Jennifer flipped through a thick leatherbound, studying the chronomancy spell matrices it contained. It had been almost a couple of days since she’d started her training with Viel, and Jennifer frequented the guild library during the period.

She spent her time after training studying glass magic, and more importantly, her Mark. Jennifer had poked and prodded at her ability, its description, and anything that she could find that may give her more information about her Mark, but so far, she’d found little. The search had eventually turned outwards, for time magic and related fields. Today, she would start her magic training with Nathaniel, and she wanted to spend the time beforehand in the library. While there were hypotheses and postulates, she’d found no chronomancy spells that she could use. After a few minutes of silent reading, Jennifer sighed, placing the book amongst the dozen books that came before it.

“Why’s there no records on chronomancy?” Jennifer muttered out loud as she looked at the stack of books in disappointment. Amongst the useless time magic books were books about glass magic.

The study of glass magic, or Hyalomancy as she’d come to learn, had shown her some extremely interesting facts and tidbits. For example, the existence of soul glass; it was one of the best methods to capture and store a soul in, used prominently in hybrid golems of the extremely forbidden kind. It was a rare affinity type, with each manifestation experiencing many variations.

Some of which come from sand magic. Perhaps the Mark of Drought had something to do with the awakening of my affinity.

The idea that the man who’d killed her, and attacked her city may have left a permanent mark on her magic and soul left Jennifer conflicted.

Jennifer moved on from the thought, recalling what she’d read up on glass magic. So far, the details mentioned two critical branches of [Glass Mages]: creation and alteration mages.

Creation mages were capable of creating glass and controlling them but they were restricted to the glass they formed. Alteration mages relied on existing glass around them but had a lot more versatility in what they could control and could rely on their environments. She had assumed she had been a creation mage, as she could freely form glass shards, but a few tests had shown she possessed both abilities, with creation dominating.

She sorted the books next to her and started returning them to their shelves. The library on this upper section was usually empty, with magical wards and such protecting the books inside.

There was likely someone in charge of the library as well, or perhaps it was purely spells and wards that kept the books safe. Jennifer didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to complain. She found this the place she frequented the most within the guild. A mostly empty space to herself, surrounded by hundreds of books on magic to read? She couldn’t have dreamt of a better place to be in all the time.

With the last of the books sorted and placed into their respective shelves, Jennifer quickly headed out of the library. The doors opened on their own before her and closed as she walked out. The library was adjacent to where the [Mages] remained in the guild, and as such, Jennifer idly glanced at the people wearing the typical mage robes.

What surprised her the most, were the number of non-human mages walking around. Plenty of harpies, lizardfolks, some dwarfs and more than a few of elven blood walked around. Lienmont saw its fair share of non-humans within the city itself, but it was primarily human. Seeing the diversity among the mages surprised Jennifer.

She glanced around the guild, having mostly gotten used to being in the premises as she walked back to the training facility. It was about time for her training with Nathaniel to begin. Jennifer walked into the training hall, past the wards present on its chamber doors as she entered. The sight within made her freeze in her steps.

“Welcome! Don’t mind the constructs, they’re harmless,” Nathaniel said, his hands gesturing slightly as humanoid golems of earth rose from the ground, forming a little platoon. One of them even wore a little mud crown.

Nathaniel caught her look, smiling. “Ah, that one. That’s Jack. He sits around and watches everyone else train. Say hello Jack,” Nathaniel said. The golem- Jack - waved at her.

Jennifer stared at Nathaniel’s grinning face before she stepped inside and headed towards one of the golems. “What are these?”

“Mud golems. Or earth golems, more accurately, but not quite. They’re a simplified earth construct that I’ve made to run autonomously based on a pre-inscribed spell matrix worked upon them. In essence, these will be your training partners and how I’ll be testing your capabilities,” Nathaniel said, turning towards her with a wide smile.

