(Gavin)

"You only have one bed?" Ryan looks around the room.

"I only planned on just me sleeping here," I tell him. "Not guests."

I hold out a hand, Manifesting my desire for him to have his own bed, and a violet bed forms. It's big enough for a single person to sleep in, but has its own blanket and pillows.

"There," I say. "Now you have your own bed."

"Are you allowed to do that?" He asks. "Just add a bed to a room in an inn without permission?"

"I'm a magician of high power," I say. "They'll let me renovate the place, should I so desire. And now that I've Advanced my Species to the Second Tier, they all sense power from me in a different way than Resources do, telling them I'm a higher being, even if not a Divine Being. In addition, I've been accompanied by Divine Beings, among other things. I'm also here as a representative of their neighboring nation, which, until the coup six years ago, was untouchable by others."

"The coup?"

I sit on my bed and explain to him what happened, the boy sitting on his bed and listening intently.

"Do you understand all of that?"

"Yeah," he nods.

"Okay," I say. "Then we're going to start with your training in magic. There are two ways to expand your Mana Pool. One of them is by using Mana – many people, for new magicians, have them train by this method, burning up their Mana as often as possible, going to 0 Mana as soon as they can use magic again.

"Using this method," I say. "For several months, you can gain around one or two per day. Not bad, and is pretty useful – if you're in a safe place and won't be needing to use Mana. It tapers off after then.

"I don't like that method," I say. "As it barely affects your regeneration of Resources. The method I use is much riskier, but also allows you to retain your Resources – it expands them without consuming them. Or rather… makes them denser."

"Denser?"

"Stores more in the same 'space'," I nod. "You'll have to search within yourself, sense your Mana, and then manipulate it, grabbing it and making it denser. This requires two Skills to manage – Mana Manipulation and Mana Sense. You'll need to look within yourself for this. As you do that, I'll do the same to my own Resources."

Except for Void, as I don't want to increase it until my others are higher, considering what it requires.

Ryan closes his eyes and begins 'looking', though I won't know for sure if he's actually succeeding or not until his Mana begins to shift within him.

I start with LFA, increasing it by a hundred, then my MNA by two hundred, then SPA by two hundred. As I work on bringing BLA up by another hundred, I sense Ryan's Mana wiggle a little. He's getting close. ACA is next, then AEA.

As I finish, Ryan sighs, opening his eyes and looking at me.

"No luck," he says. "Though I did acquire Mana Sense."

"Good job," I tell him. "It normally takes months of practice to gain either of those. I'm sure you'll have Mana Manipulation soon enough."

"Are you sure?"

Considering that you managed to wiggle your Mana?

"I am."

Nies? What's his Bloodline.

Merlin.

Merlin?

Normally, a Bloodline is the same as the world's Deity. It requires at least one ancestor having been born on that world before you. Since he comes wholly from Earth, that makes it Merlin. It's got boosts to magic.

Thanks.

You're welcome. I'm going back to napping on Ultarna.

Enjoy.

I am, he giggles.

Hey, I have a question.

Yeah?

Who is your kid's mother?

Vinai.

Who is she?

Just a regular Divine Being.

The image of a cat beastborn with black hair, ears, and tail, with bright blue eyes, forms in my mind. She looks to be in her late teens.

That's not a regular Divine Being, Nies. That's one formed from cat beastborn.

Yeah, whatever, he responds. Her people don't exist anymore, and she has no followers, so she's pretty weak. She's essentially just a Divine Being, now.

You really have it for catgirls, don't you?

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe! But Ultarna's the best! Hey, Ultarna – wanna say hi to Gavin?

Hi, Gavin!

Hello, Ultarna. I do apologize, but the student Nies dumped on me is giving me a confused look, because your boyfriend didn't adjust time perspective.

The sound of something smacking something else fills my mind, then Nies giggles.

"Sorry," I tell Ryan. "Nies was communicating with me."

"The gods talk with people often?" He asks.

"Just the rare few," I shake my head. "I'm well-liked, so they tend to chat with me. At least, certain ones. Twist, I'd never met before today, and had only heard of now and then as Nies's older brother."

"Oh," he says. "I give up on trying today. Can I try a spell?"

Give up on trying, then try? You should probably word that better.

"Nope," I answer, a sheet of papers appearing in my hand, along with a quill and bottle of ink. "You'll need to master certain runes, first. Once I'm satisfied with your ability to form them on paper, you'll then draw them in the air with your Mana – which will require Mana Manipulation to do. It won't do anything as an effect, but it'll show that you can form them.

"After that," I continue. "You'll then draw them in the air without using a channel, such as a finger or a wand. Only once I am satisfied that you won't fuck it up will I then allow you to actually cast the spells.

"The reason for this," I hold up a hand, an orb of pure, violet Mana forming above it. "Is because even the slightest screw-up-"

The orb explodes, destroying my hand, and Ryan stares.

"Can destroy you."

"You just destroyed your hand," he gasps. "For that?"

