The crash course on ether enchanting proved rather effective, or so Nido thought as he saw Matilda collapsed in the workshop table, foam pouring from her mouth.

“Oh, don’t be such a drama queen.” The ancient enchanter joked. “I know for a fact you are fine.” Accessing the ether net, while a strange and revealing experience, it couldn’t harm a person. Maybe if it was overloaded with one specific element, but that wasn’t the case on the port city of Marina.

“Noo…” The woman grunted, her arms hanging in the air as they felt from the table. “I’m… not… o-kay.” Her voice was deep and slow, full of tiredness. “I’ve… lost health points… you know…”

“Curious.” Nido scratched his chin in ponderation. “I could understand a negative backlash to cause damage to your mental or spiritual body, but your physical? The ether net is currently dictated by a Life and Water elements, so it shouldn’t damage you unless you are an undead or a fire elemental. Tell me, Matilda, are you a fire elemental?” The enchanter joked.

“Fuck… you…” She groaned in pain. “I’m… dying… he-re.”

“Well, I certainly don’t appreciate that tone.” Nido sighed. It began to worry him that the ether net had actually affected negatively her body, and that she wasn’t just exaggerating. “I put you in such predicament, so I guess I should her you out.”

The enchanter extended his right arm on top of Matilda’s head. Mana and ether alike cycled around him as the Tenet of Immortality began shining. A blinding yet warm light engulfed her.

Paragon of Life

The enchantress skin radiated a faint green glow as the Life ether gathered around her. Far more ether than it was possible to generate in a common environment, in such a small city. The intertwined ring defied the most basic rules of magic momentarily. Well, there goes my daily use, I didn’t really need it. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Matilda groaned once more, yet this time it wasn’t as severe as before. From a half-dead wail of death to someone staving its toe. The main difference was the energy behind the sound.

“What happened?” Her voice was once more filled with the joy of life. “I felt like shit, and now… I feel better than normal?” She stretched her arms and cracked her neck. “Yeah, wow. A lot better than normal. What’s this? I feel like I’ve been born again.”

“You are just experiencing the byproduct of Life overexposure.” Nido explained. “Don’t worry, in a few minutes you’ll be feeling as miserable as always.”

“Oh, man. I feel powerful!” Matilda rose her arms in excitement, ignoring the enchanter’s words.

“Ah, I totally forgot that some symptoms are overconfidence and thinking you are the ultimate lifeform.” He told to himself with a sigh. Nido poked Matilda’s forehead with his index finger.

“No!” She cried in desperation. “My power! What did you do?”

“Such a drama queen.” Nido reiterated. “I’ve just dispelled the ether cumuli around you as you are already healed. I’ve just told you five minutes ago that ether overload can make damage to your body. Real damage, not anything like your childish tantrum from now.”

“It wasn’t a tantrum!” Her voice had already forgone the megalomaniac edge. “I was seriously hurt and in pain, alright?”

“Yes, yes. Whatever you say.” The enchanter dismissed it. “Now you are fully cured of any ailment you had, so I will take my leave for today.”

“It pains me to stop our classes for today, I am currently thirsty for knowledge.” Matilda said with a roguish tone. “Come back tomorrow to see if there are any commissions. You want to make some gold be you’re out, right?”

“I rather leave with full pockets, yes.” Nido nodded and picked up his staff that had been resting besides the chalkboard. “See you later.”

The city of Marina exploded with people at midday. The inner city was for the wealthier, but still most of the inhabitants were commoners. Though not as impoverished as those in the docks.

The idea of eating in a restaurant crossed Nido’s mind, but it was a luxury that he should avoid. After yesterday’s party, his pockets were shallow. Only a few silvers remained, which was more than enough for tens of meals. Yet he preferred to save as much money as possible to get materials for enchanting. A true enchanter didn’t need good materials to make good items, but he was aiming for excellent items, which had a more demanding necessity.

I should get metals and glass. Especially gold and silver. Nido began doing numbers in his mind to see what he needed for certain essential enchanted items. If I can get my hands on a mithril ingot, then I could easily make a flying item even with the lack of tools and Air ether. Whilst the tools in the Enchanter’s Guild workshop were plentiful and versatile, they weren’t the toolkit he had in his tower.

It also didn’t help that he was forced to use mostly ether to enchant as his mana capacity was abysmal. That’s what drove him to create ether enchanting in the first place.

I do get ten mana to my mana pool each time I level Enchanter or Voidborn, though I would need hundreds of levels to make some decent items. Decent being legendary weapons for the ancient enchanter, of course. I still have to level my Mage class, and I most certain that it will give me mana, but I cannot quantify how much.

Nido continued pondering while he walked towards the city gates. Taking advantage of his free time, he wanted to talk to Castor and confirm him that he will join him in their caravan.

Like yesterday, the guards let him out without even calling him for his attention. He wore his artifact as if it was an Enchanter’s Signet and now, he was even clothed properly.

