An Unexpected Assignment

Ryan knew his mentor's temper all too well. The moment he received her message, he set off without delay. He didn't want to be punished for being late by his heartless teacher, who would toss him into the freezing ocean for a winter swim.

When he reached the top floor of the Mage Tower, two towering, imposing Stone Golems came into view. Magic runes on the golden nanmu doors shimmered with a soft blue light.

"Beep. Please state the magical password." A mechanical voice sounded.

"asamiyasi." The boy recited the password with a resigned air, then sighed. "Tower Spirit, can't you stop being so rigid? What's the point of changing the lock every day? I have to waste time cracking it all over again."

"Sorry, but this is the Tower Master's order. I will report your feedback truthfully. Whether it is accepted will be up to the Tower Master." The mechanical, wooden voice replied.

"Ugh, I'm telling you, one of these days I'm going to ask my teacher to replace you with this artificial idiot."

Still muttering, Ryan pushed open the exquisite, lavish doors and called out, "Teacher, I'm here!"

"You're here, so you're here. Why are you shouting? I'm not deaf yet."

A cool, melodious woman's voice rang beside Ryan's ear. He turned toward the sound.

Before him was a sensual, elegant woman of noble bearing. Her sea-blue hair fell over her fair shoulders, and her curvaceous figure sank into a long chair upholstered in Earth Dire Bear fur. Her long, slender legs rested casually on the nearby worktable, where a few spell experiment materials lay scattered. Their owner had probably left them there after finishing an experiment, without bothering to tidy up.

This beautiful, alluring woman was Ryan's magic teacher in Silverymoon, and the person he was most attached to in this other world.

Though she looked gentle and delicate now, she was one of Silverymoon's few legendary spellcasters. Once, she had wiped out an entire large Orc tribe with a single Meteor Swarm. Renowned for her mastery of divination and the School of Evocation, she was also known as the Sage of Stars.

It was said that Alustriel, Silverymoon's High Lady and ruler, had met Yefalin during her early adventuring days. They had traveled across Faerûn together and shared many magnificent, legendary adventures. That was why Yefalin had settled in Silverymoon after becoming a legendary mage, eventually becoming one of the city's archmages.

As the Northlands' most important center of knowledge and culture, Silverymoon was seen as a beacon of hope for the region. On this land, where Mielikki and the unicorn goddess Lurue had been worshipped since ancient times, Silverymoon had grown from a small village of a few farms surrounding the Moon Silver Tavern. It had become a true city more than seven hundred years ago, and its people chose a First Mage to serve as the city's highest leader.

Yefalin had once been a leading contender for the position of First Mage. But she had made it clear that she had no interest in the role and had instead given her full support to her close friend, Alustriel. This had greatly disappointed the many people who had backed her.

"Teacher, your image! Your image! Watch your image!" Ryan said helplessly to Yefalin. His teacher was wonderful in every way: kind and caring toward her students, and devoted to teaching magic. But when it came to daily life, she was rather careless, living freely and without restraint.

"What? What's wrong with my image? Do you think I'm ugly?" Yefalin arched an eyebrow and teased him.

"No, no, no! Teacher, you're the most beautiful. Your image is impeccable. I was just blind to your beauty." Ryan thought, A woman's age and appearance are both deadly subjects. You've already put it that way—how could I dare criticize you? Fine, fine. You're the teacher, so you get the final say.

"Ahahahahaha! Of course. Do you even know who I am? In all of Silverymoon, only that Alustriel can match me!" The blue-haired beauty laughed behind her hand from the bear-fur chair, looking at the boy before her.

Yefalin liked this diligent, modest, and capable student more and more.

When they had first met six years ago, Yefalin had taken an instant liking to the adorable child with the determined expression. He looked like an innocent little doll, yet carried himself like a knight about to cross mountains, brave every obstacle, slay a dragon, and rescue a princess. He had immediately tugged at her heartstrings.

Yefalin didn't know that back in Ryan's hometown, this sort of contrast was often called "gap moe"—the kind of thing that made all sorts of weird aunties and uncles want to "squee" him.

As Ryan grew, Yefalin was astonished by his talent. His exceptional self-discipline and hard work were remarkable enough, but he also seemed to have been kissed by the Goddess of Magic herself. He showed extraordinary aptitude for constructing magical models and casting spells.

In magic, the boy seemed a born spellcaster. In just six short years, he had already become an intermediate mage, with an exceptionally solid foundation and deep reserves of knowledge.

What delighted Yefalin even more was that, despite his outstanding talent and dazzling achievements among his peers, he showed no sign of arrogance or conceit. He remained humble and respectful toward magic from beginning to end.

In Yefalin's eyes, this quality mattered more than his magical talent. Faerûn's history was full of gifted people, and brilliant magical prodigies appeared one after another. But many of them grew famous while young and became reckless with their talents. As a result, most died before they could mature, falling victim to assassination, carelessness, magical accidents, and other causes.

