Chapter 40 — Seen But Not Heard

Ria was in a better mood than she expected as she descended the stairs leading to Parthanex Tower’s second floor after having purchased one of Tallien’s fancy write-boards—a pale slate with a surface like gold-veined marble... or maybe granite? She almost chose the dark one with a stylus that drew with glowing silver lines, but something about the look of the gold attracted her interest more. Maybe it was due to her affinity?

Her good mood was surprising considering the night’s soul cultivation had tormented her with visions of her murdering each of her friends and teammates in various different ways. She still didn’t understand how using the incense to traumatize herself each night wasn’t turning her insane, or at least twisted like those souls depicted in the Mausoleum’s macabre decor, but she felt... fine? She tilted her head at the thought but didn’t feel the assessment was wrong.

Though the reason probably didn’t have anything to do with her soul cultivation—after a week of school and so many new experiences, some good and some bad, she was rather excited to be attending her first class on spellcraft. Of course, her feelings on starting her new class weren't all good; there had been fears to work through related to that as well.

Stopping in front of the classroom door, Ria took a deep breath. Chances were high that she would be the only first-year, maybe the only student not preparing for a ‘Master Mage’ certification—as completing and submitting an original spell of merit was required to become a Master Mage. Each day, she tried to be brave and to think of herself as an adult since coming to Crysellia, but dealing with older youths near (or in this case, not-so-near) her age was still intimidating.

Facing her new peers would be easier with a friend at her side, but she was alone. Not even Ranger was with her, having elected to stay behind in the lounge’s garden to meditate. There was nothing for it, and she couldn’t stand in the hall forever. Mustering her courage, she pushed the door open and entered the classroom.

Several sets of scholarly young-adult eyes looked up with interest before returning to their texts or notes or quiet conversations.

One of the boys, a blond with spiky hair who had been lounging in his chair looking bored, addressed her, “Looking for someone?”

Ria shook her head, but just in case she had the wrong room, she asked, “Is this Researcher Shadwich’s Basic Spellcraft class?”

“It is.” The boy leaned forward and gave her a nice smile. “Did you need to meet with Researcher Shadwich? You can sit here to wait for him if you like.” The personable if somewhat short fourth-year motioned to the empty desk next to him.

“Ah, I’m fine. Thanks,” Ria declined and nervously passed the offered desk on her way to a less conspicuous and unoccupied desk toward the back.

“Wow, that’s got to hurt. Shot down by a first-year, Yarin,” a brown-haired girl teased the blond boy.

Yarin shrugged and made a self-deprecating smile. “Was worth a try.”

Ria cringed at the exchange and made an apologetic gesture to Yarin when their eyes met. She took her claimed seat and quickly summoned her books and notebook for class so she could appear busy. The first several pages of her notebook were already filled with notes from her overenthusiastic class preparations.

A good portion of the notes were thanks to locking herself in her room to work on her studies until dinner. Like the prior day, Keira had been understandably exhausted and uninterested in conversation or much of anything after training with Zena, and lost in her own self-recriminating thoughts, Ria hadn’t been in the mood to socialize either. As it ended up, Arthur and Aeri had both been observant enough to read the mood, making dinner a somber enough affair to draw concerned gazes from the estate’s servants.

“Those books… are you actually in this class?”

Ria looked up to see one of her classmates, a nearby fourth-year girl in the Order of Healing Hands, was turned around and looking at her with a curious gaze.

The girl didn’t seem like she was being mean, so Ria gave her a slow nod and offered, “Thanks to a recommendation, I was able to sign up.”

“Wow. No wonder you received a sponsorship.”

“She’s really in our class as a first-year?” one of the other girls questioned, sounding incredulous. “Does she even have any certifications?”

“Is she some kind of prodigy?” one of the boys muttered.

Grimacing, Ria ducked her head, embarrassed at the attention she was receiving.

“Ria? You’re in this class?” came a familiar voice.

“Morning, Wendra!” Ria waved and greeted the approaching fifth-year girl with relief. If Wendra was here, she would have at least one friend in the class. But… “I thought you would have taken this class already?”

“What makes you think that?” Wendra asked with a humoring smile as she took the seat next to Ria.

Ria tilted her head. “Because it’s Basic Spellcraft, right?”

Snorts sounded from some of the other students. Wendra’s eyes crinkled as she covered her mouth and chuckled lightly. “Ah, Ria, Ria. Not just anyone can take this class, you know? Researcher Shadwich is one of the top spell crafters in all of Crysellia. He only teaches the best students with the most potential.”

“Even though you are with the Sages?” Ria asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I suppose he wouldn’t have refused,” Wendra admitted then touched her chin, as if deciding how to explain. “Let’s just say that as a member of House Astacio, my old-fashioned parents hired an excellent, if eccentric, tutor for my magical studies, and that I learned a fair amount of spellcraft before beginning my studies at the Grand Academy, and I’ve been broadening my knowledge in preparation to get the most out this class.”

