As the bees rushed towards him, Jeb had a moment where he thought he wasn’t their target. After all, despite coming from all directions of the farm, they were grouping at the hive, rather than surrounding him. More and more bees arrived, and he saw them start to break into cohorts.
As they started to swarm, Jeb cocked his head. Now that he was seeing them all flying together, he was positive that his bees were larger than the other bees on the farm. They were grouping by Elemental Attunement, he quickly realized, distracting him from that line of thought.
When the hive had finished swarming together, they started dancing around him. They still seemed angry, but Jeb was lost in the beauty of their dancing for a while. Some of the bees had become so Attuned to their element that they left small trails of Mana afterimages behind them.
After a few moments of wonder, he focused on what they were trying to communicate. When he got the message, he nearly laughed. “Yes, I did make a new Attune Mana Glyph,” he said, “and I put some into my lute.”
The bees danced more quickly around Jeb, clearly urging him to play. Solving two problems at once seemed like as good of a decision as anything else, so Jeb carefully plucked a few notes, willing the Sand Mana inside the lute to come to the forefront of the sound and appearance.
It had a similar effect to Earth Mana, though with a few variations. Rather than protecting from large blunt impacts, it seemed like it would help resist small abrasions, like what he would expect sand in a storm to do. Sand Mana, like Earth Mana, also made the lute darker and dispersed the light more. With Sand Mana, though, it was less the entire lute becoming uniformly darker, and more that light seemed to get caught on individual grains within the wood.
Like Earth Mana, the input of Sand made the lute seem more real. Following the pattern that Jeb was beginning to understand, the way it affected the lute was more fragmented. Rather than sounding like the single unified sound of a perfect Song, each note seemed to be foreshadowed and followed by what the note could have been.
As he played a scale, that effect was hardly noticeable. When he started playing a song, though, it was as if every harmonic choice he made became crystallized in a specific moment of time. Jeb was beginning to wonder what would happen to the sound if he kept adding more and more Elements to the lute, but the bees kept him from drifting too far in that thought.
He stared at them for a moment. Slowly, he began to piece together the meaning out of the dance. “There are five factions,” he gathered quickly. The bees gave a metaphorical nod.
“One Unaspected faction, and one for each Element that I have been able to make Mana for.” Once more, the bees agreed. That was where he got stuck. They were mentioning a sixth faction, but he couldn’t see any new divisions.
Suddenly, it all clicked for him. “Oh! Did you want me to make a cloud of Sand Mana so that some more of you can Aspect into Sand Attuned bees?” The hive buzzed happily, and Jeb looked at his Mana. It had refilled almost completely. Whether that was because he watched the bees longer than he’d thought, played the lute for longer than he’d thought, or something else, Jeb wasn’t totally sure.
In any case, he called the Glyph for Attune Sand Mana to mind and began forming it in the air in front of him. A contingent of the Unattuned bees started flying through, absorbing it far more readily than the last time he’d given bees Mana. “Did you all learn how to collect Mana more efficiently?”
Seeing their buzz of agreement, Jeb nodded. When his Mana had emptied, he thought about what else he had to do for the day. With a shock, he realized that his schedule was fairly open.
Rather than waste time trying to decide what to do, Jeb ran back to his room and quickly put Attune Sand Mana onto a piece of Manaweave. On his way to the Library, he noticed that his Mana had refilled. He debated between waiting until he was home, Enforcing while he walked, or sitting somewhere beside the road.
When he realized that he had never Sung a Song while moving, Jeb knew what the answer had to be. He started playing the Song as he finished his walk to the Library, putting Unattuned Mana into the lute. Mostly, he was curious if there was anything new to fix in his lute.
As he expected, there was no new damage to the lute, so the Unattuned Mana didn’t do anything to make the lute directly better. What surprised him, though, was that the Unattuned Mana didn’t remain Unattuned as it flowed through the lute. It seemed to take on aspects of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Sand.
Nearly losing focus on the Song, Jeb watched intently as the Mana flowed through the lute. He saw small pockets of each discrete Elemental Mana in small patches throughout the instrument. As the Unattuned Mana flowed over them, the demarcations between each Mana type seemed to fade.
No longer did he see a small patch of Earth Mana next to a small patch of Water Mana. Jeb watched the two pockets flow together. While the center of each remained more or less wholly the single Mana type, there was now a gradient between the two Elements. When his Mana finally emptied, he was beyond curious what the lute would look and sound like.
It was difficult to articulate how the sound was different, and Jeb was certain that he would not have noticed a difference if he hadn’t just played with the bees. Instead of each Mana type seeming to affect the sound on their own, it now seemed like each effect was working in conjunction with the others. Shrugging, Jeb started improvising a melody and played as he finished the walk to the Library.
When he got to the door, he was surprised to find the Librarian standing outside of it, clearly waiting for him. “Good-” Jeb quickly looked at the sky, “morning!”
