Chapter 6: ~Alteration~

Nathan was awoken on his second day in Valkfolgen by Neris — multiple times.  No, she was not literally there to wake him up.  Neris was snoring in an ungodly, annoying manner.  It was unbelievable how loud that little woman is.  He could hear her from all the way across the hall.  Eventually, Nathan began his day while resisting the urge to smother her.

The first thing on his agenda changed.  Nathan had planned to do strength training, then meditate to increase his vim this morning.  Instead, he was now in the training hall reading a spell structure book.

All of the spells had their basic symbols and order of formation.  Beside those spells there were brief descriptions of how they're most commonly manipulated.  Like making a increase its blast radius or velocity.

What Nathan had been hunting for right now was a common barrier type spell.  Not for defensive purposes, for sleeping purposes.  He needed a way to block out Neris' unholy snoring.

Nathan was a little troubled, all he could find was the basic structure.  That meant he'd have to figure out the way to properly manipulate it.   was a pretty harmless spell that didn't do much of anything until manipulated in some way.  It basically remained stationary, last a set amount of time, and did whatever function you manipulated it to do.

Nathan still hadn't heard or read anything on magical theory concerning spell structure manipulation.  He'd done it himself before, but after reading about it was clear that his knowledge had been lacking.  This was one of the most versatile spells — used in all sorts of manners — and not easily constructed.

To Nathan's eyes, when he first forms a spell it sort of blooms.  At that point the symbols end up surrounded with all sorts of garbled nonsense.  It's trying to make sense of that code, and altering it properly to achieve your desired result, that's the problem.  It had taken him two years of messing around with to get what he wanted.  Plus another year to make a chantless activation method for both of his arms, or full body.

Doing that alone had greatly increased Nathan's understanding of the subject on a raw level, but his self study method would take years at this rate.  So Nathan began to read his book on advanced manipulation.

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Just like that, five days and four rough nights filled with the snoring of a behemoth passed.

So it wasn't garbled nonsense he had been seeing.  The book had thoroughly explained what each and every little line or stroke really meant.  Knowing what all of it means, and how it works together — not the same thing.

What had also interested him was a large chapter on a concept called programming.  It was supposed to be the most difficult thing to do as a magus.  Nathan laughed when he first read the description: "To familiarize oneself with the specific casting method of a spell, thus making it chantless."  He had already programmed two separate ways.

At this point Neris was killing him with the relentless begging.  She was far more enthusiastic about making up for lost time than he was.  By now Nathan's scraggly black hair had become silky smooth, just like hers.  Two or three times a day he'd have to follow her somewhere — usually to watch fights in the arena.  Neris kept track of all the scheduled duels between students.

Nathan did actually enjoy watching magus duels, drawing concepts from other people's blood, sweat, and tears.  Aside from that, she was killing him.

One particular duel really caught his interest.  A rather bulky magus had overpowered four other students.  It was simple and effective.  The only spell that bulky guy seemed to cast was .

Five shields surrounded him blocking every spell that was thrown in his direction.  The opponents were admittedly idiotic in their method of attack.  When someone has no trouble blocking your barrage of spells you'd normally try something with a little more versatility.

Once in a while he'd extend his hand and a shield would fly forward at high speeds, usually causing someone to get knocked off the raised platform and disqualified.  It was an inspiring spectacle that reinforced a common belief among magus.  True power was to be found in manipulation and mental endurance.

Somehow, Neris had managed to score a date with that bulky upperclassman.  It probably shouldn't have surprised Nathan.  She was two years the his senior, and a Dela'marthus.  Not someone you want to outright reject.  Anyways, Nathan was thankful to have her out of his hair — literally.

Later that night Nathan was still reading his manipulation book when someone started knocking on his front door.  After poking a burning log twice, he moved to answer it.  Standing there was that impressive fellow with the spell variations.  In his arms was an unconscious Neris.

"What happened?" Nathan asked while peering at his unconscious sister.  The bashful look of bliss on her stupid face warmed his heart.

"She tried to out-drink seven people in a row," he claimed in a respectful tone. "May I come in?"

"Follow me," Nathan said politely while leading him through the foyer.

Nathan was a little amused with how careful the guy was.  After he had laid her on the bed and tucked her in, this broad giant looked at Nathan seriously.

"You can't sleep till she wakes up," he said in a commanding voice that would allow no disobedience. "If she hurls in her sleep your sister might drown.  Keep her propped up on one side for now."

