Kaleb sat in the office being lectured by Jar-lock. Kaleb had been running on the idea that intention plus Mana equals Magic. Turns out he wasn’t far off. According to Jar-lock, Jack-Mages could learn any spell but could not increase the power of that spell. They had to create and cast a whole new spell every time.
So for a normal Wizard, Warlock, or other type of Mage they would cast an Icicle spell then level that spell up. For Jar-lock and himself they would have the normal icicle spell than multiple other spells based on the icicle spell.
“So like a small icicle, a medium icicle, and then a large icicle spell?” Kaleb asked.
Jar-lock gave a halfhearted nod. “Kind of, but say a Warlock spends SP to add spikes to his Icicle Spell. We can do that without having to spend SP, all it cost us is a small MP increase. Other Mage types spend SP to enhance or change spells, Jack-Mages can just do it. With an increase in Mana consumption so I recommend leveling the Mana Manipulation Skill ASAP.”
“Yeah, so uh… that’s a lot of spells to keep track of.” Kaleb said trying to gloss over him not having the Mana Manipulation skill.
Jar-lock didn’t look like he was fooled but he let it slide. “That’s what your Spell Book is for.”
Kaleb nodded as he surreptitiously tried to open his status window. He tabbed over to his Spell Book and his eyes widened in surprise. It saved every variant of spell he had used in the book. Fire Ball, Fire Bullet, Explosion, Icicle, Electricity, and a few others. They were all saved in the book, and each had a small bar next to them.
“Take it out.” Jar-lock said.
Kaleb just gave him a strange look causing Jar-lock to sigh and explain. “Reach your hand toward the tab then click yes.”
Kaleb did as Jar-lock instructed and got a window asking if he wanted to pull the tab out as a book. Clicking yes, a small tome popped into existence in his hands. Kaleb thumbed through the pages seeing the same information he saw in the tab. Jar-lock moved around behind him and looked at the book over Kaleb’s shoulder.
“Wow, not a lot of variety. Just a bunch of elemental spells.”
“They work best with my Magic Gun.” Kaleb said defensively.
Jar-lock gave Kaleb a curious look, so Kaleb reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out the bulky Magic Gun. Jar-lock picked the gun up and looked it over as Kaleb asked his own question.
“What’s the bar next to every spell?”
“Mastery. Each time you fill the bar you get a star, three stars means you’ve mastered the spell.” Jar-lock answered weighing the Magic Gun in his hand.
“We have to master each spell?!”
Jar-lock shook his head. “Not really, but each level of mastery gives a damage boost and decreases the amount of Mana needed. What is this made of?”
Kaleb looked up and saw Jar-lock spinning the large bone white cylinder of the Magic Gun. “Ifirt bone. So as we come up with new spells and use them the book records them?”
Jar-lock pointed the gun out the window and squeezed the trigger, when nothing happened he frowned. “Yep. We can either come up with the spell ourselves or read spell books for normal spells. The key to the Jack-Mage is its versatility and ability to combine various spells.”
Kaleb took the gun away from Jar-lock, giving him a dirty look. “Don’t fire that inside!” Pocketing the gun he asked. “What combinations?”
Jar-lock grinned and tilted his head toward the door. “Let’s head outside. I’ll explain and you can show me how that gun works.”
Kaleb nodded, and the pair exited the office then the hangar. Traveling a short distance away they found a small hill that would work as a backstop. Kaleb drew his Magic Gun, aimed at the small hill, and fired. He had pictured a small fire bullet as he poured Mana into the gun. The amplifier in the gun's chamber spun loudly before a red blur exited the barrel and slammed into the dirt hill.
“Picture the spell you want, focus your Mana into the gun, then pull the mental trigger so to speak.” Kaleb explained.
Jar-lock took the gun and grinned. “And fire and ice spells are all you can come up with? Dude, expand your horizons.”
Jar-lock aimed a little over the nearby hill and stayed still for a few seconds. Kaleb heard the amplifier spinning up as Jar-lock’s arm suddenly lurched back. He heard a small thump come from the gun as a large brown stone was launched from it and arced over the hill. Just as he fell around the back of the hill the brown stone exploded sending chunks of earth everywhere.
Kaleb turned and stared at Jar-lock questioningly. Jar-lock laughed and handed the gun back over to Kaleb. “It’s a custom spell I made up called Earth Grenade. It’s a standard Stone Spell with an Explosion Spell inside it. We get bonuses if the spell we create hasn’t been done before and since we are the only two Jack-Mages in the game so far…”
Kaleb nodded understandingly as Jar-lock trailed off. “But that can’t be the first time someone has exploded a stone spell.”
