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Erick woke up from a great night’s sleep, and then realized what was to come. He briefly thought of running away, and then he considered a preemptive strike, and then he considered going to Anhelia and devising a well-coordinated strike with all of the other people she had managed to line up, whoever they might be. It would be bloody and well deserved.  

The moment passed.  

He got up, got clean, got dressed, and got on with his day. After a nice breakfast, Erick left the house with Poi on one side and Jane on the other. It was time for some clothes shopping. Erick asked for recommendations and Poi provided, while all others had nothing to add. Poi’s recommendations were a good enough place to start as any.

There was a slight hiccup in the beginning when he walked into the high-class tailor shop, at the edge of the Incani District. It wasn’t a large occurrence, but he was almost shooed away by a teenager when Erick stepped inside the store. Luckily, an older man tore the kid out of Erick’s sight and took control of the transaction. The man now in charge of Erick’s clothes shopping experience was a serious, dark-skinned incani, who rattled off some questions in a rather no-nonsense manner. What did Erick want? What was he looking for? Casual wear? An outfit for a party? A full wardrobe change? He asked the last question with a bit more enthusiasm than all his others.

“A wardrobe change. Something easy to wear, and good enough for any climate.” Erick added, “I’m also looking for enough clothes for a week of parties. Dangerous parties, where I will be using [Conjure Armor].”

With a look of satisfaction that barely made it past his eyes, the man asked, “May I see your [Conjure Armor]?”

Erick obliged.  

Layered, white cloth, stretched down across Erick, looking like something birthed of scalemail and leather, and made of kevlar. A hood appeared around his head, while a full mask covered his face, yet did not impede his eyesight, or his breathing. His shoes became boots made for stomping, while nimble, yet heavy gloves covered his hands. Ophiel remained on Erick’s shoulder, but barely moved as the conjuring proceeded, only shifting slightly as white layers rippled under his wings and across Erick’s shoulder. When the conjuring was done, Ophiel turned into a shoulderpad made of eyes and wings, draping one wing behind Erick’s shoulder, while stretching eyes along that wing to give both him and Erick a full view of every direction.  

Erick hadn’t even asked Ophiel to do that. The little guy had done it all on his own. Erick approved, and Ophiel trilled in tiny violins at the approval.  

The tailor walked around Erick, eyeing the conjuring. “It is not comfortable to wear normal attire with this sort of armor.”

“Correct.” Erick lowered his hood, saying, “I can deal with that, but if you can create clothes that avoid this problem, that would be great.”

“I don’t get a chance to outfit many archmages, but most mages I know go for armored robes that layer over their existing clothes. Is there a reason this is your preferred conjuring?”

Erick had never used his [Conjured Armor] as much as some people used theirs, and there was a reason for that besides not just never needing to don armor to fight a monster in the flesh. Erick never wore his armor around town, either, because not only was it uncomfortable, he also didn’t like wearing the other options available. Heavy armor? Plate and pauldrons? Greaves and gauntlets? No thanks. Erick had tried conjured robes, but aside from his admittedly meager experience in armored robes, taking the hit of a spell before that spell struck him, robes were pretty shit versus practically all dangerous things in this world. Even this conjured kevlar wasn’t that great against the more deadly magics Erick had seen, and it was theoretically worthless against some of his own spells. But, as he had learned in the arena of Oceanside, and sparring with strangers, tighter armor was good for stopping an errant knife, or a whole host of other, smaller, physical weapon strikes. Robes couldn’t do that, and besides, they were not very aerodynamic. Why did arcanaeum-trained mages wear robes, anyway? Maybe they used their robes to more easily fly?  

… Maybe they weren’t a hindrance, but pseudo-wings? Oh? Interesting idea. But. Eh. Whatever.

Erick said, “I don’t like robes.”

“I can create thin, fashionable garb for use with this type of armor. There should be minimal bunching.” The man added, “I can also create thin, acceptable attire, where there will be no bunching.”

Surprised, and happy that clothes like that were an option, Erick briefly remembered having to remake his [Conjured Armor] a few times back in Oceanside’s Arena, because the bunching got uncomfortable. Thank god that was over! He should have gotten a whole new wardrobe long before now.  

He said, “Yes! Both. I’ll also need a few outfits that are dinner party fashion, without regard for this [Conjure Armor]. I can turn this into undergarments for such an occasion.”

The tailor nodded, then set to work.

Erick dismissed his armor. The tailor took Erick’s measurements, then wheeled out some options on some mannequins. Erick steered clear of the popular sultan/mobster options that Al liked to wear, with the tight vests and the billowing sleeves and pants, opting for a more casual, yet visually appealing, pant/half-robe combo, done in lots of greys, browns, and a few other desert colors. Those would be normal wear, while a few very nice outfits in varying styles and colors would be for formal occasions. His white [Conjure Armor] would be fine under the formal wear, formed into longjohn underwear.  

When all his picks were done and the tailor went off to [Fabricate] Erick’s clothes, Erick, Jane, and Poi, were escorted to a small side room, where refreshments were provided by the teenager from before. The boy now looked rather contrite, never lifting his face to look Erick in the eyes, and only staying for a moment, to ensure that everyone had their refreshments.  

Jane sat back in a plush chair, sipping her tea, smiling. “You picked out some good stuff, dad.” She said to Poi, “Good choice, coming here.”

Poi smiled, saying, “Tailor Bodiz regularly showcases his work at Portal’s Fashion Symposium. Many agree that he could have gone on to Eidolon’s Worldwide Fashion Symposium, but he prefers this smaller business, and his elite clientele. And Spur’s contracts.”

Erick laughed, as he looked around at the fine furniture and the subdued elegance all around him, then said, “I didn’t know we were coming to a place like that.”

“It’s usually a six month waiting list to see him, but he has filed and we have accepted his standing request to outfit the Army and Guard, as needed, and for a discount. When you accepted my recommendation of a place to shop, I informed him of his opportunity.” Poi said, “He does most all the formal wear for every soldier we have.”

A sudden thought occurred to Erick. “But where do you wear your formal wear? Are there parties I don’t know about?”

“Diplomatic events; not parties.” Poi looked to the air, listening to a tendril of thought. He said, “The last one was a few days after Candlepoint appeared. It involved a few squad leaders and district leaders, and some visiting nobles from the Greensoil Republic. Our new Noble neighbors, the Clayfields, were a part of that party. It was before they decided to move here, and may have been part of the reason for them to do so.”

“… Huh,” Erick said.

Time passed quickly, for Tailor Bodiz worked fast.  

Erick tried on his new clothes, right away. They fit wonderfully. Bodiz visibly relaxed, seeing Erick in new clothes, far removed from his white-shirt, brown-pant ways. Now, he wore light grey pants, with a robe-like shirt with long sleeves to protect from the sun, or to hide his hands. Erick briefly went over his other new clothes, happy to see the formal options looking really good. Black and regal, then white and thin, with blues and reds and browns, and some options having gold brocade, and others subtly decorated with silver. All of it looked good. All of it fit well. The thinner options even felt comfortable under his [Conjure Armor], which was a nice change of pace.  

Erick rapidly changed clothes with [Clothe], too, and upon seeing Erick’s outfit-shifting spell in action, Tailor Bodiz’s demeanor seemed to relax a bit further; he approved.  

The total bill came to 95,000 gold, and though Erick choked at the cost, he paid.  

Tailor Bodiz had even included shoes, boots, belts, and other accessories.

Erick was loathe to part with his sneakers, but he could hang those up somewhere, for a while. His new leather boots were rather comfortable. He had not expected that, but then again, [Mend] and [Fabricate] were both rather widespread spells. 95,000 gold for a set of clothes that would never go bad? Sure, that seemed reasonable.  

… It was not reasonable at all, but Erick paid anyway, and thanked the man for his service.

Tailor Bodiz bowed upon completion of the event, returning Erick’s own words to him, saying “Thank you for your service, Archmage Flatt. Spur is quite a bit more wonderful, with you around.”

By that time, it was already past noon.  

With the three of them hungry, Jane led the way to her favorite eatery, just south of the Human District. ‘Meat! Bread! Cheese!’ was a great little place, with cheesesteak subs and lots of fries and this new thing they were making with patties of beef and lots of onions on sliced bread, that they were coincidentally calling a ‘patty melt’. The line wasn’t even that long today. But something else caught his eye as they approached the eatery. They had expanded since the last time Erick had been here. Right next door was a new place, called ‘And Dessert!’. Cakes and pies and candies sat in the window, looking good under icing or sugar…  

But no chocolate! Not yet.  

Erick asked Jane to get lunch, while he scoped out the new store.  

Jane laughed, saying, “No way! I’m going right in there with you; I want to see it, too.”

They walked into ‘And Dessert!’ together.  

It was a nice little shop with a long counter filled with treats, and a wall of cakes sitting behind glass in the back. The whole place smelled of sugar and odd flavors. Erick definitely smelled flowers, along with some citrus, but not a lot. Strangely enough, spices also filled the air. Two other shoppers gazed upon the confections beyond the glass, while another bought a cake in a paper box from a kindly old woman Erick recognized. The vendor’s kids must have finally kicked the woman out of their store.

Jane went right up to the counter, exclaiming, “Oh! They have puff puffs! They do exist.”

Erick smiled wide, joining his daughter at the display. His eye caught on the puffed rice treats. A sigh of contentment escaped him, and he said, “I need a whole lot of those.”

Jane teased, “If they don’t taste the same, then you’ll have to invent marshmallows, too.”

“I’m not messing with cattle hooves, Jane.”

The older greyscale woman finished up with the other customers, and came to Erick and Jane, saying, “Hello, Archmage Flatt. I almost didn’t recognize you in that outfit.”

Erick smiled. “Hello, Mrs Skytouch.” He thumbed at the wall that separated ‘Meat! Bread! Cheese!’ from ‘And Dessert!’, saying, “I almost didn’t recognize you. I was wondering which one of you split off to here. Did you get tired of working at your kid’s place?”

