Erick met his new bodyguard in the morning on the front porch. His third story front porch. Aside from that awkward start, Poi was a very proper bluescale dragonkin, who was thereafter always, at most, 15 feet away from Erick at all times. With a straight back and no-nonsense attitude, Erick immediately tried to get Poi to smile, or joke, or talk, or anything, except stand at the side like a monolith carved out of sapphire, dressed up like a city guard.

Aside from that, his first day after calling it quits as a teacher was very boring. He mostly stayed inside the apartment and read Ulrick Ulrick’s book on Ancient Script for the Beginner Enchanter. There was some aura practice on the roof, but he didn’t want to wear himself out, so he kept it to one iteration.

He definitely did not miss his date with the farms. He showed up for that appointment an hour ahead of schedule. They were more or less ready for him by then, so Valok told him to let loose, and he did. He cast [Call Lightning] three times in a row. By the third casting, the rain was coming down slightly stronger than before. Maybe twice as hard? The rain was still pretty gentle, but now it came down like a proper Summer shower. Valok had planned on 4 or 5 castings, but the revelation of harder rain by cast 3 meant that Erick was done for the day.

On the way back to the Sewerhouse, Erick stopped at the market to buy some produce from several farmers, but when he went to pay, many of them dropped their prices in half. One nice older greyscale even gave him a bag of not-zucchini for free. Erick paid for the bag, though. The bag was nice, tough canvas. He made a point to overpay on that, and the man just smiled.

Taking mental stock of all the items Erick had ever bought in Spur that included canvas bags, maybe he needed to start carrying around two or three in his shoulderbag at all times.

And then he was home! He cooked dinner for himself and Al one night, and then Al cooked dinner the next. And then the process repeated. Personal [Ward] in the morning, study the Ancient Script book, a bit of aura practice, and then a stop at the farm for some afternoon rains. Cap it all off with dinner with Al, who had been doing his own things all day, too. He was still remaking the sewers and setting the Human District to rights.

The Sewerhouse settling pools were still settling, so that job was still at least 15 days away, and probably more like 20. As it was, Erick was involved in a whole lot of nothing except raising his various skills; mostly numerically, in the form of experience.

Jane would have laughed at him and call it a ‘training montage’, if she was here. She was still in the Crystal Desert, though, still hunting crystal mimics and the occasional rock elemental with Savral and his team, constantly on the lookout for crystal slimes. But thanks to Al having [Telepathy], Erick was able to check in with Jane at night and hear all about her days, while Al checked in with Savral. Erick put [Telepathy] on the short list of spells to get, but [Telepathy] was one of the restricted-by-law skills, because it affected the mind. He could buy it, sure, it was right there in the Script for 1 point, but he probably shouldn’t, not right now.

Jane had a bit of a big revelation though. Jane and Erick had apparently encountered a crystal slime on the trek to Spur, all those tendays ago. Erick remembered now; it was that jelly-like thing that had been nestled at the base of a crystal agave. All crystal slimes were over level 50, but they could sense danger for miles around, so finding one before it left the area was the only hard part. If only they had killed it, which was supposed to be really easy, they would have gotten almost 1.8 billion experience split between the two of them.

That’s when the jokes started. Jane and Erick encountering a crystal slime and not knowing the crystal slime for what it was, was a pretty common occurrence. No one hunted for a crystal slime and then actually got one, but everyone knew a precocious neighbor child who told stories of playing with a crystal slime. Or some rookie adventurer, running from a crystal mimic only to fall on a crystal slime, killing it, then immediately buying up to Scion of Strength. Or someone dying of thirst in the Crystal Forest, only to be led to water by a crystal slime.

Erick started a little argument about killing something that was obviously a good monster, but Al and Savral shut that down pretty hard. ‘There are no good monsters, don’t fool yourself.’ Slimes are as neutral of an existence as possible in the monster kingdom, but they’re mindless, and if one of them found you wounded and unable to move off the ground, there was an even chance of it accidentally smothering you as leaving you alone.

Aside from hearing about Jane’s adventures, Erick didn’t experience much of life outside of his apartment and the Farmer’s Market over the next few days. Al had suggested he lay low for a while, but that was already Erick’s plan. Poi seemed to be fine with guarding Erick in Erick’s apartment, but Erick didn’t really know how Poi felt about anything. The man was unnaturally silent.

So, for three days, Erick stayed away from the Mage’s Guild, generally in the apartment, save for trips to the farms. [Call Lightning] gained 1500 experience a day, since Valok wanted him to cast it three times in a row each time. [Ward] leveled, too, since he was putting on a 510 mana personal [Ward] every day, but the experience gained was counted without Clarity, which had leveled to 10. So every 510 point [Ward] gained him 1020 [Ward] experience. [Ward]’s blue box was getting bigger with every level, but it was only level 9.

Meditation leveled to X in all that casting. That skill read much cleaner, now.

Today was the fourth day since he had given his last lecture and then hidden away from most of Mage society. This afternoon he would return to the Mage Guild, but not before he finished up a few other tasks. One of the tasks he had finished yesterday was reading the Ancient Script book from Ulrick Ulrick, and learning the language. He could now comfortably read and write in Ancient Script. With a little bit of conversing with Al, he could even speak the language. Ancient Script sounded very beep-boopy crick-cracky when Erick spoke it. He didn’t like how it sounded, but it flowed so easily into itself that rhyming was rather simple.

Erick thought that maybe that ability to rhyme was why Ancient Script was widespread in enchanting. Al did not believe that for one second, but it was hard to argue with Erick’s creation of a new spell in Ecks.

When Erick tried to read another one of Al’s language books, it might as well have been Mandarin. [Language Acquisition] had run its course. He’d have to learn new languages the hard way, from now on. Or, he could pay Irogh 1000G and get the buff reapplied.

