"Okay, come closer." Rimuru beckoned to me.

I inched towards him slowly, my legs feeling heavier than they had any right to be.

I realized that it was because I had developed some fear towards this anomaly standing in front of me.

Eventually, I got within arm's reach of the smiling man.

"Is this necessary?" I asked, already wanting to open up the distance between us.

"Yes, now stay still." He replied as he extended his right hand towards me.

I felt his cool skin come in contact with my sweaty forehead, the sensation was oddly calming.

"Hm, I don't wanna make you OP but being weak isn't an option either. Partial unlocking, chant annulment…….there we go." He murmured weird things to himself as his fingers remained on my forehead.

"I don't think anything is happeni-" My words were cut off as I gasped in pain.

"Bear with it." Rimuru said as I couldn't keep myself standing.

I collapsed to the ground as all my senses blurred together. Sounds became intelligible and my vision was but a canvas of weirdly shaped colors.

[Confirmed. Higher will has been recognised.]

Amidst my pain, a single voice resonated. I don't know how it was possible but something told me that the owner of that voice bore no resemblance to a human whatsoever.

I don't know how long it took, minutes, hours, my sense of time seemed to have faded with any ounce of composure I had mustered earlier.

When I opened my eyes, I was met with Rimuru's gentle and apologetic gaze.

"What did you..do to me?" I managed to squeeze out.

"Nice to see you're handling it well. Basically what I did was slightly alter your body to be able to draw on the same source of power that I do." He was being very upfront with this, I expected at least some level of secrecy, it was what I was accustomed to after all.

But alter…?

What level of skill would one need to reach in blood magic to be able to do something like that so easily and dare I say…flawlessly?

'No,' I thought as I raised my head to meet his gaze once again.

'Not blood magic, it's something else. There was that voice.'

I could see from the look on his face that he wouldn't answer the question I was about to ask.

Okay then, I will ask another.

"What exactly does that entail?" I staggered to my feet for what seemed like the 100th time this week.

Rimuru opened his palm and a normal flame appeared in it, much more safe looking than the black ones from earlier. I still felt like it shouldn't be out in the open though, I felt hot just looking at it.

"I want you to look at this with all your focus." He said.

I was confused, what would looking at an already formed spell do?

"What's the point?"

"Just look at it.* He pressured.

"Okay.." I proceeded to do as he said.

Meditation techniques were nothing new to me as a Jan'Tep initiate. I considered myself pretty skilled at clearing my mind of distractions, as that was the bare minimum for casting a Jan'Tep spell which required visualizing specific arcane geometries.

I almost laughed at how good I was in the theoretical aspects of magic but could never do the magic itself.

I gathered my focus and gazed at the beautifully flickering red flames, right now it was just me and this ball of energy.

Then I began to notice something peculiar, it was like I was looking at energy itself, except it was arranged into patterns that carried different meanings.

'Why can I see the spell construction?' I almost snapped out of my focused state as I was surprised by this new development.

It wasn't anything complicated, and I felt like something was missing from what I'm seeing.

I tried harder to decipher more but ultimately got nothing.

"You can see it right? The formula." Rimuru said, bringing me back to reality.

"Yes…it's amazing." I replied, awestruck.

"Indeed, now tell me what's wrong with it."

He was right, something was wrong with it.

"Even with the formula, nothing should have been produced. There was nothing facilitating an energy flow within that spell. Something is missing." I said, confident in my answer.

"Correct, from your perspective it would appear that something is missing. That thing, Kellen, is will." He closed his palm and let the flames disappear.

"Will?"

"True magic is influencing the laws of the world - to some extent - with your will. The spell formula is just a means to an end, without will it becomes nothing."

Is he playing with me? Who would believe something as ridiculous as that?

"I can see your doubt but open your mind a little. You observed that fireball yourself, that should be enough proof, no?" He was right, it was fundamentally different from how our magic worked.

"So is this part of your alterations as well?" I asked.

"Yes, what you saw just now are called magicules. It's the energy source that will fuel your magic from now on."

I see. So manipulating the magicules into that specific state and channeling your will into it will produce magic. Seems simple enough.

Rimuru began to speak again.

"Don't underestimate magicules, Kellen. They are extremely toxic to humans in their raw form. I'd advise you to take this very seriously." He said in a cautioning tone.

"Sure, not like I planned to take it lightly." I defended myself.

"Good. For your first lesson, I want you to replicate that fireball I showed you." He said, turning his back to me.

"Huh? Just like that? You won't teach me the incantation? Is it that easy?"

"Normally, you would need a chant. But don't worry about trivial things like that."

"Oh, okay."

Somehow I feel like my common sense is being corrupted by this person. I accepted that too fast….

I prepared to recall and reproduce the spell when Rimuru spoke again.

"Go home, kid."

"Huh? Why?" I was just about to start.

"Just go." His voice was oddly compelling. I nodded at his turned back before retracing my steps out of the forest that was slowly getting darker.

My body felt much more stronger than it was before, and I could feel a certain energy contained within me. It was definitely the magicules Rimuru talked about.

