MAGNUS

It took the full two day hike back down to the cabin before my aether wasn’t draining away into the once again idle Talent. At which point Varis promptly dropped back into her crystal with muttered curses about missed naps. All of us took the time to get a good rest after that. Grandfather took the obelisk pieces to the workshop, and left with Fenris to collect the rest after making sure I was okay. It would only take him a day to get out there and back if Fenris let him ride.

The morning after our return I awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon drifting through the house. I nudged Richard who was asleep in the hammock we had hung in my room. The little spider he had acquired crawled out from behind his head, startling me into jumping back as Richard muttered about letting him sleep. I watched as the little spider raised its two forelegs in an arachnid shrug.

“If he wants hot breakfast he may want to get up,” I told the little creature.

It must have understood me because it crawled up the hammock and started poking one of its legs into Richard’s cheek as he slept. “Be careful, he slaps,” I warned quickly.

The warning was just in time as Richard batted at the irritation. The spider actually jumped a foot upwards to dodge the swing, and came back down on Richard’s stomach. The little thing may only have a body the size of my pixie, but she obviously had more weight; as Richard grunted as the breath was forced out of him. He opened his eyes to look at the critter that had forced him awake. I had to suppress laughter as it pointed it’s foreleg at me and I swear somehow produced an innocent expression.

Richard brought his hand back and rubbed the little spider with his index finger as he said, “Yeah right little one. I know I can be a pain to wake. Thank you.”

A happy chitter escaped the spider before it jumped over to where Richard had hung his belt and faded back into it’s crystal home. I looked from the crystal to my friend and asked, “Decided to keep her out to snuggle with?”

The big blacksmith snorted out laughter and said, “No, she was in the crystal when I went to bed.”

I cocked my head and asked, “How does she regenerate aether?”

“Proximity to metal, the more metal she’s near the faster it regenerates,” he replied.

“Ahh, that explains it,” I said.

He looked at me curiously so I explained, “The crystals are set up with the maximum free will for the creatures. Since she restores her aether by being around metal and she creates metal webbing for a nest, it means if she has a nest in her crystal sanctuary then she can summon herself.”

Rising to his feet he stretched and said, “I didn’t know that was possible.”

“Yeah, I looked it up after my talk with Varis. Some creatures are able to do that, but only the ones who can generate a stable element for their home. You mostly see it in the aquatic types since they need water to survive to begin with. I haven’t seen a fish with enough brains to come out of a crystal on its own,” I explained.

He nodded and took a sniff of the air, his stomach gurgling in approval. I clapped him on the shoulder and headed downstairs thinking about the conversation. Honestly there were a large number of creatures that could enhance their own regeneration from within a well made summoning crystal. Most binders didn’t give them full freedom though, which mostly negated the benefit. I would have to figure out the requirements for the various creatures we had.

As we entered the dining room I saw Jessica, wearing my grandfather’s apron, and sliding scrambled eggs and bacon onto a platter next to an impressive stack of waffles. I stepped forward and helped haul the food to the table as she asked, “How did the old man make a waffle iron?”

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“Don’t ask me, he’s had it since I was a kid. He loves to cook and is always complaining about having to remember how some utensil or appliance functions. I think some of the projects he’s working on are different things for a home or kitchen that aren’t needed, but just helpful,” I said.

“Yeah he told me about the air conditioner. I’m surprised he didn’t devote more time to that one,” she said.

I grinned and replied, “That’s because he couldn’t figure out a way to regulate the temperature. He either got it freezing or not cold enough, and having to charge up the spell all the time made it less useful.”

“But what about your visor and pistol? You don’t charge those on use,” she said.

I gave her the mischievous smirk they had all commented on and she sighed, “You already figured out how to complete the projects didn you?”

I set the platters of food down and said, “Partially. I figured out how to charge the spells, the method I use for the visor would work best. I still want to work on the efficiency of it though.”

“Why didn’t you go into the Engineering program again?” she asked playfully.

My good cheer sobered a little with the reminder, “Honestly I probably would have if I didn’t need the resources and freedom. I could gain those though being an engineer true, but the investigative techniques Stormleaf wants to teach us will be too useful.”

We all started grabbing food as the conversation shifted back to school. Takahashi asked, “Did everyone settle on their program? My sister is in the Military program and I am going into the Support program, but I’m also taking some of the combat classes.”

Vara swallowed and said, “Operative, though the advanced creature classes also seem like they would benefit my talents.”

Richard unsurprisingly was in the Engineering program, and was taking classes regarding logistics and trade skills. Jessica was the surprise though as she said, “I’m also going Operative. I was looking at Support originally, but honestly I see the need for the agents too much now. Look at that situation with the obelisk. What would have happened if we hadn’t been there to deal with it; or imagine if they had put it in ranching land where the herds of placid animals are mostly unwatched.”

I shuddered a bit at the thought. There were a number of creatures that were normally peaceful that lived near undefended communities. If whoever put that obelisk up gained control over them he or she could cause massive loss of life.

We talked a bit more about our schedule when we returned. Aside from Richard we would all be in Integrated Combat together, and I could see Mai was looking forward to sparring with Vara since they hadn’t done much of it during our previous class.

After a quick clean up the siblings went outside to do their regular practice in Sri’Dat, while Vara and Richard almost attacked grandfather’s library. Jessica however followed me to the workshop after I caught her eye.

“What mad scheme do you have now?” she asked as I sat at the drafting table I used for design work.

“My advantage in combat isn’t the same as the rest of you. You and Ezekiel have aether to spare for hordes of creatures and spells all day long. Vara is an expert with her rapier and has combat oriented summons that would be difficult for most to deal with. While I’m good in a fight, I can’t stay the same as I am if I run into another situation like the other day,” I said.

“Yeah that doesn’t answer the question,” she said.

I gave her a grin, “Time for some upgrades, and you’re going to help.”

“Oh I am, am I?” she said with a raised eyebrow.

“What, did you think I missed the phrasing and comments you use are similar to grandfather? Seriously, if you had to describe me to someone to get them to hire me for a job, what would you tell them I was good at?” I said.

She grunted and said, “You are astonishing at finding patterns, and you have a talent for causing mischief.”

I glared at her due to the mischief comment, while true I don’t think most would like it, and said, “Which means you have ideas that I can leverage that most won’t have seen. I just need to figure out how to make them happen. So first I need to upgrade my weapons, then I want your ideas on the visor. If you have any wild and crazy ideas you want to run past me after that I’ll see what I can figure out.

“Okay, deal; but I want a pair of the new pistols for myself. A visor too if we have time, since I don’t have your Aether Sight,” she agreed.

“Okay, let’s do design work today. If you help me with actually making the gear we might be able to finish a few different projects before the break is over,” I said as I pushed a rolling stool out from the table and over to her.

She sat and said, “Well first thing first. You need to either add some penetration power to that peashooter, or come up with a selector switch to change between attack types.”

I started writing her ideas down, my lips curling up into a smile.