Just a Guy and a Gate to the Multiverse - Chapter 20 (Patreon)

Chapter 20 - Elves

I whirled around, coming face to face with a silver-haired Elf, his gray eyes wandering over the cockpit of my mobile home with interest.

“Who are you? How did you get into my house?”

“Oh, I just politely asked the door to open. You don’t recognize me, even though you want to learn from me?” the Elf asked with clear amusement while radiating a calm demeanor.

He asked the door? So Magic works on my electronics too? Even if he doesn’t understand how they work?

Taking a quick glance outside before turning to the Elf again, I asked, “You are Oromis? Isn’t Glaedr with you?”

“That I am. Glaedr didn’t feel like coming, but he is watching. So this is your home? A bit crude, don’t you think? And you have some very interesting things in here. Are you some kind of Necromancer, or what do you need a pile of corpses for? All of them identical too,” Oromis asked, unbothered. But I could tell there was something serious about the question.

“They are not corpses, nor are they Human. You can think of them as artificial human bodies, which have no mind in them yet. I can put one in them if I ever need some help. Nobody died to make them. They also have nothing to do with Necromancy, just advanced Science. As for my home, it may be a bit simple, but it does what it needs to.”

“I can see that, yet at the same time, it seems like something from a land far away,” Oromis mused before turning toward Islanzadí and the Elves watching us from outside. “I will take care of him, since he will remain with us for the foreseeable future. Leave it to me. Oh, and I have observed the new Rider already. I can confirm he has been telling the truth. We should expect him in a few weeks, together with your daughter.”

“As you wish.” The Queen nodded, relief visible on her face as she easily accepted the opinion of one of the last Dragon Riders and wise member of her Race.

“Come on. I will show you where you can put your home.”

———

“Mhh, I’ve never tasted such a blend of tea before,” Oromis commented after putting down the cup of tea he had just sipped from while sitting in my living room like it was the most normal thing in the world. “It is quite a delightful blend. What is it called?”

“It’s just a lemon variation.”

“Lemons? You can make tea out of them?” the Elf pondered.

“Yes, I believe they use some kind of extract from the fruit and infuse it into the dried tea leaves. The zest of the fruit probably also plays a role. But are we really here to talk about tea?” I couldn’t help but wonder.

He was far too relaxed for my liking. Yet I felt like I was sitting in front of a dangerous predator. How would you feel if the person in front of you has a magic word that can sever a nerve in your brain to kill you instantly, while having no way to protect from that.

“You are right. This is impolite of me. You probably want to discuss your stay with us,” the ancient Elf admitted.

“Am I a prisoner?”

“No, you are free to stay and move inside Du Weldenvarden. But surely, you understand we can’t allow you to leave beyond our borders for now. You falling into the hands of Galbatorix is too much of a risk. I need to at least finish the training of the new Dragon Rider first. With Galbatorix gaining a new Rider under his control, and us gaining one on our side, the situation will escalate soon either way. Until then, I will have to ask you to stay,” Oromis explained, and it was reasonable.

I wasn’t planning to leave for now either way. The crucial matter is whether I can get what I want.

“Are you willing to teach me, Oromis?”

“Willing to teach you what?” the Elf asked.

“I want to learn everything about Magic in this world, the Ancient Language, especially anything related to space, like that Spell Arya used to teleport the Dragon Egg away. I also want to learn swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat. So far, I am only self-taught in that area and need a proper teacher,” I requested with full honesty. Altough knowing their Magic, is just the first step for some of the things I want to experiment with.

“I believe you are aware that I am no longer easily capable of fighting freely. My wounds from the fall of the Riders limit me. But I can arrange for a combat teacher for you. I would also be able to teach you for a few weeks, but once Eragon arrives here, I will have to dedicate my time fully to him. There is so much for him to learn, but not enough time. More importantly, why should we teach you in the first place? Our understanding of Magic and the Ancient Language is highly sought after among Human Mages. Even Galbatorix lacks our knowledge, or he would have long since won. What makes you so different that we should share it with you? You are just a stranger who appeared on our doorstep,” Oromis asked calmly.

It’s true. The only reason Galbatorix hasn’t won yet is because he never finished his Dragon Rider training. If he had, he would be more powerful. Galbatorix compensates for his incomplete knowledge through the raw power gained from the Eldunarí.

