093 – Jane, 1/2

With her damp hair wrapped in a towel and another towel wrapped around her body, Jane stepped out of the master bathroom of Windy Manor, into the common room, feeling great. She had just treated herself to a nice soak in hot water, with scented oils and lush, pure white soap, for she had accomplished something today that most people never had, or ever wanted to. She smiled at the air, as she looked upon Elemental Body skill number six; the last one.

 

 

She kept smiling as she made her way to her room. She took her time getting dressed, for her mind was in a hundred different places.

The Headmaster had been very good to Jane, giving her access to three different slimes, one rare, two not, and their respective dungeons he maintained around Veird. She did not have the Razorwing Familiar Form that she wanted, but she had cleared her Polymage Class Quest a week ago. She had not turned it in, however, because of a fact she already knew, but didn’t consider a big deal when she was just starting out.

What you did before you got a Class enabled you to have different Classes than the standard issue Classes available. You could always check up on what other Classes were available after you already had one; her father had proven that to her just the other day, by revealing that he could get the Blood Mage class, if he wanted. But changing Classes was rather high up there in difficulty. Even changing a Favored Spell was pretty difficult. Her father’s Quest to take back one of his Favored Spells from [Call Lighting] involved surviving a lightning strike.

Removing a Class was much more difficult; on par with changing your Scion. Getting rid of Polymage, which was something she was pretty sure she would never want to do, was a well known, and highly involved Quest. It required discarding all your Familiar Forms and remaining in your Natural Form for a year, or however long it took for your ‘soul to forget what it could have been’; which was just a fancy way of becoming ineligible for reacquiring your lost Familiar Forms. That process usually took a year, but it could take longer. Jane suspected that if she ever choose to abandon Polymage, that it would take her a long, long time to forget how to be a Shadow Spider.

So Jane had waited to turn in the Quest to the Script. She would go to the Registrar first. She wanted to see if she was eligible for any other, stranger Classes. Not many people got all the Elemental Body forms, after all!

Jane paused in putting on her pants. She should push her hopes down a notch. She tempered her expectations. She might have all the Body skills, and all the Shaping spells, but she had not made a single Prismatic spell. She probably needed to do that. But. Eh. She could still visit the Registrar and see her options. She could even ask the Headmaster his opinions on her possible options. She had earned that right, according to him. He was technically a Registrar, but only because of his position as Rozeta’s Second. If you were one of his Elites, or if you had done him a great service, he talked about practically anything anyone could ask of him, going on long tangents and informative stories about hidden Classes and interesting spells, provided those Classes and Spells were beneficial for him, and his goals.

Jane had noticed that peculiarity of the Headmaster’s rather early in their talks of Earth’s Fake Magic, when Jane spoke of Orbs of Dragonkind. She had memorized all of her books that she had on her laptop, of course, but when she started writing down what she knew, the larger spells and artifacts and magic tumbled out, first. When she mentioned the Orbs of Dragonkind, the Headmaster cleared the room, and had her work in private from then on. Everything she wrote passed under his eyes, first, before being cleared for his Elites to know.

Jane had been rather flippant about the whole thing before that moment. Everything she knew was Fake Magic from Earth, after all; she had even coined that term, herself. But the Headmaster still wanted it, so Jane decided she was going to milk that knowledge for all it was worth. But it was still Fake. Just a bunch of ideas put together by people without any real experience with magic, made to be accessible and give numbers to such ethereal concepts like ‘a bolt of magical force striking a person’ and ‘Health’.

And so, when she wasn’t eating slime cores, she spent several hours each day, spilling ‘secrets’ and occasionally answering the Headmaster’s questions. Occasionally, the Headmaster had more than just questions. He had concerns. Early on in their talks, one of his concerns lodged into Jane’s mind, and would not let go. She had thought about his words every day since then. She was still thinking of them now, as she finished putting on her shirt, and laid back onto her bed.

He had said something like, ‘All this Fake Magic that is so similar to the Script, and yet not; perhaps this is what is holding you back from proper Script spells? Perhaps, you are trying to do too much, and all your ideas are conflicting with each other.’

