The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 193

Chapter 193 – Sorcerers

After lunch, I had the mortals split into three groups, based on their paths. It was only natural, since the three paths each had very different methods of learning and growing in power. After some internal debate, I decided to start with the Sorcerers, who were both the easiest and hardest to work with, and set the other groups to cultivating until I got to them.

Nawai Kai and María Rodríguez were waiting for me, when I reached the spellchamber that I’d had them wait in. Both were dressed as my apprentices ought to be, when not expecting battle. Simple long-sleeved hooded robes of wool, red for the Flame Sorcerer and a deep purple nearing black for the Reaper. A belt of leather about their waist, their feet were bare, since we were inside, but there were sandals for them to wear, when we went outside. Both had a leather satchel bag, barely more than a single pouch thirty centimeters in both directions, with a flap over it and a strap to hang diagonally across their shoulder, giving them somewhere to hold personal items or supplies. The only addition to either of their outfits permitted was the bracelet around María’s left wrist, which was enchanted with the Daywalker enchantment, allowing her to see the sun without worry.

This kind of thing might have felt spartan to people of this world, especially since there was no provision for undergarments or personal flourishes, not even a hair tie or the like, but the quality of the goods would have marked them as luxurious in the other world. Even so, there was a reason for this. Putting all the apprentices on an even keel made it so that their talents mattered more than the circumstances of their birth. What they were before no longer mattered. Now, they were disciples of the Lich Queen.

I nodded once, approvingly, as I saw that neither of my new apprentices had thought to ‘improvise’ with their new outfits. More importantly, they had held back their curiosity. Instead of poking around the chamber to try and figure out what everything did, they’d kept their hands to themselves, and focused on cultivating their mana. Just what I wanted to see.

I was in my human guise for this, dressed similarly to them, though I also had a tabard with my symbol upon it, and my staff in hand. It was necessary for a Master to set themselves apart from their Apprentice, to ensure that they listened as a student. However, lording your status over them rarely led to positive results. That was the mark of an arrogant Master, and that sort rarely were adept at actually teaching the art of Magick to others, since they were too wrapped up in their own self-importance to consider anyone else’s needs.

“Well, my apprentices. Let us begin with your first lesson. You know, by now, that the study of magic in the other world is separated into ten elements and eight paths, not counting the Warlock’s pacts. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, Shadow, Life, Death, Holy, and Unholy. Arcanist, Witch, Sorcerer, Blade, Soul, Priestess, Sword, and Avatar. Each of these has their own strengths, and their weaknesses. If you are to truly succeed as a practitioner of Magick, then you must understand how to use your strengths, and cover your weaknesses.

“So, what are the strengths of a Sorcerer? Simply put, you are not bound by the need to know processes, like an Arcanist, nor are you trying to work with the world around you, like a Witch. No, you look upon the world, and you impose your will upon it, bending it and forcing it to obey your will. And, because of this, when it comes to spells of raw power and violence, sorcerers are the kings.

“This is true with spells of any element, of course. However, you will always find that your own element responds better to you than the others. This is because you have a natural affinity for it. It is like walking downhill, rather than uphill. However, like walking downhill, you must watch yourself, lest you move too quickly, and find yourself tumbling.”

I was pleased to see that both of my apprentices were eagerly listening, and more pleased that neither had stopped their cultivation as I spoke. But not so pleased that I let it color the deadly seriousness of my next words. “And this is the first of the great weaknesses of the Sorcerer. Because they direct their element with their will alone, too often they lose control, because they were rushing, and did not properly envision the result they wished to achieve. For a Flame Sorcerer, this might entail the jet of flame they unleashed traveling too far, or spreading too wide, scorching things they would have wanted to keep intact, or burning their allies as well as their foes. For a Reaper, an impure understanding of how Death relates to the Undead may end up healing an undead foe you were face, while crippling your allies. A Sorcerer without control is a liability to themselves and others, remember this.”

I paused to look each of them in the eye, and nodded when I saw the grim understanding there. “The second great weakness of the Sorcerer is that, because they have such mastery and control over their element, they risk becoming that element. Nawai, this is more a risk for you, than María, since she has already become Undead, but the fact that your hair is the color it is means you have already opened yourself to your element a good deal. But you should not let yourself move too far down that path. Your hair changing color is one thing. But if you delve too deeply and lose yourself, then it may turn to everburning flame, and you may find rain actually doing damage to you, as you become part elemental.”