Nathan wasn't very happy to be in this position... then again, this person does know something he'd love to learn.

"I'm pretty worn out — I've been doing physical training," he lied through his teeth. "Any chance you could hang around? Just in case."

The guy took a moment to consider Nathan's proposal before answering, "I'm the one who let her get drunk.  So I should also take responsibility and watch over her until she regains awareness.  I shall remain vigil until she awakens, please be at ease."

"Got a name?"

"Lucas," he said, bursting with confidence.

With the introductions out of their way they were fast friends.  Lucas had a sort of gentle giant atmosphere going on.  His facial expression rarely changed, and it was usually just a faint smile.  Nathan was a little sorry for the guy, he knew that Neris was gonna have a ball cleaning Lucas' wavy maroon colored hair up.

Eventually he managed to steer their conversation into the direction of manipulation.  Lucas confirmed that it had been his primary focus of study, rather, he'd only been thoroughly exploring it with two spells — and .  There was a reason these were the two spells Nathan had seen his tower guards use.  The spells worked well in tandem with one another.

Lucas quickly explained that he hadn't been moving the shields through manipulation.  He'd been using a force program to move them about.  That line immediately caught Nathan's attention.

Before daylight broke his sister woke up.  She was in a pretty poor mood until Lucas demonstrated some restorative healing category spell.  One cured hangover was all it took for her to happily go about the early morning.

At that point Nathan apologized to Lucas for Neris' behavior and offered him a spare room.  Lucas took him up on the offer, and collapsed on the spot.  Nathan had not been expecting that... the giant had been holding on by a thread apparently.

Ten painful minutes later he had managed to drag the guy into his sister's bed.  Despite his best intentions, that was probably a mistake.  Living in confinement for so long tends to leave you lacking in certain aspects of common sense.  Nathan was also tired and looking forward to crashing in his master bedroom.

A few hours later the sun was glaring.  Neris was waking him up, this time for real... and she was pissed.

"What?" he asked lazily.

"That was mean little bro," the tone of her voice suggested annoyance.

"What was mean?"

"You put Lucas in my bed..." she started, "and I took that as an open invitation..."

"...oops."

Neris was a bit peeved with Nathan at the moment.  He was having a hard time ignoring the death glare.  From the way she smelled like a dozen fresh flowers Nathan was sure she'd just made an honest attempt at his new friend Lucas.

"Well, at least you got the misunderstanding cleared up," said Nathan.

"I got deliriously drunk," she countered. "Then came onto him while he was sleeping.  He thinks I'm a harlot."

*pft-hahahahaha*

Neris smothered Nathan with a pillow for a minute before stomping out of the room.  For a second there he thought she really was trying to kill him.  Dying a few times had made him a bit rash with his conclusions about people's actions and motives.

In the end, it wasn't a big deal.  Lucas showed up a few hours later and apologized for passing out this morning.  Nathan was a little surprised that he'd still come back.  The older student had agreed to show Nathan his and spell structures a few times after all.

That was actually a huge deal.  Custom programs like his were usually something magus like to keep private, especially when it's an effective one.

Unfortunately, Nathan's training session with Lucas was quickly interrupted.  Less than an hour in he had seen most of what Lucas wanted to show him — a few times over.  Once Neris got home she saw the big lug's shoes and thought he'd come to reconcile with her.  So she happily pranced around the house before finally finding them in the training room.  After — to Nathan's dismay — Lucas explained that he had come over to see Nathan...

Neris stomped off again, but not before leaving a few surprisingly vulgar words hanging about.  Nathan's ears were still burning from the upset little woman's words when Lucas started talking again.

"I think I'm in love," he claimed honestly.

Nathan looked at the blue eyed giant in absolute shock. "What!?" he shouted.

"I've never seen someone so..." Lucas mused while rubbing his chiseled nose, "alive."

"Have fun with that..." Nathan spoke listlessly.

It took Lucas all of half a second to walk out the door.  At least Nathan had gotten what he wanted for the most part.  Multiple variations for his and spells to experiment with.  Hopefully it would help him better understand manipulation on a broader scale.

Over the next few days Nathan continued to ignore his warrior training and focused on manipulation.  By now he could manage setting up multiple variations of shield and force spells.  He didn't really have any standard to compare to, so Nathan didn't realize how absurd his progress was.