Then they had a rather large back-and-forth about how some people know all the magic there is, like the Headmaster himself, or any number of the Elite Mages that Jane had seen in her time on Veird.

The Headmaster had gone on to summarize his expansive argument into something like, ‘Yes, it is true that some people are capable of knowing all the magic there is. Most Mage Guild Masters would even fall into that category. But no one can cast it all, Jane, and those who have unfinished thoughts or abnormal ideas rarely get far in their studies of magic. I have seen troubles like yours before. I have seen the children of noble houses, known for their magic, who come to Oceanside as complete failures, for in trying to learn all the magic there is, or in trying to put their own ill-thought twists on what has already come before, they have learned nothing, and gained no power. So I will tell you what I have told them:

‘There is a difference between half-formed ideas, and what you are trying to achieve, and it is thus:

‘What you are looking for is your Truth. You must find this Truth, and it must be a singular vision. But do not feel that you are making yourself smaller by limiting your magic. Indeed, you are deepening your connection to the mana, by deciding who you are, and who you wish to be. Discarding unwanted influences. Condensing and refining a vision to follow, or forge.

‘My own Truth is that of the Sun. How it nurtures growth and life, but is also harsh and unyielding.

‘Your father’s, if I had to hazard a guess, would be a Truth about how the world works on a fundamental level. Many follow his sort of Truth, but even if we all knew the physical theories he knows, I doubt many would be capable of his depths of conviction.

‘Many find their Truth in the solidity of the Script. If you had grown up on Veird and cherished our Script how you had cherished of all this Other Magic you imagine, I would have guided you along the normal Arcanaeum Path. But I doubt that is meant to be.

‘So find your Truth, Jane.’

Jane laid in bed, thinking.

… All she really wanted to do was kill threats, explore the world, and have fun doing it. But that wasn’t really a ‘truth’ was it? Or was it? Eh. Jane sat up. She knew what her problem was, and it wasn’t about any ‘Truth’.

A lot of magical theory out there talked about stuff like ‘Schools of Thought’ creating the cultural basis for magics like the Shaping spells, and the Force spells, based on the magical theory that the Arcanaeums of Veird kept pumping out into the world. Jane would have called it a ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario if that scenario was even remotely true; the egg came first, after all, and then evolution produced the chicken. But whatever the case, Arcanaeum Magic was strong when used correctly, but, according to everything Jane had seen, it was just as much bullshit as anything else.

The problem laid in the fact that Magic was possibility. But possibility only existed when people thought of that possibility in the first place. In the case of Veird’s magic, these communal thoughts created the schools of magic taught in Arcanaeum. In the case of Jane’s gaming books and the new magic of Candlepoint, the Headmaster’s leading theory was that Candlepoint’s shadelings were an attempt by Melemizargo at forcing new magic into the Script, in a roundabout way. Theoretically.

Because that’s how normal Magic worked.

Theoretically.

Jane wanted to scream! Subjective Magic had some very large downsides, and one of them was that no one really knew how any of it worked! And what worked for one person, wouldn’t work for others! And so, it seemed, Jane was the ‘other’.

On the other hand, Subjective Magic was great because it allowed for anything. Anything allowed by the Script, anyway.

But on the third hand! Jane was not great at self delusion or introspection! She wanted to be anything and everything, from the very moment she landed on Veird. How the hell was that concept going to work with finding her own personal ‘Truth’?

Maybe… If her father’s methodology was accepting the world as everyone else saw it, and then adding his own obstinance to it all… Could Jane’s methodology, perhaps, be the exact opposite? Could she just… enforce her will upon the world?

No. Wait. That would make her a tyrant.

But… Was that who she was, at her core?

Jane shook her head. No. That was wrong.

HOPEFULLY THAT WAS WRONG!

Jane didn’t want to think about magic anymore —and she was self aware enough to recognize that as yet another part of the problem. But! Whatever!—so she got up, and went about her day. Maybe she’d ‘find herself’ some other time, because for now, Jane had an appointment with a Registrar.

