Aethernea

by Cloe D Frost

  At some point the trio found themselves cheering and clapping as if they were three cheerleaders supporting their favorite airbalt team, the shattered remains of their dignity couldn’t even be scrapped off the floor. Therefore, they decided to thicken their skin and go even further – they kindly asked her if she was running out of mana, and whether they should visit the alchemy department to get a mana replenishing potion.

  Elaru’s eyebrow twitched at their feigned worry as she once again squeezed a polite “No, thank you.”

  Even if she did run out of mana, she’d rather stop this exam than take a mana replenishing potion. It’s not like these few meagrely points would be the difference between success and failure of her exams. And mana potions squeezed out mana that had seeped deep into the flesh and bones to nourish them. If used too often the prolonged mana deficiency would cause serious damage to one’s body. Mana potions were something mages used only when the stakes were very high. Mostly as a life-saving trump card. Yet, these three old fogies actually wanted her to take one just to continue spell breaking?!

  Luckily, the three old men were perfectly aware that spell breaking wasn’t an activity with a large mana consumption, so they didn’t actually insist on it.

  After all, unlike spell casting, spell breaking didn’t directly consume mana. The only loss was caused either by mana dissipating naturally with time, or mana dissipating due to the damage caused by the repeated collision with solidified mana. Thus, while spell breaking required the mage to have a large amount of mana available to form a dense mana construct, only a negligible amount of all that mana would dissipate after a single spell breaking attempt. Running out of mana was highly unlikely to happen. Fainting due to mental fatigue was a much more realistic scenario.

  Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, Elaru’s mental fortitude was pretty high so she kept breaking and breaking, all the while longingly looking at the clock on the wall, hoping that it would tick just a bit faster.

  If only time dilation magic wasn’t far beyond her capabilities…

  * * *

  When the final item was crossed off from the list, the trio of old men was too drunk with glee to stop. One after the other, they ran towards their personal studies and brought back everything they could find. (“Eh, eh, how about this one?”, “Oh, oh! I found another one!”, “Ooooh! I lost this one ages ago.”)

  And then they would once again watch and cheer on, gazing at the redhead with gentle eyes as if they were looking at their long-lost kin. Lovable, so lovable! The little lass was saving them days of hard work, who wouldn’t find her endearing?

  Coupled with the increasingly disturbing looks and the never decreasing pile of items, Elaru finally reached the edges of her patience. As politely, yet as meaningfully, as she could, she glanced at the clock and commented. “We are running out of time. I am afraid I won’t manage to break all of these.”

  Unfortunately, the three old men had shed their dignity long ago, so they just looked at her comfortingly and reassured: “Don’t worry. We don’t have anything scheduled after this.”

  Elaru’s face fell. You give them an inch and they ask for a mile…

  “I know you, three esteemed experts…” Elaru squeezed out “…just want to test me to the best of your abilities…”

  The three nodded their heads appreciatively, showing absolutely no sign of shame or regret.

  Faces thicker than the city walls! Elaru’s eyebrow twitched, yet her voice still remained pleasant as she continued: “But since I’m sure your time is very valuable, I can’t bear to waste it.” She didn’t dare to give them any time to respond, firing another statement right after. “So how about you pick the most difficult thing to break you have and I break that?”

  And so…

  “How about this one?”

  “No, no! This one is better!”

  “You call that difficult?? Not only does this one have higher mana density but it also contains more spell fragments!”

  “Tsk! The quality of mystification in this one is much higher than that one!”

  “I’ll stuff mana density and mystification down your…! This one uses secret arcane magic that no one has seen before!”

  …Elaru’s vision turned dark.

  * * *

  Meanwhile, Kiel’s professors were finally finished measuring all of the stars he had enchanted. Thus they gathered together to see the results, however, before they could inspect them, the old grandma’s eyes flashed and she folded the paper. “Patience! Let’s inspect the mines first.”

  And thus, another apparatus was placed on the table – a silver box.

  “Clay Mines are an important weapon in the Purge arsenal with strict quality control. A non-functioning mine could cost a Purger his life, thus the Purge check the quality of every mine.” The grandma patiently explained. “This device… is a modified version of the apparatus used to inspect Clay Mines. It is enchanted with an enchantment higher in level than the enchantment on the Clay Mines and it will cause strong spell interference with Clay Mines.” While the old lady continued her explanation, the middle-aged man placed the example Clay Mine inside the box and closed the lid.

  “When the apparatus is activated the two sides of the box will flatten the Clay Mine, and the mine will activate. However, due to the strong spell interference, the temperature increase caused by the activation of the mine won’t reach the required level to make it explode.”

  The middle-aged man twisted a switch under the meter on the front face of the cube and activated the apparatus. As the meter jumped and settled on a number, the old lady elaborated. “The temperature of the mine will still increase, and the box will measure this increase to calculate the quality of the enchantment on the mine.”

