A Sorcerer's Journey Chapter 9
"Thwack!" a huge noise came from Chris and Nina's cabin.
Chris had been tossed onto the wall opposite to the bed, which he was making for his sister. He bounced off the wall onto the floor with great force, producing another loud thump.
"Eh? So weak?" a man with one foot on Chris ' chest snorted.
Seconds later, Chris got up on his feet with a stagger and glared at the attacker weakly. The man in front of him was huge, about seven feet tall, with a deformed face. The giant was staring at him dully, wondering why Chris was not able to fight back.
Tucking up her skirt, Nina hurried over to support her brother with both hands.
"Hah! Andrew, my man, not everyone is endowed with strength as impressive as yours, eh?" The boy who had been beaten up by Chris threw a ferocious look at him and then laughed smugly.
Ge Lin stood trembling in anger and shock at the sudden, brutal attack. A voice deep within his heart was growling: "Why are you not in a zoo or something, you ape? Were you raised on nothing but growth hormone?"
"It's not over yet!" a high-pitched voice broke the temporary silence. A man bored his way through the spectators and came to the swollen-eyed boy, his beady eyes darting around quickly, "Barry, look at that guy's sister. Isn't she amazing? Why not do her—"
"F*ck off, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Chris furiously snarled at the man who made the nasty suggestion, a.s.suming a combative stance as he tried to protect his sister.
Andrew moved, and another mighty punch sent Chris once again into the air. Chris struggled to stand as he grasped at his abdomen, his face going pale with pain.
"This is not even fun. Sorcerer Dior said no killing on this s.h.i.+p," the giant Andrew flexed his wrist, "You weaklings want to establish your own turf? Not a chance. Only the strong can claim their own territory here."
"Yeah, there's no way for a coward like you to survive here, let the Triad - Andrew, Barry and me - teach you a lesson: 'We let our fists do the talking here, and whoever has the biggest fist is the one that speaks the truth!'" ridiculed Mouse - as Barry and Andrew called him- as he adopted a look of arrogance as if it was him who had crushed Chris.
Barry, whose fury had not abated at all, was obstinate in his vengeance: "I want his sister," Barry said as he walked over to Nina who was quivering behind her injured brother.
As he approached Nina to perform the brutish acts in his mind, no one made a move to stop him.
Finally, just as he was about to touch her, someone stepped up: "Stop that or I will go get Barron…He will…" the brave boy was Wade, a boy who would flinch like a chicken at threats. Only his bravery did not last long this time either as he recoiled saying: "I was joking. It is none of my business," after Barry gave him a fiendish look.
But it was too late. Barry gave up on Nina, strode up to Wade and gave him a good beating, which surprisingly earned loud cheers from the crowd of onlookers.
"Only the strong can have a home? Only the strong can survive? And the weak have to be despised and oppressed? Is this the rule of the Sorcerer Continent?" Ge Lin wondered, feeling sad.
Just as Ge Lin and the rest of his group were in despair about what to do, an adorable voice jested: "Haha, establish your turf? A turf fight? Interesting! I want your cabin, that plush one; now you take my card and…"
A bronze card was thrown onto the giant Andrew's face and landed on the ground with a thud. Andrew, as well as Mouse, were caught in astonishment, and the pair froze for several seconds.
"Is she crazy? Has she lost her mind?" the crowd bustled and followed the voice to a small girl.
"Lafite! Right, Lafite! She knows magic!" Ge Lin cried out.
Lafite waved her arm at Andrew, her lips murmuring strange chants. Before the lumbering buffoon had the time to respond, her trademark magical vine appeared and in a split second climbed around Andrew and tightly bound him. The large man then crashed to the floor with a dull thump.
"You scoundrel, go to h.e.l.l!" With the big man defeated, Ge Lin rushed to Barry and took him down too.
"Have mercy, please. Spare me. I didn't mean it," begged Mouse, with big beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.
The whole deck went silent. People were all gawking as Lafite knocked Andrew down with a vine that came out of nowhere. They all now believed that she was a real sorceress and conjured up the magical vines. However, the truth was that what Lafite had used was her magical treasures and merely controlled them with her mind, a feat far easier than summoning something from nothing.
"Oh, your cabin is mine now. Tsk, big fellow, thanks for staying on the first floor with the s.h.i.+p's crew for me," said Lafite in the same adorable tone. She then went over to the big man's cabin and slammed the door behind her.
Ge Lin took a quick glance at the three, now-incapacitated bullies to confirm that there was no more danger to Chris and Nina. He turned to the siblings: "I guess you should be okay. See you later."
"Hrrk, I owe you for this, pal. We are really grateful." Chris looked into Ge Lin's eyes before thanking him and Wade.
Nina ran over to Wade to ask if he was fine after being clobbered by Barry.
With the dramatic scene over, the onlookers dispersed and went back to their own rooms.
A gust of musty air poured out the moment Ge Lin unlocked the door of his room. It reeked of fish and seaweed. Ge Lin grimaced as he fanned the foul air in front of his nose with his hand. The cabin was small and spa.r.s.ely furnished, with nothing but a bed, a desk, a chair and an oil lamp.
The physical condition didn't bother Ge Lin at all. He lit the candle and pulled out from his robe A Guide to Meditation and Canine Olfactory Enhancement.
After more than half a month of intense hard work at A Guide to Meditation, Ge Lin had succeeded in conjuring up magical force, the level of which was somewhere between two and three units.
This was quite a low level since, according to the Guide, an average Sorcerer was able to conjure up a magical force around ten times the level of his or her mental strength. In theory, at maximum power, Ge Lin should be able to summon 120 units of magical force since he was tested at 12 units of mental strength back in Bi Seer City.
"It's a pity I don't have a crystal ball, or I would be able to see if my mind has improved," Ge Lin mumbled.
Canine Olfactory Enhancement was much more complex and difficult to understand, containing an abundance of obscure terms and various jargon.
The book was comprised of two parts - the canine olfactory adaptation, which was about enhancing a Sorcerer's ability to discern odors to the level of the most discerning bloodhound, and odor mapping, which recorded in detail the molecular composition of the 17,852 types of scents, the maximum number that human Sorcerers could differentiate.
The Canine Olfactory Enhancement manual was beyond Ge Lin's comprehension at the time, but he had decided to memorize it all anyway to try to get a head start in his future learning of magic at the Lilith Academy of Sorcery.
Another ten days had elapsed. A hundred more boys and girls were admitted to the s.h.i.+p as prospective new students of sorcery at Lilith Academy during the stops at the many seaport cities they pa.s.sed. The s.h.i.+p then left the coast and began sailing across the deep sea.
The deep seas were mysterious places and many of them were unexplored by even Sorcerers. Legends told of behemoth beasts that stalked the gloomy depths, rising up to the sea and capsizing entire s.h.i.+ps with a simple nudge.
"Pirates, there are pirates over there!" A clamor of noise was heard.