________________________________________________

Leo

Leo was beyond frustrated, despite the initial grin that was spread across his face at the start of his first explanation on what revolution's were, because he didn't just have to explain once, twice, or even three times. No, he had to go over it four times for the two selarins, who were still just blankly staring at him.

‘How hard is it for them to understand, I’m not even a fucking visionary!’ Leo screamed in frustration at the back of his mind.

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose and let out an exasperated breath. “Ok, what's the issue? I've reexplained it to the point that a child from my world could understand.” He asked Irritably.

Elaria cocked her head and furrowed her brow. “Well your world doesn't have magic, right? So of course something like that would work, but a few mages ordered from the academy can put down anything.”

“In fact, they even have an organized group tasked with putting down revolts.” Allis added curtly, but then apologized for the tone.

Leo slumped a bit at the reminder, but rolled his eyes. “Well of course they do, and let me guess, they're called inquisitors.” He said with a smirk, while they both nodded with slightly confused expressions.

It took a second for that name to sink in, and Leo let out a resigned sigh. ‘It’s starting to hurt when my personal off hand jokes turn out to be true…’ His thought trailed off with a little dejection, before he continued. “Ok, but how often do mages support the revolts?” He asked curiously.

Allis shrugged. “There are the occasional self-taught mages, but they are no match for a group of twelve who are academy trained.” She ended with a prideful smugness, but then winced.

Leo felt bad for Allis, as having to shake her reflexively rude behavior was going to be tough for her, but at least she was now aware of it. “And what about academy mages defecting? I doubt that all of them are happy with how things are run, especially those who didn't start out as nobility or wealthy aristocrats. I mean, you seem like you're ok with the idea.” He inquired further.

“Well one, I didn't start out as either, so I don't care too much. And two, the idea of Taipa having everything taken from her, and being forced into the streets is the best kind of revenge I could ever want, so I'd be more than willing to give up my status just to see that reality. But would ‘you’ want to burn up the four years of education and status you've achieved, by merely following what your heart wants?” Allis explained snidely, but then apologized profusely.

Leo mentally winced at how accurate that comment actually was. ‘First off, way too close to home there. Secondly she does have a point, the active effort to brainwash non-nobility into wanting to keep the status quo for their own benefit is a problem. There are probably a few like Allis, but those people who would want to give up everything for a cause would be a tiny minority, of an already tiny minority.’

Leo groaned, knowing that there was no other way than to try and bridge that power gap. “I guess I'll just have to make it so that the common man can fight a mage.” He casually stated.

Allis and Elaria both stared at Leo like he just topped the stupidest thing he's said today. “What!?” Leo remarked defensively.

Allis gave Leo a tired look. “No offence Leo, but you seem out of your depth. Even a large group of well trained soldiers would get wiped out by an academy mage, the best they could hope for is making them run out of mana for a killing blow.” She clarified while stifling the attitude that was present for half of it.

Leo raised an eyebrow. “Run out of mana? Wouldn't just rushing at them or firing arrows do the trick?” He inquired with a bit of confusion.

“A mana barrier that covers your body can block almost any physical attack, it's one of the first things you're taught at the academy.” Allis answered with a shake of the head.

Leo’s brow arched, and hoped that the barrier wasn't stronger than something going roughly at the speed of a bullet. “How much damage can that withstand?” He probed further.

“Well it can be as strong as the mage can visualize, and the barrier also repairs very quickly, but that would take a lot of mana to maintain if it gets constantly damaged. Blunt and slashing weapons are pretty much useless, but anything that has enough strength focused into a single spot can break through pretty easily. A spiked halberd, or a point blank crossbow shot would do the trick. Good luck getting close enough to use it though.” Allis finished explaining much to Leo's delight.

A devilish smile appeared on Leo's face, as he could do ‘much’ better than a crossbow. “Oh, I think I have a solution for that, but I’ll try to explore less lethal options. Suffice to say for that to happen I'll need to learn more about the world, as well as master magic to a sufficient degree before I actually try and start a rebellion.” He told them while glancing at Allis expectantly.

It took an awkward moment for Allis to understand. “You're an arch mage, what could I possibly teach you?” She questioned incredulously.

Leo sighed exhaustedly, as magic itself was the thing he knew almost nothing about. “No magic on my world Allis, I’m just applying what I already know about the physical world to do things with it. I know almost nothing about magic itself and I want to learn to make runes, especially If I am going to arm a rebellion, but for the moment I mostly need it to make money. I'm kinda broke on account of arriving at this world only a couple of days ago.”

Allis nodded understandably, but gave him a curious look. “Ok, Sure, that's easy enough, especially since you can learn magic on the spot. Also, I've been wondering, who summoned you?”

Leo was about to say no one, but it was ‘very’ unlikely considering current events. “Well, I don't know...”

