I… guess everybody wants to come along on my jrpg adventure, then… I shook my head slowly.

It wasn’t quite as quick as all that, of course. It took several more days of repairs and tinkering on Lakshmi’s part before the Sparrowhawk II was ready for launch. I spent most of my time exploring the city with Eshaan, and in cooking explorations. It turned out that yes indeed, I could cook buff meals, as well as several other status effects. In theory I could also poison people, but that… didn’t really seem practical in the heat of battle, and outside of battle, I didn’t think I’d get a chance to be cooking for anyone I wanted to suffer terrible cooking. It seemed a horrible perversion to me, honestly, to deliberately make food that was worse than normal!

Eshaan and Daniyel picked up several interesting trinkets and objects, once Camaxtli approved our acquisition of them. I didn’t much like it, but if the city guardian told me that no one would miss them… was it really thievery? Maybe one could even consider it a kind of short term loan since the inhabitants of the city lived in such a suspended state of time, we might return the objects before they could ever miss them.

And our funds were badly depleted after the little rescue expedition that they’d staged on my behalf.

So after quiet discussion with the others in the group, we decided to sell the trinkets at the place closest to our next destination.

“Yes, where are we going?” Lakshmi said querulously. “We’ve been wandering mostly absent so far. And we still need to go to Hecate and bring across Eideth. We promised her months ago that we’d get her home!”

“Weeks.” Daniyel said calmly. “It has been three weeks since we promised her.”

Lakshmi huffed and crossed her arms. “Well that’s almost like a month! Which is like months! And besides we owe her!” She said defiantly.

I had to nod. “We do owe her.” I agreed. “And honestly, I’m fairly confident that there will be an Arcanum somewhere in Galgados, and most likely Hecate from what you and Eshaan have told me about it. But Soriya and I-“ I looked over at Soriya and smiled gratefully. “-have come up with what we think will tell us the shortest direction and distance to the nearest Arcanum.”

Soriya nodded. “So we’ll perform that, and tell you.” She said.

Camaxtli said “I would request to observe this ritual. It is… a key finding action?”

Soriya smiled. “We call the Keys Arcanum. Or the System does, which I guess means they call themselves Arcanum?”

“A curious choice of name, implying a secret or mystery to be uncovered… or perhaps covered.” He placed his fingers on his chin thoughtfully, and I had a moment to think Spirits above he is just unfairly beautiful. How does a boy get to be that beautiful!?

“When can you perform this ritual?” He said.

I glanced over at Soriya. She shrugged. “I don’t know how long it will take to set it up, we haven’t even done the calculations for the combined elements.” She tapped her lips thoughtfully. “Perhaps… well this evening, after dinner, I think?” She looked at me questioningly.

I nodded agreeably. “Could we have some paper and writing implements please?” I asked Camaxtli.

“Of course.” He nodded. “I wish to observe your calculations. Will this cause a problem?”

I shook my head. “No, not at all. But we’ll be a bit boring, I’m afraid. It’s all math and calculations with crystal resonance.”

“That does not trouble me. I am incapable of boredom. In addition, your description sounds intriguingly like what I would consider normal spellcasting.”

My eyebrows shot up at that, and Soriya simply looked like a cat with a canary feather in her mouth. Now that’s interesting… what did she learn from that? I wondered.

“I will return with your supplies shortly.” Camaxtli turned away and walked out of the room.

Lakshmi stroked her chin thoughtfully. “I wonder why he doesn’t just summon the paper out of thin air, like he does with his drones, or how he got the Sparrowhawk down here?”

Eshaan grunted. “Or presumably how he’ll get us and the Sparrowhawk back to the surface!”

Lakshmi blinked, then slapped her fist into her palm. “you’re right! I hadn’t even thought about that! That’s going to be fun!” She grinned.

Daniyel said calmly “We have already experienced that, however. I suspect that the elevator transit was similar. We moved far too little to experience the depth that we appear to be at. If we are even underground, or anywhere at all. If what Miss Soriya and Miss Lilyanna describe of their time in the Wake is accurate, we could be anywhere, or nowhere at all.”

