The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The next day was relatively quiet as far as Larek was concerned – which was exactly how he liked it. In the morning after breakfast, he went to the Advanced Fusions workshop and spent 3 hours creating Fusions that he was instructed were needed for the SIC – something that he had no problem doing now that he was fully recovered from his overuse of his Pattern Cohesion as well as straining his Dominion magic. He kept in mind that he wanted to ask about some sort of compensation for what he was creating, but held off for the moment because of one reason, and one reason only: He wasn’t asked to spend any more than those three hours creating Fusions for other people.

His thought was that he was in his class and anything in there was considered part of the curriculum, so it was just normal classwork. While that was a very flimsy justification for all the work he was putting into the Fusions he created, he chose not to pursue any extra renumeration for his efforts right now. In the future, that might change, but he was more than happy to make these Fusions if it meant he didn’t have to teach anyone else the new Skill he had discovered.

After lunch, his Intermediate Mana Manipulation class was in the third-year workshop section of the Academy, where his Professor reminded him of Nedira and Gharina – the SIC member in charge of Garventon – by her long, reddish-gold hair and relatively similar features. The biggest difference between Professor Norreen and the other two female representatives from Tyrendel was one of height; whereas Nedira and Gharina were just over 4 feet in height, Professor Norreen was just over 6 feet tall – one of the tallest people that Larek had ever seen, other than himself. Her height didn’t seem to cause any of the students to treat her any differently than any other Professor, which was a refreshing experience to observe.

Since he had started this class later than everyone else, he was at first a little lost when it came to what he would be learning, but he soon caught on when the other 39 students in the workshop began manipulating their Mana outside of their bodies with intricate movements and a much finer touch than anything that had been accomplished back in his first year. Given that every student was in their third year, he supposed that made sense; most – if not all – of them had been able to cast spells in their second year, and there were even two that had obtained a Specialization already. From what he had learned, that wasn’t necessarily common, but some Mage students tended to catch onto casting spells faster than others and were able to understand spell patterns in a certain field much quicker than others. Granted, both of the Specializations were Healers, as it was one of the easiest to obtain, but that didn’t lessen their achievements.

“Again, this year we’ll continue to hone your Mana Control Skill to better manipulate the Mana as it is withdrawn from your body,” Professor Norreen stated a few minutes after class started, walking through the workshop as the students silently manipulated their Mana. The workshop was nearly twice the size of the Advanced Fusions workshop that Larek was familiar with, though with many more people needing to occupy the space, it was necessary. Similar to the Fusions workshop, there were large pillows set up around the floor equally spaced apart from each other, where the students could sit and practice their Mana manipulation in comfort. Instead of privacy alcoves, it was simply a large open space where the young Mages were only separated by a few feet, creating a 5-by-8 grid-like pattern to the pillows and their placement. The walkways between the students was where the Professor was walking down, watching the students as they worked.

Or at least where most of the students worked; Larek wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to do, even after watching the others for a few minutes.

“Remember, the finer control you have of your Mana, the better your spellcasting will be. Not only will you be able to create your spell patterns much faster and with smaller chances of making a mistake, but you’ll also be able to infuse that spell pattern with your Mana almost instantaneously,” the Professor continued, before stopping and leaning down to gently correct something one of the students was doing wrong. She was done in only a few seconds before she moved on, picking up where she left off. “The closer you can form your Mana into the same shape as your spell pattern, the faster that spell pattern will be able to absorb it and activate. When it comes to a life-and-death situation against a monster spawned by a Scission, every second you can save in battle could mean the difference between success and failure. By improving the manipulation of your Mana, you’ll be one step closer to success out there in the real world.”

Larek was starting to understand the purpose behind the class now. Every time he had observed and learned a new spell, it had typically been either performed slowly enough that he could see every single step in the process, or was used so many times in succession that he couldn’t help but pick it up. What he hadn’t realized until that point was that most Mages, at least those that had graduated from the Academy, cast their spells much faster than what he’d observed. The speed at which they did this varied, but it was usually so fast that he could barely even see that a spell pattern was even being created, let alone the subsequent infusion of Mana that necessitated its activation.

How was it they were able to cast it so quickly? Mana manipulation – which was exactly what they were all learning in this class.

There were two parts to casting a spell, but there were multiple ways of completing those parts. The first was the spell pattern, which was formed by essentially drawing with the Mage’s Pattern Cohesion the necessary components used to accomplish the spell’s effect. In the first and second year of the Academy, this was taught to be done by drawing the pattern with a finger, giving them practice in meticulously forming it without any mistakes.

