Arcanist Beginner Lessons

Out on a march in the morning of the first day of autumn, Grand Sultan Bodolok Gadaarii called his soldiers down to hunt all the traitors. After what they did, they must be punished and now they will face the consequences of their actions. They had held themselves above everyone else and now they shall face the will of the people. As he and his men entered into the final house after the majority of the traitors had been either captured or killed, he stood over the last two who had barely a rusty knife to try and fight against him and his men. His men saw the violence that they had caused as they had murdered almost entire families in retaliation for the crimes of those who sought to overthrow the sultan. Many of them wondered if this was right.

As the sultan stared at the last few remaining rebels whose backs were against the wall ready to defend themselves with what little they had the sultan realized the morale of his men. He realized that kind words and peace were not what was needed. And so, he stoked their hatred saying with great vigor but an almost somber tone, "I wish I could spare them. To make them see the path.... Tempting as that sounds I think on this I may have to pass. For I know what is needed for the good of my people. To save them....."

Without saying much further he gave them a look that conveyed a question. Wordlessly all of the soldiers who saw his face knew the question. 'What would you do to protect your people and your home?' As the soldiers thought to themselves in this tense moment, they realized what needed to be done and they slew the last of the traitors. Then they left taking their bodies to be burned in front of those of the city. They would burn to show the sultan's might and what happens to those who oppose him.

Unbeknownst to them, a single boy remains hidden under the nearby bed that the soldiers did not see. He watched as his parents were murdered in the name of justice for the crimes his parents had committed along with others. He did not care about their crimes. He did not care that what they did was horrible. All he knew is that he wanted his parents back. That day he swore vengeance upon the man who ordered them dead.

His name was Egallyn Kaldis. That was the day that would mark him as the man who would become the Sand Stalker.

On that day, began the 1st of the Great Cycles. That cycle would be called the Cycle of Hatred, and it would repeat unending and unbroken for 3,000 years.

-1st of the Great Cycles Chapter 2; Verses 1-5

Juulla gave a determined nod and Constantine gave a simple order, "Focus on the mana flowing inside you." Closing her eyes, she started to feel the magical energy flowing through her blood. He told her, "Remain focused and cast a simple spell."

Following his advice, she chose to manifest a ball of light while keeping her eyes closed and sensing the flow of mana in her body. She could sense how the currents of mana flow through her body, and how they were directed by her will to cast a simple spell. She felt as that energy escaped her body, but she still had control over it and was able to shape it. She can feel that her subconscious mind without any effort at all is able to maintain that connection and moved the light how she wishes for it to be moved. Even without seeing it only feeling it, she could see much more clearly how her mana worked on her body.

He explained, "This is the simplest form of magic training I can give you. Understanding the flow of magical energy throughout your body is key to being able to use it as best as possible. Not only does it teach you how to sense that flow, but it also allows you to gauge your strengths and limitations so that you may surpass them. Using this form of training as you can make yourself stronger so long as you can keep track of your progress. This is also a trick that more experienced spellcasters all know about that takes years of their magic study to learn; that it usually takes people like you who still don't know much a long time to figure out."

He was already done with the torso with the ballistic weave bodysuit by the time he had finished speaking taking a moment to stop and have her look at him. He continued, "Open your eyes." As she did, he manifested multiple of the same types of orbs of light that she had created a single one of. He began to move them about playfully.

Juulla was in awe as this was something that she had been trying to practice how to do for the last 2 years but could never figure out, and he just did it. Constantine explained, "When you properly understand the flow of magic within yourself and how it can be drawn out of your body; you can start working on developing and growing that expansion over time. Learning how to expand the range in which your mana can reach out from your body will allow you to have greater control of your environment by releasing more of your magical energy. As well as controlling it before letting that energy dissipate. Take a simple Fireball spell. All it is a small ball of fire probably as big as a cantaloupe. Once formed it can be aimed and then sent flying as a projectile attack. After a certain distance that control over its trajectory and being able to course correct, its angle to still hit a target is lost. Once a certain range out if it hits, it hits. If it doesn't, it doesn't after that certain point. But through training your mana flow, your growth of control over the area around you can get to a range in which you can strike and always ensure a hit."

Juulla asked him curious how he learned it himself, "How did you discover this form of training? You said only those who are more experienced spellcasters tend to know it. I don't want to offend you by saying you might be old just cuz your hair is white when you look so young."

