Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Erick woke under a blue sky; his weather ward faintly visible above.

Two shadows loomed ovehead. As Erick’s eyes regained their ability to focus, one of the shadows resolved into a grey feathered Krakina. The other became a sapphire bluescaled Poi. Poi reached down as Erick reached up, and lifted Erick to his feet. Poi helped Erick remain upright, before stepping away.

Krakina looked him over. “Error message?”

“Yes. Can’t use Mana Altering on [Lightning Aura]. I don’t want to try it with [Call Lightning].”

Krakina frowned. She squinted her eyes at Erick. “Truth?”

“I could try it again, but—”

“Try again!”

Poi said, “I must insist that you try again as well. This is very important.”

Erick looked at Poi. The sapphire dragonkin was as focused as Erick had ever seen him, even more so than when Erick was talking with Anhelia, the information broker of Spur’s Mage Guild. So Erick nodded.

He tried again.

Mana Altering: Bludgeoning

[Lightning Aura]

ERROR!

Poi held Erick upright.

When Erick’s senses returned, he said, “Error, again.”

Poi insisted, “Try something else. Alter to Fire.”

“Are you an idiot!” Krakina slapped Poi on the shoulder with her wingtips. She shouted, “We would all die!”

“We have to know. We’ll go back to the absorption [Ward]s we put up. Erick stays here.” He said to Erick, “Sit down, and try it with Alter to Fire. The Lightning Aura you made is enough for us to know. If you tried this with [Call Lightning] that much mana clashing against an Error would lay you out for days.”

Erick looked into Poi’s eyes, and realized Mana Altering failure was a big deal. Erick already suspected it would be, but seeing Poi’s face really brought home that truth. That truth made Erick happy.

Erick smiled. “If this doesn’t work, that means [Call Lightning] is impressive, but trivial to negate. The aura is easy to negate, too. Just throw a [Call Lightning] up first, and the rain will dissipate any building charge. It’s a perfect counter to itself.”

“... The bigger issue is if you cannot Mana Alter the magic,” Poi stressed.

Erick grinned. “You two want to go back to your [Ward]s now?”

Both of them hurried over to their [Ward]s.

Erick sat down on the ground and stared at the blue sky.

It’s like you answered a prayer I didn’t know I had, Rozeta.

Erick threaded his mana through his skills.

Mana Altering: Force to Fire.

[Lightning Aura]

ERROR!

Erick was already on the ground, so he didn’t fall. He knew what was coming, so he didn’t lose consciousness. In fact, he felt a surge of relief.

He called out, “Error message! Can’t alter to fire!”

“FUCK!” Krakina yelled, at the same time—

—Poi yelled, “YES!”

Erick laughed loud, saying, “You don’t like being my ‘bodyguard’, Poi?”

“Ah!” Poi cleared his throat. “Ah. Sorry, sir. That was not my intent.”

“It’s okay. I’m happy, too. But this is going to make a rain grow aura much more difficult!”

“IT’S IMPOSSIBLE, NOW! How would you even—” Krakina shouted, “FUCKING—”

Krakina continued to shout, transferring from Ecks into some unknown language. As she cursed the sky, Erick reviewed his backup plan to making [Growth Rain]. Maybe it would work, maybe not. Maybe it would lay him out for another three days, but he was going to try anyway.

He relaxed. Poi shushed Krakina in the background. Meditation filled Erick’s vision with shadows as ambient mana trickled into his body. He wasn’t full, but that was okay. He opened his mana, and began:

“A world of wheat, a land of green, a thousand different delicious beans.

"Peaceful rain to grow the land, kingdoms linked hand in hand.

"A world of wheat, a land of green, a thousand different delicious beans.

"Peaceful growth devoid of pain, bloom the land with [Miracle Rain].”

The sky shifted.

Erick collapsed backward as his mana drained to 2. Then it went to 1, then 0.

As consciousness left him, the pitter patter of tiny drops of rain filled his ears.

- - - -

Rozeta’s voice brought Erick back to reality.

... Or as close to reality as this place could be.

“Dear Relevant Entities of the Script, today we have before you a man who some would call Wizard, others Heretic, and still more would call Saint.”

Rozeta’s voice carried on the clouds all around them, but this was not the middle of the skies, and Rozeta was not a four mile long dragon. She was a woman made of white metal, maybe 6 feet tall, wearing a receptionist’s outfit; prim and proper.

