Chapter 127

Preparing For Class

Sometimes you find yourself wondering just exactly how you got dragged into certain situations. By this point in my life, I can safely say that most of the troubles I get into are due predominantly to Mallory.

Take for instance right now, I am wearing what amounts to barely more than a two-piece bikini, while standing with my arms out wide, legs spread apart by a professional guild Tailor. In fact, this person’s entire existence revolves around Tailoring, so much so that even their last name is Tailor.

Penelope Tailor, level 746 Master Artisan Seamstress.

Yes, Penelope is apparently someone who has devoted their entire lives towards tailoring so much that they received a unique class and surname devoted towards tailoring. I would almost think this was sad, until I realized she is exactly like me, except focused on tailoring.

“So, I take it I am your replacement?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“Hardly,” Penelope says nicely, playing into the line of communication. “Whenever Mallory finds us, she seems to try to capture us all and keep us as her menagerie of unique specimens.”

“Hey, I don’t…” Mallory began, but then found herself unable to come up with a proper statement to refute Janice’s claims.

“Shh, it’s okay. We know we are all special to you.” Penelope says, then gives a flirtatious side wink to Mallory that I assume she thinks I can’t see from my angle.

Mana created tape measure.

That is what I am introduced to, as part of this process. Seeing the moveable thread and the fact that it was generated by mana, my mouth went wide with shock as I looked on in disbelief. Fortunately, I recovered almost immediately.

“A mana generated measuring thread?” I ask.

Laughter.

Hearing that both Mallory and Penelope both giggle at my outburst.

“What?” I ask, trying to understand what is so funny about this particular question.

“Nothing, it is just that Mallory mentioned that you might show a little more enthusiasm when I reveal my tape measure.” Penelope says, speaking through a coy smile.

I want to protest, but this time it seems that I am the one at a loss for words. Especially as I see the way she is now using Mental magic to strengthen what she is seeing. I almost imagine her taking my measurements and imposing the outfit she sees me teaching in, to be made right there, in the very epicenter of her mind.

“Well, I have to say that I have never seen this form of control over nonstructured mana before. Especially not by a person without any true magical affinity.” I state, then I put my hand up to cover my mouth as I realize that what I said might be considered insensitive, as I know quite a few people have a hang up about their lack of magical potential. At least I know I would have had issues without being capable of utilizing magic by traditional methods.

More laughter.

“Oh, you are just too cute.” Penelope says, while straightening out my arm and gently measuring my arm length, arc, and curvature from multiple directions.

“I could help with that.” I state, feeling somewhat embarrassed by my prior statement.

“Help with what?” Penelope asks, seeming to have memorized my measurements and the shapes over my muscles.

“With your magic, if you’d like, I could help you create an affinity for your core, that you could use.” I state, realizing this is one of the premier professionals of the world taking time to help me out right here and now.

“I appreciate the offer but know that such a gift would likely be wasted on me. By this point in my life, I feel comfortable with my position and place in this world.” Penelope states.

Hearing her, I can’t help but feel a bit jealous. She is clearly someone who is at the top of her profession, and now that I have had time to think about it, I remember her being one of the major artisans who would create outfits that people would wear for their entire lifetimes, especially as the gear she created was often soul bound.

“I am sorry to hear that, as your mana control is by far some of the best I’ve seen.” I state, meaning my statement. Then almost as if muttering to myself again, I state “a lot better than all the archmages here.”

At that Mallory who had been mostly silent watching our byplay perked up.

“Wait, did you mean that?” Mallory asks me, her eyes suddenly laser focused.

“About her mana control being some of the best I have seen?” I ask.

“No, about her control being even greater than the archmages here?” Mallory asks.

I pause, not quite wanting to throw insults at the others, particularly Lord Belton who is amazing now that he can’t to or about me. Now that he is no longer a problem, and everyone else saw the duel between the two of us, I have had it mostly easy trying to get the others to cast our Cleansing Rain spells to expand and maintain our foothold out here.

Then realizing this is Mallory, I decided to answer truthfully.

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“Yes, her form is nearly perfect. I think I am one of the few who could actually dispel her casting. I know for a fact none of the other mages have a mana density on her level.” I answer truthfully.

“Wait, you mean it?” Penelope asks, suddenly interested in this conversation.

“About your control, yes. You have the some of the best control over non-imbued and even Mental mana that I have seen.” I state.

