Not waiting for a response from Ruciella, Ada called up systemhelper and created a Compass with Leanne Syrana’s name and her ID embossed on the device. Knowing that the System was not going to create any noise or light, she took the initiative of pretending to wave an invisible wand like what a stage magician might do. “And abracadabra!”

Leanne’s eyes flashed in surprise. Ada was expecting a smile or laugh but maybe her Seer was just too dazzled by this act to acknowledge it. Or maybe the word abracadabra didn’t translate well. Ada softened her gaze and gave a slight nod to Leanne. The Seer gingerly took the Compass into her hand and brought it in front of her eyes. She started to examine it meticulously.

Ruciella finally found her tongue. She gulped. “I was lost for words for a minute. It’s one thing to create a wagon or some coins but … but to create a unique magic artifact!”

Ada turned her attention to Ruciella and inquired. “What’s a unique item?”

Leanne scoffed. “You lost for words? That is truly surprising.”

Ignoring the Seer’s jibe, Ruciella explained. “Unique items are those attached to one’s own identity. For instance, there’s no other Compass in the world with my ID or name. For you to do this without any manipulation or requirement of ether is something I wouldn’t have believed without seeing it with my own eyes.”

Ada smiled. “As the evidence suggests, apparently I can.”

“I just had an idea. I’m wondering if you can create a duplicate device with the same name and ID. That should be impossible for a unique item but with your abilities…”

Ada pondered on the question. She has thought that it was limiting she could create new objects but yet cannot choose the name of the objects. Would systemhelper let her create another object with exactly the same variables defined? Maybe the systemhelper code itself generates those names randomly? It may help Ada with navigating esoteric code that defines Urth but it also limited what kind of output it can be. She would need to look at the code underlying reality directly instead of running it through the systemhelper interface. But how and would she understand it even if she can?

“Uh, do you know?” Ruciella interrupted her meandering thoughts.

Ada grinned. Sometimes, experimentation was the only way. “The best way is for me to just try it. I’ll create another one for myself.”

Leanne interjected. “I advise you to mark your current one before we proceed. This way we can see if there are any differences.”

Ada nodded and Leanne handed her the green pen. Ada marked a prominent X on the back of the device. Everyone including Sçæaisøh, who has gone into a lapse of silence, pulled themselves closer to the table to observe what might possibly transpire. Ruciella had almost completely bounced off of her chair.

Ada asked. “Ruciella, do you want to sit on the table to have a closer look?”

The girl gave a startled look, noticing for the first time that her chair was in a precarious position of almost tipping over. She carefully leaned back a bit. “Uh, no, I’m fine.”

Ada proceeded and called systemhelper repeating the same commands as before. There was no message from the systemhelper indicating she has conducted anything forbidden. In fact, they saw nothing change in front of them.

Ada took the Compass and tipped it over to show the other side. The mark was gone. Ada laughed. “Well, Ruciella, it looks like I’m not all powerful. I can’t just create duplicate objects.”

The girl didn’t show any sign of disappointment. She practically leapt off her chair and stood waving her hands with excitement. “It doesn’t matter! Your power is one which no other god or mortal possesses.”

Leanne concurred. “She is right. I know we have limited knowledge of the other gods but from my basic understanding of ether usage, their methods are incapable of accomplishing such a feat with the ease you conducted. I knew you were powerful but I did not suspect the extent of your creation capabilities.”

Leanne translated what has transpired for Sçæaisøh. They all sat in silence as this discovery sunk in. There’s much that Ada and the mortals here didn’t know about regarding the power of the other gods but one thing was clear. This particular divine power of hers was clearly overpowered compared to any known power of theirs.

As the realization dawned on Ada of what she would be capable of, she grew excited. Yuano with his artifacts was able to conjure powerful attacks in rapid succession. If she knew what those artifacts were called, she should be able to create them immediately. Furthermore, she could create things that were in the System but no longer existed or have been lost in the world. For instance, what if there was a magical staff which could destroy someone’s divinity or remove divine powers? Even another god would tremble before her with that threat.

She broke the silence. “The Academy should have books in the Divine Tongue on various artifacts right?”

Ruciella nodded. “Much knowledge has been lost since the last war but we’ve preserved as much as we could. Preserving the knowledge of the past is possibly the one thing the ostrich brained elders do very well. I do have to warn you that the most esoteric books are forbidden for students though I’m sure we can convince Master Arbon to help us.”

“Is your master alright that you’re putting your own academic career at risk by helping non-mages acquire their knowledge, much less a goddess?” Ada asked with concern. “Unless you mean for us to deceive him as well on who we are though I find that not likely since he’s already met us.”

“Yeah, he’s a particularly shrewd old man. In his decades at the Academy nothing has really escaped him.”

Ada wrinkled her brows. She wanted to but didn’t feel that now was the right time to let Ruciella know that her master was very likely not human. Oblivious to Ada’s thoughts, Ruciella continued. “Well, however he feels, it’s too late for that now. Don’t worry! From what I overheard, he’s intrigued by you guys. I’ll put in a few good words as well. He’s taken a liking to me since I was a freshman. Otherwise I would have been expelled a looooong time ago.”

