Vitaly S Alexius

Scientific Sorcery : 33 Dimorphism of Thornwild Humanity

I was feeling rather drained from lugging Glinka around so I didn’t teach Cali anything new that evening.

Instead, I simply took the Castian Sorceress to her Sleigh, to see what other items of value she could help me extract from its somewhat compressed insides. 

For the first time in my new life on Thornwild, the sky overhead was clear of its usual thick blanket of clouds. The sight above made my mouth drop, made my heartbeat accelerate as I stared at it for a few minutes,...

Scientific Sorcery : 32 Behavioral Patterns of Feline Psychology

"Are you sad, Ioan?" Cali asked, tilting her head at me, blue eyes examining my frown. "I don't like it when my bestie is sad! What can I do to make you smile?"

"You could be a little nicer to people," I said, shuddering ever so slightly at Cali’s plan of using mortal men to basically dig up radioactive sand with their bare hands only to sell it to assassins and dark Sorcerers.

"Why?" She blinked. "Ain't nobody's nice to me. Look at you, you put seven contracts on me. Is that ni...

Scientific Sorcery : 31 Dragonglass Pathophysiology

I watched as Cali's face cycled through a range of emotions - disbelief, fear, anger, and finally, resignation. Her hand trembled as she reached for the pen, ocean-blue eyes never leaving mine.

"You don't know what you're doing," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "These contracts… no sane person would stack them on a single thrall like this! The magical backlash could be catastrophic, could kill me or you!"

"Is she going to explode if she signs them all?" I opened the ...

Scientific Sorcery : 30 Thunderstruck

-=[Callista Leisl]=-

I simply stood there, half-fused to the floor of Ioan's pub, straining to hear what was happening outside with all of my senses.

I felt the distant presence of my sleigh and the cold grip of intensifying winter and something ancient and dangerous that surrounded me within this cursed old pub. Some unseen hand that gave life to the impossible flowers and plants all around me, suspended me in the wooden floor.

The hours of silenc...

Scientific Sorcery : 29 River vs Sleigh

I said a quick bye to Cali, ignoring her protests and demands for me to come back at once. She continued to yell as I walked away.

Whistling a jaunty tune, I adjusted my backpack, grabbed a shovel, and waited for Stormy to leap onto my shoulder before heading towards the river.

The crisp winter air nipped at my face as we made our way to Glinka's domain. Snow crunched beneath my feet, and the dead trees creaked in the wind. As we approached the riverbank, I slipped my Astralscope ...

Scientific Sorcery : 28 Maybe!

I watched as Cali scurried off to the outhouse, her tail twitching nervously. As soon as she was out of sight, I turned to Stormy.

"So, what do you think?" I asked my feline companion. "Is she planning something?"

Stormy gave me a look that could only be described as exasperated. "Mrrrow," she replied, which I took to mean, “Of course she is, you big dolt.”

I chuckled, scratching her behind the ears. "Yeah, I figured as much. Any idea what?"

The kitten's e...

Scientific Sorcery : 27 Storm-tastic

I was born the runt of the litter, the smallest of seven. My brothers and sisters were all sleek, fast and strong, like shadows in the night, hunting and running with each other, while I remained tiny and frail, refusing to stray from the warm step of the big house of the meat-giver, one that fed us scraps and offered us her warm lap in exchange for killing mice.

What I lacked in size, I made up for in know-sense. While my kin ran wild and free, I sat on the porch of the biggest, warmes...

Scientific Sorcery : 26 The Apex Omniarch

-=[Callista Leisl]=-

I awoke with a start, atop some kind of uneven surface. I rapidly tried to mentally reorient myself as to where I was and how I ended here. The earth and rocks under me definitely didn't feel like the plush bed of my sleigh.

All of it crashed into me at once. 

Searching for the perfect clueless idiot newborn Star-Eater to enslave, using the Leisl lavalier to pry information from the seedy back alleys of Skulldug. Spending an ...

Scientific Sorcery 25 : Thirsty for Knowledge

Upon arrival in the pub, I deposited the treasure and the merchant onto my pile of witchy earth and went to the stove to cook everyone dinner. Cali watched me with dead eyes as I brought her a plate of steak and pickled vegetables.

She ate quickly and I poured her a jug of water from the centre of my domain blessed by the radiance of gemstone 112. As the water hit her lips, her eyes went wide.

“What?” She uttered, licked her lips and drowned the rest of the jug in seconds.

Technomagica 2 : 48 Takeoff

I stood atop the craggy outcropping, my breath misting in the crisp mountain air as I gave the glider, the gravity hexagrams and the bags one last look-over, making sure that everything was secure and strapped in.

Kliss sat perched in front of me on a moss-covered boulder, admiring the breathtaking vista before us. Massive glaciers stretched across the valley below,...

Scientific Sorcery : 24 Star-Eaters

“Here.” Cali’s nose took us into another, narrower tunnel that led into what was possibly the basement of one of the now collapsed houses. “I smell gold here.”

We stuck the torches into the earth nearby and began digging, lugging rocks and pulling wooden beams away from the scene.

“What’s a Star-Seeker?” I asked.

"Star-Seekers are an elite order of Felix Arcanicx magi. The original Star-Seekers were the Iridum city founders," she said, panting, her voice ting...

Scientific Sorcery : 23 Literacy

“Hey Stormy, am I going to turn inside out?” I asked my future-seeing kitten, worrying how witchery would affect me.

“Brrrrrrr,” the kitten hopped off my shoulder and rolled her violet-tinted eyes at me as if I was an idiot who was listening to big dumb blonde cats.

“Welp,” I said, turning back to the merchant. “The kitten committee verdict is in. I’m not turning inside out.”

