Master Vauxall had left his manor and was already moving down the stairs when he met Ashviel and Kael. "Took you long enough," he said, startling the two.
"Master Vauxall," they said in unison.
"I'm taking a walk around Blue Beard's place, care to join?"
They followed the master, moving through dozens of quarters until they finally got to a woodlet at the back of the main mansion. Master Vauxall asked them to demonstrate what they have learnt so far, and the two eagerly did, exhibiting the sword techniques and the Tsezgera. They threw all the spells they knew, uprooting trees and charring their thick barks.
"A great job Mat has done for you," said Master Vauxall after the display. "I should have little worry then."
They went on and told him about how they had spent time using the crystals. They spoke at length, and unwittingly gave themselves away about the spell scroll.
"You gave out my scroll?"
The two shook with fear and sat in trepidation, but the dreaded scolding never came. "What can I say?" he said. "Just be careful about divulging too much information."
He then taught them the techniques all over again, correcting some of the areas Kyra and Sir Mat omitted. It was well deep into the night before he stopped, and the two students moved sluggishly behind him.
As they sat down to catch their breath, Master Vauxall brought out two space pouches from his living space. "You might need a change of set."
Kael gasped at the offer. A single space pouch alone was a precious possession, and now the mage was offering them a second one. He suppressed his elation as he thought of the untold stuffs that would surely riot in it.
They accepted it, and soon claimed it. If the space in the first pouch was as large as a room, then the second one was a wide manor hall. There was a ton of clothes and food, capable of lasting them for decades. Endless collections of various types of wine were stocked in large shelves, as if Master Vauxall wanted to drown them in his favorite red liquid. A huge cluster of various weapons took up a large space, teeming with different types of swords and spears and weapons unknown. A small bookshelf lay by a corner, with plenty of books and scrolls. Various magical and ordinary items lay about, with brief notes on what each was. As expected, there were chests on chests full of shining gold, far more than the bag of coin he had given them before.
Ashviel's excited smile was replaced by a gloomy look as soon as he realized what the treasures meant – that Master Vauxall was finally parting with them. He looked at Kael, who had also reached the same understanding.
"I take it you'll be leaving soon," he said, silently hoping for a negative reply.
"Sure, I leave the day after tomorrow."
"Five years, right?" Ashviel asked.
"Probably seven, answered Master Vauxall. " I've placed everything you will need in your space pouches, so you should be fine by Blue Beard's guidance. More importantly, you need to learn more spells." He said and they turned back and made their way out of the orchard.
They had only mastered the first three spells with near perfect control, and now the master was talking about new ones. He told them to bring out the scrolls in the bag and showed them one with writings on assault arrow, a type of fie attack spell. There were two others: swordstorm and force screen.
"The shooting star has limited uses," Master Vauxall stated. "Even though you have achieved a significant level of mastery, you will still find it ineffectual for mid-range attacks. The assault arrow takes care of this, and it carries a lot more firepower than the ordinary shooting star. The swordstorm is a combination of lethal wind strikes, such that you appear to be using multiple blades than at once. While the rapping tempest may easily be evaded by a skilled opponent, the swordstorm makes it very difficult, even for an opponent using Tsezgera. The force screen is made by altering a basting force to perform functions that are more defensive. You strengthen the inner part with Rek and change its form, and you have a small formidable shield. There's only little I can teach you now, but with Blue Beard's direction and the scrolls, you will be able to perform the spells."
By the time he was through with his speech, demonstrating each spell as he mentioned them, they were already at the gate to his manor. He bid them farewell and they moved on to their rooms with their room with mixed feelings.