maiz thought he heard a bit of puzzlement. Right. He probably doesn’t know what a percentage is. Maiz couldn’t blame Hugan. He wished that he didn’t know, to tell the truth. Maiz didn’t like math, and math didn’t like him. But he did like Hugan, so perhaps he should help his friend out.

“Um, what does that mean, if you don’t mind me asking?” Maiz affected a confused tone, and Rin answered him offhandedly.

“Oh, yes. It is likely that the blow must be quite severe, do a good bit of damage to him, in order for it to count as his feat.”

“Ah. I see, thank you.” Maiz didn’t look directly at Hugan, but he saw the flash of comprehension flit across his face out of the corner of his eye.

“But of course, that’s simply my own theory. I must find more evidence!” Rin began rubbing his hands together in excitement. I still don’t know why he does that. Maiz wondered if he had some sort of disease that made him feel cold even though it was rather warm outside. Perhaps he should look into the gloves that some night laborers wore.

“Um, sir. Did you happen to find anything about my feat?” Maiz asked. He did have a purpose in coming here, after all.

“Ah. What is your title again? Also, don’t call me sir. Rin is fine enough.”

Right. Forgot about that. “Sorry, uh, Rin. I’m a Spellsword.” For some reason, Maiz was a little taken aback that the Scholar didn’t remember them, but in all fairness it had been two weeks since they’d met, and the man probably saw dozens of young combatants a week, since Novices and especially Apprentices needed him to find out important information about their titles.

But at the mention of Maiz’s title, Rin blinked, and his already flushed face grew a bit downcast. “Right, right. I was very surprised to see your title, because in all honesty, I’d never even heard of it before. I did research it, but I found almost no relevant information. It seems that Spellsword is an even rarer title than Warden. The only mention I found of a person using magic like temporary enchantments was in a very old history of the founding of Corunti. That person was--supposedly--a member of the Nomencadim house.”

Rin paused, looking at the two Novices expectantly, but they both simply looked back at him with puzzled expressions on their faces. The name didn’t sound familiar to Maiz, though it roughly translated to ‘servant of Nomenadon’ in old Corunti.

“Nomencadim? One of the oldest and most powerful houses in the kingdom? It has a seat on the Lord’s Council?”

Maiz felt his eyebrows rise involuntary. So far to the west, Caelos was rather far removed from the reach of the King and the Lord’s Council, but even still, Maiz knew that they ruled the entire kingdom, half because of the resources they held and half because of the raw power they had. The Sharir were subordinates to one of those greater houses closer to the capital, though Maiz didn’t know which one. No one that powerful bothered with Caelos unless they wanted to venture deep into the desert and find strong Dungeons.

“Yes, they’re rather important. I sent them a message, respectfully requesting any information they’d be willing to share about your title, but I doubt that they will reply with much. Even if they have had more Spellswords in their family, they aren’t likely to share any secrets with an outsider, unfortunately. Maiz, yes?”

“Huh? Oh, yes, that's my name.” Maiz was so caught up in the idea that these ‘Nomecadim’ might have a living Spellsword among them that he almost missed the Scholar’s question. Then, he remembered the other object of this visit.

“That’s too bad. I suppose I should just… hope I discover the feat by mistake. Say,” Maiz tried desperately to keep his voice as casual as possible as he continued, “what was your Apprentice feat, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Rin looked a bit taken aback at his question, but not suspicious. At least, Maiz hoped not. He’d regretted not investing a few points in Charisma several times in the two weeks since the last Dungeon run, and this was yet another instance.

“My Apprentice feat?” The Scholar chuckled weakly. “It wasn’t particularly impressive. Scholars simply have to choose an area of focus and discover a bit of information about it. Honestly, after I’d decided to study titles, I asked a friend of mine what their feat was, and that was enough to accomplish the task.”

Maiz fought down the smile that threatened to break across his face, and simply said, “That’s interesting.”

**********************

“Well, I don’t really know how I’m going to do this, Maiz.” Hugan had a worried expression on his face as they walked out of the Scholars’ building.

“Maybe the opportunity will come up tomorrow?” Maiz was barely listening, caught up in planning his next moves.

Hugan shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t think those bugs hit hard enough to do what he said.” He was truly worried. It was an issue, probably not least because nobody looked forward to taking massive damage, even if it was to advance their title.

“We probably don’t have to worry about it until after tomorrow anyways. At the worst, I’ll let you save me from Lila the next time we spar and see if that works.” Maiz had a light hearted tone, but Hugan gave him an excited look.

“Yeah! That’s great idea! Do you think we could do that tonight?”

Maiz laughed. “We’ll see if Ziya is willing to come to heal you.”

“Oh. Right, that’s a good idea.”

Maiz waved goodbye to his friend, headed off towards the training field at a jog. Well, before gaining his title he would have considered the pace a full-blown sprint, but his relatively high Agility, Strength, and Dexterity all let him keep it up with almost no effort the entire way.

