Mother of Learning: ARC 1

by Domagoj Kurmaić

“She’s tricky,” Zach agreed. “But I’ve got all the time in the world.”

She shrugged. “Some students are capable of reconstructing a spell after seeing it performed only once. Once you know the chant and gestures, 80% of the work has already been done for you.”

There might be no right answer, but Zorian knew from experience that there was always a wrong answer.

Resolving to be more understanding towards people was hard.

The morlocks had their own brand of magic, which is currently banned just about everywhere, but a lot of morlocks still practice it. The guild calls it blood magic.”

“Every time I enter a big enough crowd, I feel this weird mental pressure that gives me a headache if I stay within it long enough.”

She knew he wasn't a healer, association between empathy and the healing arts notwithstanding. Though considering his excellent mana shaping skills, he would probably make a good healer with enough training… something to consider, at least.

“You're wrong,” Zorian said. “First of all, everything matters. You are what you do, and if I were to start doing stupid things just because there is seemingly no consequence for them, those actions would eventually come to define me.

[How, in the name of grandmother’s shriveled egg-sack, did it occur to one of you to do that? Do humans have some sort of magical stone sense or something?]

he always found that sprinkling some light threats into negotiations helped the other side take him more seriously.

“Of course,” Zorian immediately agreed, having no intention of actually honoring the restriction.

They both complained about not being taken seriously by people around them (it was a mystery as to why; no, really)

[No offense to your kind, but I trust your greed more than I trust your compassion.

“You shot me!” the Red Robe’s voice yelled hysterically behind him. “What kind of mage uses a gun!?”