Chapter 26

Lunch passed amiably before they knew it, the time had come for the elective period to begin. Once again, Virtus led Jack to a new building, complete with a miniature tour. The Initiate Hall was one building over from the Novice Hall and was one grade higher in classes.Virtus explained to him that introductory spell forms was a class that usually became available starting in one’s third semester but they had made an exception for him to take it early.

Truthfully, all of his elective classes were considered advanced courses by the standards of the locals but Jack had come in at a much higher level of basic education than most students along with his position. His knowledge of mathematics and the info dump the Sentinel had uploaded in his brain allowed him to read and converse in the common tongue as if it were English. Thus when Laura created his schedule, certain subjects that were more technically challenging yet did not require a heavy cultural background were chosen.

Hallways choked full of students in green or red uniforms initially blocked their passage until Virtus was able to force his way through with his sheer size and aggressiveness.

“Why is this building so full compared to the others?” Jack asked. It was to the point that he couldn’t even tell what color the walls were, let alone which door led to their destination.”

“This is the most used building in the academy. Most core classes up to the university level are held here. They tried bleeding off some classes to other buildings in the past, only to have most students end up lost and confused. That was considered a greater liability to the running of the school than overcrowding.”

“Then why don’t they just build out an exte—OOF!” He was cut off when a giant student winged him as they turned a corner. He swore that they had done it on purpose. The line between elite and common started to get blurry with the higher-level classes as more students achieved citizenship and made more money from their side hustles, which gave his detractors plenty of camouflage to come at him. “Why don’t you make the building bigger or build another hall to bleed off traffic?”

Virtus shrugged in nonchalance, at least Jack thought he did. It was hard to tell in here. Then he signaled to the right before turning to go in the direction that he had just indicated. They struggled to push through one last time before the pressure faded and Jack fell over as he broke through the resistance as the forward momentum that he had just finished building up took him for a ride. His face hit the stone floor and slid forward several feet before coming to a graceless stop.

Despite being the victim of what later proved to be one of the worst pratfalls in academy history, Jack rose to his feet with nothing broken or bruised but his pride. That was when he finally got an eyeful of his new classroom. It was smaller than the novice or Fire hall classrooms by a good quarter. Nine large metal contraptions dotted the room in a grid pattern. Delicate metal parts were riveted together in a fashion that held together firmly yet we're capable of movement. It was only after he steppes forward to examine one carefully that he finally understood what he was seeing.

“These are machines!” He exclaimed in a mixture of comfort, horror and disgust. Machines were considered by many to be the greatest hallmark of humanity. In his opinion as a survivor of the late 21st century, the first model-T automobile was earth's very first step towards self-destruction. Humanity became a machine in and of itself after that, artisanry became an obstacle in the way of technological progress, instead of respected trade and tradition.

“What is a machine?” A middle-aged voice came from behind him. Like a rubber band snapping under stress, Jack’s attention snapped back to the here and now.

A man stepped up beside him and held an outstretched hand loving on the metal contraption. He was an older man with strong features. His pure silver hair reflected the light from the ensconced Fairy Lights and his skin showed the first real lines of age that Jack had ever seen. He kind of resembled an older Han Solo but without any of the fictional characters' wild passion.

“A machine is a device that uses energy to produce an effect.” That was the best he was going to get with explaining earth tech. Somehow he didn’t think that describing force equations and work output would translate well to these people.

“Fascinating! What kind of energy do these machines from your world use?”

It was only a matter of time before everyone recognized him, so he didn’t blink at the overt show of familiarity from the old man. “Mostly, they were powered with electricity, ugh bottled lightning, though some others used natural resources extracted from deep inside the earth. Those ultimately led to the decline of my world.”

“Ah, you speak of fossil fuels.” He nodded in understanding before seeing the disturbed look on Jack’s face. He patted the young man on the back familiarly before continuing. “Worry not, we discovered the use as well as the unfeasibility of such resources millennia ago. We have refrained from utilizing them for the simple reason that mana and ‘bottled lightning’ as you so aptly put prove to be far more efficient.”

That news should have comforted him. It didn’t. By now, the mixture of embarrassment as well as this old man’s attempts at pacifying him were starting to rub him the wrong way. “You speak as if by avoiding fossil fuels that I should condone your actions, that you are some kind of saint that protects the environment? Do you know what will happen if I touch your little treasure?”

“Nothing at all.” The old man replied. “By all the reports given to the faculty, you have only been siphoning mana from devices that utilize Nuetral mana. My spell simulators were not created using Magi artifice but an older technique that has been all but forgotten, one that predates the element’s discovery and exploitation. I only wish that I could say the same about my own person.” He finished wistfully.

“You regret becoming a magi?” Jack asked.

