-- Aster --

The receptionist looked me up and down, before asking, "Eyes above level ten?"

How could I not ever since they hit level ten I had to focus to stop the flow, it was now natural and always active. When I hit fifteen seeing the invisible items and recently energy, all the time. To the point, I was learning to tune it out, "Yes."

"Good, you'll need that." She nodded her head still contemplating something, "You figure out how to cut spells in half?

"Uhhh," I said dumbly.

"I'll take that as a no."

"I've done it before." I opined. At least I think I did, stopping what I thought was a spell.

She eyed me, "On purpose?"

I hung my head as I answered, "No."

"Ok." The receptionist seemed to come to a decision, "I will teach you two things" She said tapping her hand on the desk, "Eh-em" she did a big fake cough.

I knew exactly what she wanted as I took out two silver and placed them on the desk.

"Eh-em"

I rolled my eyes and put two more on the desk.

She gave me a look saying is that all.

I glared, "I'm broke. If I give you more I cant do use it for what I need."

"What this is just a tip, for my wonderful work." She smiled wiping the silver off the desk, into her pouch. She then took on a lecturing tone, "To start with. There are two ways of cutting magic, and I'm assuming you can coat weapons with power?"

I nodded.

"Good, less work for me. First when you see someone gathering power find the threads and cut them. The easiest thing to do." She put her hands on her desk palms up, "Now watch me." She began to pull energy to the space above her hands, as I watched I noticed large whirlpools of power funneling into her hands.

"See them?" She asked.

I nodded, "Looks more like whirlpools."

She was concentrating on keeping the power going when she explained, "This is because this is a big spell. Smaller ones look like threads. Now use your dagger to cut it."

I pull my knife out and a small stream of power flows out of me coating the knife. Once it was fully enveloped I cut through the whirlpool.

The ring of power that was floating above her hands dissipated and the connecting end shoot into her chest, causing her to fall in her chair and gasp.

She rubbed her chest, "Forgot how much that hurt."

I could only look at her confused, "What?"

"When you cut off a spell-like that the suction keeps going, but when there's nothing to pull in." She stood back up and mimed punching her chest, "It's like someone punches you in the chest." Just from her reaction, I could tell it was not pleasant.

She gathered herself then gave me a warning, "Be careful. While it works wonders to end a spell before it is cast. Sometimes they can still cast a weaker version of the spell with the already gathered power, but it's usually good enough to stop it."

"Ok." That was a lot to think about.

"Now for method two." This time she held her hands in front of her as she pulled in power. "Coat your knife again. I'm going to throw a spell at you. You're going to see something that will look like an amorphous ball or kinda like a nebula of power. What you need to do is to cut it in half or cut the thread connecting to the caster."

When I looked at the speel forming I could see a small thread flowing out of her hand into the spell.

"Why in half?" I asked.

"You have to separate it completely otherwise it will still go off."

"Then I would need to extend the edge for bigger spells?"

"Correct! But also bear in mind, that the smaller, or better skilled the spell caster, the less time you have to interrupt." She explained still building up her power.

"What about like a big fireball, or an ice spike," I asked thinking of the physical aspect of those types.

"Those are fun, since they form, then fly. Either cut them in half with a normal weapon or deflect it with the mana edge. See even conjured things have a magic field around them keeping them there just need to cut it. But be careful it will not be easy or pretty. Think fast.

She pushed her hands toward me, as an amorphous ball of power shot out towards me forming some type of construct, instinctively I moved to block bringing up my dagger cutting the spell in half. The spell dissipated without ever fully forming.

"Not bad." She said smugly. Then as an afterthought added, "Oh and there is no skill associated with this. You'll just have to get good at timing it." She watched as I just looked at her annoyed, "Moving on to tagging."

"Tagging?"

"Yes, tagging. To tag, you need to shape the power that you pull in, similar to when you coat your blade, except without the blade. Like so." She starts to pull and mold the energy into the shape of a little ethereal bunny. Once the shape started to solidify she slapped it onto her desk, where it floated. "You also have to tie off the power, so as to not let it leak." She then started to make another bunny and slapped it on the table just like the other one. Although, this time it started to fade into nothing, while the first sat there a solid silver.