At some point he got the bright idea to use Lucas' wide area, low power force spell with a large shield.  No, he wasn't using it the way Lucas told him to.  He was standing on the shield, and trying to make it float.  Half a second after activating his force spell Nathan was on the ground, unconscious.  The thing had quickly tilted and flown out from under him causing Nathan to do a somersault.  Thankfully, his head broke the fall...

Nathan woke up in his bed, once again Neris was rudely poking him.  It was already the 15th by now.

"You okay little bro?"

"I'm fine." Nathan looked up at them. "Hey Lucas."

Lucas explained that he had hit his head pretty bad.  In the end, it was all healed up by one of the teachers.  They didn't seem happy about wasting their time on Nathan.

Neris held up her hand happily and shouted, "I'm getting married!"

Nathan was very confused as he stared at an intricate wooden band. "Bit fast, don't you think?"

Neris pointed at Lucas. "Tell that to him."

Lucas shrugged in a completely unconcerned manner. "I'm in love."

Nathan had no idea what led him to that conclusion, but didn't bother arguing the point.  Who was he to get in the way of a terrible disaster waiting to happen — not that all of this would matter in a few days anyway... but he was curious.

After pressing the issue further Nathan found out that Neris accepted the proposal quickly because of their mother.  The woman had been trying to marry Neris off for the past two years now.  Lucas didn't seem to mind that at all.

"We're gonna tell mom." Neris looked at Nathan timidly and asked in a pleading voice, "want to come along?"

Nathan's gut reaction was to yell hell no, but he suppressed it.  He knew that Neris just wanted him there to divert some of their mother's attention.

"We have to schedule a meeting right?"

"Yes!" Neris laughed happily while giving him a hug. "Even we have to schedule a meeting."

"How about noon, Velanis 17th?" he asked.

"That should be fine..." Neris tilted her head and raised a curious eyebrow, "why?"

Nathan looked at Lucas meaningfully. "I heard that three assassins are probably about to kill mom at that time.  May as well try to stop them while we give her the good news."

Both of their jaws hit the floor — speechless.  Neris took it as a joke and walked off to go get some grub.  Lucas lingered for a while longer.

"Seriously?"

"Serious," Nathan confirmed. "Keep your wits about you.  If I say something out of place, don't ignore me."

Lucas nodded in affirmation and left the master bedroom.  Nathan passed back out, he still had a splitting headache.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

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Every staircase they ascended together made his heart beat faster.  Nathan was sweating by now —afraid of how poorly this could go.

Lucas and Neris were in corresponding outfits, no doubt she'd been the one who picked them out.  It was odd seeing the ginger giant in a yukata.  Neither seemed nervous at all, then again, he wasn't sure Lucas could visually express that emotion.

Just like that they waltzed up to a large chamber on the eleventh level of sun trower.  It was hollowed out and cordoned off with some glyphs.  The area in front of them had a few sofas and coffee tables — obviously meant to entertain guests.  Off in the distance Nathan could see an ornate desk... and there she was — unmistakable.

Alluring emerald eyes, silky black hair tied in a bun, narrow brows, and a tall curvaceous frame.  It was hard to believe that she's in her forties already, Lucretia Dela'marthus, a stunning beauty.  Although, Nathan had to suppress a laugh when he saw the rings she was wearing.  He'd worn one long enough to know what an illusory glyph ring looks and feels like.

"Why are you here, Neris?" asked Lucretia, impatiently.  From the papers she'd just thrown down it was obvious they'd caught her at a busy time.

Neris didn't hesitate to hold her left hand skyward.  Mother immediately spotted the magus wedding band and charged over.  After glancing at Lucas and Nathan she made her decision.  Lucretia waltzed up to Nathan and took his hands in hers — at this point Nathan was still pretty angry with her over the whole excommunication thing.

"I like him," she said confidently.  Obviously happy with her daughter's choice.

All three of her visitors were stunned.  The color drained from Lucas' face, he couldn't believe the woman hadn't recognized her own son.  Much less, mistaken him for her daughter's fiance.  Neris was at a loss for words.

Nathan on the other hand... used .  Lucretia yelped and jumped back, favoring the hands he'd just singed.  Nathan was hurt deeply that she hadn't recognized him.  That is, until he remembered that he looked a lot thinner than before.

"Mom..." Neris grinned impishly. "That's Nathaniel."

Lucretia snapped her head towards Lucas and shouted, "he's a ginger! You can't marry him!"

Lucas was out of commission at this point.  Neris was snickering as Lucretia looked down at her hands.  The expression on her face twisted, then she looked back at Nathan.  The moment she'd realized her son just used magic, a programed spell at that — this was something Nathan would never forget.

