Elemental Swords

  After that day, Zaos decided to explore the city once more in search of some interesting magic books. While he didn't intend to use magic against Drannor, it was time to learn some skills that will help him in some life-or-death fights. Unfortunately, Lyra only intermediate support spells. When it comes to the other types, she only knows the beginner type, so Zaos reached a point where his mother couldn't teach him anymore. That was bound to happen since she was the daughter of a family of nobles, not a healer on the battlefield. Not to mention, Lyra didn't have a strong body, so using magic too much was no good.

  Lyra, this time stayed behind, so Zaos was alone in a carriage, but he was being guarded by Tarcis, the captain of the guards. The latter worked under his father and four other guards. There was no incident in the capital this time, so Zaos had plenty of time to check several bookstores, but none of them had anything that picked his interest.

"I guess I will have to make do with the old magic books and in the old storage room," Zaos thought. "I thought that I should build my magic foundation a bit more, but lately, it is getting hard to memorize spells. With the limited amount of time that I have, I need to select wisely the spells that I want to learn."

  In the end, Zaos didn't find many spells that would fit the fighting style that he had envisioned, and those he found were way above his paygrade. The beginner class magic books cost five gold coins, the intermediate class cost ten. As for the advanced ones, they cost thirty gold coins, and that was what Zaos had. Not to mention, he will have to work pretty hard to buy the next focus amulet before his current one is absorbed in eight months.

  After two weeks of search, Zaos decided to buy a certain magic book. It was an advanced one, and while the spells he could learn weren't that simple to be used in combat, they were fairly interesting.

"Fire Sword, Water Sword, Wind Sword, Earth Sword… it is weird to find a magic book that teaches spells that are so similar from one another," Zaos thought when he was returning home with his new magic book.

  While the spells were called like that, their elemental swords couldn't wield, only fired at the target. After studying the magic book for a few days, Zaos found that the symbols were different. Still, the spells had certain similarities in their formula. The structure was basically the same, so Zaos concluded that if he manages to customize one of them, the same thing could be applied to the other.

"Well, first of all, let's focus on learning them," Zaos said. 

"Learning what?"

  When Zaos turned around, he saw Nyana. It was weird that he didn't notice her presence, but it was okay since he didn't say anything suspicious. Nyana wasn't scared of Zaos anymore, so it probably was a good sign that she could approach him like that… probably.

"Learning magic, Nyana," Zaos said. "Speaking of which, can you use magic?"

  Nyana shook her head several times. That wasn't surprising. Most kids don't learn that until they are ten since most kids and families can't afford to buy a magic book. Lately, Nyana had begun to show some results in her reading and writing. It was quite impressive given that Zaos could only afford to teach for one hour every day.

"Do you want to learn magic?" Zaos asked. "I bet you can learn in no time, Nyana."

  Nyana hesitated, but in the end, she nodded with her head. She was a good kid, so she didn't want to take too much of Zaos's time, who was always trying to do or learn something. She didn't know yet that she was his half-sister and that Zaos would do anything for his family. Even if it wasn't in any way like most others.

  Zaos heard that magic books couldn't be resold, but he didn't hear anything about give them to others. So, after teaching Nyana the basics, he gave her the magic book that his mother had given to him. Lyra certainly wouldn't mind that since she was the one who told him that he should help his little sister as much as possible.

  Zaos didn't know if his teaching method was good or if Nyana had some talent, but it didn't take long for her to teach her first spell. Not only she managed to use it pretty fast, but she also memorized it in the blink of an eye. That being said, she didn't look that happy with it… probably because Zaos decided to teach her support-type spells first.

"I don't know if it is anormal for a girl to join the army or if Ameria is just an exception, but maybe Ilyana should learn archery…" Zaos though.

  While Zaos certainly wasn't the best archer around, he was making more progress than Drannor. Still, it was hard to know what he should do or not, given that Jeline and Laiex treated her just like an average child. Based on what Zaos knew, Nyana was also learning a thing or now from his mother regarding her work, so maybe they didn't want to give a privileged education. Zaos didn't have anything against servants, but he would rather give his sister the knowledge and skills that will grant her the opportunity to choose her own path.

"I am pretty sure a healer gains more than a servant, that being said, a healer can always be summoned to the battlefield in order to help the soldiers there… so maybe I should think twice before teaching Nyana any more support magic," Zaos thought. "Still, I am pretty sure I shouldn't limit her options based on my worries alone… again, she must be given the tools and chance to follow her own path."

  Zaos sighed after thinking that. In the end, in a good sense, the people he cared about the most were the ones who caused him more headaches.