Chapter 35: A Big Announcement (1)

Chapter 35: A Big Announcement (1)

The atmosphere in the school continued to be heavy and tense. Xerxes found moments to spend with Gandash, as well as with his newfound friends Jad, Enusat, and Kashtiliash. But given that everyone had different schedules of testing, normal conversation was impossible.

On a few occasions, he prowled the school hoping he might accidentally run into Katayoun, but fate worked against him. Whenever he saw her, she was either busy studying in the library at a packed table for instance or surrounded by friends. He still wasnt ready to simply walk up and talk to her in front of a bunch of other people.

The day after the combat test, he spent the first half of the day meditating. He decided to save the Concentrated Melam Pill for later use, as his chamber of energy wasnt so empty that he needed it. For the rest of the day, he focused on the Asgagu Sebum rune.

When it came to spellcasting, the rune was in some ways the most important aspect of all. Without mastery of it, the spell simply wouldnt work.

There was more to a rune than just the lines that made it up. One needed to understand the deeper meaning behind the symbol, its etymological history, how the various elements of the rune related to melam, and of course, the proper way to draw it.

The study of runes generally fell into three stages. The first was purely academic, and involved reading and study. Xerxes was only just making a foray into the second stage.

In front of him on the table was a wax writing pad and a stylus. Staring down at it, he muttered some of the mnemoics designed to aid in the writing.

The curve of the cloud, strength spoken aloud,

Narrow then thicken, thy foes shall be stricken.

With utmost care, he held his breath and carved the first stroke of the rune into the wax. Lifting the stylus, he exhaled, then looked down at the stroke. He tilted his head.

No, he murmured. Too heavy on the downstroke.

The upside to practicing with wax tablets was that mistakes didnt cost anything. Sooner or later, he would move on to pen and ink, which was much more costly in general, especially if you ended up making a lot of mistakes.

The third stage was the most difficult, and involved combining the understanding of the rune with ones meditation routine. Eventually, when a mage completely mastered all aspects of a rune, they could then transcribe it using any tool. A twig, a pebble, a finger. At that high level, the medium didnt matter either. Whether it was paper, sand, or a gel, the mage could capture the essence of the rune at will.

That was when the mage could use the rune to cast spells reliably.

Over the countless years in which mages had studied the orders of magic, there were time frames that were generally accepted as ideal for studying individual runes. For example, the Asgagu Isten rune that Seers used to cast Singular Lethality generally took only a few months of study to master. Sometimes five. Sometimes seven. Regardless, it didnt take years.

But the more advanced the magic, the more difficult the rune.

When it came to the events in the capital, he made sure to go into detail about every combat situation. The clash in Harborview. The time he and his father helped wipe out the spawn.

According to the report from High Mystic Purattu, Archon Shabadras said, you were instrumental in the climactic battle with the stage five juvenile Abhorrent. Do you mind explaining the situation from your perspective?

In reality, it had been Gandash who had taken the lead when Aban Saddi seemed to falter in his command. But Xerxes felt that the best option was to amp up his own role as much as possible.

Well, everything was going fine until High Seer Ninsunu turned out to be a traitor. You know about that part, right?

Of course. After your combat test, we took a close look at your information. Im particularly interested in your dealings with the Eternal Father cultists.

Okay. Well, she was in bestial form when she took down Aban Saddi. Completely out of nowhere. That was when I knew somebody had to step up and take charge. I gave orders for Seer Ataneedusu to take care of the Abhorrent spawn.

By Seer Ataneedusu, you mean your father?

Er, right. Anyway, Ninsunu was going crazy. Just screaming and yelling in the Abhorrent language. At the time, I was pretty sure she was working with that giant monster to try to destroy the whole city. I knew I had to stop her. Now remember, she was a High Seer. Combine that with her bestial form, and she was way, way stronger than me. I knew it was probably a death sentence to take her on, but there was literally nobody else who could do it.

What about your father?

Like I mentioned before, hes not exactly an elite warrior. Besides, how could I let my own dad go into danger? If something happened to him, who would take care of my mom and sister? So I said, Dad, this might be the last thing I say to you, but, I love you. Tell Mom and Ahassy I love them too. Ahassy is my sister. Her full name is Ahassunu. Shes just a kid, and she loves dolphins. Anyway, after I told my father what I thought might be my last words, I turned and started running through the smoke and fire.

Fire?

Just about the whole area was burning. I could barely breathe.

Shabadrass looked at the papers in front of him. High Mystic Purattu didnt mention that in his report.

Xerxes gulped. By the time he showed up we were in a different area. Anyway, I was pretty sure I was going to die, but that didnt stop me. I ignored the fire and managed to get up on a rooftop. Thankfully I had enough running room to build up some momentum there. Thats when.

The interviewers had almost completely unreadable expressions the entire time, making it difficult to determine how they were reacting to his story.

He finished the session with mixed feelings. Had he gone too far in trying to talk himself up? Wasnt that the point of the interview, to make yourself look good?