A dark leaf swayed ever so slightly.
"What are you thinking about?"
Ruger barely suppressed his exhaustion and forced a rather ugly smile. The measures the Old Wizards had left on the Summons Scroll seemed stronger now, too, allowing him to keep himself going.
Little Fairy sat on a pale vein running down the leaf.
"I'm reflecting, thinking about my life," Little Fairy said earnestly, propping up its elbows. "Master Tuzel was right. Although I argued with him, what he said made a lot of sense. The great artisan Tuzel inspired me and made me think. For instance, I shouldn't rush to advance. I haven't been a Wizard Apprentice for very long, and I'm a fairy. Fairies naturally progress more slowly, but we also have long lives. I should be a patient fairy, not an impatient one, and think more. Once I've figured things out, it will be time for me to advance."
Little Fairy gazed at the leaves overhead and spoke unhurriedly, seemingly unaware that it was Ruger who had addressed it, utterly immersed in reflections on its own life.
By the time it realized someone seemed to be talking to it and turned its head, no one was there.
Ruger had already left with a faint smile, but he still sensed its reaction through his mental power. He also probed Little Fairy's current level of mental power. The little fellow had already reached the level of a Fourth-Level Wizard Apprentice. Whether that was fast or slow depended on the comparison. Going by the time spent as an Apprentice, Ruger had already become a One-Ring Formal Wizard at this point. Its progress also fell somewhat short of the stunning talent it had displayed when it first became an Apprentice, but compared with ordinary human Apprentices, it was quite normal.