The Pen is mightier than the Sword.

Pre-Fall adage

Johanna yelled in surprise, as an icy sensation poured across her arm into the hand. Her hand had suddenly frozen in the act of thumbing the first page of the venerable book. She tried to move it, but it was glued to the book, and the book itself felt as if it was glued to the table as well.

Catherine’s gaze snapped from the book to her, as she was surprised by her reaction. But Johanna didn’t have time to speak.

Light poured out of the book. Johanna saw what looked almost like manalight briefly, flowing into the tome, but an abstraction of blue lines then snapped over the book, and everyone’s sudden gasp told her that those lines were fully visible, not just through her special sense.

The lines twisted, as something poured out of the book into the construct of light floating above it. There were briefly abstract letters, words, and diagrams fleetingly merging into a three-dimensional set of twisting interlocked cube outlines.

Then the paper of the book started to tear up, folding and following the lines and vanishing into the cube mesh, and Catherine reached, trying to tear the book out of Johanna’s hand. The countess immediately snapped back her hand, as the intense freezing sensation came, feeling as if she had submerged her hand into a winter lake’s ice. She contemplated, horrified, her book being slowly whittled, the paper flowing through Johanna’s hand as if it did not exist.

Then the floating abstract cubes slammed together and a large and thick paper sheet fell over the back of Johanna’s hand, and she finally snapped her hand out of the book, as the light show vanished.

“What did you do to my book?” Catherine yelled at Johanna.

She contemplated the desk before whispering, “I have no idea.”

Catherine snatched the book, looking horrified at the ravaged tome.

“It’s missing almost half of its pages. You’ve… burned the pages?”

“It didn’t look like fire,” Tom said from behind the two women.

“At least not the fire you bring up,” Peter said, approaching as well. Laura peeked over his shoulder, curious as well.

Johanna held the parchment-like sheet. A kind of dark blue ink traced lines and text. It had four squares, splitting equally the page. The central part was a circle, with small squares interlocked within. She turned it to see better. There was writing, but bent, written to follow the circular drawing. The letters were oddly shaped, half handwritten, half sharp-lined, unlike any book she’d ever seen. She could make the words “Level”, “Strength”, “Shaper” and “MetalSkin”, one in each square.

“Give me that,” Catherine snarled, snatching the sheet.

The woman froze as she held the parchment-like rectangle. Lines of ink lighted up with the same blue glow as before, tracing the four squares. Glows coalesced, converging on the central circle, and then slowly circled, four-inch-long individual lines of light turning around the central diagram.

“What’s happening?” Johanna asked.

Catherine stayed silent, a frown deepening over her brow.

Then the parchment’s edge started burning and the whole sheet vanished in a speeded-up burnout, leaving no trace whatsoever, not even the slightest trace of ash.

Catherine startled, and Johanna’s hand grasped hers.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“It felt… it felt like waiting. Like it was waiting for approval. Which is strange, coming from a piece of paper.”

She looked at the table, with its ruined hardcover, and shook her hand wonderingly.

“I’m starting to think you are way, way stranger than just a bunch of extremely talented people running away from Maistry. And I have no idea what happened.”

Johanna tried to remember what the parchment had felt like in her hand. It hadn’t felt like something that needed approval. It felt more like she wasn’t supposed to touch it, or something similar.

Wait, was that meant… for Catherine? Specifically?

Before she could voice her thoughts, Tom’s voice interrupted.

“Those four corners seemed like labels to me,” he said.

“Labels?” Catherine asked.

Tom was right, Johanna realized.

“Names of things? About what… levels, like in a construction? Or something?” she speculated.

“No idea, but metal skin seemed oddly specific,” Peter mused.

“Whoever has ever heard of anything having a metal skin. Well, Ancients items had metal wrapping…” Catherine’s voice trailed.

Johanna saw the familiar flash of magic appear a second before she saw the silvery sheen come out from under Catherine’s sleeves, spreading fast over her wrist, then her hand. At the same time, she saw the shiny cover rise from her robe’s neck, surrounding her throat, crawling over her face.

All of them reflexively took a step back from their host as she turned into a shining statue that moved.

Catherine raised her hands, looking incredulously at the silvery sheen of her fingers, as the metallic aspect finished covering her head. Her hair looked unchanged, with the mere hint of a reflective surface in the depths of her flowing hairdo.

“Metal Skin?” she said wonderingly, as she took a step.

“Lord,” Laura said, eyes suddenly wide. “You can use magic. You’re a sorceress.”

“I’m not…” Catherine pleaded as she gently tapped her palm with her other hand. Then she turned to Johanna.