Whilst the city streets were full of people, they felt lacking soul. Everyone kept it to themselves and just walked by. That wasn’t the case in the tent city mounted by the Wanderers. Tens, maybe hundreds, of people walked as they talked with people of their community. Some merchants even approached to sell provisions to the great caravan. Gold flowed as easily as words in the Wanderer’s city.

Children meandered the place and played while they laughed. Even when some balls flew across the skies, none was bothered. What surprised the enchanter was that there was a man schooling some kids. The teacher was well-prepared with a lectern and a chalkboard, the children sat on the ground as they listened to the man. The curious enchanter couldn’t help himself and eavesdropped on the lecture.

“…need to be conscious about your class selection.” Suddenly every alarm sounded in Nido’s brain. This was the perfect way to get Record-related information without raising alarms. “The caravan currently lacks spellcasters, and it has more than enough merchants, so when you come of age, I recommend you picking Mage and Woodworker. Of course, this is just a suggestion, you are all free to choose your destiny.”

The words sounded like pure indoctrination to the enchanter, yet the teacher’s tone and attitude made him think otherwise. He was being sincere about this only being a suggestion. Either way, indoctrination was an issue so common that he couldn’t be bothered with. Nido was more mindful about the man’s explanations. He theorized that children didn’t have access to the Arcane Records, or at least, they did but couldn’t yet select classes. That whole process was also unbeknownst to him as the Records forced the classes upon him. Yet the teacher said that, indeed, there was a selection.

“Looking at children isn’t the best of hobbies.” A hand grabbed his left shoulder.

Nido would have jumped in fear if he were able to feel it in the first place.

“You’ve scared me, Castor.” He quickly identified the mysterious person and saluted him. “I just was surprised you had a makeshift school.”

“What can I say? We are very conscious about the education of our children.” The Wanderer smiled at him. “If you are here this soon, I guess you are going to accept our offer.”

“That’s right.” Nido also replied with a smile. “My current goal involves a fair share of travelling, and what better to do that than with the Wanderers, the acolytes of the Traveler, no less.”

“If you really need to travel far away, then you’ve come to the right place.” Castor guided away from the open-air school, which saddened the enchanter. It was the best chance to learn about the workings of the Records. “It’s strange for us to stay in a place more than a few days. Though if it wasn’t because of the pestering war at the North, we wouldn’t have found an Enchanter for our caravan.”

“Do you really don’t have an Enchanter? I thought it was a manner of speech.” They moved to a campfire, where a group of women were preparing copious amounts of food.

“It is rare for someone to unlock the class at their first tier, and when they reach the second it’s far too late to walk that path.” The tall man shrugged. “It isn’t a [Rare] class for nothing.” He chuckled.

This is what the enchanter wanted. In a matter of minutes he gained a whole lot more of information. He just learnt that classes did different tiers, and they could be changed or alike.

“Would you like to stay and eat here? I would enjoy conversing your stay here while we eat.”

“I would be delighted.” Nido nodded and they sat in a bench.

“So, tell me,” the Wanderer sat before him, “are you going to stay as from now on?”

“I fear not.” The enchanter left his staff leaning on the table side. “I will be remaining on Marina and run some commissions in the Enchanter’s Guild until the caravan leaves.”

“What a shame, there’s a thousand things I would like a person of your caliber to check up.” Castor lowered his head.

“You honor me. I’m not that important.”

“You are far too humble, you had to work hard to unlock your class.” Far more than you might imagine. “But I’m not lying when I say your help is going to be greatly appreciated.”

“Well, there’s plenty of time.” Nido added. “I plan to stay with you for a month at minimum once the caravan departs. And if enchanting taught me something is that a lot of things can be done in a month.”

“That I’m sure.” Castor looked at the campfire and eyed the cooks. “Give me a minute, food is ready to be served. I’ll get our rations, and we can continue our conversation.”

As the tall man stood up, a ring echoed around the place, indicating that it was lunch time. The first to come where the hyperactive children, jumping around as they waited for the maidens to serve them. The Traveler’s Acolytes were a communal society, that was known by everyone, yet the ancient enchanter hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.

Even when he travelled for centuries, alike the very people before him, he had never stopped and rode along one of their communities. They march speed left much to desire to the once old and decrepit enchanter.

The laughter, the soul, the joy, the… love. It was extremely weird to the man. To many years he had spent accursed, and his free will overwhelmed him. He had been a caged bird for far too long and he had forgotten how emotions worked. Yet the spark of happiness was there. The sight warmed him. He hadn’t chosen badly. Sure, remaining at the Enchanter’s Guild would have made him level up faster to his current cap of level thirty, but time wasn’t an issue.

The people who had waited for him had did so for centuries, a few months or years wouldn’t really change the outcome. For the moment, he enjoyed the view.