Later on, as they became more adept at manipulating their Pattern Cohesion in the form of a spell pattern, they didn’t necessarily need to draw it anymore; instead, they would manipulate their Pattern Cohesion into the shape of the spell pattern with a flexing of their mind – similar to how Larek was able to alter his Fusion grid formations without having to draw every single line to perfection. He still used his hands for the most part, as it was easier for him to do it that way, but he thought that – with some practice – he might be able to construct an entire Fusion without moving his body at all. Thanks to his experience using Focused Division and manipulating multiple Fusion formations with his mind, he didn’t even think that it would be all that hard.

The second part of a casting a spell was infusing the spell pattern with Mana. At first, a bunch of Mana coming from the Mage was shoved into the pattern in order to fill it up and activate. This sometimes took a bit of time and was wasteful if too much Mana was removed from the body, especially if any leftover Mana wasn’t reabsorbed afterwards. After the students began to learn to better control their Mana, thanks to classes such as the one Larek was attending, they would be able to pull out exactly the amount they needed for the spell as well as shaping it so that it matched the spell pattern. Once the Mana was formed into the same shape, it could be sent into the spell pattern like a key into a lock, powering and activating it immediately.

It was this kind of thing that allowed those such as Kimble to cast his Fireballs so quickly, as he had mastered forming the spell pattern immediately with his mind, and then filled it with a quick burst of Mana shaped exactly as he needed.

Unfortunately, Larek couldn’t see a how this would help him with his Fusions, but he had to admit that it was probably a good idea to learn what he could. He still manipulated his Mana, after all, even if it wasn’t necessarily used in the basis of a spell; if he was being honest, his Mana funnels were a bit crude when it came to the delicate work being done the students he saw inside the workshop.

“Ah, the new student,” Larek suddenly heard, broken out of his revelry by the voice nearby. He looked up to see Professor Norreen looking down at him, which was a change for once; typically, even if he was sitting on the floor, he was tall enough that he was normally around eye-height with most other students and Professors in his classes. “Larek, correct?”

He nodded.

“You weren’t here for the preliminary classes, so you likely have no idea what you’re supposed to do, right?” Again, he nodded. “Not a problem. Since you’re only now a second year, you likely haven’t had much experience casting a spell, which also means you likely haven’t had much reason to practice with controlling your Mana. Now, I know that you’re some sort of Fusion prodigy, but that doesn’t count. I’ll get you started on the path where you’ll be casting spells in no time.”

Shaking his head, Larek said, “I can’t cast any spells. My Pattern Cohesion is too strong.” In the past, he had wanted to keep such information hidden so as to not stand out, but enough about his circumstances was known that he thought it prudent to put that knowledge out in the open. Of course, he wasn’t exactly planning on sharing how high his Pattern Cohesion was, as that wasn’t necessary for his Professor to know.

“Really? I’d love to hear the story I can sense behind that sometime,” she said as she smiled back at him. It didn’t seem as though the revelation was a surprise or that she didn’t believe him, which was a relief. “Well, I assume you use your Mana to fill your Fusions, so let me see what we’re working with so that we can determine where you can start.”

At her encouragement, Larek pulled out a small, square, steel plate from his pocket and put it on his lap. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he created a Fusion formation for a basic Intellect Boost +7, something that he had been making frequently for the SIC. Having formed the grid so often, he had it finished within 15 seconds even after triple checking it for flaws, before he began to create his Mana funnel and started shoving the energy into the Mana Cost section of the Boost. Since this Fusion only required about 30,000 Mana and his current Mana pool was around 1,300, it only took a few minutes for him to fill it completely after letting it regenerate in stages. Once it clicked into place, he looked up from what he was doing to see his Professor staring at him in what appeared to be shock; worse than that, the rest of the students in the workshop had stopped what they were doing and were watching.

It took Larek a few seconds to realize that this was probably the first time that someone other than those close to him for one reason or another had seen him creating a Fusion. He forgot for a moment that his process was highly unusual and prone to catching the attention of others.

Then the whispers started, though they were loud enough that he heard most of them.

“…you see that?”

“…didn’t think anyone could handle that much Mana all at once!”

“…how much Mana does he have?!”

“…isn’t that the Fusion guy from last year’s Skirmish?”

“…hadn’t seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it!”

