Chapter 62
"You actually wrote three lines on paper?" She unfolded the small piece of parchment, gazing at the silver spell inscribed on it. Her golden magic was attached to it.
"Silver ink is also expensive, as it easily settles. Bronze pen tips should not be left in silver ink for too long, or they will clog," Xerath took the pen out of the ink bottle.
She rinsed the pen in a transparent cup. "Usually, there should be something to clean the pen. It must be washed thoroughly, otherwise, you will need to replace the pen tip."
"Even a well-made bronze pen tip costs thirty silver coins. You wouldn't want it to become useless after writing just one scroll."
"Is this why everyone prefers writing in a certain format?"
"Yes, because the cost is too high for the average apprentice." Xerath's palm was enveloped in a pale flame of magic. The wind shield scroll burned in her palm, with brick-red sparks dancing within the flame. However, it vanished with just a breeze.
Sylas frowned and asked, "Is that it? Is it over? What about the wind shield?"
Xerath shrugged. "I regret to inform you that the wind shield scroll didn't pass the experiment we just conducted."
"But it has burned down??"
"Yes, that's why the apprentice scrolls are priced low, while the scrolls I write are discounted at two gold coins."
"Because you never fail, right?"
"Of course not. It used to be my main source of income." Xerath seemed to know what she wanted to ask before Sylas could speak. "I also need pocket money, buying books can be expensive. And my parents just don't understand why I need to buy so many expensive books, so they won't give me that much money."
If love could be measured with money, Xerath's love for her could probably buy two new towers. Sylas vaguely remembered the stones, bricks, stairs, expensive furniture, large pieces of glass, bags of crystals that she had blown up, and those useless trinkets that she said Xerath would buy back if she wanted them.
And there she was, casually burning the parchment paper she had written on, each costing twenty silver coins.
Xerath walked up behind her, wrapping her arms around her, holding her hand and slowly writing on the new parchment, just like when Xerath first taught her how to write.
The golden glow solidified on the yellowed parchment, along with the silver ink.
"Don't worry about money, once you become a mage, jobs will come one after another. Most of them are commissioned by the guild, and the fees can easily reach a thousand gold coins, more than enough for you to buy two."
"Um..." Along with Xerath came the warm scent of her old parchment, so Sylas forgot what she wanted to say.
"Pay attention," Xerath's voice sounded distant because she was distracted, "all that money spent was necessary to cultivate you, absolutely worth it."
After that, she stopped speaking and focused on the pen in her hand. The silver ink glowed one by one under the side light, and Sylas wanted to turn her head to see the eyes that resembled the color, but Xerath held her left hand tightly.
"Don't move." Xerath's voice came from beside her, and the warm breath blew directly on her ear, causing her earlobe to burn unbearably.
It was the same spell for a wind shield, and a point lit up at the corner of the scroll, almost white light. Xerath showed the scrolled up scroll to Sylas and said, "When rolled up, the left side should be on the outside, so you can see the dispersion of magic. Basically, this can determine if a scroll is qualified. But it's not absolute, only when it's burned you'll know if it can be used."
She stood up straight, the small scroll held gently in her palm, and a pale flame suddenly burned. Brick-red lights grew from small to large. Xerath threw it out, and the air twisted abnormally, a soft and bright foreign object flashed by in front of them. Xerath softly shouted, her fingertips emitting golden light.
Sylas felt the movement of the wind blade, followed by a sharp sound entering her ears. Then the wind blade struck the wind shield, causing a considerable annihilation noise and loudly blowing the papers on the table.
"You must have seen it, when Virgil tried to catch you, he ended up burning all his own inventory."
Sylas stared blankly at the void that was left with nothing, but the beautiful traces of spellcasting remained engraved in her memory.
Beautiful, powerful, delicate, enchanting.
It took her a while to regain her senses. When she turned her head, she saw Xerath's ambiguous expression. She got scared and quickly asked, trying to save herself from this awkward situation, "So, where exactly did I make a mistake?"
Xerath pondered for a moment and said, "It might be the handwriting. Don't write with connected strokes, and don't let your hand shake or slant."
Sylas wrote another piece, this time much slower. Seeing her cautious approach, Xerath sneered and said, "Don't be too nervous. Defects are always there. Who hasn't made one or two subpar writings?"
Sylas ignored her, concentrated intensely, and finally let out a long sigh. "Wow, that was intense. Are there any other less challenging ways for apprentices like us?"
