They reconvened hours later.
ZEKE had spent the intervening time reading and re-reading through chapters of a large tome he had pulled from his dimensional space. Elena had left briefly to berate her husband over his behavior, while Sierra had cooly focused on her own training regime as a way to settle her unease.
All of which left Alarion alone with his thoughts. A bad place to be.
Elena had drilled into him that something like this was in his future. Major flaws were rare and they were, as their name suggested, quite significant. Most were so severe that they could be recognized the moment they appeared. Natural blindness, or deafness. Severe mental defects, inborn disease or addictions. Familial curses. He’d known something was wrong, and that they would discover it sooner rather than later.
This felt bad even by those standards. Yet it wasn’t the only thing weighing on his mind.
He thought he’d gotten stronger.
His battles with the fiends, his trek through the hidden city. The war with the Duke. In his mind. Lamesh had defeated him by injury, by trickery and surprise. Even if Sierra told him that he did not stand a chance, some part of him had held onto the hope that she was wrong. That he was stronger than she gave him credit for.
His fight against Dar had put the lie to that boyish fantasy. It hadn’t even been a fight. He’d thrown his entire being into his attacks, and Dar had treated him like an uppity house cat. One he could have easily put down. It hadn’t been like his fights with ZEKE or Sierra. The gap there was vast, but he was certain that if he struck a clean blow on either of them, they’d at least have felt it.
Dar hadn’t flinched. Alarion hadn’t even gotten a notice that he’d dealt damage.
That was power. Actual power.
Alarion was weak, and now he had a glaring, perpetual weakness on top of that. He could have abided one realization without sinking deep within himself. Two at once proved difficult.
His sullen expression when Sierra had come to fetch him had left no doubt about his mood. He studied his shoes as he rejoined them by the firelight, though Elena was able to coax the slightest hint of a smile from him as she reassuringly squeezed his shoulder.
“I am sorry. It will not happen again.” Elena said softly.
“Could you stop him?” Alarion asked, glancing up at her with a tilt of his head.
“I-” She began, only to stop to consider her words more carefully. “I am his wife. If I tell him no, he will stop.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Elena sighed, unable to meet his eyes. “Sometimes Vitrian lessons need to be taught harshly.”
“Then don’t tell me it won’t happen again. I might need to learn another lesson.” Alarion replied. “I don’t like liars anymore than you do.”
Elena frowned and looked ready to contest his strong accusation when ZEKE abruptly punctuated their conversation by loudly closing his tome.
“Thank you for your patience.” ZEKE stood and stowed the book into a glimmering white portal that appeared with naught but a gesture. “I believe I am ready to proceed.”
“What were you doing?”
“I was reviewing my library.”
Alarion frowned. “You were reading the same book for hours.”
“Not at all,” ZEKE rebutted with some of the more usual zip in his voice as he opened the book and turned it to face Alarion. It was blank. “The capstone skill of my Archivist class is called Infinite Library. It allows me to store the contents of any non-magical book for later review on a specially prepared tome. I have recorded most of the non-restricted VISIT archives, among other large bodies of knowledge.”
“Ah.” Alarion answered, unsure of what else to say.
“I do have positive news, as well.” The Steelborn continued. “Your condition is rare, but not unheard of. This means there are… options, on how to proceed.”
“Such as?” Sierra inquired.
“We’ll get to them,” ZEKE assured her. “But first we should define our terms and the issue the young master is facing. Inken Sky.”
Those last two words seemed odd, until the Steelborn began to draw on the air. Black lines flowed into existence with each pass of his finger, leaving permanent trails in the air as the machine quickly wrote out the effect of Alarion’s flaw.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Effect: You are incapable of voluntarily externalizing your mana. You are unable to voluntarily use any skills, items or spells that require MP to be channeled to an external source. Items, skills or spells that automatically drain mana will drain the maximum amount possible on contact.
“This matches what you see on your status, correct?”
“Mm.”
“Good. Then we will begin here.” ZEKE underlined two words in the description. Voluntarily and channeled. “These two are the lynchpins of your flaw. As our repeated testing showed, you are incapable of channeling your mana in the traditional sense. However, as the Governor helpfully demonstrated, your are still capable of using an item with a channeling requirement under duress. Why is this?”
Alarion began to answer the rhetorical question, only to be waved off by ZEKE as the machine drew two circles in the air. One was a nearly perfect sphere filled with arrows pointing outward, while the other was bumpy and jagged, with arrows pointing inwards.
“To understand this, we need to understand channeling. What it is, and why it is necessary. And to do that we need to understand the difference between a bound and unbound field.” ZEKE could already see a glaze in Alarion’s eyes and quickly ‘tapped’ the first of the circles for his attention. “This is an example of a bound field, the building block for the majority of spellcasters. Created by a skill or by channeling a small amount of mana, a bound field sets the structure and instructions for a spell. Let’s use the ubiquitous Firebolt spell as an example.”
