by Jez Cajiao
“Now, you need to choose, Ame, as you know far more about your skills and path than I ever will."
"The two Spellbooks are ‘Lay on Hands’, which allows you to heal others through physically touching them, and will teach you the basics of healing magic, and ‘Identify’ which allows you to gather information on whatever you’re looking at. I’ve found that channeling additional mana into Identify can be hugely beneficial when you need to know about a target. The memory crystal is from a master Runecrafter from before the cataclysm, so I’d imagine there’s a lot of knowledge there that can help you. The two Skillbooks are firstly for ‘Mana Coalescence’, which will allow someone with the required skill to create a solidified mana crystal, in any shape they desire. It’d take a while, but with your manapool, you could literally create perfect runes with this skill once you’d leveled it up. The second Skillbook is called ‘Mysteries of a Runic Mind’ and apparently teaches the theory behind Runecrafting…” I shrugged and leaned forward. “I’m sure you know a lot of the theory already, and have most of the knowledge this could teach you, but these Skillbooks are both Journeyman level, and as such, I have to think they’ll be able to provide you with some kind of benefit.” I watched Ame, as she moved her head from side to side, a low ‘thrummm’ filling the air as she examined the items minutely using her Worldsense. Her tendrils danced in weird, slightly disturbing patterns.
“What is this?” she asked me eventually, sitting back hesitantly. “You are aware of the damage that absorbing too many Spellbooks can cause, so this is what? A test?” Annoyance clearly tinged her tone, mixed with desire.
“No,” I said honestly. “It’s not a test at all. All of these are available to you, although I’ll stop you if you try to take them all at once; that’s true. I want you to make a choice of which you want… Oracle?”
“We’ve discussed your path between us, Ame,” Oracle chimed in, returning from the depths of the shelves, and taking up the conversation at my invitation. “The thing is, though, I don’t know a great deal about your species, or your limits, and the only person who knows what’s truly best for you… is you.” She smiled and sat next to me, gesturing to the contents of the table. “We’d like you to choose what you wish to learn. I would recommend the Memory Stone last of all, and it is true that there are other books, both magical and skill-based in here, but these are the ones that we feel would suit you best at this time, based on the knowledge we have.”
“I think a mixture would suit you best, personally.” I said picking up the conversation again. “I’d choose the healing spell, as with it, you can aid our people. It is a very basic spell and can only heal basic injuries. It’ll save a life, don’t get me wrong, but it’d take a long time and a hell of a lot of mana to do any more than low level healing with it. I included ‘Identify’, as it would enable you to examine people and objects. I believe over time, you’d be able to use these two spells together to improve your ability to heal hugely. This would only really help you if you wanted to become a full-fledged healer as well, though. The ‘Mana Coalescence’ skill will enable you to form physical objects of pure mana, essentially forming mana crystals at will."
"Oracle has told me, however, that a huge amount of mana is needed to make even small objects, so your manapool of four hundred will be used damn quick.”
“However, being able to create a pure crystal in any shape you desire, and eventually make it entirely flawless?” Oracle cut in, quirking an eyebrow at Ame, whose fingers flexed involuntarily.
“My Runecrafting would be both far cheaper, and far more powerful…” Ame admitted.
“Exactly.,” Oracle replied, and then reached out and tapped the final book with one perfect fingernail. “Lastly, the ‘Mysteries of a Runic Mind’…this is a theory book, which means you’ll quite possibly know many of the details in it already. However, training delivered by one person, who passes it to the next, as you said your training was given, may have missed important details. This, while only a theory book, covers the basics of all aspects of Runecrafting, including how to make new runes…”
“So, this book could teach you either a way to discover hundreds of new runes, or a lexicon of them, or it might teach you nothing you don’t already know,” I said.
“I want you to choose, Ame, so please, take your time and think. You can take two books or the memory crystal. Whatever you leave will be available for you to use at a later date, should you want to, so there’s no rush, but I’d recommend leaving the crystal for now, until you’re sure you will be able to use it to its maximum potential.”
Ame sat for several long minutes, reaching out to touch the books twice, lightly caressing them with the tips of her fingers.
Her black claws were gentle as they brushed the leather bindings, almost reverent, and she touched the crystal just once, as though to confirm it was real, before looking up at me.
“I may never forgive you for forcing me to make this choice, but I’ll also never pay off the debt that I earn by accepting this gift and receiving your healing already. I will be the one that you and our people need. I will be the Runecrafter of the Great Tower. I will be worthy of this.” With that, she selected two of the books from the table and Oracle stepped in to remove the others and the memory crystal, setting them back in their places on the shelves.
“What books did you take?” asked Cai, and Ame spoke softly as she looked them over. The blue bindings on both books were as pristine as the day they were made, protected by the magic of the Tower for millennia, the golden and silver embossing’s glittering as she spoke.
“This Spellbook is ‘Lay on Hands’, which allows the user to heal any person they touch for twenty points of damage over sixty seconds, while the skill book is ‘Mysteries of a Runic Mind’. There must be a reason you suggested these?” she asked me, and I nodded.
