Chương 39: 35. Recommended

As promised, Marcus took Regulus to a healing temple first thing in the morning. It was the one place that could give them some answers. Although mages did have some spells and techniques that dealt with healing, they were of limited help, and were not popular.

Marcus was pretty sure he was one of the world's most skilled mages when it came to healing and diagnostic magic, not because he was particularly focused on it, but because he had a habit of gathering anything he came across and his foundational technique allowed him to learn anything. If he couldn't detect where the black feather had gone and figure out what it had done, he didn't think any other mage could either. But priests might.

Not every priest was good at healing – they had specialties, just like mages – but each of the three temples had people that could detect and cure various maladies better than any mage. The healing temple served as one of the main places for getting treatment and medicine in Adria. There were stores which sold potions made by alchemists, and those were good for conditions with well-known cures, but for something exotic like this, they needed the help of a specialist.

The healing temple had priests dedicated to Asclepius, the god of medicine, as well as those dedicated to Februs, the god of purity. Most came here to seek the help of Asclepius, as his priests were the ones most qualified to help with diseases, wounds, and other body conditions. Priests of Februs specialized more in curse-breaking and the cleansing of foul energies.

Rumors had it that some high-ranking priests of Februs could even cleanse chaos poisoning and abyssal corruption, though Marcus didn't think any such powerhouses resided in Adria. It was the priests of Februs that Marcus was most interested in consulting. He fully expected the priests at the healing temple to find nothing when they examined Regulus, but if a priest of Februs found nothing, then that was already good news.

They were very sensitive to harmful magic, even as novices, so if the black feather could evade their senses, it probably wasn't doing anything damaging. Alas, an unusual problem like this was not something any of the priests wanted to take responsibility for. They were repeatedly sent from one healer to the next, explaining their issue to each one, before they finally found someone who was willing to try and help.

Even then, the man was a priest of Asclepius, and he insisted on doing his own examination before he called for a priest of Februs to do the same. They ended up visiting five different people in total, only to be told in the end that nothing was found and that Regulus was healthy and well. They also didn't detect the soul seed.

Marcus hadn't expected them to – after all, he had been examined by the priests several times in the past, and they had never found the soul seed planted by Sacred Oak in him – but it was nice to have confirmation that even the priests of Februs couldn't detect one. He wondered – was the feather using the same method to hide itself? The soul seed could not be detected because it was effectively a part of Regulus, and thus didn't register as something foreign.

If the feather could do that too, did that mean it was also some kind of soul-related artifact? He didn't have enough information to form a firm conclusion, but that was his current working idea.

"I cannot find this black feather you speak of," Arator said. He was the priest of Februs they had eventually managed to get ahold of.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were playing a prank on me or hallucinating. My advice is not to worry about it. Either it is nothing, or it is related to the gods and you are powerless to do anything about it. That said, I'd like to ask young Regulus to step outside and allow me to speak to you privately. It is unrelated to this incident." Regulus threw them a curious look, but he seemed familiar with this kind of thing and didn't linger. He bowed lightly and then excused himself.

Marcus stared straight at Arator, wondering what this was about. Part of him expected the man to lecture him about exposing his students to mysterious ancient artifacts and other dangers, but that turned out to be an incorrect guess.

"It's good to finally meet you, Elder Marcus," Arator said.

"We of the Illuminated Temple have been considering how to approach you for some time. I apologize that I couldn't help you with your problem, but there is no immediate danger, and no use in worrying your student."

"I believe you," Marcus said. He didn't say he expected this sort of outcome – it could be seen as him looking down on them, and it was never a good idea to offend priests, especially in their own temple where they were the strongest.

"What did you want to discuss?"

"Well, first of all I would like to extend an invitation from the leadership of the Illuminated Temple. They would like you to visit them at the main temple complex at Divodurum, the capital of the Holy Griffon Kingdom. There is no urgency, and in fact it would be advisable to announce your visit well in advance… however, it would also be inadvisable to let them wait for too long." Marcus gave Arator an odd look. What a strange invitation.

Why was the Illuminated Temple waiting for him to come to them instead of sending a messenger? If he hadn't happened to seek out the help of the healing temple today, would they have just ignored him? And why was the priest talking about some vague 'leadership'? Wasn't the Illuminated Temple led by a Head Priestess at the moment? If it wasn't her extending an invitation to him, then who was? However, after some thinking, he realized it wasn't that strange after all.

