Varrow sighed and flicked his right index finger towards the sparring area and Edward's body was immediately enveloped by a gust of pale-green wind. He was then raised above the ground and brought to Varrow at a steady pace while the pale-green wind also healed Edward. William, who was still standing in the sparring area, disappeared amidst a flash of white light and within the next moment, William was sitting in his seat once again, sporting a carefree expression.
Victoria, who sat beside William, cursed at him:
"William, you fucking show off, you could have let Edward showcase some of his skills before you took him out."
William's expression quickly changed to one of someone who was being wrongly accused and he replied:
"What? You know that's not my style, Victoria. In a spar, if I don't go all out, then I'm just wasting my time. I'm sure Edward learned something even from such a quick loss."
By the time that Edward's body reached Varrow, Edward regained consciousness and after Varrow manipulated the pale-green wind to place Edward onto his feet, Varrow asked him:
"Edward, did you manage to learn anything from your spar?"
Edward silently shook his head in denial. Varrow sighed and explained:
"Although I would have preferred if your senior had slowed his pace, even an outcome like this is common in the world of magic. Work harder so that it doesn't happen again."
Edward's face became stern and slightly ashamed and he went back to sitting in the front row, to the right of Jessica. William said nothing in response to Edward's obviously bad mood since he did not plan on apologizing for getting good results.
(I only give my targets breathing room when there is critical information to be gained from them. Otherwise, they're just meat on the chopping block.)
Varrow gave his next set of instructions when he sensed that the shattered floor of the sparring area had somehow been completely repaired:
"Patrice Suez and Calder Wright. Head to the sparring area."
Both Patrice and Calder got up from the back row and walked to the sparring area at a reasonable pace. Calder took up the position at the end of the sparring area closest to the observers while Patrice took up the position at the end of the sparring area opposite to Calder.
Without any suspense, Varrow immediately gave the command:
"Begin the spar."
Calder then proceeded to repeatedly clap his hands together in response to Varrow's command. His claps were slow paced but impactful enough to be heard clearly by Patrice at the other end of the sparring area. Patrice raised her right brow in response to the sound and placed her left hand on her left breast, trying to take note of her heart rate.
(My heart's pumping rate and rhythm subtly changed in response to Calder's clapping...no, it changed in response to the sound of Calder's clapping...)
As Patrice made her deductions, her eyes glowed an eerie purple color as her spell resolved:
(Deductive Thoughts)
After realizing the problem, Patrice waved her left hand slightly and cast another one of her spells at Calder:
(Revealing Thoughts)
Calder, while still clapping his hands, suddenly blurted out his most dominant, present thoughts:
"My Rhythmic Pace spell should get Patrice frantic and unsettled in short order as her increased heart rate and adrenal activity adversely affect her nervous system."
Calder frowned intensely after he said all of that.
(What the hell did I just do?)
Patrice then said:
"Oh...so you must be a sound path Magician, then. Your spell's effect is subtle and honestly, if it wasn't for my deductions and your explanation, your plan might have succeeded; I would have had to get some tea to calm my nerves."
Seeing and hearing what just took place, William and Victoria shook their heads and smiled bitterly. Victoria remarked:
"Patrice is a real freak, revealing people's thoughts like that. Calder doesn't know what he is in for."
William replied simply:
"Let him learn about the struggles of us seniors first hand."
The other competitors did not immediately understand what Victoria and William were talking about since none of them knew Patrice personally; they had only heard vague rumors about her strength.
Back in the sparring area, Calder did not let up on his clapping even though Patrice's strange spell forced him to reveal his plans. In the meantime, while he maintained Rhythmic Pace, Calder also began repeatedly stomping his right foot onto the floor, producing loud 'thuds' that complemented his claps.
(Reverse Flow Beat)
Patrice's tanned complexion immediately went pale when she heard the beat of Calder's foot. Blood soon slowly flowed from both her nostrils and fell in droplets onto the floor, dying the green mat with small blotches of red hue. After a few moments, her body began slightly trembling uncontrollably. Even after blood began flowing from her nose and her 'nerves' became erratic, Patrice did not move from her spot and simply cast Revealing Thoughts at Calder once again.