As for his own magic, Erick wasn’t anywhere near rank 10 with anything and thus able to actually make a real aura skill, but he was plodding forward, making progress. Right now, he was up on the roof of the Sewerhouse, preparing to put in more steps toward that goal.

The sun shone down upon Erick and the rest of Spur. Erick sat on a small jut of stone atop the center of the Sewerhouse. There were no obstacles around him; Al had [Stoneshape]d the roof mostly flat, ridding the space of any evidence there was ever a party up here. Poi waited to the side, as usual, well out of Erick’s area of effect.

Erick centered himself, activating Meditation and preparing a chain of mana connecting three of his skills, to twist what was to come into something else.

Aurify.

Altering: Bludgeoning.

[Force Shrapnel].

Orbs of hardened white mana erupted from Erick, like a hundred billiard balls, all going every direction, spaking and cracking against the stone and each other as they swirled around Erick in a mockery of orbital physics. They crashed in and out, but not against him; this was his aura after all. Erick held his mana open wide, feeding the aura. He could not sustain it for long, only 4 minutes without Meditation, and an extra 30 seconds with Meditation. And that was fine, because 4:30 was already near his limit of personal focus; it was hard to maintain all these spell effects at once.

If his Force Shrapnel was level 10, he could create an actual [Force Shrapnel Aura: Bludgeoning], and not have the spell demand his total concentration. But [Force Shrapnel] wasn’t 10. None of his spells were level 10. [Call Lightning] was close, but it was not there. Not yet.

Erick’s mana gave out. The billiard ball aura vanished like so much spent mana.

He relaxed into the sun, leaning backward, breathing. Just, breathing.

And there’s another 1350ish exp for a few more spells...

Status.

As he stared at his status screen, part of him held a deep regret for not recognizing and killing that crystal slime. His experience had grown, for sure, but it hadn’t noticeably grown since the battle with the shadowcats. Erick was going to be 19 for a very, very long time.

Erick Flatt

Human, age 48

Level 19, Class: None

Exp: 265281/676500

Class: -/-

Points: 7

HP

90/90

150 per day

MP

600/600

1050 per day

Strength

9

+0

[9]

Vitality

15

+0

[15]

Willpower

20

+0

[20]

Focus

35

+0

[35]

Favored Spell waiting!

Favored Spell waiting!

Favored Spell waiting!

Spoiler

Concentration X

Multiply your base MP regen by 3

Requirements: 20 Focus

Discipline X

Multiply your base MP by 3

Requirements: 20 Willpower

Clarity X

Reduces spell costs by 50%

Requirements: 10 Focus

Meditation X

Always Resting

Requirements: 10 Willpower

Mana Shaping 5

Alter spell AOE in better, subtle ways, 10 MP + spellcost

Alter spell AOE in better, moderate ways, 30 MP + spellcost

Aurify Unlocked

Requirements: 10 Willpower

Exp: 140/800

Aurify 1

Transform an AOE spell into a semi-permanent effect surrounding yourself, based upon the parameters of the Aurified spell. Increase an instantaneous spell to a 1 second duration in order to create an aura.

Able to support 1 aura at a time.

Exp: 5400/10000

Mana Altering 8

Bludgeoning, Slashing, or Piercing Damage

Force to Light, Blind, Variable Cost

Invisible Force, hard to see, Variable Cost

Force to Thunder, disorient, Variable Cost

Force to Fire, Burn, Variable Cost

Force to Ice, Slow, Variable Cost

Force to Lightning, Paralyze, Variable Cost

Force to Decay, organic damage, Variable Cost x 1.5

Exp: 100/3400

Cleanse 6, instant, short range, 10 MP.

Purge an area equal to the level of the spell in meters of all Toxins, Disease, Filth, and Corruption.

Exp: 150/1300

Mend 7, instant, touch, 10 MP

Touch a non-magical uncomplicated large object and restore it to its prime.

Exp: 1510/2100

Ward 9, instant, short range, 24 hours,

Create a Small Ward that can have Minor Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 10 MP + Z

Create a Small Ward that can have Small Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 15 MP + Z

Create a Special Ward. Variable Cost

Create a Medium Ward that can have Small Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 20 MP + Z

Create a Medium Ward that can have Medium Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 25 MP + Z

Personal Ward: Any Ward of any type can be made Personal, to move with you. Original Cost x2

Create a Large Ward that can have Medium Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 30 MP + Z

Create a Large Ward that can have Large Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 35 MP + Z

Create a Ward with another Spell attached to the interior. Spell activation based on Z invested into Ward. 100 MP + Z

Minor Effects: Bug Ward, Temperature Ward, Alarm Ward

Small Effects: Visual Disruption, Audio Disruption, Weather Ward

Medium Effects: Area Hostile Visual Disruption, Area Hostile Audio Disruption

Large Effects: Drain Hostile HP/MP, Gravity Ward

Special Ward: Eschew all other effects in order to shape, color, and illuminate a ward however you wish. Skill level at Mana Manipulation determines final outcome. Variable Cost

Exp: 375/5500

Force Beam 2, instant, medium range, 25 MP

A piercing, slicing beam of hardened mana that deals 25 + ½ WIL damage for 2 seconds

Exp: 175/200

Force Shrapnel 8, instant, short cone, 5 MP

Sharpened forward blast of mana that deals 20 + WIL damage in a cone

Exp: 205/3400

Blink 3, instant, 25 MP

Instantly move from your location to another within , max range 10m per level of Blink

Exp: 150/300

Call Lightning 8, 1 minute per level, super long range, 500 MP ~{Favored Spell}~

Prepare the sky to strike an area or object of your choice for . If used in an active lightning storm, Call Lightning’s duration is as long as the natural storm. Every lighting bolt called reduces the duration of Call Lightning by 1 minute, or a natural storm by .

Exp: 3200/3400

Stoneshape 1, 1 minute per level, medium range, 10 MP

Slowly move minor amounts of stone and sand around you for 1 minute per level of Stoneshape.