Erick stood at the center of a blackened caldera, the edges of the dead volcano hundreds of feet away and scraping upward like daggers. Fluffy white clouds flowed through those obsidian daggers, cutting into the blackened space only to reform as a thin mist around Erick.

A hundred faceless people or more, of all kinds, were in that mist.

Some of them were the mist; half there, half elsewhere.

There were dragonkin and orcols, humans and incani, dragons and other, harder to describe species. A winged maybe-human. A black spot on the world like something was missing. A cube, slowly spinning on one corner. A gentle glowing star, bright silver, attached to nothing, just hovering in the mist. They all talked among themselves, but the words were too quiet to understand.

Four people stood out from the misty crowd.

To his left: A blue-skinned maybe-human woman, but tall like an orcol, 9 feet at least, with long hair billowing backward on some unseen breeze. She wore the torn sails of a ship as a dress that was only held on by the wind.

To his right: A muscular, darker skinned human woman, in a loose, gauze-like dress. She wasn’t obviously an orcol, no fangs or green skin, but she could have passed for one considering her perfect beauty and also 9-foot tall body.

And, of course, in front of him, the only one that looked like a wrought; Rozeta. She was pure white metal in the shape and size of a human woman. Gold glittered upon her skin, but as she moved that gold revealed itself as white.

The last person present was a man. He looked like a grandfather, or someone Erick’s age. He was human and human-sized, wearing black pants and a black tunic. He stood a dozen paces behind Erick.

Rozeta spoke above the murmur of the audience, “Allow me to introduce the primary complaints. We have Sininindi, Goddess of the Storm. She stands against the accused, denouncing him a Wizard and Heretic. We have Atunir, Goddess of Fertility and Field. She stands for the accused, claiming he is a Saint. We have Phagar, God of Death and Time. His is the final judgment.” She turned to Sininindi. “You may level your complaints now.”

Sininindi stepped forward. “This man has introduced a poison into our world. A poison that breaks down the very nature of our reality. It is our duty as tenders to this world to end this man and his daughter, and call upon all of our followers to purge this knowledge of Particle Magic from Veird.”

Atunir stepped forward. “Mana Altering seems to have failed with Erick’s [Lightning Aura]; These strong magics will never be truly devastating spells. [Call Lightning] and [Lightning Aura] destroy each other, and all Particle Magic is stopped by the proper [Ward]. We have solved all of the actual problems with Erick’s Particle Magic before they truly began. All of your complaints are theological, and therefore have no place in today’s judgment.”

“This man’s new spell will ruin your worship, Atunir. How can you not see that?”

“I plan on forcing this man to be my champion, and thus his newest spell is available only through me.”

Until then, Erick was holding his tongue because he didn’t feel like being a red stain on the black caldera. But what tumbled out of his mouth was not some great argument against what they were saying, but the very first thing that came to mind.

He shouted, “I will not be the champion of gods that allow the human and incani war to be incentivized with experience gains!”

Okay. Maybe staying on topic would have been a better idea. That was a weird complaint when it seemed his very life was on the line.

Atunir looked down at him. So did Sininindi.

Atunir ignored him. “He’s a bit ignorant, but that’s not a big deal. He works hard. He does what he can for the people around him. The rest will come with time.”

Sininindi turned to Rozeta. “And what happens when he causes another Sundering, without using magic at all? We’ve all seen his Deep Scan. We have all seen the videos of atomic bombs. He might not know how to make them, but others will figure it out.”

“Fusion and Fission are already part of the Sundering Ban.” Rozeta said, “Even if someone were to refine uranium and then do everything else right, it would still not cause a nuclear reaction.”

That riled Sininindi up. She yelled, “The fact that these forgotten magics have been revealed at all is a problem! We know, they’ll know! I won’t have my oceans ruined by an idiot wizard!”

“You worry for nothing.” Rozeta said, “Nuclear weaponry is impossible, as I have said.”The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.

“She is right, Sininindi.” Phagar stepped forward. “I have checked all my sources. Atomic magic is still Banned.”