"So it's contained within the body…" I wondered how that was even possible, seeing as he said they were toxic.

"Oh well, not my problem." My spirits were high, this was the happiest I had ever been in about 2 years.

A few minutes passed and I arrived at my front door.

After some knocking, I was let in by Abydos.

"Welcome back, Young master." He greeted me.

For some reason, I felt a little awkward around him lately. A probable reason would be how close I was to becoming like him.

Thinking about it now, my vehement refusal to end up as Sha'Tep could be seen as insulting by the Sha'Tep who also had no choice in their circumstances.

At the end of the day, we were all just people, and I felt disgusted at myself for just acknowledging it.

"Good evening, Uncle." Abydos' eyes widened a small fraction, this was the first time I've seen any emotion on his face.

He smiled at me and nodded.

"Your father is waiting for you in his office." I walked deeper into the house as Abydos delivered some interesting news.

I refrained from asking him why since I knew my father would never tell him anything.

"Okay, thank you." I told him as I decided to go directly to my father's office.

Knock

I tapped my knuckle against the hollow sounding door once.

"Come in." I twisted the handle and gently pushed the door open after receiving permission.

As soon as I turned to face him after shutting the door, I felt his gaze narrow in on something to my right.

I had a feeling he was inspecting the bands tattooed on my right arm, not the bare wall that lay behind me.

"How was your appointment with the Dowager Magus?" He asked.

I instinctively raised an eyebrow.

My father would never ask about matters like this, he expected it to be told to him if the other party wished it.

And then it struck me.

His sudden decision to accommodate the troublesome Rimuru.

His apparent unconcern and lack of curiosity about why I was just returning.

His glance at my bands.

He knew, he probably made a deal with Rimuru. But something was odd…

Inspecting my bands means he wasn't aware of Rimuru's weird type of magic, why then would he agree to let someone with no reliable proof of magical prowess teach me?

Ke'heops was a man that never left things up to chance, would he risk me being crippled further by some outsider's attempts at fixing my magic?

Or…does he just not care?

I shook my head, banishing the borderline crazy thoughts that had formed in my head.

'There's no way, that couldn't be the case. My father cares about me.' I reaffirmed my thoughts as I remembered the long nights of my parents performing procedures that they hoped would help my magic grow when I was younger.

"It was uneventful." I said, meeting my father's gaze head on.

He nodded, accepting my non committal answer very easily.

Makes sense, he never cared anyway.

"That's all I wanted to confirm, you may leave."

"Okay, father." I left the room under the watchful eye of my father.

As I stepped into the hallway, I was met with the sight of Shalla, she was leaning against the wall on the other side of the hall.

"Hello there, Shalla." My good mood had been dampened a little but it still remained.

"You're late, Kellen." Hm?

"Late?"

"Yeah, mouse girl came looking for you. Nephobia, namphibia? I forgot her name."

"It's Nephenia." I snapped, already irritated by the undeserving slander Nephenia just received.

"Ah right. Well, she came by looking concerned and all." An image of Nephenia waiting at our door appeared in my mind, almost bringing a smile out of me.

I held it back just in time, I don't feel like giving Shalla more ammo against me.

"What's that look for? Are you actually interested in her?" Damn it, she noticed.

"And if I am?" I retorted as I exited the hallway and headed to the kitchen to grab some water.

"She's not from a good family, she's not talented. She's not even pretty." Shalla made two good points, I wasn't willing to acknowledge the last one.

She was pretty enough to me.

"What difference would it make, I'm not exactly a wellspring of talent you know?" I said, finding some reason to keep walking around the house in hopes that Shalla would leave me alone.

"You're a son of the house of Ke. I'm sure you'll find your magic soon enough."

Her statement almost brought a smile to my face, but then I remembered.

My new magic wasn't something I could attribute to the house of Ke, or the entirety of the Jan'Tep.

"I might as well be Sha'Tep." I said nonchalantly.

At that, Shalla stopped.

I glanced at her to see a hurt expression on her face.

"Don't…don't say that…." She said in a strained voice.

"Hey hey, I was just joking." I tried to pacify her, something I found ironic since it was actually my problem.

"I'll help you awaken your magic, Kellen. Trust me." Shalla promptly erased her former expression before donning a face I recognised too well.

"What are you planning?" I said, suspicion growing in me.

"It's just an idea at the moment but if I perfect it, those detestable words will never come through your mouth again." She said, she turned away and strode to her room.

I watched in confusion as she vanished.

"I have a bad feeling about this." I said as I headed to my room, determined to complete the lesson Rimuru had given me.

.

.

It was noon on the next day, I had left home a few minutes ago after succeeding in producing a small imitation of Rimuru's flame.

It was nice to finally experience that feeling of fulfillment I had been a stranger to these past years.

I was heading to one of the only three guest houses in the town, in search of Ferius Parfax.

I planned to ignore the task Mer'esan had given me regarding Rimuru, but the thing about Ferius seemed sensible enough.

I arrived at the guest house and got turned away, it seems Ferius had visited here but left promptly after.