Calder was then forced to explain his move against his will:
"My Reverse Flow Beat results in much of my target's blood flowing in the reverse direction within their veins and arteries, causing internal injuries once they hear the specific sound of my stomp. The effect of Rhythmic Pace exacerbates the latter spell's effect, sometimes resulting in acute but temporary organ failure."
Calder's expression became ugly when he realized that he spilled the beans about his own methods once gain.
(What the hell is going on? Why can't I resist the effect of her spell, even with my magic energy saturating my body?)
Patrice saw Calder's unsightly expression and felt like educating her ignorant junior, so she explained:
"Wisdom path is a very famous but obscure path from the perspective of the general public. Unless you have decent attainment in wisdom path or a very good inheritance that has methods to defend against it, you will likely be affected by its methods without being able to mount much of a resistance. It is the one path that is capable of defeating mighty villains without much force being directly applied. Sharing useful information isn't so bad, is it? Aren't you glad that you're sparring with me?"
Calder's right eyelid twitched as he developed the urge to give this strange woman a few tight slaps. He maintained his two sound path methods but even though they seemed to be effective, Patrice did not waver despite her obviously injured and increasingly nervous state.
(She isn't even attempting to use a healing spell on herself. What is she waiting for?)
After ten more seconds of Patrice's condition slowly deteriorating, she suddenly started to sway from left to right, seeming as if she was about to fall over. Calder internally rejoiced:
(My spells' effects have finally pushed her to the edge.)
Soon, however, Patrice stood still and her complexion became tanned once again while the blood flowing from her nostrils was absorbed into her skin and she stopped bleeding almost immediately. Her slight trembling ceased completely and her gaze became sharp; she looked healthy again, as if Calder's efforts had been in vain. Patrice then muttered audibly:
"I've seen enough. You're probably really strong but you're too slow in putting an opponent like me away. By this time, if I were so inclined, I could have defeated you one thousand times already."
Calder became visibly displeased with Patrice and loudly scolded her:
"Stop your shameless boasting, woman!"
Patrice sighed and then raised her left index finger and placed it at the center of her forehead.
(Involuntary Thoughts)
Calder suddenly lost control of his left hand, seemingly in response to Patrice's actions and his clapping stopped as he proceeded to mimic Patrice's hand movement using his left hand. He internally panicked:
(What? Since when did I start playing Monkey See, Monkey Do?)
Calder ceased stomping his foot and cancelled both Rhythmic Pace and Reverse Flow Beat in order to pour his focus into resisting what Patrice was doing to him but he ultimately failed. The moment that Calder's left index finger touched the center of his forehead, Patrice cast another spell with Calder as the target:
(Collapsing Thoughts)
Patrice's body faintly emitted a purple aura and through a strange magical connection with Calder, his right index finger also faintly emitted a purple aura, following which, that purple aura seeped into his forehead which quickly resulted in every thought that came into contact with the purple aura bursting like a bubble.
Scenes and images as well as vague knowledge that were unconsciously held within Calder's mind regarding his past and present suddenly vanished at an unwieldly pace, so much so, that Calder soon forgot his own name and other important details.
(Huh? Who am I? What am I doing here?)
In about one second, thousands of Calder's thoughts vanished. After ten seconds, millions of Calder's thoughts vanished and at that point, his mouth fell open and he begun to drool uncontrollably while sporting a blank expression on his face. After twenty seconds, Calder could take no more of the effects of Patrice's spell and his arms went limp, his left hand falling listlessly from his forehead to his left side and then Calder fell to the floor face first, unconscious.
Nick's indifferent expression froze after he witnessed Calder's loss. He was both confused and spooked.
(It looked like Patrice beat Calder by turning him into an idiot. Since when is one magical path so tyrannical as to render a Magician completely helpless on the basis of insufficient knowledge of the path and it is not even like with main stream rule path where there is absolutely no literature on it? Wisdom path is one of the most famous paths in all of magic. How comes Calder could not defend against it using his own methods, even by just using an impromptu maneuver?)
