Abe the Wizard

Wizard Morton placed the crystal core on the table and secured it with his left hand. He held a carving knife right hand and began to etch. Abel, who was sitting at the bottom chair, could clearly sense the Wizard Morton’s power of the will surrounding the crystal core.

As Wizard Morton’s carving knife moved along, mana had been injected on the etchings through the tip of the blade. Abel was very familiar with the Ral rune. It was the one he used on his exploding big swords. However, the Ral rune that Wizard Morton had etched was a little different from the one he had learned from the dwarfs’ ‘ magic weapon guide.’ Although from a distance, they looked about the same, there were many small detail differences.

Wizard Morton was very quick; it seemed like it was very easy for him to etch these simple rune signs. After around 20 minutes, the last line was finished, a white light flashed on its surface. The mana of the etching seemed to have formed some kind of connection with the crystal core. A type of energy came out from the crystal core and bonded with the mana, creating a white substance smoothing out the surface of the etching. Now, only the rune could be seen. There were no signs that it was etched by a knife.

Wizard Norton handed the rune sign to Abel. It might as well be a piece of art. The material of the crystal core alone was fascinating enough. Since it held a lot of energy, it looked a lot more delicate and precious than normal jade to a human eye. The rune on top of it was alluring as well; every single stroke, big or small, straight or curve, was absolutely gorgeous.

“The runes we study in our school of wizardry can be a little different from other schools of Wizardry. Of course, there were differences in power as well, but generally speaking, the runes we study in our school of Wizardry are more powerful than most other schools,” Said Wizard Morton, sounding a little proud.

Abel curiously pointed at the rune on the rune sign and said, “Teacher, aren’t you afraid of other people copying your rune? You just etched it right onto the surface.”

Although others might not know, Abel had copied a rune multiple times in the past.

“This is only a low ranking rune sign. If it’s a higher rank one, I will add some precautions on top of it, so other people can not see the rune. Of course, copying a rune is not an easy job. Although most wizards just copied the runes they had learned and didn’t know a thing about the fundamentals of runes, copying a rune was still a very effort consuming task. Every stroke’s depth and thickness needed to be slowly tested out to copy the rune successfully.

Wizard Morton then proceeded to say with a smile, “Of course, sometimes if a wizard wants to give his close friends and family a rune sign as a gift, and he trusts them, he would not add any precautions on top of the rune.”

Abel lightly nodded. At that point, Abel also realized, the ‘magic weapon forging guide’ that he was given was not a normal book. It had a direct and basic explanation of all 4 of the runes; it was like he was given a lesson on the fundamentals of runes.

“In our school of wizardry, the runes we can learn include, El, Tir, Ist, Tal, Ral, Ort and Shael. These seven runes can all be mastered by a novice wizard.

Looking at Abel, who was a little touched, Wizard Morton said with a smile, “But before you can start, you must first learn how to use a carving knife.”

Abel rubbed his hands together said in a somewhat embarrassed tone, “Sister Camille had already taught me the 11 carving knife skills, and I already know how to use a carving knife.”

“Camille had thought you already? Practice more then.” Wizard Morton abruptly stopped, he looked at Abel and proceeded to say, “Did you say you already know how to use a carving knife? How long have you been practicing, you must dedicate time and effort on everything you learn!”

Wizard Morton was about to teach Abel to lesson, but then he remembered how fast Abel had learned his spells. Therefore, he lowered his voice and asked, “Do you really know how to use a carving knife?”

“Yes, teacher!” Abel nodded in certainty.

Wizard Morton took out another crystal core from his portal bag and handed it to Abel. He said, “try to etch on this crystal core for me.”

“Teacher, I have only been practicing on a jade. I have never etched on a crystal core before,” Said Abel in a somewhat uncertain tone as he received the crystal core.

“Don’t worry, it’s only a crystal core. Just go ahead and try.” Said Wizard Morton waving his hand.

