“Th-the Heroes are coming to the encampment?!” Alex stammered; images of Saints and priests ran through his head accompanied by sounds of rattling chains.

“Indeed.” Baelin read the rest of the note. “It would seem that the church and king have arranged for them to greet us in prelude to eventual partnership. In some ways, that seems reasonable: we will be purchasing dungeon core samples from them, after all. However, Professor Jules suspects their visit might be more along the lines of an inspection, though. I’m inclined to agree with her.”

Alex felt a chill wash over him. “What about the Saint? Are they coming too?”

“Rest easy, my young friend, as per the explicit agreement between Thameland and Generasi, no priests—not even their Saint—will be entering Greymoor. The entourage of knights and priests who accompany the Heroes will instead be supporting the Saint as he visits several garrisons where soldiers require healing of both physical injury, and morale.”

“Oh, thank the Traveller.” Alex loudly exhaled. “I think I aged about ten years.”

“No need to fear.” Baelin folded the note and snapped his fingers; Alex felt a surge of teleportation magic, then the message was gone. The construct fluttered in mid-air then flew away the way it came—the pane of glass reappeared in its frame. “Even if Thameland decided to violate our agreement—a costly mistake—you would simply have to remain in Generasi until we ejected their priests, which would take under ten minutes if I have anything to say about it. It is if you are discovered without warning that things would get…complicated.”

“Yeah, I’d really like to avoid that,” Alex said.

“Do so, especially when you begin raiding dungeons outside of Greymoor. At that point, you must not only be absolutely aware of your surroundings at all times, but also who could be of the priesthood.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that top of mind,” the young wizard said, relief washing through him. “I’m just glad they won’t be in Greymoor when we get back there…and hopefully, they’ll never show up without warning.”

“They would regret that.”

“Yeah, I believe you. Still, it makes things a lot easier. Remember, I met Cedric—the Chosen—when we were leaving Thameland and he saw me use spellcraft then, so he shouldn’t put together that I’m the Fool.”

“Ah yes, Thameish biases against the Fool being able to use spellcraft should bar him from leaping to any…unfortunate conclusions,” Baelin agreed. “But remember, you were born the day the others were selected, and if that is shared, then I guarantee someone will at least pose the question. Even if it is later dismissed, the idea would still have been placed in curious minds. And, as the saying goes, one cannot unring a bell. At all costs, you do not wish for that to happen, Alex: remember to act with utmost caution, and be sure to coach whoever knows your secret.”

“Yeah, I got it,” Alex said. “I know none of my cabal’s going to let it slip. But, if it does come out, I want to be near that teleportation circle and out of Thameland lightning fast.”

“Mmm,” Baelin mused. “But even that would not be a permanent solution. Understand, Alex, that I am no apologist for any deity: if I have my way then I would see that you are shielded from Uldar’s church if you are discovered.” He sighed, almost wistfully. “But the world is smaller now. Politics get stickier with each passing year, and the power of wizards, priests and rulers less monopolised. And I also have others who rely on me: gone are the days when—if a realm angered me—I could just burst into a castle, take king or queen hostage, and demand-”

He froze as Alex stared at him with widening eyes.

Baelin cleared his throat. “Er, nevermind all that. In essence, what I’m saying is that certain things are out of my hands. At the end of it all, you are a citizen of Thameland, not Generasi, and the city council has little reason to risk international animosity by actively shielding you—even if they could be persuaded to see you as a refugee from persecution. For the moment, I doubt they would attempt to detain you for Thameland however, but I do not expect they would step in if Thameish agents simply took you from Greymoor one night.”

“Right. So basically, if I get discovered, I’m on my own,” Alex spelled out what Baelin was implying. “I get it. There’s not enough reason to risk an incident by protecting me…but if the city council did have a reason, then…”

Baelin gave Alex a pleased look. “Indeed, if you became someone irreplaceable to Generasi, then the reward for keeping you here would far outweigh the risks of denying you to a foreign kingdom. Very good, Alex. That is the way a Proper Wizard thinks.”

“Well, that or kidnapping kings or queens.” Alex said matter-of-factly.

Baelin cleared his throat again. For the first time the chancellor actually looked slightly embarrassed. “Yes, well…in any case, I do believe you were on the cusp of coming to a conclusion as to why you learned this summoning spell so quickly. So, let us not be cliches who let an interruption bar you from revelation.”

