Dragon Sorcerer 1- Chapter 22 (Patreon)

Chapter 22- Unexpected Mentors

The night went by peacefully. Galbrecht, Modessa, and Liam took turns keeping watch. I noticed that neither Lisella nor Serius offered to stay up but wasn’t quite sure what the difference was. In my dragon form, I could have easily kept watch the entire night. Just like dragons can sleep for months on end, so too they can easily stay awake for days.

It might have something to do with the human need for dreams to clear their minds whereas dragons always have the dragon dream to lean upon. Not that I was an expert in human frailties. The next day started out much the same. Cami and I at least were polite with one another, although I could feel that she was still hurt. I didn’t like that because it made my own awkwardness feel all that much worse.

About an hour before the sun reached its apex, Lisella nudged her horse over towards me. She rode along silently next to me but it soon became apparent even to me that she wanted to say something. I’d watched other humans interact like this. I think I was supposed to offer her some opening, but I felt no compulsion do so. If she wanted to speak to me she could petition me as was only proper.

Eventually she broke down. “You know that divine magic is one of the rarest pursuits.”

“Hmm…”

She waited for me to say something more but went unfulfilled for the next couple of minutes. “Is that all you’re going to say?”

“Not sure what else to say. I’ve never had any particular interest in the gods.”

She shrugged. “You’d be surprised how many users of divine magic feel that way. The twelve gods are not all easy to understand or even relate to. I’m fortunate because everyone wants healing and my connection is with the goddess of healing. I revere her for the power she gives me and the way she brought healing to the world, but I don’t blindly follow.”

“I wouldn’t have expected to hear something like that from a human.”

She chuckled. “Sometimes you have the oddest turn of phrase, Nico. But my point was, you don’t have to become a sycophant to use divine magic. You do have to reach an agreement with the particular god or goddess that you work with because the power is regulated by them even if it uses your own mana. Normally that’s done through one of the churches but there are examples of different individuals reaching private deals with the gods.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

The way she looked at me after my question told me that she wasn’t used to such blunt questions. Well humans were always dancing around being polite. It was frankly exhausting, but I knew I needed to work on it.

“Hmm… let me rephrase that. Is there something I can help you with?”

She chuckled and shook her head. “It’s actually kinda refreshing to have someone talk to me so rudely. First I was the daughter of a duke and in the line of inheritance for the throne of Forlay. No one wanted to risk offending me. Then I attended the university and was a bit of an advanced student following the rare pursuit of divine magic and everyone respected me. Next, I became a priestess of Miseria and everyone wanted favors from me. Finally, I reached level twenty as an adventurer before the age of thirty and everyone was afraid of me.”

“Causing fear in others definitely makes life easier… err… I mean it seems like it would make like easier.”

She laughed again. “Not as much as one might think.”

“And why do you think that I have an aptitude for divine magic?”

“Because of the images that showed up in the orb. Has no one taken the time to tell you about them. Perhaps it’s because you’ve been so standoffish.”

I shrugged. What did I care for how humans viewed me, except, I sort of needed to. I wanted things from these people and needed to not let my pride keep me from gaining the power that they had. “Maybe you’re right. This is all new to me. I lived my entire life with my mother until recently. Now, I don’t even have a home.”

“Sir Galbrecht told us something about your story, although he didn’t seem to know much. Your mother was the one who taught you magic and how to fight with your hands?”

“Something like that. Although I’d still like to learn other weapon skills.”

“If you just asked, most of us would be willing to teach you little things, maybe even Modessa. Students with as much potential as you and Cami have, only come to the university every few decades. Once I got past my jealousy with how far you outshine me in potential, I decided that I really want to help you. Which is why I want you to consider accepting me as your mentor.”

My eyebrows scrunched together. Sometimes the way this body moved on its own was disconcerting. “I honestly had not expected you to reach out to me. I don’t even know what the images meant.”

“Well the images are only one of the reasons that I am making this offer and don’t need to make any kind of decision yet. But as far as the images, your fourth image was a glowing halo. That is the one which indicated you have aptitude for divine magic. Then there is the other reason, that I can feel Miseria’s touch on you. I don’t know what it means and the goddess has refused to answer any of my attempts to commune with her regarding the issue, but I’m still certain you’ve been touched by her.”

