Chapter 13 – Little Kitten Learns Spells (1)
The sky was dark above and the moon was shining in a crescent glow. In the northern district of Evergale City, Jonathan, the little kitten and the Wilderwolf soldiers had just arrived at the front of a building. This building was somewhat bigger than the surrounding houses and still had a dim light shining through its vacant circular windows. Above the wooden door was written 'The White Fox Inn' in fancy black cursive, though the little kitten couldn't read it. This was the Inn that Uncle Kil had rented for their stay in the city.
Upon entry into the establishment, the little kitten could hear the bumbling's of various people amidst conversation, and among those talking the loudest was a familiar voice. It was Uncle Kil, who was sitting with his soldier's and servants whilst bragging about his various exploits.
"Th-there was this... This one time, when me and L-Lil' Jonathan were fighting this really strong Major Beast... It was a-a... I can't remember... Anyway, we were fighting it... And, amidst the fight I had just the greatest... I mean the greatest idea... The perfect plan to surprise the beast and gain the upper hand in the fight... What I did was... I briefed him right in front of it! HAHAHAHA!!!"
"Hahaha!"
"And that worked?!" One of the soldiers couldn't help but ask.
"Like a charm! HAHAHA!!"
"Wait, haven't you already told that story tonight?"
"Who cares, bottoms up!!"
"You should hear how I got back at him!" Jonathan had a cunning grin as he grabbed a seat and joined in on their conversation, alerting them to his presence. The four soldiers with him also grabbed seats while the little kitten remained in Jonathan's soft grip. At this point the party had taken up around half of the bar's space; luckily this was quite a big Inn, made for parties of this size and a little more.
With extra mouths, the servants quickly stood up to order more drinks and some food from the barman and after being served, they spent around an hour telling jokes and tales of the past . The moon had risen to its apex by the time the bar was being closed down and everyone went off to their individual rooms. Like usual, the soldiers and servant shared three bedded rooms while Jonathan and Uncle Kil stayed in the best rooms available in the Inn by themselves; and of course, the little kitten benefited from the advantage of being a beast and stayed with Jonathan this night as well.
Not having drunk beer like everyone else, Jonathan was still coherent when they got to their room and immediately began to introduce the little kitten to her spells. She still didn't know much about what he had bought, as he had decided on his choices internally; as a greenhorn, it's not like she would have been able to help much, anyway. Her eyes were glued on his as Jonathan began.
"Ah, it's been a long day and I'm tired and you've been cultivating all day, so you've got to be pretty tired as well so I don't won't you staying up too late. So after this, you're going straight to bed. You got that?"
"Meow!" She replied, a little dispiritedly.
"Alright then. Let's start with your first Magical Spell!" As he said this, Jonathan reached into his Magic Pocket and pulled out a rather precious looking flat wooden box. It was simple in design but had an engraving on its lid. This engraving was of a pentagon. Inside the pentagon were five beasts. One beast looked like a viscous wolf, another like a beautiful fox, the third looked like a soaring bird, the fourth a mysterious lizard like creature and the last beast was a dragon with its body snaked into an 'S' shape. This was the symbol of the 'Howling Paragon'.
"See this symbol? That's the symbol of the 'Howling Paragon', but it's even more than that. It' also portrays images of the 'Five Legendary Beasts'! These beasts have existed as long as history and are said to still be out there to this day. They are probably the strongest beings alive in this world. Any one of them is probably on par with the the Four Saints combined."
"Meow!!"
'So the strongest things are Magical Beasts?! Hahaha, take that stinky humans!'
"Hahaha, you have quite the amusing expressions, little lass. Yeah, while in general humans can get as powerful as Magical Beasts, our longevity is a major drawback in the end. For Magician's, at the Foundation Rank and onward, our longevity will continue to increase with every increase in rank. But that's even more so for Magical Beasts. Little lass, if you keep growing in power, you'll live for a long time!"
"..."
'Increased... Longevity?... That's amazing, I wonder how much of an increase though?'
"Okay, back on topic!" Jonathan then proceeded to place the box in his hands on the ground right in front of the little kitten. With gentle hands, he then lifted up the lid and placed it to the side. The little kitten's eyes were wide in concentration as she studied the items inside the box as if they were the biggest treasures on the planet.
Inside the box were two items. On the right side of the box sat a black book; it didn't have many pages and on the front were the words she couldn't understand and on the left side of the box was an azure coloured stone around the size of a fist. It shun with a dim glow and was quite eye catching.
"This is 'The Dance of the Flames Arts'! It's not just a spell but what is called an 'art'. An art has several stages, of which garner more powerful spells. This magic in particular is a technique that both Magician's and Magical Beast's can learn and has five stages. The first stage requires its user to be of the Middle Stage Minor Rank. The second is Late Stage Minor Rank. The third is Low Stage Major Rank and so on. You probably get the gist. The strongest spell, the fifth spell is called 'Dragon Inferno' and is of the Late Stage Major Rank... You'll learn all this once you touch this item!"
As Jonathan said this he pointed to the azure gem in the box with a shining expression.
"This, little lass, is one of the greatest allies to a Magician. An Echo Stone! Echo Stone's are powerful magical items that allow Magician's to imprint memories, images and other such things inside. This is used mainly in the purposes of passing on magical knowledge and spells. Touch this stone and you'll see a vision so real that you'll feel like you're experiencing it first hand and being taught by a tutor about every single piece of knowledge that Magician knew on a certain topic. The dangers of Echo Stones is that if the Magic being shown in them is too powerful, not only will you have trouble seeing any images, you can be badly damaged... Or worse!"
"..." The little kitten couldn't help but take an apprehensive step backwards.
Jonathan laughed at her reaction before continuing. "But for spells like these, you'd have no problem even if you were in the low realm and you were learning a spell at the Transcendence stage. You'd have trouble learning anything, sure, but you'd not suffer that much damage. It's the magic beyond Major Transcendence that you must definitely must not touch! Got that? You're mind and soul wouldn't be able to handle it at your level!"
"Meow!" The little kitten nodded furiously. 'Though it sounds like you're belittling me with that last statement. Tch... But, well, I ain't got a death wish so I'll take this warning to heart.'
"Good! Now on to the next three..." And with that, three other boxes appeared with a swish of his sleeves!