Chương 37: Chapter 36: The Imperial Bloodline (12)

"That depends on what you want. Both are common paths for trained mages, but they offer very different lives. For a young mage, dungeon delving is a far better way to gain real experience while also earning money," Edras continued.

"Beginners usually remain on the upper levels of the dungeon, where the monsters are weaker and gathering mana crystals is comparatively safe. As they become stronger, they can join parties that travel deeper." Teren thought about the enormous walls surrounding Karthane.

"And what about the monsters outside the city? Are there just as many out there as in the dungeon?"

"Even more, in fact. There is a reason Karthane needs walls that large, along with a mana barrier to protect the city from flying monsters, even when no enemy army is attacking us. The deeper levels of a dungeon offer greater rewards and crystals of higher quality, but so do the more dangerous regions beyond the walls." Edras leaned back slightly.

"Experienced delving parties and adventurers regularly travel beyond the walls to hunt larger and more dangerous monsters, bringing back valuable parts and alchemical ingredients, and helping to keep the roads and surrounding land from becoming overrun. Military companies are occasionally sent out as well, especially when scouts find large groups of monsters gathering near settled areas." Teren nodded slowly.

"So either joining the military or becoming an adventurer could work."

"If you are strong enough to stay alive, yes. Adventurers have much more freedom, but they are not paid simply for being available. Their income depends on what they bring back from the dungeon or from expeditions beyond the walls, so a successful month can earn them far more than a soldier's wages, while a bad one may earn them very little, or nothing at all." Edras paused.

"On the other hand, soldiers receive a regular wage whether they fight that day or not, but the tradeoff is that they have to follow orders. If their commander sends them outside the walls to deal with a monster outbreak, they do not get to refuse because the danger looks too big."

"That makes sense."

"As for your earlier question, I would strongly recommend that you learn magic with becoming an adventurer in mind," Edras said.

"Someone with the Corvadryn bloodline becoming an ordinary soldier would be a waste of what you might eventually be capable of." Teren nodded. After everything Edras had told him about the difference between the two paths, he was beginning to agree, even though the adventuring profession would probably be more dangerous. Edras continued, "The Academy prepares students for both military service as a battlemage and independent delving.

You would train alongside other students and eventually enter dungeons with a proper party, rather than being sent underground or beyond the walls with the limited preparation new military conscripts often receive." Teren remembered his experience in Gate Seventeen and almost mentioned it to the mage, but caught himself in time. As far as Edras knew, Teren had never been inside a dungeon.

"That does sound a lot better than being sent in as an inexperienced conscript."

"I would certainly hope so." Edras settled back in his chair.

"And becoming an adventurer does not mean spending the rest of your life hunting monsters. You do not need to become an archmage before other paths open to you. A mage who reaches the fifth or sixth circle and has some years of field experience will have plenty of options. Some teach at the Mana Academy, some pursue research, while others work for noble houses or take positions like mine."

"But you are nineteen," Edras continued with a chuckle.

"You have a long way to go before you need to worry about what you will do after retiring from delving." Teren snorted softly.

"Fair enough." Teren thought about that for a moment.

"What circle are you, then? You told me you're an archmage."

"Anyone who reaches the tenth circle or above is considered an archmage," Edras said.

"The last time I performed a witnessed test, I reached the twelfth circle. I haven't bothered to test myself again since." Teren stared at him. Cassian was considered a prodigy at third circle, and Teren had already heard enough to understand how far beyond an ordinary person that put him. He could not even begin to imagine what a twelfth-circle mage was capable of. Edras smiled at his expression.

"It sounds daunting when you have only just learned to light a candle, I know. But if the surviving records are any indication, your bloodline gives you an unusually high potential. Corvadryn mages were consistently among the strongest mages of their generation, and those who devoted themselves seriously to magic often reached the archmage ranks. Some went even higher."

"You really think I could reach tenth circle too?"

"Your bloodline certainly gives you the potential to do so. How far you actually go will still depend on your training, effort, and talent." Edras paused.

"But after what I have seen from you today, I would be very surprised if the tenth circle proved to be your limit." Teren didn't know what to say to that. The idea that he might one day become an archmage, however many years it took, felt almost impossible to imagine. Since arriving in this world, he had spent nearly every day fighting for his life and being reminded of how powerless he still was. But for the first time, he had a real goal to work toward.

If he could become even half as powerful as Edras one day, perhaps he would not always be so helpless when someone inevitably tried to kill him again.

"For now, the important question is how you are going to learn magic properly. The Academy can teach you from the beginning, with regular instructors, structured training, and the facilities to practice safely. For ordinary magic, Othmir can give you far more than I could here, even if I had all the time in the world to teach you."

"And for the purple fire?"

"That remains a problem wherever you go. No living instructor has ever trained a Corvadryn to use it." Edras glanced toward the damaged strip of iron.

"But the Academy has libraries containing records I cannot access from Karthane, along with training halls designed to handle far more dangerous magic than this room. If any useful Corvadryn material survived outside the royal archives, Othmir is one of the places most likely to have it." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Teren thought about that for a moment.

If Othmir really was his best option, there was still the question of whether the Academy would even take him.

"But how will I even get admitted there? I'm already nineteen, I don't have any money, and I don't exactly have years of magical schooling behind me."

"Your age is unusual for a first-year student, but it does not prevent you from entering. You will be far behind students who began training as children, certainly." Edras looked at him.

"That is a reason to begin as soon as possible, not a reason to give up before you start." Teren could not argue with that.

"As for admission and money, those are easier problems to solve. If Duke Ordaan agrees to sponsor you, I do not expect the Academy to refuse you." Teren looked back at Edras.

