The Amber Sword

TL: Next week’s update kind of depends on how many assignments I’m left with. I seem to be just barely ahead my schedule, but I’m almost certain my group project is about to come up next week. If this particular assignment does come up, I might have to stop TLing for a while, even there any sponsored chapters, so that I don’t drag my classmates down because I didn’t devote enough time. I’ll inform you guys again on Tuesday.

Chapter 32 – Scholar

The first thing that Brendel saw when he entered Tulman’s house were manuscripts strewn all over the incredibly polished pine floor. When he turned to the left, he saw a thick book placed on a pedestal. The technology in this world was not advanced, and the papers that were made are considerably thick. They had to use leather skin with binding to lock it in place, thus making it bulky and cumbersome when transporting the books, and they easily spoiled too.

Even though the kingdom had a library as well as a royal academy, they were typically reserved for merchants, and ranked nobles’ descendants. Most of the time, the commoners would rather send their children to various workshops and work as an apprentice.

Brendel walked up to the book and checked the contents quickly.

[Ancient languages. Tulman is actually studying them. Judging from his notes, he looks like he’s studying the variants of the old Highland language used in Kirrlutz. Based on his notes, he seemed to have made a certain amount of progress. If I pass these notes to Batum or Freya, they will most likely treat them as scrap paper.]

Tulman finally stopped flipping through the books inside his house and went up to him.

“Young man, where did you discover this language?” Tulman finally found a obscure variant language that resembled Brendel’s pronunciation from his related documents.

Tulman discovered that there were five ancient Kirrlutz tribes, and the weakest group amongst them was called Deronhi. Their language appeared to be greatly similar to the Blue Poem’s word and the Kirrlutz’s ancestors might have truly recorded down history.

Tulman have always suspected that the Kirrlutz’s current citizens were not true descendants, but was unable to deny that the King of Flames, Gatel, had traits of the ancient Kirrlutz’s race.

Brendel grinned but he did not answer.

Tulman pushed his spectacles up and he carried a huge book from the inner room and walked out. He sat down on a chair near the window and faced Brendel. He looked at the four of them, before opening the shelf next to the chair and took out a smoking pipe from the second drawer. He tapped the pipe on the table, and flames immediately lit the leaves in it, causing the smoke to rise up. (TL: I nearly wrote weed, lol.)

He put the pipe in his mouth and took a deep breath, puffed out smoke from his nostrils and said: “It seems like you have something that you want, young man. State your request then. I must say you have succeeded in making these old bones interested.”

He then placed the pipe onto an ash tray, and said with smoke coming out from his lips: “But you have not won yet. Boy, even though I am already old, I have not gone senile yet. What exactly do you want to get from me if you only have a single word? You had better bring something that is of use.”

The old man’s words finally made Batum and Freya realize that Brendel was trying to make a transaction, but they did not know what exactly he wanted to do.

Romaine was fond of Brendel’s calm attitude. Even though it sounded like the old man was being stubborn, he was already admitting defeat.

“I’m a Highland knight. I require someone to invite me to the Scholar’s Circle, and my squire’s mentor told me come here as well as what I should do. This is how it really is, Ser Tulman.” Brendel decided to squeeze everything he could from the fake identity. If one was to look at it from a certain point of view, he was not lying.

In the rules of the Highland, the wizard apprentice’s mentor had the responsibilities of teaching the knight as well. Brendel believed that Tulman knew many of the wizards in the Black Tower, and would not reveal himself as a fake Highland Knight.

Tulman placed one arm on the armrest as he inhaled from the pipe again and sank into deep thought. He was thinking of which one of his old acquaintances sent this troublesome man to him. Even though he was not a powerful wizard, he was a great scholar and well known alchemist, high famed amongst the wizards. His friends and enemies were all over Vaunte, and he had difficulty guessing who it was that played a joke on him.

But in the end, he thought that recommending a newcomer to the Scholar’s Circle was not a big issue, and looking at Brendel’s performance, he would not cause him to lose any face.

So Tulman grabbed a parchment and placed it on the table, picked up a quill nearby and wrote something on it. Then he rolled it up and placed it into an envelop, dripped wax on it and stamped his seal onto it.

He raised his head up.