"Life Restore," I say, channeling my Health through my arm and wrist, manipulating my Blood as well, my hand rapidly regenerating, healed in moments. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve, Ryan. I wouldn't hurt myself without a guarantee it won't be permanent. I will be here to heal you, if possible, if you wound yourself, but there are some things I cannot heal you from.

"Normally," I say. "The teachers supervise, provide healing, and don't care if the student hurts themselves with a screw-up in their own time. I don't want you practicing magic without me around, especially new magic. Once you have the Skill for the spell, you'll be fine – as long as you don't start experimenting around."

"I don't want to sit around and learn runes, though," he groans. "I just wanna learn magic!"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Want me to blow up my hand again as another demonstration?"

He falls silent, and I use my air magic to float the papers and quill and ink to him, and he looks at the quill and ink. He's got a desire for something else, but he's got a lot of desires, and I can't sort them out just yet.

He'll need to vocalize it, in order for me to Manifest it for him.

"You don't have pens here?"

That must be the desire I sensed from him.

"Our world is," I say. "What you would call 'medieval'. We don't have pens."

"I don't know how to use these."

"You'll have to get used to it at some point," I say. "Just dip the tip of the quill into the ink, it'll absorb some up, and then you'll be good to write."

He dips the tip into the ink, then stares at the sheets.

"What am I supposed to be writing?" He asks.

"It's on the papers already," I tell him. "I think you flipped them over."

He flips the stack over, seeing the runes and their English translations.

"Until you can replicate each of those runes perfectly," I say. "And not just Level 1 of the Dekami Runic Language, we can't work on you casting the spells."

He sighs, but gets to work, and I strip to my pants, lying down on my bed and closing my eyes, listening to the scribbling of the quill. As time passes, I'm grateful for my Acting Skill, because he keeps looking at me, so he'd notice the massive grin I'd have without it.

"When does this thing run out of ink?" He finally asks me. "I've only had to dip it once."

"The Quill is enchanted," I explain. "It absorbed all of the ink when you dipped it. Just tap it into the inkwell when you're finished, and it'll release the stored ink back inside."

"Oh."

He falls silent, and after several minutes, starts scribbling again.

Perhaps it is time I unseal the rest of my Resources.

Aura Affinity Unlocked!

ARA is 198

Will Affinity Unlocked!

WLA is 222

Psionic Affinity Unlocked!

PSA is 206

Soul Affinity Unlocked!

SLA is 193

There we go. I should probably increase them.

Aura will probably be the easiest one for me to increase, so I focus on manipulating it, cycling it through my body and condensing it at the same time. I bring it up another hundred, then stop, as with the others.

The other three are tougher for me to increase. I already have pretty solid willpower and soul, and my mind is tough as anything. Those three take me longer to figure out how to manipulate and condense, but I manage it, doing Will, then Soul, then finally, Pisonic.

The Fog of Power is creeping up on me as I do, but I still push for a hundred more points of each. As I reach the end of them, I have a nasty headache, but I think that comes from pushing PSA so hard.

When I finally finish, I remember that I need to eat, and so too does my new student. I look over, only to find him sleeping on his bed.

It's late. I spent hours working on increasing my Resources, and less time than I would have, if I hadn't done all three of those at once. That was tough, and probably also part of why I now have a headache.

And despite that, I still forgot about my student for awhile, long enough for him to pass out.

Looking out the window and rubbing my growling stomach, I realize that the entire night slipped by me.

Damn. I'll need to be more careful in the future.

Hopefully, Ryan isn't too mad at me.

I walk over and examine his attempts at the runes. They aren't half-bad, but he could definitely use some work. If he tried to create a Magic Barrier, he'd probably rip himself apart.

I don't have time for sleep, before the meeting with the King. That sucks, because I'll need to be alert for the meeting.

I'll cut the resources in half, except for the two higher ones, for gains.

My wings really want to be stretched right now.

To take my mind off of that, I start thinking about my upcoming meeting with the King. There are currently limited options for what I can do, and depending on what Varkle did, I might have even fewer.

I should probably communicate with Tyler. Now that I have Psionic Affinity available, I should be able to. Normally, this distance would probably require an intense amount of Psionic, just for a couple of words, but with my high INT, that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Closing my eyes, I focus on His Majesty.

"Tyler?"

New Skill!

Telepathy 1: The ability to use Psionic power to communicate through thoughts with a short range

New Skill!

Long-Distance Telepathy 1: The ability to use Psionic power to communicate through thoughts over a great distance

New Skill!

Mental Link 1: The ability to connect with someone else's mind, using telepathy to forge a temporary path of communication

"That sounds like Gavin," his voice echoes in his mind a few moments later. "Len, this is weird. I don't have that Skill yet, but-"

"Your Majesty?"

"Len says it's the real Gavin," Tyler says. "Hello. I see you have finally unsealed your Psionic. How are things in Isil?"

"They are alright," I answer. "Adrian Varkle broke the oath he gave me, did Len inform you of this?"

