032

Erick eventually reached a landing at the top of the grey stone stairs. Chairs had been set out like in a small waiting room, while a desk sat in front of an open door. In the other direction was the exterior wall and a great big picture window, giving a wide view of the south. The city of Spur spread out before Erick, and above the grey and orange and yellow stone, loomed the mountainous walls of Ar’Kendrithyst, far in the distance.

“Eh-hem.”

Erick turned around. Bluescale, Zago’s messenger kid, stood in the doorway to Zago’s laboratory.

Bluescale said, “She’ll see you now,” then took his space at the desk.

“Thanks,” Erick said, as he walked through the open door.

Poi stayed behind. The door remained open.

Zago’s laboratory took up almost the entirety of the top floor of the guildhouse’s larger tower, and though they called it a ‘laboratory’, the room was half as much an office as anything else. Yellow and teal were the dominant colors of the rugs, the drapes, and the fabric cushions of comfy looking chairs. The room was rather similar to Silverite’s office, with collections of books on shelves and doodads everywhere they could fit. But there were also tables set with magic circles, and spiny magic orbs that hovered in one corner of the spacious, greystone room. Two cats, one black one white, lounged in the sun next to a window.

A great many chalkboards on rolling stands had been scattered around the room, some around tables and full of arcane symbols, some layered against a wall. Zago stood in front of one of the chalkboards right now, but it was a big metal chalkboard; not a thing made of slate like most of the rest of the boards. Dozens of small pieces of paper had been attached to the metal with what were likely magnets, in a grid that could have contained a hundred such papers.

Guildmaster Zago noticed Erick. “Archmage Flatt.” She was floating a book in front of her, but she moved that to a nearby table, setting it on top of several other open books. “Good to see you.” She gestured toward the metal board. “Care to see how many new spells have been discovered, so far?”

Erick was suddenly very interested in that metal chalkboard. He walked over.

 

 

Erick studied the board for a while. The ‘someones’ were actual names, but there was no way in hell Erick would remember any of them. He did take note of some of the names, though. Zago, Maia, Eduard, and the Headmaster were all up there. He was up there too, as the only name on the right hand side of the board, and in two different places.

Now that he was looking… What was [Call Lightning]? It could have been advanced [Watershape] for sure, but also [Airshape]. But the last line on the board, ‘electric’, was probably the proper place for [Call Lightning]. But that still didn’t seem right. Now that he really considered everything in front of him, Erick knew he wouldn’t have put his spell on this board.

Erick said, “Particle Magic doesn’t follow the style of the other schools. This doesn’t make sense.”

“Yes, I agree.” Zago said, “This system is wholly inadequate, but it’s the one being used around the world right now, for those of us in this exploding community. The inadequacies of this system showed themselves early, when people started inventing multiples for the same category. Metalshape in particular is prolific, like we had no real understanding of metal at all! It’s almost criminal how much we did not know.”

A lot of particles are metallic, so that made sense to Erick. If only they had a periodic table instead of this mess, they’d have a much easier time.

… But wouldn’t interacting with individual particles be against the Infinitesimal Ban? Erick would have to save that question for later; Zago still had more to say.

Zago pointed to the minor [Metalshape] box, saying, “All of the new [Metalshape] spells seem to be about refining metals out of ore in a way that is much easier than using [Metalshape]. The new spells don’t seem capable of much more than that, but with a basic understanding of particles as discrete objects, getting the tier two spell [Goldshape] out of [Metalshape] is so much easier than before. But someone went and invented [Gold Grab]. Basic, tier 1 Particle spell. I expect that to be made illegal; possibly even registrar restricted, like [Create Food and Water]. After [Gold Grab] happened, [Silver Grab] and [Platinum Grab] were quickly invented. Thank the Demons none of that happened here.”

“I would think targeting a specific atom like gold would be against the Infinitesimal Ban.”

