Backtracking to Aelder, Oskar, the Chosen of Apheros was eventually able to calm the riot he caused by assembling a group of clergymen and having Eldar translate the origin of the minor god.
A story that roused a large number of dwarven historian’s interest. (But we’ll get to that in the next chapter.)
Apheros, traveling on his grand journey across the world, followed the Grand River down past the Endless Falls, and was stunned into inaction at the sight.
The once lush delta that was fed by the river was no more, instead a broken land stripped of its vitality was before him. He could see monsters scavenging for leftover scraps in the sand, attacking one another when a morsel of dead leaves was discovered.
Apheros grew mad with rage, he didn’t have his spear, but he didn’t need it, they didn’t deserve it…
He reached behind him to snap off a tine from a set of antlers on his back (make note of this for next chapter), then grew the broken piece until it became a long-sharpened pole.
He then began to kill. Not in the quick and nearly painless way that a butcher would do to an animal, but in quite the opposite matter.
He impaled the nearest monster, boring deep into its abdomen, then raised the still living monster in the air, and planted the pole into the ground. The screams from the wounded monster as its blood slowly trickled down the pole drew in its brethren, allowing Apheros to continue his rampage as he repeated the process over and over.
Days went by, the blood-drenched sand turning black as it began to rot, but Apheros kept killing and killing, his madness only exhausting itself once every single monster was dead.
Apheros then fell to his knees in agony, tears streaming down his face; mortals had once lived there.
A sound woke him from his misery, a thumping noise from one of the impaled monsters.
He grabbed the hatchet from his belt, then cautiously cut open the stomach of the monster.
A small wailing child fell out, startling Apheros, but he quickly knelt down to hold the child in his embrace.
The tears kept flowing, and while he tried his best to calm the child, he tilted his head up to the sky, thanking the first two for their small mercy.
His attempts to quiet the child were in vain though, for it kept screaming and trying to escape from his grasp. He knew why of course, he was covered in viscera, and surrounded by a horrific forest of dying monsters.
Apheros barked himself, he knew he could do better. He was not a god of destruction, nor did he wish to become one. He focused on what the child needed.
It needed to feel safe, it needed to be fed, it needed a place to learn and play, and most of all, it needed someone to love it.
Apheros took his shield, the one that had served him for countless years, then buried it in the dirt. He then focused all his godly energies, using his shield as a catalyst for creation. A new domain for himself; protection.
He poured and poured his energy into his shield, until a sapling began to sprout. It took root, then began to drink in the rot from the destruction that he caused and shot up into the sky, branching out in a myriad of directions until its leaves fully blotted out the harsh sun.
Apheros gave the tree everything that he could, until only his exhausted breathing could be heard.
He looked down, only now realizing that the child must have finally calmed. In his arm was the child, looking at him and the tree in wonderment.
“What is your name child?”
“Aelder”
“Well Aelder, this is your tree. It’ll keep you protected, as long as you stay near, this is my promise to you.”
Apheros leaned against the tree, barely keeping himself awake, but when he made contact, the tree drained some of his fatigue. Not much, but just enough for him to grow a layer of soft green moss over his ironbark armor. It absorbed the filth that covered himself and the child, then began to spread into the delta, consuming the rot caused by his destruction.
The two slept safely under the shade of Aelder’s tree, holding each other in their arms.
---
Travis
Rocksday, the 21st of Fifthmonth
“It’s 7am now.”
I set down my history book, slightly annoyed about my side project’s lack of progress. The tome I had was loaded with useful information, but I was going to need to take notes to conduct a proper investigation. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but when the person you’re investigating can see everything you can do with perfect memory, you need to be careful.
I mulled over the problem as I got dressed and stepped out of my room, but my thoughts were interrupted by Drozuk walking out at the same time. We both stared at each other for a second, before awkwardly walking down to breakfast together in complete silence. The change in attitude wasn’t too surprising, given that the Noble Civics instructor yesterday all but called out Drozuk when he pointed out that tuition was only covered by the kingdom if you graduated, and that anything we learned here at the academy could only be legally shared with registered mana users and wards of the kingdom.
Thankfully we were able to separate after going through the food line, and I was soon joined at my table by my friends.
“So, all of you can make it tonight?”
Everyone nodded their heads, and Jethro gave me a big grin, “Definitely, I hate having to bump shoulders at the regular range or try to find time to go to a T.A. led group study at the Wind Mana Studies’ range.”
