The next morning, I found myself sitting in the Headmaster’s office.
“Well, first allow me to ask a few questions,” he started, and I nodded.
“Sure.”
“I know that you have a fire affinity, correct? The problem I have with that is that you had not used the fire foci during that fight.”
“That’s correct. If you can feel the energy in your body and can picture the lines that make up the matrix inside of the foci, you are able to substitute that for a focus. Fire is a special case, as that energy easily burst into flames, so I don’t even need to draw one, except for blue fire.”
“I see. Can you teach us how to feel that energy?”
I shook my head.
“No. I can tell you two problems with that right off the bat, too. One, humans naturally have low magic control, and two, it feels different for everyone else. Therefore, everyone has to trace the energies for themselves, and when they can grasp them, it is not too long until one can form them.”
“And what about the focus you handed Lina? How did you make that one?”
I blinked.
“How do you even know about that?”
“That I cannot tell you. So, about the focus?”
“I condensed some energy into it. After carving in the runes I copied from other foci into it, it eventually worked. Of course, I tried to understand what the runes did first.”
“Are you aware that what you just did should be impossible on all accounts?”
“Well, I’m not exactly human. I take it you are, at least here, not able to condense that energy?”
He shook his head.
“No. We can only find those energy stones in mines and dead monsters.”
I blinked, then realized something.
“You absolute MORONS! The monster attacks are caused by those stones!”
“The monster stones do not attract monsters,” he responded, and I sighed.
“That’s likely a misconception. A small number probably does not, but a big number? I can feel the energy you piled up in your basement! And I’m not even trying! Do you know how much my senses are muddled by interference with my own energy? Those monsters can definitively sense the stones.”
He cursed.
“Dammit! And what else are we supposed to use? The city contains millions of stones!”
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“We don’t even know if they’re after the monster cores or after the mined crystals. It’s a problem, but not a big one, right?”
“Well, that’s true, too,” he responded, and I nodded.
“Unluckily, this presents another problem. Will they attack the city in search of the stones that I create? If not, I can just create them, but if they do, this will just make the situation worse.”
“In any case, I believe we got a bit off track. I want you to do your best to teach what you know to the students in a special course, and I do not believe we can teach you much,” he responded, luckily keeping a level head.
“Oh, but you taught me a lot already! I discovered how strong of an amplifier the right set of runes can be! Did you know that humans have usually such a minuscule amount of magic that they can literally do nothing with it? But here, thanks to the foci, everyone can use it!”
“I take it you did not know about this thanks to your overwhelming energy pool?”
“Precisely. I can cast a spell by picturing the matrix and channeling energy,” I explained, getting a nod from him.
Still stupid that ‘spell’ is a valid word here while ‘magic’ is not. THAT, I will change.
“I see…”
“Oh, and I’d like to take some of the monster stones and mined crystals. I may have a way to find out which of them attract monsters.”
“Please do that. What else are you interested in?”
“The runes you know about. How they interact with each other, what they mean, their effects alone, their usage, and so on. Because runes can form spells, that would mean I could figure out a way to craft spells, given I’m lucky,” I responded, causing him to raise his eyebrows.
“Can you make them usable for humans, though?”
I blinked.
“Well, that will be a challenge. Oh, and another thing. When I found my sisters, I’m leaving.”
“That’s fine if you wait two weeks and after that until the next end of the month.”
“Given that two weeks are seven days and a month roughly four weeks on my world, yes. Is it the same here?”
He nodded.
“Then, you have a deal. Now, when do you want me to start?”
“First, we need to introduce the course. I have a good idea on how to do that, too.”
Looking at the about two thousand people in the hall, I looked at the headmaster.
“If anything goes wrong, this was your idea,” I commented, shaking my head.
“Yes,” he just responded, turning around.
“Students of the academy! I have an announcement to make!”
“Yeah, we know!” someone replied from below, getting a chuckle from the rest of the audience.
“Such disrespect! Oh, where have we come to!”
I see. He takes the comments, makes his talk longer, ensuring that everyone is annoyed at the interrupting person.
He lamented for a moment longer, then returned to the actual thing he wanted to talk about.
“Well. Now, that we are all here! I want to reintroduce someone to you. You may have heard of the fight yesterday? Well, after investigating, it became clear that the new student was not at fault, as she was challenged and attacked by two forbidden life techniques afterward, the time break and the mind break technique. In return, Samantha fried him with his own attack.”
