It took a little more than one without me to finally be in my master's presence and take my first class, I don't exactly know how other people take apprentices, but I believe she doesn't want a month to teach the first class or even explain how the learning relationship will work.
I know what I'm getting and some of my obligations which are basically to obey the master's orders since she must know what's best for me, no matter how much I think she's screwing me, I'm going to have to ignore my institutes. who are going to be screaming that I'm going to risk my life because of my master's whim.
Our first class took place at a training camp and she asked me to go with all my gear, so armor, bow, arrows and blades the only things I didn't take were explosives, I don't think the mistress will like it if I blew an explosive in her face. I'm pretty sure ward will beat me up with the excuse that it's training.
I checked before the teacher and to my surprise this special training ground that was not open to students was quite common, this capo gave a strange feeling of peace a small lake, some trees near it, green grass and some rocks around the lake with the purpose of being a small wall. There was even a stone stool near the lake, this training ground looked more like a picnic spot than a training ground, I only noticed that there was something strange when I sat down on the stone bench.
When I touched it, I realized it was strangely hard and dense, I have no idea how heavy this stool weighs, but when I tried to push it, I could barely make it sway. While it's not a fool to try and punch this bench I'm pretty sure I'd break my hand if I tried to punch it with all my might, even when I used one of my knives and it didn't even scratch the surface of the bench.
When I went to confirm if the rest of the landscape was unusually resistant the headmistress appeared at the training ground, although this time she didn't try to hide her presence she moved at a speed that the moment I felt her approach and I turned my face towards her she was already on my side.
"Did you miss me? Excited for your first class?"
Even though she looks happy and is speaking neutral or even animated words, I feel danger and blood emanating from my master. The air of peace that the training camp had had was sustained by an atmosphere that reeks of blood and violence.
"Good morning, master. I hope everything has gone well with the end of the test."
"You don't have to force yourself to be polite to me, Ulric. You must speak normally and in a direct way to me, if you insist on being a dandy, I will beat you until that fake smile wears off, because you will be without a single tooth in your mouth."
Trying not to piss her off just seems to piss her off even more, shit.
"Okay, so what was the important subject you wanted to talk to me about, mistress? And what does this have to do with the ancient ruin?"
A wild smile appeared on the master's face.
"I think you still don't understand that you are on my boat from now on, Ulric. If bad things happen to me, you'll be screwed, but if I'm successful you'll also be successful and receive lots of rewards. I know very well that you've already gone to this ancient ruin with the Kelence family expedition and that Venus has got her claws in you, she can be very dangerous don't just think because you and your son's friend that she won't use the information that she has on you like coin, and lucky enough she just knows you have special sensory abilities, she doesn't even have a clue that you inherited them and who your father is."
"For her you're just a talented young man she wants for her family, but now I want you to tell me exactly what happened to that old ruin, I had some hard time figuring out that it's being used as a royal family trap to your enemies, to stand a chance of profiting from this conflict I will need more information, Ulric."
So, I told her everything that happened during the expedition in minute detail. It was an exhausting two hours, because the master was basically quizzing me on the smallest detail.
"Well, very interesting. Did you research more about the ruins after you returned to the institute?"
"Not really, I had thought of doing this, but I had other more pressing matters to deal with so I didn't have time to do some research. Even if I took the time to study more about the ruins, I doubt I would have a new opportunity to join one anytime soon as I don't have the power to risk exploring an ancient ruin completely."
"You are right at the point that you are weak and it is too dangerous for you to explore the vaults of an ancient ruin. If Venus hadn't stopped and tried to go further down that damn church labyrinth most of the expedition could have died, but because you didn't do much research on ancient ruins you might not know why that would happen, want to guess why it would be dangerous to explore yet plus the old ruin?"
This is certainly a complicated question, the obvious answers would be the traps and powerful guardians on the way to the riches of that ancient ruin, but from the look of expectation and fun that the master is making I'm sure that would be the wrong answer, the only other answer I can think of is that there is something wrong with this ancient ruin.
"I don't know, but I believe there must be something wrong with the old ruin or you wouldn't have asked me that question."
