195, 1/2

One day of rest became more than was planned, of course.

It had started with a simple enough request from Kiri; if she could get one of her office spaces beside her mage tower turned into an extension of her mage tower. From there, Jane joined in, asking if she could get something changed about her rooms, too. If this Fae Magic really was as malleable as Erick had shown, Jane wanted the outer wall of her bedroom opened wider.

Erick happily got on those projects, taking requests and moving around the runic web inside the walls as necessary. He loved every second of it. When he was done with Kiri’s and Jane’s requests, Teressa requested her bedroom’s adjoining bathroom to have larger windows, but it was mostly just an excuse so that she could get in on the lessons, too.

For while Erick was moving around the house, he was also explaining all about Fae Magic, Illusion Magic, and Elemental Mystical.

While Kiri was ecstatic to learn the intricacies, Jane and Teressa wanted to know about all that in order to know what they were dealing with. [Intangibility], to physically shift an item slightly into the Fae. [Concealment], to shift the perception of an item into the Fae. Together, along with [Fairy Item] to create physical items, and [Renew] to make it modular, those spells became [Fairy Stronghold]. The first two were spells best left alone unless one knew what they were doing, for [Concealment], but mostly [Intangibility], could really hurt a person if they used the spell wrong. Like, on the level of a miscast [Cleanse], sort of harm.

That tamped down some of Kiri’s excitement, and cemented Jane’s resignation that this magic was out of her league at the moment, and possibly forever. All of them also knew not to experiment with Fae Magic inside the house, or anywhere, really. Erick had given them the same disclaimers that Kydyr had given him, back before Kydyr was killed by Fairy Moon.

Teressa looked around, and with a worried voice, asked, “So what happens if this breaks with us inside?”

“Nothing big,” Erick said, as he transformed Teressa’s bathroom more to her liking. “The house just breaks and we fall through the vanishing floor, or something like that. This sort of spell doesn’t actually shift someone into Fairy like Ar’Cosmos is shifted into Fairy. It’s a halfway-stop. There are lots and lots of stops along the way into the Deep Fae, and this house is barely under the surface.”

“… Oh,” Teressa said, her worries vanishing.

Erick finished with the new window. “How does that look? Wide enough? If I make it an opening then it will connect to the real world outside, which carries all sorts of minor but workable risks, but that’s not a big deal.”

Teressa shook her head. “No no. Just bigger is fine. This is good.”

Erick nodded, then he judged the rest of the room. One thing stood out. Erick asked, “Is the tub big enough?”

Teressa looked down at the tub. “… It could be bigger.”

Erick smiled, then began casting again, transforming the very large faux-marble tub, which could have fit three men, or one orcol, into a tub that could fit one and a half orcols. It was a decadent fixture, and Teressa loved it. From the looks Kiri and Jane were giving that tub from beyond the door of the room, Erick could tell they wanted a similar tub, too.

Teressa smiled brightly, saying, “That’s good. Thank you, Boss.”

“Is that everything you want, Teressa?” Erick said, “Feel free to ask for anything. This is just mana, after all. None of it is real.” He turned to Kiri and Jane, repeating a warning he had already given twice, “It’ll also break in the presence of any Fae Magic, so don’t go experimenting with that stuff inside the house.”

Kiri nodded.

Jane mocked a salute, saying, “Heard and understood.”

Erick smiled at that.

And, for a brief moment, Teressa was torn. She actually did want something else, but she was afraid to ask. And then she decided to just say what was on her mind, and see what happened, “I like the marble… But it makes me feel like a noblewoman. Maybe plain wood would be nice.”

Erick teased, “I could make it out of solid gold, instead.”

“Ha!” Kiri said, “I want that, please.”

Teressa paled. “Uh. No. That’s… That’s too much.”

Jane scowled at Kiri. “Wouldn’t that weigh too much, and just make the water cold? This stuff does act like the real thing, after all— And it’d be too soft! It’d bend under the water weight… Maybe?”

“Hollow gold, then.” Kiri said, “Steel core, gold leaf.”

“I like stone,” Teressa decided. “I like white marble. This is good.”

