Chương 56: Chapter 57: Funny like that

The boy's head was peeking from behind his father just enough to wave tentatively for a second; then he went back, half hidden from the group.

"Yo," saluted Quinn. Rhea tried a more affable approach.

"Hi Kyle!" With zero success, given that the boy gripped his father even more tightly. Before the group could descend into a chaotic introduction and more banter, I continued.

"Frederick here is a fighter; he's low level and wants to become stronger to protect his kid…"

"What?" Marco interjected.

"How come he's a fighter? All the fighters are accounted for already – auch!" After a light kick in Marco's shins by Alya, which I was thankful for, I continued.

"As I was saying, he needs a bit of an introduction to the class, and being not a fighter myself, I was hoping he could get some advice from you, Alya, and Quinn. If you can figure out some gimmick in his class or counsel him in which skill to take, I think it will go a long way to ensure the group safety if we can deploy another strong fighter." Quinn's eyes lit up.

"Leave it to me! Man, I will get you the best possible class! What are your stats? No, first, which skills did you get? And are you still under level ten? Actually, tell me everything." Well, that was easy. Alya gave me a nod too, then got closer to Quinn and the particularly uncomfortable pair of father and son.

"Tell them everything; they will help you get an understanding of what to do. We'll talk more later."

"Ok, ok…" That's the only thing he managed to say before our rogue pulled him to sit down on a log and started bombarding him even more with questions. The guy was absolutely outside of his comfort zone, but he had to man up if he wanted to stop being a liability, and between Quinn and Alya, I knew that I left him in good hands. I sat down near Rhea and Melissa; the two girls clearly became fast friends, despite the age difference. Actually, it was Melissa who seemed more mature between the two.

"So, what did you mean today about tweaking spell matrices?" I asked them. The two girls looked at each other, and then Rhea said.

"Don't you ever tyre of working so much, Elias? C'mon, relax; it's since we got transported here that you don't do anything else except fight and push forward all the time."

"Yea, I noticed too," Melissa added.

"It's not healthy; you worry too much. Even when you have a moment of respite, you go help somebody else. Just take a moment for yourself." Yea, I would like that… before all of this. Now, only the prospect of the future is in my mind, my chance of being free… What else could be more important than that? Annoyances and tiredness I can deal with, but the thought of failing to get rid of my curse was unbearable.

"Eh, what can I say?" I offered them my best smile.

"I'm a workaholic; I can't really stay still for long." Rhea rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might complete a full orbit.

"We could die tomorrow; live a little." Melissa snorted softly.

"That's not the best thing to say to make somebody relax..." I leant back on my hands, staring up at the dark canopy above the firelight. The branches tangled overhead like veins.

"If I stop", I said after a moment, "I start thinking too much." Rhea's expression softened just a fraction.

"About what? What passes through the mind of our intrepid leader all the time?"

"About everything," I replied.

"The system, this place, the people we left behind, magic, the future…" Melissa studied me in silence for a few seconds, the fire reflecting in her eyes.

"You know," she said finally, "you don't actually need to be on edge every second to move forward." I smiled faintly.

"I'm not on edge; mostly it's just restlessness."

"Yeah, but you can't go on like this forever," Rhea cut in.

"Even machines need to get turned off now and then. You can't run at top speed with no maintenance."

"That's… I suppose you're right," I admitted. If only you knew… it's a lifetime I'm dealing with this. Rhea brightened.

"Right? Admitting your problem is the first step." The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Melissa sighed, then relented.

"Alright. We'll make a game out of it. For every question about magic we get to ask one question about you."

"You drive a hard bargain." I commented with a smile. Inside I was getting frustrated; I just needed to know how to use my spells better. Then I wanted to sleep, not teambuilding… I raised a hand, making a sign.

"You have my word, scout's honour."

"Were you a scout?" Rhea said.

"No, and that was your first question." I told them while grinning like a Cheshire cat. She groaned; Melissa instead chuckled while saying it.

"I forgot you're a lawyer…"

"So," I prompted, drawing the word out while Rhea and Melissa exchanged a look that made me immediately regret agreeing to this. Rhea grinned. The dangerous kind.

"First question. Family. Do you have one?" I sighed theatrically.

"Define family."

"That's a dodge," Melissa said mildly.

"Parents", Rhea pressed.

"Siblings. Anyone you'd be worried sick about right now." I stared into the fire for a moment longer than necessary. The flames twisted and collapsed, then sparks flared upwards into the night.

"Yea", I said finally.

"Both my parents are still around, and I have an older brother. But it's quite some time since the last time I talked to any of them; it's… complicated." Rhea's grin faltered.