"Well, looks like your brain has finally started working again. As you might have thought the royal family must have a good reason not to form a massive group and fully explore the ancient ruin, but to have spread a rumor about the discovery of this ruin, obviously this is a trap that exploits greed and ignorance of the nobles, in particular some nobles who want more power, to the point that they even want to devour a portion of the royal family's power to strengthen themselves,"
"A bunch of idiots, the royal family has stayed in power for so long, it's not just because they're desiring a great wizard but because they're skilled enough to stay in power and strengthen it, otherwise the kingdom would not have expanded since its foundation but would have lost its territory. If I hadn't been lucky enough to survive a trap like this ruin before, I might as well have been tempted to go after this ancient ruin."
"More now I'll tell you why she's such a trap, but remember that you spread this information around, especially to your little girlfriend. Her direct family won't risk exploring the ancient ruin because of the dispute between the nobles which is at a very difficult time, at most they will send some allies with some of the warriors and friends, so you don't need to feel guilty and try help your girlfriend, got it?"
"Yes, I'll keep it a secret."
"Well, now think about it, didn't you think the whole shape of the old ruin was weird? It looks like a church of life, but it's just the decor of one and not quite the shape of one. Didn't you think it was weird that it was basically a maze?"
"Okay, but Aunt Venus said that every church in life was shaped by the leader of that church, if he liked a labyrinth, could his church be a labyrinth?"
"The part about the leader of one of the churches and responsible for shaping it is right, but you mustn't forget that the church is a fucking church in the first place and not a high priest's personal toy. Churches must have the ability to accept various people and protect them, a labyrinth is not exactly a smart way to achieve this."
"Even if you're right, I have no idea what this fake church should be."
"There is your mistake, Ulric. You're assuming the church is fake because I said its format is efficient, when you think like that you end up blind and can't see the reality that's in front of you."
"I'm really confused right now. I have no idea what you're trying to tell me."
"Okay, I'm going to be direct now. That is a church of life and it must have treasures inside its vault or as they said back then the hall of nature, but it was modified after it was abandoned and now it is a huge trap that will be able to kill many wizards and warriors of high level, those with red and blue cores will be safe inside. Do you know who will do something like that to a church?"
"I have no idea; I don't understand why anyone would do this."
"This is because that someone is not a human, elf, dwarf or any other mortal race, the one responsible for this is a god."
"A God? Why would a god do that?"
"Why wouldn't he do that? To different kinds of gods, Ulric. Most people only think of the gods who are seen as good gods and their opposite as the bad gods, but to many living neutral and chaotic gods, that church has probably been changed by a neutral or chaotic god who has his law regarding pranks, labyrinths or any other word that would justify their actions."
"I still don't understand why a god would do that, even if he's a playful god what does he get for doing something like that?"
"Don't try to measure the gods with mortal standards, Ulric. What a god gains from his actions is something that only other gods should understand, you should be more concerned about not dying because of something a god once or left behind."
"The reason I know that church was changed by a god is because I've survived one of these traps before, even now you might have a hard time believing it, but the cause of that feeling has nothing to do with me or you but the God."
"Those who do this sort of thing have a veil that prevents most people from realizing what's going on, for example Venus is an extremely intelligent and non-suicide magician, but she didn't realize that there was something wrong with the church. it happens because of that veil that covers the divine actions of that god. Without it everyone would suspect that a dangerous or timely place is a trap designed by a playful or chaos god, but how would this affect their play? Most people are not able to think correctly and notice that something is wrong with its reality."
Now I'm scared, I never thought a god could interfere like that in my life. And as I regret this, I realize that my mind may be being manipulated by a god right now, this is very dangerous, confusing and frustrating.
"From your skin that turned a shade paler you finally started to think more clearly, but do you now understand why I said you can't tell anyone about this?"
"If I tell more people, you and I can get killed by the god that we're going to be in the way?"
"Exactly! The more you mess up a divine scheme, the more likely you are to end up dead, but it also means the royal family can gain a god's favor by encouraging people to break into the changed life church, but if I had it in their place, I wouldn't would do that, having the favor of a playful or chaos god is not necessarily a good thing and will do you good. In my opinion, the best screeching is to stay away from that kind of god."
"But didn't you say you wanted to profit from this action by the royal family?"
"That's different."