Chapter 4.1: Thief, Part 1
My manasense immediately went rampant around the room, searching desperately for my mana crystal threads. They were gone. I knew immediately what this meant – someone was watching me. No one could have known about them unless they overheard my conversation with Julian the night prior. I had to maintain my composure.
“You must’ve left it open when we left,” Julian said.
“Oh my, what is this music?” Othili asked as we entered the room.
“It’s…” I said, struggling to compose myself. “I’m Andwyrdan. It’s a crystal growth matrix.” I pointed to the doohickey sitting atop my dresser.
“Ah, you’re Andwyrdan? I’ll admit, I always found Andwyrdanism to be a touch odd. Most religions worship deities, but you worship… magic?” Othili asked.
“No, we just strive to make Change beautiful. Music, art, that sort of stuff. If there’s anything we worship, it’s our founders, the Eldest,” I replied.
“Ah, I see. Well, thank the eldest for me. This music is simply divine.”
“Thanks, and it’s Eldest, with a capital E. I’m willing to bet you didn’t capitalize it in your head.”
“What are you, a Dream mage?” Garberend asked.
“Nope, I’ve just–” I shot a look at Julian, “I’ve had this exact conversation lots of times.”
It couldn’t have been him, could it? He left with me in the morning, and they were still there then… could he have circled back?
My mind was swimming with possibilities. It could have been him, he could have hidden his surprise when he first felt them… or it could have been a stalker, who was surprised when Julian mentioned threads that they couldn’t see. It could’ve even been someone ransacking the room, completely unrelated to our conversation, and coming across the threads on their own. I’d have to check if the grimoire was still there when I got some privacy.
We continued to talk, and eventually, Othili and Garberend went back to their rooms to sleep.
Julian and I said our goodbyes, and he climbed into his bed. I climbed into mine, silently moved some Crystal mana into my dresser, and copied the runes I saw Professor Andsware draw on the board for First Circle temporary crystallization. A small crystal appeared in the dresser, and to my manasense. I began a second set of runes to move it around. I jostled it around the drawer as lightly as I could, needing to recrystallize the mana a few times as I wasn’t able to memorize the full loop yet, until it bumped into something more solid than my clothes. The grimoire is still there. I sighed in relief, released the rune sets, and went to sleep.
[break]
When I woke up, Julian was doing… odd stretches in the middle of the room. “What are you doing?” I asked groggily.
“Yoga. Never heard of it?”
“Not once.”
Julian shrugged. “It’s like exercising, but it’s for strengthening your core.”
“Your stretching strengthens your core? I’ve never heard of that,” I responded.
“No–” Julian stammered, “No, it’s, like, your body’s core. It makes moving around ‘n’ stuff easier, and it makes you stronger. It’s just exercise by stretching.”
“Oh,” I responded.
“What, no jokes? I’ve only known you for a little over a day, but I’m fairly certain you’d have something to say about that,” Julian remarked.
“Nope. Too tired,” I yawned. “I’m sure I’ll think of something when I’m more awake.” In truth, I was still suspicious of Julian, though I was fairly certain it wasn’t him. If it was him, he would have noticed that they had originally been arranged in neat lines, and been perplexed that they’d been moved into a pouch. He definitely would have gone searching further and eventually found the grimoire – it wasn’t exactly hidden particularly well, after all, just under a pile of clothes in my dresser. For that same reason, I could rule out someone ransacking our room – if they had been searching for something, they would have found the grimoire.
That being said, it was too early to rule anything out. For all I knew, Julian, or some ransacker, could have simply been rushed, or satisfied enough with just the strings, or simply unlucky enough to not find the grimoire, or any number of other possibilities I hadn’t thought of. There was no knowing anything for sure until I knew all the facts. But before I could investigate further, I had to start making sure I was safe, and the first step to making sure I was safe was making enchantments.
I needed more mana crystals.
Thankfully, I had woken up quite a few hours earlier than necessary, and could spend some time working on my doohicky– my crystal growth matrix. I just needed to steer the conversation so it wouldn’t be weird if I started working on it. “It’s really early – it’s still dark out. Do you do this every morning?”