For all that they acted unified at times, the Illuminated Temple was made out of many different gods, whose followers did not always act harmoniously and agree with what needed to be done. It could very well be that some of the factions did not even want to talk to him. He needed to be careful and not get sucked into the temple's internal games of power.

"I have things to do at the moment, but I will give them a visit. I will leave it up to your organization as a whole to decide who is most appropriate to receive me."

"That will be fine," Arator said calmly. He suddenly handed a small scroll to Marcus.

"Don't open it until you are out of Adria, and don't discuss it with anyone except perhaps that follower of the Raven God that you associate with." Marcus turned the scroll in his hand a few times, but it was sealed, both physically and magically. He could not guess at its contents. He put it into his storage bracelet and fixed Arator with a piercing look.

"Anything else?" he asked the priest.

"I want to warn you to be careful about the Raven Temple, the Temple of Deep Waters, and to some extent even the Sun-Moon Temple," Arator said.

"Why?" Marcus demanded.

"Are you saying they are plotting against me?"

"They are not being completely honest about what they want. They are courting you because they know you could ascend to the Outer Planes at any time, and they want you to join their camp when you do," Arator explained.

"And you want me to align myself with the Illuminated Temple," Marcus guessed.

"Of course," Arator said.

"While the temples work together here on Tasloa, we each have our separate sphere out there in the Outer Planes. In the case of the Raven Temple and the Temple of Deep Waters, our territories are not even on the same plane. The Raven Temple's base is in the Oblivion Maze, and the Temple of Deep Waters is based in the Elemental Plane of Water. We couldn't be real allies even if we wanted to. Naturally, we would prefer if powerful adepts joined us instead of leaving for other planes where we are not active."

"I could also opt to go completely independent," Marcus pointed out.

"You could," Arator said calmly. Marcus waited a moment, but the priest didn't say anything else on the matter. He could also take Celer on her offer and join her in Dreamwood, like she wanted him to. However, Celer wasn't a god, let alone an alliance of gods with an existing faction and territory associated with them. Going on a journey through the Outer Planes with Celer would be only slightly better than doing so completely on his own.

"Well, thank you for the warning," Marcus said.

"Out of curiosity, is there anything else you would recommend regarding the Outer Planes?" He was honestly asking. He wasn't sure how much Arator actually knew, but clearly he'd been given a talk by someone relatively informed about Outer Planar politics. Maybe he knew something. Arator gave it some thought.

"Well," he eventually said.

"Ascending to the Outer Planes involves transforming yourself into an ageless spirit and re-anchoring yourself to one of the planes, which then becomes your new home. This is mostly a gift. You will no longer die of old age, most diseases will not trouble you, and if you die outside your home plane, you will reform your body there instead of immediately rejoining the River of Souls. However, there is something to keep in mind. Here on the material plane, we are at the conflux of all six Pillars of Creation.

All manners of logos are available to you, even if they are not always easy to acquire. In the Outer Planes, however, things are more complicated."

"How so?" Marcus asked.

"Each of the Outer Planes is situated between two of the Pillars. These two are the only ones that have any real influence on the outer Plane in question. The logos from the other Pillars cannot be found out in the wild at all. Because the elemental planes are a matter of their own, elemental magic is typically not a problem, but wood spells… well, there is no elemental plane of wood. Wood logos largely originates from the Tree of Life. And there are only two Outer Planes that border that Pillar."

"Celestial Mountain and Dreamwood," Marcus offered.

"I'm sure you can guess which one we would prefer you to go to," Arator said, smiling faintly.

"I've heard you practitioners of the Soul Tree Technique don't actually use wood element spells much, but just in case you wanted to develop that out there in the wider universe, those two are your only real options. And Dreamwood is a realm of vicious beasts and fickle fey, not a realm of men and civilization." It wasn't that bad, according to Celer. There were human communities there, even large cities…

but it was true that it was a more exciting destination compared to the more peaceful and structured community of the Celestial Mountain. Beyond that, he kind of wondered about the Soul Tree Technique now, or more specifically the Outer Planes technique it had apparently originated from. If wood magic mostly originated from the Tree of Life, and soul magic from the River of Souls, then… wasn't the Soul Tree Technique formed from the very opposite Pillars, and thus an 'impossible' foundational technique?

No matter how he looked at it, Arator's explanation would imply that the Soul Tree Technique would be impossible to practice on the Outer Planes? At least at the lower ranks of power. Obviously a powerful adept could just travel between the planes to get what they need, but plenty of spirits never managed to travel beyond their home plane. Celer never left Dreamwood, for instance, and that wasn't because she had no interest in seeing other planes.

