The boys had their bags and bedrolls packed and stashed away in Otto’s room before , so when the following morning came, the sun had barely breached the horizon before they were trooping through the toward the quarry. It had been a morning filled with more warnings, admonitions, advice and solicitude. Gustav and Adele spent every last moment asking “If he were sure,” and extracting promises to be safe and act with undue amounts of caution. Leopold barely even looked at breakfast, preferring to stare at Reinhardt in awe. He knew why, of course. Leo was seven years old now, and there was nothing cooler to a seven year old boy than an adventurer setting out to Delve a Dungeon

  Reinhardt resolved to pick up something impressive for Leopold inside the Dungeon

  Magdi was already stumping around outside his family’s forge/house/store, full of nervous energy and sourness. Apparently, he couldn’t sleep, his hot blood pumping with the anticipation of venturing down to the Dungeon

  Emmaline answered the door, her eyes puffy and bloodshot. The boys had the decency to look ashamed, although they knew they had done nothing to be ashamed of. Yet. In a later moment of clarity, Reinhardt realised that he and Magdi were walking her one and only family member - and only remnant of her husband - down a most dangerous road. At that moment, however, all three boys were excited and eager to experience the thrill of adventuring. They strapped on their packs, Reinhardt and Magdi awkwardly standing in the doorway while Otto tried to escape the last hugs and tears of his mother. Emmaline gave them all one last round of “Are you sure?” and “Don’t be stupid!” before standing in the door and watching them walk out of town. Reinhardt had never ever been more aware of how ridiculous the act of walking was. Otto, for his part, seemed to forget his mother even existed the moment he walked out the door. He instead flicked a pair of into his hands and began tossing them from hand to hand. Reinhardt and Magdi watched the flickering orbs bounce from hand to hand out of the corner of their eyes. Finally, when the glowing orbs began to move even faster, Reinhardt felt he had to say something.

  “Ok then, Otzi. Yesterday you were playing with a , and now you’re juggling s,” he squinted at Otto, who had seemingly jerked as though roused from a deep sleep. “I can only infer and assume this has something to do with your long term plan.”

  “Just so,” Otto grinned at him. “And juggling, this is not.”

  He produced another pair of s while the others were in midair.

  “This would be juggling,” he said smugly.

  Magdi slapped Otto’s hand just before he caught one of the sparking little balls. The charge hit the ground with a faint “zap” and dissipated. Otto recovered fast enough to catch the next one and keep three in rotation, shooting Magdi a stern scowl, which was returned with interest from the dwarf.

  “If,” he began imperiously, “I could be permitted to continue without such antics, this form of elemental control is the first step of acquiring a number of

  “Oh yes?” Reinhardt nudged Otto’s other hand just as he released the charge in hand, causing it to flash past Magdi at eye level. In the wake of both Otto and Magdi fixing him with identical dirty looks, he moved the conversation along smoothly. “Which

  Otto flicked one of his remaining s at Reinhardt, who had no hope of avoiding the little ball of electricity. It locked Reinhardt’s jaw and caused him to give a weird, cringing leap - much to Magdi’s amusement, who wore his to the face, sparking down his beard and causing it to stand on end, but not affecting the stout Dwarf in the slightest. He smirked at Reinhardt rubbing his chest and working his jaw.

  “In the event I would be able to continue my training unobstructed,” Otto began with all the airs of a lecturer explaining a ground-breaking and revolutionary theory to a rapt audience. “I would hope to be rewarded with

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  “All that, from tossin some glowy balls about?” Madgi looked scandalised.

  “The first on a long list of talents I intend to cultivate, my good dwarf.” Otto flexed his fingers and sent a flicker of lightning between his palms. “In due course, and with dedicated train-”

  “Why Lightning?” Reinhardt headed him off before he could build up any momentum. Far from being offended, Otto seemed overjoyed at the interest Reinhardt showed.

  “Well, as you well know, my is Innate.”

  Otto continued as though the others were actually listening to him, although the sun peeking over the peaks and throwing slanted golden rays through the dust, bugs and pollen hanging in the still air of the Schwarzwald had distracted his companions. Throughout his younger years, Reinhardt had alternated between being resentful he did not live in a major city, or on the coast in a port town, or even on the rolling grasslands and farms of the south; But at moments like this, he could admit to himself that his hometown could be perfectly enchanting.

  “In my case, it equates to 2.5% by the PyromancerNight Witch

  Reinhardt snapped back to the present at the mention of the near-mythical figures. He had loved History lessons, and spent many of his own hours outside of school reading about various heroes, villains and DemiGods that shaped the history of the world. High MageSorcererK military. His presence had single-handedly changed the course of many wars. Like Otto, his was Night WitchHealer

  “Yeh, but why litnin’?” Magdi asked as he stumped along, the heads of his weapons sticking out of the top of his packs coming dangerously close to bashing his head in with every step.

  “Forbearance, please.” Otto pushed a School of Magic has their own effects.

  Reinhardt knew all this. Magical Theory detailed all the forms of Magic, known combinations and their effects. But it had always been stressed that despite millennia of research, the sentient beings knew next to nothing about Magic.

  “

  “Right, and it will only increase from there. By the time you advance to Fireballs? Or s?”

  “Well, firstly, they have both been done before. The only way to get into the history books as a Charged Bolts out at a nearby tree. The sparks hit the trunk about a foot apart - and a small

  “Honestly, you should have led with that.”