Chapter 142: Groundwork
"Why wouldn’t I be alive?" Kir asked. He wasn’t ignorant of the answer, he just wanted Sreev’s take on it.
"How to make you understand..." the General rested an elbow in his hand and held his forehead. After a moment, he said, "If you knew you would grow resistant to heat with exposure, would you dive into the pressure of a volcano without first seeing if lava burns you?"
"I’d have to test that with fire, first."
"Exactly!" Sreev patted his palm with his fist. "You would find near analogs before testing the real thing! So why on Hell would you go into a pressure cooker of mana like a dungeon?"
"I didn’t have a choice," Kir said. "I was exploring the upper levels of one when I was attacked." He left out more than a few facts, like how Stella was with him.
"I’m finding it increasingly believable that you don’t have a master. A sage or archmage would never have let you into a dungeon without a plan and years of tempering. You clearly need my help before you get yourself killed, and Maledict would have my head if that happened."
The way Sreev’s hands began to tap the desk had all the nervous energy of a professor anticipating the moment he enlightened some benighted student.
"Is that the only reason you’re helping me? To not be killed by my father?" Kir crossed his arms.
"Hardly. This is for the sake of all demonkind as much as my own. House Goetia has long maintained a practice of informing its mages to the level they are able to handle, in the sure knowledge that at every level of magical development, secret-keeping for the sake of safety is ingrained in its mages. I need to see what groundwork you have." He began to move as if preparing himself.
Kir resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "If you want, I can recite the basis of magical theory and all the elemental interactions." It was all bullshit, but Kir had grown used to wading through such nonsense at the Academy before his sealing.
Sreev waved a dismissive hand. "I’m going to see for myself, if you’ll allow it." He extended a hand.