Merry Christmas!

Mu

Book I

Chapter 11: Mana magnet

Sunlight peeked into the study where Celeste and Aran had toiled through the night. The mana lamp, detecting ample light in the room, flickered off. It had been five days since they have arrived at the Magician’s Society. Other than food, hygienic practices, and sleep, they had spent their time between the study and the library. Books and research papers were strewn all over the table, with only two small clearings where Celeste and Aran worked.

Aran closed the book he was reading, stood up, and stretched. Looking at the mess in front of them, he started piling the books and research papers that had already been read into a pile and moved them to the empty bookshelves. These would be emptied by the end of the day, and the material returned to where they belonged. He poured himself a glass of water and went back to the table, sorting a stack of notes, an inch thick, written by Celeste.

“Nothing in this one,” grumbled Celeste as she set her pen down and looked over at Aran, “What do we have so far?”

“We have notes on magical beasts, conversion of pure mana into elemental mana with multiple subsections, mana stability, mana formations, and magical artifacts,” Aran said, flipping through the notes.

“Looks like we’ll have to extend our stay here. Let’s get some rest and take the day off. Since we’ve travelled so far, it’ll be a waste if you didn’t see Vilna. I’ll talk to the clerk in the front. Go shower. I’ll meet you back at our room,” said Celeste grudgingly. Aran nodded, separated the notes into five stacks by topic, and left. Celeste moved the material onto the bookshelves and headed to the front desk to extend their stay.

***

After a quick rest and a light lunch, they headed out of the Magician’s Society towards the city square at the center of the city. With the exception of special celebrations or festivals, the city square housed stalls and peddlers trading all kinds of wares, from weapons to alchemical ingredients. All one needed was a permit from the city guards and an agreement to pay a small tax, and anyone could legally display their merchandise, if they could find a spot. Guards were stationed throughout the square to maintain order and settle disputes, and few would challenge their authority.

Celeste and Aran started browsing the wares, keeping their eyes out for particularly rare and ancient texts. Celeste would periodically stop to highlight and explain the uses of items and ingredients important in the practice of magic to Aran, who absorbed the information like a sponge.

They stopped in front of a merchant who specialized in magical artifacts. Aran quickly scanned the stall and noticed a large collection of weapons, staves, and scrolls. A box with a glass cover displayed rare stones of different colors, glittering under the sun. Celeste motioned to a stack of scrolls and asked, “Mister, may I?”

The merchant opened an eye and waved his hand indifferently. Celeste looked through the scrolls, opening the small flaps that described its contents. It was considered rude to open the scroll, as some simpler contents may be immediately understood and learned without purchasing it, while some had single use only inscriptions. Aran looked deeply at the merchant. Despite selling magical artifacts, which was lucrative business in Parthenon, the man was dressed in simple, somewhat worn, clothes, unbecoming of someone with expensive wares. Furthermore, he seemed disinterested in marketing, as if the whole idea bored him.

The merchant looked at Aran, who smiled innocently back. The former grunted and closed his eyes again. Aran glanced around, ‘He’s not here to sell. What are his intentions? Spying? No. He stands out too much. Waiting for someone?’

Aran spent a few more seconds going through the possibilities. Reaching no conclusion, he shrugged; whatever it was did not concern or affect him. It was unlikely that he would encounter the merchant again. Aran casually looked at the wares and rested his eyes on a small, brown pouch beside the glass-topped box. A strange sensation drew him in, like the time during Owen’s mana pool coalescing. He looked into the pouch and found several pebbles, each double the size of his thumbs, black as night and smooth as an egg. A warm feeling gathered in his eyes again, and Aran saw pulsating mana spheres in the center of each pebble. Mana flowed strangely around them, being drawn close but not into them, circling and hovering centimeters away.

Aran tugged at Celeste’s robe. She turned around, holding a scroll in her hand and looked down at Aran. He pointed towards the bag, “What are those?”

Celeste peeked into the bag and responded, “I have no idea. Looks like polished obsidian pebbles to me. It can be shaped into weapons, probably arrowheads given the size of these. Imbued with mana, they have immense penetrating power. Do you want them?”

The merchant opened his eyes, looked at the bag and then at Celeste. An amused look flashed briefly through his eyes, a moment caught by Aran’s exceptional perception. Aran nodded, “Yes, mother.”

