“When… When I control water, there is this blue glow in my body?”
She tilts her head as she asks this question. Or is it a statement? “Yeah, so?”
My brusque reply causes her to falter for a bit. Then she pouts and frowns. “What is it?”
“Good question. I don’t really know.” I give her a big smile.
Her brow creases further. Vox chimes in. “I have these odd flashes of white light running through my body when using my qi. Is that what you mean?”
She nods at the redhead. “I can’t really see them, but feel them out of the corner of my eye?” Her head tilts the other way this time.
“Ah, I got those, but black.”
“Mine are grey.”
“Green.”
We now all look at Bord, the only one that hasn’t said a thing yet. He slowly pulls a finger from his nose, looking around startled at the attention. “Triangles?”
Ket slaps a hand to his face while muttering to himself. It’s something about instinct, but I don’t really bother to listen.
They are now all staring holes in the back of my head. Alright, I give in. “You guys were the only ones of a suitable age and position in the entirety of Dungeon City that had these. I think they have something to do with affinity, but honestly, I made you fellows my disciples to find out. And I don’t think an eighty-year-old guy or a baby would appreciate me kidnapping them from their family and forcing them to learn to cultivate.”
“You told me affinities don’t exist?” Ket asks me.
“They didn’t back in my previous world; I had to look really closely at you guys to even catch a glimpse. Have you all compared ease of elemental control?”
Ket comes up with the necessary data. “Selis can control water with around ten per cent more qi efficiency; her volume is a lot larger. I can’t even get plants to listen to me, but Angeta seems to do it without the required knowledge about cells. Vox, I have no clue. Something with light. Tess…”
He looks at Tess with a blank expression on his face. “I can’t even find Tess half of the time, so I have too little data. Bord, also not a clue. I can propel metal with double the efficiency of anyone else. Only some metals, iron works very well, I can’t get a proper grip on aluminium and copper.”
I nod a bit before replying. “I think it has something to do with the way dragons use magic. From the little dragon magic I have directly observed, their elements are so in tune with them they need only call out to them to get them to perform certain spells. I am not sure how a mana affinity system is transferred over to qi, but whatever.
“I think that training will have an exponential effect. Selis will have a small advantage with pure water control now; that will grow a lot bigger at higher levels, same with the rest of you.” I turn to Angeta. “Have you experimented with all kinds of organic materials?”
Her furry eyebrows raise up into the air, so I elaborate. “How alive must something be for your control to work? Does it work on dead grass, for example?”
She plucks a blade of grass from the ground as she studies it. It grows a bit and forms into a glove around her hands. Neat, but not useful right now. Selis also plucks a blade of grass from the ground with a strand of qi. She strokes it with a finger, pulling the water from the green leaf, turning it a pale brown. She hands the shrivelled strand to Angeta, who concentrates on it.
“What if you end up in a desert without any plants around? Or what if you get trapped in the void of space with only crumbling trees that turn to dust when you touch them. Or in the middle of an ocean of acid that eats away anything it touches?”
These are all scenarios I have come across, thus my strict refusal to grow in any specific single direction. “I’d rather be a jack-of-all-trades than a more powerful single element user. This is my path though; you all should find your own.”
Silence reigns as I listen to the muted footsteps of our varied mounts. Angeta continues to stare fiercely at the shrivelled blade of grass in her hands until she incinerates it with an irritated snort.
I have to pull on my bears’ reins more than once to keep him walking at a sedate pace. I pull a compressed wooden ball from my ring and hold it up to Lola who is chilling on my shoulder.
“Catch.” I throw it into the distance, briefly rooting myself to the ground to prevent her jump from throwing me back. She hops back half a minute later with the ball between her teeth.
I continue to play catch with her for a little longer. Ket steers his horse besides my bear and we talk some advanced math. We talk a bit about funny or weird number patterns, like the prime number sieve, and I introduce the golden mean to him. He finds some fractal patterns and we compete with drawing out the most complex shapes. It amuses me to no end as he attempts to draw the Mandelbrot set. He keeps getting stuck on infinite loops, so I just tell him to limit his cycles to ten before calling it infinite. The rest have fallen behind a long time ago, some disciples rubbing their heads in pain as they attempt to keep up with us. ‘Braincore master race,’ I think with a grin.
