Thankfully, Instructor Chen meant that they would "soon" have to bear the burden of living with their Familiars. Of course, the students could choose to refuse, but that would imply taking a significant hit to their Academic Record.
Once the roller coaster of emotions wounded to a halt, the student came to see the rationality of such a seemingly unreasonable request. For the vast majority of Frontier Conjurers, a Familiar was a tool, a thing, a resource. Chen's suggestion was akin to taking one's favourite mallet to class, lunch, and bed.
Instead, Chen wanted them to see that their faithful companions were extensions of their bodies. Unfortunately for many young Mages present, when Lady Fortuna dribbled her lucky olive oil and gave them a Familiar, she did not concurrently bestow wisdom or experience.
As such, A Familiar that was too intelligent, willful, or dominant may be less valuable than a dumb one. All Familiars were ultimately constructs of mana given animus and will by the Conjurer. They were tirelessly loyal but highly subject to the repressed emotions of the caster. Exhibit A was Luyi, a Spirit that was intelligent and fully sapient. Unfortunately, its owner was a nursery flower that couldn't control her emotions, which made Luyi a danger to herself and others.
While Gwen observed the others and considered her lack of merits, the instructor continued.
"To wield your Familiar with absolute trust, all you need is a decade of common experiences, eat together, sleep together under the stars, bath together in the blood of your enemies..."
A few of the braver students laughed.
"But, as we're no longer in the 70s and you're all scions of your precious Houses and Clans, we can't throw you into the trenches just yet. The academic board doesn't want to risk your precious lives. Your mummies and daddies would have our skins if you were to have a limb gnawed off by a Ghast. You're the special spark that keeps your Clan's inbred bloodline boiling. Thereby, you'll be given a milk run—to keep your Familiars out in public."
Ouch, Gwen winced at Chen's depreciative insults. She also liked the man's candidness. It wasn't every day one met a man who gave no two shits about the Young Masters and Mistresses of the city.
"THIS—is what you will need. For the duration of the course, it will be on LOAN to you."
Instructor Chen introduced the students to what he called a Sustenance Bangle, a magical device that allowed one to keep Familiars out and about in docile form when worn. The moment a Familiar becomes aggressive or hostile, the bangle's circuit-break triggers and the Familiar is banished. To pass the course, the students must keep their Familiars out and about for at least seven days.
"Why seven days?" Lu Fung asked carefully, nursing his abdomen. Gwen couldn't help but be impressed by the man's ability to pack away his ingrown arrogance so quickly. Like Dai, the young man knew when to kneel. Perhaps that was the secret to the Fung Clan's success.
"Because you're all tit-sucking man-children," Instructor Chen informed them, making Lu's jaws clench. "During the Siege of Tianjin in '91, we Conjurers had to keep fighting for three weeks. If you can't keep a leash on your Familiars for even seven days, you can forget about sending them into the battle line alongside other Mages. What would happen if your precious Spirit berserks or causes friendly fire during an encirclement? Forget about being a Creature Conjurer. Go and work on your Spatial Magic or learn to Summon spell-fodder. Be a freight-Conjurer and work on your Teleportation. Either you learn, or you'll be wasting the lives of your Spirit Familiars."
It took another ten minutes for the rant to conclude.
Raising her hand, Gwen asked if it was necessary for her, who did not possess a Spirit, to undergo the same training.
"Your control of your Familiars is abysmal." Chen shook his head critically at her. "For you to pass my course, there are two requirements. One, control your damn Familiars. They don't move a muscle without your express consent. Two, get your Familiars to work together; otherwise, you're just wasting your talent. You possess two elements! Do you even understand that? Dean Luo has especially asked me to take care of you, understand?"
"Yessir!" Gwen half bowed, half curtsied to affirm the instructor's intentions. She promised to do whatever was needed to gain total control over her Familiars.
"I'll be honest with you." Chen shrugged. "Never seen a Void beast before, don't even know if it's intelligent. Caliban acts like it is, but you never know. Just be careful, alright? Keep a tight leash on the thing even when you have your bangles."
Gwen solemnly promised Ariel and Caliban would act in good faith.
Instructor Chen turned to the rest of the group.
"No more complaints? Very well then. Your extra-curriculums begins next week. In the meanwhile, we're going to go through some Master-Familiar bonding routines. Each of you, take a room."
[https://i.imgur.com/BJhWXZ0.png]
When they'd finally escaped from the Daishan Stadium, it felt as though a day and night had passed.
Gwen felt physically and existentially exhausted, though reality informed her she still had Advanced Spell Shaping in the afternoon.
