Chapter 6 – Apprentice Mage
The Archive's white void dissolved, pixel by pixel, into something entirely different.
Elara staggered as the ground beneath her feet solidified—rough stone covered in chalk symbols and glowing runes. A ringing sensation buzzed inside her skull, and the air smelled faintly of burnt parchment. Her clothes shimmered, morphing into a deep blue robe, stitched with silver thread that hummed faintly when she moved. A staff of polished blackwood formed in her hand, its tip crowned by a small, hovering crystal that pulsed in rhythm with her heartbeat.
[System Notification]
You have entered Simulation: Apprentice Mage
Class: Arcane Initiate
Objective: Complete the Mage Trials of Veylor.
Reward: +2 Reality Points, Mana Affinity Skill unlocked.
Penalty for Failure: Skill Lock (24 hours).
Elara blinked hard. "Mage…? A sorcerer's apprentice now? This better not mean chanting for three hours straight."
But the Archive never gave idle lives. The glowing glyphs at her feet brightened as if the room itself was responding to her presence. Across the chamber, a man in deep crimson robes watched her with an impassive gaze. His long silver hair flowed over his shoulders, and his eyes glowed with a pale inner fire.
"You are late," he said, voice cutting through the silence like a blade. "The Trials do not wait for the unprepared."
The man extended a hand, and a tome snapped into existence, pages fluttering without wind. On its cover: the sigil of a dragon coiled around a flame.
"I am Archmage Veylor. You will address me as Master. If you wish to survive this path, your arrogance must be stripped away."
Elara's jaw clenched. She already disliked his tone, but she bit her tongue. Picking a fight with the NPC who probably controlled her survival chances wasn't wise.
"Understood, Master," she muttered.
The Archmage's eyes narrowed, then softened into a cruel smile. "Good. Then we begin."
The Trials started in the Hall of Embers, a cavernous chamber lined with floating torches. Each flame burned a different color—emerald green, sapphire blue, crimson red. They cast overlapping shadows that danced like spirits.
Veylor pointed to the torches. "Mana is not merely power. It is will. To control it, you must bind it. Choose a flame, and make it yours."
Elara glanced at the options. Instinct told her red meant fire, green was nature, blue was frost or water. Each could shape her path.
The crystal on her staff pulsed, and a faint prompt flickered in her vision.
[System Choice Detected]
Choose your Mana Affinity.
– Crimson Flame (Fire Affinity: +Attack, -Control)
– Emerald Flame (Nature Affinity: +Balance, +Regeneration)
– Sapphire Flame (Frost Affinity: +Control, -Speed)*
Her chest tightened. This wasn't just flavor text; this was a core mechanic. If she chose poorly, she might be stuck weak for the entire simulation.
Her instinct leaned toward fire—raw power was tempting. But then she thought of Chapter 5, how brute force nearly killed her during the stealth mission. She exhaled slowly and extended her hand toward the Sapphire Flame.
The blue torch flared brighter and leapt into her palm, dissolving into streams of light that sank into her veins. A cold shiver raced through her body, but clarity followed—the world sharpened, sounds became distinct, and the crystal on her staff froze into a shard of pure ice.
[System Update]
Mana Affinity: Frost (Rank I)
Skill Unlocked: Ice Shard
Mana Pool: 100
Veylor gave a curt nod. "Interesting. You choose patience over destruction. Few initiates walk that path. We shall see if you are worthy of it."
The first trial tested her control.
A stone golem lumbered into the hall, its body carved from jagged rock. Blue runes blazed across its chest. It stomped forward, each step quaking the floor.
"Destroy it," Veylor commanded.
Elara raised her staff. The crystal pulsed, and instinct guided her fingers through a motion she hadn't known she could make. She whispered, "Ice Shard," and the word resonated like a key unlocking a door.
A jagged spear of ice formed at the staff's tip and shot forward, slamming into the golem's shoulder. Shards exploded across the floor, frost crawling along the cracks in its stone body. The golem staggered but didn't fall.
Elara fired again—another shard, then another. Her breathing quickened as mana drained from her core, each spell tugging at her stamina. The golem roared and charged, swinging a massive arm.
She ducked and rolled, staff clattering against the stone floor. Her heart pounded. She scrambled to her feet, raised her staff again, and forced herself to focus. Control, not speed. Frost seeped out from her staff, forming a thin slick of ice across the ground.
The golem stepped forward—and slipped. Its massive weight crashed sideways into the stone, shattering part of its arm.