We have reached the hills now, our animals are not walking very fast, about the speed of a running mortal, but they barely need to rest so we eat up the distance pretty quickly. Sandy patches have started showing up between the grassy hills, indicating that the sea is getting near now.
“Teach, why do you only give us the extracted data?”
I widen my eyes at Vox’s unexpected question. He has the egg-sized piece of jade in his hands. He must have been studying and comparing my analysis with the source materials.
“Why do you think?” No answer comes as I give a really cheap reply. I can see the sea between the sand dunes when he answers.
“So we come to our own conclusions?”
“Nope, so you can form your own opinions.”
Ket frowns deeply at this for a minute before replying again. “A lot of symbolism is lost…”
His sentence trails off into nothingness as he loses his confidence in his answer. I decide to explain myself for a bit. “We all observe a lot of data. Sight, smell, touch and more. The brain then filters and abstracts this data until only the necessary information is given to the conscious mind. I do the same with every book and lesson I come across. You don’t see every single blade of grass when looking around, do you? You all can count the hairs in my beard, but is that relevant to this conversation?”
Ket nails the subject perfectly when he talks. “Books are data; the lessons we learn from them are information.”
I nod while replying. “Yep, I have already done a couple of steps for you guys to allow better information retention. Learned information is also known as knowledge.”
I raise my finger here, to better illustrate this point. “Data is the world around us. They are the undeniable facts. We record it as information, from which we can acquire knowledge. It’s just a shame that all of this is so dependent on perspective. The most precious and valuable books in the universe are just fancy fire making tools for an illiterate person.”
I see that I have lost nearly all of my disciples with this little rant. Ah well, I hope that at least some of it will stick. “Enough boring talk, we have reached the sea!”
And indeed, the sea is stretching before us. We just crested the last hill and are greeted with a nice sight. Dunes stretch for a couple of hundred metres before us, followed by a beach, followed by the dark blue sea. I kick my mount in the flanks to make it speed up a bit; I want to go and explore the mage islands already. I see no boats on the horizon. Only an endless blue expanse of water.
I dismount when I reach the shore. I dip a single finger in the cold waves and taste it. Not quite as salty as the oceans on Earth, just as I suspected. I jump back on my bear and urge it forward to deeper waters. It snorts loudly, clearly nervous about entering the dark unknown. “Stupid bear, you are entirely blue, why are you scared of water?”
I kick it some more in the flanks until it musters up the courage to take its first steps, over t
he crashing waves. It flounders a bit, unsure of what to do. I curse at it a bit more. Lola hops off my shoulder and lands on the bears head. She starts stroking the big bear between his missing ears as if to console it. She then jumps in front of the bear, clearly demonstrating her water walking technique. The bear learns it even faster than she did. It had better, it is entirely blue!
I hold it back as it starts frolicking, chasing the small rabbit around. I jerk the reins, forcing it to a halt when we are past the surf. I hold out a hand and pull the boat from the Tree. It lands with a massive splash of water, the thirty-metre long vessel bobbing up and down on the waves. I grab a bottle of wine from my ring, making sure it is the worst vintage I have on hand. I throw it against the hull, causing it to shatter and splash the wood with red stains.
“I hereby christen you…” I pause for dramatic effect. “The Ascent!”
I jump off the bear’s back and land on the deck, immediately walking over to the steering wheel on top the captain’s quarter.
I press some hidden buttons, and with a manic grin, I watch the oars extend themselves. The rest of my students all stare at my actions from the shore. Selis has jumped off her rooster and is running after Lola and the bear, who are now splashing each other with water as they run over the waves.
Let’s go and play pirate, yo-fucking-ho.
Afterword
Thank you for reading the third book in the Dao of Magic series. Teach’s adventures continue in the second book, out now!
