Jake’s POV

When Suma was told I would have to work day and night by Captain Gigoales, I didn’t think he’d mean it so literally. I was just getting used to sleeping normally again, only to be forced to stay away for twenty-four hours straight either training or finishing my project. Less than ten minutes after I had finished my morning training, I was summoning pieces of a bicycle to put them together in Atmosia. I’d written a letter to my mum, asking her to get the pieces of my dad’s old bike from storage, and tie them to my bag so I could bring them here. Six summons later, I got what I needed to make my idea work; including a few spare parts.

While I was lifting the bike with vines and solidifying them to keep it aloft, Suma flew into my room. “Are you finished yet?” She asked.

“The runes are done, mostly. I still need to make a few for noise cancelling, but it will fly. Now I just need to put everything together.” I explained, picking up my rune-crafting tools.

“Cancelling a sound? What do you mean?” She asked. While I mixed the ingredient and carved channels into the bike’s frame for the runes, I tried to explain the concept of soundwaves to Suma. She didn’t really get it, but that may be just because of how bad a teacher I am. Suma stayed with me for a while, watching me work and listening to me talk about how it worked.

The clays I used for the bike were different from my normal ones. These had to be sturdy enough that they wouldn’t come off if the bike was hit, either by accident or by a spell. A feat I assumed would be difficult, and was. Hours of trial and error, and over twenty daljars worth of mana later, I finally found a method to make a pseudo concrete. Really, it was more like red bricks, but it worked well enough, and held mana enough to let the runes operate.

“Alright, I think that’s it. Would you like to do the honors?” I asked Suma, gesturing to the only exposed section of the runes so that she could fill it with mana. She flew up and landed on the seat, then placed one wing on the rune. It glowed a dull green, and a loud noise like a plane’s engine filled the room. The bike, with Suma still on top, lifted ten centimeters off the ground.

“It is so loud!” Suma yelled over the roar of the runes.

“Yes, I’m very proud! Thank you!”

“What about a crowd?” She yelled.

“Will one of you turn that infernal thing off!” Someone yelled behind us, near the doorway. Whoever it was, they were louder than the bike. Turning it off, I turned around and saw Lieutenant Datahu.

“Sorry.” I said. “I haven’t installed the runes to make it quiet yet.”

“It is time for your afternoon training.” She said, and I suddenly felt the full force of twenty-four hours without sleep hit me all at once.

“I don’t suppose I have time for a nap?” I asked, yawning.

“You suppose correctly. Follow me.” She said, and I followed her to the pit.

Once we’d arrived, she cleared the other trainees out, and created several practice dummies. “Your attacks were fine this morning, but you still need defense spells. I will teach you one that can protect yourself, and one that can protect others. However, I am fully aware of your… unique insights… regarding magic, so I encourage you to think of your own variations.” Datahu flew behind the dummies, and cast a spell. “This spell manipulates the ground to form a defensive wall.” She said, as a rock clade in yellow light shot up from the ground, directly in front of each of the dummies. “It is useful when taking a defensive position on the ground, or protecting a stationary object. However, it is impractical for most other things.” The rock slid back into the ground, leaving behind a patch of disturbed dirt, and the yellow glow faded away.

“I used something like that to defend against a lightning spell once.” I said, remembering the entrance exams to get into the Drakes.

“I am not surprised. It is a fairly simple method of defense. Most Neame know it. Now I will show you the method I prefer, and you will practice using it.” Her natural sparkle, what little of it she had anyway, turned green, and the air around her spiraled like a tornado. “This method works extremely well, and can protect you from most fire and wind based attack spells. However it will do little against physical attacks or lightning, so layering it with other spells is the best solution.”

“Does it use a lot of magic?” I asked.

“Yes, though I doubt that would be a problem for you.”

“Then how do you maintain it?”

“I have learned to use it only when needed. Using it while flying can be difficult after all.” Her green sparkle when back to white, and the air stopped spinning. “Now you try, and once you have learned how to use it, I will attack you.”

After some practice, I was able to mostly recreate the second spell she showed me, though mine wasn’t as refined as hers. “Good, now I will attack you.” She said, and something hit me on the side of the head.

“OW!” I yelped, and the spinning wind around me exploded outward as the spell ended abruptly.

“It needs to be faster, or attacks like that will get through.” She said. I looked, and a sliced-up chunk of one of the countless vines in the base was laying at my feet. “The attack was interrupted, but not stopped, so it still hit its mark. It even caused you to lose focus. In combat, that would kill you.” Datahu said, and took control of another vine. “Try again. Feel the magic moving the wind, and push it forwards more quickly.”

