In high spirits, I went to Bertram's. This time he was doing business in his alchemy laboratory, so I did not break in, but just let him know that I came to visit.
Soon Bertram came out and raised his eyebrows.
- Oh. Did you really succeed? And I just prepared a touching speech for your funeral. But why so long, just don't say that it took you a whole year and a half to do it.
Hiding my self-satisfied expression, I clarified.
- How long did it take for you?
- I think about three months, just then I was on the run, so it's hard to say for sure. Almost a month for each mind rune.
It turned out that Bertram's meditation technique was clearly different from mine. After asking a couple of leading questions, I found out that for the 1st rank he created 4 mind runes. For the second rank, 12 runes, respectively. He didn't mention any crystals.
It seemed that he initially built runes from scratch, and apparently his runes looked completely different.
- Since it's taken you so long, I'm afraid your prospects are hazy. - Bertram shook his head - Nevertheless, you should finally find the second spell of the 0th level, in the future you will need it too. Well, I'm still waiting for sentient undead powder.
This powder was needed by Bertram to endure the process of moving up to a rank 3 acolyte. I probably won't need it since I'm a Knight's Apprentice, but if Bertram tries to make a breakthrough without it, then his life force may not be enough and he will simply die.
Getting the powder wasn't a problem, and now as acolyte I was about to complete the next part of the plan which would help me get my second level 0 spell and more.
Although I trusted Bertram, but was in no hurry to meet all the requirements for his promotion, after all, a rank 3 acolyte is no longer a joke.
Leaving the villa, I went to my city. It's good that I decided not to create any castles and made a layout of streets and roads in advance with a decent margin. Crowds of people scurried back and forth in this prosperous city. Many, seeing my carriage, bowed and respectfully followed it with their eyes.
- Lord Tarrister. - people whispered.
Finally, I left the carriage next to one of the new buildings in the city center. This building was not as grand as my current auction house, but it still stood out from the city.
In front of my people and many passers-by and onlookers watching me, I took out a bag of sand and poured it out, at the same time saying a spell to myself. The sand whimsically hung in the air, and soon shone and flew to the building, to the place where the sign should be. This spell was very simple, but i made sure to make it look impressive for the viewers.
- It`s Magic! - people started screaming.
- Lord Tarrister is a real Mage!
There was an uproar, even the people from my escort were genuinely amazed by the spectacle. In the meantime, rather large letters began to form on the building in a bizarre way. The process ended soon after.
"Tarrister Magic Library"
The words shimmered with bright yellow sunlight and attracted the eyes of any passer-by. This demonstration of magic attracted the attention of more and more people, I was pleased with the effect.
It never even crossed my mind to hide any of my abilities or my wealth. I was not some beggar who found a treasure and was afraid that someone would take it away.
I am Sam Tarrister, one of the most powerful and wealthy men in this county. I had a mini army under my command and I was quite strong myself. Having become a Mage, I immediately went out and demonstrated this so that information would spread throughout the kingdom.
My auction has already been visited by a couple of Mages, but this was not enough for me. I had a lot of information about elements, spells, and so on. Most I got for money, some not in the most honest way. It makes no sense to keep all this knowledge to yourself, it is much more logical to share it with other Mages, of course, in exchange for the knowledge that I do not yet have. Thus, soon I will have a second rank 0 spell, as well as many other knowledge from all over this and even other kingdoms.
I have heard that Mages sometimes organize gatherings where goods and knowledge are exchanged, often in some kind of underground hole. Naturally, I was not going to exchange for such trifles and travel the world in search of similar people, they themselves will come to me and tell me everything. Over the years, I somehow found quite a few magical materials and bizarre things that I was unlikely to need, I was also going to openly put them up for exchange.
Soon after, I visited the auction house and the guild, repeating similar magic tricks to the delight of the audience, and then returned home.
The good news didn't end there. It has been 16 years since my promotion to Knight Apprentice. All these years I continued to practice the Knight technique and tried to make time for physical training. I have acquired various aids to stimulate my progress.
And finally, after becoming a Magician, once again practicing the Knight technique, I felt that I had reached the threshold, the next step is the True Knight.
