by Andrew Rowe
Sera blinked. “You want me to use this as a healing sword? Really? That’s your brilliant, non-standard application for this?”
“Hey, I just learned about it. Besides, you know that’d be hilarious.” I folded my arms. “Okay, better one. Teleportation.”
Keras whistled. “That’s not a bad idea, actually. Most people around here block offensive teleportation with their shrouds. But if you could get the sword to hit them directly, it’d be inside the shroud, and completely ignore that defense.” He glanced at Sera. “You’ve got travel sorcery. You should try that.”
She shook her head. “Summoners can learn teleportation spells at higher attunement levels, but I’m a long way from that point. Especially now.” Her expression sank.
“You’ll catch back up.” Keras patted her on the shoulder. I winced on her behalf, but she didn’t seem to mind the contact. She’d never been as sensitive to random people touching her. “Maybe Corin could help with that?”
“We’ve talked about it, and I don’t think using my attunement to strengthen her is a good idea while she’s still recovering. Overcharging her mana is what got her into this in the first place.”
“Agreed,” Sera added quickly, with obvious nervousness in her voice. “Maybe after I get back to the point where I was before the spire.”
Keras glanced at me, then back to Sera. “No need to hurry, I suppose.” From his tone, it was obvious he disagreed with the decision. He didn’t seem like the type to prioritize safety in general, so I could see why.
Fortunately, he didn’t push. He jumped back to the last topic instead. “Anyway, teleportation was a good idea. Maybe you can find some other clever things to store in there eventually. For now, though, it’s an amazing defensive tool if nothing else.”
That was certainly true — being able to pull a spell right out of the air was a great way to stop an attack spell without much effort. I thought Sera would be missing out by using it exclusively for defense, but she could make that choice on her own.
“I’ll think on that some more,” I offered, turning to head back out. “And I’ll get to looking up item identification spells.”
I’d already done a bit of research on the Lesser Identify spell, and I knew the theory of how to cast it, but I hadn’t practiced with it yet. Besides that, I needed a stronger spell to get much useful information.
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something that helps our enemies slightly less than a healing sword, if you try hard enough.” Sera snickered. “But one more thing before you go.”
I paused. “Hm?”
“I’m not just tinkering with a sword. I’m getting back in fighting shape in general. I appreciate you all putting up with my weakness during the last test, but I’m done with dragging everyone else down. Next time we have a group exam, I’m going to be the one leading the way.”
I grinned. “I’ll look forward to that.”
“I’ll need you to do more than just that. I’m going to need a consistent sparring partner.”
I frowned. “Why not just train with all of us?”
“I will to some extent, of course. But Patrick always holds back, and I can’t get as much out of fighting close-range fighters like Mara and Derek.”
I could see the logic there. Her attunement was built for summoning — which she lacked the mana to do effectively right now — and ranged combat. Training against melee fighters was still useful for her, but it didn’t let her practice her main skills.
Patrick was a better match for her, but I didn’t disagree with her evaluation. He’d want to go easy on her to avoid bruising her ego, but that would stunt her ability to train effectively.
“Okay.” I nodded. “You’re on.”
Sera grinned. “Meet on the rooftop in two hours?”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
***
Over the next few days, I spent a bit of my time practicing the Lesser Identify spell.
When I cast Lesser Identify on an object, another aura would appear around it that only I could see. Rather than demonstrating the power of an object like a traditional shroud, the aura displayed by Lesser Identify was color-coded to show the highest concentration of mana in the object.
For example, when I cast it on Selys-Lyann, it showed a blue aura, indicating water mana. Or maybe ice mana. I couldn’t actually tell the difference, because both water and ice had different shades of blue auras, and I didn’t have a lot of samples to compare.
Because I found the basic colors hard to tell apart from composite ones like ice and lightning, I didn’t find the spell particularly useful. It was a good foundation for more powerful information gathering spells, though, and I used it as a way to practice using my mental mana without causing myself the intense distress of draining it continuously.
Once I was confident I could cast it properly, I tested it on Ceris. The resulting aura was pure white and sort of sparkly, which didn’t correspond to anything in my book. That was neat, but not very useful. I told Sera about the results and promised to continue studying.
Beyond that, I tested it on Trials of Judgement. I’d been looking for good ways to figure out how it worked, and this was my first real chance that didn’t involve asking someone for help.
Unfortunately, the result was nothing at all. No glowing aura. The book probably had runes to protect it from detection magic, and they were stronger than my spell.
I was still tempted to take the book apart to find the runes, but I resisted the urge. It wasn’t worth the risk of causing the book damage.
I looked up some more powerful identification spells, but none of the ones in the Quartz and Carnelian range were powerful enough to break through the book’s magical defenses, and they didn’t give me any more information.
I did find a Sunstone-level version that was just called “Identify”. That would tell me several more piece of information about an item, but it cost eighty mana to cast, and I couldn’t manage that yet.
I’ll get there at some point, though.
