Vol.5 Ch.98- A Morning With Bowen.

"So, how does your uniform fit you? I haven't seen you in a while, so I was surprised to see that you've grown some more. I thought the numbers were wrong," Bowen said with a chuckle.

I slid my hand across my warm-weather uniform and shrugged. "It fits perfectly, I have no complaints," I responded.

The uniform change really wasn't all that drastic. Instead of red jackets, the students wore red and white button-up shirts along with black pants. Once the season turned to summer, and it got a bit hotter, we were permitted to wear long shorts as well. The women's outfits changed in a similar fashion.

However, Bowen wasn't wrong when he said I had grown. I was a bit taller now, at just around six feet. I have grown quite a bit since I've managed to maintain a proper diet while working out. It's the first time I've had unrestricted access to sustenance in years, and it's paying off tenfold. I'd say I'm far bigger than any High Elf I've ever seen while my muscle growth has skyrocketed, and since I no longer have a bulky winter jacket to hide my body under, it's even more noticeable.

I'm also a lot larger than the average Human now, but that's not saying much. Comparing myself to people who, on average, are malnourished is hardly a valid comparison. If I stood next to Humans or even Dark Elves who frequently train, I'm still a small Elf compared to them. I'm just weird enough to notice that something is off about me.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but I do feel a lot better about myself, so all is well, I suppose.

Bowen was watching me with a faint smile, and he stood up slowly from his desk and gave a wide yawn. "Tea, perhaps? Or just some water?"

"I would rather not—"

Bowen softly clicked his tongue and wagged his long finger at me. "Now, now, it's just me and you here. I cut a special chunk out of this morning's valuable time to dedicate purely to you, Kaladin. So if anything, please take your mask off and enjoy this time as I've locked the door and assured nobody would be interrupting us. I'm sure you grow tired of hiding yourself behind that thing all the time."

Well, he isn't wrong.

I obliged and took off my mask. "Do you normally schedule your days so efficiently?" I asked.

Bowen stared at me in awe as a smile crept onto his face. "Now that's never going to get old," he mused. "But yes, always. I value my time greatly, and as a man who delves into many things, I need to make sure my time is well spent. Everybody has the same amount of time on any given day, so using that time properly is important. Besides… my family would murder me if I didn't spend time with them. Now, what do you want to drink?"

Oh, he said that last part pretty seriously. Bowen's wife seemed pretty skilled to me. Is he perhaps afraid of her?

"I see… would you happen to have coffee?" I asked.

Bowen stopped walking towards a counter at the back of his office and looked at me in confusion. His swirling brown eyes scrunched up, and the faint wrinkles on his face deepened. "What is… cough..eee?"

"Ah, sorry… I meant Jinx Beans," I mumbled.

Oops… it seems Bowen doesn't know what coffee is.

"Why didn't you say so! Of course. I'm surprised you even know what this stuff is. I only just recently purchased some before last winter," Bowen said more to himself than me.

The Headmaster went into a glass cabinet and produced a small ring from inside. He slipped the silver ring onto his finger, and suddenly a tiny canvas bag appeared in his open palm. He quickly set to work grinding the beans as the refreshing smell of the coffee wafted into the office. I also noticed that Bowen used water magic for the kettle and heated it with fire magic.

At least two schools of magic, huh? To be expected, I suppose.

Bowen continued brewing the coffee and, without facing me, began speaking. "So I read that report you sent me. Is it really true? Does that forest feel unnatural to you?"

"Indeed… explaining why is… difficult… but I believe doing at least a few of those things would alleviate that awkward feeling," I suggested.

Bowen nodded his head slowly, making his long brown hair sway back and forth. "Nobody has ever brought that to my attention before. Perhaps it's just because you spend more time there… come to think of it, I'm not sure if there are any Wood Elves amongst the groundskeepers… mmmm… it would be expensive to maintain an animal population and to plant more trees but… I can make it work. I'll implement your suggestions, Kaladin."

"Wait… I mean, it was just a suggestion. Just because I said something doesn't mea—"

Bowen waved me away and sat back down in his chair with a satisfied sigh. "What do you mean? I'm not doing this just for you; I'm doing it for the betterment of all my students. I'm sure if you have these feelings, then more students must be having them as well. Besides, adding these suggestions would most likely increase the authenticity of the forest which would allow students to gain better experiences…" Bowen trailed off. The Headmaster gazed off into the distance as he pinched the hair on his goatee. "Mmm, securing; the budget shouldn't be a problem. Procuring the animals and saplings would be the most difficult task. We would have to uproot some of… sorry I'm rambling, Kaladin."

