Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (103/?)

Nexus. The Crown Herald Town of Elaseer. Ambassadorial District. Mortis’ Mage’s Essentials. Local Time: 1445 Hours.

Emma

“I believe this may be of help, Cadet Booker.” The elemental spoke warmly, her crowd of floating axolotls maintaining their signature perpetual smiles, with one in particular attempting to hand me a sizable wand for its diminutive size.

To say that I had my doubts would’ve been an understatement.

To say that my interest was piqued would also be a massive lie. 

This was because unlike the previous sleazeball, Mortis actually seemed intent on helping, rather than profiting off of my apparent ‘need’ for a wand.

Moreover, the fact she wasn’t overpromising anything, and actually attempted to cater to my requirements was also nothing short of a complete departure from Owlli’s business practices.

The expectations here also weren’t outrageous. 

If anything, it boded well for one of the EVI’s current pet projects — the development of a ‘mana-sense visualizer’. 

So if the Nexus truly did have something already cooked up for that very issue, then that might just help bootstrap development significantly. 

Work smarter, not harder was something I lived by after all.

I held out my hand, allowing the little axolotl to drop a wand just about twice its size onto it.

Almost immediately… nothing happened.

Just as I’d anticipated.

“Nothing?” The wandsmith inquired softly. 

“Nope, like I said, I don’t have a manafield to interface with.” 

“Your armor being in the way I presume…” Mortis rationalized out loud, before reaching out a hand to physically tap the wand’s tip. 

ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 250% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS

Not a moment later, following a mana radiation warning, did the etched filigree along the stick begin to glow; pulsating with a soft ethereal light. 

This pathway of light all culminated at the very tip, which glowed bright and began dancing through various colors; sort of like an RGB rave stick. 

This continued for several moments, until suddenly, it stopped — maintaining a simple white glow. 

“I’m afraid I’m not really following how this is supposed to—” 

ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 300% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS

I stopped in my tracks as I felt a force in my hand, tugging it away from the direction of the water elemental, and towards something else. 

“Allow it to guide your hand, Cadet Booker.” Mortis instructed with a motherly tone of voice, coinciding with the tip of the wand turning a deep red.

I nodded, doing as instructed, following the wand’s physical pull towards the direction it seemed almost magnetically attracted to; its force increasing with every degree I turned until suddenly it stopped. At which point, I was face to face with the source of its almost magnetic attraction, and its sudden shift in both color and brightness — the Vunerian’s flame breath. 

“That’s how it’s supposed to work, Cadet Emma Booker.” The Vunerian spoke with his signature smug grin, his smarmy tone of voice egging me on, but failing to do anything as my mind was assaulted with a torrential downpour of ideas, and an earth-shattering realization. 

We’d just skipped several major milestone’s worth of grueling R&D in a single stroke. 

My eyes were now locked onto the object. My hand, my real hand just beneath the base of the armor’s wrist, trembled with not shock, but raw, and pure excitement. 

We were finally making progress!

“Do you have any questions, Cadet Emma Booker—”

“So I’m assuming this thing has three primary modes of use?” I shot out excitedly, my former tone and cadence evaporating almost instantly, as urgency filled every ounce of my voice. “Its physical tugging corresponding to the localization of a given surge in mana, er, the direction a spell is being cast from?” I began, as I practically shot up, taking a step towards the water elemental. “Its brightness corresponding to the intensity of the spell being cast?” I took another excited step, my face beaming with excitement. “And its color… I guess it corresponds to the type of spell being cast?” 

It was around this point that Thacea moved up towards me, grabbing me by the shoulder and staring at me intensely. “Emma, please. It's quite unbecoming of you to—”

“Oh please forgive her, your highness.” Mortis interjected with a raised hand and an amused chuckle. “This is to be expected from those near-blind to manasight. It’s a reaction I don’t often see given how manasight is still present amongst even the most severe of immature mana-fielder cases. So to see this once again, to witness my creations helping those in need… it sparks great joy in my old, old heart. Because this is what I live for.” The water elemental stood up, her axolotls staying behind as she placed a single hand on my shoulder. “I live to serve those in need.”

“Oh, the earthrealmer definitely needs help, that’s for certain.” Ilunor chided with a bemused grin. 

I ignored him, of course, as my attention was focused solely on the wandsmith. 