Constantine hesitated for a moment. He thought about what to say and chose his words carefully. Knowing that much of the life that taught him the skills he knows now revolves around a lot of things that most other people wouldn't either believe or be able to comprehend; he said, "I almost died in an ancient temple from the great civilization that fell long ago. After nearly dying I tried to figure out ways to improve my magic more so I could survive and make it out. This is one of the few techniques that I learned just trying to escape that damn place. And it is only one of the techniques that I will be teaching you how to start training with."

Juulla complimented him, "Wow, that sounds cool. I can imagine how amazing you must have looked just barely surviving a near-death encounter with some ancient forgotten monstrosity only to start uncovering magical secrets that most people would have to learn over decades."

"Quite the opposite actually... I was scared shitless and just wanted to not die. I hated that place with a passion," he replied. His tone was not angry or aggressive but instead melancholy and almost depressed.

Being good with people she picked up on the fact he didn't want to continue talking about it. She could sense that whatever memories he had of the place he mentioned are mostly filled with pain.

After a moment of silence, he starts getting back to work on the rest of the bodysuit and clarifies, "My skills are nothing special. Literally, everything I can do any other spellcaster can as well. The only difference is the way in which I have learned to apply it. The events that have shaped the last 2 years of my life have been ones that have almost killed me on numerous occasions. I have learned and improved in the ways of what was needed to survive. The skill I used yesterday as I said was a combination of magic and a special sense that I have. The special sense that I have I developed purely out of the training that I taught you just now."

Juulla felt a bit sad for him. To her, it sounded like he was putting himself down just a bit. She didn't say anything to not come off as rude.

Constantine breaks the temporary silence yet again giving more advice, "The best way to train like how I described is to try a controlled release of mana from your body. Almost like an aura and then slowly expanded out like a bubble around you. The more powerful you become; the more mana you will have available. This allows you to make a bigger bubble that you will be able to create with this control over your mana flow. Everything within this metaphorical bubble that your mana encompasses you shall have nearly perfect control over. Allowing you to cast spells, not from your body, but from the area around you a lot easier and a lot faster. Most of the time it will negate the need to be able to see so long as the thing you are targeting is within your bubble. When paired with the other techniques I'm going to teach you over my stay here you will slowly learn how to become a lot stronger a lot quicker."

She gave a nod making sure to absorb all the knowledge he was imparting to her. She had a very good memory and most of this was simple to understand.

Runa walked up and offer a more visual aid. Using her magic, she created an illusion of the very thing that she was sensing when she accessed her magic.

"This is what you should be envisioning when following his instructions. I hope this form of visual representation can help you figure out how to do it a lot easier since you are seeing what he is talking about," said Runa trying to help.

Juulla gave a smile, "It does. I figured that was what he was saying but I'm glad to be shown I was correct."

Juulla begins practicing and over the next half hour of practicing Constantine comes close to finishing the majority of the bodysuit just having the feet left to deal with before he stops. He asks her, "Do you know what the 6 schools of magic are?"

"Of course. Vivomancy, Necromancy, Elemancy, Remomancy, Eldermancy, and Materiamancy. Anybody who knows anything about magic knows that. It's like the most basic of basics," Juulla answers.

Constantine follows up with another, "What does each school focus on?"

She answered proudly of the knowledge she was already taught, "Elemancy is elemental magic. Vivomancy is divine magic. Necromancy is sinful magic. Remomancy is like time and space magic. Materiamancy is supposed to deal with matter and changing it and stuff like that. And Eldermancy is like using magic in its most raw mental and chaotic form."

"Correct. Understanding the basics of each school will help you with understanding the type of training that you will need to focus on. Some schools have a certain stigma like Necromancy being evil but it's all in how you use it. I have seen a great number of people use Necromancy to save lives just as much as I've seen them use it to take lives. Keep this information in mind," he replied before moving to finish the suit.

After another 20 minutes, the suit was done, and he stopped Juulla from training again to make her try it on. It was made for her to wear with nothing else as almost a second skin over her body, so she stripped down again and put on the suit. Realizing that he added some padding in places for her more private parts made her blush. But the suit fit perfectly and it almost shocked her how natural it felt to wear. She started stress testing it to see if she was still as mobile and flexible in it and to her surprise she still was.

Constantine admired his work and was happy to see that it fit her well, "Good. Very good. Now I just need you to take it off so I can start making the armor that's supposed to go on top of it. You can put back on your other clothes while you wait. Lucky for you there's enough material here for me to work with, and enough spare armor pieces that I might not have to craft everything from scratch."

At this point, she's becoming a little bit more okay with stripping down, but this was still quite new to her. Before going back to her training, she instead wanted to ask some questions.