“Good morning, Jeb,” the Librarian replied, “do you have something for me or are you here to request something?”
“I made another Glyph!” Jeb said, handing over the sheet of Manaweave.
“Is that it?” Jeb nodded, and the Librarian walked back inside. He quickly got the Notification he was expecting.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Grok Glyphs Second Tier “Share Your Work” Using what you have learned from the Mana Manipulation and Spell Glyphing Quests, you have shared one of your Modified or Original Glyphs with another. Rewards: 39 Experience, 1 Intelligence, 1 Willpower, 10 Mana
Satisfied, Jeb made his way back home and considered what else was on his general to do list. Pulling out his new Wand, he grimaced. It was not the nicest looking piece of Enchanting he’d ever seen, but he knew that he didn’t have time to make another before dinner time. More than that, Jeb knew himself well enough to know that he would end up missing dinner, too wrapped up in the Enchantment.
The thought of passing time made him realize that he’d stayed up through the entire night. As the thought entered his head, he became suddenly tired. He found his sister before going inside. “Can you wake me up before dinner? I pulled an all nighter making Mom’s present.”
His sister rolled her eyes and nodded. Jeb was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
In what felt like no time at all, he was being shaken awake. “Is it time for dinner already?” Jeb asked, blinking the sleep away.
“Would I wake you up early just because I thought it was funny?” his sister asked.
Rather than respond, Jeb looked out the window. The sky was lit up in reds and yellows from the sunset, so he jumped out of bed. “Thank you!” he said, rushing down the stairs.
“Happy birthday!” his whole family said after dinner had finished. Someone had brought a cake from a nearby city, and they all enjoyed the rare occurrence. As was tradition, everyone had brought a gift.
Jeb looked around, realizing with a sense of relief that he still wasn’t the youngest person there. His Uncle Sean had brought his toddlers along. Both of them presented, with great solemnity, some misshapen blobs of clay that they claimed were puppies. It was adorable, and his mother thanked them before handing each a small piece of cake.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Jeb waited for the next person to come forward, only moving when his sister elbowed him in the side. He realized with a jolt that he was the next youngest person in the room.
“It’s a little rough,” he said, holding out the Wand of Fireballs, “but I made you a fire starter for the mornings.”
His entire family looked at the Wand with undisguised interest.
“How does it work?” his mother asked, taking the length of steel out of his hand.
“You point that end towards where you want the fire to go,” Jeb said, flipping the rod around in his mother’s hand, “then say ‘Begin Fire.”’
“And how do I stop it?” his mother asked. Jeb was surprised that she’d asked that before turning it on, and his shock clearly showed on his face. A few stifled laughs rang out in the kitchen.
“You just have to say ‘Hold’ to make it stop,” he said.
“Begin Fire,” his mother said, pointing the wand towards the oven. A roaring stream of fire came rushing out, raising the temperature in the room a notable amount. Jeb realized he hadn’t considered how much of a difference being indoors would make for the heat buildup.
“Hold,” his mother quickly said. The room fell silent as they all looked at the Wand with a new sense of appreciation. The younger members of the family all saw something that could produce great gouts of flames. The older members clearly saw something else, though Jeb certainly wasn’t going to ask what they were seeing. Their faces were far too somber for an occasion as happy as this was supposed to be.
“Well, thank you,” his mother said, handing him a piece of cake. Jeb noticed his sister glaring at him as she moved up to give her gift. He wasn’t sure what the look was for. She had more or less explicitly told him to make his mother something Magical for her birthday.
More to the point, her gift was far better than what Jeb had given. “I remember how you said that you miss having coffee,” she said, holding out a bag, “so I worked with Grandfather to breed a chicory plant with caffeine.” His mother’s smile at that gift confirmed how much better it was than his. There was no hesitation or anything hidden in it, and his sister seemed much happier as she walked back with her cake.
The rest of his family also came out with their own gifts. Though not an explicit tradition, there was a common goal of always trying to give a better gift than the last you received, especially from the same person. His mother had always been one of the most empathetic members of the family, and her gifts reflected that. She always gave people exactly what they’d needed.
When the cake was gone and gifts had been given, Jeb was about to leave the room. His sister’s subtle tug on his arm as he began to move stopped him. Right. He had a Class now, which meant that he was allowed to stay for the Theorycrafting part of the birthday celebrations.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 5643/100
----------------------------------------
Total Statistic Load: 327 Physical Load: 124 Strength: 28 Dexterity: 21 Endurance: 30 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
----------------------------------------
Mental Load: 203 Intelligence: 47 Willpower: 44 Magic Affinity: 53 Mana Depth: 29 Charisma: 30
----------------------------------------
Mana: 885
----------------------------------------
Glyph Attunement: 24 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 Attune Sand Mana Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand Tier 1 Spell
----------------------------------------
Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
----------------------------------------
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 Enchanting
----------------------------------------
Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
----------------------------------------
Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)