“Alright?” Rin held her pen ready and looked at the other. “Other ideas to unlock Amil’s lightning? Pax, what are you thinking?”
“I’d like to hear your ideas first, see if they generate something new before I steer things in the directions I’ve been considering.”
“Sounds good.” Rin looked at the others with brows raised. “What about the rest of you?”
“Have him sit in a storm with a lightning rod?” Tyrodon’s quiet suggestion took a moment to sink in before everyone laughed.
Amil pantomimed holding a rod over his head and stiffening and jerking, making the laughter louder.
“I’m writing it down, even though it’s not much different from Amil’s suggestion.” She pointed her pen at him. “At least his had some aspect of control to it.”
“I would definitely put it further down on the list.” Tyrodon didn’t seem put out at all by the laughing. “It’s just a suggestion in case naturally occurring lightning has different inherent properties than mana-generated lightning.”
That earned Tyrodon a few speculative looks that he returned with a satisfied nod.
“Then we should include the other ways of experiencing lightning besides just Pax’s pure mana,” Dahni said. “Would Pax’s Overcharge spell be different? That one won’t hurt anything, and Amil could start by meditating and then focusing on the mana when Pax casts the spell on him.”
“Excellent idea.” Rin wrote quickly.
“That was actually one of my ideas, too,” Pax said with a nod to Dahni.
Dahni preened at their praise.
“Maybe I’m not against doing the safe ones first,” Amil said, looking a little chagrined that he’d jumped right to the more dangerous options.
“Agreed,” said a few of the others at almost the same time.
“What about trying to combine his flame and air to make lightning?”
Everyone looked at Bryn in surprise.
“What?” She shrugged. “Just because I don’t have elemental mana doesn’t mean I can’t think logically. Besides, isn’t that how the rare lightning weapons work? They have specialist flame and air mages enchant the two mana types into complicated runes that are entwined together?”
“True.” Pax turned the idea over in his mind. “And just like we learned with the minor magics, these new achievements are still possible to do without the help of a light mage, just a lot harder. So, if we can figure out something the three of you can do on your own to make progress, that might speed this up a ton.”
“Maybe some of the exercises they teach in your light manual could help us learn to control and mix our mana types?” Rin looked at him in question. “
“Yes,” Pax said, his excitement growing. He’d been feeling guilty about his huge gains in mana and spells. But this challenge could help his friends make significant progress in control and power too. And if they could document it, it might just be something they could pass on to all the rebel mages, too. He grinned.
“Want to share what that evil smile’s about?” Amil asked with interest.
“I was just imagining the empire’s surprise when they run into rebel mages who cast lightning, magma, nature and ice spells. Kaboom! They’d be too shocked to fight back, at least during that initial shock.”
Grins spread around the table.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Rin cautioned them. “The three of us need to succeed first before we can teach an entire army how to do it. Pax, any more ideas to add to the list?”
“Well, I’m already planning on scouring my manual and asking Fenix for suggestions. Then, like Dahni suggested, using my various secondary spells on the three of you might help. A similar idea would be to withstand an attack from a matching beast. We don’t know about any ice beasts. For nature, the bramblemaw is dead, but we’ve still got that seed, so—” He aimed a look in Dahni’s direction.
“I could learn something about nature mana if we plant it.” He looked around at their cave. “We could plant it here, but only if we figure out a way to control it. And, in that case, we’d want to bring it with us. But maybe it’s something that needs to wait until we’re with the rebels? Because I don’t think a dangerous plant with minions would be the easiest thing to hide when we’re trying to slip out of town.”
That got a few chuckles and nods, conceding his point.
“Then for lightning—” Pax looked at Amil. “I doubt the Purge brought any live beasts back for you to stand in front of, but withstanding an attack from a lightning beast should be on the list, in case the possibility comes up in the future. It’s what helped me.”
Everyone but Amil seemed to flinch back at the idea.
“Then there are cores. We’ve got that core from the Shockstrider—”
That got an even more extreme reaction.
“Now, who’s the crazy one?” Rin asked.
Amil shook his head and held up two hands defensively. “Even I’m not insane enough to mess with a level 5 core, even if it were an element I already controlled.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“I know. I know.” Pax held up a placating hand. “But now that the Purge has brought back lightning beast parts, maybe there’ll be a level 1 lightning core up for grabs?”
Guffaws greeted his words, and he flushed. “You’re probably right. Everyone is going to fight over those parts. Everyone will want to experiment with creating lightning equipment that doesn’t cost loads of gold. I think those are all my ideas until I do more studying and talk to Fenix. Anyone else?”
Rin tapped her pen on her lips. “Maybe ask Fenix if there are any ancient runes or devices that might also help? Just the little we saw of the ruins showed us the ancients built all kinds of things to aid them.”
“Devices?” Tyrodon asked, perking up at the idea.
“Yes.” Rin grinned at his implied support of her idea. “The empire uses the Awakening devices to channel mana into kids to jumpstart their menus and classes. Why not have something similar to awaken their other elements?”
“If we could find blueprints or even an explanation of the concept of something like that, we could work on building it.” Tyrodon leaned in with eagerness.
The others looked interested, too. All Pax could think about was how much better it would be for him if they could mass produce a device or draw out a rune pattern that did the job. It would be another way to keep from tempting everyone to lock him up as some kind of mage slave. Anything that took him out of the power-gaining equation was a good thing.
