CHAPTER 9: TAKE A DEEP BREATH
The next week flowed more or less the same for Jenna. Each morning she woke up earlier, shifted her schedule forward, and started her run. While she didn’t break through to D Grade Hardened Glass, she could tell that she had been on the cusp of it when she ran out of Mana the day before. Combat training continued to grow more intense.
She continued to face almost exclusively single goblins, but they grew stronger and faster each day. After her first time being wounded, Jenna made it a point to avoid getting cuts. It meant that the fights were more difficult than they needed to be, but she was comfortable trading speed or efficiency in killing for her safety.
There were still the occasional fights with multiple goblins, but they were always so much weaker than the single goblins that Jenna had no trouble dispatching them. It was a strange realization. The four goblins she’d fought the day before were all as strong as the goblin that had cut her, at least if she trusted the Pyramid. She didn’t think that she had been that bad at combat before entering, but if she was making progress that quickly, it was really the only explanation that made sense.
When Jenna came to Enchanting practice for the day, she realized that she had run out of blank glass pieces to work on.
Would you like to purchase?
“Yes.” It hurt to watch her funds deplete even more, but Jenna realized that she could sell the Hardened Glass she’d made whenever she wanted. The knowledge that she had far more potential points than real points was a nice safety net, and one she intended on keeping.
Jenna wasn’t sure if people’s point balances were public information, and the Pyramid refused to answer the question directly, always choosing to interpret her queries as asking something slightly different. That made her think that they would be, so having access to points that wouldn’t be visible would hopefully help her avoid any trouble.
She pushed those thoughts aside as she started Enchanting the piece of Hardened Glass. The past week had done wonders for her abilities with Magic. She could feel is as it coursed through her body and into the etching tool.
As she started carving the piece of glass, Jenna had the feeling that this would be her first D Grade piece of Hardened Glass. Her Magic flowed smoothly. She knew that a large part of that came from the training she’d been doing.
Over the past week, she’d learned how to make the world sharpen without being pushed against a wall in combat training. She wasn’t able to get to the same space as reliably while training with her mace or running, but she still found that she slipped into the state at least a few times in the last training sessions. Enchanting, on the other hand, remained a barrier to her.
Today was different, though. The work she’d been doing finally paid off, and Jenna felt the world sharpen as she started carving the glass. Each stroke felt as though she’d been making it for her entire life, and her Magic poured out of her in a constant calm flow. When she finished carving the Hardened Glass, she had the Pyramid analyze it.
First Tier Hardened Glass Rank: D Would you like to sell your Hardened Glass?
“No,” Jenna said, mentally cheering. She had noticed that her tone had been getting flatter over the week. Hopefully that would change again once she interacted with others.
After the initial bout of exuberance, Jenna paused. What could be wrong with the Hardened Glass that it was only D Tier? She thought that it was perfectly carved. Looking at it, the Magic was perfectly distributed throughout.
Analysis of Hardened Glass Primary Flaw: Material has been damaged by Enchanting process. Other Flaws will not improve quality of product without fixing Primary Flaw. Would you still like to see the other flaws?
“I don’t understand. How did I damage the glass as I Enchanted it?”
Hardened Glass shows marks from Enchanting due to Etching Tool.
“So I can’t Enchant a C Grade piece of Hardened Glass while using my etching tool?” She assumed that was what the Pyramid meant, but needed to double check.
Correct.
“How am I supposed to Enchant it then?”
Query imprecise. Best guess: What is the optimal way to Enchant the glass given current skills. Accept guess?
“Guess accepted.” Jenna realized that she’d unintentionally taken to mimicking the Pyramid when the table appeared.
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Guess accepted. Move Magic along the path of the Spell without etching the glass. Note: this requires forcing your Magic into the glass in order to make the Spell take effect.
That sounded difficult. Then again, Jenna had never tried anything like that, so it was possible that it would end up being something that felt natural.
It didn’t.
Jenna stared at the piece of glass, willing her Magic to go into it. She wasn’t even able to make her Magic move within her. As she thought about it, she had only ever moved her Magic through the etching tool.