She glanced toward the note Erick had left on the kitchen table, as she walked through the main room, toward the front door. She had read it a few days ago, but left it there. Delia had not crossed her path, but Jane had purposefully stayed away from that tangled nest of problems.

From what she had found out from asking around, though: Delia was attending classes. So that was good? Probably?

Jane certainly wasn’t going to make herself a [Familiar], though.

 

– – – –

 

In a room with a Script-blue door, Jane sat across from a petite, older incani woman with large black horns and dull red skin, while a large blue box of options hovered to the side. There were a surprising number of shadow-centric Class options on the list. Jane wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that, but the Registrar, Alanaria, was happy to help Jane understand what she was seeing.

“And what’s this one?” Jane asked, “Veirdshaker?”

Alanaria nodded, then read from an invisible part of the air, saying, “A stone-based class, with inherent bonuses to stone control and battlefield dominance. While others are falling down, you are standing strong.” She only needed to read from the air a handful of times this whole meeting. Mostly, she just spoke answers to Jane’s questions like she had studied for the test well before now. She turned to Jane, saying, “Even able to affect fliers, to some extent.”

“How did I qualify for that?”

Alanaria looked to the air again. “A proficiency in all Shaping spells, and the four Natural Elemental Body skills.”

Jane stared at ‘Veirdshaker’ for a few moments. She had not expected that sort of answer from Alanaria. It appeared that ‘Veirdshaker’ was rather close to something she might consider being.

But. Eh. Maybe not.

She pointed to another, Class, asking, “Weapons Master?”

Alanaria didn’t have to read from the air this time, but she did smile a little. “Weapons deal more damage. Conjured or otherwise; does not matter. A peak Weapons Master is able to draw out the shape of their soul and use it as a weapon, or imbue a chosen weapon with a piece of themselves, depending on their own ideas of the Class. The process varies by person. Those that conjure or imbue well might live long after their natural death, as that weapon, looking after those still to come.” She added, “A lot of people from the warring states of Nelboor become Weapons Masters, where weapons are passed down from conqueror to child.”

“How did I get access to that Class, though? I have no history with any of that.”

“A large proficiency with many different weapons.” Alanaria added, “But you are wise to question such an offering. Without the techniques and bloodline history necessary to make such a Class shine, you would only have access to the Class Abilities, and an enhancement of whatever ideas regarding weapons that you might bring to the Class. Going further would require tutelage from another Weapons Master.”

Jane looked back to the list, and asked about one of the many classes that bothered her. “Zealot?”

Alanaria said, “A person willing to enact the will of a Deity.”

“Can you just…” She paused. She asked, “Can you tell me what Classes give? Baseline, I mean. What is a ‘Class’? I already know but… I thought I knew what I was going for, and I expected something else on this list, today.” Jane said, “Something closer to who I am.” She glanced up at ‘Veirdshaker’. “Though some of them are closer than others.”

Alanaria smiled small, then began, “It is perfectly natural to doubt a Class choice. Shall I start my explanation at the beginning?”

“Yes. Please. What is a Class, exactly?”

Alanaria nodded. “In one of the many creations made in order to prevent Melemizargo’s Wrath from killing everyone on Veird and thus ripping this world apart, a higher tier of power was manifested by the Relevant Entities of the Script, and Rozeta, in order for us to combat the Darkness.

“The Classes.

“When a person reaches level 50, thereby proving themselves as capable, the Relevant Entities of the Script allow such a person to ascend to greater heights. When a person accepts a Class, they are taking the whole of their being and applying it in a singular direction in order to go further than they could have gone otherwise.

“But much how like no two people conjure the same sword, every Class is different for each individual. And I don’t mean Water Mage versus Stone Mage. I mean your Water Mage versus another’s Water Mage. You would both have the same Class, but you might take it in very different directions.

