Ar'Kendrithyst

The land north of Spur was a blackened and grey stretch of sand a little over two kilometers across, surrounded by short, two meter high walls. Standing atop Spur’s ten meter high walls, Erick had a good view of the whole place, as the sun shone down hot and brutal, and the northern wind rolled across the sands, and curled into his clothes.

Roughly evenly dividing the right hand ranching land from the left, was a meter high stone wall. Gently rolling hills dominated the cattle side, along with a central stone barnyard and other smaller structures built atop a few of the larger hills. An off-center depression in that lumpy space had been carved down, below the level of most of the rest of the space. From Erick’s perspective, that central depression was likely both the drainage field and water source for future cattle; they wouldn’t be drinking from the Lake, not with that wall in the way.

To the left of the short, central wall, was a surrounding edge of black land that encircled a grey and orange clay bed that would eventually become the Lake. The depression was shaped like a squarish blob, with parts of it much deeper than the rest, maybe as much as five meters, while none of the future Lake was anywhere near the main walls of Spur, or the smaller walls of the exterior. If this entire new addition to Spur’s territory was three square kilometers, about the same size as the entire Human District, with the Gardens, then the Lake had to be just under a single square kilometer.

Erick smiled, as he stared out across the land, imagining cows and swimming and fishing. He said, “I like that the cows get their own watering hole.”

Silverite, standing next to Erick, said, “Cows shit an awful lot, Erick. We weren’t about to have that runoff go directly into the main reservoir.”

Al, standing on Erick’s other side, laughed, and said, “Aye! Best head off that problem before it happens.”

Erick was glad to see Al again. He hadn’t seen or spoken to his friend since the morning after Savral’s party. It had been a nice night, but Savral had grown unusually tired as the sun came up, and Al had to take care of him. Al had also promised to show up some time later for beers, but that just never happened, for some unknown reason. He looked happy right now, though.

Al continued, “The Ranch and the Lake are topographically perfect; runoff will go where it has to go, so there’s no need to worry about that. I expect, that after we get the whole thing set up and the plants are stable and the basins are soaked, that a rain a day will be able to keep the place properly under water.”

Apogee, the planar brownscale and soon-to-be Rancher, said, “It’s going to be beautiful. I’ve got clover planted everywhere, and Silverite planted something for the Lake—”

Silverite said, “Veil lilies. Great for water quality.”

“Yes! Those!” Apogee said, “So start her up, Erick!”

“Not so fast!” Al turned to Erick, and said, “A single rain right now. Ten minutes. Just enough to prime the soil and dampen the clay so that it begins to stick together and create a barrier. Then more, later. As soon as the land stabilizes, then you can fill the Lake over the course of a week.”

Apogee said, “Use the silver rain to grow the field, first.” He looked up at Al, saying, “That’ll keep the ground in place.” He added, “And then break open the sky, Erick!”

“If you don’t give the clay a chance to soak up the water, you’re just gonna wash it all down into the desert sands below. That bedrock is not near the surface, Apogee.” Al said, “The clay needs a chance to prime.”

Erick cut a building argument short by raising white clouds from the ground, extending his [Exalted Storm Aura] forward, into the wind, making sure no clouds appeared over the city behind him. As Apogee and Al went silent, white mist roiled out into the northern sky. Crackles of white light flashed behind a now-cloudy air, as platinum rain began to fall upon dark sands, and the tiny seeds hidden therein, all across the Lake and the Ranch. In moments, grey sands turned black, water soaking into the land.

Suddenly, green swept up hills and down into dips in the dirt, covering acres and then hectacres and more, filling out Spur’s new addition with twisting, tiny clover, like a green, shag carpet. The green mostly stopped at the edge of the lake, but here and there, tiny blooms of green appeared where there would eventually be water.

Erick cut the platinum rain. Clouds turned to back to mist, to blow away on the wind. He said, “You could do with some tree cover, too, for the cows and such. Chickens like to roost in trees, right?”

Silverite smiled upon the green land, and said, “I heard you want to make a tree [Familiar], so if you want to plant one out there, go ahead.”

“Well— I didn’t mean… I kinda wanted it by the house.” Erick added, “But there should be some other trees out there too, ya know? Cows like to relax in the shade, don’t they?”

Apogee said, “Enough prattling. Bring on the rain!”

“Who’s the Stone Mage here? Who’s the Sewermaster?” Al asked, rhetorically. “Listen to what I’m saying, Apogee.”

“Bah!” Apogee said, “I waited a whole week to get this place up and running! I got cows to import.”

“We’re going to do it right,” said Silverite. “We’re going with Al’s plans.”

Apogee grumbled.

Al said, “The clover needs to be turned over, anyway, and you need to plant real grasses on top of that. And why not Farmer’s Grass? It’s better than clover for soil preparation.”

“I like clover! Cows love clover, too.” He turned to Erick, saying, “So soak ‘er down!”

“The lake needs to be filled over a period of a week, with multiple growing cycles and much more than just clover. Some trees would do wonders for erosion. Apple, ribbon, arnnian, whatever kind you choose.” Al said, “This is brand new land, Apogee. You put cows on there now, and they’ll fall through the sand and break their legs while they’re at it.”

