Arthur nearly vaulted from his chair but reined in his fear as quickly as it came.
"What's wrong?" Levin asked after catching his strange expression.
"Nothing, I just had a cramp in my leg." Arthur hurriedly explained.
The human head grinned at Arthur eerily before breaking out in a bellowing laugh and phasing through the desk. The disembodied head then appeared next to him, this time with its scar-riddled, brawny body attached.
"HAHAHA! I almost got you that time kid... Hey, who's this brat?" The man said as he noticed Levin.
A quick peek by Arthur revealed the man was all but naked except for a pair of baggy black pants that people used as pajamas in Nithe. Curiously, Levin appeared unphased by the commotion, but that wasn't a surprise to Arthur.
Arthur did his best to ignore the behemoth of a man standing over his shoulder and stabbed his fork into the blue-tinted sausage.
"Hey!" The man shouted in Arthur's ear, forcing him to drop his fork onto the ground.
"Is everything ok?" Levin asked again, now seemingly worried for Arthur.
"Yeah, sorry... I think I need to use the bathroom. I'll be right back." Arthur replied as he hurriedly ran out the door.
"Ah, young master-" Foster began to speak before Arthur dashed past him toward the bathroom at the end of the hall.
Once inside, Arthur waited impatiently, and after a moment the half-naked man phased through the door after him.
"What the fuck are you doing?!?" Arthur shouted quietly without realizing he was speaking English.
"Fook? Foowk? Hey, what does that mean? Fewk?" The half-naked man said as he exaggeratedly mouthed the foreign word.
"What are you doing?" Arthur asked after calming himself down, this time in Nithian.
"What? I can't come and hang out with you anymore? You too good for me now that you got a new brat to play with?"
"What are you a woman?" Arthur shot back, wearing a look of disbelief.
"HAHAHA! I'm just messing with you, kid! Buck up, will ya!" The half-naked man replied in his usual boisterous manner, driving Arthur to rub his temples in frustration.
"Kyren... I told you last week that a tutor was coming. I specifically asked you to wait until he left before you showed yourself. It's hard enough pretending to be a kid without you making me seem crazy in front of people."
"Ya know, when I was alive, no one in the Dominion would—" Kyren attempted to brag, but Arthur had heard the line far too many times and cut him off before he could start.
"—You're not alive, though, are you? Sparnia's second prince killed you. And enough of reminiscing about the glory days. You're not even that old... I've got to get back, so don't cause any more trouble."
The half-naked man was Kyren Drent, a ninth circle mage from Ollerin's main rival to the east, The Dominion of Sparnia. He had been killed nearly eleven years ago from poison, but he existed on Nithe as a spirit instead of passing on like Arthur. Kyren was unsure how he ended up that way and wandered about the world's libraries, trying to find out the reason for his predicament.
Two years ago, Arthur had noticed him hanging around the study and spoke with him without realizing that the man was a disembodied spirit. After discovering the truth, he agreed to help Kyren in hopes of using the ninth circle mage's knowledge, but he soon found out that reality was rarely like the fantasy stories he read on Earth.
If Kyren could be described by a single word, it would be useless. He was a battlemage, which meant he mainly focused on combat and never needed to learn Aetherin, so he couldn't help Arthur create new spells.
To add insult to injury, due to the Dominion's paranoia, all the spells that Kyren had imprinted onto his mana core were obfuscated, which meant Arthur couldn't read them without knowing the correct code. And, of course, Kyren didn't know the code, so he couldn't even learn the magic the man used while he was alive.
Arthur wasn't sure why he could see Kyren and assumed it had something to do with his reincarnation. He had only left the mansion on a handful of occasions for fear of running into one of Elyria's assassins, so he wasn't sure if Kyren was a unique existence or if Arthur had some sort of spirit vision. Nevertheless, he hoped that if he could really see spirits, the next one he met would be useful to him.
"That was quick. Young master, you know it's not good to push too hard. You could hurt yourself." Foster advised as he hid his mocking grin behind a closed fist.
Arthur ignored him, leaving the guard giggling like a schoolgirl as he entered the study. At least Levin had the class to not comment about his sudden departure, so he gained an extra point in Arthur's book.
Finally able to eat in peace, Arthur quickly scoffed down the blue meat that tasted like teriyaki beef jerky, followed by the eggs of some other mana beast.
The food in Nithe was palatable, but Arthur still missed Earth's food. He intended to open a restaurant using Earth recipes one day, but that was a plan for the future. For now, he had to pretend to be a child starting his journey with magic.
"Since you're done eating, let's continue. This dictionary is one of the latest released in the capital. Due to how complex Aetherin is, the standard dictionary is updated at least once a year—ah, perhaps I should start at the beginning." Levin passed an Aetherin dictionary to Arthur.
