Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) by Daniel Schinhofen (motivational books to read txt) 📕

council and several others,” Lightshield replied. “Quilet, the food?”

“Yes, sir,” Quilet blurted. Snapped out of his shock, he rushed to serve them. “I’ll go collect from the others, sir.”

“No need,” Lightshield smiled at the nervous eurtik. “I know exactly what you would collect, and will make sure that the winnings match those set aside for you.”

“But,” Yukiko asked slowly as Quilet placed her food before her, “who would bet against a magi who can see the future?”

Lightshield laughed lightly. “A fool. But I will not be the one placing bets. No, an old friend of mine will be. It will be delightful to watch. When you know your opponent can see the future, you should not believe any information they seem to give away. A lesson that many never learn.”

“False leads,” Yukiko laughed as she picked up her chopsticks.

“Just so,” Lightshield smiled, picking up his soup bowl. “Now, let us enjoy the meal.”

~*~*~

“Apprentices, it is good to see you,” Rafiq grinned at them. “Are you ready for today?”

“As ready as we can be,” Gregory replied. “I was wondering, is there a book on the second floor that explains enchantments that can only be used by specific magi?”

“Yes, there is. Do you want it to be set aside for you?”

“Please and thank you.”

“You are welcome. You are the second apprentice to ask about that book this week.”

“Was the other Ling Lao?” Jenn asked.

“Apprentice Lao was the other one, yes,” Rafiq replied. “She, along with her friend, have become very studious this first half of the year. It is as though they have met someone with a fire to learn and came to appreciate it.”

“No doubt, they also mentioned the names of those individuals,” Yukiko added.

Rafiq chuckled lightly. “They most likely did. Did either of you wish for new books?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m still working on mine,” Jenn said.

“Then I will bid you a good day and good luck in your fights.”

“Thank you,” they said, bowing to him before going toward the back of the archive.

Gregory pulled out one of the blank Magi Squares pages and smiled. “I know we’ve thanked them over the last few weeks, but this really does give us more time to study. Maybe we can get them something in return?”

“I asked Dia about it the other day while Velma was cooking,” Yukiko said. “She suggested simple things. I asked Mother, and she’s gathering the items for us.”

“For all five of them?” Jenn asked.

“Of course, though Velma’s will contain a few different things from the others.”

“Makes sense,” Gregory nodded. “I don’t know any men who would find a use for the lip paint you use on occasion.”

“There are some who would, but most would not,” Yukiko replied.

“We made it in,” Daciana was excited as she rushed to the table, but her voice was low so she wouldn’t break the rules of the archive.

“Yes,” Yukiko smiled. “We were told before we went to bed last night.”

“I’m sure she already told you,” Nessa snickered as she approached them with Victoria. “Getting her to wind down after she found out was difficult.” Nessa was flushed red when she finished, looking like she’d said more than she’d meant to.

Daciana was also red and deliberately not looking at anyone as she abruptly sat beside Jenn. Victoria was a little pink, though she wasn’t avoiding the eyes of the three apprentices.

“Do you find out your match-ups like we did?” Victoria asked after a few seconds of awkwardness.

“We should, but Elder Lightshield already informed us of our matches,” Yukiko said. “We are the first fight in the main arena, as well as the tenth and twelfth.”

“I still say that was the worst they could do to us without it being outright blatant,” Jenn said. “Only a single fight to rest and heal between our second and third.”

“It’s a good thing Gin trained us the way he did,” Gregory said. “We’ve done this before, and this time, it’ll be against other apprentices, at least.”

“You aren’t worried?” Daciana asked, finally looking up.

“I’m a little worried,” he admitted. “I won’t let that rule me, though. We trained as well as we could. Gin worked us hard every week we had off for moments like this.”

“Our hardest opponents will likely won’t be who we fight today. They’ll want the majority of us to move onto tomorrow to make it better for the crowd. I don’t think they expect us to lose, but they surely want to hurt us,” Jenn said.

“The major clans will want to avoid us today. They likely used their influence to make sure that happened. Of course, the smaller clans are probably being paid off to inflict as much damage on us as they can instead of winning,” Yukiko added.

“Doesn’t matter if they are or aren’t. We’ll treat it as if they all intend to kill us,” Gregory said. “We won’t be caught napping.”

“Good,” Victoria said. “We’ll be doing the same, this year and next.”

“To uphold the name of the clan,” Nessa said after checking that no one was nearby.

“We have work to do,” Yukiko said, sliding her Magi Squares to Jenn.

“We do, indeed,” Jenn said, sliding hers to Gregory.

“And I’m almost done,” Gregory said. He put the last number in and then passed his to Yukiko. “There.”

“We need to get ours started,” Nessa said as she pulled out paper and ink.

~*~*~

Gregory stretched as they ended the Peaceful Fist. “I feel good.”

“I feel more at ease,” Jenn said. “I’m glad we went light, so we’re not sweaty.”

“We need to be in the best condition for our first fight,” Yukiko said. “The lighter path made the most sense with that in mind.”

“Everyone should start showing up soon. Should we slip out the far exit and circle around?” Gregory asked.