Episode: 2.9

--- Graves ---

“It’s almost midnight,” He pointed out as he watched the modern night sky, (something that has too few stars…) “We should probably call it a day soon.”

“You… you think?” Molly gasped, before blocking another shot from the cheap Spell Engine he set up.

He glanced off to the side, down towards the street below, before nodding.

“Yeah, we can keep going for a little longer, but I’ll only be able to recharge you once more.” (Before your test anyway.)

Molly shook her head, “No… I, I think I’m… I’m at my limit…”

“If you’re sure.” He shrugged, before dismantling the spell engine. He was still getting used to the fact she was so… fresh. Most of the people he’d taught over the centuries had better starting points when they came to him.

(Then again in this case I found her…)

He smirked to himself.

(Just means I have all the more room to build her up, into something… great.)

“Well, if we’re stopping for the night you mind checking where you are Mastery wise?”

Technically he could just scan her himself, but she needed to get into the habit of checking her progress when she could.

(That and I doubt she’d take kindly to something so invasive.)

He had to concede that point, she seemed like a private person with the way her home was set up, something he wasn’t quite so happy with given how… (cold) the place seemed. That combined with what he’d learned of her personality over the last two days…

(Actually, now that I think about it, she kind of reminds me of how the guys get when I leave them alone for too long…)

That thought made him frown.

(Thinking of I should probably check on them soon, I’ve been gone damn near eighty years…)

He forced a smile onto his face.

(Just means we have all the more to talk about when I get back!)

“The Mana Bolt,” (Spell shot.) “is sitting at a C still, and my Mana Shield,” (Spell Shield.) “is at C+.”

He flashed a bit of magic into his eyes, so he could read her scan, and make sure she was telling the truth, before grinning at her.

“Well, personally I’d rather be able to protect, than hurt somebody.” (At least if I was protecting someone else, or the person wasn’t worth the time necessary to rip their spine out.)

Molly nodded to the sentiment, a soft smile on her face.

“Surprised I was able to last this long all things considered…”

He blinked once, before tilting his head, a habit he picked up from a devilish dealmaker, who he was pretty sure owed him fifty dollars.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, usually I don’t last anywhere neat this long during P.E., after just an hour of class I’m usually too tired to do anything.”

He blinked once more, before finally connecting the fact that she was a Half-Life, with the fact that she was a new Half-Life.

“Oh, that…”

He glanced to the side again.

(Mm, we’ve got enough time for this… but we won’t be able to simply walk back if I want her to take the test…)

“You know how you’re a Half-Life now?” he asked, more to make sure she was paying attention than anything.

“Yeah…” Molly admitted apprehensively.

(We’re going to have to work on that too…)

He really did prefer when his apprentices knew the basics of the masquerade. (A species change isn’t that big of a deal…)

(Then again, when was the last time I dealt with someone completely new to the Masquerade?)

He shook his head, before his thoughts could wander too far.

“Remember, how I told you our bodies are held together by magic.” He waited for her nod. “Well, despite not spending any magic to hold us together, our bodies passively spend magic whenever we’re injured to heal said injuries.”

“And that applies to exhaustion?”

“Physical.” He pointed out, before explaining, “Mental exhaustion is its own thing, and a long day is still a long fucking day. Spiritual exhaustion, is something else entirely, and trust me when I say you don’t want to dabble with the stuff that can cause that.” (unless you’re looking for a flawed key to immortality.)

Completely ignoring that train of thought he continued, “Magical exhaustion… Well… that’s down right fatal for us, and it’s the reason the ring will ping you when you fall below half, a quarter, a tenth, and a percentile of your magic.”

Molly shuddered, the way she seemed to whenever they talked about their ‘Dead-Life State.’ Something that, while he understood, still irked him, since he actually understood what the ‘Embrace of Death’ meant.

“Don’t worry, the ring has a failsafe, as long as you’re wearing it, it’ll disrupt any spell that’ll put you below one percent of your magic capacity.” He offered her, purposely consoling one of the issues he’d brought up, even if it wasn’t the one directly bothering her.

“That’s, um,” Molly shook her head, before giving him a weak smile, “That’s good.”

“Mmhm,” he nodded, before bulldozing through any awkwardness, “When you get to higher level of control, typically about that of a C Rank Arcane,” he actually liked the new word for magic users, (So much better than ‘voodoo boys’, that was both sexist, and mildly racist.)

(Damn it, getting distracted again.)

“Around that point, you’ll be able to manipulate your healing factor speeding it up or slowing it down as necessary.” Molly got this really excited look on her face, and he almost felt like he was kicking a puppy with the next bit, “But to be honest, even with your faster than average learning, it’ll take a few months before you can reach that point.”

(And there’s the kicked puppy look…)

He ran a hand down his face, before giving the depressed girl something positive to latch onto.

“That said though once you do get there, I’ll be fine with you going out unsupervised to do your… ‘hero’ thing.” He tried very, very hard not to show his disgust with that word.

(Really, the girl has so much potential and she wants to waste it as a, a… hero…)

Gah, even in his thoughts it left a bad taste in his mouth, and her excited grin did absolutely nothing to curb that.

He glanced to the side, with an eye twitch.

(Damn it…)

“Where are you at MP wise?”

Molly blinked, before pulling up her base stats. “Oh, um, 92/172.”

(Forty-six units…)

(Not a bad boost for a first day…)

“Alright, well…” he placed a hand on her shoulder and began refilling her Magic supply with his own.

Normally this was a trick most people needed at least an (A) Rank in both Healing and Magic Control to pull off, and one that made teaching a new student significantly easier, since you could refill their Magic whenever they ran out. Sure, it crippled their Regen in the short-term, but he had a trick that would more than fix that problem.

If he could get back into his vault at least.

(And something else to add to the list…)

He hid a frown from Molly, as he slid an arm around her shoulders.

“Today was your first day of Magic training and personally, I’d like to think you’ve made a fair amount of progress.” he began, forcing himself to ignore the way she tensed under his touch, and the fact that (I’m going to have to rip the spine out of whoever ‘s responsible) for that reaction.

After all she was his apprentice, and that meant she was like… secondary family, and he’d treat her as such. (And that includes ripping the screaming skulls off of anyone that would drive her to suicide.)

“You’ve passably mastered two spells, to defend yourself and others, made a fair amount of growth to you magic capacity, and learned a decent amount as far as magic theory goes.” He patted her shoulder, “You should feel proud of yourself.”

She gave him one of those excited grins his apprentices somehow managed that always helped him connect with why he bothered teaching people magic, despite how often it bit him in the ass.

(You know when all ‘s said and done; I hope she’s one of the few friends who don’t make me reliant on my healing factor to survive our reunions.)

“That said there’s one last thing I’d like to take care of tonight.”

“What is it?” Molly asked him with an innocent curiosity.

(She’s going to want to watch that.)

“Well, since you’ve done so well tonight, I want to give you a test of sorts.” He explained, leading her to where he’d have a better view of the city streets, “You feel up for it?”

She was quiet for a moment, thinking it over, before giving him a determined nod.

“Good,” He patted her shoulder once more in encouragement.

He then took a step back, giving her his advice…

“So, what I need you to do, is breathe deep… feel your magic thrumming… and go limp.”

…before promptly kicking her off the roof.