As their entire squad headed back to the main mage academy campus, Pax was irritated at how much the note he’d just received had ruined the high from their victory. He knew some of it was his fault.
He hadn’t heard another word about the note Graybrew had forced Warrior Rowan, the chairman of Purge Camp 7, to send to the academy about his suspicious build. The optimistic side of him combined with the side that would rather ignore distasteful things in his life had together assumed that the chaos caused by war had somehow taken care of the issue.
He should have known better. Bureaucracy had an ability to keep thriving even in the face of overwhelming destruction. He wouldn’t be surprised if the empire fell to the beasts, and a clerk somehow produced a summons for them to explain if they had the correct credentials for their various actions.
The words of the note kept running through his head. They sounded so reasonable and simple. In his experience, that was not a good sign.
“When are you going to tell us what it said?” Rin asked again as they passed the administration building on the way to the dining hall for lunch. They were taking the war games instructors up on their offer for students from different academies to share lunches on training days. “You can’t sulk forever, and you know we’ll help you with whatever it is.”
“It can’t be that bad, can it?” Amil asked from his other side, earning him a hiss and backhand from both Dahni and Bryn.
“Fine.” Pax glanced around and, finding no one paying them much attention, stepped off the gravel path onto a grassy area. He sent a thread of mana to the pendant under his shirt to activate an air-based eavesdropping barrier and pulled out the folded parchment. “Here’s what it says. You tell me.”
The others gathered close, eyes alight with interest.
“It’s addressed to Student Mage Pax Vipersworn from the Mage Academy Compliance and Enforcement Office.”
Rin’s expression fell, and she immediately began shaking her head.
He continued. “We apologize for the delay in addressing the official inquiry initiated by Camp 7 Chairman, Warrior Aurelius Rowan, into irregularities with your magical build and menu. Please report to the Student Compliance and Enforcement office along with Mentor Aedin Incedis next Saturday at 10:20 in the morning. Use this note to excuse yourself from any classes and assignments for this appointment. We look forward to resolving any issues and helping ensure you are on the safest and most efficient path to serving the empire as a valuable mage.”
Rin groaned softly and rubbed a hand over her face.
“I’m sorry,” Amil said. “That is bad.”
“Right?” Pax asked, waving the parchment angrily. “It sounds so nice and helpful, which just makes it clear that it’s the opposite. Or am I being too paranoid?”
“It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.”
Everyone stared at Tasar in surprise. He just blinked at them as if what he’d said made perfect sense.
Tyrodon was the first one to laugh, a sputter that slipped out and made him shoot the rest of them a look, wondering if he’d messed up a serious moment.
It set the others off, their giggles and laughter banishing the worry of moments before.
When Pax recovered his composure, he wiped his eyes and tipped his head at Tasar. “Thank you. I needed that.”
The only one who’d kept a straight face the entire time, Tasar nodded. “You’re welcome.”
“Well, there isn’t much I can do about it now.” Pax waved the parchment in the air before tucking it back away. “I’ll check in with Incedis before Saturday, and he’ll help me figure out the best way to handle it. And who knows, maybe we can finish everything we need to get done here and be gone before the Department of Student Compliance and Enforcement can get their polite hands on me.” He injected all the derision he felt into the pompous title for a department obviously dedicated to handicapping the future mages of an empire on the edge of collapse.
The others nodded their agreement as he disengaged his pendant and they stepped back on the path to have lunch together.
Pax felt paranoid again when he saw a cluster of way too many people spread out at the entrance to the dining hall. “What now?”
He’d slowed enough for the rest of his crew to get there first.
Amil pushed into the crowd first, asking questions without the slightest bit of shyness. When he turned and hurried back to them, excitement lit up his eyes. “It’s the delivery people from the auction house. They’re delivering the items we won yesterday.”
Muscles in his neck and shoulders Pax hadn’t realized he’d tensed, relaxed. “Now, that’s some good news.”
It took a few moments to figure out the lines and make it up to the right table. Once there, though, a well-dressed auction worker delivered their items with quick efficiency.
Despite a desire to check it all out right away, they agreed to grab a to-go lunch and head back to Pax and Dahni’s dorm room before checking out their acquisitions.
