Chapter 10:Presentations

In a classroom there were seven children of different ages sitting in front of a middle-aged man who was explaining something to them seriously.

"Some call it mana, others call it the power of nature, but it is best known as the power of chaos.

A pure but volatile energy that flows throughout the world and is capable of disrupting the natural order,so it must be used with total care and caution,for as the name implies,it is chaotic in nature.

Many consider this power to be evil and unnatural but I will not go into detail about the various philosophies of magic, that is something that each of you must learn for yourself.

What we call sources are those people like you and me, who are born with a fixed amount of this power within us, combining the power of the chaos within us with that which flows in the environment, we can cast spells.

If we want to enhance these spells, we have to extract the power of the different dimensions or use some magical ingredient.

However, I warn you that this power can get out of our control if we are not sufficiently concentrated.

Unfortunately not all sources are lucky enough to catch the attention of a wizard who is willing to take them under his care or do not have enough money to pay the academic expenses of Ban Ard or Aretuza, plus in the past we kidnapped children who were born as sources, making our reputation is quite bad, which leads to the common people to feel reluctant to give us their children.

But what the parents of such unfortunates don't know is that by not knowing how to control the power of chaos,their children end up going crazy or developing rare diseases because such power ends up getting out of control."

Artorius looked at the students and asked, "Does anyone have a question?"

Viltz raised his hand and asked, "Professor Artorius, can you cast magic without chanting?"

Artorius nodded but again shook his head.

"To cast a spell you must cast the corresponding chant,but there are people who don't need chanting,they just visualize the spell in their minds and cast it,although as a result the spell will be cast faster,doing something like this is a very difficult thing to master plus the more complicated the spell the harder it is to cast it without chanting,that's why everyone uses chanting magic.

Chants are basically phrases spoken in Elder Speech that help us visualize the spell we want to cast.

Vice Chancellor Mardin will teach you Elder Speech, and once you master it I will teach you how to use basic spells.

Good, you may leave now."

Vilgefortz followed the other children into a large dining room filled with long tables that could accommodate up to ten people each.

Seeing everyone seated at the same table,Viltz simply sat down in one of the empty chairs.

As Artaud shot him provocative glances, a boy sitting next to him turned to him and spoke with a friendly smile: "Hi, Vilgefortz right? we didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves yesterday, I'm Harlan, nice to meet you."

"And I'm Algernon, nice to meet you."

As the first two boys introduced themselves,to Viltz their names sounded familiar,as he tried to remember,another boy introduced himself in a low voice.

"I'm Sorel."

Hearing the name, Viltz turned to look at the boy who was speaking,only to see a boy of about twelve years old with an effeminate face,combined with his long hair,he could easily be mistaken for a girl.

Seeing the boy's face,Viltz finally remembered where the names of these three came from.

The three would work in the future as assistants to a grand master sorcerer who was not under the control of the brotherhood named Ortolan,one of the oldest sorcerers of his time and the main person in charge of Rissberg Castle,a clandestine place where all kinds of sorcerers gather to do illegal experiments,exchange information and trade in rare magical ingredients and artifacts.

Viltz had a strong impression of both Ortolan and Sorel.

The former because he was a mad genius who believed that for mankind to achieve eternal peace the different countries had to have lethal weapons persuasive enough so that they would not dare to go to war easily, which reminded Viltz of the general picture of his previous world, where no country dared to go to war on a large scale because of their fear of nuclear bombs.

It was Ortolan who invented the elixir that inhibits the aging process,thinking that by creating an elixir that would make everyone forever young would make everyone forever happy,but the sorcerer's brotherhood didn't like his ideas so they constantly tricked him,making him think that his elixir was shared with everyone,although the brotherhood kept it for themselves,they would also sabotage his inventions if they saw that it could be a potential danger to them.

As for Sorel, he was a peculiar fellow, who took advantage of his natural beauty and magical talent to curry favor with the sorcerer's brotherhood.

Ortolan became infatuated with him for his beauty and talent,making him his assistant along with Harlan and Algernon,and keeping him as his secret lover.

"Maybe he wanted a sugar daddy. "Viltz scoffed inwardly.

"As I recall,Ortolan would order Sorel to catch Geralt of Rivia in a trap so he could remove his eyes and study them in the future,he might be interested in the eyes of the Witchers I have in my possession."

As Viltz pondered,another boy introduced himself: "My name is Lockhart."

Another boy sitting next to him introduced himself in an indifferent manner, giving only his name without saying anything else: "My name is Igor".

Viltz nodded to them all,ignoring Artaud,who already had the veins in his neck so swollen that they looked like they might burst at any moment.

Just as he was about to curse,someone shoved a piece of bread into his mouth,making him choke.

Everyone turned their heads only to see a middle-aged woman dragging a cart full of food with one hand as she forced the piece of bread into Artaud's mouth.

All the other boys nodded at the woman.

Viltz bowed slightly in greeting.

The woman, still struggling with Artaud, spoke to Viltz kindly.

"I'm Ariana, the cook who makes sure no one here starves to death.

Don't listen to Artaud, he's an energetic boy but this castle bores him.

He won't do anything to you,at most he'll try to provoke you with taunts."

Viltz nodded while Artaud,still with the piece of bread in his mouth,was lamenting the injustice,he just wanted to tease the new kid but who would think that this kid would be so fierce that he didn't even let him finish his teasing and knocked him straight out.

But the worst part is that he couldn't even take revenge.

The middle-aged woman let go of Artaud and started to put the food on the table, then took her empty cart and left, leaving the boys to eat in peace.