Mattius let out a small grunt, “At least you got a silver stripe on your shoulder, I kept getting dirty looks when I went there to practice.”
Wow, I didn’t realize how bad it was for them, “I’m surprised there aren’t more spell ranges if the competition is that bad.”
Jethro waved me off, “There’s plenty of range space, just not enough for everyone to show up at 7-11. Plus, they don’t close, so you can adjust your sleep schedule and go during the night if you really needed the practice.”
Adrian let out a small chuckle, “I didn’t even know it got crowded, I’ve just been going at 2 since I don’t have any classes between drill and 4pm.”
The entire table gave Adrian a dirty look, but I couldn’t hold it in and started chuckling, “I’m jealous, my schedule is completely packed. If I didn’t test out of all my generals, I don’t think I’d even be able to attempt an Elementalist build.”
The angry looks of jealousy switched to me, making Arc laugh, so I decided to lean into it and bask underneath their envious gazes.
Bridget and Adrian were the most exasperated, since Bridget only tested out of Math and Science, whereas Adrian only managed the same feat in Math and History. Mattius only barely tested out of Math, and Jethro, after some prodding, finally admitted that he didn’t test out of any generals.
---
“So yesterday wasn’t a fluke?” Hector taunted to our group, then turned to the logistics corps sergeant, “Your men can switch to random inspections now.”
A small grin escaped me, I wasn’t exactly confident that Drozuk would uphold his end of the bargain. We went through the usual physical routine and got lectured today on how to create a shield wall.
We got into groups of 12 and took turns calling out movement and repositioning orders. I had quite a bit of fun at first, but the marching reminded me of the time I fought with Lancel, and how I wasn’t able to fight as one with the guards. I pushed the unhappy feeling aside as much as possible, focusing on Hector’s words and melding my motions to synchronize with the others.
Hector was calling out words of encouragement in between his critiques, “That’s the way, remember now, the best offense is a good defense. Even a rabbit can outlast a god if they dig in deep enough.”
That one got me laughing at the confused head-turns of my squad mates, and I even got yelled at by Hector to focus.
We ended on another Q&A session, and one of Drozuk’s friends asked an interesting question, “Do I have to become a noble after graduation?”
Sir Felicity decided to take the question, “Yes, but what you do with the title is up to you. You must take a last name for legal reasons, but no one is going to force you to join an existing family or build an estate. In fact, quite a few knights and mages, myself included, live in single-family homes.”
Hector chimed in after, “You’re also not required to go to any social events outside of a handful of mandatory ones before you fully graduate, and you are allowed to spend a good portion of your time outside of the capital.”
He paused to scratch his proof of not being a pure-blooded Packer, “Hmm, something that may be of interest to you, is that due to the recent incident with the Jarl of Lakewell, the Queen has been openly creating a new position in the regional guard that would put a mage or knight in every fortress to assist with mana checks. It’ll take a few years to finish putting it to law and recruiting applicants, but I imagine that there wouldn’t be much competition from us city-born nobles, and a former fortress resident would have a better chance of getting the position.”
The girl who asked let out an exhale and seemed to relax with a big smile, but I noticed Drozuk was just staring despondently at the ground.
“Hey, do you know if anything is going on with Drozuk?” I whisper to Arc, taking advantage of my helmet being on.
“He was asked to stay after Noble Civics yesterday, so I’m guessing administration was told about his plan. He’s probably debating on whether or not to stay, if he leaves during the first week, the fines wouldn’t be as bad.”
I couldn’t really get my head around why he wouldn’t want to learn here; the monster hunter logs I read didn’t glamorize the lifestyle at all, and that paladin’s journal in Father Viburnum’s library often lamented about having to be gone from his family for long stretches of time.
“Hmm, I may be wrong, but I wonder if Drozuk’s friends ditched him. He’s been sulking in his room the last two nights, and he ate alone this morning.”
Ugh, great, now I feel kinda bad for him. Maybe I’ll try to extend a paddle if he decides to stay.
---
1-3 Mana Manipulation 1
I sat down in my seat but noticed that everyone was looking abnormally excited for class. Curiosity got to me, so I gave Arc a scratch on his pommel while I used my right hand to cover my whisper by scratching my cheeks, “What’s got everyone excited?”