“I will never believe that, Al. You don’t need to do it that way, I’m sure.”

Al laughed, loud.

Silverite said, “We’ll go with Al’s plans, for now.”

Apogee grumbled, his tail tapping the walkway, as he said, “Fine,” before blipping away in a bronze flash.

Al said, “A good [Call Lightning] would be fine, right now, Erick.”

Erick smiled. Ophiel blipped off of Erick’s shoulder, and took his spot flying in the center, between the Lake and the Ranch. Erick shaped a [Call Lightning] from Ophiel’s position. Dark clouds spilled out of the sky, casting shadows across the land. Thunder rumbled above. Erick cast again, and the dark clouds began to rain, heavily.

Al asked, “Was that one, or two?”

“Two.” Erick said, “Two casts makes the rain start immediately.”

Al grumbled.

Erick teased, “What? Apogee seemed at least a little right.”

“He was not,” Al said, with an air of finality. He sighed. He said, “It’s fine. I’ll fix it up tomorrow.”

Silverite stared outward, into the storm, smiling wide as stray drops of rain blew on the breeze and touched all three of them. She pointed to the Lake, almost squealing as she said, “It’s filling!”

It was filling. The deepest parts of the Lake, in the center and further north, began to layer over with a small sheen of water. Erick smiled.

Al grinned, as he said, “Looks like the topography is correct, too. Everything is draining as it should on the Ranch.”

Erick looked to the Ranch. The land was draining onto the cattle pond. It was already showing at least a foot deep of water, but no more. Erick expected it to continue to fill up, but it wouldn’t.

Al must have seen Erick’s disbelief, because he said, “When the basins are settled, I’ll remove the underground pipe from the cattle pond to the Lake.”

“This is great.” Silverite smiled, as she said, “I’m really happy for this.” She added, “Erick, if you want to make a tree [Familiar], the lake is a great spot. Don’t make it inside the city. Trees always turn into domineering beings, and I won’t have something like that living in my city, expecting people to respect its ‘sovereignty’ or ‘space’. But something like that living near the Lake? I can allow that, and even support such a choice.”

“But… It’ll see that the cows are being used for food?” Erick said, “It’s a strange concern, but exposing a nascent life to something like that seems like a bad idea.” Erick called Ophiel back to him, and set his winged, slightly damp [Familiar] on his shoulders, adding, “The Compendium of Summons says that exposing a budding life to death is a bad idea.”

Silverite smiled, as she said, “Direct exposure is bad, but I disagree that total censoring is the proper way to raise a tree. Placed by the Lake, your tree would merely see the same cycle of life it would see in any natural part of the world. It’ll see cattle, and then those cattle vanish and never return. It’ll probably see people fishing at the Lake, and grilling those fish. It will see murder and death, and mimics just beyond the wall that want it dead. It’ll see a lot about a lot, while growing up in a communal piece of land.” She added, “It would grow up knowing its place in the world, instead of as a master of its domain, which is what I think you would make if you put a tree by your house and gave it the task of raining on time.”

“… But what if I make him with [Gate]?”

Silverite lost her mirth. She thought. She said, “People would try to control this living being. Do not do this to your [Familiar].”

Erick felt a profound exhaustion. “Fine.”

“In other news,” Silverite said, “I heard that the Converter Angel entry on Candlepoint’s Monster Board was taken down. Which is just all sorts of weird.”

Erick flubbed a, “Huh? Wha? What does that—” He asked, “Does that mean what I think it means?”

“We’re not sure what it means. The Angel might have just gone inactive.” Silverite said, “What has been confirmed, is that Candlepoint’s Monster Board tracks the existence of every single active monster and calamity on Veird. The most egregious entries have all proven existent. Ballooning Spiders were spotted leaving Quintlan, just yesterday.” Her silver skin rippled under her sundress, as she said, “Those things are awful.”

Al’s voice turned serious. “Where will they land first, this time?”

“Northern Nergal, near Eidolon, according to the Weather Witches.” Silverite said.

“What are Ballooning Spiders?” Erick asked.

Al said, “Ballooning Spiders are an Underworld species, but when there’s enough of them, they break the surface and spin webs lighter than air, to ride the high winds of the upper atmosphere, around the planet. They drop when they see settlements and otherwise, consuming everything organic and laying invisible eggs, before they continue on the winds, or dig back down to the Underworld.”

Silverite said, “The bigger ones are the size of a Shadow Spider, but all of them are incredibly venomous. It’s the tiny, slime-sized ones that will get you.” She added, “The larger ones mentally control the smaller ones, almost like a group mind.”

“… But they are monsters, right? With rads?” Erick asked. “Does Eidolon need help?”

"They're monsters, but..." Silverite shook her head, then said, “Even if they do need help… The wind tunnels and mana streams of the upper atmosphere go around the entire world in a few days.” She added, “We could have Ballooning Spiders dropping on our heads at any time between tomorrow and an entire month from now.”

“Oh.” Erick said, “That’s bad.”

Al said, “It can be, but if you see them coming they’re not too deadly.” He asked, “Are we buttoning up Spur, yet?”