"It's fine. Thank you for accepting my proposal," I said honestly.

"Good." Bowen stood up and was about to move towards the coffee again, but his gaze lingered on my storage ring. I couldn't help but smile at the curious Headmaster.

"It's a Spatial Ring, yes. But something tells me you want to see my mask?" I asked.

Bowen gave me a wry smile and a chuckle. "Am I really that obvious? When your report said you had multiple things you wanted to talk about, I thought of your mask first, so… may I?"

I dipped my mind into my ring and brought out my mask. This mask has served me well over the last few years. The gunmetal gray color and its intricate golden waves carved into the face have been my identity for a long time. Many people only ever associate me with this mask and even those close to me now rarely see my actual face.

The Headmaster gingerly accepted the mask—like it was made of glass. His wide smile couldn't be contained as he gleefully shuffled over to the glass cabinet. He checked his reflection once and then slid the mask onto his face with an audible "oooh".

Starting from the top of Bowen's scalp with a wave of color his brown hair began to change. Next, the wave passed over his long hair, turning it into a light red color, almost auburn. Bowen's lightly sun-tanned skin changed to a pale white following the wave.

Bowen shook his head up and down with force, most likely trying to dislodge the mask from his face. Finally, he took a deep audible breath and ran his hands through his auburn hair. "Is this… an illusion?"

"I'm not sure. It could be. If you were to cut your hair or lose a limb those portions no longer connected to you would revert back to their original state," I informed him.

Bowen slowly turned around and tilted his head at me. "Kaladin… how would you know it worked on a lost limb…" Bowen questioned me carefully.

"Don't ask."

Bowen carefully took off the mask and placed it slowly down onto his desk like some dangerous item. "I see…well, this is most definitely an interesting piece of work. I would love to study it one day… say, would you be willing to sell it to me? I'll make it worth your while…" Bowen said with a sly grin.

"One day, when I no longer need this mask, I will give it to you for free," I told him.

Bowen chuckled and turned his attention back to the coffee. "Try to make it within twenty years or so. I would like to still be able to use this old brain of mine when you give it to me. Sugar?"

"I'll try. And yes, please." Bowen poured us both mugs of coffee and placed two sugar cubes into each of our drinks, stirring them around with a small spoon.

I accepted the drink with a nod of thanks and took a sip. The drink was still bitter but it tasted okay… I suppose. Perhaps it was more of an acquired taste. But I most definitely prefer this to the taste of tea.

I eyed Bowen's Spatial Ring. "Say, Bowen… how much do you know about Spatial Rings?"

Bowen scrunched his nose up a bit and scowled slightly at his coffee. "Not very much. Then again most people don't. Any attempts to track them down always lead to dead ends. They've been around for at least two to three thousand years. Even ancient records during the reign of the Vampires mention Spatial Rings being used. But I've never once been able to locate information on how they were made or even who made them. My educated guess is that the Dragons made them… although they don't claim as much… or maybe some civilization long ago forged the rings and the know-how has been lost to time. Who knows?"

"I see… so you've looked into them then?" I asked.

"Extensively."

"On average… how big would you say the interior of the rings is?"

Bowen grumbled while taking another sip of his coffee. "On average, I'd say it's no bigger than an everyday dorm room here on campus… on the larger side, I've personally witnessed a ring as large as this room. While reading some ancient text, I've managed to discover a description of a ring that was estimated to be no bigger than a single-story home, although that was some old dusty book and I've never heard of a ring that big before."

So nothing as big as an entire warehouse, huh? Just where did Sylvia get her ring from? And now I really hope Dominick doesn't mention it to anyone…

Before I say something stupid and out Sylvia by accident, I decided to change gears a bit. I reached into my ring once more and took out the smaller chunk of green crystal I found in the dungeon, and rolled it across to Bowen. "Have you ever seen something like this before? I found it in the bottom of a dungeon, and some giant turtle monster was eating it."

