The next day Cyrus was awoken this time by Adara, who had circles under her eyes, but was still rather cheerful and even more excited due to today's events.
"Ok Cyrus, today is my turn!" she happily said as she dragged Cyrus by the arm towards a place to sit.
"As you know I am a magus with the rank of Master, something that I never would have had without Cato's help" of which she then fell into a slight lull after thinking about him, to which Cyrus politely coughed.
"Oh, sorry about that." She collected herself, a bit embarrassed still but nevertheless she continued, "The journey to become a master was quite hard indeed, from a lowly initiate past the barely competent novice to the adept, the first rank at which one can call themselves a true mage, to finally where I stand as a master of magic. For me, as a Vita mage, I am in high demand pretty much anywhere you know. I mean, who wouldn't want someone who can cure mortal wounds, reduce the effects of aging, or allow one to travel impossible distances. The applications of such magic is endless, but, this is not limited to just my domain of magic. Any domain is as deep or shallow as the user wills it to be, whether they put in the time and effort to fully understand what their predecessors have learned and have the drive to discover their own unique interpretation of magic…" rambled Adara passionately, fully delving into an obsessive rant about how interesting and developed magic is.
Catching herself, she said "Ah, woops did it again. Cato always told me I could ramble on about how wonderful magic was for days on end" with a light sigh she continued "Now, I know that you chose both the Vita and Mors domain. Two opposing sides at that, quite the unique combination as the common thought is that progress in one will not relate to progress in another. Perhaps that is correct, but how could we know that which we do not know? The next breakthrough could be just around the corner, waiting for the mage to stumble upon it. Now, let me tell you about my personal specialization when it comes to Vita magic: Battle."
Cyrus was surprised to hear this, as her entire persona thus far seemed to be of a cheery woman, when Cato was not mentioned anyhow, who seemed a bit too far removed from the horrors of war. Noticing his surprise, Adara gave a smirk
"Surprising right? At first I did not take too well to fighting as my plan had been to become a top healer for the Empire, but that eventually changed"
"Probably Cato again" thought Cyrus to himself as Adara continued.
"When I changed my focus I discovered that I was actually really talented when it came to operating my magic during battle. I had subscribed to a fairly new school of thought when it came to Vita battle magic and that was of how the role of a Vita mage could be of one of a controller amongst the frontlines. Me and my peers who first studied this idea became the pioneers that eventually changed how the entire Empire viewed Vita magic, so much so that in every academy there is now a fully funded Vita department that trains new mages with the best resources. The implication of this new way of using our magic brought about a variety of techniques and methods such as the… " droned Adara as she started speaking in what Cyrus had initially thought was another language, but soon recognized she was merely using hyper specialized jargon that he had never heard before.
"Oh hell, understanding Cato's ice magic was hard enough but it seems there is no standard when it comes to each mages personal research… each is highly specialized and suited to the mages needs and only those of the same school would probably hope to be able to understand them fully" moaned Cyrus internally, yet he paid rapt attention and even produced writing utensils so that he could note important information for further study.
From what Cyrus could understand, he found that he was shocked as to how profound the knowledge was. The school of thought that Adara was speaking of was electrifying to say the least, full of a perspective that he had not even thought of before.
"I easily learned that Vita magic is useful for detection, healing myself and others, as well as I even discovered something nifty where I could use the magic to temporarily bypass sleep. Yet… what Adara is saying is essentially connecting themselves to a unit of frontline troops, constantly monitoring them and applying extremely precise spells for maximum effect. When a troop was wounded, a quick spell would cauterize the wound allowing them to fight on. When a troop was giving chase, a quick invigoration spell would allow them a large burst of speed to easily dispatch of routing units. Similarly, when retreating the same spell became a lifesaver. How interesting… also how blind of me. Now it seems obvious that such a way of using Vita is possible, but just moments before I could not have even guessed it.. I wonder what else I have missed?" wondered Cyrus as Adara finished her confusing, but pact full of essential knowledge lesson. Broken from her passionate speech, the two spent the rest of their time in a long question and answer session where Cyrus sought to illuminate as much of the information as possible.
After Adara was done answering and the two began to part, she put on a somewhat hesitant look before telling Cyrus as he left
"I know Cato has not mentioned me to you, seeing how I was a total stranger to you when we were first travelling." Cyrus was about to interrupt but she silenced him, continuing "Trust me, I am as familiar with him as you are if not more so in certain areas. I know he is an extremely passionate man but that passion is focused more on his beliefs than on any romantic life. I am saying this because everyone in our group has eventually done something similar, trying to help me out in one way or another. I rejected them though, I would not want them to ruin their deep bonds over something so trivial. Besides, I have always been pleased just being able to help him out whenever I can" ended Adara with a sad smile. She then handed a small notebook over, saying "I stayed up last night to write this for you, a few of my insights into Vita magic over the years. Perhaps you will find it useful" ended Adara, as she waved goodbye and left.
"Wow" thought Cyrus, baffled into silence for once while also making plans to kick his mentors' ass the next time they meet. What Adara got wrong was that Cyrus and Cato were not friends, close companions, nor vassal and servant but mentor and student or perhaps father and son. Such a connection more than allows one another to annoyingly meddle into the others life.