Chapter 12: Mana Mana Everywhere, not a Crystal to Eat_Dungeon of the Gods

"Did we not already test for our magical potential when we wielded staffs, wands and orbments?" I inquire of him.

"That was me testing you to see if you have any prowess in using magical weaponry and implements. This was a good first step towards testing your magic though. If you had not shown any proficiency with the weapons or been able to use the wind spell with the orbment I would not continue onto the magical component of the assessment. Now then, Kay come here please." Crestin says and Kay steps towards him.

"Oh look! Those are mana crystals. I have heard about them and I am very interested in them. I wonder what colors will light up for me. Give me the rainbow!" Kay says, and stares at the mana crystals longingly.

"I know I just gave them to you but please pass your scroll back to me." I nod, and hand the scroll back over to him. What will the outcomes of this magical testing change? Will it change anything? I shrug my shoulders and affirm to myself that I would find out swiftly.

Kay hands his scroll over and waits to see what the next directive he will be given is.

"Now please approach the crystals."

Kay was halfway to the crystals before Cresting finished his directive. When he gets within hands reach of the crystals and they all began to glow and make a humming noise. This is rather interesting. I would like to know more about the mana crystals. How are they formed? How do they have elements trapped within them. My thoughts and questions all cease when I see all of the colors light up for Kay.

"Wonderful. I thought that might be the case. Kay, you are attuned to all of the different elements."

I see him unroll Kay's scroll and write a new section onto it. He added each element: fire, water, earth, wind, light and dark. I know that there is also time magic, but I do not know what element that fits in with, nor do I know if it has a corresponding crystal.

"Alright Kay, we will go through these one at a time to see how well attuned you are to each element. Let's start with the two you seemed to resonate with the most." he says and places the fire crystal in Kay’s hand.

It lights up brilliantly, as does the wind crystal. The other elements light up as well, but not as brilliantly. It seemed that the light element was his weakest.

“Hehe, I am going to make so many fireballs. Good to know the crystals agree.” Kay turns to me with a wild smile on his face.

"Now then Amaya, your turn."

I step forward, rather curious to see what would happen. All of the colors had a very dim light, aside from the fire crystal, which glowed brilliantly as though lit within by fires of many colors. There was a mana crystal that had not reacted to Kay at all, so I had not noticed it until this point.

I believe this one had been uncolored? It glowed brilliantly and shone a myriad of colors. It caused lights to shimmer above the crystal itself, forming a miniature aurora borealis.

"So pretty!" I exclaim in awe.

"I have never heard of anything like this." Kay says in wonder. "And I do a lot of reading. I have researched into this a lot. I know how many crystals grow, why they capture different elements, and how then are best used. Even with all of the books in the library I have never heard of anything like this."

"I have not heard of or seen it either." Crestin said, confused. "Okay Amaya, we are going to do this in the reverse manner as Kay. But in just a moment. Amaya, please take three steps back."

I do so and the mana crystals stop their light displays. Crestin walks over and placed the uncolored mana crystal in Kay's hand. Nothing happens. Nothing was happening as Crestin held it either. He sets it back down.

"Strange. Alright then." Crestin says, and began handing me the crystals, one at a time, the weakest glowing first.

He nods as he writes down notes and numbers. I find the whole thing rather odd. It feels as though it is tickling my skin. Like it is trying to draw something out of me, or like it is trying to push something into me. Needless to say, it was indeed a peculiar sensation.

Earth, Air, Water, Light, Dark. When he handed me the fire crystal, however something I wasn't expecting happened. The fire crystal burst when it touched my skin. Twas indeed a brilliant explosion and it felt hot to my skin.

I watched as the crystal completely shattered, its crystalline pieces floating down to me and coating my skin. When they touched my skin they were no longer able to be seen, as though they evaporated, Stranger and stranger.

"Was that supposed to happen? " I inquire.

"No. But it is a fire crystal, so this isn't something that has never happened before." he says, reassuringly. "The rare times it does happen we collect the pieces of it to sell to help afford the new one." he says looking around.

"I fear I do not see any pieces." I tell him as I look myself over. I even shake my cloak to see if anything falls from it. Nothing.

"Well, I believe that you didn't steal any of the pieces. We have a few extra fire crystals for that reason." he says, and scratches the back of his head.

