Revered Magus Chapter 16 – First Mission

Rio woke up, brushed his teeth and dressed up to head to his artificing class, and entered the classroom. 'There aren't many people here, unlike the other classes I've seen' Rio wondered. However, since the professor walked in, Rio cast unnecessary thoughts to the back of his mind.

"Hello children, my name is Professor Stain and I will be your artificing teacher and guide you into knowing how to make and embed your weapons with runes. Does anyone know what artificing is?".

A kid with dark blueish hair and black eyes from the back raised his hand and spoke. "Artificing is a discipline that involves the use of standard techniques and runes. These can mimic the effects of the chosen character to create items with special properties."

"Correct Ben Stave. Now students, as you can tell from the brief introduction Ben used, artificing seems like something amazing and everybody wants to learn. However, learning artificing is one of the most difficult things to do.

You need patience that even alchemists don't have, you need incredible thinking speed that even mages couldn't hope to obtain, and dedication that most people lack. Due to many people tend the avoid artificing, since it's a long and arduous path to go."

'Is artificing really that bad that even though it is clearly as beneficial and maybe even more rewarding than alchemy, everyone avoids it? Well, I can get the knowledge part down in an instant I just need to experience handling practical work in artificing', Rio thought as the professor emphasized the difficulty of the course. Artificing requires many focuses all at once.

"The most basic thing you should know when artificing is that it must be conducted in a quiet and secluded place as any distribution could distract you and result in a possible life-threatening explosion.

Second of all, when in the middle of artificing, you must stay constantly focused as little changes happen every time your artificing, and if you can't handle it the product will turn useless finally if your artifice is a weapon you made yourself the chances of success increases and the effect of the tune also increases due to your mana through the blacksmithing and artificing harmonizing with each other rather than clashing and creating an equilibrium when using a bought weapon."

He further went into detail about how if we wanted, we could also take part in a workshop with a fellow professor. It seems the relationship between the professor and me was good, so recommend we go to him. The lesson carried on as usual while Rio collected all the information that was said during class while asking questions that left me stumped.

Two hours went by and the class ended, everybody in the class (which wasn't that much anyway) was given a basic textbook on runes we went through in class and needed to memorize to be able to draw the 2 runes accurately and perfectly by the next lesson since we were doing a few practical next lessons, so those who don't practice wouldn't have a chance to be a part of the practical.

After leaving the class around 11, Rio had the whole day to himself and decided to go task-searching in the mission halls to gain some spirit stones.

Rio went through the billboard with several different tasks on it and he found a relatively easy one with decent pay.

"Collect 5 Armored Lizard tails. Reward: 10 Low-grade spirit stones". Rio mumbled before taking it and applying for it to the register, or that was the plan before hearing "Hey! I was going to take that quest".

Rio turned towards the voice to see a long red-haired girl, with a small nose and a round face with baby fat still plastered on her face. "I mean I clearly got it first, chose another one, there is clearly a lot to choose from," Rio said before trying to walk away.

"I know there are more quests but they were all about picking some weird herbs or being some test experiment for some strange elder. The ones that do involve fighting are too high level for me," she said pouting

Rio said regardless of the puppy eyes thrown at me "So, when does this become my problem?"

"Y-you" Leaving the little girl aghast, since she looked like she had nothing else more to say, Rio went to go apply for the job.

Rio went to the desk and tried to apply for the job however they declined me and said "Since you just entered the academy and are only 10 years old, it would be too dangerous to send you into the wild to fight wolf beast" First years are only allowed to pick missions that are related to refining, herb collecting or experimenting.

Rio heard snickering from the girl shouting at him not long ago while going to accept the hunting mission Rio walked back and found a herb-collecting mission that rewards a decent amount.

"Collect the White Dew Flower. Reward: 12 low spirit stones. More details at the counter."

Rio went back to his dorm to pack everything he would need for his expenditure. And got ready to set off. Rio walked out of his room, heading towards the academy's exit, and left to go find the herb. Due to the information provided, it grows around cold areas, so it should be seen on a high mountain. Rio left the academy passing through a bubble-like field and headed towards a forest, looking for the nearest city to ask where to find a high mountain near here.

As Rio traveled using the wind catcher technique and getting more proficient with it, he could last longer and go faster with it. After about 3 hours, Rio came across a remote village and ventured through it. Rio asked an old man who seemed knowledgeable about the area where he could find a high mountain.

Thankfully he seemed to know the answer and said "About 6 hours by leg towards the east, you should see a gigantic mountain. It's impossible to miss." Rio thanked the old man and immediately left. The faster Rio left the faster he could complete the mission and the faster he could get his Spirit stones

"Since it would take 6 hours in walking, I should be able to get there in around 3-4 hours by running." Rio pondered and ran for about 3 hours and reached the bottom of the mountain. Rio rested for about an hour due to all the running and proceeded to climb up the mountain looking for his objective. Rio traveled up around halfway and it started to get colder due to the altitude.

Rio went higher and higher looking for his objective. Along the way, Rio found plants he thought what was the white dew flower, however, that wasn't the case. After about 3 hours of climbing and searching, Rio reached 70% up the mountain and it was blistering cold. Sheer willpower was keeping him going at this point. Did Rio come all the way here for nothing? Impossible, Rio was determined to find this flower even if he needed to turn this mountain upside down and shake it.