The Sound Of Despair

The Thunder Merchants collectively decided that the forest would be off-limits until the situation calmed down. Sturm would have to be satisfied with hunting grassfoxes for now, as those were the only Tier 3 or higher bronze beasts available.

Edgar had just given them a second opportunity to hunt magic beasts again, and they had proven themselves by surviving the clash with a Tier 10 bronze overlord. Yes, they had been saved by the Mayor's left-hand man, but they had been in that situation because they wanted to help Daga.

As such, the merchant decided to let only the results speak for themselves, and these results were impressive. Reinhardt had redeemed himself. Without his intervention, the cavalry platoon would have arrived too late to save anyone. Two brand-new axes had already been commissioned as a reward and a replacement for the destroyed ones. In addition to that, a berserkergang took a considerable toll on the body, so Reinhardt received two days of rest to recover his strength.

The axes would come from the northern tribes themselves. Making use of their trading partner from the north, the axes would be sent along with the next delivery of whetstones and black iron.

For Sturm, on the other hand, Edgar decided it was time to start his real studies. For years he had been studying the tome that Tibron had sold him. The merchant also spent months perusing legends in private libraries, approaching and sucking up to nobles for rumors in the noble circle.

Slowly the puzzle came together, but while his knowledge would never reach the amount of even the laziest arcane apprentice, it was enough to understand and make use of the most basic principles. He had Sturm consume gintseng in preparation for what was about to come next. No matter how talented in combat a slave was, there were limits to overcoming strength with technique.

The arcane arts, or as most commoners called it, magic, relied on talent, studies, and resources, not on bodily strength. Yes, nobles learned quicker, had more resources at their disposal, and could even attend the prestigious Imperial Academy of Arcane Arts, but Edgar believed in Sturm's genius intellect.

Even if the boy was a lot weaker than most mages, did it really matter? Mages were respected and feared even between nobles themselves. Not only were they automatically allowed to take the 10th celestial step upon graduation, but most of them would end up holding important political positions as well. A slave achieving even 10% of their martial prowess would be able to stomp all commoners and weak nobles under his feet.

What were slaves in this world? Weak, poor, discriminated, and oppressed people who had no say in deciding their fate. Considered mere replaceable objects, even a single mistake regularly cost them their lives. Even if the merchant never found a way to allow Sturm to take a celestial step, as long as the boy learned the arcane arts, he could wrestle some of his fate back from destiny's clutches.

Soon, their shop would be ready for its opening as well, so between Sturm's daily training, studies and shopkeeping, there would be little time for hunting anyways.

Two days after Reinhardt and Sturm's return, the merchant finally called the young slave into his study. Inside the study, Edgar had a serious look on his face, and Sturm knew what was coming next. Although his heart was filled with love for fighting and combat, who would ever reject a chance to learn magic? Magic! Fireballs, teleportation, mind control, weren't the possibilities endless?

Looking at Sturm's puppy-dog eyes, the merchant tried hard to keep up a solemn mood. This was no joking matter but a grave crime in the eyes of the law.

"Sturm, close the door and sit down. I know you already suspect what I am going to teach you, but understand that this is something no one can ever know about. Nobles prohibit the distribution of arcane knowledge. Even nobles themselves have to undergo strict examinations and be of high social standing for a chance to learn magic. The gintseng and the tome I acquired from Tibron were stolen from an imperial transport an underground organization raided. Even the twelve Pirate Lords of the Eastern Pirate Association have been ordered to hand the goods back or face the Empire's wrath. There is a small problem, though. No one knows if or which Pirate Lord orchestrated the strike, so if anyone finds out we have some of the goods, we will be hunted by literally everyone."

It made sense why Edgar did not want to share that information with Reinhardt. The fewer people knew about the matter, the less likely it was for someone to find out. Trust was not the issue here.

When Edgar saw Sturm understood the severity of this topic, he took out the aforementioned tome. It looked like a simple, albeit somewhat bigger, book. The leather cover was unadorned, with nothing hinting at its mysterious contents.

"This is the Tome of Arcane Principles. I have found out that this is the entry book for every arcane disciple. While it is considered very basic, it still took me a long time to properly make sense of everything." Edgar opened the tome and slowly turned its pages. "Let me start by explaining the elemental concepts of magic…".

Edgar first introduced the seven principal attributes of magic: wind, water, fire, earth, lightning, light, and dark. While there were many sub-attributes, such as metal or blood magic, the seven principal attributes formed the core of the most commonly used spells. The ability to cast spells of different attributes was not linked to affinity or talent but would be acquired over time.

For a spell to take form, two requirements had to be fulfilled. The caster had to possess a sufficient amount of mana cells and a will strong enough to convert these cells into magic.

Every human had mana cells flowing through their veins. Unlike blood cells, which were formed in the bone marrow, mana cells were directly produced in the heart. These mana cells had no attributes, and could be converted into any spell through the application of will. If a mage mainly preferred a specific attribute of magic, for example, fire, and repeatedly cast fire spells throughout his life, then his mana cells would slowly convert to that attribute.

This process had advantages and disadvantages. Attributed mana cells could only be forced to convert into magic of the same attribute, but their might would be vastly superior to fire spells cast with non-attributed mana cells. The human body limited the conversion of mana cells, and the highest known ratio of attributed to non-attributed was 30 to 70.

A water mage with 30% of his mana cells converted into water-attributed mana cells would likewise increase the power of water spells by 30%. The mana cells would turn blue, causing the mage's blood to take on a bluish tone. It was hypothesized by the Imperial Academy of Arcane Arts that a higher conversion rate would lead to detrimental effects on the mage's body and was thus biologically limited by god.

Outside of the safe threshold, fire mages would have elevated temperatures, living with a constant fever. Water mages would have perpetually wrinkled skin as if they had just soaked in water for hours. Earth magic would increase body weight, damaging the mage's joints and making it difficult for them to move. There was a hypothesized consequence for every main- and sub-attribute.

While every human had the same amount of total mana cells, a mage's will was what determined the talent a person had for magic. The more powerful the will, the more mana cells could be converted into magic. There were many theories about the will and how it could force mana cells to affect reality, but up to this date, no conclusive answer had ever been found.

Only one thing was certain, a mage with a strong will would be able to cast more spells until he ran out of mana cells and his heart regenerated new ones. The will also affected cast speed, since mana cells could be converted faster.

A human without any will would not ever be able to cast spells, and his innate mana cells would remain untouched for the rest of his life. On the other hand, even the tiniest amount of will would allow someone to tread on the arcane path of knowledge. This was because the will could be trained through studies, hardships, and even some special herbs, potions, or artifacts were known to be beneficial for the growth of will.

Extremely talented nobles often had an advantage over their peers, but that just meant their starting line was further ahead. More often than not, intelligent and hardworking arcane disciples would eventually catch up due to their studies bearing more fruit compared to the talented but lazy classmates. It was also possible to catch up by simply making use of tremendous amounts of magical resources, but that was only reserved for the richest direct heirs of noble families.

While all of this new information overwhelmed Sturm, it did nothing to dampen his excitement for the future. If there was something he was confident about himself, then it was his willpower.

"Did you understand everything? If you have any questions, now is the time to ask.. Tomorrow I will question you about everything you learned today," Edgar asked after the three-hour-long lecture.