“Starting today, yeah. Doctor’s orders.”
“...Professor Seaver? Isn’t he instructing you in the use of Royal mana?”
Julian flinched. “How’d you– yeah, I guess it’s kind of obvious in retrospect. And yeah, he was supposed to, but the moment I walked in, he started tutting and saying I should take better care of myself. And, personally,” he gestured to his body, “I think I’m doing pretty well for myself. He’s probably just too used to being around Royals with perfect bodies. He gave me this list of poses to go through every morning,” he said, pointing to a paper on the ground. “I figured I should probably do it early in the morning so you didn’t think I was weird. Too late, I guess. Sorry if I woke you up.”
“No worries.”
“Still no jokes?”
I shrugged. “Still not awake enough. Wait…” I paused. “I wish Dohtor were here to see this. How was that?”
“Eh, you could’ve done better. And, I’m not that obvious, am I?”
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“I’ll get back to you with better jokes when there aren’t still stars in the sky. And yeah, you definitely are. Otherwise I wouldn’t be teasing you about it.” I looked over to my doohickey – I couldn’t believe Julian had gotten me to start calling it that in my own head – and realized I was getting off-track. “While I’m up, I should probably get to work on giving this thing an upgrade. I’ll need more mana crystals for when combat classes start incorporating magic next week… Eldest, I hope he decides to still have physical combat next week. I am not ready for magical combat,” I groaned. It was a decent enough excuse to work on the crystal growth matrix, though I’d still need to come up with one for when I suddenly wanted to install alarms all throughout the room.
I spent a couple hours continuing to work on the doohickey, until I’d gotten it to somewhere I was… okay with. It still wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be, but for a couple hours of work, I was proud of how much it had improved. At its current rate, assuming I’d be continuing to upgrade it, I’d be able to start using the crystals by the start of next week. But I wanted to go to sleep – the sky was starting to brighten up, and Julian kept telling me to go to bed.
[break]
When I woke up again – this time without stars still in the sky – Julian and I both got ready, and started walking to our classes.
Period 1, enchanting, went pretty much the same as the day prior. As a matter of fact, it was eerily similar – the lesson was identical to the prior day’s spellcasting lesson, albeit with less enthusiasm. Instead of ending on both temporary and permanent crystallization, Professor Andsware went a little bit more in-depth to permanent crystallization, saying to remember the details as mana crystals were vital to an enchanter.
Period 2, combat, also went much the same, though with less bruises… and broken bones. I was paired with Garberend this time, apparently he hadn’t fared much better than me the day prior, and we were both so bad at combat that we actually got to make small talk while fighting. I found myself enjoying his company, even when his fist was flying toward my face.
Julian was paired with Bysen, and they seemed to be at even odds against each other, despite Julian being a Royal mana user. I was thoroughly impressed, and I knew she was trying much harder than she had against me. Which was fair, I probably hadn’t put up much of a challenge compared to Julian. At the end of the period, I was astonished to learn that she had actually beaten him in points. Garberend and I had gotten about an equal number of points, though he had a few more than I did.
“Bysen is an amazing fighter,” Julian said, still sweating and panting. “How did you survive yesterday?”
“I have the Advanced Healing course to thank for that. Frankly, I wouldn’t be taking this class if it weren’t mandatory. And Eldest, dry yourself off. You’re practically a walking river.”
“Sorry,” Julian chuckled. “I’ll find a towel.”
“You better, before Dohtor sees,” I said.
Julian rolled his eyes. “I thought you said you’d have better material once you got some rest.”
“You’re right, I suppose it’d only be funny if she was right behind you.”
“Hi, Julian!” Dohtor said from right behind Julian.
Julian groaned, and I broke up laughing.
[break]
During lunch, instead of eating, I left the school grounds. Lunch was fairly long, and there were shops close enough that I could likely get back in time for third period.
“For this amount? A hundred ‘n’ fifty gold,” the shopkeeper said.
I groaned. “That’s absurd. That’s all I have with me – I could get four times this for the same amount. Triple it and you’ll have a deal.”
“Triple? Triple? I have a business to run, lad. I’ll double it and we can shake hands.”
