Apprentice: Page 4

The next day, we all gathered outside. This time, Forester had actually set up chairs in a circle. We all took a seat, and he handed us each a book.

"So, the Guild has elected to assign all second level and below teachers mandatory curriculums, hence my lack of a prepared lesson yesterday. Don't worry, I'm still gonna teach you the useful stuff, we just gotta get this shit out of the way first."

The first chapter in the book was just spells. We all skimmed through it for a few moments. There wasn't a single combat spell there. Once we realized that, we all mentioned it, almost simultaneously.

"Yeah, I know. Apparently, the guild directors think attack spells are too destructive. Idiots, if you ask me."

That day we learned 3 spells, Bubble Shield, Greater Telekinesis (it seemed our goblin friend had been reading ahead), and Quench Flame.

Bubble Shield, Quench Flame.

That took us all of 1 hour. After we learned the guild-approved spells, Forester taught us a few useful ones, namely Blink, a limited, but easy teleportation spell, and Forge, which just heats metal.

Blink, Forge.

After that, we all handed him our books, and he teleported them somewhere.

"Alright, so, just like practice those spells. I'll be back."

We all just looked at each other. It was Durak, the orc, who had an idea.

"Why don't we play some Psyball?"

Compared to the alternative, that didn't sound too bad. The only one who objected was Emma, the goblin girl. But her worries were quelled when we all agree not to hit her.

We split into teams, Jake, one of the other humans, Lexi, and Emma were on one, and Durak, Mika, the third human, and I were on the other.

Jake launched the magic purple sphere into the air, and Lexi lept after it. Given her elvish dexterity, she landed on the ground with it in hand. She didn't get far before Mika blinked in front of her, tripping the half-elf. I quickly snatched the ball off the ground and deflected Jake's magic missile with the ball. Unfortunately, little Emma decided to use her telekinesis to pull my feet out from under me. I fell. And the ball slid across the grass. This went on for a while, neither team making much progress, except for the occasional single point.

An hour later, the score was just 3 to 2. Durak threw the ball into the air, this time it was Mika who snagged it. She didn't get too far before Lexi blinked in and snatched the ball from her. With her long legs and slight frame, she was making serious progress towards the goal. I chased after her, then paused. Time to use her own trick against her. I focused on the area in front of her and imagined a wooden staff appearing in front of her.

The only problem was that I slightly misjudged her speed. The wooden staff collided with her, right in the ribs, and left her sprawling on the grass.

Her groan could be heard across the field. I instantly panicked. I didn't mean to really hurt her. Jake got to her first.

"Holy shit Lexi are you ok?

"Ugh, I'm fine. Just a little bruised. Let's keep playing."

And we did. In the end, our team won. But it was close, and no one seemed to be bothered by the outcome. We all went inside, ate dinner, and went to bed.

But again, the world is hell-bent on keeping me up at night.