Caleb? I used that name in the 1 vs 1 tournament, how did she know it? I don't think that I've seen her before. Wait, that red hair and red eyes... Could she be?
-Are you the girl that I beat?
-Yes, I recognize that sheath because of that.
She was pointing at my sword, which was in its sheath right now. I should be more careful, there were many powerful people watching and if they also recognize me, the whole mask thing would become useless.
-Have you told anyone else?
I was glaring at her and tried to look intimidating. It seemed to work because the girl took a step back and swallowed.
-No
That's a relief, I still had my identity hidden from others. Maybe I should do something to the sheath, like decorate it? No one would recognize it then.
-But please! Be my mentor!
She was bowing down, but I didn't know what she meant? A mentor? Like my master? I didn't want to be like that.
-No
-But why?
-I don't know how to teach.
-...
She was silent, clearly thinking about something. I knew that it would be something troublesome, so I walked to the opposite direction and turned away, when I could. I then went to eat dinner.
It was some kind of fish, potatoes, salad, and sauce. It was quite delicious. It was not as good as Ben's but still good. I wonder how Ben is doing. I need to ask more detailed questions and not just "how was your day".
Someone then put their tray in front of mine. It was the red-haired girl.
-what?
-You left me.
-You were in your own thoughts.
-You could have waited.
-I didn't want to miss my food.
-...
-...
-Anyway, about the mentor thing.
-I said that I don't want to do it.
-Just listen to me.
I crossed my arms and told her to tell her good idea.
-I will watch you train and then try to copy you. You don't need to do anything else.
It didn't sound bothersome but I still didn't want to do it. I just didn't want to show my sword style that my mom showed me to random girl that lost to me.
-Why me?
-Your sword style was so powerful, that you 100% could have won, if you didn't go berserk.
Of course, I would have.
-That's not because of my sword style.
-Then what?
-The style is made for my exceptional physical capabilities. No normal human has them like me, so I don't think that it's good for you.
It was true, my sword style could leave many openings, if someone else than me used it. It was for two reasons. One it's perfect for my strength and speed and only gets better if they get, two because if someone has some kind of copy ability and tries the same style, they would lose even faster.
This was for my first part. Second style was a whole different case, it's kinda the same but still not. That's however something that I will only use in one kind of situations and that's... Death battles.
First part if for monsters and duels. It focuses on overpowering opponent with my strength and try to get openings with my fast speed. Same for monsters, speed creates openings.
The second part is made for killing strong humans. It tries to get in positions that I can critically damage my opponent's movement, organs or weapon. For on example if the opponent is a swordsman, it will get me to cut his hands so that he can't put as much strength to their blocks and slashes. Or if the opponent is a fist fighter, I will either get to also damage their arms or legs or in position where it is easy for me to punch or kick their liver or heart.
It also has a lot of feints and sudden movement and speed changes. It is to completely overpower my opponent without any challenge for me. I've only used it once and it was for the barrier kid.
These are not for the girl. For what I can see, she doesn't have as much strength as a fighter her age but maybe more speed and more flexible. I could confirm it, but I don't have the motivation to. I don't even have anything to win from this mentorship and apprentice relationship.
My master gets fame and I get better core. Does this girl have something to offer me? That could change the case completely. Other problem is that I don't have anything that I need right now.
-There is one possibility.
-What is it.
She was on my face, almost standing on the table.
-If you can offer me something that would change my mind, I could become your mentor.
-Why would a mentor need anything from an apprentice?
-Because first you're my age, second because I'm your age I don't have much riches, third I don't have any other good reasons to become a mentor.
She looked puzzled and then the realization hit her. She was again thinking hard and trying to figure a good reason for me to become her mentor.
I had already eaten so I got up and left. I knew that she could find me again, so I went to the library. I wanted to read my book and the library had good couches. I sat down and read my book till the last class started.
Again however the red haired girl found me and was even angrier than before.
-YOU LEFT ME AGAIN!
-Shhh, it's a library.
-How could you leave me again?
She was talking silently; it was a surprise.
-You were in your own thoughts again.
She crossed her arms and I could almost see smoke coming from her head. She was pretty angry it seems.
-Well, don't do it again.
-I don't promise.
-I thought about what would help you the most.
-And that is?
