Eli

  I had thought that having people with me at lunch would have made me uncomfortable. It actually was the opposite. Having some people next to me made it feel like fewer people were paying attention to me. Like I was becoming lost in the crowd. While I didn’t talk much, the other two made up for it. They seemed to bicker and wander topics like they were dating. It kind of made me a bit lonely.

  “Oh damn,” Joanne said, “we need to get to our next class. What do you have Eli?”

  “Beginner Weaponry in the same field as earlier.” Came Sàga’s voice before I could pull her out to look.

  “I still cannot believe that your device talks. All mine does is text me.” Grumbled Robert.

  “Do you wish for me to connect and find out the reason for this?” Sàga asked. While I knew she was doing what I would have asked her to, I wish she would have asked me first.

  He thought about it for a second before nodding. Realizing that she couldn’t see what he was doing, he said, “Yeah.” While his hand raised to rub the back of his neck. While we waited for her to do whatever she was doing, we took care of our dishes and made our way out of the cafeteria.

  “According to your device, your magic is more specialized for long-distance and material creation. More of the device’s resources are therefore dedicated toward helping with mapping, projection distance and size, material selection, and calculation speed.”

  “What if I want my device to talk? It would be easier to communicate via speech than texting.”

  “As you grow in power, so will your device. As it does so, it will be able to increase its capabilities. You just need to discuss it with the device when the time comes.”

  “How long until that time?” I asked, curious about when I would have to make any sort of decision. Hopefully, I would have enough time to decide what I wanted Sàga to be able to do.

  “For you, at your current pace, less than a day until I have enough excess mana to make any changes. For either of you, a week or two. Depends on how rich the environment is in mana or if you start to actively expand your core.”

  That floored me. Why was my timeline so different than theirs? Fortunately for me, I wasn’t the one to ask the question. Joanne was. “Why is our growth rate so different from Eli’s?”

  “He started with very little mana to begin with. Honestly, I was surprised they let him have a device so soon. It probably took most of his core to even activate me.” Half my core, thank you, but she probably wasn’t wrong.

  “Wow, our devices took nearly a quarter to activate. What are you doing to increase it?” Joanne asked.

  “Sàga is having me store the mana in a spell circle until the circle is full, then, when my core is full, push it back into my core. Hurts a bit, but it seems to be working.”

  “He has already increased his core to double what it was when he started. Before you go being excited, he is only just reaching where you were when you started.”

  “How is that possible?” I said, a bit annoyed that they were still stronger than me, even without even doing any work.

  “Their cores are pulling in more mana from the environment than yours. That means that their cores will grow on their own at a decent pace. Though you should catch up by tomorrow.”

  “Doesn’t that mean that our devices should be able to change now?” Robert asked, sounding like he was becoming annoyed at Sàga.

  “I think I didn’t explain something well enough. Your devices grow with you. Everyone has different thresholds for growth. Eli has lots of small thresholds to start off. This is due to how his magic capabilities are. Naturally slow early growth that accelerates as he gets a grasp of his abilities. Your growth is far faster naturally, but it stays consistent.”

  “Wait, does that mean he may become a powerhouse given enough time?”

  “Yes, if he gets the time to experiment and come to understand his abilities. Without that, he will just have tons of mana to throw at issues. Mana can only do so much. Just like money, having a lot is nice, but it sometimes comes down to how you use it to accomplish your goal.”

  “You never did say what his ability was.” Joanne said, her eyes narrowed at me.

  “No, no I did not.” That was all Sàga said before going silent. We stood in the field off to the side. In the center stood Professor Olivia, Professor Bennett, and another female professor I had yet to meet.

  “Welcome to Beginner Weaponry class. I am Professor Hill. I specialize in long-distance weaponry. Professor Olivia specializes in pure magic combat, while Professor Bennett specializes in close weaponry. Today we will find you your weapon. Once you have it, you will split off to join whichever group we tell you to. Do not feel pressured to take a weapon that does not suit you. If you do not find a weapon, you will be with Professor Olivia.” The new professor said.