Elara wasted no time. She formed three ice shards at once, her staff trembling from the effort, and unleashed them into the glowing rune at its chest. The impact cracked the core rune, and the light faded. The golem froze mid-motion before crumbling into rubble.
Breathless, Elara collapsed against her staff. Sweat dripped down her temple, but a grin spread across her face.
[System Notification]
Trial One Complete.
Reward: +50 XP, +10 Mana.
Skill Progression: Ice Shard (Rank II).
Veylor's expression was unreadable. "Not entirely incompetent. You have focus, though your technique is wild. But frost requires more than ice—it requires discipline."
Elara bit back a sharp reply. She didn't need another lecture, but she'd learned enough to know she should keep quiet.
"On to the second trial," he said.
The Hall of Whispers was darker, its walls inscribed with glowing runes that shifted when she wasn't looking. A chill clung to the air. Shadows writhed unnaturally, curling like smoke.
Veylor's voice echoed. "Here, you must resist temptation. The Archive tests not only strength but will. The shadows will whisper your fears. Endure them, and you pass."
The torches flickered out, plunging her into darkness.
Almost immediately, whispers slithered into her ears.
"You're nothing."
"You'll fail again."
"You're only here because the system chose you."
Elara's stomach twisted. The voices sounded like her own thoughts, amplified and poisoned. Memories flickered—of her real life, her father's disappointed frown, her failures at school, the endless sense of never being good enough.
Her grip tightened on the staff. No. She wasn't that girl anymore. The Archive was brutal, but it had forced her to grow, to survive.
"I am more than this," she whispered, voice shaking but steadying with every word. "I've survived five lives already. I'll survive this one too."
The whispers hissed louder, trying to drown her out. But she planted the staff into the floor, and frost spread outward, crystallizing the runes. The cold cleared her mind like glass cutting through fog.
The darkness shattered. The whispers fell silent.
[System Notification]
Trial Two Complete.
Reward: +75 XP, +10 Mana.
Mental Resistance +1.
When the light returned, Veylor studied her with an expression bordering on approval. "Perhaps you are not a waste of breath after all."
Before she could respond, he raised his hand. A third chamber appeared—this one open to the night sky, stars glittering overhead. A single floating orb pulsed in the center, glowing faintly.
"The final trial," he said. "The Orb of Ascendance. Pour your mana into it. If it accepts you, you will ascend as an Apprentice Mage. If not…" He smirked. "…the orb will consume you."
Elara's stomach knotted. "No pressure, huh?"
She stepped forward, raised her staff, and reached deep into her mana pool. Frost energy surged through her veins, cold but alive. She placed her hand on the orb, and icy blue light streamed from her body into its surface.
The orb trembled violently. Images flashed—ice storms, towering beasts of frost, entire glaciers rising at her command. Power beyond comprehension teased the edges of her mind.
Her mana drained rapidly. The orb pulled harder, hungrily, and she felt her strength slipping. Her knees buckled.
"No," she growled through clenched teeth. "You don't control me."
Instead of forcing mana into it, she redirected—shaped it. She envisioned calm, discipline, focus. The same clarity she used to silence the whispers. The flow steadied, the orb's hunger eased, and the light turned a brilliant blue.
Then it pulsed once, twice, and sank into her chest.
Elara gasped as power coursed through her body, more refined and stable than before.
[System Notification]
Final Trial Complete.
Class Advancement: Apprentice Mage.
Skill Unlocked: Frost Barrier.
Reward: +2 Reality Points.
Veylor approached, his expression still cold but tinged with the faintest respect.
"You have survived the Trials of Veylor," he said. "Do not squander what you have gained. Your path as a mage is only beginning."
The world blurred again, and the Archive's white void returned. But this time, Elara felt something different—an icy core within her, steady and powerful.
She tightened her grip on her staff and smiled faintly. "Apprentice Mage, huh? Let's see what comes next."
Here we go 🔥
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Apprentice Mage (Part B)
The Archive did not release her immediately.
Elara expected the trial to fade the moment she touched the frost glyph, but instead the glowing sigil beneath her feet pulsed brighter. The shimmering arena walls trembled, and the Archmage's spectral form tilted his head as though considering her more deeply.
> [System Notification: Additional Trial Triggered – Bonus Evaluation]
Criteria: The chosen has survived elemental collapse. New test activated – Control & Resonance.
Elara's chest tightened. She'd barely survived the storm of ice shards in the first trial, and now the Archive wanted more.
The Archmage raised his hand. Five orbs of crackling frostlight spun around him like planets in orbit. With a flick of his staff, he sent them arcing toward Elara.
