Chapter 36 Less Lethal List

Most notably, Gileon the Bulwark created a whole host of Barrier spells that he cast using his artifact the Three Fold Breastplate. While Gileon had a weak affinity for the Font of Barriers, the strong connection of the breastplate he discovered allowed him to specialize in the area of magic he’d otherwise had little talent in.

-Deckard’s Compendium of Ensouled Artifacts

—

The week continued as it began for Kole. He spent every spare moment studying, only stopping when he ran out of Will or Zale physically took the book out of his hands to force him to eat or sleep. There was one notable time that Zale gave him back the spellbook, and told him to take notes on all the lectures he zoned out through, and he spent an hour doing that, realizing she was right. He’d missed the assignment of a few essays on top of the one for Underbrook, and he knocked those out quickly, to Zale’s frustration

“That’s not fair,” she sighed as he did the work far faster than she could hope to. “You didn’t even pay attention!”

“I think it’s pretty fair,” Kole said. ‘Nothing is stopping anyone else from randomly stumbling on an ensouled spellbook.”

In his duel on Friday, Kole refrained from showing off his ability Mirror Image. He didn’t need it to defeat the student he was facing, and wanted to save it as a surprise for the next day’s hardball match. Similarly, his Silent Image spell was yet to be known publicly, and he was hoping to save his illusory magic for critical moments.

He’d softened his stance on Illusion magic over the past few months. Growing up, he’d partially blamed it for his mother’s failure to escape the pocket realm that held her. He’d always thought if she’d been a “real mage” she’d have been able to escape. That had influenced a lot of his decisions to avoid becoming a Mirage Knight, but looking back without that bias, he was still happy with his choice.

Even without his spellbook, he now knew he’d made the right choice. Before his recent discovery of its abilities, he’d largely resolved his bottle neck, finding a work around to learn spells from traditional spellbooks and avoid the gate based spells he couldn’t cast. The spellbook only accelerated the rate at which we would be able to do that.

The accelerated rate was, frankly in Kole’s opinion, absurd. He expected that before the semester was over, he would know more spells than anyone else in his age group, the notable downside being they’d all be of the Light, Sound, or Mind Font—though, there was nothing stopping him from learning spells outside that if he chose to acceptthe restrictive costs.

His spellbook’s benefits for rapid learning could be applied to traditional spells from other Font’s, he’d just have to copy the gate component from a modern spell, and then path it from there. The spell would cost a lot, but he expected he could improve on his previous lower limit of 18 he’d hit for Magic Missile and Shield.

Per Underbrook’s request, he’d been thinking over what spells to learn next in his free time, but hadn’t settled on many. The limiting factor was his mental vault’s capacity. Currently he could store four spells in his mental vault, which was slightly above average for his age.

His vault contained Radiant Bolt, Thunderwave, and Mirror Image, the rune intent for Amara’s shield bracer taking up the fourth slot. Invisibility and Silent Image being sorcery spells didn’t take up any slots, and neither did his primal ability Fade. Any other spells he learned, if he wished to cast them, he’d have to replace one of the above four, and he was struggling to find anything worth a spot.

By Friday, Kole had reached the limits on the improvements he could make to Radiant Bolt and Thunderwave, and as he’d yet to determine what spells to learn next, he’d decided to learn a Light spell to replace his dependency on runic likes. Looking through the spell indexes, he’d found one that lacked concentration, and allowed him to cause an object to emit bright light for an hour. While he didn’t have room for it when going into potential battle, it was a far more useful spell for his day-to-day life as a student than, say Thunderwave, so he’d kept it prepared in place of that destructive spell, planning to switch it out before duels, hardball matches, or trips in search of Amara’s sister.

He still debated what spells to learn next. But, the time he had to spend thinking, Zale occupied, preparing them for their next hardball match.

They didn’t know for certain who they’d be facing, but the options were more limited now that half the class had been relegated to a loser’s bracket.

Saturday morning, Kole walked into the study hall room, paging through the frankly absurd number of spells he’d copied through the week.

“Any news?” Zale asked, and Kole looked up to see that Runt was waiting for them in the room.