“To say it another way: Matriculation into the Script involves the Script carving out a space in the magic for you, but you fill that space with your own magic. Gaining a Class is a further allowance of growth. Putting a plant in a bigger pot, for instance. And I am not talking at all about Class Ability Slots. Every Class gets those, and some more than others, but those don’t matter compared to the Class itself.

“If you were to take Water Mage, you would find, outside of all Ability Slots, your ability to control, change, or affect water, has increased. Either in quantity, or quality; however you chose to grow your own personal ability, the Script would respond.

“This is what it means to have a Class.” Alanaria asked, “Understood?”

“Yes.” Jane asked, “And the rarer Classes?”

Alanaria nodded. She said, “And now, we get into the rarer Classes, and what they mean. Take, for instance, River Mage. This is a variant of Water Mage. By taking the River Mage Class, you would find your rushing water spells and your control over currents vastly increased, even more so than if you were to take Water Mage. The exact nature of the change is up to you as the individual, but if a dam broke and rushing waters threatened a small village, all things being equal, a River Mage would be able to deflect the destructive rush to a greater degree than the Water Mage could.

“Another, slightly smaller thing to keep in mind, is that the suite of available Class Abilities are different between a Water Mage versus a River Mage. While the Water Mage might pull Class Abilities from the entire varied list of water-aligned Classes, and thus have a more generalized suite of options, the River Mage’s Class Abilities would focus primarily on rushing water of all kinds. Don’t expect to find ‘Tranquil Mind’ for 25% more Mana inside River Mage, for example. But a River Mage would always have access to ‘Rushing Mind’, for 25% more Mana Regen.

“‘Tranquil Mind’ and ‘Rushing Mind’ stack with the standard suite of Class Abilities for doubling your Mana or your Mana Regen, too, just so you know.

“If you choose to take a specialty Class over a generalized Class, keep this in mind.

“One last thing to keep in mind: All things being equal, and unless you are set on something specific, it is the official recommendation of Rozeta to take the generalist approach when choosing a Class.”

“Thanks… but…” Jane said, “I was hoping that you could give an example outside of the one I read in the textbooks.”

Alanaria smiled, faintly, like she had heard that complaint a million times before. She answered with a response she likely had said a dozen times today, already, “That’s not how Registrars work.”

Jane asked, “I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about a theoretical ‘Prismatic Polymage’?”

Alanaria said, “I can guess that such a Class would be a rare variant of Polymage. But I have no idea what such a theoretical Class would even provide, or how you would get there.” She said, “But! I can say, that if you have a large enough personal conviction for such a Class, then it should appear on the list.” She glanced to the blue box hanging in the air, to the side. “But, since your desired Class has not appeared, we can conclude that even you, yourself, don’t believe that you have earned the right to such a Class.”

Jane chuckled once. She sighed. She said, “Yeah. That’s about right.”

Jane turned to the floating box of options, and read through the list a few times. ‘Polymage’ seemed to stare at her, telling her that she already knew what she wanted. She had completed that Quest a week ago, but she had yet to turn it in.

 

 

She could have accepted the Class right there. But she did not want to. She wanted to see if she would become eligible for something better, when she finally got the last three Elemental Body skills. Which she had.

 

 

 

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But having all 6 Elemental Body skills did not unlock a special Class. It hadn’t even given her a ‘Special Action’ like she had gotten when she upgraded her flame slime into a flame ooze.

Alanaria said, “I can see you are having some difficulty. I would like to give you some personal advice, if you would allow me?”

Jane looked over to Alanaria, and said, “Yeah. Sure.”

Alanaria said, “Polymage is a great Class for those who enjoy [Polymorph]. It is a good road that many have traveled on, with well researched books and a myriad of personal journals in the library, of those who have come before. Either way, do not forget this: Any Class you choose, you can make your own. That is the beauty of the Script.” She said, “But, since it seems you are a bit lost, I will give you the advice I give everyone who levels, way, way too fast.” She smiled, saying, “You’re level 71, and you Matriculated ten months ago! That is simply too fast!”

Jane smiled to herself.