Feeling in need of a pick-me-up, Gwen called Mayuree to see if she was available for a Luncheon. Her eager friend informed her that she could be and met her half an hour later, huff and puffing, at University Boulevard.
Unexpectedly, they had a third wheel.
"Hi, Kitty." Gwen waved at the dual-elemental Mage in possession of Ice and Air. Unlike Gwen, Kitty Liang was the true winner of the LCSS full scholarship and a genuine rival for the IIUC placements.
"Gwen." Kitty inclined her chin. Perhaps because of her affinity with two elements known to produce aloof personalities, Gwen felt Kitty existed on a higher plane. When Kitty did speak, Gwen felt as though she was talking to a doll with a quiet and wispy voice, like the sound of wind whistling through the willows.
The three found a trendy faux-Victorian joint for Afternoon Tea.
Mayuree took a sandwich.
Gwen took a plate of sandwiches.
Kitty watched the other two eat while her petite fours thawed.
"You need to eat, Hon." Gwen regarded the girl. Under her simple skirt, Kitty possessed arms and legs like sticks frail enough to be blown away by a stiff breeze.
"I ate earlier. I just wanted to spend some time with Mia," Kitty replied airily. "You go on ahead."
Gwen quickly ate her plate of sandwiches, then polished off three tiers of the tea set, scones and all.
As a result of Caliban's present fullness, Gwen no longer felt the dizzying yearning for nourishment. But so long as she exercised her Void abilities, her body craved food and energy. Although the pleasure of delicious deserts could not compete with the existential satisfaction of Caliban's Consume, they blunted the edge of her hunger.
Besides them, Kitty watched her eat with an expression between horror and awe.
Perhaps to distract herself, Kitty engaged Mayuree in discussing her classes and instructors. Kitty had a room at the apartment, but she seldom slept over.
"There are only six people in my class," Mayuree said happily. "I guess there are not that many high-affinity Diviners even in Fudan."
"Mao helps us if everyone starts predicting the future," Kitty made a joke. "I am in the opposite position. Even in Transmutation 2021, there's over a hundred of us."
2021! Gwen's ears perked up. That's a second-year course. Both Kitty and Richard were way ahead of her in their Majoring School of Magic. For so long, she was so pleased with having access to multiple Schools of Magic, and now she was comparatively behind in all of them.
Gwen listened to the girl' banter for another half an hour or so, nursing her Earl Grey and resting her mind. When the last dollop of cream was gone, she 'shouted' her mob the luncheon, then left for her Advanced Spellshaping.
[https://i.imgur.com/BJhWXZ0.png]
Advanced Spellshaping took place in the upper campus not far from the Henglong building.
There were about a hundred students who attended the theoretically-aligned lecture. Their instructor was a handsome Magister called Michio Lee, a Singaporean expatriate who specialised in advanced Spellcraft algorithms. When Gwen eavesdropped on the girls sitting up front, she heard that Lee was from a family similar to Mayuree's House, the fourth son of a Frontier trade Consortium based in the fabled Fortress City.
The first half of the lecture was mainly introductory fanfare. Lee spoke about the importance of having a metaphysical understanding of Spellcraft to create unique Signature Spells. He also outlined the immutable triangle of Spellcraft lore: the trifactor between Elemental Mana, School of Magic Sigils, and the Physical Body as the Triumvirate controlling the Arcane arts.
Spells and Incantations, stated the Magister, were formulas that the predecessors of Spellcraft had left their descendants. Yet, as with bloodlines and primordial fauna, there was great potential in looking backwards for ancient, druidic, and even Demi-human arcanistry to find forgotten laws of causation and effect that humanity's predecessors had used to shape the elemental forces.
"Often, we grow too obsessed with looking ahead, failing to see that so much of what we thought and sought as new knowledge—are instead forgotten by history, hidden by conflict, stolen and hoarded by Clans, Sects, and the Religions."
Lee's accusation did not seem to align with at least half the cohort's view of the world; Gwen even saw a few students filing out of the lecture as the instructor grew more radical.
"Think of China's Undead Incursions every Winter in the North East," Lee said sagaciously. "We fear the Undead, we loathe Necromancy—but so what?"
The lecture grew silent.
"Are we not the architects of Necromantic Magic? You and I, humans, are the ones who first raised the dead! In Egypt, the Cult of Anubis first reigned supreme under their God-King Pharaohs! Narmer! Khufu! Khafre! Each was peerless in their Necromantic craft. In our nation of the Central Kingdom, the Great Emperor of Qin, Ying Zheng was the Ruler of all under heaven; his tomb remains the greatest mausoleum known to humanity - the burial palace of a Necromantic God who sought to rule forever!"