Exp: 0/100

Grow 1, instant, touch or close range, 5 MP

Cultivate a single plant, or induce plant growth in a sphere of diameter equal to spell level in meters.

Exp: 0/100

At least Meditation leveling to X made Resting as easy as flipping a switch in his mind. Now that he knew what to look for in the ambient mana, he popped scrying eyes whenever he saw them, too. The roiling shadows weren’t that scary anymore now that all the eyes were gone.

The shadows were still there, though. Erick had pointed them out to Al one night. Al told him he needed a higher focus, or to not meditate so often.

Erick looked over the new Mana Altering 8.

Force to Decay was probably what made those green fireballs in the Sewerhouse attack.

… Aurify was coming right along.

Erick was kinda scared to try a [Call Lightning] Aura. He felt like he needed to get far, far away from Spur before he started experimenting with his magic in that way. Especially if he started experimenting with [Call Lightning] and stuff like Mana Altering: Decay. Acid Rain would definitely be considered ‘attacking the populace’.

As Erick looked over everything he had to level, and realized that none of it would get him another actual level, he felt disheartened. Sure, he could make tier two spells—

Ah! Right! He wanted to make a [Call Lightning] [Grow] Aura! That would be pretty cool. Too bad Valok didn’t want him today, or he’d work on [Call Lightning] some more. Maybe he should go down to the farms anyway, plying his trade casting [Grow]. He might be stuck at level 19, but there were still goals to be won, and a [Grow] Aura was a good idea, anyway.

Smiling, Erick turned to Poi, “Hey, Poi! Let’s go to the guild!”

“Of course, Mage Flatt.”

Erick ducked back into the apartment and saw the enchanting book Ulrick had lent him. He was supposed to return that to Ulrick… Several days ago. Shit. Erick grabbed the book and put it in his shoulderbag.

And then he looked at his clothes.

He was still wearing the jeans, tee shirt, shoes, and underwear that came with him to Veird. He’d seen what other people wore for shoes and underwear, so maybe he’d keep his and not adopt the local style, but the shirt and jeans? Those could go. He could be a local.

He should do that, today!

Training montage and a clothing montage! Jane would be proud. The only clothing Jane had bought were new shirts and the shoulderbags for both of them. She still liked her jeans. … Erick still liked his jeans, too. And his shirt, for that matter. With [Mend], he could keep these clothes for the rest of his life, if he wanted.

No. Bad idea. It was time for new clothes. Be a local! Buy local clothes!

Get out of the house and get back into society!

He turned to Poi. “Where would I buy some decent working clothes? Kinda like what I have on now?”

“Market Street,” Poi said, resolute to keep his arms-distance demeanor intact.

“To Market Street we go!” Erick patted his shoulderbag. “I can give Ulrick back his book, too.”

Wordlessly, Poi followed Erick out onto the third floor landing. Erick looked down at the street—

[Blink].

—and then he was there. Poi popped into the air five feet behind him.

- - - -

“Ulrick is not in today.” A lovely young pinkscale girl behind the counter said, “Might I be able to help you, Mage Flatt? I’m Soux, Ulrick’s frontgirl and apprentice. Is there something you might be interested in purchasing?”

“Not buying anything right now.” Erick shook his head as he swung his shoulderbag around and pulled out the old textbook. “Can you give this back to Ulrick for me?” He set the book on the counter. “I told him I would return it to him the next day, but everything kinda got difficult after that. I read it all, though! Learned Ancient Script, but then my [Language Acquisition] ran out. Can you tell him ‘thank you, very much’ for me, please?”

Soux slid the book closer to herself. “Of course, Mage Flatt. Is that all?”

“Maybe— Are those [Mend] jobs still up at the guildhouse? I haven’t checked in a while.”

She shook her head. “Apologies, but no. He only posts those when I go out adventuring, or when I need to deal with some unruly shadowolves.” She smiled. “But I’m back now. And two levels higher, too.”

Erick grinned. “Good to hear. Then… Take care, Soux.”

“You too, Mage Flatt. And thank you for the rain.” She bowed. She stood. “Hearing an afternoon shower reminds me of my grandmother’s house in the rainforest mountains, far to the east.”

Erick smiled a bit wider, then nodded, and left the store. Poi kept right behind him, maintaining a respectful 5 to 7 foot distance at all times.

- - - -

Erick stepped up to the counter and set his badge on the marble divide between him and the bank teller, “Hello. I’m here to check on my account. Erick Flatt.”

“Of course. Just need to check authenticity.” The teller was a grey-black wrought dragonkin. Her metallic flesh looked exactly the same as Anhelia’s, the iron-flesh wrought incani at the Mage Guild. She took his badge and passed it over a truthstone, which had been glowing green this entire time, but glittered a brighter green when the badge passed close. She held onto the badge for the moment, asking, “How can I help you, Mage Erick Flatt?”

“Balance check, and probably a withdrawal. Have you guys sorted out the shadowcat money yet?”

“We have indeed.” She wrote down Erick’s badge numbers on a small slip of paper then turned to her assistant, a young male greenscale. She said a few quiet words, then handed him the paper. He ran off. She turned to Erick. “We’ll have your numbers pulled in 30 minutes. Would you like to make a withdrawal before your numbers are validated?”

“No. I guess not. I have enough cash on me for now. I’ll be back later.”

She handed him his badge back. “We shall see you then. Good day, Mage Flatt.”

30 minute wait for a check and withdrawal?

Erick was sorely tempted to try and reinvent the internet and modern banking. But then, he realized, he did not need any of that in his life. Not again. Fuck that noise. He liked the slow life. 30 minutes to check on balances? That was fine with him. He had clothes to buy and… 13 gold to buy them with! That was like 1300 dollars.

He was rich!

… Wasn’t he?