Old-fashioned? “Did you also learn from one of Luventi’s books?” Ria blurted out, half-hoping.

Delighted laughter bubbled out of the older girl at Ria’s guess. “I did! He’s not as popular now, and it’s a rather different approach from how modern magic is taught.”

“It is!” Ria energetically agreed and couldn’t help asking Wendra what her first year at the Grand Academy was like.

While they were chatting, Shadwich entered the room looking a little winded. “Sorry I’m late, I’m in the middle of watching some sensitive projects-” The master mage’s gaze stopped on Ria. “Ah, Ria. Bring Ranger and come see me after classes on Fireday, okay?”

“Thank you, Researcher Shadwich,” Ria eagerly accepted. It likely had to do with the spiritual items needed to continue improving Ranger’s constitution.

“Think nothing of it!” he cheerfully replied and looked around the room at his other students, evaluating them one at a time. Satisfied, he nodded and cleared his throat. “Alright then, there’s no time to waste, so let us get started. As you all know this is an applied theory class, and you will each be expected to undertake projects to improve your skills at spellcraft and demonstrate your understanding of the theory.”

He motioned toward the back of the room where the wall was covered with enchanted cubbies and cabinets. “Toward that end, student vaults are available to store private and restricted research materials, and I have reserved a warded practice room in basement level 3 for this class to make use of. You will need to sign up for time slots. Members of the Sages of the Nine Circles get additional privileges to use the student labs and vaults on the upper floors.”

With a wave of a wand, Shadwich’s shaped energy drew a set of illustrations onto the classroom’s write-board. He also magicked several illusions of glyphs and spell structures around the room.

“And with all of that out of the way, let’s get into this week’s material…”

The lecture jumped right into key concepts of modern spellcraft starting with ‘standardized patterns for constraining energy flow and defining effects’ and quickly progressed to more advanced topics: how glyphs are limited representations of fundamental truths; methods to derive 3-dimensional glyphs from their higher concepts; how to simplify a glyph to two dimensions and the resulting impacts on meaning; advantages of 3D structures over 2D structures; proximity and its effects on required structure size, efficiency, and resulting energy flow. Each topic was accompanied by a brief introduction of the history and the mages involved in its research.

During the lecture, Researcher Shadwich was easily distracted into excited and lengthy tangents when asked theoretical questions, and Ria quickly learned from the older students' grumbling huffs and annoyed looks that she should keep her mouth shut until the scheduled material was covered, no matter how curious she was. She did write down her questions to ask about later though.

Incurring her older classmates’ ire hadn’t been without benefit, and Ria was excited to learn that sets of standardized interchangeable spell structures far more comprehensive than what she had worked on with Master Marlow already existed. Though less efficient than popular task-specialized spells (and thus viewed as inferior) these sets were still markedly more efficient than her two dimensional sets used for scrollmaking.

This was the approach that Master Marlow had been steering her toward at Lord Vorshan’s advising. When asked about the topic, Researcher Shadwich had eagerly given her the names of the two most prominent researchers in the field, each championing a competing standardization system, and after groans of annoyance and interruptions by the other students, he said he’d be happy to go over the advantages and disadvantages to their approaches and recommend further reading during the later session of the day’s class—which was allocated for getting started on their individual research projects.

Wendra gave Ria a hug at the end of the first session when they took a break and Shadwich had left to check on his experiments. “Don’t mind them. The others aren’t as far along as you are, Ria. They’re just jealous.”

A scoff came from an older boy in Silent Sky robes. The brown-haired girl next to him spoke up, “Talking as if we’re not sitting right here, Wendra?”

Wendra stuck out her tongue at the girl. “You all were being mean, and you know it.”

“A first-year should be content with getting a chance to sit in on an advanced class of this prestige. She should be quiet and not ask inane questions that interfere with the lesson,” a different fifth-year boy in Order of Celestial Knowledge robes stated flatly.

“Aw, come on, Jeston. She deserves every right to gain knowledge from Researcher Shadwich as any of us. And she wouldn’t be in this class if she hadn’t earned her way.” Wendra smirked as if having thought of a good idea. “Besides, I bet she’s already made several spells more impressive than your best.”

Jeston rolled his eyes. “Doubtful.”

“Oh, I’m curious to see this!” Yarin encouraged, throwing a leg over his chair and reseating facing them, his arms lazily draped over the chair’s backrest.

Wendra winked and motioned to encourage Ria.

Ria wasn’t sure how Wendra could be so confident but was thankful for the opportunity to prove herself.

She hesitated for a moment to decide which spell to showcase, but with the healer girl, Mina, watching with clear interest, Ria chose to use her divination-assisted healing spell. It really was the spell she was most proud of, even if the shadow magic she used in the duel against the Ravelle boy was more complex.

