When Jeb awoke in the morning, he could not say for certain whether he had touched the Magic or not. He had a memory of the fog collapsing, just for an instant, into an outreached hand stretching out towards him, but he couldn’t remember actually touching it. “Well, that was a strange dream,” he said, stretching the sleep away.
Shrugging it off, he made his way downstairs to see if his mother needed any help.
“Jeb, I realized that we never mentioned, but there’s a tag members of the family flip if they’re arriving after dark,” his mother said. She showed him where it was. Jeb had always wondered why the board was constantly changing, but he’d never seen it change and no one ever brought it up, so he never did.
“Which one is mine?” he asked. His mother pointed to a green tag that had a large J written on it.
“Where do I move it?” She walked him through the process for coming or going, so that people wouldn’t be surprised at his presence or absence.
After breakfast, Jeb moved his marker to the out of house position and went back to the part of the field he had been working in the day before. He saw his piles of Earth, somewhat scattered by the wind. Wiping them away, he decided to start fresh.
Jeb called Least Create Earth to mind and made a handful of dirt. His Soil Savvy pointed out all of the many ways that it was insufficient as soil, but he ignored it. After all, his goal right now was not to make Soil, it was to make Sand.
With that in mind, he called the modifications that he’d made the day before to mind. It was a relief to see that the difference in efficiency was still there this morning. He hadn’t just been imagining things from how late it was.
Jeb once more called the Glyph to mind, focusing on the way that it lit up. From the first point, it was already dimming more than it should. He carefully adjusted each point until it was as bright as it could be.
When he had finished, he was curious how much he had ended up needing to move the points. He called the unmodified Least Create Earth, the Sand Variation he’d started the day before, and his latest one up at once, comparing where the points were. To his surprise, there were a fair number of points that had not only returned to where they had been originally, but had even gone the other direction from where his optimization said it should.
Casting the latest version of the Glyph, Jeb noticed that it was nearly as efficient as Least Create Earth. The only downside was that it wasn’t as sandy as the Glyph had been when he started. Jeb knew that he could probably start working on the Glyph like he had when he modified Attune Water Mana to fit on the staff. He just didn’t want to.
A voice inside of him, deeper than even his Skills, urged him to avoid relying on them too much as he created this new Creation Glyph. Jeb was in no particular hurry, so he saw no reason not to listen to that voice. Once more, he traced through all twenty five points in the Glyph, shifting each in all three directions until it was as sandy as it could be.
By the end of the process, the Glyph was even sandier than it had been the day before. It was a little less efficient, sure, but still better than it had been. After a third pass through, the Glyph was producing purely Sand.
Once more, Jeb rearranged the points on the Glyph until the light flowing through it did not have any kinks forcing it to dim. As he finished placing the twenty fifth point, he didn’t need to recast the Glyph to see what it would produce. The burning in his soul told him more than enough.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Glyphmastery Third Tier Glyph Chain “Create a First Tier Glyph”. Like a true Glyphmaster, you were not bound by others’ Glyphs. Rewards: 58 Experience, Mana Depth +2, Willpower +2, Mana +10, Unlock Glyph Chain Second Quest “Create a Second Tier Glyph”.
The extra Mana Depth was by far the best reward that he could have gotten from the Quest. It was the only Statistic he didn’t have a good way to increase. Sure, he could increase it by modifying a Spell Glyph, but that would also raise his Magic Affinity, which was still far higher than his other Mental Statistics.
Now that Jeb had made Least Create Sand, he was ready to share it with the world. He rushed back into his room, quickly grabbing a piece of Manaweave. As he imprinted it on the paper, he realized that he hadn’t cycled a piece of Waterweave that day to increase his Mana.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Glyphmastery First Tier Scribe Chain “Scribe a First Tier Glyph”. You have engraved Least Create Sand onto Manaweave. Rewards: 19 Experience, Mana +5
The burning feeling in his soul from imprinting Least Create Sand was enough that he decided against pushing his limits to increase his Mana pool again that day. He started the walk to the Library as he considered what to do next. Halfway there, Jeb realized that he could and probably should make Attune Sand Mana as well, so he started walking back home to grab another piece of Manaweave as he started working on making the Glyph in his head.
Now that he had the experience making a new Glyph without the System’s aid, Jeb felt far more comfortable trusting it to help him make the new Glyph for Attune Sand Mana. When he got to his room, he was nearly finished making the Glyph, and he ran directly into his sister before he noticed she was standing at the bottom of the staircase.
Jeb blinked in confusion. “Sorry,” he said quickly, “I wasn’t-”
“Paying attention to where you’re going or what day it is?” his sister finished for him. “Tomorrow is Mom’s birthday. Please tell me you remembered to get her something this year.”
Jeb froze. He hadn’t.
“Do you have any idea what she might-” he was stopped by his sister’s upheld hand.