He ignored it all as he absently handed the steel plate to his Professor. He didn’t need it, after all, and he figured she might be able to find a use for it.

“Alright, back to work!  The show’s over!” His Professor suddenly discovered her students weren’t working anymore and so she shouted over her shoulder at them. A few snapped back to their work immediately, but most of the others reluctantly turned away – though Larek could tell they were just going through the motions rather than concentrating on their Mana manipulation.

“Larek? What was that?”

Kneeling down by his side, Professor Norreen kept her voice low as she composed her shocked expression, though it was obvious that she was still affected by what she saw. He shrugged and explained that it was how he filled his Fusions with Mana.

“How are you able to handle that much Mana? I would warn you that constantly passing that amount of Mana through your body is dangerous, but you seem… fine? How?”

Again, he shrugged. He was going to leave it at that, but he decided to explain a little bit more. “First, I have an extraordinary Mana regeneration rate, which allows me to supply large amounts of Mana in a short period of time. Second, my Mana doesn’t exactly pass through my body.”

“What? What does that mean?”

He hadn’t really told anyone about how he had discovered his Mana and his ability to control it, as it had been part of the secrets he had been trying to keep. Later on, it hadn’t exactly seemed important to share it, but if his Professor was going to help him improve his Mana Control and manipulation, then she probably needed to know. “I was taught that there is a source of Mana inside of every Mage’s body that they can access and pull from, directing it to pass through and out of their bodies so that they can control it. That never worked for me, as I didn’t have a pool of Mana,” which was true because he had a pool of Stama, instead, “but I eventually discovered where the Mana was located. It was spread throughout my entire body, like the blood that runs through my veins.”

“That’s imposs—sorry,” the Professor began to say before apologizing. “You’re obviously telling the truth, as hard as it is for me to believe something like that. Based on what I just saw, though, it’s probably the only thing that makes sense. I wonder how that came about…?” she asked, her eyes looking past him as if she was trying to figure it out.

Rather than let her have the time to wonder about it more than was probably prudent, he asked, “Is there anything you think I can do to improve my Mana manipulation? I honestly don’t have any reference points to this kind of thing, and would appreciate any advice in how to make it better.”

Her eyes refocused on him and she smiled at his question. “Of course!” She thought for a moment before saying, “First, I noticed that your, uh, funnel was a bit oversized for the purpose you were putting it to; I can think of a number of ways that you can improve its efficiency and speed of transfer. Second, have you thought of trying to infuse the entire Fusion with Mana rather than just the Mana Cost?”

“What? I thought you had to use the Mana Cost section so that it could spread it through the rest of the Fusion; are you saying there is another way?”

She shrugged. “Possibly? I’m not an expert on Fusions, as I only took the required classes in the Academy, but I don’t see why you can’t try. It would be similar to infusing a spell pattern all at once, though I’m not sure how it would work with Fusions requiring an amount of Mana exceeding your current pool. It’s something to try, at least.” Looking around at the rest of the class, the Professor sighed. “It’ll have to wait for next class, it looks like, because this has already been enough of a distraction to the other students. I’ll see if I can design some exercises that you can perform to improve your Mana flow; I’ll also talk to some of my colleagues and ask about filling an entire Fusion all at once.”

He thanked her as she got up, before moving through the workshop again, directing the students back to their work – though more than half of them surreptitiously stole curious glances back at Larek, who simply looked around and watched the others.

After class was done, he retreated quickly and moved to the second-year section of the Academy, to Classroom 240, which turned out to be a large lecture hall that seated hundreds of students. While the class wasn’t as enlightening as Intermediate Mana Manipulation had been, the Drome Professor teaching the class constantly expressed that the current environment outside of the city was ever-changing, and that everything they were going to cover was subject to being altered as more information was gained. This first class he attended covered most of what he’d already learned from multiple sources, in that the Scissions seemed to be leaving towns and cities alone, and instead opened all over the countryside. Subsequent classes would cover what was being done to locate and fight the monsters that spilled out of the Scissions, which was something that not everyone knew about; Larek only knew some of it because he was actively supplying Fusions to the SIC groups that were going out to fight those monsters.

It was only when that was done that Larek experienced his first opportunity of having free time to pursue whatever he wanted. With his last three hours now no longer dedicated to teaching other about the Focused Division Skill, he could finally experiment and explore what he could do now with that same Skill, as well as moving on to different Fusions that he’d been thinking about for some time.

The hardest decision was where he wanted to start first.