“Oh no no no. Not at all!” Mrs Skytouch smirked, saying, “Your visits brought in the money, but my kids wanted me out of there. Now I got my own employees to bother—”

A door to the backroom swung open, revealing another older greyscale; Ratchet, the spice woman. Wearing an apron splattered with flour, looking like she was in the middle of baking, she exclaimed, “I thought I heard about an archmage!”

“Ratchet? What?” Erick smiled. “You’re here, too?”

“Welcome to the store, Erick!” She waved a hand. “My spice shop got too big so I gave it over to my kids, but I decided I couldn’t retire.” Ratchet gestured to Mrs Skytouch, saying, “I got together with my old friend here, and we decided to start our own place.”

“Well good for you. For both of you.” Erick said, “I can already tell I want some of those puff puffs you got in the counter, there. But what’s that spicy scent for?”

Mrs Skytouch said, “Spice cakes. They’re one of our best sellers. Ratchet’s recipe.”

“And I can’t make enough of them,” Ratchet said, “Can’t make enough of those lemon cakes, either. That’s a big seller.” She tapped the glass behind her, where red-iced cakes sat behind cover, saying, “That’s what goes in that empty spot, right there.”

“It looks full to me.” Erick smiled, happy for the small talk.

“I rearrange it to keep it looking full, all the time,” Mrs Skytouch said. “You know me; I can’t stop meddling.”  

“Are you two using vanilla in your products?” He asked Ratchet, “You still selling a lot of that— Or. I guess your children are running that, now?”

“Aye, they are. They got my fields in the Garden, but I personally [Grow] all the stuff for this place in my own backyard.” Ratchet said, “Vanilla’s a big seller.”

Mrs Skytouch said, “I love that vanilla.” She eyed Erick adding, “I’m also interested in whatever stuff you were making yesterday. Everyone wants to know what it was. Some people said it smelled like candy, but ain’t no candy I ever saw that came out of fermenting beans. Least of all from a tarip tree!”

Ratchet eyed Erick, too, adding, “People’ve asked me what you’ve been making, but I don’t like too much gossip. I got a theory, though! It’s that ‘coffee’ you talked about before. Am I right? Was it?”

Erick chuckled, saying, “It’s not coffee, but that’s not too far away.”

And then he got down to business.  

There was a major reason he came into ‘And Dessert!’, and it wasn’t just because the place was new and he wanted some puff puffs. Seeing Mrs Skytouch in charge of this place, and Ratchet, too, solidified his decision to share his chocolate with ‘And Dessert!’, well before the topic ever came up. He knew the topic would come up, though. If they hadn’t spoken about it, he would have, because Ratchet was a good business woman well versed in spices, and Mrs Skytouch was a good cook who baked all the bread for ‘Meat! Bread! Cheese!’ next door.

Jane left to go get lunch, while Erick sat down with both of the older women, to speak of chocolate. Half an hour later, Erick left ‘And Dessert!’ with a huge basket of samples, a tray of puff puffs, and a meeting time for both Ratchet and Mrs Skytouch to come by the house. He also learned Mrs Skytouch’s first name; Arial.  

- - - -

There were a few things to do before Shadow’s Feast. One of them, was to unlock the extra points from creating a spell of tier 7, 8, and 9, and in the process, become a true archmage, in the usual sense.

Inventing a whole new school of magic was one thing, but every other archmage got that designation by creating a tier 8 spell; an accomplishment that very few could ever hope to achieve. Spells usually exploded in both cost and danger to their caster, when they got to that level. Even if one managed to make such a spell the first time, it was often too expensive to cast more than once.  

Erick had joked about how he ‘wasn’t a real archmage’ more than a few times, to Kiri, to Jane, to Poi, to others. But, if he were being honest with himself, gaining his title without actually having struggled for it, made him feel an odd sort of way. Like he had stolen a seat at a table he did not truly belong. He didn’t really care about the validity of his title, and every archmage he knew treated him like one of them, but it would be nice to be a true archmage, in the usual way. So, to that end, it was time to become a real archmage, in the usual way.  

Erick stood beside Kiri, in his mage tower. Before the two of them were blank chalkboards, while in their hands was chalk. Poi stood to the back. Erick would have liked to have Jane here, as well, but she was off doing her own thing right now, whatever that might be.  

Poi said, “I still think that [City Shape] is a good tier 8 spell.”

Erick frowned. He had considered [City Shape] enough to research it, and that was all. That spell began with a tier two spell called [House shape] that was [Stoneshape], [Watershape], and [Force Wave]. Most people bought this spell, though Erick figured he could make it himself. But to get to [City Shape], it was Mana Shaping for 500, six times in a row, each Shaping further and further expanding the spell’s area of effect. Shapings for 500 was one of the few ways one could continually expand the scope of a spell without having to break it down and start all over, as one would need to do with Alterings.

But no one tried to make [City Shape] that way, because Mana Shaping for 500 got multiplicatively more expensive the more times you used it in a row to continually do the same thing, such as increase the area of a spell. There was apparently this whole chain of spells, from [House Shape] to [Village Shape] to what was eventually [Town Shape], and then [City Shape]. There was also a [Metropolishape] at tier 9, but you had to make that one yourself. [City Shape] was the first iteration of that spell line that rearranged the Underworld to bring up water from below, but only if that water was nearby. You couldn’t just [City Shape] anywhere and expect to get water.  

[Metropolishape] held no such water restrictions, and while that was interesting, Erick was not interested enough to get archmage certification by buying his way there. Now that would truly make him feel like a fraud.

Erick said, “I’m not doing that. I don’t want to make cities for nobles.” He said, “But [True Plasma Bolt] as a [Meteor Shower] type of spell? Now that seems useful.”

Kiri went to the board and wrote Erick’s idea down, saying, “If all you want is the points and the true title of ‘Archmage’, you should try for something you’re willing to give up. Leave ‘[True Plasma Shower]’ for when you’re sure you can make it work.”

“… True.” Erick changed tracks, saying, “I suppose a [Force Bolt] run through seven alterings would be enough to gain tier 8. But that seems... Boring.”

Kiri giggled, as she wrote down ‘Bolt through 7 Alters’, and said, “That’s one way to get it done. It’s not as easy as you might think. Other archmages have done it this way—” She paused. “Oh. There’s a lot more than six elements. Right. Hmm. Actually. That might be a lot more feasible than I had thought.”

With a small laugh, Erick said, “The only trick to being an archmage is knowing more than other people.”

Kiri stood stock still for a moment, before uttering, “Huh.”

Erick smiled as he thumbed toward Poi, saying—

Poi laughed, sudden and only partially unexpected.

Undaunted, and with a larger smile than before, Erick said, “I bet our guy Poi over here is a secret archmage.”

Kiri waved a hand, saying, “Impossible. Everyone knows that Mind Mages never go above tier 4.”

“… I didn’t know that.”

Poi said, “Not everyone knows, but most do.”

“Really?” Erick asked, “Why limit yourselves—?” He stopped, mid-sentence, suddenly aware of the answer. By limiting themselves to tier 4, they stayed away from archmage-levels of power, because for a Mind Mage to seek power and fame seems like exactly opposite of what their entire hidden society desired.   

Kiri said, “They’re already hiding themselves from wrongful prosecution. Becoming archmages would just put another target on their backs.”

“Correct,” Poi said.

But there were still facts that didn’t add up.

Erick almost frowned, concluding that a great many of his better spells were only tier 2, like [Prismatic Ward] and [Summon Ophiel], but he let that tangent lie, and returned to the discussion at hand, asking, “What’s the best way to achieve tier 9?”

Kiri shook her head, saying, “There is no ‘best way’. Almost all magic gets too complicated around tier 5 or 6. Each shift from the Base Spell either unravels or harmfully mutates the intent and scope of the working. But… with your particular understanding of magic...” She frowned. “Maybe that’s not exactly what’s happening? Maybe the harmony is just coming apart.”

“Well... If I was designing a magic system so that wizards and whatnot couldn’t go around destroying everything anymore, I’d put a cap on maximum mana churned through, or whatever you want to call it.” Erick added, “Probably have to make multiple plateaus of power. The normal limit could be around tier 4, with higher limits at tier 6, which is where I first fucked up with [Death Spiral Plasma].” He added, “It seemed to be going well at the time, but if I recall correctly, I had just used Mana Shaping for 500 to get [Endless Plasma Wrap], and I poured 500 more into a second Shaping, hoping for a good [Death Spiral Fire]. I got a decent version, but the mana cost skyrocketed from 1100 to 17,000.” Erick said, “Knowing what I know now… One possible explanation is…

“Take an auditorium.” Inspiration struck, as Erick continued, “Take an auditorium. A stage. For all the world’s a stage, don’t you know. Take this stage, and compare it with the power of your spell. If the size of the stage is good for the music you wish to cast upon the space, then it reverberates well. The sound echoes, the music builds. Magic happens. But if you spend 500 mana just to increase the size or scope of your spell, without adjusting the music itself in the process… Then the volume of your music has to be drastically increased in order to fulfill its intended effect.”

For a long moment, Kiri looked as though she had laid eyes upon a difficult math problem that she couldn’t instantly solve. Slowly, she said, “… Stringing together multiple Shapings is one of the easiest ways to trigger a massively increased cost, unless you’re perfect with it.”

“Exactly!”

“I don’t know, Erick.” Kiri added, “But you have that bargain of trade with the red harpy, Ryul. I remember hearing about him at Oceanside, and he got to archmage status as a pure Force Mage, well honed in the art of Shaping.”

“… That’s a good point, but...” With a small dismissive wave, Erick said, “I’m not going to bother him with that. My idea is in its infancy, and Ryul is a part of Nelboor politics, and I’m pretty sure I can figure out Shapings on my own. Besides, after hearing about Styles, and remembering that Syllea also spoke about Styles, and how Styles are all the rage over there… I think that’s what I’m going to consult him on. You know. Eventually.” Erick said, “But back to the power limits of magic:

“We know that spellwork gets harder as scope increases. In addition to this, I’m guessing that there are set limits in the Script at certain points, to prevent abuses of magic. For whatever reason—” Erick smiled, remembering something he heard long ago, back when he was first starting out as a mage in Spur, after he made [Call Lightning]. “For whatever reason, mages are at tier 4, or the ability to cast Super Long Range spells, whichever you manage to make first. At that level, a true ‘mage’ is required to defend whatever city they inhabit.” He looked to Poi. “Or maybe that’s just Spur?”  

