Devon sat down in a chair across the table from me and asked, “So, how did you like your first taste of Mana Depletion?”

“It sucked.” I said with a chuckle, knowing what he was going for.

“I know. And in case of emergencies, there is a potion that will help out. It’s just better to recover naturally.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Well, it’s more of an alchemy issue, but all potions have drawbacks. With most recovery type potions, there are impurities that build up and make the potion less effective until your body can clear them out. If you don’t give yourself enough time, they can cripple or even kill you. Healing type potions put strains on the bodies resources. If you don’t have the resources to heal repeated broken bones, the potion will leech what it needs from your other, healthy bones. For both cases, it is best to not take a potion more than once every three to five days.”

“Huh. Thanks for telling me, as I had no idea. What else do I have to worry about?”

“Well, that’s what I’m here for. Today we will work on mana control and the two schools of casting. The first school is ritual magic, and it is incredibly difficult. While I explain, I want you to make as small of a sphere of mana as you can. Then you can either start moving it in increasingly complicated patterns, or change the shape and back. Choice is yours today, but tomorrow you will be doing the opposite.”

“Ok. Let’s go with shape changing right now. So, what are these types of casting?”

“Excellent. The first is what all battlemages do, chantless casting. It’s silent so you can get a sneak attack in, and your enemy won’t know what you are doing. The downside is that you have to have intense concentration and exceptional mana control. Working together is also far more dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” I interrupted.

“Yes. When you cast a spell and do it wrong, you will face a bit of a backlash. And we will be practicing this a time or two in the future. The saving grace is that unless your spell is using more than half of your mana pool, you won’t do any permanent damage. Casting with multiple people often adds much more mana than a single spell, and it increases the chances of something causing a backlash. That has killed mages in the past.”

“Now, the other type of magic is ritual magic. There is no room for change in a ritual spell. Some of the more complex ones even count the number of steps you take to reach a certain point, all while reciting words in a specific cadence. The upside is that you get the same exact result every single time. They are a way for several mages to work together, and the chance of backlash is limited. Of course, there is no flexibility. If you want a different result, you need to develop a different ritual. Some of them can only be performed at certain times of day or even year, so planning is important. And if your enemy knows when and where you are doing it, they can easily disrupt the ritual.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent on helping me with my visualizations. The more I knew about what I was trying to create, the easier it would be and the less mana it would cost. I started with a knife Devon gave me, and originally tried to recreate it just from seeing it. It honestly took the better part of a half hour, and I was rather disappointed when Devon slashed through it with the side of his hand.

“Hey, don’t get down on me! This is good. You know next to nothing about knives like that, so of course your image was weak. Now here, take the knife and study it as closely as you can. And not just visually! Get a feel for the weight, the balance, the different materials that went into making it. Can you channel mana through it? Examine the edges, which are sharp? Examine the bevels, what angle do they make to create the edge? The more minute details you know, the better you are in recreating it.”

So I took my time, and examined his knife for another half hour. The dagger narrowed before flaring out again, and had a central raised bit of metal running down the middle. Both sides were sharpened, and it came to a stabbing point. The handle was comfortable, and it had a brass pommel and guard. The pommel was roughened from use, and had a small chip missing from it.

The second time I created the dagger, it only took five minutes and it was sharp enough to cut a bit from a strip of leather before it dulled. Devon slammed it point first into the table, and it survived until he tried bending it to one side and it snapped in half. It maintained its shape for a fraction of a second afterward before dropping back to the table as an amorphous blob of gelatinous blood.

“Excellent work!” Devon exclaimed, nearly bouncing in his seat.

“What do you mean? It barely cut anything and shattered when you bent it!”

Devon nodded, smiling. “Exactly! You weren’t visualizing that though, were you? Tell me, how long can a dagger like this hold an edge? How flexible is the metal before it returns to true? You’ve seen blades slammed into tables before, so of course your recreated dagger could survive that. You know daggers are sharp, so it initially started cutting the leather. But you also realized that knives dull eventually, and forgot to put limits on that.”

“Hold on a second,” I interrupted, thinking about what he said. I continued, “What would have happened if I tried to imagine a sword that could cut through anything? One that was unbreakable and never dulled?”

Devon simply smiled and sat back in his chair. “Do you know how to do that? What material would you make your unbreakable sword out of?”

