14 Apprenticeship Part 2 , The professor

The professor was a important figure in the field of enchanting once, he introduced several novel new concepts in the theory of runecraft and runic formation by exploring the potential of auxiliary runes and common materials seeking to find some of their potentially more unorthodox uses.

But like all good things his golden time would not last, at this time he was called Master Burns. This once illustrious name would eventually become a means to mock him, after a lab explosion killed all of his apprentices and destroyed a sizable chunk of the academies land

But this was not the only reason for his downfall, the main reason was influence!

Influence was the thing that crushed burns, this influence wanted to suppress his brand of runecraft, the reason was simple. It would undermine the status quo, rune work was supposed to be a luxury service afforded by the powerful.

most powerful masterworks relied on three things, the first requirement was that the item needed to be initially made by a skilled blacksmith or armorer after that it relied on both high grade rune work and the properties of exotic and mysterious materials.

But the most important aspect was limitations, Master Burns was trying to undo the precedent that prevented rune work from being another just skilled labor profession like a carpenter or mason, he was exploring ways to make enchantments that did not require spell batteries, and did not require exotic or rare materials to bridge the gap.

Spell batteries served as the ultimate limitation of runecraft after all the output can never exceed the the amount of power provided. This was the reason he was quashed, it was no longer a matter of politics or grudges the simple fact was...

That this research of his was dangerous! , extremely dangerous. It threatened the very discipline of magic and threatened the position of senior enchanters in society. It could even change the nature of warfare on a massive scale.

The problem that prevented them from moving was the fact that the Master burns was still a senior enchanter they couldn't just arbitrarily cut him off, with his current research that would raise too many questions, or rather it was too promising.

After some time the debate on how to deal with this issue a consensus was reached.

blow up the lab! lab explosions happen all of the time, an unstable array on top of the already unstable experiment would appear perfectly normal and would leave no traces. A large scale explosion would give them the excuse they needed, allowing them to claim that the experiments were too dangerous.

More importantly it would be the perfect way to eliminate burns and all future problems that might arise from this man's dangerous train of thought. nothing would be traced back to them because explosions like these don't leave any traces.

The plan was set in motion everything seemed perfect from start to finish. but there was still a problem

Burns survived! he survived the explosion by some unbelievable outcome burns survived the explosion because he was flung out of a window by the shock wave and snatched by a passing flying beast even if he had miraculously escaped most of the blast, a fall from that height would have naturally killed him, he was an ordinary human after all!

what's more the bird that saved him was Carnivorous it would have eaten him but instead of that happening, it ended up breaking his fall almost completely and as for the bird threating Burns...

Forget it! the impact ended up turning the bird into meat paste.

when the people in the shadows learned of the fate of Master burns they frowned, their perfect plan was ruined by a F***ing bird, or rather a series of truly unfathomable coincidences

The explosion should have annihilated him outright, He just happened to fly out of a window, and he completely avoided a death from falling.

It didn't make any sense!

he should be dead!

The fact and the manner in which Burns survived made them believe there was someone even more protecting him, as such they simply expelled burns and prevented him from acquiring too many resources, even his stay at the guild had been their arrangement.

After that incident Master became a name he despised , so instead he adopted the moniker professor. It served to indicate his determination in his pursuit of new knowledge and his desire to rope in students to start anew.

But, without funding or strong backers his research eventually came to a halt, and he couldn't recruit any students.

After several years wandering aimlessly the guild approached him with a work offer, tired, broke, and desperate The professor as he was now called had no choice but to accept.

With the subtle suppression and slander of both the guild and the powers that be, the professor was entirely Unable to recruit students under his wing.

but decades later He saw hope his life was drawing closer and closer to its end, his research had reached a dead end and he was getting old, so he decided to Give one final lecture.

This lecture came with an unexpected surprise , that surprise was the new adventurer that had joined the guild under "special circumstances" more importantly he heard Shansa talk about the strange "guns" he used when she purchased some things from his shop the other day, he initially wrote it off as one of her novel ideas.

But here he was and he probably had those gun things with him. No viable application for my research, it will only explode. fine let it explode Explosions are all I have.

You say your weapon uses explosions as its basis, I have nothing but explosions. bring it here, papa wants to have a look!

Admittedly I did throw almost all of my assets at him. It was a shame I planned to by research materials, but this gun invention shows limitless potential why use alchemical compounds, just pour some power into one of my rune arrays.

need a spell battery attached to use an enchanted item, hogwash It only needs to contain the power for long enough to activate.

