“I want to give you some details on your little village’s latest visitor,” the illusion of a god said. He looked around the room with his beacon-like gaze. Ina didn’t know if this is truly what the god looked like, he almost always appeared in this manner, through the illusions of one of his followers.

She was partial to the idea that it wasn’t, he had presented himself differently throughout the history of the High Elves, in the early years usually in the form of a giant dragon, though that was a hazy time, even for the Eternal High elves, none had survived that period… intact.

“And what is it that you wish to tell me of him? and what is your price?” she asked, watching the god, knowing that any tell of body language or expression she saw was simply a projection, this creature would show her nothing that it did not intend for her to see. She knew she would never truly see it surprised, angry or anything else unless it wanted to.

“No price, this information I give you for free, simply for once having given me your devotion. The Human boy is not from this realm. I do not know where he comes from. According to those that retrieved him, he came from a Shard,” the god said, watching her for a reaction.

She did not have perfect control of herself, as he did. She had not needed it in the past century, dealing only with the villagers, whom she had next to nothing that she needed to actively hide from them.

Due to this, she knew that her soul pulsed with interest in this new information, another piece of the puzzle, and she knew that Light could tell. She had worked for years to turn the gifts that light had given her as a novice into tools to stop him from prying into her thoughts, but she only had so much.

Light smiled, “I see that the inquisitiveness that was fostered in you by my teachings is not dead... Yes, he came from a shard, and he did not originate from anywhere in this realm prior to that,” Light clarified further.

“So you suspect him to be from another realm? Could he not have been created wholesale by the Shard, I do not doubt those volatile things are capable of it,” she said, wanting Light to justify why he suspected that.

“The boy appears to have a personality of his own, and also a spirit that reeks of Chaos; more so than even Pain. It is either something directly from that place, or beyond it,” Light replied.

“So you wish to learn of him then? To have a servant pry the knowledge from his brain, leaving him broken. All so that knowledge can be yours, and no one else's?” she replied, knowing the answer.

“No, I wish to have that knowledge so that it may benefit the people I rule. The methods used to obtain it are unimportant, you expressed your distastes for the methods I give my servants when you left their order. Well, now you have a chance to prove them wrong, gain the knowledge how you would see it done, and give it to me,” Light said smiling at her, in what she took as a condescending manner.

Ina rose an eyebrow, “and that will change the way you teach them in the future, is this such important knowledge that you would do such a thing?” she asked, sceptical.

“It may make me think to give you the opportunity to try again in this method in the future, you have not progressed on my path for centuries, and are reaching the boundaries of what you can gain by staring into the sun and feeling it on your skin, you would be a new form of servant, no less powerful than the others,” he offered, his expression of understanding and approval not shifting at all.

Ina sighed, “but still a servant,” she said. She finally released the control she had been focusing in a part of her soul that she had managed to partition off from the god's awareness, using it to regain control of the mana that was channelling from her to create the illusion of Light’s presence.

The god vanished, and the feeling of his attention on her faded not long after, he had said his piece. It was up to her to take his offer now or leave it. She didn’t like that, no matter what she did to learn of this boy now Light would take it as having followed his orders, unless she kept the knowledge from him entirely, which was hard enough already for the knowledge that mattered most to her.

She sighed, “Scaly Bastard.”

***

Mike sat in the rocking chair with a light orb floating above his hand, the overhand trailing black smoke, a Chill Touch prepared to cast. He had told Crosse of his entire experiences in the Prison, explaining to him that he had a spirit stitched to his soul and that it allowed him to sense and control mana that was outside his body.

Crosse, entirely reasonably, had asked for proof. Though he had looked pretty convinced already. Now he was staring slack-jawed at the light orb that Mike had cast and the Dark Magic trailing from his other.

“So this is you doing this no this, AI, or spirit or Whatever?” Crosse asked, eyes never leaving the Magic.