She reacted instinctively, lifting her hands. Frost surged up her arms in jagged veins of light. A dome of brittle ice snapped into existence, catching the first orb—but it cracked instantly, shards raining at her feet. The second orb punched straight through, slamming her shoulder and sending her sprawling.
The cold burned.
Not just on her skin, but in her bones, her bloodstream. She coughed, clutching her chest, breath crystallizing in the air.
> [Warning: Control Inadequate. Frost Affinity unstable. Resonance level: 17%.]
The system's calm voice cut like a blade.
"No… no, I can do this," she muttered, forcing herself to her knees.
The orbs circled back, hissing through the air. She closed her eyes. Frost wasn't meant to be brute-forced. She remembered the moment she survived the avalanche earlier—when she had listened to the element rather than fought it.
Slowly, she spread her palms. She breathed in, not forcing the cold but letting it sink into her lungs like oxygen. The next orb struck—but instead of exploding, it froze mid-air, captured in a lattice of snowflakes radiating from her fingertips.
Her eyes snapped open, glowing faint blue.
The other orbs halted, suspended like stars in an invisible web. The Archmage's face cracked into the faintest smile.
> [System Notification: Resonance achieved – 61%. New Skill Unlocked: Frost Bind.]
Elara exhaled, shattering the frozen orbs into glittering powder. The arena dimmed. The Archmage stepped forward, laying a spectral hand on her shoulder.
"You did not conquer frost," he said. "You understood it. Remember, child—power is not seized. It is aligned."
Then he dissolved into mist.
The floor beneath her gave way, and Elara felt herself plummeting, spinning through the void until the Archive's library halls slammed back into view. She collapsed against the cold marble, panting, the phantom chill still clinging to her skin.
Golden script unfolded in the air:
> [Trial Complete: Apprentice Mage]
• New Title: Initiate of Frost
• Ability Gained: Frost Bind (Temporarily immobilize enemies by freezing their movement.)
• Reality Points Earned: +80 RP
• Archive Note: Hidden affinity detected. Caution: Rapid growth destabilizes balance.
Elara pulled herself upright, shivering though no cold remained. The Archive's endless shelves loomed around her, silent except for the faint hum of unseen machinery.
For the first time since entering this nightmare, she didn't feel like prey. She felt… capable.
Her reflection in a nearby glass case caught her eye. Her hair, usually black, shimmered faintly silver at the tips as though frost itself had kissed it. Her eyes, too, glowed faintly.
A thrill ran through her chest. The Archive was changing her. Not just testing, not just teaching—reshaping.
---
Hours—or what felt like hours—slipped by as she wandered the Archive's shelves. Every so often, glyphs lit on spines of ancient tomes, teasing knowledge she couldn't yet access. At one corner, a black pedestal pulsed with text.
> [Reality Market Unlocked]
Spend Reality Points to acquire minor skills, tools, or information before the next simulation.
Her fingers twitched. She had eighty points now. Enough, maybe, to buy something that would keep her alive.
The options scrolled before her eyes:
Basic Mana Control (50 RP)
Spell Shard: Ember Spark (40 RP)
Memory Note: Frost Lore Fragment (60 RP)
Stamina Boost (30 RP)
Elara bit her lip. Ember Spark tempted her—a fire spell to balance her frost. But something tugged deeper: Basic Mana Control. Without it, every spell she attempted would be like holding water in a sieve.
"Control before power," she murmured, remembering the Archmage's words. She pressed her palm to the option.
> [Purchase Confirmed – 50 RP spent. Remaining Balance: 30 RP.]
New Passive Skill: Basic Mana Control.
Warmth trickled through her veins, a steady rhythm overlaying her heartbeat. For the first time, the raw surge of magic inside her felt… tamed.
She flexed her hand, and a wisp of frost appeared, neat and contained, instead of bursting uncontrolled. Relief flooded her chest.
But before she could savor the stability, the Archive itself trembled. Books rattled, glyphs flickered, and a disembodied voice whispered through the halls:
"Balance broken. Shadow stirs."
A chill worse than any frost curled down her spine.
The shelves to her right shifted, folding inward to reveal a new glowing doorway. Darker than the others, lined in runes that writhed like snakes.
The system prompt appeared, stark and final:
> [Next Simulation Ready: Shadow Thief]
Elara swallowed. She still ached from the Mage trial, frost clinging to her soul. And now… shadows?
But there was no choice. The Archive gave no rest, only forward motion. She brushed the silver hair from her face, clenched her fists, and stepped toward the doorway.
The darkness swallowed her whole.
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