“NPC spells don’t count, only other player’s spells. Warlock’s can get an Exploding Stone Spell, but that’s purely an Earth type spell. I combined that with the Fire type Explosion spell and boom!” Jar-lock smiled.
Kaleb raised his Magic Gun and tried to copy Jar-lock’s spell. He focused on a stone with an explosion inside and channeled his Mana. Once he was sure of his aim and he had poured in enough Mana, he pulled the trigger. The small stone flew almost the same arc as Jar-lock’s shot exploding just over the top of the hill. But when it did Kaleb double over in pain and gripped his head in his hands.
“FUCK!” Kaleb screamed.
He quickly checked his MP as he tried to breathe through the pain. His Mana had dropped to 10 out of 110. 100 hundred Mana! Kaleb thought as the pain slowly subsided and his MP came back. Jar-lock put a hand on his shoulder consolingly.
“Dude, your MP must suck.” Jar-lock said.
“100 points!” Kaleb screamed indignantly.
Jar-lock nodded. “It’s only 45 for me. But that’s with me having one star in it and having created it. Plus the little bonuses from Mana Manipulation.”
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Kaleb stood and inhaled deeply as the pain in his temples disappeared. “How do you already have a star in mastery?”
“I created the spell so mastery is easier.” Jar-lock said shrugging. “But, picture and Icicle spell on fire or an Electricity spell that froze people! And that’s just offensive spells, imagine the possibilities for defensive ones.”
Kaleb nodded as he tried to remember the various spells he had seen. For some reason, Diana Torero’s fire whip spell came to mind. He wanted to try it but thought he should wait a few minutes for his MP to recover. Jar-lock fired off a few more spells from Kaleb’s Magic Gun as Kaleb waited.
“I think this thing takes the spell up a tier.” Jar-lock said as a Fire Ball flew into the dirt hill. “If I try a small Fire Ball it shoots a medium one. Try a medium-sized Icicle Spell and I get a large one. It takes some getting used to.”
“Want me to build you one?” Kaleb asked, but Jar-lock shook his head.
“I enjoy tossing the spells with my own hands. It’s a great feeling.”
Kaleb nodded and checked his MP. Deciding that he had enough, he stepped away from Jar-lock and focused his Mana into his hand and pictured a whip made of fire. The yellow Mana in his hand turn red and coiled outward in the shape of a rope. Kaleb smiled as the fire whip solidified in his hand, pulling his arm back he got ready to flick the whip out. But suddenly his vision darkened and pain flared in his head. Next thing he knew he was looking up at the blue sky from his back.
“Fuck Magic!” Kaleb said massaging his temples.
Jar-lock grinned staring down at Kaleb. “You just need to raise your Mana Pool and stop trying to do spells that are beyond your current Mana capacity.”
“How am I supposed to guess that?” Kaleb whined as he stood back up.
“I got a skill called Magical Knowledge by reading through some of my Magic books. It lets me gauge how powerful a spell is. Not in any specific terms but I get a general idea. Add to that the big MP increase Mana Manipulation gives you and you’ll be fine.”
“Damn it, Jar-lock, I’m an inventor not a squishy Mage.” Kaleb joked before asking. “So how do I learn this Mana Manipulation skill?”
Jar-lock sighed. “First off: none of this is squishy.” He said waving at his large frame. “Second: Mana Manipulation comes from… well, manipulating your Mana.”
“Both of those sentences sound dirty.”
“Dude, I’m serious. All you have to do is control your Mana outside of using spells. Shape your Mana into different forms, circulate it throughout your body, don’t push it or force it, just let it flow throughout your entire being.” Jar-lock explained.
“Fine, next chance I get, I’ll focus on getting the Mana Manipulation skill. For now, I’m going back inside and building something.” Kaleb groused.
Jar-lock shrugged his shoulders and passed back Kaleb’s Magic Gun. The pair headed back toward the hangar. On the way Kaleb spotted his parked car and remembered the device the HLO had planted in it. He tapped Jar-lock’s shoulder and lead him over to the car. Once they were next to the driver side door Kaleb whispered.
“I forgot to mention: I think the HLO bugged my car. Can you figure out what kind of device it is?”
“Maybe, if I’m familiar with the device or its common. But if it’s a rare device, the Identify spell may fail. Where is it?” Jar-lock whispered back.