Juulla asked Constantine as he took back the bodysuit, "Why were you pretending like you couldn't be bothered with people yesterday when you really wanted to get to know as many people as possible? Why act like you don't care about others when it's easy to see that you do?"

He took the bodysuit and went back over to the area where he was already about to start hammering away at the armor plating, "Easy answer is I don't want to get attached. If I started getting to know the people around town and decided that I liked these people; I might want to stay, and I don't want that..... There are places that I need to go to and things that I need to do. I have questions that need answering and there are only a specific few people that can answer them."

"So, you're trying to avoid giving up on your adventure because it's supposed to help you get the answers that you're trying to find....? I guess I can understand that. But it can't hurt to try and get attached to a few people. That way you always have a reason to want to come back and at least visit," Juulla responded shyly and kindly.

Her words made him smile just a tiny bit. Runa giggled for a moment before asking Juulla a question herself, "So did you like what you saw this morning? You were staring for a couple of minutes there before you seem to snap out of it."

Juulla blushed heavily, "Well yes.... B-b-but it just was a shock to see so early in the morning. Most people wait till night to do those sorts of things when no one will bother them."

Runa blows her a kiss just to tease the girl some more, "You can bother us whenever you want. We'd love to have you join in if you ever get the courage."

Juulla was blushing so hard the freckles were starting to glow slightly again, "Why are you so carefree about that stuff? I mean when I open the door you didn't even try and stop and cover up as most people would... Y-you just kept going."

Constantine answered calmly with his back currently turned to the two as he was seeing what armor pieces he could use currently, "Where I am from people are so bold that they will have sex out in the open even in the middle of town in broad daylight. Most people where I'm from don't care and in fact, will invite you to join most of the time. It is something that almost all of us there have in common. Besides, you only live once so might as well live without worry or fear and be bold and proud."

She began to blush even more at the idea of a society like that, "A-are you serious? I-is there really a place like that out there?"

Constantine gave a nod and seemed to smile fondly at the memory of home. Then he got back to work crafting her armor.

Constantine asked her, "Try casting your light spell while expanding your magical energy outwards around you. Use it to try and make many of them. They don't have to be big balls of light; they can be small."

She tried to focus her magical energy around her like she had been practicing since they started. She could feel as her mana formed a small bubble around her barely a couple of inches off of her entire body. She tried casting her simple ball of light in multiple places all at once in that bubble.

When she opened her eyes, she could feel as the spells were taking effect and saw about 5 or 6 small balls of light floated in the air around her within the space that she had wanted them to. Runa clapped at the sight of her pulling it off on the first try.

"Good job. Looks like you might have some natural talent. Might make it easy for you to digest my lessons seeing that you have some innate skill," Constantine complimented.

Juulla was very proud of herself. She moved around the balls of light that she had manifested into reality with her magic. After she was finished, she awaited her next instruction or lesson.

"Runa please teach her how to use her eyes the same way that I do while I try to focus on shaping the metal for her armor with my magic," Constantine requested politely.

Runa gave a blissful nod and motioned for Juulla to walk outside with her, so they don't distract Constantine. The women walk outside and take a couple of steps away to start the next lesson.

Runa begins with an explanation of the abilities some races possess with their eyes, "First things first, race abilities. As you know somebody says have eyes that allowed them extraordinary sensory abilities. Some races have adapted and changed over time to be able to see in the dark which is the most common of special eye features. Most call this Darkvision or Nightsight. There are races like the Goblins that have eyes that allow them to see through magical and non-magical darkness and can use the power of their eyes to protect them against mind-affecting abilities. They named this Eldritchsight due to their origins. Following me so far?"

Juulla nods saving all this knowledge to memory. She was interested in seeing where this was going.

Runa continued, "What Constantine uses is a combination of 5 different sights and senses working together. After having it explained and talking with friends who are experts, we learned what those were. Deathsight, Magesight, Dragonvision, Angelsight, and Demonvision. Constantine himself knew exactly what all 5 of these were because they are very commonly known where he is from however, I needed an explanation and I bet you do too. Right or wrong?"

Juulla laughed a little as she shyly nodded, "Yeah I've never heard of any of those. An explanation would be much appreciated."

Runa agreed as she explained from what she remembered, "From what Mazzy told me and what Conny confirmed they are each very useful on their own. Magesight allows you to gauge someone's magical power by seeing the magical aura around them that is passively being released and increases when they are actively using their magic. It also apparently allows you to tell what type of magic is being used based on the color of the aura and you can even predict what the spell will be."