“What’s something you’ve done for Mom a fair amount recently that she’s mentioned as very helpful?” she prompted.
Jeb thought about it. “Oh! When I use Least Create Fire in the morning to help get the stove running.”
“Great. Engrave that into something she can use.” She walked off before Jeb could say anything else.
He considered what would be the best way to give his mother permanent access to Least Create Fire. Making and Inscribing Fireweave had the double disadvantages of not existing yet and requiring constant upkeep. Jeb wondered whether there might be a rune that could charge from ambient Mana and then release it when directed.
There had to be, since they had a few Enchanted items that no one in the family was constantly topping up, but Jeb wasn’t sure if that was unique to the specific Enchantments or if there was some general adjustment he could make when engraving a Glyph. Mind made up, he ran more quickly to the Library.
“Good afternoon Jeb,” the Librarian said, “what has you moving so quickly?”
“Two things. First, I have a new Glyph,” Jeb handed over the piece of Manaweave with Least Create Sand engraved on it.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Grok Glyphs Second Tier “Share Your Work” Using what you have learned from the Mana Mastery and Spell Glyphing Quests, you have shared one of your Modified or Original Glyph with another. Rewards: 39 Experience, 1 Intelligence, 1 Willpower, 10 Mana
“This is really nice Manaweave,” the Librarian said, “your uncle has gotten far better at bleaching it,”
“Hmm? Oh, no I just bred Managrass to be perfectly white,” Jeb said, “the second thing was that I was wondering if there was anything in the public Glyph repository that would let me make an Enchanted item that slowly draws Mana in and then can be released by the user without them needing to be able to use Mana themselves.”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“There are, though I would warn you that the Mana Pull Sub-Enchantment generally has to be re-derived for each new Enchantment. What are you trying to make? I can see if you’re allowed access to that Enchantment already. Also, just for the record, the Public Enchantment Repository is separate from the Public Glyph Repository. You can request access to the latter since you’ve created a Glyph Modification that is designed to mimic an Enchantment though.” The Librarian seemed just as willing as Jeb was to brush past his breeding a Magical plant to have new traits.
“I want to make a firestarter,” Jeb said, “lately in the mornings I’ve helped my mother restart the flames in the oven by using Least Create Fire to catch the new logs.”
“Let me see if there’s anything like that in the Public Repository that you would be allowed to take,” the Librarian said. Pages flashed through his eyes.
“Hmm,” he said after a few minutes of searching, “I have good news and bad news.”
“Good news first?”
“I think that a Wand of Fireballs might be able to do what you need. Obviously, you will need to scale down the effects of the flame being created, but that shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Is the downside that I’ll need to modify an Enchantment?”
The Librarian just looked at him. “Jeb, you’ve turned in to me six unique Glyphs. In no way did I think that modifying Magical Schema was a downside to you.” That was a fair point.
“What’s the downside then?”
“Well, the phrasing of the rules is slightly archaic.” The Librarian grinned, “they have a generally accepted meaning, though. You, as a First Tier non-Enchanting Class shouldn’t be allowed access to the Public Enchanting Repository.”
“I thought you said-” Jeb began before the Librarian interrupted him.
“It would just be such a shame if some provincial Librarian didn’t know the etiquette and unspoken rules about who was allowed access to the Repository. Then they might be naive enough to take the archaic words at their face value and grant you access for having made something that resembles an Enchantment.”
Jeb smiled nervously.
“Also, before I give you the Schematic, I need you to promise me that you won’t actually make a Wand of Fireballs on purpose until you are at least Fourth Tier,” the Librarian grew suddenly serious. “I trust you not to do anything intentionally reckless, and making a Wand like this could risk the lives of the entire town.”
“Do I need to hide or destroy the Schematic when I finish then?” Jeb asked, now growing increasingly concerned.
“Hmm? No, the overlap of people at a low enough Tier to be able to Enchant without their Class explicitly allowing it and people with the ability and interest to start Enchanting is really just you. Or, at least, it’s just you of all of the people for whom this is their Library.”
Jeb took the neatly bound book that the Librarian held out to him. “This book contains all of the Schematics you will need, along with a brief explanation of what each piece does and a brief Primer on Enchanting. If you end up needing more, please feel free to come back. Also, since this book is a special request, you can feel free to annotate inside of the book yourself.”
Jeb was about to thank the Librarian when he said the final line. That was shocking to him. The first thing that all of the students learned about the Library books was that they were to be treated well. In particular, you were never supposed to mark inside the books.
In a daze, Jeb thanked the Librarian and made his way back home.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 5604/100
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Total Statistic Load: 324 Physical Load: 124 Strength: 28 Dexterity: 21 Endurance: 30 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 200 Intelligence: 46 Willpower: 43 Magic Affinity: 52 Mana Depth: 29 Charisma: 30
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Mana: 875
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Glyph Attunement: 22 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 Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 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 Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand Tier 1 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Bardic Magic Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)