In stark contrast to the prison, the rest of the afternoon was spent in quiet relaxation at an open-air garden cafe.
Extraction from the prison was more convenient, with Jun and the Warden escorting their guests through uncomplicated side passages.
"No Teleportation Circles exist for going out," the warden informed them, friendlier now that her uncle was the shepherd.
Gwen figured she wouldn't want to be Teleporting in either.
Though the grotesque execution remained a recent memory, their desire to discuss Choi's mercy-killing was extinguished once the group exited Tilangqiao's austere interior. Jun parted from the girls, and they caught Klavdiya's chauffeured sedan toward the Bund.
Once the smell of blood had been sufficiently diluted by a precisely brewed pot of Buddha's Tears, babulya griped that both girls did not yet have boyfriends.
"Gwen's still a lass, but Petra, you've been here for almost three years. You're nineteen and then some!"
"I am not interested in relationships." Petra shrugged, sipping her high-grade Jasmine.
"Dear St Peter—I hope Wen's asexual obsession with Spellcraft isn't rubbing off on you."
Despite the lack of hilarity, the trio laughed and snickered. There was a foolish hysteria about the cheer, for it felt like Gwen and her family were drunk on laughter.
"No, babulya, that's not it." To avoid spilling the tea, Petra had to return her cup to the table. "I am more interested in finishing my thesis on the Spell Cubes. The project belongs to me now that Magister Wen is no longer keen on its completion."
"I saw a guy asking after you, Baili. I believe? He looked like a top bloke. Why not give him a chance?" Gwen poked at her cousin mischievously.
"How about you?" Petra poked back. "There are lots of rumours, you know. I can dismiss Kusu. That guy's a sister-holic, but how about Dai? His cousin was very upfront about how much the Princeling of Nantong asked after you."
"Dai is merely a bloke who owes me a favour." Gwen brushed Petra's riposte aside with a deft parry. "Nothing more, nothing less."
"The Fung Clan has a good reputation," babulya said. "They shouldered the cost of developing Nantong and even opened up their Clan's secrets to the Towers. A very progressive group of Clanners, a new wave, if you will. Nothing wrong with being nice if they're courteous."
The girls went on talking, and babulya chimed in now and then. They paraded around the prickly perimeter of the morning's events like women circling a barrel cactus.
The tea was refilled by an NoM Waitress several times. The triple-tier of petite fours disappeared, as did the black-sesame chiffon cake, a house special.
"I better head back," babulya informed the girls. "I bet Guo's got a long list of grievances to launder."
"I understand. Thanks for everything, Babulya." Gwen offered to pay for the meal, but their babulya would not have it. "Thank grandfather as well."
"Take care of her, Petra. Gwen, take care of Petra as well."
"We will, Babulya," the girls replied in unison.
The military saloon arrived a minute later.
The girls watched their grandmother go.
"It's still early," Petra noted, reading Gwen's face for an outbreak of sudden distress.
"I want to learn Illusion spells." Gwen's words caught the Mineral Mage by surprise. Gwen also surprised herself, as she had originally planned to mope and simmer in misery for a few days at least.
"To the library then? Reserved access offers common incantations from Tier 1 to 3."
"You beauty! We'll go there first and then to the Henglong Laboratory." Gwen stood from the chair and unwrinkled her clothes. "I want to surprise Tao!"
[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]
The girls first returned to the lab to receive Gwen's results.
Gwen and Petra discussed viable Illusion spells as Magister Wen did the necessary measurements on Gwen's new biometrics.
Though not at the level of her babulya's lab, Wen had loaned an Indexing Engine from Klavdiya's hospital to save Gwen from continually moving between Henglong and the Second Experimental.
"1.81 to 1.85 is what I am seeing," Magister Wen noted, scribbling into her data slate. "Congratulations, Gwen, you're an Illusionist now."
"Thank you, Magister. I appreciate your patience and experience."
"It's my job." Gwen couldn't help but detect a sarcastic ring to the Magister's voice, though she chose to disregard the Magister's passive-aggressive displeasure. A line had been drawn in the sand, and now the proper thing was for the both of them to respect their distance. As Jun had said, give and take, nothing more.
"VMI… 220."
Gwen thanked the Magister for her work.