Sininindi breathed, and the air moved, smelling of salt. “Fine. Then I suppose I must believe you. But!” Sininindi accused, “He promised not to release new magic into the world, and most of us were okay with his existence after that. I thought everything would be fine. Now he has broken that promise. At the very least, this is cause for concern. I put forth that this concern is enough to end him right now. We should not suffer a wizard to live.”

“But all of his goals are peaceful, Sininindi.” Atunir said, “The lightning spell was a fluke, triggering deep magics that have laid dormant for millennia and that none of us thought existed anymore. The lightning might have attached to him, but we can limit the spread of the rest of this Particle Magic. We could even put [Call Lightning] behind other gates. Like worship of you, if I get—”

A very quick, pronounced ‘NO’ reverberated around the misty caldera.

“I would accept only my worshipers having access to—”

A much louder ‘NO’ echoed across the land.

Sininindi huffed, but then schooled her emotions flat.

Phagar, God of Death and Time, said, “Don’t forget that talk about telomeres and the end of aging. I’m as fair as the next guy, but that would not be fair to those to come. I will not allow immortality back onto Veird.”

Erick was starting to feel very non-concerned with everything happening around him. Why was he even here? They didn’t seem to be including him in this conversation. This was as good a moment as any to interrupt.

Erick spoke to the audience, “You could expand into the rest of your solar system. New worshipers on new ground and all that.”

Every god, goddess, demon, angel, and dragon in the audience stared at him.

Well that was a weird reaction.

“You all... have a solar system?” Erick asked, incredulous. “Right?”

MP

600/600

1050 per day

Strength

9

+0

[9]

Vitality

15

+0

[15]

Willpower

20

+0

[20]

Focus

35

+0

[35]

Favored Spell waiting!

Favored Spell waiting!

Favored Spell waiting!

Call Lightning X, 1 minute per level, super long range, 500 MP ~{Favored Spell}~

Prepare the sky to strike an area or object of your choice for . If used in an active lightning storm, Call Lightning’s duration is as long as the natural storm. Every lightning bolt called reduces the duration of Call Lightning by 1 minute, or a natural storm by .

Particle Mage Only

Lightning Aura, 1 MP per second, super long range ~{Favored Spell}~

Prepare the air around you to strike for . One strike available every 50 MP.

Particle Mage Only

Congratulations!

You have combined parts of the Script to create your first tier 3 spell!

May your journey into magic be wide and fruitful!

+2 ability points!

Exalted Storm Aura, 1 MP per second, super long range

Anoint the land with blessed rain, rapidly growing all to and restoring vibrancy to all other plant life and soil. If used in a , highly nutritious beans will sprout after .

Particle Mage Only

Particle Mage, 6/6

Your ability to unlock new Particle spells is greatly increased.

If you witness a Particle spell and you understand it, you may unlock that spell for free.

Your ability to affect the Particle spells of others is greatly increased.

Your own Particle spells are less affected by the abilities of non Particle Mages.

Your Particle spells deal more damage.

You take less damage from Particle spells.

Al read the blue boxes hovering in front of him.

Erick watched him read.

Eventually, Al said, “A Class before level 50, and without a Registrar Quest. And fully leveled, too. And you’re the recognized creator of a new branch of magic.” He laughed, loud and happy. “Glad to know you before you become a mover and shaker! Ha ha!” He held up the [Exalted Storm Aura] spell. “And this! A full day of casting to achieve free food! Most casters would need to assign a Favored Spell to it for 900 MP an hour instead of 1800 an hour, but...” Al breathed out. “They’re going to do that. A lot of people are going to spec for Scion of Focus, too. Though... Class requirements... To specialize in magic which is stopped by all wards and itself...” He shook his head. “They’re going to, though. Someone in every kingdom is going to take this class. At least one. Probably two or three to keep the first one in check. This is... This is...”

A voice in the air said, “You’ve changed the world, Archmage Erick Flatt.”

Erick turned. The air shimmered gold, then flattened. Like a video call, a man appeared upon the flat screen of light. He was a human man, maybe in his sixties, wearing formal yellow and white robes like some Chinese emperor. He held a steaming cup of tea, as he sat on a porch, overlooking a craggy ocean shore. He set his cup aside.

Normally, Erick would have launched out of his seat and hid, if a strange spell effect just appeared in front of him. Al did; he was already by the stairs, almost completely hidden. But Erick was quite tired of a lot of today’s shit, and if asked ‘why didn’t you run from the funky spell’, he would have answered with ‘because I didn’t think it was dangerous’. Though the real answer would be that he couldn’t move that fast anymore.