She make one blue illusory eye after saying that then another red eye as she moved to the next one, "Dragonvision is like Magesight with its ability to see magical auras however it cannot be used to tell what types of enchantments or magical effects are on items or are afflicting people nor can it help assist with focusing on how your spells will probably work based on what you're visualizing when casting. But it does allow you to see through darkness both magical and non-magical as well as illusions. It helps with being able to tell when you're dealing with someone who is alive, dead, or undead. It can even help you with being able to see through mind-affecting abilities. When pushed to its absolute maximum it can allow you to see up to 10 seconds in the future at all possible outcomes that could happen within that time frame. It is quite powerful and is one of the reasons why dragons, where he is from, are so strong because they all innately have that power."

Juulla hears the explanation and gets excited. Juulla replies, "Would he be willing to show me what dragons look like? Real proof of dragons would be world-changing because there are none here outside of stories."

"I think he would. He doesn't hide much when it comes to where he's from and how his homeland is," Runa says before getting back on track, "Anyways moving on..... Angelsight is special to Angels but others who are holy and pure enough can be blessed with the sight. It helps see through illusions, resist mind control/mind-altering effects, and when fighting demons or undead it essentially tells you all of their weaknesses and allows you to attack them with expert knowledge of their anatomy and capabilities. Meaning it allows you to essentially be their worst nightmare. Demonvision is almost the exact same except you interchange out the abilities that affect demons for Angelsight with angels for Demonvision."

She makes two more illusory eyes. One white and one black makes 4 illusory representations of what she is explaining. She makes a final purple one and says, "Last is Deathsight. It is the strongest and most fear-inducing of them all. With Deathsight anyone you consider to be an enemy that you see you instantaneously envision a million different possibilities on how to kill them in a single second and can flawlessly execute whichever one you wish. With this eyesight, the person who uses it can essentially know everything that you could possibly do to stop them and then either avoid, counter, or use it against you along with their own capabilities to horribly brutally murder you like it's nothing. It makes the person using it so lethal that there is really no counter to it outside of just being too powerful for the person to be able to realistically ever kill. It is probably the most powerful of his sensory abilities."

"Yeah, that sounds very terrifying. Seeing a million ways to kill a person in a second sounds gross and creepy. Imagining all the blood and gore everywhere........," Juulla looked disturbed by the idea of such an ability. However, it did make sense how she saw him seemingly effortlessly kill those bandits yesterday before they even realize they were dead.

Runa concluded, "Constantine's greatest strength is that all 5 of these are working together all at the same time so that he always stays ahead of what his enemies are doing or might do. Paired with what he started off teaching you, those two things allow him to see literally everything around him at all times even in his sleep. It is a passive thing he can't turn off and just is always working. He sees a lot more that he doesn't want to, and stuff he does want to. Including things that don't deal with combat like people eating or folks talking or a cute elf masturbating while taking a bath this morning."

That last remark made Juulla very embarrassed, and she looked away shy and ashamed. But Runa grabbed her hand gently and said, "I figured after how you reacted this last night that you might be interested in me and Conny. Most people who aren't tend to get angry by now with all the sexual jokes and situations. Not to mention you did say you would like to join us in having fun being the biggest indication you were interested. You are clearly very shy and easy to make blush and get flustered. It's cute...."

Juulla blushed harder but she didn't pull away or deny what was being said. Runa was right in the fact that Juulla was interested, and she really did want to join them, but one thing made that a hard option. Juulla knew they would leave, and she would still be stuck here in the village.

Runa placed Juulla's hand on her cheek nuzzling into her touch. The elf had such gentle hands and Runa could tell she was a sweet girl.

Juulla felt nervous but allowed it to continue. She tried to look at Runa despite how shy she felt at the moment. Runa and Juulla locked eyes and the both of them blushed before smiling at each other.

Runa then said, "Conny and I can tell you might be special. However, you are letting how shy and nervous you are get in the way of how you talk to us and how you look at us. You don't need to worry. We won't do anything to you without your permission. Try to shake off those shy feelings because they will only make it harder for you to learn what we will teach you. In this case how to give yourself both Magesight and Dragonvision at the same time to help you become a much better sorceress. You understand?"

Juulla looks around seeing none of the villagers are in earshot and confesses, "I would like to, but I have only had crushes. I've only ever at most kissed someone else but never more than that. I'm unsure if I could be able to go through with real sex stuff. So, all the teasing and nudity has me really out of my element."