After that, he paused for a second, inhaling.
“However, during the fight, Samantha showed an interesting ability. The conjuration of fire without the use of a focus.”
“Additionally, it was clear that she was not exactly from around here, with her incredible reserves and self-control. We talked, and she agreed to teach us what she knows during her stay here. Miss Faust?”
Stepping forwards, I now could see the students below me, and they could see me.
“Sup,” I said, looking at Lina. She cringed but was looking on with seemingly horrid fascination.
“Also, challenging her to a fight is added to the list of punishable offenses. Not because of her, but because of us – I have no intention of finding out if she was serious when saying she’d accidentally destroy part of the city if fighting seriously.”
“Now, could we get a little preview of what you will teach?”
“Sure,” I said, collecting a small amount of energy atop my finger. It was equivalent to the amount of energy a human in this world could collect and use within a reasonable amount of time.
“This small ball of energy is equivalent to the energy you can collect within about twenty seconds,” I explained, getting nods from the students.
I then threw it in the air, only using my ability to manipulate magic to change its form. It quickly became an extremely complicated matrix I designed yesterday, based on the runes I learned from the foci.
Then, a ball of electricity started to form into it.
“While this may seem like normal lightning, the electricity in this one is actually gathered from its surroundings. You become charged, as the energy that makes up lightning is sucked out of the surroundings,” I explained, getting a surprised look from below.
“That is possible with twenty seconds of energy? Did you not use more to form it?”
I shook my head.
“No. I only used my ability to form energy. This is something you could possibly learn as well,” I explained, reversing the flow by changing the runes in the outermost ring, causing the electricity to flow back slowly without shocking anyone.
“There is another thing. I need to leave the academy for a short while to check a theory I have about the monster attacks, so I will start here as a teacher next week, on Monday. If I’m in the academy, you can find me either in the library, the reading hall, or the longue,” I then added, nodding to the headmaster.
“Thank you! Oh, and another thing. Miss Faust had refrained from using the terminology from her world, but this will be different in her lessons. Her name for our inner energy is magic, and for her, the word has a different meaning than it has for us. So, remember this, as she probably will not mention this again when starting to lecture,” the Headmaster interjected, remembering some of the details I gave him earlier.
“Dismissed.”
“Will you change dorms?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll do it if the headmaster insists on it,” I responded, putting the papers I had with me in a bag. I knew that the ring currently hiding my real form had some sort of spatial storage, but I was not willing to push it.
Eventually, I made my way to the headmaster.
“Ah, Miss Faust.”
“Question, why did you call me by my first name exactly once?”
“What?”
“What?”
He chuckled.
“Okay, I’ll get serious. And it’s just that I address people differently depending on the situation. I was talking firstly about the fight, but then talked about you as junior staff.”
“Ah,” I responded monotonously.
“In any case, here are the stones,” he said, gesturing to three crystals. They were marked, one was from a wyvern, one was mined, and one taken from an… orc? Okay…
After pocketing them, I then stepped on the balcony.
“Please make sure to come back on time,” he said, and I nodded.
Then, I jumped, feeling the stone below me crack while doing so. I rose up about a hundred meters, which was high enough for me to tap the ring and use my wings to start flying without worrying too much about beeing seen.
I rose while flying in western direction, eventually coming to rest on a cloud after about an hour. The city was far behind me, and the magic in it no longer completely blocked my senses to the outside world.
That meant that I could now meditate, and search for the magic signature of the wyverns I met before. I was planning on speaking with them about the cores, but I needed to find them first.
After a while, though, I could sense my magic. It had grown, and I could tell that the young wyvern had become more powerful in the process.
Smiling, I flapped my wings, rising from the cloud, before flapping them once again, speeding away, towards the wyverns.
However, they were quite far away, and even when flying close to my maximum speed, I had only crossed half the distance to them after about four hours of flight. Eventually, I decided to look down, raising an eyebrow when I realized I was flying above the ocean.
Not sure if I could fly when wet, I decided not to test my luck. Still, I needed a rest, and I settled down on a nearby cloud.
I meditated again, extending my magic senses. The wyverns had moved a bit more, but not by much.
However, something else caught my interest. There was a very slight interference in the magic I was using to find them, and I only spotted it because the area around it was swirling slightly, while the rest was perfectly homogenous.
What I saw where I felt it, though, was only an empty patch of air. Now curious, I used more magic to get a better look, and to my surprise, the energy got absorbed, and a small tear started growing in front of me. I tried moving it, but I could not. The tear itself was moving slowly, relatively to the ground.