“Mental Mana?” Penelope asks.

“Yes, in your mind don’t you use Mental Magic to perfectly preserve measurements and then formulate the clothing that you would want to create?” I ask, posing it to her so that she realizes that she is likely using mana, even without truly being aware of the fact.

Hearing me, Penelope pauses, pulling her arms close to her chest as she mentally tries to think about what she is doing.

Then there is a spark of mana, as she begins to access her mind for previous outfits and uniforms she has created.

“See, right there. Right now, you are using your Mental Magic to go back through previous creations you have made. Haven’t you wondered how you can do that?” I ask.

“You are reading my thoughts?” Penelope protests.

“Hardly, the images you are calling up are so vivid and detailed that I can’t help but see them. The measurements are inseam 22.3, arc 18.1, flow 12.1.” I state, reading off the numbers that are all but glowing to my Angel’s Sight.

Hearing that Penelope pauses, then mentally goes back much further in her files present and pulls out an image.

“What is this one?” Penelope asks.

“Well first, it is the uniform that was thirty-eight creations ago. Also, it looks to be the basic Guild uniform, but the change comes in the way the stripes of service seem to empower the crafter, a Blacksmith, if I had to guess. That or maybe a Welder, but someone who is working extensively with metals.” I state.

Hearing that, Penelope pauses.

“You can see this?” Penelope asks and seems to mentally shake her blueprint at me.

“Yeah, I don’t think your class seems to have too many safety mechanisms in place against freely displaying your art.” I admit. Then I realized that part of why I can hide my thoughts was thanks to my first professor who showed me that my mind was wide open for everyone to read.

Seeing Penelope now, I can’t help but finally understand how much my life has changed. I went from being a student, to now getting a guild approved Doctor uniform that would be tri-use. It would show that I was a medical doctor, an instructor for magic, and of course an instructor for qi users.

“You okay?” Mallory asks, seeing my sudden change in demeanor.

“What?” I ask, then realize I can’t really hide my thoughts from Mallory, who must have a secondary class devoted towards understanding people better, I answer. “Yeah, it just hit me. You know, all of this.” I say gesturing around to the room we are in, to Penelope, and to myself being here in the guild.

“What is?” Penelope asks.

“That I’m going to soon be a teacher. As I remember having this exact conversation with my instructor.” I state.

Hearing that, Mallory nods. Then Penelope asks, “your instructor at Arcanarus University?”

“Yeah.” I answer.

Silence.

I don’t know what the others are thinking about, but I am suddenly wondering if I am good enough to teach people. I mean, I can see why Penelope would not want to join, as she is likely well established in her career path at this point.

“What would you teach me?” Penelope finally asks, breaking the silence as she goes around taking even more of my measurements.

“I think I would start you off with the advanced course. You seem to have the basics down, as your control and ability to use mana are nearly flawless. So first I would likely start you off with mental shielding classes designed to keep your thoughts more hidden from being so openly available. Then once you had that, I would likely help you learn to create mental vaults that could help you hide your designs from being so visible.” I say, breaking it down into the two things she could improve on, right away.

“You would do that?” Penelope asks.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” I ask.

“Wouldn’t that be a waste, especially as I don’t care about getting a magical affinity?” She asks.

“Honestly, I don’t blame you. Your flow and control over mana are great. It is clear that you are a self-taught prodigy. No, I would just help you try to achieve the next level of your class. Either a mind vault, to store your ideas from prying eyes. Or work on making it so the images you create mentally are three dimensional in shape.” I say, realizing there could be other methods she might be interested in improving on.

“A three-dimensional image?” Penelope asks.

“Yeah, honestly, I am surprised you don’t switch over to that form of a system already. You have the two-dimensional details down, and your understanding of numbers is good enough to apparently calculate for the curvature. But there are definitely minor things you might be able to improve upon.”

“I can improve upon things?”

“Well, for instance your use of special mithril threads every twelve stitches. This seems like a good baseline for helping magicians improve their magical conductive rates, but is it the most efficient model for someone like me?” I ask.

With that Penelope pauses, and then I can almost see the lights go off in her mind as she seems to come to an epiphany.

Whoosh!

Then magical golden light surrounds Penelope as she clearly leveled.

“What?” Mallory asks.

“I, I just leveled.” Penelope states somewhat shocked at the revelation.

