Wandering Agent

Elevation of Mana Chapter 12

I didn't have much in the way of clothing or possessions, but mother still fussed something awful when morning came. She wrapped food up for me and checked it again and again, before sitting down and giving me words of wisdom.

"Elian, if you want to come home, I want you to let me know when Elaya brings you to visit. I don't care what she says you're still young, and you should be with your family."

"I'll be fine mom," I replied.

"I kno...

Chapter 209 Captured

A/N:  A couple of you, quite rightly, told me that the last chapter was a poor way to end a book.  While this mini-chapter will still leave us hanging a bit, it should clear up a few things.

I opened my eyes, looking wearily around the cell. The sedation had been kept up for, if I had to guess, weeks. The time had been both infinite and a blur, strange and confusing. They'd stopped though, and I was now beginning to come back to my senses.

Chapter 208 Admissions and Assaults

Over the next few days Selene was... more distant than usual. She said nothing about our conversation, but looked up harshly at me every now and then. I was glad for that much, as there was more than enough to do.

The place Linden had elected to set up the portal was a small fortress about half an hour outside of their walls. I knew that many a merchant would someday complain that there wasn't a good place to just get into the city, but the safety concerns were valid. I als...

Chapter 207 Losing a Friend

A fair time before the time agreed upon I made my way to the location. I needed to make a good impression and tardiness would certainly do me no favors. So I made found myself in a room of simple, if extremely well made furniture. Selene had joined me a moment ago and found a nice seat herself.

The orders frowned upon displays of excess, but that didn't mean that things were poor. Tables and chairs would be well made and comfortable, at least moderately. Art was sparse, but...

Chapter 206 History Lesson

The walls of the city of Linden were magnificent. Most of the places we'd passed through, almost all of them as a matter of fact, had been unimpressive. This however was a very welcome change. I could practically feel the weight and power of ages as we approached, defenses that had been built and built over who knew how many years.

There were layers and layers of walls, and even on the approach to the city proper I could see the differing styles and differing types, even so...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 11 Battle Against the Bear

Elaya was using fire, which was good, but I was thinking of something a bit more... energetic. In my hand I visualized the spell I'd thought of, pulling the thoughts together cohesively faster than I'd ever thought possible. Force pooled in my hand. It was odd, so very odd to feel pure kinetic energy warp and mold in ways that really shouldn't be possible, but within an instant a spear of pure force hovered there, waiting for a direction.

With a minute flick of my small han...

Chapter 205 Roads and Misdirections

On the outer edges of Westwood territory

The camp sat upon the edge of an open field, standard protocol. Circled around a cooking fire with a few guards spread out watching the various approaches. It had been easy to follow them here, they'd not even tried to hide the marks of their passage along the road, or towards this little offshoot.

I whistled, one of several calls standard to birds in this area, birds who only sang in the morning. Men returned the ...

Chapter 204 Westwood's Soldiery

The approaching cavalry were still well off, but would be here in no more than a few minutes. The knights perked up and readied, but none moved to attack, instead falling back into one of many standard defensive formations. Because o the angle of approach I'd only the slightest of ideas as to their size.

One of the knights, an older gnarled looking man rode up beside the carriage I was on, looking over us. I knew he was nominally in charge, and his name was Ernest, Sergeant...

Chapter 203 On the Road

After a couple of days setting up in the capital it was time to go once more. Dras would, for the time, be staying with the gate there to monitor whilst Selene and I were off. First we had to head back to the portal hub to pick up the other end of the portal then on towards our destination, the city of Linden.

"So... you know anything about Linden? Like, what's it like?" Selene asked.

"Dunno, nobody really talks about it," I responded, which was the truth...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 10 Flight of the Bumblebee

Every day with the boys was different, or at least interesting.  There were a number of games and the like to do, all of which were led by Ninden.  He was the oldest, and while he wasn't the most skilled at all of them it seemed part of his position as the eldest boy was to make sure that all the other boys were taught what they needed to know.

Of course every game we played or task we took up was related to hunting, or finding food.  Men in our tribe primari...