Mike nodded, “I’m pretty sure it is helping a lot, especially at my current ability. It has made it so that I can only use a certain number of Magic types at a time, though for now I only really have Light and Dark,” He hadn’t explained Skill Slots or the more detailed mechanics of the AI’s interface to Crosse. It would require too much-ingrained terminology from Earth and he wasn’t sure if it would translate well or even at all.

Crosse’s gaze slid from the Magic too Mikes face. “Is this Unique to you, can it be taught?” Crosse asked, eyes intense, with emotion, though what emotion Mike didn’t know.

Mike shook his head slowly, “I don’t know, I just woke up and I was like this,” He explained, not wanting to give the hunter too much hope, but not wanting to dash it. Spreading his abilities was the main reason he had chosen Wizard, and he wouldn’t give up on that, but he needed a lot more practice and experience for that.

“You can see magic too, you said so in your story. That is why you keep reacting to magic in advance?” Crosse asked, eyes interested and eager.

Mike nodded, this was a new side of Crosse, the older man was enthusiastic and interested, while he had been jovial but stoic for the most part up to now. Mike didn’t blame the man, He would be the same if had Magic shoved into his hands with no other disruptions in his way of life.

His Magic had come with being teleported to a foreign dimension and imprisoned by knowledge hungry Elves that had very few compunctions on how they got that knowledge. He had had little time to bask in the fact that he could do Magic yet, and it was great that Crosse was able to feel that now.

Mike looked back to Crosse now making as serious a face as he could, “I need you to promise that you won’t tell any of this to Ina,” Mike said. “You have known her for probably most of your life, but the fact that she was connected to Light through the soul seemed like news to you. She obviously has secrets, I want to see if she will respect mine without prying before I choose to tell her anything,” Mike explained.

Crosse stood and thought for a few moments, “That is reasonable, I think you should trust her, but as you said; I have known her my whole life. I will say this, she has never hurt anyone from this village as far as I know. She leaves us to govern ourselves, only requiring peace and quiet when we do not need her help.

“I think if you told her the extent of your abilities she would help, to the best of hers. Mostly out of curiosity, but also because she would see you as something new, something that could change this world that she is sitting in this village ignoring for some reason,” Crosse finished.

Mike leaned his head back and thought, Crosse was right that Ina had done little to deserve his suspicion; besides be a High Elf and being connected to a god that wanted to dissect his soul.

He needed more time, for now, he brought up the notification that the AI had sent him earlier.

You have received a Quest:

Quest Log

Quest Description

Quest Objective

Quest Rewards

Learning to Read

The AI had to prioritize in its learning while you were in the hands of the High Elves, this lead it to choose to learn spoken words to give you the ability to communicate as easily as possible. You are now out of their grasp and in need of the ability to read. The AI, however, does not have a Skill prepared to aid you in this learning. To create one, it needs more information. This information can be gained in multiple ways. Having someone who can read, reading aloud written text. A dictionary that defined the meanings of written words and their make up. or someone actively teaching you to read are all ways that this information can be gained.

Help the AI reach 100% understanding of a single written version of a fully acclimated language.

0%/100%

Level 1 of the Reading Skill.

Crosse watched as Mike read the window, walking around him to look at the screen, then blinking, “What language is that?” He asked.

Mike blinked as he finished reading when Crosse asked, then chuckled, appreciating the irony. “One that I can read, Interestingly enough what it says is that I can’t read and that I need help to learn to do so. This is one of the ways the spirit has been helping me, it gives me objectives and goals to complete, and rewards me when I complete them,” he explained.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a Gildaic Dictionary on that shelf would you?” Mike asked, pointing at the shelf of nearly two dozen leather-bound tomes.

Crosse blinked, he seemed to be proccing confusion, “So, you don’t know how to read Gildaic? But you do know how to read this spirit’s messages?” Crosse asked.

Mike thought for a second, “That’s as good a way to explain it as any, I don’t know how to speak Gildaic either, the spirit is just translating it for me constantly in real-time so that I can communicate.”

Crosse once again looked kind of baffled, “Your spirit is weird… I still want one though.”