“Except that I can’t feel magic, remember?” I complained, holding my head. “Besides, I’m always wearing armor. I don’t need to worry about-”

“Are you wearing your armor now?”

“Well, no. But…”

“Then you are not always wearing armor. Nor will you always wear it on missions. Your metal garments are loud, and the Drakes almost entirely rely on stealth. There will be many missions in which you cannot summon your armor to protect yourself. And even when you can, those garments cannot protect you from lightning, or fire, correct?”

“I mean, yeah…” I said, defeated. “Okay, but I still can’t feel magic.”

She turned her head away for a moment, and ruffled her wings; something I’d seen Suma do plenty of times whenever she starts thinking. “That is true.” She turned back to me. “How do you normally control your spells if you cannot feel the magic?”

“I just kinda picture it, and it happens.” I shrugged.

“Then how would you ‘picture’ an attack being repelled? Would you think about your mana pushing the attack away?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I don’t know. For my Railgun spell, I think about magnetism pushing and pulling the ball. But that would only work on metal.” I said.

“Why?”

“Because only metal is magnetic.” The moment I’d said that, a thought popped into my head. (No, that’s not true. Metal is more sensitive to magnetism, so it’s easier, but everything is magnetic. Everything had a north and south pole.) “Wait… actually…”

“One of your ‘unique insights’?” She asked.

“Yeah. Just give me a second.” I said, and she nodded. I came up with a few criteria for a spell. One, it must repel anything at the atomic level. Two, it would need to create a thick enough area-of-effect to repel larger objects, like chunks of vines aimed at my head. And three, I’d need to repel both north and south poles at the same time. (Maybe I could layer it, like the Lieutenant suggested? One layer of repelling north, and one of south? No, just one would be fine. I’ll focus on the north poles. But it’ll still need layers. Just one wouldn’t be very strong.)

“You’ve been staring at the dirt for ten minutes, are you nearly done?” The Lieutenant called out, snapping me back to reality.

“Uh, yes. I think so.”

“Good, then cast your spell, and I will attack you.” She said. I pictured a dome of north aligned magnetism around me, twenty centimeters thick, and as powerful as I could make it.

“Ready!” I said, once the spell was cast. There was a pause, and nothing happened. “I said I’m ready!”

“I already attacked.” Datahu answered. “I must say, it is quite impressive. I cannot seem to pull them free.” Confused, I looked around, and there, about a meter away from me, were two vines suspended in the air. The tips of the vines were completely motionless, while the rear, the part that was outside the dome, thrashed around violently; trying to break free.

“I can’t believe it worked!” I said, surprised.

“And I cannot believe you created an entirely new form of defense magic in less than ten minutes, and with only one cast of the spell. You know, I practiced that wind spell for two months before I perfected it…” Lieutenant Datahu said, sounding annoyed.

After practicing and experimenting with it, I learned a few things. Firstly, I learned that it does not protect against fire spells, which was a painful lesson. Secondly, I learned that the spell uses so much magic that I wasn’t able to maintain it for longer than ten minutes; which really surprised me. Especially since that was the first spell I cast that actually drained my mana enough to tire me out.

“Okay, now I really am tired.” I said, laying on the ground, unable to move or open my eyes. “I mean, I was tired before, but I feel like I do after Suma heals me.” Suddenly, I felt something touch me on the stomach, but I was too tired to open my eyes or care what it was. Then a sensation like water was being poured into my body came over me. It started in my stomach, but slowly moved to my ribs, and chest. A few moments later, I started to feel some of my energy come back. I opened up my eyes, and saw the Lieutenant standing on the ground beside me, with both of her wings on my stomach.

“By the dragons, you are like a mana sponge. Your body is pulling in my mana faster than I can give it to you.” She said, then pulled her wing away. “That should be enough. Can you move?”

“If I can, does that mean I have to train again?” I asked, only half joking.

“No, your mana is depleted. Between all the runes you made before training, and that spell, I suppose you finally hit your limit. I almost started to believe you did not have one to hit. Well, either way. Go eat and sleep. We will resume your training in the morning.”

Before I could stand up and climb out of the pit, she’d already flown away. “Hey Suma, where are you?” I asked, over our private connection.

“Eating with the team in the trade center. How is your training going?”

“I just finished. Can you summon me? I’m starving.”

“Okay, Jake. Actually, I think they have something here you may wish to see.” She said. A few moments later, I was standing, albeit shakily, in the trade center of the base. The trade center’s purpose was exactly as one might guess, a place for people to trade good from outside base to the Neame who live here. Whenever a shipment of something arrived, our Captains let us know about it, and we could buy it if we wanted. Unlike normal however, these traders only accepted coins as payment, never mana; which was probably a military rule to keep the soldier’s ready for combat at all times or something.