"He did," His Majesty responds. "I have revoked his status as a Duke. How are you doing this?"

"Long-Distance Telepathy," I answer. "As well as Mental Link. It's draining my Psionic slowly, we probably have only four or five minutes to communicate, total."

"Okay," he responds. "Have you met with their King yet?"

"I thought it best," I inform him. "That I should wait until I am extended an invitation, rather than simply dropping into the castle. Coincidentally, I went to eat lunch at the same place as their eldest Princess yesterday, and as a result, I will be meeting with the King for breakfast today."

"Good luck."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," I respond. "I have been running through several possibilities of how this could go, and without something to offer up, it could prove problematic. I will likely utilize a resource of my own for this, unless there is something you wish to offer them."

"If you do, I will reimburse you for it, Gavin," he tells me. "You should not have to lose your own resources to amend relations that were damaged due to others."

"Had I gained Access sooner," I say. "Had I not opened my mouth, back then, and blabbed about what I was, and kept it a secret for awhile, maybe the coup wouldn't have happened. Maybe I would've been stronger when things happened, and your father would still be alive, and we wouldn't need to mend relationships with other nations."

His Majesty is silent after I say that.

"Because of that-"

"You can't focus on 'what if', Gavin," His Majesty interrupts me. "You were a child, then. We both were. Huge changes hit your life and all of our lives. That was the first time you ever had to deal with a situation like that. Yes, this whole thing probably could have been avoided, but we will never know.

"Therefore," he continues. "It is not your sole responsibility to do this. You are doing this as the Duke of Zelar, Gavin Jakran. I will reimburse you anything you give up, whether the same thing, or something of equal value. If it comes down to it, I would be willing to give them the Eighth Fief, if it will help amend relations."

"I have no plans on Jozan giving up anything," I tell His Majesty. "There must be a way to avoid that. We're running out of time. I am requesting permission to give them magic unique to our people – something our magicians have hoarded and monopolized, if necessary. This is something we would not lose, but simply share."

"Something in-line with the way of your Order," he says. "That is a fair deal, though do you have any?"

"I do not," I inform him. "Requesting permission to contact you again later, if it necessary to share such a thing, to obtain a spell or two. All you would need to do is tell me the runes used and the general formation used, and I can figure out the rest."

"Granted," he responds. "I will speak with Natalie, and see what she says. I just received word that she's back at the Tower."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," I say. "I have one final request, before I run out of Psionic. Would you be willing to allow me to give him a spatial ring, if necessary?"

"You only have the one, yes?"

"I believe I know where another may rest," I inform him. "One equal in size to my own. If you are willing, I could retrieve that one and trade it to you, giving him the smaller one you currently possess."

"I will need to think on that," he says. "This ring has been a standard for the royal family for many generations. I do not want our neighbors having a larger one than ours, but at the same time-"

"Forgive the interrupt, Your Majesty," I say. "But I could also, potentially, figure out the enchantment myself, and craft a Spatial Ring of my own, albeit a smaller one."

"If you are capable of that," he says. "I will be most impressed."

"Just about out," I tell him. "I will talk to you again soon, Your Majesty."

"Goodbye, Gavin," he says, and I sever the link.

I sigh, then hold up my hand, staring at the ring on my finger. Best not to waste time.

For roughly an hour, I inspect every aspect of the magic that forms it, remembering back to the comment the gods made, back when they were offering me their Blessings, about how granting me the knowledge of how to perform the enchantments was not a good idea.

Was it because of how I was back then? Immature, like most boys that age? Or something else?

The spell looks like it requires Aether, Mana, and Void to craft, which explains why no one alive knows how to forge them, now. All Spatial Rings seem to have the same scheme to them, regardless of size of the ring or storage space – mostly black, with some violet to it.

That seems to be an effect from using Aether and Void on it. It involves no runes being marked or carved into the surface or the insides of the ring, but rather, into the existence of it, which is where Aether comes from. Mana is used to 'guide' the spell, while the Void clears the space.

And yet it is all still just enchantments – likely Greater Enchantments, but still.

Will I be able to craft one?

Someone knocks on the door, and Ryan jumps, looking around in surprise, looking confused for a moment before remembering where he's at.

"Morning," I tell him, sitting on my bed and pulling my boots back on. "Sorry for forgetting about you last night, I tend to do that when it comes to certain magical things."

"Some blue-haired guy showed up and brought me food," he shrugs. "Said he wasn't surprised you did that, after unsealing your other Affinities."

Thank you, Stem.

Someone knocks on the door again, and I pull on my tunic, then my cloak, and approach the door, opening it.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Archmage," the soldier dips his head to me. A Griffin of the Rose. "I have been sent to bring you to the castle, for the meeting with our King."

"Thank you," I tell him. "I have been sent an unexpected student, and he will need to accompany me. Will that be an issue?"

"It will not."

"Ryan," I say. "Put on your tunic and shoes, and we will be going."