"I'll be drafting my reports to the Towers. Goodnight."
Wen told Petra to lock up, then left the girls to their devices.
"Too bad you're not quite tier 2," Petra waited until her Master was gone. "The good Illusion spells are all 7 to 9 Major incantations or more. Invisibility, Mirror Image, Magic Mouth, the works."
"I think I'll have my hands full," Gwen smirked. "Can't believe there was a spell called Invisible Familiar."
"I feel so sorry for whoever has to deal with Caliban now more than ever." Petra grinned, shaking her head. When her cynical laughter ceased, her cousin shook her head in wonder at whoever would now face Caliban.
Gwen thumbed the spell page she wanted to purchase.
Invisible Familiar
Illusion (1)
Casting Time: 7 Major, 2 Minor Incantation
Range: Close
Components: Somatic, Verbal
Duration: Persistent.
You wrap your Familiar in a shroud of invisibility. This spell functions as a Lesser Invisibility when applied to one's Conjured Familiar. The Familiar is nearly impossible to spot until it enters combat form. When in docile form, the spell remains active until the caster dismisses its effect or is OOM.
Combat functionality aside, having Caliban being invisible was the most useful thing Gwen could imagine. Likewise, the spell would do wonders for her interactions with others if she wished to have Caliban manifested out of sight.
As with all Invisibility spells, she needed to register an application at the Tower to be sanctioned with its possession. Should she be discovered with an illicit possession of Disguise Self, Invisibility and other similar incognito-type incantations, she may be paying a more meaningful visit to Tilangqiao.
Besides Invisible Familiar, Gwen requested Clarion Calls, Ventriloquism, Auditory Hallucination and Disguise Self.
Disguise Self, in particular, Gwen was keen on adding to her repertoire. The spell allowed for minor alterations of her attire, the colour of her hair and eyes, and her general 'aura' to be more eye-catching or discrete. It was questionable, however, if the spell would be allowed. As with Transformation and Polymorph Self, the CCP and the Mageocracy discouraged any magic that would complicate individual Mages' identification.
[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]
Week 8.
Elvia had been informed of her new status as a murderess, as had her siblings-in-craft in Sydney.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Alesia, in her usual bravado, told Gwen not to mind.
"Shit happens," the callous Battle Mage informed her. "Unless you're on the Frontier, all the tier 1 big-wigs rise to the top by stepping on human corpses. Don't sweat it. Fuck 'em, just so long as you're alright."
Gunther berated his hot-headed half of the household, then held a serious heart-to-heart with his Master's youngest. Her paternal brother-in-craft explained with great patience that her choice showed great maturity and that he was proud of her decision to face Choi head-on.
"I am actually far more worried about Yue. I hope she doesn't take after Alesia too much." Gunther sighed, clearly exhausted from his work as Chief Administrator. "Look, we should get going. Gwen, you're the one who enlightened Master about Noblesse Oblige and Militant Pacifism. As we are your siblings, we're behind you. Do not doubt your choices, do what you think is necessary. Master trusted you because he saw something in you. You're not going to become Elizabeth Sobel."
Thank you! Gwen's fear of her Sydney family's disapproval vanished like snowmelt. Thank the guiding stars for Gunther and Alesia, even if her sister-in-craft possessed the emotional quotient of a yam.
As for the absent Yue, Gwen was told her friend was "living it up" on the Mermen Front, kicking ass and taking names. Already the soldiers were calling her "Little Red". The moniker alluded to Yue's Master, but the title amused Gwen.
"She is almost at tier 5 Evocation," Alesia intoned proudly. "Her Transmutation is coming along as well. Nothing like death and danger to get your tiers up."
Having thus received both confirmation and affirmation of her milestone, Gwen threw herself into her studies with a frightful passion. In addition to her classes, she practised and trained in the early morning and late afternoon across all her Schools of Magic.
Illusion proved to be a mixed bag. The Spells she had acquired for utility worked perfectly. As for the ones she had learned to impress Tao, they proved far too challenging without a tutor.
Clarion Call was an easy spell she learned in a day, projecting her voice until she could be heard almost a kilometre away. She had nearly deafened herself when she tried it in her private training chamber.