“Regret is a strong word. The path of the magic was the only one available to me so I took it. It is embarrassing to admit that I took ruthless advantage of my situation to rise from being the son of an undertaker to a professor at Laurentius academy.”

The bell chose that time to ring. “Go find a seat at whichever station you desire.” He told Jack in a murmur. Then he raised his voice to speak to the eight other young adults that had come in during their discourse.

“Welcome to introductory spell forms, my name is professor Fabrillia. If your rune courses are the most important classes you will ever take, then this class is where all that knowledge culminates. This is a practical, hands-on course where you will learn the building blocks of creating your own spells in a safe environment.”

He indicated one of the magical tools that Jack still didn’t have a term for. “These spell simulators will be yours to use for the next few months. Your progress will be stored inside, so remember to pick one and stick to it. Any questions?” When no one responded, the professor took that lack of response in stride and turned a dial that was embedded in a vertical panel.

As one, all of the interlocking metal segments mounted on top of the machine slithered around in a circular pattern. They spiraled up until they took the shape of a mesh sphere about a quarter of a meter in diameter. Now the device looked like a fancy torch on a post, only without a bulb or wick to fill the center.

“If someone would like to volunteer to demonstrate with me, I would be ever so grateful.”

Multiple hands rose up as all eight students, barring Jack, vied to be the first in line. One of them was picked at random, a tall man in a red uniform. Firmly, the man marched up to the spell simulator with all the confidence of a bravo.

“Imagine the first spell you ever learned.” The professor's voice carried over the student's shoulder from where he was standing. “Draw the first rune in the air and inject mana into it directly.”

The man was startled at the instruction. “But professor, that will have unpredictable consequences. We are instructed in our first year to never empower a rune before completing the entire spell form.” He said.

Fabrilia chuckled. “Have no fear. That is a polite fiction that we teach all new Magi to keep them from losing fingers during their novitiate training. Once one reaches the first tier and becomes a full Magi, that instability is no longer dangerous. Now, if you would be so kind as to fulfill your instruction.”

The crimson-clad student nodded as if one of his suspicions had been confirmed. His arm lifted, palm facing the sky. A vaguely triangular shape composed of white light manifested just inches above it. Then the student blew on the rune, causing it to drift into the sphere where it settled. The display seemed to impress the others as several gasped in amazement. Jack was impressed as well, he had to scribe each rune by hand whenever he cast a spell. It was a time consuming ng process that lasted several seconds for even the most basic effect.

Fabrilia clapped softly in applause. “Very well done, very well done indeed. If you would be so kind as to finish the runes for the spell so we can move on to the next phase?”

It only took a short time for the student to create the other two runes and place them in the sphere. Now they were all floating around softly in a sluggish orbit. Fabrilia pointed to the sphere.

“This section of the simulator is called the Cruscible. It is where new spells are born. It is where the runes go for processing. This pillar with all the buttons below it is called the Compiler. It is the control center for the entire thing. Runes are matched or connected from here.” He went on to demonstrate the intricacies of the device. The controls were similar to a crane game mixed with street fighter with the complexity multiplied severalfold. For the next hour, every function, every variable, every possibility was discussed in brief.

“Go pick a device! Remember that you will be using it for the entire semester, be absolutely certain before you commit.” Fabrilia dismissed them.

Jack sauntered over to the back corner of the classroom, away from the door and all the hustle and bustle. It was quiet over here, the constant noise from the hallway had been a constant irritation in the back of his mind. White noise had always made him grumpy. The spell simulator in this corner was made from a metal that resembled bronze if bronze was a shade of light red.

“What is this?” Jack asked.

“It is volcanic bronze. It is a metal mined from old lava tubes in some northern mountain ranges. It is known for its extreme melting point and is much sturdier than it's unimbued counterpart.” Virtus explained.

“Imbued?”

“An explanation for a later lesson. For now, please focus on the task at hand.”

“Fine…” Jack pressed a few switches in the order he had just been shown and sure enough the device activated in a similar manner to the other one. The only difference was that the rivets were in a slightly different place in each plate, causing it to fold out at an alternative angle to the demonstration.

Ok, everything’s working so far. Let's move on to the second stage. Jack focused on the first rune for the standard version of the Fireball spell. It was by far the simplest spell that he knew, he just hadn’t cast it yet. As the shape solidified in his thoughts, a tendril of mana emerged from his palm to form the shape. Jack had a big grin on his face. This was going to be fun!

…

All of the students quickly finished investing their spells into their cradles so fast that by the time Jack finished the third rune, he swiveled around to find them all staring at him impatiently. He just shrugged in a ‘what do you want from me’ sort of way and waited for the next stage of the lesson.

