Chapter 5

Contrarily, Ashur’s hard work and success became the biggest sticking points for his father. The boy shoes were finally selling steadily, and the shop’s increased revenue was now double what it used to be. Adrian had started to spend the extra money in the pub nearly every night, and was loath to give up his new hobby. So he made the stipulation that no matter what else the boy was doing, unless he took a formal apprenticeship elsewhere he would continue to work in the shop during his free hours, and if the revenues dropped to much, Ashur would have to come back to the shop full time.

Adria had made quite a few connections in the local trading community from his work, and over the past year his peers had come to know the quality of his boy’s work as well, from both personal experience and because the man bragged about it constantly. At first Ashur had become embarrassed by the spectacle. It wasn’t until he realized that his father wasn’t as much singing his praises, but was boasting about himself as a teacher, that the boy stopped being bothered by it.

Adrian began arranging for Ashur to learn under various masters for lengths of time that varied from one craft to the next. Or rather, the duration of study depended upon Ashur’s interest and ability to learn the subject. The situation individually wasn’t too uncommon in the port town. Talented youths commonly learned from many masters on a temporary basis. As long as they were well behaved and productive, the masters didn’t mind. It was like having an extra free worker, and it gave the students a chance to find the best career they could.

The deal with each teacher was simple. In exchange for instruction, Ashur would work and receive no pay. He would start each new craft as general laborer, spending his time cleaning and maintaining the various equipments at that particular job. As soon as Ashur had learned enough about trade to not be a hindrance, he would then start receiving instruction like a normal apprentice.

Ashur was a fast learner though, and soon plateau’d out time after time. The longest Ashur spent at any particular job was spent six months with a generous scribe. His ability to read and write expanded far past what his father could teach him. Adrian had taught him with charcoal and old hides, but the scribe taught him how to write properly with ink and parchment. Writing clear, even letters was the mark of a real scribe, and Ashur’s tiny hands were already quite dexterous from years of cobbling. In almost no time he had mastered the common script of the land, and even learned the calligraphy required for higher priced commissions.

The reason why he stuck with the job so long was that Ashur loved the small library the scribe kept, and he was allowed to read the books during his free time. No one else in the area had anything remotely like it. Most books were hideously expensive not only for the work it took to create them, but because of the effort it took to gather the information inside them. The scribe had slowly built up his collection by making an extra copy of the books his customers brought in for duplicate until it was quite impressive. Through them Ashur briefly explore the larger world through literature. He read tales of adventurous knights, learned about ancient kingdoms, and even read bestiaries of dangerous creatures like goblins and ogres.

Ashur found out that every sentient creature could learn to use to manipulate mana, but only those born as mages could do it inherently. The same was true with auras and warborn. There were many other types of casters, like shamans, witches and necromancers. The list was quite long, but other than the mage, they all utilized mana from a source outside themselves. Wizards were the most powerful of them all and were known for their strong Wills, but they were also the rarest. It had only taken the child Ashur a few months to learn how to cast a spell, and that was without a proper teacher. If he were to do it like a wizard, he would have had to learn nearly everything about the world, studying advanced subjects like mathematics and physics. After that he would then need to memorize the many varieties of mana and what each type could be used for. Finally he would need to find a substance capable of storing the right mana type, like a beast core, unlike the mage who could do so naturally. Only after the mana was stored, and they had enough knowledge of the world to form their Will, could they finally utilize proper spells.

The entire process was something a mage could do in an instant, with a little training and the proper imprints.

He asked the scribe about for a book about how imprinting works, but he didn’t have one. The man described it to him as best as he could, saying, “It is a gift from the gods boy, paid for with your anima.” The answer, in turn, lead to a discussion about anima itself.

“The best we can understand it, anima is a physical incarnation of a living being’s life force. Everything alive possesses it, from the smallest blade of grass, to the largest dragon. Plants store it differently from other living creatures. It could be gathered all in one spot, or spread all around, but in animals and sentient creatures most of it is stored in a container that we call the soul.

Even the dumbest sentient creature could be taught to feel their own soul and anima with the simplest of explanations. Ashur himself had noticed it around the age of four. One day he had felt a little ball of energy inside him, causing him to ask his father what was living inside his chest. His father had simply called it his soul, but the scribe gave him a far better explanation of it. Something Ashur had been wanting since he found out that his soul different.

“Someone gifted by the gods can can use your anima reserves to imprint their knowledge of a skill, attribute, or spell onto your soul permanently.”

“So how come people don’t just learn every skill out there?”

“Because it’s impossible, boy. Think of your soulspace like an eggshell. Your anima is the egg and yolk, and your skills and attributes are the shell. Everytime something is imprinted, your shell grows thicker. Eventually it’ll reach the next ‘level’ of thickness and the anima cost goes up, until at some point the inside of the shell can’t hold enough anima to form another layer on the outside.

“You have to expand your soul, so that it can hold more. That can only be done by doing something that grows your soul. Things like learning a craft, experiencing the trials and tribulations of combat, or even seeing a wonderful sunset can expand your soul.” The scribe answered.

“So how do you get more anima?” Ashur asked.

