Walking around the surrounding section of the Academy ended up being a lot more interesting than expected. Dallion almost forgot his immediate problems and concerns, as if he’d taken a brief vacation. The people, although always hurrying for somewhere, didn’t talk about politics, the internal empire conflicts, or even the war. It was as if a bubble of calm had been created, keeping the rest of the world at bay. However, even so, Dallion could escape the notion of being constantly watched. The White Eye faction of mages were doing their job subtly, and not so subtly. And even if they weren’t having a novice walk about with a bowblade was bound to attract some attention. At times like these, Dallion wished he was wearing his disfocus ring.

You’re doing fine, Nil encouraged Dallion. It’s normal to be watched. No different from what guardians are doing every day.

“Guardians don’t usually want to kill me,” Dallion whispered.

Going past the cluster of buildings around the Learning Hall, Dallion continued through the fields. From what Nil had assured him, most of the neglected vortexes were in isolated, rarely visited parts of the Academy, namely the spot in which the sewers connected to one of the rivers of the area. That didn’t feel Dallion with enthusiasm, even if he couldn’t deny the echo’s logic.

After about half an hour of walking, he stopped and looked around with his magic layer vision. The surroundings had a lot less magic compared to the place he’d come from. Even so, there was enough for him to pull out a bit from the ground. Sensing that he was still being watched, Dallion did just that.

Bending down, he reached into the soil with his magic, then gently pulled out a small thread. The result was a small ball no larger than the nail of his little finger. Dallion had extracted more during class. Still, he followed up with the act by placing it in one of the depleted disk artifacts he was carrying. That seemed to appease the White Eye, for Dallion managed to catch a glimpse of a mage in the sky flying away.

Do you think there are any more of them? Dallion asked.

Definitely. Not that it matters. As long as they’ve established you’re extracting magic, they’ll leave you alone.

Even when I get to the sewer connection?

Novices are expected to be stupid, dear boy. As long as you don’t make it obvious what you’re doing, they’ll leave you alone.

The river in question had the appearance of a flowery brook full of crystal clean water. However, looking closer, Dallion was able to see the numerous symbols glowing from it, hiding its true nature. It didn’t take long for him to find the entrance to the sewer itself masked as a mound of earth. Once inside, reality instantly changed. Indescribable stench hit Dallion like a hammer, bringing tears to his eyes. Now he understood why mages weren’t too willing to come here in search of magic vortexes.

Fighting his urge to vomit, Dallion gritted his teeth and went further on. The first thing he’d do back in class was to learn how to construct a smell rune to save himself from future torture.

Nox, shed some light, he thought, dreading the prospect of having to open his mouth.

The bladebow moved off his back, surrounded by blue light. Grabbing it with his left hand, Dallion looked through the kaleidervisto scope, searching for any anomalies. If it were up to him, he’d use it to fly a foot in the air instead of walking through sewer sludge. For that, though, he’d have to wait; flight was a spell, not a symbol.

The minutes felt like hours. Each time Dallion spotted even a minute difference in the area’s magic, he rushed in the hope he’d found his goal. The first three times, it turned out to be nothing. The fourth one, he found what he was searching for. The vortex had, thankfully, linked itself to the realm of a ceiling tile of the sewer tunnel. Reaching it was going to be slightly tricky, but Dallion was so thankful he wouldn’t have to reach into the sewage that he didn’t care. Holding his breath, he jumped up, hitting the tile with his fist.

ITEM AWAKENING

A green rectangle appeared.

You are in a small stone room.

Defeat the guardian to change the TILE’s destiny.

That was all nice and well, but it wasn’t the reason Dallion was here. Instead, he split into four instances and looked around. At first there was no sign of magic whatsoever, causing Dallion to dread the prospect that he’d gotten the wrong tile. Not too long after, he spotted it: a small purple oval, no larger than a coin, swirling in a corner of the room.

“That’s it?” Dallion stepped closer.

As I said, those small vortexes aren’t particularly valued. It’s the massive ones that get all the attention. Consider these like copper coins—you might get them if you come across them, but you’ll never deliberately go searching for them.

Only someone who’d never had trouble with money could come up with such an example. Dallion still remembered the time back in his village, when a silver coin was viewed as a treasure. Then again, he was not n Dherma anymore. Summoning his harpsisword, he reached out and touched the vortex.

VORTEX AWAKENING

You are in a level 1 VORTEX.

Defeat the guardian to absorb the VORTEX.

“At least the explanation is direct,” Dallion said.

Nothing about him had changed—his was still holding his harpsisword, and after a quick text, it turned out he could summon other items as well. Out of habit, he summoned the armadil shield, although Onda kept insisting that he had to be there as well. The only one that Dallion made sure not to summon, either in item or familiar form, was Nox. The crackling had made it clear that magic hurt him, and the vortex was nothing less than a realm of magic.

“You okay here, Lux?” Dallion asked.

No problem, boss! The firebird chirped, surrounding Dallion with its flames.