“And to address your earlier questions, Cadet Booker, you are indeed correct on all counts.” She nodded deeply, sidestepping Ilunor’s chides like a river parting against an immovable rock. Her indifference to him, perhaps a hint as to her own noble heritage. “However, there’s also this—” The water elemental stepped back, grabbing one of her floating axolotls, as the wand began shifting between various fixed colors. “—the fish bowl’s ability to float is a result of a fixed enchantment. Though you must be relatively close to an enchantment in order to ascertain its presence.” 

I nodded along intently, not once interrupting as I awaited every ounce of sweet intel the wandsmith had to offer.

“However, I am afraid this is the limit to what the wand can offer.” She announced with a heavy and regret-filled breath. “This wand was, after all, designed with the integration of a mage’s manafield in mind. And as a result, these features we’ve just discussed, are moreso adjacent accessories to its main function.”

“Its main function is to somehow allow you to better visualize manafields and manastreams, I imagine.” I offered, garnering a nod from the elemental.

“Correct. It does so through a process we call mana resonance.” She began. 

However, no sooner did those words leave her mouth, did I begin to internally chuckle.

“So… I guess you could say it images the world around you through mana resonance.” I managed out with a barely contained chuckle. “In effect, it’s… Mana… Resonance… Imaging?” 

“I suppose you could phrase it that way, yes.” The wandsmith nodded congenially. “It’s certainly a… novel way of phrasing it.” She continued, before getting back on topic. “In any case, mana resonance relies on the wand itself to directly augment into a mage’s manafield. Following which, it draws from a mage’s mana-stores directly, generating a series of continuous streams of mana resonance, with the intent of gently impacting local manatreams and manafields. Following impact, there is the expectation that some of this generated resonance will in a sense ‘bounce’ back towards the wand’s direction; creating a sort of shadow-imprint of the manafields and manastreams around it.” 

“Sorta like SONAR, LIDAR, radar, or echolocation.” I spoke internally, towards the EVI, as the virtual intelligence responded with an observation of its own. 

“More accurately — an entirely new brand of feedback imaging.”

“Exactly.” I responded inwardly. “So… do you think we can make something of this, EVI?”

“The latter requires integration with a system I do not possess, so its feasibility-for-integration (FFI) is non-existent, Cadet Booker. However, further studies on the functional operation of Object of Interest #0072-1a: ‘Wand’ may provide insight into the creation of a novel sensor array utilizing similar principles in integration with preexisting mana-detection sensor suites.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. We now have an existing, working principle to base our tech off of. So instead of shooting in the dark — we now have a clear path to work towards. With that being said though… do you think you could work on a patch to our existing mana sensor systems?” 

“Clarify: ‘PATCH’.” The EVI replied bluntly.

“The wand’s ‘accessory systems’. It’s able to do things that the eggheads back home could only dream of. And it’s right here for us to exploit. The intensity feature may be a bit redundant, but it's the other two that’s game changing. From determining the precise localized source of a mana radiation burst, and most importantly, the actual type of spell being cast — we’ve just gotten our shortcut into a next-gen sensor suite. But given how we can’t just integrate it directly into the suit’s systems, I was thinking of a sort of patch, an… analog to digital conversion algorithm or something, y’know?” 

“A program to interpret OoI#0072-1a’s analog outputs into viable sensor-data via physical and visual feedback?”

“Precisely.” I responded just as bluntly. “And maybe a purpose-designed and built novel housing unit or something too. Like a gyroscopic ball, or maybe a permanent housing compartment on the ARMS, or heck, maybe we could even tape it onto the helmet’s sensor kit!”

“OoI#0072-1a’s sensitivity and specificity parameters are still unknown.” The EVI responded a-matter-of-factly, sidestepping my latter suggestions entirely. “Further testing will be required to determine whether integration will impact the Minimum Acceptable Margin-of-Error Thresholds for Mission-Critical Systems.”

“We can do that. Moreover, that brings me to another point…” I quickly shifted my attention, and my mic output, back towards the wandsmith. 

“Lady Mortis? I do have another question, if that’s quite alright with you?” I began politely, garnering a soft nod from the water elemental. 

“Yes, Cadet Booker?”

“Well, I was just wondering… does the wand come with like… an instruction manual or something? I’m assuming that because the colors correspond to various spell types and such, that there’s gotta be a reference to tell what each color represents?”

“I am afraid that this is where your education comes in, Cadet Booker.” The wandsmith responded with a warm and somewhat expectant tone of voice. “Your classes will cover all forms of magic eventually. It is now up to you, as a pupil of the Transgracian Academy, to learn this for yourself. Because remember, this wand, this dowsing rod, is a means with which to empower yourself as a mage; there are no shortcuts towards that end goal.” She smiled, before settling back in her seat. “Moreover, given that each wand is functionally unique in its creation, the various colors it generates may be wildly different. Thus, a universal catch-all system is very much impractical. After all, a wand is an extension of a mage, and not a simple tool or implement.” 

