[Open]

[spellcollect]

[ Frieren's mind opens up; as before, on the surface it's a calm, smooth pond. She's not quite used to this, so the connection (at first) is a touch tentative and then as she feels her way forward it opens more until she thinks she's finally ready. ]

I have a question for all of you. And you may consider it a simple matter of curiosity; I won't take offense at being ignored.

[ There's a pause, as if she's collecting her thoughts. ]

How many of you are long-lived species? Or long-lived by virtue of who you are? My kind are rare, even in my world, so I can't assume others will be particularly more common here, at the end of the universe.

[ It's an open question. ]

Comments

[spellcollect]

It's unfamiliar to me. It may exist somewhere in my world, but if it does it's hidden away or practiced by only a tiny handful of people. Certainly no one ever wrote it down anywhere I looked.

[ How interesting. ]

It sounds as if it might not have been worth the effort put into it.

[wolfish]

That wouldn't surprise me... They say a saint hand-picked by the goddess herself passed it on only to a select few disciples.

[ Them and only them, at that. ]

Incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands, so it's for the better that it's not well known.

[spellcollect]

Magic of the goddess... and yet it's something so dangerous.

[ She's mulling that over. ]

Perhaps worth recording, in any case.

[wolfish]

That could be so.

[ He hesitates, silent for a spell, before adding— ]

It saved me, at any rate.

[spellcollect]

Well, then it does have a healing use. What did it save you from?

[wolfish]

A plague. It ravaged my country for years, and when I fell ill, we were too poor for any doctor to consider it worth their while.

[spellcollect]

...you're fortunate that someone knew this technique, then.

[wolfish]

My mother just so happened to take in this ailing old man no one else would help and nursed him back to health and he ended up having the knowledge and skill necessary to save me.

Pretty damn lucky, to say the least.

[spellcollect]

And yet it might have just as easily killed you, from what you say.

[wolfish]

I'm sure there was that possibility... But I'm pretty sure he was one of those disciples.

[ How else could he have received the Crest of Aubin, after all? ]

[spellcollect]

Interesting. It's a shame you don't have more material on them - it sounds like it would make for informative reading.

[wolfish]

Indeed... Unfortunately, there are only scraps and rumors about what he did. And since he passed what he'd been given onto me in the bargain, he passed on soon after.

[spellcollect]

Fascinating. Have you tried to study it yourself? Although I know that might be a little problematic.

[wolfish]

I'm good with magic, but it's a different kind entirely. Not a dedicated mage, much less a specialist.

[spellcollect]

But you can use it.

[ That's curious to her; whether you're good or not has nothing to do with whether you're a mage. ]

[wolfish]

Magic? Sure. Offensive, recovery...even picked up a little shielding spell in my time here.

[spellcollect]

Then you're a mage, aren't you?

[ Simple. ]

[wolfish]

I'm a bit of a few things, really. Couldn't call myself a dedicated mage when others specialize in it.

[spellcollect]

I suppose it's personal preference.

[wolfish]

Just the way people look at it where I come from.

[spellcollect]

I can't gainsay it.

[wolfish]

Is anyone who can use magic in your world a mage?

[spellcollect]

I suppose not. But almost everyone who can use it ends up one if they bother developing the skill.

[wolfish]

So what qualifies as a mage, then?

[spellcollect]

In my world, I think it's anyone who dedicates time to study and use magic.