Erick happily said, “Then onto the next project! A gold tub for Kiri!”

Kiri clapped her hands and did a little jump as she moved off to her rooms. Erick followed, asking if they liked the floors in the hallways, or if they needed more light fixtures in the ceiling. After adding a few more lights, Erick got back to Kiri’s room and started shifting around everything she wanted shifted. Eventually, Poi decided to join in on the rearrangement. Poi got a balcony and some more lighting and some nice, soft carpets; all little details to make his room more homey.

With the rooms done, Erick decided that he could fix the outside of the house, too, even though no one was actually going to see the house from the outside, except for with mana sense from the inside. Before that could happen, though, he helped all four of his people learn to navigate some of the stranger nuances of living in a Fae Space.

When you left the house, from any angle, the house remained visible for a few seconds, but then it would vanish, and you would return to normal space. Reentering the house would require approaching a known angle of attack, where a door, or window, or other egress had been left open. Or, you would have to approach the front door, because it was expected for everyone to come through that way.

Approaching an open window was a lot more difficult, and near impossible for even Kiri to do with Sunny, while she was inside the house itself, at an open window, and Sunny was right outside, not one meter away. She would learn, though, because after twenty tries of Sunny flying right through Kiri instead of coming inside, Sunny managed to ‘connect’ with the open window, and come inside the Fae Space like normal.

Erick had never had that much trouble moving Ophiel around, but he had Perception, so that likely helped a lot.

Also, [Fairy Stronghold] was his spell, so that helped, too.

There were a few other nuances to the house that everyone would eventually learn with time. One of the largest ones was if you held a hand on the outside wall, then you would remain ‘inside’ the Fae Space, even if you were technically outside. In this way, Erick left the girls and Poi behind as he went outside the house and began shifting around the exterior, smoothing out walls and ‘painting’ them bright white with green trim (all the better to match Yggdrasil), while a string of [Pristine Benevolence] connected him to the house.

Unexpectedly, though, his Benevolence had some side effects.

Where his lightning connected to the house, a trailing vine of bright green leaves and perfect white flowers began growing up the side of the house. This was not exactly what Erick wanted, though, so Erick shifted some stuff around and added some trellises. Now his lightning touched upon the trellises, growing vines that did not seem to need soil at all. Air vines, or something. Whatever the case, they smelled of jasmine.

The mushrooms, though. Those had to go.

Mushrooms would eat away at the fake wood of the house, and that was just not happening right now, or ever. Perhaps Erick should have made the home out of stone, or at least the outside layer, but he had not. This happenstance of mushrooms served to highlight how Erick needed to control his Benevolence better, though.

All he needed to do was remember to suppress his bloodline, and then actually suppress it, which is what he did for the remainder of the day. His [Pristine Benevolence] still sparked and jolted away from his sunform, but it no longer left greenery behind, nor did it leave glowing mushrooms. Good enough, for now!

– – – –

For lunch, Erick made burgers on the large flattop grill that Jane had bought and installed at the house back in Spur. That appliance had joined all the rest of the ones in the kitchen here, at Yggdrasil, and Erick was happy to have it.

This flattop was a variant on the Grand [Prestidigitation] Stove design, and had a grand rad in the bottom of the machine, powering the whole thing. That grand rad would last a very long time, but Erick smiled as he realized how easy it would be to produce this rustless steel product at half-cost, with just runes and [Renew]—

Well.

An estimated half-cost. How much did this thing cost Jane?

Erick ran some estimated numbers through his mind to see if they fit what he was seeing.

The grand rad was the least expensive part of it all, for grand rads were price-controlled by Mage Bank; 1000 gold, flat cost. Jane had likely gathered that herself, too, so it was actually free. The rustless steel flattop, which was large enough to cook for a few orcols, was probably 500g by itself. It’d last forever, though, so that was a good investment. A much cheaper variant which used plain steel would need to be taken out and recast, or [Metalshape]d back to normal steel, as the wear of magic would gradually turn it to rust.