I look around one more time and shake my cloak and spin around while doing so to really try to shake it out. I still see nothing. I don't understand. Where did the pieces go? I felt a faint warmth coming from my arm but thought that could easily be attributed to many things.

"Don't worry about it, really. Now then." he says and picks up the uncolored mana crystal and hands it over to me.

I cautiously take it, no idea as to what will happen, and not wanting to further destroy more crystals. As soon as it touches my skin it starts to glow brilliantly, throwing up the colors of the aurora that danced around us. Its shimmer only grew even more brilliant when it was fully placed in my hand.

It felt as though I was lit up from the inside, colors bleeding into my skin, then being thrown back out. It was an extremely odd sensation. I look up above and see the once tiny light display had expanded to encompass my entire form.

"I have truly never seen anything like this before. Honestly, we only include the blank mana crystal for fun." says Crestin.

"Amaya you are awesome, or scary but you know in an awesome way!" says Kay excitedly. I really like seeing him when he is excited. "This is crazy! I wonder what kind of magic you are able to use."

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"Well I can answer that at least. This crystal reacts to innate forms of magic, those that can only be found in certain bloodlines. It is rather rare, and quite a curious thing. Also difficult to learn. If you are committed to it though I am sure that it will serve you well during your adventures." Crestin told us.

"Based off the display it appears to be illusion magic, and yet I feel there is something else mixed in. At this time we don't even have a teacher for this type of magic. You will have to find books on the topic and might even have to request copies from a traveling merchant or a fellow dungeon town. We are set to have one of the merchants from a neighboring town stopping by three weeks from now. I will have Zerric send out a missive. Of course, you can always learn on your own, it is best that way, sometimes."

"Thank you. I truly and greatly appreciate this kindness you are doing for me." I say to him in an outpouring of gratitude.

"I am surprised I never came across any in our library." Kay says and seems to be sulking a little. I know how much the library means to him.

"Then I shall buy the books and once I am through learning from them, I shall donate them to the library." I tell Kay.

"Yay! I like that idea. You are really nice aren’t you? This town is going to eat you alive." Kay comments.

It is curious that he can say such things so easily. I feel my cheeks blush at his words. It seems that I blush rather easily. I did not think that would be a trait that I would acquire having grown up in Pleasure Gardens.

As we talk I feel the mana crystal begin to react to me in a different way. It sends out pulses through my skin and feel something sinking deep into me. I look at my hand and let out an audible gasp. The mana crystal was being absorbed into my skin.

"Crestin! What is happening. What is going on!" I shout, scared of what was happening.

I don't think that this is supposed to happen. Cat seems startled by my shout and races over. He sees what is happening and his eyes go wide. He jumps up and I am not sure whether to get a closer view of what was happening, or if he is trying to knock it away. Either way he is too late and lands in my arms just as soon as it finishes being absorbed into my skin.

My blood pulses and beats within my veins. I close my eyes and wait for the pulsing to end. It wasn't a bad sensation it was actually rather pleasant in a truly unexpected way.

Zayne exclaims in my mind.

'How does that work.' I ask and feel Zayne shrugging. 'Not helpful!'

"Amaya what just happened? Are you secretly really good at sleight of hand while also being a kleptomaniac?" Kay asks, and tries to examine my hand, even with Cat sitting in my arms.

"I don't know, but I can reassure you with all truth that I am not a thief." I tell him.

"I think that I have heard about this in legends." Crestin tells us.

"Oh you are right! The stone eaters!" Kay shouts. "But I somehow only remember the title and not the contents." Kay says, dejected.

"It's the same for me." Crestin says, clearly disturbed and curious. "I suppose that I shall have to do some research." he scratches his head. "There is nothing that we can do about this right now so I suppose we should continue. I feel it best to warn you not to speak of this to others."

Crestin takes our scrolls to the table and writes on them. He seems to be pondering something as he puts a finger to his mouth and ruffles his hair. He then seems to have finished his thoughts and come to some sort of conclusion as he finishes our scrolls and brings them over to us.

Crestin hands us back our scrolls and we look them over.

We decide to look over Kay's first.