Runa kisses the palm of Juulla's hand, "I know. It's funny seeing how you blush when I blow kisses or make gestures. But when you are training with us you will have to get out of your comfort zone. Staying in your shell will only slow your progress down. Like you did earlier just try to focus on the training especially when I purposefully try to throw you off with my flirting."

Juulla starts to blush a bit and her heart starts to beat a little bit faster. She nods very shyly but smiles at the idea of more flirting from Runa.

Runa pulls away and starts getting back on track, "Okay with that said.... Let's keep going."

Juulla gave a nod getting more excited this time to learn something cool. As Juulla watched, she saw Runa take a deep breath and close her eyes. When Runa lets out that breath her eyes are different. Her pupils are diamond shaped and her irises are glowing magic circles. The whites of her eyes were now a darker shade of color than the glowing part of her eye which in this case was red.

Runa spoke, "This is what my eyes look like now that I've activated both Magesight and Dragonvision. I learned how to do this in the same place that Constantine learned all of his tricks in that dungeon, but I never knew what it was until a couple of months ago. His eyes work differently than mine. His eyes work even when he is not actively using their power. But I have to activate mine in order to make it work."

"That looks so cool. I can see how your eyes look like a magic circle. How do you do that," Juulla exclaimed with awe.

Runa answered, "The process is simple actually. There is a reason he taught you how to since the floor of your mana first. When you are trying to create that bubble around yourself to give you control over the area around you; you can take a portion of that magic and flow it into your eyes to give you both the effects of Magesight and Dragonvision. It can only work when you properly flow your mana to your eyes and learn how to focus and sustain it there. Try it."

"Hell yeah. Let's see," Juulla shouted with an expression of amazement.

It took her 2 hours of trying before she figured it out. The first half hour was trying to get it to flow correctly while trying to maintain her tiny mana bubble around herself. The rest of the time was her trying hard to figure out how to properly sustain that flow and connection. Once it finally works her eyes looked just like Runa's but hers was a beautiful shade of purple.

Runa gave a nod approvingly, "You got it. Took a little more time than I taught but you still learned it faster than I did. Guess having a good teacher helps with that."

Juulla saw that there was a small aura around her own body that was a mix of black, white, and purple energy. It was barely 6 inches off of her skin, but she could tell that this was her mana that she had been controlling by focusing on the flow like she had been instructed. Now she could visibly see it and it amazed her. Then she tried to look and see what Runa's aura was, but she couldn't see anything.

Runa saw her looking around trying to look for her aura, "You can see it because I'm not releasing any passive mana. I have bottled it all up a stored it within my body to make it seem like I have no magic. I only really small bursts of magic when I cast a spell and only ever enough that I need to do what I'm intending......... But if you ask nicely, I'll give you a sneak peek at just how strong I am."

Juulla was very interested in seeing how strong Runa was, "Yes, please. I would love to see it. I bet you are so powerful."

Runa seemed happy to have someone so enthusiastically excited to see just a glimpse at her strength. She told Juulla, "Fine. But I will only show you how big I can make my zone around me."

Runa takes only a split second to create her own zone and Juulla watched as it overshadowed hers by more than she fathomed. Juulla expected it to take up maybe this block of town at most but when she saw it in full it actually covered almost the entire village. Juulla was in shock and slightly frightened by how strong Runa might be if she went all out.

Runa said giving a bit of an idea, "Your village is about 2 miles in diameter. My aura takes up a little more than half of it. My zone alone covers between 1 mile to 1 and a half miles of your town. I can temporarily boost it with some of my abilities but as you can see, I seldom would need to as I can cover quite a lot of space. In this space, I reign supreme. The only counter to this is someone who is of greater power than me. Which the only person in this town that meets that requirement is Constantine whose area of control is 10 times mine."

Juulla looked a little shocked but then she remembered how yesterday he killed that bandit group hiding in the forest a ways outside of town. It was a little scary that he could potentially see and since everything within around 10 miles of himself.

Runa bottled back up her mana and Juulla felt rightfully nervous. Runa however just motioned for her to follow back into the blacksmith's shop.

Juulla took a moment before she walked with her back inside. Once in the building, they saw Constantine was almost done with Juulla's armor. Most of it was finished and painted white with silver accents similar to the colors of the staff he gave her. The chestplate even had the motif of a sliver lion's head coming out of it.

"Get ready to strip again in half an hour. I'm almost done with your armor. I just need to enchant it now. But first, show me your eyes. I want to see if you learned what Runa had to teach," said Constantine as they both enter and looked at his progress.

Juulla gave a nod and focused to make her eyes change activating her new eye power. Seeing that purple glow and the magic circles in her eyes, Constantine was proud of how fast of a learner she was. He knew she had some promise that most lacked.

