I feel my way through the dark room until I come across the door I entered from. When I try the handle I find it locked, after a few jiggles of the handle I hear the lock shift on the other side of the door. Bright light blinds me as the door is flung open and I hear a sigh of relief in front of me.

  As the world slowly comes into focus against the cavern’s reflective light, a blurry Croff stands in front of me with relief painted over his face. “Camden, way to make a name for yourself in this sect. Your first day you fight a minotaur and only a few hours later you break the record for longest time in the weapon spirit trial by quite a bit.”

  Confusion falls over me in waves. I felt like I wasn’t in the trial for that long—sure I chased ChaLong around for a little bit and there was a short stint I was passed out in his Spirit Space but all in all it couldn’t have been more than an hour or two. Hesitantly, I voice my questions to Croff and discover that I’ve been in the trial for over six hours. The previous record… one hour and twenty-six minutes… shit. I continue with the pleasantries with Croff for just another minute or two before he orders his men to continue guarding the trial while he escorts me to Sagaryn’s office.

  The moment we walk into his office I can feel Sagaryn’s gaze shift quickly from me to the weapon strapped on my back. I feel a short pulse of mana and a look of confusion washes over his face. Reluctantly he pulls his gaze from ChaCha and looks over to Croff. “Time?”

  Croff stays at attention, back straight and voice even and authoritative. “A little over six hours, Professor.”

  For the first time since we’ve entered his office, Professor Sagaryn seems to study me. Only a few moments pass, but I feel like I am under his scrutiny for hours. Then something seems to shift in the man and unadulterated curiosity flows from him as he rapid fires questions at me. “One of my skills is able to identify anything… but, I can’t identify your spirit. What rank is it? What’s its affinity? How old is it?”

  Not expecting this side of the professor, I sit dumbfounded before I collect myself. “Yeah, he’s a twenty-year-old plant-affinity growth-type spirit.”

  Before I can even finish ChaCha’s description I feel another pulse of mana. Books come flying through the open office door and translucent stands of mana connect to each of the books. This continues for a few minutes, finished books piling up on either side of Sagaryn’s desk before the final book in front of him slams shut.

  Silence ensues. One minute. Then another. After ten minutes, the silence is broken by a deafening roar, the piles of books get thrown by a kinetic wave radiating from the professor and I strain my muscles to not get moved by the pulsating mana. “What the hell is a growth type spirit?”

  He pushes his chair back from his desk and all of a sudden he is behind me studying the spade on my back. As he reaches for the weapon to further his research, the tense environment is cut by Croff clearing his throat. “Forgive my insubordination, sir. It is quite improper to examine a warrior’s weapon without their permission. Even more so when that weapon is a living being.”

  An embarrassed expression spreads across Professor Sagaryn’s face before he stands up straight and coughs a few times. “Of course, thank you Captain. I apologize, Cam, I got ahead of myself and seemed to throw propriety to the wind. I will make sure that I don’t repeat the same behavior in the future.”

  He sits there watching me for a second, not knowing what to do I just give him a short nod accepting his invite. He coughs awkwardly again. “Well, would it be agreeable to you for me to observe your weapon spirit?”

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  Before I have a chance to allow him, Croff clears his throat again a protective look plastered to his face. “Again, I apologize for my insubordination, sir. As Disciple Camden is new to the sect and does not seem familiar with warrior customs and honors, I would like to inform him that it is generally proper form to require a gift or payment in exchange for examining their weapon. This is due to the decrease in advantage they would have if they ever need to fight that individual.”

  I look from Croff to Sagaryn expecting to see a look of annoyance, but instead find him nodding with a contemplative look on his face. “Yes, I think I remember reading that somewhere. No need for apologies, Captain. I appreciate you looking after our newest disciple. How about this, Camden, I will let you pick a spirit herb from my personal collection separate from your monthly allotment?”

  I’m sure that there will be some rare herbs in his collection, but I remember that ChaCha said he is unable to use anything above uncommon yet. I sit there thinking on it for a second before posing a counter-offer. “Two uncommon spirit herbs and you have a deal.”

  Sagaryn looks surprised at the counter, but he pushes on with the negotiation anyway. “Since you are so new I won’t take advantage of you. In my personal collection I have quite a few rare herbs you could take advantage of. Since it seems you want uncommon herbs for some reason I will trade you three uncommons instead of the one rare you could have chosen. As a learning lesson, generally four or five uncommon herbs would be seen as the equivalent to one rare herb.”

  I appreciate the quick lesson and nod my head. It makes sense that my lesson in negotiating comes with a slight decrease in the offer from Sagaryn and it’s still better than what I asked for. “Very well. You have permission to examine him, but for one more uncommon herb I will tell you why I am being so specific on my request.”

  “Hmmm, no deal. I am already able to infer based on his growth type classification that he will get stronger over time. His plant affinity tells me that his growth is most likely tailored to certain conditions with plants and herbs and you asking for uncommon herbs lead me to believe that those are the highest level he is currently able to accommodate.”

  My jaw drops. Well he is the head professor and sage of The School for a reason I guess. He gives me a smug wink and continues talking, “and your expression just now confirms it.”

  I pull ChaCha off my back and hand him to Sagaryn. I feel a few more pulses of mana and the professor’s eyes light up as he flips the weapon over. He also takes a few practice swings and lays the weapon across his finger testing its balance. Intermittently, he stops to take notes in a journal. After about five minutes, I feel another pulse of mana but this time rather than resonating through the room as the previous pulses do it immediately dies off the second it touches the shaft. More notes are scribbled down, and another pulse of mana radiates from Sagaryn with a similar result. He takes one more note before handing the weapon to me.

  He reviews his notes for a few seconds before speaking up. “Well, I would say right now it is probably only as good as a common weapon spirit. If it is alright with you I would like to examine it every month after it has had a chance to absorb a spirit herb to measure its growth rate. This could be a benefit to you as well. If I determine the growth rate warrants an investment, I will sell more herbs to you at a heavily discounted rate for the purposes of my research.”

  I think about it for a second, but don’t really see any harm in letting Sagaryn do his research. I really don’t see myself ever having to fight him, so the disadvantage that Croff spoke about doesn’t really seem to apply. I give him a nod and accept his proposed terms. Sagaryn dismisses Croff before turning back to me.

  “Well, now it’s my side of the bargain. Follow me.”

  Sagaryn turns around and the back wall of his office slides away revealing a courtyard not too dissimilar from my pavilion. Passing through I see fish swimming around the courtyard's little pond and some aquatic plants floating on its surface. A few spirit herbs grow in the garden to the side—the mana they radiate tells me that something of their caliber is far from my capabilities to absorb. Finally, Sagaryn opens a door that leads into a small dark storage room. He pulls out two boxes and sets them in front of me. A pulse of mana passes through his hands, the boxes open and I am blindsided by the powerful fragrance that radiates from inside.

  I can feel ChaCha’s excitement as I look at the twenty herbs in front of me. It takes all of my willpower to stop myself from drooling on these priceless resources.