Poi answered, “Not just Spur. Every major city on Glaquin and most other cities in other parts of the world, all require known mages with either tier 4 magic or Super Long Range damage spells to report for duty in defense of their city versus monster attacks. Some cities even require compliance versus all attacks. Warriors also have the same requirements in certain places, but they’re not as globally regulated as mages.”

Kiri said, “But that’s… That’s such a low bar. No serious mage would think of tier 4 or ‘SLR’ as a true bar to entry. It’s more of a rite of passage.”

“That may be true,” Erick said, “But it still counts as a bar to pass.” As Kiri reluctantly hummed, then agreed, Erick continued, “So taking that into account, archmages are at tier 8. Therefore, there must be a meaningful limit between tier 7 and 8, which is similar in scope to the limiters between tier 3 and 4.” He added, “But that’s just a guess.”

Kiri said, “This is the Script we’re talking about. No one really knows how it works. All we have are ideas based on practiced evidence. Some ideas work better than others, but since all magic is partially subjective, there are multiple paths to power in the Script.” She added, “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but each tier you go up is supposed to allow your working to access more power. This is the only thing that most every scholar agrees upon.”  

“Well. Yes. That is a very good point, Kiri.” Erick said, “So how about this: Maybe, costs rocket and spells malign when your creation attempt does not coincide with the power available at those tiers? Maybe there’s a limit to the size of the stage you can create, and the depth of the music.” He added, “Well… Maybe not. A lot of my spells are low tier.”

Kiri said, “I was just about to say: A lot of your spells are only tier 2.” She added, “And [Control Weather] is Basic Tier.”

“[Gate] is basic tier, too.”

“… True.”

Erick said, “I don’t know if you’re going to be able to buy my [Control Weather] at tier 1. I might be grandfathered in on that one.” He rapidly added, “Or. Wait. You’d call it ‘immortal’d in’.”

Kiri had tilted her head in thought over Erick’s words, but at his explanation, she shrugged, saying, “Maybe so. Won’t know for another year. But [Call Lightning] might be there next month.”

“All you need is the Class.” It was Erick’s turn to shrug, as he added, “You’ll likely need to make [Call Lightning] yourself, like I remade those [Teleport] magics. You already have all the rhymes and intents and particle knowledge, though, so that shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Kiri chuckled.  

Erick conceded, “Well. Yes. Maybe it will be difficult. But you’re young! And you have Sunny to help.”

Kiri smiled, as happiness seemed to fill her form. She shook her head a little, then turned back to the blackboard, saying, “But anyway! Back to archmage certification. Going off of your analogy, we could conclude that there is a limit to the size of your magic based on the stage you set…” She paused. “I think you’re missing something.”

That knocked something else loose in Erick’s memories. He turned to Poi. “What’s ‘magnitude’?”

“I cannot say,” Poi graciously said.

And that was it. No more words came from the sapphire-scaled man as he returned Erick’s look of disapproval with his own look of complete, practiced indifference. Erick gleaned no information from that look, except that it was Poi’s usual look, taken to an extreme Erick had seldom seen, except for when Poi accompanied him to places like the Wayfarer Guild meeting, or the meeting with Syllea, or with Baroness Pirazel Xelxex.

Erick turned back to Kiri, saying, “Okay. So. Magnitude is the maximum power level of any given spell.”

Completely disbelieving, Kiri gasped, “He told you?!”

“Of course not.” Erick continued, “But most of my personally created spells are magnitude 7. The magnitude of the Red Dot that almost killed Spur was magnitude 9. This is an easy enough mechanic of the Script to test. All I need to do is try to turn one of my Magnitude 7 spells into Magnitude 9, and then try to go beyond. It is entirely possible that this is what happened to my [Death Spiral Plasma]. I was trying to go up in power too fast.” He realized something, then added, “[Exalted Storm Aura] is tier 2. It might still be Mag 7?” He looked to Poi.

Surprising everyone, and most of all Erick, Poi said, “That spell is still magnitude 7. Almost all of your Particle spells are Magnitude 7.”

“What level are my spells?” Kiri asked.

Poi just smiled, and said nothing.

Kiri frowned.

Erick eventually, said, “I don’t know what to make of anything.”

“No no. Hold on.” Kiri said, “There’s something here.” She paused. She said, “Okay. New theory: Magnitude is the power level of a spell. In order to break above Mag 7, you must both have the spell be Mag 7, at tier 7, and then add something more to make a tier 8 spell that is then Mag 8. Attempting to break this imposed barrier before tier 8 means that you will fail.” She added, “There’s likely more to it than that, though, and I have no idea if tier 8 really means anything, but the Headmaster and others put a value on that tier, so it might.”

Long moments passed as Erick and Kiri both thought.  

Kiri spoke up, “As long as you stay low-power, or correct-power, maybe getting to tier 9 isn’t that hard?”

“Possible.” Erick said, “It’s also possible that all of this is completely wrong.”

Kiri laughed. “Yeah.”

“Keeping all of that in mind, and especially that part about a jump from tier/Mag 7 to tier/Mag 8 —which is pretty amazing, if true, Kiri,” Erick said, “I need to make an actual tier 8 or 9 spell, both to became a true, accredited archmage, as well as gain those points from creating a spell of that tier.” If he was going to walk into Ar’Kendrithyst in three days, he needed all the help he could get. Erick stepped to the chalkboard, and wrote as he said, “I’m going to try it this way, based on the harmonies I have already observed, how much I’ve already created in this vein, and the desired outcome as being something well above Mag 7. I’ve already done this part, so it should look partially familiar.”

(t1)[Force Bomb] + (t1)[Force Wave] = (t2)[Prime Area]  

(t2)[Prime Area] + (t1)Mana Alter: Light = (t3)[Light Shift]

“That part came from Anhelia, when I was making those Light spells.” He added more text to the board, saying, “This part came from Opal, but instead of targeting every part of a spell in order to [Dispel] it easily, I’m going the other direction, to make a spell almost impossible to [Dispel]. The end goal is going to be super large anyway, and thus will have an automatic resistance to dispelling, but I want that resistance to be the main feature of this magic.”  

[Light Shift] + Mana Shaping, 500 = (t4)[Segmented Light]

[Segmented Light] + MS, 500 = (t5)[Spreading Segmented Light]  

[SSL] + MS, 500 = (t6)[Fully Immersive Segmented Light] to get into every dark space, including inside stuff

[FI SL] + MS, 500 = (t7)[Soaking Light] to linger

“And here’s the jump to tier 8.” Erick said, “Every part before this has been a functional change to the magic, and thus the Mana Shaping for 500 was not just an increase in size or power. I made that mistake when I was going for [Death Spiral Fire], so for this one, where the end goal is a spell with zero power but immense functionality, this should be fine.”

Kiri mumbled, “I’m not sure… any of that works like that.”

Erick smiled, as he wrote, and said, “Then we’ll find out! This is the point where I use Mana Shaping 500 for more size and transformative light, in the vein of [Stillness], that transforms sound into light.”

[Soaking Light] + MS, 500 = (t8)[Immense Light]

“And if that goes well, just for the fun of it:”

[Immense Light] + Aurify = [IL Aura]

He turned to Kiri and Poi, asking, “Thoughts?”

Kiri looked from the first part of Erick’s writings to the last, her eyes lingering on each entry. At the end, she said, “3000 mana per cast. Easily feasible, but hard to do. What does the end spell look like, to you?”

Erick brought out the box for [Light Shift], saying, “Something like this, but for kilometers and kilometers around. Undispellable. Self-reinforcing.”

--

Light Shift, instant, long range, 120 MP

Drastically empower your light aspect magic in a large area. Shadow aspect magic turns solid. Dark aspect magic is greatly weakened. Lasts 1 minute.

--

Erick added, “It should get around the Propagation Ban by not expanding past its borders.”

“Like a Rift, but different, and much, much larger.”

Erick smiled. “That’s my backup idea. I still haven’t made a Rift yet!”

- - - -

With still two hours left till Ratchet and Arial showed, Erick blipped himself, Kiri, and Poi, out into the middle of the Crystal Forest, right on top of a minor mountain of sand, facing north. Sand stretched from horizon to horizon, like solid waves of orange water, capped here and there by sparking Crystal Mimics, while endless northern winds scraped across the tops of those endless sandy waves.

Erick breathed in the hot, afternoon air. His skin broke out in a cooling sweat, and he luxuriated in the heat for a long moment. Then he turned to Kiri and Poi, and conjured two pairs of eyeglasses, handing them over, and commenting on the brightness of the day. They took them and put them on, as Erick turned back to the open sky. Ophiel fluttered on his shoulder, feeling the wind on his outstretched wings, then took to the air. Not too far. Just far enough to sing to the sky, as needed. Erick dismissed a superfluous Ophiel from Candlepoint, and reconjured the little guy there, in front of him, to sing in harmony the secrets of Mana Shaping, while the first Ophiel sung of [Light Shift].

Mana Shaping was like a feeling after a gong was struck, and the world vibrated in the passing of an immense force upon reality.   

[Light Shift] was demure, by comparison, but calling this spell small would be a mistake. [Light Shift] was a coy lover, who hid within themselves an iron core of resolve and purpose.  

Erick waited a heartbeat, listening to the music of the world.  

Then he turned himself to light, joining the brightness all around. His heartbeat was gone upon his transformation, but he vibrated the iron core of [Light Shift] instead, expanding it outward, filling the world with purpose. Magic came together, flowing in harmony, joining and mixing and splitting and resolving, as Erick cast.

The dune in front of Erick turned from orange to neon orange. A subtle change, but still a good one. A blue box appeared, and Erick smiled.

--

Segmented Light, instant, long range, 620 MP

Drastically empower your light aspect magic in a large area. Shadow aspect magic turns solid. Dark aspect magic is greatly weakened. Lasts 1 minute.

