Prismatic Education Begins With A Spark 16 (MTG/Multicross)

Prismatic Education 16

I definitely want to know what the Lorehold scholars would think about this place. Then again… I definitely don’t want them to know what we’re doing to it.

“HRAAAAH!” Mereoleona roared as she punched through one of the golems we were facing, melting a hole straight through its torso. “GRRRRAAHHH!”

She dove to avoid another one swinging its blade at her, bouncing off her hands and into a fire-enhanced kick. The attack sent the golem crashing into the wall, leaving a large crater in the mural that was on it.

Similar marks of destruction could be seen in our wake, as we systematically eliminated every obstacle in our path. Trap magic, destroyed by overpowering with mana. Guardians like the golems, dismantled by applications of heavy force. Confusing and shifting pathways, out-of-the-box thinking by just carving out a direct path. For every problem in our path, violence was the answer.

Of course, compared to my companion on this dungeon dive, I was much more restrained. Mainly because there was a lot to be learned from the dungeon itself, just like Dean Tullus preached about history.

In between fights, Mereoleona filled me in on what dungeons were in this plane. Compared to the underground prisons and torture chambers I associated the term with, dungeons here were essentially treasure vaults built by ancient people. They were usually hidden, but sometimes the mana within them acted up, causing them to emerge from their hiding spots for anyone to plunder. Their contents were almost always valuable, either in the form of magical relics or instructions pertaining to powerful magics. However, those treasures were protected by many defenses, both magical and physical. Due to the life-threatening defenses, combined with the potential for destruction from the dungeons’ contents, investigations of dungeons were usually given to Magic Knights to handle.

“So us just happening to come across one was amazingly lucky?” I asked her.

“That’s right,” She confirmed. “Anyway, we’re almost there.”

“Oh good, as interesting as this whole trip has been, I think I’ve had enough of how wacky this place is.”

She snorted. “Didn’t take you for such a wimp.”

“You’re the one triggering all the defenses that are causing us trouble in the first place.” I accused.

“How else are we going to grow stronger?” Mereoleona scoffed. “Besides, how long are you going to play with that toy?”

I rolled my eyes, but didn’t say anything.

Pinned beneath the point of my staff, the golem continued to struggle. A few more seconds later, black ink seeped out from its joints, collecting together to reform my inkling Lyric. It floated upwards, and dove onto the open pages of my book. The resulting splash didn’t cause a mess, but instead formed a diagram of the golem’s workings, which the reconstituted Lyric gestured to with a proud trill. After confirming that it had been properly recorded, I shattered the golem with a slam of my staff.

I might not be Lorehold, but I do agree with their stance on learning from the past. Plus, it wasn’t the only source of knowledge in this place. My journal also had notes on various other things we experienced in the dungeon; the basic architecture, the scripts that made up trap magic, whether it was planted on the ground or in the air, how the mana affected the physical laws within the place, observations of the magical creatures that lived in the dungeon, and more. I really appreciated the knowledge that was imparted to me during the expedition I went on.

Even the Prismari part of me was getting something out of it. Though Mereoleona huffed and grumbled, she would wait for me to make sketches of some of the aesthetic features we came across, whether they were constructed out of normal stone or some ethereal element locked in place with magic. Some of the effects were clearly unintentional, generated by the chaotic mana in the place.

“What’s the point of recording all this?” Mereoleona asked impatiently as we made our way through a corridor of warped space and gravity, which I realigned into convenience with my magic. “The dungeon will just collapse once the primary treasure is claimed.”

“Wait, what?”

“It’s a known thing. That’s why there’s always a rush to claim a dungeon. Once someone takes that primary treasure…” She caught an incoming slime-like magical creature with one hand, and incinerated it completely, “The rest vanishes with the collapse.”

“How does that work exactly?” I wondered. Some kind of spatial banishment? How is it tied to a single type of treasure?

“Don’t know. Don’t ask me.” She answered tersely. “Alright, this is it.”

We stood in front of a giant door, at least five times our height. At one look, I could tell that it was locked with magic, and a pretty powerful spell too. The door itself thrummed with mana, reinforcing its hardness beyond normal limits.

“Hmph, guess I’ll just open it the way I know how.” Mereoleona rolled her shoulder with a fist cocked.

BOOOM!

Why am I not surprised? I stared deadpan at her as she began wailing on the door with her fists, gradually carving through the thick material.