Zago paused. She hummed. She said, “It’s possible that all of the ‘atoms’ of gold are in fact ‘molecules’?” Zago paused again. She turned and wrote something in a book beside her. She said “These new spells could actually be missing a fair bit of gold. Maybe if we used some sort of mechanical process to make the gold individualized… That could solve these looming currency problems?” She didn’t sound very sure of herself. “Maybe.”

Erick saw people inventing new spells, and for the first time, felt a strange worry. “Are you concerned about using up the magic?”

Zago turned and looked at Erick funny. She paused. “Oh? You’re serious?” She looked at the board. She paused. “No. I don’t think it’s possible to ‘use up’ the magic. Mana can neither be created, nor destroyed, only change shape and function.” Zago explained, “That’s something we’ve tested so many times, it’s in Introduction to Magic, 101. Principles of Magic. The major proof of this can be validated in any antirhine chamber, which any accredited arcanaeum possesses. With all of manasphere cut off, save for what is inside the chamber, a person inside casts [Cleanse], or any other non-destructive spell, as much as they are capable. The level of ambient mana in the chamber never drops. The record is 1 year inside. This concern you have is irrelevant, because we know for a fact that mana does not ‘get used up’.”

“I’ve never heard of ‘antirhine’. Is it a very heavy grey metal, ductile and malleable? Soft, in its pure form?”

Zago stared at him, “… You know what antirhine is. What it actually is.”

Erick smirked, then changed the subject. “So mana is a particle. Like water. It never goes away, only changes form.”

Zago dropped a piece of paper she had been holding. She stared at the board.

She laughed, then picked up her paper, saying, “You gave me a fright. Ah. No. Mana is not a Particle particle. You cannot hold a cup of mana, but mana exists in the cup you’re holding. It might be a Particle, but not one capable of interaction outside of magic.” She smiled. She paused. “That’s an interesting concept, though.” She paused. She exclaimed, “That’s how antirhine is able to block mana!” She scribbled down a quick note on the book beside her. “Interesting theory, Archmage Flatt!”

Erick smiled. He had tried to hide something from Zago, but instead revealed something else.

Erick returned to the board. “Has no one unlocked Particle Mage yet? I assume that’s why everything Large and above is still blank.”

“You are correct.” Zago stepped to his side. “The Class, like the spells you invented, won’t be available for another year. The rest of us might be plundering the ability points on the lower rungs, but you have an entire year to create the stuff at the top.”

Erick poked Zago’s name on the Electric line. “I see that.”

Zago smiled at him, her violet face briefly turning a shade darker. She gave a run down on the spells she had invented. “[Small Shock], pretty much exactly like the experiment. Minimal personal damage but that can be negated with a personal [Weather Ward]. [Electric Link], designate two close targets and they both shock each other for minimal damage whenever they’re two or less meters apart. That one’s a good one. So many applications for crowd control. [Shocking Curse], designate a medium range target and for the next 10 minutes they take damage from moving. [Weather Wards] negate all electric effects, but everyone picks a damage absorption [Ward] unless you’re flying somewhere, and unless you’re a Wardmage, you can only have one personal [Ward] at a time. Of course none of that matters against monsters. The vast majority of them don’t have [Ward]s. And it’s cheap enough to throw a [Weather Ward] at your feet and dismiss it if you’re forced to move.”

Erick had been thinking about a spell like [Electric Link]. That’s why he had created those two stone spheres on the roof of the Sewerhouse. If he hadn’t chickened out, would he have created the spell before Zago?

“When did you make [Electric Link]? I was thinking of the same thing.”

“The night after your first lecture.”

Erick laughed. “Truly?”

“Yes.” Zago said, “Some of my contacts— Overzealous spies that I have already told to stop, really… They reported that you attempted something with two stone orbs on the Sewerhouse a few days ago. Sorry. It would not have worked. I got there first. [Electric Link] was the very first one I tried to make. I only went and did [Small Shock] for another ability point.”

“I’m not mad.” Erick looked up at the empty half of the board. “I can just take the smaller spells of others and do them myself on a much larger scale, for 3 ability points for each one.”

Zago stared at Erick.

“Yes!” She laughed loud and sudden, throwing her head back to let it all out. “You can do that! I did not expect that from you.”