“Next, I want all of you to change one variable in your spell form. Whether that be range, scope, intensity, duration—the choice is up to you. I only require that you present an altered, and stable, spell form by the end of class. You have one hour.”

Jack turned back to face his cradle. Fireball was a very simple spell with very few inputs to change the variables. It was like an electrical outlet. It only had one or two ports to connect to, whereas a surge protector could have up to a dozen connection on the same voltage. It was far easier to change a spell with more places to the plugin. He pondered on his choices for a bit, but nothing novel came to mind. Increasing the power wouldn’t change the spell form and changing the shape would require him to replace at least one rune, which wasn’t part of the assignment.

Hmm, what if he were to rearrange the runes instead? He mused. Each rune had three connection points which gave him a total of twenty-seven possible combinations to choose from.

He reached down to the controls and put his hand on a flat spot in the center. There was a strange sensation as the console absorbed some of his mana in order to start operating. Next, he grabbed onto a joystick with each hand and started figuring out how to use them. A few experimental twists later, he sighed in relief. This was a crane game, a giant, complicated, magical crane game where the purpose was to make magical spells. Could it get any better?

Jack got to work. He grasped the ignition rune with the claw and brought it over to the rune that represented fuel. He tried connecting a circular male connection on one to an oval one on the other, cause why not. Both runes quivered as soon as they were connected and promptly disintegrated.

“Drat, What did I do wrong? Do the connections have to be perfect?” He muttered to himself in an uncharacteristic show of peak. Jack had learned early that loose lips sink ships and usually avoided such displays, but after failing to cultivate the night before, the last thing he wanted was to fail at the basics that everyone else seemed to pick up so easily...again.

He replaced the lost runes and tried again. This time he eliminated all of the circle to oval connections, effectively tossing nine possible combos. This time he got a circle to connect with another circle and same for the oval, but now he was stuck with a circle to triangle connection. That wouldn’t do, so he took it apart and tried another, and another, and another.

Class was about to end by the time he had gotten to the final combination. The professor had announced a five minute timer, he wouldn’t have any more time if this failed. Oh please work. Please work, please work. I’ll do anything oh ‘great voice in the sky’ if this works, Jack pleaded.

There was a small flash as the spell knit together before his eyes. It had worked! The new spell form rotated sluggish in the center of the cradle, it’s purpose and potential unknown. Jack didn’t waste any time and quickly made a miniature copy of the spell in his palm. He only gave it a trickle of power to see what it did. A small red wisp of Flame the size and intensity of a candle grew out of his palm and stayed there, flickering.

“Fascinating!” came a voice from off to the side. Jack quickly glanced at the speaker, again. He was getting annoyed with his lack of spatial awareness ever since he started using magic. It just took so much concentration. What if someone came up and mugged him while he was casting a spell?

“Thank you, professor,” Jack replied.

“Indeed. This is a rarely taught cantrip due to it's docile nature and relative uselessness. Torch is not a spell that you could have picked up after only three days…” Fabrilia broke off his train of thought at the sight of the spell floating in the cradle. “Ahh, is this the result of your assignment?”

“Yes. I started with the only cantrip I know, Fireball. There weren’t any open connections in the rune sequence that I knew how to manipulate.”

“So you manipulated the runes themselves. Again, that is excellent. You have already completed next week's assignment in such a short time. Feel free to come practice anytime after class.”

The professor turned to address the class at large. “In fact, Everyone may freely come to practice here during your free time. I will be here until curfew every week day, so do not worry about coming in at whatever time is convenient for you. Class dismissed.” At the conclusion of his announcement, a bell rang in the distance to support his claim. They were free to go.

...

That afternoon, Jack had a mission. His lack of knowledge had already caused quite a bit of grief for people. He wouldn’t call those incidents mistakes, because a mistake was made when one does the wrong thing, which he hadn’t. So he settled on calling it culture shock. He was dealing with culture shock, by thunder! The world would soon see what he had to offer, but as Virtus had pointed out, he had to survive long enough to make his case. For that he needed context and strength. As James told him long ago, virtue without strength is worthless.

“Where do you wish to go?” Virtus asked him. They had stepped out of crowded building along with hundreds of other students into the sunshine of a beautiful afternoon.

“The library. I want to check out several books.”

The guardsman must have seen the flash of determination in his eyes, for he asked. “Would you be bothered if I procure a copy of the treatise we discussed earlier for your perusal?”

“I was just about to request a copy. Thank you for…well everything. Your calm attitude is helping me cope in this strange new place.”

“It is my pleasure to help you, Jack. You are worthy of regard, it is an honor to support and guard you.”

“Agh, enough mushy stuff, let’s get moving before dark. I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“This way!”