11-20-2023, 09:40 PM
That was... a lot of writing about my past. Didn't expect to put a life story to paper. Though I guess it's my journal, so it doesn't matter too much.
As far as first arriving in Meranthe, well... I'd arrived at a place called the Ten's Citadel. Even now I'm still unsure about everything there, but the people are good, so I'm not too bothered by it. There's supposedly an academy opening soon which should work well, though I cannot say how long it will take before it opens... but I'll be there for it.
Once I arrived I discovered that I really do have more to learn. The magi here are all incredibly powerful, meanwhile I could only muster a faint projection of aura. I set myself out on making sure my skills hadn't rusted from the journey, but... they kind of did, so I had to retrain. But then as I was on the search for minerals and whatnot, I started to get a bit better grasp of my environment. The lay of the land, the bounty around. It took a long while, but I have a rough idea of things. Not... good enough, still.
But the top highlight was figuring out more about magic in basic terms. I learned of attunements, various divisions of how mana can be used. And the highlight was being told to maybe familiarize myself with the elements some more - which called me back towards my times in the forge. Remembering the heat, manipulating it. I looked down to a molten pool and found myself at home before I could finally find it - a small wick of flame in my hands. It was gone before I noticed, but I tried to work on it. Months later, I was moderately okay with the flames, but I still preferred to use my tools. My trusty sword for when a fight was necessary, and my smithing tools... I wouldn't let myself become complacent with my new abilities. I tried to work them into my process though, as maybe it would have helped me work.
And for the most part, it did - Mithril, Adamantite, Orichalcum, Blue Mercury. All sorts of materials that I'd only rarely seen my parents use, if at all. And they are much more common in this place. I'd be able to progress my skills immensely... but before I had learned my flames, it was difficult. My flames made it much easier to keep certain properties consistent in the smithing process, and the metals themselves seemed to bend to my mana. Or at least, that's how I think it is? I couldn't tell. Academy couldn't come sooner enough...
But that's the high point... only recently, a friend of mine, Xerenus. We were out hunting for some alchemical materials and... Hooded figure. A masked one as well. The fight was terrible, Xerenus was left in poor shape, and the other woman who came to our defense, well... she managed to deal some damage to one of them, but they both came out on top. Due to one of their injuries, they retreated, but both of ours were in poor shape. I was... powerless, utterly. And I'd just talked about proving useful to the citadel...
I don't want to let anyone down.
I need to train myself and get stronger so I can help my friends when the time comes... I never want to feel so left behind.