It was well past midnight when Vivi retired. Thanks to the festival, finding an inn with a free room turned out to be an ordeal, but at least the more expensive ones weren’t fully booked—and she had enough coin to convince her way in.
She discovered the wonders of magic for a second ti as she prepared for bed. Washing up and drying was as simple as casting a few spells. Her hair handled the magical wash remarkably well too, coming out straight and glossy without need for brushing. That alone made [Tidy] a contender for her second-favorite spell.
It even worked for brushing her teeth. She thought. It left her mouth feeling clean afterward, at least, but she might prefer finding toothpaste. She felt weird not going through her usual hygienic routine. Did this world even have toothpaste?
After the events of the day, she was quick to pass out. She’d been feeling the tug of tiredness for hours now, and while it was easier to ignore in this body than her previous, she suspected that despite all her levels she would want sleep every night. Levels didn’t immunize her against basic needs, though if she needed to, she could probably ignore them for quite a while.
Having horns changed the bedti dynamic. If she hadn’t preferred sleeping on her back rather than her side or stomach, it might have been a rather annoying change in her physiology. As it was, the protrusions didn’t bother her. She slept fine.
A magical tipiece woke her on the nine o’clock bell. She groggily rolled around and almost fell back asleep before forcing herself to her feet with disheveled hair, which she cured with another [Tidy]. Yes, definitely one of her favorites.
She had two errands to run before heading for the Convoy, the colloquial term for the train system in this world. Both were at the guardhouse, so she [Blinked] there after a quick breakfast.
The supply requisition had gone through, so Vivi had the materials needed to renew and improve the enchantnts securing the two criminals, who had thankfully not escaped. They were being watched over by a man with a green badge on his shoulder, now. Orichalcum rank. Vivi doubted anyone would be wiggling away from that kind of surveillance, especially with the other protections layered in. And a set of massive debuffs, which she recast on the two prisoners before leaving.
Next, she found the Guard Captain. Their conversation was brief. He’d gotten in contact with the Institute, and apparently they were extrely interested in her thanks to the ‘intriguing observations’ and ‘novel mana current diagrams’ she had made, which Marcus had relayed in conjunction with her the night before. Apparently they wished badly to discuss the topic via scrying table, and had impressed the fact on the Guard Captain. But Vivi declined and left shortly, and he didn’t try to stop her, perhaps sensing that between annoying the Institute and annoying her, the forr was far more preferable. She refused to get mixed up further in the city’s business.
Of course, she would be following up herself on the potential danger of the dinsional anomaly when she arrived in ridian, and would be checking in on Prismarche with [Greater Warp], but there wasn’t much else to do since the anomaly seed stable and was slowly healing itself.
The Institute—the world’s nexus of magical knowledge—would be able to make more headway researching it anyway. Vivisari was a genius with magic, but mostly in regard to practical applications. She’d been able to sense the anomaly and decipher the mana currents to categorize it, but anything beyond that, she didn’t know where to begin. The problem was too complex. Maybe if she could see such magic cast in real-ti, she could reverse-engineer it.
Loose ends tied up, she went and found Saffra at the Adventurer’s Guild.
The redheaded catgirl was slouched over at one of the tables on the far end of the open lobby, her head in both hands. Her tail and ears were both drooping.
Vivi frowned. Had sothing happened?
“What is it?” she asked as she walked over to the teenager.
Saffra jumped. She’d been so lost in thought she hadn’t heard her. She gaped at Vivi. “Did you—did you change your mind?” she blurted out. A flush imdiately colored her cheeks. “I an, i-is the plan the sa?”
Vivi raised an eyebrow. Was that what she’d been stewing over?
“I had business to handle, but it’s taken care of. I’m ready to leave. You’ve packed?” Vivi’s eyes flicked to the brown rucksack to her side. “It’s not an issue, leaving so quickly?”
“No. No issue. I’m ready.” She bolted to her feet and scooped up her pack, like if she didn’t hurry she risked the whole arrangent falling through.
Vivi nodded, turned, and headed for the door. She had no business in the Adventurer’s Guild, nor had she made any contacts she needed to say goodbye to. She’d deliberately been avoiding getting entangled in Prismarche, in fact, so it was impressive that she’d been involved in no less than four debacles.
The pair of them didn’t make it through more than a minute of walking through Prismarche’s streets before Saffra blurted out, “Can I ask why, at least?”
“Why what?”
“Why ? You weren’t supposed to say yes!”
“I wasn’t?”
“Not that—I don’t an—it just doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes sense to .”
