Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick stood on dry, rocky land, east of the mountains of Oceanside. All around him lay dips and crags and broken rock, old streambeds and dried ponds. Small brushes and scraggly trees dotted the sunswept stone. A sheen of sweat layered Erick’s skin, but his billowy clothes made in Spur were good attire for this sort of location. This land didn’t get much rain or water at all, aside from when the Autumnal rains swelled all the rivers and streams of Oceanside for a single month out of the year. When that happened, this land washed away.

Which is why Erick was here. He planned on some very large explosions and this rocky land was well acquainted with flooding rains and complete destruction. Some of the students came out here to experiment with big, damaging spells, but most students at Oceanside just unloaded into the ocean if they had to level a spell, or practice with higher tier magic.

Erick, Poi, and Kiri had already scouted the area; they were alone. Five Ophiel also kept their eyes open for other people. Ophiel knew something was up since Erick had summoned four extras and set him to generally keep his eyes open for others, but mostly, the five of them quietly trilled in violins as they watched Erick work.

Erick began with [Stoneshape], carving a dry streambed in front of him into something deeper. The land dipped down, then flexed into an oval five meters across at its widest point, and two meters deep. This size was the beginning of ‘Large’ sized spells, so Erick was the only person on Veird who could make spells this big. He would have liked to have done this experiment on a smaller scale but several of the pieces of today’s magic had already been discovered, and Erick’s Particular Insight with Phagar revealed that Rozeta was cracking down on the massive variety of spells coming out of Particle magic. Kiri had had some luck with her [Hermetic Seal] line of spells, but only the truly unique Particle Magic was being allowed into the Script.

That crackdown was one of the reasons Erick decided to try for this kind of magic, to see if he could help bring Particle Magic more in line with what had come before, and to cut a path for others to follow.

And he was going to do it with a highschool-level experiment.

Erick looked up at the blue sky.

[Weather Ward].

A Shaped white glitter filled the air above Erick, forming a funnel to channel water into the pool in front of him.

[Exalted Storm Aura].

Mist lifted from the land. Tiny flashes of white light skittered here and there in the air as fog turned to clouds then rose into the sky like a pillar directly above; a line of clouds straight up. Platinum rain fell from that pillar, crashing down against the [Weather Ward], crushing down into the rocky pool. Erick cut his aura. Platinum rain still fell, but tapered off. The pond filled and overfilled, spilling platinum waters down the rocky land but turning nothing vibrant. The land remained dead. Erick wasn’t about to [Grow] the nearby plants just to destroy them later.

Platinum water sloshed in the pond in front of Erick as the last remnants of his [Exalted Storm Aura] tapered off. He dismissed the [Weather Ward] hanging above.

Erick turned around to see the supplies he had brought for today’s experiment: two dozen bars of wrought-quality copper, a few bars of iron, and bags of salt he hoped he wouldn’t have to use. Erick looked back to the pool of platinum water. With a rod of [Treat Wounds] in his pocket, in addition to Poi and Kiri each having their own rod of [Treat Wounds], Erick prepared for a long day of rhyming.

He spoke to the water,

“A time of rest, all parts to their places

“Cheer remains alongside good will

“But separated thus does purity grace us

“As water shifts, revelations [Distill].”

Ophiel hummed around the edges of the pool, as white flashed across the water. Countless bubbles rose to the white surface for one rushing second, as magic flashed downward. Platinum glows and muddy swirls and everything that was not pure, clear water, sank down, to the bottom of the pool. Notifications appeared.

Congratulations!

You have created a new Basic Spell. Your spell has been added to your skills for free!

The spell you have created will appear in the Script after a year and a day.

Your spell is the alpha version, and will shift with time and use.

The spell that appears in the Script might be different.

Here is your spell:

Distill 1, instant, medium range,

.

Rozeta thanks you for enriching the Script.

+2 ability points.

Continue. ~Rozeta

Erick smiled at the notifications.

Poi said, “Use the wand, sir.”