“Congratulations.” Mallory and I both state in near unison.

“No, this is…” Penelope trails off as she tries to gather her thoughts. Then she turns to me, “you are right, I was thinking about it. Trying to imagine if there were better ways to put threads and patterns into my clothing, when I finally unlocked Master Tailoring Enchantment.” Penelope says, almost bouncing for joy at this statement.

Then reaching out she grabs me, “did you know about this skill?”

“About Master Tailoring Enchantment, no. I did know that Master Enchanting was a skill, but not that there was a specific variant for Tailoring, though now that I think about it, it would only make sense.”

“You have Master Enchanting?” Penelope asks.

“Yes, it’s actually now part of my bloodline as well.” I admit, feeling that divulging this to Penelope shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

“You are a Master of Enchanting?” Penelope asks, then pauses as she seems to realize something. “I guess that goes without saying, as you are clearly a master with all the metal totems and obelisks you have been erecting all around.” She states.

At that I pause and realize that I might have actually gone a bit overboard with them, but then realize that a lot of the structures I have created have made it so that some of the lands are being self-sustained by channeling ambient mana back into the ground by pulling out mana and forcing it to turn into Cleansing Rain.

“Tell me, what is your secret to becoming an expert at Enchanting?” Penelope asks.

Right now, I can’t help but empathize with her, as she just got a skill that could likely further her progression into a class she clearly loves. Sadly, I don’t have much of an answer.

“Honestly, I don’t really know. As a lot of the shapes and structures I come up with, just pop into my mind.” I admit honestly.

“Oh, that is nonsense, and you know it.” Mallory chimes in.

Hearing her, I can’t help but feel a bit shocked at her statement. “What?”

“You have been studying Enchantment for over seven years now, it is only logical that you would be an expert by now.” Mallory states.

“Seven years?” I ask.

“Yeah, by following the teachings of Rahul.” Mallory says, then proceeds to pull out her giant first anthology tome of Rahul and the Maiden. Then opening the pages, she pulls out a diagram that looks remarkably similar to the quote unquote totems and obelisks that I have been erecting all around camp. Seeing them, I can’t help but feel a little sheepish, as I honestly forgot those diagrams were part of the series. Mainly because the runes used by Rahul had nothing to do with what I was currently working with, but the overall shape and flow of mana being used, well yeah credit had to go to Rahul for those. He didn’t win the heart of not one, but two princesses, by just his good looks after all.

“Rahul and the Maiden?” Penelope asks, reading the title. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this reference material before.”

“Oh yeah, that was my only reason for reading these.” I sate, suddenly nervous about being judged by Penelope about my minor passion.

“Oh, there is a lot more than just the runes. Perhaps tonight Cass here could do a private reading of the materials.” Mallory playfully states.

“WHAT?” I nearly scream, feeling embarrassed at the thought, and I realize that I am still down in what is little more than a bathing suit for clothes.

“Oh, why? Is there something else to this material?” Penelope asks, suddenly realizing that my reaction is not typical for normal training aids.

“Yeah, you could say so.” Mallory teases, “but first we should probably let our narrator here get her clothes back on. As her muscles are even blushing.”

Hearing that, I turn to Mallory, but am suddenly stopped when Penelope adds in. “Yes, you are right. I didn’t know abs could blush. Well, I didn’t know that abs could be that muscular either. What are you like zero percent body fat?”

“What?” I ask, suddenly blindsided by the redirect.

“Your body is in what must be perfect form. Almost as if you were carved from marble by a master artist.” Penelope says, while quickly measuring around my legs and getting my measurements with her magical tape measure.

“I mean, I do work out.” I admit.

“You definitely don’t miss leg day.” Penelope says, getting the last measurement around my calves.

“No, no she doesn’t. Even when we were climbing that tower she would squirl away time to work out in secret.” Mallory stated.

“Wait, you knew?” I ask.

“You sweat mana, of course I knew. Whenever you came back glittering like a stripper, I assumed it was either you found a club, or decided to work out.” Mallory posed.

I am about to say something, when Penelope’s gentle giggling pulls me back.

“You know what, if that offer still stands, I would love to be one of your students.” Penelope asks.

“What, really?” I ask.

“Really, I see that you do have a lot I could learn from.”

And like that, I was suddenly motivated to teach magic to everyone, not just the self-proclaimed mages.