"But?"
The man narrowed his eyes and frowned, "But then suddenly a rain of fire fell on them! The weaklings were only a distraction for this Shaman to finish casting his spell in peace!" He angrily kicked the cage, "If it wasn't for the Water Wizard Riordian Northendark making a move in time, it is possible there would be heavy casualties!"
"Riordian? That lad? I know him, he was a talented student here at the Academy!" The old headmaster remembered most of the promising students, and Riordian was one of them. Besides, he was also from a powerful family, who wouldn't know him?
"Well…yes! Anyway, as the battle came to an end, the leader, Tabbris Northendark personally pummeled the Orc Shaman and put him in chains. Since they captured a specimen of that caliber they decided to end their training prematurely and return to the capital…"
The man finished his story and then said, "If headmaster Errgan wants, I can send you the full report…"
"Mn, do that! Also, call Elder Balin and Bishop Quinn and tell them to meet me in my office. We have to investigate this incident further… This would be so much easier if only we could understand what these beasts are saying… Sigh!" The headmaster shook his head in regret.
The only thing they heard when the beasts spoke was a sound of growls and roars, completely unrecognizable to them.
"Yes! I'll be on my way then!"
***
"Oh Gerald, you are back!" Sera came to welcome him after he stepped through the door. "I managed to get a few maids and a butler, just as you wanted. Let me present them to you…"
She led him to a spacious room, where two girls and an old man were waiting. The mansion had a wardrobe for the servants so they were all in uniform already.
"This is your new master, Gerald. Make sure to serve him well!" she announced.
"Master!" The servants bowed in respect.
"Mn, good." Gerald threw them a glance and then turned to face Sera, "Is that all of them?
Sera sighed, "Unfortunately yes. I spent most of the day just to find just these three… It's not that easy to find good servants you know?"
Gerald simply waved his hand, "It's okay. We aren't in desperate need of people right now… Where is Xilia? Did she find the guards for our new home?"
"Hah, you wish!" An angry voice sounded out from behind him. Xilia came in the room all grumpy, and jumped on a couch, "These shameless bastards! I had gathered a few people and we already agreed on their pay, but after they heard where they had to work, they suddenly wanted more than double the amount! Pui!"
Gerald was left speechless and then shook his head helplessly. "Whatever… Just try again tomorrow. Make sure to gather some capable people, I don't want to sacrifice quality for quantity!"
"Eh…" Xilia took a sip from her waterskin and said, "I don't think there are many that fit the standard you want… If the pay was at least another half higher, then we could probably attract more interest."
"It's high enough already…" Gerald shook his head again and left the room.
At one gold coin per person each week, the pay was quite generous already. Besides… They were only hiring normal guards, not some powerful warriors from the Guild. Paying anything more would be excessive already.
In his room, Gerald returned to his desk and continued to write the alchemy book. After moving to the mansion he placed a bookshelf in his lab where he stored all of his writings.
"Eh, writing with a quill is slow and exhausting… Oh, how I miss computers…" Gerald exhaled, looking at the ceiling with eyes full of reminiscence. "It would be so much faster if I could have an automatic speech-to-text converter…or even just typing manually…"
As his thoughts wandered, a drop of ink dripped on the paper from the quill. It was just barely audible, but it was enough for Gerald to wake up and frown, "Ah! God damn it! There is always something that has to go wrong!"
His fingers made grabbing motions above the paper and the drop of ink was quickly sucked out of the thick book paper. Unfortunately, although he reacted quickly, a black stain was still left on the page.
Gerald held the book in his hand and helplessly blew the air out of his nose. Placing the book back down his mind wandered again.
"Only after losing something do you realize what you had… I never completely understood this proverb, until now… I freaking hate this lack of technology! Why can't there be a world with both? Magic and science, working hand in hand to push the limits of reality?"
He spread out his body in the armchair and stared mindlessly at the drop of ink floating in the air. Pointing a finger at the drop, he drew a line away from it and a thin line of ink left the drop.
Watching the line of ink fly above his head, he slowly lowered his gaze until it landed on an empty piece of paper.
Pointing at the page he spoke, "Science, original magic of the world!" The ink fell and the words he just spoke, arranged themselves on the blank page.
"Huh? I can do it like that too?" Gerald was taken aback. "Why didn't anyone tell me?! I wasted so much time writing all this shit down manually!"
He pulled the vial of ink closer and a few drops floated out. Rearranging themselves neatly in the air, they landed on the paper and made neat and pristine words.
"Well, I'll be damned! I turned into a human printer! Not bad!" A wide smile formed on Gerald's face as he quickly recalled some intricate patterns in his mind and sure enough, the ink was formed perfectly to depict what was in his mind.
"Hah! Awesome! I can already see this being useful in so many things!" He slapped the table happily. The writing was only a tiny fraction of the possibilities of his newly discovered abilities.
Since he could take a picture out of his mind and onto the paper, combined with his nearly perfect memory, he became a sort of living camera. Taking pictures with his mind and drawing them on paper.
How annoying is it, when you have a plan in mind, only to butcher it horrendously after you draw it out? Hands and eyes have to be trained to preserve the essence that is born in the mind, but if there is no middle man, it can only be considered a perfect copy!
Having found an easy way of writing, Gerald continued to fill the blank pages in the book at an astonishing speed. The ink barely had the time to dry before he already turned the page around.
Soon the evening came and after it, night.
In the morning the next day, after breakfast, Gerald had his new student listen to his teachings. Once again, his words did not touch upon the recipes or skills of alchemy, instead, his lecture contained a simplified version of physics.
There was no math, just the bare essentials of the true form of the material world.
Qiona was fascinated by the things Gerald spoke about and her curiosity seemed unending. Question after question rained down upon him and after a few hours of constant talking, he found himself unable to speak any longer.
"We'll end here for today. Reflect on what you learned and try to remember as much as you can, Qiona!" Gerald said after starting to feel his throat dry up.
Nodding, Qiona looked with her big bright eyes, "Mhm, I will not let big brother down!"
Breathing a big sigh of relief, Gerald strolled outside, among the trees in the back garden. He saw a maid from the corner of his eye, getting water from the well, but he paid her no mind.
He found a comfortable place in the shade of a tree and sat down. Reorganizing the stuff in his pocket, he touched a certain rectangular object.
"Oh, it's the Stone Armor spellbook! I almost forgot about it…" he said after looking at the item in the sunlight.
"I should check it out…" Murmuring so, he opened the first page and started reading, 'Earth, an Element of defense, stability, and eternity. Just as a rock defies the wind and rain, so too it can block arrows and blades. Making use of the hardness of the rock, one can use it to shield himself from outside attacks…'
Reading the words in the book, Gerald soon realized that most of the contents were actually just the writer trying to induce the right state of mind, so the spell could be properly cast.
For those that had limited imagination, this was indeed a good way to make it easier, but for Gerald, it was just a bunch of unnecessary words, nothing more than worthless filler.