“Sounds like the professor will be going over the basic spell structures for ranged offensive spells today.”
I gave Arc a nice rub while I joined in on the class’s eagerness. The High Elf instructor walked in, and upon the entire room immediately going into an uncharacteristic silence, gave out a small sigh.
“Yes, we will be going over basic ranged spells today in preparation for what your elemental magic courses will expand upon next week. As a quick reminder, disciplinary actions will be placed on any student caught casting offensive spells outside of the designated areas or at another person.” She narrowed her eyes at the classroom, but her intimidation tactic wasn’t working on me or the others.
“Now, during our last session, we went over the three basic spell formations,” She raised her hand and summoned three lines of Light Mana to form in the air, each identical and at a 120-degree angle from each other, “These lines act as pathways for mana and the element they drag with them, and by making these lines teardrop shaped, we can direct the flow.”
The instructor summoned a cluster of Light Mana motes to illustrate the interaction that ambient mana would have with an array, beginning by having them float around in the air aimlessly. The professor changed the lines to be teardrop shaped, with the rounded ends pointed toward the middle. The “ambient mana” then followed the lines to the middle of the array, creating a small pool, but were then scattered when the professor inverted the teardrop shape of the lines, making the rounded ends point away from the center.
“This triognial planar pattern, of course, is an inefficient design for ranged spells. Mana can leak out from the center due to the lack of containment, causing more mana to flow into the formation, increasing the odds of your synced mana to discharge, and result in you losing control of the spell. Therefore, it’s only truly useful for Dwarven-based spellcasting due to having one side blocked off.”
She then summoned a new line to add to the array and shifted the others till each line was at a 109.5-degree angle from each other and pointed towards the center, “This tetrahedral pattern will likely look familiar to you, since most of you had to learn this spell during your entrance exam in order to pass. It is the formation for a standard Orb spell. It is often used as the collected fuel for a spell and is the centerpiece for the four standard ranged spells.”
“Wait, didn’t you say you mimicked something more advanced for your test?”
I rapped Arc with my knuckles to shut him up, so I could focus on the lecture as I edged forward in my seat.
One of the lines in the formation inverted, making the rounded end of the teardrop point out, “This is the formation for a standard Blast spell, it’s range is very limited, but it does have the advantage of being quick and simple to cast due to its standby form being a standard Orb spell.”
The professor then returned the formation to an Orb spell, then added three small new lines to one of the original larger lines. The new lines were in the same tetrahedral pattern with the older line, but they were pointed outwards in a repulsion array.
"This is a standard Bolt spell, the trigger for this spell is the line that acts as the pipe connecting the two arrays. By simply changing the teardrop shape to a straight line, the mana concentrated in the condensing array will travel down the neutral line towards the repulsion array, causing the spell to propel forward."
"There are a few factors that can be adjusted in just this simple spell, you can increase the speed and range at the cost of reducing your payload, and the spell can travel in an arc if one of the lines in the repulsion array is smaller. You will be expected to have mastered this spell by the end of the semester before the Fall Purge."
“The two advanced versions of this spell are the Arrow and Missile spells,” she added even more arrays and lines to the formation at the mention of each to show off the complexity, “but you won’t need to worry about them until next year.”
Stolen story; please report.
Oh, I definitely couldn’t wait to get to the spell range as soon as possible.
---
Arc
Well, that was certainly eye-opening, especially when the instructor went over how it was easier to simply hold a spell formation in place and let it propel itself. I guess it was never a problem for me with my sword brain, but it does explain why Travis has trouble tossing spells quickly. It’s probably the equivalent of having to constantly kick with a skateboard instead of cruise downhill. I imagine it would only grow more complicated as more arrays were added to a formation.
Travis stopped at the commissary between classes, picking up a couple of fresh notebooks, and… a pen and ink set?
“Why are you grabbing a pen?”
Travis stiffened up a bit, “Umm, I noticed that the other students had an easier time making spell notations since you can just hold the pen in place before making your line. I hope you don’t mind”
“Oh, right, I did notice you getting annoyed at having to fill in the teardrop shape on your notes. So, yeah, that’s fine.”
Travis let out a breath. Why was he nervous? He’s had to write with a pen before, he just got into the habit of using charcoal instead so that I could read what was written.
“Is something wrong? I don’t mind if you’d rather take notes with a pen, I just wouldn’t be able to read it.”