“If things get too tough for you, go back without asking, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

It took several seconds for Dallion to adjust to his surroundings. Not only was everything purple, but the walls, floor, and ceiling were in constant flux, shifting as if Dallion were inside a rubix cube. More alarming than that, the shape and size of the “room” also changed with each rotation.

“A maze?” Dallion asked.

Not precisely, Nil replied. Rather, your old self might have considered it a maze. Now that you have gained the magic trait, it’s anything but. The only advice I can give you is to remember everything you’ve been taught and—

“I must follow the thread leading me to where I need to go,” Dallion interrupted. “All the threads are signs explaining the changes that will come and those that have been. As long as I follow the correct signs, I’ll get to where I need to be.”

Silence followed. Dallion could feel the astonishment coming from Nil, pulsing like an orb of light in his realm.

“That’s what Eleria told me back in Conopa,” Dallion explained. “I can see the treads and the symbols, though I have no idea what’s written there.”

Oh… Well, yes. It’ll be a while before you learn that, but still, well done.

Not being able to read the “instructions” turned out not to be a big deal. All that Dallion needed to do was to match the shapes of things going on in his surroundings, and he was soon able to navigate the room remarkably well. There was one basic principle: the utter lack of pattern. If most guardians, and even people, so far behaved according to certain patterns, pure magic was based on information. At every moment Dallion was told what would happen, even if the timing and sequence were completely at random. Thinking about it, that could have been the reason he had failed so miserably against the platypus guardian. Dallion was still not thinking like a mage, requiring overwhelming force to solve an elegant puzzle. Hopefully, the vortex guardian wouldn’t be as challenging.

For over five minutes, it looked like Dallion was walking in circles. In truth, he was following the invisible path of the room, turning as it did, regardless of the physical representation of the space.

Just exceptions and illusions, Dallion told himself. That’s what magic is.

“How strong are vertex guardians?” he asked, the harpsisword always by his side.

It depends. It’s not so much a matter of strength as it is of behavior. Some you’ll be able to defeat with a simple spark attack, others might be annoying as the aetherizer guardian. The stronger ones can’t be defeated without magic.

That was the crux of it. Things with magic could only interact with other things with magic. Spells were a sort of bridge that connected both. Looking at it, void skills were probably no different.

After another five minutes of walking, the thread suddenly changed direction, moving up a wall. Since Lux granted Dallion the ability to fly, that was no issue. The moment he went up, though, the entire room turned, transforming the wall into the floor.

VORTEX GUARDIAN — AETHERVORE

Species: VOXLING

Class: MAGIC

Health: 100%

Traits:

- BODY 0

- MIND 20

- PERCEPTION 20

- REACTION 40

- MAGIC 40

Skills:

- SPELLCRAFT

- FLASH (Species Unique)

- MAGIC DRAIN (Species Unique)

Weakness: CORE

A purple rectangle emerged. The moment it faded away, the guardian became visible behind. The creature looked like a cross between an eel and an axolotl, though significantly larger. It was interesting that it had no attack or guard skills, but only spellcraft and a few species unique.

Suspecting that magic was the only thing maintaining it, Dallion split into a dozen instances and charged at it, tapping the harpsisword against his boot.

Instantly, symbols appeared on all walls of the room. A barrier of magic separated the room in two, preventing Dallion from reaching his target.

Unwilling to lose his momentum, Dallion infused his weapon with spark and did a line attack. The barrier shattered, though no sooner had it done so, a new set of symbols emerged, teleporting the guardian safely out of reach.

So, that’s how you’ll play. Dallion spun around, continuing with another line attack.

The line of destruction hit the walls, burning into them like a hot wire through butter. Yet once again, the creature evaded the lethal blow, moving away like a purple flash of lightning. A new set of symbols appeared, this time sending lightning bolts straight at Dallion.

Instinctively, Dallion split into fifty instances. The lightning bolts completely ignored the effects, flying towards Dallion in each instance.

Careful! Nil shouted.

Without command, the armadil shield expanded, forming a metal sphere around Dallion. A series of zaps followed, as the lightning bolts scorched its surface.

“Lux, cover the shield from the inside!” Dallion ordered.

I’m fine, the dryad shield guardian said. Electricity doesn’t deal that much damage.

Dallion could tell he was lying.

“Open up when the spell’s ended. I’ll try something new.”

I was afraid you might say that.

Just as the sphere fell to the floor with a large thump, the shield then contracted, returning to its normal size on Dallion’s arm. Symbols were already covering the walls, ready to cast the next spell. At this point, of all the things Dallion could do, he summoned a dryad scroll.

Huh? If the armadil shield had the ability to blink, he would have.

“Time to fight knowledge with knowledge,” Dallion said, grabbing hold of the wooden cylinder.

I applaud the effort, dear boy, but there’s little that scholar skills could do against magic. A sliver of concern made its way into Nil’s voice.

“I’m just following the advice you gave me.” Dallion focused on the vortex guardian. “Spark and scholar skills.”