Recommended Classes: Red Mage, Yellow Mage, Green Mage, Black Mage

"Wow Kay, those look super high!" I exclaim. I only have the context of our previous scores being significantly lower to go off of. Though these were aptitudes and not proficiencies, so many new terms and concepts to learn.

"They are! They are really high!" Kay says, bouncing a little.

"Are magic scores always that much higher than weapons?" I ask Crestin.

"Kind of. Magic isn't a proficiency, it is an innate talent we call aptitude. this generally does not increase. It can improve very slowly as you use magic, but often by half a letter grade at most. With proficiencies you won’t see anything above an F grade, but with aptitudes a C is really good with a B often only been seen in a few people each year.

“We do bring people over to the crystals if they unable to activate the orbament, just to reaffirm that there is no to very little potential. If we sense that there is any aptitude, such as being able to use a wand or staff we bring people over to test their aptitude."

"I'm a little confused but I believe that I understand. Magic isn't useful unless you have enough to use spells. Is that correct?"

"Yes, that is exactly correct. This test is to look for the things that you would be the strongest at. However, you can be physically suited to a class, but not have the mindset and personality for it. An example for Kay is that, with enough training, he could be good in the archer class but he does not have the interest or personality to be an archer."

"That makes sense. It does seem as though Kay is driven to be a mage. And he really would kick butt at it!" I say, very happy for Kay. Though it did seem like it would go this way from the start since he has already been practicing spells.

"Okay Amaya let's see what yours looks like!"

I nod and unroll my scroll.

The page shimmers before me as I once more watch my stats hidden through the power of Zayne.

Recommended Classes: Rogue, Fan Dancer, Enchantress, Bard

Kay stares at the scroll for a few moments “I can’t believe your fire skills are higher than mine. I guess I can forgive you since you stink at the rest of them, but still. My fireball spirit is slightly dampened, you owe me a snack.”

“Deal” I find it hard to respond further as I digest the change in my scroll.

"The interesting thing about your recommended classes is that some of them can stack. I often really do not recommend dual classing but, in your case, you might want to consider it. Also, you might want to research spells from the Spirit Blade class and incorporate them into whatever class you choose."

"Why is Spirit Blade not a recommended class than?" I ask.

"Your personality does not seem to be suited to it from everything that I have read and researched. These are just my recommendations." he says.

Kay jumps in with, "But she is suited to be a bard? "

"Yes. She seems to care about those around her and seems to be able to come up with some songs on the fly. Don't underestimate the power of a good song." he says with a chuckle.

"You are laughing. Does that mean that you are having a jest with me?" I ask him, confused.

"I'm not. It's just that this is the first time since I became a tester that I have been able to give the recommended class of bard. Though I have also never recommended fan dancer either, it has been an odd day that has only started."

"How fun. Look at you being rare and doing crazy things." he says and laughs. "And your magic skills. Oh we are going to have so much fun learning spells together." Kay says cheerfully.

"On that note, shall we decide on the courses you should be taking?" Crestin asks us.

"Oh that would be lovely if you could help us sign up. I would greatly appreciate it." I say to him.

"Okay. As we have been doing up to now we are going over Kay's first."

Kay:

Swimming | Understanding Monsters | Party Tactics and Dynamics | Spell Craft | Survival 101

Amaya:

Obstacle Courses Galore! | Understanding Monsters | Party Tactics and Dynamics | Small Sharp Weapons | Survival 101

"Amaya look at how many classes we have together! It will be great, if I forget to study then I can just cheat off of you." Kay says, bouncing just a bit on his toes.

"I know! I am glad for this." I say. There are so many people here, and while many I met have been kind it is clear that others are most certainly unkind.

"I often think that this is a good way to do it. Having party members in many of the same classes helps build trust as you work on studying and problems together." he says. At that moment the door opens.

BANG!

I jump. It seems that the door slammed into the wall, and in walks Rex and his two followers. They walk over to us and yank the papers out of our hand. Cat swipes at him, causing his hand to bleed. It looked like he almost lashed out at Cat but stops when he gets a better look at him.

"Why is Cat with you two losers?" asks the tall gangly looking one.

"Because they are my new favorites." Cat says while still in my arms.

Chapter 12: Mana Mana Everywhere, not a Crystal to Eat

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