Chapter 5: Secret Space
As my training progressed with Damian, I missed spending my evenings with quiet Helena and having extra staff practice. Helena was rough around the edges, but as I felt more and more comfortable in my new world, the scarred and muscular woman was looking better and better to me. Then again, she was the only woman I got to see on a regular basis.
I met with Damian almost every evening as he guided me on the principles of learning a spell and creating a spell form. He thought I would not learn the dimensional pocket as a spell, but instead utilize my innate ability to imprint a simple spell form on my core to create the pocket space. He assured me that I could eventually create the spell form, as long as my affinity score was over 10. Some people just took longer than others to manifest it.
Very few people could learn the intricacies of memorizing and casting spells; it took a high skill in aether shaping and memorization of the complex spell forms. It was also going to be a few weeks before a copy of the spell forms could be transported from the Mage College to help guide my visualization. He assured me he had sent the request, and it would arrive.
Damian was a patient teacher, but he was seemed very bored in his assignment as a healer to the training legion. His assistance was invaluable as, at my next testing, I had substantial gains in my magical development. My gains were so significant that the fort’s commander was informed, and he called me before him.
Physical
Mental
Magical
Strength
(+1/+0)
45/79
Intellect
(+2/+0)
28/54
Aether Pool
(+2/+0)
12/22
Power
(+2/+0)
42/82
Reasoning
(+2/+0)
42/59
Channeling
(+2/+0)
9/55
Quickness
(+1/+0)
27/49
Perception
(+0/+0)
52/60
Aether Shaping
(+2/+0)
6/8
Dexterity
(+2/+0)
27/56
Insight
(+2/+0)
30/49
Aether Tolerance
(+1/+0)
21/50
Endurance
(+0/+0)
56/87
Resilience
(+1/+0)
45/71
Aether Resistance
(+1/+0)
4/19
Constitution
(+2/+0)
36/65
Empathy
(+0/+0)
10/21
Prime Aether Affinity
Space
Coordination
(+2/+0)
37/61
Fortitude
(+1/+0)
45/89
Minor Aether Affinity
Time
He looked over the transcribed numbers on a piece of paper while I stood at attention. Then he spoke. “Soldier, how did you make such significant gains in your magical attributes in three weeks?” His icy blue eyes focused on me.
“During our free time after dinner, one of the healing mages had been helping me, Commander.” The commander was a very large man who shifted in his chair, which groaned slightly. He pulled out some more paperwork and read it.
“Do you think you can learn to create a dimensional space, soldier? Before you complete the training?” he asked sternly. I had absolutely no idea. I didn’t even know if I was close. I was hoping my ridiculous score in space magic would have helped by now.
“Yes, sir!” I said with confidence, even though it was faked. He nodded and looked at some more papers.
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“Okay, you can work with the healing mage. Is it Damian?” I nodded. “Work with him in the morning as well as the evening. You can have the second daily conditioning phase off. There are three requests for a soldier with a dimensional storage ability or spell. One is from one of the Emperor’s sons.” He looked at me again and focused on my amulet.
“I no longer require the amulet, Commander. I have a basic understanding of Telhian.” I answered his question before it was asked. It would have been embarrassing for him to send someone who couldn’t communicate with his commander.
“You are dismissed. Damian will keep me updated on your progress.” I left the intimidating gaze of the man.
I didn’t see Damian for the two days of weapon testing, but I did much better than I anticipated. I finished 12th in sword ranking, 15th in sword and shield, 20th in the dagger, 9th in hand-to-hand, and 4th in the spear. Although my rankings didn’t improve much, I thought my level of ability had closed the gap with those I had previously deemed far superior to me. I also had a feeling that the commander had tested us with the spear to reward me since it was my best weapon. I still missed out on an essence reward, though.