Jennifer eyed the five golems standing around her. Their heads only had crudely carve-in eyes which gave them an odd, creepy look. Little crystals of blue sat in their chests, likely the mana core used to power them. They stared at her silently. She turned towards Nathaniel, a lot more hesitant about this whole thing than before.

“Let’s start then. I doubt you need to be told of the basic principles, but just for formality’s sake, do you mind showing me your manifestation and spell shaping exercises?”

Nodding, Jennifer extended her hand as a ball of light appeared over her palm. She swiftly altered the color of the light. Then without any prompt from Nathaniel Jennifer changed the spherical light source into a floating leaf of light. She held the leaf afloat, struggling to hold onto the much more complicated interaction with her spell matrix.

“Not bad, better than average actually,” Nathaniel replied, and Jennifer felt a slight hint of disappointment. She wasn’t arrogant enough to think she was amazing at her spell shaping and manipulation but it was a field she took pride in. Being called merely better than average stung.

“Alright, let’s move on to something-”

“Actually,” Jennifer interrupted. “I have one more thing to show.” She extended her hand once more, forming a simple light ball, but instead of simply converting the spell, she split it apart. A single light turned to two, and then four, and soon, a swarm of floating light dust particles shimmered above her hand. Jennifer held onto the spell matrix, focusing on the chained spell before she shifted each singular mote of light into a glowing leaf.

Golden sparkling leaves swirled around Jennifer’s body in a beautiful display of light magic. She turned towards Nathaniel expectantly.

A frown covered Nathaniel’s face, his smile nowhere to be seen. “Make it change colors. Each leaf should be a different one.”

Jennifer stared in confusion for a moment, before obeying. She frowned, now pushing the limits of her mental capacity as she focused on each individual leaf, changing the color of the light as she floated them all atop her hand.

“Make the leaves flutter as if they were real,” Nathaniel asked, his voice even.

Jennifer felt her frustration mounting. She tried to manipulate the leaves but the spell matrix fell apart, fading into motes of mana. When she looked at Nathaniel, he was contemplative.

“You’re good, better than most first years. In fact, I’d put you closer to a second year in terms of pure shaping and manifestation skills,” Nathaniel said, his smile returning but Jennifer couldn’t help but feel as if it was forced, as if he’d been expecting something more.

“Can you show me? The leaves?” she asked, looking at the mage.

Nathaniel looked at her silently for a moment and then summoned a light ball. The ball of light scattered into fluttering leaves that floated all around the mage. The leaves flew towards Jennifer, shifting from red and yellow and blue and so many more as they twirled and fluttered in invisible wind.

She stared in awe, reaching out to touch the leaf. It dissipated into motes of light at her touch. For a moment, she’d forgotten they were not real. With a sudden snap, the spell blinked out of existence.

“Let’s move on to the training now, shall we?” Nathaniel said.

Jennifer nodded, yet her mind kept returning to the display. It had been executed perfectly, with no flaw or disarray, without even a gesture to help with casting. How many years would it take her to get that good? How long would she have to practice to execute something like that so flawlessly?

She thought about her Mark and the number of integrity. She couldn’t be sure, but if the Mark worked like she thought it did? In the impossible scenario that her thoughts had been right? Then, she had ten years to catch up to the man in front of her.

“I think I have a basic grasp of your abilities,” Nathaniel said, and Jennifer brought her attention back to the mage. “You seem to have a preference for wind based abilities from what I can see. Interesting, and not a bad combination with glass affinity all things considered.”

Jennifer gawked at him. Appraisal spell of some sort, has to be.

“Very well. I have a question for you Jennifer, do you know what your biggest weakness is right now?”

Jennifer gave the question some thought before responding. “I don’t have nearly enough attack spells. I don’t have a [Mage] class, so I lack combat skills, and I can only use spells up to Tier 2.”

