The grotto hall was dimly lit by candlelight, and the fierce battle just now had cost half of the lighting setup, making it seem eerie, and Kai felt the chill crawl up his spine to the top of his head.
"Sir, you misunderstand, how could I possibly count on you." The boy's expression was just right, flustered with a touch of resignation and a low brow pout.
"It was no accident that I first noticed you; I changed places three times, the theater, the sweet store, and finally the restaurant. You appeared in my view three times, each time less conspicuous, but will be seen, you know something about the terrain and psychology ah."
"That's because ... you were dressed flamboyantly and I followed."
"The second time I ran into it, I saw your 'heroic and fearless' quality, not that I understand human nature too dark and selfish, but you showed too much eagerness. Moreover, the two boys hiding behind you did not have enough mental qualities and their eyes were cowed. On the contrary, the girl named Mina, the performance was lifelike, you have rehearsed?"
An embarrassing silence, Kaye spoke up, no longer pretentious aggression. "Yes, Mina is very talented in this area, we have done anticipation for this situation, but it has nothing to do with her, the idea is all mine."
"Now that you've made a start, it's painful to follow." Lysatos snapped his fingers and summoned a cloud of pale green gelatinous liquid that kept changing shape, it had eyes and a mouth and made a gurgling sound. The mutant Slime made its body concave inside, becoming a comfortable couch, and Lesatos buried himself in it.
Kaye looked at the Slime's innocent little eyes, filled with suppressed curiosity. "You seem like an ordinary thug in town, but to me and the other thieves and newsmongers of this city, you are as bright as a torch in the night. You didn't come in through the gates of Razor City, that was easy to verify. I thought you were some second-rate guy who had slipped out, the kind of guy who is usually self-absorbed and overwhelmed with sympathy at the slightest blurb. I just wanted to lure you into the religion and then find an opportunity for you to take me and Mina and the others away and escape the control of the God-Emperor."
"It doesn't sound like I was the first 'victim'."
"Tried that a few times before, but ..." Kaye bristled, "a bunch of bleary-eyed dudes who were either out-and-out goons."
"Go on, how did the plan change later?"
"Outside the jewelry house, I happened to see you change a bag of gold coins out of thin air, and I realized that you and the messenger of God are the same kind of person, maybe we can kill him."
"Have a grudge?"
Kai gritted his teeth and sputtered with anger: "There is! Mina's grandfather took us in, though he was a drunken old man who always took it out on us when he was in a bad mood. But he saved my life. The day I was caught by the city guards touching my bag, the old man jumped on me and blocked a wild stomp. Afterwards he said to me with blood on his face, 'I'll take care of you from now on, and I'll break your claws if you dare to steal again.
"The old man was stubborn and poor, earned a few strips of black bread, cursing and still at our feet, full of foul language sprayed us to eat, he said he was in the employer to eat and drink. In fact, we all know that there is nothing to eat and drink, he worked 16 hours a day, eating half rancid leaves and bread crumbs, all the money in exchange for this black bread. The old man's mouth is cheap, I cursed with him, he could not scold me, but I never hate him. Even in the poorest of times, he did not allow us to be thieves on the street." Kaye voice tone is getting lower and lower, tears squeezed out of his eyes.
"And then ... the god-ambassador came." The boy's twisted expression reminded Lysatos of Drusillia. "He said he wanted to raise money to worship the dragon god, so he took in a lot of people like us from the bottom. At first there wasn't even money to print flyers, so he told us to steal ... the old man and come forward."
Kaye said this, can no longer stand, sobbing up, "how grandfather is so stupid, is not to return to the old business, what ah. He just needs to be less stubborn, and he wouldn't ... would let me throw his dried up body off the cliff ..."
The hall echoed with the boy's heartbreaking cries.
Lysatos mood is also low, he sighed and said, "It is indeed silly, do not know how to change. But this world, it is because of such fools, the innocence of life is continued."
"So," Kaye mood adjustment quickly, take a deep breath, wipe away the tears, "I want him to die! The idea came to me when I saw you. Well, I've said what I need to say, I'm using you to play with my life, do what you want with it, but it has nothing to do with Mina and the others."
Lesatos patted the slime underneath, jelly-like translucent mud monster transformed its form and vacated its position, "Here, sit over here." Kaj obediently sat next to Lysatos, a precocious child knows the advantages and disadvantages, gambling such childish emotions away from him early.
Kai carefully seat, hand touching the Slime, feeling cool and soft, more comfortable than the noble velvet mattress that had been stolen before.
"Your natural wit is good, but only good, to learn the path of the Orphic ...'
Kaye looked up in surprise: "You are willing to take me?"
Lysatos shook his head, to the boy's great disappointment. "I am magnanimous ... man, but it does not mean that I like to be used, so you can not become my student directly, and make mistakes to be responsible, do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." Kai lowered his head, full of snickers, he could hear the tone of Lesatos had a lot of room for turning back.
"My profession is that of a mage, a seeker of the truth of the multiverse, not a messenger of some god, and belief in other gods is forbidden without my permission. Faith and knowledge do not contradict each other, but knowledge can be contaminated by immature faith."
"That is, I cannot pray to anyone?"
Lysatos hesitated and turned his hand over to take out a silver divine emblem depicting golden stars and deep nebulae. "This ... is the divine emblem of the good god Bahamut, whom you can honor as 'Lord of the North Wind'. If you feel confused and painful, pray to Him."