“Double this? For a hundred and fifty gold? Throw in a Decimation crystal and we’re even.”
“A-a Decimation crystal!? Kid, d’you know how expensive those things are? You get taxed just for selling ‘em. I could barely afford throwing in a Decimation shard, let alone a whole crystal.”
“Shard it is then,” I concluded, holding out my hand with a grin.
The shopkeeper muttered to himself a few times, pacing back and forth, before finally agreeing. “You’re good, kid.” He placed two pouches on the counter, each about the palm of my hand, and one small, fancy box. I exchanged my entire supply of money – I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Linn – and left with the pouches and box comfortably in hand.
[break]
“I still can’t believe we’re only two days in and you’ve already spent an entire semester’s worth of allowance,” Linn giggled as we made our way to our classes. She had combat, and I had spellcasting. She quickly exited, still teasing me from afar, as she entered the combat grounds and I continued to make my way towards Professor Andsware’s classroom.
When I entered the classroom, I was pleasantly surprised to see books on all of the desks. “Please sit at the same desk that you sat in yesterday,” Professor Andsware said. “If you can’t remember which one that was, come to me and tell me your name, and I’ll direct you.”
When I arrived at my desk, I found three books. One entitled “Force Spells for the Common Battlemage, Circles One Through Three”, one entitled “Crystal Spells Necessary for the Enchanter, Circles One Through Three”, and one entitled “Beginner’s Crystal-Casting”.
As everyone piled into the classroom, Professor Andsware began speaking again. “On your desk, you will find several books. I have personally handpicked each of these books based on your current and projected magical progress, and what I expect you to achieve. Note that none of you have a Fourth Circle book. None of you will be achieving the Fourth Circle by the end of the year, and these books are strictly meant for this year – you will be returning them at the end.” One of the students, who I recognized as one of the people who was able to cast a Second Circle spell, stood up as though personally offended. “I repeat, none of you will be achieving the Fourth Circle before the year ends. That isn’t to say you never will – but for now, focus on what you can do, rather than what you might one day be able to do.” He waited for the student to sit before continuing. “Those of you with Crystal Attunements who are also on the enchanting track may notice that I’ve given you a book on Crystal-Casting. Note that these books will not teach you how to Crystal-Cast. Just like any grimoire, they will provide you with sets of patterns, but it’s unlikely you’ll be able to actually Crystal-Cast with these patterns. Instead, each pattern will be followed by a Flowform and Grindstone enchantment that can be used to induce that pattern upon a Crystal. You can use these enchantments to recreate Crystal-Casting, though do note that chaining these enchantments is highly difficult.” I took that as a personal challenge, and as I looked around the room, I could tell I wasn’t the only one.
Admittedly, I wasn’t paying attention the entire class after that. I had taken my pouches with me, and they were filled to the brim with mana crystals – mostly Crystal mana crystals, but I had purchased a couple other types as well. I placed one on one end of the table, and began reading through the Crystal-Casting book. I hadn’t known what Crystal-Casting was prior to this, but apparently it was an alternative form of spellcasting. The process involved changing the entire structure of a mana crystal in order to induce Change. The simplest patterns were comparable in efficiency to Second Circle spellcasting, while the most complex ones went beyond Fourth Circle.
Needless to say, I was excited.
The simplest enchantments to induce a pattern were difficult but not impossible, and eventually I was able to make two of a set. I activated the first one, and the targeted mana crystal visibly changed. It was hard to describe – it was as though the light passed through it differently. When I let go of the first enchantment, the mana crystal remained the same. Oh, then it should be as simple as activating the next enchantment. I did so, and–
The crystal shattered.
Loudly.
I looked up at Professor Andsware, who gave me a knowing glare. I slid the crystals back into the pouch, and cleaned up the mess of shards. “It’s alright,” he said. “There’s one every year. Moving on,” he said, and the lesson continued. I looked around the room as everyone was staring at me and some, I noticed, were sheepishly sliding small Crystal contraptions into their bags. I wasn’t the only one who tried to set up the enchantments, it seemed. But I was the first to finish, I thought to myself.
Eventually, the lesson was over, and it was time for fourth period.