Soriya looked at Daniyel with her eyes raised. “That was surprisingly philosophical of you, Daniyel!” She touched his bicep lightly. “When did you have time to think about all this?!”

Daniyel snorted lightly, a surprising display of emotion for him. “I have had little to occupy my time aside from fetching tools for my ward.” He twitched a slight smile.

Lakshmi pouted; her arms crossed. “Well excuse me. You don’t have to stay you know!”

Daniyel sighed. “We have discussed this. At length.” And was silent.

Lakshmi glared at him, then looked away, lifting her nose in the air. “Humph!” She snorted.

Camaxtli returned with a ream of paper in his hands, as well as what looked to my eyes like a modern pen, a black pointed stick. For all I knew it was some hypertech ultradimensional ink container! Lakshmi stared in fascination as Camaxtli handed the paper and black stick to Soriya.

“Are you familiar with the use of this device?” He held out the stick.

Soriya took it, and turned it over in her hands thoughtfully.

Hm. No cap. Is it a pencil?

Soriya suddenly held it out like a wand, and I could see a spiral of blue and purple mana flow into the … wand?

Soriya smiled and applied the point to the paper, and marks that matched the color of her mana, purple and blue, appeared in looping swirls on the paper, trailing behind the point. Lakshmi’s eyes grew huge watching the display.

She held up the pen, smiling in satisfaction. “I believe I have the general idea. What a clever concept.”

Lakshmi rushed forward grabbing the pen from her. The swirl of purple and blue around the pen vanished as she did so.

Daniyel’s lips quirked. “It would appear to be a good idea to have more of these devices.” He said to Camaxtli. “Would you kindly procure more?”

Camaxtli reached into a pocket of his clothing, and withdrew several more. “I had anticipated this might occur.” He passed out a pen to each of us.

Eshaan immediately took it and started drawing swirls with it. “Woah, mine’s all red and green!?”

Camaxtli said “The color of the markings the stylus creates matches the individual’s unique mana signature. This is occasionally helpful to prevent counterfeiting.”

I made a few strokes with it curiously, then gave a resigned mental shrug. Well what else was I expecting. Pastel pink and yellow with silver threads.

Lakshmi shook her pen angrily, and then focused on it. “Why isn’t this working?! It was working for Soriya!”

Camaxtli frowned and took the pen from her, turning it over in his hands. He handed it back to her. “The device is functional. You need only channel a small amount of mana into the stylus.”

Lakshmi’s expression fell, and for a moment, I was sure she was going to throw the pen angrily against the wall. But then she swallowed calmly, and handed the pen back to Camaxtli. “I see. This is of no use to me then.” She heaved a sigh and turned to leave.

“I do not understand.” Camaxtli said. “Have you not been taught how to manipulate mana?”

Lakshmi turned, and if the look in her eyes could kill, Camaxtli would be struck dead instantly. I flinched backwards from the fire in her glare.

She swallowed, and said levelly, repressing what must be fury. “I do not have mana to manipulate.”

Camaxtli blinked, several times, and I could see the rapid swirl of light in his eyes before he finally said “That… is not possible.”

Lakshmi laughed bitterly. “Yes, well! Have you met us?!” She waved wildly around. “That’s our bread and butter! Or hers anyway!” She pointed at me. I flinched back. There was real anger in that. Does she think I’m… oh how foolish of me. Of course she’s jealous. She hides it so well with the genki exterior… oh Lakshmi, I’m so sorry! I bit my lip, I owed her such an apology! Or… well it’s not my fault that I’m the stupid saintess! But I should explain-

“No, I mean that is not possible.” Camaxtli interrupted my thoughts. “If you were without mana, you would not be animate, let alone sapient.” He reached out and grabbed her hand, and there was a sudden brilliant flare of red-gold light and the smell of ozone. Lakshmi gave a startled shriek of pain. In a flash Daniyel was across the room and had knocked Camaxtli away from Lakshmi, Camaxtli sprawling backwards onto the floor. Daniyel’s fists were surrounded by the glowing gauntlets of his fighting style, and his eyes promised instant death.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“You will refrain from touching the princess, or die.” He stated in a flat monotone.