“You mean by ‘like’ as in you and your teacher doing …” Leanne paused as if the last word was taboo.

Ruciella’s eyes flashed angrily at Leanne. “What?! No way! I don’t know where your brain is headed but there’s just no way. He’s way too old for me! Maybe if he was thirty years younger. Or fifty. Whatever. The relationship is purely between that of a teacher and disciple. I’m not someone to break boundaries like that!”

Ada heard Leanne mutter to herself. “Surprising to know that she is not someone who breaks every boundary.”

Good thing that the mage didn’t hear that, Ada thought. Directing the conversation back, Ada asked. “Anyway, that’s great to know. It looks like the success of our mission depends on you and your master. Before we drop you off, do you know any other possible allies?”

“Maybe Master Usura. Definitely my best friend Mirella. Master Usura is in charge of the Training Fields and she specializes in theoretical metaphysics. Mirella is a fellow mage in the same year as me. She was my roommate for a year. My master has far more influence than either of them though.”

“Alright, we’ll talk to them if we need to. Cross the bridge when we get there.”

Sçæaisøh suddenly interrupted. Though he hasn’t ventured to grasp the Compass, he has been staring at the device intently for a while. Leanne translated. “Is there a particular reason your Academy Compasses use the Divine Tongue for the letters and numbers?”

Ruciella replied in Exicozan which Leanne promptly translated. “Probably it was part of the deal with the gods to have them leave us alone if we leave them alone.”

She added. “It seemed to have worked out pretty well so far.”

“Ruciella, is there anything else we should know before dropping you off? By my calculations, we should be over a flat plain by now.”

“No, just find a road and stick to it. It may take you a few hours of walking but all roads lead to the Academy. If you’re stopped by a mage, just show them your Compass and say that you’re on your way to speak with Master Arbon. If they ask if you’re registered and want to check, just say you’ll do it once you reach the Academy. Once you do reach the Academy, ask for Master Arbon and you’ll be shown your way.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

Ruciella frowned. “I’m still wary of you just leaving your Divine Cloud in the middle of a field which any mage can see from a distance.”

“I don’t think that’ll be an issue. It took me a while but I just thought of a very simple solution. We’ll drop you off the same way that Leanne and I will descend.”

“What’s that?”

“For you, we can still descend the entire Cloud and then go back up. For Leanne and I, I realized that there’s no reason why I need to bring the entire Cloud down. I can just take a portion of it large enough for us to comfortably sit on and change its density to descend.”

Leanne clasped her hands together. “Brilliant!”

I’ll be just like a character flying in a xianxia novel, Ada thought. Next, I need floating swords. Ruciella appeared unconvinced. “But how would you ascend and meet up with your main Divine Cloud for you two? You’ll have no idea where your main Cloud would be and even if you did, how would you control the small cloud to fly to it?”

“That’s a harder problem but I think Leanne can be of assistance.”

Her Seer was surprised. “I can?”

“Yes, and we can discuss this after dropping Ruciella off.”

We really have spent enough time discussing these issues, Ada thought. Any longer time spent here in this room and they’ll pass the ideal landing spot. Without waiting for a response, she added. “Well, shall we get going? Ruciella, you have everything?”

The girl was still apprehensive on the details of Ada’s plan but she didn’t inquire further. “I’m ready. Nothing to bring here except the clothes on my back and my Compass.”

Ada smiled. “Let’s all go up then and send off our mage.”

Once they were outside of the Palace, Ada saw the mortals shiver. Though the air was already warming with dawn soon breaking in an hour or two, their speed was large enough for a substantial wind. Ada quickly activated systemhelper and adjusted the mass distribution for the Cloud to slow down and then almost stop except for a slight perturbation from the natural wind.

She looked at Ruciella. “Ready?”

The girl gulped but put on a face of bravado. “Yes, of course. Piece of fishcake!”

Whatever is going to happen, it’s too late now for the mage to change her mind, Ada thought. Everything should be fine. A quick descent and then a quick ascent. She activated systemhelper again to turn part of the Cloud into osmium. The Cloud slowly descended but accelerated until it hit terminal velocity. After a minute or so, Ada turned some of the osmium back into the Cloud to slow down its descent velocity. When they were about 500 feet above the surface, several glowing balls of light suddenly appeared directly below them.

Ada remarked drily. “It appears those ostrich brains are faster than expected in finding you.”

With her keen eyesight, Leanne provided more info for the two mortals. “I see five of them, presumably all mages from their attire. One is perched on an ostrich and the others are on foot. They are looking up and they appear to be in defensive postures. I hope they are not thinking of attacking us.”

Ruciella grimaced and cursed. “Oh drunken fish blood! How in the nine seas did they get here so fast?”

Ada pointed out the obvious. “Ruciella, you’re going to have to be the main negotiator. I hope you can convince them that we are friend and not foe.”

The girl said nothing. I hope she’s formulating a plan in her head since I don’t think I have a good one, Ada thought.