Erick said, “It was only 10 mana.” Erick tapped himself with the rod of [Treat Wounds] anyway, saying, “But you’re right.” Erick felt the healing spell wash through his body, fixing tiny problems that he barely even recognized as problems, leaving him relaxed and whole. He put the rod back in his pocket, then looked down at the water. Piles of metal and dirt and debris held on the bottom of the unmoving pool. He turned to Kiri. “Help me get this stuff out.”

Kiri quickly stepped to the side of the water, saying, “Of course!”

Together, Kiri and Erick used combinations of [Metalshape] and [Stoneshape] to pull the metallic debris out of the large-sized pond, or smooth over the broken, muddy bottom, keeping the water clear. When they were done with the first pass through the pool, Erick threw a [Cleanse] at the water, eliciting practically no thick air. Then they trawled the pool again with another [Distill] and [Cleanse] and more Shaping, ensuring the water was as pure as it could be.

Soon, Erick stood at the side of a perfectly clear pool of pure H20.

Erick said, “Pure water is a piss poor electrical conductor, but this is a good starting point.”

Kiri, eyes wide and voice hopeful, asked, “Is that what copper and iron are for?”

“Not exactly. The salt is the backup plan.”

Ecstatic, Kiri said, “Right! Sorry. Water needs dissolved solids to transmit a current. Iron doesn’t really dissolve.”

“Well. Uh. I don’t really know about that.” Erick said, “I did this experiment for some highschool students as a substitute teacher and we used something else besides salt because salt produces chlorine gas. But I forget what that mystery substance was. Mainly, I didn’t want to do this with unknown materials in the water and possibly produce toxic gasses. We’re pretty well ventilated here out in the open but there’s no need to take the risk.” Erick looked to the metallic piles Kiri and he had [Metalshape]d into a pile to the side. Erick threw a 50 mana [Dispel] at the piles. Nothing happened. “They’re not magical anymore.”

Kiri looked at the metallic silver piles, and said, “I’m not even sure what these piles of metal dust are.”

“Me either.” Erick said, “So I’m not putting them back in the water.” Erick looked to the metal bars. “Gotta do this part first, anyway.” Erick picked up a copper bar with [Metalshape] then said, “If you please, Kiri, I need long, thin, wires.” He pulled on the metallic orange copper, turning a corner of the ingot into a thin tendril the thickness of his pinky. He waggled his finger at Kiri, saying, “About this size.”

Kiri joined Erick in pulling wires out of ingots, as she asked, “You’re making an electrical circuit through the water?”

Erick continued to pull copper into wires, as he said, “The usual way to make electricity is to spin magnets in wires, but I won’t be doing that.”

Kiri smiled.

When Erick was sure they had spun enough copper, he took the wires and began laying them out around the pool about where they needed to be.

With precise applications of [Metalshape] to join the wires together, and [Stoneshape] to bury all of them in stone, Erick buried the cable into the experiment. Soon, the only parts of the copper visible in the water were two, one meter copper prongs, each two meters apart, standing up from the bottom of the crystal clear pond. Outside of the pond, on the northern side of the pool, two more copper prongs stood up from the ground, two meters away from the water. These dry prongs had their ends split into U shapes to hold what would come next.

And all the while Kiri’s eyes were wide in anticipation.

When Erick was done, and everything looked proper, he turned to Kiri, asking, “Can you guess what happens next?”

“Yes! You try to enchant another copper pipe to be electrical and then you will make a completed circuit for the electricity to travel on, with the water acting as a conductor for some reason.” Kiri added, “And you add salt if it doesn’t conduct electricity well.”

Erick [Metalshape]d the iron ingots into the air, molding them into a meter long rod, two inches thick, and perfectly shaped to slot into the copper holders, saying, “Very close. Iron for this part. It’s thematically important for reasons I might explain later.” He looked toward Poi, who stood a ways away, saying, “You might want to stand back, too, Kiri.”

Kiri quickly retreated to stand beside Poi. Poi flashed a blue [Weather Ward] around both of them. Kiri stared at what Erick was doing, but Poi only had eyes for their surroundings. All five Ophiel had more than enough eyes to look at everything, everywhere, though most of his eyes were now focused on Erick.