Leo recounted his experience arriving in the forest, noting that he was completely alone. He knows for sure that popping up here right before two superpowers are about to go to war is way more than just convenient, but he didn't have a clue as to why no one was there. Not to mention how easy it was for him to break the balance of the magic system, and as a developer that kind of irked him.

‘Huh, who summoned me?’

________________________________________________

Inconspicuous watcher ( Fel )

Below a clear lit moonlight, In a massive camp far outside Telnar, crackling sounds erupt from a distorting of space at the center of the camp. A few moments later a hooded figure appeared surrounded by over a dozen selarins along with various supplies. Seconds later the area is flooded by the inhabitants of the camp, carrying away supplies and directing the new arrivals.

A large two legged selarin with scars running down her arms walked over to the hooded figure, and looked over them with worry. “That was less than half of what you brought when you started, you need to rest”

The figure shook their head, and the selarin let out an irritated groan before continuing. “I may not be able to cast magic, but you are nearing twenty teleports and the wear of it started to show around seven.”

“I-I….can…..do...one...more….” The figure wheezed out before collapsing.

When the figure awoke, they found themselves on a bed in one of the camp's tents. Her hood was gone and she noticed her smooth skin was a sickly white, because of all the mana she squeezed out of her body.

It took all of her strength to sit up and start scarfing down food left on a nearby table. She needed to recover all her mana before attempting that many teleports again. Since she was in no state to do anything for the next few hours, she pulled out her orb to give the emergency report that she ‘forgot’.

Holding up the orb to her face, she spoke. “Yez… You there?”

The orb brightened. “Hey wha- Gods! Fel, your skin looks almost bleached!? The Hell happened?” Yez asked with deep concern.

Fel groaned, knowing that this conversation was going to suck. “Well that's because I teleported eighteen times, ferrying about two hundred selarins with supplies.” She answered while bracing herself for Yez's response.

The orb brightened sharply, and Fel winced at the light. “Why the fuck would you do that?! That's weeks of work you pushed out in a day! And you're now almost a year ahead of schedule!” Yez shouted in a rage.

Fel's eyes drifted guiltily away from the orb. “Unfortunately as quickly as Leo gave us that time, the bastard seemed to swing it well past our deadline.” She responded with a chuckle.

The orb's light faded to a glow. “What? The hell happened to make us behind schedule. Wait, did the selarin high nobility discover him?” Yez asked with concern.

“No.” Fel sighed, and resigned herself to explain the truth. “A rumor about him spread across town like wildfire, it was the kind that would draw little attention, but It concerned me enough to go looking for him. It was sometime in the afternoon when I found him, he was just outside one of the towns entrances, and was testing his magic. The entrance was secluded and unused, it was a smart idea considering he was flying around without a care in the world.”

The orb's light spiked so high that Fel nearly dropped it to cover her eyes. “WHA- YOU SAD HE DIDN'T KNOW MAGIC! How the hell was he flying a day after learning!?...” The orb dimmed. “Fel, what was your intent when you performed the ritual? This is beyond just someone who can help with our plans.” Yez probed suspiciously.

Fel shrunk in on herself, knowing that this was the crux of what she'd been wanting to avoid. “Well… I may have gotten frustrated that it failed so many times, so I may have tweaked it a bit…”

“Fel...” Yez warned.

“I may have let slip some raw desire in the intent….” Fel quickly blurted out.

The glow spiked. “Fel!”

“Yes I know that I could have gotten myself killed if I summoned a monster or something!... But It worked out…” Fel hastily defended.

The orb pulsed in brightness. “Worked out!? The man casually learned to fly in an afternoon! That draws way more attention than what we need right now!... Fucking hell Fel, I'm starting to worry about what ‘exactly’ you've brought onto this world.” Yez berated her.

Fel frowned, looking away from the orb. “Well he seems docile enough, and the rumors were…. Interesting….” She pouted a bit.

The orb dimmed once more as Yez relented. “Fine, I see why we're now behind, but don't push yourself into a coma, and just keep to the schedule now or else I'm pulling you out. You've already moved a third of what we need, so two teleport trips a day should be more than enough to get you sorted to start the next phase.”

Fel grimaced from both the pain and having to be told to 'follow the schedule', again. “Make that one and I think I'll be done in about a week… Ugh…. I feel like I ripped my bones out...”

“Been there before, I recommend just taking the day off to rest.” Yez told her empathetically.

“Sure, thanks for the advice. Talk to you tomorrow.” Fel said as her depleted mana made her want to fall back to sleep.

“Alright, oh by the way. What was that rumor?” Yez asked curiously.

Fel snorted as she recalled what people were saying. “He apparently has the stamina of a dragon.” She answered with a chuckle, and ended the connection when she heard laughter from the other side.

________________________________________________