- - - -

Turns out cloth clothes are way expensive. Everything except leather was way more than he wanted to spend; the leather was only cheap because the shadowolves from Bulgan’s shadowcats had been turned into more leather. Erick didn’t want leather.

The problem was that Spur was both a rich town because of the adventuring opportunities of Ar’Kendrithyst, and it was very isolated. There was no cotton in the desert, after all. All fabric had to be imported. Importing wasn’t that bad with [Teleport]; many of the meat sellers actually had their farms far away from Spur itself. But the cotton fields were much, much further away than the cattle ranchers.

A third problem existed in [Mend]. The people who made clothes only made what fashion demanded, or the best damn shirts or pants or whatever, that money could buy.

Erick had to walk away from one store where everything was 14 to 25 gold. The next store was not much better, and the dragonkin vendor could not take his eyes off of Erick’s shoes. Erick’s shoes were synthetic rubber, leather and cloth sneakers. They were the most comfortable shoes he had ever owned, and Erick was not going to sell them for any price, thank you very much.

He found a much nicer store just a bit down the way, run by a nice older orcol woman. She sold him some ‘children’s clothes’ that were simpler than what he had found elsewhere. They were the right price, too. Erick thanked her, and she smiled at him, probably finding it funny that a human was wearing clothes sized for orcol kids. When Erick asked her about that, she said that the other races bought orcol children’s clothes often enough that it wasn’t a real scandal; other races liked simple clothes, too, but not many tailors were willing to work on such throwaways.

He paid her 11 gold, and then walked around for a bit, sporting a nice cream-colored shirt and nice tan pants. His other clothes were in his shoulderbag, save for his shoes and his underwear; he was still wearing those. His Silver Star was displayed prominently on the left side of his chest, over his heart, and his Guild Badge hung from a silver chain around his neck. It felt nice to wear local clothes in Spur, in the sun. Everything felt loose and breezy.

Erick ran a hand through his hair and felt his face. He hadn’t shaved in all his time here on Veird. He was never capable of growing a truly imposing beard, but what he was capable of growing had gotten a bit scraggly in the last few weeks. He used to have black hair, but it had all gone salt-and-pepper in the last few years. A lot of his hair had to be whiter since had gone through several near-death experiences in the last few weeks.

He pulled a bit of his bangs in front of his eyes. Yup, more white hairs among the black. Of course, that could just be his imagination.

His imagination, and his Meditation, had told him there was a giant shadow following him the whole day, but no one else seemed to see the shadow. Erick forced himself to think that his imagination was lying to him.

Maybe it was time for a haircut, and a shave.

But first! The bank!

- - - -

The iron wrought presented Erick with his balance.

1000 gold for one shadowcat, 100 gold for the second cat. 210 gold in various direct deposits in the last little while, and 148 gold from killing shadowolves, with the shadowolf portion available as either gold, or rads.

“1458 gold? I don’t have to work if I don’t want— Ahh. So that’s why the MCL job board is full.”

The receptionist of the Mage Guild bank smiled, saying, “But doing all those MCL jobs does help the community. We get complaints when they’re left to rot, and that’s not fun for any of us.”

“Right. Right.” Erick asked, “What about the grand-rads from the cats? Did something happen to them?”

Her perfectly practiced neutral face returned. “Unfortunately, magic of your caliber destroyed many of the rads from the shadowolves and both grand-rads we expected to recover from two of the shadowcats. Please do keep this in mind when expecting to recover rads from monster corpses in the future.”

“Ahh. Bother. Okay. Good to know. Thank you. I would like to withdraw a hundred gold.”

“Would you like that in rads, or metal?”

Erick thought for a moment.

He’d leave enchanting for another day.

He said, “Gold, please.”

“Of course.” She nodded to her helper, and Greenscale left. In moments, Greenscale returned with a small bag and set it in front of the receptionist. She counted it out in front of Erick, emptying the bag, then she put the coins back in the bag and handed that to him, saying, “100 gold has been deducted from your account. Is that all?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Good day, Mage Flatt.”

Erick put the gold into his shoulderbag, then left the Mage Guild Bank. Poi silently followed at a respectful 5 to 7 feet.

- - - -

After a quick stop at the Sewerhouse to stash most of the money—

Poi interrupted him. “Sir. You have scrying orbs around you right now.”

Erick activated Meditation. Yup. Two eyes were looking at him from several feet away. One was red, the other blue. Erick frowned at them. They vanished, and Erick moved to another part of the house to stash his money.

“Thank you, Poi.”

“My pleasure, sir.”

“Is there any way to stop those, permanently?”

“Not without a lot more effort than is comfortable. Thankfully, the Script makes it very difficult for a [Scry] to hide, if you know what to look for.”

Erick smiled. “Thank you very much, Poi! That was the most you’ve said since you started this gig.”

Poi said nothing.

“Dammit, and now you’re back to silence.”

Poi said nothing, but he did allow himself a smirk.

Erick tried, “Were those [Scry]s just a nuisance, or were they an attack?”

Poi said, “It’s best to discourage theft whenever you can, but in the event of theft, our investigators can [Witness] and [Scry] to find the culprits. But even if we do find the thieves, they’re usually gone from town after a robbery. Not much we can do besides put them on the Guilds’ Watch Lists.”

Erick smiled. He had figured out how to get Poi to talk.

- - - -

Erick, and thus Poi, walked into the Mage’s Guildhouse in the early afternoon.

Anhelia waved him over to the front desk. What could she want? Sizzi was not there. The rest of the guildhouse looked rather slow; not a whole lot of people in this afternoon.

“Hello, Anhelia.”

She smirked. “Hello, Mage Flatt.”

“You can call me Erick, if you want. That title still feels weird to me.”

“Erick, then. So what brings you in today, Erick?” She teased, “More curriculum to disrupt?”