“Tomorrow, we’ll begin.” Silverite said, “I’m having people put up announcements right now.” She added, “Might be calling on you for more [Withering]s, when the time comes, Erick.”

“Of course,” Erick said.

The clouds of [Call Lightning] up above began to break against the northern winds. The rain stopped. Sunlight shimmered across green fields and grey water basins.

Silverite sighed, and smiled small, as she looked out across the land. “Work is never done! Not for me, not for you, not for anyone. Time to get back to it.” She nodded toward Erick and Al, then blipped away in a crash of silver light.

Erick asked, “Hey, Al? Want to get a beer?”

Al smiled down at Erick, but said, “Sorry. Not if I got a day of buttoning up the city tomorrow. I still got work left over from today, too. Some rowdy kids demolished a section of the sewers this morning, but I wanted to be here for this.” He gestured toward the Ranch and the Lake, saying, “I’m going to do a once over, then get back to fixing the problems down below. Some other day?”

“Sure.” Erick said, “Whenever.” He added, “So I’m just supposed to rain… how? To fill the lake?”

Al said, “After an hour, after it’s soaked a bit, a single rain every hour thereafter should be okay. I gotta check it, now though. Fix small problems before they become big problems. See ya.” Al blipped away in a clear light.

Erick stared at the spot where Al blipped away. What was all that about? Erick turned toward the Ranch, and saw Al standing by the cattle pond, his feet sunk into the sand and mud. Water flowed in minor creeks all across the Ranch toward the pond, but vanished into a hole in the center. Al stepped out of the mud, and walked across seemingly solid land, through green fields of clover. He didn’t fall into the dirt again, so he must have been using some sort of magic.

Erick watched Al for a second longer, then sighed out into the damp air, and said, “Whatever.” He turned to Poi, standing a meter away. “So Ballooning Spiders?”

“A problem every ten years, or so, though the last one was only eight years ago.” Poi said, “What they didn’t mention, because it doesn’t really affect us here, is that the spiders are all levels 10 through 40, meaning that in other parts of the worlds with lower level monsters, the spiders either get killed, and the other monsters level up, causing a monster rage, or the spiders win, and they dig back down to the Underworld to nest and wait for the next spawning.”

“So… Are Ballooning Spiders a large concern around here, or not? I'm getting mixed messages.”

“The mimics usually eat any that fall in the Forest, but they can be a problem for some people in the cities. They're worse than shadowolves, for sure, but not much worse, if you're prepared.”

Erick thought that over, then asked, “Care for a blip back to base?”

Poi took Erick’s hand.

They departed Spur’s wall in a blip of white.

By the time he appeared in the foyer of the house, Erick realized he forgot to ask Silverite about the war against Candlepoint.

And then he realized, and said, “Poi! Why hasn’t Killzone come and gotten his enchanted orb yet?” He added, “It might be plus 100 to all Stats!”

“I cannot say—”

Erick gave him a look.

Poi continued, “—Because I have told him, and he has not responded. I have also expressed your offer to Silverite, as well.”

“… To the Quartermaster, then!”

Poi, long-suffering, and to fend off a very possible upcoming problem, asked “Have you tried using it as a light slime, yet? That’s the idea, right? Give it to a gelatinous person?”

“… To the tower, then!”

- - - -

Erick flopped out of his clothes and to the floor of his mage tower. He was, once again, a bumbling ball of translucent goo with a glowing white core. If he was being honest with himself, it felt kinda freeing to be bumbling around, naked. Thankfully, he was alone, or he might have felt self conscious. … Well... Poi was there, but he didn’t count.

And just like that, and for about the hundredth time, he found himself wondering how Jane could possibly like being a—

...

Was his daughter an exhibiti—

NOPE. Not thinking about that. Nope. No.

Moving right along.

With an easy application of his Handy Aura, Erick pulled out a stone box from under the back of the stone bench, disturbing settled diamond dust into the air.

He paused, as he watched light cascade through glittering showers of broken carbon, flickering and brilliant in the afternoon light. And then he got a grip of himself, and the box. ‘Seeing’ through the eyes of a light slime was a trippy, fun experience. Distracting, too.

Ah. Wait. That was what Jane liked about [Polymorph]. Duh. She wanted to see the world through a whole bunch of different eyes, and in the case of [Polymorph], that was easily accomplished.

Erick pulled the lid off of the stone box, revealing a silver orb, a little larger than a softball, or possibly a grapefruit. It was almost large enough to use as a football, but not quite. It was actually about the size of Erick’s own glowing white orb in the center of his slimy body. He Handy Aura’d the ball out of the box, and held it up to the light. It was pretty perfectly spherical. He had done a good job carving away both the clear diamond core, to be perfectly spherical, as well as the outside, to be perfectly smooth.

He plopped the orb against his gooey body.

In a moment that he could have likened to a hundred uncomfortable situations, and because he did not want to eat it, Erick pressed the orb against himself, and gently —gently!— pushed it inward.