“You’re talking to a cat as if it can see the future,” Cali pointed out. “...

Scientific Sorcery : 22 The Dealermancer

Callista’s eyes widened in horror as she realized what I was asking. "You... you want me to sign my own contract?"

I nodded, my expression impassive. "It seems only fair, doesn't it? You came here to force me to sign it. Now you get to experience what that feels like firsthand."

Her hand trembled as she gripped the pen, tears streaming down her dirt-smeared face. "Please," she whispered, "there has to be another way."

"Sign it," I said firmly, "or you can stay in the floor...

Scientific Sorcery : 21 Witchy Lie Detector

"Say, that’s a pretty necklace," I growled, staring at the convergence of silver and blue lines on her chest.

"This old thing?" Cali asked, walking towards me, her slender fingers lightly caressing the cool, smooth surface of the biggest crystal hanging on her chest. "Just a family heirloom. Passed down through generations of merchants on my mother's side. Legend has it that it brings good fortune in trade."

She smiled at me with sharp feline chompers, purposefully advancing in...

Scientific Sorcery : 20 Felix Arcanicx

“My sled is an artefact made by fine ladies of the Iridium Istria Maggelanum,” Cali revealed. “It utilises a small shard of the Wormwood Star to power the runework. The Artificer-Sorcerers of my homeland are quite talented!”

I nodded, wondering if there were actual wizards in the south or if witches had somehow monopolised the global domain of magic leaving the men to focus on cultivation of strength.

Callista continued to regale me with tales of her homeland and the wonde...

Scientific Sorcery : 19 Callista Liesl

Stormy’s sudden, loud "Mraurwww!" interrupted my thoughts about my magical experiments as she dashed to the window.

I set down my Witchy Codex book and followed after her to the window.

Stormy’s superior feline senses were right on target.

There was a truly enormous, carriage-style wooden sleigh covered in carved runework rolling into Svalbard pulled by four horses. I rushed to pull my crystal-reinforced armor and face-covering helmet on, making sure that the arbalests ...

Scientific Sorcery : 18 Arcanoelastic Resonator

"Right,” I said. “So… today we're going to attempt to build a remote control for gem 51," I explained, gathering my tools. "First things first, we need a base. Something magical, but not too magical.

“I’m thinking… wood? Which one do you think will work best? This one maybe?” I picked up an oak board.

I watched as Stormy got up and waddled to my pile of scrap wood, stopping at a piece of birch with faint violet streaks running through it. 

“Thanks,” I ...

Scientific Sorcery : 17 Hexometer

I considered the violet dust in my bag and what to do with it. 

Ordinarily, human bones burned up in a crematorium at around 1,000 to 1,300 degrees Celsius becoming dry and brittle and turning into a grayish ash. I wondered what would happen if I heated this crystalline bone dust? Would it catch fire or maybe exhibit the properties of vitrification, aka sand turning into glass?

I filled the base of the forge with coal and set it alight.

While the forge heated up, I retr...

Scientific Sorcery : 16 Witchy Armor

I buried the fish-spirit rock in a pile of my witchy earth to see how my domain power would sort it out. It felt… weird. Like a little fire that was invading my territory, a small electrical current that constantly tickled at my senses.

It confirmed to me that I was well connected with and could actually feel my domain, which was an entirely new experience, like having a 5th limb or a 3rd ear that I had never used before.

The fish-spirit belonging to River Glinka somehow clashed...

Scientific Sorcery : 15 Yoink

I dug through the earth in the large barrel and discovered a half-fist sized rock buried therein. 

When I pulled the rock out of the barrel, the floating crab followed it. This confirmed my theory that the Astral Projections were pretty much attached to specific large crystal formations located within the soil. I integrated the rock into my armor, by tying a metal mesh-cage around it using thin copper wire.

Looking down at myself through the Astralscope I saw all sorts of blu...

Scientific Sorcery : 14 The Astralgraph Theory

[Previous chapter of this book are on: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/90047/scientific-sorcery-beware-of-kittens ]

14 The Astralgraph Theory:

I watched as Stormy sat atop a large barrel and nibbled on the brilliantly glowing, violet-shimmering grass birthed from the body of one of the bandits. 

Judging by the unnaturally vibrant w...

Technomagica 2 : 47 Preparations

I woke up to the gentle rays of the morning sun filtering through the window.

Turning my head, I saw Kliss, still peacefully asleep. Her gemstone mane cascaded over the pillow, shimmering in the early light with yellow, violet and red reflections, casting a thousand flickering rainbows across the sheets. 

As if sensing my gaze, her eyes fluttered open and met mine with a smile. Our conversation with the Astral Virus didn’t seem to dampen her draconic spirit in the slightest...

Technomagica 2 : 46 Deeper Darker

Leemy lazily waved at us from beneath a golden-leafed oak tree in the heart of Moscow's Gorky Park. The dryad and her Agromancer lounged on a bench across from us. Delta gesticulated wildly, chatting to her dryad with over-exuberant excitement about what sort of hydroponics they were going to build and what sort of things they would grow first.

“We should go,” Kliss said.

“I don’t wanna,” I whined half-heatedly as she pulled me off her lap. “I’m comfortable, damn it....

Technomagica 2 : 45 A Night of Revelations

I walked to the cottage, my hand entwined with Kliss’s, Delta following close behind us. I could feel the nervous tremor in my fingers, fuelled by the uncertainty of what was coming. Deception had become so ingrained in my interactions with my parents, a web of carefully constructed narratives woven over thirteen years to protect them from a truth they might not be ready to face.

We entered through the backdoor and filled the living room.

Mom and dad were there, relaxing by the ...