“Yeah, right…” Alex said. “Well, you were talking about discoveries that happen because of need. There’s a problem so someone discovers a way to solve it. A different way. So, I thought about what I do differently from most wizards I know—maybe I’m wrong here—but I seem to pay a lot more attention to a magic circuit’s construction than other wizards do.”

He took out some of his notebooks and showed Baelin diagrams he’d made as learning aids for himself: the drawings broke down magic circuits of different spells into their functional components. He’d cross-referenced those components with other magic circuits that served similar functions.

Among the diagrams were special notes on the sections of his summoning spells responsible for reaching other planes.

“And I take it that the notes your young friends take do not focus on such details of magic circuitry?” Baelin asked.

“No, not so much,” Alex said. “Like, they do take notes on them, but they’re not this detailed. They don’t need to be for them to learn new spells. Now, Isolde’s notes do come close, and Thundar took some careful notes on the exact structure of Disguise Self when he wanted to modify it for me, but those are exceptions. Like I said, they don’t have to go into as much detail to learn a spell as I do.”

He paused. “You know…back when I was experimenting with the Mark, I discovered that it helped me train the efficiency of my breathing and running. Most folks know how to breathe and run, but by focusing on the details—which most people don’t even consider—the Mark showed me how to breathe and run more efficiently.”

“You’re nearly there,” Baelin said.

“So…” Alex continued. “The Mark obstructs my thoughts when I’m learning and casting spells, so I need to pay a lot more attention to every single detail of every spell I learn. That’s the ‘necessity’ part you were talking about: the part that creates discoveries. The more comfortable I am with every detail of my spells, the higher my chances are of casting them without a disaster happening. Most wizards don’t have to do that, so I’ve got a necessity that others don’t.”

“Keep going.”

“And…” Alex kept thinking his way through. “Because I have to focus on details since it’s so hard for me to learn new spells, I’ve modified a bunch of the ones I’ve already learned. Like forceball: I made it stronger by pouring more mana into it. I’m guessing most wizards don’t bother with that either?”

“They do not,” Baelin said. “Time and energy spent modifying a spell like forceball can be more efficiently spent learning a more powerful spell that accomplishes the same purpose, but to greater effect once your skill and mana have both grown enough to master it. Your modifications to forceball are impressive in a sense, but do not represent an improvement or a revolutionary change to wizardry. You did make forceball better in every way: but to strengthen it, you have to use more mana when casting the spell. For most wizards, such a use of extra mana would be considered a waste; they could instead channel that mana into a more powerful, effective spell. That’s the case for most wizards.”

“But not for me,” Alex said. “You know, back in first year Professor Jules said that alchemy wasn’t as popular as other disciplines of wizardry because other disciplines accomplish what alchemy can without all the expensive ingredients, equipment and careful training you need to be an alchemist. Just an example off the top of my head, it’s a lot easier and more efficient to learn spells of body enhancement rather than bothering to make potions of body enhancement.”

“And wizards value power and efficiency,” Baelin agreed.

“But I can’t take the easy way, so I had to come up with all these strategies and techniques to help me learn and cast spells while contending with the Mark. So…then I get into summoning magic, which this power helps me out with. Suddenly, a big part of the magic circuit’s taken care of for me, which means I don’t have to struggle with as much of the spell array as I normally would. So then—when I apply all the strategies I had to come up with—I end up learning the spell faster than someone who didn’t have to bother with learning all the nitty gritty details of magic circuits and spell arrays!”

A grin broke out on Baelin’s goat-like face. “And this is why I enjoy having you as a student, Alex. And yes, that is what my theory is. You have had to focus so much of your efforts on how to learn spellcraft in the face of adversity, that you are far more equipped for the learning process than the average wizard. A good example…hmmm…have you ever met someone who is blind, Alex?”

The young man shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

“I have many times,” Baelin said. “We humanoids are visual creatures: normally we process the world through our eyes. Our ears, nose, taste and sense of touch are all secondary to the information that our eyes grant us. If say Thundar were to describe Sir Sean Swift to you, he could likely speak of his height, the thinness of his build, the paleness of his skin, and the grey in his hair. If he did not mention how the man sounded, then you might not think anything of it, despite the fact that he left out an entire sense in describing him. If he described the man’s scent, you might think your friend a little strange for noticing such things…unless of course Sir Swift had a strong aversion to bathing.”