More students left the lecture.
"The ancient teachers of Magecraft," continued Lee. "Promised impossibilities and performed miracles, shackled dragons and tethered demons. These modern masters transmuted life and formalised the rules to create the chimaera that we call Spellcraft. Thanks to human knowledge, we have penetrated the recesses of the Wildlands and hunted the Demi-human in her most secret hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the mana circulates and the secrets of the Astral Soul. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers, mimicked creation, and mocked the invisible worlds of Positive and Negative Energy!"
Murmurs of agreement floated from the upper lecture hall.
"But I digress." Lee laughed, ignoring his students. "Necromancy is forbidden. The point—is that Spells are not arcane constructs confined in textbooks to be aped. All magic is a result of experimentation and hypothesis. Do not be afraid to test your limits. Break the rules now and then. In this world, you and I are all explorers. Those ancient Mages could find the tipping point of life and death through their curious enquiry of the world around them, so it should be no trouble for you too, to find new and novel ways to wield your magic for the benefit of humankind."
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The auditorium offered scattered applause as Magister Lee finished his lecture and retrieved the projection crystal he used to show the students historical anecdotes of magical experimentation and discovery.
Gwen felt well instructed by the two-hour session, so much that she was still thinking about it when she finally arrived at the apartment, opening the door to find Petra watching the news.
"Hey." Gwen walked over to the couch.
Petra was bundled up in towels, waiting for her hair to dry.
"How was your day?" Petra asked, stretching out her toes.
"Oh—Pats." Gwen made a long face before leaning heavily into the armrest. "Where to begin?"
[https://i.imgur.com/BJhWXZ0.png]
Wednesday.
Gwen underwent Supplementary Conjuration with Magus Kumiko in a class of about twenty students, practising the basics repeatedly to train for efficiency, consistency and proficiency. She then had a follow-up session with Petra, who aided her in consolidating the knowledge she had picked up throughout the week.
"Well done! I'll be at the lab tonight, so don't wait for me." Petra surprised Gwen with her absentee notice.
"Sure you don't want to grab a bite?" Gwen asked. It was almost six PM.
"Got data to collate and reports to write." Petra lifted herself from the bench. "I have an errand for Master as well. I'll be home late."
"I can bring you food," Gwen offered.
"No, no. Go rest. Big day of classes tomorrow as well."
"It's just Gen-Ed."
"Which I know you love. Professor Ma is presiding. Go on; I'll be fine."
Gwen bid her cousin good night, then retreated from the lab. She may be a part of Wen's cosy little study group, but Gwen knew she wasn't a part of the team but instead its test subject. Even now, Gwen had no idea what the scholar was doing with two Cubes full of Void Matter and Druidic Essence each fortnight and chose not to ask. All she could do was have faith that her allies were wise enough to not slaughter the golden goose for the malformed eggs in her oviduct.
Once she was out, her mind shifted toward dinner.
In all honesty, Gwen didn't want to eat out by herself. Her Caucasian-ness drew as much unwanted attention as her appetite, which when combined, became a spectacle. There was a seafood buffet on University Boulevard, and the one time she ate there, she had inadvertently recreated Homer Simpson's infamous display in the 'The Frying Dutchman'.
She could eat home, but there was nothing but instant ramen at home. Neither of the girls was remotely good at housework, and as such, the fridge had nothing but a few pieces of ageing fruit, water, some juice and a slab of mouldy bread, which she should throw away before it became her third Familiar.
Gwen gnawed her lips and considered her options, finally raising her Message band and punching in a Glyph.
"Hey Mia, it's me, Gwen."
"Yeah, listen, er… Have you had dinner yet?"
"No, no, I am just downstairs."
"Can I? That's wonderful!"
"Okay, I'll be up in twenty!"
Perfect! She thought to herself. Free dinner. Just her and Mia in the privacy of their own homes. There may be a stone-faced Kitty presiding beside them, but that was a risk she was willing to take.
[https://i.imgur.com/BJhWXZ0.png]
Gwen's grin froze.
The pixie girl wasn't home, but Marong was.
The man didn't technically even live at the apartment. But why was he so omnipresent whenever she came around?
"Magister Lee's an interesting guy." Marong drew a serpent in the air with this smoke and watched it swim through space in front of his eyes. Earlier, Gwen had told Mayuree about her day—but Marong did not recuse himself from their girl's night-in.