“Give me a moment,” Ria said and summoned her cleaning rag and a knife.

The knife drew a concerned expression from Wendra, but other than some raised eyebrows, cutting her finger didn’t get much of a reaction.

She shaped the spell, and the wound quickly healed as she activated the magic.

“A simple healing spell?” Jeston scoffed. “Are we supposed to be impressed?”

Ria shook her head. “It’s not a simple healing spell. It’s a spell that uses light magic to access the akashic memory and prioritizes reversing the worst injuries within a fixed radius.”

“Ria, can you shape the spell again?” Mina asked. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to try something to make the spell structure visible.”

Nodding, Ria carefully shaped the spell, holding it but not activating it, and watched fascinated as Mina used light magic to make the energy in the air glow.

“Wow,” Mina breathed out. “Some of these glyphs… divination? And active trigonometric targeting?”

Mina wasn’t the only of the students gawking at her spell, and Ria felt pride in her accomplishment swelling her chest and maybe warming her cheeks a bit.

“How do you know glyphs that aren’t in my dictionary?” Jeston blurted out. “I would doubt you designed this if not for the childishly simple and inefficient layout.”

“It’s flat because she’s a scrollmaker, Jeston,” Wendra pointed out with a chiding tone. “And the reason the glyphs aren’t in your dictionary should also be obvious. Either she derived them herself, or…”

“Or they are restricted!” he hissed out the realization. “There’s no way she was granted a license before even enrolling!”

“Of course, I had a license,” Ria huffed, showing her Enchanter’s Guild membership card as she reclaimed the spell’s energy. “I’m a full member of the Enchanter’s Guild, and I was issued a license to practice shamanic magic by the regional lord who sponsored me.”

“Shamanic magic?” Jeston almost squeaked. “What lord would risk giving such a license to someone so young?”

“Your turn, Jeston,” Wendra cut him off. “Let’s see yours.”

The boy turned with a stubborn set to his jaw. “I’m not the one who needs to prove myself.”

Yarin laughed. “Does yours even work yet?”

Jeston’s gaze snapped to Yarin before looking away, his face reddening.

“Better luck next time, Jeston,” one of the other boys mockingly consoled and a few of the girls chuckled.

Jeston was saved from further embarrassment by Shadwich entering the room. After giving the Celestial Knowledge boy a wry look, the researcher mage turned Ria’s direction and advised her, “Not all fourth and fifth-year students studying Spellcraft have restricted licenses, Ria. I can understand the desire to be competitive with your peers, but you should be more careful.”

Ria’s heart seized. He must have been watching from the doorway!

Had she messed up? He had said her spells were fine, though…

Was it because Mina made it visibly glow? Or because she let the others study it?

No, it was both, most likely. That was why she was supposed to obscure the glyph usage in her scrolls.

Mentally groaning at her carelessness, Ria grimaced and made an apologetic gesture. “It was my fault. Thank you, Researcher Shadwich. I’ll be more careful.”

Several of the students were watching with wide eyes, maybe expecting consequences, but Shadwich didn’t seem upset and simply nodded. “Now that you’ve all had a chance to let the information from your first session settle into your sponge-like brains, I’ll be going around the room to review each person’s short term project ideas to improve your skills and offer advice on your long-term project that you plan to submit to the Grand Library.”

A few nervous titters and groans sounded around the classroom, but the majority of her fellow students suddenly had serious expressions as if the first exam had arrived. Notebooks, reference texts, and glyph dictionaries rapidly appeared on desks with the exception of Yarin’s. The boy looked amused at his fellow classmates. He caught Ria looking his way and winked at her.

Did he not care about his studies?

Ria watched and listened as Shadwich began with a raven-haired boy in the front row. Judging by the details of the conversation, doing consultations with each of the students would take a while. She smiled. This was the perfect time to put her plan for tomorrow’s four-on-four matches into effect. Hulle had said she could use spells she learned in class, and spellcraft was one of her classes.

Her first task was to make efficient versions of her usual spells. She started with her stamina restoration spell that she normally cast unconstrained. Under modern theory, making it a touch and physical target constrained spell should significantly reduce energy waste, and defining the effects with glyphs would dramatically improve efficiency. The glyphs used in her stamina scrolls were natural candidates and would save her from needing to test the effect. Once she had the basic spell design worked out on her new write-board, she copied it into her notebook. Optimizing it for three dimensions could wait until Shadwich came by to help her.

The simple project was a good warm-up, and Ria was pleased with her choice to buy the write-board.

She glanced over at Wendra and received a friendly smile. Two reference books and a notebook were laying open on the fifth-year girl’s desk, but Ria suspected the older girl had been watching Ria work rather than working on her own project.

“Did you want some help?” Wendra asked.

