Chapter 19:No pain, no gain

Roughly a week has passed since Korpus started to teach me. I must confess, I thought it will be hard, but I was sorely mistaken. It’s more than hard, it’s a living hell. Every day I’m going to sleep late and I must wake up early. If I’m not able to wake up on time by myself, teacher instructed my newly appointed maid to pull me out of the bed by any means necessary and judging by my recent experience, she gladly accepted her role. In the case I’m not up by the scheduled time she comes into my room and a bucket of cold water is the first thing I get from her with that expressionless face of hers and a “Good morning, master” greeting. I know she is doing it because teacher ordered her, but it still pisses me of. I don’t know yet how, but I swear I will return this little favour to her later.

The first thing Korpus started to teach me is the use of magic. Before, I had no idea how to activate spells or do those other things I need to do to cast something. After explaining it to me I was able to grasp the general idea behind casting and the only thing left was practice.

“Speaking in a very simplistic way, everyone has something like mana vessels spread throughout their body. They are similar to blood vessels, but their role is to guide your magical energy. Through them you can accumulate it in one place and then extract it from there and pour it into the specific spell that you are trying to cast by chanting.” Those were master’s words when he explained it to me.

“But master, you told me previously that lichs discard everything except their bones, so how is it possible that you are still allowed to cast in your condition?” I asked remembering what he had told me about lichs, thinking that mana vessels are something that lichs weren’t allowed to toss away.

“I also told you that only very experienced and powerful necromancers could become lichs. We don’t need mana vessels as we use other means to collect magical energy when casting, but that is a quite complicated and also hard to achieve technique. I’m willing to explain it to you when you will have better understanding about magic. For now, you should focus on the basics.”

With that he started to teach me how to feel magical power inside me. In the beginning it was quite hard as I didn’t know what to look for, but in the end I was finally able to feel it. It was a weird, but pleasant feeling. It was like finding a new sense in me of which I was unaware of before. At first I must have been concentrating quite hard to achieve it, like when you close your eyes as you are trying to hear something better, but now I’m more or less able to feel it automatically. I was able to achieve all of this in three days. Korpus says that it was quite fast, but he wasn’t really surprised.

After this as I was finally able to feel the mana inside me and tap into it, he gave me a book with simple and most basic spells from the dark magic skill tree.

“Pick two or three spells which are interesting to you and learn them. After you are able to cast them even when you sleep, pick other ones and repeat the process.” With those words he let me pick my first spells.

I went through the entire book and in the end picked the ones which could be probably most useful to me in the nearest future. The first one was the Silence spell. I probably don’t need to explain this one as its purpose is exactly as its name suggests. It silences the caster’s actions, be it walking or touching something. Of course, it isn’t perfect and it won’t work on somebody with very high detection skills, but I will still be able to fool a lot of people with it.

The second spell I chose was the Everlasting darkness spell. With this one I should be able to reinforce already existing dark places so that light cannot easily pierce through them. This should help me to stay hidden, even if there will be some light source near me. This spell also has a good secondary use as I can put out a fire with it, if it’s close enough to me.

It took me another four days to learn these spells until I was finally able to cast them whenever I pleased.

“Good, very good, Malakhay.”Korpus complimented me as I showed him the fruits of my hard work in his laboratory. “When you will have some time you can pick another set of spells as I told you previously, but before that there is one important thing which I want to teach you.”

“What is it teacher?”

“Do you remember your first robe that I gave you and its ability?”

I was slightly surprised at his question, but as I thought about it I was able to remember.

“If I’m not mistaken it could hide my magical power.” I answered, still thinking about it.

“Exactly.”Korpus said before he continued. “It was only thanks to its ability that you were able to kill that shadow lurker. But you can’t count on those robes all the time. Something unexpected can happen anytime and if you lose the robe your magical power will scream out your location to any nearby mage.”

I could guess what teacher was trying to tell me.

“So if you don’t want to be spotted and killed easily you need to learn how to hide your magical power. There are three stages one can learn when hiding his magical power. In the first one you are able to stay hidden as long as you don’t start casting a spell. That means that you will stay hidden as long as you don’t start to collect the magical energy in your mana vessels, but the second you break this rule your disguise will be broken and mages will be able to detect you.