Nathaniel nodded. “Partially correct. The [Mage] class would certainly lend itself to combat, I agree and if you wish, we can work towards getting you a [Mage] base class evolution, seeing how you’re close to level 20, however. The problem isn’t just your lack of spells, it’s your mana pool, or to be precise, the lack thereof.”

Jennifer frowned at the man. Her mana sensitivity was quite high due to her enchanting work, but the size of her mana pool wasn’t something she could control.

“I can tell what you’re thinking. Yes, normally, there’s no real way to increase your mana outside of plain old practice, and leveling till you either get a skill for it or naturally increase your mana pool,” Nathaniel smirked. “Thankfully for you, we have access to a faster option.”

With a flicker of mana, a diamond shaped and carved glass vial filled with a deep purple liquid appeared in Nathaniel’s hand. “This is a potion of Greater Mana Recovery. It cannot increase your mana pool, but it will greatly help with the process. Take a seat.”

Jennifer stared at the vial. She didn’t know how expensive that vial was, and she was afraid of the answer if she asked. She looked around her, before shrugging as she sat down on the floor.

“What I’m going to be teaching you is a technique I developed on my own. It’s a mana circulation method, and a spell matrix chain. Normally, each incantation invoked needs to be done separately, one at a time. But with this, you’ll be able to stack multiple spells together. Or, if you have enough proficiency, then use more than one spell together like this.”

Mana weaved in mesmerizing patterns as fire blazed around Nathaniels’ hand, expanding till a transparent blade of mana hovered around his palm. The crystalline blade shattered into shimmering particles that flew everywhere as they vanished.

[Enhanced Mana Sense] worked at overdrive in tandem with her [Lesser Arcane Analysis]. Jennifer’s head spun as she tried to grasp the multiple complexly layered spells being used all at once. She gulped, looking up at Nathaniel with wide eyes.

“You have glass mana as well?” Jennifer asked. The blade had definitely been glass; her mana reacted to it.

Nathaniel smiled. “I do have multiple affinities, but glass is not one of them. But you forget that affinities are just a guiding hand, your mana’s preferred form if you will. My glass spells may not be as strong as yours but that doesn’t mean I can’t perform them.”

Jennifer stared at the man, before a few things clicked in her mind. This man, probably still in his twenties, was part of a Ranked adventurer team. His appearance and demeanor had let her treat him casually, making her forget just how absurdly skilled he’d need to be to get to his position. This lesson could possibly be even greater than what she’d learn at the academy, and she had no intention to let it go to waste.

“If I may ask, what is your affinity- or umm, affinities?”

“I have Fire, Earth, and Metal affinity. It’s a weird combination, I know,” Nathaniel replied offhandedly. Her breath stilled.

Dual affinities were rare as it was. Three? Almost unheard of.

“Now, let’s get to it alright? We’ll channel your mana internally and then strain your pathways just enough that the recovery would reinforce them further and increase their capacity. Ideally this is something we’d do over two or three months for best effects but I’m afraid we won’t have the time. Anyway, focus on the way I channel my mana, and try to emulate the same pattern.”

Jennifer closed her eyes and focused her senses. She started mimicking Nathaniel’s spell formation. Mana rolled in his core in an odd pulsating rhythm. Her mana channels strained as she tried to copy it; each movement of mana felt like a grueling uphill climb. Jennifer’s control inadvertently slipped.

“It’s alright. Keep going,” Nathaniel said, continuing to channel his mana.

Jennifer nodded, she engaged her [Enhanced Mana Sense] and began to channel. Mana roiled in her core, mixing autonomously. Her glass affinity blossomed. It felt slower, denser; her spell matrices strained to properly allow the flow of her mana.

She let the mana pass into her channels, each connected pathway moving it toward her hand, waiting to be applied into the appropriate spell matrix, and released.

“Good, let it stay. That is one spell ready. Now put another on top of it.”

Jennifer continued to pull on her mana. Her channels struggled under the dual load of mana. She pushed against the discomfort, beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. Her chest tightened up. Each motion of her mana felt like climbing a mountain side with a boulder on her back, but she pushed, letting the mana flow as it formed another spell slot in her hands. That was spell number two.