“There is. I only know one healing spell that was taught to me. The spell that I used on you and your people is one that Oracle and I created, and it is only through constant use that it has evolved into as powerful a version as you have experienced. I think that between us, Oracle and I can guide you to use ‘Lay on Hands’ to create your own more powerful version; also, it’s a Spellbook that is supposedly fairly simple."
"It’s not as likely to fuck your brain up, and hopefully you can use the theory skill book to make a runic version of it. I’d like you to try to make a hospital area with these runes in bays, ready to be activated if our people need healing, until we can get a real healer for the Tower, anyway. Once you’ve had a few hours to absorb these books, Oracle and I will attempt to teach you the spell we created. It might not work, but she tells me there’s a much better chance of us being able to teach it, if you’ve already learnt some healing magic.”
“Very well, but also… 'hospital area’?” Ame asked, clearly confused.
“Yes, in my… land… a place where the injured were gathered together was called a ‘hospital’. They would receive treatment there. I intend for us to make the same thing here,” I said, and Oracle surprised me by speaking up as she returned to sit next to me, still full sized.
“Think of it by whatever name you wish, Ame. Jax is used to ‘hospital’, and I and the other wisps remember various terms, such as ‘Valetudinarium’. What did your people call such a place?”
“We had a healer’s hut, that was all. Without a magical healer, there was a member of the pod who made potions and cleansed wounds, but it was well known that she was too low a level to earn the bonuses that a village could gain from such a building.”
“Bonuses?” I asked, and everyone turned to me. “Okay, clearly another thing I should know, but I don’t. Make it quick, please?”
“Different buildings can grant bonuses to a village or city. A healer’s hut, as Ame explained, would have granted bonuses to the entire village if the healer in residence had been a high enough level. I know the plans we have for the Tower included some variations for healers; we had rooms, floors, and entire sections as opti
ons, with dedicated growing areas for the medicinal plants and other requirements they had. Or they would have had, once we’d been fully inhabited, anyway.” Oracle said, looking sad. I sat dumbfounded.
“You’ve got plans for these things? That we could be building in the Tower right now?!” I asked, shock lacing my voice.
“Ah, no. Sorry, Jax,” Oracle said apologetically, turning to me and holding her hands up to forestall my barrage of questions. “We have plans for the Tower; there were other Great Towers, after all, and we have the plans from each. In theory, we could make anything you wanted; we’ve discussed the malleability of the Tower structure before, after all. The issue we have is that the various buildings and specializations can’t be built when the Tower is in this condition. There was a Tower Magus long…well, exceptionally long ago now, and he forced his Tower to begin altering itself while it was still growing. He altered the magical construction to such a degree that it warped, the Tower collapsed, and the surrounding area was devastated, as the mana used to grow something like this is, well, a lot.” She shook her head, staring far into the past. “The Emperor was furious; so many had died, and due to the loss of the Tower, additional legions needed to be brought in to stabilize the area."
"There was a war going on at the time, and the resulting movements of troops, well… let’s just say, it didn’t go well. All because the Magus wanted ‘his’ Tower to be more opulent and to grow his quarters first. The Emperor issued a commandment to all future buildings, one that his Magical Architects wrote into the programming of each spell creation.”
“There can be no focused growth, no access to designs and no additional bonuses earned, until the Tower is at ninety percent complete.”
“Yeah, but the Tower is complete, it’s just…”
“No, it’s classed as ‘derelict’ now, Jax. Until the repairs move along, the best we can do is build the features we want ourselves. We can build a healer’s hut—well, rooms, I suppose—and we will gain some bonuses from having that, provided we build it ourselves. If you want access to the plans for the Tower that we had, and to use the Tower’s mana to construct them, we need to repair the Tower from ‘Derelict’ to ‘damaged’, at the very least.”
“What do we need to do to reach that?” I asked and Oracle closed her eyes for a second before the small pool of mana that she’d been reborn in began to bubble up. In a few short seconds, Seneschal stood there, a foot-tall figure clad in shining silvery scale mail, a reflective helm covering his face, and a long black cloak that swirled in an imaginary breeze as he nodded to each of us before speaking.
“Oracle has made me aware of your questions, Jax; do you wish me to answer them here?” he asked, and I nodded, having no concerns about the pair before me knowing any such details.
“Very well. The Great Tower is currently at approximately sixty-seven percent integrity. To use the plans and reconstruct floors to maximum efficiency, we require the Tower to reach structural integrity of ninety percent. Understand that this is integrity, and reflects the outer and load bearing structure, not cosmetic or internal enhancements. This will take a minimum of eight months to reach at the current speed of repair. If we created more Golems and used them exclusively on the repairs, it would drop significantly, but that would change, depending on how many Golems we had access to. All I can guarantee is that, as things stand right now, it will be eight months.”
“Okay; how long if we gained another couple of the Servitors like the one I brought in today? You could map out the locations of the old Waystations, and I could find them, right?” I asked.
“Each additional Servitor that was class three, or ‘Complex’ and above would bring an additional seven percent to the overall total. If you found two and gave me exclusive use of the one you brought today, that would cause a twenty-one percent increase in repair speed. Add in three more general use Golems to provide assistance with tasks such as clearing and placement of stones, and we would cut the total from eight months, to perhaps five. That would be the most likely scenario. Some Waystations had more Golems, but they also may have been destroyed entirely.”