“A couple leads,” Runt said, throwing a stack of paper onto a table.

Amara ran over to it, reading the first page and then flipped through the rest. After looking through half the stack she dropped it and looked at Runt.

“There's only writing on the first sheet,” she said, confused.

Runt shrugged.

“It's not dramatic throwing down a single sheet. It's not a long list,” Runt said.

Zale sighed and said, “It's a thing my mom does.”

“It works really well with blackmail,” Runt added.

Zale looked over the single page and reviewed it.

“I think I can get a door to Rowen,” Zale said, pointing to a name on the list where another primal went missing in the region. “We can check it out tomorrow.”

“We really should move these meetings to Sunday,” Kole said, “With the hardball matches, we can’t do a lot of training, and if we get a lead we can’t pursue it right away.”

Everyone agreed to the suggestion, and they got on with their low impact training.

“Before I forget,” Zale said, catching Kole’s attention and pulling out a small bag.

“What’s that?” Kole asked.

“A gift... sort of,” Zale answered.

Kole’s mine raced at what it could be or why she’d be giving him something at all, but drew a blank.

Before he could get too carried away in his thoughts, she placed it in his hand, and he felt the familiar shape of a vial beneath the fabric of the bag.

“It’s a clarity potion,” Zale said.

Kole pulled it out to see a metallic vial.

Seeing the confusion on Kole’s face, she explained, “Its nerestet—dwarven steel that doesn’t react with, well, anything. It’s far more practical in battle.”

“This is really expensive,” Kole said, referring to both the vial itself and its contents.

“Mom had it lying around, and I figured we’d need it today.”

“Thank you,” Kole said, after realizing he’d not spoken for a while.

“Don’t mention it,” Zale said, and then more seriously added, “Really. Don’t. Mom will probably be okay with it, but she might seek repayment in some stupid pranking way.”

They moved onto their training after that.

Doug spent the time trying to force a connection to his Font. He was far from having a completed mental vault, but with the runed soul stone and months of practice, he felt he was close to a breakthrough.

“I think I can almost force a teleport,” he explained. “I don’t think I’ll be able to direct it, but it's a start.”

Rakin continued to work in the sand pit, sitting in the sand cross legged with his eyes closed, sand lifting around him into a dust cloud. The effort was causing strain on him, and he was sweating as he worked, but slowly he was able to get the dust cloud to rotate around him, eventually obscuring himself completely.

Zale forced Kole to sit near the dust cloud as she sat between both him and Rakin, trying to find a connection to the Font of Earth, and whatever Kole was working on.

“What are you working on?” Zale asked after forcing Kole to sit uncomfortably close to the dust.

“I don’t know,” Kole said, flipping through his spellbook revealing a seemingly endless stream of copied spell forms. “I need to pick a new spell, but since my vault’s full, it's hard to decide which.”

“What are your choices between?” she asked.

“Shatter could be a good long range area of effect spell,” he explained, counting off spell options on his fingers. “If I can get the cost down to 8 like I did Mirror Image, that could replace Thunderwave. but, that’s down to 3. Scorching Ray, similarly could replace Radiant Bolt—if I can get the cost down low. Alternatively, I could learn some utility spells. I learned a new version of Light which is more useful in day-to-day. I could create a less lethal list of spells to keep prepared around campus. Mindspike would be a good non-lethal option to employ the next time someone in the city or on campus picks a fight.”

“Hmmm,” Zale said, considering, “I like the alternate spell list idea.”

“That’s the way I’m leaning as well,” Kole said, “Plus if I learn Mind Spike you can ‘listen’ for the Font of Mind.”

Zale perked up.

“‘Listen?’” she asked with a smile. “I like that. And after seeing what Esme did, I wouldn't mind being able to nullify Mind magic.”

“Was that an intentional pun?” Rakin asked from his meditation. “Because if it was, I’m gunna hit ye.”

Zale ignored the threat, and Kole could tell her embarrassment that the pun hadn’t been on purpose.

Kole had been on the fence, but Zale’s agreement pushed him over and he opened his spellbook to the written out copy of Mindspike he’d taken from a traditional spellbook of a mentalist wizard long dead.