Completing the spells before class ended would be easier if she had help, and working on spell designs together with Wendra might be fun. “Don’t you need to prepare your own project?”

Wendra shook her head. “This is something I’ve been working on for some years now, so it’s not as if a few minutes’ effort will change anything.”

Accepting Wendra’s help turned out to be the right choice as the fifth-year girl was able to quickly recommend glyphs and three-dimensional equivalents to the two-dimensional constructs she normally used.

By the time Shadwich stopped at her desk to consult about her class project, Ria had several new spells awaiting his approval.

“Oh-hoh. These are good practice exercises. Progressing nicely in difficulty, too. I see you’re adding geometric propagation to change the defined shape for your absorption and emission spell. Quite ambitious. You wouldn’t happen to be taking Dolerin’s class on barrier magic, would you?”

“I am, Researcher Shadwich. You can tell?”

“Hah! I knew it! The guy really likes creating arrays like this. The formations are strong but there are weaknesses. For example, if a node gets destabilized the result is often a cascading failure.” Researcher Shadwich gave a smirk. “Alright, form the spell matrix for each, and I’ll recommend some improvements.”

It didn’t take Shadwich long to point out small changes to her new spells, improving their efficiency over even Wendra’s suggestions until each had his grudging approval as good enough.

“So, have you thought up a long-term project?” he finally asked.

Ria nodded. Having discovered her affinity, she knew what she wanted to do. “I want to create customized Orichalcum magic.”

Scoffs, snorts, belittling smiles, and eye rolls abounded among her nosy classmates.

Shadwich’s eyebrows nearly disappeared into his scalp before a hearty chuckle rumbled out of his hefty frame and turned into full belly laughs. He excitedly slapped her on the back, nearly knocking her from her chair. “Of course! Of course! I should have expected as much! Let’s see what you’ve got done already. Least I can do is give some suggestions.”

“Um… I don’t know the first thing about metal magic,” Ria admitted with a slight cringe. “Hulle told me to consult with Wendra…”

Her admission resulted in snickers from her detractors, but Shadwich’s eyes only gained in intensity. “Oh-hoh! So, this is Hulle’s idea, is it? I’m going to have to raise my expectations then!”

Ack! That couldn’t be good!

“You’ll need to credit young Wendra here for her work and expertise, and it wouldn’t be fair if she didn’t get class credit for her efforts—particularly if it’s taking away from time spent on her own projects.” Shadwich turned to Wendra who had a wry smile but didn’t seem unwilling. “What do you say, Wendy-girl, are you fine with working on a joint project with Ria?”

“I don’t mind, as long as Ria helps me with my own projects in exchange,” Wendra countered, resulting in more eye rolls and mutters of Sage Order members and sponsorship students getting special treatment.

Wendra’s project was a set of alteration spells used for embedding magically conductive metals within other materials. Shadwich was impressed, and after suggesting the names of a few contemporary enchanters who had done similar research, he moved on to help another student.

Ria’s voiced surprise at finding out that Wendra was also an enchanter drew a sly smile from the girl in response. “Hulle wants me to teach you metal magic, huh?”

“Yes?” Something about the way Wendra asked caused Ria to wonder if she had presumed too much. “Is that okay?”

Wendra rolled her eyes. “Surely, Hulle knows that my silver manipulation magic makes use of special glyphs that House Astacio considers a closely guarded secret.”

“Ah-!” That meant Hulle was being a jerk!

Wendra laughed. “Scoot your chair over here.”

When Ria did as asked, the older girl gave Ria another hug and ruffled her hair.

“This is Welkin’s last chance at the Grand Games as a student, so I’ll teach the spells to you, but you can’t include the special silver glyphs in the spell you submit to the Grand Library’s archives, okay?”

Ria blinked and quickly nodded.

“Good. Now, let me think a minute about how best to approach this.” After rubbing her chin and pondering for a while, Wendra started drawing diagrams and jotting notes on paper. “I think easiest would be to have you learn the Silver Telekinesis and Silver Manipulation spells so you can get a feel for what ‘metal magic’ is like, then we’ll try replacing the glyph for ‘silver’ with the one for ‘orichalcum’ once we can look it up.”

“I’ve never used the silver energy transformation before…” Ria worried.

Wendra grinned and made a metal wand and spirit token appear, pushing them over toward Ria. “I expected as much, these will help make it easier. I’ll also cast the spells so you can experience the energy transformation and become familiar with the needed structures and glyphs.”

“Okay.” That had Ria’s attention, and she gratefully took hold of the two items.

“Now each metal has its own properties…” Wendra began.

Thankful and excited for the opportunity to learn secret magic that might readily be converted to Orichalcum magic, Ria listened intently to Wendra’s lecture and made liberal use of her Sensing Sphere spell in her efforts to learn the new spell structures and glyphs as thoroughly as possible.