ZEKE drew a crude outline of a flaming bolt in the air. His artistry left something to be desired, drawing a restrained smirk from Elena, which in turn prompted a stern glare from the machine before he continued.
“If I were to cast Firebolt through a skill, it would create a basic outline of the spell. Then through channeling and incantation I would fill and stabilize the shell, the bound field, that it created with mana. Once it is full, the spell formula triggers, I finalize the incantation and the spell creates a bolt of flame to set someone on fire. Are you following me so far?”
Alarion nodded.
“A bound field is precise, efficient and specific. If all four of us were to cast a standard Firebolt with the same attributes, it would cost the same and function the same. A large part of this is that the bound field has an internal magical pressure that innately repels outside magical energy. It only accepts mana that is properly channeled as per its formula. Going outside that, by trying to overcharge the spell, for example, won’t result in a stronger firebolt, but a collapse of the field.”
“At best, doing so would cause the spell to fizzle. At worst it could blow up in your face.” Sierra warned. “Skills are generally more forgiving than free-form magic, but neither is to be trifled with.”
“Quite right.” ZEKE agreed. “Unbound fields, by comparison, are largely unstructured. They still have a barrier that sets the conditions for their activation, but they are less concerned with how they get their mana, only that they do. The activation mechanism in your greatsword is an example of an unbound field, you can feed it in an instant without incantation and it immediately triggers the effect.”
“That just seems better,” Alarion said. Then he looked to Sierra, remembering his previous conversation with her. “There was always a trade off, you said.”
“There is.” The girl said, gesturing to ZEKE who was already drawing his next diagram. This one showed a firebolt with messy, indistinct edges and lines pulsing out from it.
“Unbound fields are powerful and quick, but they tend to overfill and leak mana like a sieve. Combined with their general lack of order, they are a terrible choice for anything requiring accuracy or tact. A good deal of ritual and non-combat magics would be impossible with an unbound field and even combat spells will vary in effectiveness and be harder to control or aim. That isn’t to say they are all bad either, unbound fields excel in aura and nova type magic specifically because they can work to their advantage of flooding an area with power. And most importantly in your case, they can be filled simply by flaring your defenses.”
“I see what you are suggesting, Ezekiel. But there are many problems with this.” Elena’s frown gave her a severe look as she tapped an index finger against her elbow. “Not the least of which is time. Why not focus on internal channeling. Void wouldn’t help him there, but Sun, Body and Time could produce some potent combinations.”
“You are not wrong,” ZEKE answered diplomatically. “But the whole reason that Vitrians are trained in spell and sword is for versatility and redundancy. We can and should devote some energy to internal channeling, but if all he knows how to do is magically augment his sword swings then he runs the risk of being torn to pieces by a competent mage.”
Elena seemed unconvinced. “Better the fiend we know than the hive we do not. If we had a year this would be a better idea, but trying to follow an unfamiliar progression path in months?”
“Is there even a class focused on magic cast through unbound fields?” This time it was Sierra who voiced her concern. “Every caster class I’m familiar with works around channeling.”
“A few. None of them especially well studied or documented,” ZEKE admitted as he looked to the sullen young man who had spoken so little. “I do not wish to deceive you, Alarion, what I am suggesting is not an easy or well trodden path. This training would be… ad hoc, improvisational. There is no guarantee that you would be able to finalize a class before your induction, even with your Aptitude, and I cannot follow you there to continue your tutelage should we fail.”
Alarion wasn’t looking at ZEKE. He was studying his hand. The half-healed scrapes from where he’d been cut by Dar’s spell. The bruise where it had been pinned to the ground. “What happens if the training is successful.”
“You’ll be a mage as much as any other, if a very unconventional one. A bit more brute force and direct than most, but if we are being honest with one another, that just sounds like what I have come to expect from you.”
That earned him a smirk. A thin one, but a smirk nonetheless.
“You are posing the choice to him, when you have yet to sell me on it.” Elena pointed out.
“I am relying on his nature.” ZEKE corrected Elena. “If I have convinced him, then you’ll have no more say with your ‘dagger’ than I did.”
Elena narrowed her eyes then looked to Alarion and swore. She knew that look.
“Mothers give mercy,” She complained. “You will teach him some channeling?”
“Enough that we can try to segue into it if this all proves a fools errand.” ZEKE confirmed.
“Fine.” Elena gave a resigned sigh. “I will head back to the manor in the morning. When or if you need me to instruct him in Void, send Sierra and I will return.”
ZEKE shifted slightly, his metal thumb and forefinger scraping against his chin. Elena also knew that look. He wanted something more. Something she wouldn’t like.
“Tell me.”
“I will need you to remain here.” ZEKE explained. “To help with some light… torture.”