Above the dinner table, Gwen watched the serpent arch its back until it looked like a rainbow stretched across two smokey landscapes. Silently, she sipped her cranberry juice. Was Marong trying to hint at something, or was his 'display' merely a coincidence? The Rainbow Serpent incident during the Black Sun event was common knowledge by now, but only her Sister and Brother-in-craft knew of her involvement.
Dinner itself had been a pleasure, consisting of meat and three veg and heirloom mushrooms. Marong had eaten a small portion of his steak, then contemplatively watched Gwen deliver piece after piece of bloody flesh to her lips. When Gwen began to glance over at his plate, the Smoke Mage told the maid to make her another portion.
Later, Gwen furthermore polished off Mayuree's serving.
"Michio Lee is famous for being an oddball, but he means well," Marong responded to Gwen's curious enquiry about dredging up the 'hidden knowledge' the Clans and Sects for the betterment of the greater Spellcraft community. "He's also from Singapore, so he's more Mageocracy than CCP, you get me?"
"What are the Sects hiding, though? Signature Spells? Never-before-seen Arcana? Forbidden magic?" Gwen asked.
Marong watched her face.
Gwen felt a little heat touch her cheeks.
Marong followed her gaze until it landed on Lei, their servant, in the middle of preparing desert.
"Any Clan or Sect worth its weight has secrets." Marong scratched his brows to hide his misjudgement of her interest. "Mia and I are members of one of those 'Clans' your instructor despises so much. I can inform you that we have secrets, big ones, but nothing to the degree of Unique Schools of Magic."
"Does such a thing exist?"
"Of course, they 'exist'." Marong chuckled cooly. "Let me give you an example. Years ago, I had a Senior in Tsinghua who could cast a form of body enhancement that allowed him to leap several meters at a bound, walk on walls, and balance on tree branches as thin as your fingers. Think about what you would need to achieve the same thing. Spider Climb, Jump, Adhere and Enhanced Dexterity, to name a few, and that's assuming you could parkour. You know what parkour is?"
Gwen nodded.
"My Senior was a Jianshi, or Wushi, depending on your dialect. He refused to participate in the IIUC, but if he had, Tsinghua might not have lost."
A Wushi? Like in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Gwen felt a strange thrill trying to imagine a Mage scaling walls while swinging a sword, finding the vision as ridiculous as it was enticing.
After all, when a monster like Elizabeth Sobel could drain the life out of a city with ten million souls, what use were Romantic notions of close combat? It was the difference between a special forces unit and a WMD. Swordsmen had their applications, of course, as assassins perhaps, but wouldn't the other side also have an equal and oppositional force to defend their VIPs?
A Jianshi made good storytelling, of course, not to mention fantastic propaganda, but they were hardly conducive to the outcome of a significant regional conflict. Mao certainly did not take China from the dynastic Clans by swinging his sword arm.
"Lee also went on about Necromancy," Gwen continued. "Do you know anything..."
"That's a topic best left well alone outside of academia," Marong warned her with a wave of his hand. "Pretty much everything north-west of Xian is gone to the dead. And yes, Humans did it."
"But Lee said-"
"His opinion is hardly original. Don't you think people thought of that already? That only the Undead could fight the Undead? That we should be developing Necromancy ourselves?"
"Why can't China turn back the tide with its current forces? The news said we're holding steady and slowly progressing westward."
Marong chuckled.
Gwen was well aware she had been watching too many propaganda vid-casts, but to laugh at her was just rude.
"Because they're the Undead!" Marong laughed, taking a toke on his cigarette and allowing the smoke to add to the constructed scenery, which now resembled the Great Wall. "This is not a war the PLA can win without opening itself to bigger problems down the road from the American and the British Mageocracy. Can the Chinese win? Probably. What's left after 'we' win? Not much. If they take Manchuria and North Korea, they'll lose their most precious advantage—the sheer volume of Mages they possess."
"There isn't enough Mages in China of all places?"
"Think about it; China has got a few million NoM soldiers and about six thousand Mages up at the Northern Front. The Public Information Bureau says around 12 million Undead or so, not including their Magic Casters. Now, where do you think the 12 million bodies come from?"
"From graves?" Gwen said.
Marong shook his head and gave Gwen a look with his darkly lined eyes that said, "Oh, you sweet summer child."
"From us!" Marong chortled suddenly. "There wasn't even that many people in all of China when the Qin mausolea dug into the earth! The number of Undead sealed to serve the old Emperor would number no more than ten thousand, maybe twenty thousand! Now there's 10 - 12 million! There's no more than a few hundred thousand even with a dozen tombs. And Lichs? Draugs? Spectres? Wraiths? Death Knights? A few hundred at best. Now they number in the tens of thousands."