At this time, Slade, who Nick had not heard from in a couple of years, filled him in:
[Wisdom path has its own advantages. It is not easily understood because of the complex nature of the mind which is what the path mostly aims to influence. Everyone understands fire well enough; you touch it, it burns you, but the mind is not so easy to fathom. The mechanisms that give that woman's spells their effects simply went over that man's head and he was not able to cope.]
Nick momentarily put Patrice's and Calder's matter aside and asked:
(Slade, why have you been silent all this time; it's been years?)
Slade replied disinterestedly:
[Do you really expect me to make a comment on everything you do or actively monitor and interfere with all of the steps during your cultivation? Are you the Apprentice Magician or am I? There will be long periods of time that you will not hear from me. I decided to clear the air just now so that you don't get caught off guard by that woman or another wisdom path Magician. Wisdom path is troublesome, and that is coming from a Wisdom Archmage like myself, but any path can effectively counter it as long as you understand wisdom path's basic concepts and have decent attainment in your own path. Calder's attainment in sound path was evidently too low for him to think of a proper counter and so he just panicked and fell victim to that woman near the end.]
Nick nodded his head in agreement, feeling that Slade's words were probably correct.
(Come to think of it, I have a partly wisdom path method in my possession - Vision Of The Blade. I haven't used it in years but it might serve as a useful basis for developing methods to counter wisdom path, that is, unless you are willing to give me your wisdom path inheritance, Slade.)
Slade said nothing and there was only silence in response to Nick's thoughts.
(Slade?)
Slade did not respond to Nick no matter how much Nick called on him.
(I guess he's gone back into hibernation.)
Nick then turned his attention back to Patrice and watched her walk away from the sparring area, leaving the unconscious Calder on the floor. Varrow flicked his right index finger at the sparring area, which resulted in Calder being enveloped in a gust of pale-green wind and being floated towards Varrow at a steady pace. Varrow did whatever healing that he could from a distance and restored Calder's mind to a healthy state in the process.
By the time that Calder's body reached within three meters of Varrow, Calder had regained consciousness but his expression became a little blank. Varrow placed Calder onto his feet and asked him:
"Did you learn anything from the spar?"
Calder's expression soon went from being blank to being serious and he then replied:
"Yeah...I need to work on my own attainment level and increase my knowledge of other paths."
Varrow lightly smiled and commended:
"As expected of someone chosen by Might Eye; you are very self-aware. Alright, now that everyone has sparred, we will go get familiar with our accommodations."
As soon as Patrice rejoined the group, Varrow led everyone out of the sparring center by foot and then they proceeded towards their supposed accommodations. With Varrow in the lead, by the time two minutes had passed, Calder moved to Patrice's side and softly asked:
"Ms. Patrice, are you thirsty or maybe hungry? Can I get you something?"
Patrice blinked a few times, then after discreetly deducing what Calder was probably doing, she summoned an umbrella from her space band and replied:
"This heat from the sun is just menacing. Could you hold my umbrella up for me?"
Calder eagerly agreed:
"Ha ha. I am glad to be of help."
Calder took hold of the umbrella and opened it. The umbrella was purple in color and its shade material was made from a polyester fiber that effectively blocked the sun's rays. Its handle was made from brown wood and its shaft was made from grey steel. Calder held up the umbrella above Patrice's head and walked in tandem with her.
All the other students except Nick put on an uncomfortable expression when they witnessed Calder's fawning. He did not seem like the lackey type at first but now they began to see him in a new light. Nick only glanced at Calder as he tended to Patrice, thinking:
(Patrice seems reticent enough but like myself, she has a personality and machinations that are not to be underestimated. She's supposedly the strongest third year. I wonder what would have happened if I had sparred with her.)
Nick then absentmindedly glanced at Patrice and sensing his gaze, Patrice discreetly reacted to his gaze by returning one of her own. Nick wasn't sure what to do so he emulated the actions of a protagonist from a drama that he used to watch. While Nick maintained his indifferent expression, he awkwardly winked his right eye at Patrice.
From Patrice's perspective, Nick's actions seemed strange and so she warned him by using one of her methods to transmit to him one of her thoughts:
(Be careful who you are trying to be cute with, Nick. I like my men more well behaved than you're being.)