“Mister, how much for this scroll and that bag of obsidian pebbles?” asked Celeste, realizing that this was the first time Aran had asked her to buy anything for him.

“Four hundred and twenty gold coins,” he answered listlessly after glancing at the scroll in her hands. Celeste furrowed her eyebrows, “I don’t wish to offend, but I must ask if you are mistaken. This is a scroll for a third circle fusion magic. While rare, they are so specialized that most don’t cost more than fifteen gold coins.”

“The scroll is twenty. This bag of pebbles cost four hundred gold coins,” grunted the merchant, emphasizing the word pebbles mockingly.

Celeste, instead of being offended, became curious instead. She shot the merchant a puzzled look, “Forgive my ignorance, but what might those be?”

“If you don’t know, then they’re worthless in your hands. There’s no use in me explaining what they are,” he snorted and said with finality, “Four hundred and twenty. Final price, or just walk away with the scroll, or neither.”

Celeste took a deep breath. That was a small fortune, two month’s income of their family, for a bag of unknown pebbles. Were they treasures, or was the merchant a swindler?

“Mother, it’s okay,” said Aran with a steady tone, “I don’t need them. I was just curious since they were pulsating so brilliantly.”

The merchant focused his attention on Aran and a hint of surprise registered on his face. Celeste looked at the pebbles again, ‘Pulsating?’

“Will you not budge on the price? If so, may I at least inspect them?” bargained Celeste. The merchant took another long look at Aran. He strung up the bag and chuckled, “It’s your lucky day, kid. Twenty for the scroll. If you buy it, I’ll throw in the bag for free.”

Celeste tilted her head, taken aback by the merchant’s sudden change of attitude. Not one to shy away from a good deal, she took out a small pouch and counted twenty gold coins. She paused for a second and counted ten more, “Here’s thirty. I feel that you should be compensated for that bag. The going price for high quality obsidian should be this much.”

“Ten measly gold coins to compensate me for it? That’s fresh,” laughed the merchant, who then pocketed the coins and closed his eyes again, leaning lazily backwards into his chair.

Seeing nothing else of interest, Celeste stored the items, thanked the eccentric merchant, and left his to his own devices. Aran chirped, “Thank you kind sir!”

The merchant opened his eyes and stared at Aran until the latter left his sight.

***

The duo spent another hour at the square before heading to the northeast corner of the city, where the Merchant’s Union and Adventurer’s Guild were situated. Shops, two-storied with lodgings on the top floor, and warehouses filled the quadrant, with two large buildings in the center of the quadrant. Celeste and Aran strolled down a street with shops displaying various dyes, cloth, and paper. Celeste stopped in front of one with a wooden sign labeled [Inc.], bearing a logo of an inkwell with a black lotus in the center. Celeste pushed the creaky double doors open.

“Welcome to Inc!” greeted a middle-aged woman behind the counter, “We have all the ink and paper needs for everyone.”

“Hi Edna,” said Celeste.

“Celeste!” responded a delighted Edna. She noticed Aran and motioned with her head, “Is this cute little boy your son?”

Celeste patted Aran on the head, “Yes. Aran, say hi.”

“Hello Miss Edna,” addressed Aran, bowing his head slightly. Edna laughed, “Such a polite boy.” She turned towards Celeste, “The usual? A ream of mid-grade knellwood? And, two bottles of refined silverthorn resin?”

Celeste nodded. Edna smiled, “Just a second.”

She returned to the counter with a ream of paper, tied together with hemp rope, and two bottles of black ink, “Here you go. Billed to the Mage’s Society?”

Celeste shook her head, took out a small pouch, and counted twenty silver coins. Edna happily took the coins, and deposited them in a drawer behind the counter without counting them, “Thanks for your business.”

Celeste responded in kind and left, heading back to the Magician’s Tower. After dinner, Celeste removed the pebbles and laid it out on the table in their room. They counted eight. Both Aran and her picked one up each. Not noticing anything particularly interesting about the pebble, Celeste began to set it down. When it neared the other pebbles, she felt a small twitch of mana. She immediately realized that these pebbles were more than what met the eye and inspected the one she was holding with her arcane sense, immediately feeling a strong pulsating mana field around the pebble.

“Aran, these are not mere obsidian. Did you say you saw them pulsating?” said Celeste, still inspecting the pebble.

Aran mentally noted that this was the second time she had asked him if he saw something. ‘Could she not see it?’