In the second stage you can go a little bit further. It will allow you to stay hidden as you prepare your spell, but the second you use it and your chant is complete and the spell is cast, you will again shine like a lighthouse for the mages. This is quite hard to achieve, but it is perfect for ambushes as you can cast your first spell from hiding. If you are able to kill the mages in the vicinity with it, you can massacre the rest of your enemies and they probably won’t even know what hit them.

Then in the third stage, which is especially hard to master, you can supress your magical power and continue casting at the same time and not be detected. Of course, nothing is absolute, but as long as you don’t stumble on some especially powerful mage with a very high perception, you will be allowed to do what you want.”

I slowly processed teacher’s words and understood the importance of this ability to hide my magical power from the others. I have no doubts about its usefulness as I remember that not only mages can spot me this way, but also a lot of monsters are able to track their prey by this method; the shadow lurker is only one from the bunch and not even the most perceptive one.

“I will try to learn it as fast as I can.” I answered, trying to show that I understood everything he said to me.

“Good. Now try to feel the flow of your magical power inside you as I taught you before.”

I closed my eyes and did as he told me. I was getting better at it every day and now I needed only a few seconds to feel it. I nodded my head to let him know that I was prepared to continue.

“You already know how to guide it and use it, but now you must learn how to stop this flow.”

“Stop it?” I asked a little bit uncertain.

“Yes, stop it. After all, you don’t need it for breathing, walking, or other things you do. You need it only when you want to use magic, so beside that it is useless to you. And if something useless is switched on, you just need to switch it off.”

I concentrated on the flow which I could almost see before me and tried what teacher told me, but I didn’t really know how. When I tried to pull it back, I was only able to reverse its flow. When I tapped into it, it just wanted to be released in the form of a spell. It was hard for me just to stay in contact with it and quite some time must have passed when my teacher stopped me.

“That will be enough for now. I didn’t expectof you to be able to do it on your first try. It’s hard to achieve and it is quite possible that you will need months to be able to do it properly.”

I opened my eyes and could feel how the sweat formed on my forehead. As I wiped it off, Korpus continued.

“For now, practise it whenever you have time.” He said as he waited for me to catch my breath. When I finally calmed down he spoke again: “That will be all for now. I want from you to get a good rest tonight. In the morning come and find me again.”

As he instructed me I returned to my room and despite it still being only late afternoon I felt really tired. At first I wanted to continue with some of the exercises which I normally do, but today I just lied down on my bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning I was able to get up before Aliss entered the room. I didn’t wait for her and went to find teacher just as he requested from me yesterday. Entering his laboratory, he stopped me before I had a chance to sit down.

“Today you will do something slightly different, so come with me.” We left the laboratory together and he guided me to the lowest part of the catacombs. We walked till we didn’t arrive ata large cave.

“This is the oldest part of the castle. At some point it was a place where the royal family was buried, but with time it became obsolete and now it doesn’t have a purpose anymore.” Korpus explained to me as I looked around. It was literally just a cave supported by huge columns with old sarcophaguses built inside its walls.

“I brought you here for two reasons. First, you will need a place to experiment with spells and the queen was willing to let you borrow this space. And second, you will need to learn how to fight not only with magic, but also with your body and weapons. This, of course, cannot be done in my laboratory. This brings me to another thing I must tell you.” As teacher finished his explanations I could see something move in the distant shadows. But it was such a small movement that I discarded it just as my imagination. Shortly after that anunfamiliar voice appeared from the darkness before me.

“Is that the one you talked about?”

“Let me introduce you Malakhay. This is Hataya. You probably know that every king or queen has somebody who they call upon when they want somebody dead. Hataya is one of the queen’s best assassins and she kindly agreed to teach you on my request.”

As I listened to him, I studied the person before me. At first glance I couldn’t tell much about her. Her height could be around 1,6m, same as my maid Aliss. Every distinguishable feature was hidden under the black cloth that she wore. Hair, skin colour, potential horns, I couldn’t even see her eyes as they too were hidden behind some kind of veil. If Korpus didn’t mention that she is a female I probably wouldn’t even notice.