The ‘burners’ of this stove, trapped between the underside of the flattop and piped metal, were made out of very thin platinum wires, like someone had curved platinum back and forth under the rustless steel and then capped it off with [Metalshape]d sealant. That platinum formed heating areas that could be turned on or off based on dials in the front of the appliance. The actual enchantments mostly took place under the machine, inside a rustless steel box attached but separated from the grill top. The grand rad went inside that box, and the machine drew power from that grand rad, while the grand rad continued to soak up power from its surroundings, in order to replenish itself. As long as the machine was allowed 20 hours of rest for every 5 hours of cooking, that grand rad could theoretically last forever.

Erick guessed this stove had run Jane around… 3000 gold.

Erick called out to Jane in the other room, “How much did this flattop cost?”

After a moment, Jane walked in, saying, “Way too much. 3500 gold, without the grand rad; I got that rad myself.”

To make it out of runes and not need a grand rad…

“I don’t think I can actually make this stuff cheaper; not without having it rust out after a day or five,” Erick admitted, and it felt like defeat. But there was a caveat. “But… I think I can make it so you can use [Renew] to fill up a tank, and then bleed off that tank to use as fuel for the enchantments. Removing the cost of rads to power these machines will put them in the hands of normal people… I think.”

Jane shrugged. “That would be useful, sure, but I’m sure that with some proper metallurgy you can solve the rusting problem.”

Erick perked up. “OH! Right. [Condense Oxygen] to remove rust from steel, and then just make everything out of steel. That would plunge the costs down to barely anything at all. I had almost forgotten— Anyway. I should run that experiment. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Jane smiled. “That works, too. Didn’t Tasar invent that spell? She’s probably capitalizing on it already, or maybe that Archmage’s Rest is—” Jane paused. She asked, “What was Tasar’s full title?”

“Archmage Tasar, or Geode Guardian Tasar. Either works. And she’s probably not capitalizing on her magic. Or at least not monetarily. She invented that spell to figure out wrought rot, and then promptly helped the Gemslicers learn that magic, so that they could spread it further. I think that transfer of information likely went through Archmage’s Rest, but I don’t know the exact details.” Erick said, “That spell is being used in the Underworld to rid wrought of what is now being medically called ‘oxygen sickness’. You remember the Gemslicers, right? They’re the ones who have that whole ‘ultraviolet light’ thing sewed up, too. They know all about how light actually works.”

“Those guys are the healers, though?”

“Correct!” While Erick flipped burgers, he explained, “I met one of them by the name of Awir, who apparently Remade my [Luminous Beam] and fed it to the guardians around the Core. He re-Classed as Particle Mage, too, and he’s… Well. He’s a guy who doesn’t really like me because I stepped on his toes in creating [Luminous Beam]. He’s been trying to make a spell like that for a long time, and…”

Erick told stories for a long while as he made lunch, and Jane sat at the kitchen table, sipping her berry soda. She had managed to get Kiri to make a carbonation spell, but Kiri’s version needed a [Cleanse] running at the same time in order to get rid of unwanted side effects of that particular Particle Magic.

When lunch was finally served, Erick asked Kiri about her carbonation spell. That led to Erick talking about [Crystallize Diamond] and conjuring a latticework image of carbon atoms to explain how they fit together to make diamonds. He also went back to talking of Elemental Mystical, to explain how to Remake Clarity, Precision, and Meditation, and what all of those Skills actually meant. This talk of Mystical was important, because Elemental Mystical, when combined with Particle Magic, would produce an end product without any side effects; there would be no need to run [Cleanse] at the same time as [Crystallize Diamond].

(Elemental Illusion could likely achieve the same thing, but Erick felt that Elemental Mystical was better.)

With a good enough understanding of Mystical (and probably Illusion, too) there would be no need to run [Cleanse] during any Particle Magic at all. This, then, was a minor revolution of Particle Magic that Erick wanted to spread out there, too; perhaps as a Class Ability he could make himself, but also as general knowledge that others could take and use as well. It was through Mystical and Illusion that Yggdrasil had managed to make himself this big, this fast, and it was through the Mystical that all Health and Mana Cost Reductions worked.

