Chapter 27
Detention
I don’t know if I should be relieved at myself for being able to sleep in a relatively safe and secure location like the spirit realm? Or if I should question my sanity? Honestly the beds, the furniture is almost exactly the same in the spirit world as it is in the real world. The only major difference being the lack of people. Well there are people, but they are all ghosts who for the most part just seem to avoid everyone they can, a sentiment I can appreciate.
In fact, most of the time it is just me going around and pestering the ghosts, mainly because I have to for my quest. But honestly I see them and realize they almost all remind me of my children, all slightly lost and needing to finish one last task before they felt truly comfortable moving on. In a way this made interacting with the ghosts far more agreeable than dealing with the living. With the living you always have to wonder about plots within plots, with ghosts they are simple and straight forward. While what they want to accomplish might not be that easy to accomplish, knowing that they only want one thing makes life so much easier.
Take for instance Tobias, a good boy, if a little socially awkward, but someone I could easily relate to from just our love of books. Well, a book, at least that is how it started, but now it has grown beyond that. Still, I can appreciate the straightforward nature of such a person and quest. Looking around I might have to rethink my strategy of being here, lest it makes me miss my edge when dealing with people. While the quests that are originally offered often require a lot of skill to pull off, you never have to worry about the double cross that comes with completing them.
All this is a long way of saying that I fell asleep in the spirit realm. Honestly I think I might prefer sleeping in here, I remember seeing images of the place when I was still living and thought I would never be caught dead there, yes I went there, but now that I am still living and here, it isn’t that bad. Maybe because I can’t see the dingy and muted shades of grey that apparently fill most of the color spectrum here. As such, this place looks exactly like the real world, with less people and less roaming monsters. Apparently monsters either don’t have spirits, something I know for a fact is false. Or what is more likely, monsters just accept death faster than humanoids can. It is this latter, that I am glad to be the case as this meant my few kills from years ago had already moved on and made peace with their unlives, making my time here that much easier.
Still eventually I would have to venture into the real world, and soon I found it time to go to my next class. This was a class I was most excited about, Spirit Magic 101, or Introduction to Spirit Magic theory.
This one I decide to go directly to. I am still wondering if a Rival is waiting for me, or if there is something more. Also, nothing says that you are ready to learn about the introduction to Spirit Magic than coming from the spirit world, right?
In hindsight, I probably should have known that something would go wrong by this approach, but I was new here and quite frankly I was still trying to understand what to expect with magic. The way I saw it, this world was just so new and amazing that I just wanted to experience everything it had to offer.
Now I should point out that I have not yet evolved enough to truly see things on the other side of the veil. Again, I remember reading about some people that could see the movement of ghosts and spirits, but they were often seen as eccentric and erratic. That said, if I could see ghosts in the real world I think I might have an odd problem as well. Though I knew eventually I could learn skills that would help me be able to push my Angel’s Sight to the other side of the veil to view everything clearly, I just wasn’t there yet.
At most if I stopped and focused I might see hazy images of objects on the other side.
Still there were times when I could see things easily. Case in point, I could see the outline of my spirit classroom, mainly because it all but glowed with spirit energy.
“Be careful.” Zero said, as I got close to the glowing walls of light.
I looked at the glowing energy and could see an odd pattern that seemed to loop back and around on itself. It took me a moment, but I soon realized that everything I was seeing was a circuit. A vast glowing circuit of spirit mana.
I was trying to figure out what this was supposed to be, when Zero answered my unspoken question for me.
“That is an enchantment designed to keep us from drawing too close.” Zero said.
“But there as spots where we can easily get through.” I said, pointing to the obvious gaps in the wards.
“Yes, but they are made so that only smaller spirits can get through. Also, if you look they are designed to tunnel you to one spot. Momma said those are spirit traps and to never enter one.” Zero said.
Hearing that, I was both shocked and intrigued. “A rat trap.” I finally muttered to myself as I looked at the overall design and layout.
Just getting close to the hole forced me to get close enough to the current of energy that I could feel the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. But I pressed on, curious as to what this rat trap looked like further in.
Honestly it was beautiful, a wall of flowing energy and lights. Dark violet lights lined the hallways, showing the direction I was intended to go. Here the walls were still charged, but not as overly charged as the outer walls, I assume there was a power capacity limit? That or they didn’t want to scare off the intended ghost just to continue to direct them forward.
Out of curiosity, I made sure to make a light magically infused scratch at the air, and sure enough I was able to create a sear in the air meaning my one escape spell would still work here. If things went poorly here I could always Teleport around, it was clear that this side was meant to be the dangerous side, while the other side was meant to be the control side. In fact, I was already puzzling through this complex set of wards and realized that like a fine desk, I was seeing the finished outer coating, but the inside was where all the nails and edges could be seen.
