Jeb woke the next day to the sound of tolling bells. His sleep schedule had shifted over the term break, and he was surprised to hear six bells ring out. He leapt out of his bed, hurrying to get ready for the morning before going to breakfast.
Crud, Jeb thought to himself, I had promised Declan that I would meet him for breakfast at sixth bell. Sixth bell had been the earliest that Declan was willing to meet, and Jeb had never thought for even a moment that he would be the one running late. As he rushed into the cafeteria, half formed thoughts of hallways fading back into nonexistence, though, he breathed a sigh of relief. Even as he looked around the large room, he could not find Declan anywhere inside of it.
“Looking for someone?” Jeb turned to the familiar voice behind him. Declan rushed forward, and the two exchanged a brief hug. “How was your term break?” he asked as the two broke apart.
Jeb shrugged. “I got through most of the projects I had been meaning to do, but that’s about it. What about you?”
Declan beamed. “I hadn’t realized how much Theoretical Enchanting would help me in my family’s workshop!” he said in a rush, words coming in a rapid clip. “I was more productive during this last term break than I had been in the last half dozen combined.” His exuberance died down a little as the two picked up their breakfasts, and he grilled Jeb a little harder. “Come on,” he prodded Jeb as they sat down, “what secret projects did you get up to over the break?”
“So you know that I come from a Farming family,” Jeb began. Declan nodded. “One project that they’d given me before I left was breeding a new plant.”
Jeb paused, thinking about why they had assigned him that. Realizing that it boiled down to “Jeb needed more Intelligence and Willpower and that was a Quest which raised both Statistics,” he tried again.
“Sorry, that was a bad place to begin. You’re familiar with Manaweave, right?”
Declan nodded again, a smirk coming across his face.
“So Manaweave, fittingly enough, is woven from Managrass fibers. Well, it turns out that Managrass fibers are first spun into Manathread, which is then woven into Manaweave, but that’s beside the point.” Jeb realized he was rambling, took a deep breath, and continued, “back home, I was able to breed Managrass into White Managrass, which mostly just saves bleaching time.”
“Congratulations?” Declan said hesitantly. It was clear that he had no frame of reference for how much labor that would save. As a result, he had no idea how useful that mutation was, if at all.
“That’s beside the point, though,” Jeb continued, blissfully unaware. “After I made that, I was curious if I could Elementally Attune the Managrass. As it turns out, I can!”
Declan’s eyes widened. Jeb continued, “before I came to the Academy, I made Watergrass. Over the break, I managed to make Firegrass, Airgrass, and Earthgrass. I haven’t made any of the latest ones into their own versions of Manaweave yet, but Waterweave, at least, is somewhat reusable.”
“And that’s important?” Declan guessed.
Jeb shrugged. “It’s nice to not have to constantly prepare a huge supply just to inscribe a few Glyphs. I also found that Waterweave lets others cast a prepared Glyph, even if they don’t have any Glyph Magic of their own.”
Declan’s eyebrows, which had been slowly shifting back down, suddenly shot back up. “Do you know what-” he was interrupted by the sound of tolling bells. “Shoot!” he said, rising quickly. “I’m going to be late for Practical Enchanting. Don’t think that I’m going to forget this, though. We’ll talk about it soon.” He hurried off and Jeb waved as he left. After casually finishing the rest of his meal, Jeb stood and started walking towards his first class of the day.
“Welcome to Theoretical Glyph Magic,” the Professor called out, writing something on the board. At first glimpse, it even resembled a Glyph, at least until it started to warp. Slowly, the form solidified until it simply glowed “Theoretical Glyph Magic.”
The Professor continued lecturing as though nothing had happened. “Now, I am obligated to inform all of you that your Skills will be restricted even further than is standard for a term while you are enrolled in this course. Much of the homework becomes trivial if you have unrestricted access to a Glyph Magic Skill. And, since not everyone in this course has access to Glyph Magic through the same Skills,” he peered over his glasses at Jeb. Jeb shrunk back, hoping that the rest of the class wouldn’t notice the Professor’s attention on him.
Thankfully, the pause in the Professor’s speech did not last very long. “—everyone will have their entire Status sealed to prevent any Skill related benefits. Unfortunately, this may make other coursework significantly more difficult. A list of courses within this College likely to be affected is in front of each of you.” Jeb looked down and noticed a packet of small tight writing. As far as he could tell, nearly every other course in the College of Letters that he had been considering was listed there.
“For those of you considering dropping this course for the term to take another time, I will point out that, though the restrictions are tighter this term than is standard, they are not significantly so. Additionally, the Faculty are in discussion about the benefits of keeping these restrictions indefinitely. In short, it is not unlikely that you will be faced with a similar dilemma in future terms.”