Once he arrived, he found a staff on the ground near the dummies. It was a little dented, and a few of the dummies seemed a little scorched. Maiz supposed they had some sort of protection, because by rights his daily practice should leave the things completely obliterated. Maiz picked up the staff, considering for a moment. Best to do this carefully. He began by activating his Mana Sense, and then he started twirling the staff about a bit while developing the ‘matrix’ of his Flaming Strike. He formed the first layer easily enough, despite the constant motion of his staff. If he concentrated, it felt as though the staff was immobile, the mana flooding it just as easily when it was in motion. To his magical vision however, the staff was a strange, flashing anomaly against the pale white background of the world, the silvery mana flooding it forming a dizzying pattern.

The first simple loop completed, Maiz began working on the second layer. It had taken him a week to figure out that this was in fact two patterns which intersected each other to form a more complex whole. The first was a series of interlocking diamond-shapes which covered the length of the staff. The second was a rather intricate branching set of loops which started at the bottom of the staff and swirled to the top. The effect was quite beautiful, but also rather chaotic to Maiz’s eyes, the rigidity of the diamond lattice clashing with the fluid loops. Still, he was finally able to accurately create the pattern while moving his staff, and after a bit of concentration, it was complete. The final pattern slid into place of its own accord, and the entire thing seemed to speed up until the silvery mana turned the orange-red of fire.

When the flame ribbons appeared about the staff, Maiz began to twirl his staff faster.Then, he activated the skill he’d learned a few days ago. Illusion Strike. He felt a little tug at his mana, and he saw his staff begin to blur as it travelled through the air, fire and all. It was like a copy of the staff was moving behind it. When Maiz prepared his attack, the image continued to move in the same pattern, and Maiz knew an opponent wouldn't be able to see the change. He struck out in a hard blow to the midsection of the dummy, basing the other side of the staff against his tricep as he did so. There was a simultaneous woosh of flame and clatter of wood hitting wood, and a rather large gout of fire erupted from the point of contact.

Maiz nodded in satisfaction. That move could be very powerful in the right circumstances, though it was probably not too good against the less intelligent Tritantus Bug monsters they’d be fighting in the Dungeon. Still, Lila had used her Illusion Strike against him enough times that Maiz knew how effective it could be against other combatants. It had taken him using his Mana Sense and watching her fight Hugan very carefully in order to figure out the basis of the move. It was almost like a spell, but it relied on physical movements to manipulate the user’s mana without their direct intervention. Very interesting stuff. Speaking of which…

Maiz adopted a pensive expression, then spoke into the empty air. “Excuse me, Instructor Hakim?”

“Yes?” The voice in his ear didn’t startle Maiz anymore, but he still ha to make a full 360 degree turn before spotting Hakim standing directly in front of him. Maiz was getting rather certain that the man enjoyed messing with him.

“I had a question, sir. Why does my mana change color when I cast Flaming Strike?”

Maiz had learned to be direct. Any attempt at flattery or dissembling would earn him an invisible cuff, though not as severe as the first time.

“That is your Mana Sense interpreting the shift in the type of mana in your spell.”

Maiz frowned half out of a desire to appear curious and half out of the genuine feeling. “Type of mana sir?”

“Yes. You have no doubt seen my mana, and that it differs from your own. This is because I use different types of spells than you. When your mana turns orange, it is because it has become fire mana, which can both manipulate and create fire.”

“Oh. Well then sir, why does it start as silver in the spell?” Even as Maiz asked the question, a flashing purple icon appeared in the corner of his vision, and he had to resist a smile again.

“That is because your spell converts the mana by forcing it through a pattern. This is something that other mages often do within their own bodies, if they have access to multiple types of mana in the first place. A pyromancer only has fire mana within them. They shape and manipulate it to create their spells. Most ice mages use fire and water mana, the first to manipulate heat and the second for obvious reasons. Their mana can be either, but they convert it before creating their spells within their bodies.”

“I see. Thank you sir.” Everything the old Instructor was saying raised even more questions, but Maiz was simply too excited to continue concentrating on continuing the conversation at the moment.”

The old man simply nodded. Maiz obligingly turned away for a moment, and when he looked back Hakim was gone. Normally, this likely would have prompted a sigh or a shake of the head at the old Aeromancer’s antics, but Maiz was too busy opening the Notification Sheet to see what had just happened.

Congratulations! You have completed the Apprentice feat of the Scholar title!

New bonus title gained- “Arcane Scholar”

New skill gained- First Search

Maiz focused on the prompt for the skill he’d gained.

First Search(Scholar)- Randomly selecting a piece of information to study from a random collection (selecting a page from a book or a book from a collection of books,etc.) has a chance of finding information relevant to the question most prominent in the user’s mind. The question must relate to the user’s field of study.

Rank: 1

Effect: 25% chance to find information relevant to question, if such information is available in selection.

The skill seemed fairly useless to him, but Maiz still smiled. One down. At this rate, perhaps he’d actually manage to get to Apprentice in time after all.