One of the main reasons she had accepted his summoning was because she wanted to see different places, even if they were on a 'backwater' underdeveloped planet.

"I see. That's an interesting thing to keep in mind, but I should get going now," Marcus told the priest.

"Unless you have any more topics to discuss?"

"May Februs protect you from filth and corruption," Arator said, raising his hand in a gesture of blessing. Marcus took that as a sign he could leave.

Marcus hadn't quite known what to expect after calling upon teachers to come work for him. On one hand, he was well known, powerful, and had Cato's public approval. On the other hand, he was asking adepts to leave Adria and come work at a tiny base in the middle of a forest, and it was well known he wasn't in good standing with the Consul. He definitely expected that someone would be interested, but he had no idea whether it would be anyone actually worth hiring.

He brought his students to one of Adria's training fields where he had arranged for the meetings with the candidates to take place. The place was pretty much designed for students demonstrating their abilities without risking damage to anything or anyone important, and he also felt like it served as a subtle filtering mechanism. Any candidate that was bothered about meeting at a training field instead of a comfortable, luxurious room would likely not last very long back at the tower.

The training field was a simple rectangular patch of packed dirt, with a number of wooden training dummies in the distance, as well as a pair of large stone pillars. Cassia, Cricket, and Renatus were competing amongst themselves while they waited for potential teachers to arrive, throwing bolts of fire at the distant training dummies. Their projectiles didn't even leave scorch marks – the wood they were made out of was alchemically treated, and resisted a wide variety of magical energies, but especially fire.

The scene made Marcus somewhat nostalgic. He remembered when he had managed to actually burn down one of those training dummies during his training. He had been so proud of himself, up until he found out that any student who destroyed one of these was billed for their replacement, regardless of whether it was an accident or not.

He'd had to spend the next two weeks doing chores around the academy to pay back his debt, something that he thought was incredibly unfair back then, but which was just an amusing memory today. First to arrive were actually two people at once, only one of which Marcus recognized. Magnus Cassiodorus was one of the rising stars of the Great Sea Academy, having already achieved the rank of foundation mage at the young age of twenty… something?

He wasn't an elder yet, but it was only a matter of time before he became one. His students had nothing but praises for him, too. Marcus doubted someone like that had any desire to join his brand new academy, considering how bright his future in Adria seemed to be. However, Cato suggested he invite him for a talk, and so he did. There was no harm in trying this, Marcus felt. As for the other man, he looked very young, and trailed slightly behind Magnus.

If Marcus had to guess, he would say this was either a student or a subordinate. Maybe both.

"Greetings, Brother Magnus," Marcus said as the two men approached.

"Welcome. Elder Cato speaks very highly of you, as do your students. I see you've brought a friend with you. Can you introduce us?" The other man was introduced as Vitruvius Pollio, his former student and close ally.

"I admit, I have little interest in joining your burgeoning academy," Magnus said, an easy, confident smile on his face.

"I have utmost respect for you, Elder Marcus, but I simply have too many obligations here in Adria. However, I have heard you have taught all your students to internalize your foundational technique in less than a year. A most impressive achievement, I am very intrigued."

"Let me guess - you brought your former student because you thought he might be a better fit for the position," Marcus said, giving Vitruvius a curious look. The young man was a logos mage, so he might be good enough.

"I don't mind, but I will have to test him to confirm he is fit for the position." Magnus was a bit too full of himself, in his opinion, but he didn't let it bother him. Excessive pride was a common flaw among mages. Marcus had been very similar back in his youth.

"I have heard you are a generalist mage without a true specialization," Magnus said.

"Yes, that's true," Marcus said, wondering what that had to do with anything.

"You are perhaps not aware of this, but both me and my former student practice an unorthodox foundational technique – the Grand Order Technique. It is, much like your own Soul Tree Technique, designed to be compatible with a wide variety of spells and has no elemental specialty. Its true affinity is for devices and mechanisms, but…" Marcus nodded. The construction of mechanisms was a very rare skill on Tasloa, and even more so in the Silver League.

There were a number of organizations in the Eastern Lands which practiced a form of magic centered on mechanical puppets, and the Lygos Empire had a number of artificer guilds that made various magical constructs, most notably airships, but the Silver League didn't have anything remotely similar. Heartfire Academy was the power most skilled in artifice, and they were also Great Sea's biggest rival. There was little chance they would share their insights with someone like Magnus and his disciple.