“Are you just going to stand there and stare?!” She paused in her battering to shout at me.

SHHNNK!

My enchanted sword slid through the section of the door in front of me, as though cutting through butter. Still staring at her, I swung several more times.

SHHNNK! SHHNNK! SHHNNK! THUNK!

The sliced out portion fell out, forming a nicely-sized hole for me to enter through. I sheathed my sword, bobbed my eyebrows at her, before slipping through the opening.

Nullify magick, for antimagic purposes. Work smart, not hard. Glad I chose to bring the sword along despite everyone here using magic.

I heard her go ‘tsk’ in annoyance behind me, but the majority of my attention was on the contents of the vault. I could vaguely sense her following me through, and the annoyance was quickly replaced by amusement.

“Well, what do you think? Impressive, isn’t it?” Mereoleona asked from behind me.

“Yeah…” I could only agree.

The vault was as huge as its door suggested, and its interior was completely filled with treasure. Gold coins, jewelry, decorated weapons and armor, valuable-looking pieces of art, and more than a few magical relics. The combined value of everything I could see could be said to be a king’s ransom, more than enough to cover several four-year courses at Strixhaven.

I shut my eyes tightly, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling before opening them again. Alright, calm down. I obviously can’t take all this with me.

“Good, you didn’t lose yourself to greed.”

“Have you explored dungeons before?” I inquired.

“Once or twice. They don’t pop up that often.” Mereoleona picked up a handful of coins, before tossing them back onto the pile they came from. “Not that I’m interested in the treasure.”

“Well, don’t mind if I help myself to them.”

“Hold it.” Her intense tone made me stop and look at her. “This dungeon was found in Clover Kingdom’s territory, and I’m still a Magic Knight.”

Damn… “Fine, can I at least have some of the treasure? I need to pay my school fees.” 

That was a lie, as I had my scholarship, but who knows if I was going to go for several more years at Strixhaven? But it worked, as Mereoleona relented and let me grab several chests’ worth of treasures, which was a cupful of water from a bucket. There were also some books, though they were written in a script that neither of us recognized. She agreed to let me take a few on the chance that Strixhaven could translate the language.

As for the more magical stuff, I had to use every bit of persuasive skill to overcome her stubbornness, but I was able to get a few magic tools. Some were common things that had been found before, like a communication tool that transmitted both sound and image, and a few amulets that enhanced a specific type of magic. Those would be beneficial for my enchanting research.

Mereoleona’s permission also applied to one of the rarer artifacts present, of which there were quite a few. There were many plinths littered around the vault as well, all bearing items that were unique in appearance, and I was wandering around between them, trying to decide as my companion kept a vigilant eye on me.

“How long are you going to take?”

“Don’t rush me, I-” I paused, turning in the direction of the thing I was sensing. “Huh.”

She looked in the same direction I was. “That must be the primary treasure.” 

The two of us were looking at a plinth about halfway across the room. The item displayed upon it was a pair of red gauntlets, but the part on the back of the hands were styled in the shape of roaring lion heads, with glittering topazes set in the eyes, and glowing orange stones for the open mouths. It was certainly an impressive-looking piece of equipment, but the reason it had captured our attention was due to its mana.

That’s quite a Red-focused artifact. Now that I’m focused on it, I can tell that there’s a link between it and the rest of the dungeon’s space. I glanced at Mereoleona, whose fingers were twitching like she was itching to try them on.

“Looks like you’ve found the right one for you,” I commented. 

She didn’t reply, but simply snorted. It was impressive how that simple sound conveyed so many meanings. One of them happened to stand out more than the others.

Hurry up or I’ll punch the shit out of you.

I eventually selected an artifact that was like a staff. Despite its sturdy metallic appearance, it wasn’t as heavy as I expected, and that was with its bulky-sized head; four disks with mystery characters etched on the edges, which spun when I channeled mana through the staff. It would take a bit of experimenting to figure out what sort of effect it would have on my spells.

“Right! Now, let’s work on getting the rest of this out of here!” Mereoleona barked, her fiery magic already flaring up.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Much later, we watched from a safe distance as the architecture of the dungeon collapsed, a combination of the interior space breaking down and the disruption of the mana maintaining its physical structure. 

“So what will you do now?” I asked the woman next to me.

“Return to the Royal Capital to turn these in, of course.” She jabbed a thumb at the thing floating behind her. 