Ventriloquism was more difficult. At higher levels of expertise, it was used explicitly in conjunction with other Illusion incantations, creating real and falsified sounds. All Gwen could do was throw her voice a dozen meters, which made for little more than an impressive party trick.
Auditory Hallucination was the spell which proved to be her first hurdle. As the chant manifested, she was meant to visualise, for the lack of a better word, the sound she wished to generate. However, she could not translate the "sound" within her mind into spells. It was as though she was feeding analogue signals into a digital system. After a few dozen attempts, she managed to mimic her speech. As for the music within her mind, the spell either 'failed' or produced a jumble of sounds which jarred her ears.
On Thursday, she received the green light for Invisible Familiar but lost her appeal for Disguise Self. The reason was that the board did not deem her request productive and that the spell was unnecessary for a Fudan Student. Furthermore, a supplement suggested that she was welcome to re-apply once she had "chosen" a career path, likely with the PLA.
The operative clauses did not escape Gwen.
It was unlikely that the Towers would consent to disguise spells for someone in her shoes. They probably had their hands full just tracking her Teleportation Ring for all she knew. Never mind that these Illusion spells would easily fail muster under a pair of diagnostic goggles or a Dispelling Ward. Any measure to aid her evasion was a measure too far.
Of course, she could ask for help from Gunther or Jun, but Gwen declined the temptation. There was no need to rock the boat—yet.
[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]
With Gwen's courses entering their final weeks, her workload drastically increased.
Magister Birch began introducing elements of Divination into his curriculum, dividing the class into those doomed to rely on devices and those gifted enough to progress to the next stage. Gwen took to Divination like an Undine to water, making the Magister whistle happily as she Dimension Doored to and fro, masterfully displacing herself from beacon to beacon.
As for Evocation, Magus Young made good on her promise of showing off Spirited Evocation. Each student received a chance to "experience" the IFF possessed by the lucky few. Lu volunteered when it was Gwen's turn, skilfully arcing blue flashes of plasma around her person to strike targets behind or beside her. When she enviously fluttered her lashes at Wanli, the hawk's Master demonstrated a new mastery. Unlike his first lesson with Instructor Chen, he could utilise the hawk's AOE without harming allies caught in its range.
For Gwen herself, she worked on pushing her Evocation toward Tier 5. Without Caliban's aid, it would take her at least until the middle of next year. For now, she would focus on the efficacy and speed of her Evocation incantations.
As for new spells, Magus Young recommended the late Magister Larsen's Ball Lightning.
"Until you get a Spirit, seeking' spells are likely your staple within a mass-melee," the Evoker advised.
The spell's cost was 72 CCs, not to mention Gwen lacked the tiers necessary for the time being.
"You'll grow into it," Young informed her. "Think of it as loosening the tier 5 bottleneck."
And so, the days whizzed by in the blink of an eye.
If there was a solace to her workaholic ethic, the hectic schedule had driven any thoughts of Choi entirely from her mind.
After a few weeks, Gwen uncovered an unexpected boon proffered by her supernatural vitality. Gwen found that she never suffered from true physical exhaustion. Haggard as she may be after an eight-kilometre campus circuit, Gwen was up and ready five minutes later. Her only limitation was mental fatigue, which could be cured through sleep and meditation.
By Week 10, Gwen had successively kept Caliban and Ariel manifested for eight days. She submitted the results to Instructor Chen, upon which she received his congratulatory accolades.
"That's the end of my course." Chen spread his hands. "You're welcome to keep attending, but if you want to progress further, go to the Front. Congratulations on passing."
Gwen insisted there was more to learn, but Chen shook his head.
Ariel had been a sterling example of obedience in the obstacle run; Caliban had also scored above average. Gwen thus considered Chen's words, taking to heart the military man's advice. The Front loomed large on her list of places to visit, but she would consult with Jun about whether the real experience was necessary for her to participate in the IIUC.
[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]
Economics moved from Macro to Micro as the term progressed, shifting from the resource trade between the cities, enabled by the mass-freight services between the Frontier and the tier 1 hubs, to individual power brokers.
Cities such as London, with its proximity to friendly Demi-humans, thrived not on mineral wealth, but on essential ingredients and reagents for spells, having access to the only trove of amicable Elves in the Western world.
