Chương 56: Chapter 52: You’re part of the problem

The field was emptying. Instructant Aval had dismissed the class, and most of the students were already leaving. Fabrisse stayed behind to gather his scrolls from beside the chalk circle. They were almost blank. He'd forgotten to take notes. Normally, he'd have three pages by now. Spell sequences, emotional coloration, observations from the matches, probably something about wind control. Still, there was something productive he could do.

Nascent Resonance I Passive: Casting spells gradually strengthens elemental affinity toward the spell's associated element. Efficiency scales with spellcasting quality. Up until now, the only way he could improve an affinity was by finding somebody willing to repeatedly point dangerous amounts of elemental magic at him. The Eidralith had identified his exact problem and given him another option.

If the description was accurate, every incomplete Fire spell (basically all of them) he cast would now become affinity training. The only question was how much. His last session with Liene had given him roughly zero point zero one percent of Fire Affinity after a full minute of exposure. Not much, but at least he could measure it. Maybe this passive would be faster. Fabrisse moved away from the few students still on the field. No point having an audience while he tested it. He raised a hand.

"Spark and spin." A small flame curled above his palm and lasted perhaps three seconds. Again.

"Spark and spin." Again. Again. Again. And again. Nearly two minutes into the experiment, a blue panel finally appeared. [Fire Affinity Training Progress] [Current Progress: 9. 32% → 9. 33%] That was twice as bad! If Eidralith gave him a spell this inefficient, might as well not have given him anything at all! But hold on… I can use Progress Dividend to further my progress of Nascent Resonance. As long as I cast another Aether spell, I could funnel its progress to my newly-learned spell— Wait.

It didn't work like that. The spell description said this: Effect: For every 1% progress gained toward progressing a mastered skill, you may redirect that same percentage to the progress of another unmastered skill of equal Tier & Rank (up to 7%). Repeatable daily. The wording was clear. It had to be an unmastered skill. Nascent Resonance had come directly from the Eidralith. So much for that idea. Fabrisse sighed.

Mentor Lorvan was coming here after Air Thaumaturgy anyway, and there wasn't enough time to bother going back to the dormitory. He might as well keep casting.

"Spark and spin." The flame curled around itself and went out.

"Spark and spin." Again.

"Spark and spin."

"Spark and spin."

"Spark and spin." Someone stepped in front of him. Fabrisse looked up. Severa stood there with her arms folded.

"Spark and spin," he said more quietly. The flame went out. She said nothing. He tried again, then again. After the fourth attempt, Severa finally spoke.

"You're too slow. Physical conditioning exists for a reason." She stepped closer.

"Again." Now I don't want to do it anymore, he thought, but he cast anyway.

"Spark and spin." Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Before he finished the final motion, Severa caught his wrist.

"No." Her fingers pushed his forearm slightly higher. Then she nudged his elbow backward.

"Stop wasting movement." She repositioned two fingers.

"This." She stepped away.

"Again." Fabrisse repeated the motion. It felt... shorter. Spellcasting Equation Updated Execution Speed (60%) (DEX ≥ 15 → 13) + Mnemonic Accuracy (20%) + Aetheric Resonance (20%) What? The equation could change? Current Aetheric Effectiveness: 55% → 63% The flame curled into a tighter spiral and stayed together for almost four seconds before breaking apart. It wasn't any hotter or larger than before, but there was noticeably less wobble in the shape. Apparently, Severa had been right.

Cutting out the extra movement had made the spell faster, and that alone had pushed its effectiveness up. Unfortunately, Fabrisse had already forgotten where she'd put his elbow.

"Not enough to pass," Severa said.

"Why are you still here?" He found it in him to ask. And why was she helping him?

"Our mentors are talking outside."

"What?" He had never seen Rubin and Lorvan interact, ever.

"See for yourself." They didn't talk much on the way out, and frankly, even if he'd wanted to, he didn't have much to say to her. The only thing they'd ever bonded over were artifacts, and that had been a restricted topic inside Synod grounds for quite some time—"So I was working on an aetheric output amplifier last night," Severa said.