Erick turned back to his experiment. He [Stoneshape]d a pair of hands out of the ground, away from the copper and everything else, and with a gentle touch, locked the iron rod into the stone fists. He put his own hands on the rod for a brief moment. Then he stood up, and stepped back, giving himself two meters of distance from the dark, iron rod. He cast a small [Weather Ward] over himself, glittering the air around him in white, as he lifted his head to the sky.

Ophiel floated around the land, backing up, watching the sky and Erick, humming the tune of [Call Lightning].

Erick spoke,

“A primal force, a titan touched, an ancient life carved from stardust

“now metal rod, electrons clutched! Release thyself with flattery

“become a spark you’re meant to be, like water but, duly trussed.

“Your current brightens all that comes, in this new form; a [Battery].”

The bright blue sky flickered with white lightning, high above. A gentle boom echoed across the stone land. Ophiel backed away from his inquisitive positions, all five of him going silent as he moved behind Erick and turned tiny.

The meter long iron rod, held in place by two stone hands, flickered. Sparks stretched out into the air from one end of the rod, and then the other. The sky cracked bright. Lightning touched down seven feet from Erick, sliding into the dark iron rod, crawling over the stone hands like too many snakes, flickering, trying to reach for anything at all.

Notices popped up on the side of Erick’s vision but he stared at the glowing iron rod.

Kiri shouted, “Holy shit!” and followed that up with, “What’s a [Battery]?”

Erick laughed. Ecks had no real word or concept of [Battery], so he had to use the English word.

“You okay, sir?” Poi asked.

The iron rod zapped the ground with an arc of bight, skittering lightning. Poi mumbled a curse, and a prayer. Erick just paused to feel if he was actually okay. He felt sore all over— Ah. Right.

“I’m okay, Poi.” Erick pulled out the rod of [Treat Wounds] and applied it to himself. His full body soreness went away after a few moments. He put the rod back in his pocket, and checked his mana. His eyes went wide. “That was a lot of mana, though.”

Nothing else seemed to be happening with the iron rod, so Erick checked his notices. The first one was just the congratulations for creating a new Basic Spell, so he dismissed that one.

Battery 1, instant, medium range,

. Lasts for 1 minute per spell level.

Rozeta thanks you for enriching the Script.

+2 ability points.

I don’t even know how to put a damage number on that. Continue. ~Rozeta

In the middle of reading his notifications, the iron rod discharged once more, then went quiet.

Erick looked back to the rod, then said, “Now comes the fun part.” He gave a tiny command to three of the five Ophiel hovering around the experiment.

Perfectly clear cubes of [Crystalline Air] popped up around the experimental site. Two of them stacked up, one inside the other, seven meters west of the pool. This is where Erick, Kiri, and Poi would stand for the real experiment. A flat layer of [Crystalline Air] popped up between the copper holders for the iron rod, and the pond itself, further separating the sparking rod from the calm water. Three Ophiel had spent all 4000 of their remaining mana to do this; they vanished into dust. The remaining two tiny Ophiel hovered around Erick, flanking him like fluttering parakeets.

Erick looked over to the cubes of [Crystalline Air], saying, “You two might want to—”

Poi was already walking through the fractal air, into the center of the protected space west of the pool, on the narrow end of the oval waters. Kiri followed him, but she kept her eyes on Erick.

Erick nodded, then turned back to the iron rod. With [Stoneshape] and his Handy Aura, Erick unlatched the rod from the stone hands and placed it upon the copper holders on the north, wide side of the pool. It didn’t look too secure, so he [Stoneshape]d up another pair of hands to hold the iron rod in place against the copper. That looked better. With everything probably secured, Erick sent one Ophiel to float near the rod, while he stepped through [Crystalline Air] to join Kiri and Poi in safety.

Erick cast [Battery] through Ophiel, onto the rod.

Several things rapidly happened. Ophiel exploded as lightning struck him from the iron rod. Lightning arced from Ophiel to the piles of silver metal, whereupon the silver metal caught fire and exploded. Not a very large explosion, but more than enough to send shrapnel flying. Erick yelped. Kiri laughed.

