Russell understood why the mage had told him to get some sleep before coming back to see him—once he had actually slept and woken up.
Although he had not advanced, his Mental Sea felt as though it had been thoroughly cleaned out.
After quietly examining it within himself, Russell felt that this was finally a real sea... clear and bright.
It was nothing like before, when wind and waves might rage, but he could never see into the distance.
This time, Russell truly felt a little more certain... he could become an advanced apprentice before his sixteenth birthday, which was only two months away.
Although the clan leader had made it sound simple, did their family really want to pay that much?
Of course, they simply had no choice.
If they did not send someone in soon, their family really would be finished.
However, everyone knew that an apprentice sent in that way would never do anything more for the family... that inevitable sacrifice would have repaid everything they had received in the past.
But if Russell could get in through the normal route and bring Carpenter along, things would be completely different.
A formal apprentice could offer protection to a self-funded student.
That would actually give the family considerable room to maneuver.
Russell touched his hand... the thin copper ring he now wore was a gift the family gave apprentices like them. Anyone who became an intermediate apprentice would receive one.
The Defense Tower had been very good at making these low-level wondrous items back in the day, although they could only hold a little book bag twenty centimeters high and five centimeters wide and deep.
But that was enough for young apprentices. What possessions could they possibly have?
He wondered whether the clan leader would give him a