Over the two months that followed, the Northland was buried whole in ice and snow, and on a wilderness already thin of people a traveler became a rare sight indeed.
Adam's hunting days had ended for good half a month earlier. Game had grown too scarce—often several days passed between kills—and even then it was only because his spiritual power could seep into every crack and cranny that he dug a few small creatures out of underground burrows. The energy those little things gave back did not even cover what the hunting cost him.
In the manor mess hall Adam had become the local tyrant: the entire day's food put out by the fat chef and the fat woman of the kitchen was taken by Adam alone, and after the other servants complained a few times at the start and found it did nothing, they had no choice but to go scrounge a meal somewhere else, nursing their grievances.
Count Johnson never once sent for him, never even sent word—it was as though he had forgotten Adam entirely. It was the Count's two sons who courted him, one after the other.
The foolish Marshall, resting on his standing as the Count's first heir, ordered Adam to swear fealty to him in the tone of a man handing out charity, and the price he was willing to pay was nothing more than the complete knight's breathing method.
The crafty Dennis was far cleverer than his brother: not only did he offer the complete breathing method, he promised to spare nothing in supplying whatever resources Adam needed to cultivate—a jar of ointment every month, the post of Knight Commander in the future, and even a low-ranking title.
Adam turned them all down, one and all. Ever since he had learned that Mages existed, such things had held no interest for him. Two months of sustained, efficient training had made him a knight, and he had long since finished deducing the breathing methods that came after. Which only confirmed for him that the knight was a low-grade profession, because in his deductions the road ahead simply came to an end.
Whether because of the Count's silence or because Ophelia was backing him from behind the scenes, Adam met with no trouble despite his refusals. Marshall and Dennis were furious, but they were not foolish enough to lay a hand on Adam—and that indirectly saved both their lives.
One evening, in the snow that never stopped falling through the Northland winter, Adam saw Ophelia again. Unlike her usual noble coldness, today Ophelia looked positively delighted, and she even told Adam in a chirping, elated voice, "The Mage from Mordo Mage Academy has arrived."
Adam let out a heavy breath, and the air curling back from it spun the falling snow into a small whirlwind; a ripple of scarlet blood-qi flared and was gone. In the freezing weather he wore only a single thin layer of clothing—temperature no longer seemed to touch him.
A strange light flashed in Ophelia's eyes. Two months, that was all—and this former playmate of hers had already grown this strong. Talent like that was frankly frightening.
"Get your things together. Tonight you're coming with me to Cold Maple City; tomorrow morning the Mage will begin the aptitude tests," Ophelia ordered.
Aptitude test? Is entry into this profession decided by some public examination?
Sensing Adam's confusion, Ophelia explained, "It seems that for some reason the Mage, whose arrival was set for two months ago, had his journey delayed, and the original plan was changed to a small, limited selection test. So to save time, you and I are to be tested by the Mage ahead of everyone else after dinner." In truth, the only one who had ever been meant to be tested early was Ophelia herself, but there was no need to bring up such a small thing.
Adam nodded, then indicated that he had nothing he needed to gather. Ophelia had brought no attendants either; one of them rode, the other ran on foot, and the two of them raced toward Cold Maple City.
Cold Maple City brought Adam no new sensations. Given the low productivity of this world's ordinary people, the cities they raised were not one ten-thousandth of Earth's.
Once they reached the city lord's mansion, Adam was sent off to rest in another wing, where a freeman servant prepared his dinner, while Ophelia went to bathe and then to the main hall for the banquet.
Two hours later Adam was summoned to the main hall. In the seat of honor sat a man whose age he could not guess, dressed in the close-fitting clothing only nobles wore, talking with the Count about something. Ophelia stood below them, her face tense, and when she saw Adam she motioned him to her side.
Adam could sense the powerful blood-qi surging in Count Johnson—the strength of a man nearing the end of the knight's profession—but from that man he could sense no energy fluctuation at all. This Mage looked just like an ordinary person.
"Honored Mage Blake, these are the two I wish to recommend. That is my youngest daughter, Ophelia Johnson."
Mage Blake nodded to Count Johnson, then looked at Adam and Ophelia, and without any movement that Adam could see, a vast and violent spiritual power flooded the whole main hall.
"Massive energy intrusion detected. Extreme danger. Autonomous defense initiated." Adam's spiritual power reacted in an instant, spreading over the surface of his body to meet the intrusion—but it held out for only a hundredth of a second before it was crushed.
"Defense failed. Formulating countermeasures... No countermeasures available."