“Good, you’re catching this faster than I’d expected. Alright, now drink the potion, and layer it once more.”

Jennifer almost had lost control of both her spells at his words. Her mana channels buckled under the strain of all her mana, and her core tensed within her body.

“It may seem harsh Jennifer, but if you truly wish to survive what’s to come, you need to be a lot stronger than this, and fast. And I trust that you can do it,” Nathaniel said, in a calm and measured voice, almost as if reciting the words to himself.

Jennifer nodded lightly, afraid to open her eyes lest she lose control of her mana. Nathaniel put the potion in her hand. She lifted the vial up to her lips and drank.

Mana exploded in her channels, brimming with power. Her core refilled within seconds, overflowing as the mana poured through her. Her channels burned, stretching under the mana flooding through them. Jennifer felt as if a sun had opened up at her core.

“Don’t let it go rampant. Focus, and stay calm. You are in control. Circulate the mana in your core, and channel it into the spell. You are in control Jennifer. Make the mana obey your will.”

Nathaniel’s voice played through Jennifer’s head, as she struggled to gain rein of the roaring tide of mana that poured through her.

I can do this. I’m in control.

Mana pulsed within her core, flowing through her channels as her mind flexed. Her hands shook as sweat poured down her back. She strained her will to follow the mana.

[Lesser Arcane Analysis] pulsed within her mind, reminding her of the trick she’d learned in the sewers. She latched on to the idea, looping the mana in a single section. Her mana rotated, each loop representing one spell. Jennifer guided the flow. Like a river meeting the ocean, her mana snapped into place, melding together as her spells chained into one another.

She had done it.

“Now. This is the critical step. Form your Wind Blade, but form it with glass. Your mana’s nature is glass, and it wants to take the form of its nature. Let the mana take the form it wishes to, and follow the path it shows.”

Jennifer exhaled, sharpening her focus. Slowly she fed her glass mana into the matrix. Her glass mana stirred, denser than her normal unaffiliated mana. She coaxed it into forming the wind blade, filling the spell with the far thicker glass mana. The spell distorted, twisting under the different density of mana and she frowned, struggling to hold its shape.

Mana swirled in her core, more and more pouring forth as her pathways burned. Power pulsed, restrained, eager to burst. Each passing moment had Jennifer clenching her teeth under the increased stress of keeping all the mana under her control.

Jennifer pushed her core, pushed against the mana, strained and she felt her Mark pulse in response. Like a gear being slid into its place, something shifted within her spell. The mana rushed through her spell matrix, charging forth as it burst from her hands. She struggled not to scream as all of it came out in a rush, a storm of mana brewing around her, before exploding outwards.

She felt arms grab her as she tumbled, her mind drifting from exhaustion. Glass touched her lips and a strange liquid filled her mouth. Her consciousness snapped back in place and Jennifer opened her eyes to see Nathaniel smiling at her.

“You did it Jennifer. Look,” Nathaniel said, as Jennifer turned her head.

A large gash carried itself across the ground, soaked with glass affinity mana. Jennifer stared at the cut through the tiled ground, the damage already being repaired by the wards. Her eyes widened.

“I- my spell did that?”

“Definitely wasn’t me,” Nathaniel replied, grinning.

Jennifer continued to stare blankly, still not sure she could believe her eyes.

“Use your [Arcane Analysis] to inspect your spell. It’s pretty nifty. You can get system prompts from the skill if you focus,” Nathaniel said. Jennifer activated her skill, focusing on her just formed spell.

Glass Blade

Attack/Glass

Tier - 2

Launch a sharp and devastating glass blade to cut through multiple distant foes.

Jennifer stared at the system prompt blankly.