  A gesture of Professor Bennett’s hand caused a bunch of shelves to grind their way up out of the ground. On each shelf was a bunch of different weapons. They ranged from common swords and bows to things I had never seen. Some had multiple points sticking out of both sides, while others had gears and ropes. Each looked to be made of iron or wood.

  “Come up in a single file line. Pass your hands over each weapon. You will feel as if you have a connection with a weapon. Leave the weapon and keep moving, as you may have connections with other weapons, some stronger and weaker than others. When you have touched each weapon, find the weapon you had the strongest connection and retrieve it. If it is taken, let any of us know and we will get you one from storage.” Professor Bennett announced. His voice echoing off the buildings around us.

  He was making sure we all had heard him and was saying that he didn’t want any of us to rush to any decision. Following Joanne and Robert, we got into the back of the line. As the line moves forward, I slowly pull Robert away from Joanne.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  When she starts to move through the rows of shelving, I ask him, “Tell me, are you two dating because it sure as hell seems like you are?” Subtle, I am not.

  He looks at me in shock, “No.” Holding out his hand he starts to pass it over different weapons. I follow him, feeling for anything. A tug, excess heat, freezing cold. Anything that could indicate that I might have a connection. With a sigh, he continues, “She doesn’t see me that way. Would I like that, yes. But it is not likely to happen.”

  Suddenly he stops, his hand hovering over a rather large and oddly shaped axe. I gently push him, forcing him to continue but keeping quiet the whole time. By the end, none of the weapons grab my attention or feel different than the last.

  I walk over to Professor Olivia, figuring she would be my teacher since I didn’t have a weapon. She nodded as if expecting me. Looking back at the other two, I see that they are holding weapons. Robert is holding a huge hammer I had seen next to the axe while Joanne seems to have a pair of daggers. Each with a blade as long as my forearm. It seemed like our grouping up only lasted so long. Walking over to Professor Bennett, they joined the largest group.

  By the end, there was only four of us in the pure magic group. Professor Olivia didn’t look phased at the lack of students. “Most of the magic I will be showing you will also be shown to all your classmates as well, but we will be focusing on casting speed and accuracy. I will not force you to learn or work hard here. It is up to you to use this extra time to work on your magic. To do anything less will only hurt you.”

  For the next hour, she showed us three spells and let us practice them. Fireball was a simple spell construct. A fire element is followed by a circle with a line and another circle then a circle with an arc inside. Bisecting the end of the arc was a triangle. From what I could tell, the first new component circle meant sphere or orb. The other new component told the spell to fire in a direction.

  I had tested the spell without the last component, and the ball of fire just hovered there, not moving. I also tested the spell with all the elements I could. I could now toss a ball of water, air, and rock as well as fire. Though none did quite as much splash damage as the fireball.

  There was also a wind-cutting spell. The only difference was the middle component. It used one that had a large, stepped triangle inside it. It symbolized a knife or to cut. Honestly, I couldn’t say exactly what it meant, and the professor would not tell us. She said we needed to figure it out ourselves. That spell worked with every element, though earth was more of a blunt object hitting the target. Water and air worked best for this spell.

  The final spell she taught us was a spell to toss something in the direction of our target. It was a bit more complex to cast as we had to place it under our targeted object. The heavier the object, the more mana it consumed. Also, the construction of the spell was a bit different.

  It took a mix of two different air element components placed on opposite sides of the spell. Between the two, they formed a circle with a target like component where the two threads formed perpendicular lines. Then two threads then came apart and formed a double circle around whatever we were throwing.

  What Sàga had been talking about became apparent as we practiced these spells. I had taken the time at the start to push all the stored mana into my core and stretch it as much as I could. Even then I ran out of mana twice before anyone else did.