The more important discovery from all of the practice was that I could cast information gathering spells in general, even if I wasn’t a Diviner. There were a few things that required the Diviner attunement, like making memory crystals, but most of them just required having mental mana.
That knowledge gave me several new options to explore.
I practiced another spell — one I’d first seen when researching Diviners — and left the manor.
I had some tracking to do.
***
The Arrow of Direction spell literally made a glowing arrow that pointed to my target. There were several variations, but I could only cast the most basic version, which lasted a few seconds. It also only worked on targets within a few miles.
Finally, it required a physical item connected to the target to use as a focus. Pieces of the target’s body were best — blood, hair, that sort of thing — but something invested with the target’s mana would work as well.
In this case, I used a business card.
I didn’t find my target at a bar or a seedy casino like I’d pictured.
Instead, they were walking at a park just north of campus, accompanied by a small, intensely fluffy dog.
I found myself hesitating when I got a few feet away, uncertain on how to start the conversation. Fortunately or not, they did it for me.
“Corin, when I told you to track me down, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.” In spite of the chastising message, Sheridan was grinning brightly.
I waved the business card. “I figured the rune on the card stored some kind of information on how I was supposed to contact you. But I didn’t have a spell for extracting that information, and honestly, just using your mana to track you seemed faster.”
Sheridan laughed. “I applaud your corner-cutting abilities. You pass the test.”
I nodded. I’d expected that there was a reason the card didn’t just have an address on it. “I thought about just asking Derek where to fi
nd you, but I figured that would have been less impressive.”
“You’re quite right. He’d have sent you to my house, and I’d have to be more formal there. Hold on a second.”
Sheridan reached into a bag at their side, retrieving a small ball and tossing it in front of the dog. The dog rushed toward it, barking lightly.
The ball began to roll away on its own.
“That’ll keep Mister Eviscerator entertained for a while.”
“...You named your dog Eviscerator?”
“Mister Eviscerator. The title is important. He’s very polite.” Sheridan clasped their hands together. “So, business or pleasure?”
That sounded like a trap question. “Maybe a little bit of both? It would be a pleasure to do business with you.”
Sheridan chuckled again. “I’ll give you credit for the effort, but your intentions are obvious. We can keep it professional today. What do you need? Sera doing okay?”
I nodded. “She seems to be recovering fine. That’s not what I’m here about right now.”
Sheridan expression shifted for a moment, giving me a hint that s my answer had been unexpected. “Good, good. What can I help you with, then?”
“I need information. Hard to get information.”
“Well, then you came to the right place, assuming you can afford it. Let’s go have a seat, shall we?” Sheridan glanced back toward Mister Eviscerator, who was still chasing the rolling ball, and then led me toward a nearby park bench.
There were other people in the park — mostly students, and a few other local civilians — but no one that looked to be close enough to overhear our conversation.
“So, what do you want to know about?”
Everything. But I can’t afford to ask about everything I want to know. I’m going to have to get some of my answers from cheaper sources.
“A few subjects. Some we might not be able to discuss in public.”
I glanced around again, but there still wasn’t anyone within earshot, as long as we weren’t yelling.
“And what are we starting with?”
“I’d like to know what you know about Tenjin’s disappearance.”
Sheridan raised an eyebrow. “That’s not exactly a small issue. You sure you want to get involved with that sort of thing?”
“I already am. How do you think I got my second attunement?”
“Ooh, fascinating.” Sheridan folded their arms. “Okay, I’ll do a pure information trade for a bit about that. Elaborate about your Arbiter attunement, and I’ll tell you a bit of what I know.”
I nodded. It was a better trade than I would have hoped for. I wasn’t sure I could trust Sheridan, but there were enough people who knew what had happened with Katashi that I didn’t think this was a particularly difficult secret to discover without my help. Especially for someone with Sheridan’s apparent resources.
“So, remember that time when Mizuchi attacked everyone outside the spire a little while ago...?”
I summarized what had happened with getting my brand, then retrieving “someone” for Katashi and bringing them to the spire. I didn’t tell Sheridan about Vera’s identity or what happened with Orden’s betrayal. If information had a price, I could sell that later.
“Based on your account,” Sheridan began, “I think you would be better off asking me a different question. You most likely know more about Tenjin’s situation than I do.”
I frowned. “I assumed that kind of thing would be your area of expertise. Forbidden knowledge and such.”
“Not everyone who deals in information has the same focus. ‘Forbidden knowledge’ is a very broad subject matter. I happen to deal primarily in forbidden magical knowledge, as opposed to political secrets, the affairs of the gods, and that sort of thing.”
That definitely limited my avenues of conversation, but it did provide me with a better idea of what I should be asking about. “Okay. More specific question, then. Are you working with my brother, Tristan, on whatever he’s been up to?”
“No.”
“Just ‘no’?”
“You’re asking because of my sister’s dealings, I assume?”
I nodded. “And because of your association with Wydd.”
