Chương 39: Glyph Prints

"It's my mentor," Sint said.

"High Academ Tyra can give us permission to go into the restricted section." Sint hesitated.

"It's just that, she won't do it for free." Ryland nodded in understanding.

"Naturally." He thought for a moment.

"Is she perhaps interested in acquiring rare ingredients?" Sint stared at him flatly.

"She's a professor of herbology. What do you think?" Ryland chuckled.

"Just confirming. If you could kindly inform her that I'll be happy to provide her with any ingredient from any Realm at all, Accorded or otherwise, so long as she writes me a permission slip to requisition one item from the restricted zone."" Any Realm?"

"Indeed. Any Realm at all." Sint's eyes twitched at the casualness with which Ryland stated that.

"The High Academ will hold you to that, you know."

"Hmm. Admittedly, my Glyphs of Anchoring might have decayed a bit too much for certain Realms. But even for the ones where it might be a little difficult, it won't be impossible." Sint blinked at Ryland for a while before finally sighing.

"I don't know why I bother being surprised."

"I don't know either," Ryland said with a nod. Clearly deciding that further conversation with him was just going to exasperate her more, Sint promised to get back to Ryland after she had talked with her mentor. He'd need to wait. Over the next week, Ryland was a little busy trying to recover all of his old research. He had a few key components of his old work to look over. The lab he had used, the actual findings of his research, and lastly, any remaining physical evidence of the successes he had attained.

Sadly, the laboratory was gone entirely. The academy had long ago decided to remodel the hall it had been in, which had led to its discontinuation. An unsurprising disappointment. It had been a few centuries, after all. The official proof of his research was easily accessible, at least. There were both physical copies of the old papers and grants stored with the help of high Tier Glyphs of Preservation, as well as multiple Glyphic records held in secure backup locations.

Accessing and fondly reminiscing over his old peer-reviewed work was no trouble at all. It was the missing physical evidence of his research that Ryland regretted not having access to the most. When he had first started working on rifts, his preliminary goal had always been to bring back something from other Realms into Vyrd. He had been fascinated by the flora, by the minerals, by even the vastly different air itself. But Ryland had never really been able to enjoy it, truth be told.

For one, it had been tremendously difficult just getting approval to perform his research. Tearing open holes in reality caused a significant amount of concern in those responsible for Arcoryx Academy's continued wellbeing. It was a reasonable worry, of course. Even back then, he had understood it. In fact, he distinctly recalled creating failed rifts that ended up scarring reality, often near-permanently. …

and the academy had apparently even stored away one such case of scarred reality in their vaults alongside all the other treasures. What had possessed the Headmaster back then to do something like that escaped Ryland entirely, but regardless, it wasn't really going to help his current plight. The attempt was too close to a failure. Although maybe he ought to pay it a visit anyway, since Alaric ought to be amenable.

Ultimately however, he was so stifled and so strictly monitored that freedom had become a foreign concept. It eventually became a legitimate pain point. Enough to eventually drive Ryland away from the academy and into the far more lenient arms of the Androvian military, who at the time had their priorities firmly set on acquiring any advantage over their enemies. No surprise, then, that Ryland was afforded all the freedom in the world so long as he could provide timely results. And he had.

Within a year of his inclusion into the Androvian military, he was producing the exact advantages they had taken him in for. Surprise attacks behind enemy lines, tremendously-long-distance bombardment, and solving supply chain logistics issues had quickly turned Androvia into one of the most feared forces in all of the Realmbreaker Wars. Until one of his experiments had grown a bit too ambitious, resulting in a detonation that had ripped him into innumerable pieces flung across the Realms.

Ryland frowned as he remembered the years after that. Horrid didn't even begin to define his state of existence back then. He'd have called it a miracle that he had survived. But his survival had come at a cost, and the price had been anything but miraculous. Ryland held back a sigh. Reminiscing wasn't very productive. It was time to focus. Random chance wasn't entirely what dictated where all the various pieces of him had been flung to.

There were a few influencing factors that he had determined over the course of his centuries-long search for himself. There wasn't much time to ponder it. He had just finished reviewing all his old papers and dejectedly noting the rubbish heaps his old research evidence had been shunted to by the academy before a knock sounded on his door.

"Sir." Viren's voice was muffled behind the wood.