  By the end of class, I was just pushing power into the spells as my core filled and watching them explode as they failed to activate. At first, I had been trying to figure out what the minimum cost for each spell was, but it turns out that spells will explode like fireworks if you cast them with just the right amount of mana. Professor Olivia just shook her head when she saw this. Throughout the rest of the class, I got a feel for how much mana each spell would require.

  The last thing I did before the class ended was to rebuild the different elemental storage circle spells. Then I started toward my last class, Enchanting Basics. The building it was in was a bit rundown and just off a well-trodden path. Sitting at the desk was a professor. In front of him was a complex spell diagram.

  I couldn’t make heads or tails of the diagram. Circles and components seemed to intersect and overlap in odd places while there were complete voids in others. Out of the whole thing, I only recognized the elemental components. Finishing what he was writing, he looked up at me.

  He seemed shocked that I was even standing there. “Are you looking for something?” He asked.

  “Is this Enchanting Basics?”

  A puzzled look crossed his face as he mumbled, “Was I teaching that this semester? I thought Professor Sebastian was teaching it this semester. Oh wait, didn’t he refuse to teach those odd mages? Hmm.”

  I stood there, waiting for him to remember if he was teaching the class or not. He just kept going though, not really making a decision. Finally, I prompted him, “Are you willing to teach Enchanting Basics?”

  He looked up, as if he had forgotten I was even there. “Are you the only one taking the class?”

  Looking around, I realized I was indeed the only one that had shown up. Shrugging, I said nothing.

  “Sure, sure. I can show you a few things. You can practice those during class until you perfect them.” Flicking his hand down the spell construct that was hanging in the air, the diagram shrank into his device. It had been hidden under the construct’s messy structure. After a few seconds of tapping on the device, he pinched something and made a motion as if he was tossing it in the air.

  Between us, a simple spell diagram formed. One that I mostly recognized. It was a version of the light spell contained in another circle. There was one input thread. It formed the first circle before splitting into a new thread at each cardinal point. Each of those lines ran into a different elemental component. Light and dark were absent in the arrangement. All the lines were then combined to form the light element.

  “This is the light enchantment we use here at the academy. It can take in pretty much any mana and create light, thus enabling anyone to provide power to it.” The professor said.

  “Wouldn’t this require a mage to keep adding power to the enchantment to keep it active?”

  “Ah, but they don’t add power to the spell directly. The enchantment is made with an alloy of silver and other things to allow it to store quite a bit of mana. This enchantment can hold enough mana to keep active for a week of use.”

  This simple enchantment had more mana storage than I did. What the hell? “Will I learn how to make the material?”

  “Oh god no. Leave that to the Alchemists. Gives them something to do to make them feel useful. Your first task is to learn, practice and perfect etching into the simple enchanting stones on the shelves. Don’t worry about how many you use; they are all ground up and reformed every day. Just focus on your assignment.”

  With that, he dismissed me. Walking over to the side of the room, I found a set of drawers. In one were quite a few charcoal pens. Another held small etching pens. The etching pens looked like old ink quills; only the tips were sharp and slightly curved. Along the wall next to the drawers was shelf after shelf small gray stone tiles.

  Grabbing one of each, I found the nearest table and settled in to practice. Taking my time, I worked on making a shallow cut that followed the spell diagram the professor had shown. As soon as the final line was finished, a cough made me jump.

  Reaching down, the professor grabbed the tile. “It’s a poor attempt. Your lines are not straight enough where they should be, and your circles are not consistent. For the next few times, focus on creating circles and lines.” Then he tossed the tile across the room. I thought he was tossing it against a wall in a show of emotion, but it landed in a bin. I heard it shatter as it landed but figured that that was what the bin was for.

  Getting up, I retrieved a few more tiles while the professor returned to his desk. For the next two hours, I tried to create straight lines and nice curves that met his requirements. By the end of class, none of them had. Feeling dejected, I left the classroom and walked to find dinner.