But the iron rod, still sparking, was still there, still held in place by the stone hands. The explosion wasn’t that strong.

He said, “Maybe I put too much power into [Battery].”

Poi casually said, “Undoubtedly.”

Kiri laughed again.

Erick just frowned as he cast a 3000 point [Crystalline Air] himself, shaping the spell into a U, but without any curves; the walls remained flat and nearly invisible, near perfectly see-through. Erick placed one boxy end of the U to the wide, north side of the pool near the iron rod, while the other wrapped around to the other side of the pool to the south, to give him a good view of whatever might be happening inside the water. Erick walked to the south, around to the pool side, first, watching the iron rod on the other side the whole time.

The iron rod was still sparking into the air.

That wasn’t right. It shouldn’t be sparking like that. It might not have a complete circuit in the water, since the water was [Distill]ed but there was still a circuit down there—

Erick stood still, looking at the sparking rod on the other side of the pool. He said, “I fucked up.” He added, “Oh yeah. I fucked up, hard.” He [Stoneshape]d away the stone hands securing the iron rod to the copper lines. The iron rod fell to the ground, sparking the whole time. The copper wasn’t there. “The copper melted?” Erick looked at the stone itself. “And the whole thing isn’t insulated!” He asked himself, “How could I forget about insulating the wires?” Erick mumbled to himself, “Now that’s just poor planning, Erick.” He said, “I don’t have a rhyme for this one.”

Kiri, who had followed Erick out of the bunker-area and now stood beside him, asked, “Do you need to make a new spell for this?” Kiri quickly added, “I’m all for making a new spell, but this one— Just shape a [Weather Ward] around the copper. If that doesn’t work, [Hermetic Seal] makes really good insulation. Though [Weather Ward] should work. [Battery] is a Particle Spell effect.” She added, “I think.”

Erick paused. He said, “Oh.”

Kiri added, “As for the melting problem: Just make a [Spell Ward] with [Mend]. Layer that through the whole way, too.”

“Right!” Erick smiled. He dismissed the [Battery] on the iron rod, then said, “That’s very smart, Kiri. I hardly ever use the [Spell Ward] function. Thank you.”

Kiri said, “I’ll help.”

It took the two of them ten minutes to get the new set up completed. When it was done, the copper lines ran across the ground instead of under it while glittering green and white [Ward]s surrounded the orange metal. Two [Spell Ward]s charged with [Mend] layered both sides of the copper circuit, both [Spell Ward]s infused with a thousand mana. This time, there were no stone hands holding the iron rod in place upon the copper, but Erick had Sculpted a [Hermetic Seal] to perfectly fit the space. Without Meditation, the iron rod looked like it rested on copper cups, but with Meditation, Erick saw that the iron rod was almost completely encased by immobile, white, insulated air.

Erick and Kiri moved back to the [Crystalline Air] shelter with Poi.

Ophiel hovered beside the iron rod. There was just enough of an opening in Erick’s [Hermetic Seal] between the rod and Ophiel, for Ophiel to have a good line of sight on his target.

[Battery].

Sparks flowed across the iron rod, splashing against tight, immobile air. Copper turned radiant for the briefest of seconds, before the [Mend Ward]s kicked in, repairing the almost-melting copper back to where it needed to be; touching the iron rod.

Moments passed. A minute passed. [Battery] had already leveled to a multi-minute spell, so it would last for a while longer.

Kiri quickly left the safety of the main [Crystalline Air] room, walking through the secondary shielding to the south side of the pool, saying, “I need to see.”

Erick followed her to the south side of the pool, opposite the sparking iron rod. He looked down in the pool, at the spikes of copper under the water. This is where the circuit should have been completed by electricity passing through the water. But nothing happened. No bubbles came up from the copper spikes.

“Oh!” Erick said, “Right.”

He threw a dozen [Heat Ward]s deep into the water, spreading them out to heat the entire five meter by two meter deep pool. They weren’t very strong [Heat Ward]s, but they would soon raise the temperature of the water to just below boiling.

