Chapter 8: The meeting

Lucien waited patiently by the door. His heart was beating loudly in his chest with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. This was going to be his first time meeting with actual wizards, and to discuss magic and spells nonetheless. He just hoped not to say anything stupid and embarrass himself.

Moments later the closed door slowly creaked open. A beautiful mature brunette, with sharp hazel eyes, and a curvy figure greeted him. She wore a red dress that further complimented her perfect figure almost causing his heart to skip a beat. Lucien always had a weakness for older mature ladies, there was just something about them.

Still, he tried not to show it on his face. Before she could speak, however, he had already stepped toward her with a gentle smile on his face and offered his hand.

"Hello, my name is Lucien Wood, and I've been invited. I hope I'm not in the wrong place?" he asked with a smile.

The beautiful lady shook his hand with a small smile before she replied:

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wood. My name Is Estrea Holt, and I'm the leader of the Hermits, as well as the host of tonight's gathering. We are honored by your presence."

"Please, call me Lucien." He answered, his smile not quite leaving his face.

Estrea nodded gently and replied:

"Great, then please call me Estrea as well."

She then motioned for him to enter the house. Lucien did not stand on the ceremony. Once inside, he almost lost his composure when he saw what looked like 12 or so people staring at him with various expressions in their eyes.

Lucien was not usually the shy type, but it was not easy to be stared at by so many people at the same time. Luckily, Estrea came to his rescue.

She clapped her hands loudly, gathering everyone's attention before she spoke:

"Now that Mr. Wood has joined us, let us all head upstairs and begin the meeting."

No one disagreed with her. The 12 people, quickly left leaving her and Lucien behind. She motioned at the stairs with a respectful expression on her face, "Please."

Lucien gave her a mischievous smile before replying:

"Thank you, but did I not say to just call me Lucien."

Estrea raised her brows at his reminder before she answered with a smile:

"I'll remember that... Lucien."

Lucien's smile widened at that before he followed the group upstairs. The house was surprisingly luxurious on the inside. The floors were covered in red carpets, and the walls were decorated with expensive paintings and artworks. A large fancy chandelier was placed right above the entrance.

Lucien leisurely climbed to the fourth floor while making idle chatter with Estrea. He occasionally asked about some paintings that he found interesting, while also trying to fish for information from the mature lady. Sadly he failed to gain any significant information.

Once he reached the fourth floor, the first thing that greeted him was a large round table that took, almost the entirety of the floor. An even more extravagant chandelier decorated the place, casting a soft glow on the open room. There were no doors nor walls, the entire fourth floor was an open hall.

The 12 people were already situated in their respective places, while some seats remained vacant. Estrea guided him to his place, which luckily for him was next to hers. Once seated, Estrea spoke:

"As everyone knows, this is Mr," She paused for a second and looked at Lucien who had a gentle smile on his face, Estrea then coughed lightly and corrected herself, "This is... Lucien. He will be joining us for our discussion today. I'm sure a test to check his knowledge level is unnecessary as you have all seen him disperse my barrier spell."

Hearing that, Lucien secretly nodded. 'So it was a test after all! Good thing I learned Imer, otherwise I doubt I would have been able to pass that.' He inwardly released a sigh of relief.

Estrea continued, "Any objections?"

As expected, no one said a thing. The group then proceeded with their meeting. They first introduced themselves to Lucien the newcomer, and he greeted them back one by one, though their names quickly left his memory. The only ones he remembered were Estrea, for reasons... And Layla since he recognized her voice as the one that called him earlier today.

After their quick round of introductions, the meeting officially began. A short old man with balding hair was the first one to speak.

"I've recently been working on an earth-based spell, its purpose is to hasten the growth of magical plants, while retaining their quality. I used the Council's 'Earth blessings' spell as the foundation and then tried to further improve it, I've had some minor successes, but I'm stuck with the flow of mana. Does anyone have any similar spells for me to use as inspiration? Preferably unseen ones, or from the old era."

A few people answered. Some gave their opinions on the matter, others offered certain spells for a price. Lucien watched everything unfold with a hint of a smile. It was not exactly what he expected, but he liked it! Everyone took turns talking, no one interrupted, and they were all very respectful. The one thing he noted, however, and found strange was that every magical spell they talked about or mentioned required an incantation or hand gesture. This confused him because Imer for one didn't need any of those, and Lucien was sure that there were a lot of similar spells in the book that didn't utilize any either.

When the turn came to Estrea, she turned to glance at Lucien with a curious flash in her eyes. "I'd like to ask you, Lucien, the question I believe has been on the minds of everyone present. Just what was that spell you used when you broke down the barrier? How come you didn't use any incantations, or hand gestures? You can choose not to answer of course."

'As expected, so they did find it strange. How should I handle this? If I'm not wrong, then it's not normal that I can see the mana particles, everyone else just feels it or sense it. I'm not sure how that works, but they are certainly not seeing it.'

Looking at Estrea, Lucien flashed her a mysterious smile and replied vaguely:

"That's not a hard question to answer." He said causing her eyes to shine.

"The spell is simple telekinesis. I used it to manipulate the flow of the mana outside of my body and inside the barrier, once there It was simply a matter of pointing it towards the key parts of the formation."

A frown quickly made its way to Estrea's beautiful face. The way Lucien put it, it did indeed seem quite simple, but the reality was that it was anything but that. First of all; what sort of telekinesis spell allowed one to manipulate one's mana with such accuracy? Secondly, how did he manage to invade the barrier with his mana in the first place?! Third of all, how did he know where the key parts of the formation were situated in the first place!?

Raising her head, Estrea found Lucien staring back at her with a mysterious smile on his face. His eyes looked deep as if they held all the secrets of the world.

'He is extremely dangerous.' She thought to herself and mentally noted to treat him with more respect.