There were many people in history who even became Great Knights before the age of 30, so I had nothing to be proud of. Nevertheless, such people do not appear very often, at least in this part of the mainland. Usually their rise was accompanied by endless wars and conflicts. Most become Grand Knights after the age of 45 and do not have much time to live. Therefore, even if such Knights appear, they soon die out like burnt out stars.
Many years ago, I announced a reward of 5,000 gold coins for something that would help a breakthrough, but no one ever responded. Therefore, I soon raised the reward to 20 thousand. As a result, one of the princes of the royal family could not ignore such an amount and decided to accept the offer by making an exchange.
It turned out that there is an alternative way of promotion. The royal family owned the method of growing the Spring Flower. Even through stimulation with the life element, the cultivation process was difficult and time consuming. In addition, the Spring Flower appeared only once during the spring period and, shortly before withering, produced a drop of dew.
But much more than one drop was needed for the desired effect, so even the prince did not want to part with a portion of the dew of a spring flower so easily, but in the end he could not resist such offer and sold it to me.
It was this dew that was the perfect alternative to break through to the True Knight.
Most Knights have failed at this stage simply by dying or taking massive damage. Many didn't even try. But I was extremely confident in myself and did not even consider the possibility of failure.
A couple of days later, I was sitting on a sheer cliff under the midday sun and looking towards the city of Harin. From here I could see the majestic buildings of my guild and the library. Crowds of people passed through the wide streets. Many wagons with goods regularly passed through the streets. A fountain was built on a huge square against which street performers of all stripes performed. Many residents of the city sat on benches along the square, the rest sat simply on the ground. It seemed that I heard the laughter of children running around the square.
I shifted my gaze to the many houses of the prosperous city, and finally to my residence, and then to Isabelle's grave, which was on one of the slopes away from the city.
Since Isabelle's death, my bloodthirstiness has greatly diminished. Feeling the pain of loss, I no longer wanted to take someone's life for no good reason. Of course I'll still kill anyone if I have to without a second thought. Nevertheless, if I have the opportunity to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, I would definitely try to choose this option.
Isabelle gave her life for the life of another person, for the sake of her child and heir. I have long ceased torturing myself with questions about why she did this and whether she had a choice at all. All this is no longer important.
Looking at my city, I felt that I was moving in the right direction. Although I did not personally build this city with my own hands, its creation and development were the fruit of my efforts. Even though I did all this for personal goals, my goals do not at all contradict the goals of ordinary people. Well, at least most.
I wanted to be a creator, not a destroyer. For Kyle's future, for the future of the Mage world, for my own future. Of course without power it's all just words. I'll have to kill and destroy to gain strength first, but if one day I'm gonna become strong enough...
The vital energy ignited again in my body, this time spreading to a couple of meters around. The dew of Spring Flower kindled this fierce green fire even brighter. My body was bursting at the seams, causing terrible pain, but at the same time quickly recovering under the frantic flame of life.
My cries soon finally subsided and the flame of life energy finally died out. I raised my hand in front of me and watched as it was covered with echoes of life energy at my will.
True Knight.
The dew had such magical properties that I almost didn't get any kickback. Of course, my original way of breaking through also played a role, along with the fact that I had already become a Mage.
Now my bloodline has received a major improvement, it is likely that this will affect my future as a Mage as well. Although I was already 37 and I looked accordingly, I felt great. Even when I get old and die, my body will still remain in good condition, at least outwardly.
The vital energy in me was in full swing and now I could cover parts of my body or weapons with it. The only thing left to do is to practice until I can use the secret move from the Knight's Advanced Technique. This technique was not too special but still useful.
Young acolytes were rarely even Knight Apprentices. Despite the many benefits, the Knight Technique once a day alone was far from enough to get the desired result. Therefore, they usually did not spend a lot of time and effort on such things, preferring to spend all their time trying to break through to a rank 3 acolyte and get a chance to become a True Mage.
It turned out that there were age restrictions for becoming a True Mage, the younger the more chances for success. People over 30 often had practically no chance, only death awaited them.
This information slightly shocked me, but I soon put it out of my head. My eyes radiated confidence. This is the world of magic, everything is possible here.