Nick slightly raised both his brows and couldn't help but let a soft chuckle escape his lips, thinking:
(How many times has older female Magicians warned me to be careful with how I interact with them? Do I have some kind of mark on my forehead that suggests, 'Creep'? In any case, there is probably no harm in what I did.)
Nick retracted his gaze from Patrice and filled his thoughts with the Cross Stream sword technique until the group came to a very high building with evidently many floor. The building had no signs but based on his experience with novels and movies, Nick guessed that it was some kind of hotel. Varrow led them through the building's glass double doors and walked up to the check-in counter.
While Varrow discussed things with the female clerk at the counter, who wore a bright-blue dress suite with a vest and tied her brown hair in a ponytail, Nick observed the surroundings carefully.
This lobby that they were in had several couches positioned at various places that were lined with gold and brown colored fabrics. The walls and the floor of the lobby itself were lined with dark-gold tiles, nine concrete columns, each less than half a meter in radius and painted dark brown were present near to the corners of the lobby and the check-in counter seemed to be made of some kind of metal and was painted with gold and brown flame like patterns.
Varrow soon returned to the students with eleven small silver keys and said:
"Each key has a number on it that corresponds to a certain room number. That room is where you will be residing for the remainder of the inter-academy competition. Once I give you the keys, you can do whatever you want. You're still able to use Richter Order Academy's services online within Large Garden so if you want to contact me, use your phone or come find me in room 54. Oh, I forgot to tell you the time difference between Grand Earth and Large Garden is 1:1, meaning one day in Large Garden is one day on Grand Earth. Any questions?"
Jet asked:
"On the day of the competition, what do we do first exactly?"
Varrow answered dutifully:
"Get to the arena by 7 am three days from now. There is a section already assigned to Richter Order Academy at the competition venue and you just need to ask the royal family's staff to guide you."
After being informed, everyone seemed content with the arrangements and Varrow handed each competitor a key. Soon, other groups of students and supervisors began filling the lobby and Varrow spoke:
"You are all dismissed until further notice. I advise you not to waste your time and take what you learnt from the spars this afternoon seriously. Goodbye."
After saying that, Varrow suddenly faded like a scattered gust of wind. Nick was about to do the same when Victoria came over to him and spoke to him:
"Capitol, you and I need to talk privately."
Nick observed Victoria's bearing, thinking that she wanted to settle the score regarding their battle within Never Ending Battlefield a few years ago. Nick internally sighed:
(I can't hide from her or avoid her since we will be competing in the competition together so I might as well humor her.)
Nick replied indifferently:
"Lead the way, senior."
Victoria was pleased with Nick's compliance since the younger man seemed a little arrogant but luckily, she did not have to convince him of anything.
Victoria looked at her key for a moment, then led Nick away from the others. The others, especially William, were a little curious about what Victoria wanted to discuss with Nick but within a few moments, they lost interest and went on to find their own rooms.
The hotel lobby had four staircases and three elevators that led to the room floors so it was no problem for them all to go their separate ways. Nick and Victoria took the stairs to get to the second floor but before they left the stairwell, Nick asked:
"Why don't we just talk right here?"
Victoria replied to Nick, feeling a little annoyed by his obliviousness:
"The matter is not something that I would want irrelevant people overhearing."
Nick internally rolled his eyes, thinking:
(Irrelevant people? I don't even know you, doesn't that make me irrelevant to you?)
Victoria continued to lead Nick and so they walked through the hallway of rooms on the second floor. The hallway had a hard, polished, brown wooden floor with over three dozen similarly polished wooden doors being adjacent to the floor at each of its two sides. After a few minutes, Nick and Victoria came to the door of room 71 and Victoria opened the door with her key, entering the room thereafter.
Nick decided to get the exchange over with, knowing that he had little to fear from going in the room with Victoria since she wouldn't have had any time to set up traps or a scheme. Nick also had his ghost-white blades that he could mobilize at a moment's notice if Victoria did anything stupid.