  The middle-aged man deactivated the apparatus and opened the lid of the box. However, instead of removing the mine, he placed both of his hands inside the box and kneaded the flattened clay mine back into the shape of a pebble. Only then did he remove the mine from the box and place it back into the briefcase.

  As the professors busied themselves with measuring the quality of his Clay Mines, Kiel sat in his seat deep in thought. Why were they interested in the quality of his enchantments? Why were they measuring all these things? They checked the quality and speed of his spell replicating as if this was nothing more than a spell replicating exam.

  But this was wrong! Weren’t they supposed to be testing for some special ability? Did they really need all those numbers? What could those numbers really tell them about the presence or absence of a special power?

  If such a special power manifested there should have been some obvious sign of it. Like glittering lights, pulses of power, or anomalies in the fabric of reality.

  Yet, what were they doing?? Data mining? Were they looking for some kind of anomaly in the data? But what kind of anomaly could there possibly be? They were only measuring time and spell quality.

  Well, whatever, they would probably explain these things for him, so he would understand why he got a zero on the exam. He should just be patient, since they didn’t give him any more things to enchant, it should mean that this exam was coming to a close.

  And so, the last Clay Mine was put inside the metal box.

  The middle-aged man activated the apparatus and everyone eagerly awaited for the end of this exam. Unfortunately, things seldom go as planned.

  For just as the box was activated…

  BOOM!

  The ground shook and Kiel almost fell out of his chair.

  The fragments of the box flew everywhere like snowflakes.

  The hourglass on the table crashed on the floor, spilling sand on the carpet.

  The professors rolled on the floor, their faces black, their hair all over the place.

  White, mostly intact, papers rained all over the room, covering the furniture and the floor.

  As Kiel stared at the chaos, his mouth dropped open, his pupils dilated and his mind stalled.

  …f
u**! Don’t tell me Elaru passed her bad luck onto me?!?

  * * *

  Coming up in the next episode:

  The professors disliked him already for wasting their time… and now… he just hoped they wouldn’t expel him from the exams.

  “…going to expel…!” Kiel’s blood chilled, becoming colder and colder with each word.

  His heart thumped hard against his chest, each beat reverberating like a drum inside his head. He had no way out. They never left him a chance to begin with.

  He was alone. He had never stopped being alone.

  * * *

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  Episode 139 – To see the Light

  Episode 139 – To see the Light

  Previously:

  Friday, the last day of Muni entrance exams, Special exam. As it turns out, the Spell Replicating exam Kiel chose was not designed to test spell replicating ability, but rather, to test for a special talent that can only be revealed through the process of spell replicating. Kiel is tasked to spell replicate several artifacts, including Clay Mines. Unfortunately, an accident happens while testing his Clay Mines and an explosion occurs.

  * * *

  For just as the box was activated…

  BOOM!

  The ground shook and Kiel almost fell out of his chair.

  The fragments of the box flew everywhere like snowflakes.

  The hourglass on the table crashed on the floor, spilling sand on the carpet.

  The professors rolled on the floor, their faces black, their hair all over the place.

  White, mostly intact, papers rained all over the room, covering the furniture and the floor.

  As Kiel stared at the chaos, his mouth dropped open, his pupils dilated and his mind stalled.

  …fu**! Don’t tell me Elaru passed her bad luck onto me?!?

  * * *

  Episode 139 – To see the Light

  Luckily, the silver box absorbed most of the explosion, so no one got injured. After several seconds of dizziness, even the old grandma got up to her feet by herself.

  The professors shared incredulous looks coupled by sour faces and collectively glanced back at Kiel.

  Kiel gulped inaudibly. The professors disliked him already for wasting their time… and now… he just hoped they wouldn’t expel him from the exam. He wasn’t even at fault here. Elaru caused so much more trouble and she was still fine. Surely, he would be fine.

  The old lady, although the frailest, was the first to recover from the shock, she coughed awkwardly and made the scattered papers fly into her hand. Her action seemed to awaken everyone else and they huddled together over her shoulders anxiously, hoping that the papers were alright, praying that they wouldn’t need to redo the test.

  In fact, they were so worried about redoing the test that they didn’t even take the time to tidy up their sorry appearance. They looked over the papers with black faces and hair standing up like it was a tiwi nest.

  The grandma’s hands shook. Judging by the paling faces of the examiners, things didn’t look good. The results probably got damaged.

  Before anyone could erupt, saying something inappropriate, someone erected a sound isolation barrier around the examiners. Just in time too, for not a moment later, one of them started yelling something.

  Another one grit his teeth and glared at the first one. Granny was frowning, as the rest erupted into an insult-spewing clamor, giving Kiel sneaky glances from time to time.

  Kiel’s back was already drenched with cold sweat, they wouldn’t take their irritation out on him, would they?

  Yet, judging by their black faces… they were cursing him for sure!