“But why?”
Vivi mulled over her response. She did have her reasons, but explaining them to Saffra probably wouldn’t go over well. To so degree, it was protectiveness and sympathy, and she doubted Saffra wanted to hear that.
“Because you’re the kind of person I want to teach,” Vivi said, and it was the unblemished, if not full, truth. If she could pass down so of her fortune, Saffra would make a great recipient. Her heart was undeniably in the right place—she seed like a good person. What better trait could there be for an apprentice? “Not that I expect I’ll be good at it,” Vivi anded.
Saffra seed to struggle through that response as they walked. In the end, she didn’t press. “You said you were ‘occupied’ for a long ti. Several decades. And that you need a guide and helper you can trust. What did you an by that?”
She noted how Saffra didn’t ask what she had been busy with. Maybe she didn’t want to push her luck by prying.
“Things have changed since I’ve last mingled with society. I’ve forgotten a lot. Since I don’t want to draw too much attention, it’s convenient to have soone who I can ask questions of.”
“Questions? That’s it?” She could feel Saffra giving her an extrely dubious look. “Also, you’ve been avoiding attention?”
“I haven’t been doing a great job, I know.”
She almost added that Saffra was at fault for that, with the biggest debacle being the Morningstars, but decided even allusions to that event were best avoided.
“More than just answering questions, though, tell when I’m doing sothing strange. Especially if it’s common sense, or a lapse in etiquette, or such. Point out the obvious. There’s no need to be overly respectful.” She spared a sideways look at the girl. “I don’t think respect is your strong suit, anyway.”
Saffra sniffed. “I could call you Mistress Vivienne if I was absolutely forced to,” she joked. “But I’m not sure about more than that.”
She imdiately snuck a worried look out of the corner of her eye to check how Vivi interpreted the words. She was definitely still nervous around her, and Vivi didn’t think that would change for a while. They were strangers, and she could tell Saffra trusted slowly.
“Definitely don’t call ‘Mistress’,” Vivi said, grimacing at the idea. “Vivi is fine.”
The idea of being given that title didn’t sit right with her because, while she wasn’t a fraud in the literal sense, since Vivisari’s magical knowledge and talent had been packed into her head and thus she did have the credentials to teach a young mage, she nevertheless felt like she would be deceiving Saffra. Being called ‘Mistress’ as if she was so wizened sage didn’t appeal to her for a number of reasons.
“So that we understand each other,” Vivi continued, “what are you expecting out of an apprenticeship? Practically speaking.”
Saffra hesitated. “Well, the apprenticeship itself, of course,” she started.
Vivi tilted her head. She could tell she had missed sothing. Saffra sensed it too.
“The apprenticeship. Um. The status.”
“The status?”
“For…apprenticeship,” she said sowhat dumbly. Disoriented for a mont, she asked, “Is this one of those things you ntioned?”
“Always assu it is. I told you not to be afraid of stating the obvious.”
Saffra seed to perk up at that, funny enough. Maybe because she was happy she could help aningfully with sothing as simple as common knowledge.
“When soone takes an apprentice of a lower level and similar enough class, the apprentice gets an apprenticeship status. A buff. It boosts experience gain, and is stronger the bigger the gap between master and apprentice.” She ca to an abrupt stop, and Vivi had to do the sa. Saffra looked deeply worried, for so reason. “Wait. If you didn’t know about that, then...?”
“You don’t need to keep asking if I’m going to change my mind. I expect I’m going to be busy, but I will set ti aside to help you where I can. And in the worst case, I’ll arrange other lessons for you. I have contacts, if need be.”
Well, maybe. She could make new ones if nothing else.
“Right.” Saffra hurried back forward, and their pace resud. She was flushing slightly, embarrassed at her repeated shows of insecurity.
“It’s an interesting chanic,” Vivi said. “The apprenticeship. It has a number of implications, soone of a high level always being able to pass down their legacy.”
Saffra had a less generous interpretation. “ans even an idiot can fly through the levels, as long as her family is rich enough,” she muttered.
Vivi raised an eyebrow. That seed targeted toward a specific person, but she didn’t ntion it. “Setting that aside, you didn’t answer. What else, practically speaking, are you expecting from this?”
Saffra chewed on her lip as they trekked through the busy streets. She had to dip out of the way to avoid hitting passersby, scurrying forward to catch back up. Vivi realized people were making space for her as she walked. She hadn’t even been paying much attention to the crowd, but they split for her as if by instinct. Huh.