Nick entered the room and closed the door behind him. He and Victoria then stood a few feet apart and she began the conversation:
"I find it very strange that even after all this time, you did not even greet me once since we arrived in Large Garden. Do you think that I forgot about Never Ending Battlefield?"
Nick already expected this subject to come up so he shrugged his shoulders and replied:
"I just happened to be the better man at that time, no hard feelings, okay sis."
Victoria laughed at Nick's choice of words for a few moments while Nick's right eyelid twitched; he tried not to take her laughing personally. Victoria soon stopped laughing and said:
"I was impressed by your performance. Your skill in space and soul path is very awe inspiring; your blade path methods are not simple either. It really makes me wonder where exactly is it that you came from."
Nick disinterestedly replied:
"I came from a garbage heap, the stench of which you couldn't even imagine. I can smell the stink even today; it lingers in my mind. Now, what do you really want to talk about?"
Victoria slightly raised her right eyebrow, not understanding what the former part of Nick's reply meant since she knew that he was raised in a relatively normal house and neighborhood; she had background information too. Victoria decided to put those doubts aside and moved on to why she had brought Nick to this room:
"Do you want to have sex with me?"
Nick stared at Victoria blankly for a few seconds before what she said registered in his mind and he replied awkwardly:
"What?"
Victoria openly rolled her eyes at Nick and said:
"You, sir, are a grown man and I am a grown woman. I am asking you if you would like to join me for sex? It's that simple, a yes or no will suffice."
Nick immediately became suspicious and made his suspicions known:
"Why would you want to have sex with me?"
Victoria's expression became frustrated in response to Nick's stupid question and she said:
"Do I need a reason? Well, if you must have one...I am currently in the mood and you have proven to be fairly strong enough and so it would not be a disgrace to make use of you. Look, I'm not interested in playing games here, this matter really is a simple case of yes you will or no you won't. I'll just move on to my other plans if it's the latter."
Nick didn't say anything after hearing that. His thoughts spun rapidly, though:
(She actually seems serious. Hmmm...she's a strong female Magician with an ego and confidence to match. I can't say that I have a really strong urge to get mixed up with her but...I've never had sex with a Magician as strong as her before.)
Nick knew that his latter reasoning was stupid but he wanted to experience many things in his life, even if they seemed stupid at the outset.
(Smart living is great...except you don't really know what 'smart' is by living with biased and untested beliefs. I don't mind having relationships with women, I just don't want to be mixed up in their drama. I'm strong enough now to basically opt out of the latter and so I should put my 'invincibility' to the test, even if just once.)
What about Carla?
(Who? Oh...yeah. Like I said before, I don't plan on marrying Carla and the only reason that I am so close to the Jenner's pirate ship in the first place is because she schemed against me. Carla has nothing to do with how I live my life.)
Nick's eyes steeled with resolve but he still did not speak; he didn't like useless talk, anyway. He moved to stand directly in front of Victoria and looked her in the eyes. The woman's eyes were dark and filled with ego; she remarked:
"Oh. It looks like you've made your decision. Ground rule, if you try to get me pregnant, I will castrate you no matter what the academy's rules are."
(Dominion Field)
Victoria sensed Nick's magic power wash over her for a brief moment but did not resist. The next moment, she appeared in front of the wooden dining table situated within the living room and Nick's magic power immediately abated. Nick himself was positioned directly behind her and he did not hesitate to bend Victoria over the wooden table. Victoria did not resist.
Nick followed up by pulling down Victoria's dark-blue jeans pants and blue colored underwear; she did not resist this either. Nick then undid his own blue jeans pants and pulled it and his red boxers down. Nick held his fifth limb with his right hand and parted Victoria's butt cheeks with his left hand. Victoria immediately had suspicions about what Nick was about to do brought on just from the way that his left hand was positioned.
With her hands laid in front of her on the table, she laughed lightly and said:
"So, you're that type of man. You better have a good back because if you don't satisfy me, I might just electrocute your thing because of your presumption."
Nick hesitated a little when he heard that but ultimately decided to go through with what he intended and soon, his groin was fully pressed against Victoria's buttocks. Victoria clenched her right fist and slammed it against the table in response, her athletic and slightly toned body trembling at the same time. She soon said:
"Don't waste my time. Just put in the work!"
