Chương 223: Chapter 244: Stabilizing

"But that's stupid," said some third-year student I've never even spoken to.

"It has to be a joke, right?" He was staring around like he just realized that everyone around him has been taking crazy pills. It's not the kind of outburst you normally get in a history class. And, it's bringing a grin to my face because his unasked-for editorial commenting is reinforcing my conviction that our world has shifted just a bit more towards being a real place. When this is all a video game, this year's valedictorian assignment does not come with any commentary from the peanut gallery.

It's hard to remember this part, but I think these assignments are supposed to be given out privately for some reason. Instead, the teacher is announcing everything off of her clipboard, and even she seems a little confused by some of the material. She looks like she can tell that this doesn't make sense but can't seem to elaborate why exactly that is. Some kind of internal glitch. Most of the students were looking between me and this random schmuck whose name I never bothered to learn.

We're barely into our second week and most everyone here is a stranger to me, he's no exception. The majority of the class is looking to me for a reaction, or to the schmuck for a follow-up. Few of them are looking at the teacher, who seems somewhat baffled by all this. I believe she's trying to figure out why she's doing what she's doing, when it is such a clearly bad idea that she should have never gone along with.

"Well, whether it's stupid or not, I accept the challenge," I say smoothly, pulling the room back to me. I don't really need this dramatic pause in the middle of class.

"I'll have this done before the end of the school term." I sat back down my back straight and confident, my chin high, hands folded carelessly on top of the desk. The rest of the pupils all turned back to the teacher as she read off the next name and the next assignment.

"Nerma Hassington, your finals project is to assist the archaeological conservation efforts by Doctor Ihndya Dgonz in the northern quarter of Cliffside. The doctor and her staff have your information and will be contacting you shortly with details. Gerg Hibble, your finals-" I tuned out, and Rabert leaned over to whisper to me. I put up the cone of silence by reflex, dimming sounds from the rest of the room.

"You really did not flinch," he commented.

"This woman just told you that you're going to cast your soul through time itself and you literally just smiled. I don't think I've ever properly appreciated how terrifying your gift is."

"All this was going to happen anyway. That's the terrifying part. My gift just lets me understand in advance. That's not terrifying." He looked at me, considering.

"Is this really just something you're used to? Is this the same as your visions?"

"Not even a little bit," I told him.

"The Sanctum of Synechia is just past-life regression, I'll be seeing things from other times but only linear. It's going to be much more experiential, much less abstracted, but also much more metaphorical. And, always, the future is about finding paths forward, not just recording one version of events." The Sanctum is a great dungeon run for second year, available to Valedictorians or player-characters with an Intellect of ten or higher.

Much like the mathematician crypts it's best to get started early, but it changes things up a bit. Digger Jdim rewards players who are able to amass a large sum of money early in the school year. Sister Schneider rewards those who knock out a lot of quest rewards. She gives good additional benefits for having leveled up and getting plenty of XP. And also you have to fight a lot of wolves and bandits. Like a lot of wolves. An ecologically-unsound number of wolves, and an economically-unsound number of bandits.

The Sanctum is peaceful and serene and scenic and reverent, except that the miles and miles of terrain around it attract the most aggressive wolves and the only way in is through a narrow pass that guarantees you get ambushed over and over. But fortunately, this one is not an escort mission. I don't have to hold back for anyone else's sake. I'm not sure if my portals will let me skip those ambush events, but if they do this may be the easiest quest ever. Teleportation is. literally, a game-changer.

It may be a required part of the quest, or I might be able to shortcut it. But this really does highlight a lot of the changing dynamics in the game. Year one: Get to know you. Year two: More than friends. First there's the tomb of liches that rewards you with gear for amassing money early. Interacting with the world, as it were. Then there's the sanctuary of past lives, that rewards you for progressing with as many love interests as possible. It's not obvious, but they are rather thematic.

For the game's purposes I've moved past the point of establishing myself and getting prepared, and started getting to the serious business of wooing my beaus. As of now, the Sanctuary quest is started. No time like the present.

"Rabert?"

"Yes, Lady Natalie?" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"I'm free this upcoming Sevenday afternoon, would you care to have dinner together?" He stared.

"Alone? Really?" I smiled.

"I know a place where people can keep a secret. Would you like?" Let's see if I can open up some new quest entries when I'm out on a date. Some new discoveries are less game-mechanical and more lore-based. But potentially just as huge.

"Kimothy, can I have a moment?" He blinked at me in abject wonder.

"Natalie?..." he said, dazed and grinning.

"This is marvelous. You're so very pretty. Can I pet your face?"

"Kimothy, stop channeling the fungus. That's not what it's for."

"What?" he said, blinking.

"Clear your channels," I told him more firmly. He made space for that idea in his mind, and it finally hit the target. He washed his mana clean, and then I could see lucidity return to his expression, followed shortly by mortification.