“It’s not just that, it’s…” Travis shifted from foot to foot, “You see everything I do, even what I write when I use charcoal.”
Oh crap, I don’t want to have this conversation again, “Ok, just like we discussed when you’re using the bathroom or taking a shower, I will not bring my focus into the room or speak to you unless you ask, and I will partition off that section of my memory once you exit the room. I’ll admit, it’s a bit obvious what you’re doing when the gaps in my memory are longer, but you shouldn’t feel shame for doing what every other healthy teenage boy or adult is doing.”
Travis was looking mortified at me giving him “the talk”, and I assume his face was beat red due to the ambient Fire Mana being drawn to his face, but I decided to push forward, “If you want to keep something private from me, feel free to write with ink. I promise not to analyze your pen strokes to figure out what you’re writing down. Since we’re discussing it, I should mention that I’ll also extend the same courtesy if you ever get intimate with someone, you can even prop me up against the door if you want to non-verbally signal me beforehand.”
Travis was still looking embarrassed, but he eventually managed to leak out a thanks.
---
4-6 Earth Spells 1 – Classroom Component
“Earth Mana, due to its attraction to solid matter, is quite different from the other 3 base elements.” The bearded professor lectured to the classroom, “This class will teach you how to create walls, dig ditches, repair structures, protect yourself with ceramic plating, and even how to turn a defensive spell into a mighty offense.”
I moved my focus towards the front of the class to get a better look at the pile of gravel the instructor was stepping in front of. They began by increasing the pulse rate of their internal mana, causing the less active ambient Earth Mana to collect on their body. The collected mana was then attuned so that the pulse rate was raised high enough to become fully synced with the spellcaster’s internal mana.
They then sent a portion into the gravel pile, forming an [Earth Orb], then lifted it up for the class to see clearly, “While ranged spells can be cast using Earth Mana, the general effectiveness is quite limited. Granted, flinging a bunch of pebbles and sand into a monster’s face can disorient or harm the eyes, but if you’re allowing a creature to get that close to you without a wall in the way, you’re doing something wrong.”
The bearded dwarf then lowered the spell back into the gravel pit, “One of the perks of using Earth Mana is that a majority of the lines you create for your spell formation can remain neutral in their direction.” They sent more of their synced mana into the pile, creating lines of mana in a honeycomb pattern, then shifted the top layer of gravel around by only manipulating the outside lines.
“2-dimensional formations can be used to quickly move or solidify the top layer of earth,” they then created a thin wall of loose gravel using a 2D formation, but calling the creation a wall would probably insult the dwarf, “but they’re not very useful for building structures with.”
The dwarf let the flimsy construction fall back to the ground, and then sent the remainder of their synced mana into the pile, this time constructing a 3D lattice of hexagonal lines.
“Now pay attention, because this is what you’ll be expected to do for hours on end during a flood or purge.” The instructor this time raised up the entire gravel pile, shaping it into a slanted shoulder-height wall. Then they modified the spell formation to vastly increase the number of neutral lines and added directional ones so that the ambient mana would travel in a giant looping pattern.
I heard Travis gasp as the pile of gravel seemed to melt together and turn into a wall of solid rock and even began to glow when the mana cycle speed inside was increased. I zoomed in closer to confirm my suspicion, and yep, there was Order Mana present in the mana line intersections. Enough of the dwarf’s controlled mana eventually discharged, causing the instructor to lose control of the spell, but I assume they weren’t too concerned.
“Earth Mana will retain its position for much longer after being released, due to its slower discharge rate, adding Order Mana to a creation will also increase the longevity even higher, making it that much more difficult to chip away.”
---
After class finished, a starving Travis started making his way to the cafeteria.
“We’ve definitely been sitting on Earth Mana.”
“Agreed, that “snowshoe” technique I’ve been using has been handy, but turning broken rocks into bricks… did you know that was possible?”
“No, the thought never occurred to me. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that mana can mimic how sandstone and other sedimentary rocks are formed, but just running a magic circuit instead of putting the loose materials under high pressure seems like a giant slap to the face of science.”
Travis nodded along, and gave my pommel a nice scratch, “Maybe we’re underestimating how strong mana can pull on matter when it’s active. I mean, even an [Earth Orb], despite its weight, can float in the air.”
“True, maybe we’ll get a more scientific explanation once we’re farther in with classes.”
