Just as Wolf had crossed the last fifty meter line, an elven boy appeared in front of him. The boy was even tinier than Wolf was. It made sense though. Wolf was small and too slim for his age due to his elven heritage. For a pure-blooded elf to be even smaller was only natural.

“To be promoted to Legacy Disciple Personal Disciple needs to defeat Honored Master. To make the battle fair, Honored Master’s abilities will be on the level when he was a year younger than Personal Disciple is now.” The dispassionate metallic drone echoed in the hall as Wolf observed his opponent.

He kind of had mixed feelings about this fight. The boy before him held a slim sword longer than he was tall. Even though the weapon was obviously very light for its size, it was still putting the child out of balance. Wolf kept quizzically looking as this kid, or should we say his past self, tottered. After thinking about it for a moment he decided not to make any moves for now.

After five seconds had passed the boy let out a shout with that high-pitched voice of his. He lifted the sword above his head, using both his hands. It looked like he was wielding a great-sword or something. Then the boy charged? Or tried to anyway. His legs were wobbly and the sword was putting him off balance. With every step Wolf worried he would fall over. After all, the one charging towards him was himself.

Fortunately, after making the second step, the boy stabilized himself, meaning he was now falling forward. He was running as fast as possible, otherwise he’d just fall smack down on his face.

Wolf was still staring in confusion and wonder. The kid looked like he was holding a heavy zweihander while trying to utilize a maneuver he had never fully mastered. After taking several clumsy steps the boy swung the blade downwards.

Wolf had an embarrassed look on his face as he took a small sidestep. He didn’t try to attack and simply watched the sword strike the flagstone. A moment later the boy followed. He fall flat on his face because of inertia.

From the format of these encounters, it was obvious that his previous self never expected someone quite so young to come and take the trial. But, even if you take that into account, this last challenge was truly tragic. Compared to this sad performance, the bear was close to being a godly adversary.

This is so embarrassing. We’re roughly the same age, why is he so bad at it?

Wolf couldn’t help thinking such thoughts.

He really, really, really didn’t want to kill this boy. Because of feeling like this, he was forced to continue watching the pathetic display. His old self would attack, fumble and fall down over and over again. Wolf did nothing but dodge, well, randomly take a step to the left or to the right. His enemy practically did the dodging for him, since the boy couldn’t change where the sword was going once he let it drop. Wolf simply watched the ensuing disaster from a step or two away.

The pair went through this routine some half a dozen times. Finally Wolf couldn’t stand watching anymore and stabbed the dagger into the back of the little boy’s head when the latter was prone for the seventh time. It was a weird feeling. Even though it was an illusion. Even though this was his past self and not really him. It was weird to kill yourself. Well, it was more like putting the stumbling fellow out of his misery.

As the illusion disappeared the metallic voice rang out again. “What a splendid battle. What mastery of the blade. Truly fit of Honored Master’s Legacy Disciple. Legacy Disciple may enter the chamber to claim their reward.”

Wolf was stunned after hearing this description of the battle. It was now apparent that the artifact spirit really had a script to follow and very little autonomy. At best it seemed to be able to perform simple tasks that were within the scope of its original duty, such as reading the content of a scroll.

Maybe it even learned what all of those letters said and doesn’t really know how to read? Wolf tried to console himself. Feeling inferior in any aspect to such a programmed machine could cause mental trauma.

Wolf took a moment to think about everything that had happened since he had entered this place. After a moment of silence he followed the artifact spirit’s instructions and entered the room to the right. This chamber was significantly smaller than the previous two. There were only five pedestals with Rings of Holding.

“Legacy Disciple may claim…” Wolf was even quicker to pick up the ring this time around, acting like a little savage. Inside the ring he found two more potion bottles, a long-sword and a bunch of scrolls.

“Every Legacy Disciple will be awarded two Greater Healing Potions, a magical long-sword forged personally by Honored Master, scrolls with the third and fourth tiers of the previously acquired techniques and arts. There are also four scrolls with notes and useful information on artifact forging and alchemy. Also included are two talismans containing Honored Master’s Soul Severing Strike and two talismans with Honored Master’s Sunder the Mountains.”

“These talismans should only be used in case of emergency. They can kill any opponent Legacy Disciple may face until they become a World Power themselves. Honored Master hopes to be able to meet Legacy Disciple as soon as possible. For that reason, Honored Master left behind two talismans of Commune keyed to him. This is so that Legacy Disciple may make contact with Honored Master. Lastly, if Legacy Disciple is under twelve years old they may find a map with another legacy location marked on it. If Legacy Disciple can visit it before turning twelve they will find another land of legacy.”

Wolf listened closely to what the artifact spirit had to say. Everything except talismans of Commune that could only reach his past self sounded at least somewhat useful. Especially the map. Wolf’s memory of that place was vague. Obviously his past self used significantly more time and effort in his own place of legacy, so the location and details were memorable. The other land of inheritance however was something he took cursory note of when compared to this place.