“As I said, she is doing this as a personal favour for me. So when she tells you something, you will heed her words as my own and you will show her proper respect as to somebody who is teaching you combat arts. It is something you will need to learn if you want to become a warlock.”

“Yes teacher.” Was my immediate answer as I knew that Korpus wouldn’t tolerate any other words from me in this matter.

“Good.” Korpus said as he continued. “Every morning from now on, when you wake up you will come here first. Only when she releases you from your training with her will you come and find me in my laboratory for your magic lessons. Now, I leave you in her hands.” As he finished, he slowly left from where we came from.

As we were left alone, we silently stared at each other for a few minutes.

“So you are the one who saved Korpus’s life.” She stated, still only looking at me without any change.

“Yes, master Hataya.”

“Only master, you don’t need to speak my name. The same applies when somebody asks you if you are being trained. Your answer will be no. Half of the assassin’s success comes from secrecy and you will do well to remember it quickly.” She told me, while still studying me. I don’t know why, but something about her way of looking at me felt weird. It was like she was already trying to find a way to kill me quickly and be done with it.

“Before we start, here is a little question from me, just as a matter of my curiosity. What do you think about holding on to your honour as you fight?”

I didn’t need to think about it as the answer come instantly to me.

“It’s for idiots who deserve to be killed and I’m willing to use any means if it allows me to stay alive.” I answered as I remembered my stay with the slave traders. Nobody asked me what I want or how I feel, so I don’t see a reason why I should bother. I never want to be caught again and as I said, I’m willing to do anything against it.

As I gave her my answer, Hataya nodded her head once.

“If youhad said that fighting dirty is despicable, I would have beaten the shit out of you. As you said, honour is for idealists and idiots and it shouldn’t be allowed on the battlefield. When the queen is expecting results from you, you will give them to her, be it through deceit, murder or betrayal.”

I must more or less agree with her words, the only difference being that I intend to work for myself in the future, and not the queen.

“Now we will fight, so I can ascertain your ability.” As she finished her words, she didn’t give me any room for objections and attacked me. It didn’t take long for me to understand that I was overly optimistic when she called it a fight, as I was one-sidedly beaten. Be it speed, power or technique Hataya was better in every aspect. Truth to be told, most of the time I couldn’t even tell where she was, or what she did. It was like I had transformed into her personal punching bag. It could have been around 5 minutes when I finally collapsed on the ground, not able to move even a single muscle anymore.

“You don’t have any speed, power or technique. It will be quite a chore to make something useful out of you.” She stated emotionless as she stood above me without showing any kind of fatigue.

After that she waited until I recovered a little bit and started to give me her instructions of what to do for today. It wasn’t anything special, she just ordered me to run at my highest speed until I collapse from exhaustion. As days went by she didn’t show any signs of changing her initial instructions. After I collapsed maybe 5th or 6th time, she finally stopped this extravagant torture of hers.

“That will be enough for today. I will be expecting you here at the same time tomorrow.”

As I was prepared to finally leave, she stopped me in the last minute: “Also be ready, from now onwards I will attack you whenever I deem it right. Be it when you are asleep, or with lord Korpus, or when I’m in the mood to beat you, it can happen anytime. Your homework is to spot my incoming attack and guard against it.” With those words I was finally allowed to leave. I did what Korpus said to me and went to find him in his laboratory.

“Go and take a rest for today.” Those were his words as I entered the room. Only now I noticed that it was already late at night. The only thing I did today was run around, so I tried to protest against teacher’s words.

“But teacher…”

“No, you should rest for today as your new training took its toll. We will continue with magic tomorrow.”

As I was released, I headed for my room. When I finally entered it I didn’t have any energy left to practice spells on my own, so I did what Korpus suggested and went to bed. I must say I probably don’t remember the last time I fell asleep so quickly.

I woke up as the cold water was splashed on my face.

“Master Malakhay, it’s time to wake up.” Aliss said, as she started to fill the bucket she had with her with water once again.

I slowly opened my eyes and sat on the bed just so I don’t receive another cold shower. I must say, my whole body was tingling with pain. That accursed Hataya came two times during the night when I slept and beat me to a pulp as I wasn’t able to do shit about her. I’m starting to suspect that it isn’t training, but just a pure abuse from her side.