"Can we come in?" We, was it?

"Come on in, please," Ryland said. Viren wasn't alone. The girl from his class, Acrypha, was right behind him, looking a little dubious like she wasn't sure she ought to be here. Ryland smiled at them in greeting.

"How can I help you two today?" Viren glanced at Acrypha, who was resolutely looking only at Ryland.

"We were hoping you'd give us some pointers sir."

"That depends. If you want pointers for magic, I can certainly try. If you want pointers for crochet, I'm afraid I can only offer as much advice as a mediocre practitioner like myself can." Both Viren and Acrypha blinked at that.

"You can crochet?" Acrypha asked. The stiffness with which she had entered Ryland's room now broke as she stared a little agog at him. Ryland chuckled.

"Is that what you really wish to know?" Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Acrypha grew serious again.

"No. What I really want to know is magic. Magic that I'm not already capable of. Magic… like yours, sir."

"Well, you have a long way to go towards that, I'm afraid. But it's never too late to start."

"Right!" Viren flashed a big smile.

"Exactly what I said." They went on to explain why they were here in a bit more depth. Ryland noted they spoke together quite well despite having met only a week or so ago. Viren thumped her on the back affably, before pulling his hand back with a wince like he had just patted castle walls a bit too enthusiastically.

"Acrypha might be a bit reserved, sir, but she's actually great once you get to know her." She glared at him. Then her expression shifted as she came to a realization.

"I'm…" Acrypha hesitated. Hmm. Ryland wasn't exactly the greatest teacher when it came to things like confidence and trust and whatnot. The intricacies of life were even more magical than the magic he had great expertise in. However, instructions in sorcery could often be tied to those immutable facets of life one way or another. If patience was all Ryland needed to assist Acrypha, then he was happy to help. She took a deep breath.

Whatever she was struggling with seemed to slowly slip off her shoulders like a worn cloak.

"I need to live up to expectations. If my magic isn't at the peak of what I can achieve with it, then I've failed to reach the heights I deserve. And so, I need to learn everything I can. I need to grow as powerful as I can—no, beyond that." Ryland was too late in hiding his frown. Acrypha saw it. Her expression, the one that had finally started opening up, now turned inscrutable just as it had been at the beginning. Internally, Ryland berated himself.

It was difficult to deliberate instinctive reactions like that, but it was no excuse. He needed to be a little better about this. Especially now that he occupied a position of responsibility over young, impressionable minds.

"Did I do something wrong?" Acrypha asked. Ryland shook his head.

"Not at all. If anything, it seems you possess a strong conviction, and that will help immensely in the task I'm about to set you two."

"Oh, a task!" Viren grinned wide, mustering a brave effort to redirect the conversation back onto its earlier, more positive track.

"What have you got for us, sir?"

"Simple. I wish for you to manifest a completely new Glyph you don't have yet. And I want you to do that without using any sort of assistance from the Grand Frame." They both looked nonplussed at that.

"But what about the Glyph Prints we'd need for a new Glyph, sir?" Acrypha asked. Her expression hadn't cleared, but she was following Viren's lead in the matter, it seemed.

"How are we going to get those if we can't use achievement rewards from the Grand Frame?"

"Ah, you'll create them yourself." Ryland flicked his wrist. Hovering on his open palm, several lines and curls of glinting blue energy appeared and disappeared. Both Viren and Acrypha were staring with wide eyes.

"You can't create Glyph Prints just like that," Acrypha said a little faintly.

"That's unheard of." Viren just shook his head exasperatedly.

"I can," Ryland assured, performing the little trick again, summoning up some Glyph Prints.

"And soon enough, you'll be able to as well." Ryland spent the better part of the next hour showing the young teenagers how best to draw Glyph Prints of their own. They didn't and weren't going to manage it that day. But they understood the simple fundamental processes that went into it and promised to practice on their own time. Acrypha hung back a little when it was time to leave. Viren had gone on ahead.

"Why did you frown, sir? When I mentioned what I wanted."

"My apologies," Ryland said.

"I didn't intend to cast doubt on or disapprove of your goals."

"That doesn't answer my question." Ryland steepled his hands together.

