BXBX NOVEL Chapter 94 A Little Slump
Laddie folded his arms and stroked his chin as he looked at Xzavier. For starters, it was extremely weird that someone like him was so good at meditation. And on his first try to! The old man wasn\'t naïve to conclude this as mere beginner\'s luck. Even for a rookie who was just trying his hand at this, Xzavier had exceeded all expectations.
And yet, that wasn\'t even the most baffling fact, what further compounded the whole thing was that there hadn\'t even been a little shred of mana. This was by far an abnormality of the weirdest degree. Mana was often a byproduct of serious meditation, this was a known and established fact. The two usually went hand in hand with each other. Hence, Laddie\'s dilemma. Xzavier had meditated so perfectly that any normal mage who had spent that much time under would have harvested a serious amount of mana. The old man was truly lost for words, he hadn\'t seen such a strange corporeity before!
However, despite such a glowing and fantastic result, Laddie\'s conclusion was insurmountable and couldn\'t be disputed; Xzavier was a complete dud when it came to magic. There was simply no way around it. It was a shame that Xzavier was a mere muggle. If he had been a mage, with his skills, strong will, and ability to quickly grasp concepts, there was no denying the fact that Xzavier would most definitely have been a real terror in this realm.
So, with a heavy heart, Laddie related his conclusion to Xzavier. He started at the very beginning, explaining in gory detail the discrepancy between his ability to mediate and his ability to retain mana that was nonexistent. Finally, he juxtaposed the two and explained why he could never hope to practice as a mage.
"…this lack of mana makes you a dud. Or in a much technical term, an insulator. Only in this case, of magic, and not of electricity. Without mana, I am afraid that practicing magic would be practically impossible."
The silence that ensued was heartbreaking. It was like telling a child that he could never walk again when there was absolutely nothing wrong with his legs. A sickening sorrow gripped Xzavier from the inside, and slowly worked its way towards the exterior. Until, Xzavier\'s countenance told the very sad tale of what he was feeling. The frustration in Xzavier\'s eyes was glaring. The exasperating look on his face spoke volumes.
This was particularly heartbreaking for Xzavier because he had been looking forward to experiencing this for himself. As a person of excellence and hard work, Xzavier had never been unable to do anything in the past. He had been conditioned to believe that if he trained hard enough, there was nothing he couldn\'t accomplish. But alas, this whole situation proved that there were indeed some things that were beyond some people\'s grasp. No matter how much they reached. For him, it was magic.
As the darkness of sorrow threatened to choke him, Xzavier willed himself to focus and beat it back with a forced ray of shiny bright hope. Startling Laddie, Xzavier quickly sprang to his feet, and in one quick motion, he rose from the meditative position he had been in all this while.
Before Laddie could console him any further, Xzavier moved to thank him properly.
"Thank you old man, really. For this really short period I stayed as your student, I got to understand why you\'re the kid\'s tutor."
"You flatter me Xzavier, but I was just doing my duty."
"Even so," Xzavier said as he bowed slightly, "You have my deepest gratitude."
It was a bit strange to Laddie having someone bow to him in that manner when he clearly wasn\'t a person of repute or a noble. So, he forced an acknowledging smile, hoping it would be enough.
"I will take my leave now Mister Laddie." Xzavier said curtly as he bid him goodbye. "Good day Xzavier."
And with that, the curtains were drawn over that part of Xzavier\'s adventure. He turned his back, not just on Laddie and his office, but also on any further hopes of practicing or learning magic. Xzavier shut the door behind him with a thud, leaving Laddie with his feelings and concluding thoughts.
With Xzavier\'s exit came the familiar silence that Laddie had come to cherish. He cherished it because it set the scene for deliberation and contemplation. And after his ordeal with Xzavier, heaven knew Laddie needed it desperately. He took a whole minute to refresh himself on what he had just learned about Xzavier. Undoubtedly, there were so many conflicting phenomenon that had threatened to alter the results along the way. But at the end of the day, the result was all that mattered.
Laddie sighed as he headed back to his desk. Absentmindedly, he reached down into a secret compartment beneath the desk, and whipped out a scroll. This was another variant of the communication scroll that was reserved exclusively for him and his boss- the governor.
With everything that had happened here with Xzavier, Laddie was sure Quaid would want to know. Quaid always demanded detailed reports from all his spies and informants. So, as most of them were field agents and no pencil pushers, a good number of his informants absolutely detested having to send in their reports. Quaid would nitpick every single details, and like a band of ruthless Piranhas devouring their prey, Quaid was known to rupture every single piece of information that was brought to his way.
So, Laddie began the arduous task of narrating everything that had transpired between himself and Xzavier. He made sure to highlight the high points, and also paint a very vivid picture of how it had all happened. Laddie wrote knowing just how Quaid would absolutely love it.
The old mage was correct. A hundred feet away, in his own home office, Quaid received the information with glee. Clutching the scroll like it was the deed to a piece of landed property, Quaid held on tightly and hungrily digested every word in it. Even when he finished it, he re-read it again and again for posterity sake. Eventually, when he put down the communication scroll, for a moment, the governor trembled as he mentally got stuck in a kind of elliptical cycle.
He treated every bit of information he got about Xzavier like a treasure map that was pointing him to the land which he so desperately wanted. In due course, Quaid finally broke free from that cycle, and forced himself to deal with the new piece of information that had only just been dropped in his hands. The whole scene was like watching a junkie get a fix. Quaid was that infatuated with his own plans, of which Xzavier was clearly a huge part of.
Xzavier on the other hand refused to be daunted by his apparent failure to do the one thing that he wanted to do. Xzavier was a man who hated oppression. And unfortunately for him, he had found himself in a land that seemed to live off the oppression of the people. As one man, there was little to nothing he could accomplish on his own. The level of change he needed to effect called for an even more insane level of power.
Here, that was what people recognized and feared. And at the very center of that fear was the terror cast over the masses by the powerful. Xzavier needed that power. That, combined with his resourcefulness and innovation, would definitely have probably ushered in a new age more quickly. But alas, that plan had been nipped in the bud way before it even sprouted.
Xzavier shrugged, physically acting out the thoughts in his own head. He, more than anyone else, knew that it was pointless to dwell on things that were outside his sphere of control. To do so would only impair his future judgment and block him from seeing what was around him. Xzavier knew he needed his objectivity more than ever since magic was not for him.
So, Xzavier expertly shut out any more worries in his mind and instead, gave himself a new objective. It was a goal that was more suited to his mood, and was perfect for the uplifting of his spirit. It was the goal of exploring his new world and what it entailed. As Xzavier pondered on how exactly he was going to go about this, an idea came on like a light bulb in his head- he needed a guide!
The one person whom Xzavier would gladly ride along with was the only familiar face in all of Victoria City- Adalia., the blue eyed blonde.
Finding Adalia wasn\'t in a place like this was like trying to find a single ant in an anthill. It was already established in Xzavier\'s mind that the governor\'s estate covered a whole lot of ground. By all standards, it was a pretty large place. But that didn\'t bother Xzavier. He was a man who wouldn\'t spare a tiny fraction of his time to watch a midget lift up a horse, but if he needed to find a nickel in a desert, he would comb through the entire region to get what he needed.