A Soldier's Life - 11 - Knowledge is Power

Chapter 11: Knowledge Is Power

Mateo was coming back from dinner with Felix. They were loud as they settled into their bunks, talking about a card game they had played during the meal and how Bentio, the smallest legionnaire in the company, had a lucky streak. “Where’s the mage?” I asked.

“Still eating. She’s down in the common room,” Mateo replied with a grin. As I painfully rolled to my feet, he advised with a good-natured warning, “Don’t get too close. Mages, even pretty ones, are dangerous. Look, but don’t touch, Eryk.”

“I just wanted to ask her some magic-related questions. You know, between mages,” I said with a knowing smile as I stiffly walked out of the room, wincing with each step.

The stairs were hard because my legs wouldn’t work properly, and I almost fell. Damn, Konstantin had targeted my right hip flexor to teach me how to cripple an opponent. The muscle was all knotted, and I rubbed it to get it working as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

The common room was mostly empty at this hour. We had an early start so most of the company was already in their bunks. Renna was studying one of her books at a table by herself. I sat across from her. Getting a good look at her, she was young, likely in her late teens. She looked up at me, making eye contact, but did not speak.

“I wanted to ask some questions about the book you’re reading. And here is your disc back. I got it to work, and it was as I expected,” I said, sliding the artifact across the table. She put it in her satchel with a slight nod.

“What questions do you have?” She closed the book and gave me her attention.

“What’s in the book? Does it detail the common spell forms you can create from each affinity?” I asked, knowing the title referred to all twenty-one magic affinities.

“Yes, it does. It does not have the diagrams of the spell forms, though. You really need them to make sure you learn the desired variation of the spell form,” she explained, pulling out a thin spellbook whose title I missed. “I am trying to learn one of the more difficult spell forms for the earth affinity detailed in this book. It’s called harden rock. Extremely useful in construction. And when paired with the High Mage’s earth-to-stone, it makes trapping burrowing creatures easy,” Renna explained.

“What about the other common spell forms? Like fire?” I asked, slowly turning the conversation to the information I wanted to know from her.

“It depends on your affinity strength. With my high affinity, I will probably be asked to imprint wave of flame or flaming meteor. Both are very difficult to learn,” Renna said with a tired voice. “I will not know until I am apprenticed to a High Mage specializing in fire magic.” I felt bad for her. Even though she was powerful, she did not control her destined spell forms. She was being directed to learn what the Empire wanted her to know so she would be most useful to them. It was more reason not to reveal my own affinities.

I couldn’t solve her problems. I encouraged her, saying, “I’m sure you’ll manage. You have the talent and affinity for it—I mean, you can fly!” I said with admiration. “What about healing? What are the typical spell forms for that sphere of magic?” Was I being too obvious about my interest? I needed to know. There’s a risk of manifesting an ability weaker than your affinity allows, so my goal was to get the most from each spell form I could learn. I didn’t know my own healing magic affinity, only that it’s over 15.

She opened the book and turned to a specific page. I pressed my lips together, frustrated. I could read it, but my brain was still very slow in translating the unfamiliar script. I would have to puzzle out each word one at a time and then read the sentence like a first grader. Thankfully, I had someone to read for me. I moved and sat next to Renna and she didn’t shy away.

“There are three tiers,” Renna began, her finger following the words for me. “The lowest tier has three options listed here. They are mend bone, knit flesh, and diagnose. These are options for those with affinities under 20.”

She read to herself for a while, before speaking. “The next range is for those with an affinity between 20 and 50. It has three possible as well. Self-healing that also affects organs and all flesh but does not realign broken bones. Resistance to poison and disease, which is odd.” She scrunched her face. “According to this, it lets one fully resist poisons and diseases, but one can still transmit diseases to others.”

“The third one is calcify; it repairs and hardens bones. The highest tier, for affinities between 50 and 70, includes a powerful heal that heals everything—flesh, aligning bone, and removing diseases—without drawbacks. The only other spell form noted is called rejuvenate. It makes one age backward, depending on the strength of the mage’s affinity. The spell only targets the body, not the mind though.”

She looked over from the book. “Not all spell forms are listed in here,” she said, turning the book over in her hands. “This is just what the mage college suggests as being the most useful spell forms to imprint.”

I nodded in gratitude. “Sometimes it’s fun to wonder what it would be like if I had high affinities for other magic spheres,” I said with an affable smile. Next, I asked about celestial affinity, listening intently as she read and explained each one. Then, I moved on to my true objective: the affinity for convergence.

“Convergence? That is extremely rare. I’m not even sure if there’s anything in here,” she said, flipping to the correct page. “The lowest tier is just helping recover aether from the environment more quickly. At a Ley Line Nexus, the mage would essentially have infinite aether. They would be a terror in a dungeon, as long as they don’t burn out their aether channels.”

“Anything for higher tiers, for a stronger, higher affinity?” I asked, trying to contain my excitement.

“Uh, let me read. Give me a moment.” It seemed like she was enjoying our interaction. I guess I was kind of flirting with her. “The mid-tier spell form  allows the use of ambient aether to push into spells directly without channeling it through your body! You would never burn out your aether channels that way!” She said excitedly. “Could you imagine, the mage would be invincible at a ley line or within a dungeon, able to cast spells endlessly.”

My aether shaping wouldn't let me form spells, so this would be pointless for me. Renna continued, “The highest tier is called assimilation. It allows the mage to maximize their benefits from consuming essences. It makes absorbed essences ten times more effective—maybe even more depending on the mage’s affinity! Sounds amazing, but essences, even minor ones, are way too expensive.”