Bowen picked up the crystal chuckled and eyed it suspiciously. "Turtle monster… eating it… in a dungeon…huh…"

I could tell Bowen was pouring mana into his fingertips as the crystal began retreating away from him. Bowen's eyes lit up like a fire as he placed the crystal back onto his desk and started playing with it.

The Headmaster of the largest and most prestigious school in the nation was currently rolling a green crystal around on his desk with a dopey child-like smile. Bowen would place one finger on one side of the crystal and force mana into it then bring his other finger around, making the crystal shrink in on itself. The way the crystal structure slid over itself was admittedly interesting, but it wasn't as amusing as watching my forty-year-old Headmaster do it.

"I've never seen a crystal like this before, but it reminds me of something," Bowen whispered to himself.

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Mountain Farming, but the Dwarves invented it before the war broke out. It uses a crystal they mine from a dungeon along with dungeon core shards to power it. This crystal has a similar appearance, but their crystal is a bright red instead. It's also the complete opposite of this crystal as the one the Dwarves use is attracted to mana and not repelled by it," Bowen said while sinking deep into his chair and holding the crystal up into the air.

So that explains why nobody else is using Mountain Farming. Krunbar and the Dwarves have a monopoly on those crystals since they are mining the stuff from a local dungeon.

Bowen gave me a serious look and set the crystal down on the table with a small thud. "I would like to buy this from you in order to study it. I'm afraid my knowledge about these crystals is limited, but I have someone who may know more."

I just nodded at his words. "Sure, I have plenty more. I hope that you can find a use for it and report it back to me. As for payment… I want some more information about various things…"

Bowen raised both his eyebrows at me and gave me a surprised smile. "I doubt what information I can supply to you is worth the cost of a brand new crystal… but if that's what you want, then I have no problems."

"Good. I read a book on dungeons that had some amendments to it written by you. You wrote that dungeons have been on the rise for the last two decades but you never said why. So… what conclusion did you come to?" I asked.

Bowen gave me a conflicted look, then sighed deeply. "I wish I had a conclusion. Studying dungeons is frustrating, and every time I think I know something, the rules change on me. Dungeons are erratic… chaotic things… understanding them completely is impossible. The only constant about them is that they exist, monsters are attracted to them, and destroying the core destroys the dungeon."

"Isn't that the truth…" I mumbled.

Bowen let out a chuckle. "I suppose you have your fair share of dungeon stories, mister Wyrm slayer. However, despite these grievances, I can at least confirm the increase in dungeon activity is real. And I believe the increase directly correlates to the end of the war."

"The end of the war? That is… odd, right?"

Bowen nodded his head while finishing off his coffee. "Indeed. Even during the war, dungeon spawn rates maintained similar numbers, never really decreasing or increasing. Records have shown that dungeon activity was the same, even to the point where as a nation we relied on their spawning. Dungeon core shards make for good equipment after all."

"Wait, I thought dungeons were supposed to be random? That there was no rhyme or reason behind their creation?" I asked.

"When I say they stayed the same, I don't mean dungeons are spawning at the same times every year. Dungeons springing up is indeed random, sometimes even within days of each other, while other times it could be months. Most of the time, it's a few dozen two or three-level dungeons a year. Then occasionally, five or six floor deep dungeons pop up as well. And very rarely a ten or eleven-floor dungeon will come into existence. You know, your father and I actually cleared a twelve-floor dungeon together," Bowen said with a fond smile.

"I didn't know that but I guess that makes sense. I remember my father having a lot of gems on his armor, and looking back, those were probably dungeon core shards."

"The purple ones?" Bowen questioned as his smile grew.

"Yeah, the purple ones."

Bowen let out a hearty chuckle. "Oooo yeah… your father got those from that same dungeon core… you will have to ask him about it one of these days…"

"Hopefully… anyways, why are dungeons spawning more? Is the correlation really that noticeable?" I asked.

Bowen straightened himself up in his chair and returned to his serious mode. "Absolutely. Just three years after the end of the war, dungeons began spawning more frequently. The overall size of dungeons also increased. We went from the two or three-level dungeons being the norm to six to seven. I don't need to be the one to tell you just how much of a difference that is."

He's right. Three more floors in a dungeon is a big deal. Depending on how the dungeon is made, that could be days of travel or fighting, maybe even weeks. What would usually take people three to four days might take upwards of a month to clear, even more so if the group has to retreat from the dungeon for supplies.