Segmented Light will reassert itself, using up duration, unless dispelled with 10x cost.

--

A good start, but he wasn’t done.  

The neon-orange dune still looked solid, and it was, but as the wind scraped the top, it was as though a metal grinder scraped away at solid iron. Sparks joined the wind, like hundreds of fireflies, flowing toward Erick on the breeze.  

At the edge of his hearing, he heard music. At the edge of his sight, he saw white clouds in the blue sky. He was too far from Spur for the clouds around his city to follow him all the way here, so they had to be clouds from another source, from somewhere, or someone else.

A hum drifted on the northern winds.  

Erick smiled again, and then cast.  

The glowing dune rippled as Erick’s spell crashed against the sand, like a god thumped the world, setting sand to motion. White light crashed down in every direction, brightening the sky in the immediate area into white-blue brilliance.  

--

Lambent Light, instant, long range, 1120 MP

Drastically empower your light aspect magic in a large area, without regard for the vagaries of distance. Shadow aspect magic turns solid. Dark aspect magic is greatly weakened. Lasts 1 minute.

Lambent Light will reassert itself, using up duration, unless dispelled with 10x cost.

--

The distant hum became a wordless song. A sound that bards would chase forever, and singers could only dream of imitating.  

Erick cast.  

The dunes and sky became a land of deep light.  

--

Effulgent Light, instant, long range, 1620 MP

Drastically empower your light aspect magic in a large area, without regard for the vagaries of distance or depth. Shadow aspect magic turns solid. Dark aspect magic is greatly weakened. Lasts 10 minutes.

Effulgent Light will reassert itself, using up duration, unless dispelled with 10x cost.

--

The song of the universe took a deeper turn, a longer turn, as Erick barely noticed the increased duration of [Effulgent Light], and cast again.

Dunes and sky became a part of the constellations, as white light soaked into the world, and the sky, expanding from the dunes in front of Erick, to cover the land in brilliance. Under him, above him, all around; everything was soft and nurturing, but also harsh, and revealing. It was a brightness to rival the sun, or perhaps, a part of something more primal, more connected to Veird, here for the world to see it one more time, and bathe in its glory. The blue box that appeared did not do the spell justice, but it tried. It tried so very hard.

--

The Lingering Light, instant, super long range, 2120 MP

Drastically empower your light aspect magic in a super large area, without regard for the vagaries of distance or depth or time. Shadow aspect magic turns solid. Dark aspect magic is greatly weakened. Lasts 10 minutes.

The Lingering Light will reassert itself, using up duration, unless dispelled with 10x cost.

Those subjected to the Lingering Light are imbued with Light.

--

Congratulations!

You have combined parts of the Script to create your first tier 7 spell!

May your journey into magic be wide and fruitful!

+6 points!

--

The world thrummed with power, as the very desert under Erick thrummed with light. White light rimmed everything, from the neon dunes rolling across the land in every direction, to the very air itself, to the scattered sand lingering in the air like like a billion fireflies, or scattered topaz gems, glittering with brilliance and fire. The clouds above were close, now. White and heavy, they too were rimmed with light brighter than they were, as a serpentine form, ever moving, roiled within and without, her scales glittering iridescent, gold, and white, all at the same time.  

Erick returned to his work, his mind stretching out along with his lightform body, as he cast, once more, ringing his small part of the Crystal Forest with the beating iron heart of his magic.

A brilliant flash filled the world. Radiant. Scintillating.  

The flash passed, leaving the land transformed into a sea of light, with white-capped waves under an ocean of fireflies, themselves swimming in an ocean of possibility. His lightform senses saw from horizon to horizon, and then past that. Deep into the surface of the world, and high into the sky, where the true void touched Mana, and magic ended.  

The complete transformation of reality into radiance was short-lived, as another, deeper shift passed by, and the land returned to orange sands and blue sky. This shift was not a part of the spell layering a change upon the physical world, but of the spell changing Reality itself. Those outside of the effect would be blinded by this space, no doubt, but for those inside, for those acclimated…  

Erick still saw the [Light Shift] in the neon edges of the dunes, and in the fireflies floating under the sun. He recognized glowbugs among the wind-swept sands, also rimmed in neons, but more blue-green, to match their natural glows. Crystal mimics were rimmed in blue-white, while both Ophiels shimmered white. Reality was saturated with the power of Light.

Erick stepped down onto the sands, retreating back into himself, to see his skin rimmed in white. He turned. Poi was blue. He gently smiled as he took off his glasses and looked to Erick with happy, sapphire-blue eyes. Kiri was green, and so was Sunny. The couatl [Familiar] played in the sky, trailing green glows wherever she flew, while Kiri waved her arm up and down, leaving green afterimages in her own wake.  

The land was not brilliant or blinding at all, as it had been with [Light Shift], and all of the spells after that. It was different. Like some threshold had been crossed, and some fundamental transformation had taken hold everywhere Erick looked.

Two blue boxes appeared.  

--

Domain of Light, instant, super long range, 5000 mana

Harken unto the Truth of Light. Let no authority diminish your brilliance.  

Undispellable. Uncorruptible.

Lasts 1 hour. Effects last longer.

--

Congratulations!

You have combined parts of the Script to create your first tier 8 spell!

May your journey into magic be wide and fruitful!

+7 points!

--

Erick smiled. He was up 22 points. That was enough to complete two more Class Ability Slot Quests, and cap out at 10 Class Abilities. Since he already had the Quest on him, he completed it, once. He would visit Irogh later to pick up the Quest again, turn it in again. He’d also pick up two Class Ability Quests. But for now, he felt exhausted.  

He also felt pretty damn good.  

Kiri spoke up, “I take it… that worked?”

Poi just kept smiling; the most heartfelt, happy emotion Erick had seen on the man in a while.  

“Yup.” Erick handed out copies of the spell, saying, “It worked. Is everything okay with you two? I want to experiment some with this new spell before we head back so I can meet with Ratchet and Arial.” He looked to Poi, “I also want to get in a meeting with Irogh. Can you make that happen, today, if possible?”

Poi barely read the box before he dismissed it and sent off a tendril of thought, saying, “Of course, sir.”

Kiri read the box; her eyes going wide like she had seen an unexpected monster enter her life. She breathlessly said, “A real Domain.”

Erick laughed. “I have another! [Domain of the Withering Slime].”

“Well, yes!” Kiri said, “But that one is an aura, and thus automatically resistant to most [Dispel] attempts because you can just keep casting it.” She poked at the blue box, dismissing it, adding, “But this one is literally [Dispel] proof! It’s right there in the text. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I didn’t either, but I guess you can, but besides: An aura is the next step.” Erick smiled, adding, “I want to experiment with this one, though. Care to experiment with me?”

“Of course!”

The first tests were shadow magics. Kiri was the one who took front and center, here, since Erick continued to be unable to create a Shadow spell on his own, without creating some unknown spell effect that was more akin to annihilating force, than Shadow’s Willpower-based damage effects.  

Kiri didn’t stand front and center for long. Her first attempt, [Shadow Bolt], fizzled from her outstretched fingers, turning into naught but green sparkles. She tried with other workings, including a [Force Wave]-based [Shadow Wave]. That spell spread green sparkles into the air around her, and nothing more.

Just to be sure, Erick’s own Shadow attempts resulted in white sparkles.

Erick tried a few other spells.

A fireball burst against a nearby dune, like so much confetti in a parade, with just as much effectiveness as confetti. A [Radiant Bolt], however, became something much more.

Cast normally, the Light-based Bolt would simply splash against the sand like normal Force, sending a scattering of sand into the air. But inside this Domain, the Bolt that ripped from Erick’s fingers splashed against the dune, like a cannonball launched from a ship. A meter-wide explosion sent gouts of neon-orange sand in every direction, like Reality was more liquid than not.  

Kiri tried a [Firelight Bolt], next.  

Erick had seen her [Firelight Bolt] before. He knew what to expect; a Bolt of incandescence that turned a part of the world to fire. In this case, a very small part of the dune in front of them would likely melt.  

What he got, was exactly that.  

Kiri tried a [Radiant Bolt] spell next. What she got, was exactly what Erick expected from his own, normally cast [Radiant Bolt].

It seemed that [Domain of Light] worked for his own magic, and not for anyone’s else. Kiri could still cast all of her Force Spells, but anything Altered that did not have a nod toward Light, became nothing more than green glitter.  

It was here, that Erick began to realize the depth of what he had created. Of what it meant.  

Of what it meant, if he were to use this inside Ar’Kendrithyst, or against a Shade.

But there was still more experimenting to do.  

Erick looked up, at the clear sky. The clouds from before were gone. So he chose to fix that with a [Call Lightning].

Roiling masses of illuminated clouds flowed from out of nowhere to dominate the heavens like an upside down glowing sea. Flashes of radiance, brighter than the rest, flickered here and there. But nothing was Blinding in this Domain, not even when Erick had dropped his [Greater Lightwalk]. Mana Altering for Light normally created Blinding secondary effects, but he had created [Light Shift] by separating Mana Altering to Light into both a [Light Shift] and [Blinding Shift]. [Blinding Shift] laid fallow in Erick’s Status, for now.  

Erick called down a bolt of lightning a kilometer away. If it was possible to be blinded in this Domain, it would have happened then. Instead of a tendril of illumination that shook the world in its passing, a pillar of light, five meters across, smashed into the ground with a breaking force. The targeted dune burst into light, scattering that part of the world, cratering the luminescent ground into a meters-wide crater. Thunder rocked the sky, sending waves across the inverted sea of clouds, as a shockwave disturbed the tops of every dune, scattering sand like it was glittering topaz.

Erick turned to [Lightshape] experimentation, after that.  

… It appeared, that inside a [Domain of Light], [Lightshape] was more like [Everything-shape].  

And it also appeared, that Kiri’s own [Lightshape] worked fine, but normally. It was not as Erick’s own [Everything Shape]. But all of her other shaping spells?  

Those just turned to more green glitter.

Erick’s other shaping spells were white glitter, so he wasn’t much better off in that regard.

