Two days prior.
....
Norman's practice field was enclosed in a large gymnasium like building. He opened the doors to the building with what Nick assumed was a spell by placing his right hand on the door for 5 seconds upon which a large number of laws written in Valteese glowed on the doors until it was finally open.
"Impressive, right? I use this building to house and test experimental potions so I use a rather complex security spell to keep others out. Don't pay attention to the laws that you just see on the door, I don't mind telling you that they are traps for whoever wants to break in here by trying to translate and analyze them. Of course my club member would never try to trespass on my property, am I right?"
Norman said that with a carefree but almost menacing tone.
"Of course not professor Norman. Since you must have important things to do, I won't waste much of your time."
Norman looked at Nick with squinted eyes.
"You know, you act polite and quiet but with my years of experience I can tell that there's something very 'peculiar' about you. Derek and Lana don't sense it, but I'm older than you can possibly imagine so it's clear to me - the ambition in your eyes."
The next moment Norman's eyes and tone returned to being genial.
"Ha, ha don't mind this old man's ramblings, just be mindful, sometimes things go better with people if they don't feel like the person in front of them is trying to mislead them in some way."
Nick remained still for a few seconds, looking at Norman and then slowly nodded his head. Norman then silently led Nick to the inner area of the building containing the practice field. The field was clearly larger than what the building would suggest from the outside.
(Spacial manipulation? From what I've read that kind of magic is very rarely used by individuals because of the difficulty involved in developing a Magician that can manage the complexity of spacial characteristics in their magic. Usually those Magicians work for large organizations and are used to manage environments like this one.)
Norman stood on the field and said to Nick:
"Let's not waste time, start testing you magic scrolls!"
Nick nodded.
"Sure thing professor, first I need to test a scroll that I intend to used for defensive measures; honestly it's more evasive than defensive but I consider evasion the best defense. Could you send a light attack my way so I can see its performance?"
Norman nodded, helping Nick was the reason that he came out here anyway.
"Get ready."
Nick took his scroll with the spell 'Parallel Pass' in hand.
Norman then pointed his finger at Nick and a green ball of light was formed and was launched at running speed towards Nick. Nick actually ran towards the ball of light and when he was only a feet or so from coming in contact with it, his scroll crumbled.
Norman looked on, amused at Nick's display.
The ball of light seemed to approach Nick by a hair's breadth but then slid past him in a straight line at an angle that was definitely different from its initial trajectory. When Norman saw that he nodded his head but thought that that spell looked simple but felt a little strange; Norman took this felling seriously because after over a dozen decades as a potion master, he had a sort of intuition towards strange magical happenings, the same as any Magician with years of experience would have. Norman decided that he needed to pay closer attention.
"Next I'll test out my movement spell."
Norman nodded. Nick readied his scroll with the spell 'Great Circle' and after taking a deep breath he willed its activation and the scroll crumbled. Nick shone with a blue light and appeared three feet behind Norman. Nick smiled at his second spell working so well because in his opinion, it was the most complex of his three spells. Norman this time was secretly shaken, a drop of sweat ran down his cheek; this wasn't because Nick's spell was awe inspiring or powerful, in fact, the power of Nick's spell was worthless in his eyes but that spell gave him a feeling that a Magician would only get from facing something that was unknown, after all, every Magician new facing unknown kinds of magic could easily lead to a premature death.
(Am I overthinking it? What's so strange about his little spell? I can't tell and that's the problem.)
Norman turned towards Nick with his usual confidence and said:
"This is taking too long, just show me your last spell and be done with it!"
Nick smiled at Norman's impatience and took out his third and final scroll but felt a little awkward; this was supposed to be his attack spell called 'Rotational Change'. Its test would work best with a live target but he doubted that Norman would let him use it on him. Norman sensed Nick's awkwardness.
"What's wrong?"
Nick scratched his head awkwardly.
"I didn't think to get a live target like a small animal to test my attack scroll on. Can I go buy one from the academy and come back?"
"Hmph!"
Norman made a sound in slight annoyance and waved his hand and a toddler sized goat appeared on the field lying down with its legs tied and mouth muffled.
"If you want to be a good Magician, you should learn to prepare like one!"
Nick nodded seriously and replied.
"Understood professor."
Nick walked towards the goat with his scroll. It looked at him with seemingly pleading eyes but Nick had to test his scroll. Nick pushed aside the uncomfortable feelings he was getting from thinking about what he was about to do. When Nick reached beside the goat he willed the scroll to activate, it crumbled and Nick stooped down to touch the goat's neck with his right palm.
RRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPP!
The goat's neck instantly twisted all the way clockwise until it was back to its original position, blood oozed out from the goats mouth, nose and eye sockets. Nick was so surprised at the sight that he took five steps back, fairly disturbed. Norman looked on at the seen with bewilderment.
