[Albion Plane, Porfield Kingdom, Mount Thor, White Lion Stronghold]
The log house assigned to Greem was a small, solitary structure built against the inner palisade wall.
As a squad leader, privacy was one of his few luxuries. He barred the door behind him, the chaos of the clearing muffled into a distant rumble. The single room was spartan but orderly.
A straw-filled mattress lay in one corner, his spare sword and gear neatly stacked beside it.
In the other corner, resting on a crude shelf hewn from a log, was his true treasure: his books.
His biochip automatically cataloged them as his eyes swept over the spines, a familiar comfort.
White Lion Swordsmanship Insights. It was a reward from Knight Kael, after he manages to track their location down and eliminate their scouts during a hunt. The man always saw him in a good light, perhaps due to his ability to read, but likely because unlike the rest of the bandits, he was not a brute.
History of the Porfield Kingdom & Its Noble Houses. This book he traded for with a traveling merchant. It had cost him several deer hides, a rare currency in cities, but more common in the mountains.
The Campaigns of Duke Valerius. Some books, like this one counting the military campaigns of the strongest household of the Porfield Kingdom, were just looted from raiding itinerary merchants.
On Herbology and Basic Poultices. This last book, the rarest of all, had been gifted to him by Alicia herself, on the day he became a squad leader. Although he did not have the dexterity or patience to become an alchemist, this book recorded many herbs. Once absorbed by his biochip, he became a walking encycloepedia allowing him to easily identify rare or valuable herbs.
His ability to read, a skill so rare among bandits, had always been his hidden advantage.
It earned him a grudging respect, setting him apart from the mere brutes.
Sitting on his bedroll, the weight of the day pressing down on him, he pulled the acolyte's book from his tunic. The strange leather was still warm. He opened it carefully to the first chapter: Basic Arcane Meditation Technique.
The script was dense, the concepts alien.
It spoke of an energy permeating all things, a force called 'mana', 'arcane' or 'aether'. It described a process of stilling the mind, of reaching inward and outward simultaneously to perceive and eventually grasp this energy.
'Every plane in the vast universe possesses energy particles, and every living being can interact with it. To become an acolyte, one needs to have the necessary predispositions'
[Analyzing Text: "Basic Arcane Meditation Technique"...]
[Language: Common Tongue. Subject: Thaumaturgical Theory.]
[Primary Directive: Establishing interface with ambient energetic particles.]
Greem followed the instructions. He closed his eyes, regulating his breathing, forcing the tumult of the day to recede. Ragnar's silver, Alicia's challenge, the Oakhaven villagers' hatred: a lot happened, and he voided those memories from his thinking.
He focused on the darkness behind his eyelids, seeking the invisible currents the book described.
For a long time, there was nothing. Then, a flicker. A particle. Then two...he started to grow awareness of the arcane.
[Sensory Overlay Initiated. Visualizing ambient mana field.]
His biochip projected the data directly onto his visual cortex.
Once he understood, the biochip's analytical ability started to pick them up from his vision, and highlighted them.
The dark room was suddenly filled with a breathtaking, microscopic cosmos.
Countless tiny particles drifted in the air, glowing with soft, intrinsic light.
Most were a deep, steady brown, moving with a slow, gravitational certainty.
Among them, far fewer in number, zipped occasional particles of a vibrant, brilliant blue-white, crackling with erratic energy.
[Particle Analysis Complete.]
Brown Particles: Identified as Earth-Aspected Mana. Concentration: 68%.
Blue-White Particles: Identified as Thunder-Aspected Mana. Concentration: 19%.
Remainder: Inert/Neutral particles.
[Conclusion: Subject Greem exhibits High Affinity for Earth Element. Minor Affinity for Thunder Element.]
He had done it. He was seeing the fabric of magic itself. The book had mentioned that a mage's initial perception and personality often reflected their innate affinities. The world was not just earth and air; it was energy, and he could see it.
The solid, unyielding earth and the rare, shocking spark of thunder—they were his to command.
Drunk on this revelation, he carefully unrolled the scroll he had taken.
The strange symbols swam before his eyes, but his biochip, now attuned to the arcane terminology, began cross-referencing the patterns with the meditation manual.
[Scanning Spell Formulation...]
[Deciphering... 47%... 89%... Complete.]
[Spell Identified: Gaze of Medusa (Petrification Eye Spell)]
School: Transmutation (Earth)
Requirement: Earth Element Affinity. Mana Channeling Capability. Spell matrix memorisation
Description: Channels earth-aspected mana through the ocular nerves, projecting a gaze that transmutes living organic matter into stone. Effect scale proportional to mana investment and target vitality.]
A petrification spell. Suited to his path.
A shiver of profound excitement, cold and sharp, ran down his spine.
This was not merely a different way to become stronger; it was a leap onto an entirely different path. He was quietly unlocking the power to turn them to stone with a look.
'The headman probably lacked the talent mentioned by the book to either awaken arcane perception, or lacked the earth affinity to learn the spell...How terrifying would it have been if he could actually use it', Greem analysed
There was so much he did not know of this world. A simple spell could render the strongest of knights helpless. This was a shocking truth.
He looked around his small, dark cabin, but now he saw it anew.
He saw the earth mana sleeping in the log walls, felt the potential of the thunder in the distant rumble of the crowd outside.
The twenty silver coins on his table were suddenly insignificant. In comparison to the powers held into the book's inscriptions, it all felt meaningless.
[Name: Greem | Age: 16 years old
Attributes:
Strength - 1.6 | Agility - 1.5 | Vitality - 1.5 | Arcane - 1.2 (New)
Skills: White Tiger Sword Art (60 → 61), Banditry (55 → 56), Literacy (40 → 42), Horse Riding (35), Plundering (30)]