Gods above! Pressing the orb into his slime body was the most uncomfortable thing he had ever done, and that included some wild parties of his youth that he looked back on fondly, but would never want to repeat. He was simultaneously too full and—

The world swam left and right. Erick briefly looked at his Status, and saw that the orb was actually Plus 108 to All Stats, but that elated moment was swept away by a deep, blossoming feeling, that came from his core and radiated everywhere but only inside of him, as the stone cracked and purple light soaked into his body, drowning his sight with violet highs and amethyst depths.

He felt another painful pressure within, and it was too much. He involuntarily spat out the cracked and leaking orb.

The orb exploded. Diamond shards ripped through a meter of air before the shards were caught by the [Prismatic Ward]. Erick rolled away from the falling shrapnel, right into Poi and the rod of [Treat Wounds]. Suddenly, a pale white glow suffused his body, driving out the purple bouncing around inside his thin skin, restoring mass he didn’t know he had lost.

After a moment of blobbing there, seeing what had become of the purple orb, and wondering what had almost become of himself, Erick flopped over into his clothes, and carefully [Polymorph]ed into his original body. He adjusted his garments so that his legs went into the proper holes, and his shirt didn’t get turned around, and then he looked down at the mess in front of him.

“So. That was a failure.” Erick said, “Probably good thing I tested it out.”

Poi said, “Probably.”

Erick walked over to the clear shards of diamond that used to be worth 108 All-Stats, and poked them with his Handy Aura. They clinked over themselves, exactly as a broken pile of diamonds were expected to clink over themselves. Erick didn’t know what he was expecting, there. Still using his [Handy Aura], Erick touched the pile, and cast [Mend].

The orb came back together, but different. Erick picked it up. The orb was still broken, but it was mostly whole. Cracks had spider webbed across the whole silver surface, revealing the dull, still-shattered interior. This was a well known enchantment failure, that he had seen many times before. He didn’t even have to consult his enchanting books. This broken gem had been so disrupted by magical forces that [Mend] couldn’t even repair it back to the way it should be, because the original item was no longer a common item.

Mend X, instant, touch, 10 mana.

Touch a complicated large object, or a small common magical item, and restore it to its prime.

Erick tried [Mending Aura], instead, keeping the aura close to his body.

Mending Aura, long range, 572 MP per second

Restore a very large, complicated location to its prime. Time since the structure was destroyed may alter final results. Automatically repair all objects in the area of effect.

Minor ability to affect magical objects.

Slowly, over the course of almost half a minute and almost all of his remaining mana, the orb healed. Tiny cracks in the surface slipped shut from their edges inward, leaving Erick once again with the silver sphere he had started with. But was it enchanted? Probably not.

Erick [Stoneshape]d a thumbprint-sized brush of silver coating off of the orb, revealing the inner, clear diamond. No purple manalight at all. The magic therein had been destroyed.

Erick said, “Probably best that it never got to Killzone or Silverite.” He asked, “Did they know something like that would happen?”

Poi offered, “I can ask?”

“Let’s just… never speak of this again. That was… very uncomfortable.” He added, “I’ll solve this problem, then give them the completed items.”

Poi nodded; a slight grin on his lips.

Erick checked his Status and [Polymorph], just to make sure nothing had happened, like he gained a weird Familiar Form, or such, and sure enough, his Status and his spell were unchanged.

- - - -

Erick sent Ophiel out to rain over the Lake and Ranch every hour, while he took up a comfortable position in his library and continued to read about summons and tiers and what was okay, and what was not okay.

The multiple authors of the Compendium had long ago figured out almost every nuance there was to [Conjure Force Elemental]. Sirocco’s bit about ‘the [Familiar] in the Script is a lock on accidentally creating sentience’, seemed to have come directly from this book; in fact, it was the preface for one of the beginning chapters.

That sentence was proven to be a white lie in the very next paragraph, though. Apparently, even tier 2 [Familiar]s would achieve sentience if given enough time. The book gauged ‘enough time’ as 250 years, which was a bit out of Erick’s care. If Erick ever lived that long, which was a truly crazy thought, then Ophiel would become real.

… It was an interesting thought.

Ophiel was a good boy, but would, theoretically, living for 250 years alongside whatever awful things Erick got up to, be conducive toward remaining a good boy? Who would Erick be in 250 years?

… At that point in time, thinking of Ophiel as a ‘good boy’ would likely be too reductive of a thought to ever truly grasp the being that Ophiel could eventually become.

Eh. Thinking of the future was good and all, but not if it meant failing and possibly dying today.

As Erick read, he got the distinct impression that the authors had measured and timed and quantified [Conjure Force Elemental], and a great deal of the text was given over toward understanding what made a summon a ‘real being’ or not, but they didn’t speak too much about the underlying magics.

Which was probably just as well. No one really knew why gravity worked, or how atoms functioned the way they did, or what dark matter was. Reality was how reality was. Sure, you could overlay names and theories over natural functions, and they might perfectly describe the systems they were meant to describe, but ‘Why?’ was an inherently unanswerable question. Might as well ask Rozeta to tell you how the Script worked.

But there were guidelines to understanding the timeline by which a tier 2 summon became real:

Anything summoned at tier 2 to tier 7, made without [Telepathy] and [Scry], the two main parts of creating a [Familiar], would take anywhere from hundreds of years to become real, to several moments, and would almost always create a rampaging monster.