"Good you have learned Eyes of the Arcanist. It is a skill any good Arcanist should know. You are picking up the beginnings of Arcane Zone quickly as well. Your elven heritage makes you of Fey blood. You seem to have a preference for Vivomancy more than Necromancy. But no Arcanist is completed without first having a proper companion," Constantine declared with slight glee at her potential.

"What is an Arcanist? I heard it before, but I don't fully know what it means," Juulla looked confused by him calling her an Arcanist. She had heard the term before being used to describe specific spellcasters but didn't know what an Arcanist was outside of them being a unique kind of spellcaster.

Runa explained for him, "Arcanists are spellcasters that rely more on the power within their blood and growing that power along with their magical knowledge to make themselves stronger; instead of like most spellcasters who try and absorb as much knowledge as they can on how magic works and the ways that it can be applied. So far, he's been teaching you how to draw out the power that you were born with. Rather than cramming a whole bunch of magical lessons down your throat about the ins and outs of how spells work and hoping that you remember it all."

Juulla could see that the difference in simple terms was Arcanist focus on developing their innate power while slowly accumulating magical knowledge. Whereas spellcasters do the reverse by focusing on accumulating magical knowledge more than growing their innate power. Allowing for the two methods sorcerers use to get stronger to be extremely different.

Then she remembers the last thing Constantine said, "Wait what do you mean by having a proper companion?"

Constantine reached into the blazing hot forge to pull out a glowing hot egg the size of a watermelon. She was surprised by the fact the heat and flames did not burn him at all.

He answered, "All Arcanists take an animal creature as a pet that they later bind to them as their familiars. In this case, I am giving you a soon-to-be hatched newborn drakonewt. I had a couple of eggs from what I found on my way. This is the last one and I want you to have it. Once it hatches. Which it should hatch soon because I am speeding up the process by putting it in the flames of the forge. The creature inside is already developed enough to hatch but it has not been heated enough to wake it and force it to break out of its shell."

Juulla knew what a drakonewt was as they and wyverns are the closest thing to dragons that they have out here. She knew they could be raised as loyal pets like dogs or cats. But they usually could only be bought by super-rich people as they were expensive.

Constantine asked her as he put the egg back in the forge and started working on enchanting her armor, "Now what spells do you know?"

She answered a little ashamed by how weak she was, "I know 3. Mom taught me Heart of Health and Create Light growing up, but she only knows 10 spells. I taught myself how to cast Embrace the Dark when my grandpa told me how my grandma used to do it. That's all I know."

Constantine seemed to not mind and told her, "Good that means I can focus on teaching you 3 spells for each of those branches. First, I'll start with light magic. I'll teach you the spells Infuse Light, Light Warp, and Light Blitz. As the first 2 spells are needed to understand how to use the last. Then after that, we shall see about life and darkness spells after. Understood?"

"Yes sir. I hope it doesn't end up taking the full 2 weeks just to learn 1 spell. I will try not to waste your time," she said a bit worried about her skills.

Constantine wasn't having any of that kind of doubtful talk and corrected her quickly, "Hey! None of that! You are a much better sorceress than you give yourself credit for. It took me and Runa weeks of surviving hell to learn what we already taught you today. You learned it in a matter of hours. That already means that you have more innate talent and skill than either of us when it comes to magic. So don't sell yourself short..... Ever."

Juulla tears up a little but wipes her eyes to stop herself before she might cry. Her magical skills are the only thing that she ever doubts herself about because she always sees herself as weak or struggling when she's tried so hard to learn. Hearing someone tell her that when it comes to magic, she's actually amazing is a first, and it makes her feel emotions that she's not even sure how to put into words other than appreciative and happy.

After having her confidence boosted a little, she takes a moment and looks back at him with a simple smile happy that he has faith in her. She looks at him and says, "Thank you. I promise to do my best."

"Good...... Now focus on channeling the same magic that you do to create those balls of light into your fist and intensify it as much as possible in that specific part of your body. Don't stop until your fist is shining bright enough to light up this room twice as much as it is now," Constantine ordered getting her started on learning Infuse Light.

Juulla tried hard and struggled, but by the time she even got a single fingertip to light up just a tiny bit, Constantine had already finished making her armor with the final enchantment being placed. He stopped her so she could try on the completed armor. She stripped again this time not nervous and accepting it was what she needed to do.