Kiri asked, “Why the [Heat Ward]s?”

Erick said, “Because reactions occur easier when the temperature is higher. If this doesn’t work, I have a backup plan.”

Kiri just nodded as she watched the water. The [Battery] stopped sparking. Erick renewed that spell.

They continued to watch the water. After a while, the [Battery] quit again.

Erick said, “Okay. New plan.” Erick said to Kiri, “You might want to go back.”

Kiri took off, back to the safety of the triple layered [Crystalline Air].

Erick spoke to the water,

“Bend and break, join and snap

“careful now, young alchemist

“tear and shake, quake and zap

“watch out for this [Catalyst].”

The pristine, [Distill]ed water of the pond flickered white. Bubbles appeared in the hot water, alongside notifications.

Catalyst 1, instant, medium range, 50 mana.

.

Rozeta thanks you for enriching the Script.

+2 ability points.

Okay? ~Rozeta

A headache threatened behind Erick’s eyes. He tapped himself with the rod of [Treat Wounds]. The headache never materialized.

Erick looked down at the water, then back up to the [Solid Ward] all around him. He rapidly removed ‘air’ from [Crystalline Air]’s permissions. He had forgotten to do that before, but now seemed like a good time. Erick sent Ophiel over to the iron rod again. From the wide, south side of the oval pool, Erick watched the water.

[Battery].

The rod flickered with renewed sparks.

Down below, in the oval pond, one meter long copper spike began to simply bubble. It wasn’t much of a reaction, but it was a very clear indication that something was going right. That spike wasn’t very important, though, because the other copper spike absolutely fizzed, sending up a torrent of bubbles to the water’s surface.

Erick laughed loud. It worked!

Kiri was beside him before he knew it, watching the water, asking, “What’s happening?”

Erick explained, “Electrolysis. By using electricity, heat, and particulates already in the water, these spells, all together, are ripping water apart at the molecular level, producing 2 hydrogen on that really fizzy spike down there, and 1 oxygen on that spike over there. This next part is going to be the explosion. It’s going to be loud and big. Let’s get back to the bunker.”

Kiri quickly led the way back under the triple layer of [Crystalline Air] to the west of the oval pool. Erick followed. Soon, all three of them were under [Solid Ward] protection.

Erick turned back to the bubbling, steaming water. He had planned on doing this next part a little bit differently, but thanks to a few other spells, courtesy of Archmage Tasar and the Headmaster, this would be a lot more elegant than just putting a bubble of [Weather Ward] over the hydrogen-pouring anode or cathode, or whatever it was; Erick had forgotten the proper name.

Condense Hydrogen X, instant, close range, 25 mana

. Lasts 10 minutes.

Condense Oxygen X, instant, close range, 25 mana.

. Lasts 10 minutes.

Using his last remaining Ophiel, floating in the air above the experiment, Erick cast through him, adding an Extreme Mana Shaping to both [Condense Hydrogen] and [Condense Oxygen], ballooning both spells as large as they could go as he placed them over their appropriate fizzing spikes. He made sure to keep both spells separate; he didn’t want an accidental reaction before the appropriate time. He then wrapped the whole pond in a [Weather Ward]; this would keep out the slight breeze blowing across the rocky land. Soon, three glittering white areas held in the air above the pond.

[Battery] failed; Erick had Ophiel renew the spell on the iron rod.

The [Mending Wards] and the insulating [Weather Ward]s and all the [Crystalline Air]s from several Ophiel and Erick, all held, as they continued to do what they were set to do. Erick stood beside Kiri and Poi, hoping his defenses would be enough. Erick hoped he had overestimated the reaction, but he doubted he had.

Erick said, “This is going to be a massive, very loud particle explosion. So.” He covered his ears with his hands.

Poi just looked at him with a little bit of a frown. He popped off a [Cleanse] inside their [Crystalline Air] fortress, turning the air thick for a moment. Everything smelled a bit nicer.

Kiri asked, “Can I see...”