"I assume there is a reason why you didn't switch to something more conventional, like the Elemental Star?" Marcus asked.

"Teacher is a descendant of an ancient order dedicated to the Grand Order Technique," Vitruvius spoke up, admiration evident in his voice.

"He cannot possibly give up on his legacy just because it would be easier that way." Marcus's perception of Magnus immediately rose a little. It was praiseworthy of Magnus to continue his ancestral tradition like this. He knew from experience that there must have been a lot of pressure on him to drop his old foundational technique and switch, once his potential became obvious. To persist in the face of pressure and hardship and still come so far was impressive.

"When I said I have utmost respect for you, I was not just spouting platitudes," Magnus said.

"I genuinely think we are kindred souls."

"I see. So what you are saying is that Vitruvius has a wide variety of spells, and is thus especially qualified to help my students, since they will also learn a wide variety of spells," Marcus guessed.

"Yes," Magnus confirmed.

"And you're hoping I can help your disciple fuse the various disparate logos he is gathering into an actual logos foundation, because you don't know how to help him," Marcus further guessed.

"Er," Vitruvius made an undefinable sound, looking uncomfortable.

"Yes," Magnus admitted.

"You've come to the right person," Marcus said.

"This may sound arrogant, but I don't think there is anyone in Great Sea Academy more qualified in this regard. My students will always come first, of course, but I don't mind lending aid to Vitruvius. Assuming I actually accept him after I have tested him." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. After that, Marcus ordered Vitruvius to stand some distance away from him on the training ground and to raise his best defenses.

He outstretched his hand towards the young man and fired a wave of invisible energy at him. The air between them distorted and warped, like hot air on a summer day, and Vitruvius took a step back, eyes widening in surprise, the translucent shield of blue force he erected in front of him shaking and cracking. Vitruvius moved his hands rapidly, shoring up the shield and creating another defensive layer - a thick wall made out of ghostly interlocking rods and gears.

Marcus simply increased the power of his disruption beam. It was actually not a spell he typically had memorized – it was just too weak to be very useful at the level he operated on – but he prepared it just for this examination since it was for dismantling defensive barriers. The sheet of force protecting Vitruvius shattered, and the wall of gears soon fell apart too.

Marcus didn't criticize him for it; it was never a question whether he would be able to destroy his defenses, just how long it would take him, and if he would have to use more than one spell.

"Attack me," he told Vitruvius. Vitruvius was a decent combat mage. His skills were nothing special, but Marcus was still surprised. He had assumed the man spent his entire time in Adria, away from any combat, but it was clear he was wrong.

"I participated in the Second Academy War," Vitruvius told him.

"I was in charge of maintaining the ship ballistae, and the small number of war machines we have, but there were times during which we had to defend ourselves from attacks." After that, he sent Vitruvius to test the children, observing what he was doing. Amusingly, Vitruvius seemed more interested in questioning them about magical theory and general knowledge than seeing their spellwork.

When he did ask them to perform magic, he paid more attention to the way they drew upon the mana in their environment and made gestures to cast the spells, rather than the visuals of the spells themselves.

"I don't like this guy," Cassia bluntly said, loud enough for the man to hear her. She crossed her hands over her chest.

"You're hired," Marcus told Vitruvius, ignoring Cassia's outburst.

"We didn't discuss my salary," Vitruvius pointed out.

"Don't demand anything ridiculous, and I'm sure we can come to some kind of agreement," Marcus told him, waving his hand dismissively.

"You're a terrible negotiator, Teacher," Renatus complained.

"Since you have already agreed to help me advance in rank, I will not be greedy," Vitruvius hurriedly assured him.

"You can reduce my payment for the amount you think is worth your help."

"Alas, my student is also not a very good negotiator," Magnus told Renatus, talking to Marcus's students as if they were old friends.

"I think they will get along just fine." The two men left afterwards, though Vitruvius promised to join them in a few days, once they were ready to leave the city. Afterwards, the second potential teacher showed up. It was a middle-aged woman in a blue dress. She had a severe expression on her face, and a very prideful approach. She was the second person Cato had recommended to him. Her name was Marcella, and while she was a respected teacher, she had a reputation of being strict and confrontational.

She wasted little time on introductions and immediately moved to inspect the children. She ordered them to line up like little soldiers, and then observed as they cast what little spells they knew on the ground, the training dummies, and the air around them.

"What a sorry lot these students of yours are!" she told him afterwards. There were murmurs of discontent from the students behind her, but she ignored them.