“Everyone has surprises sometimes.” Erick smiled as he gazed upon the half filled side of the board. “And that still leaves other people to learn more about the universe Veird has been in for the last 1400 years.”

“And it’s just so very different, isn’t it?” Zago said, “All of these Particle spells are vastly cheaper than normal spells, too. In my opinion, that is the big game changer. And! There might be just as many variations of Particle Spells as there are with Mana Altering and the Force spells. This is like doubling the Force school of magic. There are drawbacks to Particle spells mainly of the [Ward] variety, and the fact that each spell only does one thing.” She explained, “That’s actually the largest drawback to Particle Magic. Each spell only does one thing, but each spell still requires 1 point to buy, whereas you can make variations for every occasion by spending 2 points with [Force Bolt] and Mana Altering, for example. But you can’t use Mana Altering with any Particle spell.”

“Mana Shaping still works.”

She conceded, “Mana Shaping still works, of course. I foresee Particle Magic becoming a highly popular branch of magic, but in the way that most things are popular; Some delve deep into a subject, while the rest of us just dabble.”

That was good enough a segue as any. Erick said, “Speaking of combining spells and popular magic. How about that [Fly]?”

“Right!” Zago walked over to her desk. “I have a few books for you.”

Erick followed her.

She set down three thin books in front of Erick with the titles facing him. [Fly] and You, The Skies Beckon, and Nuebus’s Guide to the Major Variations of [Fly]. The last one was colorful, like a child’s book. Erick picked that one up. It even had pictures.

It was still written by hand, though. At least the guy had good handwriting—

I need to invent the printing press.

… Or maybe they already have something better?

“How are your books made? One at a time, or several at once?” Erick inspected the book’s construction. It looked rather handmade, with threaded pages and glued bindings, and a tooled leather cover. “Where do they come from?”

“Several at once, usually. A derivation of [Mage Hand] in most cases. Some are [Duplicate]ed, though that spell is heavily guarded by larger Mage Guilds than this one. We order our books from libraries and bookbinders all over. The closest books come from the mostly human Greensoil Republic to the East where many of our farmers hail. There’s also Portal, the largest ocean port for all of the Crystal Forest. They’re almost directly south from here, spread out on the coast, servicing all trade on the Letri Ocean. And then there’s the worldwide Arcanaeum Consortium. They have offices in basically every major city everywhere. Spur used to have an arcanaeum, back before the Great Purge.”

“No mass production in any of those places?”

Zago looked at him. She said, “Not hundreds at a time, if that’s what you mean.”

Erick indicated the books. “So what’re all these books about?”

Zago grinned, then picked up the nearest to her, The Skies Beckon. “I’m fond of this one.” She turned to a marked page, then flipped the book toward Erick. “I feel that this is the best [Fly], but someone like Krakina with her own wings would disagree. I urge you to seek multiple opinions.”

Erick set down his book and picked up Zago’s.

The recipe looked fairly simple. [Airshape] and [Weightless Ward] leveled to 10 and combined for [Soar], which was great for overland travel; not delicate aerial positioning. Then came [Weightless Ward] and [Telekinesis] to create [Precise Positioning], which was exactly as the name implied. Then, those two tier 2 spells together would create [Precise Flight].

A good version of the spell would look something like this:

 

Or:

 

Erick saw a problem. “All of these use [Weightless Ward]. Does that mean no [Absorption Ward] at the same time as [Fly]?”

“Yes. That is a downside to the spell. There are some varieties that don’t require a [Weightless Ward], but those feel clunky. There are some workarounds… But I wouldn’t recommend them. For example, you could enchant a pair of boots or something with [Precise Flight], but that gets hideously expensive unless you’re an adventurer with…” She thought. She said, “With 170 gold in rads to spend every time you want a 50 minute flight.” She waved her hand, adding, “And magical items outside of spell wands are a deathtrap, anyway. Save your money for a rod of [Greater Treat Wounds] and then keep that rod somewhere you can [Teleport] to when needed. And don’t use a flight spell anywhere you expect to be in combat; it’s a small enough restriction to work around.”

