“The Others were born in the Aether outside of our world, beyond even the heavens where the gods reside.”

Chapter 61

Wil awoke the next morning, still tired from his long journey. After he bathed and had his breakfast, he reviewed today’s plan.

He needed information about the Night here in Aachen. He also needed to purchase spells from the Mage Guild, which meant a trip to the Spire.

The first task was easy to accomplish, he just needed to ask around in the common rooms about what the expectations were for the Auxiliaries.

He doubted they would have anything too complicated, trusting anything too significant to the group. Although they were all powerful and skilled, they didn’t train with the legion, and he questioned whether they could follow complex orders or objectives.

He spent the morning speaking to some of his fellow Auxiliaries, some who had spent months here in Aachen and he learned that his assumptions were correct. During the nights, they would be split by the skillsets and specializations in order to support the Legion and the Church of Secundus in defending the wall.

Their legion contact would be visiting their lodging later in the evening to give him more detailed instructions. For now, it seemed that he would be responsible to assist with defending a section of the wall.

The grey stone wall stretched for miles and was guarded by thousands of legionaries and Auxiliaries. They would leave some of the less strategically important areas to small groups of Auxiliaries to defend, under the command of the regularly stationed legionnaires.

They were also responsible for escorting some of the clerics to specific locations on the wall, the runes there needing a constant flow of divine Mana to repel the undead.

It was during the days that the Auxiliaries were put to their most use. They would head into the city to liberate items, search for caches of supplies or hunt the undead in buildings. They would even accompany the clerics and paladins as they cleansed portions of the city.

With the first task for today accomplished, Wil set out for the Spire. He would meet with their legion contact in the evening, in the common room downstairs. He now needed to add to his spell book, since he lacked Tier 2 spells.

As he walked towards the Spire, along the wooden walkways that elevated the traffic over the muddy ground, Wil reviewed his existing spells.

Before he had left the academy, he had filled his spell book with a variety of minor tier-less and Tier 1 spells. He had memorized many of them, but he had his favorites.

The Mana shield was an essential magic, and something that most mages learned first. A purely defensive Tier 1 spell that had saved his life multiple times already. It could deflect and absorbed the force of attacks, dependent on his rank and the amount of Mana he channeled into it.

Magic Missile and Burning Hands were both Tier 1 offensive spells. Magic missile was perfect for a single, strong opponent, whereas Burning Hands could be used for a small group of enemies directly in front of him.

He had also learned and become proficient in Feather Fall, something that he had come to rely on since Whitewater. He would never fall from a height again, not if he had the mana to support it. It could reduce his falling speed to a gentle descent, but he couldn’t levitate or fly using it, his Mana wouldn’t support his weight.

The minor, tier-less cantrips that he used, Fire Bolt and Mage Hand, both had their uses. Although fire bolt was weaker, it used a negligible amount of his mana to hurl the mote of flame, and it would be useful against the undead, who were weak to fire magics.

Mage hand had shown its advantage in the underground city, testing the ropes. Although it wouldn’t be useful in combat, it was handy to plucking things at a distance when he couldn’t approach them.

There were quite a few 2nd tier spells that would be useful, depending on their availability. The spire should have most for sale, but funding may be an issue.

He had nearly 500 gold coins saved from his trip north, combined with what he made in Whitewater. A veritable fortune, but for purchasing spell matrices, it would only be enough for two, maybe three, depending on what he chose.

It wasn’t often that Wil missed the academy, but at least his expenses were paid while he was there. He had never been more aware of how expensive progressing in rank and learning magic could be.

He had heard that to become an Archmagus, a Rank 10 Mage, it could cost millions of gold coins for the resources and training to achieve. You could outfit an army of tens of thousands of Rankless for the same price.

Although, the Archmagus could destroy that army with a few spells and barely break a sweat.

He also needed a few additional resources, potions and elixirs that would help him to progress to the next rank. The first and second ranks were easy to ascend, just pulling in the ambient mana around him was enough to give him the boost to the next Rank.

Rank 3 was a threshold and breaking through sometimes required external help, or long periods of time. Wil knew of several different options to quickly progress, including traveling to an area with high ambient Mana and meditating, or obtaining rare elixirs or potions.

The final way to break through the bottleneck of Rank 3 is through combat. Draining the Core through powerful magics or extended battles would weaken the barriers of the Mana Core, allowing the Mana inside to crack the vessel and be reformed.

This was a sure-fire way to progress, but it was dangerous as it required putting your life at risk by fighting powerful enemies or being exposed to dangerous situations.

Putting those thoughts aside, Wil concentrated on walking to the Mage’s Spire. He took the twisting and turning wooden walkways, following the steady flow of foot traffic. The town seemed to be packed with people, here for the coming Night. He could see legion soldiers and well-armed auxiliaries everywhere.

Easily spotting the Spire rising above the other buildings, he sped up his pace, weaving in and out of the traffic in a hurry to leave the press of people. He needn’t have bothered, as the Spire seemed to be one of the busiest places in the entire settlement.

Men and women were constantly entering and leaving the Spire’s entrance, a tall and graceful arch in the grey stone tower. As he approached, Wil could feel the mana from the structure. It was appropriate, as he knew that the Spire had been constructed from magic and would be dismantled as soon as the guild were done in the area.

Wil stepped through the archway, taking a deep breath of the Mana rich air inside. He could smell the familiar, ozone like scent of large concentrations of Mana and it brought him back to studying magic at the Academy. He didn’t think he would miss it, even though it only been a month since he had been there.

The inside of the Spire was surprisingly luxurious, compared to the bare grey stone exterior. The floors and walls were made of marble, and mages wearing expensive silk robes were bustling everywhere.

Wil could see lines of people standing in front of counters, where employees in Mage Guild robes were collecting glass orbs, black with negative energy, and handing new, clear orbs and bags of coin in return.

He saw other Auxiliaries, mages like him, standing around tables and poring over large tomes as they murmured quietly to the Guild workers next to them. Wil assumed that they were eyeing spells for purchase from the thick books, then directing the workers on which scrolls to return with.

Wil approached the tables of large books and stacks of scrolls, gesturing towards one of the workers. The employee walked towards him, giving a slight bow as he stopped in beside him.

Wil could feel that the worker, a young man, was not yet a Rank 1, but he had more Mana than a Rankless. Wil guessed that he was probably a ‘pre-initiate’ working for Academy tuition.

The employee assessed him in return, the bow indicating that he recognized his Rank 3 Mana.

“Good afternoon, my name is John. How may I assist you?” The employee asked.

“Hello, I’m looking for Tier 2 spells. What do you have to offer?” Wil asked, turning towards the nearby tome. Glancing at it as he spoke, he noticed that it was filled with spell names and descriptions.

“I assume you aren’t a Guild Member?” John asked, standing next to Wil and lifting a large tome from the table to place nearer to them.

“No, not yet. But I’m a student at the Academy.”

“Oh, that’s good. We restrict our higher tiers and rarer spells to members only. As an initiate, you have access to more than the other auxiliaries.” John replied, before opening the large tome of spells next to him.

“Tier 2, what schools of magic?” he asked, flipping through the book to the 2nd tier spell pages.

“Conjuration. I have mostly Evocations now, but I could use some defensive and utility spells.” Wil answered.

Nodding, John flipped through the pages until he reached the conjuration spells.

“We have several to choose from, if the spell is restricted it will be marked in the catalog. When you have decided, just let me know.” John said, turning and walking towards another of the waiting auxiliaries.

Wil stood over the catalog of spells, reading the descriptions.