"I'm sure" She started before stopping changing what she was about to say, "Wait you've never done a rank 4 or 5 mission. So you wouldn't know." She paused thinking, "I guess I should explain. Tagging is how we mark targets for the lower-ranked missions. Rot! That means you don't know how to tag a living target." She said frustrated.

"Weren't you just telling me"

She interrupted my question, "Yeah, but...ok first let's get you making tags." She gesture for me to try.

"So I just need to gather the power then shape it?" I clarified.

"Pretty much."

I began to pull on my power and gather it into a ball in front of me. It was surprisingly easy and quick. It just needed a small nudge and it moved like clay. Since this was my first try a made something simple. An arrow.

"I think I got it."

"Simple but a good example." She said looking over my tag, "Now pinch off the flow. Once the flow is cut imagine tying it off like a balloon. Use hand gestures if you need to."

I did as she instructed and pinched the end with my hand. "Now what?"

"Place it on the table."

I touched the end of the tag to the table, and like I glued it there it stuck.

"Neat," I exclaimed only to watch my arrow quickly start to fade. "What did I do wrong?"

The receptionist smiled, "You had a lot of holes in it. You need to treat it almost as a sculpture. Smooth over the holes with power." She said as she made another tag pointing out weak areas, "The more you practice, the faster and easier it becomes. Like everything else." She let her little construct dissipate, "Do it again."

I began to form another arrow this time paying much closer attention as she point to a light area on the sculpture, "See those light spots?"

"Yes."

"Those are weak points or holes. These are areas that you might have missed when imagining what you wanted. Now find as many as you can and when you're done place it on the desk."

I spent another minute going over the image smoothing it out before I felt satisfied and placed it on the desk.

She examined my tag from all angles, "Much better. This would probably last a day or two perfect for a mission."

I felt good about my work, but wondered about what she said earlier, "You said something earlier about living people?"

She sighed. "Do it again but try placing it on me." She held out her hand palm out.

I formed another tag this time in only a few seconds and finding no obvious flaws I tried to place the tag on her. Only to find it repelled.

She began explaining, "All living things, especially physical power users, have a field around them protecting them from magic. It's why mages can't just spell fireball in your mouth or something. It's also how higher levels can take harder hits, both physical and magical. The barrier is strengthened by leveling and can be reinforced with power. It is usually why warriors are so damn tough. The barrier dissipates as much force as possible. It's actually why swords and arrows work so well. Tiny points that can easily penetrate"

I raised an eyebrow, "And how am I supposed to tag a guard, who are both physical and high level?"

She gave me a sly smile, "Think about what I just said."

"....stab them?" I half asked as a joke.

She let out a surprised laugh, "Correct! You need to get beyond their field. Once you do, it can latch on."

I was completely taken aback by being right, "How do I do that without them noticing? Can't, they feel it?"

"Sure they can feel being stabbed, wouldn't you?"

I rolled my eyes, "I meant the magic."

"Highly unlikely." She said definitively.

"Why?"

"It's too weak though it might be felt if they are healed, usually they think it's just some residual power from a fight or something."

I just stared at her when it hit me, "I almost forgot they can't see these."

"Just be careful. If you use it on a mage they might siphon the tag by accident." She warned before adding a bow, "Thus concludes our lessons."

"Was that really a lesson?" I asked not feeling I got my money's worth.

"Meh. More of stuff you should know, and the trainer isn't here today." She explained.

There were so many rules I wondered if she was even supposed to tell me. So I asked, "Should have taught me then? I know the rules on shadows are weird."

She winked at me, "What they don't know won't hurt them."

"Thanks"

"No thank you." She tossed the coins in the air and catches them making them dispensary before looking at me excited. "You gonna do it?"

"Yeah." I knew I was going to do this as soon as I saw it. I grabbed the escape egg.

"This will start as soon as you reach the central square and announce out loud you're a shadow. Have your mask on, completely on." She emphasized the last part.

"Ok."

"Now heads up. My time as a receptionist is ending soon. So the next time you come in, this appearance won't be me."

"I fucking knew it," I shouted causing her to let out a belly laugh.