A moment later, Eshaan was there, his blade unsheathed, and his eyes just as serious and deadly.

I rushed across the room to Lakshmi, the chant of a {Heal} already forming on my lips. She held her hand and stared at it as though she’d never seen it before.

“Lakshmi! Are you ok!?” I said, the soft white-gold light of my {Heal} flowing over her.

She shook her head slowly in a daze. “No. I mean, yes. I mean…” she slowly uncurled her fingers, where the stylized mark of a phoenix glittered in her palm, a glowing corona of gold and crimson. As we watched, it slowly faded away, leaving her skin unmarked aside from the ever present roughness of callouses and oil stains.

Lakshimi looked up at Camaxtli with her eyes wide and mouth open. “What did you do?!” She finally got out. Followed hurriedly by “Daniyel, it’s ok! I’m… I’m not hurt.” As it looked as though Daniyel was about to begin a righteous beatdown.

Daniyel looked at her worriedly, his gauntlets burning on his hands. “That is not the same as fine, princess!” Nevertheless, he grudgingly backed off, slowly lowering his hands, his gauntlets dissipating into the ether.

Eshaan gave her a doubtful look, then another glare at Camaxtli. “Yes, what did you do!? Why did you hurt her?!”

Camaxtli frowned. “It was not my intention to cause pain. Your mana vessels must have been clotted if you experienced… I am sorry for any discomfort.” He slowly got to his feet, holding out his hands to either side in a ‘peace’ gesture. “I merely forced a portion of my mana reserve into your mana vessels, which caused them to pulse briefly, and circulate. If the experience was painful for you, your mana must have been static for a considerable period of time. Can you describe the pain?” He tipped his head to the side as though inquiring after an interesting flower or stone.

Lakshmi looked at him for the longest time, then hesitantly said “It was… it was like… like when you accidentally stab yourself with a really sharp quill, only all over my body. Only not my skin but inside me. And then…” she flexed her hand again. “And then my right arm went numb, and then hot. And then it was gone.”

Camaxtli’s eyes flickered as he thought, and then he said “Your experience is comparable to medical accounts of blocked mana. Though the discomfort level was unusual.” He looked between Soriya and Lakshmi. “Has medical treatment devolved to the point that this is an unknown technique?”

Soriya nodded; her lips pursed. “It seems that way. It’s rare, but it happens. Occasionally a person just… doesn’t seem to have mana in them.”

Camaxtli shook his head sharply in negation. “That is not possible. As I stated, and Lakshmi’s reaction proves, there is no such thing as a sapient being that has no mana. Even animating the constructs of Nocturnus requires artificial mana vessels to be created. Mana which is not circulating is substantially more difficult to detect, however.”

He frowned more deeply. “In point of fact, your vessel, the “Sparrowhawk” you call it, has crude mana vessels, with the circulatory core in your “engine” room.”

He looked at Lakshmi as though he had never seen her before. “How did you manipulate the charged flows of your vessel without the ability to touch mana?”

Lakshmi pulled out one of the innumerable tools she constantly had about herself. “Mana rigging.”

The tool suddenly sparked and flickered wildly in her hands. Lakshmi bobbled the tool almost dropping it in surprise. “Woah, what the heck is wrong with this thing?!” She exclaimed.

“Curious.” Camaxtli took a step towards Lakshmi, only for Daniyel to suddenly be between the two of them, an immovable wall.

Camaxtli looked up at Daniyel and then took several slow deliberate steps backwards. “Apologies.” He actually looked… conflicted for a moment. “My directive to understand and explain may have…” He paused then continued. “Has. Has caused a difficultly.” He looked up at Lakshmi again. “Your mana is in circulation. Tools which react to mana flows will react to the circulation. You must… take care not to let your mana flow into the tools by accident. However, the stylus should now function properly for you.”

He opened his mouth as though he was going to say more, then backed away. “I suggest you speak with your mages; you may need some small training before you can handle your devices safely.”

Lakshmi carefully hooked the mana rigger tool back onto her belt, and then took out the pen again. The tip was already starting to glow with mana. She made a hesitant stroke on the wall, and a brilliant plume of crimson and gold appeared. Her eyes widened, and I saw tears start to form in them.