"Ehem, Aetherin consists of eighteen-hundred and seventy-six unique characters. Each character can have various meanings, but each character generally represents a base concept like hot or cold..." Levin continued after clearing his throat.
Arthur was well aware of just how difficult Aetherin was. It was as if a child and his imaginary friend had decided to make a programming language that only they could read and write.
If regular programming back on Earth frustrated Arthur, then writing spells in Aetherin was like pulling out each individual hair from his head one at a time.
Nothing in the stupid language made sense or followed any rules, at least not any rules that anyone in Nithe had figured out. Then, there was the fact that each character was essentially an exact copy of the rest.
Each character was a straight line like an 'l', and what differentiated them from each other was a series of dashes and squiggly lines at various points and in various number on the base 'l' character.
That's why Arthur concluded that the convoluted language stemmed from a child's overactive imagination, which was fitting since it was the language that made fantasy magic possible.
Of course, this ridiculous theory wasn't backed by reality, but it accurately represented Arthur's frustration in his quest to master the language.
"You should earnestly consider what path you wish to take as a mage over the next few days." Levin said as his lecture came to a close.
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked, feigning ignorance.
Levin began to pack up his things as he spoke. "Mages are often split between two disciplines, namely scholars and battlemages. As the names suggest, battlemages focus on combat training, while scholars like myself focus on understanding Aetherin and crafting spells.
"Of course, going one route doesn't mean you can't pursue the other. Most battlemages take up Aetherin as a hobby, and most scholars can hold their own in a fight. It's up to you whether you decide to treat my lessons on Aetherin as a hobby or fully pursue it, so think about it carefully." Levin said as he packed up his things.
Arthur could see Kyren sulking while he floated by in the periphery. He appeared bored and was undoubtedly ready to scream, so Levin wrapped up the lecture at a perfect time lest Kyren bother him again.
"Remember what I said and think it over. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"AHHHHHHHH!" Kyren screamed right as Levin left, causing Arthur to flinch. Luckily, he was now alone.
Arthur ignored him and walked over to the bookshelves lining the study walls before kneeling and pulling several books from the bottom shelf. Hidden behind them was a large black leather-bound book that lacked any markings. It was his research journal on mana souls.
"Hey, have you finished the spell?" Kyren asked as his face appeared from within one of the bookshelves.
"You've asked me that question nearly every day for two years, and I answer it the same every day. Maybe if you had learned Aetherin in life, it would have been finished by now." Arthur replied without glancing at Kyren as he sat back down and began reading over his notes.
"Why not ask that four-eyed brat who just left for help?"
"Because the use of this spell goes far beyond simply giving you a new body. If Levin had any imagination, he'd quickly realize the potential and even the kindest man could be tempted by power.
"I'd much rather not join you in your disembodied hovering, and that's under the assumption that I'd even end up like you should I be killed for my research." Arthur replied monotonously without removing his gaze from his notes.
When Arthur began learning Aetherin seven years ago, he found that the study lacked a vital clue to understanding the language; spells.
A few of the more common ones existed within the study, but there was nothing more complicated than a simple fireball. It left Arthur with very little to be used as a reference for him to teach himself.
The problem stemmed from the Revan family being a kind of one-trick pony. They primarily focused on a telekinetic spear art, honing their control over mana far beyond what a typical mage would deem practical. This specialization in telekinesis likely led to the paltry amount of spells stored within the study.
The Revan spear technique wasn't weak by any means. That's why Arthur still decided to practice mana control in his free time, but mana control couldn't help him in his pursuit of immortality.
He had all but given up hope of progressing toward that end until he discovered research notes written by an ancestor named Cline Revan four years ago.
Cline had poor ability in mana control due to some sort of illness. Because of that, he decided to research an alternative to the Revan telekinetic spear arts by imbuing an artificial soul made out of mana into a spear.
The spell worked as intended, but Cline ran into an unexpected problem. After binding the mana soul to an object, the energy contained within the artificial soul would drain at a speed that rendered it impractical for combat.
Unfortunately, Cline never solved the energy issue plaguing the spell before he passed. And no one in the family deemed his research worthy of continuing, so it sat hidden away in the Revan study, gathering dust.
Of course, Arthur had no intention of using such an ability to control a mere spear. If he could make the mana soul stable and self-sufficient in its energy usage, he may be able to use it to bind his consciousness to another body or, in the worst-case scenario, an inanimate object.
The applications of the mana soul went far beyond a possible path to immortality. An army of golems or undead was also possible. Necromancy didn't exist in Nithe, nor did any sort of undead creature, and Arthur would be a liar if he claimed that the idea of becoming Nithe's first necromancer didn't excite him.