However, all good things must come to an end.  They were so fast that by the time he noticed, it was too late.  Three people falling through solid floors of the building at high speed.  They were at least four levels up when Nathan realized it, but before he could even speak one had a blade driven through Lucretia's back.  The look on her face at that moment was another one he would never forget — as much as he'd like to, some things can't be unseen.

It was worse than that though, Neris was dead too — a blade was running across her throat.  Lucas had repelled the one that came at him.  In a furious howl all three assassins were hit with his shields and flying towards a wall.  Nathan had thought they'd get smashed, he'd forgotten how those men got here in the first place.  A split second passed and they were gone, right through the damn walls.

Nathan was crying again, clinging onto Neris.  He'd just gotten his sister killed, even if this wasn't permanent getting her killed still felt horrible.  Watching her die was so damn painful.  Hating your family, finding one you actually like... then getting her killed.  It honestly sucked.

Lucas had lost it — he was gone.  Just gone.  A blank, listless expression of disbelief was on his face.

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Two days later, on the 19th, Nathan was sitting in his home.  He'd tried to get Lucas to speak, but the guy was unresponsive.  They had him in an infirmary now.

This house suddenly felt a lot less like home without Neris.  He was still perplexed about the whole ordeal.  Nathan had expected something like normal human assassins, not demonkin assassins who have the ability to phase through solid matter.  They were gonna be a bitch to deal with, one way or another.  He hadn't even been able to tell what race they were.

The big day was tomorrow, so Nathan was getting ready.  He'd already packed a nice supply of food, a sleeping bag, and some water.

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Velanis 20th, Nathan was sitting alone on a terrace.  He'd chosen the fifth floor of star trower as his vantage point.  After waiting for nearly three hours it began — in a  terrible way.

A shadow flashed over Valkfolgen so quickly that he had almost missed it.  Seconds later a dragon the size of four buildings descended.  Its jagged white scales glowed ominously as flames and molten lava spewed across multiple streets.  The dying screams of countless people rang out through Valkfolgen.

While the mighty beast was assaulting citizens — another threat emerged.  A group of people he recognized, the magus-warrior hybrids that had been a part of Gureld's downfall.  There were many more of them than he remembered though.  A thousand men strong group at least, he hoped that they weren't all hybrid combatants.

The fact that they ran towards Valkfolgen with no formation in particular was probably out of confidence.  Magus were so distracted with the dragon that nobody noticed the threat closing in from their flank.  Just as the Valkfolgen magus began to take notice, nearly every one of the invaders simultaneously stopped.

Before engaging in direct combat there was a near simultaneous volley of low level spells.  The invaders had timed their attack well, even beginner spells like a properly programmed could be lethal to an unaware opponent.  Nathan couldn't help but curse audibly as he watched nearly half of the remaining Valkfolgen magus go down in seconds.

The pattern didn't stop, Nathan watched for an entire day... and it was over.  Valkfolgen in cinders, a dragon wreaking havoc on the sun trower, and men making their way up his own star trower.  He was actually thankful that there hadn't been any more enemy forces.  Just a thousand men plus one dragon.  A few of the Valkfolgen magus had done some rather impressive things, but, in the end, they all died far too quickly for his liking.

Nathan got up and stretched a bit, then took up position.  He had seen that the invading force wasn't killing them anymore, people were being dragged off.  Nathan had no desire to be captured and tortured or something again, so he decided to just end it this time around.  With arms wide open he closed his eyes and fell forward off the terrace.  Nathan took a deep breath as cold winter air rushed by...

*Splat!*

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The scent of freshly baked donuts roused Nathan from his slumber.  Outside — past some iron bars — one rather attractive woman in form-fitting clothes handled a steaming box.

Nathan smiled fondly at Emma while he got out of bed.  He was trying to ignore something festering in his heart, something he knew no real hero would ever have.

"Good morning," she said, returning his smile. "Donut?"

"I'm not really hungry right now," he politely refused. "None the less, thank you."

Emma tied her hair up in that ponytail that he so loved to see.  Nathan continued to watch her.

"What?"

"You're Emma Kristof, correct?"

"...I am," she said in a low voice.

"I'm training to be a warrior and would like your opinion on something," he claimed politely. "If it's not too much trouble."

Nathan took off that annoying cosmetic ring and put it in his linen trousers. He then dropped his robe and asked, "I'd like you to assess my level of vim."

