Warlock Apprentice

“However…” Mara paused. His eyes brimmed with an indescribable emotion.

“Before teaching you the way of meditation, I need to tell you two facts, two common rules in the wizarding world.

“First, all wizards, including white wizards and black wizards, all follow the way of ‘equivalent exchange’. Though white ones consider this rule more seriously than black ones…

“Second, for wizards, everything has a price, except for knowledge. Knowledge is priceless. Unless you’re very close to someone, if you want to acquire knowledge from a wizard, you must pay the cost for it.”

With that, Mara looked at Angor.

“I can teach Meditation to Aleen and Alan for free since they’re my family, but not you. If you want to learn it, you must pay me and you don’t have anything I want right now.”

Angor only nodded with his expression unchanged. Jon already taught him when he was small, that no one in this world would suddenly become generous to you for no reason. Mara had been a great man to Angor. He had even given Angor a valuable magic scroll in exchange for a mere possible promise. On the outside, Angor did not show much towards such generosity, but Angor was worrying about this deep in his mind. He finally sighed in relief today, when Mara finally made it clear.

Aleen seemed worried and tried to speak, but was stopped by Mara’s stern glare.

“I can’t teach you meditation now, but once you’re at the academy and find a mentor, he or she will naturally help you. If your talent is good and become a formal wizard’s apprentice, you can also learn better ways of meditation,” Mara explained. When he saw Angor ready to leave, he continued, “Not so fast. I called all three of you, and I have my reason.

“I can’t teach you, but I can tell you what meditation means to wizards,” Mara did not wait for their response. “Now look closely.”

Mara closed his eyes. No one knew what he was doing but after two or three seconds, the WANTED scroll on the desk slowly floated into the air, then moved around the room following Mara’s guidance. The scroll rolled up, folded, cruised, and dropped like a feather. The kids watched with excitement. They saw a lot of Mara’s power these days, but they were still excited about this.

When the poster landed slowly, Mara finally opened his eyes.

“I did not cast any spells, yet the scroll still fell under my control, denying the rules of nature. Do you know why?” Mara asked. Then he quickly put a hand against his forehead. “Ah, that was silly of me. You don’t know about wizards, I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Mara recovered his posture. “I’ll make this straight. This is a power brought by meditation. Wizards usually call it ‘Spiritual Power’.

“The level of your spiritual power determines how efficient you can channel your mana. Mana is a unique power that is created when your body communicates with the world. Usually, only a spiritual power higher than 10 can be used to channel the source of mana and feed it back to yourself, and a higher spiritual power indication improves efficiency.

“This is where meditation comes into play—to improve the efficiency of mana channeling.

“Next, spiritual power. For most wizards, spiritual power is a medium for channeling mana. However, it has its own effect as well. It can even affect our physical world. Just now, I was using pure spiritual power to move the scroll. You should remember though, that spiritual power is extremely unstable, and meditation is used to construct models and stabilize spiritual power,” Mara sighed. He added, “There are some special branches among the Three Major Arts which require spells that combine spiritual power and mana together. Those spells require extremely deep knowledge, and no one should attempt them before they become formal wizards.”

Mara explained some cautions and details about meditation before he handed a small booklet to Alan.

“This is the basic meditation method taught by the academy, the ‘Triangle Channeling’. Alan, read it and remember everything, then give it to Aleen,” Mara spoke to Alan who only gained more confusion today than knowledge. Then Mara looked at Aleen. The girl had been turning her eyes everywhere.

“Remember, it’s not allowed to distribute the Triangle Channeling in private. You two read it and then burn the book. If I ever find out that you give it to someone else, that man will be executed, and you two will receive the death penalty.”

Aleen froze upon hearing Mara’s warning.

People die this easily?

Somehow, Aleen began to have a glimpse at the cruelty of the wizarding world.

“Now, each of you can ask me a question. Get your answer and return to your room. I need to research on a new magic project in the coming days, so don’t disturb me unless your lives are threatened.”

These words are obviously meant for Alan and Aleen. As for Angor… Mara had been kind enough to him. Time to return to being strangers.

Alan and Aleen were always interested in the path of wizardry, but they were too young and had limited knowledge, so they did not give Mara any constructive questions. Aleen even annoyed Mara greatly by asking a question about talent, about which Mara already explained several days ago. If he was not trying to be kind towards a girl, he could have slapped her.

Alan asked about the difference between white wizards and black wizards.

They would know such common sense once they reached the academy. Asking Mara now meant Alan wasted a good chance.

It was not a good question, but still better than Aleen’s, so Mara still explained in detail.

“Their names sound as if they are separated like good men and bad men. Hah. Essentially, they have no difference. The definition of black and white is only for apprentices, while formal wizards never named themselves like that. It’s only about their different ways of acting.

“Apprentice wizards call someone ‘white’ wizards because they deal with everything in a more gentle approach. As for ‘black’ wizards… they tend to be fierce and cruel, but that’s not always the case. A white wizard in a bad mood may blast you to pieces if you happen to walk in front of him at a wrong time. So this black and white definition is only for general cases. There are no differences between them. Once you’ve become a formal wizard, you can act like a black wizard and change into a white one in the next second, which is totally fine.

“However, there ARE differences between wizard groups. For example, the White Coral Floating Island Academy is a moderate organization. Wizards from the academy do not kill apprentices without a reason, they even help apprentices in trouble occasionally. Of course, you must pay for such help later. There are also wizard groups on the Fey Continent who believe in the survival of the fittest. To them, apprentices are merely walking research materials.

“This is why you can consider yourselves extremely lucky for being accepted by the White Coral Floating Island Academy.”

With Alan’s question answered, Mara then looked towards Angor.

Angor stood up and bowed politely. “My question is, what’s the base principle behind casting spells?”

“That’s a good question,” said Mara as he looked at Angor with approval. He then said, “I can’t give you an authentic answer with my current knowledge, but I can tell you the rules for casting spells in my view. You can use my views as reference.

“For wizards, mana is the energy for using spells, but not the most important aspect. The most important point is the knowledge used to construct the spell. You can say that knowledge is everything for wizards. We pursue the root of all, find the answer to all and discover the truth. All knowledge can become eternal miracles with the help of mana.

“Here’s an example. There’s a basic cantrip called ‘Canine Nose’. It temporarily gives someone a sense of smell as sharp as dogs. To cast the spell, apart from using mana, you also need to understand the structure of dog noses and knowledge about the sense of smell. Additionally, you need to adjust your own nasal cavity beforehand.

“So, the most important elements for wizards: accumulation of knowledge, creativity, and insight into everything.”