Murlocs (2)

"Hey...this thing is flying mid-air!"

"Let me go!!"

*ARGHHH*

"Let's stay grouped, these things are just-"

*SPLASH*

The battlefield had just started, yet it was already chaos. In the highest cabin of the ship, a man with a youthful appearance was speaking to Julia, the young acolyte who had beaten Riley with the petrification spell:

"What do you see?", magus Nocturne spoke

The young woman, no older than fifteen yet already displaying elegance and maturity beyond her age, concentrated and looked at the battlefield with great difficulty through a crystal ball. A monumental amount of information reached her brain, causing her to immediately cease the connection and cough blood: 

"What...What is happening?"

Nocturne stayed silent, however, wishing for his disciple to realize the difference between her and...those beneath her.

Thinking that Magus Nocturne was waiting for her to explain what she saw before acting, she quickly spoke: "There are green-skinned and blue-skinned creatures attacking the ship! Seamen and people are dying! Quick, you must do something!"

However, Magus Nocturne showed no sign of moving anywhere: "Why should I?"

Julia thought for a while, before coming up with a reason: "Back when I hurt Riley, you said that I was hurting an 'asset'. Surely, among these acolytes, there are plenty that are worth teaching. Why would you let them die?"

Magus Nocturne's tongue flinched, before slapping Julia. The slap was meant to be gentle, but Nocturne had far since overcome the physical boundaries of regular humans. Julia was immediately sent crashing onto the wall. However, he did not stop to torment her: "Listen, my young disciple, what I do is something that only I will decide on...As for those...companions of yours. They are not assets, and will never be for most of them. Talent grade is everything, and let me be honest, this year's batch is exceptionally bad, except for you and Riley"

Julia was completely overwhelmed by the strength of her new master, and his...cruelty. However, she did not give up. Those who had travelled with her had become more than mere acquaintances. Some of them were friends, some of them had put their lives on the line to save her in tough situations. Although she only knew them for a couple of months, it was enough to build significant connections.

Coughing up blood, Julia's face turned pale, but her eyes remained unyielding: "Even so...The Magus from the death beach said that even grade 1 talents sometimes reached the magus realm. Won't the Mercifura Academy lose out a lot if you let them all die?"

Magus Nocturne laughed: "I was never meant to go on this ship. I only joined because I found an interesting seedling, you. If I interfered there, I would actually be scolded by my peers"

Julia only nodded, understanding that her master was talking about fellow magi.

The man continued: "These murlocs are only slightly stronger than regular humans. Mercifura Academy is a school for acolytes, individuals who pursue the arcane arts by increasing their spirit. Meditation is the simplest and most passive way to grow spirit, as you have experienced yourself. However, for those who are untalented, meditation alone will only allow them to reach the level 2 acolyte realm. This is why we select those who have unyielding spirits. And there is nothing better than a battlefield to understand the characters of people. Humans are easy to read after all. In near death experiences, they are like an open book"

Julia smiled wryly, not expecting the magi to be so cruel to their future students, using a battlefield to test and select their future disciples.

"Actually, a few of my disciples recently died in a mission. I will lose my position of honorary teacher if I don't get new disciples quickly. Take a good look at every single apprentice on the deck, and tell me if you see anyone interesting. Let's make this interesting. For every apprentice worthy of teaching you find, I will give you a magic crystal, the currency of the magus world to buy anything of arcane origins. For every apprentice you recommend but is worthless, I will cut one of your fingers"

Julia turned completely white...but her master was very serious.

Channeling her energy into the crystal ball once more, this time in a much more refined way so that the influx of information was limited, she started to oversee the battlefield. There were two types of individuals: those who joined hands to fight the invasion of murlocs, and those who were caught up on the battlefield, isolated from the rest.

As she continued to oversee the battle, she opened her mouth: "At position 4833, 4799, there is a group of 22 apprentices who seem very organized and well equipped. They seem to have taken the weapons of the seamen to protect themselves, and used the corpses of the murlocs they killed as a wall to shield them from the murloc's spitting attack"

Magus Nocturne took a look at the magical artefact, before nodding in acknowledgement: "To think they would use the acidic resistance of murloc skins in such an innovative way. Indeed, this is pretty ingenious, since a murloc's saliva can melt wood. However, staying in a large group is bound to cause them to attract more enemies"

Julia continued her observation: "Their leader...he seems to be an average man, but he managed to realize that murlocs are afraid of fire. So that's why he has started to make a fire out of the ship's planks of wood. That way, the flux of enemies lessened, instead pushing them towards others, smaller groups of apprentices"

"Good trick indeed...Despite being maritime creature, murlocs are afraid of fire. It is deeply engraved in their spirit, even though they are very resistant to regular fire. According to some studies, it has to do with some rare magical creatures in the depths of the ocean having wiped out a lot of murlocs with fire, causing the survivors to be innately fearful of heat in general. Good find, Julia"

Moments later, a veil of shadow surrounded the party leader. Moments later, he was in this room. Disoriented, he soon realized that he was in Magus Nocturne's cabin. He quickly bowed, sighing in relief: "Thank you, esteemed Magus Nocturne, for saving my life"

Magus Nocturne assessed the man, before shrugging: "Grade 3 talent, huh...This is not bad. Welcome aboard, you have become my 17th disciple"

The Keying ship was always meant to be a tool for the magi to choose their future disciples, to find those they find worthy of teaching.