I snorted. After I did, I realized it was rude, but I just couldn’t stop myself. At least Miseria was keeping her side of the bargain. “I never really considered myself as a healer.”

She said, “Healing is more potent than you might imagine. I would have thought you’d realized that after seeing what Sir Galbrecht did to the horror. He channeled a piece of the goddess herself and her very presence was enough to weaken and eventually destroy the horror.”

I remained silent and didn’t bother correcting her about how the battle had actually gone down.

“The power of healing is the power of life itself. You may not have heard this but if you think on it I believe you’ll find it to be true. We have a saying about the Miseria’s power and life in general. Specifically, Life breaks barriers. Life brings pain but also growth. In the end life always finds a way.”

“That is intriguing. So will you tell me what the other symbols mean?”

She gave me a sly, secretive smile. “Will you agree to let me be your mentor?”

After a moment of awkward silence her grin widened as she bared more of her teeth at me. “I jest, I won’t withhold such simple knowledge from you, but do truly wish for you to consider my proposal. You would have a lot to gain. Two of the other pursuits which showed are much simpler and are things which you could learn easily enough with me as your mentor to find you the appropriate resources. As for the other images. The squiggly lines is the symbol for an illusion specialist. From what I’ve heard you already have some strong natural ability in that field so it won’t be hard to develop it. The lightning bolt is for electrical or sometimes storm magic.”

“What’s the difference?” Now I was genuinely curious.

“Lightning magic is a type of elemental magic which deals with the power of electricity. It is best suited for a variety of offensive tactics although there are a few defensive spells which I’ve heard about and some even more rare movement skills. Again, though even if you chose me as your mentor, I would be able to see that you got instruction in that pursuit. That would be one of the advantages of choosing a mentor with the resources I have.”

“Hm… that’s the second time you’ve mentioned resources. Can you explain what you mean?”

“Yes, I guess if you grew up without much then you might not realize what an advantage wealth and position can be. I have both in three different ways. Any of the professors at the university will be experts in their field, so I can’t say I shine in that area other than to say that Modessa and I were the youngest to reach level twenty in the recorded history of the empire. But beyond that, I have wealth as a noble to buy you the things you need. Then my position in the church could open other doors for you. There are very few mentors with as much to offer you.”

“I didn’t know you were a professor at the university.”

She smiled, “I’m offering to become one for you. I could manage my duties to Miseria and take a sabbatical from the adventurer’s guild. Oh, and if you’re worried about it, you should know that the university forbids mentors from demanding personal relationships with their mentees. It happens, of course, but I wouldn’t absolutely require it if it wasn’t something you wanted.”

Lisella must have gotten something in her eyes then because she batted her lashes a few times and made an odd expression. I was a bit lost but simply nodded. “That’s good to know.”

She made an odd ‘harumphing’ sound then but again, I didn’t know what she meant.

“I notice you only told me about three of the images. What about the pair of wings.”

She frowned. “We’ve actually been debating that one. Serius is the one who knows the most about the images and he says he’s never seen that one before.”

I wondered then if I’d caught her in a lie. “Wait, I thought that Cami got the same image and was told what it meant.”

“Ah, hers was similar but even small differences can completely change the meaning of an image. She had a single wing as her image. That is rare enough, as in not having been recorded at the university in over a hundred years according to Serius. Two wings though, we will have to check the archives but none of us have ever heard of it.”

I nodded but decided not to push the issue for now. I started to ask exactly what sort of resources she was willing to give me, specifically, if she would give me some gold coins. I knew I shouldn’t but having seen those two coins which Liam handed the farmer, a fortune beyond the cost of what the cubs had eaten, had sparked a certain fever within me. Then all of a sudden, Galbrecht started racing forward on his horse with Modessa racing after him.

Liam stood up on the cart as he brought it to a stop and shouted, “There’s some type of giantkin ahead. Stay here and protect the students.” Then he too leapt onto the back of the horse which walked alongside the wagon and took off after the other two.