Erick relaxed. This was actually perfect. He said, “Can I buy you a drink somewhere? I’d like to hear a lot more about what has happened in the last few days.”

Poi grumbled behind Erick, but before he could wonder what that was about—

Anhelia smiled wide and stood right up. “I love it! Yes! Let me just find Sizzi; she’s around here somewhere.” The grey-black wrought dashed off behind the counter, into the inner hallways of the Guildhouse. She returned in 17 seconds with a slightly winded Sizzi. “You’ve got the floor, Sizzi!” Anhelia plopped a slightly red faced Sizzi into her receptionist seat, then Anhelia wrapped her arm around Erick’s and guided him out of the Guildhouse, saying, “We’ll be back later!”

Her guidance might have been gentle and loose, but her arm still felt to Erick like holding onto a skyscraper’s I-beam. Anhelia was a very tough woman.

- - - -

Anhelia closed her menu and passed it to the waiter, saying, “And I’ll have an iron bar, thank you.”

Anhelia took them to a little place on the edge of the Mage District, on the second floor of a bakery, overlooking one of the few green spaces in the city. A fountain bubbled down below, while not-oaks shaded everything and a cool breeze flowed down through it all. There were a few others in the tea house, drinking tea and eating bread. Mostly incani, but no other wrought. A few of them eyed Erick, but their glances were simple appraisals; not the glances of people planning harm.

She said, “I love this little bakery and tea shop. The family that runs this place has been in Spur for over 400 years and I’ve only been here for a little longer than that. You’ll love the plum tea and biscuits I had you order; everyone says they do.”

Anhelia smiled, and if her iron flesh wasn’t so perfectly natural looking, if she didn’t move so fluidly, Erick would have thought her one of those street performers who paint themselves all one color and play the part of a statue.

She must have seen him looking. “You’ve never casually talked to a wrought before, have you?”

He felt his face flush. “Ah. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it!” She laughed. “You can’t offend me. Unless you plan on stiffing me with the bill. That would be pretty offensive.”

Erick chuckled. “Are you that expensive of a date?”

She smirked. “Only if that’s what this is.”

He grinned. She was fun. Erick flirted, “How would that even work?”

Okay. That was some bad flirting. How out of practice was he? A month and at least 8 traumas? That was probably a correct number.

Anhelia smiled. “Some hefty physical fortification spells for you and a rod of [Treat Wounds] at the ready, as per any interracial relations, but especially when it comes to wroughts.”

Erick laughed. “I’m not looking for anything right now, but I expected to pay the bill when I asked you out for a chat.” He asked, conspiratorially, “How much is an iron bar, anyway?”

“Inconsequential~”

Poi frowned from the sidelines. Now what was that about?

But as Anhelia avoided the question, their orders arrived. For her, a plain grey bar of metal served on a doily on a circle of wood, maybe 7”x2”x2”; for him, a small porcelain plate of five purple cookies and a pitcher of purple tea. The waiter presented Anhelia with her order, then filled a small tea cup and presented Erick with his.

Erick asked, “How’s the guild been while I’ve been absent?”

She placed her hands on the iron bar and began pinching it into bite-size pieced, like Erick would have pinched dough to make rolls. He expected the action to make some horrible screeching noises, but the metal became a putty in her hands. She finished, then popped one of the bites into her mouth, then swallowed.

She said, “There’s a lot of impurities in the metal you get outside of the major cities, but Spur has always been good about having good iron, among other metals; Silverite has connections to mines all over the world, you see.” She ate another bite, then said, “The guild has a lot of impurities in it, too. Magic as a whole has always had this sort of problem. No one thinks about the physical world, because there’s really no need. Do you know what magic was like before the Script?”

Wherever she was going with this, it sounded thorough. Erick had taken a bite of a cookie, and it was delicious. Sugar, fruit, and chewy cookie; it was wonderful.

He said, “Not much. Haven’t been in many libraries yet.”

“You should spend some tendays in the library.” Anhelia continued, “But anyway, I wasn’t there; none of us were. Wrought might be the oldest living race except for the dragons, but we were created by the Script. And I’m not that old anyway. Anyway, magic used to be a lot more open before the Script. All it took was a strong will and a connection to the manasphere and a wizard could manifest their dreams as reality.”

Conversation ceased at a nearby table of two when Anhelia said the word ‘wizard’.

Anhelia ate another bite of iron. “Then something like 1400 years ago the Old Wizards decided they wanted something else. Maybe they wanted to be gods, maybe they wanted to kill something. No one really knows, but the result was the Sundering. And then Rozeta and a whole bunch of others put the world back together, created two more moons, and wrought magic into the Script. That’s where we Wrought come from. We’re like little pegs holding the Script together, but that doesn’t grant us any abilities beyond what we choose to pursue. Like any normal person.

“That’s history. This is relevant today because the way that the Old Wizards used magic was very, very different from how the world actually works, but a lot of the Old Wizards survived and adapted to the Script, and thus their ways of thinking tainted the new world order, right at the beginning. And this brings us to the impurities in the guild, in arcanaeums all across Veird, and in the casual thinking of the average Mage.

“The old traditions of magic based upon imagination are not wrong. Not exactly. But current magical theory is like language, you see. You can speak a language you call [Stoneshape], and bend the ground to your will, but that’s your interpretation of how the world is, imposed upon the world. [Stoneshape] is a mental construct; it’s not affecting actual ‘stone’, but what the shaper thinks is stone.

“There are safeguards to prevent people from thinking of magic differently and thus abusing magic in ways not intended by the Script, of course, but mostly, magic is a mental construct.

“For example, in the real physical world, the composition of dirt is wildly different from biome to biome. If [Stoneshape] relied on real world physical properties, then a mage would need a dozen different versions of [Stoneshape] in order to function the same way in a deep swamp with half its murky bottom biological, versus a desert with relatively pure quartz sand which, by volume, is mostly air, versus a granite mountain.