“Right.” I acknowledged with a frustrated breath, just as the EVI pinged me with another pertinent point I’d almost entirely overlooked. 

“Further iterative analysis on the practical potential use of OoI#0072-1a is available for preliminary report.”

“Give it to me briefly, EVI.” I spoke inwardly. 

“There is a potential alternative use-case scenario for the ‘intensity’ function of OoI#0072-1a. Analysis of its luminosity indicates a variable gradient increase in intensity upon detection of a static spell comparable to linear-scaling models. Preliminary iterative analysis suggests that a visualization-aid could potentially be modeled and overlaid atop of the HUD, allowing for a rudimentary form of mana-field visualization, albeit limited to static spells and with a significant drawback attributed to delayed scanning frequency.”

“Huh… I can’t believe I almost overlooked that.” I admitted. “Keep working on the iterative analyses on the wand, EVI. We’ll have loads to talk about when we get back to the tent… and potentially a lot of housing and casing units to print out as well.”

“Acknowledged.”

“You are a bright and motivated individual, Cadet Booker.” Mortis spoke reassuringly, as if interpreting that sudden bout of dead air from her perspective as a loss of confidence on my part. “That much is certain. As such, I have no doubt that you will be able to master the use of this wand. And in time, it will become as much a part of you as any one of your own senses.” 

“I appreciate that, Lady Mortis, thank you.” I dipped my head down in respect, before a few other practical matters entered my head. “There’s actually another point that needs to be addressed. You said that it typically draws power from a mage’s mana stores right? But given my situation, how do I—” 

“Within the wand is a storage basin for a mana-vial, Cadet Booker.” The water elemental interjected. “It is capable of operating independently from a manafield as a result. Moreover, given you are only using its accessory functions, a single mana-vial should last you a fair bit of time.” 

“Understood.” I nodded once more, before shifting my attention towards my purse pouch tightly cinched on Ilunor’s belt… and the now-empty tray of biscuits next to him. 

“Would you care for more tea or snacks?” The water elemental inquired. 

However, before Ilunor could respond, I quickly chimed in to stop what would otherwise be another bottomless buffet of baked goods. 

“I don’t think I’ll be taking much more of your time or hospitality Lady Mortis.” I responded politely, garnering a fiery glare from the deluxe kobold. “So… as much as I hate to segue into this, I’m curious as to how much this will run me?”

“Given the… uniqueness of the wand, and the lack of its contemporaries, its current value is just about two-thousand and fifty gold pieces, Cadet Booker.” The wandsmith replied as tactfully as she could given the massive price tag.

A price that absolutely gutted me inside and out.

However, before I could even respond, the water elemental suddenly conjured up a piece of paper — a parchment that I immediately recognized as a contract.

“However, I do recognize the difficulties that being a newrealmer brings.” She began compassionately. “In addition, I can only imagine how difficult life at the Academy would be given your condition. The last thing I would want to do would be to place upon you such a large financial burden. As such, I am willing to offer you a deal, Cadet Booker.”

Here we go… I thought to myself. Let’s see what messed up contract you have for me now, Nexus. 

What’s it going to be? My soul? My loyalty? My service or some weird messed up clause like Ilunor’s whole—

“I am willing to settle for an upfront down payment of one-thousand gold, followed by four successive installments to be paid at your leisure.” Mortis proclaimed warmly, placing down the contract in front of us, with little more than a few paragraphs worth of plain, straightforward text. 

The entire gang almost immediately went to town on the document, with Thacea’s keen eyes, Thalmin’s discerning glare, and Ilunor’s distrustful visage landing one every letter of every word. 

A few minutes passed, before each of them gave me their individual go-aheads. 

“Alright.” I nodded. “I think we can settle on that.” I continued, before reaching for my pen to settle the deal. 

The lack of magical ink, or any surge of mana radiation made it clear that this was perhaps the first actual contract to be signed without any hidden shenanigans, once again reaffirming the rather straightforward nature of the agreement.

And following a flow of coins from my purse to the water elemental, the whole thing was settled.

Mortis stood up almost as soon as the transaction was done, as she grabbed one of the fanciest boxes I’d ever seen to date — a literal marble and granite box with glowing golden filigree — from one of the shelves. Following this, she gently reached for the wand, and placed it inside the masterfully carved interior of the box, the whole thing settling seamlessly into its confines. 