Tyrodon suddenly froze mid motion, his head snapping up, a new thought obviously in mind. Everyone quieted and waited to hear what he had to say.
“What about the opposite?” Tyrodon said the words slowly. “If we can create a device to do the job of a light mage, why can’t a light mage do the job of a device?”
The others looked confused, but Pax got a sick feeling he knew exactly where Tyrodon was going with it.
He gave Pax a considering look. “If you, as a light mage, can unlock mana types without a device, maybe you could do the Awakening process on your own, too?”
Now Tyrodon had everyone’s rapt attention. He flushed, but continued. “We’ve found that Pax can do things that require fine control of mana much faster than other people can. Combining four mana types and sending just the right amount into an unawakened child sounds like something a light mage’s skills would be perfect for, right?”
“Then we wouldn’t need to steal an Awakening device for the rebellion,” whispered Rin, her eyes alight with the implications before she looked down and got busy writing again.
“Well.” Pax felt stunned. So much for trying to keep himself out of the equation. Still, the possibility fascinated him. His memories from his Awakening came back with a vengeance. His light mana had obviously had a severe reaction to the procedure. He’d thought it was killing him. What exactly did that mean? Could he really awaken others? How would he figure that out? Did he dare try, especially if it put a child’s life at risk? Then an even more radical idea occurred to him. Could light mages awaken themselves? Could he have back then, if he’d known what to do? His list of questions for Fenix grew by the minute.
He pulled his own notebook out and began writing. He kept his words cryptic, just in case. Rin had likely done the same. Now wasn’t the time to get sloppy.
When he finished, everyone was looking at him. “Well, should we head to bed or try something tonight?”
The eager smile on Amil’s face was answer enough.
Pax stood up and walked over to their training space and looked around thoughtfully. He turned back to the others. “How about we have the three of you spread out to the edges and I sit in the middle? We’ll start with mana control practice and if we have time, I’ll take turns casting my new spells on each of you. Sound good?”
They nodded and spread out.
“To start, drop into meditation, then see if you can pull up distinct threads of both types of mana. One thing that works for me is to twist my light mana around a thread of a single mana type, kind of like this.” Pax held up his hands and made a wrapping motion. “Like twisting two ropes together.”
Rin flushed, looking embarrassed as she sat down on a pillow she’d placed on the stone floor. “I haven’t done a lot with just my water mana on its own, much less my new air mana. Well, other than when you needed a mana boost or during Eris’ taming.”
Crossing his legs on his own cushion, Dahni nodded in agreement. “Spells are just so much easier and more useful.”
Pax gave them a censuring look. “Don’t let all the other mages’ attitudes corrupt you. The more we learn, the more it’s obvious that mana control is crucial to these new advancements. And this is going to be a lot harder than unlocking your minor elements. You already had those inside you. I just needed to bring them to the surface. This time, you’ve got to create an entirely new element from scratch.”
His friends nodded, determination filling their expressions as they made themselves comfortable and closed their eyes to meditate. Pax watched them, wondering if he should make contact so he could watch what they were doing with their mana and give them more direction.
He held himself still. He couldn’t keep doing everything for others if he wanted to keep himself from being roped into it as a permanent job. Besides, he needed his friends to grow stronger without always needing to rely on him.
While his friends settled into their meditation, he walked over to see what the others wanted to do.
Bryn spoke in a low voice as soon as he got close. “With how busy tomorrow is going to be, Tasar and I are going to track down Turgan and see about getting a line on a couple of stonepaws for him. And since I didn’t get the taming skill with Onyx like the mages did, I wonder if I could help you with Tasar and see if that would unlock it for me. Unless—” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Unless warriors can’t get the skill?”
“Not every mage gets the skill when they first tame a beast either, so it’s entirely possible.”
“I hadn’t realized that.” She gave him a surprised look. “What do you think makes the difference?”
“I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s the same thing I just told the others. Mana control. More support mages gain the skill than power ones. And I’ve noticed the more work I have to do during a Taming, the less likely they are to gain the skill. Like anything, you have to get a rudimentary level with the skill to unlock it. If you can’t control your mana, and I have to do all the work in a taming, then—” Pax shrugged.
Instead of looking discouraged by the news, Bryn’s eyes lit up. “If it’s something that takes hard work and dedication, you’re looking at the first warrior who'll have the Taming skill.”
Beside her, Tasar nodded. “And I’ll be the second.”
“If warriors can Tame, does that mean crafters can, too?” Tyrodon had moved close enough to listen in, his question quiet and tentative.
Startled, Pax looked at him and gave the idea serious consideration. “You have a mana pool just like the warriors, so I don’t see why not. The challenge seems to be in matching unaspected mana with the specific element of the chosen beast. But if we can figure out how to duplicate what we did with Onyx, I don’t see why it couldn’t work for anyone with a mana pool, right?”
The other three exchanged looks before staring back at him.
“What?” he asked.
“That has the potential to double the rebellion troops,” Bryn said slowly. “All of them.”
Pax blinked. He’d fallen into the trap of only considering mages and warriors in the coming war. But if the crafters, merchants and even workers could have a fighting beast by their sides?
Pax blew out a slow breath as he shook his head. “What exactly are we messing with?”
“This is a revolution.” Tasar gave him a pointed look. “That means change.”
Pax couldn’t argue with him.