“Yes, mother. If they’re not obsidian, what are they?” asked Aran, placing the pebble back onto the table.

Celeste smiled. She began to believe that the merchant was likely not a swindler after all. She ruffled her son’s hair, happy at their purchase. Not one to be sidetracked, she replied, “I don’t know yet, but we can find out. After learning more about your condition, of course. Let’s get some rest. We will return to the study tomorrow. As for the stones, we will take care of the matter later on.”

Entering their study the next morning, Celeste motioned to the [Research papers] tome, “Aran, can you look through the tome like you did before and see if there’s anything interesting?”

A puzzled Aran obliged. They had already went through the tome a few days back, and returned with any research paper that indicated anything to do, even remotely, with pure mana.

“It changed?” Aran asked quizzically after flipping through the first few pages. Celeste looked over her shoulder, “Oh, the research papers tome?”

“Yes,” replied Aran, staring intently at the page, “How?”

“That tome updates automatically. Every single study in this tower has those two tomes, which are magically entangled to a master copy that is maintained by the head librarian. Every time that master is updated, the copies do the same,” said Celeste, as she turned back to the book she was reading.

Aran browsed through the tome, and found no additional papers of interest. He closed it, and went back to the desk. He opened another unread book, and proceeded to scan the book for topics that might help his mother.

***

Another week passed, and Celeste decided that they should leave. There would be little gain to stay any longer. The afternoon before leaving, Celeste had taken Aran to the northwest quadrant of the city, where the Artisan’s Association was located. The Artisan’s Association was the official organization of crafters in Ares, and dealt with all manner of crafts: blacksmithing, alchemy, tanning, magical circuitry, and more. Walking past blacksmiths and shops selling various alchemical ingredients, they went to the center of the quadrant, where the Artisan’s Association’s building was located.

They entered the building, into a reception room with three clerks sitting behind a booth that would hold seven, with one of the counters being free. Celeste and Aran walked up towards it.

“Welcome to the Artisan’s Association, Magister. How may I help you today?” the clerk behind the counter greeted politely.

“I would like to get something appraised. A set of stones to be precise. And I would appreciate it if you could keep it… private. I am willing to pay an additional fee, of course,” replied Celeste. The clerk glanced at Celeste’s mage token, and nodded, “If you would take a seat. It’ll just take a minute as I see if any of our appraisal masters are free.”

Celeste thanked the clerk and waited patiently. A few minutes later, the clerk walked up to Celeste with an older gentleman, dressed in formal wear bearing a single white hammer on the vest and a mage’s token bearing the mark of a third circle mage pinned to the right.

“This is Grandmaster Ernes Jun, one of the three grandmaster appraisers in our branch. He will be helping you today,” introduced the clerk, and walked back towards the counter.

“How may I help you today, Magister…” greeted Ernes, extending his right hand. Celeste responded likewise, “Celeste Steele. Thank you for offering your services Grandmaster Jun.”

“Of course. Please, let us go to a more private setting,” said Ernes, directing Celeste and Aran to the door in the back. They walked through a short hallway, up a flight of stairs, and into a room with no windows, lit with mana lamps. In the center were a desk and a workbench, with a few seats around them. There were a few contraptions stored on the side of the room, none that Aran recognized.

“You said you had a set of stones to be appraised, Magister Steele?” asked Ernes, as he motioned for everyone to take a seat. Celeste nodded and took out the bag of pebbles from her spatial ring. She handed the bad over to Ernes, who laid out a white cloth onto the desk and poured the pebbles onto it. He picked one up and eyed it against the light. He squinted, set the pebble back onto the cloth, and slid a small drawer open. He pulled out a small leather package and a jeweler’s loupe. Putting the loupe on, he repeated the same process.

“Looks like high grade obsidian,” murmured Ernes, and looked sideways at Celeste, “But since you, a Magister of the fifth circle, brought it in to be appraised, there must be more to this than meets the eye.”

Ernes extended his arcane sense and a look of surprise, followed by delight, registered on his face, “It cannot be.”

Flipping the loupe away from his eyes, he stood up excitedly, grabbed two pebbles, and walked towards one of the contraptions on the side. He beckoned for Celeste and Aran to join him. Moving closer, Aran saw Ernes place one of the pebbles on a glass platform, with a mana stone beneath it.