Anything made at tier 2, made with [Telepathy] and [Scry], and raised as a [Familiar], would take about 150 to 300 years to become a real being, depending on the mana cost of the spell, and if you could summon more than one, and if they were a group mind, and if—

There were a lot of variables.

Erick got out a piece of paper and checked some boxes to complete the formula. He plugged in some easy math, and came out with…

“You have 170 years to becoming a real entity, Ophiel,” Erick said, unsure of the math.

Ophiel, sitting on a perch beside Erick’s chair, staring over his shoulder to ‘read’, sat up straight upon hearing his name. He trilled in violins and unsure guitars.

“mm-hmm.” Erick said, “I hope you learn how to be a good person in this beginning life.”

Ophiel squawked a tiny note of violins that seemed to say, ‘Of course I’m good!’

Erick smiled, “I know you are.” He returned to his book with a sigh, saying, “Reading about summons is so much nicer than thinking about war.”

Any [Familiar] made at tier 3 would take the number from tier 2, and reduce that number by another varied set of variables. The end result was a number anywhere from one-tenth the original time frame, to one-half. Calculating Ophiel at a tier 3, put him at 17 years to becoming real.

At tier 4, the tier 2 number was further reduced anywhere from a hundredth to a tenth. Erick plugged in his theoretical tree [Familiar] as a tier 4, using the appropriate formula and an expected rough cost of 3000 mana, and got a three month pre-life time frame.

Erick knew he would not be going that route for his tree [Familiar], but it was good to know how it would have turned out. Plugging theoretical numbers into the tier 2 formula, put a tree [Familiar] at 25 years, because trees were apparently one of a dozen special cases. The other special cases included humanoid summons of all possible kinds, and information gathering summons, like Erick’s theoretical [Identify]-based bookish [Familiar].

At tier 5, you were basically just creating a being with a soul, and as a created being, it was automatically either Matriculated into the Script, to quash any possible ideas of Summoners summoning slaves, or given over to the side of the Script used for non-sapients, whereupon it would likely try to kill you anyway. The book didn’t go into much detail beyond that—

Kiri entered the room. “Dinner time.”

Erick looked up. “Already?” He looked outside. The sky was slightly red with the beginnings of sunset. “I guess it is.”

Poi made a very nice meal of roasted red fish, freshly caught and delivered to Spur’s markets that morning, along with vegetables fresh from Erick’s own garden, and rice grown in the Garden, by Kip, the bluemetal wrought dragonkin. It was pretty good. Erick had seconds, along with everyone else.

After dinner, Erick blipped back onto the wall overlooking the Lake and the Ranch. The lake was maybe a tenth full, or less. Erick had rained once every hour, or so, but only the smallest parts of the deepest reaches had any standing water in them at all. Long stretches of bare black sand had been carved around the green hills of the Ranch, though; the result of too much water and not enough of developed plants that could hold onto the soil properly. So Erick lifted silver clouds to the sky, and rained a bit of platinum. Green bloomed across the Ranch and the Lake, filling in holes carved by normal water, and spilling platinum swirls into the deeper parts of the Lake.

He cut the growing rain after a few moments; just enough to stabilize the problems he saw. Then he brought on the normal rain with a quick double cast of [Call Lightning], bringing normal rain down into the development.

The air blipped bronze two meters away, on the wall beside Erick, revealing Apogee.

“It’s looking good, Apogee,” Erick said.

Apogee smiled wide toward the Ranch, revealing sharp teeth. “Aye. Yes it is.” He added, “Al was right about one thing: that land looks nice, but it’s just a shapely facade. You take a step in there and you’ll sink down to your ankle.”

“Get some long root grasses, yet?”

“I do. A trip to Eidolon and Greenville got me just what I needed. Fifty kilos of Soil Stabilizer and Cow Step grasses, along with a whole bunch of Bee Love wildflower seeds for Missoli’s bees.” Apogee said, “Soon as the land is stabilized, I’ve got an order of Aphid Reapers and so, so many different types of landworms to pick up. That should keep out the invasive glowbugs and brownworms from the Crystal Forest and keep the land healthy, but if I need to, I can get some hoppercatchers.”

Erick grinned, as he looked out at the green land. “Seems like you have a good plan.”

“I do!” Apogee said, “It wasn’t my idea to retire so early, but Fork is too ambitious for me to stand in his way any longer, and now was a good time.” He looked at Erick, saying, “I hope you do right by him.”

“I hope so, too.” Erick said, “I heard you know about [Gate].”

Apogee hummed, his attention fully focused on the green land.

Erick waited.

As the rain fizzled out, the sunset caught in Apogee’s bronze eyes, turning his sight all aglow. He said, “I have the Quest for [Gate], aye. I could even complete it if I wanted.” He turned to Erick, and his eyes still faintly glowed sunset red and gold. “But I ain’t gonna be a part of any ‘connecting nations’ nonsense. I tried, but this world is a shitshow that don’t deserve what I could give it.” He looked away, and the fire died in his eyes. “Shades and angels and demons and dragons! Fucking dragons. I could take or leave the gods, but they smack of oversight, and I don’t like it.” He added, “Monsters are nice to fight and kill, though. No moral quandary, there. Some of them even taste good!” He frowned. “No moral quandary, because they’re mindless killers made that way by Mele...” He sighed. “Nope. Not gonna do that.” He went silent.