I made a note where I found it, in which direction it was moving, and how fast. There is a chance that this is the tear that had dropped me in this world, and it could also be my connection to the others.
After that, I removed my magic from the area, causing the tear to shrink again. I started flying towards the wyverns again, not forgetting my primary objective.
Eventually, I came close enough that I could see them, and they, in turn, me.
»Thou have returned.«
››› This one has. I needed to ask help of thee, ‹‹‹ I responded, pulling over a cloud with my magic to sit on.
»What do thee need?«
››› This one needs to know of thou: Is this what makes thee fall in rage? ‹‹‹ I asked, pulling out the three different crystals the headmaster gave me, and one I made myself.
»It is,« he said, pointing at the wyvern crystal.
»This one can feel the second heart of our brethren. It is angering for us. That one, it feels annoying, but not more. This, I cannot sense. That, it feels comforting, and we would never attack it when it is alone, not tainted by one who wishes for evil or destruction,« the old wyvern said, pointing, in order, at the wyvern and orc core, at the mined crystal, and at the one I made.
››› This one thanks thee, ‹‹‹ I said, holding out the wyvern core.
››› And this one should belong to you, ‹‹‹ I said, watching as the wyvern carefully took it, before breathing on it. The crystal started dissolving, and I could feel a wave of joy, before it vanished, leaving behind only motes of dust.
»His spirit, this one released it. This one sees you wish to learn this, too?« he asked, noticing my curious glance.
››› A core crystal contains the soul of the creature? This one is intrigued. That must be what draws the monsters to them. This one wishes to set the souls free. ‹‹‹
»This one knows that your goals are noble, so it will teach you.«
»White!«
Turning around, I noticed the young wyvern I gave part of my energy. To my surprise, his magic had grown considerably, and his scales had a golden glow about them.
››› Little one, we meet again. ‹‹‹
He smiled, giving me a rough nuzzle.
»Power!« he said, collecting golden energy in his claws.
I patted him on his head, chuckling.
››› Then be careful with it, okay? ‹‹‹ I asked, getting a nod from him.
»One will!« was the response, before he flew away again.
I had already destroyed the gem created from my magic and released the spirit of the orc gem, and now turned around, noticing that the young wyvern was pointing at the waves below.
»Catch water food?«
Water foo- ah, he means fishes. Probably.
››› This one is not sure if she can fly when wet, ‹‹‹ I responded, getting a look from him.
»Help if need help,« he said, pointing to himself. I found myself smiling and started to descend with him. After a few minutes, we spotted a school of fishes, and the wyvern dove down, describing a clean, round path below the water, using his mouth to catch the fish. He then flew up, and opened his mouth slightly, letting the water flow out, before chewing and swallowing.
»Try!«
Chuckling, I breathed out and in one more time before holding my breath, diving down and using my hands to divert the water in front of me. I found that the water was similar to air, but it slowed me down considerably. Still, I could use my wings to propel myself forward and managed to somehow skewer a fish on my horn.
When I flew up, the moment I left the water, I realized flying had become much harder. My fur and clothes I forgot about for a moment were drenched in water, and that made them really heavy. On top of that, it made my movements sluggish.
Hovering was quite difficult now, and I grabbed the claw of the wyvern, letting me drag up from him and onto a cloud. It seemed that he had learned and remembered from earlier that I could use them as solid ground.
»This one is curious why thou did this albeit having fur,« the elderly wyvern then commented, drawing closer.
››› This one has not had tried something like this before, ‹‹‹ I responded to the elder wyvern while wringing out my mane.
››› Thee should go back for a bit, ‹‹‹ I then said, creating a flame in my hand. He nodded, and I allowed the flame to grow so big and hot that it started to rival the small star I created back home in power and heat.
The water quickly vaporized, and a few good flaps and bursts of wind removed the salt that stayed behind. The fish I caught earlier vanished somewhere between me resurfacing and drying off.
Only afterward I realized that it might have been a bad idea to remove the salt like this, but I shrugged it off. There was only a low chance of injury, anyway.
After playing and staying a little longer with the wyverns, I eventually started making my way back towards the academy. However, I did not reach it again before nightfall started, so I looked around in search of a place to sleep, finding a small village.
Fly down, change form, dust salt off clothes (how is it that it stuck to me that long?), and make my way over to the village.