“The only way to gain anima is by killing or consuming. The food you eat each day comes from pants and animals right? Each of them has a little bit of anima and by eating it, you absorb a portion of it. Normal ordinary food contains trivial amounts, others contain far more. For example, magical plants, those absorb and contain mana, would give you more than if you ate something normal, like a potato.”

“Professions like butchers and farmers are always accumulating anima from the animals and plants they harvest. Just little bits mind you, because there isn’t much to the life of a pig or a stalk of wheat, but it’s there.

“And for each level of your ‘shell’ you can imprint five attribute points right?” Ashur asked.

“That’s how it’s generally measured, but there is generally enough soulspace for one skill for every two levels as well. But it’s variable. Some skills take up more room than others, and some are more useful than others. I think casters are different as well, I’m not really sure how many spells they get per level. You can also trade out the room used for attributes for extra skills if you choose.

Ashur asked the scribe if he had ever heard about a stunted soul, but he had not, and Ashur did not enlighten him about his situation. But the more he learned, the more he wanted to. Every history, adventure and story inside the scribe’s tomes caused Ashur’s need for more to intensify. He wanted to experience those adventures himself, but without the ability to grow stronger through imprinting, he would be far to weak.

Eventually he finished every book in the scribe’s small library, and mastered the trade as much as he could with his stunted soul. With nothing new to read or learn he tired of scribing, and felt the need to move on.

Ashur spent the next several years trying his hand at nearly every trade. He learned the basics of metal work under a nearby smith. He spent a long two months at the tanneries, learning the smelly but necessary ways to process animal hides. He worked at a lumber mill, and briefly as a farm hand doing seasonal harvest work. He helped carpenters build houses and shape furniture, and learned how masons built foundations to withstand the weight of a building. He mixed and baked bricks, butchered animals in the slaughterhouses, and even spent a month learning how to cook in a tavern. He learned the basics of every craft quickly, but never truly mastered any of them. Still all of the jobs never sparked his imagination like magic had, and he could never completely settle for any of them.

Ashur could tell that his father was growing increasingly frustrated with his bouncing around. The only thing that kept Adrian from exploding whenever the boy requested the next move was the fact that every master had sung his boy’s praises. That combined with boy’s good nature and exemplary work ethic it made for good advertising, and more customers were coming to the cobbler’s shop than ever before. With Ashur still helping in the evenings, Adrian constantly grumbled but stayed content wnough.

Throughout it all Adrian had maintained a stipulation on his son.

Almost all professions had a guild. It caused a lot of monopolies and excessive politicking in nearly every trade and industry, but everyone knew it was a necessary evil, because they provided much needed security against the casual abuse of nobles and other powerful individuals. Most guilds had an upper age limit on accepting apprentices, usually between twelve to fourteen years of age. These same guilds were one of the primary reasons Adrian had asked his son to keep his mana and stunted soul a secret.

“That lil’ bitty spell ain’t worth the bad blood you’ll get from other’s knowin’,” Adrian told him. “Most normal folks hate them mightier than thou mages. Plus they might treat ya different if they knowed about your soul. Folks don’t like them that are different. Just let assume you’re like everyone else.”

Over the years Ashur saw the reasoning behind it firsthand. Commoners talked while they worked, and they spoke of mages with the same contempt as they did nobles. Both groups were known for their casual disregard of local laws and random acts of cruelty. The crown and the guild kept them in line somewhat, but more than one poor family had been destroyed for upsetting one of those elite citizens. Their indiscretions were infrequent enough that the masses did not rise up against them, but enough that they were both universally scorned by the common man. Occasionally someone would speak of an honorable noble, or a kindly mage like Rundil would appear, but they were so few and far between they were as likely to be seen as the mythical unicorn.

If levels ever came up, Ashur would tell people that he had not imprinted yet. It could stunt your soul growth if you had too much imprinting done before puberty was finished, so wasn’t uncommon for a boy his age not to have leveled up. No one would know any better unless he told them otherwise. The only way to tell a person’s level for sure was to have them examined by an imprinter, but that was usually only done when they ranked up in a profession. Since it was considered rude to ask someone’s level, Ashur only occasionally had it come up in with his masters in private.

A few weeks after his twelfth birthday, Ashur made a breakthrough with Grasping Hand. After years of practice he had learned how to cast the spell without using the hand motion. The trick was to perfect the pronunciation of ìl-Fàsça­­, as well as projecting a stronger mental image of the rune itself. There was a certain cadence needed when saying the word, and proper points of inflection that had improved its use. It started out quiet, ìl was a feeble thing that wanted to hide behind the more powerful Fàs. After nearly barking out the middle syllable, the final ça needed to be said quickly, yet smoothly, like a master archer loosing an arrow.

To maintain the proper inflection, the keyword needed to be said a little louder than a word in normal conversation, but less than a shout. Removing the hand motions made casting inconspicuously far easier, but because the audible component could not vary, it was still difficult to hide. Still, the breakthrough made it far more functional for everyday use, and it also renewed his motivation to master the spell.

It only took him a little over six years, but finally he could cast the spell like it was imprinted.