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Leo

Yesterday pretty much went more or less how Leo expected. He replaced the inn's showers, adding a more precise temperature control, and gave Kesl a bunch of newly enchanted kitchen items, but he had to add many more safety features after an incident in which the toaster spewed fire out of it when the launching mechanism for the toast somehow fucked up. The incident had no real explanation and just repeated itself, which reminded him of having to deal with a bug in a coding engine. The prospect that the runes could have little bugged interactions like that, both fascinated Leo and utterly terrified him at the same time.

'God help me if I somehow create a stack overflow…' Leo thought as he sat on the field just outside the gate, while hunched over his iron pipe.

Since Leo’s schedule was clear for the day, he decided to do most of it working on the runic system for the magic gun. He chose to conduct his experiments at the field, which had just become the de facto testing site until his home was built. Unfortunately, he hit a few ‘very’ irritating roadblocks when trying to get the gun to work smoothly.

Allis let out a sigh as she slithered around Leo. "So are you going to show me this spell or not, because you've been enchanting that thing for, what, over an hour now?" She asked with a very bored tone.

Leo scowled at the pipe, very much upset with how his progress on a weapon prototype was going. "Yeah, so much for just five runes…." He grumbled irritably.

When Leo tried to simply put the formula for his bullet spell with a trigger onto the pipe, it just yanked itself from his hand. So he had to create an entire system to only affect what was put into it, but then a rock wedged itself inside. So he made the surface frictionless, which should also help with any lost kinetic energy, but it instead prompted him to yell a bunch of expletives when the pipe slipped out of his hands and slid away from him. After solving that problem, he realized the pipe was a bit unruly to aim with, so he attempted to use gravity runes on it. The result was that the pipe flung itself into the sky, but luckily he put a timer on deactivating the rune just in case. So now he was attempting to figure out a method of lessening the gravity runes effect.

Leo narrowed his eyes at the pipe as he picked it back up before becoming deep in thought. 'The rune is pushing a set and constant amount of mana against gravity, so…. Damn it, I need to know what mana is if I ever want to do anything with it… I could attempt to manipulate the wave itself, but fuck me if that's not asking for trouble. Being able to feel the push and pull of mana on gravity is one thing, leaving it up to hard set triggers with no idea how the runes would interact… Yeah, no. I don't feel like accidentally creating a black hole if runes can be bugged.’

Leo let out an audible ‘Tsk’ as he removed all of the runes from the pipe. "I wanted to show you it with an enchanted item, but it seems that isn't happening today." He remarked a little dejectedly, before he carelessly flung the pipe over his shoulder.

Allis crossed her arms and looked a little smug. "I told you that you'd be setting yourself up for failure." She remarked pointedly, but apologized for the slip up in attitude.

Leo smirked, happy that she was at least making progress. "You can fail a hundred thousand times, but you only need to succeed once." He reiterated the random quote that he possibly heard somewhere online.

Allis rolled her eyes. "If it doesn't kill you."

Leo was about to retort, but remembered most of the discoveries made by humanity were near fatal. "You have no idea... Anyway, I'd like you to construct a mana shield in front of that tree, a two foot square should suffice. Make it as dense and thick as you can, and hold off your mana from repairing it, because I want to show you the scale of damage I'm going to be working with."

Leo floated a rock the size of a baseball about three feet in the air, then positioned himself an Allis at the edge of her ability to maintain the mana shield. He also created a large colorless mana shield wall of his own, to protect the both of them from what was inevitably about to happen.

Allis looked at Leo incredulously. "Is all this really necessary? It's just a rock…"

Leo simply smiled and gestured for Allis to pay attention. After a dramatic countdown from ten, there was a sound shattering crack followed by a short whistle and then the sound of multiple instant thuds.

Even though Leo held life sacred, he couldn't help but smile a smile that only a connoisseur of the most overly destructive weapons could appreciate.

The devastation in front of him was more or less what he assumed a baseball going Mach 'fuck you' at close to point blank would do to a tree line. Even though it floated about three feet in the air, there was a two foot indentation from the shockwave in which all the surrounding grass in a ten foot radius practically vanished. A line started to cone inward from the point of departure that stretched into the tree line, being visible by the kicked up dirt, assumedly from the pressure force that trailed around the projectile.

And while it's initial start was something to behold, it was completely overshadowed by the dozens of knocked down trees that stretched into the forest. Allis's mana shield was just gone, and the tree behind it had fallen over, as it could no longer support itself with the nearly two foot hole that was made by the rock. The scene behind the first tree was more or less the same, only that the holes started decreasing in size until the rock seemed to embed itself into the base of it's last victim, which tilted the tree slightly forward.

‘Safe to say I have mastered ‘destruction one hundred’ considering what else I could do, but this is more like five tops.’ Leo casually thought to himself while turning to Allis, who wore an expression that made the word 'shock' seem tame.

Leo spoke after a few minutes of silence that stretched on into just being awkward. “Uh, Allis? You ok there?” He asked a bit hesitantly.

Allis tilted her head slightly toward Leo, but couldn't take her eyes off the destruction. “This...This is how you can kill a dragon….” She remarked in awe.

“Well, it's one of my least destructive methods, but yes.”

Allis’s eyes grew wide as they darted to regard Leo directly. “LEAST!? That makes our siege spells look like a fucking joke, and your telling me that's not even the worst you could do!? I mean arch mages could use Terra magic to move mountains, but that takes literal years! Wait, how much mana did that even cost you?!”

