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Leonard, Diary entrance 35:
I am so close, I cant believe I found a hidden after failing to find them in the highlands. Well it is still unclear if he really is one, I still have my doubts, but that is unimportant. He knows magic and is willing to share his secrets, that is enough for this investment to be worth it. My family, it seems I will not let you down.
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I slept horrible.
The sounds animals and what I can only assume were monsters stood in stark contrast to the serenity of the bubble.
So as I stood up, my mood naturally wasn't the best.
Then the moment I opened my tent it felt like the world wasn't satisfied with hitting me once, and decided it was best to also overthrow my world view for good measure.
Instead of the warmth of the sun, I hoped I could experienced for the first time in my life,what greeted me was the blue hue of what I can only assume presume was a moon. It looked different to the moon I was used to, but it was the moon of the world I was unfortionatly born upon.
Not wanting to arrive at any premature conclusions, I considered dragging my answer right out of the tent at the other side of the burned out campfire.
But observing the sorry state of the patchwork tent, I decided against it. Last night was rather demanding after all.
The darkness of the previous night veiled the true poverty he lives in,which was not surprising considering the racism humans experienced in this world.
Instead I washed my face at the river and prepared a meal with what rations I had.
It was almost an hour later when the man who's name I still didn't know came in and joined me.
Honestly I was a little thankful for the time I had alone,it gave me the possibility to organize my thoughts.
Honestly I was a bit reckless yesterday.
He didn't really show any of his strenght so I have no idea how strong he is, but his composiur is similiar to my combat instroctor, and army veteran who was send to this mission because of his ability to cope with any unforseen circumstance.
And as there is magic in this world it would not have been surprising, if he have had the capability of rendering my weapon usless and that would have probatly resulted in my death.
I waited patiently until he was finished eating what appeared to be a kind of beef jerky. then finnaly I decided to start the conversation.
"So I think we should stay here and prepare for a bit, I know too little about this world and you should at least master the basics of your magic, even if you cant use it every where it would be at least useful against monsters."
He only stared back with raised eyebrows.
What piece of common knowledge was missing this time?
"I still don't know your name."
without even waiting for me to do anything he extended his hand to me.
"Leonard, 27, travelling merchant, human and hobby archaeologist.
Ah yes social customs, I detest them.
Unwillingly I responded to the gesture in kin.
"My name is Kieron Medici, probably human."
Well that is the surname of my teacher, he was also the one who decided my first name. And even if my parents named me different, I never even met them but from what I have been told, they threw me in the bubble to get rid of me for good. As such they had no right to decide anything.
They probably never gave me a name anyway, not that I cared. My teachers were my real family. Suddendly I felt an inability to breath, It still hurt. trying to distract myself I thought about something I never considert, my age. Although I dont knowbecause we didnt measure the days we were trappet to avoide depression I should be in my twentys, somewhere.
"Wait I suddendly noticed, but what about your surename?"
In return I got a sight.
"Our family probatly had a family name once, but because humans are to lowly it is forbidden to be used, so it slowly fell ot of use."
I could clearly see the grif hidden behind his stonic face. Next topic.
"So no that we have this behind us, lets continue to discuss what is truly important. What do you think of my idea?"
That sounded a bit more arrogajnnt than it should have.,
What followed was a sight from Leonard.
"Okay first of all I would disagree.And before you try to argue, we are nowhere near safe here, as you can see"
He made a gesture to the charred creature that we killed yesterday.
"instead it is better to hurry towards the main road, wich will offer us some protection. From there we will head to the next settlement, Loggers Rest where we will be resurplying.
We can use this time to make up for any lack of knowledge you have,and you can teach me magic.
As for social customs there isnt that much I can show you, after all I am not even a native to this part of the continent myself.
You see, for a native, no matter how much you trie to blend in by learning about certaint rules, he will still notice that you are in fact ot from here.
So the best we can do is for you to just go with it and play the mysterious companion of a travelling merchant who clearly comes from afar. Just let me manage the talking, you don't seem to be, ahem, talented in social skills any way. What comes after that, can be discussed later."
He had solid arguments, besides I am not well versed in the ways of this world, and juging by his profession he knew his way around.
Otherwise he would have died long ago.
"Ok" i raised my hands in defeat, "I accept. You will be doing the talking, I am not interested in social interactions anyway."
Also, because of what happened recently I was not in the mood to try and blend in anyway. I would even welcome some time alone. If this world was less deangerous i would probatly live alone for a bit.
"But much more important than that, tell me about the moon. Why is it not hidden behind the clouds and where is the sun?"
A baffled look appeared on Leonards face, I guess he got a bit overwhelmed.
"Okay, First things first. All I can say about the moon, which we call aurora is, that it raises and falls with the passage of the day, and illuminates our world.
The sun is hidden behind these thick clouds adorning the sky at every time of the day.
I have never seen it myself, but from the story's told i know that the sun is up there pouring down a cruel hot light that burns everyone not in its grace, but like I said the clouds are up there all the time and if you plan on ever seeing its light then dream on.
The last question isn't easy to answer either because honestly I have no idea. But what i can say is, that it always was this way, and no matter the rain, no matter the storms the moon continues to shine its light upon us."
Satisfied with his explanation it seemed as if he suddendly regained his vigor and the tired air surrounding him ever since he woke up this mornig seemd to vanish.
"So, what is magic."
Huh, so thats what made him so spirited. Honestly I could understand it, I was just as curios when it comes to magic as he was.
"So I first want to say that I do not know everything and some of the information could be outdated or flat out wrong.
But what I do know is that magic is classified into nine tiers their strength increasing by their order of magnitude.
Mirroring the spells mages themself are also separated in nine tiers according to the spells they know, it is impossible to learn more than one spell from each tier and it is also impossible to learn a higher tier spell before a lower tier spell.
That means that a level two mage is capable of one first level and one second level spell.
Everything clear so far?"
He seems confused, was I too fast?
"So what if you screw up and learn a spell that doesn't fit you or say, be forced to learn a useless spell because this the only one available."
Ah right I guess that's important. I myself am in a bit of a dilemma, don't misunderstand me I love my first spell, I just don't know where to go after this.
"Ah yes in that situation you have to just go with it and hope for the best. Look at the world around us, you cant expect that kind of kindness from the one who created it, can you?!"
Leonard nodded, after all he knew this place better than I did and his appearence spoke volumes of what he had been through.
"But that doesn't really matter because you don't have a choice anyway.
The Formulas of the other spells were mostly incomplete with pages missing, still valuable for me as they give me the opportunity to learn more about spells, and maybe construct my own some day, but not an option for you.
Learning my spell would also be redundant, and I don't think it suits you anyway, so that leaves us with the only other complete spell, Curse."