“Just once I’d like for us to do something that doesn’t involve us being swatted around.”

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to try this stupid book!”

Michael dragged himself up from the broken table’s remains he had been using as a makeshift bed on the floor. By the looks of it, all his friends had been similarly blasted away. Erea was already on her feet and was helping Melissa get up. Micah was getting up two, though slower. He had been flung directly against a stone wall and that couldn’t have felt nice.

Yet, beyond the pain in his backside, Michael also noticed a couple more emotions embedded into his friend’s face. Wariness, since the lycan seemed to be looking at the others in detail. And fear. Micael knew why. He had heard the word Micah had shouted before. From the lycan himself. It was the name the werewolf had said was his own, though the boy that became the werewolf hadn’t been called that. Yet Michael also noticed that the other two hadn’t caught on to that, since they lacked the necessary information.

And now it was time to clear the coming conversation, before Micah’s fear made him put his foot in his mouth.

“That was the worst side effect-have ever seen.” He puffed. “Must have been because you pushed too much mana into it.”

Micah just looked at him funny.

Oh, come on. Catch on, will you?

“That being said, the maker of this artifact should have really included a fail-safe. What if a stronger mage tried to push it?”

It seemed that the lycan had finally caught on, since he was now nodding furiously.

“Yup. Dumb mage. Dumb book. What can you do? Hey, is anyone hungry? Lunch’s on me.”

“Lunch’s on Gnosis.” Erea said. “But I could eat. Oh, but Michael, you still have to do your test, right?”

“Is that wise?” Melissa asked. “The diagram still looks functional, but we just proved it’s not perfectly safe.”

“Only if you push it. And I’m not going to, even if it gives me partial results.”

“If you say so.”

“Got it. Right, I’m off.” Micah said. “Erea, Melissa?”

“Coming. Try not to blow yourself up.” She said, giving Michael a kiss.

Melissa followed them to, though she gave the book an unsteady look. Her second look towards Michael was even more worried, but she refrained from speaking. Truthfully, Michael himself would have preferred someone around, even if he knew the real reason the book had gone haywire, but he needed to mentally distance the others from the incident as much as he could, if he wanted Micah’s secret to be perfectly guarded.

That still didn’t mean that he would let this lie, though.

“Oh and Micah, don’t forget to meet with me and Bob later, to talk about Norgulin’s assignment.”

“What assignment?”

You’re kidding.

“The one about different races.”

“…oh. Oh! That assignment. Yeah, yeah, I’ll catch up with you guys.” He smiled and walked out of the room.

It was only when the door was closed that Michael finally let out a long breath.

Gnosis save me from all this cloak and dagger stuff.

Michael desperately wanted to have everyone on the same level. Bringing Melissa into their group helped, but not enough. There were still too many angles to be careful of.

Well.

At least this book will maybe solve one issue. He hoped.

Walking forward, he pricked his palm with his sword, before letting it be absorbed back into his gauntlet. Carefully, he placed it above the diagram and started to channel his mana.

Wow. Melissa wasn’t kidding.

Even with |Lesser Mana Channeling|, the book was absorbing quite a large amount of mana. And it kept doing it. Sure, he had |Lesser Mana Pool| and |Lesser Mana Absorption|, but he still thought he wouldn’t be able to keep this up for more than a few minutes. Fortunately, it didn’t look like he’d need that much time.

The image appeared again, as string and vivid as Erea’s. The background ‘smoke’ was normal, which assured him, but his attention soon diverted to all the moving shapes and colors. The first thing that he noticed was that he had an above average magical reservoir. Yet it seemed to… pulse. It was getting steadily bigger, before deflating and repeating the process. That was in the book, though and it said that was a sign of an imminent magical reservoir growth.

Cool.

There were other signs too. He had a small magical affinity, elemental in nature, but not geared towards anything in particular. St the center of that he also noticed a slightly glowing center, which the book mentioned that it meant Michael had a stronger magical base than normal. He guessed Sinestra’s teaching helped with that.

Funny and alarming at the same time was the fact that he also shared another thing with Erea, which was the slight potential for quick casting. The book mentioned that could develop into a talent for fighting oriented Spells. Which was probably Kelunad’s influence. The reason it was slightly alarming was because the book said that a pure magical base and an inclination towards a fighting built tended to provoke tension inside one’s own magical center, though the author did mention such things only manifested themselves in external difficulties once the mage reached at least Level 30. Michael had a long way to go until that happened.

And very endearing was the fact that a slight, squiggling smoky prism told him that he had started to develop an affinity for Gnosian Magic. Inconsequential for now, but it could grow. He smiled, knowing that both Gnosis and Regitris would be proud. Indeed, the warm air now enveloping him told him Gnosis at least approved of that.

Other than that, there wasn’t much else to look at. Just random shapes and…

Wait. Huh… What’s that?

He missed it at first, because it was fainter than even the spiral which denoted Erea’s racial affinities, but when he concentrated on it… there it was. Twin shapes, one looking like a blotch of ink and the other like a long green tendril wrapping itself around it. They were coming in and out of view, slowly dissipating inside the greater background.