After I ate a quick breakfast, I did as I was instructed and went to the deepest part of the catacombs again. As I arrived,there was nobody there. As I waited for master Hataya to arrive, something struck my neck from behind and before I knew what was happening I found myself on the ground. The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Hataya’s hand, hidden under those black clothes of hers.

I didn’t know how much time had passed, but when I finally woke up she ordered me to run again. That was my whole schedule for the day. I ran, meanwhile she attacked me a few times and beat me until I finally fainted and probably because I looked like I don’t have enough of it we also sparred. She was merciless. When she was finally satisfied and released me it was already quite late in the afternoon. And as if it wasn’t enough, after I have arrived to the laboratory Kropus started again with his teachings about hiding my magical energy. In the end I was so tired that I didn’t even notice that I was knocked out by Hataya once I was finally heading for my room.

***

“So? How is he doing?” Korpus asked, late in the night after Malakhayhad left.

“He is a complete beginner when it comes to fights. I’m surprised that he was able to run from those slavers.” Hataya answered him as she entered the laboratory.

“That bad, hmm? I must apologize to you, before I didn’t have any time to teach him something useful as everything happened very fast.”

“But he is not hopeless.” From Hataya’s mouth those words were like a compliment. “He isn’t naïve as most of the newcomers and doesn’t mind to fight dirty. I can tell that once capable, he will be merciless to his enemies.”

“Yes, he suffered enough to know that nobody will spare him.” Korpus remembered Malakhay’s recent history. “It was the right choice to leave him in your hands.”

“Thank you, lord Korpus. I promise you that as long as he will listen to me, I will teach him as much as I can.”

***

As days went by, very little has changed. My busy schedule of running, throwing up my breakfast, then running again, sparring and throwing up my launch continued. But to say everything stayed the same would be a lie. Yesterday, master Hataya borrowed some undead servants from Korpus and ordered me to fight against them. It were only skeletons, but I was more or less able to stand my ground against them until it became three against one, then it became a one-sided massacre and I probably don’t need to explain who was the one being massacred.

Also, I was successful for the first time in predicting Hataya’s ambush. It happened in the hallway as I was heading for the training with her when I got this weird feeling, telling me, something painful will happen if I walk through it. My whole body tingled as I hesitated to move forward. In the end,Hataya slowly emerged from the dark corner before me.

“What you felt just now was my bloodlust which I showed in my intention to harm you. Remember this feeling well, as it will always help you to reveal even hidden enemies.” As she told this to me, she didn’t beat me for the first time. But there is no need to worry as she corrected this little mistake of hers later that day.

I was able to show some results even in hiding my magical energy that day. It wasn’t perfect as I wasn’t able to stop my magical flow totally, but I was able to slow it down. Teacher praised me for it saying I’m on a very good path.

“Today, I have prepared something special for you.” Korpus said as I opened the door.

Not even letting me to sit down he ordered me to follow him. We went to a different laboratory of his and after entering I could spot something resembling a magic circle on the ground. Before I was able to ask something he already started his explanations.

“If I’m not mistaken you should have learned one of my spells called: Soul weapon.”

I quickly checked it in my Status and nodded.

“Normally, it would be impossible for you to cast it as it is completely out of range of your ability. But the truth is, it is a quite special spell and this rule can be bypassed if I offer my help to you.” Korpus said as he ordered me to stay inside the circle.

“As I said, it’s a unique spell which can be cast once in one’s life. If you are successful a weapon will be created by it. This weapon is specific for each caster and it’s created from a partof his soul or soul-core, in your case both of them.”

“Teacher, why is it possible for me to use this spell?” My curiosity got the better of me as I asked him.

“When cast normally it would need a tremendous amount of mana to be completed and I can help with its supply. Through that circle,” he pointed at the floor under me, “I will pour my manainto you, let your body transform it into your own and then use it in casting a spell. That way we can temporarily bypass your lack of mana in this case.”