"Their spell selection is all over the place, with no overarching plan whatsoever, and worse, they are disrespectful and cannot stay quiet. Their growth may be impressive now, but it will slow down fast if they continue down the wrong path. What are you even thinking, Elder Marcus?" After a few more minutes of argument, they agreed this wasn't going to work. She was a powerful logos mage and an experienced teacher, but her thinking was incompatible with how he intended to go about things.

If she were just strict, he'd be willing to give her a chance, even if his students despaired at the decision, but she clearly didn't like that he wasn't picking their specialties in advance. He didn't fault her for it, however. Marcella was simply voicing the prevailing thought in the academy regarding how young mages should be taught, and it was hardly a surprise that someone from Cato's circle of friends favored an orthodox solution.

His students seemed to visibly breathe a sigh of relief when Marcella left, however. Marcus gave them a knowing look.

"You should all be very glad you aren't attending classes here if Marcella is too much for you," he told them.

"Some of the teachers here carry a stick with them to every class, so they can discipline unruly students." Marcus should know – he'd often been on the receiving end of that. Admittedly, he had usually deserved it. Next was Clodius. He was a former academy teacher who had quit his teaching position a few years earlier, and was now looking for a fresh start. On the face of it, he seemed like a decent choice, but Marcus had a strange feeling about him and he had learned to trust his instincts on things like this.

He tried to ask Clodius why he had quit his previous position – being a teacher at the academy was a prestigious job that many mages would kill for, and it was unusual for someone to just give it up, especially if they were as young as Clodius. He suspected that Clodius had been forced out of the position due to some kind of misconduct, but spared the humiliation of actually being outright fired. Clodius refused to say anything about the reason, and quickly became defensive. Marcus sent him away.

The next candidate was Hostia, who was… not what he had expected. When he'd asked about her prior to this meeting, he'd gotten a lot of blank looks and people telling him they don't know her. Now that he'd met her, he knew why that was. Standing before him was a strange woman with a large, wide-brimmed hat. She had a leather harness slung over her shoulder; a wide variety of bottles, pouches, and herbal charms were hanging from it.

She was smoking a long, elaborate pipe as she walked, shaping the smoke in the form of birds and beasts as she exhaled. An odd smell, not exactly unpleasant but very distinctive, emanated from her.

"I am not here to be a teacher," Hostia told him.

"In fact, I am not even a mage, so I wouldn't be of much help there, even if I wanted to. I am an alchemist. I figured that, since your academy is so brand new, you probably don't have a dedicated alchemist of your own yet. I offer myself for the position."

"Good alchemists are in high demand," Marcus noted. Alchemists were one of the adept paths with the least impressive combat capability, as well as expensive to train. This made it hard for them to advance.

"Why would you leave Adria for a total backwater? I cannot possibly supply you with materials as well as Adria's many markets can." He didn't actually know for sure that Hostia was one of the better alchemists out there, but it made sense to him. Great Sea Academy was the most advanced power out there when it came to potion production. Because water magic could be used to enhance potion making, even average mages often had a heavy interest in alchemy.

Marcus himself had a fair bit of alchemical knowledge, and could produce many things himself with no help needed from dedicated alchemists. Therefore, an actual alchemist operating in Adria had to be relatively good. Besides, he recognized some of the things hanging from her harness, and they were expensive. That was a lot of money to pay just to pretend to be someone you're not.

"I won't lie, I got into a bit of trouble here in Adria," she told him.

"I angered some people, and now I need a place to lay low for a few years until things calm down a bit. From what I know of you, Elder Marcus, you should know exactly how that feels."

"Hmm," Marcus hummed indecipherably.

"Oh right, I also have two students with me that I want to bring along. That's okay, right? I'm sure your place can accommodate three more people," she added.

"It might," Marcus said, giving her a piercing look as he studied her. She met his gaze fearlessly, taking another puff from her pipe. He thought for a moment that she would blow smoke into his face, but it seemed she wasn't that brazen.

"You say you're not applying as a teacher, but mages from Adria do learn the basics of alchemy. Would you be willing to teach them how to make simple mana potions and the like?" She glanced over at his students, who were simply listening in on the conversation without saying anything. She didn't ask them to demonstrate anything, but she stared at each of them for a surprisingly long time… Marcus couldn't help but wonder what she could possibly conclude by just looking at them like this.

He didn't know much about the abilities alchemists gained as they rose in ranks, but surely just looking at someone wouldn't be able to tell you much?