Of course, my bubble sight afforded to me by Angel’s Sight all but guaranteed that I would be safe from any reprisals or damage suffered from investigating the long flows of enchantments. So I continued forward, all the while seeing the different aspects and tracking them all back to a central control node. Seeing the node, I couldn’t help myself and Teleported right to the node.
Seeing the node and its intricate design, I can’t help but feel a sense of curiosity filling me. Here there seem to be safeguards in place from potentially zapping myself with the torrent of spirit energy that is being cycled through this cell.
There is clearly a lot going on here, but the primary things I notice is an absorber, or basic mana siphoning component that pulls in ambient mana from both the mortal realm and the spirit realm. Odd that it would require two?
I look at it, then realize the reason for two becomes apparent as this is meant to create a spiritual shock barrier in both the real world, for any spirit trying to leave, and to prevent larger spirits from coming in. Then there is a converter, basically a component that clearly changes the state of mana from generic mana to spirit mana. A transformer that cycles the spirit mana around. Then a sort of battery that stores excess mana until it can be cycled again.
Touch.
Yeah, I can’t help myself, but I touch the device. You only learn the bad lessons once. There is an odd vibration, but other then that nothing. So I like most people would do something stupid again, I touch it a second time, for longer.
Vwoom!
This time there is a surge of energy that courses through me at an accelerated rate. I feel the hair on my head begin to stand up, as I feel oddly alive.
“WOOHOOOHOOO!” I can’t help but scream out in delight, as that felt amazing.
My body is now thrumming with spirit energy, and I can feel my channeled spells working overtime. I use the excess mana to cycle through my body and mind as I try to figure out what to do with so much energy.
Tingle.
My Danger Sense begins to pulse, letting me know that danger is imminent. Feeling the moment I turn my attention and focus on what is happening and see almost in slow motion the forming of a bolt of compact spirit mana form from the mortal realm. Then I can see it begin to stick its sharp point through the veil that separates the mortal realm from the spirit realm. Then I see it aim at me, as a thread of spirit energy links out from the clearly destructive spell and links directly to me. Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this link is likely some kind of homing sequence.
Realizing this is likely some kind of defense of the ward, I decide to cast my own spell and get out before the projectile can fully manifest itself in the spirit realm.
I am not certain what happens, whether it is the fact that my Danger Sense gave me a warning quickly enough for me to react before anything could happen. But my infused fingers tear a giant hole in the fabric of reality and the projectile that had somehow been formed in the mortal realm and fired in the spirit realm is sent back to the dimension from which it came.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Fwoom.
There is a great surge of spiritual static, as the large projectile races through the spirit world and seems to pull in ambient energy to it, the same way a comet would pull in dust particles as it tears its way through space.
There is a pause for a second, before a boom, can be heard from the other side of the portal.
Vweeruum.
There is the sound of electrical equipment slowly powering down, while the bright lights and intensely glowing circuits of the spirit trap that I was on the inside of began to slowly fade away.
At that, I decided to leave here and make my grand entrance to the classroom.
Of course, I made no plans of appearing right here, right at the site of whatever this was. Instead, I Teleport back to where the entrance to the classroom is, then I open a rift to the mortal realm and appear through. Nothing to see here, nope, just your regular student coming into class, on time I might add.
As I enter the classroom, I can see the outcome of my actions. Students are in a panic, avoiding the direction that the spirit bolt that I had sent back to the mortal realm was directed. Fortunately the bolt, which was rather large and powerful, far more than enough to have killed me three times over had barreled forward and taken out an anchor wall for the rune network. While it didn’t look like anything major was destroyed, well other than the wall, a few desks, a lot of books. Okay, I take it back, there was a lot of damage apparently, but I can safely say that it wasn’t my fault.
“YOU!” A voice calls out, as I enter the room. Their tone and position in the classroom let me know they are likely the professor of this class. Worse, I think I know who this person is.
You know, I think they might have the absolute wrong person. I was just a curious spectator drawn in by all the pretty lights of magic, how could I have possibly known this would have happened?
“Good afternoon, Vice Principal Umbra, is this the Spirit Magic 101 class?” I ask, trying to keep my poker face on.
“It is,” she replies back with a note of venom in her voice.
“Thank you.” I say, bowing my head slightly.
I turn to look at the obvious damage in the wall and classroom. Then choosing to try to avoid causing further contention I find an empty desk at the side of the room. Fortunately for me, there is one still available, most of the students at the center of the classroom are still up, trying to put out fires on various parchments that are burning with an overt chemical reaction that still glows with a form of spiritual resonance, at least for the moment.
The entire time I avoid looking at the professor, not that I exactly need to look at her to see that her gaze is on me the whole time.
“Cassiopeia.” The professor states after a few moments of scowling directly at me, while I do everything in my power to pretend like her glare isn’t a black hole designed to pull everyone’s gazes and attention right to her.