"Let's just say that, were I in your shoes, I would truly evaluate whether the goals I was working toward were my own, or whether they were the goals of the idea of me that others held close." Acrypha had no answer to that. If anything, Ryland's words had just left her even more troubled. She nodded her gratitude at him, though, before finally leaving. Ryland decided he was going to add her to the list of people he ought to keep an eye on. Admittedly, it wasn't exactly a long list. With Viren, it made two people.

Nevertheless, he would remain cognizant. There were several new students in his class. It had gone from a dozen to twenty. All in less than a week.

"Lots of new faces, I see," Ryland said by way of greeting. He smiled at them.

"Thankfully, we have more than enough room. I'll be your sub-Academ for the semester, Marionys Ryland." He once again didn't take any names and went over the course introduction very briefly. In return, the new students stated they had reviewed the course syllabus before deciding to shift around some of their classes. They were allowed to do so in the first three weeks of the semester. Hmm. Ryland wasn't certain if an intriguing syllabus was really all there was to their decision to join Intuitive Magic.

But he decided against thinking overmuch about it. For that class, Ryland decided he'd set the rest of his students a similar task as he had given Viren and Acrypha in their next class. They listened attentively when he provided them the same information he had given their two classmates earlier, then watched their faces morph in awe as he casually created Glyph Prints in the blink of an eye.

"How are you doing that, sir?" the carmine-scaled dragonkin student asked.

"Erm, my name is Nephrix, sir." Ryland smiled.

"With lots and lots and lots of practice." He didn't fully explain how he was doing it. Rather, he tested Viren's and Acrypha's understanding by sharing their perspectives on what they had learned. Viren was enthusiastic, if a little incoherent. Acrypha was far more measured about it.

"Prints are like puzzle pieces!" Viren said.

"If you think about the Glyphs themselves as the puzzles. So really, your main goal is drawing the right pieces to create the right puzzle picture." Acrypha gave his explanation an odd look before expounding on how she saw it.

"It's essentially language. If every Glyph is a word, then the Glyph Prints are the letters we need to form the word. So we need to dig to a very fundamental level of how we express magic. We need to figure out what shapes produce what syllables, vowels, consonants, and so on."

"That's kind of what I said, though."

"No, you said they were puzzles, which is decidedly not language." Ryland cleared his throat before they could continue bickering. Regardless how they exactly saw it, they had both put in extra effort to learn about creating Glyph Prints. So, he appreciated it.

"Why don't we all start synthesizing and then applying the concepts behind Glyph Print creation?" The students all nodded and got to work.

"Sir," Bulgon said, while the rest of the students were focusing on trying to create Glyph Prints without the aid of the Grand Frame.

"Do you mind using the spell you used last class?" His eyes had flickered to the new students, all of whom were pretending not to pay attention to Bulgon's query. Ah, so that was it. He was starting to understand where the sudden influx of new students had come from. Though, if it continued, they'd need a bigger classroom… Ryland hid his smile.

"Of course. [Dream Door]." Like last class, the view outside all the windows were replaced with the snowy mountain range blowing in a chilly breeze. The students stared around in awe. Several were whispering among themselves, pointing and hissing and apparently losing all sense of decorum in the presence of unprecedented magic.

"These are real …"

"Did you see the Soul Glyph? I don't even recognize the Tier…"

"There were two of them! Two!" At least Viren was merely pointing out something at the golden edges of the windows to Acrypha. Oh. It was probably something to do with the fact the windows were basically rifts now. Ryland spent most of the rest of the class guiding the students and providing them with some helpful tips or extra information where needed. Honestly, it was rather nice.

He was reminded of all the excellent instruction he had received at the academy, and he was rather proud to be continuing that tradition. When class ended, Ryland started heading back to his office. But there was an oddness in the air. It didn't seem anything major at first. There was no sudden alarm. No huge commotion. One could almost, at first, be forgiven for assuming nothing was wrong. But there was a growing sense of unease. Students were gathering together, whispering among each other.

Academs were on the move, administrative officials hurrying to and fro.

"Ah, Ryland." Linsby hailed him down, having spotted that he was clearly curious.

"Have you heard? One of the academy's treasures has been stolen!" Ryland's eyebrows rose by a fingerbreadth.

"Really?" Linsby leaned in, his voice lowering conspiratorially.

"Yes. They're saying the Vestige of a Calamity, the one they used to shatter open the Manabreak mine underneath Arcoryx, is gone!"