"Just like that?" The old mage chuckled.

"A recommendation from a ruling duke carries considerable weight." So getting into the Academy might actually be possible for him. The fact that a certain red-haired elf would also be there had absolutely nothing to do with his interest in joining it. But Teren understood that accepting something that valuable from the duke would probably mean owing him a favor in return someday. However, Ordaan had given him no reason to object to that so far.

Cassian was irritating, certainly, but that was hardly the duke's fault. Then another concern occurred to him.

"Wouldn't people wonder why Duke Ordaan is sponsoring some former slave who can barely use magic?"

"They might, which is why Ordaan's involvement should remain as quiet as possible." Edras's expression grew more serious.

"His recommendation can be sent directly to the headmaster rather than announced to the Academy at large. To everyone else, you will simply be Teren Marr, a beginner mage from Karthane who was admitted shortly before the new term."

"So nobody would know I'm a Corvadryn..." Teren could already see the advantage in that. Most importantly, it would make it much harder for whoever wanted anyone carrying the imperial bloodline dead to find him.

"We need to keep that information limited to as few people as possible." Edras leaned forward slightly.

"If you go to Othmir, you do not announce your bloodline, and you do not use the purple fire where anyone can see it unless your life depends on doing so." Teren nodded. The duke had told him that, as a Corvadryn, Teren did not need to bow to him. For a moment, Teren wondered what other privileges the Corvadryn name might give him if he claimed it openly. Then he remembered the assay crystal turning purple and the white fire that had followed within moments.

There was also the trap hidden beneath Edras's research hall, apparently put there decades ago, perhaps even a century ago, just in case the imperial bloodline had survived. Whoever wanted the Corvadryn bloodline gone had been willing to plan far ahead and go to extreme lengths to make certain it stayed that way. For now, though, Teren could barely light a candle and keep a tiny purple flame stable for a few seconds.

Whatever status came with being known as a Corvadryn would not protect him from someone powerful enough to kill him before he could defend himself. Edras continued, "Once you are strong enough to protect yourself, you can decide what you wish to do with your heritage. The empire may be gone, but the Corvadryn name still carries considerable weight, even after more than a century. Right now, though, revealing it would create far more danger than benefit."

"I agree. I'm fine with keeping it secret." Teren glanced at his hand.

"When would I have to decide about the Academy?"

"The new term begins in a few weeks. Cassian, Elaryn, and the other students traveling from Karthane will leave by an airship in just over a week. If you are going with them, Ordaan and I will need to make the arrangements before that." Teren gave a nod. He did not have long, but he still had a few days to think it over.

"Do you think it'll be safe for me there?" Edras did not answer immediately.

"No. I cannot guarantee that someone carrying the imperial bloodline will be safe anywhere. But I still believe the Academy is the best option available to you." Teren nodded slowly. The mage continued, "Othmir sits on a small peninsula attached to the continent, but the Academy is politically independent of all the successor kingdoms. When the empire still existed, it answered directly to the imperial throne.

But after the empire broke apart, the new kingdoms eventually came to an understanding that none of them would try to control the Academy."

"Why would they agree to that?" Teren asked.

"Because the Imperial Mana Academy remains the finest magical institution on the continent—and probably the whole world—and all of them wanted to continue sending their kids there. No king wanted a rival kingdom controlling the Academy, influencing its instructors, or threatening the sons and daughters of other noble families." Edras paused.

"That arrangement was established once the initial decades of conflict after the empire's collapse had settled down, and it has continued without any major trouble for nearly a hundred years."

"That does make it sound safer in Othmir."

"Under ordinary circumstances, it is. But I cannot tell you what those old understandings would be worth if the rival kingdoms learned that a Corvadryn still lives. Since the fall of the empire, the Academy's guards and mages answer to the Academy itself, not to any king or queen, and you would be surrounded there by people capable of dealing with most threats." Edras's mouth tightened slightly.

"Even so, that does not make you untouchable. All the mages and archmages in Othmir cannot protect you from a threat they do not see coming. Someone determined to harm you without confronting you openly may still find a way around that protection, just like someone managed to hide a trap beneath my own research hall without my knowledge—a fact I find particularly irritating." He reached for his satchel.

"Karthane has already proven dangerous for you, and whoever placed that runic array may still be here. I cannot promise that Othmir will be any safer. I can only tell you that staying here without the training you need carries risks of its own." Teren nodded. And there was also the white fire. Someone or something in Karthane had burned Teren alive more than once, and he still had no idea who they were.

He did not know whether that person had anything to do with the trap, but moving into the palace had not made either threat disappear.

"I'll have to think about it."

"Do that. You've just finished your first real magic lesson, and you're more exhausted than you probably realize. We can discuss this again after you've had some rest. I'll see if I can make time for another lesson tomorrow." Edras walked to the door and unsealed it. The two guards waiting outside straightened when it opened. Teren left with them toward the guest wing while Edras headed in the opposite direction.

When they passed the covered walkway again, the palace guards were still training in the courtyard below. Swords struck shields while pairs of men repeated the same movements under the watch of their instructors, stopping whenever someone made a mistake and starting again after the correction. None of them had learned to fight in a single morning. Teren had spent loop after loop trying to survive with whatever he could learn quickly, but magic was not going to work that way.

An hour here and there with Edras might keep him from hurting himself with his own mana, but it would not make him strong enough to deal with the people and monsters that had already killed him in previous loops. By the time he reached the guest wing, Teren already suspected what his answer would be. If he wanted to become strong enough to stop being killed so easily, he needed the Academy. There was no better choice for him.