Damian still had not returned, and I asked one of the other mages about it. He said the commander had sent Damian to retrieve a spell and would be back soon. I immediately guessed it was my dimensional space spell. As training resumed, there were only 43 of us left. I had been so preoccupied with my own problems that I didn’t notice the cuts from the tablet testing and the combat rankings. We were quickly zeroing in on the desired 30 graduates.
Getting the second half of conditioning off did not endear me to my fellow legionnaires. The special treatment meant I had to deal with more aggression from multiple directions during combat training. In the four days before Damian returned, I suffered just as many broken bones, punctures, and lacerations as I had in the previous nine weeks.
Damian appeared one night after dinner while I was exercising by myself near the lake. The lake was quiet, and the other soldiers rarely came up there. He waved a pamphlet as he approached. “I got the spell, and a more recent copy at that!” he said excitedly. We spent the evening going over the spell, and Damian explained things as best he could. “I was unable to get the simplified spell form, but we can work from the actual spell instead!”
The best way to describe a spell was complex geometric math. The spell forms wrote out the formula, and when you funneled your aether stores into it, you got the result. It meant magic had a massive range based on changing a few variables. During the rest of the interim weeks between testing, we worked on the spell, and I was actually starting to get an understanding of magic. It was an obscure understanding, but at least that was something. My progression was not good when the testing rolled around compared to my prior efforts.
Physical
Mental
Magical
Strength
(+1/+0)
46/79
Intellect
(+0/+0)
28/54
Aether Pool
(+0/+0)
12/22
Power
(+1/+0)
43/82
Reasoning
(+2/+0)
44/59
Channeling
(+1/+0)
10/55
Quickness
(+2/+0)
29/49
Perception
(+0/+0)
52/60
Aether Shaping
(+0/+0)
6/8
Dexterity
(+0/+0)
27/56
Insight
(+1/+0)
31/49
Aether Tolerance
(+0/+0)
21/50
Endurance
(+0/+0)
56/87
Resilience
(+0/+0)
45/71
Aether Resistance
(+0/+0)
4/19
Constitution
(+1/+0)
37/65
Empathy
(+0/+0)
10/21
Prime Aether Affinity
Space
Coordination
(+1/+0)
38/61
Fortitude
(+1/+0)
46/89
Minor Aether Affinity
Time
At our next tutoring session, Damian revealed that my scores put me at 28th in my training group. He told me I had dropped four positions from three weeks ago. The good news was the commander was very interested in seeing me learn a space storage spell form. He would be in line for a reward if he produced a soldier with a dimensional pocket.
At the weapons ranking, things went terribly. I was essentially ganged up on as my barracks shared information about my habits and weaknesses. I finished 22nd in sword ranking, 25th in sword and shield, 34th in the dagger, 14th in hand-to-hand, and 11th in dual wield. They made no secret of sharing my deficiencies among themselves—so much for building camaraderie.
We only lost three between the tablet and weapons ranking, bringing us down to 37. If it was true that only 30 could graduate, then it was going to be pretty brutal to avoid being one of the last seven cuts. I actually wished I had made an effort to make friends. The problem I had was that everyone was kind of an asshole, and even Helena spurned me for the special treatment I was being given. They were here because they had either committed brutal crimes or wanted to be at the top of the food chain.
Fortunately, things worked out for me a week after we dropped our numbers to 37. My dimensional space spell form imprinted. Mentally, it was like a series of gears clicking into place with a slight bout of indigestion.
I had finally obtained my dimensional space! And it was far more powerful than I imagined. I tested it for the first time, reaching into my aether core and pushing aether through the spell form. A translucent cube appeared, visible only to me, and oriented to my person. According to the spell description, there was no gravity and no passage of time inside the cube. Even if the space was open, I could actively allow objects to pass through the area without placing objects inside. People wouldn’t be aware of the space as only I could see it. It took a lot of mental effort to selectively send objects in the cube’s orientation to the dimensional space. It was easier to just send everything in the space and not think about it separating things out.