His logic was screaming alarms, yet there was nothing he could do about the situation in front of him. Fortunately Mage Blake had no intention of killing the two of them: his spiritual power withdrew the moment it had been released, and he said with a smile, "Excellent spiritual power aptitude." Then he turned to Adam. "You especially. It's hard to imagine an ordinary person possessing spiritual power on this scale—it will be a great help to you on the path of an apprentice."
Seeing the fear still on Ophelia's face, Mage Blake explained, "There's no need to be afraid. Ah—come to think of it, this isn't the ordinary Mage aptitude test at all. I only heard from the Count that the two of you possessed extraordinary talent, so I decided to probe you a little."
Ophelia came back to herself and gasped for breath several times; in that brief moment her body had been soaked through with sweat, her blonde hair clinging wet to her back. She had never imagined that Blake, who had seemed so unremarkable at dinner, could be this powerful.
Mage Blake went on, "Becoming a Mage apprentice requires two important conditions. The first is extraordinary spiritual power—you both qualify. The second..." Mage Blake stretched out a finger and traced a few light strokes in the air, and a brilliant rune came to hang suspended there. "The foundation of learning spells is knowledge, and the foundation of applying spells is runes. This is the simplest spiritual-power solidification rune. Trace it with your spiritual power, then leave it in your soul."
The rune's structure was not complex, but copying it was not simple either. For Adam the main difficulty lay in the amount of spiritual power the copying required, while for Ophelia the hardest part was how to leave it in her soul.
Adam fixed his eyes on the spiral-shaped solidification rune hanging in the air. His extraordinary memory and calculating power let him memorize the rune's structure at a single glance, and then Adam ran several hundred copies at once on all his threads simultaneously; his spiritual power spread out over his body and set up ripples, and those ripples were formed by the spiritual power breaking apart because the amount gathered to condense the rune was too great.
Mage Blake watched Adam. Even though he was already a full Mage, a being who had all but left the human species behind, he still marveled at Adam's talent. What he was seeing was clearly caused by the mismatch between the most elementary grade of solidification rune and the sheer size of Adam's spiritual power, but he would not be so kind as to gift Adam a higher-grade rune. Such things were important knowledge to a Mage, and knowledge meant value.
"If I had possessed talent like that in my day, I doubt I'd have frittered away a full eighty years at the apprentice stage."
An hour later, Ophelia successfully copied the rune and left it in her soul. The instant she succeeded she felt a small hollow open in her spiritual power, and then new spiritual power was generated to fill that hollow. Ophelia broke into a dazzling smile, looked up at Mage Blake, and said, "Mage, I've succeeded."
Mage Blake was in a good mood; every apprentice of outstanding talent would, to some degree, change the awkward state of affairs at Mordo Mage Academy. He said to Ophelia, "Your talent is quite good. If you are clever enough and don't take a wrong path, there is a very good chance you will become one of the Mages."
Count Johnson let out a breath as well. This was unquestionably good news—a Mage Johnson of the future—and he meant to spread it far and wide.
"Honored Mage Blake, then, he..." Count Johnson wanted to hear a better piece of news: that Adam had no Mage aptitude at all.
Mage Blake understood the Count's meaning and shook his head. "He has even better talent. Be patient—he is about to succeed."
Adam was indeed close to succeeding. Because his spiritual power was so vast, copying this simply constructed rune took rather more effort; the principle was easy enough to grasp—you cannot carve a miniature with a sledgehammer—so he had to keep reducing his spiritual power output. Thanks to his formidable calculating power, Adam found the right value within two hours and successfully copied the rune and left it in his soul.
Unlike Ophelia, he felt no obvious hollow in his spiritual power; for him, the condensation of one low-grade rune was a gain he could take or leave.
Count Johnson was slightly disappointed.
Count Blake rose and said, "Congratulations, you have passed the test. From this moment on, you are Mage apprentices. After tomorrow you may travel with me to Mordo Mage Academy and begin learning how to become Mages."
Mage Blake continued, "Your aptitudes are both outstanding, but do not grow infatuated with them. They are useful only during the apprentice stage. Go and learn knowledge, master knowledge, use knowledge to change your soul, and explore the truth—that is the true meaning of the Mage's path. Remember: knowledge is the most precious wealth and the most powerful force."
Adam and Ophelia bowed slightly to him together. "Yes, honored Mage Blake."
Just as Mage Blake was about to leave, Adam suddenly spoke up. "May I ask—what is a rune?"
Mage Blake stopped and looked at Adam. "A good question. As your guide, I will answer one question for you free of charge. So this is what you want to ask?"
"Yes, honored Mage Blake."