"Now, every year or two, a ten-floor dungeon or higher will spawn where before it was a once-in-a-decade event. We often have to mobilize at least two War Gods to clear those kinds of dungeons alongside an elite squad of soldiers. It's becoming a problem," Bowen continued.

"That is… not good. Any idea why that is?"

Bowen shrugged. "With certainty? No. God's wrath, maybe? Punishing us foolish mortals for squabbling like children? The souls of the dead lingering in this world and making hell for the living? Some angry bastard making dungeons just for the sake of it? Dragons lying to us or doing it with some kind of ancient magic? I have no idea. I'm not even sure if the Dragons know why dungeons exist."

"Dragons… have you ever seen one?" I asked.

"Nope, never have. Sometimes I'm not even sure if they exist, but I've seen bones and scales, so they must. There are reports of people looking into the sky and seeing a Dragon flying but… I've never had the luxury of witnessing it myself," Bowen said with a hint of annoyance.

"And what of the Dragon Emperors? Just how many of them are there, and where are they? I feel like people know so little about the Dragons yet they are supposed to be the protectors of the world…" I said.

Bowen just gave me an annoyed look but I don't believe he was annoyed with me. "Protectors of what exactly? I never understood that story… what are the Dragons protecting us from? Themselves? I'm more afraid of a Dragon destroying this city than some random person. As for how many Dragon Emperors… we base the calendar on the Dragon Emperors, and there have been five calendars since the fall of Talgan… let's see… we had the Fire Dragon Emperor calendar first…then the Earth Dragon Emperor… and uh… after that was Wind followed by Ice and now we are on Chaos," Bowen said with a satisfied nod.

"So, at the very least, there are five Dragon Emperors… maybe more. There are ancient reports of Water Dragons, Storm Dragons, and even Undead Dragons, but I've never seen definitive proof of those. I've seen the scales of a Wind Dragon and Fire Dragon from what I can say for sure. Tel'an'duth apparently has armor made from an Ice Dragon, while the Dwarves claim to have a hammer made from the bones of an Earth Dragon. But that's all I know… I don't even know where the Dragons live… people say they live deep in the mountains, but that's as much information I have."

So not even Bowen knows much about Dragons. For a man so well versed in this world's knowledge and with the resources to back him… knowing so little about these entities is disturbing news to hear.

"Do the Dragon Emperors even do anything? I mean do they show themselves to the world every few hundred years or so at the very least?"

Bowen shook his head. "Not the way you would think they do. Dragon Emperors do visit nations from time to time. They show up randomly and unannounced. Demand information then leave as quickly as they came. Before the fall of Brax, the Fire Dragon Emperor was reported coming here for one hour over a hundred years ago. He demanded that the Emperor give him random bits of information about the Empire, then he left. At least, that's what the scribes for that day wrote down…"

"That is very odd… I don't suppose the requested information was written down?" I guessed.

"Nope."

"Figures… and one more thing about Dragons… what is a Chaos Dragon? All the other Dragons make sense but… Chaos?" I asked.

"Now that's a question I would like answered as well. If all the other Dragons are said to be able to use the magic that coincides with their species… what is Chaos magic? Never once have I heard or read anything about Chaos magic, and despite digging, I haven't even found so much as a crumb of information. Talk about chaotic…" Bowen grumbled. "The only thing I know about Chaos Dragons is that their scales are black, that's it. The Holy Kingdom has a single Chaos Dragon scale in one of their museums… but it's probably a fake if I had to take a guess. Nobody is dumb enough to put such a legendary item on display for people," Bowen grumbled even harder at the last part and started pouting.

"So you've seen this scale… and it's probably real… isn't it?" I asked with a barely suppressed smile.

"Yeah… I've seen it… it's probably real… maybe…" Bowen grumbled to himself.

"For someone so steeped in knowledge, you can be awfully petty, Bowen," I said, unable to hide my amusement.

The Headmaster pointed a slim finger at me. "Uh-huh… looks like you earned a demerit for this one…" Bowen grumbled with a faint smile.

"It was a joke," I said in defense.

I gazed out the window and noticed our time was coming to a close. I still had much to ask the Headmaster but I couldn't leave without asking him about this…

"One more thing, Bowen… Gravity magic, do you know anything about it?" I asked.