“Hmm?” I ask, turning my attention from my books and papers that I have and staring directly towards the professor.
“See me after class.”
“Of course.” I say with a nod, trying to convey more assurance in my tone than I feel on the inside.
There is a pause as everyone stares at me.
“Go on, choose some of the empty seats and sit down. We are already late.” The professor Ms. Umbra begins.
As she speaks, I can’t help but let out a small sigh of relief. Ms. Umbra clearly suspects me of what happened before class. That said, from her demeanor it was not an offense that was grounds for immediate disciplinary action, though her tone all but promised some form of punishment once class was over. Meaning, I had all class to sit and broil over what would happen. I always hate these situations, moments when authority figures have you dead to rights, but you have to act like you don’t know anything in order to not give away incriminating evidence.
Rather than stewing in my own emotions, and my not wanting to implicate myself further in what was at least a small part in the destruction of the giant spirit rat trap surrounding the classroom, I forced my mind to listen to what the professor was saying.
“Spirit Magic is one of the hardest disciplines for students to master. For many this is often a secondary school of magic that never gets fully developed due to other schools of magic gaining more precedent and priority.”
At that, I couldn’t help but want to argue, of the two schools of magic Spirit was the only one that made sense to me. I still had no clue what to do with Shadow magic. Also, Spirit magic was the only one that made sense, or maybe I was just the odd one out as usual.
“For many, you will find the Spirit world to be a drab and dreary place.”
At that I couldn’t help but nod my head in understanding. I remember seeing the first few images of the people who braved the spirit realm. Not only were they constantly under attack, but the entire place seemed to lend itself to melancholy and depression. It was a far cry from the rest of the bright and vibrant world of biprism, which is why many tried to avoid it whenever possible.
“That said, for our first lesson, we will all focus on a spell that will allow us not only to pierce the veil and view the spirit world, but will also let us see the traces of spirit mana that reside on individuals.” The professor said, then they turned their books to a chapter somewhere towards the middle of the text.
Reading the chapter, I couldn’t help but feel excited. This was almost too good to be true, the exact spell that I had been wishing for a moment ago.
Chapter 6
Spirit Sight
Use: by using this spell the caster is able to pierce the veil between the realms of the living and the realms of the dead and see the traces of spiritual energy.
Actually, after reading it, it wasn’t quite what I had been hoping for, as this seemed more for viewing into the spirit realm, but at the very least it appeared to be a start.
“Now this is one of the most basic spells and requires you to cycle your mana through your eyes to be conducted properly.” The professor stated.
I almost wanted to question that, as I had no true eyesight to speak of, but then I also didn’t want to draw attention to myself. So I waited for the complete instructions and decided I might have to adjust my spell as needed.
“This is what is referred to as a channeled spell. Meaning you will need to keep the flow of Spirit mana going constantly in order to maintain access to the sight. This means you will likely need to convert some of your own mana pool into spirit mana, or infuse your eyes with enough base mana that the conversion ratio is easily met. Remember there is at least a three to one conversion ratio of regular mana to a specialty mana, and that is for people that have mastered the conversion. Most of you will likely start out at the ten to one conversion ratio of your base pool of mana to spirit mana. Still, this is a valuable ability to have, both in terms of a skill and getting used to converting your own mana.”
As she began coaching, I began to understand more and more about what to do with the mana coursing through my body. I was at first sad to think I wasted a spell on being able to convert my regular mana to spirit mana, but that spell was extremely efficient allowing me to convert at a rate of one to one. Realizing that this meant I could effectively cast Spirit related spells near indefinitely, at least compared to my fellow classmates, I felt somewhat better about the choice. Especially as Spirit magic seemed to be all about maintaining channeled spells. Well that wasn’t true, it was just a matter of fact that every spell I had was generally a channeled spell for my own convenience.
I was also fortunate enough to already have multiple skills dealing with the circulation of mana directly, meaning the two hardest parts of learning this new spell were gone for me. The first was learning to convert my mana, which was done from one of my first three class spells. The second was how to circulate mana through a particular circuit in in the body. Fortunately, the circuit that I would need to channel mana through my eyes also passed through the brain, on its way directly to my core that was right at the center of my body.
Within seconds I was able to have the circuit filled with spirit mana, I know the school likely used some esoteric nonsense to call this path for my mana, like meridians or mana channels, but it was a circuit plain and simple. Once I was here, the professor nodded to herself.
“Once you are able to circulate your spirit mana regularly through your meridians that pass through your eyes, you will need to experiment a little. Take the energy and oscillate it, until it pulses at a frequency that is similar to what you are able to see with. Once there, you should be able to start noticing the distortions of spirit magic around you, from there it is just a slightly greater push in speed and resonance to be able to pierce the veil entirely.”