Erick looked over the books. “Can I take these books home for a while?”

Zago pushed the books toward him. “Absolutely. You might even find something in there you like better.”

 

– – – –

 

Erick found Krakina in the farms. Valok was with her.

“And the rainmaker returns!” Krakina said, “You don’t need to be here today?” She turned to Valok. “[Grow] requests still up at the guild?”

“Nope.” Valok said. “All [Telekinesis] quests, now, and none posted until tomorrow.”

“I’m actually here to talk to you, Krakina—”

“Me?” Krakina puffed up, smiling. “Yes yes?”

“— What’s the best way to fly?”

“[Airshape] [Telekinesis] no [Weightless Ward],” she answered immediately. “You need your [Absorption Ward] and everything feels loopy when Veird no longer pulls you toward her. It will take personal skill to use this sort of [Fly].”

“… Would I need wings to use that sort of [Fly]?”

“I can’t help if you were born wrong!” Krakina huffed, “Go away. You’re not needed today. Come back tomorrow! We’re working on the fields now.”

Erick looked across the farms. Some people were clearing crystal agaves far away, while others tilled the land into the soil, flipping weeds and unwanted growth into the ground to serve as fertilizer for what was to come.

Erick said, “I can’t help if I was born wrong, either.” Erick stared out over the fields. Some people were opening up what might have been rice paddies by digging out long trenches, then throwing seed down behind them. “Looks good out there.”

Valok said, “We understand we’ll get 24 hours every tenday. We intend to use two 4 hour days, then eight 2 hour days for this next cycle. So 4 hours tomorrow. All in the morning. We want to fill those trenches there with enough water to have rice paddies and we won’t be using any underground water at all. We want to see if this is feasible in the dry season.” He added. “But we may only be capable of two hours in the morning. If we have to break, we’ll break then, then we’ll have a Rest until everyone recovers their mana and come back to the fields in the afternoon. Can we count on that?”

Valok may have said ‘that’, but what he was really asking was ‘Can we count on you?’.

“I’ll be here after breakfast.”

“We’ll be set up and waiting.” Valok nodded. “See you then.”

 

– – – –

 

Erick got back home and sat on a stone chair set Al had made in the living room, under a window. He set the books in front of him on a table, also made by Al, and began reading.

Broadly, there were three categories of ‘good’ flight spells.

All the ‘great flight spells’ used [Weightless Ward], but Erick immediately shot down all of those. He wasn’t going into any sort of battle without a good [Absorption Ward] active. He only had a hundred HP.

The second category of good flight spells avoided giving up [Absorption Ward] by using [Force Platform], which was a disk of hovering hardened mana that moved with you, that you controlled. If you combined [Force Platform] with [Airshape] you could fly pretty fast, and have rather good control. [Force Platform] flight was cheaper and lasted a lot longer that the rest of the options, but had the downside of the user possibly falling off the platform, or having the platform shot out from under them. The books complained that a [Fly] made out of [Force Platform] would always feel horribly unnatural compared to one based on [Weightless Ward].

But Erick could see himself riding a motorbike across the skies.

And the last category of flight spells were pure [Airshape] variants. These all relied on the caster already having wings. Dragons, harpies, and owl shifters could use these variants; everyone else was shit outta luck.

Erick might have been able to make something with particle magic, but messing with gravity…

Just, no.

[Weightless Ward] probably got around the problem of people flying off the planet because of magical mystical reasons. Actually removing the background gravity field from a person, and especially from himself, seemed like an idea no sane person would touch.

But maybe there was some particle magic he could do.

Superconductors.

Once attached to magnetic lines of force, superconductors stayed on that track.

How to make a track?

Uh. What is a superconductor, exactly?

Oh dammit. That’s too much. I don’t know anything about all that.

Wait. Maybe I don’t need to know anything about all that. Maybe the work has already been done for me.

 

 

No.

“Poi? Do you know how a [Force Platform] works? Or a [Force Wall]? What is ‘Force’?”