Travis got in line and was smartly acting as if he was thinking out loud, “Oh, I bet if you include a circuit of Fire Mana in the formation, you could probably change the rock to a metamorphic one or even igneous if you can get it to completely melt.”
A deep chuckle came from behind Travis, and he comically took a full second to finally look down at the dwarf, “Aye, that be how us dwarves built the buildings here. Otherwise, you’d haf ta, haul all of the granite and marble for miles.”
Travis smiled at the bearded person, “Is it a difficult technique to learn?”
“Not really, just got to weave in some veins of Fire Mana to mimic magma, but it’s a big ol’ mana hog. Most Metal Mages don’t bother trying to make marble or slate until their second year, and then only try to make granite right before graduation.”
“Thanks for answering my question.”
“Not a problem, in fact, how ‘bout you answer one o’ mine?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“How the rust can you humans run for so long? I just woke up from a nap I had to take after drill, and I’m still exhausted.”
Travis grinned, “I’m tempted to just say it’s the longer legs, but the truth is that we just have more surface area to help cool ourselves off, though we can hamper our ability to run long distance if we put on too much muscle. I’m not sure about dwarves, but I know elves don’t sweat like us either, so that helps a lot too.”
The bearded dwarf let out a deep laugh, “Is that why those long-ears always smell like flowers?”
Travis grinned and shrugged his shoulders, then turned his attention to the chefs about to plate his food, “Umm, silly question, but I wanted to get a party platter of food, can I order something from the cafeteria here, or…”
The woman behind the counter gave Travis a big smile, “You sure can, if it’s mana-rich food or something exotic, we’ll have to charge though.”
Travis let out a big breath, “Thanks, just something that can serve 6, and chef’s choice as long as it is portable enough to take to the spell range.”
The smiling lady wrote down the order, “Should be easy, can I get a name for the order?”
“Travis.”
The chef looked up from her notepad, and tilted her head to see his shoulder patch, “We’ll have that ready at the end of the hour, though…” she leaned in to whisper, “next time just order from the counter over there.” A finger pointed Travis to a small counter that he passed on the way in. “It’s open 24/8, so be sure to take advantage.”
Travis, looking flustered, thanked the chef again, then grabbed his tray of slightly larger portioned food.
Ugh, first a super fancy dorm room and now an always open mostly free cafeteria, the Queen sure likes doting on these kids.
---
After Travis finished supper and picked up his package of snacks, he made his way to the entrance of the spell range to wait for his friends to arrive.
He stood there for a while, nodding at people walking by, or looking at the statue in front of the range, but after a few minutes, he started to pace around. I brought in my focus to better see that his breathing was unsteady, his head was rocking, and his eyes were darting around.
“Umm, is everything ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just…” Travis let out a bit too eagerly, then let out a big breath, “Sorry, I’m just nervous, what if they don’t show up?”
I spun my focus around Travis to confirm that he wasn’t an imposter. What happened to the loner kid that I had to keep prodding to socialize?
“It’s still only 12 minutes to, and they seemed quite excited to come. Plus, they’d be idiots to pull a cruel prank on you.”
The nervous teen closed his eyes, and focused on his breathing, “You’re right, I just… want to make a good impression.”
Wow. Ok, I’m gonna have to dig into this, “Can I ask you a personal question?”
Travis nodded his head due to his hands being full, “Sure.”
“You weren’t too interested in making friends your age back in the village. I had to pester you frequently to make time to play with the other kids when you were younger. Then after you finished school, you just flat out stopped, despite my prodding. If Ingrid wasn’t Franklin’s daughter, I don’t think you’d have even hung out with her on occasion either.”
Travis slumped his shoulders and lowered his head, “I didn’t want to admit it back then, but after we started training, I realized that I might have to leave someday. Then, when I activated my mana for the first time, it felt like there was a looming storm cloud always on the horizon, warning me that my time in the village was going to come to an end.”
“You didn’t want to get close to anyone?”
Travis nodded his head, then let out a half-sob, “Didn’t work, I just became friends with the craftsmen of the village instead.” He breathed heavily, visibly trying to hold back his tears, “I put them all in danger didn’t I? Just so I could what? Have someone other than a tree to talk to?”
“Hey, it’s alright, everything turned out ok. Plus, it’s natural to crave friendship with other people, if humans weren’t social creatures, they never would have survived here in the Valley of Monsters.”