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but think this was a bit misleading for me, as I think she was describing my natural ability to see magical resonances thanks to my Angel’s Sight, at least that is what it sounded like. Though this one seemed to only be able to only track Spirit mana, versus all forms of mana that my sight was naturally capable of perceiving. Still that was a huge help as I could almost tell the frequency needed to pulse my own energy at, thanks to viewing Vice Principal Umbra’s own circuit that she had going. Needless to say, she had her energy pulsing at an insanely fast frequency.
Seeing her, and using her as the example, I began circulating the energy faster and faster through my circuit, until finally.
Phwoom!
The world began to blink rapidly around me, then the next thing I knew Zero was there right beside me.
I nearly jumped at the sight, but was able to stop myself just in time.
Zero, who could clearly see me and see what I was doing waved his small forepaw at me. Seeing the small appendage, I realized his arm seemed similar to that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, where it had arms that seemed disproportionately small compared to the rest of its body.
“Good, once you have managed to do this once, you will need to hold the spell in place for at least a minute to get the full benefit of this exercise.” Ms. Umbra began. Then to add credence to her words I was met with a quest box.
Hidden Quest Found: Spirit Sight. You have been tasked by your instructor to learn the Spirit Magic spell Spirit Sight (P). You will need to hold the spell in place for a period of at least ten minutes straight, or twenty independent runs that consist of at least one minute or more. Reward: Experience, New Spirit magic spell (Spirit Sight).
Seeing the prompt, I focused my mind on maintaining the flow and circuit going. In a way, this was something I was made for. I had the skill Focus maxed out, along with Meditation, and Mana Circulation to help with this very exercise. Also, this was a spell that I didn’t mind learning as it was both a passive spell, or one that I could keep active without having to remember to cast it in a dire situation.
“Whoa!” Another student calls out, apparently having learned to also cast the spell. “Is this what it always looks like?” The student asked.
“Yes and no. Normally we have wards set up to both make the viewing that much easier on you, while also keeping curious spirits away.” Ms. Umbra said, her words seeming to be directed solely at me.
Fortunately I was able to keep focused thanks to my Multitasking skill, but it was a bit touchy there for a second. I almost wonder if the professor was trying to get me to fail on my shortened ten minute timer on purpose.
“Yeah, why is the spooky girl surrounded by ghosts?” A female student from the back asked.
“Also, why is she glowing like a beacon? I mean you are bright, but she is beyond bright.” A third student asked. By now it was clear that more and more of the students were able to get this basic lesson. Either the spell wasn’t as hard to learn, they had training, or I wasn’t as special as I originally thought. I am guessing a little of all three, as these other students were clearly of a much higher level, meaning that learning such trivial things like a new spell might not be so difficult for them.
“That is both a testament to Cassiopeia’s natural spirit energy reserves and the way she is capable of doing a near instantaneous conversion of her complete mana pool to spirit energy.” Ms. Umbra said, before continuing, “also the residual dusting that you see is a clear sign that she has recently spent a lot of time within the spirit realm.”
“A lot of time?”
“Is she a ghost?”
“Enough. Back to your lessons.”
Then after a few minutes of intense focus, so much focus that I could feel my mind wanting to wander, to think about anything other than cycling mana, but I fought against it at every turn. Then finally I was met with the message I had been waiting for.
Hidden Quest Completed: Spirit Sight. You have learned the Spirit Magic spell Spirit Sight (P). You managed to hold the spell in place for a period of at least ten minutes straight. Reward: Experience, New Spirit magic spell (Spirit Sight). Experience Gained: 500.
I paused, half expecting a notification of leveling, but then realized this was the first quest I had completed and actually received experience for since the Spy on a Rival quest for my master. All of my experience for the ghost quests were being put directly towards purchasing a Class specific Trait, meaning that this was my first real quest for experience in quite a while.
Ding.
I almost thought that was the sign I had leveled, but alas I was sadly mistaken as that was the class bell sounding, letting us know we were at time. Still, I couldn’t help but feel accomplished, my first real spirit class and I already learned a new spell. This was more than I could say for my other classes, though I did learn a few new interesting skills from those.
I was about to leave with the others, when Ms. Umbra called out to me. “Do not forget our appointment, Cassiopeia.”
Gulp.
At that, I couldn’t help but feel the knot of worry force its way back up to my throat, before I forced myself to calm down.
“How can I help you?” I asked, trying to come across as innocent as possible.
“You and I will need to discuss your detention.” Ms. Umbra said, in a tone that brokered no discussion.
A few other students had stayed behind, no doubt to hear what would happen to me. Seeing them, Ms. Umbra quickly got them to leave by saying a few words that sent shivers down my spine on their behalf. “Anyone wishing to share in your punishment should feel more than satisfied with staying behind.”
Slam.
With that the last few students left the classroom, making sure to close the thick metal doors behind them.
Gulp.
It was now just me and the professor who was just staring at me.
“I think we should talk…”