At the Sha family castle.....
Velex was sitting silently, taking in all the information that Denis had told him. It seemed the road to becoming a mage was a vast one. seeing the old man in front of him that was stuck as an acolyte for the rest of his life let him know if only a little how hard it was to become a mage. Yet knowing that his talent was high, took a burden of his shoulders and eased his mind. The old mans deal to join the Sha family didn't sound bad, he wouldn't be shackled to them for long and they would aid him if only with few resources.
The biggest win would be the ability to join an Academy through them, as in truth he had no idea when or if he would meet another mage family and if he could join an academy without their help. Them wanting to use him as a ticket for their own descendant entree to a high ranking Academy did not hinder him in anyway.
It didn't take long for Velex to way the pros and cons.
"I have no problem with any of your terms. accepting your offer is beneficial to me. I will agree to the terms of your deal."
Denis was static yet not surprised since he knew the young lad didn't have any other options.
he quickly replied "That is great, now all we have to do is sign a magic contract"
"A magic contract?"
"A magic contract is a simple pact between acolytes or mages, we use our magic energy to bring life to the terms agreed. Do not worry about anything I will be honest and say between acolytes one can not influence the others terms once the contract has been sign. The same applies to mages yet its more complicated, you will know more once and if you become a mage"
In front of Velex ,Denis took out a yellow scroll and started to project his magic energy from his body. With it he soon finish writing the terms of the contract, It stated that Velex would join the Sha family for a period that would not exceed more then 5 years. He would bear the Sha family name during this time in order to take Lybert Sha into the Academy he would join. He would as well within does by 5 years aid Lybert, as long as it didn't damaged his interest. He would also receive small aid in resources to aid his cultivation, as well as one spell node and access to the family's regular library.
Velex read the terms and although he would rather not sign anything that would restrict him, this was a good deal as far as he could tell. Denis showed him how to use his magic to sign the contract and soon everything was set.
"good, now with that out of the way I'm sure you still have a lot of questions. But we can come back to that later, let me give you this first" with that said Denis took a yellow brownish thick piece of paper and passed it to Velex.
"This is an acolyte spell node, as I've said these are used by new acolytes to help their training of magic energy, although its a very simple spell it is crucial to a new acolyte. I don't know just how much energy you have been able to store in your body, but by the form of your energy I know you are still in the gaseous stage. Take your time and use this to meditate, we can speak further once you have learn to harness your magic energy."
As he finished speaking he signal a servant to come forward and told him to show Velex to his new Room. Velex didn't hesitate and followed the servant further into the castle.
Not long later after Velex was gone, Robert began to speak "It's a shame that he has already being able to collect energy inside his body, If not our terms for the contract would be more favorable" he said with a slight disappointed expression. Denis quickly retorted "Although we couldn't take full advantage of young Velex, with him bearing our family name Lybert can join a high ranked academy, his future is bright. We cannot let greed blind us, the road of a mage is dangerous and perilous any family could disappear at any time". With that they both began to talk about matter of the castle.
Velex made it to his new Room, it was a large room with thick stone walls. A big beg was in the corner of the room with sum other furniture, but the most eye catching detail was the ring size training area in the middle with a huge mat. anyone could tell its purpose, Velex sat down and took out the spell node. Denis explain to him that all he had to do was inject his magic energy into it and slowly control the process after the spell activated. It was a simple procedure that carried no risk, it was a simple exercise new acolytes used. Velex easily achieved success in the first try, as he already was able to control his magic energy. It was only that his body naturally absorbed it, now with the help of the spell he could store twice the magic energy at the same time. He was very happy with just this alone, Denis told him that he would receive the resources later as he did not need them now.
He really couldn't care about it now as he was ecstatic from the feeling of his energy rising inside him at such a fast pace.
Velex remained inside his room, only stopping to sleep and eat the food the servants would bring him, Denis didn't seem to be surprise by Velex behavior, even is the Spell node was a simple cultivation spell. It would take a new acolyte a few days to get it down, specially one with no prior study or knowledge in the field of spell node's.
