I stir as the sun threatens to brighten my morning through both the blinds and light curtains. I’ve been awake since Tåke came in earlier, having slept in her almost finished corner for the night. Her little corner turned out a much bigger task than I thought, though I made the task bigger by drastically expanding the scope of it. The curtains levitate as they should, but I want to do it another way.

Through the synchronized bond I notice that she’s also hungry, and start the day by aggressively tickling her so she gets off of me. While doing the usual morning routine I think about the better way to make ‘anchors’ for magic in the apartment. When I thought about it yesterday I came to the conclusion that there is essentially three ways to do it.

Option one is passive anchors -They are little more than markers for other objects to use. Very simple and can be carried around and set up anywhere. Option two is that the anchors cast the magic, for example levitation, but that means they will have to be custom made for their purpose. They are still mobile, and if I for example wanted to set up a stall to advertise again, I could use premade floaters.

Finally, the one I decided to go with, at least in the apartment, is options three: Passive anchors used by a central core. Like the magic gun, I can then connect modules to the core, and these modules do stuff. In this case, I want to turn the mana absorption array I have into a module, and also make a sort of ‘battery’ module for storing power. That way, if it somehow uses more mana than it can absorb, it has a backup.

In other words, I treat modules like programming black boxes. They have input and outputs, and does something with those in the meanwhile. The mana absorption and storage modules are ‘power’ modules, and said power can be used by functional modules. In this case, that’ll be the levitation module, and if it works well, a module to take over the barrier around the apartment.

Which brings me to the concern of safety/security. How the levitation module will work is that I can take any object and ‘mark’ it, and the levitation module will make it, well, levitate. But I don’t want other people to be able to use my magic, by for example marking an object in the neighbouring apartment. The markers I use for the barrier will also mark the outer boundary of the magic.

Which means the absorption array, which needs to be outside will need an exception, but if I make a physical connection it should be fine. After the two of us wolf down breakfast (one more than the other), I sit down and look over the notes I’ve taken, and what I have so far. In no particular order, that would be three different unfinished cores, two similar mana crystal ‘batteries’, a couple prototype anchors and some silk string and copper wires for connecting them up.

Where was I, and what should I do now…

Time flies, and I only notice several hours have passed when I get a call from the oldest of my two younger brothers. “Sup bro?”

“Yo, bro. You were selling magic training, right? Can you train me?”

“Bro, do you have the money for that?”

“Aww, come on, bro! We’re bros, bro. Be a bro here and teach a bro some magic.

“…you know, that was pretty damn good. Bro. Seriously though, have you asked mom?”

“Mmmmmno.”

“Sigh. Is she available? Can you hand her the phone?”

“No, I’m out with friends trying out magic.”

The way he says it, it sounds a lot like playing with fire. “How long are you planning on being out?”

All I get is an indistinct ‘dunno’. Pretty sure it would be safer if I’m there to supervise and handle any problems than them just experimenting without an adult. “Right. Just, uhh, don’t do any big magic, don’t use much mana when experimenting. Tell me where you are and I’ll head over after finishing what I’m doing.”

He happily tells me and we hang up. Right, now I just need to connect the mana absorption array to the mana absorption module, and make sure it works as it should. Hmm, can’t see any problems, the core successfully routes the power to the storage, as well as to the experimental levitation module. It can’t hold any extra mana, so it just releases it into the air.

Hmm. Should probably send it back to storage, or maybe to a dedicated overflow storage. On the other hand, if I make the boundary barrier around the apartment strong enough, I can artificially increase the mana density here… That’s for later. If I enchant the wooden test cube with the levitation mark- Perfect, it stays more or less where it is. I can push it around, but it only has anchors below, so that’s to be expected.

Coming in from above they don’t notice Tåke and me in the sky, and I make a grand entrance by dropping down in a pretty soft landing, made much more dramatic with a radial blast of air just as I touch down. I turn to my little brother. “Sup, Petter. I see you’re literally playing with fire.” I say, before introducing myself as Petter would be the only one to recognize me in this form.

“Wow, is your brother a furry?”

I give the snarky one a level stare as I revert to my less furred form. As I do, Tåke lets out a disappointed sound as she makes a much less impressive landing.

“Ah, his girlfriend is a furry.”

I roll my eyes. “She’s technically my ‘beast companion’ according to the [System]. She’s not only like two years old, but a wolf. Not really a girlfriend candidate.”

“She’s a wolf?”

“Well, right now she’s a wolfkin, but like me she can shapeshift. In fact, I can almost promise you she has more magic abilities than you do.”

“Whaaaat.”

“Anyway, I came here because Petter wants me to teach him magic. I take it you guys would also want that. I’ll start by telling you that magic is obviously very dangerous, so be careful. Now, if you’d like me to teach you I’ll start by going over the basic mana abilities.”

They quickly go from being hyped to bored when I start by explain some physics while trying to get them [Mana Perception]. When I demonstrate how useful it is by making them cast those fire spells I saw from the air and dispelling them, they suddenly seem a lot more interested though.