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About
Andries (WeirdWhirl) Louws is an avid reader of fantasy, science fiction and pretty much everything interesting since a young age. He is still thankful to the nice ladies at the local library that let him check out all those violent action thrillers, epic fantasy books and encyclopaedias without enforcing age requirements. He also studied multimedia design and computer science while devouring as many novels, audiobooks, and video games as he could get his hands on. He then started writing his own stories after reading one too many badly translated Chinese novels and hasn’t stopped since.
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Also, read my other stories and books!
The Dao of Magic: Book I
The Dao of Magic: Book II
The Dao of Magic: Book III
Skeleton in Space: Histaff
Skeleton in Space.
It’s about a magical skeleton - named Douglas - who ends up in a science-fiction universe. He then proceeds to try and live a fulfilling life, even though he’s surrounded by self-absorbed spoiled women, ancient monsters who own a sizable chunk of the galaxy, and bioengineered superweapons.
Appendix
Angeta: A young female beastkin with an affinity for all things green. Does NOT have anger issues. One of Teach’s students.
Ascent: The boat built by Drew and his students.
Bord: A large kid with a love of food. Might be able to manipulate gravity, but don’t ask him, he wouldn’t know what those words mean. A heartcore cultivator. One of Teach’s students.
Braincore: A method of cultivation where the nexus of power is placed inside the brainstem. This allows for extreme mental skills such as complex qi formations and mental time dilation.
Cultivation: The practice of taking the energies between Heaven and Earth into oneself, empowering the cultivating individual.
Cultivation World: The first world Drew transmigrated to, a traditional Xanxia universe filled with ruthless sects, ancient legacies, and mysterious powers.
Delver: Brave souls that dare (or are forced) to enter the dungeons.
Drew Liam: Originally a normal man from modern Earth, he transmigrated into a ruthless Cultivation World. After a thousand years of escapades and adventures, his ascension was denied as he was slapped into a lower realm.
Gutcore: A method of cultivation where the nexus of power is placed inside the stomach. This allows for a mix of physical and magical reinforcement and combat.
Heartcore: A method of cultivation where the nexus of power is placed inside the heart. This allows for extreme physical prowess and toughness, yet underwhelming magical capacities otherwise.
Ket: Ex baggage carrier, this thin and dark young man has an affinity for metal. Possibly autistic, but his braincore allows him to calculate the optimal social path. One of Teach’s students.
King: The human king of the Shi-Eit kingdom. His name is unknown. Curses a lot.
Lola: A little rabbit heartcore cultivator. Drew’s pet. One of the most powerful beings on the planet.
Magic World: The current world, a medieval low fantasy world filled with dragons, magic, pirates, beast-people, and dungeons.
Mana: The power present in the Magic World, this multifaceted power is divided into multiple elements, each containing a dark and light counterpart.
Mana mutant: An animal that suffered from an extreme dark and light mana imbalance. This caused a mutation in the animal’s bodily composition and possibly an increase in strength.
Peak Dungeon: A massive triangular pillar of dark stone, this piece of impossible geometry holds a dungeon filled with beasts, monsters, and danger. Tends to reward the daring delver with tools and furniture.
Qi: A mystical higher power. This energy is a supernatural high energetic state that’s susceptible to influence from consciousness.
Re-Haan: A female dragon, over two millennia old. The current Guardian of the human Shi-Eit kingdom, she used to spent nearly all of her time napping the years away.
Rhea: Teach’s nickname for Re-Haan.
Selis: A rather cute girl with blue hair and a love of water. Is known to have a mean streak when crossed. One of Teach’s students.
Teach: See Drew Liam.
Tess: A black-haired girl with an affinity for sneaking and shadows. One of Teach’s students.
Tower Dungeon: A massive pillar of light stone, this piece of impossible architecture hold a dungeon filled with beasts, monsters, and danger. Tends to reward the daring delvers with weapons and armour.
Tree: A slightly larger tree. It was otherwise completely unremarkable until Drew forcefully elevated its consciousness using qi.
Vox: A redheaded young man of questionable sexual orientation. Like his sister, he has a high affinity for light influences energies. One of Teach’s students.
The DAO of Magic Page 48