There were negatives. Keeping the open space cost me aether, and I had a minimum amount to spend to access the cube—so my pathetic aether attribute of 12 made it somewhat limiting. When I ran out of aether, the space closed no matter what, shearing off the objects not fully inside the cube.
I excitedly found Damian. “It works. I got my pocket space!” Damian’s face showed surprise, followed by joy.
“How large is the space?” He asked. My space was a large cube, ten feet to a side. I knew he would be impressed but decided on caution.
“How big do you think it is? What is a good size?” I prompted a reply.
“A cubic foot would be exceptional! But six cubic inches should be enough to get you a messenger position,” he said, anxiously awaiting my response.
I paused. The actual spell book I learned from created a space of about a cubic foot, so my space was about 1000 times that volume. I guessed it had to do with my space magic stat of 98. If I revealed this, would I end up married to some princess? Or would I end up being enslaved to a king transporting illicit items for him? I decided to go for the middle ground and keep my true talent secret for now. “It is just over a cubic foot, maybe one and a half feet to the side,” I revealed.
“We should go to the commander immediately! He will want to hear this! And he will probably test you to confirm what you are saying is true.” Damian was bouncing all the way to the manor and kept telling me to hurry up.
In front of the commander, it was as he said. I was tested to confirm that I did have a space the size I mentioned, roughly eighteen inches. The commander’s smile grew as everything was confirmed with experimentation. I also found out that I was even more fortunate. Because the space was formed as a spell form ability and not a spell, it was permanent. If I had used a spell, then my link to the space could have been broken with a spell to dispel magic, or if I had been knocked unconscious. All the contents would have been ejected in that case. Now, the only way to access the items in my space was to kill me, thus canceling the spell form.
The commander spoke. “The Emperor’s son’s request has already been fulfilled, but the other two requests in the Empire are still open. I will send word of your potential and wait to hear back.” He seemed eager as he started writing the letters. According to Damian, the commander was in line for a sizable bonus. He said while writing, “There is great news for you. Once your assignment is approved, you will be promoted to full legionnaire under the Lion’s banner. You will start receiving payments. Of course, we should get you fitted for your legionnaire’s gear. You were probably not told, but your salary will be withheld to pay for the gear. Seventeen gold in total.”
My jaw dropped. That was astronomical compared to the 40 silver I owed the farmers. “Don’t worry about it. You are gifted a full set of gear on your 5th anniversary. So, if your gear is intact, you will get the coin back. You will probably earn more than 5 silver and 40 copper per week, as you will also be a specialist. But that will depend on your assignment.”
I did the rough math in my head. That 17 gold was over 310 weeks of pay! I didn’t know if I should be angry or not. As we left the commander, Damian tried to soothe me. “Don’t worry. You are allowed to take loans out against future pay, up to 5 silver a week. The equipment payment is just to let you know that it is owned by the Telhian Empire and not yours until you complete five years of service.” That did make me feel slightly better—actually, no, it didn’t. “So keep it in good order and don’t borrow too heavily. The annual interest is low, but it does add up.” He finished by clapping me on the back.
Great, I was in an Empire that was aware of how to use compounding interest against you!
The next day, during training, the commander came out and watched. It was the first time he had watched our particular class, and everyone tried to impress him. When my opponent got a head strike on me with his pommel, causing a bloody laceration and concussion, the instructor rushed in and reprimanded him. This left our group stunned. No one had ever been reprimanded for a good, non-lethal strike. It was, of course, because I was now valuable to the commander. Damaging his little piggy bank was off-limits.
Four days later, Damian found me after breakfast. “Word just came down. You are going to be assigned to Mage Commander Castile.” He didn’t seem too enthused delivering the news.
“So what is the problem?” I asked, worried by his tone.
“She is a bit of a problem solver. She takes on the most difficult assignments. Her legionnaires are top tier, but due to their dangerous missions, they frequently need to replace legionaries.” He had a grim look on his face.
God fucking damn it! I was assigned to the suicide squad!