Travis did his best to remain stoic, but he wasn’t doing well. A few tears started to fall from his eyes, and he turned so that no one entering the range would see his face.
Thankfully, the edge of my vision caught a group of people looking for him, “Your friends are almost here, better wipe off your eyes.”
---
Travis
I managed to hold my package with one hand long enough to wipe my eyes, then gave out a tension relieving sigh before turning around to see a waving Bridget.
“Hey, I uh, brought snacks…”
Adrian grinned, “Good call, I’ve been constantly famished ever since I started training here.”
Jethro gave the water mage a slap on the back, making him almost fall over, “Maybe you’ll finally stop looking like an elf, I never realized how skinny they could get, guess I never met one that wasn’t a Mage or Watcher.”
I started leading them in and continued the conversation with a sarcastic tone, “There’s elven students here? If I hadn’t met the range master or bumped into a dwarven Apprentice Metal Mage during supper today, I wouldn’t even know that there were any of them here either.”
Jethro answered my rhetorical question, “They’re on a different schedule from us, I think the dwarves have drill after us and then the elves after them.”
I gave a nod in acknowledgment and guided the group to the door of my private range. Passing the range master, who gave me a wave, and warned us not to get too rowdy.
Mattius grabbed the door and opened it for everyone, “Wow, this is nice. I guess there’s at least a rainbow after the storm for trying to learn all of the elements.”
Everyone looked impressed, but I quickly noticed a problem, there was only a single bench, no tables or additional seating. I shifted around, moving my head as if a solution would fall out of the sky while Jethro, Adrian, and Bridget went further in.
Mattius must have noticed my plight, “Need a spot to set that?”
“Umm, yeah… I didn’t think to get a table or chairs…”
The Packer smiled at me, “You forget, we’re Earth Mages, if we don’t have something, we build it.”
He slid his foot forward in the sand, then held out a hand to help him focus while a hexagon of sand began to rise from the ground. It stopped rising after a few inches, then seemed to shudder for a moment before a new hexagon of sand started pushing it up. I partially activated my mana sight so that I could watch the golden lines of mana sink into the ground, then change the entire formation to both attract fresh sand and rise. The directions of the lines then changed to mimic the professor’s from earlier, though Mattius’ weren’t nearly as small or as tightly packed into the forming stone.
The column of sandstone tiles kept rising until it was waist height. Mattius took a moment to refresh his focus before muttering, “Okay, now for the hard part.” His mana snaked its way up the pillar, stopping the simple two-layer formation over each of the seams, before cycling the mana to merge the tiles together. He then repeated the action, slowly moving his mana upwards until the entire column was one single piece.
I watched the entire process like a hawk, trying to take in every detail that I could. I didn’t even notice Jethro walking up next to us before he startled us both after the column was finished.
“Look at this guy, acting surprised that he got into this school.” Jethro placed a hand on the earth mage and gave him a good shake, causing him to break connection with his synced mana.
Mattius looked down at Jethro with an irritated glare, but wasn’t able to hold it for long, “Honestly, it’s not that impressive, it took a long time to create, and you can barely call the tiles sandstone. In fact, do be careful, I’m pretty sure you could break this with your bare hands, even without mana reinforcement.”
“Not impressive? Every single tile was within a 32nd of an inch with each other.”
I gave Arc a rub and repeated his words, causing Mattius to look flustered from the compliment.
Bridget stepped up, taking a full look at the pillar, and making a nod of approval before addressing the group, “Ok, so how is this going to work?”
Jethro started sporting a huge grin, “Real simple, we’re here to help Travis, so we’ll each take turns going over our elemental focus with him.”
“Ah, that’s really nice of them.”
A grin escaped me, and I gave Arc another rub.
“Unfortunately, we each have different specializations, so three of us will have to find something to entertain ourselves with while we wait. Perhaps by shooting off a few spells, or enjoying the snacks…”
“I take it back, he was here for one thing, and one thing only.”
My grin grew wider at Jethro’s shamelessness, and I ended up lowering my head and giving it a shake, “Alright, let’s get started.”
---
We started with just making Orb spells, with me having to awkwardly give advice to everyone but Jethro, who due to being a 5th generation mage, had knowledge from his parents to pass down to me and Mattius.