It seemed like there were a few adventures on guard duty. I found myself starting to smile widely again – this was a fantasy world through and through!
“Halt! What is your purpose here, magician?” the one on the right asked, surprising me.
“I am on my way to the academy, I am supposed to start teaching there in a week,” I responded, tilting my head.
“How is it that you can tell I use magic?”
“There is a sort-of aura around you guys. You have some of the feeling of a brawler, some of the feeling of a priest and a really dense aura around you, so I assumed you were a mage.”
“Ah, I see. That’s interesting, I did not know that.”
“Shouldn’t a magician of your power be aware of that?”
I shook my head.
“No. While being fairly strong, I only have recently taken to practicing magic, and this is my first long trip.”
“I see,” he said, winking me in.
However, when I tried passing through the gate, yellow sparks rose from my body in the air, confusing me.
Holding my arm through the entrance, I could tell that there was something supposed to keep something out, but I had no idea what or why. Maybe it was a shield against weaker monsters or a warning system.
The guards did not comment on it, so I shrugged it off, walking to an inn and renting a room by agreeing to gather firewood for them the next day.
This night, Star pulled me into a dream with Flare (she couldn’t find Daybreaker) to discuss what we would do next, and we decided on a world we would go to after finishing whatever adventure we were on in our current one.
There, we then would meet where Canterlot will be/is/was and go on from there. Meeting place was the hill next to the mountain, and the symbol we would use is a flame lit along our horn.
Our time window was a year, earlier if possible.
Since I knew I could reach the academy from here within a day, I decided to first collect the firewood I promised – which I did within an hour, to both the surprise of the guards as I was carrying far more wood on my shoulders than I should be able to by my looks, and the innkeeper, who thought I would be busy until noon at least.
After that, I vanished into the adventurer’s guild I discovered earlier.
“Hey! We got someone new!”
Turning, I noticed the guards from yesterday.
“You’re the mage, right? Want to take a look at quests?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, but I presume one needs to register first, right?”
The guard shrugged.
“Well, if you have an id, that is usually enough. The only thing we need to verify is how you act in actual combat. You said you would start teaching at the academy, so I assume they already issued an id, right?”
I nodded, handing him mine.
“Let’s see… oh, a very high fire affinity? That could become useful, but is kind of a glass cannon.”
“Why?”
“Well, let’s assume you’re underground… and burn away all our oxygen. Or set yourself aflame.”
“Ouch,” I said, imagining it would not be very fun to be unable to breathe.
“Yeah, so you’re restricted to open field combat, unless you are either experienced, have a healer with you, or can fight without using flames.”
“Ah, that is possible,” I responded, wrapping my golden magic around my hands. Then, I heated the magic up. It did not burn, as there was nothing to burn.
I then formed the energy in some different shapes, including a shield (which was solid and blocked a wooden bat (nobody was willing to risk actual weapons)) and a rusty morning star.
“It still can easily set things on fire, though.”
“That probably is not a problem unless you’re in a dry forest or a similar, flammable area,” the guard responded, shrugging.
He then pointed to the receptionist.
“I can see that you’re quite strong and would probably fare well without battle experience. I’d say E, or maybe D as your start rank.”
Walking over to said receptionist, she then explained that I would have to do a quest with a seasoned adventurer – she pointed at a slightly stronger than average looking man – with at least C-rank. Then, based on my strength and how I would react to the battle, I would gain a rank each. That also gave a good indication of my potential.
Shrugging, I then told her that I would like to do the evaluation quest.
“So, since your strength is top-notch, I expect you to deliver a great deal of damage. We’ll deal with the D-ranked Orcs that appeared in the forest, which should test both your capability for battle as well as your fine control of your magic.”
The man shrugged, sheathing his battleax and beckoning a nearby mage over.
“Since this is more of a formality, and you said you would teach at the academy, I’d like to take my party’s mage with us so that she can observe you as well. Maybe she can learn something from you.”
“I see. My name is Samantha Faust, and I’ll be either nicknamed Flame Queen or Glass Canon fairly soon,” I joked, holding
out my hand to her.
“I’m Jessica. Nice to meet you.”
“So, shall we go?” I asked, receiving a nod from them both.
“Ah, there is another thing. There’s probably a mimic in the area, so be careful,” he said, and I tilted my head.
“A mimic? Those dammed chest monsters?”
“That is not entirely correct,” the mage said, before explaining.