Her lower lip trembled slightly as she said “I… have mana? I can… I can cast?!” in a soft quavering tone.

I reached over and gave her a hug, shortly joined by Soriya. “Congratulations, witch sister.” Soriya said softly.

“Apparently, you always could.” I added quietly.

The soft sound of sobs and hot tears dripped down Lakshmi’s cheeks, splashing on the floor below.

She scrubbed at her cheeks in confusion. “Oh how stupid! I’m crying… I’m crying because I’m happy… what a stupid, stupid thing to do… I thought that only happened in those maudlin plays mother loved.” Her laughter was broken with hiccupping sobs, but the smile on her face was brighter than the sun.

Camaxtli commented “I calculate these events have reduced the likelihood of the timely completion of your vessel by 48.8%.”

Daniyel gave him a level gaze and Eshaan said “Let her have her triumph. I bet she’s had more years of lessons drilled into her head about magic and mana than I’ve had years of hauling a net.”

Camaxtli looked at Eshaan, and his eyes flickered in thought for a long moment, then he turned and left the room, silently returning to the hangar.

Camaxtli was correct, our preparations did take a significant hit from Lakshmi’s sudden discovery of her own mana. Despite Eshaan’s doubtlessly correct statement about Lakshmi’s training, her mana would occasionally flare and spark off her tools, or interact with them in strange ways. Camaxtli commented dryly that her apparent mana blockage had been of some surprising benefit to her when working around magitech tools, though he said it did explain what he had perceived as a ‘myopia’ to mana engineering.

Well, I guess her designs are going to get even more intricate and crazy after this… I thought wryly. Didn’t realize that our engineer would need to upgrade her abilities. But then… I didn’t realize what I thought was true about mana was wrong. I bit my thumb in frustration. And all this means I haven’t been able to find any time to talk with Lakshmi at all! I feel so… so stupid for not realizing she was jealous! And I know how that jealousy plot works, I refuse to let… ok, well to be fair that’s actually a very reasonable emotion for Lakshmi to feel. Not stupid or petty at all. Would I be any better? An uncomfortable silence was my only answer to that question.

Lakshmi covered reams of paper with her new pen, the shimmering crimson and gold very distinctive, and just as messy as expected, covering most of the work tables in the hangar and machine shops.

Soriya and I took to a small room to work out our much more ordinary ritual calculations. Camaxtli stood quietly in the corner watching, as we covered sheets of paper with pastel pink and dark blue mathemagical calculations and patterns.

When we finally took a break, leaning back and stretching our backs from where we knelt on the floor, he commented “This does indeed look like the reference points I have for traditional spellcasting.”

“What, no comment on our overly inferior and degraded knowledge?” Soriya said waspishly.

Camaxtli blinked slowly, then said “I do not have strong mana manipulation abilities, as I was not created for spellcasting purposes, so I cannot evaluate or offer suggestions on this topic. I would judge your statement to be accurate, however, your group has repeatedly made it clear that my observations cross-referencing Nocturnus archives with modern knowledge is unwelcome.”

“Why do you keep doing it then?!” I said, and immediately felt guilty.

Camaxtli was silent for a long moment, and then with a hesitation that was unusual for him, said “I… have been active… alone… for a very long time. My protocols… were suitable, four thousand years ago. They no longer appear to be so. I am… attempting… to correct. Social friction is not desired.” His lips pressed together. “And yet it continues to occur. I am… defective in a way that was unanticipated. I am attempting repairs. They will take some time.”

My eyebrows shot into my hairline, and I looked at Soriya in genuine surprise.

“Well, well.” Soriya commented with a slight croon. “Someone really is capable of learning! Be careful you…” she trailed off, and a slight smirk appeared on her face. “No, you know what, never mind that. Learning requires a few mistakes.”

Camaxtli frowned. “Your statement is illogical.”

Soriya grinned. “But true, nonetheless.”

I was forced to nod in agreement. At least for humans it sure is.