Upon seeing Kiri’s restrictions under [Domain of Light], Erick felt a little more safe, a smidgen more secure in his chances of surviving Shadow’s Feast, a bit more able to take on the challenges of the world, while not having to rely on luck or talent to make it through a difficult encounter. He was not his daughter, after all. Jane could go up against anything and both feel and be secure in her chances for victory. Erick had to prepare.  

- - - -

Erick walked through the Script-blue door to see Irogh sitting behind his white desk, like he usually sat. The orcol was as handsome today as he’d ever been, with his slightly greying hair and his massive muscles, lurking under an appropriate, yet sexy tunic, with the top buttons undone.  

“Hello, Irogh.” Erick said.

Irogh smiled, as he lifted his hand and twisted two fingers through the air. The door shut behind Erick, as Irogh said, “Hello, Erick. Congratulations. I hear you made Archmage, in true.”

Erick took his seat, happily saying, “Thank you. I’m pretty sure Rozeta helped me along, though. There were clouds and a serpentine form hiding inside.”

“The gods help everyone, and what you made served a higher purpose than most.” Irogh asked, “So what can I help you with, today?”

“Another Ability Slot Quest, first.”

Irogh nodded. He tapped out across the air. The blue box for an Ability Slot Quest appeared in front of Erick, who immediately spent ten points to complete it. Irogh grinned, at that.  

Erick said, “And now the Class Quests for Light Dedication and Force Savant.”

Irogh tapped across the air, saying, “Of course.”

--

Class Ability Quest!

Create a tier 7 or higher Light-based spell or skill.

Reward: Light Dedication

--

Class Ability Quest!

Create a tier 5 or higher Force-based spell or skill.

Reward: Force Savant

--

Erick accepted his new Quests, and considered his options for completing them. The first was easy enough, and Erick was glad that he had chosen to forgo creating the aura-version of [Domain of Light]; creating that now, would automatically complete that Class Ability Quest. With Light Dedication increasing the power and durability of all of his light-based spells and effects, Erick felt like Bulgan would at least have to try the next time they fought. Maybe it wouldn’t be so very one-sided.

The Force Quest would be slightly more difficult, but looking at the Quest, Erick already had a plan. He needed a base spell to later combine with [True Plasma Bolt], and this Quest would fit well in line with Erick’s somewhat-conceived idea for such a base spell.  

He didn’t really need Force Savant, though. This Class Ability was just a choice he decided on, because all magic involved a little Force, since Force was the basis for all magic. A few percentage bonuses here and there on all of his magic seemed as good of an idea as any.  

Irogh interrupted Erick’s thoughts, saying, “You’ve earned another possible Class Ability Quest, if you’d like to see it?”

Erick tore his mind away from his plans, and looked to Irogh, saying, “Yes. Of course. Oh! And that reminds me. If I were to ask for the [Greater Treat Wounds] quest, which version would I get?”

Irogh tapped the air. He answered, “You’d get the 50,000 people version.”

“… Really?” Erick was okay with that, since [Greater Treat Wounds] was more something of a passing idea, than a necessity. But he had to know, “Why? I know my daughter got, like, 50 people saved, and her previous saves were already counted in her Quest.” He added, “None of my Quests have counted anything I’ve done previously, or else Light Dedication would automatically be complete.”

“The Script was created to stop the abuses of the Old Wizards.” Irogh said, “Besides. You save that many people every single time you go out and use your spells to clean up problems, like the Ballooning Spiders that threatened our world just a month ago. Without your efforts, and according to all known precedent, we would have lost 350,000 lives.” He stressed, “Erick. You qualify for the Hero of Veird Class Ability ten times over. If there were a higher iteration of that Ability, you’d qualify for that one, too.”

Erick didn’t really care about the [Greater Treat Wounds] Quest discrepancy. He was glad that Jane was able to get that spell for herself for as cheap as she got it, and glad for the limits imposed by the Script. Truthfully, no one deserved the power that he had, or that the Shades had. Veird would be better off if every spell above tier 4 were eliminated, and all enchanting was destroyed.  

But that was just his own thoughts on the matter. Just like nukes, back on Earth, archmages shouldn’t exist, either.  

But. Eh. Archmages on Veird did a lot of good, too. It was only the outliers like the Shades that did all the damage. Most archmages hid and worked solely on defense.  

Erick waved Irogh off, saying, “I don’t know about that Hero stuff. I'm sure other archmages are just as capable and have done way more than me. Opal saved all of Spur from the Red Dot when she cast her [Grand Shield], or whatever she calls it. That’s a quarter million people, right there.”

“You’re being modest. But I won’t speak any more on the matter.” Irogh tapped on the air, bringing a blue box forward, as he said, “This is the new Class Ability you’ve qualified for.”

Erick read, and breathed deep. “Oh. …Okay. That’s interesting.” He asked, “Is this an archmage, thing?”

Irogh shrugged. “Possible. I don’t know why some people get this and others do not. But you are not the only one to ever receive this honor.”

--

Class Ability Quest!

Complete a Quest for a Relevant Entity of the Script.

Reward: Quest Board

--

“How does this work?” Erick asked.

“Accessing the Quest Board would be like accessing any other part of your Status; just think of it. The Quest Board will appear as a series of blue screens.” Irogh read from the air, but mostly looked to Erick, saying, “It might look similar to any quest from the Adventurer’s Guild, or Mage’s Guild, but the Quest posters are all Relevant Entities, and the rewards range from minor boons, to major boons, to other such rewards. The most common reward is a point, or a percentage of a point. The Quests themselves are either sparked by a parishioner who prayed for help, or created by the Relevant Entity themselves because they see a deficit in the world somewhere. The goals of these Quests depend on the Relevant Entities, and shift from saving a parishioner from a threat, to solving a complicated problem. It is possible for you to give a Quest to someone else, and have them solve whatever crisis there might be, as well as gain whatever boon listed, though such a transfer of Quest would require clearance from the Relevant Entity, first.”

That was a lot to think on.  

“… I accept this Quest. But I’m not going to complete it today.” Erick said, “I’m already much too busy for more responsibility at the moment.”

Irogh smiled as he pressed some invisible buttons in the air. “Very well. Good luck on Shadow’s Feast, Erick. You’re going to need it.”

Erick accepted the Quest, as he said, “Thank you, Irogh.”

- - - -

A knock on the front door of the house brought Erick out of his library, and into the foyer. He threw open the door, already knowing who it was. Ophiel had been outside, on the lookout, and seen the two older ladies come from down south.

“Hello, ladies. You’re both looking lovely this evening.” Erick stepped aside, saying, “Come on in.”

Ratchet and Arial smiled on the other side of the door, both of them holding covered baskets, both of them wearing nicer clothes than usual. Ratchet wore a flowing mage’s robe that matched her yellow eyes, and might have matched her scales years ago before they turned grey, while Arial wore a more comfortable salmon-pink dress/robe outfit, that went well with her green eyes.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Ratchet came inside, saying, “Glad to be here, Erick. Now where’s this ‘everything candy’?” She lifted up the edge of her basket, letting Erick peek at variety of frosted cakes and sugared fruits. “I brought more samples.” She handed them off to Erick.

Erick graciously took the basket, chuckling as he said, “I’ve lost all of my extra kilos, and I’m not sure I want them back.”

“You can afford some pudge,” Ratchet joked.

“Thank you, Ratchet.”

Poi took the basket from Erick’s hands. Kiri waited just beyond Poi, ready to receive the next basket, or assist where necessary. Erick hadn’t asked either of them to do that, but they did, anyway, and he was glad for their presence.  

Arial came into the house slower than Ratchet, eyeing the dense air that held in the doorway. She slipped through the space, almost skipping into the house as most of her got inside of the [Prismatic Ward]. Her eyes went wide as she looked to the air. “Oh my. That’s a strange feeling.” She touched the dense air all around her, poking at it with a manicured talon, saying, “I don’t do Meditation unless I have to, but this… This is pretty great.” She lifted her basket, saying, “This is for you. It’s a bunch of the candy that we’ve made.”

Erick took the basket from her, and peeked inside to see a plethora of candies, all laid out in what had to be the top layer of three nice stone trays. “Thank you. I look forward to trying it all.” He handed the basket to Kiri, saying, “But with regard to the calmness you’re feeling in the air: All you’re feeling is the Restful part of the [Prismatic Ward]. It’s possible to make that spell on its own, though I haven’t tried that, yet.” He turned to Poi and Kiri, both holding baskets now, and said, “Ratchet, Arial: This is my guard and my apprentice, Poi and Kiri.” He asked Kiri, “Have you tried to make a [Restful Ward], yet?”

“Oh no no.” Arial shook her said, saying, “I can’t ask for an archmage’s secrets on magic.” She nodded, saying, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Kiri. Poi.”  

Kiri nodded. Poi stood, stoic as ever.

“If you’re not taking up the offer, then I can.” Ratchet asked Kiri, “Is it just Meditation and [Ward]?”

Kiri said, “Yes. The combination is more difficult than most, but as long as your [Restful Ward]’s duration is a lot longer than it takes to regenerate the mana that it took to cast, then you have made a decent version.”

Ratchet said, “That’s good enough for me. I haven’t had a spell to make in a decade. Gives me something to do every evening.”

Erick gestured to the hallway, that led toward the chocolate room. “Care to see the chocolate process, now?”

Arial’s green eyes lit with a soft glow. “Oh yes yes yes yes.”

Erick had made little progress with tempering, but he had managed to make a bunch of other chocolate items in his experiments. One such item was cocoa powder, and cocoa butter. As Erick introduced the two ladies to the chocolate room, and their eyes went wide and they breathed deep the smell, Erick set to making hot chocolate. Ratchet and Arial watched and asked questions, as Erick took cocoa powder, milk, and sugar, and mixed them all together under a [Heat Ward]. He already knew the resulting drink would be a success, for he had already tried it, but seeing the greyscales' faces relax as they tasted, and hearing their words of wonder afterward, was music to Erick’s ears.  