Kaleb pointed just above his tape deck. “It’s inside the console sitting just on top of the radio.”
Jar-lock nodded and got into the driver seat placing his hands on top of the console. He closed his eyes and Kaleb thought he felt a pulse of Magic tremor through the air. Jar-lock held that pose for almost a minute before he drew his hands away and got out of the car.
“Whatever it is, it’s high tech and draws power from the radio. It’s powered down right now though, so it must only turn on when the car is on.” Jar-lock said in a normal tone.
“But no idea what it is?”
Jar-lock shook his head. “None.”
Kaleb nodded. “Looks like I will have to take it out of there then.”
Jar-lock looked like he agreed and the pair went into the hangar. They found Roy helping Farrah and Daivor build their computer. Daivor was giving instructions to Farrah who passed them to Roy. They had the frame built, and they were now toying around how everything would fit inside. Seeing Daivor reminded Kaleb of why he and Jar-lock had started their lesson to begin with.
Kaleb saw that the thought had just occurred to Jar-lock as well. The big Mage turned to Kaleb and said. “Focus your Mana in your eyes.”
Kaleb was a little gun shy after his last two tries at new magic. But he trusted Jar-lock and focused his Mana. He felt the Mana in his body pass up through his stomach and chest until he settled near his face. Opening his eyes he found that the world looked much the same except now a rainbow of colors cascaded around Daivor. Jar-lock must have sensed Kaleb had done what he asked because he said.
“Now look at the link that connects you and Daivor.”
Kaleb found the link, it was a white rope that seemed to connect to a point from just above his naval to Daivor’s chest. Kaleb glanced at Jar-lock for the next set of instructions.
“Now grasp it in your hands and send a pulse of Mana through it.”
Kaleb did as Jar-lock instructed and sent a small pulse of his yellow Mana through the white line. With his new Mana Vision he watched as his Mana traveled through the line and right into Daivor. The Gnome jolted as the Mana hit him and he looked over at Kaleb narrowing his eyes.
“Oi! By a Gnome dinner first.”
Farrah chuckled as Kaleb shook his head. A blue window popped up into Kaleb’s vision after the Mana hit Daivor.
*Congratulations*
You have confirmed the link between you and your Familiar.
You can now level up your Familiar on its Character Page.
You can now banish or summon your Familiar.
The number of Summons is limited by your Summoning Skill.
Summoning Skill Unlocked.
Summoning Skill Beginner Lvl 1 — You can summon or bind magical beings to work for you. Success depends on the Summoners MP and disposition of the being summoned or bound. Some magical creatures may try and trick the Summoner into granting it even more power. Others may acknowledge the Summoner willingly.
Number of Summons: 1/1
MP increased by 15
*Daivor Leveled up*
Crafting increased to 3
Alarm increased to 2
Please select a new Skill: [Alien Knowledge 1], [Build Speed 1], or [Gnome Workshop]
Kaleb looked at each skill, the first two were obvious. But he wasn’t sure what Gnome Workshop was. As he pondered his choices, the selections slid apart, and the system gave him a tool tip about each.
Alien Knowledge 1 — The Gnome is granted basic knowledge on the Alien races machinery and equipment. They can identify and build simple items from across the stars.
Build Speed 1 — It increases the speed at which the Builder Gnome can build things. It also grants them a bonus to their endurance so they can stay awake longer to build things.
Gnome Workshop — The Gnome Home is upgraded into a Gnome Workshop. Once every 12 hours a simple item will be generated from the workshop. It will design the item to help the Builder Gnome do his job more efficiently. The player can tear duplicate items down for parts or put back into the Workshop.
Kaleb grimaced. It was a tough choice. He wanted the speed or Alien upgrade, but Workshop could also be a huge help to Daivor. He also didn’t know if he could choose this upgrades again. Turning to Jar-lock he asked.
“Can I pick a skill for Daivor later if I don’t choose it now?”
“He already leveled up?!” Jar-lock asked surprised. When Kaleb nodded Jar-lock rubbed his chin in thought. “If I remember right, the skills will shuffle with each level up. But eventually you should be able to get them all. But that was for the Lesser Ifrit. I don’t know if it’s the same for a Builder Gnome.”
Kaleb frowned and reread the entries for each skill. If he could eventually get them all anyway, then his choice didn’t really matter. But if not then he would have to be happy with what he got. Sighing loudly, Kaleb went with his gut and made his selection.