As he did so, he tried to convince himself the real reason he chose that option was that he knew it was objectively the best one, and not because it would mean Zale would be more incentivized to spend time close to him.

Ch37 The Baronets

Rettew the Myriad was an Assuine Blessed human who dabbled in wizardry in his life before his ascension to godhood. Before they called him mad, many called him eccentric. He held a passion for all of Assuine's creations. While he admired Assuine, he also saw ways her initial designs could be improved upon. At first, he did little things. He took the bioluminescence from the creatures of the ocean depths and Torac and spliced it into bugs so the surface dwellers could experience the beauty they'd otherwise miss out on.

 -Excerpt from Wicket’s Guides to the Pantheon.

—-

The dimly lit ready room of Kole’s surroundings vanished, replaced with the scorching noon day sun and overwhelming roar of a crowd.

The sudden shift was disorienting, and it was only Zale stepping in front of him with her shield upraised that saved him from being taken out by an early spell.

“We’re in the Orinqth arena!” Zale shouted.

The words allowed Kole’s mind to catch up, and looking around at the sea of faces rising around him, beyond the flat expanse of unbroken sand, Kole recognized that she was right.

He could see the similarities to the architecture he’d seen before, but even seeing the place from outside couldn’t prepare him for finding himself suddenly within the massive structure.

Zale held her shield above them, and Kole attempted to draw on his Fade ability to sneak a look around her, but the instant he thought about drawing on the power, he felt the overpowering attention of the crowd shatter the attempt, like reaching for the last piece of bread from a basket only to be trampled by a horde of thousands of... really hungry things.

Kole’s mind was still reeling, and he couldn’t think up an analogy.

Rakin kicked the sand at his feet, filling the air in front of them with sand, and using his magic, he caused the spray to spread out into a cloud, just large enough to obscure them. He then dropped down into the sand, and began forming a barrier, sculpting the sand into a chest high wall with his hands, and when he moved on the wall remained.

As he did that, Zale spoke.

“We are up against the Baronets!” she said quickly.

She’d briefed the team on all the groups they might face today and Kole actually remembered this one.

The Baronets was a team of four young heirs to different Baronies in the region of Tilias. Each was a fairly capable fighter in their own right, but their main strength was the wealth their families were willing to throw after their ambitions to become adventurers.

Knowing who they were only told Kole that he didn’t know what to expect, for just like with every dungeon delve last semester, the team had arrived with a fresh array of enchanted and runed equipment. The only constant each time being the ensouled artifact shield their leader bore.

“The dust is going to follow me,” Rakin said, finishing up his wall. “Zale and I will charge them, give us covering fire!”

Kole and Doug both gave sounds of agreement and moved to hide behind the newly constructed sandstone wall.

Kole couldn’t see through the cloud of dust and had to hold his collar up to breath, but he knew Zale and Rakin had begun to move when the dust floating around him suddenly began to drift to the ground instead of unnaturally swirling as it had been.

He waited a breath before peeking a look around the corner. Rakin and Zale were visible as vague shapes in a cloud of dust that was charging across the distance between them and the other team. The pair were running off to the side of the enemy to give Kole and Doug a line of sight, and as soon as Kole saw the reflection of light on steel through the clearing cloud, he sent a Radiant Bolt at the gleam.

The other team was just at the edge of his range, and his bolt passed through the cloud of dust, transforming from a brilliant beam of light to a section of glowing cloud before vanishing.

Flood! Kole cursed himself, knowing he’d missed as there was no lingering glow of a struck target.

“Down!” Doug shouted as he fired an arrow high into the air.

Kole ducked behind the wall while throwing up his arm while empowering this shield bracer. Above him in the air, there was an explosion where Doug’s arrow hit a projectile that had be lobbed over the fog. The arrow struck, creating a billowing cloud of fire, but that flame seemed to coalesce into burning liquid that continued on towards them.

Doug had jumped behind Kole after losing the arrow, and the liquid water struck the magical barrier, parting around it and splashing into the sand on either side. Despite the shield, Kole felt the heat hit him in a wave. The ground around him had turned to molten glass, leaving only a small pocket to stand in while retaining the cover of Rakin’s wall.