“I have no idea.”

“Exactly. It’s something you can’t visualize. You don’t even know if it is possible. So not only would your construct be weak, it would also cost an insane amount of mana. Likely more than enough to send you into deprivation again. The more you know, the less mana it takes, and the more lifelike your construct the better it will be. Understand?”

“Yeah, I get it.” I said, “Though it is a bit disappointing.”

“I know. But think about it. At some point, every mage wants to create a sword that can cut anything. What happens when two blades that can cut anything clash against each other? Or the sword that can cut anything meets the shield that can block anything?” I blinked at him several times, trying to figure out what the outcome of any of those would be. Would both swords slice through each other? Would they just stop after making a notch in the other’s blade? Would both sword and shield shatter?

“Right, I can see you are lost in thought there. Don’t worry, none of these constructs can exist so you don’t have to worry about it. Now, let’s get back to training. What I want you to do for the next hour is study the dagger and practice recreating it. See how quickly you can get it, and pay attention to everything you can think of that is important in a dagger. Afterwards, you will practice without having the dagger there.”

That’s how I spent the rest of the afternoon, trying everything I could to recreate the dagger. I even used the same portion to cut slits into the leather until it dulled enough that it wouldn’t cut well anymore. While I could have tried bending the dagger, I didn’t want to damage or break it. It was a nice dagger, and he obviously had it a while. Instead I tried letting my constructs bend a little without breaking. The tip was maybe allowed to move a thumb width away from central, and adding in just that little bit caused the mana cost to nearly double. After Devon removed the dagger from where I could study it, my ability to recreate it dropped from a minute back down to seven minutes. Even then, things were off with it. Most of this was reflected in the lack of symmetry, but I was having troubles maintaining an even edge as well.

“Seven minutes, not bad. Still having a bit of trouble with an even edge, but for the most part it will cut. Now, we have a few choices as to where your training can split off from here. I can ask if you can observe at a blacksmith’s shop, so you can see how a weapon is made. They don’t mind visitors for the most part, but some can be picky when they are making special orders. Or, we could get you into the next demonstration class. They take some of the more common weapons and armors, and they put them through hellish tests until they break. Ever seen the aftermath of a lorica hit with siege equipment?” He asked with a grin.

“Nooooo, can’t say that I have.” I said, slightly disturbed and yet, a bit intrigued as well. “But it does sound like a better use for me. Go ahead and sign me up for the destruction class.”

“That’s the spirit! I’ll see when they are doing the next one. I highly recommend taking it every time you can, just as a reminder of the limits of our gear. Now, we are done for the day but I want you to head to the library tonight. See if you can find anything on blood and curse magics. I’m trying to find the best teacher for your holy magic, but haven’t had much luck as of yet. Especially since it has to be mixed with your blood in order to work.”

Thanking Devon for his time, I spent what little remained of the afternoon getting myself taken care of. A quick haircut was in order, and I decided to go ahead and get it cut short like some of the military people I had seen. I also used the public baths, not wanting to impose more than I already was on the Duke. I still felt bad that he was letting me stay and train at his house for free, but I also knew that what little funds I had left wouldn’t have covered staying at an inn, let alone getting a fraction of the training that I was getting.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Later that night, unknown POV

I silently stalked my domain, fuming as yet again I fixed the mistakes of the idiots who came here seeking knowledge and the idiots that were employed to help them during the day. The library was ordered in a specific way so that scrolls could easily be found! That system breaks down if the fools didn’t put things back where they found them!

I sighed, not quite as angry tonight as I should rightly be when I found a book of anatomy mixed in with the books on herbology. I fully blamed the Duke, that conniving bastard. He was one of four people in the kingdom who knew of my existence, and he knew exactly how to bribe me. Letting me get some blood straight from the source. That led me to the circumstances of my imprisonment, and I once again cursed the name of that sanguimancer that had managed to land a geas on me. I was the Devourer of Light! For hundreds of years I had feasted upon the cattle that were humans! I was but a few measly decades from hitting that next level of power that came with being a Blood Duke!