After watching Ryan for two years, Yefalin liked him more and more, so she took him on as her apprentice and sole disciple. She cared for him deeply, often checking on his magical training and explaining the finer details of spell nodes.

When Yefalin discovered Ryan's unique talent for analyzing magical models, she happily outsourced some of the Mage Academy's assignments to him—optimizing low-level magical models and analyzing spells. She even justified it by saying, "I don't want Ryan's talent to go to waste, so I need to train him properly."

After being touched for a while, Ryan accidentally discovered the truth. But Yefalin truly did care for him, and she hadn't completely lost her conscience: for every task he completed, she gave him a share of magic stones as a reward.

So Ryan decided to put up with it. In his journal, he wrote a furious note: "You old crook! Give me back all that gratitude I felt! I'm writing this down, I swear!"

"Little Ryan, you're an intermediate mage now. You can't keep burying yourself in the Mage Tower to cultivate. It's time to go out and see the world. When I was your age, I'd already traveled through three or four countries." Yefalin slowly wound a strand of hair around her slender finger as she spoke.

Ryan looked helpless and pursed his lips, silently grumbling, Who are you trying to fool? Last time, you said you'd advanced to high-level mage at eighteen, then met Alustriel and started a delightful adventuring life—fighting Trolls and Chromatic Dragons above, and beating up Goblins and Kobolds below. Now you're saying you were running all over the continent at sixteen. Do you really think I'm that easy to fool?

Yefalin glanced at her student's unconvinced expression, smiled inscrutably, and continued, "Little Ryan, you haven't been home in two years, have you? As it happens, Silverymoon's government office needs an intermediate mage to meet with the Mage Guild in Waterdeep and deliver some materials to its guildmaster. I took one look at the assignment and thought it suited you perfectly, so I snatched it up right away. See how good your teacher is to you?"

Ryan could only smile bitterly. Knowing his teacher's temperament, once she had made up her mind, there was no changing it. He realized he had no choice but to go home this time.

Ryan said helplessly, "Teacher, do you think I can refuse?"

"What do you think?" Yefalin shot him a look.

"Teacher, since I can't refuse, could you tell me more about the assignment? What could be so important that an intermediate mage has to deliver it in person? Is there any danger? Do you have a few life-saving artifacts you could give me?" Ryan put on an obedient act, boldly probing the limits of how much trouble he could get away with.

"Artifacts? Several? I wish I had a few myself. I can't tell you much about the assignment. All I can say is that things requiring a mage to deliver them personally are usually ancient magical items, and they're generally sealed in Magic-Sealing Stone. So you don't need to worry about anything. Just treat it like an ordinary errand. And I don't have any artifacts. Want some magical items? No? Fine, then. I didn't want to give you any anyway."

Yefalin rolled her eyes. This student was wonderful in every way except that he was far too wary of danger. He kept saying he'd only leave after becoming an unbeatable swordsman on some remote training hill. Even when he came to do a magic experiment, he insisted on layering several spell shields before starting.

You're a mage, yet your goal is to become a sword saint. And what in the world is a training hill? There's no such place in Faerûn. Clearly, staying cooped up in the Mage Tower for too long was bad for a child's mental and physical health. This time, he was going whether he liked it or not.

"Yes, yes, I want them. I'll take anything you give me, Teacher." Ryan nodded eagerly, grinning like a dog that had stolen a bone. He took the item his teacher tossed him and saw that it was a luxurious ring made of blue sapphire. He murmured the incantation for Identify and tapped the ring.

[Ring of Aelinsus, Intelligence +2, Constitution +1, Charisma +1

Permanently enchanted with a spell shield that can withstand one full-power third-circle spell, once per day

Permanently enchanted with Lesser Teleportation: randomly teleports the wearer to a visible location within 500 meters, once per month]

Ryan stared at the appraisal, his pupils trembling...

Magical items were already expensive, and one permanently enchanted with a spell was several times more costly. An item like this, with the power to save its wearer's life, would cost at least five thousand Gold Talons on the magical market.

"You've been clamoring to learn Teleport for ages, so you can borrow this ring for now. But you can't keep relying on running away. As a mage, you need to learn to elegantly blast your opponents to pieces with fireballs!" The blue-haired beauty delivered one of the classic lines of a School of Evocation master, scolding him for his lack of ambition.

"Mm-hmm, yes, okay, I know, Teacher..." Ryan nodded obediently, thinking with a grin, You may have a sharp tongue, but you've got a soft heart after all.

Still, thanks, Teacher.

Seeing her favorite student looking like a silly dog, Yefalin grew so exasperated she could hardly stand it.

"Enough, enough. I've told you about the assignment, so go pack your things. Take these few magic scrolls and potions with you, too."

"Sure thing, Teacher. Don't miss me too much."

"Get out of here, you little brat."