tobiasbegley

Take the plant or no?

The Second Gate: Chapter Eighteen

Spatial Tripwire, as it turned out, connected two points in space with a straight line in space. With more points, it could form an area, and with enough, it could form a three-dimensional volume. When the line, area, or volume was disturbed by an external mana source, like a person or a spell, it would ping an alert in my head.

A very similar spell was actually used in the construction of the wards on the bakery, though it had been constructed with a slightly different setup that mainl...

The Second Gate: Chapter Seventeen

Ikki arrived the following morning with his usual impeccable timing, glanced me up and down and nodded.

"Good. Now that you've properly advanced to second gate, we can begin."

He wrote down a spell on a notepad, and passed it to me, so I looked it over. It resembled the Lesser Image Recall spell, but there were layers of depth that made it clearly a second gate spell.

"This is the first spell you'll be learning, Material Echo. I know that Orykson has you using his Pinpoint B...

The Second Gate: Chapter Sixteen

“I think the synergy of the Magister’s Body and Beast Mage Soul is too powerful to pass up,” I said after a few moments, looking up at Meadow.

“It’s certainly the most powerful option,” Meadow agreed. “The Magister’s Body is one of the less popular publicly available bodies, but it suits your magic well.”

“And if I’m understanding correctly, so long as I use magic regularly, I’m going to transition fastest with it. I just don’t get control over my form.�...

Which full gate spell(s)?

The Second Gate: Chapter Fifteen

I sat in Dusk’s realm again as I drew power from the plants around me to break through to my second gate with spatial and death mana.

Breaking through was easy, easier than life had been, and easier than time had been, but it also produced a strange sense of unease from my staff. It was no longer perfectly synchronized to my spirit, and that wasn’t how it should be. The resonance didn’t weaken in the places where it had filled before, but the absence of resonance was obvious in my...

The Second Gate: Chapter Fourteen

"The key to a staff is the creation of a sympathetic resonance between your spirit and the outside world," Meadow said. "All progression eventually needs that."

"I understand how a staff and a grand array accomplish that. They're physical representations of your mana-garden," I said, "but not domain weapons or nascent truths, let alone weirder things like a mask."

"Oh? A Nascent Truth doesn't connect you to the world?" Meadow challenged. "What is it, then, if not a profound connec...

The Second Gate: Chapter Thirteen

As the month of Heats-End ticked by and turned into Harvest-Fount, I spent my time working through two or three low stakes missions each day, practicing by sketching spells out to master them, and going through the pile of pills that Kene had left for me.

Like they’d said, none of them were exceptional, but they were an investment: They increased what I put into them.

Since I was spending so much time on spellwork, they worked well. They also helped increase my ability to prune ...

The Second Gate: Chapter Twelve

"Ladies, gentleman, and other distinguished guests, the rules to the treasure hunt are simple!" the announcer boomed through her tempest spell. "There are multiple designated areas, divided by age, highest gate, and temperament! Scattered throughout these areas is a variable number of tokens. Collect one of each color, and you pass. The first three people to pass for each category will receive an extra prize, in addition to the participation rewards."

"I'm going to betray you for a sing...

Ed's Choice

Since there won't be a choice in the main mana mirror story tomorrow, I wanted to give y'all something related to Ed's future development instead!

Ed's Training Trial

Ed stared at the entrance to the cavern, with its disturbing stone. Stalactites should line up relatively well with stalagmites, but these were… Not right. They were askew, just enough to disturb him. They way they lined up resembled the teeth of some great beast more than it did any natural cavern

“You’re sure that this is safe?”

“Safe? No. Very little in life is safe. But any harm that comes to you from this should be manageable, and your insurance from the Lightwatch ...

The Second Gate: Chapter Eleven

I spent the next morning stressing over what to wear.

On one hand, my best – and only remaining – suit was black. Black was the color of the dead, which could work for me.

But I only had one spell that even called the dead, right now. Green would be better, as the color of the naturalists. Blue, for the mages, would work too.

Orange, for the laborers, did kind of work, and that was what I'd planned on wearing, but I was questioning that now. Not only because of the comme...

The Second Gate: Chapter Ten

That night, I closed my eyes on my bed, focusing on my mana-garden. I walked to the tree where my half-complete spell lay and waved my hand, dispersing the bonds around the tree.

The tree snapped to its full height, its branches shooting out and filling the secondary area. There was a crack in my spirit as the spell finished mastering into Crow’s Shade Messenger, and I took a deep breath.

I didn’t need every single spell to be ingrained in order to open my second death gate. I...

Spell Choices

The Second Gate: Chapter Nine

“I need your help,” I said as I stepped into Meadow’s cottage. She was sitting in a rocking chair, knitting something, and looked up to nod.

“What do you need, dear?” she asked.

“How can you change a legacy?”

She gave me a long, considering look.

“What brought this on?” she finally asked.

“I have a date to the Carnival of Color,” I said, “Kene, I think I’ve mentioned them to you before.”

“The one who showed you a bit of alchemy...

The Second Gate: Chapter Eight

The following morning, though, after a bit of sourdough toast with butter and jam, Kene, Dusk, and I all headed out to the village blacksmith.

For my part, I was amazed that the village actually had a blacksmith.

