A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

In recent times —the last two weeks—, it had become more. It had become the most fortified part of the Manor where he could tutor his Protégée.

Maude didn\'t bat an eye at the violent thrumming. Or more accurately, he didn\'t care about what it had disturbed on the outside and was focused on the cause because it hadn\'t been him. It had been the grey-white-haired witch who was cross-legged on the ground.

"What was that?" He asked with an annoyed tone.

Yelena\'s beautiful face was twisted in distress. Sweat was now appearing across her forehead and her entire body felt weak. Her stamina was completely sapped all because she had done what she had been explicitly told not to do; Cast a spell beyond what her Mana reserves could manage.

"I just— *wheezes* I just thought I\'d try it," she managed to say after a few wheezing breaths. She tried to say more but her voice kept failing.

Maude stepped toward her and held out a vial and after she took it from him, he took several steps back to watch her with disapproval from a distance again.

Yelena drank the contents of the vial and recovered some of her expended Mana while her stamina recovered entirely which allowed her words to flow better,

"Thank you. As I was saying, I had an idea to reduce the Mana cost while keeping some of the spell\'s more powerful effects. If I can do that, then we don\'t have to hold back. You can teach me all you know right now."

Maude allowed himself a chuckle but there was no mirth in his eyes. This was not the first time Yelena would say something like this and this was not the first time he\'d laugh it off,

"I have hoarded knowledge for decades, my dear. You can\'t learn them all in weeks."

"Can\'t know that if we haven\'t tried," Yelena said out of the corner of her mouth. Of course, Maude had no difficulty hearing it.

He closed his eyes, grabbed the bridge of his nose, and rubbed it while letting out an exasperated sigh.

"As I\'ve said many times, Magic has rules. They are sometimes flexible but that flexibility comes with experience which you do not have.

This impatience of yours…"

"I won\'t be impatient if you hadn\'t sold him off," Yelena says, again out of the corner of her mouth but with so much more venom that it stung.

Maude opened his grey eyes now and they almost looked sad.

"My dear, he and the others tried to rob me," he said and looked almost sheepish, "They killed so many of my Vykers…"

"I killed your Vykers too," Yelena pointed out. The memory of the lives she had been forced to take seemed to bite at her but she endured and kept her glare on Maude who still had that sheepish look on his face.

He managed a chuckle or two before he said,

"I didn\'t know that at the time."

"But you know now," Yelena said.

"And I know you now too," Maude said.

"You mean, you know \'her\'," Yelena managed with her lips pursed and her green eyes glowering.

Maude flinched at that.

The memory of his encounter with Yelena\'s Demonic Patron was all too recent in his mind and he knew it always would be. It had been burned permanently into his mind in deterrence against any thought that could harm the Demon\'s Spawn.

No covenant had been forced at the time. Thuds Demon hadn\'t had enough of herself present to even force a vow and yet, Maude Aleric would not dare consider going against her words. He had been charged with caring for her Spawn and that was exactly what he was going to do. Whether he wanted to or not.

"She—" Maude paused to shudder and then continued, "She is partly the reason. But even before the incident, I already selected you as my Protégée. Your talent supersedes the wrongs you committed by thousands."

This wasn\'t a lie but it wasn\'t the entire truth either. .net

Maude cared very little for his Vykers. They were tools after all. However, having a bunch of thieves consistently reduce how many of them he had at his disposal, and the entire ordeal ending with him not getting his property back, certainly infuriated him.

Yelena was worth a thousand more to Maude than any Vyker possibly could so she instantly got a pass. Especially since she was malleable. While Vyker transformations were impossible on people who already possessed Mana, Maude had ways to cultivate devotion. After all, he had managed it with his Warlocks who were now dead.

So while he was being truthful about her worth and his pardoning her, he wasn\'t open about what his plans had been in detail. Alas, all that was out of the window now.

The existence of a Demonic Patron had forcefully changed their dynamic. Even as he instructed her in the Arcane ways, Maude could not help but realize it felt more like he was under Yelena\'s command than she was under his.

"Listen," Yelena said with her voice more direct, "I have to help him. Who knows what horrors he\'s going through while in the possession of this Ralph Gribbo person?"

"Impatience won\'t help you," Maude said with another sigh.

"You could," Yelena said, "Why not just buy him back?"

"It doesn\'t work that way," Maude said and paused before he continued,

"Ralph doesn\'t work that way. Once he has a slave, he doesn\'t let them go. To him, it\'s a matter of principle and he believes there\'s no amount of gold you could offer that the slave can\'t potentially make him.

This is, of course, not quite the case. The slaves are likely to die before they can bring that much income for him. Alas, men of principle are sometimes not men of Logic. Or sound reasoning."

"So I\'ll have to go and get him back myself," Yelena said with conviction burning in her emerald green eyes.

"And I advise against it," Maude said.

"Triss and Stefan will come with me," Yelena said.

"Of course they will," Maude said with furrowed brows.

While he lacked any real connection to both redheaded siblings, Maude was still more comfortable with Stefan who at least felt like a Vyker. Somewhat.

Triss, however, was different… Strange. She hovered around Yelena constantly except during training within this Hall and that was only because she wasn\'t allowed in here.

"It will still be dangerous," Maude said after he pulled himself out of his thoughts.

"I\'m going," Yelena said with a finality that left no room for arguments.

Henry had saved her. Not only had he extended a life that had already been unnaturally extended in pseudo-captivity, but he also let her roam free. Yelena fervently believed he hadn\'t done all that just so she would be stuck in the Black Manor training while he was getting worked to death.

"Fine," Maude said, "But that will have to wait. There is a massive disparity between your Mana reserves and your Intelligence. Intelligence scales your spells so if you\'re not careful, spells that should be well within the limits of your Mana will exceed it when you put too much of your Intelligence into them.

That was already a risk before you started actively trying it. You need the Arcane Exercises to improve your reserves. You need patience."

"Okay, okay," Yelena said but she was clearly being dismissive.

Maude decided not to mention it. Her tenacity just might be a good thing and he was here in case things went awry.

"Alright then," he said, "Let\'s try again."

Yelena took a deep breath and a Magic circle appeared beneath her to signal the start of the exercise but before she was sucked into the practice that would restrict all thoughts that did not reinforce her focus, she managed one determined thought,

\'I\'m coming, Henry. Don\'t die!\'