Doug jumped back out, and began firing arrows while Kole started to construct another Radiant Bolt. Kole jumped to his feet to find the cloud of dust had finally dispersed. Rakin and Zale had covered the distance and were now engaged with two of the melee combatants.

Zale was facing off with another armored student, his gear both more ornate, and all encompassing. They circled each other, trading blows and taking hits to their plate to get an opening. Rakin seemed to be dancing with a foe of his own, the other combatant practicing a martial art similar to Rakin But, judging by the unnatural way his muscles see to bulge, with purple veins pulsing beneath, he seemed to require alchemical enhancement to counter Rakin’s Ki powered strength.

For whatever reason Kole couldn’t discern, Rakin was making no use of his primal abilities to aid him in fighting the other monk.

Off to the side, two other foes stood, alternating between watching their allies and risking glances to Kole and Doug. One wore full plate and a magical tower shield floated around him, while the other was covered in bandoliers and satchels, and held a short sling in his hand.

The vial draped student flung another project towards Doug and Rakin, only this one Rakin fired out of the air far enough away that the molten alchemist’s fire splashed harmlessly into the sand.

The crowd around them roared with each blow the melee combatants exchanged, but when Doug shot the second arrow in full view, not obscured by the cloud, they erupted and Kole could feel the sound shaking his bones, almost forcing him to lose his spell.

As soon as Kole crested the wall, the student in full plate, pointed a stick at him. Kole sent his Radiant Bolt at him, and dove back down and once more conjured his shield barrier, just in time for an explosion of flame to billow around the wall and his shield.

“Fireball!?” Kole couldn’t help but scream in surprise

How much was that wand? he thought before more usefully wondering how many charges it might have left.

“I did it!” Kole heard Doug’s shout of triumph, somehow audible above the roar of the crowd.

He looked around to find Doug, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Before risking another look, Kole cast Mirror Image, and readied another Radiant Bolt. While Kole would have struggled to get around the alchemist’s fire heated sand before, the fireball had trapped him in place now. Luckily the ground on his side was obscured, and no one could see that the sand his duplicates stood in was glowing orange.

As soon as Kole’s head extended above the wall, a bolt of force came at him, and Kole sent his own golden blast of light back in return. The force bolt went for the center copy of Kole, which was a duplicate, but Kole ducked anyway causing it to miss. His own magic projectile was blocked by the floating shield, which began to emit golden light.

Standing, Kole saw that Doug had somehow traveled across the arena, likely teleporting, and was running down the boy laden with jars, who was backpedaling, filling the ground between them with dozens of gold worth of consumables to bar the demon kin’s path. Doug’s bow was missing, and he was running with his hatchets out.

Kole ducked back down, considering a plan to get out of the area of heated glass. He tested a potion with his toe, and while it was manageable for a moment, he didn’t think he could get out before whatever mechanism governed the teleportation system deemed him too harmed to compete.

Instead, he decided to continue to provide covering fire. Jumping back up, Radiant Bolt at the ready, Kole found the battlefield had changed drastically in the short time he’d been down. Rakin was now completely ablaze, as one of the alchemist fired vials had struck him, exploding and covering him in burning liquid.

Zale continued to battle against the more heavily armored foe, who seemed to have skill to back up his wealth. Or, Kole briefly considered as he noticed the unnatural speed the other student moved with, the wealth to use alchemical enhancements to make wealth and skill one and the same.

To Kole’s surprise, Rakin didn’t seem to be in a rage, but instead acting as if the flames weren’t real. The other martial artist he’d been fighting had run from him when it had become clear attacking would only result in a burn, and Rakin chose not to chase, instead heading for the wand user with the floating shield.

The martial artist, however, was running right for Kole. Unleashing his stored spell, he sent it right at the charging attacker. The boy tried to sidestep out of the attack, but unexpectedly to both the attacker and the caster, three Radiant Bolts—one from each illusory copy—streaked across the arena, converging.