Almost 2 weeks went by, Finally Velex decided to go back to Denis to talk about the Academy. He asked the servants to let Denis know he wanted to see him, he waited in the main hall table for a few minutes for Denis to show up. The old man sat down a happily greeted him.
"Good it seems you can store your energy know, although learning this spell node won't hide your magic energy. It will make it harder for other acolytes to judge your magic power. now what would you like to talk about?"
"The academy's, what do I have to do to join and where will the recruitment be held?"
"Joining an academy is actually pretty simple, at the recruitment site you will be able to choose which academy you would like to join. Each academy is for the most part specialized in 1 or 2 element fields. The tests vary ,but are easy and mostly rely on one's talent. The actual difficulty of the recruitment process is not the academy's themselves, rather the wilderness. You will have to travel 4 months from here through Chaos ridge mountain and then the dark forest, then you will meet up with a recruitment group their. From that point it will only take 2 months to reach the recruitment location in the waste lands. I will accompany you through the Chaos ridge mountain, after that you and Lybert will be on your own. This is the actual test from the academy's."
Velex wasn't to surprise that this journey would be so perilous, with his strength he was sure to be fine, we was sure these locations weren't beyond his capabilities. If so then the academy's wouldn't have any people to recruit. At this point the old man asked an important question "So young Velex what is your element?" he could only hope that him and his grandson had the same element but high ranked academy's although would were not specialized in other elements they could still nurture acolytes of different elements so he wasn't to worried.
Velex only hesitated for a moment before saying "my element is Lightning" Denis was stunned for a few moment this was truly amazing not only was the young mans talent high he also had one if the rare elements lightning. even when he had join his academy back in the day he remember only seeing 1 other person that had the lightning element.
"Although their are not any academy's that are specialized in the lightning element, a few high ranked academy's still have the capabilities to help you grow, when ever a rare element holding acolyte appears these force would make sure to be ready to take them in. Although their path is harsher, they in return are more powerful compare to the normal element" this was still good, this meant that Velex could possibly choose a fire specialized force as they would have the resources he would need, Denis decided not too push his luck and let the conversation end their.
A few minutes later Velex told Denis that he planned to train in the Chaos ridge mountain, although the old man wanted to stop him in the end he could only let him leave. he only reminded him to be ready for the trip in a bit over a year's time, since Velex didn't tell him when he would return.
Velex went back to his old routine of training, hunting and sleeping in the forest. 3 months passed by quickly, at this time Velex was standing in his battle stance facing a beast in the forest , he had grown again in this time he was now 4.7ft tall most of his other features stayed the same expect for the 2 small blue lightning emblems under his 2 golden ones that grew in size as his magic energy grew.
He was currently facing the Green snake beast, But this time he didn't plan to run. he didn't hesitate as he lunged forward towards the snake, the snaked coiled its tail and waited to strike. As Velex came 40ft front it the snaked launched itself at him, Velex didn't panic blue light glowed from his feet and hands he quickly side stepped a few times, striking the snakes body each time he would move. By the end of the first exchange more then 4 long deep wounds could be see on the snakes body, a faint smell of burnt flesh gather around the snake. Although Velex wasn't able to launch his lightning or knew how to cast a spell, he could concentrate his magic power on his hands in small quantities that could be used to cause minor burns to low level beast, specially since he first cut the snakes body and then pressed his electricity into its wound causing decent damage.
The snake beast felt severe pain coming from those 4 wounds on its body, it felt helpless as it was unable to even touch his enemy. Yet in that short exchange his enemy was able to deal a substantial amount of damage. soon the battle ended after a few more exchanges, the snake had tried to escape but its speed was not comparable to Velex, it wasn't able to land 1 hit on him. Velex felt intensely proud, since not to long ago he would not of being able to last more then a few exchanges with his magic energy against the green snake beast. He then resumed his training in the Forest.