Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
He was. Sam was under no illusions.
Sam shook the man’s hand as well, taking his measure. He practically radiated competence and magical prowess. As first impressions went, it was a good one.
“It’s very good to meet you,” Sam greeted him. “I’m amazed at how fast you got here.”
“Oh, that wasn’t hard,” Ryu replied with a head tilted at Gunter. “I’m not sure who packed faster, me or him.”
“Chance of a lifetime, of course I packed quickly.” Gunter shook Sam’s hand as well, and for a bookworm, he certainly had a strong handshake. “Gunter Burkhard, nice to meet you. These ruins are impressive. How much have you seen?”
“I have barely scratched the surface, I assure you. And that’s with a guide. Come in, let me show you the main library. There are a few places in the ruins we’ll really want to focus our attention—at least one of the buildings was a hospital, I’ll swear to this—but the library is the best place to start.”
Gunter patted the bag resting against his hip. “I brought a scanner and laptop. Whatever we find here, I’ll scan and send on.”
“Perfect. I’ve been neck deep in translating ever since arriving, really, but I haven’t made much of a dent. There are a good three hundred volumes in this library alone.” Sam turned and led the way, talking as he went. “Some of them are patient records. From what I gather, they stored the complex cases, using them as case studies, I guess. It’s fascinating to read but also frustrating. They assumed the reader had a certain base level of knowledge that I simply don’t. I’m hoping that one of you can make more sense of this. Or we can find something like a primer textbook.”
“I’m sure there is one,” Gunter assured. “It was standard practice for all the mage clans. They didn’t assume anyone knew anything, or that future generations would simply know. They always wrote the basics down. It might take some digging, is all.”
Sam was heartily glad to hear it. Gunter’s trip across the ocean was redeemed with that statement alone.
Lester was in the library, as usual, but this time he was reading through Sam’s translations rather than breaking his brain against the Sousa books. Sam was translating as fast as he could, but mental fatigue often did him in after a ten-hour stretch.
Dimitri seemed to have him on some kind of timer, too. After ten hours, his dragon would swoop in and cart him back to the clan.
Sam never fought him too hard on that. For one, no brain power, might as well stop. For another, comfy beds and hot sex awaited him. Really, no one sane would argue.
With a wave, Sam introduced the men. “Lester, this is Abe Ryu and Gunter Burkhard, our experts. Gentlemen, this is Lester Jaeggi. He’s one of the main researchers here.”
Handshakes all around, and then Gunter asked seriously, “Where can I set up? I’d like to scan what we have. Do you have a catalogue?”
The man was all business. Lester appreciated it as he drew Gunter to another table. “Set up here. We have a generator line that we’ve run here you can connect with. Our catalogue is handwritten, but we have that here as well.”
Ryu paused Sam before he could follow, his eyes sweeping over Sam’s chest in an obvious study.
He’d had too many mages over the years look at him like that. With that kind of scrutiny and realization. It brought back many bad memories. Sam instinctively wanted to shy away from it, but if there was anyone who could help him, it would be the Abe Clan. Ryu needed to understand what he was up against, too, and he couldn’t do that if Sam was ducking him. He forced himself to hold still.
“Your core is interesting,” Ryu finally stated.
“I’m sorry?” Sam didn’t expect that. Not one person in his entire life had used that word to describe his core.
“The Jaeggi cores I’ve encountered so far were…warped, one might say. Because they took in other mages’ power, it overloaded and distorted their own cores. It did damage, and it’s been hard to restore the cores because of it. Yours, however, has no such signs. It’s not working properly, that’s obvious, but it’s not damaged.”
Sam sat on that for a second. “Ryu, that has to be the kindest assessment I’ve ever heard.”
Ryu’s eyes crinkled up in a smile. “I bet. What interests me is that your family has both healthy and inactive cores. It will be a perfect side-by-side comparison to give me much needed data. Genetically speaking, you’re all from the same bloodline, in a sense, so I should be able to see where the differences manifest.”
Now that was a very good point. Sam wasn’t a doctor or geneticist, so he hadn’t thought of it along those lines, but he should have. “My twin’s core is perfectly fine. Would it help if I got Salem down here?”