BXBX NOVEL 685 Chapter 685
“Thanks for meeting us on such short notice.” Marcus said while bowing his head to Aria.
He had sent out a letter the day before requesting permission to enter the Guldur Spire and to find a teacher for Alaric.
And while this might have seemed an impertinent request Aria had been more than happy to accommodate Marcus in light of all he had done for the kingdom.
“So, you must be Alaric. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Grand Archmage Aria Borealia, but you may simply call me Aria.” She said to Alaric with a kindly grandmother smile on her face.
However, in return Alaric stiffly introduced himself and did not call her simply by her name but made sure to add her title as well.
Of course, for a noble child like Alaric it had been ingrained in him to be respectful to those of a higher status and Aria was not only the strongest mage in the kingdom but the queen from two generations ago.
Luckily Aria took his stiffness in stride and began leading them towards the large silver spire that shot high up into eh sky.
“Oh, this time we are going by carriage.” Marcus said as he noticed the ornate vehicle waiting for them.
Last time Aria had just whisked him away with her magic, but now it seemed that she would be using a normal method of transport.
“Yes, while this is much slower, I doubt that the boy would be able to handle being swept up past the speed of sound. Anyway, today I am also going to give you a proper tour around the place since last time you only stayed in my office to learn new spells.”
With their greetings over Aria led them over to her carriage which was completely magical and operated without the need of any servants.
“This is the first time I have seen an automated carriage before!” Marcus said in amazement as he was getting inside.
He suddenly felt the urge to pull the thing apart and find out what made it tick so that he might be able to reproduce one for himself.
“It is quite rare to see. It is actually a type of permanent golem in the shape of a carriage. Unfortunately, it will only follows the orders of its creator and it requires plenty of rare materials to make so it is impossible to be mass produced.”
His interest piqued, Marcus began asking Aria more about her carriage and the creation of permanent golems.
“I can give you that information later. For now, you are here for the boy, correct?” Aria asked, steering the conversation back towards Marcus’ original goal.
“Yes, you are right. I was hoping that you could find someone to help teach Alaric some skills with the staff and ways to obtain useful skills like chant shortening and mana regeneration. Oh, and also if possible, he could use some more spells in his arsenal.”
Turning to Alaric, Aria smiled and began asking him about what types of magic he could use.
“I see, wind and ice are not uncommon, but smoke is pretty rare. I do not think we have anyone else here who has all three of those magic skills, but there are plenty of professors with ice and wind as well as one that knows smoke.”
Aria then pulled out a sending stone and sent off a few messages before looking back towards Alaric and Marcus.
“I have called for a couple of instructors that should be able to help Alaric out with his magic and staff skills. They will need some time to get ready, so how about in the meantime we go around the spire and I can show you what it has to offer.” Aria said with a big smile.
After that she took them around the buildings and fields surrounding the spire an extolled its virtues.
They had a giant practice field with numerous targets set up along with magically created buildings to test out stronger spells on.
There was also an arena where a type of mass team sport was played, and a massive stable full of common and uncommon grade magical beasts used for classes.
When they had finished the areas on the outside Aria brought them into the spire and began explaining that it was filled with lecture halls, and research rooms where the boundaries of magic were advanced.
“Of course, there are other things within the spire but neither of you are privy to them.”
A couple of hours went by as Aria showed the around the spire which was full of magic in every corner.
Eventually their tours did come to an end as Aria brought them to a large empty room except for a single table with six chairs around it.
Sitting at this table were two people, one who was an old man that looked around seventy but was undoubtably older. And the other was a young looking woman with purple skin and silver hair which were tell tale signs she was not human.
“Allow me to introduce you to your two teachers Alaric. This man on my left is an esteemed member of the spire who has been around nearly as long as I have, Akalis Chiren. He is a master of wind and ice magic and is a quite adept with wielding a staff. To my right is our only professor who can use smoke magic, Oxea. She is one of our very best and should have much to teach you as well.”
Once Aria had introduced the two professors they got up and greeted Alaric who quickly introduced himself as well.
During this time Marcus had a feeling like he had met the old man before and kept trying to rack his mind to remember when.
‘Ah, that is right! He was one of the ones that came to back us up when we fought the Doomsday Worm.”
Remembering when Aria and Darius showed up with support Marcus was certain that this old man was among those that had arrived with Aria.
“Lady Irene, are you there? I said that it would be best for us to leave them to it.” Aria said as she placed a hand on Marcus’ shoulder to get his attention.
It was at this moment that he realized he had been so absorbed in remembering where he had seen Akalis before that he had completely zoned out.
“Yes, let us get going.” Marcus said with an embarrassed expression.
“Alaric make sure to do your best to learn from these two. It is not every day you have the opportunity to be taught by such masters.” Marcus said right before leaving.
Now he was alone with Aria and figured that he would go home and leave Alaric at the Guldur spire for a few days when Aria stopped him.
“Where are you going? You have lessons to attend to as well.”
Caught off guard Marcus looked back with a completely bewildered look on his face.
He was not sure what sort of magic lessons he could be receiving at this point.
“You wanted to learn to make your own spells did you not? The boy you are teaching is busy right now, so it should be a good time, right?”
His eyes going wide Marcus did remember that he wished he could have learned this particular skill when he was last here but had been busy and had to leave immediately after learning a bunch of new spells.
“Yes, that would be amazing. I would be very grateful if you taught me how to craft my own spells.”