“A mimic is a masquerading monster. They do sometimes turn into chests, but that is rather rare. But the shield around the village picked up a powerful, non-human aura. It was not fitting with any monster we know, though.”
I shrugged.
“That’s probably me. My magic is a bit… different.”
“Probably,” she deadpanned, falling silent again.
Eventually, we arrived at the place the orcs were sighed, and I took a good look around.
“The branches,” I then realized. Since the forest was relatively dense, the orcs had broken the branches on the trees, and while there were no footsteps visible, this allowed us to track them.
“Correct. It’s the best option you have unless you can track them by their scent or magic.”
Well, I could, but it would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Following the trail, we then found a base. There were seven orcs, judging from the magic I felt, and I held up seven fingers to indicate as such. They nodded, and both jumped on a nearby tree, from where they could observe the area.
I simply walked over to one of the orcs, who noticed me and grabbed his club, before swinging it at me.
I caught it in my bare hand, feeling the shock, but in no way injured by it.
I raised an eyebrow, then lit up my right arm with energy and drove it through his body. His eyes got an empty look, and he fell over backward.
But what surprised me more was how… cold my emotions felt while doing so. I killed something sentient, and nearly sapient, but it felt just like a chore.
I decided to keep a very close watch on my feelings and morals.
The heavy body hitting the ground alerted the other orcs, and I decided to have a bit of fun with them.
First, I wrapped my magic around the closest orc. It was hot enough that it hurt, but not hot enough to burn or seriously injure him.
Then, I used that magic to puppeteer him. I made him jerk around and swing the club down on the orc next to him, crushing the skull of the third one. Then, I lifted him in the air and slung him away, causing him to crash through a nearby tree, killing him as well.
They still were monsters, and they wanted to kill me as well. I felt no remorse.
A fireball lit up in my hand, and changed color from dark red, to orange, then yellow, then blue, and lastly, to white.
It burned a hole through the fourth orc, killing it in a similar manner to the first one.
Three left. But by now I was bored.
So, I tried to do something different.
For the fifth one, I projected my magic outwards, engulfing it. Then, I used that magic to create pressure on him. Something shattered in him, and he fell over, not dead, but dying.
The sixth one was trying to get close to me to knock me to the side, but I whirled around, exhaling blue flames that roasted him as well. That maybe was not that good of an idea though, since my throat was now incredibly scratchy.
Turning to the last orc, I noticed that it was trying to get away, but noticed that I had seen it. It snarled and lifted it’s weapon, but I could see that it knew it was dead. However, it had been a while since I had a good spar…
My magic lit up, boosting the orc’s strength, resistance against magic and physical attacks, speed, eyesight, and hearing. The magic ran along the club, turning it into something more akin to a morning star than a club. I grinned at it, cracking my fingers, and it understood my intent.
It understood my intent quite well.
The mage rushed forwards, slamming a hand alit with yellow energy in the weapon the orc raised just in time to block her. It then hit her with his other hand, sending her back a bit.
A fireball appeared, but the orc slammed it in the ground, before closing the distance between them, swinging his club with both hands at the woman, but she blocked it with her hands, showing only little strain while doing so.
She now jumped up, hitting the club so that it crashed back into the orc, before jumping around him, attacking him from that position, but the orc noticed her, catching her small fist in his big one.
Samantha was not phased by that, though, and just ripped her arm up, taking some flesh pieces from the orc’s hand with her. Then, they continued to trade blows for about forty seconds.
Eventually, the orc made a mistake, and a small but fast hand crashed into his throat, crushing it and distracting the orc, which got used to steal the club and use it to bash in the orc’s head.
“You boosted the orc?”
“Yup.”
“To make him stronger?”
“Yup.”
“Because you wanted to fight a strong opponent?”
“Yup.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I’m very intelligent.”
Somewhere while we were ‘discussing’ my ‘strategy’, the receptionist had filled out my card. Magic rank A, battle rank D. Higher, so her explanation, was not possible, at least not without a letter of recommendation.
Shrugging, I pocketed the card.
“You’re going?”
I turned back to the young mage.
“Yeah, I want to see what else I can deal with. Why?”
“Could you teach me how you did that?”
“What?”
“The boost.”
I blinked.
“Ah, I just pushed my ma- energy into him. Depending on how you do it, it can either harm or boost your target; the intent is important here.”
I then explained a few runes and how to form them in the mind. Thanks to them being simple, they could probably be formed by her without requiring a focus crystal.