Nick felt a little awkward about Victoria's command and a bead of sweat rolled down his right cheek as he began his strokes.
******************************************************
"Cheers! Jacob, you are the man. I can't believe that you schooled Greg North in the duel like you did. His plant magic didn't hold a candle to your qi magic."
Jacob Argant gave a forced smile as he toasted with the other eight people around the table. The man that had given the earlier toast, who had grey hair, dark eyes and wore a graphic t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans shorts, continued to speak but this time to a woman sitting at Jacob's left side:
"Hey Tracy, you've known Jacob the longest, right? How did he manage to get so strong?"
The man who was speaking clearly could not handle his liquor as he seemed shaky on his feet while a cup of wine was present in his left hand but the woman answered him honestly:
"Hard work I think, but why don't you ask Jacob yourself?"
The man opened his eyes wide in realization, as if he had discovered a way to turn water into gasoline. Everyone laughed, understanding that asking Jacob would have been the obvious thing to do but their friend was so drunk that he forgot that Jacob was right there and asked Tracy instead.
Another one of Tracy's friends, who was female, and who wore a pair of dark rimmed glasses, had short brown hair and was dressed in a pink romper, asked her:
"Hey Tracy, your last name is Capitol, right? Do you have any relation to Nick Capitol?"
The look in Jacob's eyes turned from awkward to reverent when he heard Nick's name. It was now, however, Tracy's turn to be awkward but she still answered the question honestly:
"He is my brother."
Everyone at the table had already guessed that there was some relationship between them since the two did share a slight resemblance if Nick's white hair and strange eyes were discounted. The woman who asked the previous question continued:
"How comes you have never introduced him to us; we're friends, right? He should be preparing for the start of the inter-academy competition. The entrance he made at the student assembly was so cool. Do you know which kind of magic he really focuses on? There is a huge debate over it."
Tracy awkwardly chuckled and explained:
"He and I aren't actually that close but I do know that he is strong. He even owns an expensive building in the academy's commercial district."
Jacob's expression became weird, as if to ask, 'Why did you tell them that?'. Tracy knew that it was a mistake but since she had already said it, she wasn't going to take it back.
(Nick can consider that leak as revenge for ignoring his sisters for all these years. Hmph!)
The man who had offered the toast earlier seemed to have sobered a bit somehow and asked as a follow up:
"Do you really think that guy has a chance of winning the inter-academy competition? I get that the royal family's magic tool chose him to compete but he is at the bottom of the third year rankings. There must be a reason for that."
Tracy, for some reason thought about how her, Narrisa and Nick grew up with their grandaunt, Irene. She remembered how the three of them jeered at Nick, discouraged him, insulted him and mocked him.
(Nick doesn't know, but I remember one night that I heard him crying in the bathroom just days before his high school graduation. To think that we thought that he was a loser and a good-for-nothing because he was quiet and didn't have any friends. Now, it turns out that he is probably one of the most competent people I have ever met. All his good grades and his academic awards during his primary and high school years make sense in retrospect. I know that it's shameless of me but thinking about the things that he's achieved despite all the hurt feelings that he must have really makes me want to root for him. I and Jacob probably wouldn't have made it to the third year without the initial help that he gave us.)
With a mix of guilt and pride buried in her consciousness, Tracy declared:
"My brother will absolutely win!"
Everyone but Jacob was a little weirded out by Tracy's passion in saying that but soon, they brushed it off as a brother and sister thing. Jacob smiled in response to Tracy's words and followed her up, saying:
"...Yeah. No doubt about it."
******************************************************
Nick backed away from Victoria and pulled up his boxers and pants, soon getting fully dressed again. Victoria raised herself from the table at the same time and pulled up her pants and underwear, then turned around to face Nick, saying:
"Not bad, Capitol. I had never experienced that before but I came to enjoy it. Alright, you can go now if you're done."
Nick had sweat all over his face because of how much he strained in handling Victoria.
(The woman's muscles aren't just for show; if I hadn't held her down firmly, she might have actually tried to man-handle me during our exchange.)