Since she didn’t possess the same spatial storage advantages I did, her method of carrying was to have multiple paws of solid fire, cupped together to carry the huge pile of treasure that was her share. 

“True, can’t go lugging it around while you train.”

Mereoleona turned her head to look straight at me. “You’re heading back to your land, right?”

I nodded. “Uh huh. Final year of school.”

“Well, if you’re interested, come look me up. You’d make a fine Magic Knight.” The redhead nodded once to me, and shot off into the air with flames from her feet. “Bye.”

I guess that was a ringing endorsement coming from her. I watched the orange glow of her magic vanish into the distance. Hmm… I still have some time left before the start of the school year, but I think it’s okay to go back a little early. 

I was about to prepare to Planeswalk back to Arcavios, when I paused and turned to look at the mountain.

“On the other hand… I could use a new source of Red mana…” I said to myself thoughtfully.

…

“Welcome back, Roy,” The dormitory supervisor greeted me when I came through the doors, “You look like you’ve had quite the experience on your trip.”

“You could say that,” I replied tiredly, “Right now, I feel like I’d do anything for a proper shower and sleep.”

“Was it really that bad?” The human male asked me curiously.

“It was great. This tiredness? It’s because of Professor Osgir.” I slightly regret choosing to approach him first on my return…

It took a moment for him to recall who I was referring to. “The Lorehold professor? What happened?”

“Let’s just say I happened to find some relics while on my trip, and I went to see him about identifying and reconstructing them…”

Professor Osgir was a Lorehold professor of Order whose specialty lay in restoration, relics of the past in particular. He was so skilled at it that he could recreate an ancient object from the smallest scrap, drawing out its history, then restoring its physical form to match that memory, even if it was a complicated device with multiple functions. Item-focused archaeomancy at its best, to the point that he could make an identical copy, just for his personal collection.

When I showed him some of the artifacts I had brought back from the Clover Kingdom, he practically fell over himself wanting to get more, even when I told him that what he saw was all I was able to get. The exhaustion came from trying to negotiate with him for favors; the rumors that he was more obsessed with historical items than most Lorehold professors were understatements, if anything. The noise ended up drawing in some other professors, and I had to strongly defend my stance in not transferring to Lorehold.

And I still ended up making agreements to go back for another round of discussion on what to do with the goods… “Anyway, let’s just say it was a mess. Can I have my room key now?”

“Oh! Sorry about that!” He quickly went through the rest of the signing-in procedure, retrieving the item in question from a drawer and handing it to me. “Here you go!”

“Cheers. See you later.”

There were a few other students loitering around the place, but thankfully none of them interrupted me on my journey back to my dorm rooms, and I was able to unload my luggage in peace. The hot shower afterwards felt heavenly, and I felt like a whole new person when I sat down to go over the stuff I had brought back, with Lyric and Marill assisting me.

Personally, I had considered approaching Osgir later, but I decided to get it out of the way first because I had the feeling that my fourth year was going to be very busy. There was still a week or so before the academic year began, and I still hadn’t decided what courses to take.

At least I’ve got the basic outline for my final year project down… I stopped myself from going off on another mental tangent. One thing at a time. Unpacking now.

Aside from the magical items from the dungeon, there were also souvenirs for my friends. Sculptures and accessories made from coral and polished shells from the Seabed Temple,  some magical herbs for Nivali, some of the knickknacks for the rest, a fancy necklace of gems for Nivall, those were the simple ones. Sorting through the notes to see which parts would interest people like Vyse or Dyna was more complicated.

“Though I suppose Vyse might like this spiraling shell,” I commented as I held the thing up to the light for closer examination.

It had a nice pattern to it, and was a pretty shade of green too. In my other hand, the green ball spun in the representation of the Golden Rectangle. Somehow, even though it was spinning as it usually did, the contained energy felt somewhat different. Like it contained even more potential. With a smile, I set the ball aside on top of Marill, who began spinning in place as well.

The trip truly had been a learning experience for me. Thanks to that, I was looking forward to seeing where else I should adventure next. 

Though for now… It’s time to get back to schooling.

Afterword: And that’s the end of the trip. Next year’s going to be a good test of my muse, because the sourcebook has the fourth year as a buildup to a clash with the evil mage pulling strings behind all the trouble the first three years. Roy’s time at Strixhaven is much more peaceful, so he won’t be dealing with such things. Instead, he’ll have to contend with something much more terrible. Final year projects!

Horrible, isn’t it?