Epic Of The Demonic Sage

“This is the part where most Artificers take pride and enjoyment the most.” Bishop Reynald’s eyes twinkled. “The socketing is the final step and as its namesake, it’s when one places the rune crystal on the artifact and this will determine whether the artifact is a success or not.”

Lucius remembered the socket of June’s telescope alongside the Inanis family heirlooms that he had received.

While Count Gabriel spoke of how much easier and less expensive it was to simply purchase another artifact instead of repairing the ones they had, Lucius considered it as a possible experiment.

“After long and grievous hours of inscription, somehow placing a rune crystal in its socket seems fun and easy,” Bishop Reynald chuckled lightly. “And yet, there are instances where it fails so spectacularly that the artifact blows up in your face. I believe one Artificer, a peer of mine had his entire eye destroyed. He was fortunate that the other one was saved, but the other was thoroughly untreatable.”

“Mmm… an unfortunate incident.” Lucius murmured.

Although in the back of his head, Lucius was already wrinkling his nose at the thought of someone being so incompetent enough to experience such an accident.

‘Mistakes can be made, but surely there should be precautions and safety equipment when doing such things. The incident speaks of the lack of procedure and is more or less a well-deserved consequence.’

“Indeed. He really should have waited until he got more sleep, but his excitement got the best of him.” Bishop Reynald shook his head and then sighed. “Needless to say, it hampered his status as Artificer, but it is also why he wanted to dabble into the idea of putting a rune crystal into his eye socket.”

“Has there been any success so far then?” Lucius asked in a casual tone.

While the medical advancement of this world paled in comparison to Lucius’s old world, he was actually impressed with how they managed to substitute their Gifts for other things.

‘Head Healer Berk in Baron Dowland’s city was quite familiar with the process of treating the life-threatening injury on Viscount Drew’s son. Which reminds me mildly how Keith could have progressed… I haven’t actually noticed any Hell Gates so it’s either that the man died or is kept too far away. A Lost on his own.’ Lucius thought.

“He is trying to collaborate with some Healers in that regard, but at his current station and with the busyness of most Healers, it is quite a slow progress.” Bishop Reynald shook his head. “He had quite high hopes though, using the Rune Crystal of a Far Seeing Eagle to improve his vision, to even something more outlandish like a fire Rune Crystal that could emit laser like projectiles. He is an ambitious man.”

“I see, that does seem complex. One can only wish that he finds success in his endeavor.” Lucius acknowledged.

The work necessary to connect the rune crystals to the nerves and allowing the aether to run through such channels was probably a difficult task at their current stage of development.

‘Naturally, I’ll be able to undertake these. My own knowledge from my previous world will prove itself useful in this matter.’ Lucius thought as he awaited for the Bishop to continue.

“But ah yes, these are but interesting anecdotes and tales of caution on what to do and not to do.” Bishop Reynald explained.

Before the old man talked some more, a knock on the library door signified the arrival of none other than Kiana herself.

“Come in.”

“I’ve brought some snacks and refreshments, Asher.” Kiana said.

“Thank you, please leave it here, Kiana.”

‘Even though a lot of people are referring to him as Apostle and other titles of esteem… somehow I can’t help but feel like he’s still Asher to me.’ Kiana thought as she delivered the tray.

Kiana knew that Asher had changed over the course since the incident at Gisir, his amnesia also making it seem like he was a new person altogether, but Kiana thought it would be fine to call Asher as simply Asher.

‘If he wanted me to call him Apostle then he would have asked me already.’ Kiana thought as she bowed.

“I’ll take my leave and come back after an hour or two to retrieve the tray,” Kiana said.

“Thank you.”

Once she was gone, Bishop Reynald and Lucius had some tea together before proceeding with the rest of the lessons.

Since they underwent the fundamentals, Bishop Reynald then started to explain everything in a far more vivid and comprehensive details.

Either Bishop Reynald cited actual incidents of his colleagues during his decades of experience or he allowed Asher to ask questions and the two of them worked on it together, mostly Bishop Reynald undergoing the minutiae of it all.

“Hmm… I will be testing you now, Apostle Asher.” Bishop Reynald said. “I have full confidence, but the best way to measure understanding is being able to check back on things. It will only be a few questions, Apostle Asher.”

p

The set of questions that Bishop Reynald asked where nothing too difficult, but allowed Lucius to think back on all the lessons that they’ve tackled on for the last several hours.

Lucius’s answers left the old man impressed.

“Etara truly has selected her Apostle well. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone with such strong grasps on the concepts all at once… it’s a shame that this is all we can tackle on today.” Bishop Reynald glanced out at the window and noticed that the sun was beginning to set.

Even though Apostle Asher was Etara’s chosen one, it was still clear that he had responsibilities as a young lord that couldn’t be dismissed.

“Indeed. Please join me for dinner, Bishop Reynald. I am sure that my parents will be pleased to meet you.” Lucius mostly took in all of the information with relative ease.

“It would be an honor.”

Unlike Master Kain that started initially with easier topics and progressed into harder ones when he realized that Lucius could take it, Bishop Reynald sometimes went off into difficult topics when he became engrossed in them.

It benefited Lucius greatly.

And so, today and the next couple of days, Bishop Reynald came and visited the Inanis Mansion to teach Lucius.