Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
Ruger lay on the stone slab, once again holding the little black object in front of his eyes and toying with it.
Had he misunderstood something?
Or did this thing have some other purpose? Did it need a special method to activate it?
Ruger scratched his head.
He thought of Aunt Jenny again. Perhaps something had delayed her. After all, once someone became powerful enough, their sense of time would change as well.
His thoughts wandered like this, and every so often he picked out a few to comfort himself before scratching his head again.
After all, his current situation really was somewhat different from what he had imagined.
Yet, for some reason, he let out another long breath.
It seemed he still harbored a trace of fear toward the unknown life of an apprentice. With the teacher he had waited so long for failing to appear, that faint anxiety, which he had never noticed before, had temporarily eased. The longer he waited, the more likely something unexpected had happened, and the more he could let that fear go.
Ruger whistled softly.
But his long muzzle leaked a little air. He had practiced for several days already, yet still hadn't quite perfected it.
Even if his attempt to offer himself as a student failed, he wasn't afraid. The vast Cavern World awaited him. Ever since he had heard Green, the trainee seeker of magic, describe his travels, he had longed to roam the Cavern World freely. Only his lack of strength and ignorance of the Cavern World had kept him from taking that step.
His confidence-or rather, his self-consolation-also came from the several backup Ascension Rituals he already had, including old Lunse's parting gift. Those things secured his fallback.
So even