After a moment, Erick asked, “Want to talk more about dragons? I don’t know much about them.”

“You met one, didn’t you? Eh! You probably met ten, and you didn’t know it.” He said, “But let me tell you this: Every single one of them was silently sizing you up, wondering the pros and cons of eating you.”

“Of that, I have no doubt.”

Apogee looked at Erick for a long moment, then faced the green land again. “At least they’re not able to coordinate with each other, here.” Apogee said, “They…” He paused. He said, “It’s a good thing they fight each other on sight. That’s a welcome change. Makes ‘em much easier to navigate. All you have to do is know where one problem is, and keep track of that one, then if another one starts bothering you, you guide them together, and bam! Back down to one problem.”

The sky cleared of clouds. Moisture blew on the northern wind toward Erick, Apogee, Poi, and the trios of guards atop the wall, twenty meters to the left and the right of Erick’s position.

Erick offered, “Want some cinnamon trees for your Ranch?”

Apogee breathed deep. He exhaled, then said, “Yes.” He rapidly added, “I’ll pick up clippings later.”

He blipped away in a bronze flash.

Erick and Poi departed the wall a moment later, vanishing in a white blip.

- - - -

The next morning, platinum rains came down on time, all across the Gardens around the Human District. Erick toiled in his own garden, plucking weeds and organizing unruly vines back into position, using his hundreds of Handy Aura hands, while Ophiel sang into the gentle storm.

He finished plucking and trimming well before the allotted times for the rains to stop, so he gathered up his haul and brought the good vegetables inside to the cold room, while he tossed the refuse into the compost pile behind the house. He went back to the library, and continued to read. When the Gardens were done for the day, at noon, Erick was ready to transition his platinum rain over to the Lake and the Ranch.

Apogee and twenty other mages, including Al, had worked hard all throughout the morning, all across the new development, turning over the land, ripping up clover and burying it under sand to promote the development of dirt. They had worked hard to finish just before noon; Erick had kept an eye on the place from the comfort of his library, using Ophiel.

The land looked considerably different than the day before. Where once was green land, and clear lake water, now there was dark soil. It was black, but Erick knew it was not a healthy black. It was burned glass and a healthy amount of clay; not good soil right now, but it’d get better, eventually.

So after a small mental poke at Apogee to see if he was ready for the next part, and Apogee said he was, Erick had Ophiel hover out into the middle, and bring the rain. Platinum drops fell across the dark land, soaking into the soil, and into the seeds scattered everywhere. Grasses and wildflowers and wide patches of thick leaved clover, denser than what Apogee had planted before, sprouted all at once, everywhere, like brushstrokes of green and colorful life slapped against a dark canvas.

Erick let the platinum rain linger for a little bit more, then he cut it, and replaced silver clouds with dark clouds. Clear rain fell, but not too much.

And that was enough, for now. Apogee signed off on his connection, as he went out onto the Ranch, to the building set up in the center. He stood for a long moment, standing there atop grasses and clover, not sinking into the ground, staring out at the green land, as the northern winds toyed with tall wildflowers and kicked up tiny sprays of lakewater. And then he turned, and went inside.

Erick returned to himself, in his library, and continued to read.

After a while, he could read no more. It was time for something else. A day had passed, so it was time to try again for [Intent Understanding].

- - - -

Erick’s own [Prismatic Ward] would have maybe interfered with what he was about to do, so he recast the dense air around the house, and left the third floor classroom empty. He almost decided to just leave it like that forever more, but he’d make that full decision later. Once that was done, Erick stood on one side, and had Kiri cast ten [Absorption Ward]s in the air on the other. They were simple green orbs; like sea glass, but made of air and intent. Her arrangement reminded Erick of balloons at a carnival.

Kiri stuck around to the side, while Erick worked.

He held out his hand and channeled mana through [Force Bolt], while activating [Detect Intent Aura]. The sound of the spell was one of clarity and purpose; a poke of harm against a target.

Erick watched the glow around his hand, and the pinpoint of white light in his palm, as he varied the spell how he had varied Mana Altering, searching out for the intent and none of the other stuff, his [Detect Intent Aura] helping to ensure he was on the right track. With the effort of a thousand mana spent just poking around with the spell, he found what he was searching for.

The stripped down dot in his hand was no longer white with the glow of damaging Force, but clear, almost like a spot of thick air, but only visible with [Detect Intent Aura].

The goal was not to poke damage at the target, after all, but to poke a spell with his own spell. That was all, right now. Just to poke the targeted spell.

Channeling [Force Wave] through his hand produced an expanding pulse of white light, and a much larger invisible intent wave to match. [Force Wave] certainly seemed like the spell with the most captured intent; that made sense, it was used in practically all expansive, altering or searching magics.