“I’ll recommend you to Earl Panos to learn from him for a while and you will know how we do things. He might be an old-fashioned person, but he’s a very good teacher, what do you think?”

“Perfect.” Brendel answered.

[So much negotiation and so much of my performance, just to save a few hundred Tor for registration in that place? I can’t take this lying down!]

He decided to try and put more work into it. He walked up and grabbed the letter with his fingers.

“Ser Tulman, about that word, the humble me has also studied the Kirrlutz’s ancient languages as well. I have discovered something interesting. The natives who are still living in the Baltha Highland seem to keep to their old ways, and there are a few wizards amongst them who still hold on to single words passed down from the ancient times, keeping the ancient Kirrlutz’s language alive—“

Brendel said with half-truths mixed into it. It was true that the people there could trace their lineage to the old Kirrlutz’s citizens, and the clues to a ‘Nature Slate’ started out from there, but the first Nature Slate was somewhere else.

The slates were of no practical use to Brendel, and he did not want to plunge the world into a chaotic war.

Tulman’s eyes lit up, as the leaves burned and dimmed.

“You’re studying the Kirrlutz’s ancient languages?” He looked suspiciously at the youth. “Tell me of your views.”

“I believe that Ser Tulman has already discovered that the ancient languages incorporates magic into it. All their words are linked to the origin of magic, but the Era of Chaos was the moment where things split. After that moment, the magic in their words started to weaken…..” Brendel thought for a while before taking some random lore that he had seen from the forums.

Tulman nodded and he acknowledged it with his eyes.

“The cause of effect is probably from long wars.” Brendel continued.

“Long wars, interesting,” The old man took a ring from the drawer and passed it to Brendel. “You can go to Earl Panos’s private library collection and take a look there. If you have any new ideas, then come back to me with this ring.”

[Oh? It’s working. Looks like a quest to me. I’m not sure if anyone made it to this point, but it sounds like it’s going to be quite difficult. Still, it’s a start.]

Brendel was delighted.

[He’s probably planning to set off to the Baltha Highland to research the lore there and come back here, but I wonder if he is going to get anything out of it.]

He took the ring and letter, and there were elegant green words hovering in his vision:

[Do you accept the sub-profession ‘Scholar’?]

Brendel immediately accepted it. A new sub-profession bar appeared in his stats window.

Scholar

Level 0, 0/6

Level 1 History Knowledge

In the game, a sub-profession is different from a main profession. Sub-professions did not introduce new techniques or stats, but allowed users to gain unique abilities. It was something akin to having ‘Status’.

For example, when a user reached level 5 and above, it allowed a user to acquire a ‘Skilled’ title before the sub-profession class, and in Brendel’s case, he would be a ‘Skilled Scholar’. There would not be any XP penalty interference from having too many main classes as well, unless he got more than three ‘Skilled’ sub profession titles. At the same time, being a Scholar provided many more TP points than other main classes, and therefore it was recognized as a ‘must have profession’ in the game.

Once Brendel took on the class, he immediately put in 220 XP to raise it up to level 5, and received 250 TP from it. Raising it beyond level 5 required the sub-skill ‘Nobles’ Knowledge’ or ‘Sigils’ Knowledge’, so Brendel could only leave it aside.

He looked like he was slightly lost in thought when he finished setting up his class, but he raised his head once he was done.

“Ser Tulman, you have already met my friend Romaine. She and her aunt were separated when Madara attacked, and we’re looking for her aunt. Have you seen her?”

Tulman pushed back his glasses again as took another puff.

“Young man, I only know her aunt as an acquaintance. We have not met in over ten years, I think. When I first saw that lass, she was just as old as this girl in front of me. To tell the truth, I did not know that she actually lived nearby here–“

He quickly waved his hands when he saw Brendel’s lips move: “There’s no need to ask about it. Our types have their own secrets. If she didn’t tell you, I won’t say anymore. Alright, our discussion should be coming to a close. Your goal has been met, and when you think that you have enough knowledge about this road, you can come and find me again.”

Brendel took a look at Romaine. She smiled sweetly at him: “It’s fine, Brendel. My aunt is really amazing.”

His heart skipped a beat when he saw her smile.