Giving me some last instructions, he slowly started to pour his mana into the circle beneath me. As it absorbed his power, the outer layer started to shine as mana was being redirected and finally entered into me. I was prepared as he told me, but it was still shocking. The sheer amount of it almost tore me apart as it started circling in my mana vessels. The second layer of the circle helped me transform it to my own and remain in control of it as I started to cast a spell: “আমার আত্মা যা আমার সঙ্গে এক হয়, তোমার মনিবের আনুগত্য কর এবং যারা যা আমার পথ দাঁড়ানো হত্যা করতে আমার অস্ত্র হয়ে ওঠে. [My soul which is one with me, obey your master and became my weapon to slay those which stand in my path.]”

As I finished the chant, all that accumulated power was sucked from me in one swoop and started to form a weapon before me. It was hard to concentrate and any mistake would probably spell my doom as the power which wasn’t originally mine would probably burn me to cinders if I couldn’t control it. But after a few moments the oppressing feeling left me and as I opened my eyes I could see a beautiful scythe before me.

It was slightly longer than me. I could tell at first glance that it wasn’t created from any ordinary metal as it had a sinister radiance and just by touching it I could tell that it was a part of me. The black colouredshaft wasn’t plain as one would expect, as it was created from endless images of weeping souls, as if they were trying to climb up on top of each other from the deepest parts of the abyss. The lower part of it had a short blade attached to it, so that I could attack with both sides of the weapon. In the upper end of the shaft was a short chain with a skull hanging on it attached to the scythe. The main blade of the weapon was curved and had an unusual white-greyish colour.

“Let me inspect it for a second.” Korpus said, startling me as I totally forgot about him while admiring the weapon. I handed it to him as he requested and the moment he touched it an oppressive feeling of fear and dread almost overcame me. It felt like he was holding a part of me as a hostage.

“I must say, you don’t cease to amaze me,Malakhay.” He said, still studying it. “I can tell that the blade can strike the very soul of your opponent, if he has some, and canalso be very dangerous for the soul-core. The skull on it seems to be a focus point and can help you with casting, something like a mage staff. It will go well with your warlock title as it can support you either in magic or in plain physical combat. It is a powerful weapon. Also, I can see how uncomfortable you look when I’m holding it. Remember that it has been created from the essence of your soul, so if somebody else takes a hold of it, it can end very badly for you.” With that he returned it to me.

“I’m glad everything went well, but I must also warn you. It was created from the soul of a demon and therefore it can get quite greedy. Don’t forget that you are the one who wields the weapon and don’t let the weapon wield you. You are the one doing the fighting, if you lose yourself in its power it will slowly devour you and only an empty husk will remain which will be controlled by the weapon.”

I nodded as I could tell that this scythe had that ability.

Korpus, satisfied with my answer, nodded silently. Then probably bored with the serious atmosphere,he asked casually: “So, how will you name it?”

As I thought about it I lost myselfagain in the weeping images of the souls on the handle and also remembered his words about the blade being able to damage the soul, so the name came naturally to me: “Luo-Khai.”

“That means Soul-eater in the old language of demons. Yes, a fitting name for something with those abilities. The only thing left to do is to teach you how to store it.” I was probably looking like I’m preparing for another hard task that he will give me, because he looked like he enjoyed teasing me like this. “Don’t worry, it isn’t anything complicated. You just need to command it to return to you. Now that you can control your magic to some degree it should be quite easy.”

It was like Korpus said and when I poured a small amount of my mana into Luo-Khai, it slowly transformed into a thick, dark, misty matter. It started to climb my arm like some strange snake until it finally nested itself on my back and formed a large symbol resembling the scythe itself.

“Very good.”Korpus complimented me when he saw that I was able to do it on my first try. “When you want to wield it do the same thing, only reverse.”

After that we left the laboratory behind us and he sent me to get some rest. He also instructed me that tomorrow I should get used to Luo-Khai and there won’t be any other training. When I looked dubiously at him he chuckled in good mood.

“Hataya must have been really strict with you if you forgot that tomorrow is the last day the slave traders stay in the city. Once you finish with your new weapon, come to me and we will see what can be done in this matter.”

I instantly remembered that I have some unfinished business with them. Hearing Korpus’s words, a nasty grin settled on my face as I already knew that tomorrow will be a bloody night and it won’t be my blood that will be spilled.