“There’s Elemental Mystical everywhere in this world,” Erick said. And then he added a maybe-Truth, “This is likely part of the reason why Melemizargo thinks this world is fake.”

Teressa, Kiri, Jane, and even Poi, a little, were caught off guard by that. Poi asked to shut down further conversation about Melemizargo, though, so Erick didn’t speak more of that possible-Truth. He returned to talking of Elemental Mystical, and what he had learned on his Worldly Path. He was finally getting a chance to talk to his people about this stuff, and this was stuff they needed to know.

The conversation went well past lunchtime and eventually ended up in the front yard of the house, upon the bare, glowing branch of Yggdrasil, with Erick’s daughter, his apprentice, and his two guards standing behind him. For it was time to make magic.

[Crystallize Diamond] was a spell Erick had made a while ago, and which served as the basis for all the Stat Rings Erick had gone on to make. The only problem with the spell is that Erick needed to run [Cleanse] at the same time to negate all the toxic particle effects that his magic created in the pursuit of perfectly aligned carbon. The fix for this was, of course, Elemental Mystical.

Erick added [Airshape] too, though, in order to move more air through the space, and to make the resulting diamond grow even faster, and to hover in place while it was growing. Erick just liked the idea of a hovering, growing diamond, and what was magic for if not for having fun?

One by one, Erick channeled the sounds of his spellwork through his hands, and then handed them off to Ophiel to bring the song to fruition. And then, he held up a hand with his fingers loosely cupped, and cast.

A breezy song of static clarity threaded through the air, drawing power and wind through Erick’s fingertips like the gathering of a very tiny storm upon his palm. A diamond began to form above his hand, starting off as a tiny speck of almost-nothing, and then rapidly blossoming into a perfect tetrahedron. In five short seconds, the diamond grew to half the size of his pinky finger’s nail, but it was just getting started. Erick dropped his hand away, and the diamond continued to float in the air, growing and growing with every passing second. He instinctively felt he could cancel the spell at any time, but there was no need. The spell was working perfectly.

After twenty seconds of growth, a blue box appeared.

“Ah ha!” Erick showed off the spell, and had an Ophiel open up a [Cleansing Aura]. When no thick air spilled away from the still-growing diamond, Erick said, “And no thick air! Works just like I said it would.”

“You make it look so easy.” Kiri chuckled. “Ah. Okay. I can figure this out. Thank you, Erick.”

Jane scrunched her face at her father, though, asking, “Were you… Worried that it wouldn’t work?”

Erick tensed. “Maybe. Still working out these Benevolence kinks, and they seem to show up when least expected. I almost expected something odd to happen… And you know what? Let’s just see what happens when oddities are introduced.” Erick held up a hand—

Kiri and Teressa went wide-eyed. Poi grimaced. Jane just looked curious.

—and sent a jolt of Benevolence into the still-manifesting diamond. Lightning struck, and suddenly the diamond was twice as large as it had been. The size of his thumb-nail, now. He retracted his lightning and stared at the growing diamond with all of his senses, and wondered…

He sent a continuous jolt into the manifesting diamond, trickling mana into the spell, and the resultant product. Ten mana. Twenty mana. Erick didn’t stop, or slow, or speed up, for this seemed to be a quick enough rate, for the diamond seemed to drink in the power Erick gave it, coming alive with its own brilliant white iridescence, growing to the size of his thumb, now, and then even larger—

The diamond and its spell shattered, bursting white shards and dust away from the epicenter of a splash of lightning.

Erick rapidly captured most of those shards and some of the dust inside a sweeping grasp of light, bringing them back to a single space. He held the mess up, inspecting it. The dust looked completely inert, but the larger shards seemed… Brighter? Hmm. Ophiel’s [Cleansing Aura] was still going, but none of the shards turned to thick air; they must have been normal diamond—

A spark of Benevolence flickered out of the largest diamond shard and vanished on the wind.

… What did that mean?

Jane said, “I’ll leave you to figure that out, dad. I can’t wait to see what sort of new Stat Rings you make, but I’ve still got a room to sort out.” She waved behind her as she walked away.