“Always pay attention to whether a spell is listed as an “Air” spell or a “Wind” spell, the name for the mana can be used interchangeably, but when it comes to spell names, there’s a big difference.”
He demonstrated both an [Air Orb] and a [Wind Orb], allowing me to see the tightly packed Air in the first spell, and the fast-whirling Wind in the second.
“My grandmother taught me to stick to this angle for the [Wind Orb] rotation array as a default, since it’s a common one for upper-level spells.” Jethro summoned another [Wind Orb], this one with a reversed rotation array, “Also, make sure you practice rotating the spell both ways, and not just one direction with one hand and the opposite in the other. You’ll end up having a spell blow up in your face otherwise.”
We kept practicing, doing a training exercise that Jethro commonly did by making our Orb spells trace out numbers in the air, then flinging them as fast as possible to the receiving wall after counting down from 12. The middle ring noble told us that it was good practice for when we move on to the higher difficulty spells, since although they propel themselves, they can be directed with minor adjustments as they move.
Mattius struggled the most with this exercise, followed by Bridget, then Adrian, and then to my surprise Jethro. He started giving me dirty looks, especially as I kept changing elements.
“Ok, how long have you been casting this spell? You should have moved on to Blast or Bolt spells by now.”
I scratched the back of my head, “Umm, a year and a half… I think?”
“1 year, 9 ½ months, but that’s probably not relevant.”
Everyone started staring at me in shocked disbelief, with only Jethro able to ask a follow-up question, “Why didn’t you test earlier? Didn’t you say this Spring’s enrollment was your last chance to get in?”
Worry crept into me. Did I do something wrong?
“Umm, I didn’t know how difficult the test was, so I prepared as much as I could before I left. Once I was able to reliably form an Orb of each type, I spent last Summer creating iron ingots infused with Metal Mana, then in the Fall I learned how to push Wood Mana around so I could carve the haft for my poleaxe, and in the Winter I finally learned how to create Ice Mana after seeing it so abundantly in the wild.”
Jaws dropped amongst my friends, and Jethro buried his face in his hands.
“So…, there’s a chance that we may have overprepared…”
Bridget was the first to compose herself, “Travis, for my entrance examination, I only had to form a [Fire Orb], then hit a target that was surrounded by obstacles with it. What did you have to do?”
My nerves started to misfire, and my whole body began to fidget, “Umm, well, I was asked to attack a target, so… I launched four different Orb spells at a straw target, destroying the wooden post when I fused my Water and Wind Orbs to form Ice.” I paused to bark myself, knowing that they’ll probably react to the next part, “Professor Quinsandoral then had me copy a [Wind Blade] spell… and attack another target.”
Jethro started to moan in frustration, “That’s a second semester Wind spell…”
Oh, rot…
I turned to Mattius, “Ok, what was your test?”
He took a moment to collect his thoughts, then let out slowly, “I… made a couple of small rectangular bricks out of sand, which impressed the professor quite a bit. They then guided me through making my first [Air Orb] spell. Didn’t have to move it or anything…”
Adrian then spoke like a guilty person hysterically confessing their sins, “I learned how to detach the synced mana from my membrane for the first time during my test… I didn’t even have to make an Orb, just make three lines, and shift them from a condensing array to a repulsion array.”
Jethro finally raised his head from his hands, “After they saw my [Wind Orb], they had me cast it as a Blast spell a few times, then guided me through constructing an [Air Bolt], but I didn’t fire it.”
“Ok…, in our defense, Issac said that his father kept complaining about how difficult the test was, claiming that it was designed so that only the noble-born could get in.”
I focused on my breathing, the silence in the spell range periodically being interrupted by the neighboring private ranges, “So… uh… How about we take a break for snacks?”
A giggle escaped from Bridget, then Adrian joined in, followed by Mattius, and then after it turned to full on laughter, Jethro finally gave in. The tension completely drained from me, and I joined in while we encircled the package from the cafeteria.
I opened it up, discovering that there was four layers of snacks, one with a variety of crackers, the next was an assortment of cheese, followed by a layer of sliced meat, and then six paper containers containing drinks.
Everything tasted wonderful, especially the cheeses, since most were brand new to me, though Adrian had to spoil the mood when he found a note at the bottom of the package.
Enjoy the snacks Travis! Everyone in the Logistics Corps Chef Division has your back.
Adrian glared at me, “Ok, what did you do to make the entire cafeteria staff your best friend?”