"Um, about what I said-" he started. I paused him with one lifted hand.

"Kimothy, take more than a couple of minutes to think through what you want to say about that. We can table it and return another time when the moment is more amenable. I feel like you're about to try to apologize for telling me I'm pretty, and you should definitely take some time to make sure you've got exactly the right words in exactly the right order, yes?"

"Uh, yes, all right," he said, but he was still stewing in his embarrassment. Sorry, but some conversations should not be held off-the-cuff, and finding your boundaries with physical compliments is one of them. After all, this year we take this relationship to the next level. And also, I've got something to talk with him about that is going to distract him from all those soppy feelings.

"So, remember when we talked about how sorcerers can't use scrivening because the mana channels circulate instead of pooling?" I said. His gaze sharpened fast.

"Yes," he said, and the change in his posture was subtle but pervasive. This was a matter of high importance to him.

"And so I've been hitting the books," I told him, standing and indicating for him to follow. We moved from the channeling space over to the firing range, and I altered the air's properties so we could still hear each other easily over the sounds of test dummies being destroyed.

"Now, in scrivening, the mana actually only needs to be cohesive for a very short period of time. Not even for the length of time to draw each sigil character, right?"

"Sure," he said, smiling wistfully.

"When you get it right, there's a snap, you can feel it. Without that, it's just ink. But when you feel the connection, it's oddly satisfying. It feels like when you immerse your mana channels in an essence, really, but less chaotic, more refined. It's easy to appreciate."

"I see," I said.

"And sorcery never does that?"

"No, it's moving," Kimothy said, just repeating what we both know.

"Mana moves into us and through, whether channeling, curving, or conjuring." I raised a finger in objection.

"Two exceptions." He frowned.

"Well, when you convert it locks into a shape, yes. But it locks into specific shapes. I can't just give myself sigil tattoos with sorcerous shapeshifting." He's still circling around the point I want to make, so I blurt it out.

"And conjuring. Tell me, do any of the sigils you know of rely on an ink that you can simulate with your sorcery?"

"Um, there's a whole family of fungi called ink caps," he pointed out.

"And the inks from it do smell awful but there are many sigils that use them." I pulled a sheet of paper from the air.

"Here," I said.

"Use that and conjure that rune, finished and fully formed, right on the page."

"What?" He stared at me in flat disbelief.

"No. What?" I grinned lopsidedly, rather proud of myself.

"I had to check out a lot of books and confirm a lot of things. But it should work. Because in that moment of conjuration, when your mana takes the shape and pulls in the essence-""There is no way it's that easy," he blurted, taking the paper with shaking hands. I snorted.

"All right, it's funny because just a few days ago I was saying the exact same words to Coppor, regarding building essence affinities. But the theory is sound. Since you were already trained as a scrivener before you developed sorcery-" He was staring at the paper, holding it out at arm's length in both hands, biting his lip. And then a squiggly little mark appeared on it. It did smell bad, as advertised.

"Holy shit," he said, shaking. For such a small development, he looked like he was experiencing a divine visitation.

"It snapped. I felt it. It took..." [Quest Checkpoint Achieved: Sorcery Evolved. +5 XP. Advancement - The Sorcerer]"Neat," I said, looking at the page.

"What's it do?" He shrugged.

"Not much on its own, it gets used in conjunction with other spells that involve movement. It causes an object that is rotating on one axis to stabilize on other axises."

"Axes," I corrected. Ack-sees.

"So, it's a gyroscope rune?"

"What, sure, make up some new words," he said, vacantly. He was flushed like he had been flying again, brand new wonders opened up before him. It was almost like finding out that the training he had spent his whole life on was not wasted because of a fluke of coincidence. He held the paper like a proud father.

"Give me another. I'm gonna do it again." I traded him, another sheet for the one he had marked.

"So, is it just this one?"

"What? No, no, there's dozens that use just ink cap," he said, absently.

"If I had some other essences I could-" he gaped, staring at me.

"The more essences I learn, the more inks I can conjure. And, sigils." He glanced at the page and new symbols popped onto it, each one prompting a new grin from Kimothy. I glanced at the page in my hand. Stabilized while rotating on an axis. I took the page and tossed it like a frisbee, and it flew like a frisbee. It spun in the air, flying along, bobbing a bit as it flew but without folding or collapsing. It fell to the ground halfway the firing range, sliding to a stop, the spin finally run down.

"Huh," I said.

"I know a guy who's been trying to invent a machine that throws spinning circular blades. The problem is they always drift off target. He would love to have as many of those runes as possible." Kimothy was already coming down off his high.

"But, these are still just conjurations. When my spell breaks, every rune I've conjured disappears. They won't last, not like sigils should."

"Maybe not," I said, already on the next step.

"But let's start examining the practical applications of sigils that erase themselves without leaving any evidence."