The way back to the laboratory was long, which gave Luke a lot of space to think about what he wanted to do in the days ahead. As much as it was an effect of the curse, he felt weak, and this feeling was bothering the young man. As he walked along, an interesting question popped into his head.
'Balance, I wanted to ask you something.'
[Sure, go ahead and ask it.]
You have a much broader view of the world than I do. How can I become stronger?
After this unusual questioning, a few seconds passed in silence. Luke kept walking, waiting for an answer. Until the Goddess began to speak:
[To be strong is to know how to use your abilities to your advantage, both negative and positive. But more than anything, it's knowing how to develop yourself and always seek to surpass something greater. To overcome something greater].
What do you mean?
[You won't become stronger without being able to look at what you already have, and what you want to have. It's no use thinking about how many people you've beaten in a fight, without thinking about whether you would be able to beat those you need to beat].
'Would I be able to beat the first servant?'
[The better question is: how to defeat the first servant?].
Apart from the artifact, Luke needed a new weapon, one that would be versatile and useful for an assassin, a rogue like himself. So, since he was already going to study weapon enchantments. It seemed logical to the young man that within the academy, there was probably an area focused on creating magical weapons.
'Balance, if you were to choose a weapon for me, which one would be best?'
[Hmm, thinking about your combat style... I think a Katana would be ideal].
'What makes you conclude that?'
[You have a stealth combat style, but you also go into melee battles quite often. It's the weapon that seems right for you].
This analysis by Balance made sense to Luke, who continued during the walk reflecting on his decisions. After a few minutes, he was back on the beach, in front of the three giant concrete domes where Zhanid's laboratories were located.
As soon as he opened the front door, Luke could hear the young magician Megan complaining in a slightly raised tone. The Young Man followed the noise, walking through the corridors until he found a sort of living room with chairs, tea, cookies, books and a large sofa.
A giant red and blue carpet covered the floor of the space. Above it was Adrian curled up in an armchair while Megan complained about him.
"You can't touch my private research material, not even to dust!" She said as she stared at him furiously.
The frightened Boy replied "I-I'm Sorry" and then got up and ran outside running away.
He ran past Luke without bothering to greet him. When the young man reached the hallway, he ran even faster exiting the building.
"He doesn't have a concert anyway," Megan said, huffing and fixing her hair.
She then looked at the half-wolf and started giving directions.
"You are going to work with me, I need you to get the books on this list I am going to pass you. Two of them are in Zhanid's lab, one of the books was with Adrian. The rest you will find in the research collection in the third dome." The girl then handed the list to Luke and sat down at a table.
Her desk was cluttered and full of open books. Next to a notebook with a pen was the black Katana with red details that Luke had seen.
He turned around, and began his search. Which took much longer than he imagined, finding Zhanid's desk was easy. He was able to recognize the equipment used by the old wizard, all thanks to the trip he had until he reached the academy.
But where Adrian's desk was was a challenge, after getting tired of looking through so many open books, Luke decided to climb the stairs to the large dome. In the first dome, there were test rooms, but nothing that was really interesting or connected to what he needed.
Several things caught Luke's attention. There was a room that focused exclusively on the study of several different plants that the young man had never even imagined existed. Some had signs saying they were from Zhao, others from remote parts of Melki.
A small bonsai caught Luke's eye at the same time.
"Cherry trees of endless mana."
The moment he said those words, Megan coughed behind him.
"You took too long; I'll help you look. I'll introduce you to the office."
Luke was amused by the plant, which surprised Megan. She then approached the two of them.
"That's tree has my favorite flowers. The monks of Zhao have cultivated this species for hundreds of years, channeling mana into the leaves. They are one of the few trees capable of reacting still alive to the presence of mana." The girl as she began to recite her knowledge, demonstrated her broad notion of magic.
The girl then began to explain about the uses and functions of the plant, told a little about the long history of the Zhao empire. And how one of the students got this bonsai from one of the main monasteries in the continent.
When the academy received the news that it could receive such a rare plant, Zhanid promptly went with a group of researchers to search for the plant on the other continent. Traveling for several days by boat, just to retrieve this single plant.
By now there were several endless mana cherry trees scattered around Melki's academy. Each one allocated to one of the important research centers. But the original one remained there, in Zhanid's main laboratory.
Luke quickly understood how he could approach Megan. The girl liked to receive questions, and she loved even more to be able to answer those questions. In this brief conversation, from the way the girl reacted to Luke's interest, he concluded that he could use this to his advantage.
Learning by taking questions from her and, at the same time, building confidence through these conversations. The girl looked a bit like Zhanid when it came to explaining, she spoke a lot of complex information about magic, without realizing how extremely high the level of her answers was.
The two of them walked through the three labs, as Luke asked about magic, she answered him and explained the functionality of each of the areas in the research center.
"Megan, is there a division that specializes in the study of magical weapons?" Luke questioned, already having in mind to look for a skilled blacksmith to assist in the creation of his artifact and weapon.
Megan then turned around, "Of course we do, my sister is head of that division as well." She then pointed to the table with the equipment. "Our focus now is to figure out a way to unite the different magic codes into one, the goal is to create a more efficient way to enchant equipment."
The items on the table were extremely distinct from each other. The main reason for this was the very origin of each one. They were equipment made in different regions, with different focuses and types of magic.
The rune system of one was completely different from the rune system of the other. The magic circles on one were drawn in a different way than on the other. Zhao's equipment, for example, had a gigantic focus on healing and mana transfer during combat.
"This bracelet belonged to a giant from the far north, the runes within it have the ability to amplify the wearer's strength. This Katana of Zhao, on the other hand, each cut made by the wearer begins to steal mana and use this energy to heal the wearer. The focus of our research center has been to develop a manual for the academy's blacksmiths to be able to freely use these different types of magic."
As the girl spoke, her hair swayed in a soft way. She was thoroughly entertained explaining it, it was something fun, it was her life's goal.
Magic had variations depending on each region, this was something Luke never even imagined could occur. And unifying this different knowledge was an extremely arduous and interesting task. It was a challenge that he became interested in completing.
"Do you know how I can master the air control spell? I wanted to learn sword flight; I have an exam tomorrow to get into that group." The moment Luke questioned Megan about this, she smiled and held out her arms.
"Hold here, this kind of magic is pretty simple to master."
Luke then stretched out his arms holding the young woman's arms. She then began to recite the incantation, and slowly Luke began to fly. Repeating the feeling of lightness, he had felt earlier. Then the girl's feet began to rise as well.
They were both flying. She then looked at Luke and said:
"Now, concentrate and try to override my control. Imagine the wind passing through your feet and lifting you up."
This time, with Megan's guidance, Luke was able to keep himself in the air. He was one step further on the path to mastering the wind element.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