The anticipation built as Pax wondered exactly what kind of mirror he’d acquired. Tyrodon was salivating over his crafting supplies so much that he kept getting ahead of the others with a suddenly fast walk. They set up their pets in one of the practice rooms with handfuls of treats and an admonition for Whisk and Talpa to make sure they behaved. Finally, all seven of them had crammed into the dorm room with the door shut. Pax activated his pendant again while Dahni and Amil pushed the two desks together in the narrow space at the foot of their beds, making an impromptu table.
Grinning, they agreed to take turns pulling out items.
“Can I go first?” Tyrodon was so eager that the others laughed and agreed.
He pulled out box after box, diving in to sift through the crafting ingredients before holding up specimens with such pride that the rest of them couldn’t help smiling and congratulating him. Pax was excited to see Tyrodon use his innovative crafting instincts to make for the crew.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
When Tyrodon plopped back on Dahni’s bed with a happy sigh, it was Amil’s turn.
“I’m still bummed I didn’t get that sweet hammer, but check out our new inventory boxes.” Amil pulled them out one by one, reading their properties from the perfectly printed auction card.
Pax was more impressed than he thought he’d be when he heard how much longer the boxes would extend the preservation abilities of their inventories. With the heated one, they could pull out a fancy meal weeks later and have it still be steaming like they’d just pulled it off the stove.
“We need to get the rest of our emergency supplies gathered and stashed in these,” Rin said, her tone suddenly serious. “We might have to leave with little notice, so these are going to be lifesavers.”
“I’ll get working on the food part if you help me negotiate with Mistress Nymeli.” Amil looked eager to pack his new boxes with delicious supplies.
“And I’ll work on filling out our other survival supplies,” Bryn said with a quick look at Tasar. “I’ll use some of the crew funds Tasar saved, if that’s alright with everyone?”
“Of course,” Pax said as the others nodded their agreement, suddenly glad of how much his friends stepped up to take on what often felt like an overwhelming list of necessary tasks. “And Amil, whatever you can’t trade for with Mistress Nymeli, use crew funds for.”
He nodded happily as Dahni stepped up and pulled out a sturdy set of leather greaves that radiated a small glow of mana to Pax’s heightened senses.
“Check out my new greaves. No more ankle biting for me.” Dahni leaned over to strap them on before strutting enthusiastically in the bit of space he could find.
It felt like Winter’s Solstice gift giving as they pulled out the rest of their acquisitions. Bryn took charge of the set of potions after agreeing to put some in their emergency supplies before dividing the rest based on who needed what.
Rin said she’d be responsible for the set of vermin traps, promising to consult with Turgan about adapting them to acquiring baby beasts for the taming business. She also gave two to Tyrodon, who asked for samples to experiment with. He hinted he might come up with more effective ways to use them for protection and ambushing purposes.
That just left the last two unique acquisitions, the Ghostsong Crystal and the Spectral Mana Mirror. First, Pax pulled out the faintly glowing crystal. At just under two inches in diameter, it was beautiful with a hint of yellow and red swirling throughout the inside.
They experimented with it for a few fun minutes, doing imitations of Headmaster Ravalar or singing in enthusiastic off-key choruses. The crystal faithfully recorded it all and with Rin was the one to figure that directing mana to a set of small markings would start, stop and erase the recordings.
She couldn’t figure out a way to turn off the natural glow, but that could be solved with something as simple as a small leather or dark fabric bag. They all agreed that the first to find a good spot to plant the device would let Rin know. If planted in the right place, the crystal had the potential to gain crucial information for the rebels.
Pax pulled out the Spectral Mana Mirror last, savoring the excitement about something with new and mysterious powers. He read the card provided by the auction house to the others.
“Salman Auction House evaluators have ranked the Spectral Mana Mirror at just below artifact power level. They have tested and verified its ability to absorb and store all four mana types allowing the user to examine and manipulate them immediately or at a later date. A small amount will bleed off at a regular pace. Together with the limit of its small capacity, the item has limited ability to function as a mana storage device. Its most likely use is for the curious scholar wanting to study various mana types in isolation. One evaluator found hints of a locked ability that other evaluators couldn’t confirm. This adds a mystery to the item.
