Innocence

Mike and Roblin walk out of the guard barracks inside the city and Mike never again to have another bad run-in with the law ever again as of now. As they both leave the building Mike sees Dike across the street leaning on the wooden frame of a building. Seeing that both of them are out Dike crosses the street.

"So how does it feel to breathe fresh air once more?" Dike asks

"Great I have never missed that stupid yellow sun in the sky more in my life," Mike says

"Um... thank you for what you did for the both of us," Roblin chimes in, albeit a bit nervous, as he does a sort of bow to Dike who nods just nods his head in acknowledgment to the little green goblin.

"So why did you help us?" Mike asks

"Well I owed you favor for saving my life and now I consider that to be fulfilled don't you?"

Mike nods his head at this before becoming nervous about wanting to ask him a question.

"So you are a wizard huh?"

"Yes I am"

"Well if you would be willing to could you please teach me some level 0 magic spells?"

Dike stares at Mike before bursting out with laughter.

"Hahaha!"

Mike's face reddens visibly at this as he feels like he just got rejected to be taught magic. However, what Dike says gets rid of those fears and some of the embarrassment.

"Sure I will give you all the spells I can, which are only the level 0 introductory spells but don't call them that as they are not called level 0 by trainees they are referred to as cantrips because they use little to no magic"

Mike felt elated at hearing that since magic was still magic no matter how useless people think it is. Plus being able to do unimaginable things with magic is what most people have always wanted to do so he would happily learn any spell.

"Now the spells I'll give you will be free alright but you have to get me a blank book for me to make a copy so you can study them on your own"

At that Mikes face darkens

"I don't have any money it was all confiscated when we were thrown in jail and they said they were taking it as compensation fees for holding us in a "decent" cell"

Dike looks stunned at what he is hearing from Mike. Blinking Dike smiles as he clasps Mike's shoulders.

"Well then I will supply everything so you don't have to worry about anything just think of it as my welcome back gift"

Mike's shoulders hurt Dike squeezing them so hard that he feels like they might break in a few seconds if no one stops him. Thankfully Dike does let go of Mike and does not turn his shoulder into bone fragments. Dike then leads Mike and Roblin down the street until they show up in front of the 'Knights Tankard' once more. They all go in and this time it is not as rowdy as when Mike came in for the first time as now there were fewer people. Once the Bartender sees Mike he brightens up and exclaims.

"Aha the hero returns triumphantly from the battle against the court"

At that those words, the very few people in the tavern looked over at Mike and came over before slapping him on the back and giving praises and compliments to Mike. The bartender even gave Mike a week's stay at the inn free of charge since he saved his business and his own life from being blown up. Mike, of course, kept this and felt glad for the treatment he received as a result of his heroic deeds.

Everyone parties and Mike despite being underage decides to take advantage of the free booze and alcohol that was available for everybody there. Of course, since this is the first time that Mike has had any liquor in his life he soon passes out from drinking way too much. When Mike wakes up he is lying on the floor in his spit with a massive headache.

"Oh... my head"

Mike tries to get up but realizes that there is someone on top of him. Eventually, Mike gets off the floor and sees that Roblin was the culprit who was lying on top of him. He was still passed out and for some reason, he was not wearing his shirt and it was across the room on the bar. Mike himself had no missing clothing thankfully and after confirming that he stumbles outside avoiding the passed-out bodies that littered the floor.

Once outside Mike stumbles towards a horse water trough across the street before kneeling and dunking his head fully into the ice-cold water. After a bit, Mike pulls his head out and sees that Dike was also outside but he looked like last night's drinking spree never happened. He was leaning his back against the tavern and watching Mike from across the street.

"Morning Mike how you feel?" he says

"Like I was run over by a runaway carriage and you?"

"I feel great"

2

Mike had no idea what Dike was feeling at the moment but he could not care less. Getting up Mike goes back across the street a bit better than before and re-enters the tavern with Dike. They both find a table that does not have anyone passed out drunk on the table and take a seat. Dike takes out a book and places it on the table before sliding it towards Mike.

"Here you are all the cantrips that I know"

"Huh?"

Mike was still groggy from drinking too much and was still out of it a little. It took him a few seconds to process this before his mind suddenly flared up and he became filled with energy.

"Thank you so much Dike this is amazing"

"Well you're welcome it may take you a while to grasp the fundamentals of magic and that is only if you can use magic"

Mike already had opened up the book and saw that were a total of 8 different cantrips that Mike could learn but in his eyes, they were priceless treasures. Mike also saw that there was still plenty of blank pages that he could use for adding in more spells in the future.

"Wait did you say that I might not be able to use magic?"

"Well yes not everyone can use magic I mean if there were then there would be a lot more wars and internal conflicts"

"Hm..."

Mike returned his attention to the cantrips in front of him. There was a prompt that appeared in front of his vision asking if Mike wanted to learn the cantrip. Mike says yes to this before a progress bar appears in his notifications.

...

Learning level 0 spell: [Ice Blast]

Progress: 12%... 48%... 89%...

Level 0 spell: [Ice Blast] Learned

...

Excited Mike pulls up the description of his first spell.

_____________________________

Ice Blast

You conjure a blast of frost from your hand to slow down and damage your target making them easier to strike at.

-10% movement speed

2-4 frost damage (Doubles against flame Enemies)

Spell Mastery: 0/500

Uses 0 mana

_____________________________

Excited Mike takes a cup of lukewarm ale from someone passed out and tests out his first spell. A faint blue light emits from Mike's right hand as he places it on top of the cup. He does this as he does not want to accidentally hit Dike with the spell. Soon Mile uses the spell and a white frost ejects out of Mike's right hand hitting the cup. Not only is the ale now frozen solid but the cup itself was frozen with it. Dike is starting at Mike with a dumbfounded expression. 'What in the nine hells?! I just gave him the book and he can already cast one of the spells! If this ain't genius then I don't know what is!' Dike screams in his head as he looks at Mike who was extremely satisfied with the results of his first spell.

Not waiting for any longer Mike opens the book once more and learns the other 7 spells that Dike gave him for free. Once they are all complete Mike sees that Dike is still starting at the cup with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Mike snaps his fingers to get Dike to stop looking at the cup and bring him back to reality with him.

"Thanks once again for giving these to me Dike I feel extremely lucky to have met you when I did"

"Um sure..."

Dike is still in a kind of daze at what Mike did and was barely comprehending what Mike was saying as his mind was twirling and spinning at the feat Mike pulled off. 'He has enormous potential and I can improve my standing within the Royal Mages by having a peerless genius as my student haha this kid is a gold mine of potential' Dike thinks. As Mike was about to put away the book Dike stands up abruptly before blurting out.

"Michael will you be my apprentice?"

Mike's mind goes blank for a second before letting out as his only response being.

"Eh?!"