Emma immediately knew what he wanted and placed a hand on his chest.  It took her quite a while longer than Mistress to examine him.  After all was said and done she pretty much told Nathan the same thing that Mistress did.

Nathan was trying to resolve himself again.  He'd just watched magus-warrior hybrids tear through scores of Valkfolgen magus.  Sure the men were likely battle hardened warriors fighting peaceful magus, but it still left a distinct impression.

Interrupting a chant with some sort of ground shaking foot technique then casting their own spells.  Even repeated magus bombardment didn't help sometimes, those men and women had been capable of charging through magefire with their bodies coated in a pale aura — no doubt another technique.

When Nathan had been increasing mental endurance he hurt himself by mistake a few times.  As personalized ambient mana was run through his body, instead of his head, it had interacted with his vim — painfully so.  Ever since he'd first unlocked the warrior internal energy, vim, he had been keenly aware of it.  So Nathan was sure what it was that caused the mind-numbing pain.

With his mind made up Nathan sat cross-legged on the cold floor.  Within seconds he had enough ambient mana and was running it through.  Less than a minute later the veins on his entire body were bulging and he was choking back a scream.  As soon as Emma realized what he was doing — she swung the gate open and clubbed him.

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Nathan could smell something delicious.  His eyes opened to find a hearty full course breakfast and Emma.  With a single touch it was apparent that his head was bandaged — she'd really nailed him good.

"What was that for?" he asked sarcastically.

"Were you trying to kill yourself?" she rebuked.

Nathan looked away nervously. "I was doing an experiment."

"I don't know what that was," she spoke with a soft, concerned tone. "But it was killing you.  Don't do it again."

Nathan sighed awkwardly and allowed Emma to spoil him.  He was more than happy to let her feed him by hand.  It probably would've gone on a little longer if he didn't ask for water — mouth to mouth.

After a few hours she reluctantly let him leave, he'd used the late for school enrollment excuse again.  It only took Nathan five minutes to find a secluded alley.  Seconds later agonizing screams could be heard...

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The scent of freshly baked donuts roused Nathan from his slumber.  Outside — past some iron bars — one rather attractive woman in form-fitting clothes handled a steaming box.

Nathan was honestly shocked, that was frikin' painful.  Beyond anything he had imagined.  You'd think dying is bad, but having your body feel like it's on fire is worse than being shot in the face or falling from a really tall tree.

"Something wrong?" Emma asked.

Nathan wiped the tortured look off his face. "Not really, I'd like to ask a favor though."

"What?" she said skeptically.

Nathan disrobed — Emma screamed.  It would seem this was not the proper order to go about his request.

Nathan quickly took off the cosmetic ring and dropped it in his pocket.  A metallic clink could be heard, his eyes went wide at the sound.  Nathan quickly placed his searching fingers into the pocket and pulled out two identical cosmetic rings.  This was definitely something he wouldn’t soon forget.

Because of his exhibitionism Nathan spent a good hour after that talking an on guard woman into testing his vim for him.  He wasn't sure how they did it, otherwise he'd test it himself.

"You've got a pretty low level," she said in a calm voice. "I doubt you'll ever be able to use decent techniques.  Maybe by the time your fifty, but I wouldn't pursue the path of a warrior if I was you."

Nathan felt like something was off, but chose to ignore it.  It would seem what he'd done was painful for a reason.  Painful and useless. "That's what I thought," he said dejectedly. "What's wrong?"

Emma was frowning at this point. "Why did you take your clothes off?"

"So you could test my vim, of course."

"You can do that through clothing," she explained skeptically. "I don't need to be touching your bare chest.  To be honest, it's a little uncomfortable."

Nathan cursed at Mistress for the first time, that old fox!

Emma spoke up again at that point. "Something's seriously off with your vim though, I've never felt anything quite like it..."

That made Nathan more than a little worried.  "Should I be concerned?"

"I have no clue," she spoke with confidence. "Better find someone who does..."  Emma paused for a moment and considered Nathan's predicament. "I might know some people who can tell you what this is, they live in Gureld."

Nathan let that sink in for a while.  Feeling like an idiot was the least of his worries now.  He'd done something possibly irreversible to himself.  The only comfort was that he had poor aptitude as a warrior anyway.

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My power has been cutting on and off for some reason.  I know it's pissing off the people watching playoffs.  Anyways, I would've posted this yesterday if it wasn't for the power problems, sorry peoples.  ><;