A Jaded Life

Just the idea of getting lessons was enough to thoroughly intrigue Daniel, to the point that he suddenly resembled Silva when the last piece of roasted meat was up for grabs. Just his transition from a somewhat serious student of the writings I had put on the wall into an eager puppy, begging for a special treat managed to break my usually solid poker face and made me chuckle.

“What would those lessons be about?” Samantha asked, turning away from Alex’s scribbles about foundational alchemy.

“While I have a few martial accomplishments, my lessons will be on some foundational magical concepts. I believe young Daniel here has managed to figure out a few tricks of his own, didn’t he?” I told her, before studying Daniel some more, noticing that I couldn’t really tell the affinity his soul had, none of them stood out. In fact, while his overall affinity for magic seemed to be fairly high, his elemental affinities were only at the level of my own affinity for Earth Magic. Not terribly high but high enough to make the elements usable, if one put in enough effort. But, where I only had the affinity thanks to some of the special traits I had gained thanks to my high attributes, Daniel came to it naturally, making him somewhat suitable to learn any elemental magic I could think of. It would be interesting to see how much he could do if I managed to train him properly.

“And why do you think you can teach him?” Jack prodded, making me laugh outright at his question.

“Look around, will you?” I gestured towards the walls all around us, turning as I did, “Just some ten days ago, this was nothing but an empty quarry, partially filled with water and gravel. I broke the rocks from the cliffs, I laid the foundations and I raised this tower, all on my own. All with my magic,” I paused, letting the information sink in deeply before continuing, “All with my Earth Magic. A magical element that isn’t even among my top five elements. I merely used it because Earth, or more precisely rock, is an excellent building material. So yes, I believe I can teach him a fair amount,” I finished my short explanation, staring into Jack’s eyes, somewhat pleased at the realisation I could see in them and the fear stemming from it.

“Incredible,” Daniel whispered as if talking to himself, as he stared at the tower around us again. Maybe it had only now sunk in that this was all constructed magically, or they had partially denied the reality of it all, I wasn’t sure. But whatever the case, all five of them seemed to be suitably cowed at the moment.

“Can you teach me more about these diagrams?” Samantha asked from the other wall, her mind apparently still somewhat engrossed by them.

“No, I’m afraid not, they are not made by my hand. You would have to ask my older daughter about them, alongside her companion, Alex,” I explained, just as I noticed another disturbance move through the room unseen, just as I had earlier. Lia was getting quite good with the Shadow Cloak, though she wasn’t as proficient as I was, even without my physical Cloak.

“Could she teach me, too?” Samantha pleaded, her eyes going from me to the wall and back. I had to hide my grin when the woman didn’t notice the presence right next to her, still hidden in the shadows.

“What’s in it for me?” Lia asked, letting her cloak fall while she was in Samantha’s blind spot, making the woman squeal and jump surprisingly high. She didn’t quite get to the ceiling but for a vertical leap without any running start or preparation, it was an excellent height, good enough to make Luna applaud with a grin on her face. The rest of their party didn’t take Lia’s appearance with as much humour as Luna did, at least Murray, Jonas and Jack looked quite put out by the fact that both Lia and I had managed to seemingly appear from thin air. Or maybe they were simply afraid of what else we might be able to do. Luckily, the lighting on the ground floor was bad enough to partially conceal Lia’s solidly crimson eyes, those would only add to the discomfort these people would feel.

I wanted them to be intimidated by the power we could bring to bear but I didn’t want them to regard us as monsters and come after us with torches and pitchforks. We would likely win, even against a large number of enemies, but there were no guarantees.

“Don’t do that?” Samantha screamed, her voice filled with a mix of anger and shame, making me think she was feeling utterly humiliated.

“Screaming at your teacher, that’s not a good thing for a pupil, is it?” Lia chuckled, gently caressing Samantha’s face in a somewhat inappropriate manner. “I might have to chastise you, so you can learn to behave.”

Lia’s words and actions were somewhat out of character for her, making me wonder what my daughter had in mind. I doubted she was just messing with the woman for the fun of it, though I couldn’t rule it out, so she was planning something. What, I had no idea, but I was looking forward to finding it out, especially given just how badly Samantha was now blushing and stuttering.

“Sam, everything okay over there?” Jack prompted, looking very much as if he was about to pull Lia away from his teammate, an expression mirrored on Jonas’ face. Curiously, Murray looked on with a stoic and placid expression, as if he would only move if there was a real need.

“I’m fine,” Samantha managed to blurt out, while Lia was pushing even further into her personal space. Quite the accomplishment given just how close to her Lia had appeared, though given that it looked like Lia was quietly whispering into Samantha’s ears while gesturing to specific parts of the diagrams on the wall, there might be a reason for the proximity. Or Lia just wanted to mess with Samantha, either, or even both, were valid possibilities.

“Don’t expect me to provide such close instruction,” I grinned, looking at Daniel whose eyes had been travelling between Samantha and Lia, myself, the wall with the arcane writing and back as if he was trying to figure out what sort of lessons I would provide. Granted, my words were a bit of a lie, depending on his abilities I might have to use Mind Magic on him to pull him into the Astral River which could be considered close and intimate but compared to Lia’s flirting, it was a different type of intimacy.

“The question remains, are you interested in lessons? And if yes, what will the three muscle heads over there do while we teach you? Lessons won’t happen in a day, at least not if you want to actually learn something,” I warned Daniel, curious about what arrangements they would propose.

“I don’t suppose you would put us up in your tower?” Jonas asked, after tearing his eyes away from Lia and Samantha. By now, I started to wonder if my influence on my daughter was stronger than I had expected, some of the things Lia did wouldn’t have been out of place between Sigmir and myself. Only that Lia was trying them on somebody she had met a few minutes ago, not that I could really throw shade in that regard, Sigmir and I had been drawn together shortly after our initial meeting, too. Granted, there was the connection and link between our souls, something I couldn’t detect between Samantha and Lia, so who knew, maybe Lia was simply trying to move fast.

“That depends, I might be willing to let the five of you sleep down here, or I might even set up something simple outside if your companions show themself to be worthy pupils,” I paused for a moment, considering the best way to set things up for our benefit. If this Daniel had as much potential as I currently thought, I would likely get multiple levels out of teaching him, something I wanted quite a bit, as they would help a great deal on my path to level hundred and the second divide. Given the low levels of these people, I wasn’t about to bet on finding suitable enemies anywhere nearby, if there were, these people wouldn’t travel about as confidently.

“But why don’t you make us an offer? I can teach Daniel here a great deal about elemental magic, I might even be willing to give him a few simple lessons on Enchanting, something I doubt he’d figure out by himself. However, as you might have heard, there ain’t such a thing as a free lunch. Nor is there such a thing as free education;” I challenged, curious with what sort of offer they would come up with. Hopefully, it would be a good one.