“Source: A warrior taking part in the Northern Purge of 578/579 AC removed this item from the inner wall of an abandoned shepherd’s stone hut, suggesting that it had a mundane use in the distant past.”
Pax looked up at the others as he held up the mirror. The auction house had obviously cleaned and polished it, but it had a plain metal frame consistent with being found in a shepherd’s house. It was close to one square foot in size, as wide as it was tall, and just the right size for Pax to see his face in it. He could imagine a shepherd’s wife checking her face after cleaning up or adding some color to her lips for a special evening.
“Well, try it out. Does it soak up mana?” Dahni said, breaking Pax out of his thoughts before lowering his voice and asking, “What about your secondary types? Or your light? How does it handle those?”
Pax moved to sit on his bed, holding the mirror carefully as his friends crowded around to watch. “I’ll start with the primary types first to get a feel for how it works before I move on to the forbidden ones.”
Pax focused and sent the barest thread of air mana through his index finger held against the frame of the mirror. It soaked in without even the barest resistance, like dribbling a small stream of water into a cup. The sensation wasn’t unfamiliar, but unlike with beast taming, the mirror didn’t latch on and initiate a tug of war. Instead, it just took what he gave it.
Extending his Mana Sight, Pax quickly discovered where the mana was going. It filled the surface of the mirror, much like the glass of water he’d visualized, only much thinner and wider. The line of light blue mana had already reached about a fifth of the way up from the bottom.
He cut off the air mana and tried withdrawing the mana. It came back out as simply as it had gone in. It might not have a large capacity, but if anything, he had a simple mana storage device now. Though how he’d lug a mirror around when he needed more mana would need some creative ideas. Maybe Tyrodon could rig up something that worked for him.
Pax put the air mana back in and tried earth next. To his delight, a new line of brown mana poured into the mirror, rising slowly and steadily above the air mana. He stopped for a moment and looked at his friends.
“That looks amazing,” Amil said. “What exactly does it do?”
“It’s like filling a glass with the different mana types and it keeps them from mixing. Then it lets me draw the mana right back out, so it can act like a small mana storage. You can all touch a corner and use your Mana Sight to watch while I test the other types.”
They looked to be enjoying unraveling the mystery as much as he was. Everyone shuffled positions, pulling up chairs and sitting next to him on the bed until they could all get a finger on the mirror frame.
Pax quickly focused back on the fascinating item, adding flame and water mana with similar results. He stopped before filling it, so he had plenty of room for the other mana types.
“I’m going to try ice next,” he warned the others, making the room buzz with anticipation.
The mirror didn’t have an issue with the new mana types, though a faint sheen of frost formed over the line of ice mana. Pax could also feel a slight warmth radiating from the line of magma mana. The flame stripe didn’t have that, making it clear there was at least a minor difference between the primary and secondary elements.
He paused, taking a few moments to let his friends pass the mirror around and examine it themselves, pushing mana in and out. It turned out not to be as easy for everyone as it was for him. After some discussion and more experimentation, they decided that levels in Mana Manipulation made a big difference.
“This isn’t just a way to store mana for future needs.” Rin’s gaze had gone out of focus as she thought. “It’s also a way for us to share mana. Like, Pax could fill it with earth mana and pass it to Dahni when he’s getting tapped out like during the ambush this morning.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Dahni said, looking at the mirror with renewed interest.
“What about lightning?” Amil practically yelled as he jumped up from the bed, aiming a greedy look at the mirror. “I’ve been doing the exercises with my mana every spare moment. I can tell I’m getting better, and I think I’ve sensed a hint of lightning, but nothing definite.” He gave Pax a pleading look. “Please let me try it. You put lighting in there. I want to suck it out and see if it unlocks for me. Please?”
Now the other mages were giving the mirror similar looks. They’d all taken quest rewards from the ruin that included scrolls for their planned secondary elements. Those had to be burning a hole in their inventories, begging to be used, Amil especially.
“No reason we can’t try.” Pax grinned at Amil. “I take it, you want to go first?”