He showed them the beans, the grinders, the concher, and the process, all while he spoke of the ideas behind the process. All the while, they drank their hot chocolate, sampled untempered bars, and tasted the chocolate at all the various points of creation. A short trip to the backyard grove showed off the cocoa tree Erick had created, and another four that he had grown since. All that only took half an hour, with the two ladies asking their questions and Erick answering them, while he asked his own, and either Ratchet or Arial answered.  

Soon enough, they retired to the sunroom. Kiri had already set out coftea and regular tea, while Jane set out milk to go with a batch of chocolate chip cookies she had made earlier in the day. Those cookies joined a host of other deserts that seemed to come out of nowhere, but had actually come from Justine. She too, had been busy while Erick was outside of the house; she had figured out how to make chocolate ice cream. Along with some scoops of vanilla, Erick almost felt back at home, sitting on the couch, ready to turn on a movie for the night. But there was no television here.  

… He missed movies. And TV shows. And the news. Entertainment and edutainment used to be so easy to find and experience, but now… There weren’t even newspapers on Veird, or at least no newspapers in Spur.  

… Yet another problem of the missing printing press. Or rather, the fact that people chose not to automate printing, because to do so was to miss out on incentives from Rozeta.

But those were thoughts for another day. Erick spooned a bit of cookie and ice cream into his mouth, and savored the flavor and texture. Soft and chewy, vanilla and cold, with bursts of chocolate flavor, this was exactly as Erick remembered it being, back on Earth. He said to Jane, “This is great, Jane.”

“I think I did okay.” Jane smirked, saying, “I already had five. Justine’s ice cream is pretty good, too.”

Justine bowed, then stood, saying, “Thank you for showing me how.”

Ratchet and Arial shared a glance, as they sat on the other side of the couch. The two of them had been talking with Erick about every part of the process, but now, with their shared look, they turned to him. He could see it in their eyes: It was time to talk business. Jane and Justine saw their look, too, so both of them stepped away. In a moment, the only people in the room were Poi and Kiri, standing off to the side, while Erick and the two ladies sat around the coftea table.

Ratchet began, “We would be honored to be your flagship store, though we wish for you to be a silent partner. An investment of funds in order to expand operations, for which you will receive a monthly repayment, in addition to a monthly split of the profit.”

“Fifty percent of profit, after taxes.” Arial said, “Half the store dedicated to whatever dessert products you envision. We can push this chocolate. It will be a success.”

Erick considered their deal. ‘Of profit, after taxes’ was the usual manner in which a silent partner entered into an existing business, so that was nothing special. Arial’s quote of 50% was a large one; possibly too large. But they were giving him a fair deal, according to Erick’s admittedly limited knowledge of operating a business in Spur. But he didn’t care about the money aspects of this venture. Erick wanted chocolate to succeed, and if they had a noose around their neck of payment, then that was just another worry Erick did not want either them, or himself, to have. Besides, for him, money wasn’t a concern. For the rest of the world, money was a constant concern.  

Erick gave them a lower offer, and while the two ladies gave some platitudes of ‘oh we couldn’t!’ he could tell that they were secretly happy for the lower price.  

The three of them got down to talking of money, and plans, and expansions. Erick would need to work his connections to purchase some space in the Garden for a whole grove of cocoa trees, or else he would need to purchase some Human District land and convert it into a cocoa grove. Either idea was fine, but until ‘And Dessert!’ got that space, there would be no chocolate grove in Spur, for anyone. All the Garden was already spoken for, with bitter rivals already clamoring over each other for Spur’s limited farmlands.  

Rollo and Calizi formed the two major factions that controlled the Garden space, with Kip’s rice paddies and Missoli’s sugar cactus monopolies being the only major undisputed areas, simply because they refused to participate in any political shenanigans. Erick asked how Silverite could allow a monopoly to exist, to which Ratchet supplied that Silverite had worked behind the scenes to ensure those two monopolies arose, whereupon she mandated the costs of both rice and sugar. Kip and Missoli weren’t living like kings, but they were certainly supplying stability to prices. If the wheat wasn’t close enough in cost to match rice, then people just bought rice. If herbs and spices and all of those expensive, hard to grow items weren’t priced to match sugar, then people just loaded their food with more sugar.

Ratchet said, “It’s a gross simplification, but Silverite’s pricing floors have provided a good base for pricing everything else. There’s room enough to move, but not enough to leave people going without.”

“… And that works?”

Arial said, “Somewhat. It’s made candy cheap enough, which is one of the reasons I chose to open ‘And Dessert!’. I’m sure that the Mayor’d commit some other plan to keep Spur fed for a good price, if you weren’t around, or if she didn’t know and trust both Kip and Missoli.”

Erick didn’t know enough about economics to decry Silverite’s ideas, and he prayed he never would. Thank god for rads and spells big enough to collect them all.  

The three of them hammered out ideas for another hour.  

By the time Erick was satisfied with a business plan, and Ratchet and Arial were satisfied with Erick’s product ideas and assurances to purchase land for ‘And Dessert!’s use, the sun was already setting beyond the window of the sunroom, beyond Erick’s private garden. Meeting over, Erick sent the two ladies off with fifty kilos of chocolate liquor, which Jane had finally remembered the name of, but which had nothing to do with alcohol. The deep brown syrup was just chocolate that had been processed from bean to nib to liquid, but without any additives; no sugar, no powdered milk, no extra cocoa butter. Ratchet and Arial would report on their experiments with the liquid, on another day. They’d even try the ‘tempering’ Erick spoke of; maybe they’d have better luck than him.

Erick felt great, knowing that his chocolate was in good hands.  

Feeling so good, dinner even tasted better than usual.  

- - - -

Erick sat down after dinner in the library, with a cup of hot cocoa, filled with marshmallows, or rather, with puffs, taken from Arial’s basket, and a trio of small deserts. The first was a puff puff, because Erick kinda really loved the marshmallows Arial made, and her puff puffs were half mallow. The second was a black-speckled white-shelled tea cake, apparently made with a lot of vanilla, and other spices. The third was a gel candy, lemon flavor. The puff puff was on his plate simply because he wanted it, but the other two were specialties of ‘And Dessert!’, and also made with ingredients Erick had created. He had already eaten a puff puff, but he had yet to try the other two…  

The spice cake tasted of a dozen different scents and flavors, all coming together under the umbrella of a solid, white-candy covering that broke under Erick’s teeth. A hard icing, perhaps? The cake was an autumnal blend, of warmth and heat, but not actually spicy at all, as all that flavor gave way to slick vanilla.  

Erick smiled. It was good.

The gel candy was basically a gummy bear, or one of those orange slices Erick sometimes bought on impulse; the ones that hung on hooks next to any cash register at any gas station on Earth. It was okay. Sure to be popular, but not nearly as decadent as the spiced cake.    

The puff puff was exactly as Erick expected, and desired. It was fantastic.  

At that moment, he was content. And then he came back to himself…

Only to go out of body again, to check on Candlepoint. Candlepoint was fine. No fights, no blood on the streets, everyone hard at work, or relaxing with others, or growing food or just living life. Sure, there were people gambling and some smoking up in tall buildings or making alcohol in stills, or getting busy with it in some dark corner—

Erick hurriedly moved Ophiel along.  

Finding nothing amiss, he came back, and pulled his enchanting books from the shelves. It was time to read up more on the process known as enchanting. The basic book had only gotten him so far, but much how the study of healing was a lot more than knowing how the body worked, enchanting was a lot more than knowing how to inscribe Ancient Script into metal. That part was just the most basic understanding of a vast, vast field of study. As large as alchemy, and as deep as spell crafting, enchanting required a great deal more of an effort than Erick had given it, if he wanted to get good.

… He wasn’t purposefully ignoring the upcoming Shadow’s Feast like it was a date with an executioner, no sir! He was just being prudent. Nothing would happen at the Feast, and it might be good to know what he was looking at when he went in there. Shades were known for making artifacts and magical items.

Repeating this rationalization a few times in his mind, Erick settled in for more reading.  

Tomorrow he’d go out and find some monsters to fight in melee, or something.  

… Practice with Kiri was a better idea. He’d do that, instead.  

That’d get the blood pumping, and get him ready for the Feast.

… A few hours of brawling wouldn’t get him ready for anything, compared to the years and years that most actual adventurers and people like his daughter put into the practice, but at least it might make him feel better about his ability to defend himself.

- - - -

Sparring sucked.

Erick had forgotten that.

He turned off [Hunter’s Instincts] and slumped onto a conjured chair, dripping with sweat like he had worn his clothes into the shower. His staff fell to the sand at his side, as he groaned out unintelligible words. He should have come out here sooner. Earlier in the day, when the sun wasn’t quite so bright.  

Jane stood to the side, safe from the relentless sun under a very large umbrella, smiling wide, as she yelled out, “Get back up, Dad! You can do it! Kick her ass!”

Kiri twirled her own staff as she paced the sand, twenty meters away. She was breathing hard, with tiny flames licking out of her mouth as she centered herself, but she wasn’t exhausted. She wasn’t struggling for breath. As her breathing returned to normal, she said, “I’ve found time to practice every day, but you slacked off, Erick. Perhaps we should go out and find some monsters for you to fight, in person.”

Teressa, standing beside Jane, shouted, “I like that idea!”

Poi grumbled.

“How are you good at this, too, Kiri?!” Erick sat straighter, to stare across the orange sand at his apprentice. “When do you have time to practice this much?”

Kiri shrugged. “It’s just half an hour each day. Go out, find a mimic, kill it in close quarters. Sometimes I ask for a sparring partner from the Army.” She slammed the butt of her staff into the sand, saying, “I’ve done enough to keep myself sharp, and that’s it. You’ve just gotten worse.”

“… Shit.” Breathing deep and feeling like he was staring up at a metaphorical mountain of tasks, he stood up. With a thought, the staff on the ground slapped up into his waiting hand. He looked around himself, at the subtle white sheen in the air. He asked Teressa, “Count?”