Abel remained silent. He tried to imitate Wizard Morton and put the crystal core on the table. He secured it with his left hand and took out his alloy carving knife from his portal bag. Soon, he began etching the Ral rune.

Wizard Morton stared at the alloy carving knife in Abel’s hand. He couldn’t help but nod his head. His disciple was really a blacksmith Master; no wonder he had the best treasures for personal use.

Abel had tested out his knife skills in the simulation countless times. Now, as he truly held the carving knife in his hand, he immediately felt a difference. It was like the carving knife had become apart of him, and the 11 knife skills seemed to have merged together, he seemed to be able to use any knife skills he wanted flexibly.

Abel did not remember clearly how the Ral rune, which Wizard Morton had just etched, looked like, so he just applied the Ral rune that he learned from the ‘magic weapon forging guide’. The only difference was that it lacked some of the strokes responsible for energy transfer.

The alloy carving knife was extremely sharp, and with Abel’s strength, the etching process was very smooth. The only challenges were maintaining his mana at the etching lines. It was a bit similar to multitasking, a part of his concentration needed to make sure the rune was etched correctly with his power of the will. Another part of his concentration needed to continuously control his mana alongside the movement of the carving knife, as well as injecting the mana into the lines that were left by the carving knife on the surface of the crystal core.

Luckily Abel had practice multitasking for a day in the past. Although he didn’t get much result from it, he didn’t seem to have a problem etching the rune. Abel was so familiar with the Ral rune, it could draw it out even with his eyes closed, as he carefully injected his mana into the etching lines.

Abel had focused with all his might for 40 minutes. He did not dare to make a single mistake. When he finished etching his last line, a white light flashed, and the mana of the rune began to create feedback with the crystal core. Soon, the etch marks had disappeared from the crystal core, and what remained was a white rune on its surface.

“Teacher, did I succeeded?” Asked Abel as he handed the crime sign in his hand to Wizard Morton.

Wizard Morton took the rune sign and did not speak for a long time. However, there was a voice shouting in his heart, saying this kid was a genius. He really was a genius. If he was this gifted back in the days, how was he still a rank 11 wizard after all these years?

Wizard Morton still remembered how long it took him to learn how to etch a rune sign. He was somewhat proud of the result, and he always used his result as a basis to teach his disciples. But now, he didn’t even want to think about it.

Wizard Morton finally got a taste of how tiring it was to be the teacher of a genius. The tiring aspect was not in the teaching process but in the heart. It didn’t matter if they were spells or etching runes, he only needed to teach, and Abel could grasp it very quickly, to the point where he almost mastered it.

Maybe our school of wizardry will depend on him in the future, Wizard Morton thought to himself. He then began to think about all the benefits Abel’s potential could bring to his school of wizardry. As long as Abel don’t die, their future would be limitless.

“Of course you succeeded,” said Wizard Morton as he handed the rune sign back to Abel. He then followed, “Although the Ral rune sign you had used was a bit different from the one we use in our school of wizardry, you still successfully etched a real Ral rune sign.”

“Since you already know how to use a carving knife, and have good knowledge of runes, you can learn how to make a rune sign all by yourself. Now, I will give you all 7 of the runes for novice wizards.”

After wizard Morton finished speaking, he stood up and took out seven lambskin parchments from a pile of lambskin parchments on his bookshelf. He then turned back to Abel and said: “Don’t give this to anyone, only your disciples in the future could learn these runes.”

“Yes, teacher!” Said Abel as he took the lambskin parchment documenting the runes. Abel knew in his heart how important knowledge was. Although he had no idea what the teacher meant by ‘our school of wizardry’, he knew the information in his hand could not be given to anyone else.

Just like in the wizard trading ground in Caral city, there were many low ranking wizards trying to resell resources, but there weren’t many of them who actually had the right to sell. All of this just reflected how important knowledge was in this world.

Wizard Morton took out five bottles of potions and placed it on Abel’s hand “These are crystal core softeners. Every bottle can soften 20 crystal cores. It should sustain your training for a while.