Erick played around with [Force Wave] until he found the ‘gong’-like setting that he used to make [Prime Area]. [Force Wave], when used in this way, was not meant to damage. It was meant to vibrate through the whole of the targeted spell, and return with an understanding unique to whatever spell it was used upon.

Channeling magic through [Detect Magic], while he used [Detect Intent Aura], was like looking down a hallway of mirrors. Intent layered upon intent, fractured and whole at the same time. An infinity of pathways taken and also not taken.

He had been wrong about the role of [Force Wave] in [Intent Understanding], or maybe only wrong in the context of scale. [Detect Magic] held a million times the power of understanding of intent that [Force Wave] was ever capable of achieving. [Force Wave] was just the vector by which [Detect Magic] was delivered across the targeted spell.

Erick smiled; his own understanding solidified. He cast.

A pinprick of nothing came out of his pointed finger, to strike one of Kiri’s [Ward]s.

Nothing visible happened, except for the appearance of a blue box.

Intent Understanding, instant, long range, 8 MP

Fire a packet of intent at a target spell that becomes as though cast from the other spell’s caster.

“Ha ha!” Erick said, “Success! Eight mana.”

Kiri said, “My gods. This is such a cheating spell. I never imagined that you could cheat in the Script, but this certainly looks that way.”

Erick smiled. “You can try it yourself, you know. But don’t ever show it to anyone else. This was a gift from Opal.”

Kiri just shook her head a little, seeming to disbelieve the world and everything in it, as she continued to watch Erick work.

Erick held up his hand and channeled mana through [Intent Understanding]. A dot of nothing appeared above his palm, like a twinge of thick air. Under the glare of Meditation, the dot became a swirl of gasoline color. With [Detect Intent Aura] active, the dot was a vibrant collection of light. It was, simply, the idea of understanding and becoming whatever it touched.

… So Erick tested out that theory, by bringing his hand over to one of Kiri’s [Ward]s. As soon as the channeled mana display touched the green [Ward], the channeled mana turned green; the exact same color as Kiri’s [Ward].

“Huh.” Erick said. “It can’t be that simple, can it? Taking the exact color of the opposing magic, and pretending to issue the ‘cancel’ order, just like that?” He turned to Kiri. “Where do mana colors come from, anyway?”

Kiri said, “From your soul, I think.” She added, “No one really knows. And besides, you don’t want to make a one-off spell against green, or something, do you?”

“… You’re right. I don’t.” But it was something to think of, in the future.

Channeling [Dispel] above his hand, Erick got a howling void; a spot of darkness, with an edge of shadows that clung to his skin. [Dispel] was the absence of intent— Nope. That wasn’t it. Now that Erick was looking closer, [Dispel] seemed like intent focused on destruction of other intent. It was countless tiny teeth, eating away at whatever it could touch. As an experiment, Erick held up his hand with [Dispel] hovering in the center, to one of Kiri’s [Ward]s. The shadow teeth of [Dispel] tore at the green [Ward], but it could only seem to ripple the green orb’s surface.

Erick put away [Dispel] for a moment, and thought.

He said, “I think I need to create and cancel some spells, like Opal suggested.”

Kiri said, “I’m going to start dinner.”

“Sure. I’ll call you back if I decide to continue before then.”

While Kiri walked away, Erick began creating [Absorption Ward]s in the air, like white soap bubbles. And then he popped them with a gentle, mental command. He made and popped bubbles until it was time for dinner. And then he made and popped more, trying to find the connection between himself and his magic that allowed him to cancel his own spells.

After a few hundred pops, or maybe a thousand, Erick had gone from [Detect Intent Aura]ing the pop, to [Hunter’s Instinct]ing the pop, to asking Kiri to watch, and see if she could figure it out, to asking Teressa, if her Mana Sense could see.

Nothing seemed to work.

There was no obvious connection between him and the orbs he made. Nothing exited his body. Nothing entered the orbs. The [Ward]s he made just popped when he wanted them to.

Maybe he was coming at this from the wrong direction.

Erick asked, “When can people not cancel their own spells?”

Teressa said, “When people get brained they have a hard time casting correctly. I don’t know about canceling, though.”

Kiri said, “When they’re mind controlled, and someone else’s mind overlays their own.”

Poi just said, “The version I was able to make from Opal’s instruction was 10,000 mana. So all I know is that I got it wrong.” He added, “I got practically the exact same lesson as you did, too.”

Erick returned to the third floor classroom, and continued to make and disperse tiny [Ward]s.

When a [Ward] was cast, it came into existence all at once. When it was destroyed, as though from damage or canceling, it popped all at once. And what was more, was that casting an [Absorption Ward] did not seem to throw intent into the air and have it settle down into a protected space, but that was exactly what happened when casting a lightward.

So Erick experimented with lightwards for a change. He had made quite a few of those in his time, so it made sense that he found his first workable clue in working with light. Lightwards were created quickly, but they started in a spot and then resolved across their whole, coming into existence in one flowing motion. But breaking apart, they just went ‘pop’, all at once, like everything else.

Erick wondered if it was just a ‘spooky action at a distance’ kind of event. When these spells were created, did a ‘key’ get split into two, where one half was imbued into the spell and the other stayed with the caster? Was the intent with [Ward Destruction] to find and copy that ‘key’?