Teressa’s eyes glinted grey for a moment. She said, “The [Ward] is at 25%”

Erick had cast an 8000 point [Ward] out here an hour before the sparring began, using his own mana, meaning it would last 24 hours or absorb 53,000 points of damage, whichever came first. His own [Personal Ward] was now worth 27,000 points, and more than strong enough to withstand almost any singular attack from most normal sources. Both [Ward]s regenerated almost 10 points of stability per second, while a hit suffered took stability from both Personal and Area [Ward]s.

Erick and Kiri had been beating on each other for a while now, doing most of their damage to the [Ward]s. Fighting in a [Ward] was like striking an opponent with very solid pillows. It wasn’t great for acclimation to a real fight, but it was good for generalized practice. Some actual damage still got through, but not much. Even pillow fights were still vulnerable to critical strikes. Most of the ‘damage’, though, was from Kiri and Erick’s own expenditure of Health, as they circled and struck and spent Health to fight.  

Erick asked, “Ready?”

Kiri breathed deep. A certain flow entered her movements, as she stepped across the sands like a dancer stepping across the stage, gathering energy for her upcoming performance. She breathed out fire, then breathed in air, only to exhale normal air. She was calm. She was ready. She said, “Whenever you are.”

[Hunter’s Instincts] shifted Erick’s sights to see where Kiri would be, what the movement of her shoulders meant, what the cadence of her feet and hips shouted to the world, as she tapped across the sands. He saw what her eyes tracked, as she sought her own end to the coming conflict.  

Thirty minutes later, Kiri was standing, breathing gouts of flame, while Erick had been sent flying via an 80-something Strength powered [Strike], for the fifth time. Erick slowly lifted himself out of the sand, while he breathed hard too, his lungs working to pull in as much oxygen as his heavy body could manage.

“You’re as good as any rookie adventurer I’ve seen in Ar’Kendrithyst, Dad.” Jane said, “But Kiri is a lot better.”

Kiri breathed deep, as a green light flickered across her body. [Rejuvenation], no doubt. Mentor and apprentice were of comparable Strength, and comparable Health pools from which to draw physical power, but while Erick’s Health Regen was over 35,000 due to his Blessing from Rozeta, Kiri had [Rejuvenation] to restore her lost Health. In ten seconds, one spell brought her back up to full. Her breathing calmed. The flaming parts of her deep breath vanished.  

Jane smiled wide, asking, “I want a go! What do you say, Dad?”

“Absolutely not.” Erick said, “Not fighting you. Ever.”

“Neither of us are here for actual learning, Jane.” Kiri said, “We’d both fight with magic if that were the case.”

Erick nodded, saying, “Exactly right. This is just gearing up for a real fight.”

“Firstly, you could both be actual warriors thanks to those rings on your fingers. I do not agree with your stated reasons for not learning how to actually fight, nor do I agree with how they teach fighting at Oceanside, or anywhere else I’ve seen so far.” Jane emphatically added, “But now, I want to see a real fight.”

Erick sighed, as he dusted sand off of his clothes, but mostly left it there because it was stuck on due to sweat. He looked to Kiri, with a questioning tilt to his head.

Kiri frowned. “… After I take a bath.”

Erick offered, “One [Familiar] representing ourselves, another four giving attacks. I can’t use the full contingent without leaving Candlepoint defenseless… Which reminds me. I need to introduce you to Candlepoint so you and Sunny can take over for me while I’m away.”

Kiri eyed Erick, then said, “Of course.”

- - - -

His wings whistled on the wind, as he flew high in the clear, blue sky. Down below, the land was orange as far as his many eyes could see, with nary an interruption to the landscape, save for a splash of crystal here or there; the usual monsters to inhabit this desert.

Ophiel flowed through the breeze.  

The air blipped white around him, in four different spaces, and suddenly, his sight of this land was increased by four more of himself. A mental command from his creator brought him to hold his position, as control of that piece of him was fully assumed by Erick.  

Ophiel adjusted his concentration to his other bodies, nearby. The first of his bodies on the scene floated backward, back the way the five of him had come, as more mental commands flowed in, like warm breezes.  

Chirps, whistles, and other happy, vibrating sounds, filled their piece of the sky. They were going to play with Sunny! But where was she?

The air blipped green in front of Ophiel, revealing five Sunnys floating before them. Green, feathered, and much faster than Ophiel was, if they were all going all out, Sunny was a great friend. Four of her flickered a myriad of greens upon seeing Ophiel, while the fifth hung back, to send mental messages to the Ophiel currently housing the creator. That was all well and good, but four of each of them were free to play, and they did. Flying past one another, both of them turning to light, spinning around, tossing air this way and that, or flickering from one place to the next, faster than a dozen eyes could see. Luckily, Ophiel had hundreds of eyes. He easily caught up to Sunny, then turned and rushed away, as Sunny gave chase.  

A pulse of intent from both sides ended their game.  

It was time for fun playing of a different sort! With explosions and coruscating light, slicing through air to evade, or blipping away to gain better vantage! Oh, what fun!

- - - -

Erick sat in his library, while Kiri sat in the sunroom. Poi watched over Erick. Teressa watched over Kiri. They were only a hallway apart from each other, but they were also about to engage in some serious magic, five hundred kilometers away. No one was worried about the duel actually affecting the person behind the [Familiar], and Poi had assured him that he would not let such a thing occur, but it was still a good idea for two mages engaging in a real duel to not be in the same room; protocol, is what it was. Experiencing death through a disincorporated [Familiar] had never ever done anything bad to Erick, or Kiri, but it theoretically could. There were multiple reasons Erick always had someone watching over him when he was riding Ophiel, and that was one of them.  

As for the actual duel?  

He expected for Kiri to wipe the desert floor with him, and for his battlefield senses to inform him that he was going to die from a blaze of deadly fire, or some other suitably horrible way to go. Riding Ophiel’s senses was almost like being there in person, sometimes.

- - - -

The air was cool. The couch was comfortable. The sun shone outside the large, picture windows, revealing Erick’s varied garden in all its colorful bounty. Kiri breathed, trying to relax. Her scales felt good after a bath, and flames had ceased flowing out of her lungs almost immediately after the sparring ended, but she was still a little shaken. Erick had lost some of his edge in the months since they stopped sparring, that much was true, but he would quickly regain that edge. The first matches had gone way too well for her, but the later ones…  

Kiri had almost lost more than once, there at the end. What if she actually had lost? Erick was now a true archmage, so there was no shame in losing to him, but she had never lost a martial duel to a mage before, and that was before she had Erick’s rings on her fingers. Jane had been right about how they almost made her a warrior. Any level of Strength past 50 was fantastic, and good for any warrior, but Kiri was far above that. In her occasional trips to the Adventurer’s Guildhouse, she had sparred with many different people, many of them warriors. Some of them were even comparable to the people she dueled back in Oceanside. She lost to some of the warriors, but never to a mage.

So what if she lost in a real mage battle?

… There was no shame in losing to an archmage in a real mage battle. Once Erick went all out, he should trounce her, with no doubt as to who was always going to win.  

But a small part of her wanted to win.  

But then again, if she won…  

… Would that be a good thing? Wouldn’t a win for her mean that Erick was woefully unprepared for his obligation to Ar’Kendrithyst’s Feast? She had hid her worries well ever since she learned what Erick was poised to do in just three days, but a pit in her stomach threatened to open up and drown her in fear every time she considered she would lose him. And that pit was growing.

- - - -

Jane sat in a chair next to Poi. Books lined the walls and three cups of hot cocoa steamed into the air, one for each person present, as Erick laid back in his reclining chair, his eyes already glowing white.   

As she activated her own [Scry] to view the chosen battlefield, knowing that her own eyes glinted with a dark blue light, it was still strange to her that her father’s eyes had turned white. His explanation of the change was lacking. ‘Falling in line with your chosen passion, having a spell of deeper magic, and spending lots and lots of mana your desired direction in life’, seemed like the Headmaster was blowing smoke up everyone’s asses. Maybe the Old Dragon’s truth was true, or maybe it wasn’t. But what also made sense, was that the only true part of the Headmaster’s words could be that ‘deeper magics left a taint on a person’. Turned them less themselves, and more into possibility. All magic was subjective, after all, and because all magic was subjective, and because magic was a path, a study, and a way of life…

To walk forward into the deeper magics was to taint oneself with said magics.  

Much like how she couldn’t stop herself from seeing all of Erick’s mistakes when he was sparring with Kiri, she had been changed by her time as a warrior of Veird. Her father had also been changed, as he caused change in the world around him.  

Jane had been having a lot of complicated thoughts ever since she developed her [Prismatic Body]. Being able to be a part of the world in a way she never experienced before was more liberating than the first time she took flight. It was even more focusing than the first time she picked up a real sword at a flea market, when she was 12. Well. ‘Real’ for a variable definition of ‘real’. At the time, she thought that stylized spike of metal had been a working, real sword, but years later, she knew it for a show piece and a work of art, something not meant for actual battle.  

But anyway. Change.  

That Erick had changed in his time on Veird was completely normal. Who wouldn’t have changed upon falling to another world, where magic and monsters formed the largest parts of life? Of course Erick changed. But not really. He was still a good man, except now he was a good man with a lot of power, and the willingness to use it when necessary. Maybe he had changed too much. She had already told him that she felt bad about urging him to ‘get with the program’ and kill some monsters, all those months ago. And now, seeing the Ophiels and the Sunnys take to the sky and form ranks, she felt that way again.  

While she had not changed much, except for gaining the ability to live out her dreams of violently helping people, her father had changed a great deal.  

- - - -

Erick, or rather Ophiel, hovered in the sky. Four more Ophiel flanked him.  

Far ahead, Sunny held to the air, a short line of pawns arrayed before a queen. Their undulating snake-like bodies gently swaying in sync. They had activated [Evasive Stance].  

Erick activated [Hunter’s Instincts].

‘Go’.

The word from Poi barely had time to sink in before five Sunnys each cast a single spell, each targeting a single Ophiel. Ophiel blipped backward, a meager 25 mana expenditure to each of Sunny’s 500. Erick recognized the spell Kiri used as it took hold in the air, like tiny portals to a place of fire and light. [Firelight Bolt]s streamed from those portals, effectively controlling the battlefield in a hundred yard direction, because—

The first bolts from the streaming portals passed through where Ophiel had been, but the portals reoriented. Kiri’s [Firelight Assistant] wasn’t a stupid spell; it was made with [Conjure Force Elemental], and easily saw Ophiel had moved, so it moved to compensate.  