“Greetings, Archmage Erick Flatt.”

Erick knew that voice, but it was much gentler this time. Maybe not running was both the correct choice, and the very incorrect choice.

Erick asked, “Headmaster?”

The man smiled. “That is correct.”

Erick turned to Al. He was watching from the stairs. Al made a shushing motion with his hands.

That was weird.

Erick turned back to the Headmaster. “Uh. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

“It is I who must owe someone, to have one such as yourself appear in such an otherwise boring part of history. I am sure you have had a trying day, but I simply had to appear to offer my congratulations.”

“Uh. Thanks!” Erick smiled. “Is this where you threaten me? I’d like to hurry this up and take a nap, so if you could, go ahead?”

The Headmaster frowned. Slowly he returned to gentle neutrality. “No. I never would have done that. I had wished to offer you a free enrollment at Oceanside or at any of my arcanaeums around the world; to court your favor in that regard. But I see now that my offer would be taken as something violent. Something that it is not. If you change your mind, the offer is open, but please do not feel that acceptance is necessary for anyone’s wellbeing.” He tilted his head forward in a small bow of courtesy. “Good day, Archmage.”

“Good day, uh, Headmaster.”

The [Video Call], or whatever it was, ended with the magic screen flitzing out like so many glitterbugs scattering to the wind.

Al gradually walked back into the room.

It was time for a joke, and Erick had a good one. “What the fuck, Al? Are you secretly a dragon and you’re scared he’s going to eat you?”

“N—NO! No! Why—” Al composed himself. “Why would you think that?”

... Not where Erick thought that was going to go.

“... Okay.” Erick pointed all over Al. “I’m not stepping into whatever that was, right there.” Erick changed the subject. “I want dinner at that orcol place you took us to. I’m buying. You’re coming. I have to stop by the bank, first.”

Still looking quite a bit uncertain about everything, Al chanced to say, “... Use your Mage Guild badge to charge the bill to your account.”

Erick shouted, “How the hell don’t I know that already! I’ve been carrying around gold all this time! Fucking hell.” He asked, “Do all the shops work on this system?”

Al looked at Erick for several moments.

“No. Just the expensive places.” Al said, “Let’s go. I’m hungry, too.”

- - - -

Erick ate too much. He drank too much. He probably ogled too many orcol asses and tits and biceps and bulges and wow, those faces. Her inviting eyes. The stubbled jaw on that dude. That long hair on her.

But who cared! Not Erick. He was three sheets to the wind and two plates deep —appetizers and then first course!— into monster meat. Monsterized chicken was tonight's featured meat.

Monster chickens! How clucking funny was that!

And then he showed off [Exalted Storm Aura] to the very hot waiter, and the people at the table next to him.

Al wasn’t fast enough to stop him.

The entire restaurant exploded into a great big party after that. Erick wasn’t buying his own food or drinks anymore. Everyone else was buying for him.

Apogough showed up. He started drinking, laughing and celebrating.

Valok showed up with Krakina in tow. They started drinking and laughing. Krakina was pretty damn pissed that she wouldn’t get to play around with [Call Lightning] herself; she was an adamant WeatherWitch. But this meant that she could get a lot more done with her own magic, too. The size of the farms might easily quintuple! She did have to prove the power of her Class, though, now that Erick had one. She showed off [Nature’s Fury], turning the sunset sky into crackling wind. A tornado—

Even the guard was here now! What a fun party.

And there’s Silverite! Everyone else got quiet, except for Erick.

“Oh hey! Silverite!” Erick sloshed his... sixth drink? Maybe his seventh. “Have you heard the news?”

“I have, Archmage Erick Flatt.”

The restaurant erupted in shouts of ‘Archmage!’ for about the fortieth time.

Silverite smiled, and brought out a black bottle. She held it up to the watching crowd, her thumb cracking the cap off the bottle without any apparent effort. “A toast, to a prosperous Spur! Congratulations, Erick!”

She took a swig, and the rest of the restaurant drank with her.

There were some other random events after that, but Erick was on his eighth drink now.

He wouldn’t remember a damn thing in the morning except that he hated hangovers.