“I am willing to enter a fair trade,” I offered directly. “For one, I can offer knowledge. While I lack magical knowledge, I possess a lot of scientific knowledge that can compare to your Magic. Like the principles behind a Carriage, that doesn't require magic or animals to pull it. The second thing I can offer is time.”

That made the composed Oromis raise an eyebrow. “Time? I am not sure I understand you.”

“I believe it’s better if I show you.” I grinned as I led him down toward my laboratory and engineering area on the ground floor, only stopping in front of three Virtual Reality Pods. I built more of them.

With Alchemy, it’s easy to build anything, even without dedicated machinery. But it still takes a bit of time. Especially complicated machines which I need to put together part for part.

Using the control terminal, I activated two of them. “Sit in that one,” I said while doing the same with the other one. Making myself comfortable on the leather seat.

The Pods closed, and I soon found myself in a classroom, standing beside Oromis.

“What is this place?” the Elf couldn’t help but wonder.

“Think of it as another world you can only enter with your mind. While it has barely any use in physical training, after all you don't train your muscles in here, it’s a really useful place to study. I can adjust it to let time pass in here up to 10 times slower than in the outside world. Which means you can teach in here for 10 hours, while outside, only one passes.” I grinned.

This is the first of my simulations I programmed myself. It has a really simple purpose, but it’s really efficient. The time acceleration is based on what a human brain is capable, without having to process all the stimulations form the outside world, it can speed up by quite a lot. Maybe it would be even faster for Elves. But that didn't matter to me, since I need to be able to use it too. Oh, and I can make any text or book in my database appear in here.

“It is a fascinating place…” Oromis muttered in astonishment. It was not every day you could impress an 800-year-old Elf.

“While it may not work for practical lessons, since Magic can’t be used in here, it works for anything theoretical. If you give me books or texts beforehand, I can scan them to make them appear in this world.” And add them to my database. “So what do you say, Oromis? Are you willing to teach me? This way, you can be more thorough in teaching Eragon. You won’t need to rush his training as much. I am also willing to act as one of his sparring partners too, if that helps to convince you.”

The Elf remained silent for a good while, observing the simulated world around him.

Until he finally spoke up.

“I admit, this place would be really helpful. But I don’t know if I can actually trust you. For one, you scare me. You have knowledge that you simply shouldn’t possess. From what I was informed, you know something that I erased from my own mind. And if I did that, then it wasn't just my own mind. Every Elf has been instructed not to look into your mind, or they would be forced to stay in Ellesméra until the war with Galbatorix is over. Then there are your tools, or whatever you call them. We Elves, in our long lives, have never heard of anything like them. What are you?”

“I am a Human.”

“A Human who has some unknown method to protect his mind, possesses tools surpassing Elven imagination and knowledge, and knows things that have been erased from history. Don’t you think this is quite hard to believe? Are you one of the Grey Folk?”

The Grey Folk are one of the first peoples who ever arrived in Alagaësia, and also the first users of Magic. They bound Magic to the Ancient Language. Before then, Magic had been hard to control.

Unfortunately, they disappeared a long time ago, and not much is known about them. Most of it is speculations, beyond the fact that they existed.

“I don’t know any Magic. So I am obviously not,” I pointed out the flaw in his assumption. “As for my knowledge, I can’t share the source of it. The protections on my mind are not from me. I have no protections of my own, and I would also like to learn that. You don’t need to worry. Even Galbatorix, with all his Eldunarí, won’t be able to overcome it. As for my intentions, I am here to learn. I even swore that to Gilderien. I am also willing to help in the fight against Galbatorix as long as I am here. I won’t be staying in Alagaësia for longer than two years.”

That’s the time limit I set for myself. Even if I don’t learn all the space-related Magic in that timespan, there are easier places to get some Space Magic from. As long as I make good progress here, I am willing to stay for up to two years.

If I should stagnate with the different ideas I have, I prefer to leave earlier and focus on worlds where I am guaranteed to progress with just one or two of my Milestones.

But with this time-acceleration chamber for studying, I am confident that I should be able to make good progress. It should give me a few years’ worth of time to study the theory.

