Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) Daniel Schinhofen (books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📖

apprentice, and for good reason, yet it follows a rigid pattern, regardless of whether it’s effective or not. I have offered an alternative that they have agreed to let me try. The trade-off is that any of my assistants who can beat me two games out of three will take over the class. However,” Egil smiled wolfishly, “if the assistant loses, they will be removed.”

Elkit frowned, his eyes going to the apprentices in his clan for a moment. “Very well. How do you plan to take this class forward?”

“First, we will welcome the other assistants,” Egil said. “Apprentices, these men and women were all under my command at one point, so treat them with respect, even though they are not magi. Any disrespect to them is disrespect to me.”

Eight men and women entered the building, and Gregory smiled when he saw one of them. Gin didn’t look his way, but followed the others to the middle of the room.

“A dozen assistants?” Nick’s voice echoed in the room.

“Yes,” Egil grinned, “for a specific reason. Who can tell me what that is?”

Hayworth’s hand barely beat Gregory’s in rising, and Harrison was quick to call on Hayworth. “Sir, there are thirteen tables in this building. I surmise that instruction is going to be hands-on, with each table having an assistant to supervise it.”

“That is correct. Well done, Apprentice Hayworth,” Egil said before looking back at the room. “Now, we will be splitting the class into groups. Each group will be assigned a table as their home, and will have an instructor to oversee them. To make sure there are no favorites being played, I will be making sure that no clan group is placed with an assistant that might favor them. Also, two of our larger clan groups will be split in half. Eternal Flame and Swift Wind, I’ll give you a moment to split your groups.”

Elkit went over to his apprentices, and Harrison moved over to Hayworth’s group.

“As for the rest of you,” Egil went on, “if you have trouble with who your assistant is, just speak with me about it. I will be visiting all groups to check up and see how things are going. In time, we will have what I am calling the campaign tournament. I’ll go into that later, but the rewards for it include a week of weapons training with me during one of your weeks off. I know few clans will balk at the idea of you getting that as a reward.”

Harrison walked away from the Swift Wind clan, which had separated into a group of three and one of four. As he rejoined the others, Elkit stepped away from the Eternal Flame apprentices. Nick stood with Michelle, Gina, and Parks behind him. Jason stood in front of Fureno, Petak, and two others Gregory couldn’t remember the names of.

“Are you sure these are the groups you want to go with?” Egil asked.

“Since we aren’t being given a choice,” Elkit said stiffly, “yes.”

“Very well,” Egil replied. “Shun, your group is on the third floor, room six. Argon, second floor, room six. Magus Harrison, you will preside over Shun, and Ella, you will watch over Argon.”

“Let’s go,” Harrison said, looking straight at Nick.

Nick sniffed and started for the stairs. Jason’s group fell in behind them, clearly ready to go as well. Harrison and the woman Egil had called Ella followed the apprentices.

Egil turned back to class and paired off each group. Gregory bowed his head when they were told to report to the first room on the second floor. A smile touched his lips when he heard that Paul would be their instructor.

When they got into the room, Gregory grinned. It looked nearly identical to the war room they had at the clan hall, but with even more shelves and figurines. There were two large desks on each side of the room.

“Pick your side,” Paul said from behind them. “The other group will be here shortly.”

Yukiko moved first, selecting the right side of the room. The large window had the sun coming in and slanting to the left-hand side, indicating that the evening sun would be on the right-hand side. Paul’s lips twitched as he watched them take their seats.

“Sir, we’re here,” said a voice from behind him.

Paul stepped aside and let the three other apprentices enter the room before closing the door behind them. “Apprentices, I see that none of you have a clan.”

“No, sir,” the woman with short, tawny hair and cat ears said as she bowed her head to Paul. “All three of us are clanless.”

“Take the other side of the table,” Paul said.

Gregory gave the trio of clanless a smile. Beside the part-lioness eurtik, one of the other two was a woman with orangey-red hair, a bushy tail, and solid black eyes. The last of the three was a sullen-looking man. Gregory tried to recall the names of the women, having been in polearms class with them.

“We’ll start with introductions,” Paul said. “You all know me, but might not know or remember the names of each other. Pettit, you first.”

“Yes, sir,” Gregory said, rising to his feet.

Once Gregory, Yukiko, and Jenn had introduced themselves, Paul turned to the other three. “I’m sure you knew their names, considering the tournaments, but just in case, you should remember them now. Lao, introduce yourself.”

The part-lioness eurtik rose to her feet and bowed her head to them. “I’m Ling Lao, clanless, and a magi of enchanting.”

When Ling sat, the other woman stood up. “I’m Clover Clougdah. Clanless. Alchemy magic,” she said quickly. Her fast speech pattern clicked her heritage into place for Gregory— she was part-squirrel.

The last of the three stood up, his lips twisted in anger. “Chucky Smitty, clanless, earth,” he said sullenly before sitting abruptly. “Sir, why did we get grouped together and placed against them?