Chapter 26
Garrett hurried towards the Mage Tower with his letter of rmendation in hand.
The temple''s search team returned in disarray, battered and bruised. Before reaching their destination, they had provoked a powerful necromancer, resulting in their strongest member getting severely injured. Seeing no gooding from pressing forward, they had to retreat to the temple for recovery.
As for what woulde nextexploration, retaliation, or something elsethat was a matter for another time.
Even Donald, the priest who had intended to chat a bit more with Garrett, could only regretfully nce his way before boarding a carriage without looking back, swiftly departing.
With the temple guards withdrawing, they wouldn''t concern themselves with the city guards. Garrett and his teammates deliberated briefly before deciding to return to Uncle Edmund''s farm and rendezvous with Captain Karen. They borrowed a few mounts from Uncle Edmund, took shortcuts, and made their way straight back to the city.
Having suffered such losses, the temple guards might seek retribution. If they were to pin the me for their failure on the lowest-ranking soldiers, they wouldn''t stand a chance. The immediate n was to rush back and report.
Even John, the young priest from the War God''s temple, canceled his ns to visit home and turned back towards the temple.
As Garrett approached the city, he split from hispanions and headed for the Mage Tower. Harnd City boasted only one Mage Tower, situated not within the city but atop a hill on its outskirts. The hill was densely wooded, obscuring much of the tower''s spire from view.
"Is this the hidden temple in the mountains? It does have a certain charm to it..."
Garrett murmured, adjusting the reins. The chestnut mare beneath him snorted and obediently turned, ascending the mountain path.
The main road out of the city split into a narrower path leading directly to the mountaintop. This path was wide and well-trodden, evident from the deep wheel ruts, indicating frequent use by carriages. Garrett found the ascent manageable, reaching the mountaintop and arriving in front of the Mage Tower in less than a quarter of an hour.
Despite being called a tower, it was more akin to a castle, enclosed within a significant outer wall. Garrett dismounted outside the wall, took a few steps back, and gazed up:
"This tower is impressively tall... Three, no, four levels..."
Boom!
A tremendous noise startled the birds into flight, the horses whinnied, and the sturdy Mage Tower swayed slightly. Thick smoke billowed from a fourth-floor window, followed by a swooshing sound as someone was propelled in an arc out of it...
Garrett: !!!
That height! That speed! If they hit the ground and were lucky, they''d break bones. If unlucky, it''d be a snapped neck, and it''d be game over!
He dashed towards thending spot. If it was just broken legs, he wouldn''t need to assist; if it was a broken neck, there would be no use trying to help; but if it was something like sudden cardiac arrest, airway obstruction, or severe bleeding from fractures, the faster he ran, the higher the chance he could save a life!
Run faster!
Run even faster!
Gasping for breath, Garrett sprinted, almost reaching the speed of rushing a critically ill patient to the operating room. But as he ran, each step slowed more than thest until, supporting himself on his knees, he stood still, panting heavily.
It wasn''t that he couldn''t run anymore. Garrett, after all, was at least a Level 1 warrior as a new recruit in the city guard. The issue was that the person ejected from the window made him feel his haste was entirely unnecessary...
That person was gesturing wildly, yelling at the top of their lungs, flying in a parabolic trajectory. As they reached the apex, they suddenly produced something from their pocket and tossed it out. Following that, their high-speed trajectory abruptly halted, and they seemed to float down like they had a parachute, slowly descending towards the ground.
Garrett held the reins, mouth agape, rooted to the spot. That person drifted leisurely, descending from three fathoms to two, then from two to one. When they looked down and spotted Garrett, they even smiled.
"Elliott!!!"
A roar thundered from above the smoking window. The person hovering in the air shuddered, somehow unable to maintain their floatation and thudded straight down
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"
"Um, can you still walk?"
The soot-covered man, the perpetrator of the Mage Tower''s explosion, the person whostnded on a twisted ankle after descending from the sky, finally returned to the Mage Tower riding Garrett''s mare.
With his rmendation, Garrett effortlessly met the master of the Mage Tower, the Level 5 mage Gelman us, handing over the letter for the necromancer.
"Garrett Nordmark?" Gelman, the pr opposite of a necromancer, was a hefty man, his crimson mage robes snug around his bulging belly. His deep brown hair was neatlybed back, and a thick beard extended from his ears to his chin, swaying loosely and covering his Adam''s apple.
ncing at him, Garrett nearly thought he had time-traveled, witnessing someone right out of a political science textbook.
Standing by, Garrett lowered his hand. Mage Gelman briskly read through the letter, then looked up and scanned Garrett from head to toe:
"Andrew mentioned you wish to learn elemental magic?"
"Yes."
"How''s your foundation? Can you cast spells of any level? Level 1 spells? Level 0 spells?"
"Um... I can''t cast any..."
"Have you studied the principles of spells? ''Basic Incantations''? ''Runic Constructs''? ''Elementary Understanding of Elements''? ''Alchemy''? You do recognize magical script, don''t you?"
"I... I don''t..."
Garrett''s head sank lower. Sure, he knew a few Latin phrases, memorized some medicine names during his medical studies; he even had a minor in German and was fluent in English from reading journals and literature. But magical scripts? Where would he have learned those?
Not recognizing magical script meant not being able to understand most, if not all, magical books. Could it be? After studying so hard for years, did I be illiterate after crossing into this otherworld?
Seeing hisck of knowledge, Mage Gelman furrowed his thick eyebrows more and more. Even with a friend''s rmendation, he was growing impatient:
"...You do recognizemonnguage, right?!"
"I do!" Garrett breathed a sigh of relief, quickly replying. Thanks to the previous owner''s father, even though he had passed away early, he had at least taught the previous owner how to read. There was even a small box of books left at home, and it was with that box that the previous ownerpleted the most basic reading education
"Moreover, I can perform healing spells!"
"Um..."
Mage Gelman''s expression softened slightly. Knowing healing spells indicated at least a basic qualification as a casteradequate mental and sensory abilities. As for the rest, well, considering the rmendation from his friend Lynn...
"Since it''s Andrew''s rmendation, you can attend the tower''s lectures first. The fee is 10 gold coins per month,
but I''ll waive it for Andrew''s sake"
Thank goodness!
Garrett inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, hastily nodding. He didn''t have a single silver coin on him right now, let alone a gold one. The city guard''s sry seemed to be five silver coins per month?
Thankfully, it was waived. Otherwise, would he have had to turn back to the necromancer to borrow money?
"Well, you cane to the Mage Tower every day, read the books in the first level''s collection freely, but no copying or taking them out. You can attend my sses, and if my apprenticeslike Elliottare willing, you can seek guidance from them. For copying spells, you''ll need your own materials and my permission, and the alchemyb is off-limits without my authorization. Let''s discuss the rest once you be an apprentice mage!"
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