Knock Knock! “Can I get in?” Sofia was outside Cain’s room, She was supposed to start learning magic from him. Still, she felt nervous, what was he going to make her do?
“Of course!” The reply came almost immediately after she knocked, cutting her thought train before it becomes too wild.
The room was simple. A window face the door on the opposing wall, on the left was Cain’s bed and to the right a small table with a chair. A small closet was behind the door.
Cain was sitting on his bed cross-legged, “Sit where ever you like!” He said, looking at her.
Sofia silently sat on the ground in front of him, clearly avoiding eye contact.
“You know, I meant the chair behind you! You could also sit on the bed!” Cain sighed as he looked at her.
Her face flushed red and she hurried to sit on the chair.
“First of all, The most important part of being a sorceress is taking care of your catalyst!” Cain lifted one finger as he started speaking.
Listening with interest, Sofia asked a question as soon as he started. “But I don’t know any spells, shouldn’t I learn those first, I already have a staff!”
“That is your first problem!” Cain pointed out, “You’re a sorceress so you can’t use a staff as a catalyst!” Sofia looked at him in confusion.
Cain started explaining.
Mages learn spells and use a catalyst as a medium to cast them! Their spellcasting ability is Intelligence! Mages usually use one of three catalyst types, Staff for raw power, a Crystal ball for accuracy, and lastly wands for speed.
Cain was a special case who uses his enchanted soul as a catalyst. Of course, he didn’t tell her that part.
Sorceresses are either born with latent magic or learn spells, they also need a medium to cast them! Their spellcasting ability is charisma. Unlike mages who could use a catalyst, Witches/sorceresses use their bodies as a catalyst, their nails, hair, and blood are the most commonly used.
“So do I have to make a catalyst with my hair or something?” Sofia asked.
“Well, it doesn’t work like that. You don’t have to make anything!” Cain started to explain.
The best one to use of the three is her nails, for ease of use. unlike mage who can wild a single catalyst, with nails, as long as you still have one attached, casting magic is possible.
“I will enchant your nails in the same way other catalysts are enchanted so sit still!” Cain said as he started approaching Sofia, she instantly backed down.
Hiding her hands behind her back, “It won’t hurt, won’t it?”
Cain stopped in his track, giving her a surprised look, “Of course, it won’t! The one that hurts in the blood enchanting!”
In his past life, Cain had worked as a servant for a forest witch! Right after the catastrophe, he was one of the few survivors. As he was weak at the time, merely a level 4, he didn’t manage to reach the next town and ended up passing out in the forest in the middle of the winter!
When he woke up, he realized he was in an unfamiliar home, one that was built inside a tree.
The witch then tricked him into signing a slave contract with her so he ended up working as her sole slave for about 3 years before she died. During that time he had learned everything he could from her.
One of his duties there was helping her enchant her nails, The process was complex and needed to be reapplied each month. But now with his enchantment, the process became fairly simple and only need to be reapplied at each level!
“Give me your hand, It will be quick!”
“I understand!” fearfully, Sofia extended her shaking hands to him. She was still scared it might hurt.
When Cain put his finger on top of her pinky nail, she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.
All Cain had to do was run his finger on her nails and use [Enchanting] to give them magical properties!
It didn’t hurt at all, on the contrary, she felt a slight warmth in her fingertips that was quite pleasing.
“Hands are done, now your feet as well!” Cain said as he lifted one of her feet into his lap.
“hold on a minute, my toes too?” Sofia instantly pulled her leg back.
“Each one of your nails is now a catalyst, without them, you won’t be able to cast magic! What if your hands were cut in a fight?” Hearing that, Sofia handed him her feet with hesitation.
“Done! Now for the last thing!” Cain said with a worried face.
“What now, you don’t seem very excited about it!”
Cain started explaining, that at each level, a sorceress can cast a buff rune on one of her nails. With 20 levels she could enchant all of her nails. Those buffs were weak and simple but they could as well save her neck!
The stronger the buff, the more painful scripting it on the nail is!
“I know of a really powerful buff, but the problem is if you can handle the pain!” Cain said.
“What is that buff? If it was recommended by you I mush be strong, right?”
Cain explained what buffs are to her.
Buffs are like the effects given by magical items, a passive bonus. They range from the weakest like decreasing the Mana cost by 1% or just glowing. To the buff, Cain was talking about. Decrease the magic level requirement by one!
Those are the normal magic level requirement:
First-Tier==> Level 2
Second-Tier==> Level 3
Third-Tier==> Level 5
Fourth-Tier==> Level 7
Fifth-Tier==> Level 9
Sixth-Tier==> Level 11
Seventh-Tier==> Level 13
Eight-Tier==> Level 15
Ninth-Tier==> Level 17
And after the buff
Those are the normal magic level requirement:
First-Tier==> Level 1
Second-Tier==> Level 2
Third-Tier==> Level 4
Fourth-Tier==> Level 6
Fifth-Tier==> Level 8
Sixth-Tier==> Level 10
Seventh-Tier==> Level 12
Eight-Tier==> Level 14
Ninth-Tier==> Level 16
Simply, the higher your level is, the longer it will take you to level up, some people have been stuck on level 8 for months waiting to level up and become able to use fifth-tier magic! And with this, that won’t be a problem!
Sofia thought about it for a moment, if she took that buff, she could start using first-tier magic as soon as she learn it. With her being stuck at level one, she dreaded the feeling of how long it will take her to level up in the future.
“How much does…” Sofia stopped, “No, that might change my mind. Just do it!”
Cain thought about, the witch he learned it from her said the pain was like her nail being pulled out slowly and it consisted for as long as the process took. Right now, Cain was confident in his ability to finish the buff rune quickly in about 5 seconds.
Even saying, she might start screaming and flapping around.
“Which finger do you want the buff in? Remember if you lost that finger the buff is gone with it!” That has meant that she has to protect herself in fights.
Sofia decided on her right-hand middle finger.
“Are you sure about this? It’s going to hurt!” Cain asked again.
“It won’t take long, I can endure it!” She replied confidently.
Cain opened his closet and took a piece of clothing from there, he then folded and handed it to Sofia.
“Bite on this, I don’t want you to start screaming in the middle of the night!” Cain said. In reality, it was that the piece of cloth was for her to not bite her tongue or damage her teeth.
“I don’t want you to pull your hand in the process so can I…” Before he could finish Sofia interrupted him. “This is taking too long and I’m getting nervous, do whatever you want, just be quick!”
Cain was like, whatever, you said it!
“Sit on the bed and bite on that, It will be over quickly!”
Sofia did just so, Cain walked something toward her, gently grabbing her hand.
‘It’s probably just gonna sting a bit!’ she thought, but the next moment she was laying on her stomach on the bed with Cain grappling her arm.
Cain used his left hand to close her mouth and keep the clothing piece there so she won’t bite her tongue or scream. He then burned the rune onto her nail with [Enchanting]
Sofia struggled to pull her hand and her screams were muffled, later on, she would describe the pain as being similar to pulling a tooth.