"Oh." Melissa inclined her head slightly.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry, it's nothing really world-ending," I said, and this time I actually meant it.

"Your turn. Spell matrices. How do you see them?" Melissa nodded, accepting the trade.

"I told you already that I have a skill called 'mana analysis'. It gives me a layered view. Think about… neural pathways, three-dimensional wires, intersecting and forming nodes and channels and chambers; it's beautiful… and extremely complex." It looked like she really put some work into it, and it looked like she enjoyed using her skill. It must be beautiful to be able to see magic this way. I can just get a feeling for it, and not something like touch or vision, something entirely foreign.

While I was imagining what she described, she went on.

"When I cast a barrier, I don't just see the mana flow. I see tension points. Meaningful segments. If I want it harder, I reinforce density there. If I want flexibility, I redistribute mana along some curves in the matrix I know has that function; it took a lot of trial and error to understand what everything did at the beginning." I frowned.

"You make it sound like engineering."

"I have no idea about that," she replied.

"I'm… I was just in eleventh grade; I never touched those topics." Rhea leant in.

"For me it's more… symbolic. Ritual theory shows relationships. Cause and effect. What happens if I move this anchor or remove it? It's less precise than Melissa's way, more intuitive, but the circles theory looks the same, just in two dimensions instead of three." I absorbed that in silence, gears turning.

"My arcane sense doesn't do that," I said slowly.

"I feel… a kind of pressure. Intent. Resistance. Like pushing against something that pushes back." Melissa's eyes sharpened.

"And you just push harder."

"Yes."

"That explains the migraines," Rhea muttered again.

"Probably… the truth is that we don't really know how all of this works. I'm sorry, Elias, I would like to be more helpful, but my book only covers rituals, not spells or skills..."

"You are giving me a lot of food for thought already," I said while giving them a smile; they were really helping me here.

"I think I am managing to do it because of a trait I got after the class evolution. Because before, I really couldn't do much with my spells." At their expectant looks, I recited the system text from memory.

"Arcane Shaping: your energy responds to intention with unusual precision. The structure of your spells bends more willingly under your guidance." Melissa blinked. Once. Twice.

"That's not… how I do it at all."

"No", I agreed.

"From what you say, it's not." Rhea tilted her head.

"That's weird."

"Well," I said.

"I have a feeling it scales off willpower, and that's my higher stat, so it should be fine. Your question." Rhea didn't hesitate.

"Wife? Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Secret tragic love?" I snorted.

"Recently I was dating a colleague, but we both worked too much, so no, I'm single and straight before your dirty mind brings you to strange places." I said while looking at Rhea, who in response stuck out her tongue at me.

"You work too much? Shocking," Melissa deadpanned.

"My turn", I said quickly before the discussion could spiral out of control.

"How do you modify the spell when it's already cast?" Melissa studied me again, longer this time.

"Elias… I don't really think I can help you with this; I can tell you how I do it, and I can show it to you too. But you're not modifying the spells the way a normal mage does; honestly, I have no idea how to apply my willpower to a spell." I sighed.

"Story of my life."

"No, I mean it," she pressed.

"Everyone else works with a framework. You're working with something different; I don't know which one is better, but for sure they are different." Rhea's eyes lit up.

"Maybe you just have to improve your sense skill, and then you'll be able to 'see' the spells the same way we do!" They both went silent at that. After a beat, Rhea shook her head.

"Okay, we need to figure out how your thing actually works. We'll help you study it, then maybe we can pass the methods between us; you teach us yours and we ours! Win-win!" Melissa nodded.

"Agreed. If you keep brute-forcing it, you'll get an aneurysm."

"Comforting", I muttered. Rhea grinned.

"Hey, at least you're special." I groaned.

"Yea, of course..." From the other fire, Quinn suddenly perked up, her voice carrying.

"You know what's bullshit?" he called out.

"The fact that the system gives us half a sentence of flavour text and expects us to reverse-engineer magic."

"Yes!" Rhea shot back immediately.

"Thank you!" Melissa sighed.

"We don't even get a glossary." Quinn stood up, gesturing wildly.

"No real tutorial, no patch notes, not even an inspect skill! Those are the basics, c'mon! The basis, I tell you. If this was a game, I would have review-bombed it into oblivion." I smiled despite myself, watching the firelight dance across the camp, the noise, and the life. Tomorrow it will be another day. But for tonight, surrounded by these strangers, arguing about magic like it was a normal, everyday topic, the future felt manageable.

It was a long time since I didn't feel this kind of contentedness around others; it just took being in a hellhole at the end of the world to feel somewhat human again. Life is funny like that sometimes.