After spending a few more days with those two, mostly exchanging pointers but also doing some quests, I then eventually left to return to the academy.
It was interesting, and for the first time, I really realized I was in a fully-fledged fantasy world.
Levitating above the city (I was not stupid enough to just fly in), I realized something was amiss. I could feel a great deal of energy collected in the academy, and I could not help but wonder what had happened.
Landing on the academy grounds, I noticed a great number of monster cores piled up in the back, powering a shield to repel monsters that extended around the city.
“What did you guys do now?” I asked, landing next to one of the teachers I recognized.
“Uh… the headmaster told us to bring out all the monster cores that we could find,” he responded, causing me to nod.
“Ah.”
I stepped closer to it, placing my hands on the side of the enormous pile. After focusing for a while, I exhaled, dissolving the cores. First only those that I touched, then the other cores nearby. I quickly got all of them to start releasing the souls stored inside of them.
“Wait – What are you doing?!”
“Those cores attract monsters, especially in big numbers,” I responded, entwining my magic with the shield and placing the strain of upholding it on myself. It would be good exercise, anyway.
“Ah, miss Faust! You have returned! What is the result?”
“One: Wyverns can ‘fly’ underwater, two, yes, monster cores attract monsters, and three, a horn is not the right tool for fishing.”
In response, he just laughed.
“You’re almost as convoluting as me! Are you doing this on purpose, too? Well… it doesn’t matter. Tomorrow you start, are you ready?”
I shook my head.
“I still need to prepare a few things,” I responded, turning to get to the library.
“While I can remember and do understand most of the fire, life, and lightning runes, water and darkness runes are still eluding to me,” I said, shaking my head.
“I want to read up on them a bit more,” I explained, getting a nod from the headmaster.
Also, I wanted to see if I could find any leads that would bring me spatial runes. I wanted and probably needed to teleport.
“You’re back!”
“Hello Lina,” I drily greeted, smiling at her afterward. She chuckled.
“It was boring without you here!”
“I can only imagine. Mind accompanying me to the library?”
“Don’t you already know everything?”
I shook my head.
“No. My powers allow me many things, but efficiency, they do not. I cast spells instinctively, but this also consumes a great amount of energy. Therefore, to make my spells faster, more efficient, or just overall deadlier, I need to know how they work,” I explained, getting a nod from her.
Remembering where the books were, it took not too terribly long finding them again, and I picked up the water and darkness book, just as I said.
While air and earth were still slightly eluding to me, I remembered enough to bluff myself through it if someone asked.
“So, how long do you think you’ll need?”
“Bout three hours? I’m not too sure,” I responded, pulling out paper and pen again.
After a minute or two, she sighed.
“You know this is nothing for me… I’ll go back to my room and practice with the focus you gave me,” she responded, and I nodded.
I nodded, then started to look at the runes again. I wonder if I could combine some of them into a single focus crystal?
Maybe. The problem was the nature of the elements… For example, earth canceled lightning, water canceled fire, darkness canceled life and air and fire seemed like it would lead to… explosive results.
Maybe I could put earth, water, and life in one focus, darkness and lightning in another, and light and air in the last? That could work since none of them interacted much with each other. Channeling both would be something dangerous, though, so I would have to make sure that only one set of runes could be activated at the same time.
Wait, wouldn’t that make it possible to squeeze all elements in one focus crystal? Just block the other runes?
I grabbed a paper. So, what was needed in a focus? The runes to draw energy out of the user, the runes to move it through the crystal, and the runes that would bring the effect into fruition. Usually entwined with each other to make casting faster and more efficient.
Ah, just use a bit of energy to close an energy transfer rune. Unless one removes all the energy from the focus or is extremely skilled, that rune will suck out the energy from the rest of the focus, making it impossible to activate more than one at a time. Now, how to put those runes in a gem…
“You did something insane again,” Lina commented, looking at the crystal hovering above the table.
It had the same size as other foci, but it had roughly eight times the amount of runes in it, all carved in such a way that they did not touch each other, and twisted so that they did not affect each other, surrounding a custom-made rune in the center responsible for channeling energy in the right one.
…and it exploded with energy when anyone except me touched it.
“Maybe,” I responded, shrugging, and eliciting a groan from her.
The students that had an interest in a new view of the ‘energy’ they were using slowly entered the room and Lina took a seat as well. I had prepared myself quite thoroughly, having read the books multiple times, created some foci, and packed enough chalk to turn the chalkboard white and then some.