After putting on the full armor she could see that it was all one piece attached to the underbody suit that he had initially made so she could just slip in the armor very simply and easily. It felt lightweight enough for her to have that same mobility as before but just enough extra weight on her body that it would take maybe a month to get used to moving around. Other than that, it was beautiful and expertly crafted.

Constantine informed her of the armor's enchantments, "The armor despite being made out of iron has been enchanted to be as tough as titanium but also very lightweight that's not hinder your movements. I also made it so that it gives a similar boost to your Vivomancy and Necromancy spells, but to different aspects of them. Mostly empowering their range and overall strength, but not the output of power that they have. So, it won't do more damage when you're in the armor, but if you have the staff both effects will synergize. Lastly, I made sure that it was given some extra defenses against both divine and sinful powers. So, if you happen to run into angels or demons that want to kill you this will make most of their attacks virtually ineffective against you. Not to mention the best part is I built a spell into it that after an hour you will mentally have stored in your brain so that whenever you're using the armor you can activate that spell a certain number of times per day. I think it was 5 times a day....."

Juulla felt blessed and thankful to have met Constantine. She hadn't expected something like this from a stranger. He was very kind even though he tried not to be just to put up a front. But it was stuff like this and his desire to try and help in some small way to make her dream come true that she couldn't help but be so grateful that he came when he did.

She hugged him again out of instinct and like before he was surprised. But the surprise was starting to wear itself out. It only took him about 5 seconds before he returned her way of affection with a hug of his own.

Runa joined in this time making it a proper group hug. However to hug them last that long as soon they heard the shell cracking on the egg that was still in the forge's fire. Hearing the sound Constantine rushed over and grabbed the egg out of the fire as the shell was starting to crack. He could feel the newborn creature inside getting ready to burst out.

He sat the egg on the anvil and the trio watched as a baby drakonewt breaks out of its shell. The first thing the newborn creature did was look at the three of them as they looked back at it with blissful smiles.

Drakonewts were the size of full-grown cats at birth and as they grow, they can become the same size as a bull mastiff dog. They had bodies shaped like snakes but with lizard feet and were covered with colorful tree frog-like patterns across their scales. They have viper or cobra snake-like heads with dog ears and usually deer antlers or ram horns. They tend to have lion-like manes from birth and a little bit of fur going down the center of their back all the way to the tip of their tail. They have four wings two that are larger than the other two. They can fly as early as a week old and they like meat. They tend to have magical affinities based on whatever is the primary color of their fur. Which in this case is white which meant that it had an affinity for Vivomancy.

Constantine told Juulla, "They usually imprint on whoever is the first to pick them up when they are freshly hatched so go ahead and take it." She gave a smile and grabbed the cute baby. She cradled it in her arms like it was an actual human child. She started to give it gentle pats on its head and scratches under its chin which it seemed to nuzzle into.

It started to lick her chin which was a sign that the creature was happy. After a couple more minutes it crawled up on her shoulders and wrapped itself around like a scarf that was loose enough for her to breathe just fine. It nuzzled the top of its head against her chin and it was clear that it considered her to be its mother.

"Constantine can you tell if it is a boy or girl," asked Juulla as she was now trying to think of a name for this adorable little creature.

Constantine said certain, "It's a girl. The girls only have 4 eyes whereas the boys have 6. The girls also have only 6 legs instead of 8 like the boys. So, this one is female."

Juulla kisses the top of the creature's head as she thinks of a name. After about a minute she decides on a name, "I will call you Faedona." In the Fey language, the name meant, Adorable or Cutie.

Faedona began to lick Juulla's face with her long dog-like tongue some more. In her own little way, the newborn accepted her name. But as of right now it was hungry as she could hear the baby's stomach growling. Not to mention so was everyone else's. That's when they all agreed to head back to the inn and get some food.

Returning to the tavern Juulla showed off both her new armor and her new pet to her parents. Her elderly father was very excited for her as she was starting to have the opportunity to follow her dream and he has lived long enough to see that start becoming a possibility for her. However, it was clear her mother was worried that the strangers that came in the day before were showering their daughter and gifts only to leave her heart broken later. Though she did not say this directly to her daughter or Constantine and Runa she did keep an eye closer on the two of them.

Juulla however gave some fresh diced pork bits to her pet who are the meat happily. Even though her mother was worried seeing this beautiful creature literally dancing as it ate its dinner it seemed to melt her heart a bit on the situation. Faedona had started to wiggle around and bounce up and down kind of like how a lizard or a frog dances when they are excited or happy.