"Sure, why not? I already have two students, what's ten more," she eventually said, making a dismissive gesture with her pipe.

"Hopefully they're not as hopeless as those two. Say, does your tower have any alcohol in it?"

"I keep a bottle or two in case of guests," Marcus told her.

"Oh, you're going to need way more than that," she laughed.

"Alright, so do I have the job or not?" After some more haggling – Marcus insisted she would have to pay for any alcohol out of her own pocket, while she was stubborn about it being 'operating expenses' – he agreed to give her a chance. In all honesty, his long-term plans could benefit a lot from a dedicated alchemist. He just wasn't sure Hostia was capable and reliable enough to be that dedicated alchemist.

"Is this really okay?" Claudia asked dubiously once the woman had put some distance between them and her.

"She seems… unreliable."

"We can always chase her out of the tower if she causes too much trouble," Marcus said.

"What if she turns us all into pigs?" Renatus asked.

"There might be a good reason why she's in trouble."

"You read too many fanciful stories. It's more likely she would just poison us than go for elaborate magic like that," Marcus told him.

"Anyway, let me worry about such things." He was obviously going to ask around about her, now that he knew more about her. However, he didn't think Hostia would be walking around so freely if she were responsible for something particularly heinous. Next was a female mage named Ursula, and then a male mage named Sulpicius. They were both logos mages of decent skill, but Marcus didn't like either of them.

Neither of them had any real combat skills, and part of the reason he was getting these new teachers was so there was someone to defend his students when he was away, not just so he had someone else to teach and monitor them.

Talking to them, he got the impression that neither of them really understood what they were signing up for – they didn't seem to realize how small and humble Zenith Academy was at the moment, and Sulpicius in particular seemed to think it was situated in a small frontier town until Marcus told him otherwise. The next candidate was a middle-aged man with striking red hair, called Rufus.

"I hate it here," Rufus told him.

"I've spent my life out adventuring, and participated in both Academy Wars. Life in the city is stifling and boring. Alas, I cannot find any place that pays better elsewhere. Match my current salary, and I'll gladly follow you into the woods. I've taught a few apprentices in my time. Never a whole group of children, but I think I can manage." Rufus was a fire magic specialist. He ordered Marcus's students to fire upon the training dummies in the distance with whatever spells they had.

It wasn't something all of them could even do – for instance, Claudia only knew how to use a ball of thread she carried around to entangle potential opponents, and had no other combat spells. However, Cassia in particular had practiced a fire bolt spell very heavily. She focused most of her energies into mastering this one spell and it showed – while she was one of the less talented students overall, she was really good at this spell in particular, and likely one of the most combat-capable apprentices in the group.

Rufus spent a lot of time lingering beside her as she cast her fire bolt at the distant dummy, rubbing his chin. He eventually gave her a few pointers before returning to Marcus. It made Marcus wonder if Cassia in particular might actually benefit from a more orthodox approach. It didn't matter for now, though, since mages only really began to specialize when they started accumulating logos.

"I don't know how much I can teach most of them, to be honest," Rufus admitted.

"I'm not a great general mage like you, just your average fire mage with nothing else to impress you with. It's up to you if you think this is worth it, but I'm willing to give it a try." Marcus appreciated his honesty, but he also wasn't sure if he wanted to hire him yet. He told him as much, saying he would have to think about it, and Rufus took it in stride. He told Marcus to contact him if he decided he wanted him after all and left. That left only one candidate. A young woman named Sabina.

Marcus hadn't been able to find out much about her, but unlike with Hostia, that wasn't because people didn't know her. It was because she didn't really have any notable deeds or connections. Sabina had only recently become a logos mage, and had never had a student, as far as Marcus could tell. Frankly, he was tempted to decline her application out of hand and move on, but he figured he might as well hear her out.

She eventually arrived, clearly very nervous, constantly looking around at the training ground, nearby houses, and Marcus's students, as if she were in some unknown enemy territory. He knew she was young, but now that he saw her in person, he could see she was really young, probably in her late teens. Eighteen, maybe?

"From what I understand, you have no experience teaching," Marcus asked her.

"Yes," she said, nodding quickly.

"And you have no combat experience either," Marcus added.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Your application said you are a fortune teller," Marcus said.

"An astrologer," She corrected him.

"I interpret the positions of celestial objects to provide insight and guidance. It is not superstition."

"An astrologer, right. And you already served under Martina, another spirit manifestation mage," Marcus said.

"But you left from her service on your own accord. Why abandon such a prestigious patron?"