Chapter 202 Culture Shock

The tavern was strikingly quiet.  Sure there were a few conversations, and someone playing music in the background, but it was not the ruckus and wild place that most of the taverns I knew tended towards.  It might have had the same level of noise as a very high end one, but the decor clients didn't match that either, everyone was just quiet.

I looked around feeling a bit odd.  I knew taverns, I'd lived in and worked in taverns for much of my youth, this plac...

Chapter 201 The Grid

The trip to the capital was in effect, short.  I still thought of my own home city of Lithere as the capital in a lot of regards, but within the Empire of Shadows, that simply wasn't the case.  Instead it was the old Ermathi capital in the city of Ermath, wholly unimaginative, but things were like that sometimes.

The portal connection made what would have been a weeks long trip into a short afternoon jaunt, but we still ended up outside the city proper, so I got t...

Chapter 200 Towards Convergence

The request to make a gate that could be taken through another was a bit of a challenge, but not one that was insurmountable. There needed to be a way to keep the item as one, while still being able to take it apart or down, so we had to think of ways to go about that. We spent several days bouncing ideas back and forth against each other, to little effect.

The issue came about in the fact that magical items really, really, did not like being added to or broken down after t...

Chapter 199 New Meetings and Old Friends

I sat before a small table in my room, looking at the poor dead mouse. It had worked, sort of, I had managed to kill it with a spell. Sadly, it had not been an easy death on the poor little creature, which had struggled and fought until it's body gave out.

It wasn't the first, there were a few now. My idea to make a spell that replicated the inability to breathe underwater and the feeling thereof was functional, and it did what I wanted. It was also horrid to watch.

&...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 9 Big Fish

Getting time to practice magic was a real problem.  Sure, I'd figured out one small thing, but I was still bad at it and had no time to try it out, because I was always being watched.  Regardless of how the days and weeks passed I was just never left alone.  That was pretty good policy for a baby in this level of civilization, but it still irked that I was unable to get much done.

It wasn't like many others were often alone though.  People traveled in gr...

Chapter 198 Breakfast at Dawn

Days passed and while I still had a few things to do it was nearly a vacation. I worked on my spells in the afternoon, and spent time with my family where possible. I even managed to borrow a maid from my mother to help me get ready the morning of my meeting with Ulanion.

I rose slowly as the girl woke me. There were no alarm clocks as such, but there were still plenty of ways to measure time, and there was always someone awake at the house. As I tiredly walked over to the ...

Chapter 197 Catching Up

Mother wanted to spend an afternoon together before I got up to anything else, and seeing as most of what I needed to do right now was resetting up a workshop I really had no reason to refuse her. There was work to be done back at the lab, but we'd proven the concept and the safety checks were ongoing. I got a brief note from Dras, who had stayed behind to finish his core improvement and keep training, informing me that we'd all be off for about a week.

In my previous world...

Chapter 196 A Night In

I stumbled up to my room, closing the door behind me. The battle had been long an hard, the aggression, passive. Oh the lessons I'd learned, and how I knew that I'd missed many, from my mother this night on telling someone you were pissed without telling them you were pissed. The repeated constantly, and in oh so many varying ways, how I'd failed to keep her in even a semblance of the loop, even venting a bit on my father for his negligence to inform her of everything. Dad had an excuse for s...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 8 Diamond in the Rough

I took a few more weeks to sit back and get back to the main task at hand, language.  As my mouth developed and things came into their proper place I found that I was having an easier and easier time talking.  I was struggling though, because while I wanted to start going for full sentences and questions that I desperately sought the answers to, I was still a baby.

People didn't expect babies to be able to have full conversations, and while I would definitely stic...

Chapter 195 Homecoming

As a matter of fact, people did have food, even hot food, waiting for us. Our arrival wasn't too scheduled, as nothing in this era could be too specific if any traveling was involved, but we were expected. The gates were quickly opened as we arrived, and we were quickly pointed off to a lovely little location near the kitchens where we could get a meal.

There was a thick hearty stew and some bread that if I had to guess was likely made this morning, someone had taken the ti...