“Yeah, I might spend days searching and find fuck-all, or I might find dozens. Okay, this conversation has gone wildly off topic, and as much as it’s useful information, it’s no use right now.”
“Perhaps this would be a good time to discuss the best use of the Level Three Serv…” Seneschal began, and I lifted a hand to stop him.
“No; at least not right now. We can talk about that after this is dealt with, Seneschal,” I said. “Ame, I want you to read those books, absorb the knowledge, and tell me truthfully if you feel you can accept another book without damaging yourself. Better to be safe than sorry right now. Then I want you to consider what you’ve learned. You can take either the second Spellbook or skill book whenever you feel you can handle it, but the memory crystal will only be given once we have a resident healer, and they and Oracle agree you are ready to use it safely. Lastly, I’ll be talking to you later about an additional project. It’s more of a concept at the minute than anything else, but Jenae has assured me it’s possible, if slightly insane.” Ame nodded and stood, recognizing that she was being dismissed, and she was clearly ready to get to work. I waved to her and opened the door, closing it after her, and turned to Cai.
“Okay, mate, I know you’ve been itching to discuss what you’ve found, so hit me with it.”
“You choose the strangest phrases, my friend,” Cai said, shaking his head and pulling a small booklet out of a pocket. “I took this from the warship; it’s made things a lot easier. You don’t mind, do you?” I shrugged and he went on. “Good. Making notes is much easier than trying to remember everything and everyone’s names. So…”
“Ah, you’ve got everyone in there?” I asked cautiously, my heart sinking.
“Yes, Jax, the entire population of the Tower,” Cai said proudly, “And I’ve made notes on their skills, their aspirations, and where I think they’d be best utilized.” My worst fears were realized as Cai flicked through the book, showing me page after page filled with tiny, cramped notes. This was going to take forever!
“Ah… wonderful…” I said, forcing a smile.
“It wasn’t easy, I can promise you, but I think you’ll find it was worth it.”
Chapter Fifteen
It was nearly five hours later when I realized that my brain had totally shut down, and I’d been staring at Cai blankly while he spoke. I’d been lost in the pleasant daydream of banning all paperwork forever, when Cai stopped and looked at me.
He was clearly waiting for something.
“Ah, that’s…great?” I tried, and the frown I got let me know I’d totally buggered that one up.
“What’s great, Jax?” he asked, and I frantically cast about, trying to remember his last words. After a minute of obvious struggling, I gave up, sitting upright and looking Cai straight in the eyes.
“Okay, mate, I’ll be honest. I totally zoned out there; the infodump was just too much. Sorry, man.”
“What?”
“I… I’m sorry, man. the massive amount of information was just too much for me to absorb. I was paying attention, I just drifted for a minute. So, any chance you have a summary for me? Recommendations?” I asked hopefully, and Cai snorted, shaking his head.
“Jax, the last half hour was the summary.”
“Oh…”
“Okay, then…” Cai said, letting out a rueful little laugh as he looked at the book in his hands. “I suppose it is a lot of information. How about I give you the short, short version?”
“Thank you, Cai, that would help,” I said gratefully.
“Okay then…” he said, quickly sorting through a couple of pages and marking them for quick reference. “I’d suggest we split the farmer group, there’s ten now in total, including Amoth, one of the Mer who’ve joined us. I recommend keeping six as dedicated farmers and asking four to become gatherers and growers. One of the people from the gr
oup overall could be chosen to train in magic that will help, if you have any.” He looked at me, as though to make sure I was listening, and I nodded, holding up a hand and turned to where Oracle had made herself comfortable on the end of one bench.
“Oracle, what spells, Skillbooks, or memories do we have that would help? Narrow it down to the most appropriate three, please, and choose ones that we can afford to give out to help them grow. We won’t be using the higher ones for a while yet.” Oracle smiled at me and dove into the shelves, rushing from one to another and checking titles, pulling a book here and there only to replace them a second later. It took less than a minute all told; then she was back with us, three books in hand.
“Okay, this is a Spellbook called ‘Nature’s Boon’; it enhances the growth of any plants inside the casting area by ten percent, it lasts three days, and it can be stacked up to five times over before it expires."
"The second Spellbook is called ‘Gizmo’s Growth’ and gives a chance for exponential growth, provided there’s enough water in the surrounding area. This spell can be recast every two days, needs a hundred mana per cast, and gives a ten percent chance to create five more plants similar to the first with each casting…there’s a warning at the back of the book, though; something about not letting them get too wet, but it’s unclear…” She shrugged, put the first two books down, and moved to the third and final. “This is a skill book, called ‘A Time to Sow’, which teaches the skills any good farmer needs. It covers the various soil types, what kind of plants grow best where, and how to take cuttings and increase their yield. We’ve only got one copy of the skill book and of Gizmo’s Growth, but we have three of Nature’s Boon.” I nodded, thanking her.
“Okay, then, who do you recommend for each of these, Cai?” I asked, and he spoke up straight away.