“Whilst it may sometimes seem as if the world is a merciless clifface incapable of being scaled, know that this wand, and my services, shall forever be by your side to at least offer some respite amidst the seemingly impossible. Magic, after all, is the refuge of the dreams of the sapient. Do not let anyone rip that dream away from you.” She spoke confidently, before handing the box to me with a reassuring smile; one that was mirrored  by her army of axolotls.

I dipped my head deeply at that, as despite all the highs of excitement swirling through my mind, one errant thought came through in spite of its banality.

“I don’t imagine you’d have a bag for this?” I blurted out.

=====

Nexus. The Crown Herald Town of Elaseer. Ambassadorial District. Boutique Boulevard en route to The Adventurer’s Guild Hall. Local Time: 1525 Hours.

Emma

We left Mortis’ Mage’s Essentials with not only a renewed faith in the wandsmithing industry, but with a strange sense of warmth and satisfaction that was only dampened by the cost it took to acquire said wand.

The investment, despite being an exchange for an item worth more than its weight in gold, was bound to pay off though; in ways I could’ve never previously imagined.

“So what’s next, princess?” I turned to Thacea with a skip in my power-armored step. 

“We’ve purchased all that is required of us from the course syllabus.” The princess responded following a thorough double-checking of her planner.

“Which means we should be headed back to the adventuring guild.” Thalmin surmised.

“Precisely.” Thacea reaffirmed, but not before something across the street managed to catch my eye…

The building was unlike any other on the block.

In fact, it seemed to stand significantly taller than most.

This was primarily due to a quirk of its construction, one that I wasn’t at all expecting — a literal wizard tower seemingly piercing through its angled tiled roof, completely divorcing it from the rest of its neighbors’ seemingly uniform height limit.

The whole thing looked like one of those weird post-post-post-modern architectural messes, combining architectural elements that didn’t at all seem like it belonged, if only to draw your attention to just how weird it all was.

And to its credit, it worked.

As despite the admittedly ugly choice of stylistic choices, it stood out.

And that’s where they get you.

Because the longer you stared at it, the more the weirdness kept going, with off-kilter windows, doors plastered several stories up on the facade, and even animated miniature golems depicting dragons, wyverns, and all sorts of flying creatures circling the narrow and spindly wizard tower.

“What… the heck is that?” I pointed towards the unwieldy structure, only to earn a collective sigh from everyone.

“That’s the souvenir shop.” Ilunor muttered out under a dismissive breath. “A den of useless knick knacks and tacky paraphernalia that is as creatively bankrupt as it is devoid of talented craftsmanship.” The Vunerian continued, practically turning his nose up at the whacky establishment. 

“Huh.” I responded with a growing sense of curiosity. “Say, Thacea… do you think we can squeeze in one impromptu visit into our itinerary?” 

The princess’ features immediately shifted to one of disappointment, as she crisply flipped through her planner, if only to return a glance that only a mother could give to a child asking to stop at a drive through. 

This was where my helmet came at a disadvantage.

As I couldn’t employ the puppy-eyed pleading that’d worked so well for me in the past.

But that didn't stop me from trying though.

“Please?” I pleaded.

“A quarter hour.” Thacea responded with a despondent breath. “And please try your best to restrain yourself from any impulse purchases, Emma.”

“No promises, princess.” I shot back with a sly chuckle, dragging the rest of the gang along with me for what I’d file in my report under — Field Cultural Research.

…

Entering through a revolving door, we arrived to find a store that had somehow perfectly balanced strange quirkiness with a workable practicality; complete with a service counter in front with what appeared to be a strangely ornate turtle shell sitting atop of it. 

There was no reality defying non-euclidean scaling or magically shapeshifting furniture here. Instead, the whole place gave me theme park souvenir shop vibes, with tastefully themed corners that seemed to be referencing cultural references that I simply was not privy to.

Each little ‘section’ seemed to be built with aesthetics and features that were supposed to be representative of a given region, and it was clear some of them were far more impressive than the rest. 

With the first among these being what I could only describe as a volcano and lava themed region, with the floorspace of that little nook covered by a thick layer of glass, covering what appeared to be flowing magma beneath the floor. Within this little themed area, were all sorts of — as Ilunor put it — useless knick-knacks. Ranging from little animated postcards, to painted plates and its accompanying utensils. Next to that, were what I could only describe as little snow globes that had fully animated volcanoes within them, expertly detailed and dynamically moving. 