Suffice it to say the professor adopted a new mindset, instead of cheap mass magical items without spell batteries for the masses, opt powerful and reasonably cheap magic weapons that use, easy to make but disposable components.

and why stop their this gun could replace wands if done correctly why cast a spell with a chant and a flick when I can just pull the trigger.

Suffice it to say the possibilities that the professor saw were endless as much as he wanted to pursue all of them he knew that he would never live long enough too, he was to old to cultivate and would expend all of his life force before broke through a bottleneck and improved his longevity.

If he wanted to make a legacy his only option was his two new students Blood, and Lentz. Blood was short for the guild name given to the adventurer he recruited, he wont reveal his name and that is probably for the best after all.

The fact is that the professor knew that he had been suppressed he also knew why, that's why he made the spell slingers, they were just a cover. he needed to appear as if his research had a clear limit, because his research was impossible to carry out in secret.

He planned to teach his students through books, while carefully hiding his notes and passing on his research with them.

on the surface he would appear as an underachieving teacher who relied on standardized text to give a very orthodox and frankly dated education, but in reality he was carefully passing on his accumulated knowledge and research through hidden codes and notes in those books.

To put it simply the professor planned to do anything in his power to make sure his knowledge lived on humiliation and disgrace are things he had experienced for years. It's far to late to pursue honor and achievement.

The ultimate goal of the professors research was to transcend the limitations set by spell batteries after all of his years of research he had thought of plenty of ways to optimize the design but he started thinking in a different direction.

"forget optimization, guns and bullets are a platform, I should focus on integration, I need to create a universal spell battery that can support a large variety of spell models"

the more he thought about it the more he realized that his research had gone in the fundamentally wrong direction. after some contemplation he shook his head.

"a universal battery is impossible but maybe I can make a specialized spell battery that focuses solely on an element or class of spells"

Most magic equipment had only one or two spells or functions attached. the spell battery was an integrated part of the magic item optimized to support these functions, many spells required more than one type of elemental energy, and mixed energies often conflicted and were difficult to store stably in large amounts

"the solution is to limit the battery to one element and to maximize the purity for both potency and capacity"

Along this line of though he paused "why limit myself to one if I can standardize the batteries"

He had another thought muttering rapidly his eyes started to glaze over as he thought of the possibilities "making spell batteries modular, interchangeable and several times more efficient at the cost of spell complexity "

The professor initially sought to circumvent the need for a spell battery by use of runes in order to make magical items more accessible.

"all these years I tried to reduce the cost of production by eliminating spell batteries but now I realize I just needed to expand the number of applications for a given item, have I wasted my life on a f,fruitless pursuit after all"

a gleam could be seen in the old mans eyes

"no I refuse to believe that, my research still has merit"

The man started drawing up plans with a previously unseen fervor, he was bursting with an almost youthful vitality

the man had various ideas among them was a universal indent for spell batteries, recharging stations that could be put up in towns and towers, systems to use multiple batteries to accommodate certain spells like fire and water for steam power or wind and fire or rapid combustion.

a simple idea that had been entirely overlooked for countless years was taking shape on paper. the significance couldn't be understated. after all the spell battery was often one of the most expensive aspects of any magical item if it was made into a standardized part that could be inserted into any given equipment the cost would be drastically produced and the uses could increase endlessly.

The professor suddenly stopped and threw the paper away burning it immediately.

"I can't allow this to see the light of day just yet, I will give the glory to lentz, and blood will test it, If this idea came from me it would be seen as to radical but if it was born from a disagreeing student that would be a different matter"

The old man hardened his resolve and set about cementing his legacy, by the time he was done only two people would know the truth"

In an undisclosed location

"Burn's actually got some student's"

The voice was powerful and refined, dripping with arrogance and disdain.

"yes two students one joined the guild under special circumstances and the other is a wandering magician"

"Any ties"

"the magician is of noble descent, he hails from Mordus, Should we have them killed master...."

"leave them for now.... but I want you to keep a close eye on them, any other information on the old man"

" he started producing some items called spell slingers"

"should I be worried"

"we've deemed it to be a dead end, it uses magic gems and functions like a low level scroll, not to mention it's cost of production is too high"

"humph, so the failure still hasn't learned his place"

"do still you want us to move"

"no, its just an old mans death throes, don't kill him, I want to watch him struggle a little more before he dies, besides he is under the guilds wing if we just kill him the guild won't take that lying down, we need to give them some face on this matter if we do decide to act"

The Messenger left the room leaving only a man in an armchair with a glass of wine in his hand

"I saved you all those years ago because I found you amusing, but I won't hesitate if you do something that endangers the rest of us."