Chapter 55 -Things You Need to Know 

They had been sailing upriver for several hours, and Arien had spent most of that time bombarding Malbek with questions about magic.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t learned nearly as much as he had hoped.
Malbek had confirmed several of Arien’s old suspicions and corrected just as many, but whenever the questions became more complicated, the answer was usually one of two things.
I don’t know.
Or, considerably more often:
You’ll learn that at the Academy.
Arien was beginning to suspect the Academy existed primarily so Malbek would have an excuse not to answer him.
“Mal, we’re getting close to Wayhold,” Will said. “Tell Arien about it.”
Arien finally looked away from the mage. At some point during their conversation, the countryside had changed completely.
There were still fields, but they no longer stretched between isolated villages separated by miles of empty land. Settlement followed settlement along both banks of the Wyn, connected by roads crowded with carts, riders, and people on foot. Farmhouses and barns stood between cultivated plots, while thin trails of smoke rose from dozens of chimneys in every direction.
It was early summer, and after the clouds of the morning had finally broken, sunlight spilled across the plain. The river flashed silver between green banks, while fields farther inland formed an uneven patchwork stretching toward the horizon.
Arien leaned slightly over the side of the barge.
Every village they passed seemed larger than his home. Wealthier too. Roofs were better maintained, stone appeared far more often in the buildings, and some settlements were large enough that calling them villages felt almost dishonest.
Massive whitewashed mills stood directly beside the river, their wheels turning steadily in the current. Wooden piers reached into the Wyn around them, crowded with fishing boats, barges, and small trading vessels.
There were people everywhere: farmers in the fields, children along the riverbanks, fishermen unloading baskets onto the piers, and wagons crawling along distant roads. Tens of thousands must have lived across the plain, perhaps more.
And Wayhold itself still wasn’t visible.
“Arien.”
He kept staring.
“Arien, come back to us.” Malbek’s voice finally pulled him away from the scenery.
“Sorry.”
“Before we arrive, there are several things you need to know.” Malbek hesitated.
Arien narrowed his eyes. “Yeeees?”
“It concerns where you’ll be staying,” Malbek said. “There’s a small problem.”
“Oh.” Arien relaxed. “You don’t need to worry about that. You’ve already done more than enough for me. I have some money, so if you could just recommend a decent but inexpensive tavern—”
“Arien, shut up.”
Arien stopped. Surprisingly, it had been Will.
“You’re not staying in a tavern,” his friend said. “We already arranged somewhere for you to stay.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Will and Malbek exchanged a look.
“The hostess,” Will said grimly.
Malbek sighed.“Our aunt Gilfra.”
Arien waited. Neither brother elaborated.
“I feel like that name was supposed to explain something.”
“It will,” Will muttered.
Malbek gave him a warning look before turning back to Arien.
“When Kreft brought Will to Wayhold and told me about our parents’ murder, I was in my sixth year at the Academy. I lived on campus, spent most of my days studying, and had neither the time nor the means to properly care for him.” His expression tightened slightly. “So I asked our aunt Gilfra, our mother’s sister, to take him in. At the time, it was the only reasonable option.”
“And now you regret it?”
“No.” Malbek hesitated. “Not exactly.”
“He does,” Will said.
“I said not exactly.”
Arien looked between them. “Is she really that terrible?”
“No,” Malbek said immediately. Then paused. “She’s kind. Generous. Extremely helpful.”
“Extremely helpful,” Will repeated darkly.
“I’m starting to think that word means something different in your family.”
Malbek almost smiled. “I’ve always lived at the Academy, but our parents used to make me visit her from time to time. Back then, her habits were easier to endure because she had no authority over either of us.”
“Now she wants to mother us,” Will said.
“Gilfra never had children of her own,” Malbek continued carefully. “She married a cloth merchant considerably older than herself. A very wealthy one. He died several years ago, and she has lived alone ever since.”
“Not alone,” Will muttered. “There are always thirty people in that house.”
“Because she adores company, parties, gossip, minor scandals, and social maneuvering. Preferably all at once.”
A faint smirk appeared on Malbek’s face. “She doesn’t have much use for me. Will, however…”
His brother groaned.
“She’s made him her grand project.”
“Project?”
“A powerful House, a useful Faction, the right acquaintances, eventually a suitable match.” Malbek counted them off almost absently. “And to be fair to her, I’m convinced she genuinely believes she’s helping him.”
“I can barely train anymore,” Will complained. “There’s always another dinner, reception, or ball I supposedly have to attend.”
“According to Gilfra, that is training,” Malbek said.
Will rolled his eyes. “Spending time with other talented children and ‘forging relationships that will matter for the rest of my life.’”
Arien blinked. “So those are the new friends you kept mentioning in your letters.”
“Friends.” The way Will said it made the word sound vaguely insulting. “A nest of snakes. You should’ve seen them when I first arrived. Half of them acted like I carried some provincial disease. One boy actually covered his nose when I walked past him.”
Arien frowned. Will grinned. “Then I unlocked the System before most of them.”
“Ah.”
“Suddenly everyone remembered my name. People smiled at me, congratulated me, started inviting me everywhere.” Will’s grin faded a little. “I didn’t really know what to make of it. A few weeks earlier, half of them barely wanted to speak to me.”
Arien had known Will was staying with relatives, but he had never heard any of this. If anything, Arien had been relieved knowing there was an adult in Wayhold looking after him. What bothered him was that Will had never mentioned any of this in his letters. Not the sleepless nights Malbek had spoken about earlier. Not these parties. Not being treated like some backward provincial boy.
Meanwhile, Arien had complained freely about rain, work, boredom, and half a dozen other things that seemed rather insignificant now. He should have known Will would hide the worst parts if he thought talking about them sounded like complaining.