“Well, Thundar’s got a really sharp nose.” Alex tapped the side of his nose. “Because he’s a minotaur. Now if Isolde started telling me how Sir Swift smelled, then I might start asking questions. But…I think I get what you’re saying. We focus so much on sight…but what happens when we have to rely entirely on another sense to get most of our information about the world?”

“The answer is that you pay more attention to that sense,” Baelin said. “Without sight to distract one from sound, all of one’s attention is focused upon what they hear. Aspects of voice, melody, and other bits of sound suddenly become far more obvious when one mostly has information of that nature to sift through. It is the same with you, you pay attention to aspects of spellcraft that most do not focus on because they do not have to.”

“Whereas without the Mark, all that time I spent learning how to learn, would’ve probably been spent memorising more spells,” Alex said. “And on the other hand, the Mark cuts way down on the time I need to learn literally anything else…”

“…and thus you have the time to focus on aspects of spellcraft that most other wizards do not. Thus, you have developed a skill and method of learning spells that—while labour intensive at first—lets you efficiently learn magic once you have mastered it.”

“And, and!” Alex said, growing more excited. “The more control I gave over to the power when I was casting Summon Small Water Elemental, the more I stopped overcompensating when I didn’t need to! ‘Cuz I exert too much control in order to counteract the Mark.”

“Indeed. So, in situations where the Mark is not a factor, you can release some control, thus removing wasted effort and upping your efficiency,” Baelin finished. “It is not simply the power that helped you learn this spell so quickly, Alex. It is the combination of this power’s aid, your hard work, and attention to aspects of spellcraft most take for granted, that afforded this breakthrough. You have a very interesting path ahead of you.”

“Yeah…” Alex said. “Maybe I could…write a paper about this learning method or something. It could help other wizards.”

“It could…or it might not. Part of what makes it successful for you is the fact that you have developed a sensitivity to magic circuitry, much in the way a trained artist would notice more details about a painting than one who is not an artist. Think of it this way, if someone who is blind tells you all about the rich world of sound…”

He paused.

“I wouldn’t get it,” Alex said. “I could imagine it and I might pay more attention to my hearing for a while, but I’d probably go back to relying on my eyes in the end.”

“Precisely.” The chancellor took one of Alex’s notebooks and pointed to a detailed diagram of a magic circuit. “Most wizards would not notice the detail that you were forced to consider and memorise. I do believe that aspects of your learning methodology would be helpful to wizards in general, but training that sensitivity is key. It likely would not be easy without necessity forcing one to do so. Still, with some changes for generalizability, I could see aspects of your method being useful to others…but what I am more interested in is what would happen if we took your weights off.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

The chancellor looked at the young man’s shoulder, his eyes seeming to burrow through the shirt to fall directly onto the Mark. “You have been running a race with a heap of iron tied to your waist. You have been weighted down, and that is slowing you. Some athletes do train in such a fashion: tying great burdens to themselves and sprinting with the weight attached to their bodies. But when they remove the burden, they find—that after a period of adjustment—they run far quicker than they had before such training. And with more stamina.”

He stroked his beard-braids. “I cannot help but wonder what your speed with learning and casting spells might look like should the burden of interference ever be removed. I do believe it would be extraordinary.”

Alex paused, imagining that for a moment. He thought about applying everything he knew about magic circuitry and efficient spellcasting without interference. No bombardment of failures. No images slamming into his mind, forcing him to use every meditation technique he could to slip through the mental distortions.

Nothing but him, the world, and his spells.

He could only imagine how quick he might’ve been at casting magic.

“That would be something,” Alex said wistfully.

Baelin gave him a look.

“I mean, that will be something,” he corrected.

“There. Now, that was spoken like a Proper Wizard.” The chancellor handed him back his notebook. “We might not be able to remove—or better—modify the Mark, but I have learned throughout my life that most problems are not insurmountable if one is given enough time, resources and experience. We shall crack it. I am sure of that. Perhaps we are simply missing a part of the puzzle for now. Of course-”

He gave Alex a serious look. “-that will only apply if you are not discovered or taken by your country folk. If that comes to pass, then our time working on this problem will be gone. Have a care when the Heroes come, and in general. The more I consider the Mark, the dungeon cores and your Ravener, the more I suspect that things are hidden from our gaze. We might not be aware of all the players in this game. Or all the dangers that lurk in shadow.”