“Your mana pool was under stress, causing it to expand as well. Keep on using my mana circulation method, and it should grow naturally. Congrats, you’re firmly a Tier-2 mage now. You’re not ready for tier 3 spells yet, but it shouldn’t take too long to get there. For now, we’ll continue practicing with glass affinity versions of your spells. I’ll try and find some suitable glass ones for you as well,” Nathaniel said, grasping her hand as he pulled her up.

“Now, are you ready for another round? We’ll try to stack multiple mana bolts together this time,” Nathaniel asked with a smile. Jennifer’s heart beat rapidly, her lips curving up in a matching grin.

“Sera take me, yes!” Jennifer replied. For just a moment, she let herself forget the nightmares she’d seen, consumed by the joy of learning new magic.

***

Wind burst in a frenzy around Jennifer as a fist of earth and dirt threatened to smash into her face. She whipped around, dodging the mud golem chasing her as shots of earth launched towards her from the spells engraved on its arms.

“Elphion damn you, just die already!” Jennifer shouted. She weaved two mana bolts together, launching the spell at the golem. The bolts shot towards the golem, hitting the mana stone engraved at its chest. The spell matrix of the golem flickered for a moment, but it soon refocused and shot at her with alarming speed.

Jennifer panted, frustration mounting at the sturdy golem eating through all her spells with barely a shrug. She clenched her teeth as she began to weave another spell together.

Wind whipped around, filled with sharp air currents mixing with glass that threatened to rip her clothes if she lost control. Jennifer stood still as the golem rushed towards her. The mana continued to build. A shimmering blade formed around her hand, shooting off with a howling screech as it launched at the golem.

The Glass Blade crashed into the golem, cracking its surface as it ate into its body, shattering the mana stone powering it. The golem halted its momentum, the mana keeping the earth together dissipating as it crumbled. Jennifer turned to the side to look at Jack standing silently as he watched the fight. She had a feeling that the golem was analyzing her. The last fight, her spells had been predicted and countered by the golems and she’d been forced to improvise on the spot.

“Seven minutes, and fifty four seconds. Not bad honestly,” Nathaniel said with a smile, as a towel appeared in his hand out of thin air.

Jennifer stared at him silently, before she nodded, accepting the towel as she wiped her sweat away. She used her [Lesser Arcane Analysis] to bring up the system prompt for the spells she’d been taught.

Glass Eye

Glass/Divination

Tier-1

Form an eye of glass which can share its senses with the caster and serve as a scouting option.

Jennifer hadn’t been extremely sure at the utility of this spell, but she suspected it wouldn’t hurt to learn it. She could think of its uses, especially in avoiding ambushes.

Reflection

Glass

Tier-2

Reflect an oncoming spell back at the opponent from a suitable glass surface. Spells of a higher tier require exponentially more mana to reflect.

The spell had been an interesting choice as it’d allow her a lot of versatility in combat with any other [Mages].

Glass Storm

Area/Glass

Tier - 2

Create and launch a storm of slashing glass shards that can cut and slash through creatures, launching them away from the caster.

The spell was a wide area attack that summoned a storm of swirling glass shards around her. It could surpass her Glass Blade spell in sheer strength if she managed to learn it. But the part that truly excited her was being able to multi-cast the spell with Glass Blade.

Nathaniel’s spell casting, as he’d demonstrated to Jennifer, allowed him to combine and use multiple spells in compound spell matrix chains. Jennifer’s heart leaped at the thought of casting a swirling storm of glass shards all deflecting any spells flung her way. She was already hoping to combine her Mana bolt, and its glass version, Glass bolt, with the Glass storm spell to allow a more complex glass storm spell that exploded upon impact.

Jennifer felt surprised how quickly she’d adjusted to regularly casting Tier-2 spells now. She’d been told to expect to unlock some variant [Mage] class soon, but so far, she hadn’t gotten any. A part of her was still unsure if she wanted to pick a [Mage] class, even if she got one.

