Three years ago, Maltz Kent was bitten by a strange bat when he went hunting. When he returned home, the wound began to fester and pus. After a few days, he developed a high fever and fell into a coma.
The doctors who were invited shook their heads after seeing it. According to their opinion, Kent Family can directly prepare for the funeral.
Just when the family thought the count was about to Called by God, a mysterious figure came to the door.
This is a traveling healer who calls himself "Barnett" and says that he has a way to save Count Maltz Kent.
The Kent family was desperate at this time. Although Barnett was dressed strangely and his image was closer to a barbarian mercenary than a doctor, they still let him give it a try with the mentality of treating a dead horse as a living doctor. Anyway, it would not be worse than it is now.
Unexpectedly, this person named Barnett really had some abilities. Through his magical Secret Medicine creature, Earl Kent quickly woke up from his coma.
However, the doctor Barnett did not allow anyone to watch the count's "treatment" process, either before or after he woke up.
Kent Family was still very grateful to the doctor Barnett and treated him as a distinguished guest for more than a month.
Only Earl Kent in the whole family knew that the savior named "Barnett" was not a doctor at all.
But a wizard! Yes, wizard! This serious illness made Maltz Kent know this fact:
Wizards and magic are not things made up by Church to scare ignorant people, but really exist in this world.
While his body was still in a coma, his consciousness was constantly having nightmares:
I am in a huge maze.
He looked around for an exit, but the maze seemed to be moving. When he reached a dead end, he wanted to follow a path he remembered clearly to return to the previous location, but found that the path he had just taken had changed drastically.
There are no scary sights, no scary monsters, but there is something even more terrifying - monotony, the ultimate monotony.
As far as the count could see, there was nothing but himself and the brick walls that formed the maze.
Earl Kent was soon driven crazy by the monotony. He prayed to Lord of Light, even if a terrifying monster suddenly appeared to scare him.
I don't know how long it took, but a mysterious voice suddenly appeared out of thin air, calling his name and guiding him how to walk.
For Earl, this voice is simply his own Savior.
Through the guidance of the mysterious voice, he finally walked out of the maze in his dream. The moment he walked out, his body woke up from the coma.
When he opened his eyes, the first thing that caught the count's eyes was Barnett's face tattooed with mysterious patterns.
For some reason, he was immediately sure that the person in front of him was the owner of the mysterious voice in his mind.
"Hello, Mr. Barnett!" This was the first thing he said after waking up.
Even he himself didn't know why he could call the name of the person in front of him, as if he had known him for a long time, although after thinking about it carefully, he still knew nothing about this person except the name "Barnett".
It was not that the count had never thought of sending this somewhat evil healer to Church for "evaluation", but what happened later made this idea disappear without a trace.
During the subsequent "treatment" process, Earl Kent felt that the other party was more and more weird. After he plucked up the courage to inquire, Barnett readily admitted that he was a legendary wizard.
"Aren't you afraid that I will notify Church?" He was surprised by the other party's bluntness.
Barnett sneered and said, "I can save your life, but I can also make you die. It may even be worse than death, not just for you, but also for your entire family!"
Earl Kent had a cold war. Over the years, he had made many enemies and received many threats, but this was the first time that one sentence could make him so frightened.
What's even more strange is that apart from the sneer at the beginning, Barnett said this sentence in a normal tone. Could it be that he became as timid as a mouse after a serious illness?
After much deliberation, I can only blame it on the other party's identity as a "wizard". There must be some unknown method to make myself afraid of him.
He temporarily suppressed the idea of informing Church because he couldn't live without the medicine in Bennett's hands.
At that time, his body was still very weak, he had constant fever and could not even get out of bed. Once he took the medicine provided by Barnett for a while, his condition would become more serious.
After a period of continuous "treatment" by Barnett, he developed an inexplicable sense of dependence on this wizard, as if he would die soon if he left this wizard.
Gradually, a sense of trust emerged from the sense of dependence, an unreserved sense of trust that was not inferior to that of his own son. Even the earl himself was surprised by his transformation. In the past, he would be wary of people other than his closest relatives.
In the process of getting along, he witnessed various magical abilities of the other party, which made him more and more interested in such legendary things as "magic".
"Master!" At some point, he changed to this respectful address to Barnett, "Can I learn magic from you?"
He mustered up the courage to ask this question. There are two major human natures: the desire for power and the curiosity about the unknown, and magic just satisfies these two points.
And he also has real-life motivation. If he masters this mysterious power, then some things can be carried out more conveniently, such as raising his title to a higher level, or making his money bank fuller.
Barnett After hearing his question, he suddenly laughed wildly, as if the long-awaited thing had finally happened.
But after laughing, he gave a cold answer, "No!"
Earl Kent was greatly disappointed. "Why?"
The other party replied, "There are three reasons."
"First, you are too old and have passed the best period of enlightenment."
"Second, studying magic is an extremely energy-consuming job. Even if you don't suffer from this disease, your current mental state is no longer as young as it was when you were young, and it is simply not enough to support the study of magic."
"Third, it's because of your mental state. Even if you are a genius and can understand the structure of the spell with a little effort, your mental strength is not enough to support the casting of the spell. If you cast it forcefully, your life may be endangered."
After hearing these three reasons, Earl Kent felt as if the world had suddenly turned dark, and the door to a new world had been closed to him.
Then I heard Barnett groaning. "But..."
He suddenly became excited again. "Master, you have a solution, right?"
He had rarely been so excited since he turned forty.
Sure enough, Barnett said, "I have a Secret Art that can strengthen your body and strengthen your spirit. After you use it, although you still can't compare with those who have been exposed to magic since childhood, you can still achieve some success if you are lucky."
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Earl Kent asked anxiously, "Master, what exactly is Secret Art? Professor, give it to me!"
So he was taught a health-preserving technique: suck raw animal blood for three meals a day and take Secret Medicine, meditate before going to bed and breathe according to the prescribed rhythm.
Barnett said, "This is an extremely long process, but this Secret Art will stop your body from aging, and you don't have to worry about lack of time. When your body and spirit return to a standard level, I will teach you some introductory magic, and then it will all depend on your own efforts and luck."
Finally, he emphasized. "We must not stop, otherwise all our efforts will be wasted."
Earl Kent repeatedly said that if he kept it in mind, he could stop aging, which is what many nobles dream of.
In the days that followed, now that the Earl had stepped into the world of magic, Barnett successively revealed some information to him.
There are many wizards in this world, and there has been a mysterious and powerful wizard organization for a long time: Secret Art Society.
This organization has been secretly contending with Church, providing a haven for many wizards who have devoted themselves to it.
And Barnett is one of the "Secret Art Society".
The sudden forbidden knowledge gave the Earl an inexplicable pleasure, as if he had returned to the childhood when he knew some secrets decades ago and felt great.
What made him even more ecstatic was that Barnett promised that if his magic could reach a certain level, he would be introduced to this organization.
"Master Barnett."
Regardless of whether the other party was willing to accept this title, Earl Kent just called it out, and Barnett also acquiesced to this title.
More than a month later, despite Earl Kent's attempts to stay, Barnett was leaving, but said that he would come back to check Earl Kent's mental status and teach him magic once he was suitable.
Sure enough, Banai came to Bairan Castle several times one after another. It was through these meetings that Earl Kent learned the tip of the iceberg of the grand plan of the organization behind him.
However, what even he himself didn't realize was that, from whence on, all of this happened so naturally.
The author was too impatient and wanted to create the feeling of the behind-the-scenes forces appearing, but it always felt like that was not the case.
Can any reader recommend similar passages in other people's books? Let me see how the masters describe them.