According to the manager, she said their booze tasted like cat piss.

Both I and the Sha'Tep manager were equally confused on how she knew how that tasted, but we ignored it and he referred me to where she was most likely to be.

I arrived at the guest house to see a small crowd gathered there, a young, rowdy crowd.

'Why are initiates gathered here?' I mused as I searched for a familiar face before spotting my friend, Panahsi.

I walked over to him and tapped his shoulder.

I watched as his eyes lit up with recognition before shifting into something unpleasant.

"Kellen. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?" He asked. Somehow I got the impression that he wasn't as concerned about my well being as he sounded.

"I'm fine. What's happening here?" I gestured to the crowd who had finally split enough for me to spot the people at its center.

Ferius Parfax stood there with a confident smile, her hands tucked into her pockets. She was surrounded by Tennat and some other initiate whose name I forgot.

"That woman is most likely a Daroman spy. We're doing our duty as loyal members of the arcanocracy." He said, his tone betraying how much of his words were his own thoughts and how much of them was crap he heard from someone else.

"Does she look like a spy to you?" I asked, my nerves were already rising as I could see Tennat grow more agitated, most likely from Ferius' provocation.

"I don't know, Kellen. What else could she be?" He seemed to be on edge.

"A woman, it's like a man but with bigger balls." I repeated what I had heard from Ferius the other day when I asked a similar question.

Panahsi was taken aback, he looked at me closely before taking a few steps away. I expected this kind of reaction but the genuine disdain I saw on his face surprised me.

"Tennat was right." He said.

What?

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You support her don't you?" He accused.

"What are you talking about, Pan? She's clearly a defenceless woman, she might talk big but her tricks only go so far." He wasn't making any sense, why was he suddenly seeing this situation as normal?

"Then stay here, don't interfere in what is about to happen." He challenged me, I turned to check on the situation to see Tennat had raised his hands, prepared to cast his favorite spell.

"Are you crazy? It's prohibited to cast attack spells unsupervised." I tried to appeal to his logical mind.

"And who's going to tell on us? Unless you're really a traitor." But Panahsi wasn't listening.

I looked into his eyes and saw that he was totally convinced that there was some merit in the obvious bullying that was happening. For a moment I wavered, everyone was fine with it? What's the problem?

And just then, Rimuru's words echoed in my mind, his little statement about our will influencing the laws of the world to create magic resonated within me.

How would I be able to cast higher magics if my will is swayed by something like a crowd?

"You're pathetic, Panahsi." I said as I pushed through the crowd.

"Hey!" I called out to Tennat.

He turned towards me, part surprised and part annoyed.

"It's you, Kellen. Stay still and watch, or are you gonna gain a traitor title ontop of your pending Sha'Tep one?" He grinned as he mocked me.

The rest of the crowd looked at me expectantly, I could see their excitement at a potential double beat down. They wanted me to refuse.

How am I just seeing it now..?

Why am I just realizing?

I hate my people, I hate the Jan'Tep.

I hate the society that created such a sinister bunch of kids.

I steeled my resolve and raised my hands.

I made a show of performing the somatic signs for an ember spell before using the magic I learnt from Rimuru to conjure a fireball.

Everyone's eyes widened in shock, I was no exception.

The fireball that I expected to be the size of a small fruit was somehow larger than my head.

I quickly took advantage of the situation before they could notice my own surprise.

"This is a warning, back off, Tennat." I tried to channel the voice I had seen my father use many times.

It didn't come out as I wanted it but it seemed to do the trick.

"Tch. Let's leave the traitors together, it's not worth getting in huge trouble over." Tennat reluctantly decided to retreat.

It was a wise decision considering the penalty for an unsanctioned duel between initiates.

He was willing to go through with his plans for Ferius because no one would have bat an eye, but this was totally different.

The crowd slowly left, everyone making sure to glare at me like I killed their dog before heading home. I carefully dismissed the flames, trembling at the thought of getting burned by them.

"You didn't have to do all 'at kid, I can handle myself." Ferius laughed as she puffed on a smoking reed.

"Sure, your tricks would surely save you." I mocked her with a smile.

"Hey, tricks are great. You seemed to have learnt a particularly flashy one." She scanned me with her eyes.

At that moment, I felt eyes on my back. It was an unnerving feeling. I felt vulnerable under the gaze of whatever was looking at me.

I turned my head to the top of a tree in the distance, and to no surprise of mine, Rimuru was there.

He waved and gave me a smile.

I could see him mouth some words.

"Lesson completed." Was what he seemed to say.

Then he vanished.

I rubbed my eyes a bit, wondering if I was under the influence of mind bending silk magic.

"Kid?" Ferius didn't seem to notice Rimuru at all.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. A flashy trick indeed." I said as I smiled at her.

With this little step, my journey to become a great mage began.

.

.

Almost forgot to write this..haha..ha..hmmm

Welp, plot is plotting ig. Shalla's idea, Ra'meth's plans.

Some people who want their voices to be heard.

And finally, Rimuru.

Soon the true frame of the story will be obvious.