Eventually, the clock hit eight, and I started.
“Quiet, please. I believe it is time to start,” I said, and the people quickly stopped chatting.
“I’m sure you all remember what the headmaster said last week. I hope you can forget what you think you know for the time you’re here. Now, do you know what stays the same along with all the energies you use?”
I picked randomly.
“Isn’t it that we use the same energy for both lightning and fire?”
Nodding, I formed a ball of white light.
“Correct. This, for example, can be turned into either a lightning strike or a very bright light. You are a dual-type?” I asked, causing the ball to vanish again shortly afterward.
He nodded.
“Well, that’s a start. But there is a small problem with that energy almost all humans have. Can you tell me what it is?”
This time, no one was sure enough to raise an arm.
“It is an extremely low amount of energy humans have. You see, even a monster like an orc has about the same amount of energy as an average human,” I explained, getting surprised and doubtful expressions.
“But why don’t use orcs it, then?” someone in the back asked, tilting his head.
“The answer to that is actually quite simple. They can’t. The energy they, and humans, have, is high enough to be recognized as such – but far too low to be utilized. We found a quite ingenious way around that.”
I picked up the crystal hovering above my desk, lighting up the runes of the light element.
“Focus crystals, like this one. They draw out the energy without requiring us to have anything to channel the energy and turn it from raw energy – mana – into a spell. Over time, this will make your reserves grow, and leylines to channel the mana will form.”
Turning to the chalkboard, I quickly drew the simplest focus there was: A rune to draw energy, inside of a rune to create a light, surrounded by a circle to stabilize the thing.
“This is probably something you’ll never see as a focus crystal, but it is good as an example, as it shows what they do. The rune in the middle is a rune you see in most foci, it connects your mana pool to it. The circle is simply to stabilize the whole thing, and the last rune creates light.”
I pulled out a bottle of ink, in which I mixed very fine ground crystal dust, making it conducive to magic, but not very stable. The crystals would decay or rearrange themselves, making the ink useless after a few hours, but it was good for demonstrations.
“It is also something you should learn. Right now, I am deconstructing the foci listed in the academy books and try to understand the runes in it. Later, I’ll provide you all ink mixed with crystal dust, which will allow you to draw those runes, and activate them a few times, but anything drawn with this ink becomes unusable after a few hours.”
“Next lesson, I will start going with you over the basic runes, but this lesson is to see who are interested and give you an introduction.”
“Miss Faust?”
“Yeah?” I asked, turning to the student that had asked. He was someone I haven’t seen before.
“There is a rumor that you used fire without having to rely on a focus, is that true?”
I nodded.
“Yes. As I said before, the foci are tools. Nothing more, nothing less. You provide the energy, and the focus forms it into a spell. However, that also means you can form spells yourself if you can control your mana. But that is something that requires either being someone that has high amounts of mana, long training, or being that lucky one-in-a-million birth. I’m somewhat half the first and half the latter.”
Drawing out my mana again, I turned it in the rune to create light, and added a limiter rune so that it would not dump all the energy instantly into a bright, quick flash. It lit up white.
“But the drawback for this is that you have to concentrate on that spell. It also takes far longer than just using a focus and changing the amount of energy flowing through it.”
I shrugged.
“However, doing this also increases your mana pool faster than just using foci. Depending on the amount of work you are willing to put into it and the need you see in either a bigger mana pool or the ability to cast spells without foci, you should decide if you want to learn it or not.”
“I see… thank you, but I think I’ll stick to using foci.”
“That’s fine, too. Instead of casting spells yourself, you could also just learn the runes – and design spells yourself. You can just take a plate of crystal, etch a spell on the surface, and cast it. The advantage is that you can cast far more complex spells than you can cast without foci, because you do not have to worry about forming it, but the problem here is cost, as crystals for spellcasting are not really affordable.”
“Also, may I remind you that you are not allowed to use your money or connections from outside of the academy here. Before that becomes possible, you, therefore, have to somehow get a supply of crystals.”
It seemed like many had just realized now how costly it would be to visit this class or to research spells in general.
“But don’t worry, most of the things we do are theoretical anyway, and I’ll provide material if we do anything practical.”
“Thanks,” someone said, and I nodded.
“Now, another important thing is when we will hold this class. Since it is an additional class atop the other classes, I’m more or less forced to take the afternoon class. To make up for that, I’ll try to make this worthwhile. I also want you all to copy me your schedules so that I can see when you are free, if we’re lucky we could get a time window where all of you are free.”