Suma, Nine, Odens, and Rou were all perched on wooden posts sticking out of the ground. They were holding fruit in their foot/claw/hand things, and eating happily. “So, what did you want me to see?” I asked, looking around for food. There was a plant with some kind of fruit on it in the middle of the team. While I may not have known what it was, I knew I was about to eat it.

“Over there.” Suma said, pointing a wing towards a merchant perched on a large wooden box.

“What is it?” I asked, stuffing as much of the fruit into my mouth as I could without unhinging my jaw like a snake.

“Paper.”

“Really?” I asked, over our private connection, so that I could eat.

“Yes.” She replied, aloud; garnering confused looks from the others.

“Who’s selling it?”

“I do not know them. Perhaps it is someone we sold paper to in the past?” She said.

Nine looked at Suma confused, then down at the half-eaten fruit he was holding. “Dragons… I hope she’s just going crazy. This is too good to spit out.”

“She is doing that Mind-Magic thing she has with him. It is a bit rude to leave us out though.” Rou said.

“Sohhey.” I said, with a full mouth.

“Nope, that’s gross. Go back to the Mind-Magic thing.” Odens said, looking away.

“We sold paper to a lot of people. I figured one or two would resell it. Didn’t a few shipments get sent to the Major a few months ago?” I said over our private connection again.

“That is true, but those were only for command officers. These are available for everyone.” Suma said. “That said, they look strange.”

“Strange how?” I asked aloud, picking another fruit from the plant.

“They are a different color. Did we ever sell yellow paper?”

“Like sugar paper? No. Normal paper can turn yellow, but that takes longer than two or three years.” I said, privately again.

“Perhaps they made it themselves and it turned yellow that way. Did you teach anyone how to make it?” She asked.

“One or two people, but only the basics of what I knew. Just a noble and a farmer.”

“Is that Neame either of them?” She asked.

I looked closer at the Neame, pretending like I could tell the difference between them well enough to know either way. “I don’t know, maybe…”

“Jake, can you tell the difference between Neame?” Odens asked.

“Can you tell the difference between Vik- I mean… hoomens, Odens?” Rou asked.

I swallowed. “Humans.”

“Sorry; humans.”

“I’ve only ever met one.” Odens said.

“That is a no then?” Rou teased.

I nodded my head and agreed with her. “Sounds like a no to me.”

“You didn’t answer the question either, Jake.” Nine pointed out.

“I can… with enough exposure to them over time.”

“So, you do not recognize the Neame selling the paper?” Suma asked. I shook my head no. “Then you should go and talk to them. Perhaps they will recognize you?”

“Okay.” Swallowing the last of my second fruit, I stood up and walked over to the Neame on the box. His gaze met mind, and he shifted uncomfortably on the box.

“Oh no. No, no, no. Good little fella. Stay over there please. Is this someone’s familiar? He’s getting a bit close.” The Neame called out. I heard several Neame start to snicker and hold back laughter from all around the room at the trader’s reaction. Now smiling myself, I got a bit closer. “Please! Someone! Collect this-”

“Where’d you get this paper from?”

“AH!” He shrieked and fell off the box, and laughter erupted from behind me… probably from Odens. “It speaks!” The trader asked, his head poking up from behind the box.

“It does. So about that paper?”

After talking with the trader, and explaining who I was, he became very excited. “So, you are the familiar who originated this wonderous product?!”

“I am.”

“I must say, it is an honor. My apologies for earlier. I had no idea.” He bowed deeply and spread his wings.

“It’s fine. I’m used to it. Anyway, where did you get this paper? It doesn’t look like the kind I sold.” I said, looking inside at the stacks of yellow paper inside the wooden box.

“Ah, yes. This paper was purchased from the Ambos Paper Consortium.” He said.

“The who?”

“They are a company owned by Baron Knek and his family. They produce paper and other assorted goods like this wonderful beverage called tea, and a kind of food that has been treated with fire to change its taste. They really are a wonderful company with so many revolutionary ideas!”

“Baron Knek? I know that name. He bought paper from me years ago. I sold a lot to him, but not enough to start a company.” I looked at the paper again. It was not just yellow, but it was also rougher, more ragged along the edges, and the thickness was uneven in different spots. “This looks homemade. He must have started making his own.”

“I would not know. But I’m certain he has made a vast fortune from it. Though there are rumors that he is secretly being helped by a rich farmer.”

“Wait a second… I taught him how to make tea too, and I gave him biscuits!” I thanked the trader for talking with me, and went back to Suma and the team. “We’re suing the Knek noble family when we get back to your hometown, and a farmer.”

Suma looked confused. “…Why?”