Leo played with the end of his scarf, becoming a bit sheepish at the question. “Ehhh… If I'm using the sandwich analogy, then I'd say a nibble.”

Allis’s jaw dropped. “A nibble!? How did you maintain that speed and power?!” She demanded.

Leo was about to explain it, but paused and realized that may not be the best idea. “Allis, let's just say that I tell you. Do you really want to know how to wield that kind of power? And if so, are you yourself comfortable with sharing that kind of power?”

Allis looked between Leo and the tree line. “Honestly? Yes to the first and no to the second, so please don't tell me.”

Leo gave Allis a pat on the back. “Proud of you for your honesty, as well as the rejection.” He commended with genuine pride, but was more than likely not going to tell her anyway, because he didn't quite trust her much less anyone else with that kind of power, even himself.

A concerned expression appeared on Allis’s face before she turned to Leo with a horrified look. “So wait, you're going to make that metal pipe, do that?!”

Leo’s brow arched as he was a bit taken aback by the question. “Oh hell no! But the speed will be close to ten to fifteen times faster than an arrow, so it will send a small dense object that's about the size of a pebble through damn near anyone. And from ‘very’ far away mind you.”

Allis was visibly speechless as her head tilted around in thought. “You… That…. Does your world still even use melee weapons?”

“Nope. Well, combat knives, but we mostly use semi mechanical weapons that can pretty much do what I just did to varying degrees.” Leo answered candidly.

Allis looked back to the tree line. “That's some terrifying power…” She remarked nervously, and Leo furrowed his brow while holding back a wince.

‘Best not tell her about nukes then….’

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Glia

Glia was sitting back at the gate with Elaria, while Allis and Leo experimented with magic in the distance. As they waited for them to finish, Elaria told Glia what happened with Leo at the merchant's guild. Elaria was a bit confused at Glia’s priorities, since Glia was more surprised by the fact that she could now ask Leo for a job so soon, rather than the trade deal itself.

Elaria gave Glia a critical look. “Seriously, that's what you're more surprised about….” She remarked with a judgmental tone.

Glia rolled her eyes, and was not sure what was supposed to be so shocking about it. “Elaria, he's an arch mage. I may not believe all the rumors, but becoming a lord would probably be at the bottom of what he should be able to do. Sure I'm a little amazed that it happened so soon, but it ‘was’ going to happen. I’m also definitely not surprised that he made that much gold, since he was trading ‘that’ item. Also, could you maybe put in a good word for me, because I really hate this posting.” She ended hopefully, but truthfully didn't actually ‘hate’ her position as much as would just like a quick pay raise for doing essentially the same thing.

Elaria turned to look at Leo in the distance as she smiled warmly. “No need, knowing him he’ll definitely say yes if you ask.”

Glia raised a questioning eyebrow and was about to say something to Elaria, but her words caught in her throat at the sight of her. Elaria was looking toward Leo across the field with a genuinely warm expression, as her eyes shone a certain brightness that paired perfectly with her smile. Glia had never seen Elaria look like that before, and the sight of it pulled on her heart.

When Glia first met her in basic training, Elaria was very distant and seemed almost drained of the will to live. Glia wasn't ignorant of all the fucked up shit that happens in the world, but she’d be damned if it stopped her from enjoying life. So seeing someone like Elaria act nearly robotic with people while completely isolating herself, really got under her scales.

So Glia did what any impulsively blunt extrovert does, crash into her life with complete disregard for social etiquette, and it worked out for the most part. Glia showed her that life could be fun and enjoyable, as she dragged her to parties and nearby festivals. She also showed her that skirting some rules didn't mean a death sentence, and could lead to some new and exciting moments. And as time went on, Glia got to see her new best friend start to open up, relax, and enjoy living.

But Even though Glia introduced Elaria to many physical pleasures, she never once figured out how to go about showing her how to be more emotionally involved. So at some point Glia felt like she hit a wall with her, because she could never seem to get Elaria to dig any deeper than just below the surface. It was like something special was missing, a connection that didn't seem to quite reach, and every time Glia noticed this, she somehow felt like she failed her. One of the only regrets she's carried since befriending her was that she gave up trying to help, and it has been the one nagging guilt that weighed heavily on her conscience.

Looking at Elaria at this very moment though, seeing the way she watched Leo out in the field, Glia could definitely tell that she went far deeper than she’d ever been.

Glia was at a loss for words by the sight, and she quickly turned her head away from Elaria when she started to tear up, but Elaria seemed to take notice. “Glia, what's wrong?” She asked with a tinge of genuine concern, and Glia couldn't help but glance back to her, because she seemed genuinely concerned and a bit confused at the sudden show of emotions.

Glia smiled a bit and let out a half hearted laugh. “It's nothing Elaria, just remembered….. Something.”

Elaria's face fell deeper into concern as she continued to stare at Glia, but then it was replaced by a hard look of determination as she moved over to her, pulling her into a close hug. It took a moment for Glia to process what Elaria was doing, but then she started to cry happily into her shoulder.

Elaria tightened her embrace. “You tried to show me, didn't you?...” She asked softly.

Glia sobbed into Elaria's shoulder. “I'm so sorry for giving up. I just didn't know what to do… How to show someone… How to show you...”

Elaria balled the back of Glia’s clothes. “You shouldn't fee........” She trailed off for a few moments before continuing. “I forgive you Glia, and thank you for getting me as far as you could. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you.” She finished, and Glia could hear her start to weep.

Glia felt a small guilty weight vanish as she continued to hold on to Elaria, her one long regret finally resolved.

‘Thank you Leo.’

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