“Oh! Right.” Erick handed her copies of everything he had made, then put his hands back over his ears.

Kiri just smiled as she read. But her smile waned. She hummed, then asked, “None of these have a damage listed?”

“None at all.”

Kiri frowned a little, but she said nothing. She dismissed Erick’s blue boxes.

Erick and Kiri watched the experiment from behind three layers of flat, clear [Crystalline Air]. Poi watched everything else.

After renewing [Battery] again and letting it run for the time limits of the Condensing spells, Erick said, “Okay. Here we go. This is going to be loud.”

Kiri and Poi did not cover their ears.

They were probably right not to worry. Erick still covered his ears, though. He looked up to see Ophiel, still flying around over the experiment. In one moment, Erick ended both Condensing spells, allowing the oxygen and hydrogen to mix under the [Weather Ward]. Then he nudged Ophiel. Ophiel cast a [Fire Bolt] into the center of the—

The ground cracked as everything became fire, and light, and loud. Three of the four [Crystalline Air]s around the pond instantly shattered as sound and heat burst from the experiment. The iron rod flew off somewhere. Copper tore from the ground, but continued to [Mend] as it broke against the last [Crystalline Air] then tumbled past.

Erick, Kiri, and Poi all fell to the ground after a massive, flexing crack broke across the final [Crystalline Air] surrounding them. Erick flashed completely white as his [Personal Ward] absorbed a lot of damage. Poi flashed blue. Kiri flashed green. Moments passed. The air cleared. The explosion had passed.

All sound was the same, high pitched whine.

Erick’s ears were not doing well. He was also sitting on the ground. He touched the sides of his face. His hand came away bloody. Ah. No big deal. The old him would have been worried about an injury like this, but he was in shock, and he knew this, for there was barely any pain at all. Or maybe he didn’t worry because of all the magical healing floating around Veird; hard to know the difference, sometimes.

As Erick tried to stand, he stood; he wobbled, but he still stood. Kiri and Poi struggled to stand, trying and failing to get their feet under them. Erick smiled as he watched them fall back on their butts. He had warned them! And he had been right.

Kiri’s face moved like she had cursed loud. Poi opened his mouth as though yelling. Erick couldn’t hear them, but he didn’t need to. They looked fine, and the experiment was a great success! Laughter filled his body, setting his chest to swell with every boisterous guffaw. He could almost hear himself, but the world was still a ringing, silent thing. Poi took out his rod of [Treat Wounds] and jabbed Kiri with it, and then himself.

Blood dripped from their ears and eyes.

Erick stopped laughing. Poi and Kiri did not look good. As Erick blinked his own vision turned red. Poi jabbed Erick with the rod, then said something, but Erick’s hearing was still gone. Poi poked him again. He repeated himself, his lips moving but nothing—

Poi yelled, “—port. [Teleport] Windy Manor!”

Erick winced, saying, “Okay. Okay. [Teleport], yes. You don’t look good.”

Kiri groaned as she fell back to the ground, saying, “Fuck.” She held her head. “I think I need the infirmary. I’m still wobbly.” She held out a free hand, trying to steady herself, but all she could do was flail a little. She said, “I can’t think.”

“That’s—” Poi almost nodded, but he cringed and held his head. He said, “Infirmary. Erick. I can’t think either.” He held his free hand out, almost reaching for Erick, but he stumbled, groaning as he struck the ground. He looked up at Erick; his eyes were crossed.

Erick blinked out blood as his heart beat hard. He grabbed Poi’s hand, then snatched Kiri’s hand as she tried to stand again, holding both of them steady as he said, “We’re going back.”

Blip.

They landed on solid stone in the intake room for the hospital.

Events happened rather fast, after that.

Aids on duty saw them fall to the stone. They immediately took over. Nurses in cream-colored robes surrounded them, pulling them into the proper direction down stone halls. As Erick blinked out blood and a nurse asked him if he was okay, Erick waved her off, saying that his friends were worse off than him, and that they had already used [Treat Wounds]. But as he answered more questions, his head pounded. The nurse talking at him set him down in a wheelchair and sent him off with Poi and Kiri.

