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Home Sweet Home, Siberian Taiga[1998]
–Damian Hawthorne–
"So," He said, setting down the stone cup, satisfied with the heavenly tasting tea, knowing in the back of his mind that he would not be able to drink normal tea after this because of the pretty exotic items used in the making of this tea, "What brings you by?"
She took a moment to take the last sip before setting down the cup as well, the cup looking very small in comparison to her hands because he'd made them keeping his hands in mind. Yes, he was still a wee bit 9-year-old, he knew that.
"No particular reason. I was in the area and thought about greeting one of my future students. Isn't that reason enough?" He raised an eyebrow at the blatant deflection of the question. He knew he wouldn't be able to get anything out of her, that she did not wish to tell him anyway.
"I see," So, he played along, "So, you are going to take me as a student, then? Should I begin packing or?" He asked her, his voice trailing off as a bad feeling immediately took root in his mind as he saw her smile, eyes literally twinkling in mischief.
"What?" He asked her.
"Before I can take you as a student at Kamar Taj, I believe you have another hallowed education to undergo, something that is non negotiable, I am afraid." She said, standing up, as she began looking all around his home.
Meanwhile, he sat here for a second, wondering what she was talking about, before getting up to go after her, "What? What is that supposed to mean?"
All he got in return to that question was, "You'll know." Cryptic much?
"Anyways," She said after apparently browsing through his home to her heart's content, touching a few of his enchantments before leaving them fired and inactive, making his eyes twitch at the casual dismembering of his magic, "I'll be off. Wouldn't want to keep you from bidding adieu to your current abode, that is, if you wouldn't mind the place you'd have to go if you left from here."
He was about to nod at the first part of her statement, only to freeze at the second part. Voicing out his confusion, he said, "What do you mean? Why would I mind living at Kamar Taj? I am going to Kamar Taj, right?" He asked the question with increasing nervousness.
She beamed at him, evidently taking great joy in his confusion, "No, as per the charter that the first Sorcerer Supreme signed, Kamar Taj cannot take you in, not until a certain condition is met. Which would mean that I would be obligated to deposit you to the nearest relevant authorities, who would either take you to your closest relative, or place you in an orphanage or–"
"What?!" His outburst stopped her, as he immediately stopped speaking, Calm Mind coming to his aid as the enchantment calmed his mind down immediately, save for the massive spike in anger at her statement.
He then continued, much quieter, "What do you mean? I would have to go to an orphanage after this?" He gestured wildly around him, referring to all the magical trinkets he'd made for himself.
"Or to any willing relative, don't forget that," She quipped back.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, "Why can't I just stay with you? Do you have a rule against teaching minors or something?"
"Something like that." She confirmed for him, and the whole cryptic routine was getting old very quickly for him. He could feel Calm Mind just on the edge of being activated as his anger levels flip flopped in front of her.
It made sense. He was literally dealing with the oldest rage baiting human on the planet. Of course, she could rile him up with ease, Calm Mind or not.
He exhaled loudly, sitting down on the chair behind him, "So I can't come with you. If I do come with you, I might get stuck inside a system that might or might not let me practice magic with as much ease as this place."
"Oh, I can confirm that for you. You will most definitely be unable to practice magic with as much freedom as you have here, not for years at the very least, if you do choose to re enter civilization." She confirmed for him.
"I see." Was all he said after considering a few things, things that should have been obvious to him during the course of this conversation, but he supposed her act of trying to rile him up did imbalance him a bit, despite Calm Mind helping a lot.
He was still in the body of a 9 year old and as far as he could tell, that came with all the mental and physical baggage.
"So, should I have someone pick you up to give you a lift to–"
"No thanks," He rejected her offer immediately. He could leave on her own.
She raised an eyebrow at the swiftness of the rejection but didn't say anything else, "As you wish. Now, I do have to leave, official duties, I am afraid but good luck with your future endeavours, little wizard."
With that, she literally disappeared from his eyes and a moment later, from his magical senses as well. Well, it would be a crude way of calling them magical senses because he was relying on multiple enhancements giving him data on what was happening.
The only way of sensing magic he had was one that was ridiculously inefficient and probably only worked because this body was enhanced beyond the pale. Essentially, he coated an area with his magic, filling it to the brim, creating a field of awareness around his body, as he would become aware of any magic that occurred in that field.
Except, all he could sense about the Ancient One, even in that field, was a magical wall. In the case of that Master he met earlier, he could tell she had a fiery flavour in her magic, plus most of it was decentralised, flowing all around her body. In Ancient One's case? Nothing.
"No point thinking about it now," He muttered to himself as he took the stone cups to the utensil washing area, with different bays for lukewarm water, hot water, and boiling hot water. Honestly? He wouldn't mind living in this palace, grinding away at magic for years if he had access to a supermarket or something, because modern basic essentials was something he sorely needed.
After he was done washing, drying, and placing the utensils in their rightful place, he got out of the cave, saw the pleasant-ish weather outside and decided to go on a walk.
After the nice, relaxing walk, because he definitely needed to touch grass after being told that he would lose his autonomy if he made the grave sin of going back to civilization, he would come back and begin the newest task on his agenda.
One that took precedence over everything else.
Create a vehicle for himself. ASAP.
All terrain, stealthy, silent, and capable of hauling him and some stuff around, powered on either solar energy or dimensional energy.
Well, dimensional energy might take a little bit more time because, as he was now, he was infinitely more comfortable with his internal magic, when it came to new and complex enchantments with levels to them.
He could imagine a vehicle of all things requiring quite a bit of fine tuning of multiple enchantments, needing mild, low, and other settings for enchantments.
Locking his cave, with just some illusions and an alarm system, was just not going to cut it any longer. He did not wish to dismantle his current home either, so some way of sealing the whole thing as is would be needed, either by locking it behind a seal full of environmental hazards like the seal for that Demon or just burying the whole thing underground while keeping it together.
Whistling a jaunty tune to himself, he muttered, "Options and Options." All the while, just a single thing kept coming to the forefront of his mind.
There was not a chance in hell that I was staying here any longer.
Orphanage, foster care, or some relatives he had never known? Who decided that?[~Insert Escanor voice here~]
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