Had that happened before? Kole wondered, unsure. He felt like he would have noticed if it had.

One bolt was dodged, but the other two struck, one of which was the real one. The wealthy monk stumbled but turned it into a roll, continuing to run at Kole, now a glow with an inner light. Before Kole could cast another spell, he was on him, leaping over the hot sand and haggard sandstone wall at Kole in a flying kick.

Kole abandoned the Radiant Bolt he’d been casting, and instead powered his shield bracer. A foot struck hit the barrier, and Kole felt the full force of the weight of the other student transmitted through the bracer, knocking Kole to the sand. His attacker wasn’t as lucky, and bounced off the barrier, landing in the hot sand where he rolled and jumped out of it, landing in the cooler sand a safe distance from Kole.

The exposed skin on the martial artist was seared red, lightly burned by the still hot sand, but not hot enough it seemed to send him out. Despite the burns, he didn’t waste a moment before attacking again. He took two steps back, and then took another running jump at Kole.

Somewhat more prepared, Kole steadied his feet, taking a bracing stance Zale had taught him to use in combat. Once more the kick deflected off the shield, but this time both Kole and his opponent recovered better. Kole only sand deeper into the sand, while the attacker planted one foot in the hot sand and jumped over the dangerous area.

“You’re going to run out of Will before I run out of kicks Kole!” the other boy shouted.

“I wouldn’t be so sure... you!” Kole said, embarrassed he didn’t know the other students name,

The other boy just jumped again, and they repeated the dance twice more.

“How are you casting that spell so many times!?” he exclaimed between pants. His burns were starting to grow more and more severe and hindering his movement.

Kole risked a glance to see that Rakin had vanished at some point, and it was Doug and Zale against the two plate armored enemies.

“The bracer!” Kole heard his foe exclaim, and turned back to see him pulling something out of his pocket and tossing it to Kole before he could react.

Kole began channeling the intent into his bracer for a shield, but before he could finish, thunder erupted from the small object, hitting Kole with a familiar wave of intense sound, throwing him back across and over the heated sand. The unburned sand softened his fall slightly, but when he lifted his hand to prepare to block the next attack, he saw his bracer crumble to nothing and fall off.

That’s one way across the hot sand, Kole thought even as he scrambled to recover.

His whole body ached, every joint in pain like he’d swung a metal rod at a stone wall over and over. Distantly, Kole was aware that blood was dropping down his ears, but he ignored the pain—or at least tried to.

His enemy ran at him, taking long jumps over the sand, only landing lightly before gracefully leaping again. Kole fought his woozy head to construct a Thunderwave, but the spell kept falling apart in his mind. After the second leap, the distance between them halved, Kole tried again with Radiant Bolt, but both the spells were too new for his addled brain and aching body to complete.

Leaping into the air a third time, Kole’s opponent turned the jump into a spinning kick, and some long practiced part of his mind reached for a spell that wasn’t there—Shield. But, to Kole’s bewilderment, he found the outline template somewhere in his vault. A place both familiar and unfamiliar.

He didn’t waste time overthinking it and channeled his Will into this unexpected spell template, finding it to function exactly as expected. The spell formed in an instant, and the translucent barrier appeared before Kole, draining the last of his Will. A wave of mental fatigue washed over Kole, just as the kick hit the barrier. Unlike last time, the force of the blow wasn’t transmitted through the bracer, and Kole didn’t even feel the impact.

The attacker however didn’t benefit from this change. To his credit, he overcame his surprise at the shield’s appearance despite the broken bracer, and he tried to turn the kick into another roll. But, instead of the shield moving with the impact as it had before, it didn’t budge, and Kole heard the snap of breaking bone over the ever present cheering of the crowd.

Kole retreated, pulling the vial from Zale out of his satchel, but stopped himself. He noticed that his Mirror Images were still up, and his opponent was lying in the sand clutching his leg.

Instead, Kole walked up to the downed student, and held his hand out. Instead of casting Radiant Bolt, he conjured a light in his hand and pointed it at the downed boy.

“I yield!” the boy shouted, and vanished, whisked away by the magic of the arena. And then Kole was taken as well.