Chapter 23: Mage Apprentice? ii

The man’s name was Tsuru, he had come from a distant land and found himself in this fantastical world moments after leaving his house for the first time in years. The first thing he did of course was trying to learn magic. He had managed to find himself a master to learn from but the wizened grandpa didn’t suit his tastes. He was a good teacher though as his [Water Affinity] skill had reached level 7 within months of training, a so called ‘prodigy’ so to speak.

However, all good things came to an end, his master had disappeared a month ago and he had been searching for a new one since. He travelled far to the south and ended up in what seemed to be an Amazon like place. Only able to keep himself alive by either hitching a ride with the locals or defending himself from beasts with his magic.

In one of the passing towns, he caught wind of the beginnings of a war. Afraid he would be conscripted due to his own magical prowess, he fled to the east through Guzzler’s Gorge, an unmanned route filled with Tier 3 dangers. He barely made it through by sheer luck, and spent another few weeks travelling to the capital only to find out that Helios was preparing to join the war as well.

He left the capital soon after to avoid detection and ended up in the middle of nowhere somehow. His supplies had run dry and his body malnourished. Magic was the furthest thing on his mind. As a person who had never starved before in his life, the current emptiness in his stomach hurt much more. However, all of this faded once he saw a scene from far away. A beautiful red light captured his attention, the Mana changed shape and formed a familiar shape to him.

She was the one he was looking for. A master of magic that isn’t an old man with an absurdly long white beard. He couldn’t see much but that was to be expected, she seemed to be using a Darkness spell on a level that he couldn’t even fathom. The area she pointed at had been covered in complete darkness, it was darker than the [Darken] spell and even the Level 3 [Dark Shroud] spell. If Tsuru didn’t know better, he would have mistaken it for the Level 4 [Dark World] spell.

The strange red mana combined with the floating rune on her hand convinced him that the girl was much more than she seemed. She either used Ancient Magic or a different kind of magic he wasn’t aware of. Thus, he decided to learn from her to further his own goals, but first, he needed to get there.

His stick thin body which once leaned on his staff was now brimming with vigor. The thought of acquiring a unique skill let his gamer instincts run wild. Sure, his body wasn’t in any condition to run as it did now but it helped ease his mind away from the hunger.

“Mind… *huff* if I can… become your apprentice?”

Tsuru asked the girl in front of him. The red cross on the back of her left hand dispersing alongside the black void caused by it. The fact that it had been canceled by her will alone showed her mastery in the craft, he never once thought that the ambient mana had simply run dry and it collapsed on itself as a result.

The girl looked at him disapprovingly, at least, that’s what he thought. She was silent, unspeaking, and cold. Just as expected from a vampire loli. Her pale skin and blood red eyes fitting with his image of a user of ancient magic.

“Who are you and are you tailing Cerise?”

A plain looking girl was standing beside the vampire loli. She looked to be just a few years older than the girl herself but Tsuru knew looks were deceiving. The woman was a Halfling, nothing special either. She looked completely mundane in every aspect aside from her tangled hair. The one thing he got from her question was the girl’s name. Cerise.

Coincident or not, that was a word he himself was familiar with. Cerise was French for Cherry, and how miraculous was it for the vampire in front of him to be named a color of red? He caught his breath for a moment, ignoring the Isbeth’s protective look and directly asking the girl again.

“Cerise, I want to become your apprentice so please teach me well.”

He placed his left hand on his chest in a ceremonial gesture from a manga he had read last year. He forgot the name of it but it had something to do with giants? Whatever. The main thing is that the girl finally responded. Her head wobbling from side to side.

Unexpectedly, the girl fell over, caught by the Halfling’s arms before she even hit the ground.

“Sure is a trend for you to pass out huh?”

The Halfling held the girl tightly in her arms, her footsteps drawing away from Tsuru by the second. She paused for a bit after taking no more than five steps, gazing back at him.

“Come on, Roy won’t mind if we have one more mouth to feed after all. You look like you need it the most.”

Tsuru didn’t really want to go with her but to learn magic from Cerise, he decided to go. He resolved to follow them but his foot gave way. His body was frail before but the malnourishment had weakened him further. His bit of running earlier had a severe impact on his body causing him to fall onto his bottom.

“Ah, first have one of these.”

The Halfling handed him a brownish pill. It was composed of Uris herbs and a substitute for the Shivertail roots, the Rockroot petal. Isbeth didn’t want to try it herself so it was convenient for her to find someone else to feed it to.

Tsuru gulped down the pill knowing no better, his hunger was filled but a violent feeling started spreading up his throat. He started vomiting, various bits of leaves, mushrooms, and even chunks of fish started spewing out, a puddle of bile and chunks forming on the ground.

Despite the awful stench and the taste left in his mouth, Tsuru could feel his Mana moving around much more quickly than before. That pill might have been some kind of spirit medicine capable of purifying the body. Was she a pill cultivator? He looked over the Halfling again, her garbs were common as were her eyes. Was she a hidden master? But why would she be here out in the boonies?

His worldview became a whole lot more complex than before. His thoughts even blocking out the words Isbeth was saying. Before he knew it, she had left with Cerise and entered a large wooden building, loud cheers and a rowdy atmosphere could be heard from within.

Tsuru knew it was an Adventurer’s Guild branch, one that he had avoided since any shove or accident from those adventurers could cause him serious injuries. But the girl was in there and he wasn’t going to give up on learning new magic. Just as he walked up to the door, he was stopped by a large axe wielding man, a well-armed adventuring party waving their hands in their faces behind him.

“Listen buddy, you better clean up before coming here. I don’t advise bringing that stench into a room filled with sensitive noses.”

The man and his motley group entered the building, leaving the vomit-covered mage on the street questioning his own smell.

“I don’t smell that bad do I?”