Other cities, such as Paris and Rome, thrived on lingering vestiges of soft power left over from their dynastic history, retaining unrivalled influence through their institutions.
A particularly interesting place which made her ears perk was the Vatican.
"The ultimate seat of Faith Magic," her instructor had blatantly stated as though reciting hypnopaedic dot points. Gwen raised her hand, but Professor Jiang wasn't a Mage and couldn't explain the subtler definitions of Faith Magic.
Faith? The moniker smacked of mysticism. Her babulya had remarked more than once that there was no such thing as Gods. If so, what constituted a Deity? Even in Australia, religion was just that - a public spiritual service. It wasn't as though the Cardinals and the Bishops flew through the air at the behest of higher powers. Then again, the Frontier had gone so far as to censor Spellcraft textbooks. Lord knows what else the ordinary people of Sydney were kept from knowing.
Finally, when she asked Professor Ma, the academic provided some clues.
"Ha! Not even your average Magus would know the answer to that question." Ma chuckled. "What we know about Faith Magic is that it taps into the collated animus of those who believe in a particular doctrine. It's an ancient sort of magic; some say the Egyptian God-Kings were the first pioneers, or the Israelites, though both of those 'Faiths' have now reduced themselves to more orthodox forms of Spellcraft. I suppose the Christian Church has retained a stranglehold on Faith Magic for some time; since they never did lose their seat of power. No conquest, no diaspora, no loss of home or hearth. There were a few civil wars, Luther and all that, but they've kept together for the last two thousand years. The Knight Orders under the Britannic Mageocracy are famous for using Faith magic."
"How come Fudan doesn't have a course on Faith Magic?" Gwen enquired.
"What a silly question!" Ma mocked her unworldly question. "Isn't it obvious? There are no state religions in China! All forms of organised faith are seen as a challenge to the CCP. Do you know what I think? All magic, in the end, is just Spellcraft. Any phenomenon that can't be explained is always seen as divine providence. That's why we have Spellcraft; to take us out of the mystical antiquity and into the modern world of reason and rationality. Observable and replicable—that's our motto."
"I see, Sir. Would you happen to know the mechanics behind Faith Magic?"
"You're barking up the wrong tree." Ma collected his lecture notes. "Don't overthink. Focus on what you do know. Your finals are coming up, yes? Don't get distracted. Excellent essay, by the way. A+. Keep up the good work."
"How come you know so much about Spellcraft, Sir?" Gwen felt puzzled that neither Birch nor Young had answered her enquiry. Petra knew little to nothing about it either. She had said that Moscow Tower was ambivalent about Faith Magic, though religion held palpable influence across the Russian Frontier, especially in the Faith Capital - St Petersburg.
"I came from a lineage family." Ma snickered tragically. "What can you do? If the Gods do exist, they're cruel bastards. I suppose I did pretty well, though. Still, we can't all be Void and Lightning. Yes?"
The Professor departed after that, leaving Gwen to regret that she had grazed an open wound.
[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]
"Dai would be very pleased if you could join him." Lu held an invitation for the heir apparent's 22nd birthday in his hand.
The looks she was getting from those who had seen Lu's invite were palpably hostile.
"Tell Dai I won't be able to make it," Gwen refuted the public invitation loudly. More quietly, she said she would thank Dai personally should a future opportunity arise. "I have a very important excursion and training for the IIUC tryout. I hope Dai can understand."
Lu seemed disappointed. The invitation was gifted regardless, in case Gwen "changed her mind".
Gwen was determined not to be tempted though. She had no confidence in the people at these high society gatherings. So far, her encounters with assholes were almost 100%. Either she lived under a blighted star or needed more clout to make herself irreproachably unapproachable, especially to those wooing her with questionable designs.
The weeks thus rolled by, and soon the time for examination was upon them.
Gwen prepared her mind and body as the countdown struck the final day of August. She had trained with Petra, sparred with Lulan and Kusu, and further polished her skills with Richard and Lea blocking her endless assault of Evoked and Conjured lightning.
From a Paper Tiger... Gwen was confident she had graduated to become a Paper Dragon! She just hoped there wouldn't be Kusu and Lulan 2.0 waiting to challenge her during the practicals.