Yaghma stared at the blade and let out a sigh. "Although I call this true inscription, it is a poor imitation", he said. "This will last a mere 20 or so uses, but I've heard of the true inscription before from my master! At that time his enchantments weren't limited by uses but rather by time!". Heydar was already left in awe by the inscription being used more than once, the prospect of only being limited by time was too mind-blowing! Yaghma took in Heydar's expression and could not help but smile. 'I was in an even worse state when I learned about this', he shook his head and set aside his reminiscing. He reached into his bosom and retrieved a pendent from his robe. He rubbed the pendant a bit and the air was stirred by a magical force, the space around the pendent was then distorted into a swirl. *Poof!*, 3 books appeared on the desk. Yaghma flipped through the pages and arrived at a complex diagram, before shaking his head and flipping the page. The page had a simple line of magic text, below it a shape made from multiple lines of the above text. "Heydar, first I want you to learn how to absorb the neutral glyphs in the air and assimilate them with the ones in your core. You'll learn all about this from this book" He gestured to the book titled 'Beginner Guide to the Core with examples, illustrations, and exercises '. he then gestured to ' Introductions to Magic Glyphs and Novice inscriptions and incantations for enchanters and runesmiths', "I want you to learn the inscription I just turned to from this book, though you will need to learn the ones in the beginning to learn it. This is no childs play and will take quite a while for you to learn, so I will be relieving you of your duties for the time being. Only enter the main house when you have questions, do not disturb me otherwise, and do not wander outside, are we clear?", "Yes Lord" Heydar replied respectfully, he was expecting to be taught and guided step by step by Yaghma. He wondered if this is usually how it's meant to go with no ceremony of sorts. As if sensing his thoughts Yaghma said " When my master accepted me as his disciple he did not prepare any ceremony of any sorts. He was very eccentric, usually a master first tells the student the dangers of magic and then makes them vow never a very long and unimpressive vow. The vow mainly ensures you never delve into and demonic and sacrificial arts. The vow was too long for him so he ignored it", Yaghma was reminiscing with a distant gaze and melancholic smile. "Anyways, enough of that, I'll give you 4 months, and if you don't provide satisfactory results I'll be terminating your magic studies " he said with no trace of humor or jesting. Heydar felt extreme pressure and could only nod his head.
Nightime, Heydar was currently reading the introduction to magic glyphs. Magic glyphs were invisible symbols that could only be sensed with mental energy and one's magic core. During the dawn of magic magicians had done numerous experiments to learn the properties of many of the Glyphs and how to align them to produce certain effects. Though all of that is ancient esoteric knowledge which no one knows or even needs to know. The ancestors have already discovered millions of different combinations and the current generation simply copies them without having to know how to read the glyphs. The were many different families of glyphs that the world has been naturally producing for billions of years and glyphs that were only later produced after stars amongst people discovered them. Inscription was a branch that was made roughly 1500 years ago, after the Elemental Age. The book contained hundreds of different spells and their variations. For a student to officially become a novice it is traditionally agreed upon that they should master at least 400 spells, variations also counted. Generally speaking, a magician would learn 10 different spells and 40 variations of each. It was extremely hard and time consuming to learn 400 different spells, which is why the vast majority of mages were still beginners.
Heydar was initially excited to learn them but unfortunately, he couldn't. He first had to temper his core by a lot. The core was the bridge between man and magic. People manipulate glyphs through their core by creating a suction force and bringing the glyphs into the core and constructing the spell before releasing them. Cores were divided into 3 different ranks and 4 stages. Red, Orange, and Yellow. With the stages being 1 till 4. Heydar currently had a stage 1 red core, beginner spells needed stage 2. To temper the core the book had 2 main exercises, making neutral runes temper the outside of the core or the inside. Heydar followed the instructions and tempered the inside. It was so exhausting that he couldn't continue for more than 3 hours. 'At this rate how will I learn enough spells for Lord Yaghma's approval? I might still be only reach stage 2 after 3 months!', Heydar was dejected. He had no confidence in learning enough spells in time.'What will I do?' he paced around his room and tried to think of something, but he knew nothing about magic, how could he think of something? He opened the book on cores and tried to find any shortcuts but there were none. If anything the book emphasizes on patience and time. Heydar wanted to curse the author but none of the books had the names of the authors attached. 'I hope you are all still alive, when I become a strong magician I will look for you all and give you a good lecture on writing on what the people want' he swore to himself. Tempering the core would have been a relaxing exercise if it wasn't for Heydar being impatient. "The core has a unique relationship with man, it is a gift from the highest spirit and requires a stable and settled mind to temper efficiently" This was an excerpt from The Beginner Guide to the Core. Heydar knew that the pressure he felt and his impatience would negatively shorten what should be a 3 hour session to a 1 hour session. 'This is no good, I can't continue the exercise like this' he left his room and took a walk outside. It was cold and dark, a light breeze dried the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead. He looked beyond Yaghma's estate and could see house lights that were slowly disappearing. He walked around and kept on thinking about his future. He concentrated on his palm and a small ball of fire appeared. He held it in his hands and stared with a different sense of awe. After learning more about magic and how it works, inscription had taken a place in his heart. Unlike normal spell casting, inscription allows a caster to cast a spell with little to no magic and no personal spell construction at all. No wonder it had brought life to a new age!
Heydar dispelled the spell and sat on a stump, stargazing. This settled his mind. His thoughts shifted from his future to the nature of stars and the moon. He stood up and walked towards the kitchen to make porridge and ate on the stump. The cold wind cooled it very quickly. He ate and noticed that he was unusually hungry, along with fatigued. This was the result of tempering his core. He ate to his fill and washed the dishes before returning to his room. 'Let's give this another shot', he sat on the floor with his legs crossed and back against the wall. He concentrated on his senses and 'feeling' the air. His senses eventually detected something, a strange thick soup of magic, these were glyphs. He opened an opening in his core and the glyphs tried charging in, but he closed it every time they neared the core, leading them to crash into the core. Upon impact parts of the core would chip off before regenerating. This continued for 20 minutes until the whole core took a deeper hue. It let out a strange hum and vibrated before calming down again. Heydar then opened his eyes. His pupils changed from brown to a very dark shade of red, brimming with strength and life,before returning to brown. The vigour being replaced with exhuastion.
The corners of Heydar's lips crept upwards and he weakly climbed his bed. 'Stage 2' ,that was the final thought he had before falling asleep. The tempering was just too tiring