Mass production and imports from Teffordshire had all but replaced the role of the humble blacksmith for my life, and while there were probably specialty shops that could make a sword or whatever, but I wouldn’t head to a blacksmith to get a new door hinge or anything.<...

The Second Gate: Chapter Seven

I am happy to announce that my schedule's been shuffled around in such a manner as to allow me to do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday chapters now! 

-

“Yes, but… What as?”

“What as?” Kene asked, a troubled look on their face. “What do you mean?”

“Like, is it a date? A friend hanging out thing? A trial run date?”

“Oh!” Kene said. They pushed their hat back on their head a little bit and didn’t quite meet...

Second Gate, Second Poll

A big choice. This will definitely push the romance plot with Kene forwards... Or backwards. 

The Second Gate: Chapter Six

The buzzing sound quickly amplified as a stream of wasps began to emerge from underground nests.

They were larger than any normal wasps I'd ever seen, and their carapaces glimmered in the light like glass. Each one only felt like a first gate, but there were so many of them…

"Crystaldigger Wasps!" Kene shouted as he began to dig around in his spatial ring, looking for something.

I flexed my mana and my Briarthreads burst out around me, while I set Pinpoint Boneshard to whi...

The Prince and the Peasant

This is a short story set around the time Malachi first broke into Second Gate

-

Kamal Suntorch, son of the Lady of the Sunscorched Desert, – the most powerful and richest person in the country, who held nearly a sixth of Suntorch’s entire political votes and seats – was bored.

Drawing energy from a Hudau Heritage Stone and into his mana-garden might have been an easy, safe, and reliable path to advance, without any of the risks normal...

The Second Gate: Chapter Five

I didn’t sleep great.

For one, it was already hard to sleep in a new place.

For another, I was too wired on the energy from my success to actually calm down and sleep.

For a third, my brain kept playing tricks on me.

And finally, once I finally drifted off, I snapped awake when I realized I’d forgotten to send any of my excess mana into my trees and into my Temporal Basin. After doing that, I laid back down, and got a little bit of sleep.

The following mornin...

The Second Gate: Chapter Four

I woke up late the following morning, worn out by the escapade the night before, let my dad and Ed know I was going to visit Kene. After escaping a round of teasing, I was free to go.

The flight to Kene's village was simple, and Dusk had never gone on a flight this long before. She was endlessly amused by flying, and constantly negged me to go faster.

I was happy to oblige, which was… probably not the best idea, but it was fun.

I arrived around dinner time and barged into ...

The Second Gate: Chapter Three

Or at least, I thought that I’d be getting out the door and going the following morning. Instead, in the middle of the night, Orykson appeared in my bedroom. I only woke up when he put his hand over my mouth.

I thrashed and panicked for several seconds, Briarthreads lashing out at him, but they just bounced off his suit. Once I realized who it was, I relaxed some, though a small part of me was still terrified that he was angry at me.

“You have seven minutes to get ready before...

First vote of the second gate!

Mmm, who doesn't love that new book smell? 

The Second Gate: Chapter Two

Ikki arrived at eight the following morning, perfectly punctual as usual. When he saw me, his eyebrow raised, and he gave a short, crisp nod.

“Excellent. You have finally progressed to a point where I can begin teaching you in earnest. First and foremost, do you know why I have yet to give you a temporal based harvesting spell, minor haste spell, or many other spells?”

“I assumed that it was for the same reason Orykson hadn’t planned for me to learn many spells,” I admit...

The Second Gate: Chapter One

Two weeks later, I sketched out a spell as I ran, my feet hitting the pavement with dull thumps as I passed by the brightly decorated shops. I focused on the pulsing of mana that streamed into me from Harvest Distance spell, converting it into time mana. At the same time, I worked on converting my life mana into time mana at the same rate as my generation spells could provide the mana to me.

Despite all of the fanfare around breaking through to second gate with life mana, picking Meadow...

Mana Mirror: Chapter Sixty-Five

No vote this week, I'm afraid, but it should be back next week!

-

A part of me expected the sky to split open, for Orykson to descend upon me like a comet.

Instead, when he appeared, he just looked annoyed. He sent out a wave of mana, but Meadow glared at him, and the power retracted.

“It will be as we agreed upon, you old witch,” Orykson said to Meadow, then looked at me. “You have made a grave mistake, Malachi. I hope that one ...

Mana Mirror: Chapter Sixty-Four

Meadow stepped into Orykson’s hall, the wards around her flashing.

Orykson stared at her from across the hall, his power dominating the entire hall, crushing everything in its path.

“This was your plan from the very beginning, wasn’t it?” he asked sourly. “You’d take my apprentice from me.”

“Your apprentice?” Meadow scoffed. “You’ve done nothing but try to turn him into a miniature version of yourself.”

“That’s what the world needs,” Oryks...

Mana Mirror: Chapter Sixty-Three

I rolled the pill between my fingers as I lay in bed. A part of me was sorely tempted to use it on my Harvest Distance spell, since if it was anything like the Harvest Plant Life spell, it’d give me another stream of mana to use.

But… I’d neglected my time mana for so long. It was about time that I began to treat it seriously. I’d seen first hand just how effective the spells could be when Ikki had done his little demonstration.

Come to think of it, getting me to take my t...

Which spell to focus the pill on?