Yes, it sounds amazing. Is that why the only essence I had absorbed had been so effective? I thought to myself. I had gained four points of dexterity and even raised my potential in dexterity by one in three weeks after consuming my first essence. But the lesser essence was only supposed to give a relative effect boost of one-twentieth of a point. However, it was agreed the first essence someone consumed had a moderately greater effect. But did my gains have to do with my affinity in convergence being so high at 74?

Next, I asked about charm affinities but was only half paying attention to Renna’s response. After she reviewed them, we went to the room to get some sleep. I lay there thinking and heard her shifting all night. I had given her the lower bunk to make it easier for her, but regretted it, as the entire bunk shook when she moved. She was probably not comfortable sleeping on the planks without a mattress. I passed my heavy blanket to her below. She hesitated before taking it and getting more comfortable.

It was cool, but not cold, and pitch black. I removed one of the horse blankets from my dimensional space to use as a pillow and lay there wide awake, staring at the ceiling. I needed to get more essence. Mage Castile had an essence collector—the artifact was used to extract the essence from recently killed creatures. Her legionnaires were rewarded for outstanding performance, so maybe I could get some. But I also needed an ability tablet to see my growth and test out my gains from each essence I consumed.

Shit, if I wasn’t worried about them hunting me, I might desert. For now, I was trapped for five years of service. At least I would be free after that, as long as all my debt would be paid off to the Empire.

I fell asleep dreaming about my two unknown affinity ratings. How high were my healing and guardian affinities? They seemed too perfect a combination for my life as a soldier. I needed to get access to a magic affinity tablet again. I also needed to practice reading to get familiar with the slightly different characters used in the Telhian language. Reading like a seven-year-old, deciphering each word one at a time, was frustrating.

It felt like I had just closed my eyes when a hand slapped my bed. “Wake up, you two. Breakfast will be served shortly, and Castile likes to leave at dawn,” Mateo said, smiling brightly at my discomfort. “You shouldn’t take Lucien’s blankets for the horses, Eryk,” Mateo added, indicating my pillow.

I gingerly climbed down from the top bunk. I was stiff, and moving was still painful. I packed my things and stumbled down the stairs after Felix and Mateo, sending the blanket to my space when I knew no one was looking. Renna was slightly slower than me, coming down shortly after me.

The common room was crowded with legionnaires and a few locals. Everyone was packing saddlebags and forcing down food. I went to the meal table and got a large pocket pita filled with meat and soft, warm cheese. I also received another sandwich wrapped in a big waxy leaf and was told it was my mid-day meal.

I drank my fill from the water barrel and filled my canteen. Outside, the sky was just beginning to break with pink hues. I quickly saddled Ginger and was among the first ready to leave. As the large sun appeared in the distance, we moved out. I was directed to ride behind Castile and her two lieutenants, Adrian and Delmar, while Renna quickened her pace to ride alongside me. She looked to be a novice in the saddle and I gave her a few pointers like I was an expect, but had only learned them in the last week.

I engaged Renna in conversation, but kept the focus on her, asking about her life before becoming a mage. With Mage Castile within earshot, I was cautious about what I would talk about openly.

Renna grew up in a small village. Her father was a sheep herder and her mother made wool yarn. She detailed the lengthy process from shearing, cleaning, sorting, carding, and spinning. I feigned deep interest, pretending to be enthralled by her descriptions, and asked in-depth questions about each process. A few hours later, we arrived at the base of the mountains, where the team had spotted the griffins returning with a kill days prior.

“If they’re already returning with a kill, doesn’t that mean they are feeding their young?” I asked.

Konstantin responded from behind in a lecturing tone. “No. It’s too early in the season. The mated pair takes turns hunting for each other while the other guards the clutch of eggs. Justin may be an idiot, but his guide, Marius, is one of the best. They came early in the season to scout the nests and then move in after the eggs were laid. It should be another two months before they hatch.”

Castile nodded at Konstantin for the information and then addressed the company. “We’re leaving the horses here,” she announced, prompting a wave of groans. I dreaded the climb as well as my legs were still recovering. “Lucien, Donte, and Benito will stay with the horses.” It made sense as the horses would struggle with the steep climb and would make too much noise if stealth was necessary.

Donte and Benito nodded happy to remain behind and started collecting reins. I was disappointed because I had been training to become a horse master, and thought I should stay with the horses. I understood that since I carried the company’s potions, I needed to stay with the lead group. Mateo helped me pack for two days, making it as light as possible. When we started the climb, I had trouble keeping up, not because I was out of shape, but because I was so bruised.

Renna was in worse shape than I was. She was gasping for air and slowing our climb along the game trails. On tough sections, she used short bursts of her flight ability, prompting everyone to joke about getting a ride on her back. Castile eventually had everyone stop the comments as they started to get lewd.

When we reached a summit, Castile ordered a lunch break. I collapsed heavily and devoured my meal. Renna sat with me, but we did not talk as she was exhausted. We just ate in silence. Orson, one of the scouts, pointed at something in the distance. A few miles away, a griffin was circling another peak further into the mountains. My only thought was: Damn, that looks so far away.

We descended into a narrow valley, and Orson found a campsite he estimated to be a month old. I asked him how he determined that. He showed me the fire pit, the decomposition of the waste in the woods, and the regrowth from where the adventurers had cleared space for their camp.

We did not pause long before heading to the far side of the wooded valley. I found Konstantin walking next to me unexpectedly, and I asked, “Why haven’t any of the creatures in the mountains attacked us?” In training, I had heard whispers of the horrors that existed in this world.

“Our party is too large. They scatter before we get close to them. But they are out there, so do not wander off alone,” he warned me before cycling forward to take the scouting duties from Orson.

I groaned as we reached the end of the valley and began another ascent.

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