Constantine pulled the bartender who you now knew for something was Juulla's father off to the side. He wanted to talk to him man to man for a moment realizing that her father was very supportive of her dream, "I can tell that you care a lot about your daughter's happiness, and you want to see her dream come true. It was written all over your face when you saw that I kept my promise and started teaching her magic. You're very old for a human and I can see that you have a couple of magic tattoos on your body. Which means that you're prolonging your lifespan as much as possible with magic. I'm guessing that's because you want to see your daughter achieve her goal to some degree before you finally are okay with the possibility of passing on. Am I right?"

The man gave a nod back, "Read me like a book. My daughter is just as good at reading people. So what is it that you're really here to ask me? You don't just pull a man off to the side to talk about dreams and talking hushed tone unless it's something important."

"I think that your daughter has great promise and I'm going to be enrolling in the same university that she proclaims she wants to enroll in. We're making our way to the capital to do just that. It'll take us about a month to reach the capital given that we have some things that need to be taken care of along the way. But after seeing how promising your daughter was at magic, I cannot help myself. I would like to pay for your daughter to go to that University and I would be willing to personally escort her there myself. She has genuine talent, and I would hate for it to go to waste. With the proper training I think one day she could be far stronger than even I am," replied Constantine with a serious expression but a quiet voice so as to not let everyone hear it.

Her father took a moment, but he could see that Constantine was genuine when he said he was impressed by his daughter's skills. However, he also knew that it was rather expensive to enroll in the University. So, he declined on the fact that he couldn't allow Constantine to pay so much money, "I'm sorry sir but that's too expensive. It cost 100 titanium to go to that school and that feels like a very unnecessary burden to place on the shoulders of a stranger. I wouldn't feel right asking you to help her see her dream through if I know it's going to cost you a fortune that you may not be willing to just let go unrepaid."

Constantine manifests a 1,000 titanium on the counter nearby quickly so only the two of them can see it before making it disappear. He informs the man, "I learn to spell about a year ago which allows me to alter matter at a very simplistic level. So, with my earth magic, I can manifest iron coins into existence and then convert them into titanium instantly. I say that to say that money is no issue. I can make money manifest out of nothing."

The bartender's eyes go wide at the idea of a man being able to make money out of thin air. He didn't know what kind of magic allowed him to do that, but he assumed given what the man said earth and transmutation magic.

The man thought on things a little bit more with the information that paying his daughter's future would essentially cost Constantine nothing other than a little bit of mana. After a bit of thinking, he gave Constantine a nod, "In that case, you have my blessing. But I want her to be able to write to me as often as you can. I'm trusting you because I know that you're a good person. I can see it in your eyes. My trust is not easy to get, but I can tell that you want to help her."

"Good then don't tell her because I wanted to be a surprise. I want her to find out the day before we leave so that it doesn't distract her from her training. But allow me a gesture of kindness as a way of saying thank you for placing your trust in me. This one I don't mind showing off," Constantine said before grabbing a mug and requesting one of the other bartenders nearby to pour the tea that they were holding into it.

He takes the full mug of tea and lifts it into the air proclaiming loudly for the entire bar to hear, "I am thankful for the hospitality of everyone in this village. You folks have all been very kind and respectful of me and my companion despite us being strangers and foreigners. I'm a man of many times one of my talents is my boundless generosity for those who show me generosity and compassion back. So a gift."

He snaps his fingers and on every table in front of every person appears 1,000 gold pieces. However, the bartender and his wife noticed that on the counter behind Constantine which his body is blocking off from the view of most of everyone in the tavern instead they're manifest 10,000 titanium. The bartender's wife nearly faints, and the bartender quickly sweeps it into a sack underneath the counter before too many people see what they got.

Constantine makes a toast, "Let's drink to each of you. To your health and your success and to your continued freedom from disgusting bandits that would prey on you. Try and use the money to help yourselves and your town. The next time I come through this way after I leave, I would love to see it bigger and better than ever."

They all raise a glass or mug to that and drink. Constantine himself down the entire mug of tea in a matter of seconds. The people in the tavern start to party as this was an unexpected blessing.

People dance and sing and make merry. After all, they had just been given more money than any of them had ever seen in their lives. It was a kindness that would not be forgotten.

Runa whispered to Constantine, "Looks like somebody is back at his old antics. You just can't help trying to make people's lives better."

Juulla leaned in and asked, "I saw everyone get gold, but was that titanium that you gave my parents because my mother almost had a heart attack?"

Constantine said nothing and only responded with a wink and a shout for food and drink. He wanted the tea to keep flowing and he was hungry for some more of those fried pork ribs that he enjoyed yesterday.