Marong snorted sardonically.
"It's us. Don't you see? The more living there are, the more become fodder for the Undead. The only way to stop the Undead..."
Marong left the rest to her imagination. Above the Mage, the smoky Great Wall collapsed into nothing.
"It's best to think of it the Undead incursion as a natural disaster, like Mermens," the Smoke Mage advised. "To be honest, it's best not to dwell. The threat is contained; that all the PLA is willing to do."
Gwen wanted to ask more about this 'threat', but Marong seemed disinclined to discuss the matter further.
"Do we have to participate in this defence?" Gwen changed topics toward something closer to home.
"Goddess, I hope not." Mayuree made a face.
"Fighting the Undead makes for a good career boost for the PLA and the CCP track if you're a free Mage. However, there's not much merit in dying for the government for the Clans and Sects. As for participation, Tower Mages are exempt from conscription, if that's what you mean."
"There's conscription?" Gwen's voice lowered an octave.
"For the NoMs, of course," Marong's voice droned on. "Gaps need filling, no? Humanity is trying to stop a flood, after all. There's a lot of bodies lying around, which is both the solution and the problem."
Marong motioned to the distant horizon where they could see NoM habitat-blocks rising toward the heavens like swords stabbing into the sky.
Gwen thought of the supersized apartment blocks with their underground facilities, mini hive-cities, all of them, where the NoMs made their living. Conscription? She should've known. If the country needed to supply the frontlines with bodies, how could she see those NoM structures as a socialist government doing the best for its non-magical citizens?
Suddenly, the air around her grew suffocating. Her thighs prickled, spontaneously becoming plucked gooseflesh. Jesus, she thought, Shirley Jackson would have a field day.
"Gwen?" Mayuree regarded Gwen's pallid complexion with worried eyes.
"It's nothing," Gwen said, taking a deep breath. "Just indigestion's all..."
[https://i.imgur.com/BJhWXZ0.png]
Thursday.
Thursday held the one class she and Mayuree attended together—Transmutation Utility.
There were several such courses for the first-world Mages—Abjuration Utility, Transmutation Utility, Divination Utility and more. The idea was that there were essential spells from each School of Magic a Mage's party should never be without and which could be taught by rote learning.
Thereby, "utility" spells were simplified versions of the spells available from each School, adapted for general use at the cost of potency and efficiency.
Transmutation Utility covered most of the translocation spells necessary for general Adventuring, Combat, and Dungeoneering.
Currently, her lesson involved the gradual mastery of Jump, Feather Fall, Levitation, Enhance Ability, Lock and Knock, Expeditious Retreat, Spider Climb, Dark Vision and Aqua Lung.
Almost all of the students participating in the course were non-Transmutation students, but not so for Gwen.
Her primary reason for taking the class was Levitation, a lesser form of "Flight", arguably the most helpful spell for a Junior Mage. At tier 3, however, mastery would likely use up the rest of the semester, which was fourteen weeks.
"Without mobility, you are nothing but stationary turrets ripe for destruction," the instructor, a Magus named Canto Luo, a nephew of the Dean, told his students earnestly. "You will be a liability. Do not venture into a Dungeon without ensuring that your party possesses every possible means of mobility. Remember—dead Mages don't contribute to damage."
Mayuree had no talent in Transmutation, but her natural intelligence and good breeding ensured that she could arguably follow the instructor's incantations without delay nor confusion.
Gwen, meanwhile, could feel her long-neglected Transmutation Sigil pulse with eager luminosity as she alternated between Lock and Knock, abusing her abnormally large mana pool.
"Good work, Gwen." Magus Luo nodded approvingly at her progress.
The students split into a dozen stations. The class spent their training time moving from station to station, attempting various spells while under the careful, watchful eye of Instructor Luo.
After just one afternoon, Gwen completed her tier 1 staples.
When she arrived at the apartment building, she felt overcome with mischief and so carefully and meticulously made use of Expeditious Retreat and Enhance Strength. In one bout, she scaled twenty flights of fire stairs, then burst through the fire door into her apartment after casting a Knock, marvelling at the ease of her transit.
Then, in the middle of her living room, her Transmutation wore off.
"Ouch…" She felt the first cramp coming on. "OW—OW—OW—"
Gwen collapsed onto the couch, her face ashen as her body took stock of the muscular fatigue forced onto her tender flesh, paying it back to her in full with compounded interest.
Tears of regret gushed from her eyes as she sobbed helplessly into the micro-fibre fabric of the couch and laid unmoving like a corpse.
Play stupid games. Gwen told herself between sobs. Win stupid prizes.