Jeb quickly checked his own course schedule. None of the other courses he was in, save maybe Advanced Theoretical Enchanting, sounded like they would conflict with his restricted Status. He noticed that a few of the other students in the course stood to leave after the Professor’s warning. One called out, “I must have gotten the wrong room. I was searching for Practical Glyph Magic. Sorry for the disturbance.” The rest just ducked their heads and left the room.
“This is your final chance to withdraw from the course,” the Professor said, voice tenser now. Seeing that no one else stood, he nodded and started waving his hands through the air. As he did, a number of small Glyphs started appearing as though they were trailing his motion. Jeb watched as they started to combine with each other, slowly shaping into a larger and larger single Glyph. It was far more complex than any Glyph he had ever seen.
The Professor stopped waving his hands. The Glyph pulsed once and then seemed to fragment into fifteen identical versions of itself. Each fragment flew through the air towards one of the students in the course. Jeb watched as the Glyph approached him, tensing slightly. It flew directly into him, feeling as substantial as a beam of soft sunshine.
Once it hit him, though, the pain started. Jeb hadn’t noticed how sore his muscles had gotten from his long days of working the Academy fields. I suppose it makes sense that the System gives me some benefits to prevent pain, he thought as his arms, legs, and back all screamed. He forced the pain down, trying to listen to what the Professor was saying.
“Now that all of the preparations for this course are finished, please pull out a sheet of Manaweave. Your first assignment is to Inscribe a Spell Glyph onto that sheet. If you know any Zeroth Tier Spells, now would be a fantastic time to consider using it.”
Jeb tried to pull up his Status. He had never bothered to memorize all the Glyphs he knew, since they were never more than a moment’s thought away. Now that his Status was sealed, however, his Status did not respond to his calls. Jeb frowned.
Apparently he was not the only one, because the Professor called out in a bright tone, “if you do not remember which Glyphs you have learned, this is the general form of the Attune Mana Glyph.” He sketched the Glyph on the air in front of himself and glowing light traced it. Seeing the beginnings of the Glyph were enough to remind Jeb of his efforts learning Attune Water Mana months ago. He formed the Glyph again in his mind and willed it onto the page. The sheet of Manaweave he had made remained bare.
Jeb had a moment to consider what might be wrong with his Manaweave before the Professor was beside him. “What are you focusing so intently on?” he asked.
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“I was trying to push Attune Water Mana onto this piece of Manaweave,” Jeb said, “but it isn’t seeming to catch.”
The Professor nodded. “Given that I have sealed your ability to cast Glyph based Magic, that is unsurprising. Did you bring a pen?”
Jeb nodded in understanding and pulled out the pen. Without the System prompting him on exactly the way that the Glyph looped and connected, Jeb knew that whatever he drew was going to be less than perfect. Still, he tried his hardest, even going so far as to imply depth the way that he remembered previous pieces of Manaweave showing them. By the time that he had finished, the bells were tolling the end of the period.
Jeb jolted in his seat. He hadn’t realized that it had taken that long for him to craft the Glyph in front of him. The Professor walked around and picked up all of the sheets of Manaweave that students had written on. When he got to Jeb, he started to slide the sheet of Manaweave between his fingers while frowning slightly.
“Is something wrong?” Jeb asked.
The Professor shook his head. “No, I am just a little unsure why you are using such high quality Manaweave as scratch paper. Where did you purchase this?”
“I didn’t,” Jeb replied. Seeing that the Professor was about to say something, he quickly continued, “I made that over the term break.” Truthfully, Jeb had felt like the Manaweave he made was of much lower quality than the sheets his uncle had given him.
“Hmm,” the Professor said, clearly thinking. “Are you the student in the Remedial College?” He had asked the question quietly, but was clearly not making an effort to prevent other students from hearing. A few did and turned towards Jeb, eyes full of questions.
“Yes,” Jeb replied.
Understanding suddenly flashed in the Professor’s eyes. “Ah, right,” he said, moving away from Jeb, “I remember what Aquam said.” Jeb wanted to ask what Dean Aquam had said, but the Professor was already multiple students away. The desire not to draw attention to himself was stronger than his need to know.
After all, Jeb reasoned with himself, I can figure out what that was about next time I talk to Dean Aquam.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Humdrum Human Age: 16 Class: Wizard Level: 3 Experience: 1246/204
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Total Statistic Load: 858 Physical Load: 278 Strength: 52 Dexterity: 53 Endurance: 54 Vitality: 55 Presence: 64
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Mental Load: 580 Intelligence: 126 Willpower: 127 Magic Affinity: 119 Mana Depth: 104 Charisma: 104
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Mana: 2015
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Glyph Attunement: 31 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Water (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Meditation Gift of Gab Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Glassblowing Magic
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic Glyph Specializer
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)