One second had passed. Each Sunny cast another [Firelight Assistant], opening more radiant portals, streaming more Bolts of power at Ophiel.  

Erick countered with [Pure Reflection Ward] across each Ophiel, using up each global cooldown among his five. [Firelight Bolts] splashed across each Ophiel, only to rebound into an undirected way, scattering along whichever angle they happened to find, when they impacted Ophiel.  

Sunnys flickered through the air, turning near-invisible. That wasn’t a spell. That was just an innate ability.

Ophiels flew left—

Near-invisible lines of solidly held air clipped through two Ophiel, their wings flapping themselves to shreds. The other three turned to light, to escape the trap; Kiri’s [Hermetic Razor], no doubt. It was a Particle spell, and though [Pure Reflection Ward] did a great job reflecting Bolts, it only partially worked against physical magic.  

[Firelight Bolts] streamed toward the blobby lightform Ophiels, and passed through, harmlessly. [Pure Reflection Ward] didn’t do anything, but maybe it would later. Erick left it running. This was fine.  

As light, Ophiel saw the Sunnys ganging up from every angle. They had first drained themselves of as much of their natural illumination as they could, and changed what little remained to be the background color of the sky.  

Each Sunny turned to light, themselves, becoming vast fields of glowing substance, their five house-sized blob-shapes rivaling Ophiel’s three.  

Ophiel was already light, though, so this next part came easy enough, for Kiri was on the backfoot; a global cooldown behind. The fight had been a jumble in the beginning, but now it was down to who could take the best singular actions with their allotted singular seconds.  

All mage fights came down to Stancing, which was why, all those months ago, way back when Erick first met Kiri in Mog’s Remedial Adventuring Class, they practiced Stancing, first. One person said a spell, the other countered and advanced with a single spell, while the first tried to counter and advance with their next spell. It was all theoretical, back then. Simple words spoken at each other from two meters apart. But now, the theoretical had to be employed.  

Erick knew what Kiri planned to do by shifting to light, but he got there first.

Three [Lightshape]s from three Ophiels ripped into three Sunny, tearing them apart with sundering force. Those three Sunnys turned to glittering green force dust; the result of a summoning ended prematurely.  

Two Sunnys would have done the same thing to two Ophiel, leaving the one Ophiel to kill one of the two Sunnys, and then the remaining Sunny would end the final Ophiel. But each Ophiel was running both [Pure Reflection Ward], and [Greater Lightwalk]. Kiri’s own [Lightshape] might not work how she wanted it to work.

Erick wasn’t actually sure, on this point.

So it came as no small surprise, that two Sunnys cast a spell Erick had not seen before.  

Or maybe he had, he just didn’t think to use it in such a manner.  

Two house-sized blobs of light became perfect spheres of reflective brilliance. [Perfect Mirror], to occupy a large-sized space. Both Sunnys were still inside that space, for Erick had eyes in every direction, and Sunny had yet to gain another second to cast another spell. But Kiri’s tactic had cut off all possibility of Erick’s own [Lightshape] attack.  

Two Ophiel cast [Spell Break], popping the spherical mirrors, revealing the lightform Sunnys within, while the third staggered his [Lightshape]—

He must have staggered too much, because both Sunnys had time to cast their own [Lightshape]s. One Ophiel went down in a blaze of rainbow light, [Pure Reflection Ward] interacting weird with [Lightshape]. The second Sunny targeted the Ophiel that had waited to cast his own [Lightshape]. [Lightshape] clashed with [Lightshape], each holding the other at bay.  

Erick was still up one Ophiel, and his cast was up. [Lightshape] tore—

The targeted Sunny dropped [Greater Lightwalk], for it was possible to end spells whenever, but not to cast spells constantly. Ophiel’s shaping turned the air to white splashes, and nothing else, as Sunny turned his own [Lightshape] onto—

Following her lead, Ophiel dropped [Greater Lightwalk]. Green splashes filled the air; ineffective.  

The Sunny and Ophiel who had been fighting with [Lightshape]s also dropped their lightforms.  

One Ophiel cast [Shooting Star], bringing into existence a brilliant dot of white light that zipped off toward the nearest Sunny, ripping the sky as it moved faster than almost anything Erick had ever seen before. It laughed as it crashed through one Sunny, moving way too fast to be countered, or dodged and moved onto the next—

Only to rush into its own death, slicing apart on atom-thick molecular chains strung through the air, Wind whistled on those strings, as they had reached all the way to both Ophiel—

- - - -

Erick sat up in his chair. He breathed out. The entire fight took a handful of seconds, where each spell cast was either salvation of defeat, and sometimes both.  

Jane said, “That was fast.”

Erick blinked, as he began resummoning his Ophiel, only to send them on their way back to Candlepoint. “Yeah. It was.” He yelled out, “Hey, Kiri! Good show!”

Kiri yelled back, “I got lucky.” The sound of her feet stepping across the stone floor heralded her arrival to the library door. With a hand on the doorway, she said, “I barely won.”

“I’ve seen that spell a few times now, but not the actual box,” Erick said.

Kiri smiled, as she handed him a box, saying, “You probably remember this one.”

--

Hermetic Razor, instant, medium range, 500 mana

25 molecular wires stretch through a medium-sized space, at your command. One wire does a maximum of 100 points of damage before breaking.  

--

“But this is the one I debuted in the fight we just had.” Kiri handed out another blue box, saying, “We were talking of Variable Cost Variable Damage spells, but I hadn’t considered what that meant for me until I knew I was going to lose our fight, but then: Inspiration!”

Erick read the second box and felt a surge of joy for Kiri. He laughed, happy for his apprentice.

--

Hermetic Shredder, instant, medium range, 1000 mana + Variable

A Variable number of molecular wires stretch through a Variable space, at your command. One wire does a maximum of Variable points of damage before breaking.

--

“Good job, Kiri,” Erick said, smiling. “This is a good spell.”

“Sunny almost perished.” Kiri said, “I spent almost all of my mana on that spell to tangle both Ophiels and defend against your [Shooting Star]. The severed [Shooting Star] still hurt, but she was able to dodge most of that fast little ball.”

“You have another Hermetic spell, don’t you?” Erick said, “I saw you drill holes in a mimic before… I think?”

Kiri handed over another spell, saying, “Razor and Shredder are more impressive.”

--

Hermetic Bolts, instant, medium range, 300 Mana

A series of 5 wire-thick bolts launches forward in a small cluster, dealing physical damage.

--

Erick wondered, for a moment, at his own Particle Mage abilities.  

--

Particle Mage

Spend 100 mana to discover if a Particle spell is possible, greatly reducing the risk of Errors.

If you witness a Particle spell and you understand it, you may unlock that spell for free.

Major Mana Shaping applies to all Spells. Altering ongoing Auras is considerably easier.

Double Base Mana

Double Base Mana Regen

Your ability to create new Particle Spells is Greatly Increased.

10% Spell Cost Reduction.

Blood Mana

<empty>

<empty>

--

More specifically, the ‘witness a Particle Spell’ part. He had seen Kiri use her various Hermetic line of spells more than once, and he certainly knew how they worked, but he had yet to gain them himself. Whatever the reason for this anomaly, it was probably the same reason why he couldn’t recreate spells he had seen that were higher than tier 1. Even though Erick was sure that he could use his [Greater Lightwalk] to recreate a simple spell like [Ice Bolt], like he had done with various Spatial spells, [Ice Bolt] was not a tier 1 spell, and thus, since Erick was not a Copy Mage, he couldn’t create that sort of magic without actually going through the creation process.  

It was likely because of a reason similar to the restrictions placed on Copy Magic, that Erick could not gain Kiri’s Hermetic spells without going through the creation process, himself, since those spells were all above Basic Tier.  

Kiri brought Erick back to the present, as she said, “I cannot thank you enough for showing me the Hermetic line of spells. For everything you’ve done for me.” She bowed to Erick, saying, “Thank you. Thank you.”

She didn’t need to bow for him! Erick got out of his chair, stepping to her to put a hand on her shoulder and raise her tall, saying, “No need to bow, Kiri. You’ve helped me just as much as I’ve helped you.”

Kiri stood straight. “That’s… That’s just simply untrue.” An uncertain pain filled her eyes, as she said, “Please be careful in Ar’Kendrithyst.”

Erick was taken aback by the anguish in the young girl's eyes. In that moment, Kiri did not look like the competent young woman he had known for more than half a year. She was in pain, and it was only going to get worse before it got better.  

Erick pulled her into a hug, and Kiri gladly went, her head pressed against his left shoulder. He held the young girl in his arms, sad to see her cry, but happy, as well. She was troubled, but she would be okay.  

Erick tried to joke around, saying, “I’ll be fiiine! I’m Untouchable, right?”

Kiri broke the hug and wiped a tear away with the back of her taloned finger, saying “Of course. Of course. You’ll be fine.”

“Now why don’t you show me how you came up with your Hermetic spells, and then I’ll try for them, and then I can show you around Candlepoint?” Erick added, “And then, perhaps, some more sparring?”

Kiri spoke with a bit more cheer in her voice, as she repeated, “Of course!”

Jane smiled, saying, “While you all do that, I’ll be out of the house again, today.” She got up from her chair.  

“Where are you going?” Erick asked.

Jane stepped to Erick and wrapped him in a warm hug, much tighter than Kiri’s, saying, “Somewhere. Don’t wait for me for dinner.”

“Okay?” Erick held Jane tight for a long moment, saying, “Well be safe, wherever you’re going.”

Jane skipped out of the room, waving as she turned the corner into the hallway. Poi left too, saying to call him back before the two of them got back to dueling with [Familiars].

Kiri and Erick were alone in the library, with a pot of hot chocolate to share between them, and lots of magic to discuss. It didn’t take long before mentor learned from apprentice, and Erick added all three of Kiri’s spells to his own Status.