"We could not get along," Sabina said.

"Martina is also a scholar of the stars, but her ideas are wrong, completely wrong… we argued a lot and eventually we both agreed it was for the best if we both went our own way." It was generally considered extremely arrogant for an adept to argue with their superior about their area of expertise. Marcus considered pointing that out, before deciding there was no point. Sabina was actually very talented. Becoming a logos mage at such a young age was really impressive. However…

"I'm not giving you a job," Marcus told her bluntly.

"Wait! I, uh, have a recommendation letter!" she suddenly said, pulling out a scroll from her pocket. Marcus looked at her silently, eyebrow raised. A recommendation letter? Who could have possibly-"It's from Elder Pliny," she said.

"You know, that guy who runs your old orphanage?"

"Old Pliny gave you a recommendation letter?" Marcus asked incredulously.

"I don't believe it." She waved the scroll in front of his face and he snatched it out of her hand. Unrolling it, he quickly scanned the text. Amazing. It really was from Old Pliny!

"Please take care of my idiot granddaughter," Marcus read out one of the lines out loud.

"Consider it a personal favor. You can have her dig potatoes to pay for her lodgings." He looked at Sabina, who was avoiding his gaze.

"Why didn't you start with this?" Marcus asked her.

"Do you have to ask? It's embarrassing," she said.

"I didn't know Old Pliny had a granddaughter," Marcus said. Not that Old Pliny had told him much about his old life.

"Tell me honestly, is there something special about you?"

"Well, yes. Kind of. I have an affinity with the logos of the stars," Sabina said, looking slightly embarrassed. Logos of the stars… it was an extremely rare thing, but sadly, star magic was virtually nonexistent on Tasloa. Additionally, materials and creatures that contained star logos were so rare they were basically a myth. This meant that Sabina was in a similar situation as Julia, if not worse.

She had an elemental affinity, and a rare one at that, but because there was no convenient source of star logos for her to absorb and no star magic spells for her to learn, it was not something that interested people much.

"Why are you embarrassed about that? You're practicing the Elemental Star, no? Your special affinity definitely helped you become a logos mage this early in life. You should be grateful," Marcus pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah… so do I get the job or not?" she asked, sighing.

"Can you actually teach?" Marcus asked her.

"I thought you just wanted a sinecure."

"No, I want to try this for real," she said, a look of determination on her face.

"I read the stars last night, and they said this is my chance to turn my life around. Please hire me!"

"I tested the previous candidates to see how they handle combat situations, but I'm guessing there is no point in doing that with you," Marcus guessed.

"Well…" she stammered.

"Go and see your new students then. I'm curious to see how you will assess them," Marcus said, pointing at the group behind him. Straightening herself up to appear taller, Sabina marched off towards Claudia, her first target. Both girls seemed equally anxious at the impending interaction. Amusing.

"Alright, show me one of your spells," Sabina told Claudia.

"Actually, wait. How many spells do you guys even know? Do you know any spells? I think I remember you only internalized your foundational technique recently…"

"I have three spells memorized right now. We all have three spells, miss, umm…"

"Secunda. But just call me Sabina, I'm not overly proud," Sabina said. Marcus wasn't sure he could agree with her on that.

"Anyway, just choose the spell you like the most and demonstrate it. Take as much time as you need." Claudia demonstrated a levitation spell on herself. She sat down on the ground and closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and then managed to levitate herself into the air until her head was at the same level as Sabina. She had a long way before she could say she'd mastered the spell, Marcus thought – if she was proficient with it, she could use it to float around at great speed and convenience.

Ironically, despite her not wanting to learn combat spells, the levitation spell was very good for combat. It allowed low ranking mages to move around the battlefield quickly and dodge attacks in a way that would be otherwise impossible. Claudia just didn't think of it as a combat spell. Claudia's two other spells were Floating Light and Entangling Thread, but Sabina didn't bother asking her to demonstrate them. She instead moved on to her next target. She halted when she got close to the elf girl.

"Are… are you an elf?" Sabina asked incredulously.

"Yes," Iris said, completely unbothered by her surprise. Sabina turned around to give Marcus a questioning look, but he simply folded his arms over his chest and explained nothing. After a while she just shook her head and walked up to the elven girl.

"Show me your best spell," Sabina told her.

"I'm not sure that's wise. Teacher told me not to destroy any of the training dummies if I can help it," Iris told her seriously.