“We’re telling you this now so you know what to expect,” Malbek said. “Gilfra was delighted when Will told her he wanted to invite you to Wayhold. Fortunately, we told her very little. Only that you intended to apply to the Academy.”
Arien’s attention snapped back to him. “I’m not going to have to attend those parties, am I?”
Will smiled far too quickly.
“That’s what we don’t know,” Malbek said.
Wonderful.
The thought of spending his summer surrounded by arrogant children had not featured anywhere in Arien’s plans. He needed every spare day to catch up before the Academy began. Most noble children would already have years of magical theory ahead of him.
“I’d strongly recommend that you don’t advertise the Life Aspect,” Malbek continued. “Or the full extent of your magical ability. Being an Eight will already attract enough attention.”
Arien considered that. “Could we tell people I’m a Nine?”
Both brothers stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing.
“What?”
“Arien,” Will managed, “have you looked in a mirror recently?”
Arien frowned. “Yes?”
“You barely look seven.”
“What? How?”
Will gestured helplessly at him. “You’ve grown since I last saw you, and your face is a little sharper, but you still look…”
“Like a young elf,” Malbek supplied.
“Exactly! Or one of those teenagers who dumped every Attribute point they got at System awakening into Vitality.”
“And what does Vitality have to do with how old I look?” Arien asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.
“Quite a lot,” Malbek said. “Vitality affects longevity. It slows aging as well, and at sufficiently high levels the effect becomes rather noticeable.”
Will grinned. “Which is why half the noble girls at Gilfra’s parties dump every spare point into it.”
“Not half,” Malbek said.
“Most?”
Malbek ignored him.
Arien did not find any of this particularly amusing. “What about mages who live for hundreds of years?”
“Profession Attributes account for much of that. A Mage gains one point of Vitality per level. A Novice Mage only half as much, which is why—”
Malbek stopped mid-explanation and narrowed his eyes. His lips moved silently for a few seconds as he calculated something.
“What?” Arien asked.
Malbek glanced at his face again, his lips moving silently for a moment. “What level are you?”
Ah. “Ten.”
Malbek straightened so abruptly that even Will looked surprised.
“You’re already level ten?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No. Quite the opposite.”
“Life is Rare. You already have a Specialization, two Uncommon Skills, another Rare Skill…” Malbek’s eyes widened slightly. “Yes. That could be enough.” He leaned closer. “Tell me you haven’t chosen a Profession yet.”
Arien hesitated just long enough to make Malbek look alarmed. “I haven’t.”
The mage exhaled. “Good.”
“Why?”
“Because if you can meet the remaining requirements before reaching level eleven, you may be able to take Mage immediately instead of starting as a Novice Mage.”
Malbek was genuinely excited now. Unfortunately, Arien already had the Mage Profession and was level fifteen, neither of which seemed worth mentioning.
“What exactly are the requirements?”
“For Novice Mage, Mana Sense is mandatory, along with at least one qualifying mental Skill. Meditation, Words of Magic, an Aspect. Even something as basic as Reading can satisfy that requirement.
“And Mage?”
“Both Mana Sense and Mana Manipulation are mandatory, along with four qualifying mental Skills.” Malbek started counting on his fingers. “You already have two Aspects, so if you can acquire Meditation and Words of Magic before reaching level eleven…”
Malbek shook his head, still looking faintly incredulous. “Most students can’t meet those requirements until several levels later. Starting as a full Mage at ten means gaining the better Profession bonuses immediately instead of losing points to Novice Mage.” His voice dropped slightly. “I didn’t manage it myself.”
Arien studied him. “And you can never recover the difference?”
“No.”
Arien kept his expression neutral. So choosing Mage immediately had been even more valuable than he had realized.
“Then I suppose I have some work to do.”
“You have no idea how jealous I am,” Malbek admitted. “A Rare Aspect, an early System, and the possibility of starting with a proper Mage Profession…” He gave Arien a long look. “You might actually have a chance of breaking through the Curse of the Middle Levels.”
Will blinked. “The what?”
Arien had been about to ask exactly the same thing.
“It’s actually not a curse. Just a name.”
“For what?”
“A pattern in how progression works.” Malbek rested his arms on his knees. “At level twenty-five, the experience needed for the next level jumps from twenty-five hundred to five thousand. After that, advancement only gets harder. Skills slow down, useful Specializations become more difficult to obtain safely, and people who progressed quickly for years can end up spending decades barely moving at all.”
Five thousand was not a number Arien particularly liked the sound of. An Uncommon Skill gave him forty experience per level. He would need the equivalent of a hundred and twenty-five Skill levels just to cover that much.
“And then?” he asked.
“Some never move again. Those who do break through usually attract far more attention afterward. By that point, they’ve already proven they can get past a barrier that stops most people, so Factions and noble Houses are much more willing to invest resources in them.”
“Which makes progressing easier.”
“Exactly. Better teachers, rarer materials, more opportunities. Success tends to bring the support needed for further success.”
Malbek raised a hand. “But you’re level ten. Worry about level twenty five when you actually reach it. And we have a considerably more immediate threat to deal with.” Malbek’s expression turned grave.
“Aunt Gilfra.”
Arien sighed. “You already told her I intend to apply to the Academy. For now, that’s all she needs to know.”
Malbek studied him. “And what exactly are you going to tell her you intend to study?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” Arien shrugged. “Maybe the martial path. Maybe administration. I came to Wayhold to see what options I actually have.”
Will snorted. “She’s going to love that answer.”
“Why?”
“Because then she’ll try to decide for you.”
A mischievous grin spread across Will’s face. “Look on the bright side. At least now we can suffer together.”