Before he turned to leave, Nick said:
"I'd appreciate it if you kept your mouth shut about our time together."
Victoria scoffed and replied:
"Only bitches gossip, Nick. I'm not one of them. I hope that the same goes for you. Now, get out."
Nick smirked a little when he heard that and left Victoria's room. Nick then summoned his own room key from his space band, looked at it and realized that he was assigned to room 79 which was likely situated a few doors up the hallway.
(Wow, that's convenient.)
Nick walked a few meters to find his room and when he did, he unlocked the door with the silver key and entered it, locking the door behind him. Nick found that the room, similar to Victoria's, was colored a mix of brown and dark gold and had a carpeted floor, a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room. Nick quickly went to take a cold shower.
When he came out, he got dressed in a pair of dark-blue jeans pants, a striped blue and white polo shirt and a pair of black leather work boots. Nick wasn't going to waste his time up until the day of the competition. He now had one objective:
(I need to develop an adequate defensive measure against wisdom path. It's incredible that I hadn't done so before.)
Nick sat at the living room table and summoned a bag of butter bread from his space band and then he thought about the laws of his blade path and wisdom path spell, Vision Of The Blade, while he ate the butter bread.
(I obtained Vision Of The Blade from an incomplete blade path inheritance. God only knows the origins of the spell. I had stopped using it because I didn't feel like it necessarily suited the style of combat that I was growing into at the time. Naturally, I could use inspiration from this spell to create a blade path spell that might probably mimic wisdom path but since I am not too familiar with wisdom path, even with Eyes of the Fated, I can only try my best and hope that I am not wasting my time. Do you plan on helping me, Slade?)
Nick received no answer from Slade, even after waiting ten minutes. He then sighed and summoned a stack of blank papers and began working. After a day of working on a new spell, Nick realized something:
(Aren't the principles behind 'courage' that I used to develop a few of my rule path spells related to wisdom path. I didn't make the connection until now but that seems to be the case. Courage seems to be the ability to act in the face of fear or adverse circumstances; that relates to mental faculties, that is, wisdom path. The creatures in my visions are really weird. It's like they somehow relate to other paths but give me inspiration for rule path...)
Nick's intuition kicked in when he started to think that way. He was a rule path master, after all.
(Rule path is the path that details the essence of how the magical world works, that is, its rules, which means that no path should be off limits if I'm defining merely their rules. The creatures in my visions such as: Uncertainty, Courage, Strength, Big, Defeat, Years, Growth, Endurance; the principles that they imparted to me, now that I think about it, relate to other paths. I've already established that courage relates to wisdom path, I can probably assume that strength relates to strength path, big probably relates to transformation path and years, to time path. I'm not so sure about the others, though.)
Once Nick established how rule path could relate to wisdom path, he thought that he might as well make his new spell both a blade path and a rule path spell. The complexity of his task then increased but his dual mastery in both paths wasn't just for decoration. Ideas started to flood his mind as soon as he set his intentions.
(Hmmm...Do I use the principles of courage in my spell? No, the principles of courage are beneficial for whoever the spell is cast on unless my aim is to strip someone of courage in a sense but engineering such a spell seems like a complicated way to get a supposedly straightforward result. What I need is a suitable principle, something that is antithetic to courage...that could be cowardice, doubt or maybe fear.)
When Nick thought of the last word, he remembered the feeling that he got when he interacted with the wicked being previously and also the feeling that his dreadful aura seems to induce.
(That's right...being afraid isn't necessarily the opposite of courage since fear is necessary for someone to even give birth courage and maintain it. They probably work hand in hand somehow - you need to know fear in order to develop courage. What are the base principles behind fear?)
Unbeknownst to Nick, at that time, the figure of golden light within his mindscape stopped walking on its road in response to his question and it then proceeded to look up at the sky. The symbol drawn in Nickel on its forehead soon transformed from 'Sacrifice' into several symbols of the same mystical language that meant 'False Expectations'. The figure of golden light then focused on its road again and began walking.
Nick's mind suddenly became filled with inspiration for a rule path principle, seemingly out of nowhere.
(False expectations? Right...fear is false expectations appearing real.)