“This is a mana tracer. It shows the movement of mana in a small area above the platform,” explained Ernes. He took a pouch from a shelf above the contraption and scattered black powder over the platform before flipping a switch on the side of the contraption. The contraption whirred and the mana stone glowed. The black powder shuddered, glowed white, and slowly floated. It hovered around the pebble, circling it in a slow undulating movement, like gentle waves in the sea. Seeing this, Ernes’s face lit up and spoke, a tremor in his voice, “Now, watch.”

He held the other pebble between his middle finger and thumb, and slowly moved it over to the pebble on the platform. The white specks near the second pebble trembled and burst outwards, before being drawn rapidly to circulate around the other stone, confirming Ernes’s speculation. Ernes set the second one down beside the first. The amount of white specks gathered around both stones became denser. It was a magical sight; wisps of light dancing playfully around two pebbles, the white contrasting the black. Ernes beamed, drinking in the sight before him, before flipping the switch off. The mana stone dimmed, and the powder followed suit, growing black before slowly settling onto the platform.

“Magister Steele. These are mana magnets. And of the highest quality,” said Ernes excitedly, “I have not seen one for many decades, let alone eight.”

“Mana magnets?” asked Aran, unfamiliar with the term. Celeste raised an eyebrow, equally lost.

“These are extremely rare but naturally occurring variations of obsidian, which form after being exposed to dense mana, usually at intersections of mana leylines, for tens of thousands of years. The microstructure within the obsidian was formed such that it would attract but not absorb mana. You can think of them as natural magical formations. Given the strict conditions for its creation, they are extremely rare,” lectured Ernes, “Not many people know of them. I’ve only seen it once as a young artificer under the guidance of my master. A pair of cubes, of good quality, being transported to the two Royal Institutes.”

“What can they be used for?” asked Celeste, looking at the pebbles in a new light.

“Oh, countless things. Their ability to draw and redirect mana can multiply the effect of meditation, like weak, mobile mana leylines. With these eight being this size, you should be able to arrange them to double, in the least, the meditation efficiencies of two people. It can also be used in making artifacts, as the ability to gather mana can increase the efficiency of many magical tools, often multiple folds,” spoke Ernes, his eyes glistening, like a child with a new toy.

Celeste sucked in a mouthful of air. These mana magnets were precious. With the mages in the family being able to increase their efficiency much faster, the Steele family could reach new heights.

“If I may be a little bold, Magister Steele, I would like to purchase one of them from you. I… Have never had the opportunity to work with one, and as an artificer, I would like to experiment with it. Of course, I would give you a fair compensation. Fifty… No. Eighty gold coins for one of them,” Ernes spoke meekly, interrupting Celeste’s thought, “If that is not enough, please feel free to name your price.”

As a scholar, Celeste understood Ernes’s desire to work with something rare and exciting. However, his gain meant her loss. She smiled bitterly, and said, apologetically, “I am sorry Grandmaster Jun. I am afraid I can’t part with them. I do, however, appreciate your honesty in sharing this information with me, and your secrecy on the matter.”

Ernes nodded, disappointment in his eyes, “I understand. It’s just… difficult not to ask. And, you have my word. Other than the three of us, not another person will hear about this from me.”

Ernes took another longing look at the mana magnets and sighed, “Actually, before you leave. Let me detail to you the optimal way to use them. Other than myself, I believe that only two other appraisers and artificers would know this information in Iridis. I’d like to at least play a role in helping them achieve their potential.”

He gestured for them to take a seat and promptly took out a pen and paper from under the desk. He hastily jotted down some notes and drew a few rough diagrams. Spreading three sheets of papers out, he nodded, satisfied. Neatly stacking them, he handed them to Celeste, “Here, these notes detail of how to use the mana magnets to boost meditation. My only request is that if you wish to fashion them into artifacts, or use them in any structures, that you would give me the opportunity to help you with it.”

Celeste looked at the notes, surprised by how complete they were, and stored them into her ring. Looking at Ernes gratefully, she said, “Thank you so much Grandmaster Jun. I will keep you in mind should the Steele family decide to do anything with them.”

When they left the Artisan’s Association, Celeste had placed a small pouch containing ten gold coins into the hands of Ernes, twenty times what the appraisal service had cost. Walking back, they took a detour to the city square, to try to find the merchant from before. In place of that merchant, was a jovial spice trader, loudly shouting his deals on exotic spices from the north. They spent another hour walking around, with no luck. The eccentric merchant was nowhere to be seen.