(What is the nature of the magic that he is using? It's not spacial, psychic or mechanically based; one second the goats neck was fine and the next it was twisted 360 degrees but I can't tell the nature of the magic that the scroll used to do it?)
"Strange."
Nick was visibly ecstatic. All three spells worked like they were supposed to and so he had enough confidence in not failing his upcoming exam because of not having any magic to use. Nick heard footsteps and noticed that Norman had walked next to him. In Nick's excitement, he almost forgot hat Norman was even there. Norman looked at Nick seriously and spoke:
"Nick, how did you go about creating the spells on your scrolls, of course, I'm not asking for in depth details but they are strange in a way so I would like some insight as to their nature?"
Nick was puzzled at the professor's question.
"Well...professor, just like I read in the spell creation books, I basically conceptualized what I wanted my spells to do and based on my own knowledge of mathematics, I developed theories for how they should work, developed proofs, condensed them and translated them into Valteese. I continued to make adjustments and corrections to the spells until the magic I felt emanating from them felt just right."
Norman squinted his eyes.
"Is that so? Well, in that case, do you want to become my disciple? I think that you have some significant talent and if honed correctly, you could be a real force to be reckoned with. The terms would be that I will teach you as much information about becoming a Magician as possible over a period of time as well as give you magic and economic resources and in exchange, you will help me with my research, share information related to your development and when you become a Magician, help me in the future with magic related tasks. Do you agree with becoming my disciple?"
Nick felt excited, he didn't completely understand what was so impressive about his magic scrolls but the opportunity to become the disciple of a Regular Magician was really tempting.
(I should say yes.)
"Y..."
Nick only made an utterance before a scene from his memory resurfaced in his mind. It was when he first met Norman. After having knocked on the door, he heard shuffling and after some time Norman came out with Lana walking slowly behind him with her clothes slightly out of place in certain suspicious sections, as if she had just hurried to put them on. Not to mention Norman had noticeably missed a loop on his pants' waist area, a grand Magician that didn't know how to wear his belt around his waist, that's not likely; it was as if he had rushed to put his belt on and happened to missed the loop; Norman never missed a loop again. Nick lacked certain 'experiences' but he wasn't naive. Lana had definitely made an 'agreement' in order to get Norman's support. Nick looked at Norman's calm smile and thought:
(Norman, are you trying to fuck me?)
Of course he didn't mean that literally, but something about Norman's proposal seemed odd in that he only made it after seeing Nick's spells. He even asked how Nick went about creating his spells. Nick got all his spell creation knowledge from Norman and Nick did in fact create his spells using that knowledge.
(The only reason he would ask his initial question is if there was something peculiar about my spells that he couldn't understand. It seems to me that he want's to make me his disciple to gain a better understanding of that peculiarity.)
Nick didn't trust Norman and his intentions. A Magician's success is clearly dependent on the uniqueness and effectiveness of their methods. If there was something so peculiar about Nick's spells that they even made a Regular Magician interested in them, why should he just share his results for a vague promise of support. Nick had an intuition, one born from nearly two decades of being mistreated and taken advantage of, that if he said yes to Norman, he would be the one on the losing end.
(A mature person relies on themselves morning, noon and night. While I'm not mature yet, that's my aim and if I want to climb all the way up the mountain, I have to to it the right way - with my own developed strengths. Not to mention, Norman's offer sounds too good to be true.)
Nick steeled himself and said:
"Thank you for the interest professor, but I like to work on my own. I don't want to have a master, at least for now. I'm still trying to find out who I am and I don't want any undue influence from someone as powerful as you on me while I'm doing that."
Nick clasped his hands and did a slight bow while saying these things to make himself look apologetic; he had seen this stance in a Japanese drama once and the guy on the receiving end looked real understanding.
Norman looked at Nick for close to thirty seconds and then said:
"So be it."
With that, the scroll testing ended and Nick and Norman left the building, not a word being exchanged between them.
...
At the present time.
"Thank you for your interest Magician Mason but you should get a talented disciple. This one here is naive and clumsy, in addition I have my own plans with another Magician."
Nick used the same bow he did with Norman and made an excuse to get out of the situation.
"Hmph"
Devon Mason made a sound of annoyance and returned to his seat. The invigilator stood up to speak, with Don Bartholomew now laying unconscious on the floor.
"The match has concluded with you, Nick Capitol, being the overall victor but ultimately your grade for this exam will be determined by the judges. I will return you to the main hall and you will have to wait for the results with the other candidates."
With that Nick returned to the main hall. He was actually the only one to finish at this time. Nick took out his phone to look at the time; his match had actually lasted only 20 minutes.
"I suppose that's a good thing in terms of a battle."
The next moment someone else appeared in the room a few feet away from Nick. Nick turned his head to take a closer look at who it was and he put on an indifferent expression, seeing that it was someone he knew.
(Cindy Reece.)