“Not exactly, sir. I can conjure a [Force Wall] if you would like to poke at it.”

“Yes. Let’s—” Erick paused. He would have to explain to some people if he were to start throwing lightning bolts at a [Force Wall] in the Human District. He didn’t want to do that. But there might be a workaround to that problem, too. “Were you there at the shadowcat fight, Poi?”

“I was not, sir, but I might be able to answer anyway.”

“Did the [Force Walls] around the bombardment tower move when I shot those lightning bolts?”

Poi looked away. He paused. He said, “No, sir. They did not. We would have noticed something like that.”

“Do [Force Walls] ever move in response to anything? In response to attacks that miss them?”

“Nope. They break in response to direct attacks. They do not move in response to missed shots.”

Erick hummed at nothing in particular, then asked a longshot question, “Do you know if a [Force Platform] moves in response to anything Mana Altered into Lightning? What about a different Force spell, like a Bolt or Shrapnel?”

Poi looked up. He said, “Force does not move in response to anything but the caster’s desires.”

“Damn. There goes that idea. Who are you talking to anyway?”

“Killzone, primarily.”

“Can you tell him ‘thank you’?”

“He says ‘No problem-o, Archmage-o’.”

Erick looked up [Airshape] and [Telekinesis].

 

 

 

Yes. Yes.

Might as well try making the spell and see if I like it.

Wait a second.

Zago mentioned boots of flight.

Flying boots are enchanted spells like [Precise Flight], but those spells used [Weightless Ward]. So that means you could use an item with a [Weightless Ward] and it wouldn’t nullify your own [Absorption Ward], right?

“Poi. Can you use Boots of Flight and an [Absorption Ward] at the same time?”

“Of course, sir, but I would advise against considering magical items. They always fail when you need them to work. We try to keep most magical items like that from being sold around here, but some adventurers still like them.”

Erick shook his head. “That wasn’t why I asked that.”

“Very good, sir. Thank you for not making my job difficult, sir.”

Erick frowned at Poi then stood up from the stone chair and went into the kitchen. He got a wooden spoon. Focusing on the end of the spoon, he cast a tiny spell.

[Absorption Ward]

A glitter of white settled around the bowl of the spoon in the shape of a sphere. Erick waved the spoon around, and the [Ward] waved around with it.

… What.

The.

Fuck.

Erick felt like an absolute idiot.

He could cast his flight spell on something else and give everything in the sphere weightlessness.

… Everything of a certain size half weight. Not weightlessness.

He quickly looked through the books.

Yup! There it was! Under group flight.

 

 

Tier 3 spell. Doable.

Erick looked at his spoon. He dismissed the [Absorption Ward] and did something else.

[Special Ward].

A blacklight orb appeared on the spoon. Erick picked up the spoon and moved it around.

Erick still felt like the world’s most absolute idiot. He really should have known he could move [Ward]s around before now. How did he not know this? Why was this ONLY NOW being revealed to him, and only through his own experimentation?

He turned to Poi. “Did you know you can place [Ward]s on objects and the [Ward] will move with the object?”

“Of course, sir, but objects like that are easily torn away from the user in any fight against any competent force. We don’t do that around here; too many people have died to a [Violent Telekinesis] from a Shade, or one of the other monsters in the Dead City. Never set a [Ward] on a movable object; they will be stripped from you. This is one of the first things we warn adventurers against, and one of the primary killers of people inexperienced with the Dead City.”

Erick eyed him. “Really?”

“And artists don’t put [Permanent Special Ward]s on objects, because those objects can be stolen.” Poi shook his head. “We don’t use mobile [Ward]s around here for many different reasons. ‘No mobile [Ward]s of any kind’ is actually a local tenet of both the Adventurer’s and Mage’s Guilds.”

Erick still felt like an idiot, but at least it was good to know he wasn’t alone. He said, “You can continue to do that. I’ll be doing it this way so I can also have an [Absorption Ward] at the same time.”