Rats showed up, also wearing cream-colored robes. He took over for the nurse.

Time passed quickly. Soon, Poi and Kiri were asleep in beds, in a private room.

Erick watched over them from his own wheelchair, worrying, gently petting a tiny Ophiel in his lap.

Rats stood next to Erick, saying, “Big experiment.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be. I told them it would be loud, but...” Erick said, “I had no idea this would happen.” He added, “I thought it might. But… I didn’t really think, I think.”

“They’ll be fine.” Teressa stood on Erick’s other side. “They’ve both been through worse.”

Rats smiled. “I’ll have to poke fun at Poi for this, though. You told him it would be loud?”

“I did.” Erick said, “I told them to cover their ears.” He said, “I covered my own ears, too!”

Rats nodded, knowingly. “They got a brain rattle, but they should be okay.” He asked, “You did this inside a [Crystalline Air], too?”

“Inside three of them!” Erick said, “I removed ‘Air’ from the permissions, too. [Solid Ward]s don’t flex— Shit. The concussive force came through the ground.” Erick mentally added ‘Air’ back to [Crystalline Air]’s permissions.

Teressa said, “It shouldn’t have. You wrap that spell through the ground, too, don’t you?”

“… Yeah. … I… I always do that, don’t I? Sorry. Not thinking… well.” Erick looked over Kiri and Poi. He asked, “So what happened?”

Teressa said, “Force enough to break two [Crystalline Air]s and damage a third, is what.” She added, “All the Health in the world won’t save you from a mountain falling on you or an uncontrolled fall from the sky.” She glanced to Erick, saying, “Usually. Luck plays a bigger part in those kind of scenarios.” She continued, “Physical effects hurt a lot more than Health can negate. This explosion was a physical effect. Therefore: actual damage. Professor Rue talked about this once. Some people like to call it ‘True Damage’.”

Rats said, “Best that you denied ‘Air’, sir. If that explosion did this much through a few [Solid Ward]s then it would have absolutely ripped a normal [Absorption Ward] apart.”

“...I could have prepared more.” Erick said, “They were only 4000 point [Wards].”

Teressa asked, “How’d the actual experiment go?”

Erick thought for a moment. He said, “Including the Headmaster’s [Exsanguination] spell as a starter, I have all the parts I need to make a Particle version of [Death Spiral Fire] or something similar.” He paused. He added, “Maybe. If you look at it from a certain way.” He said, “But I don’t know if it’s going to happen that way or not.”

“What’s stopping you?” Rats said, “Besides tiered Particle magic evading literally everyone.”

Erick looked down at Poi and Kiri, both of them sleeping soundly in their beds.

Rats said, “Besides that, too.”

“… I have to level the spells I made today.” Erick added, “And I need to talk to the Headmaster. I need to talk to him about Jane, too.”

Rats asked, “Is there something we should know? I had a pair of cute nurses ask me if the story of the Unusually Large Ancient Unicorn was true. Jane’s story is making the rounds.”

“There’s nothing to know right now.” Erick said, “She might be coming here but she’s got to work out some mess first. She wouldn’t tell me what.”

Rats’s eyes went wide. He whispered, “Did she get her hands on some Dragon Essence fighting the big unicorn?”

Erick looked to Rats. “If she has, she hasn’t told me. Is there a problem?” Erick quickly realized what dragon essence meant. He didn’t need Poi to answer. Jane had told him about it months ago, about how taking in any dragon essence at all meant that person was now a part of the hidden dragon societies of the world. “If she has some, would that make the Headmaster target her?”

For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the sounds of Kiri and Poi gently breathing.

Rats said, “Tell her she can’t come here.” He added, “The Headmaster welcomes all people with unexpected dragon essence in them, but they have to openly prostrate and kowtow to him, at all times, and follow him around Oceanside as the world’s most docile servant. This kills their dragon essence very, very fast, but it still takes a week, and if they fuck up, he eats them.”

Teressa quietly said, “I don’t see Jane kowtowing to anyone.”

Erick felt a rushing cold settle into his core.