“I guess…personal spell coaching is the biggest thing? Having soone show a spell over and over and telling what I’m doing wrong is night and day from stumbling through it myself. But also all the other stuff, I guess. Mana control exercises, a routine, and, just, advice on how you reached such a high level?”
“My case isn’t sothing to model after. Which is why I don’t think I’ll be the best teacher.”
“What do you an?”
It was a thorny question to answer without sounding arrogant. But she guessed she would have to. “A person can’t reasonably compare their progress to mine. I can’t and shouldn’t be imitated.”
Saffra didn’t give her a weird look for that explanation. In fact, she nodded vigorously. “Geniuses,” she said. “I kind of hate them, but they exist, and you have to deal with it.” She stiffened, panicking slightly. “Not that I hate you, um, I was just saying—”
“You don’t need to be so nervous around ,” Vivi said, amused. “But yes, I agree, geniuses are frustrating. Effort matters too though. Maybe more. The world is full of unrealized talent. Just do your best.”
A platitude, so would say, but she stood by it. This was one of the few topics she could speak on with a reasonable amount of wisdom. While ‘rank one in an extrely popular skill-based video ga’ wasn’t the most impressive credential in the world, she did have experience with the concept of genius versus hard work.
In the end, the peak talents—the absolute best of the best—of any field had so ratio of genius, hard work, and luck. Almost none completely lacked in any of those categories.
For her, she had leaned heavily on the ‘pour an absurd number of hours in’ thod of improvent, but she had undoubtedly been blessed in both luck and natural skill too. She’d picked up the ga much faster than other people, without initially aning to.
“As for demonstrating spells, suggesting exercises, and creating a routine.” Vivi humd. “The first and second, I can manage. The third, I might not be the best source on.”
“The first is the most important,” Saffra assured her. “Especially if you can demonstrate so, you know, unique spell designs for ?”
“aning?”
“Even in the Institute, the best designs were locked away. Or kept inside guilds or families. Anything available to the public was…not the best. I’ve made so improvents on the designs myself, but I can only do so much. I’m no good at spell architecture.”
“The Institute. You did ntion attending. What happened?”
Saffra grimaced. “Just…stuff, you know…”
Vivi raised an eyebrow, and while Saffra squird, she didn’t volunteer anything more. But also didn’t offer up a lie, which Vivi appreciated.
“We’re headed to ridian, so you’re aware,” Vivi told her.
Saffra slamd to a stop. “We are?” she asked with such utter dismay that Vivi was concerned, all of a sudden.
“Is that a problem?”
The distraught expression went nowhere, but finally she wiped her face clear and strode forward. “N-No, that’s fine.”
Clearly a lie, but the sort anybody would give. It wasn’t ‘fine’, but it was fine. She would deal with it.
Vivi pursed her lips, wondering if she needed to press. She decided she could find out more later, once Saffra was comfortable with her. It was obviously a touchy topic.
What trouble had she gotten into at the Institute? And it had to be trouble. Saffra seed to be a magnet for that, based on her impression of the girl.
Which reminded Vivi of sothing. “Oh, right. Here. Take this, just in case.”
Saffra blinked as Vivi removed a healing potion from her inventory and handed it to her. Her brow furrowed as she looked at it.
“I can’t [Inspect] it. It’s too high level.”
[Inspect]. The built-in skill that identified an item’s characteristics and spat out information. In the ga, there had been various criteria determining how much a person could see, the primary ones being level and crafting ability. Alchemists could naturally identify herbs and potions better than most people, for example.
For her, the screen read:
***
Phoenix Blood Elixir
Lv. 2000
A miraculous healing concoction derived from the blood of a phoenix and nurous divine-grade herbs and catalysts. Capable of healing nearly all lethal wounds and purging the vast majority of toxins and curses for entities up to level 2000.
***
“It’s strong,” Vivi said. “You’ll probably need to dilute it before drinking. By a lot. I don’t think it would be toxic, exactly, if you drank it straight, but it’s a bit…beyond your level. Best to be safe.”
“Uh huh,” Saffra said skeptically. “Just a little bit.” She stiffened, rembering she’d forgotten sothing. “But, um, thank you, of course.”
“It’s for if sothing happens and I’m not there to help. Take one of these too.”
She gave her a mana potion next. She had extras, and while they were valuable even by her standards, she was hardly going to hoard them when they might save the girl’s life. Saffra seed to attract trouble, and traveling with Vivi would probably worsen that issue.
Saffra took the potion with an even more impressed look at the blue liquid inside, and said another thank you.
A minute later, they’d arrived at the train station.
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