Chereads / The Artificer's Apprentice / Chapter 6 - Lesson one still isn't over yet kid

Chapter 6 - Lesson one still isn't over yet kid

Alice jerks awake, looking up from the grass and looking around, she sees the remains of the wolf and Isaac reading a book and sitting on a... is that a study chair where the fuck did he get that?, she's still covered in blood and it's still fresh, she's not in pain so she isn't dead..yet, Alice pulls herself up, her arms and legs still trembling, she nearly falls over trying still feeling lightheaded

Isaac: "Ah, welcome back to the world of the living kid, you really so little spine that you passed out for five minutes from seeing the blood?" he shuts his book and stands up from the chair which quickly apearsto vanish.

Alice: "I-I... uhm, no it wasn't that, i... thought i was going to die, what kind of first lesson was that you could have gotten me killed!" she clenches her trembling fist as she glares at him with a rather hostile scowl.

Isaac pulls a piece of cloth from his back and tosses it to Alice, she manages to catch it easily enough.

Isaac: "Clean yourself up kid, if I didn't throw you in the deep end someone else would have, the difference would have been that with me you're actually safe, now... what did you learn?"

Alice wipes her face and her arms down, though she's a bit distraught her jacket and clothes are probably ruined at this point.

Alice: "I would say I learned that you're an asshole but I already knew that"

Isaac: "Good, now what did you actually learn kid?"

Alice thinks to herself, the shock is starting to fade, she looks at the wooden sword on the ground and at the wolf, she vaguely remembers Isaac's words before she passed out.

Alice: "It... was so easy, I barely felt any impact i... knew it happened with materials but i never had anything that big leap at me like that..."

Isaac: "Good, now, pick up your sword and swing at me with all you got kid"

Alice seems confused, she lets out a nervous chuckle before she looks up at his face, this idiot really isn't joking.

Alice: "Heh.... wait... are you actually serious? do you want me to kill you?"

Isaac: "Kid you couldn't kill me if you tried, now c'mon, try to put me in my place if you can"

Alice picks up the practice sword and grips it in her right hand, she lights the blade in her fiery aura as she begins to approach him, getting within a few feet from him she pauses with the blade in her hand waiting for him to say anything but he just smiles. Confused, Alice makes a half-hearted swing at him, a diagonal slice from his arm below his shoulder do just above his wrist, Alice instinctively recoils after the swing as she sees the fabric of his clothes tear along that line, there's no blood, pale his skin at his arms are unharmed beneath his torn clothes, and at his torso a metallic sheen is visible, some kind of half plate? Alice is relieved but she looks rather puzzled, her sword is aflame but she doesn't see anything that could have protected him.

Isaac: "I told you to trust me kid, see how my clothes were destroyed but not my skin or armor? can you guess why?"

Alice: "I'm... guessing the armor is magic somehow, and your skin is protected by magic too but... i can't see anything on either of them"

Isaac nods, as he begins to sit down a chair quickly materializes as if it were filled in by beams of light first then the color and texture appeared, it happened in an instant.

Isaac: "You're partially correct, the armor is magic, condensed magic to be specific, most magic users worth their salt can make temporary constructs with magic, the better you are the more complex they get, however artificers can make magic into physical objects and enchant them"

Alice: "So the armor literally IS magic okay sure... but unless you ripped your skin off and replaced it i don't see how you didn't lose your arms"

Isaac: "Simple, my body is strengthened by my own magic and the magic i have consumed, remember what i told you about magical creatures?"

Alice: "You said magic was a part of them, so... i'm guessing that wolf wasn't magical at all?"

Isaac: "Bingo kid, a slice like that might cut the skin of a tier 1 beast but you would do nothing to slipstream, remember kid, the levels of magic go up as you head towards the center of the continent, do you understand what that means?"

Alice seems to think for a bit as she process this, she looks up to him confidently as she answers.

Alice: "I have to progress in order of the levels if i want to have a chance of surviving don't i?"

Isaac: "Good, you can at least reach the right conclusions, the goal is to get you to be able to survive at tier three, only then you have a chance at joining the mage's guild and getting your life back under their protection."

Alice: "Okay okay so... i can slice up a wolf, fine, so when are we ready to move into a level one magic area or whatever you said?"

Isaac chuckles a bit too much to himself, covering his mouth

Isaac: "haha-oh gods no you're not ready for that yet, you would die just by being there, the magic in the air would kill you in a few hours"

Alice: "wait what? there's magic in the air along with the beasts? How am i supposed to get around that?"

Isaac: "Miasma they call it, the concentration of magic gets stronger as you get deeper into the zones, you need to use your magic to protect yourself from it"

Alice: "Protect yourself from magic with magic... like my sword and your skin?"

Isaac: "Without killing yourself in the process yes"

Alice looks at her hands, her nose scrunches up as her face forms into a confused grimace

Alice: "So... how am i meant to... do the thing without dying? everything else pour magic into breaks apart"

Isaac: "That's what we're going to figure out, all you know is how to agressively pour mana into things, I'm going to have to do something very drastic that i don't want to do kid" Isaac sighs and shakes his head looking quite serious.

Alice looks a bit nervous, she hesitates a bit but she finally asks.

Alice: "Drastic? I just killed a wolf and that wasn't drastic, what kind of crazy shit do you have planned?"

Isaac gives her a serious look for a good long while.

Isaac: "I'm going to have to teach you how to actually have some self control and learn magic properly..."

Alice: "...." She stops for a good long while before she lets out a disappointed sigh and facepalms "I hate you so much..."

Isaac cracks a cheeky smile

Isaac: "Get ready kid your training is only beginning and this next part isn't going to be fun for either of us since you're a sorcerer" Isaac states as he plucks a pine needle from a tree and hands it to Alice.

Alice: "I don't really get your issue with sorcerers, or why you gave me this... thing, am i supposed to do something with this?"

Isaac: "Yes, you're going to run mana through it, and if the needle is destroyed you fail, easy right? and we're going to repeat that until you don't destroy it, we got a whooole forest of needles"

Alice looks at the needle and the back to Isaac again, then back to the needle... she attempts to not bother asking another question and just going for it, with just a slight amount of effort pine needle bursts into blue flames and is consumed immediately causing her to flinch and drop it to the ground

Alice: "Can i at least get more direction than that??!"

Isaac: "Believe me kid i wish i could, sorcerers are best learning by doing and getting the feel for things, if i tried to teach you the basics of runes and circles we would be here all day, now get another needle, we got work to do."