“How do I…”

“Let it go,” Johanna replied. “You can just let it go. It’s kind of a muscle you flex in your mind. That’s how I do my flame.”

Catherine’s skin turned pinkish, and suddenly, there was no trace of any metal whatsoever.

“I didn’t do anything. It just… stopped.”

“Do you feel empty?” Johanna asked.

“Uh? Kind of… it’s hard to explain.”

“That’s how I feel… how we feel… when we expend all of our, well, energies. You just got magic. You didn’t have enough reserves, I think.”

Catherine’s laugh was brittle.

“I’m a brand-new sorceress. No wonder I don’t have reserves.”

“That comes back. You will learn, I know.”

Johanna grabbed again the book, turning it.

“What are you doing to my book?” Catherine protested, grabbing at Johanna’s hand.

“Seeing… if it happens again.”

“What would happen again?”

“This… this was for you. When I held that parchment thing, I knew it wasn’t for me. But you could use it. It was meant for you.”

She turned the ruined book, trying to see if what she’d felt was coming again. But the book remained a book, and nothing happened.

“Why?”

“We… we have that presence over us. I told you we got power together. But it’s not just some random fluke. We found… a skeleton while scavenging. The skeletal remains of an Ancient, I think. Preserved by mana, or maybe its willpower.”

Catherine frowned, and Johanna raised her hand to stall her.

“Ever since we found that Skeleton in that Ancient ruin, we got power. And not once. It keeps changing us, giving us new skills, and improving us when we need it. The Warden’s sorceress, Elena Worchester, said no archmage ever had the same kind of skills, as if there was no reason behind theirs. But we all have skills that go together. I’m all fire from magic now. Laura is all about supporting us, helping us. Peter is completely innocuous-looking, and if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t guess he’s some kind of Talented. Nothing very flashy… and so on. It’s not like every Talented with one or two random special Talents. It’s very, very specific.”

“And you think…”

“That the presence… Changed your Ancient book to give you something. Maybe something you needed.”

“That Ancient of yours?”

“I think that’s the only explanation possible. You might argue that we change based on what feels right for us because our power was unleashed by the mana accumulated in the Skeleton. But that’s not what it is. The Ancient dead one, who gave us powers, is trying to give you some now.”

Catherine contemplated the hardcover tome before shrugging.

“Well, one power is nice. Even if it’s not as impressive. I guess not everyone can be like you, Johanna.”

“Most of the book is gone, though.”

“If you need to sacrifice an Ancient book every time, it’s going to be painful for my collection. I have only three originals. Two and a half now, barely,” Catherine noted.

“Well, you tried,” Tom said, as his hand fell on Johanna’s, squeezing it.

Lines twisted above the book.

When Moore saw the mention “Johanna Milton has already used this book” instead of a “Commit”, he could have yelled if he had the equipment for it. There were enough pages to create a new scroll… but no. It was a one-shot, as he had feared. Although the experiment by itself was a success. The scroll had been tailored for Rocastle’s stats, and she’d been very obviously immediately able to use it, and had done so. When she’d grabbed Johanna’s hand again, he’d verified immediately that his choices had taken root.

Catherine “Kitty” Rocastle

Female human, 38 years, 9 months

Shaper

Level: 6 (13000 XP needed)

Mana: 0/23 (+15 per hour)

Stamina: 0/23 (+17 per hour)

5 unallocated skills points

XP: 4221

STR: 17 (2000 XP needed)

Metal Skin (23)

AUT: 17

AGI: 14

PER: 15 (2000 XP needed)

DEX: 15

EMP: 15

The noblewoman had probably been completely taken by surprise and didn’t know what had gone on, but what counted is that he had been able to provide a real “Settings Scroll”. And funnily enough, it had added 38 XP into the global pool, instead of giving the experience to Milton. That wasn’t much, but as always, any XP was good XP.

The surprise was when Tom’s hand touched – at least one finger – the book. Suddenly, the scroll creation popped up again in his view from Tom’s perspective, and without the warning at the bottom. That’s when Moore realized he could do it potentially four times per book. Well, probably not four times in this case – the pages would be exhausted quickly. But if the team understood that each one of them needed to do it…

Oh, right. Next skill on my list.

Settings Scroll creation

Effects

Cost

Add +1 level

20 pages

Add +1 stat (unselected)

10 pages

Set specialization (unselected)

10 pages

Add skill (Rust)

50 pages

Remove skill (unselected)

5 pages

Total pages available: 192

Total: 100 pages

COMMIT? Yes - No

I have just enough pages for a third skill. I’ll go for Detect Metal next with one additional Perception, that’s the biggest tier that fits within the remaining book once I’ve raised her mana above 30.