I cleared my throat. “Ahm, well, with reference to our actual calculations, I would be surprised if it was as neat and tidy as the Imperial college, or something like that… we’re only seventeen.” I smiled wryly at Soriya. While it was technically true I was much older, and so was she, I was pretty sure that the only lessons I’d ever had with mathemagical calculations were a few worn textbooks in mother’s house, and a few more that I’d borrowed from Soriya’s house to read on a rainy day.

I sat back and looked at the scrawled diagrams and circles in front of us then nodded. “Well, we think this will work. No matter how inefficient it is.”

Soriya grimaced. “Which, honestly, is very. You have almost as much experience as I do.” She said to me.

I shook my head. “No that’s not true! You’re much smarter than me!”

Soriya laughed. “Ah yes, praise me more!”

I tapped my lips and then said “No… I don’t think so. Your ego is already dangerously overlarge. And I don’t want to have you explode before I get to drink more of your sparklewine.”

Soriya laughed again, then lightly tapped me on the nose. “You’re going to turn into one of those drunk housewives if you keep that up.”

I could feel the color flush my cheeks and ears from that. “I refuse to admit that’s even a possibility!” I crossed my arms and sniffed. “As the designated Saintess of the Holy Church of the Crystal Dragon, clearly any wine that I might drink is exactly the right and proper amount!”

Soriya grinned then sobered. “What are we going to do about that, anyway?”

The dash of cold reality was unwelcome. “I don’t know.” I said. “I’m… I’m just taking lessons from Eshaan right now. Keep moving forward. We have our plan. We find the next Arcanum. We…” I looked at her. “Do you want to bind an Arcanum? You’re the keybearer too.”

Soriya shook her head. “I’ve got a build I’m working on. You started with the Arcanist class. You should finish.”

I pressed my lips together at that. “It’s been more like chaos on my end. Random classes popping up just because I happened to express an interest!”

Camaxtli spoke up. “Is that normal?”

I jerked, I’d more than half forgotten he was there. I opened my mouth to answer, and then closed it slowly.

Soriya spoke up for us. “We don’t know, actually. There are people who study Classes and the System. We didn’t pay a lot of attention to that; we thought it would be very simple.” She smiled and spread her hands to encompass ‘all of this’. “Our expectations have been diverted by reality.”

“Your earlier comments indicates that you foresaw many events with clarity. How is this compatible with this statement?”

I tapped my lips with my fingers then finally said “Well… it’s like this. If you play chess against Eshaan, you’re going to win. You already know that. It’s basically a forgone conclusion, unless you deliberately chose to lose. But you don’t know every individual move that will happen over the course of the game, right?”

Camaxtli nodded. “Ah, I see. A foresight of general trends but not specific data. Interesting.” He paused then said “This strikes me as the logical outcome of that stated ability then. You know just enough to get yourself into trouble.”

Soriya burst out laughing and I flushed pink with embarrassment. “Well… yes, I guess that’s how it turns out, most of the time.” I muttered.

“So, about our ritual!” I pointedly changed the subject. “I think we’re about ready! We have the calculations done, and everything should be ready.”

Soriya nodded and added. “There’s no way we could have cast this when we first… when we left Breezewood for the first time.”

I felt a slight swell of pride. It was true, my mana pool was much larger now. I took a moment to {Study} my status again, feeling a definite glow of accomplishment.

{Name}: Lilyanna of Breezewood {Level}: 24

{Classes}: Spiritist 10/Orator 6/Arcanist 6/Gourmet 2

HP: 546 MP: 776 DEF: 96 M.DEF: 139

Current Status:

DEX: 96 INS: 139

MIG: 96 WIL: 139

MP 776. Another burst of growth, and I’m so far beyond what I had… and Soriya’s must be just as big. No, bigger! She’s been focusing her build more than I have! And we have so far to go too. I felt a stab of worry. I’ve really stepped into it now. Save the world to escape the save the world quest. Good job, Lily. Way to beat that plot. I squeezed my fist tightly. And I think I can finally admit… I’m actually having fun.

I looked up with determination and nodded to Soriya. “Right! Let’s do this!”

Soriya and I strode into the room we’d set up as the ritual chamber, having drawn the preliminary magic circles in and knelt down on the floor on either side of the circle.