“Let me know if you want help!” Erick glanced over to see Jane walk away, but he was mostly focused on whatever was happening here with this diamond. “I wonder if it means anything… Maybe the Benevolence interacted with the Mystical? Or… Hmm.”

Kiri stood beside Erick, looking at the shards of diamond in his palm. “Adding strong magic to delicate magics usually messes up the more delicate spell. The point where that happens is called the Interruption Point. I think you just reached the Interruption Point in [Manifest Perfect Diamond].”

“Hmm…” Erick said, “I don’t think I’ve encountered that particular theory, but it makes sense. I wonder what did it, though. Specifically, I mean.”

Kiri started, “I don’t know enough about Mystical, but the smaller Particle Magics are highly prone to being called ‘delicate magic’. The Arcanaeum Consortium published their first Particle Magic book four months ago… I think you were at Songli?”

Erick perked up. “Oh! Do you have that book?”

“I do!” Kiri said, “And a lot more besides.”

Teressa and Poi took that as their cue to leave, too, both of them walking back into the house, following Jane… Who was still stuck looking for the front door. Her hands were out and fumbling through the empty air, and Erick almost wanted to help her find her way, but Teressa got there first, and offered. Jane told them that she was perfectly capable of finding the entrance to the house.

She just needed a moment.

Teressa smiled and walked past Jane, into the house, vanishing from sight the second she crossed the threshold to the porch.

Jane just stood there, dumbfounded and looking embarrassed for half a moment, before she, too, found the entrance. She was just a half step too far to the left, and that was an easy enough fix. Poi followed in after her.

And Erick turned his full attention back to Kiri.

They talked of Particle Magic and Chelation and alchemical news, moving from the front yard to the porch, and then to the library where Teressa brought them coffee and cookies. Erick thanked Teressa for those, and then he continued to talk magic with Kiri.

Poi made dinner. It was fish and sauces and rice. It was simple, and it was wonderful.

Erick got to bed at a normal time, and that was nice, too.

– – – –

Erick grumbled, tossing over in bed while ‘twilight’ shone brightly through his windows. Perhaps too brightly. The curtains were half drawn, keeping away most of the light, because light wasn’t strictly necessary to be able to see one’s surroundings. Even through barely-open eyes, Erick could still mana sense everything around him as much as he wanted. But as he lay there, blinking and being annoyed, the light seemed even brighter.

It was a sad fact of life on Veird that Erick was still not comfortable sleeping in anything but total dark, and yet, sleeping in total dark simply wasn’t an option.

The dark was uncomfortable because Erick knew who lived in the dark. He could have shut the curtains all the way, but he didn’t want to invite that dragon into his life. Not right yet. Otherwise, he would have been perfectly comfortable in pure darkness. It wasn’t like the dark actually hid anything to his Perception enhanced eyes, or to Ophiel’s eyes either.

Seeing that Erick was moving around again, Ophiel fluffed up on his perch upon the headboard, his eyes glittering in the calm light of the room. He twittered very quietly, almost experimentally, wondering if Erick was getting up. It was rather early to get up, after all.

Erick also wondered if he was going to get up, or if he could force himself to sleep some more.

For a while, he just lay there, bleary-eyed and wrapped in comfortable blankets. What time was it? He had no idea. Back in Ar’Cosmos Fairy Moon had gifted him an ‘electronic clock’. It was a green stone, like a brick of jade, that projected glowing numbers into the air itself. He really liked that clock. It reminded him of his alarm clock back on Earth, but with green numbers instead of red.

Erick wanted that fairy clock.

Next time he saw Fairy Moon, which would probably be too soon, Erick would ask for that clock.

Ophiel twittered again, a bit quieter, but more insistent. Are you getting up? Are you getting up? Is it time to sing songs yet?

“Yup yup.” Erick sat up. “I suppose that’s enough sleep for tonight.”

Ophiel trilled in quiet happiness as he landed upon Erick’s shoulder. Yggdrasil’s iridescent [Scry] eye, which had been hovering on the other perch of Erick’s bed, took his place on Erick’s other shoulder. And now he was fully awake.

