Chapter 115: Two Idiots and an Unsolvable Problem
In the Maze, the boy woke up to a familiar scene he had forgotten. His bed of vines, the smell of nature, and most importantly, he felt the warm breeze of the South.
He was back at Seabright City, and he could even see the familiar sight of the Library looking over at the Academy.
He was surprised to see his own home, but what he found even more surprising was his sensitivity.
He could feel everything in the vicinity. Everything the Wind touched he could feel and hear. And what was more, the Wind seemed to be particularly chatty today. What surprised him was that he could also hear the ocean, albeit it was a little more than a whisper.
He stood up, shaking from happiness, he had broken through, not only into Rank Two but also into a Mage.
"You are a big guy now, are you? Congratulations Mr. Storm Mage." Eleftherios clapped sarcastically.
The girls wanted to see the boy too, but the dryad wanted some privacy with his disciple. The man felt the need to curb the boy's ego before he got too cocky with his new powers and got himself hurt.
"Show me what you can do Boy. Let's see how far you have grown up." He said as he took a fighting pose.
Ciaran cast his Wind, but he still couldn't feel the entirety of the Maze.
"Are we alone? Make them unable to see or hear us. I need your guidance, Master." Ciaran fell to his knees and asked.
The man was confused but obliged, the boy was too serious to be pranking him. And if he was pulling his leg, the Warrior would just break both of his. He then gestured so the boy would speak.
Ciaran looked at him and stayed silent. They both stared at each other for a while, before Eleftherios came forward and hit him on the head, knuckles to the skull.
This seemed to reset the boy's mind.
"I, uh, I need advice."
"Yes, you have needed my advice since we met. Out with it Ciaran, we are here to fight not to talk."
The boy looked at him and decided to swallow his own shame, and fire.
"I fell in love, please help, I am clueless." He screamed, afraid his voice would die down in his throat before he could voice his secret.
Eleftherios looked at him. He just blinked. He had no idea how to answer that. He was here to beat a child, not give him the girl talk.
Then the gears in his head turned, and he figured out who his boy was crushing on.
"Tell me you didn't hit on old man Silver's granddaughter. " He said and saw the boy extend his shaky hand.
The man grabbed it and got the shock of his life. Because of his condition, Ciaran's growth was stunted, but that of his mind was accelerated in exchange.
The man thought that would only be a factor in his fights, and in his relationships with friends, but he never considered how it would affect his romantic thoughts. The boy wasn't crushing on Diana, he was full-on in love.
Now the problem lay in that the boy knew he couldn't act on his emotions, but he still did.
"Of all the things you decided to be honest about kid, why did you have to pick that one?" He said as he slumped on the ground.
The man took a deep breath, stood up, and grabbed the boy by the shoulders.
"Go for it. You can't be separated for two more years anyway, so take advantage of that and press your luck."
Ciaran looked at him in shock.
"What kind of shitty advice is that old man? You're telling a God damned ten you're old to woo a fucking teenager. Am I mad, or are you?" Ciaran asked in outrage.
The rage was born out of guilt and shame. His anger was unjust, but the Wind answered him anyway. It roared at the dryad, pushing him away.
'So we are going to fight it out anyway.' Eleftherios sighed in relief. The violence he could handle. Romanic advice was not in his qualifications.
In theory, Eleftherios was a Grand Mage, so he thought he would show the boy what real Wind Magic looked like, but his own magic struggled to execute his commands.
The Storm was a fashion element, but it had the unique ability to swallow everything in its path, especially Wind and Water.
This was beyond what a Mage should have been to do, but here he was experiencing the fury of nature, and his own magic struggled to keep up… but that was because he was holding back.
Eleftherios unleashed his full magical power and took back control of his Wind. He thought it was over, but that was when it began.
A miniature hurricane manifested and spawned Ice shards all over itself. Then it began shooting at the dryad. It was an improvised upgrade to his previous icicle bombardment, but it was effective.
Both the speed and the power of the spell had been improved. But the truly fearsome thing was that it had locked on to the man, and fired at him on its own. Ciaran was free to attack him separately.
The boy was vicious and had more than enough control to call upon four different variations of the same spell. They all fired at the man, as Ciaran prepared a fifth around himself.
Eleftherios was struggling to deal with the barrage, not because he wasn't able to, but because he was hesitant to use real force on his student, but his hesitation didn't last long.
"Let me show off my magic as well then." He yelled out and commanded the Wind to just push, and push it did.
The Wind blew in the direction of the boy, shattering all the ice into powder. The Storm was strong and ferocious as far as elements go, and Ciaran was more than capable to achieve its full potential, but that was just for the Mage Rank.
The simplest Grand Mage spell, executed to perfection, was more than enough to crush him.
His Storm was dispersed, and his body was blown backward. Eleftherios was giddy, before realizing he allowed himself to become battle hungry. The boy crashed against to Library hard. Because of the enchantments, and Verdania's illusions, nobody saw, but the female dryad felt it.
She looked in the direction of the crash, surprised someone would be dumb enough to attack them, then her brother stopped hiding the battle, and her eye started to twitch as she went to scrape the boy off the wall.
"So, he woke up, and
you what decided he needed a few more hours of sleep?" She asked, in a rare moment of furry for her brother.
The boy had passed out again, and even his soul had taken damage. His Master was healing him in shame, as he had lowered his head.
She grabbed his arm and probed, but he resisted.
"Listen to me, and listen to me good Eleftherios. When I fuck up, you can always clean up my mess, but if you fuck up, we can only beg Mother for help, and she can't always help. This is about our boy, don't be a mule for once, and let me in." She said, slowly and with a light smile on her face.
"I promised the boy to keep it between us." He said timidly.
She lost a bit of her cool, as her eye twitched, just once, but it was enough to make the man flinch.
"I swear to Mom and all the fucking Gods, you two share the most stupid of similarities. A blind mortal goat can see the boy has a damn crush. I don't care, access to your memories, NOW." She ordered.
He felt dirty for betraying Ciaran's trust, but he obliged, Verdania was much better at talking anyway. She wasn't as expressive usually, but surely she would be able to solve the problem. Or at least the dryad thought.
The more she saw the more she raged cooled, and finally, she looked at her brother and sighed.
"Good advice, we will support him in his path, even if we disagree with it, for that is our way. Besides, what kind of damage could a kiddy love like this even cause?" She said, fully knowing she was full of it.
When it came to Mages falling in love, it was always strong, and it ended in pain and death, or a lifelong relationship. Worse still, this particular Mage was yet to even adulthood, there was no lust in his head yet, and his feelings were turning into an obsession.
"We can try talking to the girl. The boy wouldn't listen to us, he doesn't even understand what his feelings mean yet, but surely she will."
The dryads talked it over. And the end verdict was that they would ask Diana to let him down gently. The boy had a strong mind, but a very fragile mentality, especially to things he considered betrayal.