  Kiel anxiously concentrated on their expressions, hoping he’d be able to lip read what they were saying. He couldn’t just silently wait for their verdict! If he wanted a chance to defend himself, at least he ought to know which ones were cursing him and which ones were reprimanding the cursing ones!

  Unfortunately, the little words that he managed to recognize with his poor lip-reading attempts weren’t enough for him to make sense of the conversation.

  “… go off… theoretical limit… is unlikely… artifacts malfunctioning… impossible… data… perhaps… wrong… ability… ”

  The more they argued, the more shaken they seemed to be.

  “…already… 3… not talented… personal… not willing… going to expel…”

  Kiel’s blood chilled, becoming colder and colder with each word.

  Finally, just as Kiel was about to become a popsicle, the grandma opened her mouth and strictly said something that made everyone shut up. (“…argue…later”)

  She glared at each and every one of them daring them to say something else. Her look was so intimidating that not one of them managed to hold her gaze.

  And thus, the matter seemed to be temporarily settled.

  The sound barrier was removed, and all pairs of eyes looked towards Kiel. He could almost feel their gazes poking holes into him. They looked at him as if he was a piece of meat on the chopping board, like they were a pack of hungry lupaxes staring at a little meep.

  He barely restrained himself from stepping back in fright.

  The grandma coughed, her eyebrow twitching. She reached into her robe and pulled out a smoking pipe. It seemed like she had been restraining herself from smoking for the duration of the exam, but the recent explosion was too much for her to handle. She needed her pipe to relieve the stress.

  Her deep inhale broke the dense veil of silence covering the room.

  After several seconds of stillness, her closed eyes snapped open and she reached into her robe once again, this time pulling out a small jewelry box.

  She flicked her hand and an empty piece of paper, followed by a pen, came flying towards Kiel’s desk.

  “This is the last test we have for you.” Grandma declared solemnly before the jewelry box in her hand came flying towards Kiel as well.

  Suppressing his fingers from shaking, Kiel grabbed the pen with one hand and the box with another.

  “Your task is to sense the enchantment on this artifact and draw out its spell pattern as accurately as you can.”

  The solemn gazes of the examiners made the atmosphere in the room turn suffocating. Kiel felt as if something heavy was pressing onto his chest.

  “Do your best.” The grandma wished him luck, as if this task was his last attempt to redeem himself. The last attempt to show his worth. The last attempt to avoid getting expelled from the exam.

  Kiel regretted signing up for this special exam, he regretted it so much his intestines turned green.

  Slowly, he opened up the little box to reveal a small azure bead with a golden hook. It was either an earring or a pendant.

  Kiel closed his eyes, swallowed down his saliva, and concentrated on sensing the enchantment.

  And then…

  He almost snapped the pen in half.

  For he realized that no matter how hard he concentrated…

  The enchantment on this little bead remained blurry.

  It was so intricate, so small, so complicated, that his mana sense simply wasn’t good enough to see it. Lines were too thin, packed tightly together blending with one another into blurs of various densities of mana.

  He felt like a person who had taken off their prescription glasses, squinting with all his might to no avail.

  He sat rigidly, his back drenched with cold sweat, his black hair sticking to his forehead, his already fair face turning even whiter.

  His fingers almost dropped the jewelry box. He was forced to put it down and hide his trembling hands under the desk.

  Ticking seconds stretched, every next moment lasting longer than the previous.

  Kiel felt the eyes of the examiners burning holes on his body. Waiting for him to pick up a pen and start writing.

  Yet, he couldn’t pick up that pen.

 
; Not because his fingers were shaking too much to write. But because he couldn’t see.

  He just couldn’t see it!

  His heart thumped hard against his chest, each beat reverberating like a drum inside his head.

  He had no way out.

  They never left him a chance to begin with.

  Such an intricate enchantment… very few mages would be able to accurately sense something this small. He doubted that even they, themselves, would be able to draw it out.

  It was now clear to Kiel that they were just looking for an excuse to kick him out. Their mind had already been made up.

  Kiel opened his mouth gently, yet no sound came out from his throat.

  What was he supposed to say?

  That he couldn’t do it?

  That he couldn’t see?

  That he gave up?

  Words of forfeit were something that just couldn’t come out of his throat. It was as if his very existence was refusing those words.

  He didn’t have a special power. He didn’t have an incredible talent. All he had was his perseverance.

  All he had was built upon never giving up.

  Even when he knew that it was hopeless, that he couldn’t do it, he still couldn’t say those words.

  His entire mind, entire will concentrated on that little azure bead. As if doing so could help him see. As if his will would be enough to make impossible possible.

  His mind spun and spun in circles.

  His teeth clenched, his nails almost cut into the palm of his clenched hands.

  With every fiber of his being, he wished he could see the spell.

  With every drop of blood running through his veins he wished his eyes could be like Elaru’s.

  He wished she were here, wished that he could hear her warm voice, wished that it could bring comfort to his spirit, wished that perhaps that melodic voice could solve his troubles.