"Come on. You know those are protected, right? You can't possibly be powerful enough already to burn those down," Sabina told her. In response, Iris made a sweeping motion with her hand, and a wall of fire sprung up between the two of them, hot and incandescent. Sabina took two steps back, panic etched onto her face, breathing heavily. The wall of fire only lasted a moment and then dispersed.

"Is this really just a fire barrier spell?" Sabina asked. Iris nodded.

"I… see. Damn, what kind of monsters are you raising here?" The last part was mumbled softly enough that Marcus wasn't supposed to hear it, but he did. And in all likelihood, so did Iris. Rumor had it that elves had good hearing. Those elven ears weren't just for show. The next person she walked up to was Renatus. She asked him to demonstrate his best spell, and he obliged her by creating a harsh gust of wind that picked up dust and blasted the spot in the air where he was pointing at.

This was actually a very effective spell in combat, despite seeming weak on paper. Marcus had won a number of battles as a young man by simply blowing people away while they stood on balconies and ledges, or by blasting dust and gravel into their eyes to create distractions. Renatus was lying. He was lying about several things, actually. First, he told the other students that he only kept three spells memorized, just like they did, but it was actually five. Secondly, Gust wasn't his best spell.

That was definitely Mage Hand, which he had spent a lot of time practicing with. Sabina didn't question anything about Renatus's demonstration, however, and simply moved on to the rest of the students. Regulus demonstrated his Mist Shield, which shrouded his form in a cloud of vapor. A lot of people thought the spell was useless when they first heard about it, since the mist did not actually stop any projectiles.

What they didn't realize was that many low-ranking spells required the caster to be able to see the target before they could affect it. Shrouding yourself in mist was actually very effective at the level where his students were at. Agron's best spell was Concussive Blow, which he demonstrated by slamming his staff into the dirt. It caused a cloud of dust to envelop both him and Sabina, who retreated from the area, coughing. This was another spell that was far more dangerous than it appeared at first.

While it was true that it required the caster to strike someone at close range, close-range battles were far from rare at this rank. Many monsters really liked getting up close and personal with mages, and warrior adepts often didn't expect any kind of effective resistance when they closed distance with a mage. Although somewhat limited and brutish, Marcus felt the spell was a good choice for Agron. Cassia and Volesus demonstrated the fire bolt spell.

It was a classic bit of combat magic, popular even in Great Sea Academy, despite them being heavy on the water magic. Fire magic was very offensively powerful, especially at the level of apprentices and regular mages, but as one rose through the ranks, people increasingly developed experience and specialized techniques to counter it. Cricket showcased her Mage Hand spell by throwing a bunch of rocks into the distance and then using the spell to pull it back towards her.

Telekinesis-type spells were popular among pretty much all students, there was something viscerally appealing about being able to affect the world at a distance like that. Diocles demonstrated a Force Barrier spell. There was not much to say about that, especially since Marcus would have to test it with an offensive spell before he could conclude how good it was.

Sabina, whether out of lack of confidence or due to being afraid of hurting his student, declined to test Diocles's defense properly, and instead simply gave the circular shield some solid knocks with her fist and pronounced it good enough. Finally, Julia demonstrated a Force Dart spell on a nearby training dummy, firing a knife-like projectile at it. It was a solid showing, but much like Renatus, she was lying about it being her best spell.

Her best spell, and one she practiced with most zealously, was the Shape Wood spell. He had told her it was a very good practice spell for any of the other wood spells she might want to cast in the future, and she had taken that advice to heart. He supposed that it just didn't seem impressive enough to her to show off her ability to twist a block of wood into crude animal shapes. Having witnessed the skills of his students, Sabina came back to Marcus to give her report.

"So? How do they look to you?" Marcus asked.

"They're a bit all over the place, but it's not like that matters until way later in their career," she said.

"You probably know what you're doing. You did become a spirit manifestation mage somehow. Anyway, I think I can teach them."

"Hm. To be honest, I already decided to give you a chance the moment you produced that recommendation letter from Old Pliny," Marcus told her.

"But I'm warning you: if you turn out to be useless, I'm really going to send you to the potato fields."

"See, this sort of thing is why I didn't want to show you the letter first," she sighed.

"I really hate my grandfather's sense of humor. Besides, I'm pretty sure your academy doesn't have potato fields." Marcus gave her a long look.

"Um, right?" she asked. He kept staring at her. She glanced back at his students.

"You guys don't actually have any potato fields, do you?" Marcus was so proud when they simply stared back at her, saying nothing as well. They learned so fast.