Might as well take advantage of the extra hours, right? It was time to get back to proper work; to prepare for what was to come. Erick flipped his covers off and swung out of bed.

There was spellwork to be done!

… Even if it was still hours to twilight. All that light outside of his room was not actual twilight. It was Yggdrasil, being his normal, happy and bright self. Erick wasn’t about to ask him to turn it down, either, but he was absolutely sure that Yggdrasil was brighter these days, and by a lot. Like, noticeably a lot.

– – – –

Well dressed for an excursion into the desert at night, and with [Conjure Armor] robes to boot, Erick stepped down the stairs toward the first floor landing. Kiri’s couatl-shaped [Familiar] hung out on a little pillow beside the main staircase, tucked into a small alcove like a little defender. Sunny shimmered in rainbow hues as Erick passed, while Ophiel twittered in small violins in response. And then Sunny returned to her cat-like nap, and Ophiel turned his attention back toward Erick’s destination; the front door.

Beyond an archway near the foyer, was a reading room. Teressa sat in the side room, doing what the room was made to allow, while also being on nightwatch. It would probably take everyone a long while to realize that nothing was going to happen at night inside this house, but they were all worried, and Erick couldn’t blame them.

Teressa glanced Erick’s way as he passed, first freezing with worry, and then rapidly thawing. She had been rather engrossed in her reading, it seems, but she came out of it fast enough, a dozen thoughts flitting through her head. Primarily, she looked to the space where Erick’s fairy necklace lay upon his chest. She didn’t like that thing. Even with Ophiel betraying where Erick went, that little necklace prevented her from seeing all of Erick’s actual worldline.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

She dispersed her worries fast enough so that she could fake a proper tone, though, asking, “What’s upPP—” Her voice cracked. She tried again, “What’s up, Boss?”

“Out to do some magic, and then off to talk to some people. I’ll be back. Don’t worry about me.”

“… Do you want—” Teressa had started with a half-hearted attempt at offering something, but then she realized that that would have been improper for so many different reasons, not the least of which that she was a guard, and she should be ready to guard whenever asked, and even when not asked at all. So she stood, saying, “Let me wake up Poi and I will go with you. You need a spotter, right?”

Erick grinned, saying, “I would like a spotter. Thanks for offering.”

Teressa nodded firmly, then began moving, out of the reading room, into the foyer then past Erick, saying, “I’ll get the rod of [Greater Treat Wounds].”

“Might want to pick up your shield, too. Never know what’s out there at night.

Teressa paused in realization that maybe she could actually defend like she was used to, and then she resumed walking, saying, “Of course. This is my duty.”

Erick tried to contain some of his joy; Teressa wasn’t fully comfortable with him yet, but she was getting there, and faster than he had expected. It took Poi apparently a year to come around to the idea that Erick was a Wizard, and that this was not automatically a bad thing, but then again, Poi had been there first, back before it was obvious what kinda person Erick truly was. Teressa had only found out a few days ago; well after she had already formed opinions that were, apparently, based on lies.

But she was adjusting well.

Erick happily watched as Teressa continued on, to grab the rod of [Greater Treat Wounds] from the kitchen, conjure her usual fully-enclosed armor, and then tuck the rod into a compartment on her back. With a quick cast of grey magic, she empowered the adamantium shield that she had gotten from Enduring Forge, and commanded it to float upon her back. A knock on Poi’s door was enough to wake the guy. Poi grumbled awake and then dispelled his brief annoyance, understanding what was happening without being told, and Teressa rejoined Erick in the foyer of the house.

Erick asked, “How did you guys get one of those rods, anyway? I thought we had run out?”

Teressa’s fully-encased armor was a sight to behold, making her look like a tank from Earth, but in person form. Her helmet was completely solid, too. She seemed truly imposing in that conjuring, but her voice wasn’t so solid, as she said, “Ah? Kiri needed one, and… Well she’s made some money, and commissioned several from Oceanside for the Army. Bulk shipment of twenty-five, for the cost of 10.”

“Still like 250,000 a piece, though, right?” Erick suddenly realized that he could…