Poi sighed. He said, “Please attach such a flight [Ward] to your undergarments, or something… Anything really hard to steal, sir.”

“Of course! That’s only good sense!”

“And be aware that anyone looking with Meditation will be able to see that your undergarments are imbued with magic.”

“… You can do that?”

Erick looked at Poi with Meditation on. There wasn’t much different about him. Maybe there was a glow… Nope.

“I don’t believe you.”

Poi let out a long suffering sigh. “Look at the entirety of the manasphere. For the cheap spells I have on right now, you should still be able to see a bend in the local currents. For a more expensive spell, you will see eddies and sinks.”

Now that he knew what to look for, Poi was right. There was a slight flowing stability around Poi, when compared to the rest of the mana flows.

Erick grunted. “Okay. I believe you.”

“Active magic is easy to see; you need [Detect Magic] to see magical items. Even so, one of the primary ways murders happen amongst adventurers is to rip their magical items away and then kill them. Ripping away that wooden spoon you’ve just [Ward]ed would be child’s play to any competent assassin.”

“… That’s depressing.”

“An assassin could also cast [Dispel Magic] around a person, killing all active spells except force spells, magical items, and personal [Wards], or at the very least, severely decreasing spell duration. A flight spell on your undergarments would fall under this category, and thus be subject to hostile dispelling. Personal [Ward]s are naturally twice as hard to dispel as anything else you could dispel.”

Poi was making several good arguments.

But Erick had a foolproof counter argument. “I’ll take all that under advisement, and stay far, far away from any hostile people.”

“… Please don’t make my job harder than it is, sir.”

“I’ll try not to!”

 

– – – –

 

There wasn’t much to do for the rest of the day but to level his magic, working his way toward [Group Precise Flight]. Once he had that, he’d go out into the Crystal Desert and find a monster and…

… And kill it.

Ugh.

Erick shivered.

Then he remembered Jane, all gung-ho, shooting for the stars, and probably able to get there.

And monsters killed people, dammit! Fuck the monsters!

He could kill a monster. He would kill a monster. Maybe even several monsters.

And fly around in magical underpants!

Ha ha!

 

– – – –

 

With only today remaining until he began working at the Farms, where anywhere from 1800 to 3600 of his mana would have to be set aside for [Exalted Storm Aura], Erick had a choice to make.

He could finish leveling [Mend], which would be the entire day’s mana supply.

He could level [Mend] and Mana Shaping, which would level neither to full, but get him further along on both.

Or he could start prepping for [Fly] with all of those prerequisites. Like [Telekinesis].

… [Telekinesis] was pure sex. He had to go with that way. He was eventually going to go all ways—

har har

—but for now! Moving shit with his mind seemed too cool to pass up!

And plus! [Telekinesis] is what the farmers used to pick and plow their fields. And Erick had a field. Well. It wasn’t a field right now. Right now it was mostly just a kid’s sandbox. A very large sandbox, but still, it was his! He was the kid in this situation. And he had new toys to play with!

Erick stood in front of the 15 yard by 20 yard sandy lot that was to be his garden. Ten burlap sacks of soil sat to the side. Two blue boxes hovered in front of him, waiting for him to decide how he wanted to do this.

 

 

 

Time to level some skills.

Oh! And Aurify, too. Cost per second should be low enough.

Aurify.

Mana Shaping.

[Telekinesis].

All around Erick, the manasphere shifted, and to his Meditation enhanced sight, he could see exactly how those shifts occurred. Here and there, whenever he focused on a spot, the mana shifted, and he felt the pressure of the shift—

The spell cut.

1 minute was not very long at all. Erick had a feeling of deja vu, leveling his magic the slow way. He had done this sort of thing with Stoneshape just the other day. Well. There was an easy solution to shorten this training time. It took an instant to activate the magic, and he couldn’t seem to cast faster than once a second, but that was fine.

[Telekinesis]. [Telekinesis]. [Telekinesis]. [Telekinesis]. [Telekinesis]. [Telekinesis]. [Telekinesis]. [Telekinesis]. [Telekinesis].