Dusti found it surprising and a bit funny . He could tell that Amon was seeking trouble with Shog . This boy is audacious . But Amon did have reason to seek revenge . Shog had almost cut his finger last time when Amon had done nothing to offend him . But Dusti still didn’t expect that the boy would take action .

Amon claimed that he found natural ores in the stream . It certainly wasn’t impossible, just rare . Even if someone found ores in that way, they would just open them at home and tell nobody . No one would know if they earned extra parangons .

In effect, what Amon was doing was forcing Shog to pay the tax for him, which was his promise as part of his apology .

Shog’s face screwed up, but he couldn’t be too mean in front of the crowd, so he asked, “Amon, my lucky and honest boy, can you let me have a look at your parangons?”

He thought that Amon had at most one or two ores . When Amon took out a wrapped sheepskin sheet and unfolded it, the crowd burst out in low exclamations . Shog felt his sight go dark, and then promptly passed out . Fortunately, his servants grabbed him in time to prevent his head from bouncing off the steps

Twenty transparent standard parangons lay at the center of the sheet . In the middle of them was a lustrous blue parangon, glistening as if there was water flowing inside .

The crowd was shocked speechless . Silence reigned until the mayor, the first to recover, gasped, “Amon, you..you..you just picked them up?”

Amon nodded calmly, “Yes . I think the mountain torrents flushed through and opened a vein, so a pile of ores was brought to a stream, and I found them by luck . ”

Dusti felt his throat go dry . He swallowed hard, looked around and said in a low voice, “Actually, you can....you don’t have to....you won’t....”

He did not say a complete sentence, but it was easy to understand . Amon could have kept the parangons to himself and told nobody . He did not have to confront Shog and force him to fulfill his promise . It did no good for him because Shog was surely going to retaliate, and Amon wouldn’t be able to take it because Shog was much more powerful than he was .

Someone reminded, “Lord Macrobe passed out . What do we do?”

Amon continued, “Lord Dusti, I want to pay my tax . You won’t let me violate the laws, will you?”

Dusti sighed, “Wake Lord Macrobe up . We know that the tax of Amon’s family this year is going to be paid by him!”

The crowd did not know why Shog passed out, but Dusti did . If there had been just twenty parangons, he would not have made such a scene because he just needed to pay eighteen parangons for Amon . It was a sum that caused a great deal of heartache, but nothing too extravagant . But the blue one changed everything . The townees did not know its value . According to tax law, it was worth two hundred standard parangons .

So Shog had to pay one hundred and ninety-eight parangons as tax for Amon . Since one parangon was worth twenty gold parans, Shog needed to pay nearly four thousand gold parans . It was a sum that could buy a luxury manor with a herd of servants, cows and sheep .

Shog felt someone rubbing his chest . He woke up and managed to stand up with his servants’ help . He asked in a trembling voice, “Amon, do you really need to pay your tax?” He stared at Amon so hard it was as if his eyes were going to burst into flame . If he could set fire to things with his eyes, Amon would have already been burned to ashes .

Amon did not dodge his eyes and looked back provocatively . He replied clearly,”Yes, I do . Or do you, my lord, want me to practice tax evasion?”

Shog was cornered . He had no choice but to pay the tax for Amon . He dodged Amon’s eyes and spoke to Dusti in a begging voice, “Lord Mayor, I now receive and register these twenty-one parangons as Amon’s income and pay its tax . ”

He thought that only Dusti could understand his complex meaning . This was a wordplay . A blue parangon was also a parangon, so registering twenty-one parangons seemed to be alright . But there was a little secret in this wordplay, which was also Dusti’s and Shog’s most important source of income . They used to be delirious when there were special parangons extracted in the town .

The Ducians did not know the true value of the special parangons . Once extracted, they would be collected as tax . No special parangon would appear in the trade as currency, so the townees only knew that they are very rare — not even one in a hundred . Lord Dusti would happily gave a standard parangon as an extra reward to the miner who extracted a special parangon .

The rest was an underhanded deal between the Mayor and the clerk . A special parangon was worth two hundred standard parangons, and the one who found it should get twenty standard parangons, but in fact he only received one as the extra reward . The other nineteen parangons went into Dusti and Shog’s pockets . This was not even the most profitable way . If Shog twisted his words, with Lord Mayor’s permission, to register it as a mere standard parangon, then this special parangon could bring them at least one hundred and ninety-eight parangons!