Warily, Michael pushed more of his magic inside the book, but he two shapes continued their slow dance.

Good. It’s not something lurking behind it all. Not like Micah. Good.

Yet he still didn’t feel confident about what he was seeing. He checked the book, but such a two-parted sign wasn’t there to be found. And there’s was nothing that looked like the blotch of ink. There were a couple of similar signs, an orb of darkness that the book mentioned was a Night affinity and a sheet of black that the book said it represented a darkness affinity, but nothing of the same amorphous blotchiness. As for the tendril… there were small marking on it. Once again, the full shape was nowhere to be found inside the book and yet… an image and description of a slightly undulating sig stood out to him. It wasn’t wrapped around anything and the one in the book was clearer, but if he imagined the line not being wrapped around the blotch of ink…

Serpentine Affinity, commonly found in Gorgons, Nagas, Medusas and other scale-type races.

“Serpentine Magic.” Michael muttered.

This could be it. This could be what Sinestra had been trying to teach him all this time. This was a sign that something had caught on. But he still had trouble with it. Perhaps it was because of the other sign? Was it a sign? Then again, the author mentioned he had written this book back when magical affinities were still being explored. Perhaps he hadn’t known of it then.

But what could he do?

Wait. Is this image… real-time?

Like and X-Ray? Perhaps. He tried to do as Sinestra taught him and reach inside to his own magic. Tried to make it take the form she had showed him. It came hard and his only similar experience was using the |Serpentine Senses| Spell. He was also running out of mana fast, but he had to do it. And slowly, very slowly, he saw the constricting line of magic wiggle.

That’s it!

He focused on the feeling, trying to get it to loosen. It was working, slowly, but surely. Now that he saw what he was doing or at least a representation of it, he could start to guide his magic free. The faint green line started to loosen and remove itself when the black blotch suddenly pulsed and spread out.

It looked like one of those clips where amoebas reach out to engulf their prey that Michael had seen, only it wasn’t engulfing but… sticking to it. Pulling it back in shape. Michael felt it too. He felt the moment when his magic flinched and went out of his control, exactly when he saw it happening in the image.

Damn it! Just… what is that? It’s clearly part of my magic, but which one? Does it have anything to do with Earth?

But Earth didn’t have magic. That he knew of, at least. So then… what? He thought back, to all the recent events. Of the golem and the werewolf and the dryad and the-

Dryad!

Of course. It wasn’t obvious, but the dryad’s eyes were black. She was naked, but her eyes were black. Could it be? There certainly wasn’t anything else that had affected him nearly as strongly. I mean… he was possessed. How stronger of an influence could you get? And the author also mentioned that not only practicing magic could develop an affinity, but being exposed to it did it as well.

But how to use it?

He didn’t have any kind of learning about it, no type of lesson to teach him about molding that type of magic. The only thing he had left from that experience was a Spell. But time was fleeting and his mana as well. If he had to… he’d wing it.

Slowly, he started to get in the mind-zone of using his Spell, without actually using it. He moved his mana, preparing it, shaping it. And then, slowly once more, he tried to get it to slacken. And it did!

For one second, he saw the blotch of darkness go rigid and shrink. But then his control slipped.

Damn it. Ok, ok. I still have time. I can do this. I just need… to pull them apart.

Michael was sweating. His face was white and he had drawn blood from his lips with his teeth. But his hand hadn’t wavered and his mana hadn’t stopped pouring. He’d probably be experiencing mana burn after this, but he needed to do it. There was no telling when the academy would come calling for their book back.

He tried again, using the |Rot Slash| Spell to get him in the correct mind-frame. The blotch of ink stopped moving, slowing down, before stopping completely. Simultaneously, he started to focus on Sinestra’s magic. What little of it he had, he willed into movement. He had it untense, uncoiling it and made it start to slide down from its focus. And once again the blotch tried to yank it back.

But this time he was ready. His mana was almost out, the stream of magic going towards the book barely a trickle. The image was growing smaller as a result, but he still saw what he cared about. And that was all he needed.

He continued to use his minds in tis horrendous fashion, like looking right and left at the same time and his magic tried to emulate it, screaming in protest. But he was so close. Half of him made part if magic go still, while the other half made another part slither away. The image was down to a portion now. But the two affinities had almost parted too. There was only a slight tendril of black hanging on to a single coil of green. He felt his magic fading out and he wanted to hurl. To sleep. But he focused, straining.

With a final soundless scream, he broke the two apart, falling to his knees, the image winking out.

And that’s when he heard it.

|Class Level Raised: Mage|

|Class L

|Class Lev

|Class Level:

|Magical Plague Removed: Elderblight|

|Class Unlocked: Mage|

|Class Level Raised: Mage|

|Class Level: 14|

|New Skills:|

|Dual Cast|

|Thought Streams|

|Lesser Mana Pool & Middling Mana Pool|

|Lesser Mana Channeling à Middling Mana Channeling|

|Magical Affinity: Rot|

|Magical Affinity: Scale|

Michael fell on his back, as much from the shock as from the tiredness. But he had one last thing to say.

“Cool.” He grinned, falling asleep.

He lay there, on the cool stone, dreaming of laughing black and hissing green.