Bowen perked up a bit at that question. "You are just full of surprises… I had heard you can use Lightning magic, but you are also aware of ancient Dwarven magic as well? Just how much do you read, Kaladin?"

"Read? Quite a bit, but I was more… interested… in its applications…" I said carefully.

"Applications?" Bowen mouthed to himself while watching me.

I touched a piece of paper on Bowen's desk and formed a spell core for Gravity magic. The thin sheet of white paper floated off towards the ceiling, and I watched as Bowen stared listlessly at the paper. He looked at me slowly, then back to the sheet then back to me again. I cut the feed of mana off to the spell core, and the paper slowly drifted back down, floating around as paper typically does.

Bowen pointed his finger at me and with a look of confusion looked me dead in the eyes. "You… you did that? Like you cast a spell? I felt the spell core and everything… was that… really Gravity magic?"

"Yeah… remember those turtles I mentioned earlier? They were using Gravity magic. So I figured I would give it a try, and well, here I am. I can use Gravity magic, albeit not very well… it consumes huge portions of my mana, and the bigger the object is, the more difficult it is to maintain the spell. Also, it's almost more like body enhancement than casting a spell… I can't even use it on another person," I said honestly.

Bowen watched me with wide eyes as he moved his long hair from his face. "Amazing…" he muttered. "Kaladin… just how many schools of magic can you use?"

Uh…

"Four? Including being able to combine most of them… even tried combining three at once but that nearly got me killed…" I said with a small shrug.

Bowen shot up from his chair and leaned over his desk. "Triple combination magic?! Four schools at your level, one of those being Gravity and the other Lightning?!" he shouted in surprise.

I gently pushed the Headmaster's face away from me and scooted back in my chair a tad. "Yes… I wouldn't say my Gravity magic is even at Intermediate while Fire and Earth are at Expert. Lightning magic… I'm probably almost Expert if I had to guess. I've only successfully ever combined Fire, Earth, and Lightning but never all three at once. Is… this really that rare?"

Bowen sat back down in his chair and took an imaginary sip of his empty coffee while clearing his throat. "Yes, I'd say that's beyond exceptional. Even for an experienced mage such as yourself, being versed in three or four schools of magic isn't common. Even I can manage five but we are not the norm. Albeit four of those are the basic elements… still… being able to combine multiple different schools is rare. Not to mention, having the skills to attempt to combine three is unheard of. I've only met a handful of mages in my life that can combine schools of magic, and typically they are locked into two schools."

"And what are those combinations you've seen?" I asked.

"Well, I fought against an Elf during the war that attempted to combine Wind and Poison magic together. It was particularly nasty and caught us by surprise, killing quite a few men… that was until our Wind mages redirected the poison clouds back at them. Tel'an'duth didn't try that one again," Bowen said with a slight shrug.

"That is most unfortunate…" I commented.

"We also had a Sound mage that was capable of using Wind magic to send long-distance signals. It was very effective, although the enemy could still hear us. Even I struggle to combine my schools of magic, Kaladin, and I'm a Grandmaster in all my schools. You are just… fascinating… I wonder if it has anything to do with the circumstances around your birth…"

Bowen was giving me a weird look that I had seen before. It was the kind of look an inquisitive and less than moral Doctor would give me in my previous life. The type of look that made me think they wanted to cut me open and see what was inside.

"I uh… wouldn't know…perhaps I'm just lucky then…so does this mean you don't know anything about Gravity magic?" I said, trying to change the subject.

Bowen scratched his head while letting out a small sigh. "No… I just know the history of it, I'm afraid. Unfortunately, I believe nobody knows anything about it anymore. Maybe the Dwarves have some books locked away in their underground keeps, but I don't have access to those… not yet anyways… perhaps I'll negotiate for some information on Gravity magic for you."

"That would be much appre—"

The school's loud bell cut off my words of thanks. It was time for our little chat to come to an end. Bowen gave me a friendly smile and guided me toward the front of the room.

I quickly put my mask back on while he unlocked the door, and with a final friendly pat on the shoulder and a broad smile, Bowen gave me some parting words. "Thank you for that crystal and your suggestion. I'll make sure to start on both of them immediately, as well as having those texts acquired if possible. With that, have a wonderful day, Voker. We should do this again sometime."

"Likewise, Headmaster. Thank you for your time," I said with a friendly nod.

I left the Headmaster's office and made my way toward class. It seems I have much to think about.