Turning to look at María, I said, “This does not mean you are not at risk, either. Or, rather, that you are not a risk to others. You are a vampire, and so Death is a part of you, more than it would normally be for a Reaper. However, if you open yourself too much to Death, then you will find other problems arise. For instance, as you gain strength in your magic, you will also gain power as a Vampire. You were not turned by a particularly powerful vampire, by my reckoning, which is why you have yet to fully form an aura. But, once it does form, you will have to constantly fight against it in order to not warn the mortals that a predator is in their midst.

“Beyond that? There is the worry of what happens when you allow your mana to ‘leak out’, separate from the aura that undead have. Out of all the three paths a mage may walk, the Sorcerer’s mana is the most uncontrolled, untamed, just as they themselves are. While Nawai may accidentally light people on fire, or cause any pool he steps in to become a hot spring on accident, you might cause children to grow weak in your presence, or leave a trail of dead pets in your wake. I should not need to explain to you how this may cause people to react poorly to you.”

The two apprentices winced, and María nodded solemnly. “I understand, Mistress. Leaving behind trails is bad, at the best of times. But when it involves the innocent, or people’s pets? The reaction is always ten times worse.” She paused, and then said, “But, Mistress, why should the strength, or lack of strength, of my sire matter with my aura?”

“Because any newly-created undead starts off at a level of power that is roughly equivalent to the power that they had in life, within ten or twenty percent, plus a sizeable fraction of the power their creator had when they completed the creation process. You were created from a human who had no experience with mana, by a vampire who was less than a decade old and was equally untrained. The boost you gained from being turned was enough to make you quite a bit more powerful than normal humans of this world, especially pre-Unsealing humans. However, compared to the vampires of Onerth, you are weaker than a newborn rabbit.”

“Ah,” she said, seemingly discouraged for a moment. Then, she took a breath, and said, “But I’ll get stronger as a Vampire as I improve with magic, right?”

“Indeed. You can speak with one of the other vampires around the castle to get tips on how to reign in your aura as it develops. It will be somewhat easier for you, since you’re young and relatively weak. As you grow in strength, your control over your aura will grow alongside you. It is likely that, once you get to the higher levels of power, you will have better control over your aura than other vampires who were born to that power.”

I looked between the two of them, and walked to a table by the wall. A simple stone ball, roughly the size of a basketball and massing fifty-five kilograms sat on a simple stand. I picked it up in one hand, not even struggling with the weight.

“The three things a sorcerer needs to advance are strength of will, magical power, and control. However, because young sorcerers are often prone to be independent-minded, which makes teaching them problematic, the learned sorcerers of the other world developed this game, in order to help their students train. Well, I say that it is a game, and that much is true, but it is also a potent training device. The skills needed to properly manipulate the orb are the same that a sorcerer especially needs. This also allows mages to show their strengths to others without needing to, say, burn down a city to prove their point.”

I walked into the center of the spellchamber, and pointed to engraved circles at either end, opposite each other. “Each of you take a circle. The principles of the game are simple. Each of you will begin cultivating your mana. When I release the stone, you will each reach out with your magic to try and affect it. You will need willpower to force your untrained magic to act so far from your body, magic power to not only affect the stone but overcome your opponent’s magic, and control, to ensure that nothing… unfortunate happens.

“The rules are simple. You will each try to push the stone through the air, until it passes your opponent’s position. If you stop cultivating, the stone will sense it, and it will aspect to your opponent’s magic, making their spells twenty-five percent more effective, and yours less effective by the same amount. Each time you push the stone past your opponent, you gain a point. At ten points, a winner is declared. However, if you do something that threatens the safety of either yourself or your opponent, then your opponent gains two points. If you actually injure your opponent, you forfeit the game. And, if you should kill them, or do damage that would typically be a mortal wound to a normal human, then you not only forfeit, but I will cast you out of my domain.”

The two froze as the consequences of what I said sunk in. Good, they were taking this seriously. “This means, more than anything, you will need to focus on your control, knowing which direction your attacks will drive the ball, and being able to stop those attacks if something unexpected happens. And yet, you will still need to master your will to ensure there is an effect, and push enough power into the match to overcome your rival. All while continuing your cultivation.

“I expect you to either have finished a game or driven yourselves to exhaustion by the time I return. If there is a winner, I will see to it that you receive a boon of some kind. If there is a loser, then I will ensure that there is a suitable penalty. If it ends in a draw, you will have to give me detailed explanations of what happened, why you were not able to triumph, and how you intend to fix it for the future.”

I raised the stone up, and gave it just enough mana to keep it in the air, before taking my hand away. “Begin.”