-I will fulfill any request that you have.
-Who are your parents?
-Marquess Limoret
A marquis, that's a powerful rank among nobility. If I remember correctly, most powerful is the duke then marquess, viscount, baron, and knight. Knight is a noble title but they have almost no power and are only noble by name. If she was really from a marquess family, her favor could be great.
-Two
One wasn't enough I wanted more.
-One and a sword
She responded, seems like two is too much
-One and a house.
-One and a badge.
-What's that?
-If you have our badge, you can enter our shops and get VIP service.
That sounds great.
-In how large area are your shops?
-The whole country?
-Deal
I didn't have any reason to change continents yet. This could make my trip to explore a lot smoother.
We shook hands and decided to meet up tomorrow, after dinner. I would see her train and then give tips. Nothing too hard and it may even improve my own abilities. Or that's what my mom told me.
The dinner time was almost over so I headed toward the Magical artifact classroom. It was close to the library so the walk there was only about 2 minutes. I was not the first to arrive. There were a handful of people but none had anything remarkable about them.
I took a seat near the window on the second row. Not too far away from the teacher but not a teacher's pet either. This would be my main spot during my classes. The teacher soon arrived, it was a rather old lady, she was carrying heavy looking books but carried them with magic.
Did she use telekinesis? It could be immensely powerful if trained correctly but also great for everyday use. After getting behind her desk, she sent one book for everyone.
The beauty of artifacts.
That was what the book was called. It was alright but at least 700 pages long, I hope that it has a lot of pictures.
I could now see the teacher better. She was wearing a forest green dress. Not a big one for parties but one that covered her entire body and had some white decorations. She had light gray hair and green eyes. Seems like colored eyes are not rare in this world.
-Open up page 10.
The pages from 1-9 seemed to be useless information and only included stuff like were each chapter starts, who made the book and words from them.
-Read until the class ends.
That was a surprise. I knew that the teacher didn't seem enthusiastic but that was a little too much. I mean, no explanation, just read? I did as ordered and got surprised. Magical artifacts were different for what I thought.
I originally thought that for artifacts, you needed a lot of rare materials like for alchemy but no. In magical artifacts, you take a regular object and write a magical imprint. For that you need to have good enough mana control to make is as small as ink, take a special pencil and write with your own mana.
It sounded crazy and weird but it was possible and used. Of course the more powerful core you had, the better your artifacts effects will be. But like for arrays, in magical imprint, anyone with a core can do it. Even I, can create a teleportation array or an artifact for lighting fire.
It was however hard. No one had understood the logic behind imprints and had to just memorize the right texts. New ones were figured out by testing and it took a lot of bodies with it. At least every other that tries to test a new text, dies.
The pencil that you need to write also costs quite a lot, so not many commoners or even nobles had it. Magical imprints were almost a second version of magic. There were many different kinds of sentences in that magical language but some were only for some families and not for anyone else.
The book had already introduced us to two of them. Water refilling and fire lighter. Those were the most common ones and most used. They could save a lot of space from backpacks and stuff.
The most used effect and what gave most jobs to magic artifact makes however was enchanting. Enchanting was a job for people to write magical imprinting on weapons to give them effects. For my sword, they could make it light on fire or cause poison effects. Enchanters were expensive but worth the money for most mercenary and adventurers.
I thought that those two were different kinds of jobs but they were actually the same. Not many became enchanters because most known enchanters of course didn't want to reveal their writings and lose money to some amateurs.
I read the whole class and didn't even notice that the class ended. Only when the teacher snapped her finger in front of me, did I notice. I quickly picked up my stuff, thanked for the class and left. I had no classes toady but didn't head straight to my dorm.
I was hungry so I took some sandwiches from the school cafe, which were free and then went to my dorm. Because I left the class so late and even went to the cafe, the roads were empty. I saw no one while walking towards the dorm building.
I greeted a couple of people while walking to my room where Ben already was. I tossed him an egg and a ham sandwich and ate my own at the table. They were surprisingly good, not as good as Ben's and definitely not as good as my mom's.
I then checked that everything was alright with my realm and as always, they were well. I hope that it continues like that and went to bed.
It could either be a good day tomorrow or extremely bothersome. It depends on that red head. I forgot to even ask for her name.