Scaled Otaku

*Thud*

"Well, here you go 'Professor Auroth'." Michael says as he drops a stack of books onto the floor of the icy cave which the Wyvern calls home, "Another pile of books on Eredar folklore, history, and culture..." he trails off, finding even listing the subjects boring enough to put him to sleep. He squints and yawns, before refocussing on the otaku dragon who looked stupid as she awkwardly sat on a throne made from books.

"I thank you, Michael. The books you bring me are such a delight to read." she says, accidentally kicking her foot out and causing part of the throne to collapse...

"Youknow, one might think you were bored by the way you're playing legos with these now priceless pieces of literature."

Auroth lets out a cool breath with literally causes icicles to form in mid-air and drop to the floor. "Don't you worry. These are just copies I made of the originals. The ones you brought are over there." she points a claw at some isolated bookshelves containing the originals.

He shrugs, "Anyway, you said you can read them, meaning you can understand their language?"

She nods, "I do, their writing is strange, but not as alien as their appearances might portray."

"I thought the Eredar were pretty average appearance-wise compared to the other sentient creatures in your world?"

The wyvern looks down from the fresh book she'd picked up, "Technically you are right, but some of their features mark them out from the natives of my world. Their skin for one, no natural creature possesses pale blue skin, if they do then it's either scales, fur, or something else that attributes to it. Again, there's also the fact that they possess horns, tendrils, tails and hooves. Had I not known better, I'd have thought that a crazed mage had blended a mish-mash of creatures to reach such an outcome..."

"Yeah, I can see that... What about their magic? Have you found anything about it yet? What differentiates it from other methods?" he asks, curious.

"Well, some of it is remarkably similar to how Mages in my world performed it. Utilising energy for leylines instead of their internal well of mana. Though, the Eredar seem far more skilled in using ambient magic than their internal reserves... Possibly due to how magically potent their world seemed to be... The amount of magic their extracted from the leylines would have rendered it barren if the same was done on my world." she remarks.

"Huh, I'll have to keep an eye on that in future then..." he says, wondering what would happen if he and the Eredar set up gems to suck up all the Magicka that came from the sun, Magnus.

He shakes his head, "Anyway, you enjoy that, and let me know if you figure out how to use any of their magic. With everything going on I can't really dedicate myself to it... Plus..." he pauses, "Got any advice for talking to a crazy Grand Magus?"

...

"A Grand Magus, or THE Grand Magus?" she tentatively asks.

"I mean... Who are you referring to?"

"I don't know how your strange book operates, so you could be speaking of any number of Magus'. The one I'm talking about, however, is Aghanim... If you are referring to him, don't. I know many who wished to tutor under him and disappeared, most likely end up as another of his experiments."

"Uh huh... Well, good thing is, I'm not talking about him. But his son instead, Rubick."

...

"Huh... Good luck." is all she says before going back to her reading, not expanding on her words...

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After Michael had visited Auroth, he went to his next destination... He was now standing below a large wizard's tower that had a lightning storm going off in the clouds behind it, as if to make sure any guests knew what they were dealing with.

"Well, might as well do it sooner than later." he mutters to himself as he walks up to the massive wooden doors.

His aims for today were a bit ambiguous to be frank. He wanted to learn magic from Rubick, but was sure getting to that point would be more difficult than even befriending Slark would be. The person at which still attempted to kill him every time he visited. Though, he was getting closer and closer to actually defeating that annoying fish.

*Knock. Knock. Knock.*

He pounds his fist against the door but the sheer girth of them all stops any sounds from actually being produced. It was akin to punching a boulder... Regardless, the doors start creaking a couple moments later, slowly swinging open to reveal a luxuriously decorated entrance hall.

It looked like something a king would own, but the clearly magical objects scattered around made it obvious that this was a wizard's abode. A broom swept the floor on its own, translucent eyes flew around the place, a few focussing their eerie gazes on Michael, and even the steps leading into the hall seemed to change height at random intervals...

Michael waves at the eyes with an attempt at a friendly smile... But it just comes off awkward with how he was looking around the hall for another door.

*Clack!*

The entrance behind him shuts, leaving him in the door-less hall... "Er, Grand Magus Rubick, I've come to talk..."

...

"What a fascinating has entered my humble abode... Hmm! I can already see it, a body lacking the trials or experience to match it. A mind talented yet squandered. A spirit, enhanced with conflicting energies that should have torn it to pieces... What are you? Some sort of Chimeric creature casually created by careless cads? Or perhaps a young godling, without knowledge of his heritage or power?" a voice matching the distorted one he remembers from the game wonders aloud, seemingly more interested in figuring it out itself without actually asking Michael.

...

"Er, as far as I'm aware I'm just human... Thanks for the compliments though?" Michael answers anyway, "I was hoping we could talk face to face. Instead of through your..." he pauses as he stares at the weird translucent eyes, "Familiars..."

Rubick's voice chuckles, "Familiar's? Them? What sort of third-grade wizard do you take me for? If they are all it takes to impress you then my impression on your mind was clearly flawed."