“And so we come to the impurities in the magical community. Did you know that Fire, Water, Stone, and Air, are some Big Thoughts in the arcanaeums around the world, and in the Script? There’s even shaping spells for darkness and light. I can tell you right now that many people don’t believe that darkness actually exists, but then we look at a shadowolf and see shadows licking off the body, and that throws all proper experimentation out of the window, because ‘obviously shadows exist, there’s one right there’.

“What you’ve done, is to prove to the magical community that there is some underlying physicality to the world that operates independent of mana. You’ve given the Small Shock experiment a grand stage. You’ve explained why people are creating ice spells all over, but no fire spells, because bursting molecules apart is strictly against the Infinitesimal Ban. And stone spells just don’t work, because, apparently, there’s nothing ‘stone’ about stone, if you get my meaning. Everyone is trying to make air spells into lightning, but no one has succeeded at all, except for you. Probably because everyone still thinks of lightning as a fire spell. Light spells are being made across the world, and dark spells might truly not exist, except to absorb the light.

“You’ve started a revolution in magical thinking, turning this relatively dull part of local history into world history. With a few lectures and the addition of the first basic spell to the Script in a millennium, you have set Spur on the world stage. You’ve shown yourself as a kooky planar human who gave his daughter’s homework to the Headmaster and stumped the old dragon, and everyone else, for the first time in 1300 years.”

Erick had finished three of his cookies by now, and most of his tea.

He ate another cookie. Anhelia ate another bit of iron.

He sipped his tea. He was still thinking.

He said, “If it already works— I mean. If the shaping spells already work, and people already believe in them, then they exist. Social constructs are as valid as physical constructs.”

“You are correct.” Anhelia smiled. “But even if you say that, you can’t unring this bell. Changes are rolling down the mountain, and people must either get out of the way, or ride the waves of history. The only other option is to be crushed.”

The gravity of it all began to weigh on Erick.

“Fuck. How many lives have I ruined?”

“Oh! I’m just being melodramatic.” Anhelia chuckled, “Those societies based around elemental magic are going to be just fine. Mana still turns imagination into reality, and [Stoneshape] is still one of the most useful spells in the world, no matter that there might not be a particle version of the spell. That’s what people are calling your brand of magic, by the way. ‘Particle magic’. Elemental magic has a long and deep history, but now there are new options. Ones where mages can make it rain, Erick.

She repeated, “Rain. At tier 1. How neat is that?”

Erick tried to focus on a better subject. “How much has the rain helped?”

“Farms are booming. Production is up. Krakina is pissed. But she’ll buy [Call Lightning] as soon as she can, and then you’re out of a job because she has much deeper roots here. The Kali family will have a lean farming season, but that’s about it. The whole farming community here is pretty transient, anyway. They come in with the highwater and go back to the eastern mountains for the rest of the year.” She smiled. “Though, if you can make it rain all year long, we might have a whole new Spur on our hands. Everyone is very excited. And just so you know, if anyone is talking about killing you, they aren’t saying it near any of my information sources.”

Erick chose to not focus on people wanting to murder him. “The Kali family, as in Ikawa Kali? The one in Savral’s team?”

“Yup! That’s Krakina’s granddaughter. She’s set to inherit Krakina’s title of WeatherWitch when she comes of age and can drag a storm across the desert to Spur, all by herself.”

Poi stepped closer to Erick. “Sir, you are about to reach your limit of questions based on the money you brought with you to this encounter.”

Erick turned to look at the man. Then he turned back to Anhelia.

“Oh, Poi. Don’t worry about the full price. Whatever he has on him is fine.” Anhelia said, smiling, “I’ve got another ten minutes to kill. Ask anything you’d like, Erick. And I meant what I said earlier; you won’t offend me unless you stiff me on the bill, so don’t leave any questions off the table. I want you to be satisfied when you leave.”

“Sir, I must warn you that Anhelia sells to anyone. Don’t speak what you don’t want known.”

For the second time since he sat down to talk with Anhelia, he realized the gravity of his situation.

Anhelia sighed at Poi.

Erick said, “Thank you, Poi. I do have some questions I’d like answered, since I’m paying for it anyway.”

Anhelia smiled wide, waiting.

“What do the incani think of Jane and I since all this has happened, from Bulgan, to the shadowcats, to particle magic, to getting those three humans moved into Spur?”

Anhelia nodded. “Broadly, you’re fine. Like I said, no one is plotting murder or anything else against you. You’re too valuable. If anything, people are plotting against each other to allow you to ‘live a quiet life and have your daughter safe’, and then they’re going to race to use what other bombs you drop on magical society. The incani, Zago in particular, are rather repentant for what they tried to do. Except for a few discontents you’re mostly considered ‘not human’, and thus not a target of the Quiet War.

“Bulgan is a Shade in the Ar’Kendrithyst. That was confirmed yesterday. He will try to get to you and Jane, but no one knows what will happen there. Will he leave the walls of Ar’Kendrithyst? Maybe. But when Shades move, you notice. When they move to attack, they can’t hide, even at night. Spur can fight back one or two, and since Bulgan is a new Shade, he likely doesn’t have the clout to force all the Shades against you. You might even have some unexpected allies inside Ar'Kendrithyst, but fair warning: Dealing with shadows will get you on everyone's shitlist, no matter what good you can do.

“Only the most paranoid people think we’re in danger of a Great Purge.

“The humans you invited to Spur are being watched. There have been a few altercations, but nothing major. They’re staying on their side of the line you drew and none of the incani are willing to cross that line either. Now that Bulgan is a confirmed Shade, his transgression has put a heavy damper on local incani patriotism.

“And particle magic is proceeding about as good as I said. That Ice Mage has made two new basic spells so far. There’s the tiny cold AOE he showed everyone and a freezing beam spell he invented yesterday. With the addition of another spell that looks similar to another one of the Force spells, a lot of people are experimenting to find the corollaries to the other Force spells.