“I think you’ll manage to qualify for an Iron plate in a week or two. Though we may have to step it up a bit. I’d prefer if you could pass off as low bronze by the end of the month,” Nathaniel said, scratching his chin.

The gate slammed open. Jennifer turned around in alarm, her spells at the ready. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Anghul looking in. Her mind caught up to the thought a moment later and her worry intensified. The sudden demon attack she’d been scared of might’ve been easier to deal with.

“Nat, the guild head is calling you,” Anghul said, eyeing Jennifer briefly before she walked back out.

“We’ll have to leave today’s training there. Feel free to set up the golems for training if you ever want to. I’ve registered your mana signature in there,” Nathaniel said, smiling.

Jennifer bowed her head respectfully. “Thank you for teaching me so much,” she said, and Nathaniel smiled.

“Don’t worry about it, and if anything I should be thanking you. I’ve always hated the idea of teaching but this turned out to be surprisingly fun. Remember to use my mana channeling technique for your mana pool whenever you can, and practice the spell matrices. We’ll work on their application in a few days,” the mage said.

Jennifer nodded in reply. She’d already made plans to work the technique as much as she could. Her mana pool was one of the things that she suspected would also travel back in time with her, if the time reset ability worked in the way she suspected it did.

“I’ll head out then. See you around Jennifer,” Nathaniel said with a wink, walking out.

Jennifer watched the mage leave before packing up herself and making her way back towards her home. The dark sky up ahead gave her a pause as she realized just how long she’d been casting and practicing spells for.

I must’ve used my mana pool almost ten times over. Maybe more. This has to be the most spellcasting I’ve ever had the chance to do in my life.

A smile crept upon her face at the thought. There was always going to be an advantage for children whose families could afford facilities like this. It was part of what made getting into the Academy so difficult for someone without that kind of privilege. Simply being able to cast twice as much as the other person due to a mana potion was bound to give results no matter what.

The lack of resources Jennifer had was part of what made her gain the [Resourceful Enchanter] class when she’d reached level 10. Her mind went to her Mark, and she pulled up the ability portion once more.

Abilities: Time Reset

Resets: 1

Returns the chosen to the soul anchor set in the stream of time at the cost of Integrity.

Jennifer read the description once more, for what must’ve been the tenth time. There’s no mention that I can only do this when I die. Maybe if I can find some way to go back in time when I want… if I can train with Nathaniel over and over, I wonder just how much I’ll be able to learn.

She put the thought away for now. There was no good way to test the hypothesis and she’d already spent hours trying to trigger another reset, even shouting out the words reset a couple of times when nothing else had worked. Which only left the one way she’d been sent back in time for the first time around, and she wasn’t ready to take her own life for an experiment.

Arriving home, Jennifer quietly slipped through the doors and made her way upstairs. It wasn’t too unusual for her to be late from her Master’s workshop, but she usually told her parents when she would be and Jennifer didn’t feel like explaining why she forgot to do that today.

She made her way to her room, and then sunk down onto her bed, breathing a sigh of relief as the exhaustion melted away. She stared at the ceiling, thinking back to the beautiful leaves of light that Nathaniel had shown to her.

Jennifer extended her hand, trying to summon some but her control slipped. She sat upright and she focused, trying once more. A single leaf floated atop her hand, glowing, yet it didn’t move in the wind in seemingly random ways. There was no sense of reality to its motion.

Frustrated, she gave up the exercise as she laid back down. This is pointless. Moving that many leaves erratically and changing colors on top while swirling them around. It’s far too complicated. There would be no real usage for this and it seems like a major hassle, probably why Nathaniel didn’t try to teach it to me.

Jennifer continued to stare at the ceiling of her room silently, as time slipped by.

This is stupid. I’ll probably be better off just practicing my glass spells. No one needs their shaping and manifestation skills to be that good.

Another minute of silence and she groaned in frustration, pulling herself up. Walking over to her desk she took a seat.

With silent concentration, she summoned another light ball and began to practice.