Murnacht stared directly at me, his gaze deep and unwavering. He let the silence strech for what felt like an eternity. Eventualy he grunted in displeasure, and mumbled something in low hushed whispers. I only caught snipets of it, even with my new 'ears'. But even so I got the gist of it. He was complaining over etiquette. This self-centered bastard clearly expects me to address him by his fancy title.

  Ain't no way that's going to happen!

  After his temper tantrum, he lowered me on the ground, removing the chains that bound my body. Once I touched the ground, I noticed that I could feel the dampness in the dark wood, it's roughness, even the tiniest splinters that came off with the touch of my hands. After whatever this sicko did to me, everything became much clearer, as if the fog outside the swamp was cleared off. It's a really odd sensation, even my thoughts are somewhat clearer.

  Low rythmic taps caught my attention, as I snapped away from marveling over my new body. I noticed Murnacht tapping his foot on the ground with impatience.

  "Are you done?" He asked in that monotonous voice of his. "I don't know about yours—but my time is precious to me, and I would appreciate if you didn't waste it."

  "What are you talking about?" I asked in visible confusion. "Are we just going to the mages school like this? No preparation whatsoever?" If I still had muscles, I bet I would be sporting the frown of the year.

  "I saw the beasts you fought in the swamp."

  "Hmmm? What about it?" I tilted my head in confusion. "Why are you bringing that up? Don't we have more important things to talk about?"

  "No we do not." He paused for a long while, perhaps he was choosing his words, perhaps he just wanted to see me squirm under the uncomfortable silence. "Do you want to know what I think about your handywork?"

  "That it was impressive?" I tilted my head towards the opposite side.

  "Absolutely not! That was sloppy, childish and completely crude. Having to study those corpses for cause of death and deduce your amateurish attempts to fighting, ticked me off. In simple words, for your lowly intellect to grasp. That was a complete and utter failure. Though you get bonus points for cruelty, your overall score is still in the negatives." He said looking at me as if I was moving garbage. "Everything about you is wrong, everything is wasteful. You're a walking disappointment little one.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  "Would you just call me by my name? My name is-" Before I could finish he raised his hand, interrupting me.

  "I will be the one to decide when and where I learn your lowly name. Can't waste my time memorizing it, only for you to prove you are as incompetent as you have already showed yourself to be. So if you want to be even a little bit useful, prove yourself capable of improving."

  In a split second, his arrogant tone shifted, a cold adn calculative air washed over him. His gaze wandered my skeleton, studying me, weiging me in some unseen manner. "Your body, it is not just the vessel of the soul. It is your greatest constraint—is what i would say if you were still human, your case though is much more special. Your body is a weapon, there is no way of emebellishing it. You have strenght most would only dream of possessing. You have endeless stamina. And that's just scratching the surface. But I digress..." He said while still analysing me. "But do you know what makes a weapon special, what makes them so deadly?"

  "I don't know?" i can't quite keep up with this guy... moments ago he was insulting me as if there was no tomorrow, now he's speaking in riddles? "Sharpness? Toughness?"

  He looked at em with a deadpan look.

  "That which makes a weapon special, is no other than its wielder. Even a broken rusty sword would put a holy weapon to shame in the hands of the right people. And that is precisely your problem. You have a weapon of mass destruction on your hands, and you're using it to swat flies." His gaze shifted, he looked at the window, in a pensive state. "For the current you, there is but one thing that will shift you from utter inadequacy to slightly useless. And that is precision. Power is nothing without control. It is just a flame that blows away by the tiniest of breezes." His gaze came back to me once more, his eyes smiling slightly, but his lower face... There's bound to b e monsters cuter than that. "And that is precisely what we will work on—less you're keen on trully going to the afterlife by the hands of the first mage apprentice that you come across."

  "When do we start?" I asked sighing softly.

  "Right now." He grabbed his cane and walked out of the shack.

  I followed his steps, or at least I tried to. Because as soon as I got up, I stumbled like a little duckling.

  All that was left was a very confused Kael on the ground.

  Murnacht didn't even bother turning back to check what had happened.

  "One of the many perks of your 'new' body." He said loudly, still not looking at me. "Every ounce of instinct, down to your most peculiar traces, were utterly erased. You now possess the body of a newborn. It may seem strange and counterproductive but you will thank me later on."

  No chance of that happening.

  "Right now you are as raw as wet clay. Perfect for shaping as I see fit." He said as his two eyes turned into crescent moons due to the pleasure of annoying me. "But worry not, as I accept nothing less than perfection. So you either achieve what I seek, or you die trying. No other options. And if at any moment you decide to be as pathetic as to call for rest, rest assured that I will kill you myself and find another way to enter that section of the library."

  I swear if I still had skin, it would be riddled with goosebumps.