Chapter 194 Sauna Ruminations

As I sat soaking in the blissfully warm water I began to think. This was an optimal place for such things, particularly after weeks spent in the cold and ice. Regardless of how rushed they may have been I had to hand it to Dras and Selene, their construction had been pretty functional. It was simple, sure, but for something made as a side project to stave off boredom it was pretty good. They'd divided the baths into a men's side and a women's side. While I was curious as to what the boys got,...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 7 First Words

Ding!

[Achievement: Pottery]

Well, at least that's what I'd been hoping for, sadly, this was not some game world. No, in this world there was no 'ding', and there were no achievements that magically made you understand what to do. Unfortunately, you had to just go ahead and do it.

I spent six months watching my aunt trying to work out the basics of pottery. Something which seemed so obvious to me was still a mystery to her, so she had to work it out...

Chapter 193 Return Across the Ice

It took only a few seconds for the beast to show itself.  From the ice poured forth a dozens of purple tentacles.  Each one reached up and around to the maximum of their length, trying to grab at anything they could find.  Thankfully that reach was only a few meters, well away from most of our company.

Even those that were close were okay, as they moved fast to get away from the grasping appendages.  It still caused mass alarm as the underside of Cthulhu...

Chapter 192 Tests Aplenty

There was a slight flash of light as the portal came online. I was glad there was no explosion, or apocalyptic ripping of space and time as the magic settled into place. Those weren't really expected options, but it's hard to not imagine the worst case scenario when you're working with new and dangerous technology.

"It's up," I declared, looking towards the ring shaped gate.

"I can see, are we ready to begin testing?" The captain said. He knew we had a fe...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 6 Pottery

I expected my auntie to be mad, but she was not mad. No, no she was furious, she screamed and raged so loudly that my mother even looked up.

"WHO!?" I heard her exclaim before a series of words I didn't know.

"What in the world is she screaming about?" Father asked, moving to the front of the hut.

I had a feeling I knew, and knew well. I'd really thought that she would be mad, but this was on another level. Perhaps I'd underestimated ho...

Chapter 191 Ice Fields

Snow blew across the frozen plain, screaming, howling, leaving nothing but hard tundra for dozens of miles. The icy wind raged and raged against the world, trying to strip leaves, to freeze the flesh of any weak creature that might intrude upon the cold waste. For intruders did indeed mark this place, bustling about like ants.

Even with my shields up and spells going the chill wind still brushed me now and then. I could walk through a snow bank back home but here, here was ...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 5 First Spells

I had been waiting, watching. I hadn't had a particular need to engage in magic before so I'd let my experiments fall on the back-burner while I figured out language and tried to milk those around me for information. The actions of my aunt and her little clay filled basket though now gave me a goal.

My backburnering of magic hadn't been some whim, but what I felt was a logical conclusion. I didn't know the dangers, or how to control it. I didn't know what it would do if I e...

Chapter 190 Locked

I was... really quite stressed. While he hadn't said it, it was clear that Emperor Durin was pissed. If he knew half of the secrets I was still keeping... that would be bad. For now I needed to keep my nose clean. Moreover I needed to show results, and quickly.

The next day was when things changed. When I woke up I was greeted by a guard at my door who handed me a list. There were several new rules, particularly about where I was allowed to go. The guard would be nearby at ...

Chapter 189 Imperial Couple

Nearly a dozen feet clacked down the hall, the rustling of robes and slight clank of well-oiled armor flowing behind.  Try as I might I couldn't help but be bothered as I returned to my current residence.  Other than my personal guards and a number of very trusted servants few were allowed in this most protected of spaces.

the followers didn't speak a word a we moved, sensing my mood.  Instead they fell into step, watching as I moved through halls and corrido...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 4 Seasons Change

As I realized what my parents were doing when they utilized their magic I began my own experimentation. It was slow going, painfully slow going. First I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, if I'd spoken more of the language I could have asked, but I was grasping blind here. Then there there the twin problems of never being left alone and difficulty bringing it to the fore. I suspected that the latter had to do with my age; the former certainly did.

My first attempts we...