“I think Tuesday in 3rd and 4th is time,” one of the older students commented, getting nods from the others.
I tilted my head.
“I remember seeing a schedule where that was filled… you all have free time then?” I asked, getting a shrug from the student that spoke up.
“Yeah, because that is the time where the younger students have their introduction to foci, and what we know about them. It’s kind of required to understand that before coming here, but usually only taught to the first and second years,” he said, and after verifying that everyone had time on Tuesday, I then made a note to put my lessons there from now on.
“Okay. That aside, I want you all to take a look at the foci you possess, maybe you’ll learn something new. That’s it for today from my side,” I said, and they nodded, leaving after about twenty minutes later. They had several questions, like the amount of magic they had in relation to each other. (For those interested, it was in about a 20% margin from weakest to strongest.)
After that was done, I checked up on the shield, and then went on to create empty, crystalline plates to create spells on. I also created staff-like foci, with a tip that carved out the crystal from below it. That way, they could carve the plates without having to worry about breaking them.
Unluckily, it took me almost the entirety of the night to fine-tune the runes so that the plates would not break when looking at them weirdly after being touched by the carving spell. And after that I discovered that they left traces of their own spell carved in the runes, making them essentially worthless. Wednesday evening was when I finally managed to fine-tune the spells to work as intended.
Thursday was spent watching over the training of first years. As it appears, a teacher here has to do more than just teach.
And Friday, I was busy trying to find out why Lisa was so bad with lightning and fire, she had an aptitude for it. Unluckily, I got no results.
The week quickly passed, and it was Tuesday again.
To my surprise, the number of people attending had increased by nearly half, and I could tell there were not only students but even a few adults I haven’t seen before. Teachers, maybe?
I shrugged.
“Please copy whatever material you do not have, I will not repeat myself unless I deem it necessary,” I told them, getting nods.
“Now, those that were there, you have copied the runes I showed you last time, right?”
Nods.
“Good. Then, each of you please pick up a crystal plate and an inscribing quill,” I said, pointing to the barely one millimeter thick plates – to prevent too powerful spells from being inscribed – and the pens that I formed into feathers. I originally only wanted to change the one I was using (I was bored), but then discovered that it made it not only easier to write, but also seemed to slightly self-correct when errors were made, especially when drawing bows or straight lines.
I was not someone to look a gift horse in the mouth, shrugged, accepted it, and then remade the rest into quills Sunday.
They all quickly picked up the plates and quills, and some realized that the crystalline quills contained runes, as well.
“Miss Faust? Are those foci?” the student – Johnathan, I knew by now – asked, the same who asked last lesson if I was using magic without foci.
I nodded.
“Yes, but you will be unable to cast through them. They take a bit of your mana and use it to remove the crystal from below them, but only the same crystal they are made from. They will only work on the plates you have in front of you,” I responded, then realizing there were not enough quills.
“Ah, right. While I made more than enough plates, I only made thirty quills. I cannot create more right now since I have neither the time nor patience to do so, so please share them with the new students when you are done,” I said, getting nods.
“Now, behind me, you see the rune for limiting magic flow. I want you to combine it with the two runes I showed last time and etch them in the plates. Make sure not to merge them! That will cause them to stop working outside of some very special cases,” I explained, getting nods from the people in the classroom.
After a few minutes, some had already finished, and I then heard an explosion in one of the upper ranks. Blinking, as I was sure that should be impossible considering the way I created the plates and quills, I walked over and picked up the shards.
Luckily, they had written down what they had carved out before supplying the spell with mana, so I could take a look at it. It seemed normal enough, but I then realized that the runes touched and crossed very slightly between the limiter and light rune, not touching each other. In the angle they were to each other, they created a feedback loop above the crystal plate.
“You put the runes too close to each other,” I explained, inscribing a second plate with the same runes, but spacing them further apart.
The spell flickered a bit, but it worked.
And once again, I reminded everyone not to allow the runes to cross.
Four weeks later I started research in spatial runes. And, eventually, I succeeded in creating one.
Star later visited me and Flare in our dreams again, and we agreed to meet in the world I was in right now, instead. They figured they had a better chance coming here than to Equestria, especially considering they might end up in a different Equestria.
All I had to do now was to wait – and create a beacon for them to follow.
Unluckily, we still had no clue where Daybreaker was and depending on if she would follow the signal our magics would create, we would wait here or try to find her.