“You have time for one more question.”

Erick nodded. It took him a second to think. He asked, “Are dragonkin… Al said that Savral is his son. I don’t want to ask if he’s adopted… But… ”

Anhelia laughed. Poi might have frowned, but he was too professional to keep the frown for too long.

“This is your last question?” Anhelia said, “Well—”

“No. Sorry, that would be rude to Al and Savral both. Instead, what are wrought? Are you [Metalshaping] your body from a central core? Or…?”

She smiled. She said, “There’s a book in the guild library called ‘Sex and the Humanoid’. You should look that up.” She finished the final bite of her iron bar, and said, “And that’s our time.”

At her final bite the waiter came over and placed a face down slip of paper on the table, then took away the cleared plates. Erick went to pick it up—

Anhelia said, “Don’t worry about what it says on the paper. Whatever you have on you is fine.”

… Erick looked at the paper.

That was more gold than he was carrying, alright.

He emptied his pockets and his shoulderbag, placing all 55 of his gold on top of the slip of paper. Anhelia smiled gently at the small pile, then put her hand over the gold. All but two pieces slipped into her iron arm; the remaining two left for the waiter.

Erick said, “Thank you very much.”

“Anytime, Mage Flatt.”

Erick left the bakery cafe first. Poi followed.

The plan was to go back to the guild, but now he went to the bank and withdrew another 20 gold.

Then he went to the guild and picked up one of the [Grow] quests from the Esoteric board; they were all the same, so he only needed one. His job and pay would be determined by the Council members on site.

Anhelia waved at him both on the way in, and on the way out. He waved back both times, saying hello, and feeling like he really didn’t know much about anything about Spur. Not yet, anyway.

- - - -

Valok took a look at Erick, with his mage guild badge hanging out around his neck and the paper for a [Grow] job in his hand, and said, “You’re rather dedicated, aren’t you.”

Erick said, “The plan right now is [Call Lightning] and [Grow] combined as a tier two spell, possibly using Aurify for double to triple the range on [Call Lightning]. I’m hesitant to use Aurify on [Call Lightning] though. I’m not sure how the magic would react. [Force Shrapnel] as an Aura was already rather unexpected.”

Valok listened to Erick. Then he thought for a minute.

Valok said, “It won’t work with our current system, which you will be experiencing today. We’ve had to change everything. When you make this spell, we can test it out on the north side of Spur, where the water does not come close to the surface. Other than that, we’d need to… We’d need to do a lot. And you can’t cast this over the city. You want trees and roots and such destroying everything in a mad press to make space for itself?”

Poi said nothing, but he did look a bit closer at Erick.

Erick said, “Uh. I did not think about that.”

Valok nodded. “Plain rain is fine. No need to get fancy. The only thing stopping farm production is water usage. Your experiment has merit, but not for us, not right now.” Valok said, “I’ll take you to Apogough.”

- - - -

Apogough stood by as Erick stood in the middle of an empty plot of land.

Erick held an apple in his hand. He took a bite. It was sweet, well grown with a nice crisp texture and a bright red, thin skin. In his other hand, he had a seed from the same kind of apple tree.

“[Grow] for cultivation is just as important as [Grow] for generalized growth.” Apogough said, “Now that you’ve tasted the apple, think crisp. Think juicy. Think that size of apple. Keep that taste in your mind as you plant the seed and activate [Grow] at the same time, whenever you’re ready.”

Erick took another bite, then held the seed, and thought—

[Grow].

— as he thrust the seed into the fertile soil. He withdrew his hand. The magic had happened. What was supposed to happen next?

Three seconds later, a tiny green shoot poked out from the brown ground. It uncurled into the sunlight, bright green, sprouting more leaves and tiny branches as it reached up, slowly. Slower. It stopped growing.

Apogough said, “Now use [Grow] in a small area for generalized growth.”

“Can I Aurify it?”

“Hmm. Not— Eh. Sure. Go ahead.”

Meditation. Aurify. [Grow].

The sapling began to grow. The apple in Erick’s hand exploded into several tiny plants, falling out of Erick’s hand to then hit the ground, and take root. Startled, his aura—

Apogough said, “Don’t cut off your aura now.”

Erick maintained his aura. Experience in [Grow] and Aurify steadily ticked up.

[Grow] has leveled!

Level 2!

Grow 2, instant, touch or close range, 5 MP

Cultivate a single plant, or induce plant growth in a sphere of diameter equal to spell level in meters.

Exp: 5/200

Erick’s aura doubled in size. The ground around him sprouted grasses and weeds, but the saplings rose above the non-food plants. And still they grew. The saplings from the apple were twining together, strangling each other for growth, until one rose above the rest and several thin brown saplings rotted in the presence of their older sibling. The one Erick had cultivated was three feet from the strangler apple, quickly rising tall in Erick’s aura.

They made noise as they grew. The sound was like a creaky door slowly opening and someone pushing a broom across the floor.

Now the trees were both waist high. Shoulder high. 6 feet tall, and growing, branching all the way. Erick backed up as the branches threatened to cage him between the trees. And still they grew.

[Grow] has leveled!

Level 3!

Grow 3, instant, touch or close range, 5 MP

Cultivate a single plant, or induce plant growth in a sphere of diameter equal to spell level in meters.

Exp: 5/300

Erick’s aura pulsed larger, and so did the trees. Apples appeared on the tree born from the apple like bright red orbs, but on the tree Erick cultivated, the apples were pink. And still, the apple trees grew taller. Higher, twisting upon each other. Apogough said nothing as he watched the growth. Erick just stepped back a bit further as the trees got even taller.

“Stop!”

Erick stopped. The apple trees relaxed.