Kai silently recited the name of the god twice and solemnly accepted the divine emblem.
"The four elements of becoming a mage, talent, heritage, diligence, and wealth. The first one you have, the last two on their own, I now hand you the most important - heritage." Lysatos handed Kai a book, ordinary book size and thickness, but the cover was studded with dragon-style decorations, or gems, which made the boy's breath freeze a little.
The book shell was some kind of unknown armor, smooth and hard. The spine was sewn with gold thread, and on the cover, the colorful gems spelled out a pattern that Kai could see any way as a dragon's claw spreading upward, with blue flames burning in the center of the claw. He glanced at Lysatos, did not dare to ask more questions.
Turn the cover, is a silver page title page, smooth and bright, engraved with a floral border, but not a word. At the back was the table of contents, a full 10 pages, but except for the first page with seven or eight names, the rest were blank book numbers. Further back, the text section is all white paper.
Kaye looked at Lysatos in confusion, and the golden dragon shrugged irresponsibly. The boy had to figure it out for himself, flipping back to the table of contents and struggling to make out the first line, "Explanation of the Structure of the Multiverse". That's when he suddenly noticed that the blank book was filled with dense handwriting and a plethora of illustrations. He immediately understood and went to the second line of the table of contents, "Principles of Thought Derivation and Meditation," and the text wowed and changed all at once.
Kaye was so excited that he switched back and forth between the contents of the spell books. "I can use magic after learning these eight books?"
"No." Lysatos was dry. Kai's face dropped, he felt that this teacher enjoyed playing tricks on people and watching their disappointment.
"Mage is a rather complicated profession that requires huge amounts of basic knowledge, and these are just for starters. This book is called 'Scroll of the Source Sea', a self-learning tool I made. Some apprentices are suited to the disciplined academy school, others to the laissez-faire self-learning school, and I favor the latter. Every once in a while, the title page will show the tasks I have given, complete one, and one more book on the catalog. In addition to that, completing the quests also gives you 'Destiny Points'."
"Destiny points?"
"Points can be exchanged for spellcasting materials, research settings, and most importantly - spells - from the back catalog. The books in the front are the basics, and each spell is traded for Destiny Points. This setup is meant to satisfy the human sense of fulfillment, and watching the effort become a reward visible to the naked eye can be more motivating."
"It's great, it's like the wishing fountain in mythology, put in coins and get treasures." Kaye said gleefully.
"Too much greed and misallocation can also lead to falling into the wishing pool and drowning." Lysatos laughed again, making the boy apprehensive. "Fail the mission, lose double points, drop below 0, and I'll take back all the knowledge granted and wealth derived, don't think it's hard to dig things out of your brain, you'll still be a wandering little thief with nothing by then."
Kaye nodded nervously: "I understand, incompetent people do not deserve knowledge."
"That's right, stupidity is the original sin of a mage, keep that in mind."
"So ... can I overdraw my fate points first, now?"
Lysatos had a black head: "Greed is also ... never mind, what do you want."
Kaye pointed to the Slime that served as a couch: "It, I like it."
Lysatos a little surprised, this silly Slime is the product of the Golden Dragon spell experiment, he wanted to fuse the shape-shifting monster and Slime to create a biological camouflage against spell detection. The result is not a small flaw, the Slime then becomes a pet, when the mood is bad, when the children's Play-Doh, take out the hard to rub and squash round, quite relieved.
"Insightful, count your credit 50 points, pay it back at the earliest possible time, and the next time will not be an example."
"Thank you, teacher."
"Called sir, you are not qualified to call me teacher." Lysatos corrected. "It's yours, this guy can't talk and has limited intelligence, but it serves many purposes, I'll teach you."
Lysatos stood up and gave the order to dehydrate the Slime, the pale green jelly made a kitten-like aggrieved purring sound, liberating the water from its body and turning into a puddle of liquid. Lysatos fished out a completely transparent gel layer from the liquid, and could still see the tiny eyes and mouth. Lesatos threw the slime onto Kai, and it hung on to the boy, burrowing in through the collar.
Kai felt slightly cool, as if draped in a tight silk, pulling back the collar to see that the Slime was flattened and attached to his skin, turning into invisible clothing, with only its eyes and mouth at the chest, meeting the boy's gaze.
"It provides protection, the main function is to deformation, you feel it yourself, the next time we meet, do not let me down." Lysatos said and teleported away.
In the hall, the candle flame nearly burned out, Kai curiously poked at the new clothes, thinking that the Slime innocent eyes are distinctly cute. He opened the book and found a line on the silver title page: Mission - collect 500 gold coins or equivalent wealth within 3 hours, 10 fate points, double deduction for failure.
Kai froze for a moment, excited to find that the 10 points were for nothing, the god-emperor was dead, but the money he had collected was still there, and 3 hours was enough for him to loot it all. He rushed off to his bedroom.
Lysatos withdrew his eyes, he never gave meaningless tasks. The warlock's bedroom and the gold cabinet were bound to have negative energy traps, and if the boy couldn't even get past that, there was no use.
Forget it, anyway, it is a spur of the moment, under an idle child, to see what kind of development can be later. Lysatos revved up his wings and flew back to the Tia forest.