I’ll never know how he managed to obtain my blood. I regularly went through the remote destruction ritual just in case there was a drop somewhere. Unless it was shielded by someone more powerful than myself, it would have burnt up to uselessness with the blink of an eye. But that doesn’t matter now. Here I am, bound by his five iron pillars. Bound into the service of the kingdom, a kingdom of cattle. Do no harm to the humans save under two circumstances: in defense of myself or others, or under direct order from the king or a blood relative. Take no blood from the humans save under direct order of the king. Do no harm to myself. Pass my knowledge on to those with the ability. And above all, do everything I can to aid the sanguimancer that was to come. Bastard. He found a way to use my own power to reinforce the geas, so no matter how strong I became I could never break free.

Then the church somehow got infected by mass stupidity. I can only hope it was something the Sanguine Emperor did, though with how often prey gets stupid ideas it might have occurred naturally. Someone linked sanguimancers and vampires, and started a purge! Nevermind that only one in a hundred thousand could be sanguimancers, while I could turn nearly anyone into a vampire with enough power. It was enough that the first vampires were corrupted sanguimancers, who performed a ritual so vile that they actually managed to create a new god. And now I was locked in this eternal hell, awaiting the birth of a sanguimancer that would never come. Bound by my own growing power to aid those I despise, helpless to seek retribution against them.

Wait. What was that? A faint scent on the air. I know that scent! But it can’t be! I took a deep breath and shuddered in ecstasy. Clean mountain air for the base, with the blessing of the sun! The coppery tang of blood magics! The barest hint of decay from a curse, countered by the smell of fields after a rain. “SANGUIMANCER!” I couldn’t help but hiss, sliding through wards that could never dream of holding me as I gracefully slipped through the mostly empty library. Even my robes dared not make a sound as I leapt from the third floor balcony, falling silently to the ground. I neared the front desk, shamelessly eavesdropping.

“. . . know that you don’t have the clearance to enter the restricted section. That’s not what I asked. I have clearance, but I need to know where it is. If you could tell me where the beginner books are in there, or at least a few places that I could start, I would really appreciate it.” Peeking around a bookcase, I saw some youth arguing with the idiot they placed in charge of the front desk at night. Oh, he had no qualifications beyond being a noble’s son, but if you ask me I had met firewood with more intelligence. At least that had a few moments where it burned brightly.

“Fine. I can take you up there, but don’t blame me when you can’t find or understand anything. I’m sure if something was powerful enough to need to be in the restricted section, it would be so far beyond beginner that you couldn’t possibly understand it. I will give you this warning: make sure you put everything back exactly where you found it. If you can’t remember, there is a cart near the exit that you can place your scrolls on. The night master does not mess around and will punish you. Mostly by banning you from the library. Now, let me see your pass so that I can check to make sure your access to the restricted section is legitimate.”

I slid silently from the shadows, wanting to test the youngster. “It’ssss ok Theodore. I can vouch for his qualificationssss.” I added a bit of extra hiss in my words, inwardly smiling as Theodore leapt backward from the desk and stared at me with eyes full of fright.

“Master! I! Are you sure?”

The youth turned to me, giving a subtle sniff of his nose, but even more telling was the slight glow of magic from his slowly widening eyes. I cut him off before he could say anything, “I am sure, Theodore. Come, and say nothing for now. At least until we reach the restricted section. Dangerous knowledge becomes doubly so when the bearer doesn’t know how dangerous it is. I will explain the rules along the way.”

With that, I turned and headed to the stairs. “There are light stones to help you see at night, but we won’t be needing them. Should I catch you with an open flame outside of the approved testing rooms, I will snuff out your magic and break several bones in order to drive home my point. Conversation is allowed at a slightly less than normal level. Get too loud, or start an argument and you will be banned. This can range from a day to permanent. Damage a book, and you will repay the full value of the book. Ah, here is the restricted section. Notice the chains and lock hanging across the arched entryway. That is your only warning that this area is restricted. Behind that is a shocking ward, that will deliver increasingly painful jolts of electricity if you are persistent in attempting to breach the ward. To enter, hold your pass to the plate on the left. Do not try and scam the ward. It is set to let one person through per card, and you have to scan to exit as well. Trying to cheat the ward and let in unauthorized people, or even worse trying to remove a book from this section will result in you being incapacitated. Questions?” I asked, watching the young kid easily handle the ward. I followed after he entered, ushering him to a table in the main waiting area.

“Why is it that a vampire is working as a librarian and not trying to, you know, eat the people in the city?”