But today the situation went opposite his expectations . The more valuable that blue parangon was, the more Shog had to pay for Amon . Shog was suggesting Mayor Dusti to do the trick again and register it as a mere standard parangon . He even tipped him the wink that once they got Aquaticore from Amon, they could make a fortune with it .

Mayor Dusti hesitated too . He coughed . But before he could say anything, Amon cried, “Sorry, my dear priest, please don’t forget that I can read too! Please register according to the facts! Twenty standard parangons and a blue parangon . I can read it . ”

Shog shook as if he had been hammered, then fell on his servant’s shoulder . He did not dare to looked at Amon, so he turned to Dusti . Dusti’s face got longer . He spoke to Amon in a deep voice, “Leave the procedures to us, my boy . Don’t worry . We won’t let you pay any tax . By the way, your Aq— blue parangon, can you hand it to me? We will give you an extra reward . ”

Amon objected, “If the tax was paid, I should keep all I get, shouldn’t I?”historical

Dusti felt his throat go dry again . He said quickly, “Special parangons are to be confiscated . You’ll get your reward . You won’t lose anything—”

He could not finish his phrase . Amon felt a hand put on his shoulder and he heard Crazy’Ole’s voice rise unhurriedly, “Lord Mayor, I often see injustices these days . Some people seize the things that don’t belong to them so many times, that they begin to take it for granted, and forget that they actually don’t own those things . One day when they fail to seize those things, they feel angry and think that the true owners don’t deserve having their own property . What kind of men are they, my lord?”

Amon watched Shog begging Dusti like a dog . The embers of fury in his head suddenly turned into a firestorm . He almost lost his cool and punched him . The idea had spun through his thoughts like a wildfire, making him shake uncontrollably . Crazy’Ole had showed up at the right time . He held onto Amon’s shoulder and pinned him down from the rage .

Mayor Dusti stopped, but Crazy’Ole went on, “They are truly demons . Desire is not a sin . It drives people to create and to pursue a better life.... But I have to tell a story: There used to be a man who stole a coin from me every day . Nobody punished him . Then one day I kindly told him that it was not good, and he hated and cursed me . He asked me to encourage him to continue stealing from me and praise him for it, otherwise it would be my fault . He totally forgot that he had already obtained so much from me....Please tell me, who was at fault?”

Stared at by Crazy’Ole, cold sweat bedewed Dusti’s forehead . He stepped back and turned to Shog, “My clerk . Amon’s request is normal and legitimate . Register his income and let him see: twenty standard parangons and one blue parangon, tax paid by Shog Macrobe . ”

As Dusti finished his last word, Shog’s eyes rolled back as he shook, spitting out a mouthful of blood and passing out in his servant’s arms . His servants brought him to the shrine in a flurry . Most people did not understand what had happened . To them, Lord Macrobe suddenly fell severely sick .

Crazy’Ole watched Shog being carried into the shrine . Then he said to Dusti, “The clerk is ill and cannot work . Please register it yourself, my lord . ”

Dusti wiped off the sweat on his forehead and nodded, “Alright, I’ll register it . Just bring the boy away!”

Amon was struggling to restrain his rage . But seeing Shog spit blood and pass out, hurt worse than by a punch from him, he somehow calmed down . He felt that the dear priest was now like a worm . Crazy’Ole’s hand tightened on his shoulder, and he felt himself turning around and left with Crazy’Ole .

....

“Oh my boy, I know Shog deserved it, but you are causing suffering for no one except yourself . Do you now better understand the power of two sides? Learn to face it, just like you learned how to use your arms....What you did today is dangerous . You are possessed by your desire . If you cannot learn to face it in this test, I will not be seeing your success any time in the future but rather your cold body . ” said Nietzsche, finishing his goblet of wine in his home . He did not bring a goblet for Amon .

“Are you saying that Shog is going to retaliate?”

“What else could it be? You know it! He’s going to kill you....Don’t you know the value of an Aquaticore?”

“No, I don’t . You didn’t tell me . But I think it‘s worth something, isn’t it？”

“People in our town don’t have the same concept of money as the people outside . Let me tell you . An Aquaticore is worth two hundred parangons, or four thousand gold parans . And it is not something you can buy whenever you want . Such a great fortune can cause carnage at any time . A child like you won’t have a bone left . Now that I’m with you, you are still safe in the town, but what are you going to do with it when you are alone? ”

“Seems that you knew what I was going to do but you didn’t stop me . ”

“I can’t stop you every time . You have to face the desire youself . From now on, you should try to understand the way to deal with it, live with it, even enjoy it . But never let it influence your mind and body....By the way it’s not bad to see you punishing Shog . He earned it . Just beware of yourself from now on . ”

“I think I understand now . ” nodded Amon .