I thought I had to be younger than eleven to enter that cave? Wolf thought for a moment, but didn’t really care about this discrepancy.

The important thing was that he had taken all the prizes that could be claimed in this place. He had spent almost two weeks here. It was high time for him to leave and find his dad. Archibald was probably worried about him. In fact, now that Wolf had time to think about something other than the trial, he found himself worried about his father.

“Artifact spirit sir take care of yourself.” Wolf waved down the hallway as he was turning to leave.

“Legacy Disciple, wait. Does Legacy Disciple not wish to know what is down this hall?”

Wolf paused and thought for a moment. “No, not really.”

Artifact spirit ignored Wolf’s response, as if it had asked a rhetorical question. “Deeper down is the tomb Honored Master prepared for himself. Honored Master hoped to be buried here and prepared a lot of valuable treasures and equipment Honored Master accumulated over the course of his adventures. However, the Honored Master’s wish was that this tomb not be violated.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Wolf kept walking, while ignoring the artifact spirit.

I know I died in battle and the winner probably wouldn’t be nice enough to bury me here. Back when we buried mommy, dad said that people are buried by people that loved them. I don’t think the person that killed you was the one that loved you…

It was daytime when Wolf got out of the tree. He saw that his father had camouflaged the entrance and made camp just outside the tree. Archibald was currently sleeping with a light snore, his torso covered with an animal hide. Immediately after seeing his father Wolf decided not to wake him up. Instead he just sat down a couple of steps away from him. There he took out a scroll on the fundamentals of Internal Energy gathering. The problem was that Wolf still didn’t know how to read.

Why do I have this stupid habit of unfurling scrolls as soon as lay a hand on them? I’ll have to ask dad to teach me how to read and write. Wolf inwardly grumbled, but continued examining the scroll.

Despite not being able to read Wolf did manage to come to some conclusions as he examined the scroll. The letters in this scroll were completely different from runes that appeared on the tapestries in his Mind Hall. Also, he felt nothing from looking at these letters, unlike the feeling he got from arcane runes.

When preparing spells Wolf would always change their tapestries. While playing like this Wolf figured out how all of those arcane runes were called and what they depicted. So, contrary to every other Mage in history, the first language Wolf learned to read and write was Arcana. Albeit his writing should probably be called drawing at this point.

Wolf was trying to make some deductions using the scroll and arcana runes as reference, but he had no results. Mainly because he didn’t know what the scroll said in the first place.

Several hours passed and the sun was beginning to set. Archibald finally woke up while stretching his neck. After taking a moment to come to his senses, Archibald saw Wolf sitting cross-legged. The boy was messing around with several scrolls not five meters away from him.

“Wolf, you’re out!” He shouted with joy, completely disregarding the fact that he spent his last three months trying to make as little noise as possible.

“How did it go son? I see you got a scroll of some kind?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how to read it. Can you teach me?” Wolf looked at his father imploringly.

“Sure, sure, but first tell me what happened.” Archibald was delighted that his son wanted to learn reading and writing on his own, but there were more pressing matters at the moment.

“I went down a flight of stairs and then heard a voice that sounded like scraping of knives…” Wolf described everything in detail. Archibald was stumped with the challenges his little boy had to face. Killing wolves? Obviously the Sword-Saint that had invited Wolf didn’t expect that the boy would travel all this way until he was at least fifteen years old. Which was reasonable, as far as Archibald was concerned. Still, this misunderstanding worked out in their favor, making the trial that much easier.

Then he heard about the elixir of Magma Marrow and what happened with it... Due to his former position Archibald had heard of Magma Marrow, which was a rare treasure of fire attribute found in the hearts of some volcanoes. However, he had no idea that it had any application in body forging. He only knew that it was greatly sought by artificers and that it could be found in the heart of volcanoes by diving into lava until one reached a great depth.

When Wolf described the procedure he went through Archibald was furious. He didn’t know whether he should hug and console Wolf, or slap him silly for being so rash. He also wanted to strangle the Sword-Saint that had made such torture a part of the trial for accepting a disciple. Sure, Mage Academy had strict entry requirements. Some of the trials to advance your Mage Order were battles with illusory opponents resembling the ones that Wolf fought here. Some of the trials for Archmages and True-Namers were even potentially fatal. But, such trials were never intended for those that were just stepping foot into the world of magic.

Despite his rage Archibald chuckled when Wolf described the battle with the young Sword-Sage and the words of praise that the artifact spirit spoke. When Wolf finished his narration he showed all the scrolls and potions as well as the sword he picked up. When Archibald saw the weapon his expression instantly froze. The long-sword was very slim, almost making it rapier. It had thick mithril coating and the silvered hilt was styled so as to resemble an eagle.

“Him?” Archibald muttered as his heart clenched.

Archibald's lessons:

The clarity with which one can see their Mind Hall is one of the indicators of talent a Mage has. As is the number of stairs one can see on the dais with the throne. Most people can barely make out a single step. True-Namers of the second order can see two or three, while those at the Third Order can only see three or four steps.