"Guiding my magical power through mental focus…" Green murmured.
"Magical energy is an attributeless force, shaped and directed by wizards. In essence, magic itself carries no offensive power."
It was now the fifth day at Zerrato Harbor, and that very morning, Green had successfully awakened his magical energy through the Meditation Guide. Ecstasy had consumed him for hours.
Yet a troubling realization followed: without knowledge of sorcery, even possessing magic was utterly useless. Magic, as wondrous as it was, remained a gentle, malleable energy; without direction, it could neither combat nor destroy.
"How… does one acquire knowledge?" Green fretted, tugging at his hair in frustration. The day Raffie had demonstrated her spell, every apprentice had been stirred with longing for such marvels. A wizard apprentice bereft of sorcery knowledge was scarcely a true apprentice.
"Green! Green!" a clamorous voice pierced the estate's serenity. It was Hanson. The incessant chatter, already a source of headache, now intruded upon Green's focused study.
"All right," Green muttered, securing his Magic Conduction notes and extinguishing the candles. He opened the door and straightened his attire, curiosity piqued. His recent acquisitions of fine garments afforded him an appearance befitting his social survival, complete with his tousled golden hair and an air of subtle wildness from his streetwise youth.
"Ever heard of the Shadowed Well at Zerrato?" Hanson asked, his tone laden with secrecy.
"The… Shadowed Well? What is it for?"
Green had barely left the estate these days, immersed in the Meditation Guide. Hanson's cryptic excitement was a diversion.
"Better you haven't. Come on, come on—you'll see soon enough. Unforgettable, I promise!" Hanson yanked Green along the lively streets of Zerrato, whose night-time bustle far surpassed that of Bisser City: hawkers called out ceaselessly, lights glimmered, and even foreign traders displayed their wares, the women's attire noticeably freer.
They arrived at a grand estate, larger than Green's own, alive with young people laughing and wandering through its grounds. Inside a small, shadowed cottage, moonlight danced across ancient trees, and the atmosphere weighed heavy with mystique. Hanson presented twenty gold coins, receiving two translucent stones from a frail, toothy old woman in exchange.
"Enjoy," she rasped.
Green, puzzled, watched Hanson grin mischievously. "See those wells? That's the Shadowed Well. Toss in this Shadow Stone, and you may meet beings from other worlds. Some unlucky souls encounter strange creatures, but it's thrilling nonetheless."
Green's intrigue was piqued. The courtyard held seventy or eighty wells, half already occupied by whispering, laughing figures. Tossing his stone into an empty well, Green watched it sink into the still, mirror-like water.
From its depths emerged a vaguely humanoid figure, a silver-gray horn crowning its head. Judging by form, it appeared female, of a distinct civilization. Its gaze upon Green was curious but measured, not immediately hostile.
"A human from the wizard world?" The voice was alien, yet Green perceived it clearly within his mind, a direct transference of thought.
"Who… are you?" Green asked. The creature frowned.
"Human, do you not understand that communication across worlds occurs via the soul? Your civilization is strong, but it has not reached us," it conveyed.
Soul? Green, untrained in even the rudiments of wizardry, scarcely comprehended. Conventional speech was nearly useless across such dimensional divides.
Sensing his confusion, the being proposed a simpler method. "Nod or shake your head. Can you do that?"
Green complied.
"Are you from the wizard world? Nod if yes. A human subjugated from other worlds? Shake."
Green nodded. The notion that the wizard world had conquered other realms startled him, yet he knew he was a bona fide native of the wizard world.
"Are you a wizard? If so, what rank?"
Green shook his head vigorously—an absurd question. He could not yet even cast basic spells. The creature's disappointment was palpable.
"Merely a human? Here at the coordinates of the wizard world, and yet so weak…"
"You may ask two questions," the being continued, "though lacking soul communication, consider them the same. I am a Starling from the realm of Celestia, a fourth-rank star spirit, energy equivalent to a second- or third-rank wizard."
With that, the creature vanished, leaving Green both fascinated and humbled.
Reflecting on the mysterious beings encountered during the apprentice tests, Green wondered: were they, too, lifeforms from other worlds? The magnitude of the mysteries surrounding the wizard world weighed heavily upon him, leaving countless questions swirling in his mind.