A bit later they all have what I consider the basics of magic, which consists of the two basic mana abilities, [Body Enhancement] and the two healing abilities. I have also explained how magic seems to follow the normal laws of physics (aside from the whole ‘is magic’ part), and that they should pay attention in science class. They did complain about not teaching them shapeshifting, but I just told them they’ll have to pay for that.

Onwards to Leda, then. I repeatedly told them to be careful, and I taught them my method for learning new magic, which itself is derived from the scientific method (I made sure to point that out), so hopefully they’ll have the tools needed to experiment safely. Though, I suppose they will also get results much quicker. Well, should still be safer.

The cafe Leda’s been hanging around is literally at the opposite side of the city, but the trip still doesn’t take that long when I can just levitate above most buildings. Despite that, someone manages to call me while I’m in the air. It’s not like I can’t speak while airborne, so I accept it and continue onwards with a lazy pace.

“Hello, Lars Eikeli.”

“Hello, my name is Richard Andersen. Are you the owner of Terra Arcana?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s me.”

“Good, good. My children are very interested in all this new magic stuff, however none of my contacts have much knowledge in the field. On your website it says you offer tutoring and guidance in magic, ‘from the basics to the unknown’, so I take it you know your stuff?”

“Well, yeah. Magic is still new, but I’ve spent most time since then working with it. The military sounded happy with my services, too.”

“You’re that Eikeli? The wolfman?”

“I don’t know about any nicknames, but I have a wolfkin form. Kinda like a werewolf, minus the curse and going crazy parts.”

“That makes it even better. I would like a meeting to hammer out the details, when will you be available?”

I’m on the way to Leda’s cafe, but… “Whenever, really. I could do it right now.”

Noon tomorrow it is, and he emailed me a location. He said he wanted to prepare, but I have no idea what you’d prepare for this. I suppose I should also prepare, by which I mean bring a few things to best show off my abilities. Should probably be careful about demonstrations to not scare the potential customer away. Should also make a sort of sales pitch, so I’ll have to organize what I can and am willing to teach. Oh, and I should get some idea of how much I will charge.

I’ll do that when I return home, though. For now, let’s keep going to that cafe. Actually, I’m not sure she’s there right now. No, she can’t be, that’s further away. The companion bond doesn’t exactly give a clear position, but- yeah. She’s in that little open grassy area she reverted to her full form that one time. With her main body.

We touch down in the area and I shout out to Leda, who is running after a surprisingly fast kid in her raptor humanoid form. I walk up to her main body, huddled around the egg-bag just off the dirt path and initiate a mind bond. Before I get to say anything my little raptor pounces after me, though I manage to dodge.

Undeterred she leaps after me once again, put I force-push her away. She quickly overwhelms and counters my magic and it’s only through the full force off my mana I stop her from holding me in place with magic. She takes that moment where my mind is occupied by that, and her (thankfully) small body impacts mine in a rather violent hug.

“Caught you!”

“Oww, please don’t do that to anyone else, you might hurt them.”

She let’s out an “Ahh,” and is about to use[Healing Touch] on my stomach, though I push her away. “It’s fine, but please don’t do that without asking.”

“But then how will you become a good hunter!”

This again? At least I have an answer ready this time. “I’m already a good hunter, I’m just not good at being hunted. Besides, you are an OP hunter.”

“Haha! I am an oh-pee hunter!”

“Yes, yes, who’s a good little raptor girl?”

“Leda is! I am!”

“Yep, and who’s a bad big wyvern girl?”

She pauses for a moment. “Is that also me?”

I give her a flat stare. “Yes. You are a bad wyvern. You aren’t allowed to have your main body in the city.”

“But the houses are over there!”

“Humans woulds say this is in the city, though.”

“Humans are silly! The city is made of houses, but there are no houses here!”

…I might be a bad influence on her. Though, she does have a point. That said. “Either way, you should keep your main body away from the city. What humans consider the city.”

“Consider?”

“Uh, what humans think is the city. Anyway, at the very least be out of sight from the houses.”

She looks at me for a moment, then a wave of mana washes over me. As it does, the air around her main body seem to shimmer, slightly obscuring her. The mana continues to the nearby houses. I turn around, but see no visible effect. I reach out with some of my own mana, feeling slightly suppressed under the weight of hers.

Where she seems to affect the entire nearby neighbourhood, I can barely reach the closest house. [Mind Magic]? I turn around. “What are you-” doing…? Where did her main body go? No wait, it’s still there, I can sense it through the bonds. She’s using the jedi mind trick magic, and very well at that. Combined with the [Illusion Magic] making her body harder to see to begin with- Did she sense me using it on the wyvern I killed?

I didn’t sense any foreign mana then, but I might’ve missed it even if she did. No, her mana is hard to miss. So she thought of it on her own, then. “Well, that’d work. But someone who can sense mana might find it weird. If someone finds you, use the raptor form to tell them you’re hiding so you don’t scare people.”

“Okay. Do you wanna play with us?”

“Hmm, why not. Wanna play the magic ball game?”