That gave her an idea, for all that it was absolutely a weakness she needed to address. Jenna picked the etching tool back up. She felt the steady drain of her Magic when she activated it. Trying to keep the feeling going, Jenna set the etching tool down.
She managed to keep the Magic flowing, but it was orders of magnitude more difficult to keep the flow consistent. Apparently the etching tool had some sort of regulator in it that tried to counter fluctuations in the Magic output. Without it, each correction she made seemed to magnify whatever issue was happening.
Her Magic drained before she even managed to start Enchanting another piece of glass.
Congratulations! You have emptied your Magic pool. Suggestion: use Enchanting time tomorrow to practice Magic Control. Accept suggestion?
Jenna thought about it. She still didn’t have enough points to enter the rift, and continuing to work and make E and D Grade glass would be enough for her to afford it. As she thought about it, Jenna realized that giving up on Magic control because it was difficult was just accepting mediocrity.
When she finally came to that realization, she knew what she had to do. “Suggestion accepted.”
She had lost sight of her goals. She was only delving the rift because it would increase how much Magic she had. Even that was only the side goal of being able to master the Spell she was learning. Learning the Spell, as she went through the logic she’d been using since entering the Pyramid, was the first step to climbing the Pyramid.
She still hoped that she would be able to learn quickly.
The next day, Jenna made her way from food to her workbench like normal. Once there, the Pyramid directed her to lie down and begin meditating.
As she focused on her breath, the Pyramid kept giving her directions. Some idle part of her noted that the Pyramid was apparently capable of giving audible instructions, not just the blue signs that had become her only source of communication. But, as the directions advised, she let that thought pass by.
When she had found a rhythm with her breath, the Pyramid directed her to search inside for her Magic. Despite the fact that she had been using it for ten days, Jenna realized that she had no clue where her Magic rested when it wasn’t in use. She slowly inspected each part of her body, moving up from her toes.
Though it wasn’t the explicit goal of the exercise, Jenna found that she was also noticing all of the tension that she kept in her body. She focused on releasing that tension, though she had mixed luck with it. When her focus landed on her abdomen, she was certain that she was at least in the right part of her body.
As she focused more intently, she slowly homed in on its location. In the center of her chest, just below her rib cage, Jenna felt something that seemed to be glowing. As she inspected it further, she realized that this was her Magical Core.
It was so shocking that she nearly lost track of her breath. She knew intellectually that all Magical beings had a Core, but becoming a Mage hadn’t really sunk in yet. The Pyramid seemed to know the exact moment she had connected with her Core, though, because it gave another direction.
Rather than try to pull her Magic out, like she had expected, though, the Pyramid directed her to try guiding the Magic inside of her Core to move with her breath. She watched it for a few breaths, noticing how randomly it seemed to be flashing and swirling. As she kept her focus trained on it, she noticed that it was slowly taking on the pattern of her breathing. The Pyramid didn’t seem to have any other advice for her, so she just kept watching.
When she got her breath and Core synced, Jenna felt the world sharpen. The shock of her breath suddenly feeling more real was enough to break her concentration. Her Core started moving on its own again, and she was broken out of her meditation.
As she started to breath along with the Pyramid’s direction, though, she got another message.
Scheduled time for Magic Control elapsed. Please move to Weight Training.
The next day’s Magic control went better, because Jenna didn’t need to spend most of the time finding her Core. She fell into the breathing pattern that the Pyramid gave her and watched as her Core slowly lined up with it as well. When the two had aligned, she felt the world sharpen again. This time, since she was expecting it, it didn’t snap her out of her focus.
The Pyramid directed her to start moving the Magic with her breath, and she felt it spreading through her chest. Her Core seemed to grow less solid as she did so, which concerned her. But, the worry, like the idle thoughts she had, passed by with her next breath.
The Magic made its way into her arms and legs, and Jenna could see that her Core was nearly gone. When it got to her fingers and toes, she realized that her Core was completely gone. The Magic inside of her seemed evenly distributed, all flashing with her breath.
Congratulations! You have dispersed your Core.
Jenna’s Status:
Jenna Fredrickson First Year Spells Known: Expected Years Completed: 7 Prediction Confidence: 30% Points: 48 Qualified to Ascend to Next Year? No