Rebirth of the Phoenix God

Chapter 103: Dim Inn

"I need to openly apologise. Disregarding your capabilities only because of your build was unbecoming of me."

As soon as this small girl retracted her sword away from Fen's throat with a satisfied smile blossoming on her lips, the young man fell down on one knee and formally apologised. Given how he instantly soured their relationship by underestimating her capabilities, Fen had to do his absolute best to mend this huge mistake of his.

"It's okay. I can't blame you for this, since I can tell that you did your best to learn as much about the arcanism in that rotten empire as you could. Without the realisation that you were actually going down the wrong route, you had all the right to think highly of yourself"

As the girl said those words, her expression soured a bit, as if she suddenly faced a sour pill that she had to bite on.

"... and I would lie if I were to deny that insane talent of yours If not for some tricks that the dean of the Phoenixian department of the academy taught me, just the sheer power of your flames would be enough to overwhelm me, despite how poorly controlled they were!"

Exclaiming with a deep sigh, the girl allowed her catalytic sword of flames to disperse before pointing at the door of the hall.

"While I told you some bits during the fight, I think it would be better if we talked about this in some better place. How about we move to the academy cafe?"

Smiling uneasily, the girl fixed her dishevelled attire before starting to march towards the doors without even confirming that the young man had nothing to do against this kind of solution. Given how she already has proven that she was more than capable of teaching him not only the basics but most likely also the more complicated stuff, Fen didn't really have anything against following those whims of hers.

Moving on back to the corridor, instead of going back through the same way they took to arrive in the training room in the first place, the girl moved in the exact opposite direction, quickly guiding the young man to an unrepresentative, small door on the end of the corridor.

"By the way, my name is Nadia. What's your name?"

Only now that this girl brought that up did Fen realise that despite interacting with this small female for a while already, he had yet to learn her name up until just a few seconds ago!

"I'm Fen. Even if you were to ask me, I do not have any second name."

For some reason, Fen's words resulted in Nadia sending him a sharp, strange look, but this unusual expression disappeared from her face just as quickly as it appeared on it.

"To not have a family name with your talent It's strange But don't worry. In Kinar, no one will pay any mind to your history as long as you act like an awful citizen."

Ending her unexpected sentence with a cheerful smile, Nadia raised her hand to point at a small yet busy building located at the end of the small alley that they were travelling through.

"This place Is one of the most popular amongst the Phoenixians. While there is only a few of us, making it a rare opportunity to meet someone of our craft in there if you ever were to be interested in meeting arcanists like you, that's where you should direct your steps first."

Quickly explaining the situation, Nadia kept moving forward all the way to the hole in the wall that made up the entrance to the building. Just this fact alone, that instead of installing proper doors in this place the owner of this business preferred to just leave the hole in his wall was quite unusual when compared to the feeling that the rest of the city was giving. 

"Don't let the entrance fool you. This place is earning such crazy amounts of money, that the owners could put the doors made of the solid gold without batting an eye here But said doors would quickly end just like all the others that were placed here formerly. Smashed apart by the drunk arcanists hurrying up for their lessons!

Saying those words with a lovely smirk on her face, Nadia stepped over some rubble that was scattered over this previously dead-end of the alley and gestured at Fen to follow in her steps.

To the young man surprise, once the two of them passed by the illusory barrier where the wall once stood, the atmosphere changed all at once. Even though the outside couldn't be said to be cold, if one were to venture to the streets with only light clothing, then after long enough he would end up shivering on the cold winds. 

But that wasn't the case inside this building!

As if some barrier was protecting the interior from the cold influence of the winds, the warm atmosphere instantly coated anyone that entered the place with its cosy embrace. With the task of illuminating the entire interior falling on the candles' wicks, those little, oily warriors somehow managed to fulfil their job just good enough to prevent anyone from stumbling into sharp corners of the furniture, while keeping the entire place just dim enough to make it romantic and peaceful.

"Don't pay any mind to the atmosphere. Given how most of the people here operate with fires, a bit of darkness is always welcomed. Also, small but important advice."

Turning around just as she managed to find a free spot for the two of them to sit, Nadia smiled perversely at the young man while pushing her fingers against his chest right at his heart height.

"Do never use your arcana or some flashy tricks here. No matter how drunk you are, it's better to swallow your pride if someone insults you and settle it outside than to have the owners go after you for causing damage to their property. As silly as it sounds, the innkeeper here wields actually more power in the entire damned academy than all the deans combined! Thinking about this, I'm not really sure who would the student-body follow if this man and our rector were to clash"

Leaving the topic on the side, Nadia finally sat down on the chair, pointing at the other end of the table with the obvious meaning behind her gestures. Following her mute order and taking the seat opposite to her, Fen quickly realised that this place was indeed magical.

With the dim light of the candles being barely enough to make out the details of Nadia's face, it seemed as if the natural limiter that was placed on the human psyche for the interactions with others was removed, allowing him to ignore who she was completely and fully commit to listening to what she had to say!

"Okay then, let's start with a quick explanation. The three aspects of phoenixian arcanism that I brought during our sparring match, are not everything that there is to the craft. They are only the three most basic ones, three aspects of arcanism that every Phoenixian will polish through their entire life without even a hint of open of mastering it. But outside of the big three that corresponds directly to our firepower, there are two more aspects that are special and exclusive to our kind."

As soon as Nadia raised her hand, a waiter instantly grew up from the thin air. A trick that could work only thanks to the poor illumination of the room. But at the same time, a question could be posed. If Fen, even with his years of expertise as a hunter, couldn't see the man before he decided to reveal himself, how did this waiter manage to see Nadia's raised hand?

"First off, we have an aura. This is the topic that I personally hate and won't even attempt to teach to you. In fact, if you ever manage to understand it, I will be the one asking for your help. To put it in short words, everything that you do, every time you use your arcana, every time you do something that has a huge meaning to you or to the people you know good enough to understand how big it might be for them, your aura changes. As for how to use it, why is it even considered a topic in the academy, what's the point of wasting our time in deepening our understanding of it I have no fucking idea!"

Quickly revealing that she wasn't the type of omnibus to know everything, Nadia leaned to the side and whispered a few words to the waiter. Disappearing into the darkness just as quickly as he appeared, the two of them once again could speak more or less freely.

"I don't know if you are one of those who would care about it, but don't fret about today's drinks. They are on me. Anyway, going back to the topic"

Insantiounelsy tackling a problem that could cause quite a lot of anxiety later down the line, Nadia proved that she couldn't care less about it. Given how she was quite skilled arcanist, there was a huge chance that money no longer held any meaning in her life at all, replaced by the urges and needs that a common person or an ignorant one like Fen, wouldn't be able to understand.

"The last thing that separates us from the rest, is the crux. Draconis arcanist does not have it, as they are essentially borrowing the power of the great Dragon, which by itself proves that they are not true arcanists in the first place. But in our case Well, have you ever wondered where do our flames come from?"