Disciple of War Disciple of War (Art of the Adept #4) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,11

teacher keeps the apprentice in a state of relative turyn starvation for a period of hours each day, forcing their body to adapt. As you remember, it took you roughly a month to adapt after compressing your own source, but since this method is intermittent it can take the student several years, and then they still have to learn how to compress their own source independently. Without the stress and fear produced by the method you went through, that can take many more years.”

“How many years are we discussing?” asked Will.

“Seven or eight to complete the first compression, and probably more to get through the second. She could be forty before she reaches second-order.”

Losing twenty years of time meant Selene would also age significantly during that period, while Will remained relatively young. And she would never make third-order, so her lifespan would at best be less than half of his own. Will groaned.

Arrogan went on, “The plus side is that the method is perfectly safe, at least for the first compression. No one ever dies that way.”

“How many died using the method I went through?”

“In the early days, probably ten or twenty percent. But after they started using the candle spell to help apprentices to understand their inner turyn first, the death rate dropped to less than one or two in a hundred. The second compression was still relatively risky, at around ten percent dying, and very few attempted the third compression.”

“Why? Just because of fear?”

“Well, most wizards were first-order, and the second-order wizards were a small minority. It depended a lot on who your teacher was. If you were a first-order wizard, you were unlikely to push your student to surpass you by getting them to the second-order, and the same held true for second-order wizards. You were lucky to have me as your master, since only a third-order wizard would be likely to push you to attempt it.”

In the past, Will might have taken that statement as a bit of arrogance on his teacher’s part, but it was simple truth now that he understood things better. “This isn’t just about Selene, Grandfather. It’s about the future of wizardry. If I’m going to find a way to break Terabinia of its addiction to sorcery, I’m going to have to be able to train a lot of new wizards. I can’t afford to waste all the wizards who’ve already been trained and taught. I need a way to help them as well. A way that doesn’t take twenty years.”

Arrogan’s tone was harsh. “You should forget about the ones that already graduated from Wurthaven. They’re all bound by Lognion’s graduation seal. You couldn’t trust them. He could use it to turn them against you at any point. Or he could use the enchantment to force them to tell him the secrets of your training. As you well know, it can make them do anything.”

Will vividly remembered the day that Lognion had ordered Selene to kill him. Resisting the command would have killed her if Count Spry hadn’t killed Will and thus invalidated the order. The strength of will required to resist the enchantment meant being willing to endure soul-rending pain and a horrific death. It was almost certainly worse than the pain, fear, and sheer panic that Will had endured to achieve his first compression.

His eyes went wide. “That’s it!”

“What?”

“You said the problem is that once a student learns to use magic it’s impossible to make them not use it to save themselves when they’re trying to compress their source. But there is a way to do it.”

Arrogan sounded confused. “What are you babbling about?”

“The heart-stone enchantment.”

The old man understood immediately. “No!”

“You know how to construct it, don’t you?” said Will.

“That’s beside the point. It’s evil. Even if I trusted you to use it and release someone afterward, once the knowledge gets out, other people won’t be so principled. I’ve seen it before.”

“I won’t teach anyone else,” Will promised. “Just Selene and the first group of students, those who are too far along, who’ve already begun using magic. People like Janice.”

“No.”

Will frowned. “You won’t even discuss it?”

Arrogan sounded angry. “You know what I did to eradicate that knowledge! I killed a lot of assholes, sure, but some of them were my friends! There’s no way in hell I’ll willingly bring that knowledge back in to the world.”

“It’s still in the world. Lognion knows it,” Will pointed out.

“And you’ve sworn to kill him. Something you might think about expediting, now that we’re