I picked one up, instinctively shaking one, causing the little world within to shake and rumble — leading to a volcanic explosion that covered the entire globe in a thick goopy sea of red hot magma.

“I’m afraid if you shake it, you buy it.” A boisterous but firm voice emerged from one of the many corners of the close-to-cluttered room. 

We looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, before hearing a series of thoomps from the counter up front.

Approaching us slowly, rising from what appeared to be a nap, was a tortle-like-turtle with an ornate cane in his hand. 

“I only jest, of course.” He corrected himself with a dry chuckle. “Those things reset themselves after an hour or so. Though there are some models that do so instantaneously if you put some mana into it.” 

He eventually gestured for me to return the snowglobe, as I did so without question. 

“But where are my manners… my name is Baronet Kathan Kafkan, the eternal proprietor of this fine establishment.” The man bowed, or at least, he bowed as he could given the encumbrance that was the shell. “Tell me, I assume you are first years?” 

“Indeed we are.” I replied matter of factly.

“I see, I see. Well, if there are any questions, then you are free to ask—”

“Actually, I do have a question about the building itself if you don’t mind?” 

“Oh?”

“Well… it is quite distinct from the rest of the structures in town. If anything, it feels almost out of place. I was wondering if there’s—”

“A story behind that?” The man interjected with an excitable smile.

“Yup, precisely.” I acknowledged.

“It’s simple, really. This establishment existed prior to the incorporation of Elaseer into the ranks of the Crown Heralds. Thus, the entire ambassadorial district was built around me. Therefore, I was partially spared from the strict zoning laws of the district, save for, of course, the dreadful off-white paint scheme the crown seems to be so insistent on forcing upon us all.” 

“So you were grandfathered in, essentially.” I surmised. 

“Correct, newrealmer.” He nodded, then just as swiftly took the opportunity to introduce the rest of the various knick-knacks on offer. “Though you can rest assured, the various items I have on sale weren’t all grandfathered in from that era.” He spoke with a wink, gesturing towards more of the extensive lineup across what he’d begin to refer to as the various ‘core regions’ of the Nexus.

“From the eternally spiteful region of the Brimstone Expanse, eternally burning from the righteous fury of His Eternal Majesty’s final stand against the forces of evil.” He started from where we stood, before gesturing for us to move along with him on this impromptu field trip. “To the infinite archipelagos of the boundless seas.” He raised his arms wide, towards what I could only describe as the ‘sealand’ portion of the souvenir shop, complete with a whole wall of snow globes depicting not just sunny seaside towns, but what appeared to be  ships, flotillas, and entire fleets. Indeed what drew me in wasn’t the detail of the models in and of itself, but rather, the actual types of ships on display. As unlike the caravel-like ship from Thacea’s sight-seer, what was on display here appeared to be a wooden vessel without sails or seams. In fact, the wood almost seemed to be melted into a solid mass. And in the place of sails, there appeared to be additional masts, each of which towered high and ungainly above the ship, almost to the point of unwieldiness, reminding me of those rotor ships from the mid twenty-first century. 

“What sorts of ships are those?” I inquired, pointing at a particular ship-in-a-bottle about half the size of Ilunor. 

“Oh, that’s a standard royal merchant mariner craft, employed by many of the maritime kingdoms and duchies!” The tortle explained, gesturing towards the model in question. “To your newrealmer eyes, a vessel this large without sails or oars must be quite foreign to you. But to our discerning Nexian eyes—” He paused, more or less tag-teaming with Ilunor. Though the Vunerian didn’t seem so confident as he usually was, given what he’d already seen on our trip to Acela. “—this sort of vessel is indeed quite common. It relies not on the power of sail, but instead, a combination of the ambient power of mana and the enriched mana-stores provided by the graces of nobility. A truly magical vessel, for a magical age.” 

“Right.” I nodded, my eyes going over the EVI’s frantic logging of every ounce of intel there was to scrounge from this interaction. “That’s certainly interesting alright!” 

“Indeed it is!” The old man nodded, as we moved onto other regions seamlessly, going from icy tundras, to expansive taigas, to great canyons, and then finally, towards what appeared to be Ilunor’s mountain kingdoms.

However, before we could arrive, my eyes landed on what appeared to be a neglected portion of the store.

One that was stacked high with I could only describe as…

“Are those plushies?” I asked, gesturing towards the large bean bag-like slime, and the hoard of soft plushies atop of that. With the one sitting atop of the whole pile… being what was undoubtedly… a Vunerian.