"I am still deciding what to use for the amplification core. I have an Epic clear quartz that would reduce transmission loss considerably, but the Epic citrine should allow for a much higher peak output. At least, if the theory is to be believed." What was she suddenly talking about? Just under a week ago, she'd been praying for his demise, going so far as to wish him a speedy expulsion from the Synod. Every interaction with Severa seemed to depend entirely on her mood.

"That is how I remember the theory, at least," Severa continued.

"Though I'm less certain how well the citrine would behave if the amplifier were tuned primarily for Fire."

"Depends on the citrine. What kind is it?"

"Veyrhold citrine."

"Which grade?"

"I'm not certain, but it possessed deep-vein."

"Color?" Severa glanced at him.

"Dark amber. Almost orange toward the center."

"Any inclusions?"

"A few iron flecks."

"Large?"

"No. Fine streaks, mostly." Fabrisse thought about it.

"Then it's probably third-stratum Veyritas. Maybe late second, but third is more likely. Clear or clouded?"

"Clear, mostly. There are a few iron inclusions near the base."

"I wouldn't use it." Severa turned to him.

"Why?"

"Deep-vein Veyritas citrine doesn't take Fire very well. You'd need something between it and the heat." He then asked about the clear quartz next. Origin, depth, clarity, inclusions. That one was easier. Riverglass, high purity, barely any inclusions.

"The clear quartz," Fabrisse decided.

"You'll lose some peak output, but it should handle Fire without needing anything else around the core."

"So the lower theoretical output would actually be higher once the citrine's necessary protections are accounted for."

"Probably. And considerably less likely to crack." Severa was quiet for a few steps.

"I see. Unfortunately, the stone component has been rather uncooperative, so until that matter is resolved, I suppose I'll have to make do without an output amplifier." That'd normally be the bottleneck for Severa. Most stones barely responded to binding magic in the first place. At Epic grade, forcing one into an incompatible binding would be an excellent way to ruin something extraordinarily expensive. Working with Severa did have one advantage: she let him handle the rocks.

Whenever one of her artifacts called for stone as a component, that part usually fell to him. She would tell him what the artifact needed to do, hand over whatever samples she had available, and actually ask which one he thought would work best. The harder part was attaching them. As stones resisted binding magic, so Fabrisse had learned to borrow from alchemy and choose a binding agent that suited the mineral. Severa let him handle that part, and so far, he'd succeeded more often than he'd failed.

But why would she need an output amplifier? Severa had already had amongst the highest output he'd seen out of any student. A simple fireball from her could punch through a practice barrier meant to withstand several direct hits. Not could. It'd happened. That'd been documented.

"Why would you need an output amplifier?" He didn't realize he'd verbalized the question until she turned back to him. She stayed silent for a moment and said, "You're part of the problem."

"Me?"

"Yes, you." She pressed two fingers to her forehead.

"Never mind. I see little point in having this conversation with you again." What conversation?

"After the last incident with the Eidralith, Mentor Rubin has been rather less forgiving of my progress. There are only so many conventional ways to improve once one reaches a certain level, Kestovar." Ah, that conversation. But why would she need to be even more magically proficient than she currently was?

"You're already strong," he said.

"Compared to you." She went quiet for another step. He'd gotten used to this silence by now. She was deciding whether she should be disclosing more information than she wanted to. Finally, she said, "There are people who would disagree with that assessment."

"Who?"

"You don't need to know that." They stepped out of the practice field's east wing archway, and immediately he heard raised voices from the administrative colonnade. Framed by the slope of the sun-drenched portico, stood two silhouettes locked in terse dispute—one tall and rigid, the other angular and sharp as a broken shard of glass. Rubin and Lorvan. He stopped in his tracks.

Afari Rubin, ever in her rust-red robes and crested brass mantle, stood with arms folded the same way Severa would, her tone low but tightly wound like a bowstring. Lorvan, by contrast, was literally and figuratively layered. He had three layers of clothing for possibly no other reason than his own fashion sense, and he looked completely composed despite the weight of fabric that would probably crumple Fabrisse.

"My student will triumph in the next Grand Tournament," he heard Rubin say.

"And where would yours be?" The Grand Tournament. So that was why she needed all that power.