“Great . ” Crazy’Ole stood up, “Now you can learn the basic first-level magic . There are many kinds of magic: element control, spiritual magic, theurgy, spatial magic, message magic, and so on . It is hard for a sorcerer to master all kinds of magic . Most of them focus on the ones they are good at . I don’t know what suits you the best . But now that we have the Aquaticore, let’s start with water magic . ”

The magic was mysterious and abstruse in Amon’s imagination, but Crazy’Ole told him that the criteria of a first-level mage was quite clear : to cover the ground with ice!

Summoning the water in the atmosphere and freezing it to ice on the ground somewhere near the caster . That was what Amon was going to do . He did not know that it already contained three water magics . Although they were all first-level magic, it was not simple at all to combine them naturally and cast with ease .

Crazy’Ole did not tell Amon what this meant to an apprentice who had just begun to learn magic . He just told him that it was the very beginning .

Freezing water to ice was quite easy . Amon succeeded in his first try after Crazy’Ole taught him . Summoning the element of water to form ice on the ground was harder, but Amon managed to do it in a few days . Crazy’Ole smiled and told him, “You can exercise it over and over again . But try not to use the Aquaticore when you cast . ”

Amon found it ten times harder to cast the same magic if he stopped using the Aquaticore as a medium . By tradition Crazy’Ole should have given him a staff, but the old man seemed to have forgotten it . He was asking Amon to cast the magic by his own, without the help of any medium .

Amon could not do it . In fact, many primary mages, even most third-level mages, failed to do so . There should at least be a staff inlaid with a standard parangon! But Amon knew perfectly the principle and the skills needed to do it . The technique was not a problem for him . He just didn’t have enough power . Frustration? Doubts? There was nothing but to practice!

Then Crazy’Ole started to explain to Amon the characteristics of the Aquaticore and how to use it . The Aquaticore could not only help awakening the power, but also greatly facilitate casting any water magic . If Crazy’Ole had asked Amon to cast magic all by his own from the very beginning, he would definitely have failed . The Aquaticore was a cheat .

But cheating can only serve two purposes: first, to thoroughly master a magic and fully understand its principle and key points, and second, to surpass one’s limit in a life-and-death fight . Once you learned to cast magic, cheating while practicing it would not strengthen your own power but create dependence and self-satisfaction .

So Amon did as Crazy’Ole demanded . He still could not pave the ground with ice without the help of the Aquaticore . But he was not anxious . He tried with the Aquaticore once in a while to see how much his power had grown . He was satisfied to see that the iced surface enlarged each time, and formed quicker and quicker .

Crazy’Ole knew perfectly well that it was extremely hard now for Amon to pave ice on the ground stealthily all by his own . It would astound him if Amon did it easily . Even geniuses had their limits! Apart from this, Crazy’Ole did not teach Amon anything . He did not even teach Amon body arts .

One day, Amon spent a whole afternoon building an imperceptibly thin layer of ice in front of the door of Crazy’Ole’s house . He was planning to catch Crazy’Ole by surprise when he slipped over it . But the ice disappeared strangely when Crazy’Ole came home while Amon behind the door slipped and fell on his back .

Crazy’Ole told Amon, “You are a first-level mage now, my boy . It’s an enviable feat . But I only hope that time is enough for you.... The disaster is coming soon . You need to have the power to protect yourself and know how to do it . ”

“What disaster?” asked Amon curiously .

But Crazy’Ole did not want to continue on this topic, he replied with a question, “Do you still go to the cold spring to practice your magic?”

“Yes . It’s my habit now . ”

The cold spring was no longer biting cold as it used to be . It was now a normal fresh spring . But Amon was used to calling it the cold spring, as well as going to bathe and practice magic there . It was deep in the Charcoal Forest, peaceful and familiar for Amon .

Crazy’Ole did not comment on his choice . He nodded and said, “Good . Do what you like . ”

Amon did not understand the coming disaster Crazy’Ole was talking about, but he did experience a disastrous incident that night .