Xerath thought for a moment and said, "Hmm... there are, but they are comparatively slower and pay less. Some publishing houses hire students to ghostwrite small stories. You don't need to be a wizard, just write fluently and fast. Usually, these are smaller publishing houses trying to expand their market. They would buy outlines from experienced authors and then hire people to ghostwrite, or they would directly buy study notes from high-achieving students."
Unable to resist her curiosity, Sylas perked up her ears and asked, "What is it?"
Xerath replied, "Some publishing houses will hire students to ghostwrite short stories. It doesn't require being a wizard, just having a smooth writing style and fast handwriting. Usually, these are smaller publishing houses trying to expand their market. They would buy outlines from experienced authors and then hire people to ghostwrite, or they would directly buy study notes from high-achieving students."
"Teacher, have you done this kind of work too?"
"Then I'm not available. This money is relatively small, the workload is big, and it requires both skills and talent, which I don't have."
Sylas raised her eyebrows in surprise. There are very few things in which Xerath lacks talent.
At night, Sylas energetically practiced calligraphy in the library with Xerath, who was writing her new thesis. Both of them focused on their own tasks when suddenly there was a noise at the window.
It was Shamodial. Sylas went to the window and opened it. Shamodial hopped in, shaking its feathers, and took a few steps on the library floor.
The wind came in with it. Sylas quickly closed the window.
"The wind is really strong today! Shamodial, are you okay?"
Shamodial stood on the perch specially prepared for it in the library. Sylas touched its helmet and connected with it on the same soul level. Then, she took a letter out of the pouch on its leg.
Inside, there was a letter from her friends, and the rest were from Xerath.
She opened her own letter, and there were several sheets of paper inside.
In the letter, Swis and Caroline pointed out to her that the book she mentioned, "Summary of Common Sentence Patterns in Water Elemental Spells," is a study guide.
"What is a study guide?" her friend guessed that she probably had no concept of such books, so kindly explained, "It's a type of book specifically for exams. When you move up from primary school to intermediate school, or from intermediate school to advanced school, there will be an ability test to rank students' abilities. That's why there are many books for training for these exams, like the one you mentioned. There are even specific books for the basic skill tests in graduation exams."
Nowadays, study guides come from all sorts of sources, especially for the exams to move from primary to intermediate levels. Since there are the most people taking these exams, the market is the largest, and publishing houses of all sizes try to get a piece of the pie. That's why many publishing houses, in order to quickly gain market share, find students who are already in the mage tower to write certain books under their names.
Yes, the twin siblings suspect that "B Truce" is just a pen name and the person behind it is a student with advanced school or higher education who wants to make money. And judging from the level, the book is not bad at all. It's possible that this book is their own study notes because it's hard to find any similar books on the market that are earlier than this one.
"Also (this is Caroline speaking), Sylas, I noticed something, I don't know if you've ever noticed it. 'Truce' is just 'Aiselte' spelled backwards. Theodore is used to writing 's' at the end of common words in the language as 'z.' Although we don't have any other evidence, I guarantee with a woman's intuition that these two must have some mysterious connection."
"Enough already (this is Swis speaking), we don't have any evidence, so stop making such random claims, alright?"
The siblings argued in the letter and left enough evidence for Sylas to see. Even though Swis was still being stubborn, he still mentioned at the end of the letter that he took out some key words (those they used to compare the authors of "Endless Water Realm Fantasy") from the "Summary of Common Sentence Patterns" to compare and see how similar these two authors suspected by his sister are.
After reading the letter, Sylas also had a strange "woman's intuition" acting upon her.
"Truce" means "three tridents." If it's a pseudonym, then what does "Aiselte" mean?
She wrote these two names together, B Truce, Aiselte Aibi...
"This... These are exactly the same names!" Sylas was startled by her own discovery, the forward-written "Б·Triz" and the backward-written "Ecirt·Eab"... If the letters are completed, then it is...
Biatris.
This very rare and elegant name left a deep impression on Sylas, so much so that the first time she heard this name scene is still vivid in her mind: her teacher, archmage Xerath, tightly grasping the armrest of the chair, with faded flames suddenly igniting in her gray eyes, burning upon her through a thin layer of mist.
But this doesn't make sense. According to the knowledge of Sylas about the surname of the twins, Biatris comes from an ancient family of windcallers. It wouldn't be possible for her to have to resort to ghostwriting to earn a living, right?