“I understand. As long as you swear an Oath not to harm the Elves, I am willing to teach you,” Oromis agreed after a moment of thought.

“‘Not harm the Elves’ is a bit vague. I know that much about the Ancient Language. What happens if I accidentally harm someone?” I pointed out.

“You understand what I mean. I mean no intentional harm. We will work out an exact formulation that is agreeable to both of us.” The Elf just looked at me, not showing any real expression.

“Fine. I agree.”

———

And that’s how my stay with the Elves in Du Weldenvarden began.

My mornings would begin with fighting lessons. Oromis arranged for a younger Elf to actually teach me swordsmanship. And boy, does that guy push me to my limits.

I knew that Elves, at least in this world, were naturally a lot stronger than Humans. But I didn’t expect the difference to be that big. Ignoring Magic, Humans in this world were the same as those in any normal version of Earth.

Currently, I should have entered the early levels of superhuman strength, a bit beyond what a Human trained to the level of an Olympic athlete would accomplish. Basically, I am at the level where you set world records. Just with me being a bit beyond that in all categories, rather than only the one thing an Olympic athlete would train for.

Elves are at least one stage beyond that. They can damage resistant physical objects made out of stone, steel, or similar materials with their bare hands. And they are always faster than me.

Just sparring with them is valuable experience, pushing my body to its limits. Knowing how to fight someone who is stronger than you in every attribute is an important lesson.

And that is just the physical aspect. I am learning a lot technique-wise. How to stand, how to breathe, how to move, how to punch, what to consider, what to look out for, and so on. The things I previously lacked the most.

Even the younger Elves teaching me, as Immortals or rather long living race, have at least a century more experience than me. I will need that experience of fighting someone stronger and faster than me for my future plans.

I didn’t reveal my Alchemy or my Teleportation Abilities to the Elves.

They are trump cards I prefer to keep to myself, in case they want to prevent me from leaving Du Weldenvarden in the future. Which is a real risk to me. I am not a Dragon Rider, nor am I respected by them.

I am a security threat. Even after swearing an Oath to Oromis.

So I prefer to keep them hidden, in case I need to teleport away. I would also have a hard time explaining them.

As for my lessons with Oromis, they were quite interesting. Early on, he kept teaching me the theory of Magic and began building up my vocabulary in the Ancient Language, beyond what I had gotten from the Eragon Wiki page, so I could hold an actual conversation, albeit a broken one.

The grammar was, of course, far more complicated than some vocabulary words.

As for actual Magic… that had been interesting but frustrating.

Magic in this world is quite unique. For one, it is bound to the Ancient Language. While possible without it, it’s very hard to even perform. Even with the Ancient Language, it’s not enough to just speak a word and do Magic.

At least not if you aren’t a Dragon Rider who awakened a natural connection to Magic through his Bond with his Dragon.

As a normal Human, I have a much harder time performing my first Spell. In fact, I haven’t even managed that yet.

While Magic in this world doesn’t rely on mana or anything like that, it still requires energy. Lifeforce, to be specific. Which can be understood as a combination of stamina and lifespan. It first uses up your stamina, and should you not have enough, it starts using your lifespan until you are dead. Once cast, a Spell will always be cast and can’t be interrupted.

Not unless you specify a condition under which it stops. It’s a bit like programming, just with the spoken word while manipulating reality itself.

As a rule of thumb, a Spell costs as much energy as if you did the thing it does yourself.

If your Spell lifts a stone, it will cost as much energy as if you were lifting the stone yourself. Should the stone be really big and too heavy, you die.

Thanks to my new passive Ability from [World Attunement], I should be able to use it. But I haven’t managed it yet.

Although I am quite confident that I can.

Unfortunately, for normal people, there are quite a few more steps before being able to use Magic, like having to feel my lifeforce first. Which I already managed.

The next step is to actually access it, which I am currently struggling with.

Besides that, I am also practicing how to protect my mind. Unfortunately, it isn’t what I had in mind. I hoped it would be more like fanfiction Occlumency from Harry Potter, but it’s more like the real Occlumency in the books.

Just instead of clearing your mind, you have to fill it with one thing.

But I am learning a lot and constantly working toward my goals.

[ End of the Chapter ]