Chapter 21

"Cai?"

To dispel her confusion, I replied "The one and only."

"Oh my Gods. What are you doing here, and what are you dressed in? Come, come, this way. We'll go into the back, we can sit and talk."

Pulling me through a door behind the counter, she led me to the forge area, where Max was working.

"Hey, moron, look who's here." Valeria requested lovingly.

"What could this possibly be abou- oh... OH. Cai! What are you doing here, and what are you doing in those robes?" It was scary how they responded almost identically. Why were they so drawn to my robes?

"Whelp, this kinda sucked, anyways. I can make a new one later." Max said before tossing a sword that looked fine onto a heap of scrap. Val was upset by this,

"What?! Did you not just make me check the front because you were working on that? And now you're just throwing it out?"

"Yep, let us go find somewhere to sit. Follow me." I was once again led into another room, this one with a table and some chairs. Sitting across from the two made me realize just how similar the two were. I had forgotten over time. The same black hair, the same green eyes, and the same dark caramel skin.

"So how about you two start? My reason for being here is a bit complicated."

Max took the lead with their story, "Well, after we arrived here, we jumped through some hoops, but we got the forge up and running. We found that we actually had enough gold saved for the two of us to enroll in the academy.

So, Val enrolled to be a wizard, talking up rune crafting. My affinity, called 'Empty Vessel,' has an effect on my weapons when I forge them with my Fire. It makes them incredibly effective at channeling magic, like they are hollow. So, we run a business of enchanted swords."

The two of them explained their adventures, and what they had gone through in the time we had been apart. They explained that they had a small home halfway between the forge and the academy. It was impractical, but better than walking the entire distance. They were going to be second years, so even if I wasn't in the special training class, I would rarely see them.

Then, it was my turn to explain.

"Well, I'm here because I'm a sorcerer. A... Kura sorcerer."

"A *what?*" Max said, shooting out of his seat.

"Wait, wait, wait, let me explain," and he slowly sat back down.

I explained the circumstances of my enrollment. How I was likely the only Kura sorcerer who could function with other mages.

"Oh, Gods, is that why you're in those robes," Valeria asked, a bit of poison behind her voice.

"Yeah, I suppose it is. Why do you say it like that?"

"The students in the special class, they always show the rest of the students up. Other students called them Crows. Mainly because of the black robes, but also because of that teacher," she shivered a bit.

"Magister Corvus? What about him?"

Max took over, "Corvus is an Old Empire word for crow. Supposedly, he was one of the strongest sorcerers in his day, with a shadow affinity and a nature that gave him an incredible amount of mobility. Flight, some say. I've heard other magisters say he's still powerful, just can't use his sorcerery."

"My teacher can't use sorcerery?" my voice was deadpan and hesitant.

"That's what they say. Some Kura accident, actually. He's still very scary though. We've gotten off topic. Tell me more about this sorcerery of yours." I still wanted to ask about Magister Corvus, but Max wasn't interested.

I decided to share the details of my sorcerery with them. The eating, the transformation, all of it.

"So you can just, turn your arm into an axe? That is so cool, you gotta let me see," Max, evidently, was very excited by this. When I shifted my arm for him, I could've sworn he looked like he was going to cut it off and keep it.

"I've got just the thing, wait here." He ran into another room before coming back with a gladius in his hand. He slammed it onto the table. "This is my best work. Val's, too. We couldn't sell it. But this, this is worth it. Feast, my friend."

"Max, no! Do you know how long I spent enchanting that thing?"

"Max, I couldn't possibly do that. This is too valuable." And it was. An enchanted sword of such fine make had to be worth at least ten gold. If they could make things like this, it was no wonder they could afford two tuitions.

"Yes, you are. I want you to. C'mon Val, we didn't want to sell it anyways. It would just gather dust here. You don't use a sword, and I'm no good at fighting. This would be put to good use by him."

Reluctantly agreeing, Val said "Ugh, fine. Only because we won't use it here."

"Perfect," Max sat down next to me and pulled the sword closer. "It has a keyword. When holding it, simply say 'Aflame' and it will light up."

Max spoke and demonstrated. Sure enough, the sword we engulfed in a bright orange flame.

After a little back and forth about accepting it for free, I decided to just accept the gift. I'd pay them back some day. Probably.

I reached down, grabbed the sword and repeated the process I had become semi-familiar with. My hand shifted into a mass of black and purple growths, and swallowed the sword whole. "Every time I do this, I get really tired."

"Does it consume mana?" Val asked.

"Yeah, quite a bit. But it also restores mana, which is strange. It's about a quarter of what I use."

"My guess would be how fast you use it. If you use a large amount of mana in a very short period of time, it has adverse affects on your stamina. Try chewing your food next time." Val let that last bit out with a little laugh.

Absorbing the sword was like receiving the knowledge of two things at once. The make of the sword, and the runes themselves. It was different from what I had experience before. I shifted my arm into the gladius.

The growths formed from the middle of my forearm, changing everything from that point to my hand into the sharp blade of the gladius, but twisted and purple. I looked at Val and Max anxiously, we didn't know if this would work.

I said the keyword, "Aflame," a moment, two moments. Nothing. Several attempts, nothing. As Max was getting disappointed, I realized something. I had absorbed the knowledge of the sword and the runes separately.

So, I made an attempt to shift them onto the blade of the sword, and surprisingly, I felt the mana in my body go to work.

The expenditure of mana to my arm increased, and it was hard to tell, but it looked like the rough pattern of the blade shifted slightly.

After that point, it came naturally. I didn't need a keyword. I simply willed the blade to light, and the expenditure of my mana nearly doubled, but the sword arm was engulfed in a ghastly purple flame.

Max let out a slight scream, but I smiled. Willing the flame to stop, and reverting my arm to its regular state, a new idea forming in my mind.

I changed my arm to the bear arm, and willed the runes to take shape, but it didn't work. At first, at least.

Experimenting with how I visualized it, and which runes went where, I shifted the runes so the accommodated my new arm.

I had told Max and Val about the bear, but I hadn't shown them the arm, so they were confused by the crude imitation of fur the vines tried to make, and the cruel claws on the end. They were even more surprised when the claws of the arm burst into the same purple flame of my sword arm.