A gentle breeze rustled the two-tree orchard as Apogough reached up to a pink apple and plucked it from the branch. He took a knife to the fruit, cutting it into pieces like a scientist dissecting a frog. He pulled off the skin, he rooted through the seed-filled core, he sniffed the white flesh, and then he put a small piece on his tongue.

He tasted. He chewed.

He didn’t die! So that was good news. Erick plucked a pink apple for himself, then looked to Apogough. The orcol nodded, and Erick tasted his apple. It was a pink lady, but much more actually pink. Pink ladies were Erick’s favorite apple, so maybe his mind wandered while he cultivated?

Apogough said, “Your mind wandered while you cultivated, but the outcome is decent. What do you want to call them?”

“Pink ladies.”

Apogough smiled. “A good name.” He pointed down a row of freshly picked apple trees; not a single tree in the whole orchard held a single apple. “Go aurify [Grow] that orchard. Cast until you see an apple fall, then move on; that’s how I judged when these two trees were done. If an apple falls to the ground and you’re not quick about it, that apple will start growing more trees, and that’s just disorganization. We don’t like that. I’ll check in on you in twenty minutes.”

Erick did what he was told. He had used some mana on those first two trees, so he had to pause halfway through the orchard. But quickly enough, he was done. He had used a little over 600 mana.

[Grow] has leveled!

Level 4!

[Grow] has leveled!

Level 5!

Grow 5, instant, touch or close range, 5 MP

Cultivate a single plant, or induce plant growth in a sphere of diameter equal to spell level in meters.

Exp: 545/800

But he had gone through all of the orchard! Since everything was organized, and he had used a little over 600 mana to [Grow] a single orchard, it was highly possible that the orchard was designed with a 600 mana limit in mind. Everyone used the same Script, after all, so organizing along Script-defined stats seemed like a natural thing to do.

But Erick didn’t have [Grow] 10 yet, so when Apogough returned, Erick was still putting the final [Grow]s on the last remaining trees.

Apogough said, “Good job! Now I sign off on that paper once, Krakina comes in and does the water while the pickers come and do their thing, and then you can [Grow] it all again. We do this until you can’t go anymore.”

Erick smiled. “I can do this four more times. That was only 670 mana.”

Apogough asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, are you going for Scion of Focus, or Willpower?”

“Focus. I can’t handle Mana Exhaustion.”

“A good choice if you expect to use a lot of mana every da—“

Krakina announced herself by saying, loudly, “You!”

Erick agreed, “Me!”

Krakina bustled right up to him. “Now you’re [Grow]ing, too? Are you not rich enough!”

“I’m technically homeless right now. So yes. I am not rich enough. By the way, I heard good things about your granddaughter out there in the Crystal Desert, killing monsters alongside my daughter.”

Krakina’s sand-colored feathers fluffed a tiny bit, but at mention of her granddaughter, a smile came over her face. “I hear good things about your daughter, too! Very good with a sword. Good with all weapons. Spear, sword, daggers, shields! What do they teach you all where you’re from, to fight with so many different weapons? She is like a whirlwind of variety!”

Erick laughed. “That’s just Jane. She’s been training for this sort of life her whole life. She knew what she wanted to be at a very young age.”

As pickers came into the grove, very few of them actually picked apples by hand. They walked past the trees, and apples floated into crates they towed behind themselves, like kids with little red wagons. Erick watched, trying to figure out how they were—

Apogough said, “It’s [Telekinesis].”

“He knows—” Krakina turned to Erick, eyeing him. “You didn’t know what they were doing?”

Erick smiled. “They were using [Telekinesis], of course!”

Apogough chuckled.

Krakina smirked as she walked away, to the side of the orchard.

With one quick stomp on the ground, in what was probably one specific spot, water burst up from the ground and caught in the air above Krakina. She held it there above her, somehow, the water bubble quickly reaching the size of an elephant.

Apogough said, “She’s using [Watershape].”

“I am not!” Krakina said, “I am using something much better!” She sealed the hole in the ground using some unseen method and walked through the orchard, dipping the water across the ground, letting it soak into the soil. The elephant-size water orb was gone by the time she reached the other side of the orchard. “Done!”

She moved on to the next location.

Apogough said, “Let me see your paper.”

Erick handed it to him. He signed off once, in perfect print, right across the top, leaving lots of room for more signatures later. He handed it back to him, then pointed to a waist high squat pillar near the road, maybe ten feet away.

“When you’re done, sit there. I only knew you were done because I was looking for it, but all the [Grow] mages sit on one of those by the road, so that we know it’s time to come clear their field. See you later.”

Erick stayed where he was until his mana reached full.

Then he went and Aurify’d [Grow], all over his orchard.

This process repeated three more times.

5 signatures was worth 15 silver. It wasn’t a good paying job, but it was necessary.

And hey! He also got a whole bushel of Pink Ladies, a lot of not-potatoes, some not-onions, two bags of not-rice, and even some not-tomatoes, all for free! It wasn’t a good paying job, but there were benefits.

Like [Grow] leveling up to 8.

Grow 8, instant, touch or close range, 5 MP

Cultivate a single plant, or induce plant growth in a sphere of diameter equal to spell level in meters.

Exp: 1705/3400

Damn he was tired, and carrying all these vegetables wasn’t exactly easy. But he had help.

He turned to Poi. “How much are you paid every day to follow me around?”

Poi carried three bags of groceries. “Not the 10 gold you’re paid per day, whether you make it rain or not.”

“Oh right. I do get that, don’t I?”

Poi frowned at him.

- - - -

Al made dinner using much of the produce Erick supplied.

Al said, “You should get some meat next time.”

“When rain is capable of making cows grow from thin air, I will be sure to get you one.”

“I accept this as a promise.”

“… I’m not sure you understand how rain works.”

“It makes the grass which feeds the cows which I then eat!”

“That’s not thin air.”

“I should hope not! I want a very fat cow.”