… Opal said that the purpose of [Ward Destruction] was to find the key to the spell, so Erick was obviously on the right track.

… Maybe the destruction of [Absorption Ward]s happened at the speed of light? Perhaps?

… But how would he test that theory? He’d have to get timers and other people to test the timers, because if casting magic happened at the speed of light, then certainly his connection with Ophiel would be subjected to the same issue.

Erick brought up his thoughts with Kiri.

Kiri said, “I don’t think there’s a speed-process involved at all. It has to be an internal key, right? But, like… I don’t really know how spells are ‘cancel’ed, but it has to be some intrinsic property to both the spell and the caster, that only the caster can access, and only when they’re of sound mind. You can’t mind control someone to cancel their own spell, which is kinda weird, when I think about it.”

Erick thought back to Poi’s 10,000 mana cost [Ward Destruction]. Poi probably approached the spell from a sense of control, but that didn’t work. Hence the high mana cost.

Maybe… All Erick had to do was trust in the magic? He had done that before, and it had never failed him. Yeah. He’d do that. That was a fine idea. Save the speed-of-magic experiments for later.

He smiled.

He pointed at a glowing, floating green orb, and cast.

[Intent Understanding]. [Dispel].

A dot of invisible shadow flickered from Erick’s hand to impact the orb.

The orb broke, like a popped bubble, as two blue boxes appeared.

Spell Crack, instant, long range, 9 MP

Trick a normal, minor spell into canceling. Has no effect on ongoing spells larger than 50 mana.

Class Ability Quest Complete!

Create a tier three spell with a mana cost more than 75% below base calculated cost.

Reward: 10% Spell Cost Reduction.

“Okay!” Kiri said, enthusiastically accepting of the impossible.

Erick smiled, and then he went back to the magic.

Channeling mana through [Spell Crack] produced a rainbow hum of a song long forgotten, but quickly remembered and cherished. But it also wasn’t that at all. It was a hum of multitudes. The song only came out when Erick let it take hold of his senses, when he didn’t look or listen too closely. But when he was watching, and listening, alert and active, the hum was just a hum. It was sleight of hand given magical resonance; a trick.

Using Mana Shaping to have that sleight of hand cover a much, much larger spell, was like pulling off a heist, or breaking into a password protected computer by trying every combination all at once—

Oh? Ohh.

Erick liked that analogy; it was much closer to his heart than Opal’s ‘pillars holding up a house’.

Erick lined up his magic, and—

Wait.

Why had Opal used that analogy, specifically?

… Was it because the ‘key’ to the spell was not a singular key, but spread out across the whole spell, a thousand different times? Maybe? Or maybe spread out and dependent on the size of the spell?

Ah. Yes. That had to be it.

[Dispel] only dispersed spells that were less costly than the mana used to cast [Dispel]. [Dispel] had zero effect on ongoing magic if the caster failed to spend enough mana on their [Dispel].

Erick had almost made a big blunder, one that would have cost him 100 days to try again.

Feeling much more secure in his understanding of [Spell Crack], Erick lined up his magic, and cast.

[Spell Crack]. Mana Shaping.

He imagined duplicating the spell into a hundred thousand smaller instances of itself, each fragment of his own magic transforming into that of the caster of the targeted spell, searching for and unlocking each and every ‘key’ of the green orb. As Erick’s packet of invisible intent touched the orb, the orb burst, like an invisible spider’s nest disturbed, sending countless buzzing motes of semi-invisible magic across the space, bursting five more of Kiri’s green [Ward]s as it washed outward, into the room. Erick’s spell crashed against his own body, and against the dense air of the [Prismatic Ward] covering the door to the house, and even washed over Kiri, standing in the back of the room.

She quickly patted herself down, revealing that her green [Personal Ward] was still there, and active. She giggled a little, in relief.

Erick turned back to Kiri’s orbs. Each and every one was gone. A blue box appeared.

Spell Breaker, instant, long range, 301 MP

Trick a normal spell into canceling. Excess Spell Breaker might go on to cancel other nearby spells similar to the first targeted. Has no effect on ongoing spells larger than 1,500 mana.

Kiri said, “Now I’ve seen everything.”

Erick breathed deep, then said, “I’ve made an anti-magic virus!” He paused. He said, “I’ve made an anti-magic virus. Oh… Biological magic? Treating magic as a living thing? It… makes sense? Oh. That’s… That’s an idea.” He almost rushed into the next spell, but he paused. He looked at [Spell Breaker], and thought back to how he had messed up his first attempt with an improper idea, how he had almost messed up this spell with a wrong-thought, and now another improper idea was rolling around in his head. He said, “Opal was right. No need to go for [Ward Destruction] right now. I should get used to using [Spell Breaker], first. I need to test this biological magic angle in a smaller way.” He asked Kiri, “You want to try? I can put up some small [Ward]s.”

Kiri huffed a laugh. “Nope! I have no idea what you did, and [Intent Understanding] keeps not working right. I won’t continue until I know more.”

Erick smiled, and said, “Sure.” He added, “I’m going to read for a bit, and then tomorrow morning, it’s more magic!”