“Ah.” Sheridan smiled. “You gave away something you shouldn’t have there. I wasn’t aware your brother had an association with Wydd.”
“I just assumed...”
“That people who work for Wydd would be aware of each other? That would completely defeat the point of some of our positions. We’re often asked to spy on each other, in fact. Some portion of any group entrusted with forbidden knowledge is going to abuse that knowledge.
“The fear that we’ll be discovered by one of Wydd’s other servants is one of the factors that prevents those abuses. For all I know, you could be working for Wydd right now, and seeing if I slip and say something I’m not supposed to.”
“Wouldn’t you have means of identifying each other, though, in case you needed to share information?”
Sheridan waved a hand. “We have identification phrases and such, but that can be faked. In general, we simply report to our superiors, and they tell us any other contacts we need to know about.”
That sounded extremely frustrating, but I could understand the reasoning behind it. “Okay. Were you approached about working with whatever group Tristan is working for?”
“Ah. A much better question, and the answer is ‘yes’. I deemed the risks too extreme. As such, they did not tell me any important details. As I said, I likely know less than you do.”
I rubbed my chin, processing that. “Okay. Speculate with me for a moment. Who could be the mastermind behind Tenjin’s disappearance? Who would have the resources to coordinate an effort that could keep him gone for this long?”
“Without knowing where Tenjin is, there’s very little I can do to answer that. Ask something else.”
This wasn’t going the way I wanted, but I slowly nodded and considered. “What can you tell me about the Whispers as a whole?”
Sheridan shrugged. “Not much. For starters, there isn’t just one group of Whispers. They’re really separate organizations, each dedicated to one of the visages.”
“And you’re a Whisper of Wydd?”
Sheridan shook their head. “No. Whispers are secret. I’m actually publicly in Wydd’s employ.”
“What does that make you, then? A priest?”
“Hah! Not in the slightest. I’m a magical theory researcher. All of the visages have people like me, who serve in various roles without any sort of fancy religious status or title.”
“I don’t suppose you could tell me who some Whispers of Wydd are?”
Sheridan shook their head with a grave expression. “No. And before you ask, not at any price. That’s not the kind of information that I can sell.”
“Can you tell me more general information about their organization, then? Hierarchy, roles, positions?”
Sheridan shook their head. “Sorry. I don’t like being this evasive, but you’re better off asking an actual Whisper. And even then, they’re probably not going to tell you.”
I sighed. “Okay. Different approach, then. Do you know anything about anyone else who might be working directly with Tenjin’s kidnappers?”
“Yes. Your brother. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“I don’t think I should confirm that.”
“Hah! Good. You’re learning.” Sheridan glanced over to her dog, then back to me. “If these are the only sorts of questions you have, I think we should wrap this discussion up. I’m not going to be able to help you much with it.”
“Okay. Something more in your area of expertise, then.” I pointed to my right hand. “I’d like to learn more about my Arbiter attunement.”
“Ah.” Sheridan smiled. “Now that is more my area of expertise. I take it you already know the basics?”
“Yes. I know how to transfer mana to others, either to restore their mana or exceed their curren
t maximum capacity. But I’ve been thinking about the implications of that, and how they might relate to how I received my attunement in the first place.”
“In what way?”
“When I transfer my mana to someone, I can permanently increase their safe capacity, but only by a fraction. And I’ve been told that I can only do that safely about once a week. This is, presumably, because the body can only acclimate to a certain amount of additional mana at once.”
Sheridan nodded. “That’s correct.”
“When Katashi gave me the brand, though, it seemed to be storing a tremendous amount of mana inside. And I also saw Katashi enhance someone else’s attunement, increasing it by an entire attunement level. In both cases, that would involve an increase in mana that is much greater than what I’ve been told is ‘safe’ to give someone with my attunement.
“I considered whether or not that might be related to Katashi being more powerful than I am, but that doesn’t make sense. It’s the target’s body that is relevant, because it’s their capacity that is being strained by the additional mana.”
Sheridan’s smile broadened. “You see a contradiction. Someone’s body can only handle a certain amount of mana, but Katashi somehow bypassed that restriction in both cases.”
“Meaning that either he was willingly risking our health by giving us an amount of mana that would be unsafe, or, more likely, that he has a method to give people large amounts of power without compromising their safety.” I took a breath. “I want that method.”
Sheridan sighed and scratched the back of their head. “Of course you do. Don’t you have any easy questions?”
I chuckled. “What’s your favorite food?”
“I said easy ones. Okay. What are you offering?”
“For the first question or the second one?”
“For information about Katashi’s methods.”
I reached into my bag and pulled out the mana regeneration bracer. “I tested it. It works.”
Sheridan shook their head. “A few weeks of testing isn’t going to be enough to satisfy me.”
I’d expected that. I pulled a hairpin out of my hair and offered it to Sheridan.
“What’s this?”
I smiled. “I could tell you for the right price.”